Faithfully Yours (Book 2, Dominantly Yours Series)

One

Gabe and Nate had talked about it—with her present, thank Goddess—and decided she could do patrols around the border as long as one of them went with her. It wasn't the safest job, which was why Claire fought so hard to do it. The other members of the Mistwood Valley pack did it, so why shouldn't she?

Both of them had tried to get her to do pack house patrol instead. But everyone knew the pack house patrol wolves were just glorified hall monitors. They only sat around the pack house and monitored the outside, basically as a last result should someone sneak past the regular patrol wolves. Nothing ever did.

They'd made her do that for about four weeks until she'd convinced them she was strong enough to guard with the big wolves. Hooray that it had finally worked out.

Nate leaned further over to kiss her on the head. "Okay. But we're still watching that movie tonight."

Claire's stomach dropped. She'd been hoping he'd forget about that. "The scary one? Do we have to?"

"I'll be right there. I promise."

"Fine. But when I have nightmares—"

"I'll be there too."

From the other side of the table, Gabe made a gagging noise. "Ew. Love."

Claire only winked at him.

If she didn't know for a fact that he could be ruthless when he needed to be, Claire would've thought Gabe was good for nothing. But no, she'd seen the man in combat, seen the serious intensity in which he fought and protected those he cared about. She'd also seen the strict way he trained and commanded his men, and that made her feel better about having him on her side.

Gabe was for real. That was a given.

They finished up their lunch after that. Nate snagged the bill, despite Claire's attempts to at least pay the tip, and paid for the entire thing. The entire group then headed back to the pack house.

~

The wind brushed through the reddish-brown fur along her back. Claire refused to let it distract her from the tiny creature collecting material at the base of the tree trunk. The chipmunk picked through pieces of grass and sticks, searching. Unknowingly being hunted.

Her wolf had hunched down behind another tree and peered around towards the prey. The first rule of hunting: never lose sight of the prey. Her hind legs pushed up a bit, and she wiggled, ready to attack. Her wolf eyes narrowed.

The chipmunk chittered over toward the other side of the base.

In a flash—before Claire even considered it—her wolf struck. The chipmunk was quick work under her paws and an even quicker meal. With one crunch, the chipmunk was gone.

If there was one thing in life she'd learned from being a wolf, it was not to overthink hunting kills. While she loved chipmunks as much as the next person, the idea of eating one still had a tendency to make her queasy. Yet, her wolf relished in the hunting and had no problem killing for food. It was a basic instinct for her wolf, and her wolf ruled solely on the instincts given to her.

Before Claire had enough time to really consider what had happened, Nate padded over. His dark fur gleamed in the tiny pieces of moonlight that peaked through the treetops. Her wolf purred at the graceful way he stalked over and rubbed his cheek on her muzzle.

They'd each separated briefly on their way to the pack border to hunt down their own snack. Now that that was complete, they moved together toward the edge of their border.

Nate knew the way better than she did, and in this case, her wolf did not mind letting her mate lead the way.

At the edge of the border, one of their pack members—a tall, lanky man by the name of Paul—waited for them. They usually did patrolling in wolf form, so the reason Paul was human right now was beyond her.

He gave a slight bow of the head as the two of them approached. "Alphas."

Alpha. That word would never be one she could get used to. For most of her life she'd gone by the rank of Omega, the last of the last in the pack. To hear herself referred to at the top of the rankings caught her off guard. It might have been different if she hadn't skipped straight up to the top. If she'd gone up one rank, maybe it wouldn't be as weird.

Her wolf did not think it was weird at all. In fact, her wolf wanted her to be treated at a higher rank than Alpha. Royal. And that would be even weirder to hear.

Nate didn't seem surprised that Paul was in his human form. Or that he was without clothes. He must've just Changed, then.

The last few times she'd done border patrol with Nate, the men from the last shift had already headed home. Although, the last few times, she'd met Nate near the border. So maybe at that point he'd already sent the past volunteer on their way.

"Border's been quiet so far," Paul told them, carefully keeping his eyes low. It was not a good idea to look an Alpha in the eyes when they were in their wolf form. Wolves had a tendency to take it as a challenge, and either had to assert their dominance on the other wolf, or beat the other wolf into submission. It was very important that the other wolves understood who was higher than them. This way, the natural rankings of the pack were not confused. It prevented plays for power.

"Nothing more than a deer or two, really. Shouldn't be much of a problem tonight."

Nate's wolf nodded slowly, sending Paul on his way.

The rest of the night passed quietly. Nate and Claire paced steadily along their section of the border, alert for anything out of the ordinary. When nothing showed up by the end of the shift, they went back to the pack house to enjoy what was left of their night after making sure the next shift took over.

All was quiet. Her life, the pack, and her relationship. No, not quiet, content.