Page 53 of Rogue Wolf

“At sunrise. Wait. Please.” He sensed the pack calling for him, desperate to know where their new leader had gone. He needed to run with them.

He transformed into his wolf form and ran into the scrub with Tamaska’s cries of protest aching in his ears. And he hoped Tamaska would forgive him when he returned.

CHAPTER 13

Tamaska

Tamaska punched the door of the hut. Pain ricocheted up her arm, but she didn’t let that stop her from hitting the wood again. Blood oozed from scratches on her knuckles, and she screamed in frustration.

“Kodiak, you fucking bastard! Come back here and let me out!”

She wasn’t some damsel in distress who needed to be locked up. It wasn’t like she could hurt anyone, or even get hurt. The pack was obligated to protect her from harm. And no vampires were here.

“Kodiak!” she cried when he didn’t return. “Don’t leave me, please!

No answer at all and she didn’t know if he was still out there. Probably not. He had things to do. Shifter things, and he…he didn’t trust her.

Tamaska kicked the door. Her toes slammed against the end of her boot, adding to the pain thundering through her body.

What did he want to do? Go off and mate in his wolf form? That’s what this was really about, right? Just because she wasn’t a wolf, would he cast her aside instantly?

She screamed again. “Fuck you!”

With his special wolf hearing, Tamaska was sure he could hear her, making his refusal to return and explain himself worse. She kept returning to the thought that he wanted to mate in his wolf form.

“And why not fuck me in human form, if that’s all tonight is for?” she yelled.

Why hadn’t he?

She pressed her lips together to stop the tears, and swallowed over the lump in her throat as rejection ripped at her heart with its own set of claws.

This is how she’d been rewarded for waiting patiently at the hut after the entire pack changed into their wolf forms and ran off. They abandoned her without a word, without any explanation. She hated them all.

Still, she couldn’t shake off her desire to be one of them. And despite everything, she was drawn to Kodiak. Even though he was a wolf, her irrational feelings for him only spiraled.

I might be a wolf, too.

The thing is, though, she’d never be proper a wolf not to them. Even if she had wolf shifter ancestry or DNA, those genes were dormant in her, leaving her 100% human and unable to change forms.

Even knowing that, she’d listened to Kodiak, waited around, and looked at what happened. She was alone in the hut while he was off roaming the scrub doing fuck-knows-what. Isolated, she ran wild, imagining everything he could be doing.

She was she knew, as she forced herself to calm down, being unfair, a baby. But she couldn’t help it. Being abandoned hurt, no matter if there was a ceremonial reason for it.

Tamaska huffed heavily and nursed her sore hand. She needed to clean herself up. She went into the bathroom and washed up. The cold water stung her hand, but the scratches were superficial and would heal quickly.

She splashed some water on her face, and took deep, calming breaths.

This might be part of the whole ceremony, but locking her up instead asking her to stay in wasn’t on. And if he even thought about mating with someone, she’d…be very upset.

She made her way back to the living room. Was this how things would be, now that Kodiak was the alpha?

She hoped not. She hoped there’d be some leeway, a little softness, and inclusion for her. She was willing to give up everything for him and he… He didn’t bend. She didn’t know if he could, as alpha.

Heaviness grew in her heart. That couldn’t be right. Even shifters could change. They were thinking beings. They were supernatural and thought and reasoned just like boring old humans. They could change. He could. She knew he wanted to grow the pack in different ways so— There was a time and place for everything. She just was lost and scared and adrift. And if he didn’t love her…

She couldn’t think that. He did.

Tamaska sighed heavily and flopped onto the bed, looking at the wood-paneled ceiling. Maybe she had to just be the one to give in this time and when things were settled, the vampires vanquished, he could let go of that implacable control. She hoped.

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