Page 68 of Knot a Thief

Panic rises in my throat as I take in my surroundings.

Plush white velvet curtains frame floor-to-ceiling French windows. A crystal chandelier hangs overhead, casting soft light across the intricately patterned wallpaper. The bed I’m lying on is massive, covered in silken sheets that stroke against my skin as I sit up.

Where am I?

How did I get here?

Fear stirs in my gut.

My heart aches for Seb. I long to feel his arms around me, to hear his calm voice telling me everything will be okay. But he’s not here, and the realization sends another wave of fear crashing over me.

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to quell the trembling that’s taken hold of my body.

But it’s my breath that is so ragged it feels like I’m suffocating that scares me.

“Relax and breathe,” a deep voice says.

Then I see him—Max—sitting in a high-backed chair in the corner, his piercing blue gaze fixed on me. His near black hair, his sharp features.

My breath catches in my throat.

“I need to tend your bite.” His voice is low and controlled.

Bite? What bite?

As if in response to his words, a dull ache blooms on my neck.

My hand flies up to touch the spot, and I flinch at the tender flesh beneath my fingers.

“You bit me!”

Shock courses through me as the implications sink in. A mating bite. But how? When?

My mind races, trying to piece together fragmented memories. The club. The heat. It’s all a blur.

I stare at Max, my eyes wide with disbelief and growing horror.

What has he done?

What have I done?

“I never presented my neck to you. I would never do that?” My anger is growing, then mysteriously dampens.

“You asked me to bite you.”

“I was in my fucking heat. I would have agreed to anything!”

“Shh,” he says, his voice soothing as something strange happens to my body.

“What are you doing?”

“Sending calmness through the bond.”

“What are you talking about?”

I press my hand over the ache in my neck as it pulses.

When Max rises from his chair and approaches the bed, my eyes widen, like a deer caught in headlights, frozen between fight or flight, but with nowhere to run.

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