Page 35 of Ellie 1

“Pardon?” I asked, meeting his pretty blue eyes… That were full of anger.

He ran his tongue over his teeth and crossed his arms over his expansive chest. “If you’re going to give me the bullshit talk about my being a mistake and regretting me, then be honest at least that it was twice and—”

“I don’t regret you and you certainly weren’t amistake,” I cut in, holding my hand up to stop him and that line of talk. I nodded when he didn’t seem to believe me. “You are not a mistake, Dr. Clark.”

That was the wrong thing to say since he wanted me to use his first name, but this was what I needed to do.

“The lapse in judgment was mine, for me, and… That’s not even right.” I turned away from his upset gaze and let out a slow breath. “I don’t regret it. Full stop.”

“Tell me what’s going on, Ellie,” he whispered when I couldn’t seem to continue, probably understanding that I was struggling.

“I need some time,” I heard myself saying, feeling like a cliché. “I need to heal. I don’t regret you, but I do regret not realizing that jumping into bed with someone else was something I wasn’t ready for and it could hurt you. That is my regret. I was selfish and didn’t—no, I didn’t understand what I was feeling because I never have fucking time to worry about myself.

“And I’m sorry for that. But I’m not… I’m more damaged than I thought. I almost caved and let Tommy up that night, and Ihatemyself for that. I was angry at you for being the reason I didn’t cave instead of valuing myself. I clearly have issues, and I need to handle them instead of just pushing them aside more. I can’t keep pushing everything aside.”

“Please don’t cry,” he whispered as he moved behind me and kissed my hair.

I hadn’t even realized that I was, quickly wiping the two tears that had fallen. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had shed tears like this, but I was a ball of too much and just… Broken.

“I hear what you’re saying, but I get to be pissed that I had to track you down,” he said after a moment, trapping me against the counter and sort of hugging me but not really.

“Yes, and I’m sorry for that. I actually scheduled time to talk to you Tuesday morning, but my day went to shit,” I admitted. “I needed to figure out what I was feeling.”

He nodded but then kissed my neck making me shiver. “I’ll give you time because you do deserve it and I want you happy.No matter what, you arealwaysallowed to hit the brakes and say things are too much.”

“Thank you.”

He pressed his lips against my ear and nibbled on my earlobe. “But you awoke something in me, Ellie Reed. As a man. As an Alpha. As awolfthat I didn’t know possible, so we are not done. You said you wanted to be my Alpha fling and that’s not for a weekend. It’s for nine months. I will come back for those months when you’re ready.”

“Wait, that’s not what I’m saying or—”

He spun me around and kissed me breathless, his body pressed against mine doing everything that just confused me even more. “I will wait and help in any way I can to show you how much you should value yourself.” He brushed his lips over mine. “But when you come to me, you won’t run like this again, Ellie.

“We will have our nine months, and you will reward me for being patient and putting you first. On your knees. Naked.” He licked the shell of my ear as he massaged my breast. “Do you want to suck me off like that, Ellie? I know we both want that. I want to see you control my pleasure again, my cock in your pretty mouth and rocking my world.”

I whimpered. Fuck, I whimpered just thinking about it.

“That’s how you will come back to me,” he growled. “That’s what I will hold onto while longing for you and waiting.” He kissed me again. “But I won’t promise to leave you alone. Not after what we experienced and you made me addicted to you. I fuckingcrave you.”

I moaned as he kissed me again.

“So I will wait like you deserve, but when you can’t stand anymore and need what you crave as well, you will treat me as I deserve for being so patient with you.”

And then he was gone.

I blinked and my front door was closing.

He even took the damn clean containers and pies.

My legs were shaking so bad from him wreaking havoc on my body that I slowly sank to the ground.

“That man—how did he turn—that wasn’t what I was trying to say,” I grumbled when I got myself back under control. “Fucking stupid wolf.” I scrubbed my hands over my face and bitched some more.

But he was right about one thing… I did crave him. Icravedwhat he’d given me.

Like it was almost all I could think about the moment I had a break at work or I was alone. I didn’t know sex or feeding or any of it could be that good.

Fucking wolf.

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