in my voice. I’m not going anywhere.”
Wolf was breaking apart on her insides. He was breaking her.
Venom. Venom. Wes had been venom, and his bite and his poisonous love had taken all this time to kill her. Her chest hurt, and she huffed her breath at the pain.
“You can’t cry like this,” he said, setting her in the grass. “Tears don’t work in wolves. Gotta wait for Summer to have the body again to fall apart.”
Okay, clever alpha. Wes thought he knew everything about everything. Thought he was so smart. She was definitely going to bite him for assuming so much.
It’s not assuming if it’s true, Summer whispered.
Wolf hated everyone. Weak. She felt weak, and all these emotions were too much, and she needed space. She snarled again, but Wes didn’t respond. He was too busy walking away.
Now he would leave.
No, Summer said. He said he wouldn’t. He won’t.
When he was a few yards away, Wes turned back toward her and twitched his fingers at her. “You can move.”
Wolf snapped up to all fours and charged him. He didn’t flinch, didn’t run, didn’t move, and his eyes didn’t show an ounce of fear. He should be afraid, but…
Wes isn’t afraid of anything, Summer told her.
Wolf skidded to a stop, her bared teeth inches from his stomach. Wes lifted his chin higher, those inhumanly bright blue eyes still focused on her. And then he did something that confused her. He removed his cowboy hat. Then he shrugged out of his flannel shirt and peeled off the white T-shirt underneath.
Hoooooly shiiiiiit, Summer murmured inside her head as Wolf came snout to six-pack with Wes’s perfect human physique. I want that. I want to swim in his perfect belly button and fall asleep between abs.
Quiet, puny human, Wolf thought. You’re making this confusing and weird.
I don’t remember him having this many muscles, Summer whispered. Why did she sound like a drunken hornball right now? She wasn’t in heat.
Shhh.
Why was Wes smiling down at her? “I know what Summer wants.” His nostrils flared slightly as he inhaled. “I can smell her on you. I’ll take care of her later.” Wes undid his screeching bald eagle belt buckle. “You want something different, though.”
Wolf growled. Take that belt off, and I’ll bite your dick off and—
“You need a night hunting with my wolf.”
Oh.
Hahahaaaa, Summer said. He’s not stripping for you. He’s getting ready to Change. Wait, what did he mean he’ll take care of me later?
We should bite him while he’s taking his pants off, Wolf suggested.
Why do you want to bite everything? He’s being nice. He’s stripping for me. Girl, if I had twenty bucks in one dollar bills right now…
You would what? Waste our money? We need that for all the therapy we so obviously need.
So you now agree that therapy is good for us, Summer said smugly.
Sometimes Wolf wished she didn’t understand Summer and her dumb human language.
Whoa, he wears briefs now, Summer murmured. Okay, I like this. Black ones, nice. Okay, is that an eight-pack? I’m counting an eight-pack. Two, four, six… He always had the most perfect man nipples. There’s the freckle! Right on his ribcage! The big one. I swear it’s a beauty mark. This man has somehow manifested himself into a demigod… Oh, God. Oh, God! He’s taking off his underwear.
Wolf turned around so she could give him some privacy, but Summer shrieked the word, No! so loud, she winced and spun back around.
He’s half hard already. I didn’t make that up earlier, right? He said he was going to take care of me later? It’s bigger than I remember. Mmmmmm.
Kill me, Wolf muttered, but she didn’t mean it because she loved survival. Summer obviously still had a thing for Wes, and while he was a fine human specimen, he didn’t really do much for—
Wes dropped to all fours and Changed within seconds, and now it was Wolf’s turn to stare. A massive red-furred male wolf reeking of dominance and confidence stood and shook his fur out. And casual as you like, he sauntered over to her and sniffed her face.
Wolf stood their frozen. He smelled so good. She’d forgotten what it was like to be this close to him because her first memories of this wolf had been saturated in fear. But nowadays, she wasn’t afraid of much. And this wolf wasn’t acting aggressive toward her at all. On the contrary, he rubbed his massive head against hers, dragging a sigh from her lungs. Smelled so good. So