Chapter 36

Poppy.

My heart begins to beat against my chest as I feel my pulse racing. I take a step back, knowing that I’m going to be in so much trouble when Adrian catches me lying to him about who I’ve been with.

As I think of a way to get myself out of this debacle, my stubbornness and ego start to get the best of me. All the reasons Gabriel offered me earlier about leaving the pack begin to flood my head, providing me with valid reasons why I’m out here.

I lift my chin and square my shoulders back, trying to give myself the courage and strength for what I’m about to do.

“I don’t have to explain anything to you. It’s not like I’m a welcomed member of this pack anyway. I only live on the outskirts of the territory because of my Grandmother. She’s dead now, so what’s stopping me from leaving the pack and finding a new place to live?” I yell before turning and walking away.

Adrian charges at me and grabs me by the arm to turn me back towards him.

“What are you talking about? Why are you these things? You are the one who disobeyed my orders. You came out here by yourself and seen talking to another wolf from another pack.”

I yank my arm back from out of his grip and cross my arms over my chest.

“Since when has it been against the pack rules to talk to another wolf from another pack? That makes no sense. What if that wolf is my mate? Are you telling me I can’t be with my mate?” I challenge.

A look of pain flashes in Adrian’s eyes for a moment but disappears quickly before the anger is back in his eyes as he stares at me.

“Is he your mate?”

A part of me wants to tell him yes, just to see if that pain would show again in his eyes or see what he would say if it’s true. But my wolf and the other part of me don’t want to lie to him and hurt him by saying things that are not true. The constant battle inside me fights on how to handle this, and it surprises me to see which side has won.

I shrug my shoulders.

“What if he is? What’s it to you?”

Adrian looks away as he runs his hand through his sandy hair. He lets out a defeated sigh before asking me, “Do you even know who he is?”

His question confuses me.

“Do I know who, who is?”

Adrian points his hand out in the direction of where the borderline ends before yelling at me, “The guy you were seen with, do you know anything about him?”

Why is he so hung up on who I am out here with? Why is he acting like a jealous boyfriend right now?

“Why do you care? Why are you even out here anyway?”

Adrian glares at me as his brows furrow, and for a second, his face goes blank as if he’s forgotten the real reason he’s out there looking for me.

“I’m out here looking for you.”

“You haven’t been concerned about my safety in the past. Why are you so concerned about me now?”

My heart begins to palpitate, thinking there might be a sliver of a chance that he’ll admit to feeling our connection.

“I was looking for you to get your side of the story.”

“Story, what story?”

“Lola is accusing you of attacking her tonight.”

Anger quickly fills up inside me. Of course, Lola would lie about what happened earlier to get Adrian to take her side against me.

“And so, you automatically take her side, don’t you? I mean, it’s Lola; she’s protected from everything because of who her mother is, right?” I say defensively.

I shake my head before making my second attempt to walk away from this man, but Adrian blocks me from getting past him.

“Will you stop walking away from me so we can talk?”

“Why? What’s the point? It doesn’t matter what I say or what is the truth about what happened. Lola will always get her way; she’s untouchable and loved by the pack.”

Adrian stands there quietly, not saying a word.

“Your silence speaks volumes,” I tell him before I take off running to get away from him.

I don’t get very far before I feel his arms wrap around me, pushing me up against a tree and pinning my arms above my head with one of his hands.

My heart pounds against my chest as I stare into his golden eyes. His wolf is skirting the surface, and I begin to worry that my wolf will attempt to come to the surface to get him to sense her.

Adrian pushes his body closer to mine as he keeps me pinned against the tree. His hot breath hits my skin, making me get hot and wet in places I have no control over.

I try to avoid looking into his piercing eyes, but he makes it difficult as he growls out my name.

“Poppy.”

I close my eyes as I try to regain what little control I have over my treacherous body. So many tempting thoughts fill my head of what I want Adrian to do to me while he has me pinned against this tree.

When I finally decide to open my eyes and look into his eyes, they’ve returned to his standard eye color as he tries to attempt to get a read on me.

He continues to stay quiet, and his silence annoys me, so I yell out, “What?”

He looks down at my lips, and at that moment, I make the mistake of licking my lips and running my teeth against my bottom lip.

His eyes light up when he sees this, and he leans in closer, being mere inches away from my face.

My breath gets caught in my throat, and I do not know if he’s going to kiss me or not.