Taming the Beast

Folding her arms, she rocked back on her heels, not backing down.

It was even worse now that I knew how she felt, how she tasted, the soft sounds she made when kissed within an inch of her life.

“You never told me why you did it.”

Oh. That. Yeah, and I wasn’t going to tell her. “And if I don’t?”

“You’ll lose the clan. Your home. Everything.”

“Because you’ll put a tick in the box to make that happen?” I demanded. I wouldn’t blame her if she did, anyone else would do the same.

“Because I won’t be able to save you,” she beseeched me with her words, her eyes.

Her soft words knocked the air clean out of my lungs, a sucker punch to the chest. I looked away, examining the wall to her left. “What makes you think I want saving?” I finally croaked out.

Her eyebrows shot up. “Everyone—”

“Not everyone, sweetheart.” Only those who deserved saving.

“But, why?”

Blowing out a stream of hot air, I glanced back at her. Worry creased her brow, lines of exasperation tugging at her mouth. I was upsetting her, just by being me. A perfect example of why I was doing the right thing. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

“No.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re stubborn?”

“Yep.”

“It’s not a compliment, you know.” Leaning back against the wall, I shoved my hands into my pockets, just in case they got the bright idea that reaching for her was okay.

Copying me, she braced a shoulder and hip against the fading paint, her arms dropping to clasp in front of her, fingers twinning together in a lose bracelet. Her hair curled over her shoulder, honey-brown spirals I longed to twist around m

y fingers. When I didn’t speak, she arched a single eyebrow, pursing her lips in silent disapproval.

I looked away. I didn’t want to see her eyes as I told her the truth. “I gambled because I didn’t have anything else to lose. Because…” My voice seized, unable to force the complete truth out past my lips. I couldn’t tell her that it was the only way I could make the clan strong enough to have an alpha unable to shift at it’s helm. I just couldn’t. “…I owed it to my parents to try and rebuild the clan.”

“What did you lose?”

I held out my hands. “Everything.”

A moment, then, “Your sister?”

She understood. Enough to leave me alone, anyway. “Her too. So, now you know. Decide which box you’re going to tick then leave me the hell alone.”

It hurt like a thousand razor blades cutting into my skin, but I refused to look, to see the judgment in her eyes as I walked away.

It was for her own good.

And my sanity.

This time, no footsteps followed me.

Faye

The days passed in a rush of work induced highs, ego-crashing lows when I discovered fatal flaws in my solution, and sweat inducing nights of tangled sheets and thrashing legs. Alone.

But the days had passed—three of them to be precise—and I was no closer to saving Bastian from getting the ax.