Page 19 of To Hunt A Wolf
Despite my revulsion for him, my wolf and my own chemical makeup betray me. Standing before him now, the urge to go to him is a force, unlike anything I’ve ever felt. The need to wrap my arms around his neck, to run my hands through his thick dark hair, to press my lips to his—it’s a desire I feel everywhere.
Patsy croons about it over the jukebox, giving a soundtrack to my torment.
“Hi, Mac,” Levi says, the sound of his voice a sexy sort of scraping that I feel right into the marrow of my bones. “It’s good to see you.”
“Bull shit,” I say, but he doesn’t flinch.
Out of the corner of my eye, Tripp looks worried. Levi ignores him. All of his attention is focused completely on me. It’s stifling.
“Can we talk outside?” I say.
And even though he has to know my intentions are dark, he nods slowly. Every signal he’s giving off is sinfully inviting, but I know better. Levi is at his most dangerous when he’s thinking about sex. Or trying to make me think about sex.
He takes a full step back and gestures for me to go first. “After you.”
“I don’t think—” Tripp starts to protest, but Levi spares him a single glance that silences him.
I give Tripp a triumphant smirk, hopefully reminiscent of the one he gave me earlier when he tried to keep me from this moment. Then I shove past him and out the door.
My neck tingles with the danger, but I force my steps to remain measured and slow as I make my way outside. The moment I’m free of the stifling, smoky bar, I whirl.
Turning my back on Levi cut me to my core once.
I won’t make the same mistake twice.
ChapterFive
Tripp doesn’t follow us outside. I can only assume he’s found a different exit so he can watch from the shadows. He’d never hurt me, so I don’t bother looking for him. Levi, however, watches me like a predator about to take down its prey. It’s a look I know too well, and even now, three years later, it leaves an ache in my chest that won’t quit.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
He doesn’t say it with any concern for me. Probably just pissed I’ve interrupted his good time.
“Believe me, I wouldn’t have bothered if I had a choice,” I tell him.
Confusion flashes, hardening quickly into resolve.
“You don’t belong here.”
“On that, we agree. But you dragged me into this, and I can’t let you just walk away,” I tell him. “I saw what you did to Crigger. And Thiago—”
“Fuck Thiago.”
I cross my arms, mostly to hide the fact that my nipples are hardening. Ugh. It seems three years without laying eyes on Levi hasn’t been long enough for the girls. “I don’t disagree with your sentiment, but I’m not here to talk shit about him either.”
“Then whyareyou here, Mac?”
His voice becomes a rough purr, and I immediately distrust it. Almost as much as I distrust my body’s reaction to it. To him.
“They think it was me,” I say, and the fact that not an ounce of surprise flickers in his gorgeous honey eyes only enrages me further. “But, of course, you knew that already, didn’t you? The moment you left me inside that warehouse, you knew I’d take the fall for what you did.”
Something flashes in his eyes. There and gone too quick to name. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”
I shake my head. “Right. I guess it wasn’t enough to reject me. You have to ruin my life too. Let me get executed for your crime so you won’t ever have to see my face again.”
His eyes widen, the barest hint of shock. “Executed? But there’s no proof—and you had a witness.”
“Are you kidding me? The witness you saw was a mark I was hauling in for a payout. You think he owed me a shred of loyalty?” Levi doesn’t answer. “That piece of shit sold me out the moment he had his chance.”
