Page 56 of Fated to the Wolf Billionaire

He nodded solemnly, letting me have my space, even as the jet continued to lurch and roll under our feet.

I stared out at the storm this time and imagined it blowing away. Being replaced by clear skies, by sun and little lazy birds riding high wind currents and sunning their feathers.

Slowly, the storm outside began to react. It was almost reticent, begrudging my desires for it to go away. I felt… resistance.

“You’re very beautiful, but if you stay here, you’ll crash this plane,” I muttered, scolding it lightly.

There, a little less resistance, the lightning stopped completely, and the clouds began to thin.

“Whatever you’re doing is working. The ride is much smoother.”

I nodded, continuing to stare out the window, willing the storm to ease, to dissolve.

When it was finally done, I felt boneless and exhausted, as if I’d just done the hardest workout of my entire life without moving a muscle. But I’d done it, and we weresafe.

The captain’s voice came smoothly back over the sound system. “The storm seems to have cleared, and we’re on track to land in twenty minutes at the regional airport on our original flight plan. Please prepare for landing.”

Reed grinned at me and brushed a few stray tendrils of hair back from my forehead with a tender swipe. “You did it, Stormy girl.”

“I feel like I’ve run a triathlon wearing lead boots.”

He chuckled. “Power is like any other muscle. You’ve got to train it, and it can get exhausted. For your first time ever controlling it intentionally, that was exceptional.”

“If you mean almost exceptionallydisastrous, I agree with you.”

He shook his head, pulling me against his chest for a hug. “Not a disaster. Why don’t you lie down and rest until we land? I’ll go get you a snack to help refuel your energy stores.”

I nodded, and he moved to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. His shirt was barely mussed, despite the fact that I was completely naked from our little interlude, his color back to normal, none of the heat lingering in his gaze.

“We’re going to figure this out. You know that, right?”

I swallowed hard, unable to meet his eyes, to handle the conviction in them. When I didn’t answer, just started pulling on my clothes, he left.

In the quiet, all my doubts crashed in. The shame of putting a jet full of people in danger because I lost my head was crushing. I could have killed Reed, his pack mates, and the jet’s entire crew in a ball of fire for a brief moment of pleasure.

It was sickening.

And I knew without a doubt that the power inside me didn’t care. It relished the destruction, raged against the confines I held it in.Resentedbeing stopped. I’d felt that with startling clarity, as if the power was its own malevolent entity.

My power wanted to destroy everything I had started to cherish.

And no matter what it cost me, I had to stop it.

* * *

Reedand I rode out the rest of the flight in companionable silence, him feeding me daintily cut fresh fruit from a crystal bowl and giving me sips of some fancy handmade soda in between bites. Apparently, sugar helped wolves after a large magical expenditure, and he figured it couldn’t hurt other magical species.

It was endearing, and while I wanted to have hearts in my eyes for the man who’d given me a mind-blowing orgasm and was now hand-feeding me snacks like I was a precious, fragile creature… I couldn’t let myself fall into that trap.

For his sake, if not for mine.

When the wheels touched down on the tarmac, there was barely a bump, followed by a slight hum and the rapid deceleration of the jet to indicate we were no longer airborne.

I looked down at my lap as Reed cleaned up the snacks, not pushing me to talk or help. He was letting me be, coexisting in my presence. That was when I noticed that the mark on my palm had stopped glowing.

“Reed?”

“Hm?” He turned back to face me absentmindedly, one hand still straightening his shirt collar. He’d found the tiny imperfection and fixed it.

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