Chapter 6 Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

~Ignas POV

The Skull Pack

“You are being sneaky. You said you are not my mate, but look at you!”

My spine straightens as if I was struck by lightning. I cleared my throat and looked away, gripping my fingers tight.

What was I thinking, lowering my guard down like that?!’ I scold myself and slap myself mentally.

Lykon’s voice is low but is laced with accusation, though it sounds more playful than confrontation. It was almost as if he was teasing me. I had thought he was asleep, he was not.

Damn him.

His breaths had started to get heavier, his eyes shut and so forgive me for thinking he was asleep. But there he was, watching me through slitted eyes, a smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth.

I bit back a snort.

I shoot to my feet, feeling my ears and cheeks flush.

Goddess, I was acting like a moody teenager. Perhaps it had been long since I last experienced this feeling.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” I muttered, trying to regain control of this situation by raising my chin and acting like the flipping composed Alpha I was.

“I am,” he replied easily. “Resting and making accurate observations. You were staring.” He didn't let up the smirk by the corner of his lips as he slowly took his arms behind his head, resting on it, his beautiful deep golden eyes fixing into mine.

I felt my breath hitch at the stare and I immediately tore my gaze away.

“You’re insufferable.” I muttered.

He chuckled, the sound deep and rich, sending a ripple across my skin like a breeze. “So I must've been told, I suspect.”

I took a step back, arms crossed tightly over my chest, trying to regain the composure I thought I always had but am now realising I never really had around him. “You don’t remember anything. This… this isn’t real. You’re confused.”

“No,” he said, his voice flattening. “I don’t remember anything from before. But what I feel now? That’s real. I don’t need a history book to tell me what my wolf already knows.”

His words hit me like a ton of bricks. He sounded so sure. He says them with the kind of certainty I wish I had when it is about us. But I know better. I have to.

“It’s the bond,” I whispered. “It messes with your emotions. Makes you think things that aren’t there. I can't be your‐”

He sat up straighter, muscles rippling under the thin sheet covering his torso. “Or maybe,” he said, “it just reveals what was already true.”

I looked away, focusing on the way the curtains were tied by the window rather than the tugging in my chest. “You’re not thinking clearly,” I murmured, trying to get my raging wolf in check.

What was wrong with her? Why is she jumping and howling inside and also calling me out for being a hypocrite? I'm doing this for us, Claire.

Claire. That's the name of my wolf.

“Maybe I’m thinking clearer than I ever have.” he responded, the challenge in his voice evident as he stared up at me.

I can’t look at him, not when he’s looking at me like that. Like I’m something sacred he wants to protect. Like he’s already decided that he'd stay with me forever.

Maybe I was just overthinking this. There's no way someone stared at someone like they're sacred. Besides, I don't need anyone or any Alpha to protect me. I'm the Alpha. I can protect myself. And my pack.

At least that's what I tried to tell myself.

“Ignas.”

He said my name with reverence, and I hated how much I like it. But then how did he know my name?

He probably heard it when Roy called me.

“I feel it,” he continued. “In here.” He tapped on the left side of his chest. “This… this calling. This pull. I don’t know who I am, but when I see you, I know I want to be. And I want to be right here. With you–”

“Stop it,” I breathed out, interrupting him, turning away before the dam of emotion I’d been holding back for years cracks open. “You don’t even know what you’re saying. That bond—you saved me, Lykon. You nearly died. You’ve lost everything. I can’t be what you cling to just because I’m the only thing familiar to you!” I snapped.

Silence stretched between us as I felt his gaze burn into my back. Then, after what felt like forever, I heard the rustle of sheets and his bare feet softly hitting the ground.

I turned around abruptly and saw him standing up. My eyes widened as I rushed towards him without thinking, my hands going to his shoulders to help him up.

“What are you doing?!” I yelled like a mother scolding her child as I tried to guide him back to the bed, “You have not fully recovered, you're still sick, Lykon!”

He gripped my hands instead, his fingers sliding to my arms as I felt a jolt of heat run through my entire being. I tried to pull away, but his grip on me tightened.

“You think I’m clinging to you because I’m broken?” His voice was soft, his eyes drilling holes into mine. “What if I told you I’m not clinging at all? What if I’m choosing you? Because I like you?”

“Don’t do this,” I whispered, almost pleading. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

I could already feel the heavy thumping of my heart. People around me only got hurt. First my dead husband died because he was fighting by my side in the war. Next, Lykon lost his memories and now his pack because he tried to protect me.

I shouldn’t let him in. I won't let him in.

“I’m not trying to make anything harder,” he said, his fingers reaching up and brushing a strand of hair from my cheek gently. “I just…” he sighed, “I want to understand why you’re so scared of being mine when you already know in fact you belong to me.”

I felt my thighs clench at his words.

Belong to him. Oh goddess!

“You need to rest. You’re barely standing.”

“And yet you’re the one who looks like she might fall apart,” he murmured, a tiny smirk creeping to his face.

The truth is he wasn't lying. I have already started to unravel. Piece by piece, since the moment he fell unconscious in my arms in that war.

Roy chose that moment to enter, bless his timing. He froze when he saw the distance between me and Lykon.

Or no distance at all because we were practically glued to each other.

“Well,” he said, clearing his throat. “I see someone’s feeling better.”

I stepped back, too quickly, clearing my own throat, “He got out of bed. Can you deal with him before he tears his stitches?” I said.

Roy grinned, clearly catching on. “Of course, Alpha. Though I must say

, he’s a strong one.”

Damn Roy and his grin.

I flee the room before either of them can say another word.