Page 50 of Bullied By the Alpha Wolf

When I pushed myself back up, warm breath hit the back of my neck as Kaiden snarled.

Fuck.

Chapter 23 - Kaiden

When I first shifted into a wolf, it was like watching my life before me on a TV screen. I could see everything that was happening, but the presence that was “him” was far too strong for me to maintain any control. I was more like an observer inside a body that I could feel but was simultaneously alien.

Pain and heat and cold, it all got through to me, but the limbs almost moved on their own. My wolf was me. I knew that. It was just a part of me that felt more distinct than others, but during that first shift—and a few after it—he felt like a separate being.

That was how it felt now.

I was acutely aware of everything that was going on in front of me—the look of fear in Kit’s eyes, the way she screamed for me to come to my senses, the way her blood scented the air with copper.

Stop this. Stop! She’s our mate, remember? You fuck. You said it yourself. Snap out of this.

But horrid anger funneled into me synthetically. I could sense that it was being done to me, that the emotion was outside myself, but it infected my wolf too strongly. I couldn’t get him to back down.

What’s more, I picked up on all the signals that this was too much for my body. My heart was pounding erratically, and I panted as heat swelled under my skin. Adrenaline coursed stronger than it should, and my muscles were twitchy and tense.

Kill. Eat. Kill.

The deep, frenzied voice growled in my head as a real one rumbled out of my mouth. My stomach clenched, sickened by the thought. The nausea didn’t back away, however. It was something the drug was doing.

My chest ached with each breath like I couldn’t fill my lungs, and they burned with the need for more oxygen. All I could do was pant harder, trying to suck in air and release the awful heat making me dizzy.

Concern started to bleed into the wolf from my own worry. This was too much for my body, wolf or not. We’d found dead wolves who hadn’t torn each other to pieces, and what I was feeling now supported the heart attacks Willow had assumed to be the cause of death.

Dammit. I’m going to have a damn coronary after killing Kit. No. No. That can’t happen.

Vision blurring, I could still smell Kit, and my wolven body stalked forward around the table she’d ducked behind.

There you are.

My wolf’s focus zeroed in on her again, and a strange mixture of possession and the need to tear into her filled my blood.

He wouldn’t be such a problem if I could shift back into my human form. I tried to force the change back, pushing with that invisible will. My wolf internally snarled, snapping at me and causing my concentration to break in a nauseating flare of pain to the brain.

Goddamn it. Stop this, you idiot!

I was on her when I could finally focus on what was happening in front of me. Kit’s lilac scent powered into my nose, and the swell of need for her nearly broke me in two. I wanted her safe—yes, beneath me, too—and out of here, but my wolf couldn’t tell what he wanted.

The confusion stung, and I at least got the asshole to shake his head as Kit got up and ran toward the door. Her movement was too quick, though, and it spooked him, making him want to tear after her.

A strange astringent smell cut through me as my body barreled forward after Kit. It was fucking awful—metallic and bitter and sharp.

The gas!

I tried to force myself to suck in more of the air, even as my wolf hated it. That shit was going to get me out of this, dammit, and he was going to drown in breaths of the stuff if necessary. Hell, if it killed me in the process, at least Kit would be safe. She could get out of here and finally be happy.

The thought hit me, and suddenly, I heard my grandmother’s voice in my head.

Only if you can set hate aside...

What was my brain trying to tell me? What hate could it have possibly—

Kit was human. And when I was young, I’d hated them, hated her if only because I wanted her so bad and couldn’t believe I was falling for someone who wasn’t one of us. I’d let go of that hatred a long time ago, though.

What was keeping me from her now? What are you trying to say, Gran?

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