Page 44 of Broken Forced Mate
His hands slide from my face to my waist, then up under the edge of my shirt to touch bare skin. The contact makes me gasp against his mouth. The supernatural bond between us flares to life, amplifying every sensation until I can barely think through the want that consumes me. His mouth moves to my neck, and the feeling of his teeth against my pulse point makes me arch against him.
It’s like some outside force has taken over my body, and I can’t even think.
But when his fingers find the hem of my shirt and reality crashes back over me like ice water.
“Stop.” I push against his chest and shake my head. “Stop, I can’t do this.”
He freezes with his hands still on my waist. “Raegan—”
“No. This is exactly what I was talking about. I won’t let physical desire make decisions for me.”
I put distance between us, even as my whole body protests the separation.
“We’re still in an impossible situation,” I remind him, “and I’m still not ready to trust you with that level of intimacy.”
Wyn nods and steps back, running a hand through his hair. “I understand.”
“Do you?”
“I understand that I’ve broken your trust, and it’s going to take more than desperation and supernatural bonds to rebuild it.”
And there it is again. That stupid voice inside my head, begging him to fight for me instead of just accepting it when I push him away. But just like last time, I shove that voice down and stand straighter.
“Good. Then we can get back to figuring out how to survive this whole thing.”
He glances at Veva and Reeyan, who’ve been pretending to study maps during our entire exchange. “Right. Survival first, everything else later.”
“Everything else later,” I agree.
But as we return to planning defensive strategies, I can’t shake the memory of how right it felt to be in his arms, or the growing certainty that later might never come if we don’t find a way to defeat an enemy that’s been planning our destruction for months.
Chapter 13 - Wyn
I can still taste her on my lips, and it’s driving me insane.
Two days have passed since Raegan pushed me away in the break room, and my wolf hasn’t stopped pacing beneath my skin. Every patrol, every surveillance mission, every fucking moment requires conscious effort to focus on something other than the memory of her hands fisting in my shirt.
The binoculars slip in my sweaty palms as I watch the Thornridge camp through the morning heat. Aidan crouches beside me, probably wondering why I keep losing track of our target counts.
“You’re distracted,” he notes.
“I’m focused.”
“On what? Because it’s not the enemy encampment we’re supposed to be monitoring.”
He’s right. I’ve counted the same group of sentries three times and still can’t remember how many weapons caches we identified yesterday. My wolf keeps pushing images of Raegan into my thoughts—the way she gasped when I touched her bare skin, how she didn’t pull away until the very last second.
“There.” Aidan points to movement near the command tent. “Convoy’s arriving.”
I force myself to concentrate on the tactical situation in front of us. Three vehicles approach the Thornridge position, kicking up dust clouds that obscure their exact numbers. Through the binoculars, I count at least twelve additional personnel disembarking.
“Reinforcements?”
“Or leadership arriving for the final phase.” Aidan adjusts his scope. “Either way, this doesn’t look good for us.”
My radio crackles. “Wyn, this is base. Report your status.”
“Observing increased activity at the primary target. Multiple new arrivals, possible command personnel.”
