Bad Love an Alpha’s Regret by Elise Sinclair

Chapter 314

AXEL

I come across Emily just as she tosses the rabbit carcass aside.

A few times when she’s run off on me, I’ve scented traces of blood and assumed she’d been hunting.

The hunting instincts vary from wolf to wolf.

Some have very strong compulsions and regularly shift into wolf form to hunt. Some will even hunt in human form. I’d heard

Tobin was one such wolf.

Others, the compulsion isn’t as strong, so maybe they only hunt under a full moon.

As I watch Emily step over to the river to wash the blood from her hands and mouth, I wonder if she’s always had a high hunter drive, or if this is a new development since her captivity.

I can’t say whether she hunted in human form just now, or whether she had done so in wolf form like usual and had just shifted back when I came upon her.

It probably doesn’t matter in the scheme of things, but if it starts looking like it might be causing issues or getting out of hand,

then I might have to consider talking to Aaron about it.

one more thing about Emily I’ll have to monitor closely.

I can also pick up the quickly dispersing scent of some kind of male.

It’s weak, so I can’t tell if it was another wolf or human.

We’re not far from the public hiking trails the humans use around these parts, so there’s every possibility it was just someone passing by, and they had no interaction with Emily whatsoever.

mostly my wolf–feels a twinge

that is a thought–a reality–I will have

rejected Emily as my mate.

she’s free to go find another mate, should the Moon Goddess decide to bestow her a

no idea how I’m going to handle

be around to see

is enough to set

Now, I’m fuming.

fact that Aaron and I emerged from our frank talk to realize Emily had run off

but his

to find her right away.

thinking about the fact that Aaron had told me I couldn’t change my mind about rejecting Emily as my male–not that I ever would–and if I did so, he would kill

don’t take his

kill me. Well, he

put up one hell of a fight. But there’s every chance with the power of three Alphas at his beck and call, he’d quickly be able to

been drawn in the sand.

off limits for good, and that’s the way it should

which direction she’ll need to go in order to get back to Rathborn lands.

bored expression on my face, even though inside I’m an inferno of conflicted tensions.

along like she doesn’t have a care in the

realize I don’t think I’ve seen her looking this at ease and

time she’s been gone to improve her

my insides clench at the way the light immediately dims in her eyes,

actually afraid of

have you been doing out here?” I demand, the accusatory

defiantly. “Aaron may have appointed you as my minder, but I don’t have to tell you everything

inflame

you do have to