Page 42 of Untamed

I shrug. “It’s what I’m used to.” As I’m sitting there talking to him, my walls start to close. I watch it happen, numb. When Jonah peers quizzically at me, I really have no idea what to say to him.

He reaches over me and into the trunk. Joggers drip from his hand when he brings his arm back. He steps into them, and my heart beats harder in my chest. Only, I know this reaction isn’t coming from me, it’s coming from Jonah. “I, for one, am fucking pissed.”

My teeth clench. I hate that I’m so connected to him right now. These are the moments when I don’t want to feel anything, and yet, I’m standing here feeling his emotions. “They’re catty bitches.”

“They wanted me to believe you hit on the future alpha, Kinsey. They wanted you to shift. All those things end with you in a place I can’t think of right now.”

I level my breaths as his increase. “It’s pretty much par for the course for me. They’ve been telling me I was better off going Feral since I was little.”

“Kinsey,” Jonah grinds out as he stands in front of me. “You’re breaking my heart right now.” His naked chest reflects the moon. If he were a movie poster, he’d definitely be some sort of werewolf god.

He reaches for my hands, but I set them on my hips and glance away. I don’t know what he wants from me. I already explained this to him. I could’ve predicted most of what just happened. Well, maybe not the Jesse part. That was interesting, but they tried to cover it up so well, didn’t they?

He tips my chin up so I can meet his eyes. “What do you need from me?”

“Just a ride to Greystone, I guess. I mean, they didn’t get me with anything, so I’m probably still welcome there. You’ll make sure the photo doesn’t go anywhere, right?” I cringe thinking of what that would do to me. Lydia already tried to take me down with the film of me and another wolf in the woods, I can’t imagine what a posed picture with the future alpha shirtless would do.

“Fuck!” Jonah shifts again. The rip of bones settles in my head before he bounds off through the forest. Luckily, his truck is unlocked, so I climb into the passenger seat and wait. If this is how normal Lunar Pack parties are, I’m glad I was never invited. I was much better off being alone in my room watching movies or tending to my little flower garden.

A few minutes later, a huge beast of a wolf lands in the rear bed of Jonah’s truck. I spin to find my mate grabbing another pair of joggers and changing before jumping to the road. He throws his car door open, the hinges protesting, then he slides in, clenching the steering wheel as if he could rip it out. “Her phone is now in the bottom of the lake.”

I smirk, but that’s about as much feeling as I can muster. Serves the bitch right. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if he shoved it down her throat.

Jonah starts the car and turns it toward the way we came. Instead of settling in for a long ride back to Greystone Academy, he turns left into the public parking for the lake. He pulls over to the side and shuts the engine off. We sit there for a moment until my heart pinches. I reach up to rub my chest, wondering if it’s my own pain threatening to come out. His next words clue me in to its origin. “I owe you an apology.”

I grind my teeth together. “You can’t control them.”

“But you tried to tell me.”

“Like you said, maybe if I’d attempted to befriend them earlier—”

“Forget what I fucking said,” he seethes. “I heard some of what they said to you. I don’t know if it was through you or my wolf hearing, but I wanted to rip their heads off for it.”

“I’m glad you know I wouldn’t have come on to Jesse. Respectfully, he’s a jackass.”

Instead of glaring at me, Jonah smiles. He actually fucking smiles. It lightens his face. It’s so breathtaking that I almost forget to breathe.

“He can be, and in this situation, he definitely was. Laura’s a ringleader who has him so pussy-whipped. She can basically do anything she wants. She can make anyone the enemy and he’ll believe it.”

“I’m so happy I’m in her sights, then.”

“Would you please say something? Anything?” he pleads. “I’m getting this closed-off feeling from you, and that’s the last thing I want.”

I peer out the windshield at the moon that hovers over the lake, thoughts flying everywhere. If I could just pin one down, I might have something to say, but I’ve found that sometimes, it’s better not to feel.

He reaches out, plucks a leaf from my hair, lowers the window, and drops it outside. I chuckle. “I’m a mess. I hope Mrs. Graves doesn’t get mad at me if this outfit is ruined.”

“Your Etiquette teacher?”

I nod. “She bought me all this, put it on the classroom supplies tab.”

He blinks at me, then rubs his hand over his jaw. “I never stopped to think that maybe you didn’t have anything to wear to the party.”

“Well, unless holey jeans with myLive, Love, Plantshirt would do, then no. I didn’t have anything appropriate. I was worried she’d make me wear the school uniform for a hot second there.”

Jonah threads his fingers through mine. “I put a lot of blame on you, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

His apology is a shroud that hovers over my shoulders, but I don’t let it in. “Words are so empty sometimes,” I tell him. “Not saying yours are. I’m not even saying you owe me an apology either. I mean, maybe you do for not believing me, but can I really blame you for believing that your friends would treat me like your mate? No. That actually sounds logical. It’s just that I know them. I figured they would do something like this.”

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