Page 91 of Wolf Mate

My stupid, traitorous heart leaped, and all my hurt and anger left me. “I’m a little tired, but not too bad. You showed up almost as soon as it started.” How could I be upset with someone who cared about me so thoroughly?

Then my stomach soured. I suspected he’d act the same way toward Josie. Jealousy churned within me, and I wanted to cry and scream and hate a woman simply for being close to the man I loved.

Wait.

Loved?

No.

It was too soon … and lovinghimcould destroy me.

I couldn’t handle these thoughts, so I pushed them out of my head and focused on Raffe’s arm around me.

“I didn’t notice you were gone until I glanced over and Lucy linked with me to tell me you left.” He bit his bottom lip. “I’m glad I got here when I did. You should’ve texted me.”

The heat of my anger flowed back into me, and my skin jolted despite his touch. I welcomed it. A jolt I could stand, and I needed my anger to remain rational. “Don’t you dare blame me.” I stepped away from him, ignoring the way my chest yanked me toward him. “You’re the reason I had to go, so if it’s anyone’s fault, it’syours.” I was tired of being a pushover.

He blinked so much that I thought he was rehearsing for a fucking comedy—like he was waiting for the punch line or something. “My fault? What thefuck,Sky. Are you serious right now?”

I turned to face him and crossed my arms. “Deadly.”

This time, when he growled, it was channeled toward me. He rasped, “Not fucking funny after what happened back there.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. I don’t appreciate your insinuation that I did something wrong by leaving an uncomfortable situation and running into trouble I couldn’t have predicted, and not texting you immediately while standing face to face with a hungry vampire!” A deep, throbbing ache shot through my heart, and my blood pulsed into a fizz. “So spare me the lecture and let it go.”

His head jerked back, and he scratched the top of his head. “Is this from exhaustion because—” Then he froze.

“Hey guys,” Keith called from behind me.

Ofcoursehis friends would appear now. It was probably for the best. I’d been about to say a lot of things that wouldn’t have gone over well.

Josie ran up and jumped on Raffe’s back, laughing.

Those damn tears sprang back into my eyes.

“Hey now,” Raffe said, straining and dropping her back onto her feet.

Again, he didn’t tell her to stop touching him. If it didn’t happen so often, I could probably handle it, but she did it all the damn time, and they had so many private conversations. It felt like he was dating her, and I was his side girl.

I turned away and almost ran into Adam.

His eyes met mine, and he frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Just tired.” I inhaled, trying to keep my act together. “I better go inside. See you guys later.”

I stalked past them all, not glancing at Raffe. If he didn’t know what was wrong, then he was dense and stupid.

“Hey, I’ll come with you.” Lucy jogged to catch up to me. She was frowning as she looped her arm through mine. “It’sCriminal Mindstime anyway.”

I could’ve kissed her. Raffe wasn’t allowed to join us, and I needed time away from him. Clearly, hanging out with this group wouldn’t work out for me.

I could feel the tingle on the nape of my neck, and it came damn close to shattering me, but I kept moving, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

The two of us didn’t speak again until we’d made it into our apartment. As soon as the door closed, Lucy groaned, “I’m so sorry. Raffe is an idiot.”

My eyes burned, and a tear broke free and rolled down my cheek. I wiped it away. My one rule was to never cry in front of anyone because bullies thrived on it, but I felt I could let my guard down with Lucy. “I’m not being stupid?”

“If a guy touched you like that even once, Raffe would lose it.” Lucy mashed her lips together. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching.”

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