Alpha Wolf Rising by Eliza Gayle Page B

I’ll see if I can settle him with some food.”
    With a nod of her head and a flicker of relief in her eyes, she padded from the room.
    “This isn’t going to end well.”
    “I know.” Nolan sighed heavily with the weight of their future on his shoulders. And the knowledge that he could no longer stand in secrecy made it so much worse.
    Both men re-dressed in silence, aware that everything had changed and nothing would be the same.
    “Why don’t you go get cleaned up too?” Marek shook his head. “You and your crazy syrup ideas. My dick is still half-hard from watching that little scene. If we didn’t have pressing matters to deal with, I’d be in there fucking her blind.” He crossed to the oven and pulled the platter of remaining pancakes from within. “I’ll see if I can get Cole to calm down and eat something.”
    “He’s still sedated, but he keeps breaking through it pretty quickly. You should be careful.”
    “I can take care of myself with a half whelp like him.” Marek brushed past him and headed for the basement.
    Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep Cole sedated forever, and judging from the anger of the former alpha, it wouldn’t be long before news of the changeling swept through the pack, and then all hell would break loose against Sierra.
    Her skills made her more than capable of taking care of herself, but that did little to ease the fierce protectiveness that reared through him at the mere thought of her in danger. The need to take care of her had practically been bred inside him and his whole life was dedicated to the ability to do just that. Loving her only made it worse.
    And that prick of knowledge tingled at the base of his skull, warning him. Someone would die tonight, and there were a host of candidates for the role. His instinct, or intuition as Sierra preferred to call it, never failed him.
    Ever.
    Death was headed their way, and there would be no stopping it.

Chapter Nine
     
    A sense of duty and something else Sierra had yet to put a name to led her down the stairs. Whatever the reason, she needed to see Cole. If only to stop the whimpering she couldn’t escape from. Cole’s instinctive need to be near her revealed volumes about his condition. If the human had control, his pride wouldn’t allow him to beg for her.
    With every step she took toward him, a fresh stab of guilt sliced through Sierra’s gut. Seeing him in need would do her in, and she had no clue where the will to say no would come from. Her own body had gone on high alert at the first inhaled scent of his heat. It tore through her senses and into her womb. Sure, they’d been lovers for months, and she’d developed real feelings for him up until the moment he’d ripped her heart out and called her freak trash.
    Yet her instinct hadn’t been to maim or kill as it should have. Instead she’d developed the uncontrollable urge to bite him. The desire to make him claim her overrode all of Sierra’s common sense. Now the smell of one of her mates’ desperate need whipped through her with such force it was no different than if Nolan or Marek were like this.
    The wolf wanted what the wolf wanted, and taking care of her mate, or in her case, mates, took precedence over everything. It was up to the human side of her to control the situation. To maintain the balance between right and wrong, good and bad. Dealing with Cole definitely fell into the realm of bad. With every whimper of her name that fell from his lips, more moisture gathered between her thighs, and doing anything about it was out of the question.
    Animal attraction didn’t excuse everything. There were pack rules to deal with, and there was commitment and honor between Nolan, Marek, and her, which she’d already strained beyond normal limits.
    On a final deep breath, Sierra walked into the dimly lit room to find Cole lying on the bed and Marek sitting at the table with a platter of untouched food. Their eyes met, and the anguish she saw there ripped at