Page 17 of Ensnared By the Werewolf

“Oh!What—” I start.

“My knot,” he gasps.

“Your what?!”I twist to look at my mate, but the motion tugs at the swollenknotinside me, and we both hiss.

I moan as the knot gets even bigger.It triggers something in me.Claim, claim, claim,my instincts whisper.I tilt my head to the side, my forehead grinding into the dirt as I attempt to bare my neck completely.

Our bodies throb in time to each other.My heartbeat starts to slow, and I wait for the action that will officially make us mates by shifter standards.

I wait for my mating bite.

The silence of the forest ebbs away and I can hear crickets in the distance, and still, I wait.

The trance of instinct wrapped around my mind cracks.

“Jack?”I ask.

He huffs.

“Claim me,” I say.

And still, he doesn’t move.A minute passes, and then another.The heat of our connected bodies cools.The knot connecting us softens, and he slides from me.

I want to curl in on myself and cradle the empty place in me, but I don’t move.If Jack is going to reject me again, I’m going to make him say it.

“Jack,” I say.

“No.”

I squeeze my eyes shut to keep my tears from falling.

“I can’t,” he says.

It doesn’t matter that the words are soft.They wound me.I yielded to him.I gave up my body for him and it still isn’t enough.

“Can’t or won’t?”My voice is hoarse, and I don’t wait for the answer.I press up to kneeling and pull my dress down, ignoring the river of seed running down my thigh.

The warmth of Jack’s furred body moves away from me, and I wipe a tear away with a sniff.

“Bel, it’s not that I don’t want you.”

“I think that’s exactly what it is.”

“Look at me!”The volume and pain of his voice startles me.“I’m a monster!”

I finally let myself look at him.A being similar to the werewolves found in Hollywood movies stands on hind legs with arms spread, waiting for my inspection.He’s big, tall with strong shoulders and long limbs.His body is covered with fur that thins in places and thickens into a tail behind him.His face isn’t much of a surprise.The truncated snout with large fangs and yellow eyes.

I recognize him.Even stuck in the form he’s in, there’s a familiarity to the slope of his brow, the shape of his eyes.Or maybe it’s just that my heart sings in his presence.My soul recognizes my other half.

Jack casts his gaze away from me.“And I’d be even worse if I trapped you as my mate for the rest of your life.”

I want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.“I’ve already told you that I like that about you!I like your wolf being so close to the surface!Your wolf has never hurt me!”

“I just chased you down and fucked you in the dirt!”Anger seeps into Jack’s voice.

“I wanted that.I trust your wolf.He knows what he wants,” I say.

Jack scoffs, and I continue.“He wouldn’t abandon his mate once he found her.It’s the man I don’t trust!”

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