Somehow, Celeste felt a prickly sensation at the back of her neck when Emma said Jeremy was mad.
Her wolf urged her to rush to Jeremy's side to calm him down, but her mind reasoned that he would sense her presence anyway, even from a distance. He should have noticed her the moment she stepped into the base. Jeremy would already sense that she had come back safely, so she didn't have to go directly to him.
Deep down, she was fully aware that she was just not prepared. She was not ready to see the man now. She didn't know what to say to him. Congratulate him for being recognized as the Alpha of the pack? Congratulate him for having many she-wolves willing to be his Luna?
Again, Kent's offer whispered in Celeste's head like a spell.
Celeste returned to her room and, upon opening the door, found Jeremy sitting in a chair. When he heard the sound of the door opening, his eyes immediately darted to Celeste. His brows furrowed. The flicker of frustration and anger flashed across his eyes, and his lips pursed as Celeste walked into the room and closed the door.
He rose to his full height immediately, his muscular arms tensed at his sides. His long legs stepped forward, eating up the distance between the two of them.
"Where have you been?" He demanded, his voice cold and controlled, but the anger beneath the surface was palpable. "I agreed to let you go out with the others, but you can't just leave the group like that. We don't know when those hunters will–"
He froze before the sentence was finished. His nostril flared. He was just one step away from Celeste, and his tongue seemed to have vanished.
The familiar silence between them landed and stretched for a few seconds. But to Celeste, it felt like hours.
"You met him. Again. You were with him," Jeremy squeezed these words out of his teeth. It wasn't a question, but a statement. His tone was very certain. Although he didn't specify who "him" referred to, they both knew who he meant.
Celeste couldn't help but wonder how Jeremy came to this conclusion.
"You reek of his scent," Jeremy sneered, seeming to know exactly what Celeste was thinking.
Celeste sniffed herself automatically, but she couldn't detect Kent's scent on her at all. She didn't understand why Jeremy was so sensitive to Kent's scent. It was the same that morning when she hadn't even been in contact with Kent, and Jeremy had already detected his smell.
Probably this was the mate bond's fault. It must have made Jeremy paranoid and ten times territorial. All she did was talk to Kent in that house, and suddenly Jeremy was making a fuss about it.
And that was when Celeste remembered how Kent had locked her in his arms and covered her face with his hands. Suddenly, she was more aware of Kent's scent on her. Looking at the flame in Jeremy's eyes, she was somehow hit by a touch of guilt.
"What did he do to you?" Jeremy's low voice pulled Celeste out of her thoughts, carrying clear malice. He even bared his teeth slightly as if threatening Kent's scent that had the audacity to linger on her. "His scent is much stronger this time. What did he do to you?"
Jeremy took a step forward, completely engulfing the distance between them. Now, they were almost touching each other.
Celeste's heart pounded in her chest. She could feel the heat emanating from Jeremy's body and his breath brushing against her cheek. She needed to look up to meet Jeremy's eyes. "He… He didn't do anything to me."
Celeste exhaled, trying to take a step back to create some space between her and Jeremy so both of them could talk more comfortably. But Jeremy seemed to have other ideas. He shot out his hands and firmly grasped Celeste's shoulders, holding her firmly in place.
He leaned closer to her and inhaled.
"You reek of his scent everywhere. Where the fuck did you go? What the fuck has he done to you?" Jeremy's voice was low and menacing, filled with threat and fury. Celeste could even hear the growling sounds coming from his throat. His wolf was furious, too. And now he was lurking right beneath his skin.
"You went to his cabin?! Alone?!" Jeremy's voice echoed with disbelief as he repeated Celeste's words. His face twisted into a mask of concern. "Do you even realize how dangerous it would be? That's where those hunters tortured a wolf to death! And you still went there, all by yourself?!"
"I...I just wanted to check it out. We've been there before and there were no hunters around. I don't think it's dangerous," Celeste replied, staring into Jeremy's eyes. In this position, she had to lift her head to look into his eyes, which made her feel weaker.
"You don't think it's dangerous? You met that rogue bastard there!" he sneered, angry veins clear on his forehead.
"So what? He's not dangerous! He didn't harm me," Celeste blurted out before she could stop herself. Her words seemed to strike a nerve in Jeremy, and his expression darkened.
Without warning, Jeremy grabbed Celeste and slammed her against the wall. She gasped as the impact knocked the wind out of her. His deep voice rumbled in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "He's not dangerous, huh? Now you know him so well that you can judge whether he's dangerous or not. Is he dangerous when he traps you against a wall like this?"
Every word that Jeremy spoke was mixed with his breath that crawled into Celeste's ear, making her ear and neck itchy. And she could smell the scent of grass and earth mixed in with it. Her heart raced. She felt her skin flush with heat as she tried to catch her breath.
Jeremy's closeness was overwhelming, and Celeste felt as though she was drowning in his presence. She tried to keep her focus on his face, but her eyes kept drifting down to his lips, which were only inches away from hers. She felt his heart beating violently through their connected chests. And that only served to accelerate her own heartbeats.
"Well? Answer me..." Jeremy demanded, his voice low and husky. His eyes burned into hers. His words were supposed to be threatening and commanding, but when they came out of Jeremy's mouth, they involuntarily tinged with heat and desire.
"I..." Celeste stammered, her voice hoarse, too. She was teetering on the edge of a cliff, and one wrong word could send her tumbling over the edge.