need.
In response, flickers of pleasure radiate through me, and part of me wonders if I could possibly drag him away and have my way with him again. But that thought also terrifies me. I’m now convinced whatever he did to me wasn’t just a basic bonding to confuse my wolf. Hell, he’s confused me too.
But I don’t want to deal with that complication right now. Just get through this mission, then worry about the rest later.
“What’s going on?” Crius demands, and when I lift my gaze, my cheeks flush, as I’m certain he’s sensed my reaction to Ragnar.
Except when I turn to him, he’s not even looking at me. His attention is on something ahead of us, and I glance in that direction too.
Amid the trees, there are two burning torches in the distance. They flank a shadowy gateway, and on either side of them spreads out a lofty fence made of twisted branches intertwined like snakes. There are no barriers to enter or anyone else in sight.
I pause along with the men, and silence descends upon us. If this is where the witches live, it’s not what I expected. Though in truth I had no preconceived ideas except that it would be bigger. Grander. More powerful.
“So this is where they live, then?” Stone asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer, and I smell the scent of burning wood from a fire nearby.
“It’s probably a maze,” Nikos mutters.
“So do we go around it or enter?” Crius asks, all their attention swinging to Ragnar.
He skims his big palm through his hair, his lips pursed, and he looks at me. “What do you suggest?”
My breath catches.
“I will go and scope it out first,” I answer. “It’ll be safer that way, considering how the last spell went.”
“Not happening,” Stone snarls in response, and I can’t tell if his words come from a place of mistrust or caring that I might get hurt.
“Best you don’t go alone,” Ragnar affirms, which is not an argument I want to have. If they are going to insist, fine.
I drop my bag on the ground, glad to alleviate the pressure from the bite mark, and that’s when Nikos marches right past us. He covers the ground fast with no intention of slowing down.
My pulse thuds in my ears. “Nikos, that’s not a good idea.” I don’t understand his stubborn ass most of the time.
“I got this,” he growls, and his arrogance infuriates me.
Rushing forward, I catch up to him. When we are a fair distance from the rest of the group, I glare at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? What if you walk into a spell? Are you still upset about the bear thing? I didn’t want to hear your stupid secret, okay, so get over it. Next time, I’ll be sure to let you die.”
I storm toward the torched entrance, getting really tired of dealing with so many emotions. This isn’t the state I want to be in when potentially coming into contact with the witches. Distraction will get us all killed, but these Alphas are driving me insane.
Nikos is next to me in seconds, his shadow casting over me, his fingers curling around my arm, bringing me to a stop. “You’re mistaken if you think this has anything to do with that last spell.”
I frown, and a strange silence passes between us as my mind quiets, trying to make sense of his words. I only come up with one reason he could be upset with me. “I don’t know what to say. Ragnar helped me with my wolf problem.”
His jawline clenches. “I’m not talking about you and him fucking, because what you don’t know is that we share everything in this pack. So what is Ragnar’s is all of ours, which means each one of us will now want a taste. But that’s not what I’m pissed at.”
I blink at him, dumbfounded by his revelation, and I want to scream because I never agreed to this. “You’re wrong, because what happened with Ragnar and I was a one-off thing to help control my wolf.”
He laughs bitterly. “Tell me, Narah, how is your wolf reacting this morning to Ragnar? He marked you, didn’t he? You know that bonds you to an Alpha whether you are fated mates or not? While you wear that mark, you will always crave him.”
I shake my head as panic threads over my mind. After Martell, I’m not ready to get my hopes up and have them destroyed all over again. I