Wolf Broken (Wolfish 2)

As our arms pull our bodies closer together and our tongues push against each other furiously, we become an inseparable knot of yearning bodies. I open my eyes to see him and his glowing yellow irises stare back at me with enough passionate light to rival all of the candles in the room. I want him too.

I tug at the bottom of his shirt until he arches his back enough to let me lift it up and over his head. I can’t keep my hands from running over his chest and tracing every line of taut muscle, and then from dragging down his torso and into the rim of his pants. As Rory kisses me with increasing intensity and starts to undo the buttons on my jeans, I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to hesitate or think, I only want to know what it would feel like to have his body inside of mine.

But suddenly my mind is flooded with all of the reasons we can’t, and I know, even here, even now, that as much as I want Rory to make love to me right here in this magical cave; I can’t let it happen.

Even if something had changed and they suddenly could be with me, I don’t think I could do it anymore. Not tonight. Not like this.

Vivian’s words have taken root.

She’s right.

I am afraid.

10

Sabrina

It feels strange to stop at the cabin on Monday morning to grab my stuff for school. It feels like I don’t even live here anymore. I’m just another ghost flitting in and out of the shadows. Stuck here, tethered here, but not really belonging here.

My mother is home, actually awake, and making a pot of coffee—for which I am even more grateful for than usual. I didn’t get much sleep over the weekend, not least of all because things were understandably tense for the rest of the weekend after the encounter with Rory that left us both so frustrated it hurt.

I know Rory understands, and I think in hindsight he knew that he couldn’t have let it happen. But he was going to, and I could see in his eyes that night that he wouldn’t have stopped if I hadn’t made him.

It was so unlike him, it left me wondering all weekend if there’s something the boys didn’t tell me. Some other reason they invited me out into the woods. Something more than the packs that have been crossing into the Gray family land in increasing numbers as of late.

The weekend was blissful regardless, and I’m grateful to the boys for finding a way for us to be alone together, but now it’s back to reality and I’m sad that it’s over.

At least my mother is in a halfway decent mood. She looks tired but seems cheerful enough—and for once since my father abandoned us both after his failed kidnapping, actually sober.

“How was your weekend with the boys?” she asks, cradling the cup of coffee in her hands as if it’s liquid gold.

I understand that feeling.

“Nice enough,” I say, dismissively as I reach for my own cup. I’m not eager to start something with her, but the look on her face makes me reconsider. I stop what I’m doing for a second and glance back over at her, my jaw working for a moment before I ask, “And work? They’ve been keeping you busy lately.”

“Yeah,” she says as her eyes drift away from mine, her attention lost as it so often is these days. “It was fine. You’d better get going or you’ll be late for school.”

I feel my stomach sour.

Typical. This is why I don’t bother anymore. Any time I put in any effort to meet her halfway, she just brushes me off. I don’t understand this game with her.

Games. As if I need any more of them, least of all from her.

She stands up and gives me a kiss on the top of my head, which I only reluctantly allow.

I might have stayed to talk to her longer and see if I could get any clues about what’s going on with her, but Rory shows up at the door to give me a ride to school. The selfish part of me who wants no part in this is grateful, which only serves to make me feel even guiltier.

“What’s wrong?” Rory asks as we walk to the Jeep, his eyes scanning the look on my face.

I shake my head.

“Nothing, I’m not sure. I think it’s nothing. It’s my mom, you know, she’s just acting a bit strange.”

He looks like he’s about to say something, but then it’s his turn to just shake his head.

I decide to drop the subject.

“Where are the guys?” I ask, pausing with one hand on the back door when I see that Kaleb and Marlowe are missing from the back.