I needed to get down there now to see with my own eyes, to see what my mate had done because of my stupid decisions. My mind was too scrambled to believe anyone anymore, even myself.
Chapter 39
Isabella
Raj pushed me into the side of a tree and pressed his lips to my neck. They moved so effortlessly on my skin and felt so cool. I rested my head back against the tree bark and closed my eyes.
His scruff tickled my skin, and I pulled him closer. Everything about him felt so good. His muscles rippling under his shirt; his sweet butterscotch, the way he grabbed me and held me against him.
When his canines brushed against my soft spot, I shook in total pleasure. Just waiting, wanting, craving to be marked. My wolf howled inside of me, not being able to resist his touch.
“Please, Raj,” I whispered. “It feels so…” I let out a small moan. “It feels so good.”
He gripped my hips, and instinctively I pushed my body against his. He was so much cooler than I was. And when he licked the crook of my neck, I moaned louder—letting everyone hear me and not caring at all.
The moonlight filed through the trees and made my mate’s necklace glow on the ground, near my clothes. I tensed. My mate, Roman. What would he think about this? He’d hate me.
He already hates us.My wolf howled in my mind.Raj doesn’t. Raj wants to help us!
My breath hitched. I didn’t want this. I couldn’t want this. No matter how much I hated him. I couldn’t betray Roman until he rejected me. It was too wrong.
“Raj,” I said, trying my hardest to keep my voice steady. I lifted my gaze from his shoulder and gazed at the group of rogues coming our way.
Mate! Anyone will do! So hot. Please.
I pressed my hands to his chest, my palms so cold, and pushed him back. “Raj, stop.” His teeth grazed against my neck again, and I resisted the urge to moan. “The rogues.”
Immediately, Raj tensed. He pulled away, his eyes flickering back and forth between his wolf and his human, tore his hands off me, and placed them in fists next to me on the tree. He parted his lips. “Isabell—”
“The rogues,” I said, pointing behind us.
My wolf jumped up and down inside of me.More people for mates! More people! Just our type!
They were all staring at me. They were all coming for me. They could all feel me.
Soon everyone would be able to feel me, feel this need to be satisfied, and it terrified me. All I could see were werewolves tearing each other apart to see who could get to me first. All I could hear were them growling viciously over my body. All I could feel was dread and misery.
“Raj,” I said again. He gazed over his shoulder, sucked in a deep breath, and bared his teeth. I wasn’t sure if he did so because he was about to kill them all or because he wanted to sink his teeth into me and claim me.
Claim us! Claim us!
“Go,” he ordered.
I shook my head. “No.” Even though I wanted to leave. There were far too many of them for him to take on alone. I needed to suck it up and fight with him, or he’d die. And I took an oath to protect my partner when I joined the Lycans. I wasn’t about to—
“Go! I’ll keep them off of you.”
“But—”
He snapped his head in my direction. “If you don’t go now, I will sink my teeth into your neck.” His eyes flickered to my neck and darkened, and he shook his head. “Go!”
And with that, I ducked under his arm and sprinted through the woods. My wolf was trying to hold me back, begging me to stay, to let someone else mark me, to put me out of this misery. But I fought against our natural instinct and continued to run. I ran and ran and ran.
When Ryker and I had talked about my heat, we had decided that when it came I should go to the only place where I would be safe: the Lycans. But with all the unmated wolves in the Lycans, I couldn’t go back there.
So I ran through the woods, never shifting into my wolf in fear that she would betray me and mate with whoever she wanted. I needed to get away from everyone. I needed to get through this. I needed my mate.
When Roman’s packhouse came into my view, my heart thumped in my chest. His scent lingered everywhere. On the lawn, on the dirt, on the door. I barged through the backdoor and sprinted to his bedroom. Vanessa’s scent lingered by one of the spare rooms, and I nearly ripped her door open, but I was too far gone.
