Page 16 of Owning His Mate

That douses my interest in him. “Only to you,” I snap back.

It’s not true. I wear my barbed words like armor around everyone.

He stares at me as if trying to understand me. “I’m not the enemy, Apryle,” he says.

“Aren’t you? You want something I can’t give you.”

His eyes narrow slightly—in confusion maybe, and a little frustration. “And what exactly do you think I want?”

I swallow down the lump blocking my throat, threatening to choke me. “You want a mate, and I can’t be that.”

“Why not?”

For a hundred reasons, none of which I want to get into.

The hand touching my wrist isn’t Kye’s. It happens in a split second. I’m back there, held down, pain racking my body as they?—

“Apryle!” The desperate bark of his voice brings me back to the present.

His fingers span my cheeks, his head dipped low so he can focus on my eyes. My chest heaves as my lungs stutter before working again. “Sorry.”

“You’re trembling,” he notes.

I am. My body is shaking. Why am I still so affected by my past? I hate it, and I hate the way Kye is gazing at me with so much softness in his eyes. I can’t bear it. I don’t deserve it.

I scramble back from him, tearing out of his grasp. There’s a flash of what might be hurt from him before he slides his mask of indifference back into place. Clearly, he wears his own past like armor, too.

“I have to…” I break off, my frazzled brain unable to come up with a reason for why I have to leave.

One-handed, I climb to my feet, suddenly feeling vulnerable. Kye follows me up, dusting his hands off on his combat pants. He wears them well, the thickness of his thighs filling out the material in a way that makes my mouth water.

Stop it,I chastise myself. I can’t have these feelings and thoughts about Kye.

“Apryle.” When he steps toward me, I back away, clutching my throbbing wrist to my chest. “Are you scared of me?” I can see the horror in his face at this realization. I don’t want to hurt him, but the truth is, I would be scared of anyone standing in front of me right now.

He’s not my old pack. He would never visit the torture they did on me, but my body remembers, and it protects me the only way it can. Avoidance.

“I’m not sure yet.”

The crack of vulnerability in my voice seems to calm him. His expression softens slightly. “Let me show you who I am.”

Yes…

My traitorous wolf surfaces long enough to demand this, but I ignore her. She isn’t driving this car. She doesn’t get a say. I back up a couple more steps, needing more distance between us, but he follows, and before I can run, he collars the nape of my neck. I buck against his hold, but his grasp is firm, and the only way for me to break free would involve hurting us both.

He must sense where my thoughts have gone, or maybe I’ve communicated it through our bond, but his hold tightens. “Don’t even think about hitting me with your magic again, little tau.”

“Do you really expect me not to protect myself?” I challenge.

“You don’t need to protect yourself from me.” His words sound true, but I’ve learned that what comes out of people’s mouths isn’t always what they intend.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Despite this, I don’t move out of his hold, and I don’t try to remove it either. My pulse flutters wildly in my throat, and I wish my body wasn’t reacting to him.

Unable to stop myself, I lean into him as his thumb swipes back and forth across my nape. It is so soothing, my eyes start to feel heavy. The throbbing in my wrist is forgotten as my head dips onto my chest, every inch of me feeling boneless.

“You fight me with words, but your body doesn’t agree with your mouth,” he says.

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