Chapter 11
(One week later)
Modess rolled his head on his shoulders trying to alleviate some of the tension there. He’d been more than irritable lately and he couldn’t place why.
“And then…” Christian began, but Modess held up a hand.
“No one fucking cares, Christian!” His reply had all of his enforcers eyeing him curiously. They weren’t the problem though. Wanda shoved off the wall from where she’d been leaning, watching him intently the entire meeting. Her brows snapped into a scowl, and Modess should have expected it. He could get away with talking to most of his enforcers anyway he wanted, but Wanda wasn’t about to stand around while he talked to her mate like that.
“Everyone out!” she bellowed.
Knowing better than to tangle with the Alpha’s sister, the group of enforcers that filled his living room stood in unison and exited the house. Christian stopped to plant a kiss on his wife’s temple and tried to whisper. For some reason Modess’ senses had recently gone on high alert, so he picked up Christian saying, “Take it easy on him. He’s been off lately.”
Wanda watched her mate exit the house and then turned on her brother.
Modess shot Wanda a warning look, but she crossed her arms over her chest and met his glare with one of her own. “What’s your fucking problem?”
Snarling, he shoved to his feet and paced the length of his living room. “Nothing! I don’t know! Something feels…wrong!”
Wanda’s fierce look slipped and her arms dropped to her sides. “What do you mean wrong? Wrong with you? Are you sick?”
“I’m fine. It’s not me. It’s something else. I just feel on edge all the fucking time.” Plowing his hands roughly through his hair, his muscles bunched and flexed with the tension filling him. “I feel like I should be doing something. It’s been keeping me from sleeping.”
Wanda’s attitude was gone and now she was all in big sister mode. “Well, when did this start?”
Rolling his head on his shoulders, Modess sighed, “A little over a week.”
Brows knitted, Wanda bit her lip and then just as quickly released it. “Since you went to Shadow Wolf?”
He blinked, brows dipping as if he just now realized the connection. “Yeah. Guess so.”
“Soooo,” Wanda grinned. “Since Hillary’s been here.”
“That’s not it,” he snapped in annoyance.
“Okay, okay,” she threw her hands up in a show of surrender. “Look. Just…relax! You didn’t eat much at dinner.”
He shot her a look. He didn’t know anyone had noticed.
“Which sucks for you, brother, because Hillary’s lasagna was phenomenal.”
His stomach growled at that.
“It’s late.” She looked at the window. “Try to get some rest. We’ll talk about this in the morning when you’re a little less crabby. In the meantime, I’ll get you a snack from the kitchen. It might help take the edge off. After you eat, you should shift and go for a run. I can feel the heaviness radiating off of you. If I can feel it, I can only imagine what it’s doing to your enforcers.”
He nodded, knowing he needed to do something.
Once alone, Modess went to his bedroom where he stripped down and changed into a soft pair of low slung, black, cotton pants. He wasn’t going on a run tonight because the last few times he’d shifted, his stupid fucking wolf took him straight to the guest cabin. He told himself it was because Hillary was an outsider and his wolf wanted to keep an eye on her, but deep down he knew better. His wolf was interested in her. Hell! They both were interested in her. It’s why he’d been unable to sleep, but he sure as shit wasn’t telling that to Wanda. And he certainly wasn’t putting himself out there after he’d shown up at the kitchen like a crazed lunatic the other day. For some reason, his wolf had felt compelled to take him directly to the kitchen, knowing Hillary would be there. Hell, her damn cupcake scent perfumed the air and called to him each and every day. That day, he’d been unable to ignore his wolf and had stormed to the kitchen. When he’d gotten there, Wanda had been with Hillary and he hadn’t really had a plan of action. He’d wanted to bark at her to stay away from Henry, but he couldn’t do that with Wanda there because it would have been…odd. So, he’d fumbled for an excuse before demanding to know what time lunch would be served. Worse, when he’d caught up with her as she took Simone and Bull lunch, he’d practically dragged her back to the guest cabin where he’d been unable to keep his hands off her.
That woman had him acting like a damn fool and that couldn’t continue. He had a reputation to maintain. The pack females were alternating shifts in the kitchen learning to cook. It’d been over a week and his enforcers at Shadow Wolf were itching to come home, which meant Hillary would be going back home soon too. Problem was, he was having a difficult time convincing himself that he was happy she’d be leaving.
Something about her called to him. Sure, she was sexy as seven shades of sin and at night his dreams were filled with the thousand ways he wanted to bury himself inside her, but there was more to it. He liked that Wanda and Hillary had become instant friends. Wanda trusted few people and the fact that she liked Hillary spoke volumes about the woman’s character. Also, he liked how she treated the other females in his pack. At meal time, when he watched her in the kitchen, she was patient with everyone, even the young girls who made a mess or got in the way. Hell, she was more than patient. She laughed and spoke easy. Wanda had also told him that Hillary had asked if there was anything else she could do to help with the pack. It’s more than a lot of his own shifters had done.
Still, Hillary was a weakness. A weakness that was keeping him from sleep, keeping his attention from the pack, keeping his focus from his enemies. Soon, she’d finish teaching the women and she’d be going home. All he had to do was steer clear of her and that damn sweet scent that never failed to have his mouth watering, his dick going hard, and his sack filling with seed that he wanted more than anything to pump deep inside of her.
Fuck! Just thinking on it had his balls drawing up tight as his suddenly engorged cock twitched.
Stay away from her, stay away from her. Stay the fuck away from her!