Ruthless (Wolf Ranch #6) - Renee Rose Page 0,31

then. But that’s not the point. Everyone in the pack lately’s mated to a human. I’m the next to fall. For you.”

I popped up, paced, considered. Uncle Adam’s story was poignant, but I couldn’t deny the four examples of human/shifter relationships he’d mentioned. Even Rob, the leader, had been prepared to mate a human. If they all had done it, then Rand would be fine with it too.

Then I thought of my parents, the true issue. “Your wolf is driving you.”

He grinned. “That’s for sure. I… I’m hot for you. I won’t deny that. But I want more than that. You want love. Well, that’s easy. I love you, Red.”

There. That. All of a sudden, I was cold. His words, they were empty. “No. Don’t do that. Don’t say the words when you don’t mean them. Love isn’t some biological urge. Your wolf is controlling you. Will always do so. My parents, they… they hate each other. They live in this loveless, miserable marriage. I’ve heard that word tossed around when it means nothing. I won’t have that.”

“You won’t be miserable with me,” he replied.

I shook my head. “You don’t even know me. We’ve spent one night together. One night. I’m not going to sign up for a lifetime based on that. I’ve seen how unfortunate that scenario can turn out. I won’t be in a relationship every day when I will never know if it’s the wolf’s need for a mate or love that keeps us together.”

“I’ll always have a wolf’s need for you. You’ve seen it, it’s possessive and bossy. It’s desperate for you.”

He truly had no idea, which was proof that this wasn’t going to work. He didn’t understand that I wasn’t going to have a relationship with a shifter, one who was driven by his need to mate. Not by genuine connection. Not by love.

“Exactly. I can’t. I’m sorry but no. That’s just biology. That’s not love.”

I turned again, grabbed my shoes off the floor and carried them out of his bedroom. My purse was on the floor by the front door, and I grabbed it.

“Red!” Rand called, following.

I went outside, the sun warm, the sky a gorgeous blue.

“Red!” he cried again, stepping out onto the porch. Butt naked. “Don’t leave. I’ll just have to follow you.”

I stopped by my car, looked to him. “No, you won’t be following me. Your wolf will.”

12

RAND

Nash’s truck pulled up while I was still standing in the doorway, my dick waving in the wind.

I cursed and stepped back into the cabin and yanked on a pair of jeans and t-shirt. We had a job today—a chimney rebuild at one of the pack member’s houses. I’d told Nash yesterday to reschedule because I needed to get Natalie’s whole house rewired, but he’d refused.

“You’re gonna need to keep working if you’re going to help fund her fix-up project,” he’d told me. “Besides, I can’t do the chimney job alone.”

He was right, but fuck if I didn’t want to jog right past his truck and go after my mate. I wanted to follow—hell, I needed to follow, but Natalie didn’t want that.

“You look like shit,” Nash observed when I climbed in the cab. “Did you just wake up? Did you even eat?”

I shook my head. My brain was whirring and spinning in twelve different directions, and all of them were around Natalie. What the fuck had just happened? She’d known I was a shifter. For years. I couldn’t get my head around that. Humans didn’t know about shifters. My brother, Clint, had told me how he’d had to reveal what he was to Becky, and that had been a cluster fuck. Being the younger sibling, I was able to learn from Clint’s mistakes. I hadn’t even gotten to the point where I would have messed up telling Natalie the truth.

She already knew.

She’d known all along she was going to walk away while I’d been sinking hard and fast.

My wolf was pissed for letting her go. What was I supposed to say to her?

I had no fucking idea.

Nash put the truck back in park. “Go grab some beef sticks. I’m not gonna have you snarling at me because you’re hungry and haven’t marked your mate yet.”

I wanted to snarl at him right there. In fact, I would have loved a good wolf fight—the two of us throwing down in a tussle of fur and fangs until I got rid of some of this aggression. But when we were done, bloody and worn out, I’d