Page 27 of Mated in Darkness

And I wasn’t sure that was actually the case.

“I’m sorry.”

I looked at Kaylee and blinked. “You’re sorry? I’m the one that attacked you.” Guilt and shame spread over me, and I cursed under my breath. “I pawed at you.”

“Is that some kind of shifter joke?” she asked, a brow raised.

I rolled my eyes. “No. It’s me saying I literally attacked you against the door.”

“I’m the one that kissed you first, if you don’t remember. I’m not saying I didn’t like it,” she growled out.

“Oh?” I asked, confused as ever. “I’ve never…not with anyone.”

“Are you telling me you’re a virgin?” she asked, her eyes wide.

I ran my hand through my hair, cursing once more. “I’m not saying that.Seriouslynot saying that. All I’m saying is I’ve never kissed another person quite like that, ever. With so much need, and the fact that I don’t even know who you are. I know your name. I know your position in the Pack. I know where you’re from, but that’s it. So why do I feel that I’ve known you my entire life, or that I’ve been waiting to know you?” I rubbed at my chest, annoyed at myself. “Why do I feel like I should know more?”

“Jason,” she whispered, and her voice went straight through me, the need surprising me, the ache making me want.

My hands shook, and I took a deep breath. “I feel like I took advantage of you, that I forced you into that.”

Kaylee’s eyes filled with gold again, and she shook her head. “You didn’t do anything I didn’t ask for. I’m the one who started it. I clawed at you, remember?”

“And yet, I shoved you against the door.”

She looked at me then, her head tilted in her wolf way. “I liked it. I’m a wolf. So it looks like neither one of us took advantage of each other.” She let out a deep breath and shook her head.

“What’s that look for?” I asked. “If neither one of us took advantage of each other, what is that look for?”

“We should get back to the data. So you can show me exactly what you mean by these bite marks and what you’ve been looking for all this time.”

“You’re not going to get out of it that easily.”

“Excuse me?” she asked, that wolfish tone of hers making me grin. I liked the way she sounded. The way that she made me grin just by that growl in her voice.

“I don’t want to go over bite marks and rogue wolves or whoever is causing this. I want to know why we just attacked each other like that, and why I feel like I could do it for hours, and that was just the beginning. Just a single taste.”

“We don’t have time for this, Jason. I don’t have time for this. I need to find out what happened to my Packmate and who killed him. Don’t you understand that? You might have been too late to save him, but what about me? My job was to find him, to track him down, and yet I couldn’t. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t good enough. He’s dead, and we were so close to finding him, and yet not close enough. He is gone, and now I’m sitting here kissing you and wanting more? No, I’m not that wolf. I will never be that wolf.”

I lifted my chin, understanding and hating myself for forgetting for just an instant why she was here. Not that I could actually forget. Not that the nightmares of finding Spencer as I had would ever fully leave my brain, but at that moment, I had let myself be.

And she had so much guilt over that, and I didn’t blame her. Because I was feeling the same. And I hadn’t even known the other man.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I should be focusing on that. On Spencer. On the eleven souls that we lost. I’m sorry.”

She gave me a look, one that I couldn’t read, before she cursed under her breath and ran her hands through that gorgeous mane of hers. “It’s not your fault. Not really.”

“I am sorry.”

“Please don’t say that. We can’t be sorry for what happened, but we can’t let it happen again.”

“Will you at least tell me why?”

I had a feeling I knew, even though I shouldn’t, even though it didn’t make any sense.

“Don’t ask me that, Jason.”

“I think I need to. I think you need to say it out loud.”

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