Page 21 of The Hunt of Night

I can’t seem to get my tongue to work enough to ask it out loud as Kryll rises to his feet. He offers me his hand, his swirling tattoos luring me in, and I’m acutely aware of Brody’s presence beside me.

A flash of red in front of me confirms Raiden’s close too and it’s enough to push me over the brink I’ve been so desperately clinging to. But in the blink of an eye, a whoosh of green swipes across my vision.

Nausea radiates from my stomach, an all-too-familiar feeling at this point, and a moment later, the world is spinning around me as I stand on wobbly legs.

Blinking, it takes a few tries to get my gaze to settle on the tense jawline of an angry wolf.

Cassian.

“Let’s talk, Alpha.”

10

CASSIAN

My muscles twitch with an emotion I’m struggling to place or even contain, and the longer I stand still, taking no action, the worse it gets. Surely it will subside now. It has to.

I watched her trail after Bozzelli this morning, succumbing to whatever Hell she was ready to unleash upon her. I watched her return, shoulders slumped as if the weight she carries has increased. I didn’t think that was possible. I’ve also watched her retreat into herself with every passing moment.

I’m done.

So fucking done with it.

Bracing my hands on the small of her back, I can’t stop the sigh falling from my lips as I peer down at her. She’s wavering in my hold, the motion affecting her like usual, and it’s almost amusing.

“How sick are you feeling? Am I good to let go?”

“Don’t mock me,” she grumbles, pushing against my chest with a huff, but her fingers quickly curl into my t-shirt as she attempts to keep her balance.

“No mocking,” I breathe, planting my hands on her hips to help steady her, but it only serves to earn me an eye roll.

She takes a step back, and with great reluctance, I let her go, lifting my hands slightly in surrender. Scrubbing a hand down her face, she lifts her face to the sky, a small break of the sunlight shining through the trees looming above.

“Didn’t we have a conversation about how you should not do that to me anymore?” she states, lowering her gaze to quirk a brow at me.

I’m not encouraging the prolonging of her griping, so I shrug, turning away from her. “I don’t recall.”

“Of course you don’t. Do you recall anything at all?” she snarks, continuing to push, but I see the falter in her eyes when my gaze whips to hers, heat burning in my irises.

“I recall how sweet your pussy is.”

Her jaw hits the floor as she glares at me.

Good. She’s present and alert. Her reactions are everything. Her demeanor is shifting. Long gone is the shell that encased the woman before me just moments ago, and in its place is a burning inferno.

A firecracker.

A warrior.

My alpha.

“What are we doing here, Cassian?” She peers around at the woods, the stone footpath a short distance away, and the familiar fallen log a step behind her.

“Take a seat.”

“Why?” Her eyebrows pinch together in confusion as she looks to me for answers.

“Can you just take a damn seat?” I grumble, forever torn over the fact that she pushes back at me at every turn. There’s a part of it that gets my dick hard, but the other part begs me to break her, to dominate her into submission. There’s a fat chance of that ever happening. She’s too strong, but maybe in the bedroom…

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