A Wolf's Tear

two - in simple words.

On the way to Nathaniel's pack, Selena was eerily quiet. Though she had a lot of things in her mind, she didn't want to share any of them. There were far too many thoughts just swirling around her brain that it almost felt that she was about to erupt.

Her clouded mind still stayed at home with her brother, Talon.

Right after Nathaniel claimed her as his, he didn't give her any time to gather her belongings. She carried nothing but the frown on her face and the heavy burden of never coming home in her heart.

While Nathaniel and his men walked ahead of her, Selena threaded gingerly against the cold wind. The coat that Nathaniel gave to her just didn't the job right and the warmth it gave her was minimal.

Her teeth chattered loud enough for Nathaniel to stop on his heels and walked over to her.

"Was that you?" He glowered at her.

Selena stared at his sheathed cleaver slang over his chest. The sight of it drained every ounce of courage in her.

She gulps. "No."

He groans.

"It must have been my imagination when I heard you about to freeze to death."

He raised one brow higher than the other and cocked his head to the side. The act alone made Selena bombard him mentally with a slew of curse words, noting how much of an asshole he was.

A gorgeous asshole with snowflakes sprinkled on his blonde hair.

"I'm fine." She hissed, feeling the cold about to consume her.

Nathaniel was already losing patience which was something of a rarity considering that patience was not a word in his vocabulary. But this dainty-looking wolf in front of him was testing his reserve. If they would rest now, his men would disapprove and they would arrive a day late home.

What he needed to do was a compromise. Another thing that he didn't like doing.

His tongue grazed his lower up while he huffed and turned to his men, greeting their quizzical and stoic look.

They wouldn't like it but for the sake of his mate's well-being, he was forced to be flexible.

"Alright!" He bellowed, immediately catching his subordinates off guard. "We set camp here now."

He could hear a consecutive string of moans and groans. Most of the people here were eager to meet their families. After all, they were husbands and wives eager to see their partners and children.

Lilian, his right-hand approached him. He could already hear the scream that was about to come out of her mouth.

"Alpha, don't you think we should keep going? It's only six hours of trekking until we arrive home." She spoke calmly.

He was surprised at the tone of her voice. It was uncharacteristically relaxed. That just meant that he was in bigger trouble than what she wanted him to believe.

Nathaniel turns to his mate who in his eyes was shivering like a turkey in late winter morning. He needed to choose between his mate dying of hypothermia or hearing his men's bothersome complaints. Their words won't sway him either way but it all boiled down to how much annoyance he could take.

"In these circumstances, normally we continue our travel but since we have a guest who seems to be eager on slowing us down, I ask for two volunteers to set up camp with us while the rest continue on their way home."

He spots the bitter dread that encapsulated her. It seemed like she was indeed planning to give him a hard time. He returns his attention to his equally vexed men, not one of them volunteering.