That wasn’t something I wanted, but if this fool didn’t step out of my way, I wouldn’t have a choice.
The night air rang with howls of laughter minced with screams, the air tinged with the metallic scent of blood, so thick you could almost taste it. My chest rumbled with a real growl, putting the act Greg gave me to shame. He looked deranged, but me? I could shift within seconds and tear him apart.
Though it was probably the last thing Greg wanted to do, he frowned at me, gave me his back, and stalked away.
Good. Didn’t want to deal with him, anyway.
I waited until he was gone, until my inner tiger settled himself down somewhat. I did not want to storm into Thana’s tent and immediately lose it; I wanted to talk to her first, explain to her how things felt for me, how badly I needed her. It was like torture, painful beyond belief, not claiming her.
But she was human. She wasn’t like me, fighting an inner animal. I didn’t know how she’d respond to me, but I was almost certain I could sway her, convince her to see the light, or at the very least weaken her resolve so that, soon enough, she would give in to me, give herself to me fully so I could have her.
It’s all I wanted, you know, to have her. To claim her. The word claim felt so odd, but at the same time, it felt right. What else would I do to her? If it was instinctual for me to call her my mate, it was also instinctual to think about the claiming.
My feet took me to her tent, and after heaving a breath, I pushed inside, finding her lying in bed, her back to me. How in the hell she could sleep while the screams and manic laughter went on outside, I had no idea.
She slept soundly, the world outside nothing of concern to her, apparently. Her body rose and fell with breath, and I drew closer to her bed, finding myself reaching out to her but hesitating, wondering if, instead, I should not wake her up by touching her.
Maybe I shouldn’t touch her at all, not until I’ve spoken with her, told her how the beast inside of me felt whenever I was around her. Fingers crossed she wouldn’t think I was insane.
Surrounded by the people we were, insanity didn’t seem that far off.
Pulling my hand back, I resisted the urge I had to touch her, to immediately crawl into that bed with her after shedding my clothes. I highly doubted she was under there naked, so doing something like that would only freak her out more. This… I couldn’t fuck this up. I had to do it right, especially since I was already going against Nigel by doing this.
But how could following my instincts be wrong? How could I possibly stay away from this girl?
With the chaos of the night outside gone from my mind, my inner beast stirred as I said, “Thana. Thana, wake up. I need to talk to you.” The more I spoke, the more I noticed the shifting of her breath, the moving of her body beneath the sheets. She rolled onto her back, her eyes opening into slits as she stared at me, and she looked heavenly, laying there.
Guilt coursed over me right then, guilt that I’d been the one to kill her, to taste her blood on my lips, forcing her to remain here forever. But within moments, that guilt was gone, replaced by sheer longing as she sat up, yawned, and gestured for me to sit down on her bed as she moved her legs for me.
Again, she yawned, and again, it was the cutest and most alluring yawn I’d ever been witness to in my whole life. Surely it had to mean something, that a yawn lured me in like that? “What’s going on?” Thana asked, rubbing her eyes, blinking multiple times as she slowly woke herself up to speak with me.
I sat at the foot of her bed, keeping myself from her even though I wanted nothing more than to scoot closer, pull her onto my lap, and tell her what my words couldn’t by kissing her hard and fast and stealing the air from her lungs.
How to bring it up without sounding crazy? I had to constantly remind myself she didn’t have an animal inside; what I knew thanks to animal instinct, she might not.
“I need to