“Not happening.” His jaw set, his expression as hard as I’d seen it. “No, Lynn.Fuck,no.”
The desperation dug its claws into me, sank them into my skin and ripped crevices in me. “Cobra,” I breathed, pleaded. “Ineedit.”
A muscle feathered in his cheek. “Ask someone else.”
“Fuck,no,” I echoed his words.
He smacked his head into the door so suddenly the impact made me wince.
“Fucking idiot,” I muttered. “You’ll give yourself brain damage.”
“You’re the idiot for coming tomefor this,” he retorted, his voice low, twisted. He was angry at me. What the fuck for? “You must already have brain damage if you think mebarkingis a good idea. Do you have any fucking concept of how messed up that is? Sure, I’m not an alpha and mine is less severe, but Jesus fuckingChrist,Lynn.”
“Not calling me asshole tonight, I see.”
His eyes burned, pure venom. “You’re damn right I’m not using your nickname when I’m so fuckingpissed offat you. Are you out of your mind?”
“Yeah,” I rasped, quieter. It stripped away my snarling, glaring irritation. “I’m going mad, Cobra. Loran.”
“Hey,” he complained.
“If you’re not calling me asshole, I’m not calling you Cobra.”
He rolled his eyes. “Petty-ass fucking woman.”
A weak laugh left me. I caught his gaze and said, “I’mtired.Every goddamn day. Even when I sleep, I get nightmares, but at least that’ssomething.Now, I can’t even fall asleep.”
He tipped his head against the door with a groan. “I cannot believe I’m even contemplating this. You are such a fucking pest.”
“Please,” I croaked. “I need to sleep.”
“Just this once,” he warned.
I nodded, even if the next few days yawned like a dark abyss. Maybe I’d get lucky and sleep through all three. “Just once.”
“And you’ll owe me.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll let you win the next three games we play.”
His laugh was abrupt and ragged. “Asshole.”
“Nightmare,” I countered with a smirk.
“You’re absolutely, deadly certain?” he checked, a feverish light in his eyes.
“I am.”
He took a rough breath, then said in a bark laced with power and dominance,“Sleep, Lynn.”
My eyes rolled back in my head and I was out before I’d even begun falling.
12
Cobra
Some fucking genius I was. Lynn, too, was a goddamn idiot, asking me to bark her to sleep in the damn hallway outside my room.
I caught her, like some fairy tale prince catching his slumbering princess, and scowled down at her unconscious face as I swung her up into my arms and walked backward into my room. I kicked the door shut and sighed.
