Page 57 of Wolf Bitten

His expression was strained, and he shut the door. I didn’t feel only anger but a mix of emotions. My breath caught. “Is something wrong?”

He exhaled. “Yes, very.” His face twisted in agony, and regret flooded that spot of his, nearly weighing me down.

The walls closed in on me, and for a moment, I didn’t want to hear more.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

His expression morphed into a combination of concern, confusion, and disgust. My blood jolted, and I considered running out of the room so he couldn’t talk to me. What if he’d decided it was best if we weren’t together anymore?

She looks scared,he said in my head.This confirms everything.

Now, my blood jolted. “You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?”

His jaw dropped, and shock resonated through my chest. “What? No! There’s noendingwhat we have.”

Once again, I knew those words should scare me, but they provided me with much-needed comfort. “Then why are you being so hard to read? That makes the worst-case scenario pop into my mind.” It didn’t help that, for most of my life, the worst was exactly what had happened to me. I’d been mostly alone until I came to EEU.

“Because I’m disgusted, angry, and annoyed with myself.” He fisted his hands.

Hearing him name the emotions made it easier to sort through them. My blood eased to a jolt, though I wasn’t fully comforted yet. “Why?”

He scoffed and closed his eyes. “You’re seriously asking me that?” He opened his eyes again and stared at me through those warm cobalt irises. “Even after everything Lucy said?”

“Is that why you’re upset?” Even though I loved Lucy for standing up for me, she hadn’t been completely fair to him. “Because you’ve had it rough too. Maybe more so than me.”

“No, I haven’t, and I need you to stop being so considerate.” He closed the distance between us and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t let me take advantage of your goodness. You’re the one person I never want to do that to. I’m an entitled brat most of the time, and I don’t want to be that way with you. You deserve better. You deserve a man who will put your needs, wants, and desires ahead of anything else.” He cupped my face, his bottom lip trembling. “And it may take me some time to become that man because, dammit, Sky, I’mnotworthy of you. But I will try to be. Harder than ever because you fucking deserve it.”

My heart was officially warm mush. I’d never dreamed of having anyone—especially someone likeRaffe—say that to me. Though I loved every word of his proclamation, I couldn’t accept it entirely. “We both have our faults, and you’re putting too much pressure on yourself.” I didn’t want him to feel the kind of pressure that his dad put on him about his role. “Maybe I should stand up for myself more with you, but how can I not be understanding when I feel your emotions so strongly?”

His head tilted back. “What do you mean, feel my emotions?”

Crap. I hadn’t meant to say that. “When my blood reaches high levels, I can read people’s emotions, and ever since you bit me …” I suddenly found his chest very interesting, not wanting to look him in the eye. I had to sound crazy. “I canfeelyour emotions in my chest when you’re upset. It’s a sort of warm sensation that grows and can overwhelm me.”

“Hey.” He placed a finger under my chin and lifted my head so our gazes met. He smiled. “That shouldn’t be possible at all, but dammit, I’m so glad it is.”

I nodded, relieved that he wasn’t freaked out. “When I was kept in the bunker, I could feel your fear and anger. It was constant, and even though I hated that I wasn’t with you, it was nice to feel what I hoped was part of you with me.”

“That must be why I could track you.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “I could sense which direction you were in, and we were able to find your general location. I could feel that you were so damn close, but I couldn’t figure out exactly where you were in the woods.”

“The bunker was behind a waterfall.” I needed Raffe to understand that his inability to find me while I was a prisoner wasn’t all his fault. “But that’s my point. If I were in your shoes, unsure of where you were and what was going on, I don’t think I could have functioned. You went through my kidnapping, Aldric’s arrival, Dave’s disappearance, and the confrontation with your dad and then the coven.” I snorted, wondering what could possibly go wrong next.

Wait.

No.

If there’s a higher being out there, that wasn’t me issuing a challenge.

I placed my arms around his neck and breathed in his unique scent. “We’ve both been stressed and maybe we’ve been taking it out on each other.”

He smiled tenderly. “You haven’t taken anything out on me, and yes, we’ve been stressed, but that doesn’t give me an excuse to be a douchebag. I’m sorry. I know you called my ass out for always saying that and never changing, but I want to be a better man for you, starting right now.”

“It was a different situation.” Though I couldn’t deny I loved hearing all that. “You were acting hot and cold about us like you couldn’t make up your mind. That hurt. But this was about me doubting your character, and I can see why it would burn to have my mom know about Slade and not you. Honestly, you’re the one I wanted to tell her about, but it would have led to questions about why we weren’t together. I didn’t want to have to explain.”

“And you had every right to doboththings.” His arms wrapped around my waist. My body buzzed damn near all over from our closeness. “I haven’t been a good enough mate to you for you not to have doubts, especially while being drugged and held captive.” He grimaced. “I should’ve realized that. Then, I wondered why you didn’t tell your mom about us, and hell,Itold you to keep me a secret. What did I expect you to fucking do? Not listen when you’re one of the most loyal and considerate people I’ve ever met? This was all on me, and I’m sorry I made you feel guilty foranyof that. It just proves I need to be a better man for you and for us.”

“I don’t want you to change, and I don’t want to be a stressful obligation to you. I want usbothto be happy.” I kissed him sweetly then forced myself to pull away. I needed him to hear my words and not allow myself to get distracted by his mouth and body. “You’re an amazing man, and I don’t think you know that. You try to be what everyone expects of you.” I’d never considered that Raffe felt like that because he wastheRaffe Wright, wolf-shifter prince, star quarterback, a son desperate to make his parents proud, and untouchable to almost everyone. But he didn’t have to be strong in every way with me. He could be vulnerable and let me in because I loved him for everything he was, not what I wanted him to be.

“Oh, really?” he whispered and nipped at my nose like a puppy. “Now I like the sound of that.”

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