Page 48 of Forbidden Wolf

Levi’s head rested on my back. “I won’t leave you while you need my blood.”

I couldn’t do this; no one had witnessed me cry in a decade. I’d made a vow to myself that I would survive and find the strength to keep going.

“It’s fine, Levi. Your wolf’s blood healed me. I can barely feel the pain from those creatures.” It was mostly true, but he would never know the true extent of my emotional agony.

“Tasha…”

“Come on, lazy wolf. We need to keep moving while the sun is up. Phone Radar and tell him to collect you.” Every word broke another piece of me. I pretended to not care even as my world began to crumble.

Levi studied me, his head canted to one side. I gave him a bright smile and turned away to lower myself into the freezing cold water. He’d taken everything from me. All that was left were the tatters of my self-respect.

By the time Levi emerged from behind the waterfall, I was out of the water already and tugging the last of my clothes on.

“We need to talk…” he said, moving toward me.

I held up my hand. “We don’t. Thank you for finding and saving me. Go, and find a way to rid this world of whatever those creatures are. You have ten years to find a solution.”

Somewhere deep inside me, I knew Paris would never happen. He’d found a new life that didn’t include me.

“Tasha…”

My head came up, and I glared at him. “Stop, Levi, just stop. Let’s find the closest location that we can both join our sides and pretend this never happened.”

He gripped my neck, turning my face up to his. “You’re mine, Tasha. Running won’t change that.”

I wanted to struggle, to protest, but he was right. This connection had bound us from the first time I had jumped out of that tree.

I closed my eyes against his intense stare. “Please, Levi. I won’t be able to survive this time if we keep doing this.”

His lips seared his ownership on me as they slammed into mine, his hand tightening. The first tear escaped without my permission, trailing down my cheek. The next followed because I no longer had the strength to hold them in.

Levi pulled back, his eyes boring into mine. “You fucking stay alive, Tasha, or since I know where the entrance is, I’ll walk into Hell and drag your sexy little vampire ass back.”

Neither of us said another word as our gazes burned into each other. I captured his image into my head because this was all I had left. His tortured look told me he was doing the same.

Pursing his lips, he abruptly turned away and typed on his phone, his finger stabbing the screen.

He grabbed my hand, pressing a hard kiss to the pulse at my wrist.

Levi the lover was gone, and in his place emerged a hardened lycan who showed no emotions. The past few days had given me emotional whiplash as he swung from hot to cold.

He led us north. Within an hour, a helicopter appeared in the distance. It hovered over us and a ladder descended.

Levi grabbed me and pushed me toward the ladder, before he climbed directly behind me. When we reached the helicopter, his tone changed to that of a leader, barking commands to the pilot.

The pilot looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes widening, but he never said a word.

We flew for nearly two hours, Levi grasping my hand while staring furiously out the window. I knew by the way his body stiffened that we’d reached our destination. The mountain range outside the window was close to Castus’ coven. Our time had come to an end. I drank him in one last time. His image would stay with me forever even though I doubted I would ever see him again.

He rolled the ladder out, his movements jerky. He opened and closed his mouth several times before enveloping me in one of his rib-breaking hugs.

There was nothing left to say. My heart was in shreds in my chest. If I uttered a word, I would fall to pieces. His arms tightened around me painfully, and his eyes bored into my soul.

“Stay safe, Tasha.”

I nodded and lowered myself down the ladder.

The last time I walked away, I was devastated. This time, there was a hole where my heart should be because he’d torn it out.

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