< Chapter 10-2
Chapter 10-2
+25 Points
There was a strange sense of relief at hiding my naked body beneath the surface. Most shifters didn’t care about their nakedness. Usually, I didn’t mind either, but I felt so damn vulnerable around Troy. Not because he made me feel vulnerable, but because I couldn’t shield myself around him. One look from him, and I wanted to crumble.
His hands were firmly wrapped around my waist, and I realized belatedly that he was guiding me
into deeper waters. “Wait!” I gasped.
“I can swim,” he said roughly. “See that boulder?”
“Yes.”
“It’s shallower there, and it’ll keep the current from carrying you away.”
“You’re going to leave me alone?”
“No,” he muttered. “You’d no doubt find a way to drown yourself.”
We reached our destination, and I grasped at the rock. It was shallower. I could stand, but the water was still up to my shoulders. Troy’s hands disappeared, and I made an involuntary sound of
panic.
“Kiana? Relax. This was what you wanted.”
“I know. I’m fine,” I lied as I squeezed my eyes shut. Memories I thought were long buried surfaced. My father throwing bodies into the water. Some dead. Some not. The water didn’t care. It carried
them to the end anyway.
Behind me, Troy cleared his throat. “I’m going to clear your hair. Try not to jerk away.”
My body tensed, every muscle bracing for something cruel-but his hands were careful. Gentle. Fingers threading through my hair as he massaged my scalp, and Goddess help me, I shivered. Heat curled in my stomach, rising fast and sharp.
No. Not here. Not with him.
But the pull inside me tightened-something primal and shameful. I clenched my jaw, fighting off the image of those same fingers dragging lower, leaving heat across my skin.
“Turn around,” he ordered, voice rough. “There’s blood on your forehead.”
I almost said no. But I wasn’t stupid-I knew how much he despised me. Whatever stirred between
us wasn’t want. At least not from him.
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< Chapter 10-2
But when I turned, and our eyes met…
I saw it. Hunger.
Not soft or romantic but….starving.
+25 Points
His hand pressed flat against my stomach, pinning me to the rock with slow, inescapable force.
“Troy,” I whispered, breath caught in my throat. I didn’t even know what I was about to say…
Kiss me? Let go of me? Fuck me?
But he spoke first.
“Don’t,” he growled, jaw tight. “Just… let me do this.”
Do what, exactly?
His hands framed my face, and he stared at me before cursing under his breath and running his
thumb over my forehead.
The hunger was still there but also disgust. It was enough to ground me, and I averted my gaze and went about trying to scrub the rest of the blood off my body. Without soap, there was only so much I could do, but it was better than nothing.
“Done,” I said tiredly. “I’m cold. Can we go back?”
He didn’t say anything as he carried me back. “Can you shift? You’ll be warmer,” he said as he put
me down.
As if she knew she was being summoned, my wolf rose swiftly inside me. I pushed back just a little, but I was already feeling the chill in my bones. Closing my eyes, I gave myself over to the change for the second time in twenty-four hours.
It used to be swift and painless. I’d seen some shifters take up to five minutes to shift, but I could do it in seconds. Still, I was rusty, and I didn’t have the adrenaline of dying to hasten the change.
She erupted out of me, but those first few seconds of joy were tempered when we both realized that he wasn’t going to shift. She started to panic.
“Easy, darling,” he said in a low voice. “I just want to feed you.”
He held out bits of jerky to her, and she took it from his hands hesitantly. Her healing magic filled me, but I couldn’t relax. I kept waiting for Troy to grab us.
To hurt her-just like they all did.
Softly, he ran his knuckles over her head. “When she’s stronger, I’ll hunt for you. But right now, I
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Chapter 10-2
hope you’ll sleep and heal her.”
Sleep? Around him? Not a chance. Not with her.
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Immediately, I grabbed the reigns and started to shift back. I was dry and turned to dress. When I looked back at him, he didn’t bother to hide his disappointment.
“Thank you for your help,” I said woodenly, curling back on the ground.
I couldn’t trust him. I wouldn’t. After everything…was one act of saving my life enough to change
anything?
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