Sealed Mates

Chapter 9

..

BRENNAN

I glared at the bobbing head of my so-called wife. Every time her head fell to the side, the rage that consumed my chest only grew. She was the one who had come to my bed last night. How dare she act like she was tired? Like she was about to fall asleep at any moment.

My enforcer rode beside her, sending glances in her direction, as if he was worried she was going to fall off her horse. He’d pulled me aside before we had left the other pack house to say it might be best we stay there another night. But, considering I was now saddled with a wife, I wasn’t about to see what that Alpha would try to make happen after a second night.

“If you keep glaring at her, she’s still not going to disappear,” Asher said from my other side.

I turned my glare on him. “I’m supposed to be happy I got forced to wed a girl who drugged me and slept with me?”

Asher shrugged, his gaze going to my wife. “Doesn’t something seem off with you about that?”

“Only that she had the nerve to still be in my bed the next morning,” I muttered.

“I don’t understand the bargain her brother made. You marry her, then send her back when you don’t want her anymore? What’s the point of that? Why insist on the marriage in the first place.”

I cut a look at my beta. “You think she’s a spy? Of course she is, I’m don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. Well, as far as I can throw Terrin, actually. Though she seems to have enchanted our enforcer. Do you see the way he’s looking at her? What did she say to him, do you think?”

Asher blinked, and looked over at the two of them. “Enchanted isn’t the way I would describe his expression. More like worried. He wanted to stay an extra night, didn’t he?”

“I’m not going to coddle her because she’s a little tired after her late-night excursion. She can figure out how to ride through it, since she wanted to be in my bed so badly.”

Terrin’s gaze moved to mine, and he dropped away from my wife to join us. “You might want to make camp soon.”

I snorted. “Has she convinced you she needs to sleep? Has she already started to act like the princess she clearly thinks she is? No, we ride until our predetermined campsite and that’s final.”

Terrin’s mouth twisted in irritation, but he didn’t argue. I was the Alpha. He could give me all the advice he wanted to, but in the end, I was the one to make the decision.

“Why?” Asher asked. “What makes you think she needs the sleep?”

I saw the way Terrin glanced at me before responding. As if he thought I was going to be unreasonable. Maybe I was being that way, but the anger that consumed me wouldn’t release its grip, and I felt like I hadn’t taken a full breath since I had woken up that morning to feel the warm body beside me.

The warmth had felt nice. At first, I had tightened my arm around her warmth, keeping her close to me. And, it wasn’t for longer than I cared to admit that I realized I was lying next to a stranger that I didn’t remember bringing to bed with me. That I would have never brought to bed with me. Even then, I had been reluctant to open my eyes and face the reality of the situation. She had felt so right tucked against my side.

But, no, she wasn’t right. I would know if she was my fated mate, which would be impossible, anyway. Not with her not having a wolf. And she clearly didn’t have a wolf, with how weak she was and how tired she seemed to be.

“I think she might be hurt,” Terrin finally said. “Something seemed off after the ceremony. She couldn’t walk right. She was holding the wall. She barely made it onto her horse. I don’t know how much longer she’s going to make it before she passes out. At this point, I think it’s sheer force of will keeping her upright.”

I blinked and snorted again. “How did she worm her way into her head so quickly?” I asked him. “You’re our enforcer. You’re supposed to be watching out for threats to our pack.”

Terrin gave me a strange look. “You think she’s a threat? That girl? The way she acted at the ceremony, I would say she has been living at the bottom of that pack her entire life. You’re angry, and you are taking it out on her.”

“Who else should I take it out on?” I retorted. “She was the one I found in my bed. She is the one who could be carrying my pup against my will. Who I am now married to, however short of a marriage it’s going to be. I’m stuck with her for now, but I won’t be forever. Don’t get attached.”

Asher let out a gasp, and my eyes darted to my wife, who was tilting over the side of her horse. An instinct I didn’t think about had me spurring my horse forward, and I barely caught up with her to catch her in my arms before she fell to the ground. A quick look at Terrin had him catching the reins to her horse, and I pulled the girl fully onto my horse in front of me.

She was limp in my arms, and an uneasy part of my head was convinced that wasn’t something she should be able to sleep through. I glanced at Terrin, to see him giving her another one of those worried looks, and I blew out a breath. Then I brought my nose closer to her and drew in a deep breath.

There, under the fresh soap and perfume she had used to clean herself up, there was enough of a hint of blood that I flinched, realizing Terrin might have been right. Running my hand under her head, I found the lump that confirmed she had hit her head.

With a sigh, I sent an annoyed look at Terrin. “Set up camp. And find the healer. She seems to have hit her head.”