my word to help. I not just slip away. If you think that, you don’t know me well.”
His heart beat fast. “Then what the hells is going on here?”
“I-I travel separately.”
“Excuse me?”
She took a deep breath as if bracing herself. “You not the only one who can take care. I take of you, too.”
Another burst of rage. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
Raina’s note had said the same thing. I do this for you, Grif. Because you won’t leave without me. Because I’m not like you. Because it’s too late for me. Bullshit. If she’d really fucking cared she would have stayed alive and had faith that he’d somehow find a way to keep them both safe.
“Too bad.” Nayla’s voice shook. “You say before that I free to make my own choices. Traveling separately is my choice.”
His confusion increased, though the red fog of fury clouding his brain lessened as the fact that he might have misread the situation finally penetrated. Mostly because she sounded so earnest, and outraged.
“Nayla, what’s going on?”
Her expression crumpled. “I not allow you to be Gazi like me.”
His stomach contracted. He sensed he was still going to be feeling like shit in a matter of heartbeats, but for a completely different reason.
He hooked his rope back on his hip. “Explain.”
“Th-they upset with you. Because of me.” The words rushed out, so fast and accented he knew she was beyond upset. “I hoped it would lessen, but it only get worse. Lana say you should be k-kicked out. I never allow that to happen to you.” She threw her shoulders back and stood taller. “So, I-I travel separately. Sleep separately. Th-that way I do what Lana want. Malin, too. Keep distant from you. R-remove taint. Then they not focus on what happen and you can stay.”
Ah, hells. No wonder she had the sleeping blanket. She was willingly isolating herself—the very thing she hated most—out of some mixed-up attempt to protect him.
Of course, he should have expected something like this. The social dynamics were all new to her. She had no idea who held the power and what was possible. It didn’t sound as if there was much free speech among pack. If Talg didn’t like something, it led to punishment, isolation, or banishment.
She couldn’t know his team didn’t work that way. Or that it would take a lot more than whining by those unhappy with his choices to get him gone. He, the commander, and Ryker were solid for life. Rescued civilians like Lana had a lot of latitude, but if they didn’t approve of the way the team ran things, they were welcome to leave and seek protection elsewhere. He, and those he’d claimed as his, weren’t going anywhere.
“Nayla, baby, come here, please.” He opened his arms.
All along he’d been telling himself his worry was all about protecting her. That was true. But it was only half the story. Somehow, someway, this female had gotten so deep under his skin there was no going back for him. She was fast becoming the tether to his sanity and his soul. He could not lose her. For his sake as much as hers.
She shook her head. “No. I return at light and stay with females.”
“Not happening.” He bounded over the largest rock between them.
Her eyes went wide. “N-no, I never drag you down with me.”
“I’m a fucking savage Other. I don’t get dragged down, baby. I do the dragging.” He kept coming. “If anyone doesn’t like us together, they can take it up with me personally.”
“But if they make you go?”
“They can’t. They won’t.” His hands closed around her shoulders and his lungs finally started working right. “My position is secure.”
He ran his palms up and down her arms, unnerved all over again at how fragile she felt beneath his grip. “I also want to make something very clear. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”
The lines at the bridge of her nose deepened, but she didn’t speak.
“You don’t want to be physical with me anymore, that’s okay.” He forced the words out. “You don’t want to stay in my tent, that’s fine. But I need you to remain a part of the team and to tell me what you’re thinking, no matter what.”
She placed her hand on his chest, the sudden flare of lust and need in her gaze slicing through him like a laser burst. “I do want to be in your tent.”
Red hot need slammed through him, but