Chapter 38

Adrian.

“Fine! We’ll stay out here, but just for the night. Tomorrow, we need to come up with a plan for your sleeping arrangements that doesn’t involve being vulnerable out in the woods all by yourself,” I grumble.

Poppy looks at me with a pointed brow, “We? You’re staying out here tonight, too?”

I run my hand through my hair while letting out a huff. “Well, I can’t very well let you stay out here by yourself. What kind of Alpha would I be if I did that?”

“I’ve stayed out here before; you don’t need to babysit me.”

I walk over to Poppy and tower over her as I stare down at her. A smirk appears on my face as I watch her face scrunch up with annoyance about our height difference.

“You have not been out here alone since we’ve had Rogues coming onto the land and causing trouble.”

I can see Poppy’s irritation rise in her eyes, but I don’t care. Her stubbornness isn’t going to outdo mine. “Now, let’s go find a place to bunker down for the night,” as I start to look around for a spot that would be safe for us to sleep.

While looking around, my brows furrow, and the hairs on my arms stand up. Something isn’t right out here.

“Have you noticed that none of your warriors have passed through here for quite some time?” Poppy inquires.

A growl rumbles from my chest.

One more thing I get to add to my list of worries with this pack.

“Get your clothes on; we need to do a bit of reconnaissance before we can go to sleep for the night.”

Poppy lets out a heavy sigh as she glares at me. “Stay here; I’ll be back in a little bit.”

She turns and heads east into the woods before disappearing behind some trees. It’s tempting to follow her to see where she’s going, but I know that it will only make her angry and cause us to fight.

When Poppy returns, she’s wearing the same clothes as before.

“Let’s head back over to where those trespassers found you and see if we can pick up anything. Maybe some warriors have passed through there since I left.”

Poppy rolls her eyes at me before she starts making her way back to that area. I shake my head as I begin to follow her, making sure no one comes up behind us and jumps us.

Once we get to the site, I notice the man I killed earlier is still there. I shake my head. I guess his buddies didn’t think he was good enough to carry back home to have a proper burial.

Poppy gasps.

“What happened to him?”

“I killed him.”

Poppy looks at me as if I’ve gone insane.

“Why did you have to kill him?”

I detect disgust in her voice when she asks me.

I look at her with no shame or regret for what I did and answer, ‘Because he was disrespectful and said our pack is weak because I’m the Alpha.”

Poppy’s silver eyes narrow at me as she looks at me with bewilderment. “So you just kill him. Just like that. Why is it that our pack always resorts to violence in order to settle things?” Poppy exclaims.

Poppy’s walking on thin ice. I can hold my tongue only for so long. I don’t understand why she’s getting so upset about me killing a wolf that’s trespassing on our land. It’s what we do; we kill to protect our own.

“What would you have me do? He thought the pack was weak; I had to show them that we were not weak or someone to mess with.”

“You could have outwitted them or something. Why does everything have to end with death?” She cries out. “Gabriel didn’t have to kill anyone to save me,” Poppy lets slip out.

Her eyes widen as she clamps her hand over her mouth at her mistake.

I knew it.

“Gabriel, huh? So that’s who rescued you earlier from those wolves.”

I pace back and forth while rage and, for some reason, jealousy is tipping me over the edge, and my temper is about to blow a gasket.

I turn back around to look at Poppy, point to the dead wolf on the ground, and yell, “How do you know he wasn’t working with these guys to fool you?”

Poppy’s eyes shift away from mine. I can see she didn’t think about that.

“Tell me, what does he want from you?” I demand.

Poppy shakes her head as she moves farther away from me.

“Nothing, we just talked.”

In the distance, I sense my warriors running this way.

It’s about damn time.

Once they reach us, a small group of wolves slows down and stops. One of my captains shifts back into his human form to speak with me.

“Alpha, I’m glad I’ve found you. There have been a series of attacks around the other borders,” the captain informs me.

So that’s why I haven’t seen any warriors pass through here. Gabriel needed an escape route.

That sneaky bastard.

“Is everyone alright?” I ask.

The captain nods.

Relief flows through me, knowing that Gabriel’s series of attacks hurt no warriors. I look over at Poppy, and my blood begins to boil. I can’t be near her right now; I have to get away and blow off some steam. I know I told her that she could stay out here for one night, but with the attacks and finding out Gabriel wants something from her. I can’t take the risk of him trying to get to her again.

“Great. Do me a favor and make sure Poppy gets back to her home safely,” I order.

Poppy’s eyes fill with anger, “Wait, that wasn’t the deal you agreed to earlier.”

I stare down at the small girl in front of me, meeting her death glare with one of my own. “I don’t have to justify my actions or my choice of changing my mind with you.”

Before she is able to get a word edge-wise, I shift into my wolf. He looks at her one last time with his golden eyes before taking off and running towards the pack house.

I shift back into my human form once we hit the driveway to my home and storm into the house, not caring who is around me to see me without clothes. I walk up to the first concubine I see and grab her by the wrist, yanking her behind me to take her up to my room.

There is so much pent-up aggression inside me that I need to release, and I don’t care who’s in my bed to help me get that release.

I hope this girl is up for the challenge. I’m ready to go all night if it helps me stop thinking about the dark-haired, silver-eyed, wicked girl dancing in my head.