Page 109 of Wolf's Reckoning
My spine straightened. “I’m not scared.”
His eyes flashed. “Then why are you running?”
I didn’t have an answer. Not one I could say out loud. “I’m not scared,” I said again, sharper this time, like volume could make it true.
“You should be.” Wolfe’s voice didn’t rise; he already had my attention and it was because he wasn’t wrong.
My fingers curled into fists. “You think I’m afraid ofyou?”
“I think you’re afraid ofwhat this means.” He took another step. Close now. Too close. “You feel it, Rowen. You’re not that good a liar.”
I shook my head. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to come back, don’t get to be an alpha, and?—”
“I didn’t choose this,” he cut in, tone flat, controlled. “Iwasn’tsupposed to stay. I wasn’t supposed towantto. But then I saw what they were planning for you. Heard howthey talked about you like you were nothing more than someone to warm their bed.” He stepped closer again. Just a breath between us now. He gave a rough laugh. “I came tocheckon you. I never planned to stay. Your father did that,” he added, and I caught the hint of resentment. “And now…” He looked away with a sigh. “The Goddess has made damn sure I’ll stay.”
“It must be so hard for you, having everything delivered to you on a plate,” I lashed out.
“Tell me you don’t feel it,” he murmured, ignoring my anger. I could smell the truth on him. Taste the storm building in his chest, and I was tired. Tired of running, tired of fighting against an invisible might. I felt my shoulders droop as some of the tension left my body.
“I felt it the second you walked back into this Hollow,” I admitted quietly, voice tight. “I just didn’t know what it was.”
His eyes searched mine, and I hated how steady he looked. Howin controlhe always was when I was falling apart.
“The mating bond must have always been there,” he said carefully. “What we had when we were younger was maybe more than either of us knew.” He licked his bottom lip as he considered his next words. “I thought your rejection had killed anything left in me to care about you. But…” He looked up at the sky in defeat. “I come back here and all I want to do is smother you in my scent, so…shows you what little I know.”
I stared up at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“About what?” he asked tiredly.
“Being an alpha.”
“Because I don’t trust you,” he said bluntly. “Your father never knew either until the morning he asked for a hug.” His lips twisted with bitterness. “And I, like a fool, still seeking his approval, gave him one. The next thing I know, I’m named his successor, and it’s decided that the best thing for you is to be my wifeif you want it. And you said yes.” Wolfe pushed his hair back as he looked at me. “I blame you just as much as you blame me,” he added softly.
I looked down at the ground, my heat rumbling through my blood but not painful, not yet. “Do you think he knew I was your mate?”
“I think he didn’t care about that,” Wolfe said, his resentment easy to hear.
“You married me,” I said slowly. “You’re saying that…you’re saying you married me, knowing you’re an alpha and a mate could be out there, waiting for you.”
He held my look with a steady gaze. “I did.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s like I said, Rowen, you needed someone who could let you lead this pack, who would stand beside you, not in front of you.” He didn’t look away. “You never needed to hide who you were. Not from me. I always knew exactly who you were.” He didn’t say it in a complimentary tone.
I should’ve slapped him.
I kissed him instead.
Fury and heat and need collided as I yanked him to me—mouth crashing into his with all the desperation I had bottled inside me. His groan was low, rough, and it lit something dangerous in me. His hands came to my hips, grippinghard enough to bruise, pinning me in place like he could anchor us both.
I hated how right it felt. How easy it was to burn in his hands. I shoved him back a step, breath ragged. “I didn’t mean…” I gulped down a breath. “This doesn’t change anything.”
“No,” he agreed, his gaze dark and hungry. “It just makes everything worse.”
And then he kissed me. Harder. Meaner. Like punishment. Like a promise.
I didn’t want anything more from him, not out here, not yet. But if the mate bond had been a thread before, now it was tightening around us like a noose. And as Wolfe kissed me again, I wasn’t sure who it was meant to hang.
