Sealed Mates

Chapter 11

BRENNAN

I scowled at the look on Lorne’s face when he walked out of the tent that held my wife. I gritted my teeth at the word, even only in my head. I still couldn’t believe I had been forced to marry her, but if I had left her behind and she had been carrying my pup…

Shaking my head, I forced those thoughts from my mind. I wasn’t going to think about what could have happened. I had married her. She was going to come home with me. And if she carried my pup, I would know about it.

“What?” I snapped at Lorne, earning me a roll of the eyes from Asher, who stood beside me. He had informed me I was being a jackass while in my bad mood, but I didn’t think there was anything that would get me out of it. I didn’t like being forced into situations I didn’t want to be in. “Did she give you a sob story about what happened to her head?”

Terrin, leaning against a nearby tree, shot me a glance, irritation flashing in his eyes. I knew he didn’t like the way I was treating the girl. I knew he was more sympathetic to her than I was. But, if he wanted to be the one who was forced to marry, he could decide how he would react to it. I didn’t think I was being unreasonable.

The frown on Lorne’s face grew as he took in the look on my face. Whatever he read on it had him stopping a healthy distance from him and dropping his eyes to the ground, as if worried he was going to accidentally meet mine.

“Kiera didn’t say anything about how she got hurt other than she fell,” Lorne said. He spoke in a softer tone of voice than I was used to, and I found my own frown growing. Maybe Asher had a point about how I was treating people. I didn’t want to alienate my own people, I just wanted not to be in this situation. And I wanted the girl not to be pregnant. That would complicate my life even more than it already was.

“Then what’s with the frown,” I asked, trying to keep the growl out of my voice. From the way Asher shot a glare at me, I could tell I failed, but I forced myself not to show the guilt I felt on my face. Being an Alpha meant standing behind what you did, no matter what. Or, at least, that was what my pride told me in that moment.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Lorne said. “There were multiple points on her head where it seemed she had been hit. She said she falls down a lot, and I haven’t experienced this myself, but that’s what a lot of people say that are being abused and don’t want to tell anyone, right?”

I shifted, trying to contain my irritation. “Abuse? Maybe it’s something of a leap to go from hitting her head to abuse. I’m sure that’s just what she wants you to think. The girl forced this situation after all.”

Terrin let out a snort filled with disgust and pushed away from the tree. He walked away from all of us without a word, and I knew I should call him to task for that. But, I focused in on Lorne, whose eyes were darting between Terrin and me, as if he was trying to figure out what was going on. Terrin and I didn’t fight all that often. He was too loyal, and I was generally too level-headed. But, I knew he was being manipulated by my wife. And he just wasn’t willing to accept it.

Lorne cleared his throat when he realized I was staring at him, waiting for him to continue, and shifted his feet. “It’s not just that,” he muttered. “She refuses to let me look her over. Seemed almost panicked when I suggested it. And it’s covered by her clothes, but I swear she is way thinner than she should be. Even if she is wolfless. If I examined her, I would be willing to bet she is nothing more than skin and bones. Even her cheeks are too sunken in.”

That caught me off guard, and I had to think back to only the hour before when I had carried her into the tent. I hadn’t been paying attention to how light she had felt. I hadn’t even been paying attention to her injury. All I had been thinking about was how this was going to add time to our travels. And how annoyed I was by it.

My eyes flashed to the tent, and I was tempted to go check in on her. See what I missed when I was distracted, but I forced myself to turn my attention back to the healer. She was my wife, but I didn’t care about her. And nothing she said was going to make me care about her. I knew who she was. She was manipulative and conniving. She had arranged for this whole scenario.

Hadn’t she?

“I think you’re thinking too hard,” I finally said. “I carried her earlier, and she seemed fine to me. If she doesn’t want to be examined, don’t examine her. It’s her choice, even if it is a stupid one. And, if she gets herself killed because of it, it won’t be my fault, and we won’t have to go to the trouble of having to bring her back to her brother’s pack.”

Lorne was silent for a moment, his eyes wide as he stared at me. Then, seeming to realize what he was doing, he dropped them back to the ground. “Yes, Alpha,” Lorne muttered, the tone of his voice changing as he said that, then he gave a small nod and walked away without another word.

“You realize you shut him down? And don’t even tell me you think she isn’t too skinny. I didn’t carry her, and I can see what he’s talking about. Carried her into that tent. Are you really going to tell me she’s perfectly fine? I don’t like the situation anymore than you do, but I trust Terrin, and he isn’t often wrong about people. It might be a good idea to talk to her for a while. Get her side of what happened. From what I gather, you’ve only let her speak a couple of words since you woke up this morning.”

I cut a scathing look at him. “If I want your opinion on my wife, I will ask for it.”

Asher’s brows show up. “Alright. I’ll give you the night to get over this, but, Brennan, you need to see sooner rather than later that you’re being unreasonable when it comes to her.”

He walked away to go help finish setting up camp, leaving me alone staring at my wife’s tent. Was I being unreasonable? How should I have reacted to all of this?

I stood there another five minutes, then shook my head and walked into my own tent. Maybe Asher was right, maybe I just needed to sleep on it.