Page 43 of Tolerated By the Sigma (Mate Hunt 7)

And instead, I’d dragged her into it.

Let it change her.

Ruined her life.

When Lisa’schest had stopped rising and falling, Char’s wolf turned to me and snarled.

Mine immediately threw the control at me. She must’ve told him to shift.

As soon as my skin had replaced the fur, her wolf’s teeth were cutting into my throat, in the same place mine had bitten hers. It was one of the only parts of my body where the scars would only have to cut through a few tattoos, and I was glad she chose it. Even if her human turned me away, I would survive now—and I would wear the evidence of my survival in a place everyone I met from there on out would see it.

A police car’s siren and lights blared and flashed as her wolf licked my wound, then nuzzled my face. My wolf took over again, shoving his way between Char’s and the cops coming for us.

The next few minutes were an awful blur as our animals were locked in separate cop cars, both of them snarling and fighting the men who had trapped us.

The ride was short but hellish, and then we were dragged into the police station and thrown into two separate walled-in holding cells. I’d been there before; my wolf wasn’t exactly controllable, and had never been. But Charly… I was terrified for Charly.

My wolf gaveme control as soon as the door was locked behind us; he knew from experience that I had a better shot at getting us out of there than he did.

“Char,” I rasped, dropping to my knees beside the wall of the cell and putting a hand against the thick concrete separating us.

I knew why these safety cells existed, and was extremely glad that they did because they protected the innocent werewolves and humans in town. But in that moment, all they would do was make things worse for Charly and her wolf—she had only taken over to defend me, because she saw me as her territory.

The wolf snarled at me through the wall, and I dropped my forehead to the concrete. “She showed up just before you did,” I said, raising my gravelly voice so Charly and her wolf could hear me. “I told her to leave, and pushed her away. She threw herself at me when you showed up; I didn’t have a drop of interest in her; I haven’t since those first few weeks after I met her. I’m glad she’s gone now, despite how horrific that must’ve been for you two.”

Char’s wolf snarled at me again, louder.

Fucking hell.

She had bitten me, and saved our lives.

Even in that moment, I could feel the heat of the climax flooding my body, hardening my dick.

“I’m here, Kelley,” I said, trying to calm my voice a bit to soothe her wolf. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Icouldn’tgo anywhere, but that was beside the point.

“We’ve just got to survive in here for a few days—when they’re convinced that we’re not a danger, they’ll let us out, and I’ll take the fall for everything. I won’t let this destroy you.”

There was a sharp cry from her side of the cells, and my fist pounded the wall, my teeth clamped down on the inside of my cheek as I listened to her wolf’s mewls without being able to touch her, or hold her, or ease her pain in any fucking way.

She was mine, but I was failing her.

Had already failed her.

When she finally finished shifting, my eyes were burning and the taste of my blood had flooded my mouth.

“Are you okay?” I rasped, ignoring the throbbing in my cheek.

There was a long, quiet moment before she finally answered. Her voice was soft, and I could barely make out the word when she finally said, “No.”

SEVENTEEN

CHARLY

I spenttwo weeks in jail.

Two.

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