Page 53 of Bad Blood Wolf

How the hell had she gotten ahead of him? And damn it all, why was she here? Why was she making this so hard?

He slammed the car into ‘park’ and climbed out. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

She Changed, standing naked in the snow, spitting fury. “Why the fuck did you run?”

“I explained in the note.”

“You explained nothing!” she snarled. “You said you loved me. Loved me! And then you were gone. And a lot of bullshit about how you couldn’t bring your problems down on us. On me. We were trying to help you!”

“You can’t—”

“Tristan’s coming out from Idaho. He’s fucking flying out here just to see you, at Christmas, because Flynn and I asked him to. He has people who can help you—”

Terror stabbed through him. From what he’d heard, Tristan Barnes could see into other shifters’ minds. He knew about white wolves. “You shouldn’t have told him to come. He can’t help me! He’ll just make things worse.”

She growled in frustration. “You don’t know that. Why won’t you even try?” He heard the pain in her voice, the unasked question. Why won’t you try for me?

Because she didn’t love him. Not like he needed her to, heart and soul.

“I can’t,” he said. “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand, dammit!”

“It’s not just about me, okay?” he snarled back at her, anger and pain ripping through him. “I’m putting you in danger just by standing here with you. I’m putting other people in danger.”

“My crew can take care of themselves. I can take care of myself.”

“Well, not everybody can,” he snapped. “Some people can’t protect themselves, and I have to do it. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Sorry. His heart and soul were torn to bits. “But the one thing I know about you is that you’ll survive, with or without me.”

Jasmin stared at him, her eyes wide and dark. “You’re leaving me because I’m strong?” She took a step forward, growling. “I knew you were the same as the others. You want soft. You want weak.” He could see the betrayal in her eyes.

It nearly killed him.

“Dammit, Jaz, I love your strength. I love you.”

But she was on him, pounding on his chest. “I didn’t want you to love me!” she screamed. “I never wanted you to love me!”

“Don’t you think I know that?” He held her arms in a punishing grip. “I fucking know that, and it tears me apart because I should be glad I’m not dragging you into my fucked-up life.”

He should be. But the anger and bitterness welled up, and he couldn’t stop it from spilling over.

“But I can’t be glad. It hurts so bad, because you’re my mate, and I wanted you to love me so damn much.”

She went still in his arms, staring at him, wide-eyed.

“I’m not your mate,” she whispered, stepping back. “I can’t be your mate.”

“I know,” he said. “Jaguars don’t do that. But wolves do, and my wolf wants you. I want you.” He took a step closer, and stared into her wide green eyes.

“I want you to look at me the way Lissa looks at Tank. I want you to fall so fucking hard for me, the way I fell for you, like every time you touch me you feel like you’re falling off a cliff and you’re flying, and I want you to know, deep inside, that I’ll catch you before you hit the ground.”

His voice grew husky. “I want you to love me. I want you to need me, the way I need you.” His last words were almost a whisper. “But you don’t need anyone.”

She stared at him for another long moment, her chest heaving, and then she Changed to jag and ran silently off into the snowy forest.

Brody slammed his fist onto the hood of his car, leaving a dent. Then he threw himself back inside, gunned it, and drove away.