Page 31 of Wolf Bitten

He peppered kisses over my face then pulled away and stepped back into the water. I followed him, not ready to give up touching him. I pressed my lips to his, and our tongues tangled again.

“You don’t know how crazy I was while you were gone. I didn’t sleep. I was so determined to find you.” He pulled away and stared deep into my eyes. “I love you, Skylar, and they’ll never take you away from me again.”

His love filled the spot in my chest, and the strange presence eased back as if it were pouting.

“I love you, too,” I whispered. I cupped his face. “Which is why we need to dry off and dress so we can both get some sleep.”

His eyes warmed to a cobalt hue. “You don’t know how much better I’ll sleep tonight now that I’ve claimed you again. I didn’t hurt you, right? I tried to be gentle.”

“You were perfect. I needed you to do it just as bad as you wanted to.” I kissed his lips again. “Let’s go to bed.” Exhaustion inched up on me.

He grinned. “Nowthatis something I can do.”

Raffe put on sweatpants and a shirt, and I headed into my bedroom. My lilac comforter was still askew from when we’d had sex the first time, right before I was taken. I bit my bottom lip, remembering that moment as I moved to the gray dresser and removed a pair of lilac pajama bottoms and a black T-shirt.

I climbed into the queen-size bed and stared up at the purple paper butterflies I’d made back home, which I’d threaded through the light fixture so that they hung down like a cascading chandelier.

When Raffe entered the room, a tender smile graced his face, but that sadness was back in his eyes. I hadn’t imagined it earlier. I could feel the warmth of his love in my chest, but I could also feel hurt.

He climbed into bed beside me, and I couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Raffe, what’s wrong?” I asked, knowing I couldn’t sleep with him feeling like this. I should’ve pushed him about it earlier.

“Noth—”

I sighed. “Don’t lie, please.” A faint odor drifted to me, but I didn’t worry about it.

“You need rest.” He kissed my forehead and stretched his arms out to me.

I shook my head. “I won’t be able to.” I suspected what it was, and even though he was still being loving and amazing, I hated that I’d hurt him. “Earlier, when I asked about the abandoned warehouse, I didn’t really think you’d done something wrong.”

He arched a brow. “But you weren’t sure. You asked the question. If you knew, you would’ve just told me.”

Shit. I had known better, and I’d let those people get inside my head. I wanted to punch myself. “I’m sorry. It’s just—”

A loud knock at the front door caused Raffe to snarl and jump to his feet.

CHAPTER TEN

The spot in my chest infused with his emotions heated with anger and annoyance, which had my blood jolting and the strange presence in my chest dancing. “What’s wrong?”

He blew out a breath and forced a smile, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “There’s someone I didn’t expect at our door. Stay here. I’ll be back.” He left the bedroom.

A bitter laugh stuck in my throat. These were the times when I glimpsed the man I’d first met. The prince who expected to be obeyed and not challenged.

Well, he might be upset with me, but with his reaction to the person at the door, I wouldn’t stay hidden. Something was going on, and he wanted to protect me. We’d seen how well that went last time.

The front door opened, but nothing was said. Of course, Raffe was using the pack link, so I couldn’t overhear the conversation.

Not wanting Raffe to hear me, I tiptoed toward the door.

Raffe growled, low and threatening, and when I entered the living room, my attention settled on the man standing in the hallway.

Holy shit. My jaw dropped. I might have been staring at Marcel Gerard fromThe Originals. The irony wasn’t lost on me that he played a vampire on the show when he clearly was a wolf shifter. I’d had the largest crush on him as a teenager when I’d been sucked into that world.

His gaze settled on me, and he frowned. “That’s the woman who causedallthis trouble?”

“Of course she didn’t listen,”Raffe murmured, but it sounded like he’d thought it in my mind.

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