“I said get your hands off her,” the other guy says, taking a step towards me.
“Okay!” I snap, letting go of Sadie and grabbing the front of the other guy’s shirt. “How’s this?”
“Don’t start this, man,” he growls into my face. “What’s it to you, anyway? Why should you even care what she does?”
“She’s my wife!” I yell, shaking him a bit.
The guy goes pale, his eyes slowly widening as he struggles to get away from me. I notice the silence that’s fallen, as if every single person in the room heard my words.
“I didn’t know, okay?” the guy says. “She didn’t say anything. I’m sorry.”
I release him, stepping back and shaking my head. Then I turn around and fix my eyes on Sadie.
She glares back at me, folding her arms across her chest and sticking out her chin. I grab her hand, almost pulling her off her feet, wrapping my arm around her waist to pull her close as I start heading for the door. The band starts up again, and everyone begins talking at once.
Well, that’s done it. The whole town, wolves or not, knows we’re married now.
Sadie protests as I drag her outside, but I just wrap my arms more tightly around her and pace out to the parking lot. Finally, she struggles free and shoves me on the chest, staggering away from me.
“You’re insane, you fucking jerk! What the hell are you doing?”
“Me?” I yell. “What the fuck are you doing? That guy was all over you!”
“No, he wasn’t. We were just talking,” she protests, putting her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, you said that, but I’ll stick by my point that you don’t need to touch someone that much to talk to them.”
“It was absolutely harmless,” she says, shaking her head. “We were just talking about books.”
“And the dancing? He was wrapping his arms around your waist so that you could more thoroughly discuss historical texts?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she snaps. “I was just having some fun. It didn’t mean anything.”
“I don’t know if you’re stupidly innocent or just stupid!” I yell in exasperation. “He was hitting on you! It meant something to him—he was trying to score with you!”
“And because I paid him some attention, that automatically means I want to?” she yells straight back. “A smile and a bit of a conversation, and now suddenly I want to hurl myself down on the floor and immediately have his babies?”
“To some guys, yes! He thought he was getting lucky, and you didn’t say a goddamn thing! For fuck’s sake, Sadie, you’re married!”
“And that marriage is on paper only!” she screams at me, balling her hands into fists and letting all her rage come out. “This isn’t real, none of this is real!”
“It doesn’t matter,” I growl. “You’re still my wife.”
“No, I’m not,” she says, her voice getting caught in her throat as she loses a bit of her fire. “This is all bullshit. I’m your prisoner, not your wife.”
I let those words wash over me, my anger not cooling, but I feel a stab of guilt.
“I deserve to feel good,” she says, wiping her cheek as if she’s about to cry. “It was nice to feel appreciated like that. It’s been so long since anyone gave me that kind of attention… or I let someone touch me. I…”
Her voice trails off, and suddenly, I’m looking at her in a whole new light. The vibe has changed completely.
Has she… been alone this whole time?
Am I the last man she slept with?
Chapter 10 - Sadie
Standing in the parking lot with Rhys, I’m so angry, I can’t even think straight. But I just keep firing off words, determined to hurt him.
