Page 48 of An Unexpected Claim

“No. I haven’t been with anyone since you. You’re the father.”

Nathan nodded and closed his eyes, as he slowly exhaled. When he opened them and pinned his silver gaze on me, I shifted my weight restlessly from foot to foot. “Now, answer my other question,” he demanded.

I raised an eyebrow, not sure to what question he was referring.

He took a long, deep breath in, keeping his eyes locked with mine. It felt as though he could see right through me, but I wasn’t a member of his pack, so I knew he couldn’t dig through my mind. However, after taking in the scents around him, his orbs turned dark and heated.It’s pretty much the same thing,I grumbled to myself. He didn’t have to look inside my head to know I was primed and ready for another mind-blowing orgasm.

“The last thing we need right now is to complicate things with sex.” I didn’t admit that I was also afraid for him to see my scars. Somehow, he’d missed them under my hair when he’d smacked my ass, and earlier while we’d gotten hot and heavy, he’d kept one hand on my hip while the other had explored my breasts and between my legs.

It wasn’t vanity that worried me though—okay, it wasn’tonlyvanity. Now that he knew about the baby, I was worried that his overprotective instincts would go into hyperdrive. It was just how wolf shifter males were. If he saw the slashes on my back, he might go ballistic and lock me in my room. They were fully healed, but like the scars on his arm, their presence alone indicated just how life-threatening my injuries had been.

It didn’t change what had happened. He already knew I’d fought the killer and been chased out of town. The fact that the bastard had almost killed me shouldn’t make a difference to Nathan’s attitude. But again, this was a male wolf, and an alpha to boot. The scars would remind him every time he looked at my back—even if he couldn’t see them through my shirt—that he hadn’t been there to protect me.

It wasn’t rational, it made no sense, but it was in their DNA.

Wolves were loyal and protective by nature, and mated for life, which was probably why the process of breaking a mating bond was so physically and mentally painful. If the couple had gone deep enough into the mating stages, it usually drove them mad or killed them.

Nathan’s chemical makeup would make him even more determined to keep it from happening to me again, which would translate to me losing my mind and foaming at the mouth to be free.

“Complicated,” Nathan responded, his face and tone deadpan.

I nodded and twisted my hands in my shirt to keep from reaching for him.

He shook his head and when his eyes landed on me again, they were cold and hard. “Sex is the only time you are honest with me, Peyton. It’s the only uncomplicated thing between us.”

I didn’t miss the barb and it hurt when it hit. I’d spent my life letting things roll off my back, not thinking twice about what people thought of me. Too busy living my best life. Yet, as I watched him leave the room, I stood rooted to the ground in complete shock because a tear escaped my eye and slowly rolled down my cheek.

* * *

A loud, jarring noise woke me from a dead sleep and I shot up in bed, terrified and confused. It took a few seconds to realize the sound was coming from me. I was screaming, soaked in sweat, and my body shook violently.

In the next second, Nathan burst into the room, claws extended and his eyes sweeping the space for a threat. When he didn’t spot any danger, he rushed to the bed and took me in his arms.

My screaming had died down, but it had evolved into big, choking sobs and an endless river of tears. I clung to him, resting my cheek on his warm chest and trying to calm my racing heart.

“It’s okay, Peyton,” he murmured as he brushed my hair back from my heated face. He threaded his fingers into the tresses and continually ran them through my hair. “You’re safe, baby. Calm down for me. It’s just me and you here. You’re safe.”

I cried for a little longer, but his soothing tone and gestures helped to bring me out of the terrified fog I’d been captured in.Holy shit.In all my years, even with my fucked-up childhood, I’d never experienced a nightmare like that.

“Nightmare?” Nathan asked softly and not for the first time, I wondered if he could read the minds of shifters outside his pack.

I pressed my face a little harder against his firm, warm skin and nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head and my cheek rubbed over his chest hair. He had just enough to look like a real man and I’d loved the way it had felt against my breasts when we’d slept together. But now, it helped to draw me out of my terror, reminding me that he was there and would protect me.

He sat with me for another few minutes until I stopped shaking and finally lifted my head to wipe my blurry eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I don’t know what happened.”

Nathan canted his head and scratched his beard. “I’m a little surprised it took this long,” he said.

I blinked a few times, not sure I’d heard him right. “Pardon?”

“I’ve been expecting this to happen. Most people who go through a trauma like that have nightmares.” He shrugged. “Not always, but I slept lightly the first couple of nights you were here because I kept expecting to be woken up. When they didn’t come, I slept a little harder, so I guess the joke was on me because you scared the fuck out of me tonight.”

My lips tipped up at the corners and he used his thumb to swipe under each of my eyes, clearing away the last remnants of moisture.

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