“I’m not a mutt,” she bit out. “I’m diverse.”
He let his fingers sift through her curls. “There is no shame in being a mutt. Purebloods are too predictable.”
She tried to smack his hand away. He ignored the gesture and continued to stroke her hair. Despite his growing arousal, his wolf seemed largely content with just petting her. Distantly, he recognized that the beast thought it was courting her—gently grooming her to accept him as his mate. He would dispel that notion later, but for now he would enjoy playing along. If he could strike a balance between indulging the wolf’s urges, while remaining otherwise detached from her, claiming her would be an exquisite pleasure.
“So, have you thought at all about how you’re going to help me get my sister back?” she asked, her lips pursing.
“Mm,” was his noncommittal reply. He ran a lock of her hair across his lips, and then under his nose. “What is that smell?”
“Uh, my hair?”
“Mm.”
She was blushing again, but this time it was for him. “I’m not sure. I haven’t washed it in over a week. Maybe it still smells like my shampoo?”
“Shampoo,” he repeated slowly. “I have not heard of such a flower.”
She looked confused, and then her eyes lit up with humor. The simple glint transformed her face, and further tightened the coil in his abdomen.
“Shampoo isn’t a flower. It’s a scented hair soap. It usually smells like flowers though. Flowers and fruits, mostly.”
Erik didn’t mind being corrected.
“Flowers and fruits,” he mused. “Two things one does not often encounter on the tundra. No wonder I find your scent so appealing.”
She opened her mouth, presumably to respond, but only managed a stuttering noise. Her flush now extended past her face and down her neck. Gripping her hair, Erik tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck so that he could lean in and get a better smell of her.
“You cleaned your neck,” he said disapprovingly.
“Sabine brought me some warm water to wash up with last night.”
She didn’t try to move. He liked that.
“Don’t do that again.”
“Wash myself?” she asked, and he could hear the annoyance in her tone. “What if I get dirty?”
Erik ran his tongue along her neck. “I’ll clean you.”
The human shivered and he heard her let out a staccato breath. “Right. So, all that aside, when do you think you can get my sister back?”
Her attempt to redirect him did not annoy Erik. He would get this matter out of the way so that there would be no distractions later.
After giving her neck a careful nip, he pulled her down onto the floor with him. A large white bear fur covered the area beneath them, and he liked the way her darker hues contrasted against it.
“How much do you know about the local packs?” he asked.
She blinked up at him, appearing briefly confused that he was actually addressing her question. “Uh, I know that Siluit is to the east of here. Above them is the Urok lynx pack. Then to the—”
“Not the geography,” he said, casually tossing a leg over hers. He let the full length of his hard cock press against her lush thigh. “How much do you know about them?”
“Well, I know that Zane is the alpha of Siluit and he hates your guts and can you please stop rubbing up against me like that? People are staring.”
“So?”
She scowled at him. “It’s embarrassing.”
That annoyed him. Any female in his pack would be delighted to be in the position that she was in. It would show the others that she had his favor, thus elevating her rank within the pack.
He tried to remind himself that this was a human he was dealing with. He wasn’t entirely sure how human males courted their females, but he could only imagine that the process was rather tame and subdued. As Erik was neither of those things, he was not going to make an effort to appeal to her on that level.
“The males need to know that you belong to me,” he told her. “If I do not make this clear to them, they will try to rut with you. Then, I would have to kill them.”
She stared up at him, eyes wide and face stunned into stillness. Erik paused and enjoyed the moment, until he could no longer hold back his laughter. By the time he regained his composure, her scowl had returned.
He asked, “Do you really think I would kill a male for fucking you?”
She averted her gaze. “I think you’re crazy enough to do just about anything.”
Erik pinched her chin, forcing her to look at him. By doing so, he intended for her to look at his face, but she seemed to be in the habit of staring directly into his eyes. He recognized on a certain level that this was a human thing—none of his wolves, not even Sten, would dare to do this. It was a show of defiance and challenge. But curiously, he did not feel even a vague hint of anger when the human met his gaze.
“By marking you with my scent, I am merely doing you a courtesy,” he explained. “It will make them think twice before trying to initiate sex with you.”
Her voice was flat. “Gee, thanks.”
“Zane does hate me,” Erik said, getting back to the topic at hand. “But that is irrelevant. He has an even greater rival, a bear tribe to the south, known as Talek.”
Her brows furrowed. “I don’t remember hearing that name.”
“They aren’t native to the region,” Erik said, running his index finger along her jawline. “Their territory was much farther south, but human settlement has forced them to seek out a new territory. They are currently hunting at the southern boundaries of Siluit lands, and from what I understand, they move farther north each month.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with getting my sister back?”
“War between Talek and Siluit is inevitable. Within a year, they’ll be at each other’s throats. When that happens, Siluit will be distracted and we will go to extract your sister.”
The human shot up, her mouth agape. “A year? That’s way too long. My sister’s in danger!”
“From Zane?” he asked, amused at the prospect.
“Yes,” she said emphatically. “He’s a deranged barbarian. He’ll kill her.”
Erik smirked. “A wolf does not play with his food. If he wanted to kill her, she would already be dead. Clearly he has other plans for her.”
“I have a hard time believing that.”
“You are still alive,” he pointed out. “And Zane is much more amiable than I.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “So what do you want with me then?”
What did he want with her?
Erik scratched his stubbled chin before replying. “I am curious to see if fucking a human is as good as they say it is.”
He was impressed when she didn’t flinch. “What if it is? Aren’t you worried that I’ll ruin you for all other females for the rest of your life?”
Erik would have laughed if his cock hadn’t throbbed so intensely at the notion. Unconsciously, his hips bucked against her.
In a low voice, he said, “Don’t assume I won’t fuck you right here in front of everyone.”
That silenced her.
Erik considered making good on his threat, but realized that he didn’t want to. He wanted to be alone the first time they coupled, so that he could indulge in whatever strange urges his wolf had. He wanted to lose himself in her, and then find himself, and then lose himself all over again.
She was staring at his eyes again. Many males that had done so were dead. Some females as well, though only when the gesture had been an outright challenge for dominance. Occasionally a female would grow too attached to him, would begin assuming that having his sexual favor meant more than it did. Inevitably, she would start testing him in small ways. She might try to take a dominant position during sex, or try stealing a kiss. He would always wrestle back control and rebuff her attempts at intimacy, but when her eyes began to meet his, he knew it was time to cut her off.
Erik had always assumed this was an instinctive response by his wolf. But when the human looked at his eyes, he could almost feel his wolf peering back at her. He realized that unlike the females that had come before her, she wasn’t staring at his eyes. She was staring into them. What did she think she would find in there? And why did it make his wolf so fucking excited?
He almost growled when he noticed Sten returning. Had he been gone long enough to bathe the pup or had he instead passed her off to one of the females?
Erik adopted a rigid posture, signaling to the other male that he did not want to be interrupted. Sten took notice. He shifted and made his way over to a pair of wolves. They were gnawing on a caribou shank, but abandoned it as the beta male approached. Sten flopped down beside the shank, dust floating up around his grey fur. He set to picking the meat from the bone, though Erik could tell that he was watching them.
Satisfied, Erik glanced back down to regard the female. Her chocolate eyes were no longer on his face, but were instead roaming over his arms and chest with blatant desire.
He was not sure what to make of her. She claimed that she did not want him, and that in itself should have dissuaded him from pursuing her. In spite of what she believed, he had no interest in forcing himself on her. Erik did not live by any particular moral code—if he had a goal, he would obtain it by any means necessary. But he had always held a particular disdain for rape. To him, it was something that others resorted to when they were incapable of securing a partner on their own merits.
Even in his youth, Erik had not had trouble finding a willing female. Back then, it had not been unusual for a female to feign disinterest in an effort to get his attention. He had considered that this was what the human was doing. It was either that, or she was so repressed as to be ignorant of her own body’s desires.
When she saw that he’d noticed her staring, the human looked away. Lips twisting with embarrassment, she squirmed uncomfortably beneath him. The fabric of her pants brushed against his cock, and she might as well have grasped him in her hand with as much as it excited him.
Aren’t you worried that I’ll ruin you for all other females for the rest of your life?
No, he wasn’t worried about that. She was his, to do with as he pleased, for as long as he wanted. He could have her until he tired of her, and then cast her aside once the novelty wore off.
Erik leaned down, until their lips were a breath apart. His nostrils flared, taking in her heady, arousal-spiked scent. He felt the corner of his mouth tug, baring one canine.
Eyes locked with hers, he vowed, “When I am done with you, no other male will ever satisfy you again. I will ruin you.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Astrid had always considered herself to be rather passive aggressive. She often rolled her eyes at people who lashed out physically when angry. Couldn’t they go home and scream into their pillows like mature adults?
But as she repeatedly kicked the stone wall, Astrid realized that she didn’t have exceptional self control. She’d just never been angry enough to lose her temper in such grand fashion. Kicking the wall felt fucking amazing.
Erik had let her go, like a cat releasing a mouse. She’d scampered back to what she assumed was her room, where she was presumably supposed to wait for him to come frisk her at his leisure. At some point during her conversation with him, something awful had occurred to her. She’d come to rescue her sister from the clutches of a demon, but had ended up selling her own soul to the devil.
“What the hell were you thinking, you stupid, stupid moron?” she ground out, punctuating each word with another kick at the wall.
With the final word, she hefted her full weight into the kick. White hot pain struck her toe and moved up her foot, lingering even as she clutched her foot and began to hop up and down.
“Crap, crap, crap!” she moaned.
“Are you all right?”
Astrid winced as Sten appeared in the doorway. “In another universe, I might have been humiliated. Fortunately, my life has spiraled so low that at present I wouldn’t even care if Chris Hemsworth saw me making an ass of myself.”
Sten scratched his chin and then smiled. “Are you comparing me to Thor?”
She blinked at him. “You’ve seen The Avengers?”
His brows rose. “No, just Thor. They actually made an Avengers movie? Was it good?”
“They made two and they were both awesome.”
Sten leaned against the doorway, his smile widening. Everything about him should have been cold and uninviting. His tall, sinuous body was encased in skin that looked like cut alabaster. Straight, silver-grey hair fell over his shoulders and down his back, a strangely enchanting hue to see on a man who appeared to be in his early thirties. He looked as though he’d been fashioned from snow and ice, yet everything about his smile was warm and genuine.
“So, you’re not from around here then?” Astrid asked. She leaned back on the wall, her pained toe all but forgotten.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. I’m just a bit more…worldly, than the others.” His smile waned. “I wasn’t there last night, but I heard what happened. Felt as though I should come and apologize.”
“Apologize? Why?”
“Because I know that my brother won’t.”
She was about to question him further, when it hit her. Earlier, when she’d met Sten, Astrid had thought he looked familiar. It had been bizarre, because she knew she’d remember having met anyone who looked like him.
“You’re Erik’s brother,” she said, making it a statement.
It was obvious, now that it had been pointed out. Their lips were curved in the same sharply defined shape. They both had a cleft chin, and shared the same strong nose and arched cheekbones. That was where the similarities ended.
Their colorings were completely different—Sten was light where Erik was dark. Sten was also slightly shorter and less muscular. The most striking difference was in the eyes. Like most humans she’d met, Sten’s eyes reflected his emotions. She felt as though, given enough time, she could understand and get to know him. But Erik, he seemed to default to impassivity, his eyes only alighting for lust, anger, and perverse amusement. Either he had a great deal of control over his emotions or, as Astrid most feared, those were the only emotions he knew.
Sten nodded. “I am sorry he had to kill your companions.”
Astrid lifted a shoulder, unsure what to say. It felt disingenuous to claim remorse for the men who’d been planning to kill her. Having had time to consider it, she didn’t doubt what Erik had told her about Gerald and his men. After all, how many nights had she spent awake in her tent, wondering if one of the men would come in and force himself on her? From their first few days away from civilization, she’d sensed that something was off about them.
After a long silence, she said, “They weren’t exactly my friends. I didn’t even know all of their names. All I know about them is that they’re all dead, thanks to your brother, thanks to me, and thanks to my idiot sister.” She paused, briefly locking her jaw to keep her chin from quivering. “The irony of this whole situation is that I don’t even like my sister. In fact, I’ve sort of spent my entire life alternately hating and envying her.”
“Then why come here for her?”
“If anything ever happened to her, I don’t think my parents would ever get over it. I’m here for them, not her,” she said, biting her lip. “But I’m sure you have better things to do than listen to me bitch about my sister. Especially when your brother is a total psychopath.”
Astrid said the last part without thinking and immediately cringed. She looked up to see if he was offended, but Sten just gave a thoughtful nod.
“Um, that’s your cue to say ‘he’s not so bad, once you get to know him.’ You know, antihero with a heart of gold?”
At that, Sten let out a bark of laughter. “Erik?” He laughed again. “Believe me, you’ve already seen his good side.”
“I don’t get it,” she said, s
haking her head. “Why do you let a person like that lead you?”
“He’s a good alpha.”
“And what exactly makes a good alpha? You sure seem a lot more, um, adjusted than your brother.”
Sten considered her question, and then said, “If I had been in charge, I wouldn’t have killed those men last night. Then, in a few weeks, or a couple of months, they would have come back with more men and more guns. They would probably have killed us all. I’ve seen it happen more times than I care to remember, and I still would have shown them mercy because it’s in my nature to do so. That’s why Erik is alpha, and I am not.”
His words hung in the chilled air. At the beginning of their conversation, Astrid had been struck by how much they’d had in common. Now, she could see that those things were all superficial. If her CEO screwed up, the absolute worst thing that could happen is that Astrid would get laid off. For the shifters of Nunavut, every stranger was a potential enemy, and their lives hinged on the decisions made by their alpha.
The realization made her already terrible situation feel all the more precarious.
The tense silence was broken by Halley and Noona. The brown wolf and white dog came careening down the hallway, coming to a graceless stop in front of Sten. Halley barked up at her father, whose smile had returned.
“Would you like to get some fresh air?”
It took Astrid a few seconds to realize he was talking to her. “Yes, please.”
***
The aurora was a green ribbon that stretched across the night sky. Since her first night in Canada, the aurora had fascinated Astrid. She’d only seen it in videos and had always envisioned it as being a frenetic light display, ricocheting to and fro. But in real time, it moved in a slow, undulating pace. The purposeful, patternless movements were like a dance, set to the music of artic winds blowing across the vast expanse of the tundra.
Astrid alternated her gaze between the sky and the earth, watching the aurora and the pups. At almost fifty pounds, Noona was hardly a puppy, but she seemed to feed on Halley’s youthful energy. Watching her play with the werewolf pup, she reminded Astrid of the spirited little furball that Ginnifer had dumped on her two years ago, and nothing like the couch potato that spent her days sharing bowls of popcorn and watching Project Runway with Astrid.
Enslaved by the Alpha (Shifters of Nunavut Book 2) Page 5