Page 29 of The Wild Moon
I basked in his presence, savoring that sweet yet tantalizingly faint hint of cologne that he wore. This was a real man.
Looking into his almost unnaturally blue eyes—how were they so bright, even in a dingy place like this?—I forced myself to try and smile. For him.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “Everything is fine.”
Mr. Unknown stared at me without speaking for a dozen or so seconds. Judging me with his eyes. I could feel him taking my measure, and for once, I wasn’t sure how someone was going to react. I hated not being in control. I hated being the one to react instead of leading. I was no Alpha, but I didn’t like being forced to dance to someone else’s tune. I likedchoice.
“Bullshit,” he said, somehow making the curse sexy.
It shouldn’t be legal, but there he was, doing it anyway.
“Pardon?” I said, trying to compose myself as his sultry, come-hither business worked its hooks into my body, pulling me closer. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to ruin this by dealing with Johnathan. I just wanted him to reach out and touch me. To take me with him.
Wait. Johnathan?
I tested the air again, relying heavily on my wolf since my human side was all sorts of useless with Mr. Unknown this close. We sniffed at the air, filtering out dozens of different scents, instantly cataloging them in a way no human ever could.
Our eyes narrowed as we picked out the scent we wanted and analyzed it. Yes, it was him. We knew his scent and would recognize it anywhere. I tried to hide a sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t his father. If the Alpha were here, I’d be in trouble.
I blinked at a noise in my ears. It was Mr. Unknown. He was speaking.
“Pardon?” I repeated. “Sorry.”
Mr. Unknown cocked his head at me. “I said, it’s bullshit. You’re not okay.”
I liked that. Jo would call me out on my shit, too, when I was blatantly lying. She would force me to talk about it. She’d said that it was good for me to share. To not bottle it up. I’m sure she hadn’t had Mr. Unknown in mind when she’d said that, of course. Oh, well.
“Someone is here that I don’t particularly wish to see,” I said with a sigh, deciding for some reason to trust this man. A man whose name I didn’t even know.
Mr. Unknown’s response caught me completely by surprise. I’d expected him to grimace, to nod in understanding. The moment of blinding fury, however, caught me completely by surprise. It was gone almost as quickly as it appeared, but IknewI’d seen what I’d seen. He couldn’t hide that, not with eyes like his, that practically glowed blue even in the dim bar light.
“Do you wish for me to see to it?” he asked in a quiet voice.
I shivered. For the first time, he spoke in a way that didn’t ooze sex. Instead, it threatened violence. Death even. I wasn’t prepared for that either.
Whowasthis man? A moment of clarity spiked through my sex-deprived brain, telling me I needed to find out more before I did something wild, like spread my legs for him. He was clearly powerful. That much was obvious. Nobody spoke like that without being able to follow through with it.
Still, he wasn’t dealing with a human. Johnathan was a full-blooded wolf shifter. He would tear this man apart without even trying.
No, this one is up to me to handle.
“No, thanks, Mr. Hotshot,” I said, forcing a laugh to try and ease the tension. “I can handle it just fine myself. It’s the interruption that I don’t like.”
Especially when it’s interrupting something so intriguing.I don’t know who you are, Mr. Unknown, but I’ll be back.
Now that I was leaning more into my wolf, I could more easily ignore his charms. Despite our nightly talks, my wolf was still obsessed with the Soulbond and returning to Johnathan. Now that she’d scented him in the bar, she wanted nothing more than to run over to him and submit. To mate.
If she had her way, I’d be putting on a second show for the bar patrons tonight. I might enjoy watching some good porn from time to time like any woman with a libido strong enough to warrant a battery subscription from Amazon, but hell if I was interested inmakingsome.
Even I had my lines.
So, we weren’t going to do that, I told my wolf, using no uncertain terms to get my point across. I reminded her we hated him. That we were not going to set female rights back a century or three by letting ourselves be bound to the man who had hurt us so badly. We deservedbetterthan that. I reminded her that Johnathan had also ruined our moment with Mr. Unknown.
Ruining things was all he seemed to be good for. My evening. Our relationship, back when naïve little me had thought dating him would be a good idea. And most recently, my entirelife, when in a fit of anger as a vindictive ex, he’d decided to expose the fact that my parents weren’t my real parents.
Yeah, this man was not worthy of my love. Not at all. Fuck the Soulbond. I wasn’t having any of it.
“I’ll be back,” I told Mr. Unknown, rising from my seat. “But I understand if you have to go.”
