Page 57 of The Cursed Wolf King

The word still felt foreign, wrong in my head. Everyoneknew the Great Separation shattered the concept of fated mates, severing bonds that had once been undeniable and absolute. Fated mates were myths, relics of a time long gone.

So why did every part of me—every instinct, every nerve, every ounce of my being—rebel against that knowledge?

It’s no mistake, my wolf growled, his confidence irritating me.

“She’s manipulative,” I murmured. “She’s played me, lied to me…” I trailed off, unsure of who I was trying to convince.

Even as I thought it, I couldn’t reconcile those actions with the woman I’d seen these past days—the woman who resisted Grayson’s commands, who carried a weight in her eyes that spoke of wounds far deeper than the ones on her skin.

I stopped outside the bungalow. Everything about it was familiar and yet it was like a foreign land.Shewas inside.

Mine.

Her pacing slowed, then stopped altogether. I closed my eyes, attuning myself to the faint shift in her energy. I sensed she was lying down, her breaths evening out.

And that scent.

Shadow Moon Goddess, save me. Thatscent.

I approached the bungalow, making sure my steps made no sound in the shifting dirt. I had to be closer.

Her scent was even more powerful than before. How could that be? It wove into my brain and held me hostage until I recognized it.

Arousal.

I moaned despite myself, clapping my hand over my mouth like a teenager who had been caught, but Eve didn’t stir. Whatever was happening within her, it was silent and beyond my knowing.

Though it wreaked havoc in me.

I leaned my back against the wall, letting the bricks press through my shirt. I welcomed the light pain. Because this—smelling her, sensing her, knowing she was feeling something like what I was feeling… This wastorture.

Take her, my wolf demanded. I was too overcome by the sheer simplicity of knowing she wasright there. He was restless. I was…

At peace.

Every cell in my body wanted her, was desperate to burst through those doors and forget everything we’d lived through these last days, just let the world fall away and create what was always meant to be between us.

But I was afraid. If I was wrong, and this magical moment were to break…

I wanted to stay here a little longer.

She cleared her throat and I jolted back into my body, my raging erection reminding me that I was still hiding outside the place where she was supposedly sleeping.

Something else—a subtle force—pushed against me. I blinked, not quite believing it.

I felt her command, a quiet dismissal.

She knows, my wolf said, his tone bristling with annoyance.She’s sending us away.

I exhaled, rubbing the back of my neck. Alpha or no alpha, my mate had made her wish clear, and my soul felt the demand to respond. Whether it was deliberate on herpart or not, I couldn’t tell, but the pull to stay had dulled, replaced by a quiet urging to retreat.

For now.

I stood there, torn between the past this house carried and the future it might hold. With a heavy sigh, I turned and walked back into the night, my wolf snarling as I went.

The morning airwas crisp as I walked, yet again, toward the bungalow. My wolf grumbled quietly, still sulking from the night before.

She’d sent me away, and I’d gone, tail tucked, like some green pup who couldn’t handle the weight of his instincts. I hated it—how she seemed to have control over me without even trying.

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