Captive Mate - Eliot Grayson Page 0,70

to apologize for — I was a big, bad shaman and able to take care of myself ninety-nine percent of the time. And when it turned out I couldn’t, in that particular instance, he’d ripped Parker to shreds for me anyway. Win-win.

But it felt so fucking good to hear. I sniffled a little.

Of course he heard me, and he reached up and petted my hair, stroking me like someone would pet a cat.

And yeah, it worked on me just like on any other cat. I leaned into him, stifling the rumbles that wanted to rise up out of my chest. At least I was standing up, so I couldn’t roll over and show my belly and meow.

“It wasn’t your fault. I was going to go after him anyway,” I mumbled into his chest. His alpha hearing could handle that too; I wasn’t going to move. I was too comfortable right where I was. “If I’d done that without any backup, I’d be — I wouldn’t be here right now. He resisted my magic. I don’t know how, but I couldn’t fight him at all.”

“Talked to Colin Kimball about it on the phone a few minutes ago,” Matthew said. And there was that little emphasis on Colin’s name again, like he hated even saying it. “He confiscated Taft’s possessions. There were a few — amulets, I guess? Little cloth bundles, with instructions that were in this shorthand we couldn’t understand.”

“Spell bags. Yeah.” Well, that explained a lot. I’d been wondering how Parker had managed to time Tyler’s freaky poison-claws and his own resistance to magic so perfectly without having a shaman along. Sounded like he’d had that fucker from his allied pack make him a few tricks to take with him. It wasn’t easy to craft those things, but both of the effects I’d observed were definitely possible for someone with skill.

“Right,” Matthew said. “Those. I guess he had a few more for emergencies. Kimball asked me to see if you wanted them.”

I shuddered. Yes, I did, because turning down a chance to analyze someone else’s clever magic was fucking stupid, but…I’d have to touch something that shaman had touched. And examine the textures of his magic, something as intimate as touching a person. And I couldn’t do it.

“Tell him to put them in a metal drum or something, buried in salt, douse them in gasoline, and light them on fire. And then throw the whole drum away without touching the contents.”

“You can tell him yourself when you go back to the Kimball territory.”

I jerked my head away from his chest and stared up at him. “What the fuck? I’m not going back there. Are you trading me to him for something, or — I’m not going to just meekly let you —”

“No!” Matthew sounded as aghast as I felt, and his eyes went wide with shock. “Fuck no. I’m not trading you — no. Of fucking course not!”

“Then what the fuck did you mean?” I snapped.

His lips were too close. His arms were around me, one hand in my hair again. If he tilted my head a little, we’d be kissing.

“I meant Kimball sounded like he’d be seeing you soon,” he said. “So I — assumed. I mean. You two know each other a lot better than I’d thought.”

It probably should’ve twigged much sooner than it did — but then, I wasn’t primed to expect men to give a shit about me after they’d fucked around with me once.

But the men I fucked around with weren’t werewolves, and they sure as fuck weren’t alphas. Possessive, overbearing alphas who thought they owned anyone they came in, on, or around. Any preposition would do, really — because they were alphas.

“Who I know and where I go isn’t any of your business.” Fuck. Here I’d been thinking Matthew might really care, and instead? He was letting his alpha instincts and his dick lead him around. I wrenched myself out of his arms and took a step back. “I’m leaving here this morning. That’s all you need to know.”

For a second, something like panic flashed across Matthew’s face before it settled into that neutral expression that always meant he was keeping something off the surface. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Not before you take this spell off. That’s not negotiable. The Armitage pack won’t ever come after you. In fact, you can think of us as allies after what you did last night, helping with the spell and saving Nate’s life. You