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“I should say no.”
She looked as if she wanted to say no. “I’ll go if you want me to. I didn’t mean to scare you, I just needed to know you were alright.”
SHE WASN’T SCARED. Not really, his sudden appearance had startled her, and the idea that he wanted to be around her now when he’d avoided her before was unsettling. She wasn’t afraid though, she was aroused. She didn’t know if she could control herself if he stayed, but if she was honest she didn’t want him to leave. Still, she had to make one last effort to save herself.
“I don’t feel well.”
“No, I imagine you feel hot, needy, achy. You’re in heat Kelly. You need a mate and if the way you were moaning and crying for me in your sleep is any indication you know I’m yours.”
“God, you’re an ass!” she snarled at him, unable to control the angry reaction.
“I’m just being honest. Why lie about it?”
“You are not my mate!” she spat the heated denial. Shaking her head to emphasize her point.
“I am, and you know I am.”
“Stop saying that!” She clutched the sheets ready to launch herself from the bed and claw at his eyes.
“I felt it when I helped you shift.”
“When youforcedme to shift you mean.” She shuddered as if she could still feel an echo of his power as he used it to bring her animal forward and close the wound in her side. He had saved her life, she should be grateful, but all she could think of was how it had felt to be merged with him.
His jaw dropped open, “Forced you! Is that what you think?”
“Well, what would you call it?”
“Oh, I don’t know, saving your life?” His anger rolled off him in waves and seemed to crash into her bringing with them a sense of shame that she couldn’t shake.
As if he could read her mind he asked. “Why wouldn’t you shift and save yourself?” The question brought tears to her eyes and she swallowed to keep them from clogging her throat.
“I’m tired, Ryan. I wish you’d just left me there.”
“Left you? You would have died!”
She watched as her meaning slowly dawned on him. Hurt and anger wared across his face.
“No!” The denial burst from him as if his vehemence would change how she felt. “You’d rather die than be mated to me?” His hurt was so strong it was tangible.
Her wolf howled in denial at his question and Kelly shifted on the bed suddenly uncomfortable. “Sometimes it’s just too late.”
“I refuse to believe that. It isn’t too late.” He moved before she could figure out what he intended. He was a breath away from kissing her, and although he didn’t restrain her she lacked the strength or desire to pull away if he had.
“I think you want me to kiss you just about as badly as I’m dying to taste you.” He’d barely finished speaking the words before his lips brushed hers. Who moved first she couldn’t say but as the soft velvet-like texture of his mouth grazed hers, she only knew she wanted more.
She opened on a groan and his tongue swept forward, claiming shamelessly. She licked his lower lip in return, tasting salt in his kiss before he nipped at her tugging on her lip.
The kiss was like a balm over an open wound that she hadn’t realized was festering, and she sank into the embrace, desperate for more. She molded herself to him, the bedsheets tangling between them, she let out a grunt of frustration as she tried to push them aside. He gave them a hard jerk and they were gone.
Her lungs were burning for air, and just as she was about to protest he kissed his way over her chin to the column of her throat nibbling at the soft skin there. She exposed it for him readily, both woman and wolf recognizing him as their dominant, but when her back hit the softness of the mattress it was like ice water hitting her heated flesh.
“Wait! Stop.”
He froze, instantly pulling back to put space between them. His breathing was loud and harsh in the silence of the room.
“I can’t do this.” Her heart was thundering against her rib cage while shame weighed on her pride.
He stared down at her while trying to make sense of what she’d said, she wanted to cry that she’d made a mistake and urge him to keep going but she couldn’t.
