Page 51 of What a Wolf's Heart Decides

Those who couldn’t release it risked cooking their insides. Literally.

Clenching his jaw, he pushed the force out of him. At the same moment, he pushed his palms hard into Haley’s chest. Energy collapsed inside him, then burst out like a star exploding. It sizzled down his arms and into his hands, burning his palms.

Someone gasped. Rupert.

Bard opened his eyes.

Haley’s were open, too. And locked on his.

Never had eyes been such a beautiful color.

His lips parted.

Under his palms, a sluggish beat.

Then another.

Another.

Her brow furrowed, and she coughed.

“Holy shit,” Rupert breathed. Or maybe it was someone else. For all Bard knew, ten thousand people could have been watching.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered were the sky-blue eyes staring into his and the slow, steady thump of the beating heart beneath his hands.

Something touched his face. Her fingertips.

She brushed them over his cheek, her touch featherlight against his scars. Her brow furrowed more, and her lips moved like she was trying to speak.

He opened his mouth to tell her to save her strength.

But then her eyes cleared even more, and it was like she saw the answer to a puzzle she’d been trying to figure out for a long time.

Voice barely above a whisper, she said, “You’re so tired, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. She said it like she was stating a fact.

This time, it was his heart that stopped.

She sighed. Her fingers fell away from his face.

He spoke, his voice hoarse, “Haley—”

Her eyes fluttered shut.

10

Haley opened her eyes and saw blurry snow. A deep tremor ripped through her. Normally, the snow was so beautiful.

Not this time. Her stomach clenched, and anxiety raced over her skin, making it feel too tight on her bones.

She took a deep breath.

Band-aids.

Gaze on the snow, she frowned. Why did she smell band-aids?

And why did the snow have lines all over it? As if someone had painted a grid over everything? She squinted, willing her eyes to focus.

Wait. There was a grid. And that wasn’t snow.

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