15

I took my eyes off the redheaded stranger and fixed on Cyrian instead. There was no anger or annoyance reflected in his eyes. Just sheer disbelief. I could almost see his brain registering and processing the other wolf's words. Appropriately, his facial expressions changed.

He was definitely angry. A dark growl escaped his throat that reminded me a lot of the growls in the arena. A small vein was throbbing on his forehead and by the minute his face seemed to be getting redder and redder.

He bared his teeth, showing his sharp canines. Sparks seemed to fly from his eyes and murderousness was reflected in them.

Cyrian's reaction didn't go unnoticed by the other wolves either. Most left the house, fled outside. A few stayed, but made themselves quite a bit smaller and lowered their eyes.

I hardly dared to breathe. The tension and my nervousness increased immeasurably.

I was still watching Cyrian. I waited for him to step forward, stand in front of the stranger and yell at him. But that didn't happen.

I had underestimated the wolf side and wolves weren't known for clearing things up with talk.

Im nächsten Moment peitschte Cyrian nach vorne. Ein Wimpernschlag später war er schon verschwunden und stattdessen stand ein silberner Wolf im Raum. Doch er bleib nicht lange stehen. Mit einem gewaltigen Sprung stürzte er sich auf den Störenfried. Doch dieser war nicht mehr da. Ein rostbrauner Wolf hatte den großen Menschen ersetzt und nahm es nun mit Cyrain auf.

Ich konnte der Sache kaum folgen. Meine Augen und mein Gehirn schienen nicht dafür ausgelegt zu sein die schnellen Bewegungen und die Verwandlung zu begreifen.

Das Geräusch von reißenden Fell und brechenden Knochen hallte durch das Haus. Erst jetzt merkte ich das ich angefangen hatte zu zittern und meine Hände auf meine Ohren drückte um die Geräusche abzudämpfen.

The wolves rolled across the ground, leaving trails of red blood in their wake.

I would have liked to help Cyrian, wanted to know if he was alright and which of the two had the blood from, but I was wise enough not to get involved in a fight between two wolves, even if I was the reason for the fight.

I could hardly stand it in the room. Not only the disgusting noises and the blood repelled me. The emotional chaos in me also increased the desire to disappear. On the one hand I was happy that Cyrian defended me, but I was also afraid that something could happen to him. And that very fear for him, which I couldn't deny, made everything worse. She brought up all the questions about how I felt about Cyrian.

At some point I tore my gaze away from the wolves and slowly walked backwards step by step until I finally reached the front door and left the house through it.

I closed the door behind me and took a deep breath. The cold air was good for my lungs and slowly my fast beating heart calmed down.

After a while I sat down on the lawn next to the house and waited. Either way I had to wait for Cyrian and I preferred to stay close so Cyrian wouldn't worry. Maybe I stayed close because I wanted to prove to the other wolf that I wasn't just running away. I've never been very brave, but I wasn't a coward either.

The sounds of battle still muffled to my ears, but it was bearable. My hands ran through the lush, dark green grass and I began to tear out individual blades of grass out of boredom.

It took about a quarter of an hour for the noise from inside to stop completely. About 5 minutes later the front door opened. I didn't have to turn to know it was Cyrain. I could now identify him by the way he walked and also by the pleasant tingling in my stomach when he approached.

" Let's go home?" his voice was dry and callous.

I nodded and got up. Only then did I dare to look at him. I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that he seemed unharmed. He was wearing a new shirt and pants, but I still saw some blood spatter in his hair and on his arms. But there was no corresponding wound to the blood spatter, he was really unharmed.

We walked the few steps to the car in silence. Cyrian's hand reached for the passenger door handle, but then he stopped. He turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes.

"You're not running away from me are you?" his voice was strangely battered.

Heck, I shook my head. " No never." I replied and meant it exactly like that.

"Promised?" he asked again.

"Promised." I replied.

Satisfied, he gallantly opened the door for me before walking around the car and getting in himself. He took a deep breath before he started the engine and drove off. The pack house got smaller and smaller behind us until it disappeared completely.

Cyrian gripped the steering wheel tightly, fingernails digging into the expensive leather.

Without knowing exactly what I was about to do, I grabbed his right hand with my hand and carefully removed it from the steering wheel. I interlocked my fingers with his and carefully rested my head on his shoulder.

I immediately felt Cyrain's heartbeat return to normal and he became calmer.

"Thank you," he murmured softly.

I smiled.

We stayed like that for the rest of the trip. I leaned on his shoulder and we were silent. I would have loved to ask him so many things, but I waited for fear of ruining the moment.

Cyrian's point of view:

I was still staring at the file on the cupboard. It looked like all other files and a few days ago I would have declared it completely irrelevant and thrown it in the wastebasket with a simple movement of the hand. But now it was different. The name on the file changed everything.

Thomas Cleeves.

The neatly written block letters looked so unimportant, irrelevant. The folder was thin, but that was normal. There wasn't very much documented information about the rest of the humans. Unfortunately, the size of the mappers said nothing about the content.

Actually, I should be happy that my wolves were getting along with the office stuff to some extent, but because of me it could have taken a while until the folder was on my desk.

But now she was here.

I didn't know what to do with her. Did I have a right to look inside? It would be terrible if there was something bad in it and I would unknowingly hand it to Alexandra. I had hoped that it would take some time before I had any information about her brother, so that she finally had the opportunity to breathe deeply and slowly get used to the new situation.

She seemed to be able to put the matter of her brother aside to some extent, but if I handed her the papers I would stir up everything in her.

I didn't know what she was hoping to find out about her brother. Did she want him to live or did she hope for his death?

What would happen if he were alive and what if he were dead?

I didn't even know myself how I felt about the subject. Were you brothers among the cruel people? Probably not. But even if it was a good-hearted boy, what should I do with him? What would Alexandra expect from me? I would definitely not allow any male creature in her area, even if it was her brother.

I ran my right hand through my hair and let out a little desperate cry. I had imagined this whole mate thing differently. Of course, Alexandra was perfect, she had a fighting spirit, was smart, sincere and courageous, but it was all terribly complicated and exhausting. I had the feeling that I had no chance of getting close to her as long as her thoughts were still circling about the past.

It annoyed me more than I showed her.

It bothered me every minute that I couldn't just give in to my possessive nature. I wanted to kiss her, mark her, finally make her completely mine.

I knew I would lose her if I gave in to this desire just once. But everything in me screamed for her, not only my soul but also my body.

It was difficult not to give in to this desire, it cost me my nerve and concentration.

It was a fight against myself and I didn't know how much longer my wits and sanity would prevail.

At least she didn't notice when my lustful gaze slid over her slim body and her curves and I licked my lips.

My gaze went to her brother's folder again, just to keep me from jumping up and looking for Alexandra. Would it help her to know what happened to her brother? Could she graduate like this and finally start a new life with me? Did she even want to start a life with me?

It wasn't hard to see that she wasn't a friend of werewolves, but I also saw that she took the attraction between us. Would she give this attraction a chance? would she give me a chance

Too many questions buzzing through my head. I shook my head in hopes of throwing the thoughts off, but of course that was complete insanity.

I decided to put the folder aside. I've never been the type to make hasty decisions. I would think about it a bit more and focus on other things now.

And there were a lot of things I should pay attention to. Papers accumulated on my desk: important documents, draft laws and contracts.

I stared listlessly at the crowd and snorted. I'd always liked being the alpha and I'd always liked the title of king. Being a leader wasn't that difficult for me, leading and directing the pack was definitely my forte. But since we finally managed to seize power, my post had lost its appeal for me.

I was a fighter and warrior. I could swing speeches, devise war strategies, and unite the wolves. But now I sat day in and day out in front of the desk to view and sign documents.

Another thing that made me unhappy. I didn't feel like a real werewolf anymore. I had transformed only twice in the past few days and it was just to protect my mate. Of course, that was a good and noble reason, but I would love to storm through the forest again. Feel the earth under my paws and the wind in my fur.

I could understand Peik a bit. Even though the red-haired giant didn't allow himself to insult my mate and challenge me, I was aware of what a hopeless situation the wolf from the north found himself in. Peik had been a fantastic captain and soldier, it had been his job and he had always proven himself, but now, in times of peace, soldiers were no longer needed.

It was somehow difficult for me to banish the proud Peik from the pack. Thanks to him we had won many fights quickly and now he was like me. A restless wolf whose fighting spirit hadn't died down yet, but there was nothing left to fight.

There was only one thing left to fight for. alexandra It was now my life's work and my purpose in life.

But Peik hadn't found his mate. He had traveled around 7 years after the war, but returned home alone.

But now he had no home. He was alone.

Only now did I realize why it was so difficult for me to throw Peik out. It was neither because he had been a good commander nor because of pity.

He wasn't just kind of like me, he was just like me. When I looked at him I could see how slow I would have been if I hadn't found Alexandra. In a few years I too would have become like Peik. Morose, aggressive and defiant.

But I had Alexandra, and now I just had to make sure to keep her. I grabbed her brother's file and put it in the drawer under my desk, which I then locked.

I wouldn't read the file and I wouldn't give it to her either. Not yet.

I would see how she is and take care of our relationship before I take care of her brother.

Still not very motivated, I grabbed the other documents on my desk and started to work. After the matter with her brother was now in the truest sense of the word off the table, it was a little easier for me. It was made less easy by the distant sound of water letting me know my beautiful mate was in the shower. Naked.

I tried to focus on the proposal in front of me again, but couldn't really do it.