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A tear glistens in her eye. I reach forward and brush it off with my thumb, the need to make the sadness tugging at her features go away clutching my heart. At this moment, I know it’s impossible to say no to what’s coming. It would be like trying to stop the tide.
My lips touch hers, pulling at the softness and savoring it as though they’re the sweetest thing in the world. Adeline moans in my mouth. Her hands move to my back, those long fingers of hers dipping into my skin. She grabs me with the full strength of what she really is—a female wolf in a human world who’s pretending to be like the rest.
Adeline doesn't know I’m exactly what she is hiding from me. She doesn't know I can sense the connection between us now, gripping my beating heart with force and quietly telling me she’s what I’ve been looking for. This wolf is mine.
"Sorry," I say as soon as I break the kiss.
I don't want to stop but I'm beginning to hate the secrets we bear. Adeline will never tell me the truth about her family because shifters aren’t meant to be known to humans. I can't tell her that I am a wolf too because she would want to find out about my pack. That I don't have a pack, thanks to her family.
I yank back, breathing hard. I’m getting sucked into a whirlpool. Worse, I want to be.
"Is something wrong?" Adeline asks, her cheeks flushed.
"No," I answer quickly. "I'm starting to get tired of the Ferris Wheel."
Adeline peers at the ground again. It’s coming closer and the Ferris Wheel seems to be crawling to a stop. "I think it's stopping."
"Let's get out of here."
We get down from the Ferris Wheel and find Jacqueline picking out some jams with her friend. I don't even know the elderly woman's name. Jacqueline deliberately struck up a conversation with an old person to make her age look believable. It’s surprising that Jacqueline is still talking to the woman considering this is a friendship based on pretense.
"You're back," Jacqueline says to us as we get to her.
"And you're still picking jams," I respond, eyeing the big jar she has in her hand.
Jacqueline isn't a fan of jams but she got the idea from a short article she read online that old people like them. I don't want her buying things she'll end up emptying into her waste bin. The deal was to check them out and pretend to be interested in buying. However, Jacqueline now has a basket in her hand with two jams in it and she’s planning to buy a third one! A bigger one!
"Oh my God!" Adeline mutters beside me.
I look at her and notice she is staring at her wristwatch. When she looks up at me, her flushed face is gone, replaced by eyes darkened with worry.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have to get back home,” she says, looking a little frantic. “I lied to my brothers that I was going to the library and it’s almost two hours since I left. They’re going to come looking for me there.”
I shake my head. She really takes this little sister act seriously. “You can’t be serious. It’s just two hours, Addy.”
Adeline smiles. I see her cute pink lips curving and the light from her smile reaching up to her eyes. “It’s cute when you call me Addy.” Except then she pulls back a little farther. “But I’m serious. My brothers are that protective of me. They rarely let me out of their sight.”
I realize she’s telling the truth. Adeline is scared of her brothers. I know because although my relationship with my father wasn’t a toxic one, he carried a power that refused to be challenged. You respected him and his wishes, no matter what.
“Okay. I’ll walk you to the bus station.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Adeline says. “I’ll find my way home.”
It is a subtle way of telling me I’m not welcome to find out who she is. She probably thinks I’ll hate the truth—a breathtaking lady like her turning out to be a wolf who changes form and howls at night.We’re the same, Adeline.
I’m just a broken wolf seeking vengeance for the people who mattered to me.
“Alright.” I don’t push further. “Thanks for today, Adeline. Though we didn’t get to use the front row tickets.”
Adeline’s eyes are dull with disappointment. She squeezes my hand and says, “Believe me, I wish I could stay.”
I peer into the pool of her gorgeous eyes, holding the heated gaze like I want her to remember this very moment. She stares back at me and when I bring my lips close to her ear, a shiver runs through her. The realization that she’s again shivering at my touch delights me.
“I want to see you again.”
It’s the truth, and why I want this so desperately is starting to feel blurred.
