Territory: Prequel Part 9

He couldn't let her go yet. This was the first time in weeks he'd been at peace. He'd have to take the chance that he could trust her.

"It was me."

She lifted stunned eyes to his.

"That first wolf in the woods, it was me."

She rolled her eyes as she shoved an arm into her sleeve, "Yeah? Ten seconds ago I'm a freak and now you wanna play along?"

She needed proof. Dell cleared his throat, "You were having a break down over Donnie."

Chloe stilled with her second arm halfway into her sleeve, letting silence hang between them for several long moments before whispering, "It was a very personal moment."

"I know."

She fought the wave of embarra.s.sment the swamped her, "It wasn't yours to witness."

"I know and I apologize for intruding. It was unintentional. When I scented your pain..."

Her mouth opened slightly.

"I thought someone was injured."

The frown he'd been so accustomed to seeing on her soft features returned. "Someone was injured."

"Chloe, please sit down. We need to finish this."

She chewed on the inside of her lip before crossing her arms over her chest and reclaiming her seat. "Are you going to call them off or not?"

He followed her then sat behind the desk before he nodded once, "Yes."

"Thank you." she stood again, "Then we're finished."

"Wait."

Why did she have the strangest feeling that she should leave and leave now? "I have to go."

"I want to know what else my mother told you."

She cursed the telling flush that stole across her cheeks. "Nothing, just the truth about your people."

"You should know I can scent deceit."

Her eyes found his, "That must be very useful."

"It is." He slowly stood leaning forward and bracing his hands on the desk. "What else did she tell you Chloe?"

She smiled, shaking her head as she dropped her eyes to watch one small hand ma.s.sage the other. "She threatened me."

"Threatened how?"

She kept her eyes down. "She said you were coming for me."

"Did she say why?"

Taking a step back she looked up, "She thinks I'm your..." she gave a weak laugh. "She thinks I'm your mate."

"And that's threatening to you?" he challenged.

"I don't want any trouble. I don't want my mother brought into this, and I don't want whatever it is that you are to affect my mother's life. You have no cause to hunt me."

"Mating is not hunting."

Her flush deepened. "It is for those who won't allow it."

"You're behavior here today suggests you might be agreeable to our way of life."

"I've done nothing to suggest that."

"Your apparent ease of acceptance of my people is sufficient enough in and of itself for any shifter to want to claim you."

"So my flaw is my acceptance?"

He slowly came around the desk and smiled as he dipped his head to eye her, "I didn't say it was a flaw."

Her heart rate kicked up and she wondered if he could hear it. "I don't know if there's any truth to it and I don't care. If your mother's intention was to frighten me, it worked."

He stepped closer, "It was not her intention." Still he stalked closer, "And it is true Chloe." Finally, within reach he lifted a hand and reached for her, "You are my mate."

"Don't touch me!" she jumped back. "Every time you touch me, something happens."

He smiled then dropping his hand, "It's because we're bound."

"No," her brows knitted, "we aren't!"

"It's funny actually. At first, when you dropped me to my knees at your mother's house, I thought you were using medicine on me. I hadn't been concerned in the least with the mating ritual so I never bothered to learn anything of it. I wasn't aware of what was actually happening."

"I didn't harm you."

He fought the smile that her honesty drew forth. "I know now that you did not, but I didn't know what was happening at first. I wasn't aware the ritual had begun."

"Ritual?"

"We don't just date and then decide to marry. Our mates are pre-destined. When we meet them..."

"Wait," she held up her hands, "I don't want to hear this. I don't want to hear any more of your family's secrets." She backed up until she hit the wall, "The less I know, the safer for everyone involved." She reached around and clicked the door open behind her, "We agree to stay away from each other, leave each other's family in peace. Thank you for that." She turned to exit the room, but his next words halted her.

"That's not what I agreed to."

She turned to eye him over her shoulder, anger sparking to life. "But you said..."

"I said I'd call off my pack, that they'd leave you and your mother in peace." He grinned, "I didn't agree to stay away from you."

"Why are you backing out of our deal?"

"Deal," he challenged. "A deal signifies that there has been some bargain struck. Here, only I've agreed to give you what you seek. You have yet to agree to reciprocate."

She didn't bother to disguise the incredulity in her tone. "You want me to give you something in exchange for calling your pack off my family?"

Dell let his eyes slide up and down her slight frame, noting how she shivered under his scrutiny. "Yes."

"What do you want?"

Silence hung between them and she couldn't seem to pull her eyes from his.

"Your character is as intriguing as your beauty. Pity the first can be used to manipulate you."

"What do you want?" Chloe demanded again angrily.

"You."

The simple word hung between them for several breathless moments.

"No," she yanked the door open and walked away.

"Not even for the sake of your mother?"

The words drew her to a halt. She turned her head but didn't meet his eyes as she whispered, "You'd use my mother to get what you want from me?"

He walked slowly toward her until he was towering over her, his chest a breath away from her back as he lifted his fingers to rub her satiny hair between them. "Right now, I'd use anything I could, but it's not what you think. The red wolf you described must be an outsider. None of my pack would be so foolish. If he's not one of mine you'll need our protection."

"No one else has cause to bother us."

"Until I know for sure, I'll a.s.sign a security detail to you and your mother."

"NO!" she spun on him then, "I don't want you coming closer, I want you moving further away." She threw up her hands, "Look, if you don't know who it is, it's probably just a real wolf."

"Real wolves are just as dangerous."

"I can take care of myself."

"You no longer need to."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you coming here was the biggest mistake you could have ever made. You should have stayed away. Now, you know too much."

Her eyes grew wide. "I would never tell..."

"That's not a concern of mine." He groaned and raked a hand through his hair, "I wish you'd have never come."

Chloe jumped, her eyes shooting over her shoulder when she heard footsteps at the other end of the hall. Two large men stood, hands balled into fists, clearly prepared for battle. Her body began to tremble and she turned imploring eyes to Dell to whisper, "Wh-what are you going to do?"

He pinned her with his gaze, "I'm going to let you go home. I'm going to a.s.sign you and your mother protection. Unfortunately for you, your presence here has stirred my wolf within. He's making demands and I must comply."

She shook her head in confusion.

"I'm going to give you the opportunity to come to me of your own free will. I expect you here every Friday. Pack a bag and plan to stay until Monday."

"But. I can't..."

"If you fail to come to me of your own accord," he stepped closer slowly drawing in the scent of her, "then my mother's threat will come to fruition. Don't make me come for you Chloe, you won't like the consequences." His eyes darted to the two men at the end of the hall, "AJ, follow her home. Ensure she arrives safely. Pony! Get to the forest just south of her mother's residence. I want to know who's stalking those woods."

Chloe watched as one man disappeared and the other slowly approached as if waiting on her. When she turned back to Dell he was letting his eyes rove her features.

"I'll see you Friday. In the mean time no jogging in the woods."

For a brief moment, she thought he was going to lean down and kiss her. Instead he turned and walked back to his office.

"Dell! Why are you doing this?"

He stopped and turned back to her, "I want to see if there is in fact something to this mating bond we share." He kept his eyes on her face, "AJ, get her home."

"Wait!"

Dell ignored her plea and entered his office, closing the door firmly behind him.

Chloe turned to stare at AJ. "Is there someone else I can talk to, someone in charge?"

AJ smiled cynically, "Sorry. He's the Alpha. There's no one higher on the totem pole than that. Come on, I'll walk you to your car."

Unsure what else to do, Chloe followed AJ out and climbed into her car. She drove through the rain as quickly as she could down the mountain road that led to the highway. Unlike her arrival, she was no longer concerned with the undercarriage of her vehicle as she pushed to put some distance between herself and the Blackbird compound.

To her surprise and terror, a large gray wolf shadowed her vehicle, not even attempting to conceal itself.

AJ?.

"Ridiculous! This whole f.u.c.king thing is just..." she couldn't supply a better word, "RIDICULOUS!" What in the h.e.l.l had just happened. She'd gone to Dell hoping to appeal to his sense of righteousness. It was apparent now that he didn't have any. She'd feigned belief in their stupid myths and what had it gotten her? Mated! Or claimed, or whatever the h.e.l.l it was he said.

Her fingers ached from the death-grip they had on the steering wheel. Compounding matters was the fact that she'd actually hoped to catch him slipping and prove to her that the shifter myth was just that. Instead, if anything, he'd only confirmed it. How else would he have known about her break down in the forest? And he scented my lie? Really? Hysterical laughter bubbled to the surface.

When her tires finally found the pavement at the end of the long dirt road, she pressed the pedal solidly to the floor in hopes of losing the wolf that was tailing her.

What do I do know? Move? The idea was insane. There was no way in h.e.l.l her mother would agree to packing up and moving out of state. They had nowhere to go. He's gotta be just messing with me. She laughed aloud. Of course he is. Why did I go there? To get him to tell his family to leave mine alone? Instead, he's jumped on their bandwagon. a.s.shole! She was reaching and she knew it.