A Wolf's Tear

nineteen - a double-edged sword

The man only glanced at Selena and nodded.

“Your will be done, Alpha.”

“Perfect! Now, if you would allow me I need to be there before my wife gives birth.”

Joseph disappeared in a flash, leaving Selena in the presence of the wolf with an absorbing energy. She was unwilling to speak with him mostly because of the grim aura surrounding him.

Sadly, she didn’t have a choice when the man himself took the first step and spoke.

“Luna Highcliff,” he says, his deep voice prickled Selena’s back with untrimmed nervousness.

She braced herself and looked him in the eyes.

“Selena is fine.” She says.

“Are you sure it isn’t a trespass?” He asked, lowering his face to hers.

There was something wrong about him though she couldn’t say exactly where. Those bright blue eyes reminded her of her cousin, so dark and untrustworthy.

She gulped. “I was never used to the title. It sounds silly to me.”

“A title is never silly, dear wolf. Though if I was to be honest, it is a burden.” He spoke. Dorran took the back of her hand and kissed it. “Dorran Doyle, temporary Beta for Alpha Joseph. Nice to meet you, Luna.”

“Temporary?” She arched a brow.

He chuckled. A dimple on his lower right chin appeared, catching her off guard.

“You see? I’m only a temporary Beta but I don’t shy away from it. I can introduce myself with a smile.” He says. “You’re a Luna, don’t say your title sounds silly.”

Surprisingly, he was fairly nice. The way he talked was smooth and cool, relaxed even and she regretted judging him too early. Though only a true maniac would be walking around topless in a snowy January day.

She softened, masking her uneasiness with a composed laugh.

The tall stranger only looked at her with a fixed gaze, as if he was examining her. With him paying her too much attention, she felt her stomach churn.

“But why temporary?” She asked again.

“Well, if the Beta Tobias would have come here then no one would be helping Luna Amber back in the pack. So Alpha Joseph picked me as his right hand because he thought I was capable, I guess.”

“Perhaps you know how to fight?” She says, grimacing. “I mean, he did leave you here. He trusts you to train them, unlike Beta Julius…”

Her eyes veered to her left and stared at their Beta, in the morning, under bright daylight, pushing a man up against a tree while their lips were locked together. Two minutes more then maybe they would be naked and Selena would have witnessed another one of Julius’s very public displays of affection.

“Beta Julius is reliable too, I guess.” She smiled and turned her attention to him. “But, anyways. You can fight, can you?”

His blue gaze hardened and she immediately recoiled, stunned by how it pierced her. She wondered if she had asked him the wrong question.

“Fight? Well, I’m certainly better than the people around here.” He answered surely.

Selena caught wind of his tone, somehow she spotted an inkling that he was reserved and the smug tone he just used did not function too much of a veneer towards the words hidden under his mind.

She felt his wolf. From the distance between them, his threatening energy started to overlap her senses. Maybe that was why she couldn’t trust him. His powerful wolf, almost like an Alpha’s had silently tracked her. She also couldn’t relax because of his necklace. Why would he need to hide his scent in the first place?