Page 20 of Wolf

Alice looks concerned. “Maybe.”

I approach unshed tears in my eyes. “I hate Matias.” It’s a lie. A goddamn lie, but I don’t know how to deal with the sick, fucked up emotions coiling through me.

“You and me both,” Alice says.

I can’t focus on anything except that Matias didn’t touch me, and now he’s gone. It’s like my body is a live wire, every nerve ending screaming for his attention. I hate myself for it, for craving the touch of a man who’s been so cruel to me.

Focusing on the pain in my leg and the ache in my muscles helps distract me.

“Are you alright?” Luna asks Alice. “You’re shaking.”

I notice that Alice is indeed shaking.

“I sense that something big is going to happen,” Alice replies.

Luna pulls her close, and I can’t help but join in the hug. My arms go tight around my friends, and I hate that one of us is missing.

“God, I hope Blake is okay,” I murmur. Ever since she was sold, I’ve tried not to dwell on it. Avoiding thinking about what kind of hell she might be going through with that man, Gaston.

“I hate this,” I whisper, so quiet I’m not sure my friends will hear.

“I know,” Luna responds.

“The unknown,” Alice murmurs. “That’s what’s driving us insane—not knowing what’s happening or what’s going to happen.”

Luna nods. “We need to be prepared for whatever comes next.”

Alice smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Easier said than done.”

Suddenly, the three men reappear. My heart skips a beat at the dark, dangerous look in Matias’s eyes. Immediately, his eyes meet mine, and I want to go to him.

Fuck. I need therapy.

Unfortunately, the only person who could have psychoanalyzed what the fuck is going on in my mind has been sold.

“I’m training you again, but not for long,” Taren starts. “You’ll be auctioned in three days before Mexico’s rich and powerful.”

Taren’s words hit me like a sledgehammer, knocking the air from my lungs. Three days. Three days until we’re put up for auction, displayed like cattle for the rich and powerful to gawk at and bid on.

But it’s not the thought of being sold that makes my stomach churn. I realize I’ll be ripped away from Matias in three days.

The thought sends a wave of panic through me so intense it nearly brings me to my knees.

How can I feel this way about a man who’s been nothing but cruel to me? A man who’s a part of the very system that’s stripped me of my freedom and dignity?

It’s sick, it’s wrong, but it’s there. And the thought of losing it, of losing him, fills me with a despair so deep I can hardly breathe.

Matias clenches his jaw, his eyes flashing with an emotion I can’t quite read. Is it anger? Possessiveness?

I don’t know, and I don’t understand any of this. All I know is that the thought of being separated from him is tearing me apart from the inside out, not to mention being ripped away from my two best friends.

Thiago clears his throat. “Which means you need to be on your best behavior,” he says, gazing at Luna.

Luna, surprisingly, bows her head in response.

Matias stares at me all the while, and I don’t know why I say what I say next. “Good, anyone who will buy me will be better than you.”

Matias growls and stalks forward, reacting instantly to my words. Maybe that’s why I said it—I need him close. I want him to react and touch me. His face is twisted in rage, and his eyes are wild and savage. “No one else touches you,” he growls.

---