Page 20 of Pregnant Wolf's Mate

Instinctively, she crossed her arms over her chest and tried to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Clenching her thighs tightly together, she tried not to think of the fact she wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath her shorts.

“Macie, stop being so defensive,” he hissed at her, looking more than a little frustrated with her. “I just want to know what you plan to do.”

“Excuse me? What I plan to do about what?” she demanded, feeling even more defensive than she had been before.

Ray raised his head high, straightening up until his shoulders were so broad that Macie couldn’t have looked around him even if she’d tried. He towered over her, making her feel small and insignificant, and that only pissed her off all the more. She hated it when the male werewolves in the pack tried to do that. Yes, they were huge and intimidating but if Macie had her own wolf, she would have been able to hold her own against one of them.

But I don’t have my wolf, she reminded herself, feeling inside herself for the beast that should have been there waiting just beneath the surface to be called upon to protect her at any moment. But there was nothing, not even an inkling of where the animal might be. Why do I have to be so broken?

Emotion threatened to overwhelm her, and she knew that was dangerous, especially in front of Ray. The last time that had happened, they had ended up sleeping together in the woods. And look how that had turned out.

“I want to know what you plan to do about this…this pregnancy.”

Macie’s teeth clenched immediately. Even with her arms crossed against her chest, her hands tightened into fists. Glaring at him, she bared her teeth and snarled, “It’s none of your business.”

“Fuck! Macie, of course it is!”

Ray ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation and looked at her with desperation gleaming in his brown eyes. His usually rugged face twisted until he started to look more like an upset puppy dog than a badass werewolf. It tugged at Macie’s heartstrings until she almost started to feel bad for him. After all, she had gotten them into this mess as much as he had. If she had denied his help in the first place, they wouldn’t be standing here right now. In fact, she would have continued to pretend that Ray McCormack didn’t even exist and he would have likely done the same with her. Just because they were packmates didn’t mean they had to have anything to do with each other.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Macie insisted, deciding it was best not to allow herself to feel sorry for him. She had to remain hard and strong. She had to keep her distance from him and do what was right for her and her alone.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Ray demanded. He dropped his hands to his sides and they tightened into fists. The muscles in his forearms started to bulge and it was clear it was taking everything in him to control himself. The way his lips pursed suggested he was trying desperately to contain his wolf.

For a second, Macie was jealous. She wished she had trouble holding her wolf in. Instead, she couldn’t get the damned thing to come out. And if Ray lost it, his wolf springing forth to take over the argument, what the hell was she supposed to do?

Again, just like she had been with the demon wolf, she felt utterly defenseless, and she hated it more than anything.

“It means that this was an accident and I don’t expect you to take responsibility for it,” Macie said through gritted teeth. Dropping her hands to her sides in defeat, she moved out of the way of the door and gestured towards it. “You can just leave and forget all about it.”

Unable to look him in the eye anymore, she turned her gaze down to her feet, feeling a tidal wave of different emotions threatening to overwhelm her. The moment that the words were out of her lips, she realized that she never should have said them. The feeling she got in her gut told her the very last thing she wanted was for him to walk out of that door but she knew one thing for certain, she had to at least give him the option.

I have to know that this is what he wants, she realized. She didn’t want him to stick around out of obligation. She had seen that happen all too many times within the pack. From what she had heard it was quite common in the human world, for men to stick around just because they had accidentally gotten their mates pregnant. The difference between them and humans was their temper. Trapping a werewolf in a relationship he didn’t want was like caging a wild animal. She didn’t want that any more than he would.

“Macie, what the fuck do you take me for?” he demanded, and she was surprised when he stepped up before her and gripped hold of her upper arms, forcing her around to face him.

The anger in his voice made her meet his gaze with great discomfort. And then she started to shake her head.

“I don’t expect anything of you,” she said, looking away again. “Neither of us asked for this.”

Ray’s hands tightened on her upper arms, forcing her to look at him again. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but Macie beat him to it. Knowing that he would be able to see the pained expression on her face, she said, “Please, just go.”

“No, Macie, what are you going to do?” he demanded, shaking her slightly. “What is it that you want to do? I want to be here to support you.”

Macie’s heart clenched at that and she pulled herself from his grip, unable to bear him touching her any longer.

“I don’t want anything from you!” she snapped the words at him, turning away because she couldn't stand the look on his face anymore. She wanted him to leave. She wanted to forget that anything had ever happened. "What happened in the woods that night never should have happened."

Before she could pull away any further, Ray gripped hold of her wrist and pulled her back around to face him. Instinctively, shocked by his sudden movement, she lashed out with her free hand. He was quicker, grabbing her other wrist before she could strike him.

In the next second, he surprised her by pressing both of her hands against his chest. The way he looked into her eyes made her heart ache with longing and though she knew she should look away, she couldn't bring herself to do so.

"Maybe it shouldn't have happened," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. He never took his eyes off hers, a pained expression on his face. "But it did, and I tried to tell myself over and over that I regretted it, but I didn't."

At his words, Macie's heart pounded faster and faster. She was entirely unable to believe what she was hearing.

For once she felt as though her wolf might finally be rearing her ugly head. The tension in her gut made her snap, "Stop bullshitting me. You're a McCormack. I'm a Silverdale. This could never work out."

She snatched her hands away from him, only for him to grab hold of her cheeks before she could pull away. "Macie Silverdale, you are the most annoying, stubborn she-wolf that I have ever met in my entire life."

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