Page 35 of Wolf Desired

KNOX

Fuck.

I dropped the canteens on the rocks by the water’s edge and strangled the scream threatening to rip from my throat. My cock was so hard it hurt, and I was furious and confused and grief stricken and—

Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!

I grabbed a rock and shattered it against a boulder with my palm.

Audrey practically glowed with her fury and strength, a radiant, vengeful goddess, and I’d wanted to claim her all over again.

Except I also wanted to beat the shit out of myself.

If anyone else had hurt her as much as I had, I would have ripped their throat out.

Fuck. How had I not seen it? I knew she’d been struggling, knew freezing the bond hadn’t been good for her or me, but that pain in her eyes when she was yelling at me crushed me.

Ihad done that to her in my fight to avoid trapping both of us in a bond that I now knew in my soul was fated.

I’d thought it had been her heat making her struggle, or at least part of it. I hadn’t realized just how deeply my rejection had hurt her.

And now I had the gall to be pissed when she wouldn’t even consider kissing me. I’d barely even thought the thought before she’d shoved me away.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I shattered another stone and another, my throat tight from keeping my screams of frustration bottled in. But I was too close to our camp and I knew letting go would scare her.

I’d seen the fear of retribution in her eyes even as her temper got the better of her. I’d also seen the resignation, the acceptance that letting me know how she really felt would end in punishment. She was so angry with me, she was willing to face my fury.

She was so angry, I’d felt power, true alpha power like the power I’d felt in our shared dreams, rolling off her for just a moment.

It had rushed against my power, taunting, teasing, tempting, and my wolf had clawed and heaved against the collar. He wanted her just like how he’d had her in the dream, wanted that energy crackling against ours in a battle of dominance and seduction.

But she hadn’t released her power in sexual challenge. Hell, she hadn’t even knowingly released it, and I was sure she wasn’t even aware she had it.

It had stuttered, the flow uneven, probably a match to the mix of rage and fear boiling over inside her, then it had flared sudden and strong, compelling me away from her, before vanishing.

I was worse than the asshole everyone thought I was. I’d hurt my mate so deeply the rage she kept locked within herself for fear of reprisal had burst free. She no longer cared if I punished her. Not that I ever would. But that didn’t matter. I’d already done all the damage to our mating that I could.

I sagged to the ground, my smothered screams squeezing my chest until I couldn’t breathe.

This was why I’d never be a good mate for her, why I’d fought so hard against the bond.

Except that was a lie.

I hadn’t fought the bond because I thought I was terrible mate material. I’d fought it because I was afraid.

Fuck.

I had to fix this.

I just had no idea how.

I hadn’t even known what to say to her when she’d been yelling at me. Normally I didn’t care. I said what I thought and ignored and avoided those who didn’t matter.

But Audrey mattered. She was the only one who mattered and, even if I had any idea what to say, being blunt wouldn’t make her feel better and the thought of avoiding her forever made my soul scream.

She was right. She’d always been right.

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