Page 56 of A Wolf's Heart

“Thank you, doctor. I appreciate you coming out.”

She grabbed her belongings and started walking to the door when Rainor stopped her. “Those two are likely still having it out. I will walk you to your car. Here”—he reached for her briefcase—“let me take that for you.”

“Thank you.” She gave him her briefcase, and he held the door open so she could leave.

Rainor glanced back at me. “I know I don’t owe you an explanation, but I likely won’t be back.”

“That’s fine.” I pretended his words didn’t hurt, pretended my heart didn’t miss a beat at the notion that he couldn’t be around me. I ignored the pull to stop him from leaving, and I forced a smile as he closed the door behind him. If he believed I wasn’t feeling any of the emotions he expected from me, maybe hiding them was for the best.

I went to the back door and let Max inside, immediately locking all the doors before taking Max with me to my bedroom. I crawled under the covers, not really tired, just done.

I was a wolf shifter, going into her first heat, with mates who wanted nothing to do with me emotionally, everything to do with me physically, and one that refused to be around me. I stroked Max’s head. It was athemproblem, though. It wasn’t my problem, and that’s how I had to get through this next week—by taking care of my own problems.

16

RAINOR

“Sir! You forgot to label these,” the med tech said, looking down at the baggie of blood samples.

“Jane Doe,” I informed him. “This is strictly confidential. Any information collected from this sample is not to be reviewed. All information will be put into an envelope and hand delivered to me immediately. Is that understood?”

“Do you want it to be looked over for misreadings?” he asked me.

“No. As I said, as soon as the data processes, it is to be put into an envelope and given to me. No one is to look at the results. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.” The gamma gave me an affirmative nod and took the vials into the back of the medical wing where the labs were. I had no worries about him not following my orders.

I took the elevator from the fourth floor and down to the fifth, opting for the underground tunnel system to walk back to the condos, instead of taking the car. I needed time to think, time to walk.

I passed wolves running to and from various locations. The tunnel system was created decades ago, before the city grew so large, now reaching out to various packs. It was a way ofensuring wolves could travel where they needed to go within the city without the eyes of humans.

But I didn’t shift for a few reasons. To start, I didn’t want to cause mass panic in the tunnels. One look at me, and shifters who had heard the stories or seen the havoc I wreaked with their own eyes took off screaming. Also, I didn’t want to cause any deaths tonight. But the final reason was currently driving me—I didn’t want the beast to run back toher.

The insistent need and pull to get to Lila was enough to drive a man mad. It was all the things the beast wanted to do to her, all the things he showed me he would do to her, that worried me. He was sick. At first, I thought I could help out during her heat, but it was very apparent that would never happen. Thinking about it now, it never could’ve worked with three males and one female.

Hearing that she didn’t feel the same pull to me that I felt towards her gave me hope that I could stay away.

Once I got home, I walked through the condo, turning on all the lights before going to the gas fireplace and flipping the switch. Once everything was turned on, I stood in the middle of the near-empty, modern living room. Except, it didn’t matter how many lights I turned on; it would never feel like this home was full. It didn’t matter how high I turned up the heat; it would never be the same heat that came off Lila. The only thing this home smelled like was bleach and smoke when, in reality, I wished it smelled of creamy sweet lemon.

Collecting the blankets and pillows from the master bedroom, I brought them over to the lockdown room and made a thick pile on the floor. I never left bed frames in this room, knowing they would be smashed into toothpicks when the beast came out.

Lock the doors. I sent the mental message to Kage, knowing he would be able to do so with the app on his phone. My phone purposefully didn’t have the same ability.

I could feel his confusion through our link.The beast doesn’t feel close.

Precaution.I’ll be watching the camera from here.After a pause, the telltale sound of the locks falling into place echoed through the empty room, through the vacant condo, and through my cold heart.

Lila

It started off as a twinge,a small feeling down low that, when I rubbed my thighs together just right, felt better. But soon, that wasn’t enough. Heat spread from my chest and across my skin, and when the pressure kept building, I slipped my hand down, pressing my fingers between my folds, though I wasn’t as skilled as Weylin or Kage. I played around, trying to find the right spot to hit, the one that caused me to scream out when they had found it, but still, relief was beyond my grasp.

Frustrated, I pulled back the covers and got out of bed. My legs wobbled as the sweet scent of pineapples teased my taste buds. Weylin was in the house, the sharp scent of spiced whiskey telling me Kage was as well. But my wolf cried out at the loss of my smoky beast.

My chin shook and tears pricked my eyes, but I held them back, needing to take care of one emotion at a time. I had to do this. I only had myself to take care of. It had to be me.

Reaching into the top drawer of my dresser, I pulled out my one and only vibrator. It was a cheap, small thing, but it had always gotten the job done in the past.

“Forgive me, Max,” I said as I slipped off my tank top and pants, the heat in the room intensifying.

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