Page 30 of Wolf Desired

AUDREY

With a gasp,I jerked awake. A soft, warm throbbing radiated from my core and for a sudden, fearful heartbeat, I was afraid my heat wasn’t over.

But the throbbing was a whisper of what my heat had been before, even when I’d first thought my heat was over. The throbbing now was more like my body remembering what had happened, the sensation spurred on by my dreams.

I didn’t know if I should be grateful that those were my only dreams and I hadn’t had a repeat of the nightmare or not.

Before me, the fire had burned down to embers and a pot now hung on the spit. Cyrus sat on the other side from me, packing his blanket and three of our four eating bowls into his pack, while Bishop crouched by the fire, stirring our breakfast.

Hints of pink still edged the horizon, indicating dawn hadn’t been that long ago, but I was still a little surprised we hadn’t broken camp and headed out already.

Whatever the reason, I was grateful I wasn’t going to have to eat breakfast in the early dawn gray, although given that Cyrus was just about ready to go, I was still going to have to rush.

Groaning, I sat up, my muscles still weak and achy from whatever it was that I’d gone through.

“I was hoping you’d wake for breakfast,” Bishop said with a heart-melting smile.

He scooped oatmeal from the pot into the last of our eating bowls and handed it along with a spoon to me.

“Thanks,” I replied, taking it just as my stomach let out a loud, long growl.

Cyrus sighed at the noise, but it didn’t sound like a huff of frustration, more like one of relief, which was very un-Cyrus like.

As I ate — oatmeal with last night’s leftover meat and spinach — Knox returned to camp with our canteens, the outsides wet from having just been refilled.

Once again our gazes locked, the moment stealing my breath, and I was falling into eyes so much like Bishop’s and yet so very different. Where Bishop’s brown depths were warm and inviting, Knox’s were filled with something deeper and darker. Longing? Confusion? Frustration?

He opened his mouth and his eyes narrowed. I could tell he wanted to say something and prayed it wouldn’t be more rejection. We needed to figure out what was next because whatever it was, we had to do it together.

And as much as that broke a piece of my heart and made me want to scream, it was our inescapable reality.

I didn’t want to be mated to someone who didn’t want me and would forever hate me for trapping him, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it. We just needed to suck it up and move forward.

And I wasn’t going to acknowledge my deepest fear that my nightmare was correct and they were just using me.

The strange look in Knox’s eyes deepened and he jerked his attention to Cyrus. “Are you done with the pot?” he asked, setting the canteens beside Cyrus’s pack.

“Yes.” Cyrus dumped one of the canteens on the fire then handed it back to Knox who took it and the pot and disappeared around a large, rocky outcropping.

“He should have waited until you were done,” Bishop said with a sigh and he unwrapped the blanket from around me and shoved it into his pack.

“I’ll clean her bowl,” Cyrus replied. “You get started, and Knox and I will catch up.”

Right. Because I was going to be painfully slow getting moving this morning. I scraped my bowl clean and handed it over to Cyrus, trying hard to not think about the fantasies I’d had about him while in that strange dream-state for the last few days.

I didn’t know how long the images were going to be dancing in my head, but I sure hoped they would stop soon. I was already mated to Knox and soon to be mated to Bishop. I didn’t need all three brothers. Two was more than enough.

And if I really thought about it. I should focus on figuring things out with my first mate before adding another one.

Bishop slung his pack over his shoulders, and with a groan, I staggered to my feet. The world lurched with the movement, and I clung to the boulder to steady myself, not to mention keep myself standing on my shaky legs.

What the hell had happened to me? Why was I so weak?

“If you’re feeling up to it,” Bishop said, sweeping me into his arms. “We’ll get you walking for a bit after lunch.”

“Yeah,” I replied, grateful I wasn’t expected to start hiking right away. Walking after lunch sounded like a good idea, although I had no idea if I’d feel stronger in a few hours or not.

Even just waking up, eating, and now standing seemed to have sapped all my strength.

---