Page 27 of Drew

“That’s what he said.” She shrugged. “It was a lie. Surprise, surprise. I guess he thought I read one too many fantasy books or watched Twilight too many times. This is embarrassing, and I was so naïve.” His thumb stroked her cheek. Soft and prompting, his gaze urged her to continue. “I think he just wanted to get me alone in the woods, hoping we’d fool around. I’d told him I had to get naked to shift.”

Her tongue rubbed along the roof of her mouth as she thought about her past.

“I was getting pretty comfortable being naked out in the woods because I stripped down like it was nothing. He probably thought I was easy. He stripped too. When he reached for me, I told him no, that I would not sleep with him until after we’d shifted. I was excited to have someone to shift with. I’d never had sex before, but if he could shift, it seemed like fate.”

“Did you love him?”

“No. I think I was just excited to have someone like me around finally. Anyway, I shifted, and he, um, well, he freaked out. Like screaming, swearing, everything. Then he raced back to the house, totally naked.”

Drew’s lips twitched into a smile. “Serves him right for trying to prey on you.”

Alyssa wasn’t amused. “It was bad. When I got back to the house, it was utter chaos. They kept asking me what I’d done to him or given him. Everyone was back on the ‘she’s a druggie’ wagon. They were sure I’d got him doped up. He wouldn’t let me get near him. They were so worried and took him to the hospital. The next day, child services came to talk to me. They had taken the boy from the hospital to an institute. He was there for at least six weeks, maybe longer. I’m unsure because I didn’t stick around long after they insisted I go to rehab.”

“Really? Rehab?”

She nodded. “I didn’t know what they’d do there. I was sure someone else would discover my secret if I went. What would drugs and sedatives do to someone like me? What if I misspoke during therapy and revealed what I was?”

“Plus, you know, you weren’t on drugs,” Drew said, clearly offended on her behalf.

“Exactly.” This time, she smiled. It was nice to have someone on her side for a change. “So I ran away, and I’ve been on my own ever since.”

“How old were you?”

“Almost sixteen.”

“You’ve been on your own since you were sixteen?”

“Yep.” She elongated the word, popping the P.

“Tell me about that.”

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Not much to tell. I probably had it better than a lot of runaways.”

“How so?”

“I wasn’t going to starve, not when I could hunt. And if I had to sleep in a sketchy place, I could do so knowing that if anyone tried to mess with me, I was a werewolf, er, could shift into a wolf.”

His eyes narrowed. “What types of sketchy places did you sleep in?”

“I’d sleep in forests sometimes, abandoned buildings, that sort of thing. Once I got older and had a car, I’d sleep in there a lot.”

“I don’t like that. At all.”

Alyssa laughed. “No one was going to mess with me. At least, not more than once.”

His hand slipped beneath her hair, cupping her nape, gripping firmly. His tone left no room for debate. “You no longer take risks like that. You belong to me, and I intend to keep you safe. I don’t want to hear about you putting your life in danger ever again.”

A wave of submission held her immobile. His gaze was direct, and for a moment, it was hard to do anything aside from staring into his eyes.

When he released her, she gasped. “What was that?”

“You belong to me now.”

“You’ve said that a few times, and you better believe I’ll be circling back around to it.” She waved her finger in the air. “But what was that? It was like you had some kind of power over me.”

A day ago, she’d feared this man and his ability to end her life. In her blind desire for companionship, had she overlooked the real reason to fear him? Could he take away her freedom? Was her future at risk?

“I’m an alpha.”

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