guiltily.
“Ah. That was where you just had sex...sex with females like Presley.” Nausea rolls through my stomach like dice. I don’t want to know what numbers come up on his sexual tally.
“Yeah,” he admits, not denying it. “I lost it a bit when you didn’t claim me back right away. I didn’t realize how much it was going to bother me.”
His words are casual, but there’s something in the slight tic of his jaw that he just bit down against that tells me there’s more here. My eyes flit back and forth between his until I realize what it is I’m looking at.
Hurt.
I hurt him too.
There’s a vulnerability that blooms in the space between us. It’s as fragile as gossamer, and I worry if I don’t tread carefully, that I’ll crush it beneath insensitivity like he did to me with this whole claim bullshit.
Tyran watches me, waiting for me to say something, and I try to put myself in his shoes instead of just stewing in my own hurt and frustration.
“Why didn’t you just tell me that I was hurting you?” I ask, searching his expression for answers I’m not sure he’ll allow himself to be unguarded enough to share. “Why fuck with me, especially after everything you said at the reckoning about the foundation of this pack, and then go and pull this shit?”
“I was trying to get you out of your head. I was aiming for an instinctual reaction,” he admits, running one hand through his shoulder-length hair. “But…” He lets out a breath as we stop in the hall, the planes of his face bathed by shadows as he turns to me. “I realize that was wrong, because this is all new to you and your wolf. I should have picked up on that. I’m sorry that I didn’t.”
“You should be.”
He doesn’t get pissed at my condemnation, but nods, as if he really does understand where I’m coming from now. “I have a past, and I shoved it in your face to play on your wolf’s possessive nature. But I swear to you, the moment my teeth sunk into your skin, everything changed for me. I’m sorry if I was pressuring you too fast. The unfinished mate bond is driving me hard. You’re all I want, Seneca. My wolf and I have been waiting a long time for you.”
I forget how to breathe for a moment, able to do nothing but look at the sincerity in his expression and the magnitude of his tone.
You’re all I want.
My heart squeezes in my chest, and my wolf watches him, hears the gentle murmur of his voice. Her need for her mate grows in intensity, with an all too present urge to rub her scent all over him and erase any other female he’s ever touched.
Gently, Tyran takes my hand and pulls me forward, toward another set of stairs I haven’t been to yet. He opens a door and lets me in, and I step into a massive bedroom. My eyes widen as he steps inside and closes the door behind us.
The interior walls are rounded and stacked, like this part of the house is more log cabin than the rest. The wood has been painted a charcoal gray that’s just a shade darker than the fur of my wolf. To the right, there’s a platform bed with a waist-high headboard that’s entirely made of dark leather, and the bedding looks soft, its ash-gray color going nicely with the walls.
To the left, there’s a sitting area with an L-shaped couch, a cream rug splashed with gray covering the hardwood, and a hanging fur hammock suspended from the ceiling.
I wander over to the hammock, letting my fingers brush over the dark fur as I take in the wall of windows and glass doors behind it. The balcony outside overlooks the lake, and from here, I can see the dark water reflected by the gentle lights of the starred sky, framed by the silhouettes of the mountains behind it.
It’s the most breathtaking view I’ve ever seen.
Tyran clears his throat, and I glance over my shoulder, finding him scratching the back of his neck as he looks around. “So, this is my bedroom. Bathroom is right through there,” he gestures to a second door.
I’m surprised to realize that he’s...nervous.
He catches my curious look and shrugs. “I’ve never brought anyone up here before.”
Surprise fills my features. “Why not?”
“I was waiting for my mate.”
My throat tightens at the implication of that and the gesture, but