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His brow furrows when I cover myself. I’m not surprised. I’ve never hidden myself from him before.
“Lane?”
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
Like he’s starving and I’m his next meal. “Like you’re already mentally undressing me.”
“You’re right. Why do that when I can undress you myself? Then you can join me in the shower. Don’t worry if you used all the hot water, baby. By the time we’re done, we’ll need to cool off.”
“No, we won’t because I… we’re not doing that again.”
I didn’t think I had to spell out what I meant, but it seems like I do since West blinks before asking, “What do you mean?”
“It was a mistake,” I blurt out. I wanted to break the truth to West gently, but with my wolf cocking her head, trying to understand why I’m refusing this male when we both want him, it comes out a lot harsher than I intended it to.
“I love you. You love me. Nothing that happens between us is a mistake, Helene.”
He has no idea how much I wish that was true. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever it was, it can’t happen again.”
West rocks back on his bare feet, like I shoved him away from me. He recovers quickly, face screwed up in determination. “Of course it can. You’re my mate—”
“I’m not. And, I’m sorry, West… but I can’t be. You know that. I’ve never told you otherwise.”
He whirls from me, storming away. For a split second, I can sense his wolf throwing back its head, howling in despair. My rejection is an ache that cuts him deep, and I regret having to hurt him like this.
But then he turns to face me and I gasp.
Not only has leashed his wolf so that I can’t tell how he’s feeling, but West has completely closed off his expression. His eyes have a blank, stony stare to them, his lips thinned in a line.
This is the Beta. The second-most powerful wolf in Hickory, I’m looking at the calm, collected male who is responsible for steadying the Alpha and keeping balance in the pack.
The only clue that he’s not in as much control as he wants me to believe is the rise and fall of his sculpted chest. It’s heaving, hands curled into fists at his side. If he wasn’t bare-chested, I never would’ve been able to tell that he’s struggled to hang on to his control.
I hid from him. I guess it’s his turn to hide from me.
“So… let me make sure I understand. What you’re saying, Helene, is that youliedto me.”
His tone is dripping with icicles. A total one-eighty from the heat that was there minutes ago, the last time he spoke to me like this was back in Hickory, when he was planning to steal me away fro pack land.
What’s running through his unpredictable mind now?
“West, no…”
“Not with words,” he amends. What’s worse, I wonder? The ice—or the newly conversational tone? “You wouldn’t do that to me. But… you let me believe that I had a chance. I never did, did I?”
I can deny it all I want, but it doesn’t matter what my intentions were. Only how he sees them… and he’s right.
“If it wasn’t for Rafael—”
“Gravetail.” That’s a growl. “Why does it always come down to him?”
Because he’s my fated mate. He’s my intended.
And we both knew that when we fell into bed with each other.
“I wish it were different,” I begin, but that’s all I can get out before the rumble in West’s chest tells me that that was quite possibly the worst thing Icouldsay to him right now.
