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I wouldn’t be able to have a relationship with him without his human form, and while his wolf might even be strong enough to shift into a human, we still wouldn’t be able to connect in a way only our human souls could connect.
He huffed, his dismissal of his human half clear in that snort.
“He hurt both of us,” I said, “but you know it was to protect me.”
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Cyrus creeping closer. I needed to hurry and convince Knox’s wolf to let me go and agree to the natural balance found in all shifters’ souls. Because if Cyrus attacked, Knox’s wolf was going to go completely feral and do something he wouldn’t be able to come back from, like kill his brother.
“You know he did it because he was afraid.”
He’d said he’d done it for my own good, but now I knew it wasn’t because I was weak, but because he thought he was broken beyond repair.
Maybe he was.
But maybe so was I.
That didn’t mean we could avoid what fate had forced on us.
“You know it in your heart.” I slid my fingers through his soft fur, keeping my movements slow and soothing. “You know he thought he was doing the right thing for me.”
He huffed again, the sound softer and some of the tension eased from his body.
“I’ll always be yours. I need you to show me how to be strong. But I also need him. He’s as much my mate as you are. Can you let him go? Please?”
Mine,he rumbled, but all the rage and possessiveness were gone. In its place were love and wonder and a little bit of hurt, not because I’d hurt him for asking for human Knox back, but because Knox had forced him away and resisted what his wolf had known was fate.
Whether we liked or even knew each other, accidentally mate bonding with him hadn’t been a mistake. We were fated mates. Neither of us could deny it.
Audrey?Knox, the human, gasped in my head, and the churning unease that had been squeezing my insides since last night vanished.
The green flecks in his wolf’s eyes brightened for a second before he collapsed on top of me, his body shifting from his heavy wolf to his almost equally heavy human form.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Cyrus roared as he stormed toward me. His rage rolled off him in waves of uncontained power, making my pulse race and my mind whirl.
“What?” I didn’t understand why he was so mad. I expected him to be relieved that I’d brought Knox back.
But he was furious with a rage I’d never seen before, one that reminded me too much of Merrick and Sterling.
“Did you follow Bishop, thinking because he’s interested in you the rules don’t apply to you?” he accused.
“No.” I shrunk back from him, instinct screaming that I make myself smaller and hide because I couldn’t get away. “I just—”
“You just what?” He rolled Knox off me, fully exposing me to his furious glare. “Deacon, take Knox to the grove before he wakes up here and freaks out,” he commanded without looking away from me.
Deacon dropped his kilt, shifted from human to wolf and back again, turning the gashes in his arm into not-as-bad but still bleeding cuts, then resecured his kilt. He shot me a concerned look as he hefted Knox onto his shoulder, except I couldn’t tell if he was worried for me or concerned that I was what Cyrus was accusing me of: someone who thought the rules didn’t apply to her.
“We don’t know how long he’ll be out,” Cyrus said with a snap of power. Then he frowned and Deacon raised an eyebrow as if he expected an answer.
The muscles in Cyrus’s jaw flexed, his fury sinking into a simmering rage, and Deacon nodded. The beta’s expression was still concerned, but he obviously wasn’t concerned about me because he turned on his heel and carried Knox out of the arena, leaving me alone with Cyrus and his now partially contained fury.
I curled in on myself, my arms wrapped around my stomach, trembling at the thought of what was going to happen now and trying to be as small as possible. Even if Cyrus had pulled in his temper that didn’t mean anything.
“You just what?” he repeated, his voice low and dangerous.
“I—” I squeaked.
No, damn it.I didn’t want to be small. I wanted to be strong.
“I felt—” I said, struggling to sound more confident.
