Page 37 of Wolf Tamer

My knees buckle, and I drop down to the floor hard enough to crack my teeth. Surprise ripples through me along with the pain. I’m left staring at the cracks in the stone hearth and the trail of black veining winding through the stone. My next breath brings to me the scent of ash, and at once, I’m back in that clearing with the witches.

Which one is worse?I’m not so sure.

There’s a sharp sound of the branch hitting something hard, but there’s no crack of pain on my end. Instead, when I glance to the right, I find the skinny whip-like switch on the ground before me.

Every sound in the room ceases at once.

“Enough of this,” he barks out, stopping so abruptly my stomach turns. “We’re done here.”

“But Alpha, we’re just getting started,” someone near the rear of the room argues. “She’s not even bleeding yet.”

“She’s learned her lesson,” Reid insists from beside me.

“That’s not fair!” It’s a woman who retorts back. “Anyone else would be whipped within an inch of their life. Her skin should be hanging off her. Your father—”

“I’m not my father!”

The statement spears through the crowded space, sparking another stark silence from the wolves.

At once, Reid’s hands are underneath my arms, and he’s hauling me up to my feet again. For some reason, my legs refuse to keep me standing. They shake to the point where my ankles twist, and I’m barely on my feet, tumbling against him, trusting him to catch me.

“We’re done.” Reid’s tone leaves no further room for argument. “Get the fuck out of here. All of you.”

As much as I despise him and would like to slap him away from me right now, I just… can’t.

I can’t.

My body isn’t my own, and for some reason, my eyes don’t want to open. It takes every ounce of willpower I possess in my stubborn little heart to look up at him.

His expression is carved from stone. I can’t find a hint of empathy or remorse behind his Alpha presence, and it scares me.

My first impressions of him may have been right after all.

“Bullet, I want you to take the pups out for an inspection of the boundaries,” Reid orders as he shifts to drag me up into his arms. His thumb grazes across my chin for a split second before he’s striding out of the room to the murmur of his underlings. “Have everyone else disperse. I want the hunters out to fully stock our freezers in case the weather takes a turn for the worst.”

Unsure, Bullet doesn’t move.

“Get moving!” he barks out, which is enough to get him jumping into action.

Then he’s taking the stairs two at a time and heading straight for his room.

“You’re hurt,” he says the moment the door is closed and the warding spells are in place. He sounds furious—but furious at me, and I don’t understand why. “Why didn’t you tell me you were in actual pain? Tasha, dammit!”

No one will be able to hear us now. And I don’t put up a fight as he sets me gently down on the mattress—until my injured back and rear hit the sheets, and then I start squealing like a cat who’s had its tail stepped on.

“Why didn’t you tell me the spell hadn’t worked!” He frantically probes my body for tender spots. “Did we do something wrong? Did we go over the time limit? What happened?”

Now that we’re alone, I don’t have to look at him. I can keep my eyes closed and pretend I’m anywhere but here, my hands clenching on the sheets to center myself.

“You made up an excuse to get me out of there, didn’t you?” I somehow get out as he manhandles me, turning me on my uninjured side and inspecting the whip marks there. He trails his fingers along each line, and although it hurts, I swallow down anything else I might say on the matter.

“I had to. Did you think I wouldn’t notice the change in you? Your pain was real. Your pain is my pain.”

How poetic.

“It didn’t stop you from saying those awful things.” I’m dripping blood from my mouth on his nice clean sheets, and I don’t give a shit.

“It was for the show. I had to sell it, as much as it killed me to do. I didn’t mean any of it.” He’s rambling, his anger growing with every word. “Fuck, Tasha, you know I didn’t mean it, right? You’ve never been sensitive to the crap people say before.”

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