Page 113 of Love Bites

LUKE

Islid back into my human form as soon as I awoke.

We were lying in a circle of pink dawn light. The vines blocking the entrance to the cave had relaxed out of their tangle during the night and hung loosely now, forming a loose curtain rather than a blockade.

I wondered if Bella had done that on purpose, or if it had happened as she slept, unwinding as she did.

She stirred, and the movement of her hips against me brought my whole body to attention.

“Bella,” I whispered into her hair, imagining for just a moment that I was about to claim her. “It’s morning, little one.”

She stretched luxuriously, her soft curves sliding against me, pushing my restraint to the breaking point.

“Oh,” she said suddenly, leaping up. “I have to get to school.”

She wasn’t going to be going to school very much longer. It seemed silly to worry about being late.

“They’ll probably be surprised to see you at all,” I said quietly, getting to my feet.

She pretended to be busy dusting herself off.

“You don’t think you’re actually going to resist this mating, do you?” I asked her, my voice sharper than I intended.

“It’s not personal, Luke, I hope you know that,” she said. “But I have plans for my life. And they don’t include starting a family when I’m barely twenty.”

“Sometimes plans change,” I told her, trying not to let my temper get the best of me. The beast roared in my chest.

She shrugged again and headed for the opening of the cave. As she passed through the dangling greenery, a single purple flower burst into bloom in the place where she touched the vine, but she took no notice.

I followed her out into the dawn.

The world seemed like it was holding its breath at this hour. The rocks and trees and the glassy surface of the creeks and puddles were all tinted pink by the rising sun, so that they seemed to be hiding themselves.

Bella was hiding herself from me the same way, eyes cast down at the path, shoulders slightly hunched.

I hated myself for loving her determination, even if she had no right to buck her fate. Hadn’t I submitted to mine all my life?

Every step of our journey back to the castle was torturing me. By the time we reached the grounds of the school, I was determined she would be tormented, too.

“Here we are,” she said awkwardly when we reached the edge of the labyrinth.

“Here we are,” I agreed, making no move to touch her, though my body screamed to hold her before letting her go.

I was convinced that she felt the same hollow ache. I wanted it to burn her to the ground.

“I guess I’ll see you tonight,” she said. “Only two more nights.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as coldly as I could.

“It’s three nights,” she said. “And then I get to choose.”

“Three nightsin my bed,” I told her. “Last night doesn’t count.”

Her eyes widened in horror.

I was pretty sure last night did count. There was no way the council would back me on such a technicality.

But I wanted her to engage with me. I wanted her to yell at me, talk to me, hammer my chest with her little fists.

Instead, she turned and walked into the labyrinth without another word.

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