Page 58 of Wolf Tamer

Sadly, I’m on the receiving end, and I’m not sure how she made the leap to thinking me responsible for the name on the book. But she has. And here we stand. I think it’s better for me to get the hell out of this room before she does something she can’t take back. Like gut me.

And if I’m being honest, we’ve been using each other on multiple levels. Saying it will sign my death warrant, so I frown at her, with my temple throbbing, and already regretting thinking I’d be able to smooth this over with words. Yet if this argument is anything like the ones I’ve experienced with her in the past, then it’s better for me to go in calmly. Giving her my back will only be a big red flag in front of a bull.

“Answer me,” Tasha demands.

I wince at the whip of her voice. Her smile turns poisonous the longer she looks at me. Oddly enough, having her meet my eyes is much worse than I anticipated.

“I’m telling you the truth,” I insist. “It doesn’t matter what you see. Only what I’m telling you. You’re going to have to decide whether it’s something you can handle.”

“You asshole.”

She’s close enough now that I can slide a hand to her waist if I feel like losing it.

“I never said I was anything but,” I insist.

Instead of attacking right away, she looks me over slowly, clucking her tongue at whatever it is she sees.

I stuff my hands into my pockets and remain still under her scrutiny, waiting for whatever has been building beneath her skin to go still. The sparks are no longer bursting out of her as we circle each other. I manage to keep her in my sight.

“Say something,” she demands. “I want to hear what excuses you try to use.”

Excuses. Even with everything we’ve gone through, what we’ve done for each other, she still doesn’t trust me. My stomach hollows out. “That book”—I use my nose to indicate where it has fallen— “was found amongst my father’s things once he passed. I’m not even sure why I kept it.”

“And you didn’t notice that the name written on the front cover?” She jerks her chin toward me. “You’ve been using me this entire time, telling me you’d help me find her when really you knew exactly where she was. She was here.”

“Not to my knowledge,” I say.

But she’s shaking so badly she barely hears a word I say. Her eyes flicker with disgust when they rake over me. “I want the truth.”

“And that’s what I’m trying to tell you, but you’ve clearly decided I’m the bad guy in this situation.” My shoulders hunch forward. “Did it ever occur to you that I’m just as confused as you are?”

She snarls at me. The hurt vanishes entirely under a wave of rage. “Did you use Carmen, too? Did you tell her she had no choice but to open her legs for you before you made her your pack’s personal magical battery?” Her frown drips with venom, and even worse, disappointment.

She would know, if she checked the bond between us, that I told her the truth she desperately desires.

No. She won’t do it. She’s not in the kind of mood to be reasonable about these things, not when she’s already decided my guilt.

If her sister had ever been in this house, I have no knowledge of it. I never even heard the name until Tasha spoke it to me. If it really is written on the inside of the book, I must have missed it. She won’t excuse me, though.

“I’ve never met your sister before.”

“I’ve swallowed enough of your lies,” she snaps. She takes a single menacing step toward me, with her attention focused on my face. All I see on hers is the same hateful and rage-filled expression I’d seen during our first fight in the clearing during the ceremony. “I’m done with the games!”

No matter what happens, I won’t make a move against her, as if that will somehow prove to her I’m being honest. But with her gaze fixed on me, her lips pulling back in a snarl, I know to expect a fight.

Seconds later, she launches herself at me with such force that I see stars, her knife flashing in the fading afternoon sun.

ChapterNineteen

Reid

There is no noise to herald her attack. No screams or howls or demands for me to pay attention. She’s done with all of that. There is only Tasha, her fury, and her blade.

She doesn’t hesitate when it comes to causing me as much of the same pain as she feels. And damn, she’s a fucking excellent fighter. The realization resurfaces now that if it had been her in the kitchen instead of Crane and Emily the other night, she might have taken me down.

I probably shouldn’t have baited her the way I did. It’s a pretty bad idea in general, but I can’t keep from laughing at her first swipe, sauntering just out of her reach before she tries to punch me in the nose with her free hand.

She manages anyway.

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