Page 20 of Moonlight & Mayhem

She shut the journal harder than necessary. “That doesn’t mean I have answers.”

“No. It means you’re scared.” Moon turned away, and Mayhem sighed. “Moonlight.”

“Don’t,” she breathed.

“You can’t keep doing that,” he insisted.

“Doing what?” she asked.

“Pretending this isn’t happening between us.”

She spun around. “You think I’m pretending?” Her wolf surged beneath her skin, and Mayhem’s eyes narrowed. Moon held up the journal. “My grandmother wrote about wolves experimenting on mate bonds generations ago. Someone just put something into your bloodstream that reacts when you shift, settles when I touch you, and may have been specifically designed to use our bond against me.” She slapped the journal onto the counter. “So no, Mayhem. I’m not pretending.”

Silence filled the clinic, and his expression softened. Moon hated that too. She didn’t want softness from him. Anger she could handle, flirting she could dismiss, possessiveness she could fight, but that look threw her off her game. The quiet understanding in his eyes was dangerous.

Mayhem carefully pushed himself off the table, and Moon pointed at him. “Sit down.”

“No,” he growled.

“You tore your stitches twice now,” she accused.

“You fixed them twice,” he reminded.

“That isn’t permission to keep doing it,” she said. He took another step. “Mayhem.”

“Moon.” She glared at him as he kept walking towards her. When he was close enough that she could feel the heat from his body, Moon had to tilt her head back to look at him. “You’re scared,” he repeated.

Her throat tightened. “So what?”

“So stop acting like you have to be scared alone,” he said. Moon stared at him, and something inside her cracked. Not enough to break, but just enough to hurt.

“You don’t know anything about me,” she insisted.

Mayhem’s jaw tightened. “I know you save everyone.”

“That’s my job,” she said with a shrug.

“No.” His voice dropped. “That’s who you are.” Moon looked away from him. “You hide in this clinic because it gives you something you can control. You let Tempest believe in those instincts of yours while you refuse to trust them yourself.”

Her gaze snapped back to him. “Careful,” she warned.

“I know you’re scared to want anything for yourself,” he whispered, running his fingers down her arm, leaving goosebumps in their path.

“You don’t know that,” she breathed.

“I know you look at me like I’m something you want and then run the second I look back at you,” he said.

Moon’s wolf pushed hard against her skin. “Stop.”

“No.” His refusal came quietly and firmly. “I also know you’ve been watching me for months.” Heat rushed into her cheeks, and Mayhem smiled. She wanted to hit him but refrained. “I seem to have made you speechless,” he teased.

“You are unbelievable,” she mumbled under her breath.

“And you’re avoiding the point,” he said.

“There is no point,” she insisted.

“You’re my mate,” he growled. Moon flinched, but he saw it. Her smile disappeared. “You hate hearing that.”