Chapter 0067
“Violet, stop, and talk to me.”
I looked back at him. “I have nothing to say. It’s your pack, your legacy, your network, not mine.”
“And yet you look like you want to punch me.
I gave him a thin smile. “It hasn’t crossed my mind yet.”
He licked his lips. Something dark and hungry filled his eyes. Then, he was up on his feet, in my space. The heat between us was palpable, the tension crackling in the air. His gaze locked on mine. He reached out, aiming to grab me. I tried to dodge, but he was just fast enough to wrap his arm around my waist and drag me closer to him. I twisted away from him and out of his arms, leaving him standing there, seemingly confused that I would push him away.
“Stop it. I’ve already told you I’m not sleeping with you no matter how many passes you make.‘
He groaned. “For fuck’s sake, we’re mates, Violet. You can’t expect me not to want you.”
I scoffed. “It takes a special kind of con man to buy his own con.”
“It’s not a-”
“We’re not mates, Theodore.” I pursed my lips. “I don’t know why you’re so fixated on trying to sleep with me. There’s all of Midnight and beyond. I think you can manage to be discreet.”
He threw up his hands. “We are mates, Violet. I know Lucas-”
“Lucas has nothing to do with this,” I snapped. “I don’t care if you’re just trying to manipulate me into sleeping with you or think this is some sort of comfort for the state of Midnight, but stop.”
I walked out before he could say another thing. My anger simmered as I stalked to my room, determined to put the conversation—and Theodore–out of my mind for the night at least. We weren’t mates, and even if we were, I wouldn’t want to be tied to anyone who could view the rights of anyone as being less important to whatever power I might have or be after.
Theodore
I snarled, watching the door close behind her, but I knew that if I went after her now, I’d just end up doing something I’d regret. Desire turned my blood molten. I felt on the edge of combusting.
I’m not sleeping with you no matter how many passes you make.
It felt like a knife, just short of a rejection, and my instincts weren’t having it. I left the room, tearing through the house to find Dahlia. She took one look at me and followed me to secret passageway out of the house without saying a word. She started to take down the locks on the
Chapter 0067
door.
“It may be easier to just tell her.”
“She’s not going to believe me.”
She would have to come to the realization on her own, no matter how torturous it was to wait. Violet’s heart hadn’t skipped at all. She didn’t believe we were mates. What good would it do to tell her about this?
“She thinks I’m a sexist prick who doesn’t give a damn about the women in my pack.”
Dahlia made a non–committal sound. I snarled at her.
“Don’t.”
She shrugged.
I shifted as she stepped around me and opened the door, and I took off. I heard the heavy door closing behind me. The woods opened before me, the cool night air slicing through my fur as I ran. I reveled in the freedom, paws pounding against the damp earth, lungs burning with the exertion I so desperately needed. The euphoria of running, hunting, ripping and tearing through the night, through prey, through the cold air was second best to the rush that sex had given me before I met Violet.
I should have known then something was up.
I pushed harder, the world blurring around me, a singular drive overtaking the knot of frustration boiling in my chest. Violet’s words echoed in my mind, cutting through me and every instinct about who we were together. Everything in me wanted to show her, force her to see it, and it was a line I would never cross.
I would never go the path my father went.
I’d rather hunt every elk, deer, and rabbit in the mountains and beyond before harming my mate, before forcing her.
We’re not mates, Theodore
I snarled, fury at her denial burning through me. I caught the scent of a buck. I spun in that direction and went after it hoping that by morning I would have burned off enough of this fury, this desire, and soul–deep need to be coherent.
I really… enjoyed the simple pleasure of sitting with Violet over breakfast.
