Page 56 of Fire Bound

There isn’t a second to react or try to run. The best I can do is put my arm over my face as he lunges at me. His large front feet slam into my chest as he brings me to the ground. My breath momentarily leaves my chest as the wind is knocked out of me. I expect to feel the pain of his fiery paws searing into my flesh, but it never comes.

Just like when I touched Kaius when he was full of hellfire, all I feel is a warm buzzing sensation humming beneath my skin. There isn’t any pain.

There should be pain. Excruciating pain.

The wolf stands over top of me, keeping me pinned to the cold muddy ground. Saliva drips onto my chin as he growls above me.

When he attacks again, his sharp teeth aiming for my face, I’m able to get my hand up in time to shove at his neck and I just barely keep him at bay. His teeth snap together with such force, I’m shocked they don’t crack and break.

“Jax!” I cry his name in an attempt to plead with his human side, but the cry falls on deaf ears. The wolf doesn’t even register I said anything, let alone its name.

He lunges for my face once more but this time his canine clips my jaw. Instantly, the spot burns in pain and the sensation of warm blood blossoming and then dripping down my face follows. When he tries again to bite me, his muscles lock and he comes to an abrupt stop halfway to my face.

I hold my breath and force myself to stay still as the rage in his eyes melts away again and the curious look returns. Painfully slow, he lowers his head toward the wound he caused. I have to stop myself from pushing him away when his scary teeth get too close for comfort as he presses his cold, wet nose to the small bite mark.

My eyes flutter closed before I’m too afraid to watch what he’s going to do next. I send my second silent prayer of the night that this doesn’t end how I think it will. Although, it would be divine retribution if I were killed by the man I sacrificed everything to save. Just the universe’s way of saying fuck you and laughing in my face.

But the pain never comes, what does is even more shocking

My heart lurches in my chest when I feel the warm swipe of his tongue across my jaw instead of the painful bite of teeth. My whole body shakes with nerves, still too afraid to move as he cleans up the blood. When he’s done, he moves his head lower and presses his snout into the juncture of my neck, I hear his lungs expand as he takes in a deep breath. A low whine comes from the beast. A sound that is the complete opposite of the vicious growling that was coming from him just minutes ago.

With shaking, apprehensive hands, I raise them slowly to sink them into the thick coat at his neck. This time instead of pushing him away, I softly caress the coarse fur. It’s wiry compared to a full-blooded wolf shifter’s, but it’s not unpleasant by any means. Just different.

Then again, everything is different when it comes to Jax.

When the beast pulls away and gazes down at me with content violent eyes, my lips pull in a small smile. “Hello,” I greet him. He may not look like Jax, but the same content energy I feel when I’m around him is there. If not stronger. The connection I feel to this animal is stronger than anything I’ve ever experienced and each second I spend in his presence, it grows stronger.

My wolf pushes forward underneath my skin, desperate to join in on the introduction. Without having to be told, as if he can sense her desire to be free, the wolf backs away, allowing me room to sit up. He grants me just enough room to sit up into a crouching position. It’s clear he doesn’t plan on giving me any more space and insists on sticking close.

Standing to my full height, I begin to remove my clothes. His watchful gaze observes my every move as well as the area around as if he’s checking for onlookers or threats while I disrobe. Fully naked, the light drizzle of the constant rain in this state makes my skin prickle in goose bumps. Shivering, I step away from him to drop my clothes on a spot devoid of mud, but with a warning snarl, he jumps around me and stops me from moving another inch away from him. As if he’s herding me, he paces around me, keeping me in place.

Attempting once more to move a couple feet away, he shoots forward, his teeth nipping at my fingers in warning. It doesn’t hurt and it doesn’t break the skin, but the message is clear.Don’t leave.

“Hey!” I scold. “Don’t be rude. I’m not going anywhere. I just need to put my clothes over there where they won’t get wet, you clingy motherfucker.”

I move again and this time when he lunges for me, I lift my hand away before he can nip my fingers. Instead of scolding him once more, I sink my fingers back into the fur at his nape. His body relaxes at my touch, as if it soothes the agitation that lives in his veins. This time when I move, I lightly tug at the fur, coaxing him to move with me. He’s unsure of what I’m trying to get him to do, but when he gets it, he follows at my side without complaint.

“Of course, you would be a big terrifying monster, but have abandonment issues,” I mumble mostly to myself because the longer I’m around him, the more it becomes clear the human side of Jax is nowhere to be seen. When I’m in my wolf form, my wolf is free, but I’m very much still present and in control. We coexist. I’m not convinced that Jax and his wolf work the same way. It’s like they’re two completely separate entities. “A walking contradiction just like your human side.”

With my clothes protected from the rain, I turn and give him a pointed look. “I’m trusting you to not be an asshole. Don’t come at me with those teeth again,” I order before crouching low and allowing the shift to come over me.

Within seconds, I’m standing before the tall hellhound in my wolf form. Elation washes through me as my wolf greets him like a woman greeting her husband who’s returned from freaking war. I thought she had a crush on Jax’s human side, but nothing compares to the deep-seated fixation she has for the wolf side of him.

The pitch-black wolf stands rigid at first as if he’s never been around another wolf, but with gentle cajoling, he relaxes and begins to understand. When I reach up and lick the side of his muzzle tenderly, he jerks back in surprise as if he’s never once been shown affection like that. It’s then that I realize he probably never has. The only people in Jax’s life to show him any form of kindness or compassion has been my family. The last person to do that was his mother and from what I know, she’s been gone for a very long time.

No one has been around to show Jax or his wolf any kind of love and that thought alone makes my heart break. It makes my heart break that when I was willing to give him my love, he acted like he didn’t want it.

I don’t know how much more time I’m going to be able to spend with his wolf or showing this side of him affection, but I’m going to make the most of the time I do have.

Yipping happily, I dance around him, trying to get him to play with me. He looks at me with confusion in his violet eyes. When I lunge forward and nip at his shins playfully, his lips pull back in a warning growl.He’s not getting it.He doesn’t know how to play.

I do it again, and this time I run away from him before he can retaliate. His ears perk up with interest before he quickly follows after me at a slower, unsure pace. With a wolfish grin, I take off through the trees, forcing him to follow after me.

It takes a few more minutes, but it finally starts to click.

For an hour we play in the rain and the mud, chasing after each other and hunting small animals. The hellhound begins to relax and the aggressive edge fades, but never does it disappear. The anger and aggression are a part of him, but it doesn’t scare me or my wolf because somehow, I know he’ll never purposely hurt me.

I may not know if I can or want to trust the man with my heart, but I know I can trust both him and his wolf to keep me safe.

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