Page 45 of The Wolf She Shouldn't Desire

“You heard me.”

“And you are just going to go along with it? How could you marry that sadistic bastard?”

“You say you thought you knew me, but clearly you don’t,” I hiss at him through clenched teeth. “You think I want to marry him!? Hell no! But my father has decided he is done with me fighting him on the subject and has threatened Danny if I don’t go through with it. And since he knows Danny is likea brother to me and I will do anything to make sure he is not harmed, I can’t say no anymore. So, get off your damn high horse over there Jordan and fuck off! You don’t know a damn thing about me or my life.”

Once again, I turn away from him to leave, and this time he doesn’t stop me.

Chapter 21

Jordan

Talia’s arm pushes through the branches and leaves partially blocking the exit as she marches away from me, anger vibrating off of her as she goes. She doesn’t look back and all I see is her back and the back of her head before I don’t see her at all.

I stand there stunned.

She’s arranged to be married? To Zander?

What the hell is going on?

A few minutes ago, everything seemed right. She was smiling and joking with me after I pulled her out of the piss poor mood she was in when I got here. After what she just told me, it was likely because her father is forcing her to do something she does not want to do by threatening those she cares about. That’s why she was going on about people not listening to her and what she wanted and instead doing what they want despite it.

I feel like an absolute asshole now.

She was right in saying I should get off my high horse. I run my hands through my hair in frustration and guilt at how I was talking to her and accusing her of not caring if vampires were attacking teenage werewolves in the city. She likely cares a lot, and that’s why she was asking for the details to take back to her father. But no. I had to be an ass.

My emotions bounce all over the place from anger at her father and that piece of shit Zander to misery in feeling like I’ve lost her before I could even have some type of future with her.

Her father sounds like the father of the year for making her marry someone she doesn’t want to. I didn’t even realize arranged marriages were still a thing, but then again, vampires are immortal and no telling how long her father has been around and the customs he held on to. My skin feels tingly as my wolf pushes closer to the surface in the rage he is feeling as well. We both want to find her father and rip him to pieces for threatening our woman and forcing her to his will. For trying to marry her off to someone else as well. She belongs with us.

We can’t do that and you know it…no matter how enticing the thought is, I internally project to my wolf.So, calm down.

The only response I get is a faint growl, and the image of him silently pacing back and forth like a caged animal.

I haven’t felt this close to losing control in a long time. I don’t blame my wolf for what he wishes to do now––god knows I want to as well–– but we can’t go attacking vampires just because they piss us off, especially not after the rant I just went on against Talia about vampires doing just that against werewolves. I don’t need or want a war with them.

Taking a deep breath, I beat back the anger that wants to consume me like a raging fire, but I refuse to let it. Anger is what can get a wolf killed. But with the anger receding comes the misery.

She’s engaged to someone else. Another man will be able to say she is theirs. Will be able to touch her, make her smile and laugh, care for her, protect her, bask in her beauty and heart, and have pride when that badass woman puts someone in their place after kicking their ass. Although with Zander, based on how he and his men treat others, he’s likely to hurt her until he breaksher to his will since she seems to hate the bastard and is only following through with the marriage to protect Danny and any others her father may threaten.

My wolf rages again at the thought of Zander laying a hand on Talia, whether to seduce her or hurt her. Either is unacceptable to him. Unacceptable to me as well, but what the hell can I do? The fact that she is a vampire and I’m a werewolf hits home harder than ever in this moment. If she was a werewolf, I would simply have to claim that she is potentially my mate for all to hear, and there would be no arguing or obstacles to get in my way. But she isn’t a werewolf and I can’t.

I can’t hold my wolf back any longer as the frustration in me boils over as I dwell more and more on the recent revelations Talia threw at me mere seconds ago.

Within seconds, my skin vibrates and my bones crack and shift, allowing my body to transform and my wolf to take over.

I land on four large paws that dig into the grass and dirt beneath me before tearing out of the garden where Talia’s scent lingers slightly in the wind. I lift my head and howl up into the night sky. A howl that is the perfect testament to my feelings where anger and sorrow swirl together like a boiling pot of water. The dream I had just started to imagine and hope could be real with patience and time with Talia just a few short minutes ago, shatters completely as my wolf’s howl shifts to deep raging growls as we race into the forest for the escape we both crave from the harsh reality of Talia and I never getting the chance to see what could have been.

***

Twenty-four hours later, I finally return to the pack house. I would have stayed out longer running through the forest letting the woods engulf me in their rich smells and sightsin order to allow it to sooth me and distract me from the anger that still consumes me, but I can’t put off my responsibilities any longer. Really, I pushed it, but I knew Eric could handle it while I tried to get my head on straight or as much as I could, which doesn’t feel like much.

Coming to the edge of the property, Eric stands directly in my path, no doubt someone picked up on me running towards the house when they caught my scent while on patrol and let him know I was coming. He stands leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, and his facial expression relaxed and blank, giving nothing away about how he might be feeling that his alpha disappeared for a full day without telling him, leaving him to take care of business.

I stop in front of him but remain in wolf form. I don’t want to talk about it, not that I could. No one but Talia knows what has been occurring between the two of us, and the interest I have in not just being friends with her. I have no clue how anyone would respond to a werewolf having any kind of feelings toward a vampire other than hate and disgust but that doesn’t matter anyway now does it?

“I take it you don’t want to talk about why you took off for a whole day without telling anyone? A whole day where I can guess judging by the looks and smell of you that you spent running through the woods?”

My eyes stare dead straight at him and give him no response.

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