7

A R Y A

➳

... when someone cleared their throat.

I jumped back and jumped off the chair. My chest heaved violently as I stared at the woman in the doorway, embarrassed to crawl away.

“Joy?” his voice was monotonous, without the slightest breathlessness, as if nothing had just happened. I pulled on my last ounce of self-control to keep from crying out in frustration. How could that just leave him cold?

“I have news of the rogues you're looking for.” she hesitated and looked questioningly at Xenos.

He nodded, his face twisted back into that familiar serious expression. “It's okay, it affects Arya too.”

If I hadn't just been thrown off course, I'd assure him I could speak for myself, but this was just trying to steady my pulse.

Joy cleared her throat again. “I followed the trail as far as I could. Arya's right, she really leads through our territory.”

“Where?” Xenos demanded, and his expression went a notch darker.

“In the northern part, by the Ayrun River.”

“That's where we have the fewest patrol units.” He seemed to think for a moment and leaned sideways against the bar table. “Tell Devon to organize new border crossings and send more soldiers to the north.”

Joy nodded. “Will be done.”

I straightened my skirt and joined the conversation as well. “Do you know where the Rogue are? Or where they went outside your territory?”

'You're over the border into Riverfall Wolves territory. I couldn't follow her any further.”

“Okay, we'll take over from there.” certain xenos and straightened up. “Have you brought the clothes for Arya?”

My brows drew together. I thought I misheard. “How?”

Xeno's eyes turned to me, looking me up and down while his eyes lingered on the exposed areas longer than necessary. I gritted my teeth to stop the fucking tingling in my stomach. “You will freeze in your clothes.”

I snorted. The damn tingling had finally stopped and I concentrated on my anger. What did he imagine that he could just decide about me over my head. Typical men! Or should I say typical dominant wolves?! They always thought they knew what was best for you. “I certainly won't!”

He narrowed his eyes and a low growl ripped through the room. Slowly, like a predator on the hunt, he circled the bar and came toward me. “Oh really?” His eyes darted to my arms, which already had goose bumps on them, and his eyes darkened. His jaw ground. “You're already freezing, I can see it.”

The bloody tingles started again and I faltered momentarily as I thought I saw a hint of concern in its blue seas. But shortly afterwards I wanted to smack myself on the forehead. Why for Gaia's sake should he ever care about me? Dominant men only wanted to get their way, nothing else. Resolutely, I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. “I do not do! And even if that's the case, I still decide what to wear!”

His hands clenched into fists and the muscle on his teeth twitched. 'You're only going to stop us. I don't want to have to turn around just because you're too stubborn to accept clothes from me!”

My blood boiled and I stared at him boldly. Why couldn't we have a normal conversation for once?

“I think it would really be a smart decision to put on warmer clothes. It's particularly cold and frosty today.” came hesitantly from the doorstep and I spun around. I had completely forgotten that Joy was still here. She looked back and forth curiously between me and Xenos, while the corners of her mouth twitched treacherously.

Xenos took the clothes that Joy handed him and put them on the bar. “Thank you very much, Joy.”

“Oh, and before I forget, Cecilia asked about you.” she grinned as her eyes darted between Xenos and me again. “But that's not so important...” With a big grin she left the kitchen and disappeared into the corridor.

'You can get dressed in the bathroom - if you decide to take the clothes. Whatever the case, the decision is yours alone. I'll wait for you outside.” With that he disappeared too, but before he was quite out of the kitchen I called after him, “Whatever you wish, Your Majesty.”

A dark, loud growl sounded.

Satisfied, she picked up the clothes from the table and headed for the bathroom. A small smile crept onto my lips. Maybe Xenos wasn't quite as influential as I thought.

➳

Thanks to the sun that was shining now, the frost had thawed and the grass under my bare feet wasn't quite as cold as before. Because Xenos couldn't persuade me to wear shoes after all. Still, I was thankful for the long, tight leather pants and the black pullover, because Joy was to be right, it was really cool out here and otherwise I would certainly have been half frozen in this cold.

“Please sit down.” asked Brook - the alpha of the Riverfall pack - with a friendly smile after we followed her through her packhouse and now ended up in a conference room. She also sat down at the conference table herself. However, she never looked Xenos in the eyes for too long, but always averted them after a short time. He was their king and thus at the top of the hierarchy of wolves. Staring too long might be seen as a challenge, and his wolf might respond aggressively.

“Thank you Brooke.” Xenos sat down opposite her, but first moved his chair so that he had the door in view at all times. He was a soldier through and through. “How much has Joy told you?”

“I know about the suspected rogue pack that moved through your territory.” Brook clasped her hands on the table and I could see the intelligence in her eyes. Nobody should underestimate this woman. “We also found signs that rogues have passed through our territory.”

Xenos ran his hand over the slight shadow of his beard and was silent for a moment. “Was it one wolf, or several?”

Brook looked invitingly at the man on her right. Fox - a very special name for a werewolf - cleared his throat. “A whole pack.”

Seeing Xenos frown thoughtfully, I asked, “What's unusual about that?”

Foxe's eyes locked on me, staring at me with an intensity I hadn't missed before. I had noticed his gaze searching my bare wrist for a symbol. While I wasn't uncomfortable, I wouldn't respond to his nonverbal offer.

Xeno's arm rested on the back of my chair. A simple form of male possession. Briefly his warning eyes lingered on Fox for a while longer as he let go of his dominance and it swept over the two wolves in waves - but not over me. As the wave reached Fox, Fox clenched his fists, veins bulging as he tried to resist the urge to offer his throat to Xenos. He lowered his eyes and broke off the gaze duel with Xenos. He turned to me contentedly. “Rogues are loners. And if they ever hunt together, that's a one-time thing.”

I gritted my teeth trying to listen to him. Now is not the time Arya to read him the riot act , I calmed myself and took a deep breath. But sat up straight so that my back was off the back of the chair, and so was his arm. I could defend myself.

“We have a guess.” Brook sneaked in. Her tight bun showed off her pretty feminine face. “Rogues are werewolves gone rabid who have completely suppressed their human soul. That means they don't listen to any alpha and know no loyalty. But last night we heard a howl - the howl of an Alpha they were following.” she hesitated, gazing into Xeno's eyes over and over again. This woman had guts! “We couldn't classify the howling at first. It was different - sharper. And it caught fire.”

Xeno's eyes widened a little bit. He shook his head. “That's impossible.”

“We all know that nothing is impossible.” said Fox.

“Daemon is dead.” However, Xeno's harsh voice objected and I gasped.

“You think Daemon is the alpha of a rabid werewolf pack?” the complete dismay nested itself in my voice and could no longer be kept out. Daemon – the hellhound . Should he really be alive? Oh, you moons, that could not be true! I didn't know much about Daemon, he was more of a myth that the elders used to tell the little warriors when they were naughty. A dark wolf straight from the underworld whose fur caught fire. And if one met hellfire that could spit miles out of one's mouth, one was sent to the most agonizing death a warrior could imagine.

Brook pushed the escaped blond strand back into her bun. “As I said before, it's just a guess.”

“Where did you move to?” Xenos asked while his hands gently touched my hair and amazingly calmed me down.

'The tracks, as well as their smell, indicate that they ran north through our pack, towards the cliffs of Skihla. But then we lost her.”

So even further north – great.