Lift Her Up (Kaid Ranch Shifters #3) - T. S. Joyce Page 0,8

weight before he’d ruined her fuckin’ life.

A therapist. God, what she must’ve been going through to trust someone like that. It was a move of desperation he’d never seen or heard of a shifter ever doing before. Shifters were a secret. The animals had deep instincts to take their existence to the grave, to protect themselves and their own kind. At least the sane ones. The ones that went crazy with bloodlust were the risks. They didn’t think straight, and if they got too close to exposure by hunting people? It was the other packs’ jobs to put them down.

Was Summer one of them? Was that where she was headed? As much as he wanted to think not, he was a realist.

She couldn’t drive because of the wolf’s anger, spontaneous trips with no provisions, that snarl that was almost constant in her throat. One of her eyes stayed the color of the wolf all the time, like she was half animal, half human, not two separate beings in one body. The wolf had fused herself to the body. She never had to sit quietly inside of Summer and let her have the body. They shared all the time. When she was Changed, Summer was probably very present. She and this wild wolf had grown to depend on each other, reject the rest of the world, and that was completely on him.

He’d abandoned her and hadn’t taught her how to be a proper werewolf, and it was something he would never, ever, even-for-a-minute, forgive himself for.

Years ago, being a runner had been something he was proud of. Love ’em and leave ’em. Only Summer had been the one meant to stick. He just hadn’t been ready to treat her good. Hell, maybe he would never be ready to treat a mate well. Hunter and Bryson were good at taking care of Sadey and Maris, but Wes watched them. Observed. And down to his bones he knew he came up short.

He wasn’t worthy.

Wasn’t redeemable.

Wasn’t really worth a damn other than to run this pack alone.

What a lonely life he’d pigeon-holed himself into with his shortcomings. His stubbornness. All the mess in his head he couldn’t figure out how to fix.

He’d aimed all that mess and pulled the trigger at Summer—the person who had been kindest to him, and for what? Because he was scared. Summer hadn’t done anything wrong to him. Only right.

Fuck, he couldn’t stand himself sometimes.

There was a glowing neon hotel sign up ahead. Vacancy, it read, and he pulled into the cracked-asphalt parking lot, slowly, careful not to jostle the sleeping woman beside him.

She would never know how loved she was because he hadn’t ever figured out how to show it.

Wes parked in front of the office and put the truck in park. She still slept. God, she must’ve been exhausted, and he had a moment of hope. Stupid hope. Obviously, she’d felt safe enough to den up in his truck and let her body sleep, and to him, that said something.

He would do stupid, horrible, murderous things to keep her safe, and he figured deep down she knew she could sleep right next to him. She was safe. Safe with him—a monster. He sighed. Everything was so fucked up.

Her lips were slightly parted, and a strand of hair had fallen over her cheek, hiding part of her face from him.

Light as the tip of a feather, he brushed her hair to the side with his fingertip.

She grabbed his hand so fast it startled him, and he flinched back, then froze. A snarl ripped through her as she squeezed his hand hard enough that his bones ground together.

Don’t retaliate. Don’t fight her. Don’t be a threat, he pleaded with his wolf.

She sat up slowly and shoved his hand away, her one silver eye glowing bright as a full moon. “Don’t need people touching me,” she said in a gritty, sleep-filled voice.

Don’t need it. Yeah, she did. “Touch is natural for shifters, Summer,” he said low. “It’s a comfort.”

“Not for me.” She lifted her chin higher. “Touch got me hurt.”

Those last four words gutted him, and the pain made him want to throw an insult at her for hurting him. God, he was stupid. He swallowed it down, clenched his teeth against it. The bond between them pulsed, and that hurt, too. Everything ached while around her. His dick throbbed all day with wanting her, his heart had hollowed out with what she’d been through. The bond he’d opened back