Page 7 of Scarlett's Wicked Wolf
“I’ll fix this,” I promise. “Whatever it takes.”
I add wood to the fire and heat some water, using a clean cloth to wipe the blood from her jaw, throat, and chest in careful strokes. Her skin is impossibly soft; a pale map I don’t deserve the right to read. I notice everything because I can’t not—the hollow where her pulse beats, the constellation of faint freckles where her cloak didn’t shield the sun, the soft curve of her cheeks.
Having her here feelsright.
“Who are you?” I ask, keeping my voice soft.
Her lips move, and a breath of sound escapes as if she heard me in her dreams. “Scarlett.”
“Scarlett,” I repeat, testing the name I somehow already knew. The bond hums as if it agrees.
Tucking the blanket tighter around her, I head to the bathroom to wash the grime and blood—her blood—from my body. Then I sit in the overstuffed chair by the fire and watch over her. Waiting for her to wake. I won’t leave her again—not until I’ve explained everything. Not until she knows who I am. What I am.
And what I’ll do to make it right.
Outside, the forest settles into its nighttime hush—crickets sawing the dark, a small woodland creature skittering under the porch. Inside, the bond sings to me, a constant hum of heat and ache threading from my spine to my sternum to my groin.
Desire prowls through me, low and dangerous.
I grit my teeth and push it down.
She didn’t agree to this.
I need to be better than the wolf that bit her.
But as the night deepens and the forest grows quiet outside, the hunger rises again.
Not for blood.
Forher.
The bond sings through me, a constant hum of heat and longing. I shift in my seat, fighting the throb of my cock. My mind flashes to the way she felt beneath me, the way her body molded to mine even in fear, the way her scentwelcomedme.
And shame lances through me again.
Because yes, I want her. Gods, I want her.
But the wolf doesn’t get to decide this.Shedoes.
I want her eyes open. Her hands reaching for me. Her voice whispering my name as she begs me to make her mine with nothing between us exceptchoice.
I stand and pace, trying to shake off the heat. It won’t go. The bond won’t let it.
I glance at her again. My heart leaps as she stirs, murmuring something soft.
When she wakes, she may hate me. She may scream. She may run.
But I’ll face whatever comes. I’ll give her the truth. I’ll protect her from everything—even me—if that’s what she wants.
Because she’s not just a mate.
She’smy future.
And I’ll spend the rest of my life earning her forgiveness.
Chapter 3
Scarlett
