She squirmed and released a muffled groan as she curled into fetal position.
“Joanna, are you alright?” I turned her over, and my face blanched.
Visible through her mesh top, black veins branched across her brown skin. They pulsed with a vengeance. There was nothing I could do to ease her pain. I pulled her onto my lap, cradling her close as her silent tears wet my chest.
Ours.
I scanned the trees in front of us. We couldn’t stay here. We needed to catch a ride into the city.
Ours.
I looked down at Joanna’s pained face. She was so fucking perfect. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but I was on fire and breathing so hard that she would’ve felt my head lowering.
I kissed her. And the numbness melted away. I felt the warmth of her lips—could taste the salt in her tears. Could feel the Goddess smile down on us as Joanna’s tongue slid into my mouth. The way her fingers tangled in my hair.
Everything else blurred into the night.
She was all that mattered.
I pulled back, causing Joanna’s hand to drop from my head. Looking down at her, all the sudden feelings metastasized until their weight settled in my chest. “I need you,” I whispered.
Joanna opened her eyes slowly, before biting down on her bottom lip and struggling to rise. She managed to climb to her feet with my help. She stood hunched over, until she took a deep breath and straightened despite the pain. “I…” she began.
I waited, eager for her next words.
“Joanna Sullivan…”
But knew, at that moment, they wouldn’t be the words I’d hoped for.
“Reject you, Marcus Blackwood, as my mate.”
All the air left my lungs.
Then came the first pang of pain—dull, like a bear poking me in the side.
“Is that all I have to do, Marcus?”
The second one was more of the same.What just happened?
“Marcus,” Joanna demanded, shifting her footing. “Is it done?”
I stood there, too stunned to breathe. Joanna was only an arm’s length away, but she was further from my grasp than she’d ever been.
And by the third brutal stab of rejection… fire ripped through my body, setting every nerve ablaze. I grabbed at my chest, trying to stop my heart from slamming against my ribcage. But it hammered on, as if it wanted to break itself apart.
A chilling darkness wrapped around me as grief clouded my senses. My body convulsed from the sudden cold, and I staggered to the tree behind me. With my back against its trunk, I waited for the tremors to stop. Then I turned and rested myforehead against the tree and begged my wolf to stop yowling in agony.
It was going to be okay. I would handle this.
The cries quieted to a whimper, and I pushed off the tree trunk. I dragged my hand down my face and opened my eyes to harrowing disappointment.
Joanna was gone.
With labored breaths, I patted the pockets of my jeans. The cloner was gone, too.
I collapsed to the ground, one hand cradling my head, the other pounding at my aching heart.
How could I have been so stupid?
