Page 42 of Bullied Wolf Mate

“I can, because it’s the only option we have,” she snapped. She ran her fingers through her hair. “She’ll at least keep mealive until after the baby is born. That’s months away. It’ll give you plenty of time to come up with a way to stop Lorelei. And maybe I can do something from the inside.”

“Lorelei. You don’t have to do any of this,” I said, practically begging her. “You know that. Jameson and the others don’t expect you to, either.”

“That’s not why I’m doing this. I’ve lived my life content to be a loner,” she said, drawing herself straight, jutting out her chin at a stubborn angle. “I’ve found a place I like enough to fight for. I’m going to do that.”

“This is suicide,” I growled, coming to stand in front of her. “I’m not going to allow you to do this.”

“It’s not your choice to make,” she said.

“I don’t care. Lorelei, you know how dangerous this is.”

“I do.” She took a deep breath, and I could see guilt and fear etched across her entire face. “But I can’t sit by and do nothing. It’s my fault they got kidnapped in the first place. If you hadn’t come after me, everyone here would be safe. I’m not going to be responsible for their deaths, too.” She took a deep breath, raising her eyes. “I’m handing myself over. She’ll keep me captive, but at least everyone else will be safe.”

“Please reconsider. For me or the baby, if not for yourself.”

She hesitated at that, something like guilt briefly washing over her. But then she shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t be that selfish. I have to do this, Mark.”

I closed my eyes. “And that’s your final answer on the subject?”

“It is.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry, Mark. But I have to do this.”

I sighed. “I understand. You need to do what you think is best.” I reached out, taking her hand gently in mine, rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb. “And so do I.”

My grip on her tightened. In one smooth motion, I snapped the iron handcuff around her wrist, the one I had stashed in my back pocket before she came in, in case she did precisely this.

Realization dawned on her face a second too late for her to do anything. Before she could react, I did the same to the other wrist, binding her hands in front of her.

“Mark, no,” she said. She tried to take a step back, but I grabbed the links holding the cuffs together and held her in place even as she tried to jerk them from my grip with more and more ferocity. “Don’t do this. You know I’m right.”

“I don’t care,” I said.

Anger replaced the shock in her eyes, and she glared at me. “You fucking asshole,” she spat. “I thought the controlling shit was over. Just let me do what I need to.”

I ignored her protests, dragging her by the handcuffs toward the basement door as she spat curses at me. She dug her heels in, fighting me every step of the way until I stopped and threw her over my shoulder. When I hauled her down the steps and reached the basement door, I lifted her up and pushed her gently but firmly into the room.

“Don’t do this,” she said. “If you do this, I’ll never forgive you.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll let you back out when all of this is over. I promise.”

I closed the door and locked it, walking back up the stairs as her yells of protest echoed behind me.

Chapter 18 - Lorelei

I screamed, letting all the pent-up frustration and fear and rage that had been building inside me out with the sound. I pummeled the locked door, kicking it, shoving my shoulder into it, anything I could think of, even though I knew it was useless.

After a minute of hearing nothing from the other side, I stopped, giving the door one last kick in anger.

How the hell could Mark do this to me? I thought the controlling shit was over when he let me keep working with Declan. But the instant he decided something was a bad idea, here I was, locked up again.

He couldn’t even let me make my own decisions, just forced his own on me because he thought they were right. But they were nothing but selfish and short-sighted. He was condemning all those women to death.

All that bullshit about changing—he hadn’t changed in the slightest. He was selfish and controlling. He was going to let a dozen people he knew and supposedly cared about die on the off-chance I would be spared.

Except I knew Inara far better than he did. If this didn’t work, she would try something else. Eventually, she would get her hands on me. The only question was how many people would die before that happened.

I thought back to all the women. They had accepted me when they could have just written me off as a weird loner. They had made me feel like I belonged for the first time in my life. There were other people in the community who cared about them as well, who would be hurt if they died. I held their lives in my hands. I decided if they lived or died. That was my choice. Not Mark’s.

I wasn’t going to let them die, not as long as I had anything to say about it.

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