“Will Gio be safe?” she murmurs, pulling back to stare warily into my face.
I nod determinedly. “He’ll be fine. He’s with Rissa and Aurora. I sent Elias a warning through the mind link, but the demon won’t attack during the feast. There are too many werewolves in one place. It’s only here because we’re out here alone.”
Yvonne sniffs as she nods, her eyes glossed over with tears that brighten the silver glow. I pull her into my arms again, hoping she can feel their safety, when suddenly, she whimpers as if she’s in agony.
Frowning, I pull away to see the way her face is contorted in distress, her brows knitting, and a wail escaping her lips.
“Yvonne…? What’s wrong…?” I ask with a worried frown, but she pulls away abruptly and hugs her arms around her waist.
Shaking her head, Yvonne whimpers, “Don’t come near me….”
My frown deepens with confusion. There’s no way Yvonne suffered any injuries. We didn’t fight the demon, and she’d been riding on my back to the hut.
What’s going on?
I take a step forward, wanting to ensure she’s fine, when she lifts a hand in front of my face.
“Don’t!” she cries out as if she’s in torment, and the realization that strikes me comes with a gentle gust of air from the wave of her hand when she returns it to her waist.
The scent in the air is intoxicatingly sweet, but so potent that it masks every other smell as if it’s pulsing off her in invisible waves. My inner wolf perks up immediately, my body responding to her pain to alert me that her suffering is no ordinary thing.
“You’re in heat,” I whisper so disbelievingly that even I’m surprised at myself.
Yvonne immediately looks up with a frightfully accusing glint in her eyes.
“You have to leave me alone!” Yvonne wails, spinning around and keeling over when the pain of her heat grips her belly.
“There must be something I can do,” I offer, reaching out a hand that she can’t see, but she shakes her head as if she can.
“No!” she whimpers and groans again as she drags her feet to the sofa. “There’s nothing you can do! I don’t want you to!”
Standing frozen on the spot, I watch as Yvonne climbs onto the sofa with her knees and keeps herself huddled in one corner, the pain slicing through her face with every whimperand groan. She’s trembling uncontrollably, clutching her knees to her chest as she lifts her doe eyes at me, on the verge of crying.
“Yvonne…” I begin, but she bursts into tears while keeping her eyes on me.
“Not now, Dawson!” she cries. “It’s not like you can take this pain away!”
Gulping hard, I straighten up and firmly declare, “Yes, I can. If you’d let me, I’d remove your pain.”
“H-how…?” Yvonne asks through her tortured cries, frowning at me.
I take a determined step forward, reach out a hand, and say, “You know how.”
Yvonne’s eyes flit from my face to my hand, and she gulps nervously as she returns them to my face. A moment of hesitation is spent staring into my eyes until she finally nods and slips her hand into mine.
When she’s on her feet, I pull her into me and crush my lips to hers, feeling her melt as she sighs into the kiss, some of her pain already relieved by the passion reignited between us. The fire that burns spreads throughout me, and this time, nothing will stop me from having her.
I have to take her pain away. It’s a duty I feel bound to.
Chapter 13 - Yvonne
I can’t seem to think straight; that’s why my lips are locked with Dawson’s again.
Am I complaining?
I shouldn’t be.
I’d felt the way the heat between us was rising, and it exploded to dangerous heights with the onset of my wolf’s cyclical heat.
