Page 61 of Wolf Tamer

But it’s too late. Her fury is back tenfold.

“Just anotherwhat, Reid? Another witch?” she screams, the tears falling now. “Another sacrifice? Achild?”

I stay quiet. I’m starting to believe there’s nothing I can say to convince her otherwise at this point.

“You’re a monster,” she spits, “just like Edmund was. Amonster.”

Okay, enough.

No one compares me to Edmund. Not when I’ve done my best to be a better man.

I push Tasha off in a last-ditch effort thanks entirely to a new wave of adrenaline and watch her land in a crouch.

Her next scream unleashes her witch powers, and sparks erupt from her like she’s a fucking lit firecracker on the fourth of July. They surround her in a corona of power so that she goes from regular woman to human-sized sparkler in an instant.

“Stop it, Tash! This has gone on long enough,” I demand.

My words are barely audible over the snap and crackle of her magic.

Her attention is locked on me. She doesn’t even flinch from the lightshow happening all around her.

She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She doesn’t know.

It doesn’t stop her from blasting a white-hot wave of magic over me and sending me flying across the room. Her magic burns where it touches my skin, but the searing pain only lasts a second because just then the back of my head slams into the wall and the world around me goes dark.

ChapterTwenty

Tasha

The moment the blast quiets and I see Reid on the floor unmoving, I know I’ve taken a step too far. In my head, I can hear the sound of his skull cracking against the Sheetrock playing on repeat.

Terror seizes me.

Oh no.

Oh shit, what have I done?

“Reid.” I whisper his name and dissolve the distance between us. The knife drops out of my suddenly numb fingers to clatter uselessly against the floor. I’m not sure how I managed the blast. I’m not sure how I manage any of my magic at all, but in this instance, it had been strong enough to thrust him away from me, the power responding to my unspoken desire to have him gone.

Gone. That’s all I’d been thinking about.

I wanted him out of my sight before I did something I’d later regret.

But I didn’t want him dead!

He thinks I’m hismate.

He said he loves me.

The thought of losing him rips open a hole in my heart. In my next breath, I’m crouched beside him. Running my fingers over his face, I notice blood staining his cheek from the first wound and the thin line across his Adam’s apple from the second.

I shouldn’t have gotten so angry. I let my emotions get the better of me. Seeing Carmen’s name in that book was a trigger, pressing against my trauma and internal wounds to the point where I wanted someone to pay, thinking it would help me feel better.

Not only do I feel worse, but I might have just irreparably damaged this budding mate bond with Reid.

Mate bond, fuck. That isn’t supposed to be possible.

“Wake up,” I demand, searching for a pulse. “Reid, you have to wake up.” I slap his cheek lightly to somehow shock him out of his stupor. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t even blink.

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