The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 103

Chapter 103-1

“We’re not going to kill the boy. I already told you.”

“Maybe you’re not going to do it, but I’m in need of a new pair of slippers,” the panther complained, with a hiss between his teeth.

His attitude seemed to irritate his feline companion even more, because the other one frowned violently and showed his fangs.

“Álvaro, aren’t you listening to me? No one is going to hurt him,” he emphasized, with a severe growl in the back of his voice. “There’s no need, he’s just a useless cub; we can find another use for him. Now take him to the cage, with the other one. Do it. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

That impressed me enormously. I think it struck all of us who were there and weren’t felines: although Álvaro was still not very happy with the decision, he snorted and bared his teeth a little before yielding. What Luke had said was very true-the lions’ power of submission over other feline-men was very strong, like Alexander’s leadership influence over the other wolf-men. The lion was dominant and subdued his companion, even though he was “his other strategic half,” without much effort. I began to doubt again that the panther acted one hundred percent of his own will after witnessing that display of fierceness and command that had left us all speechless.

How had Luke managed to refuse his will?

For a very short and very tense moment, it occurred to me that perhaps he hadn’t refused anything. But I couldn’t start distrusting the sheriff at that moment-not when he himself had killed one of them to help us.

“…fine, but the woman is mine,” Álvaro agreed, in a hiss.

“Très bien, I will raise no objections to that. You have unfinished business.”

The panther looked at me with those bright yellow eyes, in a chilling cadence that swore he would eat me alive, very slowly, after doing unspeakable things to me. It was obvious that my trick with the shot to his shoulder and the words I threw at him on the way to the sawmill had affected him deeply; his fury made his tail whip in nervous, restless arcs. I began to regret provoking him, but the prospect of having saved Andre and Sasha at the time was worth more than any survival instinct I might have had.

With a rough motion, the black creature grabbed Andre by the arm and practically tore him. from my hands amid struggling. The boy turned quickly toward him and bared his teeth, and I knew that could end very badly-

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Chapter 103-1

“NO!” the little wolf shouted, twisting against his captor. “HAN! HAN!”

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“No, André, please!” I soothed him, grabbing his little face with both hands, my fingers sinking into his fur matted with moisture. To calm him, I flattened his ears against his head while whispering, “Don’t fight, sweetheart, don’t… go with him. Go with him, darling, I’ll come get you in a moment.”

Andre’s eyes found mine again, filled with fear and anger.

And it hurt. I didn’t want to promise him things I wasn’t sure I could fulfill. I could see the desperation in his gaze. The last confident words we had shared with Alexander echoed again in my mind, and I convinced myself he was right: Andre feared that the same thing that happened to his mother would happen to me. I nearly broke down crying right there. But if he wasn’t there, if he could reach Rex, maybe we would still have a chance.

That boy was intelligent and had strong willpower. Maybe he could-

I managed to convince him to go.

“Please, just go…” I said again, wiping the tears running down his furry cheeks with my fingers. “Everything will be fine, I promise you, sweetheart. I swear it. Trust me. Aren’t we

friends? Hm?”

It was hard for him to let go of me-and for me to let go of him.

But Álvaro pulled his arm again with a hiss and dragged him toward the stairs. As Andre was taken away, he looked at me once more with those big blue eyes, furious and frightened at the same time, and I felt faint, as if with every step that took him away from me they were tearing a little more life out of me.

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“At first, I swear I thought about killing you because I was sure it would be quite a feat. That’s how I was raised, you know? I’m a hunter, always looking for new prey, new challenges. I found you by chance, I confess, but you seemed like an interesting challenge. You’re not an easy type to ignore; I can feel your dominant instinct more clearly than I’d like. That’s enough

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to tempt anyone-to challenge. I already figured you were a white wolf, beautiful, and that you’d make a magnificent rug,” he began with a sigh, leaning back better on the desk, sitting sideways with one thigh raised, never stopping pointing the pistol at Nika and me. “Anyway, I didn’t expect you to come talk to me so casually, being alone in the territory and having family. I would’ve expected a direct attack without anesthesia at twilight, something like that. That, my friend, was almost a provocation. You surprised me in a way I can’t explain.”

He paused, looking at Alexander as if he were some kind of religious vision.

“Do you realize? It wasn’t going to be just any game-it was going to be THE GAME. I could feel the excitement running through my veins with an intensity you wouldn’t believe. I NEEDED to kill you. Damn it, I still need to. And then I discovered you. I can say I found Illya Valinchenko’s heir and killed him-can you imagine the potential? No, you have no idea. I wonder if your blood is as blue as they say.” He smiled venomously when Alexander’s clouded eyes widened in surprise. It left me stiff as well. “Or what? Did you think you had accomplished something by pretending to be dead, that you’d hidden well? No self-respecting feline goes around without knowing which dogs he should fear most. They taught me everything about your family. But I’m not afraid of you,” he emphasized those last words with a low growl (very different from the wolf-men’s, much hollower and deeper) from the back of his throat before continuing, “Because deep down, you’re nothing extraordinary. YOU ARE MY PREY. And you wouldn’t have been so lucky if you’d been surrounded by your pack, believe me. It would have been SO easy to reach you.”

Alexander took a moment to answer him. Hadn’t the lion said earlier that he had sedated him? Had he used tranquilizer darts or something similar?

“…I don’t see how it would have been easy for you,” the wolf barked, growling.

The other pretended to think about it for a moment, shrugged.

“I wouldn’t have had to work so hard,” he commented lazily, tilting his head. “I told you-you were lucky to make it this far. Mark a point for being entertaining…”

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