Page 96 of Wolf Cursed
“No one’s out there,” he assured me.
Then he stepped closer.
“It’s just me. Asking your forgiveness.”
“Okay, who are you, and what have you done with the real Kai Stone?”
He smirked again, and I found myself fighting the urge to lick where his mouth creased around that smile.
“I deserve that. I deserve all of it. I’ve been—”
“An asshole?”
“That’s not the word I would have used but okay. I’ve been an asshole.”
“And now you’re not,” I said tentatively.
“Now, I’m not.”
“What changed exactly?”
He hesitated. “It’s complicated,” he said quietly then rushed to cut me off before I could unleash exactly what I thought of that answer. “But I am on your side, Ash. I hope you can believe that.”
“I don’t know what to believe,” I said. “Everyone has their own agenda. Everyone wants something from me. None of it good. Most of it ends with my ass being kicked, killed, or worse.”
I stepped back, dropping his hand. Mostly because I wanted to keep holding it, and that terrified me even more than Silas and Drake ever would.
“You told me I was yours,” I said, “And then you acted like it never happened.”
“Yeah, that was a dick move.”
I snorted.
“Ash, that mark on your skin…”
“You don’t have to explain,” I said harshly. “I know I’m a threat to you. Idrissa told me everything.”
His eyes narrowed. “What exactly did Idrissa say?”
“That if the curse is broken, you’d be alpha. That maybe you don’t want the curse broken at all. Either way, I’m a threat to you. No wonder you kept me close. Pretended to like me. So you could keep tabs on me and make sure I didn’t mess up what you have going here.”
“Is that what you think?”
“What else is there?”
“More than you’d understand. Hell, more than I understand myself.”
“Try me. You’d be amazed at what I can comprehend when I rub two brain cells together.”
He didn’t answer.
I growled in frustration. “That’s right. I forgot; this town loves its secrets almost as much as it loves keeping me from discovering any of them.”
I started to walk off again, but this time he didn’t have to touch me to make me go completely still.
“My wolf wants to claim you.”
Every muscle in my body froze as his words washed over me.
