Stolen and Forgiven (Branded Packs #1)(8)

She blinked. “You changed me. Is that what you’re saying? Because if that’s true, you didn’t give me a choice.” She ran a hand over her chest. “I…I don’t know how I feel about that.”

He winced but didn’t defend himself. “Shower, Ariel. Now.”

“Don’t order me around.”

“I’m the Alpha, siren. You’ll have to get used to listening to my orders.”

“Siren?” she asked, her head spinning.

“It was either that or mermaid.” He shrugged then picked her up, holding her close to his chest.

She let out a yelp and wrapped her arms around his neck so she wouldn’t fall. “I can walk,” she snapped.

“Can you?” he asked in that annoyingly arrogant tone.

She actually wasn’t sure she could walk at the moment, but that didn’t give him the right to pick her up wearing only a sheet. She didn’t even know this man. Mate or not.

Jesus, what was going on in her mind?

Holden strode to the bathroom, but she kept her attention on the space around her. The place looked like a small cabin with dated furniture and electronics. She’d never been to a shifter compound before and hadn’t known what to think of it. Right then, though, she didn’t want to think of it. Instead, she needed to find a weapon and get the hell out of there. He might say she was his mate, but she didn’t miss the fact he hadn’t said she was safe.

He set her down on the bathroom counter, the sheet safely tucked around her. “What are you doing?” she asked, her throat still a little raw.

“I’m getting you cleaned up. I’d let you soak, but we need to get the filth off of you and we don’t have enough hot water for a long bath anyway.”

She shook her head, trying to clear it. “Why don’t you have enough hot water?”

Holden looked at her like she was crazy. Considering she was trying to have a normal conversation with a shifter who claimed she was his mate while she wore only a sheet and was on the hunt for a weapon, maybe she was crazy.

Her hand slid over to the hair shears lying on the end of the bathroom counter. They weren’t large, but they were at least something. For a moment, she thought his gaze had caught the movement, but she wasn’t sure.

“The SAU regulates our hot water supply.” He snorted. “They regulate everything. I might be Alpha, but I don’t have small children who need a warm bath while I don’t. So I don’t take up much of the supply. Now come on, let’s get you out of that sheet and in the shower.”

Before she knew what she was doing, she had the scissors at his throat and her foot on his hip. She hadn’t known she could move that fast. In fact, she’d never moved that fast—not even in all the fights she’d had in the orphanage as a kid.

He let out a sigh, which surprised her considering the position they were in. “You don’t have to fear me.”

“Excuse me? You’re a freaking shifter, and I’m not supposed to fear you? No. I don’t think so. I don’t know you, and now you want me naked in a shower? I had to be naked, dirty, and strapped down for those bastards. I’m not doing the same for you.”

He thrust his hand out and took the scissors out of her hand, throwing them in the other room before she could blink. “We will discuss what the butchers did to you soon. I’m curious as to why they would study you, though I have a feeling it is just one more thing in their long line of demented procedures. As for getting you in the shower? I’m a wolf. We do not care about nudity as much as humans do. We need to be naked to shift or we’ll lose our clothes. We’re not perverts or whatever you think we are. But we do respect the modesty of others if they so require it. As for you at this moment, you can’t stand on your own. I know you think you can, but you’re weakened from what they did to you as well as the bites I had to make to save your life. I am not going to cop a feel or pound you against a wall to have a taste of you. I have more control than that. However, I’m also not going to ask a female to walk in here and help you. You’re my mate, and my wolf won’t allow another in the room with you in your fragile state—even a woman who is sexually attracted to men.”

She never thought she’d ever hear so many words come out of this man’s mouth all at once. She also had no idea how to take anything he’d just said.

“Set me on the floor or something so I can wash off,” she said, her voice firmer than she thought possible. “I’m strong, Holden. Stronger than you think I am. I won’t let you take over my life.” It was a life, she knew. Oh, she was strong, but she didn’t know about the world of shifters and everything that life entailed. She had a feeling she was as far out of her depth as she could possibly be.

He tilted his head, looking so much like a wolf she had to blink. “You might be strong, Ariel, but you are not as strong as me.”

“Bullshit. If you say I’m a wolf like you, then I’ll learn to be strong.”

He looked surprised for a moment then nodded. “And I will teach you to take care of yourself.”

“I can already take care of myself.”

“Then I will teach you how to take care of your new self. Because, Ariel, your life has changed; every decision you make from here on out will affect more than just you. I will protect you, however. Know this.”