Alpha's Regret: His Wrongful Rejection

And in case I’m in danger of letting myself forget, my brain casts up the memory of my wolf’s claw slicing through her soft skin, the horrible scent of her blood in the air. But then I think about walking away, and I want to puke. I want to fight something that can fight back….

He growls and jerks his head in the direction we were heading before he stopped her. She casts a despairing glance toward the dark thicket and whimpers. He snaps his teeth. She blinks. He butts her flank with the flat of his head. She topples over, her head dropping to lay listless on her front…

“Good girl,” he says like an afterthought when he sees I haven’t moved. He scoops me up, slips the sling over his head, and resettles me against his chest. My heart rate slows. He takes off again, running alongside the road. He puts a good three or four miles between us and the gas station…

“I’m not trying to brag or anything.” He sighs and frowns. “It’s just how he is.” “I know. I can’t hear them either.” He seems so unhappy that I tack on, “My wolf doesn’t have super hearing or super smell or anything,” just to keep this strange conversation going. “She’s a good wolf,” he says….

He snarls back. I nip his lower lip. His growls quiet, although they still vibrate his chest. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know what I want, and he has it. I lower myself to his lap. He widens his thighs so I can kneel on the tops of them and open myself….

He detonates. Metal scrapes. Screeches. There’s a bang. Light floods the box. He’s airborne. He’s ripped the panels from the container, leaving jagged holes in the sides. He’s trailing chains. He lands on the man with the taser, knocking him on his back. The electrified barbs sink into his fur, shock jarring his bones, gasoline…

Smith takes a few steps further into the box, closer to Mari. My whole body primes. “You think you can hold out four whole days, Conan?” He grabs Mari’s wrist and drags her arm to her side, baring her breasts. She tenses all over, but she lets him. Why? She’s stronger than he is. I…

“I know,” I throw back, but my heart warms a smidgen. I did do right. I know that, but still—I don’t get told it often. Or ever. No one in my life is the “provides approval” type. A wave of heat hits me. I whine low in my throat and muss with my curls, trying…

“What do you mean?” “My wolf—he’s a killer. He does what he does, you know? He goes for the throat. But when he has the skin, if I’m awake, I’m still in there. It’s like riding a bucking bull, but I have some influence. Not much, granted. But some.” He draws in a steadying breath….

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” I say against his worn jeans. “We’re in the same pack, and we’re technically mates, but we don’t know each other at all.” He doesn’t say anything for a minute, and then he says, low and gruff and careful, “I want to know you, Mari.” “Yeah?” It makes me want to…