Page 50 of Wolf Claimed
“There are all types of firsts. I can still say I was your first,” he said, beaming.
She laughed. It was hard not to. Maddox knew how to make her let go of the anxiety and stress. And here she had been terrified of telling him, sure that he’d be dismissive of her. Instead, he’d asked her all the right questions and explained the nuances of being a shifter. Hearing that she couldn’t possibly be a shifter wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting, but she trusted him enough to know he wouldn’t lie about something so important.
Suddenly, she felt foolish about everything she’d said to him. “Please don’t hate me.”
He brushed the hair out of her face. “Why would I hate you? Because you think you’re shifter?”
“That, and because I never said anything about this before.”
“I get it. It’s personal, especially since you can’t explain what you’re feeling. But we all have secrets. I never told you about Isabella or how she died. How I killed her.”
Anger surged to the top, too swiftly to be normal. It was so typical of him, saying something outlandish about himself in a backward attempt to make her feel better. Or he was trying to scare her off. She wasn’t going to give up on him or let him blame himself for whatever had happened.
Alyssa shook her head. “I know you. You would never kill an innocent.”
“Not intentionally.”
“You’re doing it again,” Alyssa said, her voice gaining that high pitch of disbelief mixed with frustration. “I tell you something I’ve never told anyone else before because I’m scared and I want your help. Instead of letting yourself get closer to me, you find a way to push me away by throwing some story or supposed fact at me to make me run. Why do you do that? I thought you cared about me.”
“I do, damn it!” He began pacing.
“Then stop trying to make me think you’re some horrible person.”
The moment she placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, he whirled around. “You don’t get it. I’m falling for you, but I can’t fall in love with you because I have a dark cloud over me, angel. I’m a Novak. The people we love don’t exactly survive to old age. You’re safer without me.”
“I don’t believe that. Just give me the truth, Maddox. Please.”
“That is the truth.”
“Not all of it. I can see it in your eyes. You’re afraid of something, and that’s not something I’ve ever seen in you before. What has you so scared, Maddox?”
His fists clenched and unclenched, and then he sank against the wall. “I’m afraid to lose you like I did Isabella, okay? I can’t go through that type of loss again.”
Maddox shifted into that beautiful white wolf she remembered so well. His deep, dark eyes held a mix of pain and fear. It was daunting seeing fear there. He was her protector, her rock, and made her feel safer than even her Glock.
His wolf leapt into the bedroom, the only place he could escape from her without leaving her unprotected. Well, not quite. He’d escaped inside his wolf, where he could avoid talking to her.
“Shifting won’t solve anything,” she called into the bedroom. When there was no response, she sank into the armchair. “Please, Maddox. Don’t do this. Don’t just walk away from me.”
I’m falling for you.
His words wrapped around her and warmed her, inside and out.Maddoxlikedher. More than liked her. While that made her smile, it was the realization that she’d already fallen for him that made her stomach do somersaults.
Then reality struck. He didn’t want her. He’d said as much. Her fearless guard wasn’t afraid of dying or sacrificing himself for her. But his heart. . .Thathe planned to protect by keeping far from her.
How the hell was she going to get past his walls? Especially when she had walls of her own. . .
Chapter Thirteen
MADDOX
Maddox remained in wolf form as he paced the confining bedroom. Staying in the bedroom, hiding from her, hardly seemed like a solution. Why the fuck was he doing that? He was used to confronting people head-on, getting in their faces, and getting shit done.
Except she wasn’t one to be bullied. Or threatened. Or lied to. Those were actions for an enemy. Or most of his packmates, truth be told. Not a female he liked and wanted. Even one that wasn’t shifter.
Damn, she’d had his hopes up when she’d shared her secret. Not because he cared if she was human or shifter, but because she’d trusted him. And he’d screwed it up by running from her.
He couldn’t get that hopeful look out of his mind, either. She wanted him to say she was shifter, which he found off in and of itself. He’d never heard of a human wanting to be a shifter. But he had scented her up close and hadn’t found a trace of shifter in her. Besides, if she were shifter, she would have known for sure because she would have shifted at puberty. Wolves forced the first shift. There was no way she could have avoided it. Whatever made her think she was shifter most likely was tied to her psychopathic father. And for that, he felt sorry for her. Not that she wanted pity, but he could tell she needed someone to love her and she was looking for a place to belong.
