White Rose Pack (Chapter-7)

Adina’s POW

As she followed Colin up the stairs, she got a mind link from Cernack.

‘Is it true?’ he asked.

‘It is,’ she answered, not wanting to talk about it with anyone just yet.

‘This is a problem,’ he replied, and she felt anger rise.

No, she couldn’t afford to lose her cool just now. She could feel Colin’s and Sean’s anger bubbling just under the surface of them both. She didn’t want bloodshed on their first day here. The first day with her mate.

The idea was still foreign to her, but the feeling of magic gently moving over her skin where he touched her told her this was no mistake. She blocked out Cernack.

Colin stopped in front of a door, his bedroom apparently, but once again, Colin and Sean squared off. Adina looked at Colin and could see that his eyes shifted from their light grey colour to a deep orange. He was losing control to his wolf; she realized. She once again stepped in between the two men, this time turning her back towards Colin, without letting go of his hand.

“Wait at the bottom of the stairs, Sean,” she said.

He gave her an angry look, which caused a deep growl from Colin. Adina could feel that growl vibrating through her body. Colin let go of her hand and instead took a hold of her waist, trying to pull her to the side so he would have free access to Sean.

Adina saw Sean’s brown eyes switch to blue. Perfect, she thought as she resisted being moved by Colin. She laid her hand on the arm around her waist but stood her ground.

“Sean, now,” she said, making it clear this was not a request.

She never ordered him to do anything usually. But this was different. He needed to listen to her.

“I am not in any danger, agreed?” she said. He reluctantly nodded. “Then you will listen to me, and you will go down and you will wait for me there. I will call you if I need you,” she said and after looking into her eyes for a moment, he bent his head in a slight bow, turned around, and left.

She let out a small sigh of relief. She could feel Colin slowly relaxing, gaining control over his wolf. His arm around her waist now pulled her against him, and she allowed it.

She relaxed with her back to his chest. He bent down, placed his nose against her neck, and took a deep breath. That sent a shiver down her spine, and she had to fight not to let a silent moan escape her lips. They stood like that for a minute or two before Colin guided her gently into the room behind them.

To call it a bedroom was an understatement. Rather, it was a small apartment. They entered a large room decorated in brown, forest green and cream colours. At one end of the room, there was an enormous fourposter bed. On the other end, a living area with a couch, tv and a desk. There was a small kitchen to their left and a couple of doors leading out of the room, which were closed.

“Come,” Colin said, once again taken her hand and leading her towards the couch.

They sat down. Adina had a feeling that Colin would have preferred her in his lap. And truthfully, she may have preferred that, too. But she needed a somewhat clear head, and she found that difficult with him around.

Her wolf was howling for her to throw everything to the side and just accept this mate bond, to mark him, let him mark her and complete the mating bond. It was distracting. So, she instead crawled up close to him, facing him, not letting go of his hand.

“Why did you step back from me? You are my mate; you have nothing to fear from me.” Colin asked.

Wow, not beating around the bush, she thought. But maybe it was for the best.

“This is complicated. For me, a mate bond is complicated,” she said.

She needed to make him understand. But she could see in his eyes that she confused him.

“It’s not that I don’t feel it. I do, I really do,” she said, taking her free hand and stroking the back of his hand that was holding her other hand. Making the sparkle of magic tingle her fingertips.

She wanted this; she wanted him. But she couldn’t do that to him. She already cared too much for this man to hurt him. He was an alpha. He belonged here with his pack. She could not stay forever, she was here temporarily, and she already knew that leaving him behind would damage her heart beyond repair. But it would be worse if they let this go further. She sighed and tried to explain.

“I live in constant movement. I never stay in one place. It’s a life I can’t ask you to share,” she said.

“You are my mate. You will stay here. This is your pack now. You are their luna.” Each statement he made had a firm determination behind it. She could tell he was not willing to step down.

“And what do I do when they come for me? What do I do when they find out where I am? You know why I’m here, why I move around,” she asked.

“I am your mate. I will protect you. As will the pack, we protect each other. All pack members are safe here,” he insisted.

“And what will I do when you and our pack get hurt or killed because of me? How could I ever live with that?” Adina was desperate to make him understand. But instead of seeing her point, Colin smiled. Adina was confused.

“What?” she asked.

“You said our pack,” he said happily. “Adina, you know you belong here just as well as I do. You belong with me, you are mine.”

Adina couldn’t help herself but smiled in response to his smile. But she lowered her head so that he wouldn’t see.

“Is this because of him? Is there something between you two?” Colin asked and put his fingers under her chin to make her meet his gaze. He didn’t need to specify who he was referring to.

“No!” Adina said firmly and met his eyes, trying to make him see that this had nothing to do with Sean.

“Sean may be overprotective. That is his job. But there has been nothing between us other than friendship. He is the closest thing I have to a brother,” she said, trying to explain what Sean meant to her.

But it was hard putting it in to words. Colin looked into her eyes for a long period before nodding as he accepted her explanation.

“I am your mate. I will protect you from now on,” he said, implying it was time for Sean to retire.

“I’m sorry, my friend, but I will not send Sean away. You two just need to deal with the fact that you both want to protect me.” Adina said.

This was not something that was up for debate.

“I do not care that you think you will leave this pack. We have time to change your mind, little dove. But when you stay here, you will stay in our bedroom and you bodyguard will not be sharing a room with us. He will get his own room on the guest floor. He may not like it, but I do not share my mate with anyone,” he said looking at her.

The thought of Sean in a sleeping bag next to the big bed in the other end of the room while Colin and her slept in the bed made her laugh.

Judging by the surprising look on Colin’s face, this was not the reaction he had expected.