22. Naomi

Naomi

Sooo…

That was an interesting way to find out Sea's eyes glowed bright gold.

"Get up!"

If he cared at all about what happened to a naked Wild after commanding me to stand, it didn't show. Without waiting for me to obey, he grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. Then came the half-haul, half-stumble back to the stone circle. Once inside, he pressed one of the wolf knots, and the next thing I knew, we were standing in a cold, dark place that turned out to be the inside of the tower when the door slid open, revealing the now-empty secret kingdom field of gorgeous wildflowers — even though it was supposed to be November.

I had so many questions. Like, all the questions that had ever questioned. The part of me that had studied day and night to fulfill my dream of becoming a theoretical physicist — hey, when I Bad W?lfennite, I Bad W?lfennite hard — wanted to ask Sea everything. About the secret kingdom. About the tower. About how any of this was even possible.

Also, indulging my love of science was a great way to not think about what had just happened with Wild outside the stone circle as we made our way toward the habitat.

Well, I tried to walk. Sea was doing this long-legged stomp, making me practically jog to keep up with him.

"So, these gods of yours — are they quantum computers? Aliens with superior tech?"

"No." One word growled from deep within his chest.

"No, they're not —"

"No, you can't talk to me right now," he corrected. "You smell like him now, and my wolf is going crazy to claim you, too… Heat Laws be damned. Your presence kept him in check. But then you ran, and now I'm back to struggling to contain him. Stay quiet, and don't talk to me unless you want me to lose my head."

Well… okay, that didn't sound like something I wanted to happen. But for some reason, that tingling sensation returned. And now, I knew it wasn't disgust.

"I can smell your want," he said through gritted teeth.

Warmth flushed over my face. It was a long, awkward, and very silent walk back to the gently sloped hill outside the habitat, where Astrid and Frey were still waiting with the quilt Amanda had abandoned when she ran to Ronan instead of Lorcan.

Amanda… I could only wonder where she'd gotten off to at this point.

Irritation began to replace the "not disgust" I'd been feeling ever since Wild… did what he did .

Anyway…

"It's not my fault you're struggling with your wolf," I pointed out as we neared the hill. "I was trying to protect —"

"It wasn't your fault," Sea cut me off with a sharp correction.

I shook my head at him. "What does that even mean?"

He stopped walking just before we reached Astrid and Frey. "It means diplomacy is over. From now on, you will follow my commands without question."

Defiance flared inside me. "Or what?"

Sea stepped closer, the beast inside him vibrating with menace as he growled, "Or I lose my head, and the beast takes over."

He grabbed my arm and handed me over to Astrid and Frey like a child being sent home for misbehaving.

I was surprised when Astrid returned the next morning while we were eating breakfast, bringing news of Amanda — apparently at Sea's request.

"My brother wants you all to know that Amanda is still in heat but is being well and happily attended to by her mates."

"Mates?" Priscilla, who'd finally had her first full night of sleep since Amanda left, still had dark circles under her eyes.

"So, it's true? She's been ruthlessly claimed by not one, but two of those beasts?" she asked Astrid as if she thought the story I'd told the other kidnapped she-wolves last night was just a spooky tale.

"If by ruthlessly, you mean happily over and over again, then yes," Astrid replied without a trace of shame or outrage. "Ooh, what kind of bread is this? It smells delicious!"

That's how Astrid ended up taking a couple of the soft, floury morning rolls — or "baps," as Fiona called them — with her before asking, "Hey, Banríon, want to walk me to the habitat door?"

I took her up on her invitation, mostly because I had nothing else to do now that I'd so utterly lost both the battle to save Amanda and to escape our prison.

Also, I wanted to collect some intel on how she got in here. I noticed she wore the same blouse and jeans combo as the day before, along with a delicate analog watch that couldn't be used for anything but to tell time.

"How did you get in here?" I asked her right before we reached the place in the glass where the door always opened.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "I was warned not to answer any more of your questions. According to Wild, you've too clever of a head to be trusted."

He said that about me?

I preened — before flashing back to the sight of his head between my legs outside of the stone circle. My belly tightened.

"Anyhow, this is for you."

Astrid's voice tore me out of the memory that, despite Amanda's heat smell having dissipated, I couldn't stop having for some reason. Over and over again.

I looked down to find her holding out a cream-colored envelope, elegant as a prop in a Bridgerton episode and sealed in ocean-blue wax .

I took the letter from her hand. It was way heavier than the ones we occasionally received from my oldest sister, Leora, who'd been wolf-mated when I was still a kid — and she was only sixteen. And Mairinua was written across the front in the kind of elegant cursive that could also feature in an episode of Bridgerton.

"What's this?"

Astrid shrugged. "Remember that bit about me not answering any of your questions?"

With that, she knocked on the glass, and the door opened inside of it.

Maybe, maybe I could've pushed past her and tried to escape again, but if my suspicion was correct, there was a wolf — either Wild or Sea with an opener somewhere I couldn't see outside the door.

And, I for sure did not want another confrontation with Wild.

The memory of his tongue inside my folds attempted to flash again. But I tamped it down again in favor of opening the letter.