Page 221 of Kingdoms of Night

So hot.

I swallowed, my throat parched. I hadn’t been able to find much to drink. And as Jonas had warned, there wasn’t any running water.

This is going to be a long week.

Fortunately, wolves were resilient. I could survive on little to no sustenance. It would weaken me severely, but as long as I survived, I should be able to make it to Fort Bragg.

Assuming Jonas doesn’t leave me here to die,I thought sourly.

But no. That wasn’t fair. He’d proved himself honorable. He might be mad at me, but he wouldn’t just abandon me to this fate.

This is just a punishment.

A way to put me in my place.

Because he’s an Alpha and that’s what Alphas do.

I hugged my knees as hard as I could, desperate to stop trembling. But all that did was make things worse.

“Riley?” Jonas’s deep tones swirled around me, seeming to come from the night.

A lie.

A wish.

A fever dream.

“Riley?” the voice came again, making my wolf whimper a little for her desired mate.

It’s not real,I told her.It’s our mind playing tricks on us.

I’d experienced this before during a heat. Well, not exactlythis. Because I hadn’t known Jonas during my last full cycle. However, I understood how my brain crafted fantasies during these delirious moments.

I’d once let a Beta fuck me while imagining he was an Alpha. I’d fabricated a whole sensation in my mind of him having a knot, when he actually didn’t.

It’d been excruciating.

And I hadn’t let a Beta tend to me during my heat cycle since.

Because only an Alpha could truly satisfy an Omega during estrus.

Except now my chosen Alpha had a name. “Jonas.” Just saying it aloud had me clenching all over. And this was just the beginning of the hysteria.

I inhaled, his scent swathing me in a sea of momentary bliss that I knew would drown me in the next breath.

It’s not real, I repeated to myself.He left me. He abandoned me here. He’s punishing me.

A whisper of sound intruded on my solitude. My wolf perked up, my nose twitching as Jonas’s scent washed over me once more.

God, that smells real.

I could almost hear him moving around the house.

His boots on the stairs.

My name from his lips.

His hand on the closet doorknob.

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