Chapter Twenty

Xerxes

“Look what you made me do!” She fell to her knees and dug in the bag she’d dropped. “They’re going to kill me.”

“I’m sorry. Wait. Who is going to kill you?” My wolf’s hackles rose the second the word emerged from her mouth, but it took my human half longer to catch up. “Give me their names.”

The beauty peered up at me from where she knelt. “It was only the plastic packaging. I was afraid I’d have purple hair dye all over everything.”

“Are you going to dye your hair purple?” I was jumping from one topic to the next, but mostly because I wanted to keep up with her. “Also, who is trying to kill you?”

“What?” She began to stand, shrugging away my attempt to help her up. “Nobody. I just meant I’d be in trouble.”

I reached for her again, but she stepped back, and I let my hand drop to my side. “Can I replace whatever broke? So you won’t be in trouble?”

“No, it will be fine. I need to leave.” Another step away. My wolf growled, softly, and her eyes widened.

Do not frighten her.

She’s not scared. She’s mate.

She is my mate? I let a huff of breath out. Of course she is.

“May I speak to you for a moment? Maybe…over here?”

I stepped into the alley. Her blue eyes darted around, scanning the area for whoever was going to harm her, I assumed. “Probably not a good idea to follow a stranger into an alley.”

“Just a bit. Away from everyone. Not too far. I would never hurt you.”

Cocking her head to the side, she squinted and clutched her bag tighter to her chest. “For some reason, I believe you.” She bit her plump bottom lip and stepped forward, barely into the alley but far enough from prying eyes and listening ears.

“Do you know who I am?” I asked while my wolf prompted me to take her back to our home, keep her there until she realized she was our mate. What a beast he was.

“You’re the male who saved me the other day. Pulled me back onto the curb.” A tang of a half-truth made my mouth taste bitter but only for a moment. Perhaps someone had told her who I was.

I chuckled. A blush pinked her cheek, and it took every ounce of restraint not to reach out and ease her—see how far that blush extended down her lithe body. “I am. I’m also the alpha of the pack in this area. My name is Xerxes.”

“Oh.” She began to shake, her knees nearly knocking together. “I’m…I’m sorry. I haven’t been around pack members much. Am I supposed to…I don’t know what to do.”

My turn to be confused. Why was there a female shifter who wasn’t around pack members and didn’t know how to greet an alpha?

“You’re doing fine. I’m not much for all the grand gestures anyway. You live in a household of shifters, don’t you?”

She nodded. “Yes. My stepmother and sisters are shifters as well. They come to the runs and meetings.”

I let out a chuckle. Yeah, Violet and Calla made themselves known and not in the good way. “They do.”

Her shoulders fell and she stepped back. “They are very eager about the ball.”

Stepping toward her, I reached out to touch her shoulder but pulled back at the last second. My heart pounded. “So your household did receive the invitation. You saw it.”

She nodded. “I did.”

“You’ll come? Is that why you’re here? Getting those things for the ball?”

Tears welled in her icy eyes as she shook her head. “No. These are for my sisters. They are attending the ball.”

“Why aren’t you?” I asked, trying to quell the desperation in my voice. She was my mate. If it wasn’t for the rules of the council and their never-ending business-minding, I would cancel the whole damned party and claim her as mine.

“I don’t…it’s not for females like me.”

“It’s for all females who are shifters. All of them. And…especially you. I want to see you at the ball, Wynter.”

“You want to see me? Why?” A car blew its horn right behind her and she jumped a mile high. “I have to go. My sisters will be upset if I’m late. The last thing I need is more trouble.”

“Wait!” I yelled and gently gripped her arm. “Will you be at the ball?”

“I have to go.” She took off at a sprint, darting through traffic until she reached a car that drove away, leaving me there, wondering, wanting, and still knowing nothing other than her name.