Page 9 of Wrong Mate

He shoved her up the nearest tree. “You nearly killed yourself calling upon Mother Nature, and now you think you need to keep using your energy!”

“It was a protection spell,” Leah said. Her eyes were wide. “For you. That arrow that I only just stopped was aimed at you. Now, no weapon will penetrate the field around you.”

Killian took a deep breath and he saw tears shining in her eyes. He’d scared her.

“I was just fixing my mistake,” she said.

“Magic takes your energy, Leah. From now on, you don’tcast a single spell unless I tell you to.”

He let her go, even though all he wantedto do was rub his body against her, kiss her, and strip her naked. Killian wanted her completely naked, to feel her naked flesh against his. Every second he spent with her, that urge was getting stronger. He was stronger than this impulse. Holding her hand, he saw her hesitate.

“I can take care of myself,” he said.

“You were fast asleep. I saved you.”

He growled and this time, Leah chuckled.

“You are a miserable man, aren’t you?”

Killian ignored that and they continued their journey.They needed to stay focused and quit making unnecessary stops. The longer he spent in her company the harder this was.

He could reject her, deny she was his mate, but that didn’t stop the feelings from flooding his body at being near her. Killian wanted to be near her. Touching her was a fucking dream. Breathing her in was exquisite.

Leah was a temptation he didn’t want to deny himself. But, he was going to keepdenying. At the end of this journey, they would both be free. Once that happened, he wouldn’t have any of these desires. Leah would stop being a temptation to him.

“You’re making a big mistake.”

No, he wasn’t. Lucinda knew what he planned, and her advice to him was to take Leah to his pack and allow her to live with him, so he would see she was perfect for him. He told Lucinda of the prophecy. Of a witch’s undoing. He wasn’t going to risk it. There would be no witch for him.

No happily ever after.

Chapter Three

Two Days Later

Killian was a moody wolf. He was a moody man.

Leah knew he preferred silence.

They hadspent another night on the forest floor. This time, no one had been there to rudely wake them up. Tonight, they had stumbled onto yet another small human town. Rather than risk going to the forest, Killian had booked them into a hotel.

Staring at the bed,Leah had to wonder if other couples had slept in that bed. Not that she and Killian were a couple. Nope. Not in the past couple of days. He’d gone back to being the brooding, silent type who didn’t say much.

She looked out the window as her stomach growled. Killian had ordered her to stay inside, and that was close to an hour ago.

“Bored?”

Leah spun around and sawa teleported version of Lucinda in the corner. Lucinda was one of her closest friends and mentors, and had helped her so much as she grew up.

“Yeah, mega-bored.”

“Where is Killian?” she asked.

“Gone to get some food.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “Howdid you know where we were?”

“Your necklace.I put a locator spell on it before I gave it to you as a child.”

Leah looked down at the smallnecklace. It was a heart with a single gem inside the center. She loved the necklace as a child and had never taken it off.

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