Chapter 4

Chief’s words sent dread shooting through Alise. 

“I…I didn’t mess with your animal!” she stammered honestly.  “ I wouldn’t!  I-I don’t even know how!”

Chief shot her a look that said he didn’t believe her and it pissed Alise off. 

“You don’t know me, guy!  So don’t you dare go making snap judgments about me!  Whatever in the hell game you and Monroe are playing has zero to do with me.  Now put me the hell down before I scream!”

Chief’s frown deepened, but he slowed to a stop.  When he looked down at Alise, his eyes were flashing gold.

“I mean it,” she fumed.  “Put.  Me.  Down!”

With an angry sound in the back of his throat, Chief bent and set Alise on her feet.  The second he released her and took a step back, she gasped as a punch of searing pain hit her so fast and hard that she doubled over.

“Christ,” he hissed and picked her back up.  “I’m not just gonna stand here and watch you torture yourself for the sake of your pride, sweetheart.”

She wanted to tell him to go to hell.  She wanted to hurl some scathing remark back, but all she could do was swallow thickly around the pain that was slowly dissipating.  When she was finally able to breathe normally, Alise asked in a voice rough with tears, “What’s…what’s wrong with me?”

For the first time since she’d met him, Chief actually looked repentant but didn’t answer her.  Because he was so tall, his long legs were eating up the ground, and she didn’t realize how far they’d gotten from the reception area and deep into the thick trees until they started to thin as they approached a cabin.

“Answer me,” she pleaded.

“Stricken is the sudden onslaught of recognition.  It happens to shifters and the woman when the first lay eyes on each other.  It’s instantaneous usually, and it’s undeniable proof.”

“Proof of what?”

One side of his mouth ticked up for just a moment before he answered in a voice that was void of all emotion.  “Proof of a mating.  You’re mine, sweetheart.  Least, that’s what Monroe wants me to think.”

The last part of Chief’s words faded because Alise was still processing what he’d just told her.  Mate?  I’m his? 

Mind whirling, her thoughts went back to his threat from earlier.  “My animal thinks you’re ours, so now you get to deal with the consequences of fucking with Beast.” 

Panic ripped through her as she eyed the cabin that was only twenty yards away now.  “I didn’t,” she stammered, one hand fisting the material of her dress right over her stomach.  She looked from the cabin up to Chief and then back.  “I-I can’t…I can’t fight you!”

If possible, his frown deepened.  “Woman, what’s this nonsense you’re speaking?”

“You said I’d deal with the consequences of messing with your animal, but I didn’t!”  He was nearly to the cabin now, and Alise couldn’t stop the whimper that wrenched its way up her throat.  “Please!  Don’t…don’t hurt me!”

Chief stopped on the top porch step.  Eyes going hard he slid his gaze down to her.  “I don’t hurt women.  I told you you’re safe.”

“You said consequences.”

Heaving a breath, Chief stomped across the wooden porch to the front door.  He used the hand under her knees to twist the knob before kicking the door open and carrying her inside.  “It means you stay with me until I get this figured out.”

Alise looked around the cabin.  “I don’t wanna stay here.  I can’t!  Just…just take me to the infirmary.  They can figure out what’s wrong with me.”

“Nothing’s wrong with you,” he growled and carried her to a leather sofa.  He set her down and stepped back cautiously, eyes watching her intently.

As soon as he was away from Alise, her pain came back.  Surprisingly it wasn’t as intense, but it still hurt.

“Jesus,” she breathed.  Wrapping both arms around her middle, she rocked back and forth before wheezing, “Why does it hurt when you stop touching me?”  Her voice grew nearly hysterical as she demanded, “What in the fuck is going on?”

Squatting in front of her, Chief lifted a hand and laid it on her knee.  It instantly helped.

“When shifters meet their mates for the first time,” he explained low and calm.  “It’s called being stricken.  It’s an instantaneous reaction, an acknowledgment.”  He frowned, “Both parties are instantly incapacitated.”

“Like the affliction?”

“You know about the affliction?”

She nodded.  “Alex is my best friend.  She’s Recker’s angel.  I know what happens, I know what it means.” 

“Yeah, the initial shock of it is a lot like the Skin Walker’s affliction, but for my kind, the female sometimes experiences pain without her mate’s touch.”

Alise looked down at his hand on her knee.  Her belly heaved as the knowledge of what he was saying set in.

“It typically doesn’t affect the female as strongly as it has you though.”

Licking her lips, Alise stammered, “A-and you?  Do you hurt too?”

“No, not like that.”  His gaze lowered to his hand and he explained.  “For the male, it actually physically hurts to touch the female.”

“What?”  Alise jerked her knee out from under his hand.  “That doesn’t make sense!  If we’re supposed to be…  If it was fated, it shouldn’t hurt for you to touch me.  That’s stupid.”

Chief huffed a humorless sounding laugh and pushed himself up off his knees.  Rising to his full height, he towered over Alise a moment before he paced away from her and crossed to the hearth where he started stacking kindling and logs for a fire.  “The pain is my animal shredding me from the inside out.  His need to protect and to claim you is fierce.   He’s insanely possessive right now, and it’s extremely heightened because until I claim you, he knows you’re not ours.  He’s worried someone else will come in.  He’s worried we’ll lose you.  This right now is as territorial as he’s gonna get.  It only hurts until I claim you.”

Claim me? 

A tingling sensation drifted over Alise’s skin as she stared at Chief’s back.  He was huge.  Wide shoulders pressed against the thin material of his hunter green flannel that clung to his muscles.  He wore jeans that hugged his hips and tapered down his long legs while dark hiking covered his feet.  He wasn’t built like James.  The two were nearly polar opposites in every way.  Where James was lean with corded muscle, Chief was bulky and built like a brick wall.  Where James was fun and easy going, Chief was dark and serious.  Where James had sandy colored hair and an easy smile, Chief was all dark hair and fierce scowls. 

“I need to talk to a Sentry named James.”

A snarl blasted from Chief as he turned to sneer at her over his shoulder.  “No.”

“I just…”

“No,” he repeated on a snarl, shooting to his feet as his eyes grew dark and icy.  “You’re gonna get that boy hurt.”

“I’m not, I just…”

Chief rolled his head on his shoulders and cracked his knuckles before clipping out, “Don’t!  You can’t talk about other men right now.  It’s too soon.  My animal’s too close to the surface.  Don’t push him, you won’t like the consequences.”

Alise could practically feel the waves of fury emanating from him.  Lowering her eyes, she nodded her head in acquiescence.  “So,” she whispered quietly, “what do we do now?”

He hated how she cowered.  It was one of the reasons he never wanted a human mate.  They were too weak.  “We contact Monroe StoneCrow and see what the fuck he’s up to.”

Alise lifted her head, her hazel eyes catching the soft glow from the flames and making her eyes look like warmed whiskey.  Blinking up at him she nodded, “O-okay.”