Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

I escort Clarissa around the back of the failed alphas as we follow Vlad into the village.

The snow-covered ground crunches underneath our feet as we head for the road. There are very few people out and about, what with the snowstorm that is hanging over the city. There are monuments erected to Lord Wesley. Statues of his likeness on more corners than I care to count. I hold Clarissa close to my side, my arm wrapping around her waist as she presses into me.

I can still feel her tre

mbling with the last of her fear.

“It’s been a while,” Vlad says. “What brings you to our corner of the world?”

“Just wanting to see an old friend,” I say.

“Forgive the men out there. You know my father’s archaic rules.”

“I do. And rest assured that if anyone else lays a hand on Clarissa, I’ll kill them.”

“Wait, they touched her?”

Vlad whips around before his eyes land on her. I can see the want in his eyes. The way he’s taken by her. I watch his nostrils flare like mine had in the beginning. He is trying to distinguish her scent. Not quite Primal, but not quite human. No trace of me, yet she’s cowering at my side. She’s an enigma to him, and I can see the curiosity in his stare.

Great. Another male to contend with.

“Well, I might have touched her, too, if given the chance.”

I can hear Clarissa growling in her head, and I hold her at my side. She can’t retaliate. She can’t show force against another alpha. This is how it goes. Female Wolves have no say in who takes them as partners. It’s their purpose to submit. Vlad knows she’s mine, but that isn’t going to stop him from wanting her.

Like I know he does.

“Come. You two must be hungry,” he says.

“I could eat,” Clarissa says.

“And I hope you have a voracious appetite,” he says. “Because the food of this village is succulent.”

Vlad falls in line on the other side of Clarissa, and I feel her press deeper into me. I’m trying to shield her, but Vlad has his eye on her. He knows something isn’t right, and that isn’t going to play well in our favor. I wasn’t sure if the bond we made that night when I healed her wounds would be strong enough to mark her as my property, and apparently, it wasn’t.

“Taken care of, huh?”

I peer down at Clarissa, and I can see her eyeing Vlad curiously.

“Shall we?” he asks.

The scent of food sends my glands into overdrive as I escort Clarissa into the restaurant. It’s filled with alphas and their mates. Women sitting on their laps and crouching at their feet.

Dressed in all sorts of outfits their mates prefer. Clarissa

throws a look up at me, and I clench my jaw. I know what’s going on. I know what Vlad’s trying to do.

He’s trying to smoke us out.

He’s trying to make sure Clarissa is bound to me.

“Do you trust me?”

I slide into a booth and pull her close to me as Vlad sits across the table from us.

“Shall we order?” he asks.

“Of course, I do.”