Page 88 of Wolf's Reckoning
Focus.
“Stop calling me that.”
His gaze was pure sin as he watched me. “Make me.”
I inhaled sharply, turning back to my plate.Don’t rise to it. He wants you to react.But he wasn’t done. He shifted his leg under the table—just enough that his thigh brushed against mine.
I froze. He didn’t move away.
“Tell me,” he murmured, low and rough in that gravel-and-smoke voice. “Is it easier when they look at you like that? Like you’re a symbol instead of a woman?”
I turned slowly, meeting his eyes. “You think I care how they look at me?”
He tilted his head. “No. I think you hate that they don’t see you clearly.”
“Unlike you?” I said, voice tight. “You think you’re the only one who knows me?”
“No,” he said. “But I’m the only one who remembers how heartless you are.”
A dig for my earlier remark when I said I remembered nothing about him. Fine. I blinked once, slowly. “So this is the game we’re playing, then? Nostalgia, bruised pride, and thigh contact?”
“Maybe.” He smirked, while his hand lay on my thigh, squeezing, inching higher than was right given where we were. “Or, maybe I’m only just getting started.”
His hand brushed the back of my chair, fingers grazing the top of my spine like it was nothing. Like we weren’t surrounded by people who’d gossip about this for a month.
I sat up straighter, forcing an easy smile on my face as I turned to face him, knocking his hand away. “Quit it, or I will stab you with my blunt knife.”
Wolfe’s grin widened. “Use the sharpest one. I’ll show you where it tickles.”
I choked on a laugh—damn him—and shoved back from the table. “I’m done.”
“Mm-hmm, good call.” Wolfe rose with me, not asecond’s hesitation. “We’re done for the night,” he said to Killian.
Now everyone was watching. Pack members paused mid-bite, eyes flicking between us like they weren’t sure if they were about to witness a lovers’ spat or a political coup.
I didn’t care right now. Let them whisper. Let them wonder what we were. Allies? Rivals? Married in name only?
They’d find out soon enough. Because this thing between us? It wasn’t cooling down. It was just beginning to blister.
Someone called for Wolfe’s attention, and I took the opportunity to leave without him. The second I left the hall, I felt the tension leave me. Or it tried to.
The cool night air wasn’t cool enough. Not after the inferno Wolfe had just lit beneath my skin. I stalked away from the hall, past the fire pit, heading for the edge of the tree line like it might give me clarity.
Boots walking steadily fell behind me. Confident. No rush.
I didn’t stop walking. “Do you get bored following me, Wolfe?”
“I do love watching that ass when you walk away,” he taunted.
I spun, fast, hands clenched. “Do you ever listen?”
Wolfe was already too close. Arms at his sides, head tilted, like I was amusing, not dangerous.
“I listen when it matters.”
“To who? Certainly not to me.”
“To you most of all,” he said. “Which is why I’m out here. You walked away.”
