Page 27 of Wolf Heart

CHAPTER9

JUNIPER

Isputter, unable to speak for a second as his words feel like punches to my gut. “No. You’re wrong. I can feel my wolf here.” I touch my chest.

His gaze follows my movement and his growl rumbles deep. My entire face heats. His nostrils flare and I swallow, backing up a step.

“Wh-what about the others?” I ask in a voice that’s squeaker than I’d like. All of me is suddenly aware of this Alpha male and me, locked in a dark cabin. He saved my life, my conscience nags me, but I cross my arms. I don’t owe him anything more than a thank you. Besides, he sentenced Aspen and Dex to their deaths by leaving them.

He inhales deeply like he can scent the heat pooling low in my belly.

My wolf is quiet. Fear clutches at my throat and my body goes rigid.

He’s too close to me and my wolf is silent.

“The others?” I ask again, hoping to change the tension in the air of the nearness of our bodies.

He’s not answering me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, but my voice cracks in the middle, betraying me. I swallow hard and try to put firmness in my voice. “What happened to them?”

His amber eyes meet mine, his lips thin.

“I don’t know.” His voice is a low, primal rumble. It’s thick with an Alpha base that makes my knees threaten to buckle. "They'll be okay."

But he doesn't sound convinced.

"Do you think they're..."

"Dead? I don't know." He shakes his head.

“How could you leave them there to die?” I gasp, incredulous, my heart racing a mile a minute. I push against his chest that's a wall of muscle and he doesn't budge.

I take a step back and he glares down at me. I stop, staring at his too-tough-to-be-real pecs. I’ve never seen anything like them.

“What would you do if it were you out there instead of them?”

“I wouldn’t have gotten surrounded like that." His voice slices through the air. "I would've obeyed the Alpha and gotten the fuck out of there when he fucking told me."

"They were trying to save us."

His expression goes dark. "They had the chance to escape and they chose not to. Twice. I told them to go. If they hadn't chased after us, they wouldn't have gotten caught up in the fight and would be somewhere safe now."

“Instead of bleeding and dying?” I want to scream at him for what he's done. My insides twist at the pain they must have endured for our sakes and all for nothing.

The urge to slap him grips me, so I spin on my heel and turn away. How dare he be upset that they risked their lives for us?

I can't look at him or I will remember that he could have helped them and he didn't. Instead, he chose to save himself and me. All he had to do was stay and fight, instead of running away and we all would have had a chance to be safe.

My hands ball into fists and I duck into the next room. It’s a kitchen with broken cabinets, dust, and spiderwebs. The walls are dry and crumbling with faded layers of paint peeling away to reveal crumbling plaster.

There is a stench of rot and decay that hangs heavy in the air. A dead creature, its skin falling off in chunks, lies in a puddle of blood at the back of the room. The decay of the dead animal coats the back of my tongue and makes my stomach roll.

It's a rat and hopefully whatever killed it isn't still here.

I walk through the kitchen to a back door. My heart skips beats as I stare into the knob, my throat tightening.

"What are you doing?"

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