Page 20 of The Tracker's Rage
“Tell me, so I can kill him.”
“I can sleep with whomever I want. I could even get engaged, and it would be none of your business, you two-faced bastard.” I pushed against his hard chest, but moving a building would’ve been easier.
“Ihaven’t slept with anybody else.” His voice trembled with ill-contained fury. “Not since the last time I was with you.”
The revelation washed over me like a bucket of cold water, leaving me with my jaw hanging open. Jake stepped away from me and raked his clawed fingers into his hair. He looked at a loss for a moment, then regret entered his gaze, probably wishing that, in his anger, he hadn’t just dropped this bomb.
Seeing his vulnerability, my eyes opened to the truth. He couldn’t control himself any more than I could. This dumb attraction was mutual, all the way to the inability to find any real connection with anyone else. He was as doomed to this love as I was. My satisfaction in causing him pain turned to dust, and I decided to match him bomb for bomb.
“I haven’t slept with anybody else either,” I said, my voice gentle.
“Don’t lie.” The anger returned to his silver eyes, causing his pupils to grow huge. “I can smell it on you.”
“It’s not what you think,” I said. “Not at all.”
Slowly, I lifted a hand. It shook as I held it in front of him. I willed my claws to unsheath. My fingertips itched and felt tight, but they didn’t come.
Jake watched me with disgust as if I’d been tainted somehow.
“Dammit, Red! Just let me show him.”
The anger did the trick, and claws sprang from my fingertips, along with soft, brown fur. At the sight of it, Jake staggered backward, his face a mask of pure shock.
“What... what...” But he couldn’t find the words. He just stared at my clawed fingers as if they belonged to some horrific creature.
I jerked my hand away and hid it behind my back, feeling self-conscious and embarrassed. An absurd thought entered my mind. Did he not like his own kind? Had he only liked me because Iwasn’ta werewolf? This possibility had never occurred to me. My heart squeezed painfully as his rejection hit me like a punch to the face.
“What happened to you? What kind of curse is that?”
Curse?Witchlights, he thought someone had cursed me!
Well, there was only one way to relieve him of his messed up, thick-headed deduction.
Screw it, Red. I don’t even like this outfit.
My wolf shuddered with pleasure, and without waiting for even a second, she took control and reveled in disclosing herself. My dress ripped down my back and fell away with the rest of my clothes. Tatters of fabric fluttered to the floor.
When the shift was done an instant later, I shook my head and inhaled Jake’s scent as if for the first time. It slithered into me like a delicious poison, seeping slowly into my veins and traveling to every corner of my untamed body. I shuddered with pleasure, finding such delirious comfort in him.
I was made for him, and he was made for me. There was no denying it.
“Toni,” his deep voice caused a chill to run from the top of my spine to the tip of my tail.
I lowered my head in assent.
“How... how is this possible?” Tears wavered in his eyes, something I had never seen.
I whimpered and took a step closer. He became unhinged and collapsed to his knees in front of me. His eyes held mine, looking deep into my soul. I had felt touched by him so many times, but this was completely different. It was like the inevitability of gravity, the friction of tectonic plates, the meeting of two planets that had been scheduled for collision for millions of years.
I leaned my head forward, and he slowly rested his forehead on mine. The tears that had pooled in his eyes fell, splattering silently onto his angular cheekbones.
There were no words to be said. All we could do was steep in the knowledge of each other, and the truth of what we were. And for the first time, we understood that what we felt for each other couldn’t be stopped, no matter how hard we tried.
Our love hadn’t been an accident. It was meant to be.
