Surrender (Werewolf)

Chapter 17

He pulled me back into him and tightened his grip around my waist nearly cutting off my air. He buried his nose in my hair and deeply inhaled my scent. He didn’t move for minutes making the time in his arms seem longer than what it really was. Not that I minded, but his actions had me worried. He was acting beyond strange.

When he finally released me I caught my breath making up for my lack of air from his hold. I leaned back into his desk and steadied myself.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong or continue to freak me out a little more?”

He didn’t speak and rounded me and the desk. My eyes followed him when he picked up something and handed it to me.

I reached out for it and gasped when I saw what it was. A picture of Jennifer and I was grasped between my fingers and it was only from yesterday. We were on the balcony in her room talking. The picture had to be taken sometime yesterday evening from the woods. It was a good distance away but it still freaked me out that someone had taken it.

“Where did you get this?” I asked warily looking up at him from the photograph.

Why did Kieran have this picture? Was he having me watched? No, that doesn’t make sense. I’m on his land. He has eyes and ears everywhere. He didn’t need pictures. But why was he showing it to me then?

“This was sent to me this morning. That’s not all. Read the back of it.”

Hesitantly I flipped it over and examined the white background with a message written in black ink. In beautiful, perfect calligraphy it said: This is how easy it was for me to get to her. Release Tobias or the next time it won’t be a warning.

I felt my throat constrict and I released the photo letting it fall easily onto his desk. He was there the entire time. He was just watching us. Did he hear us too? The thoughts of him being so close to me sent unwelcome shivers up my spine.

“What do we do?” I asked shakily.

Kieran rounded the desk and grasped my shoulders. “We don’t do anything. I’ll handle it.”

“Handle it? Handle it how?”

“Let me worry about that. The less you know the better,” he said hoping to ward me off the subject.

“You said you wouldn’t keep things from me and I’d like to know.”

He just stared back at me unmoving and silent.

I placed my arms on his and walked into them leaving our faces only inches apart. “What are you going to do? Please tell me it’s not killing Tobias. That will only make things worse. Axel will only seek retribution.”

He continued to remain unmoving as he spoke. “But this is only the start of mine. He threatened you and killed my parents. He has it coming to him.”

I ran my hands through my blonde lengths letting out a sigh of frustration. He was acting out in anger from the threat. He wasn’t thinking logically. He was letting whatever he was feeling for me cloud his judgment.

Gently placed my hands on Kieran’s face and brought our heads together. Living with my parent for all of my life I had learned a few things about mates. Calming my dad down was something that I had witnessed my mom do multiple times over the years and it shouldn’t be hard to mimic it. It always seemed to work for her. Though, they were true mates. I wasn’t sure if that made a difference or not, but I knew I had to try.

“Find another way,” I said gently stroking his face. “You’re acting in the heat of the moment. Don’t make it worse by doing something you may regret later. The last thing we need to do is act prematurely in this situation. We’ll figure this out together. And if it makes you feel any better I won’t leave today. I’ll stay here.”