Nearing it, my eyes widen in horror through my anger when pain slices through my gut and immobilizes me. I stop running, crippled by the ache that steadily grows and coils out into my core.
Hugging my arms over my midriff, I keel over and try getting a grip on myself just as footsteps pound the paved ground behind me. I glance past my arm to see Brooks rushing forward, wearing a look of concern on his face.
“Rissa!” he calls out, the shift of his voice from treacherous to worried prompting me to gather myself and continue toward the guesthouse.
The one-bedroom cottage is just up ahead, and I might be able to outrun Brooks if I push myself.
Pushing through the pain, I make it to the guesthouse, throwing the door open, my pulse ignited by the adrenaline pulsing through me, along with the pain of my heat.
Why has it come now, out of nowhere?
It’s only been a week since it happened the last time.
I grab the door, about to shut it, when Brooks comes rushing through in a flurry of hot pants.
“Rissa! Why are you running away from me?!” he glares accusingly, his eyes wide and cheeks flushed as if he ran a marathon.
“Of course, I was running away from you!” I throw back, ignoring the nagging pain in my belly, to lash out at him with a pointed finger in his face. “Did you see what you did out there?! You humiliated me, Brooks!”
Brooks reels back as if I physically struck him. “I don’t know what came over me out there! I was—”
“A madman, that’s what you were!” I spit back. “I can’t believe you’d act like that! What were you thinking?!”
Brooks grunts and curls his hands into fists, then swiftly spins around and punches the door shut.
“I wasn’t thinking—hng!” he growls as if in anguish as he hangs his head.
“Yeah, I could see that!”
To my surprise, Brooks spins back to face me, grabbing my wrists and staring deeply into my eyes, his face contorting with pain.
“You don’t understand, Rissa!” he groans as if he’s fighting some inner demon. “I am in pain. This is torture! I can’t be around you withoutwantingyou! If I am a madman, then you are a fool if you can’t see what’s happening here!”
I should be appalled by what he just said; I should be disgusted by him once again berating me. But the more his face twists with anguish, as if reflecting the pain that twists my ovaries and begs for release, the more I realize that we’re both suffering.
I’ve only ever heard about the male werewolf’s rut when some of the soldiers whisper about their experiences in theclinic. It’s the most intense mating urge that a male feels, a surge of hormones so painful that it can be compared to a she-wolf’s heat.
Perhaps it’s my compassion for Brooks’s condition that spurs me on, knowing that I can’t bear to see him in pain. The last time I did, I was on the verge of escaping him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that when he needed my help.
Now, I still can’t seem to escape him, the heat of my inner wolf taking the reins and leading me to my tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. The moment our lips meet, an electric surge rushes through me and settles in my core, spreading out a warmth that seems to calm my heat.
Brooks is hungry for me, too, growling as he ravishes my lips and sweeps me off my feet. If this is the only way to sate and soothe the pain we’re experiencing, then I’ll have to throw caution to the wind.
For now.
Chapter 14 - Brooks
I can hardly control myself when I taste Rissa’s sweet essence on her tongue, completely devouring her with ravenous grunts as I lift her off her feet. Her thighs wrap around my waist, her arms wrapping my neck as she tilts her head and allows me to explore the depths of her mouth with a deeper kiss.
We’re moving then, as I carry her to the closest surface I can find, propping her rear on a pedestal in front of a mirror. I catch my reflection for a second, that’s long enough to notice how heady my eyes have become, glossed over by the height of lust and desire I’ve ever experienced in my life.
But it also reminds me of the walls I’d built up—walls to prevent me from feeling this way for Rissa, all because I’m afraid of being rejected when she decides that this isn’t what she wants.
She’s been protecting her virtue for so long, and only someone deserving of that honor could take it.
I’m far from deserving after all the distress I’ve caused her over the years. Tonight was even worse; I saw it in the way she glared at me accusingly when I allowed my rut to take over and acted on impulse out there.
How was I supposed to control my jealousy when I saw her speaking and giggling with another man?
