Bolan’s head snaps back. His shoulders stiffen, twisting my way. He gazes up at me with essence-bright eyes. His wolf ispresent, if not verging on dominant, and his voice rasps as if his vocal cords aren’t completely human anymore. “You don’t know it all.”
I try to move away, but his hold tightens on my leg. “I don’t need to hear it.”
“I need to say it.”
“What will it change?”
“Everything? Nothing?” He shakes his head. “I came after you that night. After you kissed me. I knew I’d made a mistake right away. I knew what I wanted before that kiss, during that kiss, but the wolf …” He swallows. “The reaction, my reaction … scared the fuck out of me. I didn’t know why … no. I didn’t know for certain. And I had to sort out my head, get the wolf under control. Try to stop myself from just claiming —”
“Would you at least stand?”
He laughs harshly. “I know my place. I know where I belong. On my knees, begging —”
“I’m not interested in your dramatics —”
“Fucking listen to me, Mirth!”
I make another bid for freedom, yanking on my captured leg so hard that I stumble back and almost fall.
Almost fall. Because in the midst of my falling, Bolan springs forward, grabs my hips, and gently lowers me the rest of the way to the ground.
On my ass.
With him now looming over me.
I shove at his chest. My heart is beating wildly.
“Don’t run from me,” he growls. “I can’t handle it a third time.”
“Or what?” I snap.
“I’ll fucking chase you,” he says. A warning, low and deadly. “And if I chase, my wolf will rise. And my wolf wants you. My wolf wants you any way he can have you.”
My heart does this weird squelching thing, tripling its intent to seemingly burst free of my chest. Then the truth of his words sinks in.
“Your wolf,” I sneer. “But not the man.”
Bolan, still anchoring me by my hips, still looming over me, tilts his head in that shifter way. Listening to … my heartbeat?
He bares his teeth. It’s not a smile. “You want to be chased, baby girl?”
“Fuck you, Bolan.”
He chuckles darkly.
I get right up into his face and snarl back. “You wouldn’t know what to do with me if you caught me, asshole.”
His wolf-bright eyes flick to my mouth, then up to ensnare my gaze. Then he slowly, deliberately, peels his fingers off my hips and settles back onto his knees.
On his knees between my legs. And looking at me as if he’s in just as much pain. Radiating grief and anger, but waiting for his moment? To reach for what he wants?
My heart thrums against my rib cage as I slowly pull my legs away from him, then get my feet under me. Bolan’s head tilts. His pupils are blown out, cobalt-blue eyes edged with the essence of his wolf as he focuses entirely on me.
He watches me as if nothing else exists in the world but each movement I make, each beat of my heart. I’m not entirely certain what’s in the process of shifting between us.
Except that pain in my chest? It’s warming and expanding.
It’s anger, yes. But it’s also need. Want. And … hope.
