Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
“Except if I want to leave, of course.”
“Of course.”
I don’t want to ruin this tenuous peace we have, so I don’t bother to suggest she might not want to leave—especially when I’m not sure how we even got here. One minute, we’re fighting, and the next, we’re stripping each other bare before stripping each other bare.
“I like your hair,” I say as I brush her lip with my thumb. “Did I tell you that, wolf?”
She shakes her head while staring up at me with wide eyes. Her tongue darts out and licks the tip of my thumb, and my dick jerks in my sweats, wanting a piece of that action.
I sigh and drop my hand. “Get started on dinner. I’m going to chop some wood,” I announce before heading for the front door.
Some distance seems necessary, but Aurelia has other plans.
She follows me out of the kitchen.
“Can I come?” The request stops me in my tracks. I look over my shoulder to see her looking hopeful, but I’m already shaking my head. “Why not?”
“Because you have to stay inside and out of sight for a couple of days.”
“What’s the big deal? I thought you said search and rescue wouldn’t come this far?”
“I know what I said, wolf. It’s just a precaution.”
“Why?” she demands, looking seconds away from a panic attack. “You haven’t had a problem with me going outside before. You said as I long as I stay within sight, it’s fine. Why hide me now?”
I don’t respond right away.
Two weeks ago, I would have taken great pleasure in pulling the rug out from under her, and while I still would if necessary, I can’t with her looking at me like I’m the answer to her problems and not the reason for her distress.
When did I start wanting to be the former and not the latter?
Dropping my head, I rub at my temples. “Come on, baby. You know why.”
Her sharp inhale is audible as tears well in her eyes but don’t fall. It hasn’t escaped my notice that even through all of this, and what we’ve done to her, Aurelia never cried. Not once. “They’re calling off the search?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two days.”
“Two…” It’s all that makes it out of her before she clutches her stomach and turns away from me. Aurelia doesn’t say another word, and she doesn’t come with me to chop wood. She leaves the kitchen in a daze and climbs the bookcase up to the loft before crawling inside Khalil’s sleeping bag, where she stays for the rest of the night.
I end up making dinner for us, but she doesn’t come down when I call for her. She hasn’t eaten since this morning, and I know she must be starving.
I don’t eat either because I can’t stomach the food, so I try to check on Khalil and Seth, but they’re unresponsive as well, which means it’s not safe for them to talk. I glance up one last time at the loft before lying down on the couch.
Aurelia’s silence is driving me crazy.
I end up falling asleep, waiting for my wolf to snap out of it and come down, but she never does. When I wake before dawn, I peel myself from the couch, shower, and get dressed before grabbing what I need for the day.
Once I have my weapons and pack shouldered, I return to the living room.
“Aurelia.”
No sound comes from the loft above me for a few seconds, and then I hear the sleeping bag rustle.
“Aurelia, I know you hear me.”
“I hear you, but I’m trying not to,” she grumbles sadly while sounding wide awake. Had she even slept? “Go away.”
So, we’re back to this then.
I blow air out through my nostrils, but that’s as far as I let my anger travel. I should have expected this, really. Aurelia may be acting like the perfect submissive, but she’s never stopped charting a course for home.
I’m teetering between immense pride and grating frustration that she refuses to let us have our way. I’m pretty sure if Aurelia had fallen in line from the start, I would have grown bored after fucking her once and then thrown her off the deck like I imagined doing that first night.
It’s just before dawn, so we don’t have a lot of time to waste on her pity party.
“Get up, get dressed, and let’s go,” I order sternly.
“Why?”
It’s her favorite fucking question.
“Because I said so,” I reply, giving her my favorite fucking answer. She slowly sits up and peers out the tip of the A-frame window overlooking the peaks and the tip of the full moon peeking over the horizon before glaring down at me over her shoulder. She notices I’m fully dressed with the crossbow strapped to my back and my hunting rifle across my chest. “Let’s go.”
Aurelia scoots to the edge of the loft to climb down the bookcase, but I get there first and wrap my hands around her waist before lifting and setting her on her feet.