Page 7 of A Wolf's Wound
The woman wears only shorts and a shirt that billows around her as she stands, and it’s driving me crazy.
I clear my throat as I look away from the lines of her legs and the outline of her breasts through the shirt.
“Are you okay?”The concern in my voice is glaring.I wince at it, away from it.
She looks at me with narrowed eyes.“I’m fine now,” she says stiffly.When she turns her face, I see a bruise is developing on the right side.“And who are you?”
She speaks bluntly, her voice low and as sharp as her eyes.
“I’m Ryder.”I stick my hand out awkwardly.She avoided my touch earlier.Will she still?“Ryder Stone.”
“Ryder Stone, figures,” she mutters under her breath, gripping my hand for as little time as possible.“Hannah Kelly.”
She steps away from me, and I don’t miss the expression of pain on her face as she moves stiffly.The councilman really did a number on her.Instinctively, I look over at him, and the wolf inside me growls angrily.
“Tell me, Ryder, do you make a habit of breaking into random homes?”
“No.”I slip closer as I spy a tremble in her limbs.“Just yours, it seems.”Her body appears to be giving in to exhaustion, and she doesn’t flinch away as I lightly grip her arm and lead her to the couch in the main living area.
The sun has set completely, and the apartment sits in darkness.I give the councilman a good kick on our way past.
“I was on a… I was in a pub nearby.With a friend.I felt you calling for help.”
Thinking about the date I left behind sends heat flaring in my face.Somehow, and maybe it is kismet, she recognizes me.
“You were on a date with my friend April.Weren’t you?”She murmurs the words.
April!That’s her name!
Thinking about April makes me feel as though I have been cheating, somehow.Even though I only met Hannah minutes ago.
I settle her onto the couch, and though I feel nervous walking away from her, I know she needs more than my hovering presence.“I’m going to get you some water.Do you have a first aid kit?”
She looks at me, dazed.Her green eyes are murky.
“You felt me?Are you insane?”Her eyes have sharpened as she looks me up and down warily.
How the fuck do I explain something I don’t even fully understand?Fuck it.I do it bluntly like everything else.
I shrug.“I could feel you.”
Her eyes widen slightly.But not with surprise—something more like suspicion.Again, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some sense of recognition there.She knows me.Somehow.
Fate brings you together.Just be patient.
But when she speaks, her voice is cold and devoid of emotion.
“Feel me?”She scoffs.“You’re insane.”
I step closer to her.Moonlight comes dancing through the nearby kitchen window.
She lifts her head to look at me, arching her back to meet my stare.
“I can feel you.”My voice is more insistent than I intended.“And right now, I can feel that you aren’t as surprised as you’re trying to pretend you are.”
Hannah has a great poker face.
Hannah.My wolf perks its ears up.
