"Let me…"
The door yanked open. Harper stood there, and Christ, she looked wrecked. Hair tangled, skin flushed, eyes glassy with fever. She'd changed into shorts and a tank top, probably trying to cool down, but all it did was show me how her skin glistened with sweat.
"Let you what?" she demanded. "Tell me how you're going to fix this? How you're going to save me? I don't need saving, Knox."
"You need something," I said, trying not to breathe through my nose. This close, her scent was devastating. "Your heat's hitting hard and fast. That's dangerous without..”
"Without an Alpha?" She laughed, but it turned into a gasp as another wave hit her. Her knees buckled.
I caught her before she fell, pulling her against me. The full contact was like touching a live wire. She was burning hot, trembling, and the smell of her…
Fuck.
The smell of her made my vision blur.
"Don't," she whispered against my chest, but her fingers were clinging to my shirt.
"I'm just going to help you to the bed."
"Knox," she almost seemed to whimper my name and it made my dick twitch.
"Just to the bed. You need to lie down."
I carried her to the bed, trying to ignore how she felt in my arms, how right it was. She curled immediately into a ball, whimpering as another wave of heat crashed through her.
"It hurts," she admitted, voice small.
"I know."
"It's never been this bad."
"That's because," I stopped myself.
"Because what?"
Because you're meant to be mine. Because your body recognizes me as your mate. Because fighting it is making it worse.
"Because you've been suppressing it too long," I said instead.
She laughed bitterly. "I've been suppressing it since I was sixteen. Never had a problem before you."
"Harper…"
"God, why did it have to be you?" She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. "You're everything I've avoided. Violent. Possessive. Completely uncontrolled."
Each word was a knife twisting itself deep into my gut, but I couldn't argue.
She was right.
"But you make me feel…ught," She cut herself off, pressing her palms to her eyes. "It doesn't matter. We can't. I won't."
"Then what are you going to do? Suffer through this alone?"
"Yes."
"That's dangerous and you know it."
"It's better than the alternative."
