Page 10 of The Cheerleader

I try to think about her, try to see her the way I always have, as just Juliet, my best friend’s daughter. But my mind keeps straying to the way her scent curled through the air tonight. How soft her skin was when I grabbed her arms in my office, how fragile she felt beneath my touch. Her perfect, perky breasts pressed against my chest, and the colors of her tattoo decorating her skin.

I could ruin her. But I also know I could love and cherish her.

I consider leaving the town, the state, the fucking country. I consider refusing her and ending the bond. The thought of losing her, of walking away from her when I know she’s mine, makes something deep inside me snap.

I can’t stay away.

I stand in the middle of the forest, staring at my phone. I stare at it for a long moment before pressing the device to my forehead, clenching my jaw as I fight back the impulse to break every rule I’ve ever made. To throw caution to the wind and pull her into my arms, to feel the heat of her body against mine, to taste her, to claim her.

Every step I take away from her is agony. Every breath I take is one I’m choking on.

Even this deep into the forest the air thickens with the scent of her again, sharper now, more intense. The pull tugs at me harder, twisting through my chest like a knife in the ribs. I can’t ignore it. I can’t outrun it. I stop. I turn around. And it feels like the Goddess herself is pulling me back to her. I know I shouldn’t.

And then my phone vibrates again.

Juliet: Please. Abel. Come.

I swear to God, I almost lose my fucking mind.

I don’t know if it’s real or just my head playing tricks on me, but I know I can’t let her call out to me again. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to walk away from this. From her. But the moment I take that first step toward town, toward her, I know I’ll never be able to go back.

Chapter Seven

Juliet

I’m on fire.

There’s no other way to describe it.

The heat consumes me from the inside out. It burns through my blood, twists my thoughts into something raw and animalistic, and I can feel myself slipping away with every breath. I barely remember the last few hours. All I can do is clutch the edge of the bed, my fingers digging into the sheets as my body shakes.

I need to stop it. I need to control it. But the second I try to focus, the need overwhelms me again. It’s unbearable.

I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried locking myself in my apartment, tried using the suppressant patches and shots until my skin feels like it’s on fire. I even tried to sleep, to escape it. But the second I close my eyes, all I can see is him.

Abel.

His touch. His growl. His scent. He’s all I can think about, all I can smell. I can feel it now, the bond. And it’s too strong. I can’t outrun it. I can’t hide from it anymore. My body calls for him, my mind pleading for release, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

My phone buzzes beside me—an incoming message. I glance at it, fingers trembling, and it’s from him.

Abel: Are you good?

For a moment I stare at the words. I want to beg him to come to me. I want to tell him that I feel the bond, that I need him. Instead, I type out exactly the opposite.

Me: Leave me alone.

I can barely focus on the words. They blur. They don’t even make sense to me right now. All I can think about is the heat that rips through me again, dragging me down further into the abyss. I need him. I need him more than I need to breathe. More than I need the suppressant. More than I need control.

I writhe in pain. My body screams for my mate, my wolf whimpering in the recesses of my mind. I can feel myself slipping, the bond snapping tighter and tighter around me, and I know I can’t keep pretending I can fight it. I’m not strong enough. I never was.

With shaking hands, I type out a second message.

Me: Please. Abel. Come.

I send it before I can think twice, before my rational mind can stop me. The second my phone goes quiet, I feel it. A shift in the air. A tension that wasn’t there before. And then, like the very ground beneath me is pulling me into something darker, something deeper, and I know he’s coming.

And then darkness consumes me.

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