“Joey!” Maya exclaimed, darting to grab the gun.
My hand flew up, palm out. Maya froze at my silent order.
“Accept the rejection,” Joanna demanded. I remained quiet, infuriating her further. “Accept the damn rejection, Marcus!” Her hand shook with another jolt of pain.
My wolf howled, unable to bear her suffering.
But… she was doing this to herself.
She was doing this tous.
And even though I wanted to embrace her, to pull her forehead to my lips, to promise her we could make this right, I knew she wouldn’t let me.
I fought to keep my indifference, but it all melted away.
Why was she fighting this?
I managed fine when only I knew of fate’s promise to the both of us. It was easier then to pretend I didn’t want her with every part of my soul.
But now, the secret didn’t belong to me.
And it shoved me from the safety of the unknown into the hell of the unrequited.
I placed my hand over the gun and pulled it into my chest, right above my heart.
Joanna stumbled forward, but her grip on the weapon did not falter.
“Why?” I needed to understand. “Why are you pretending you don’t know…?” I lifted my gaze from her steady hand. “That I’m in love with you.”
Joanna’s breath hitched. I didn’t expect her to answer. How could I, when I’d pretended for so long as well?
I stared into her brown eyes, noticing how they slowly glazed with tears. “This is why the rules have to change, Joanna. Because I’m not satisfied with acomplicationanymore.”
I shook the gun against my chest, making her gasp.
“So, while you’re at it, tell me what I need to do to prove I’d protect you and our child until the day I die. That I’ll continue to love you until the day I die. Or…” I took another step closer. “End this suffering for the both of us right now. Because it’s only with a dying breath that I’d ever be able to let you go.”
Overwhelming fear ruffled my senses. My ears twitched. My wolves were on high alert.
Something was coming.
Maya clocked the change in my stance. “Alpha—”
The scream from one of our pups followed the sound of breaking glass. More screams resonated through the hall. I felt the aura of a few shifters amplify as their wolves took over.
Maya and Jerome took off running to the entrance of the building.
Joanna yanked her hand away from my chest. As I turned to follow my warriors, she whispered, “Marcus, please.”
I thought about James and how he’d never liked or trusted me. How he deserted us at the warehouse. I thought about Malik and how he was probably the reason the huntersfound the main building so quickly. How he’d been intimate with my mate and was still alive to tell the tale.
My frown deepened. “I love you, Joanna Sullivan,” I said, my voice not much more than a whisper. “But I’ll have no regrets killing your family to protect mine.”
Chapter Seventeen
Joanna
“Where is that motherfuckin’ dog you abominations call Alpha?” James hollered. His voice cut through the crying and screams as the werewolves scrambled away from the green canisters spraying wolfsbane into the air.
