“I agree, mate. Like why you were so ready to run from me earlier, perhaps?” The half smirk he was rocking with the question was dangerous. Damn, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to slap it off his lips or kiss them. Maybe both.
“I didn’trun, I was summoned by the high alpha.”
He leaned back in the too-small wooden chair, crossing his arms over his chest and making those biceps of his pop distractingly.
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck?—”
I flipped him the bird, and the fuckerlaughed.
“We’re going to get along so well.”
“No, we’re not. That’s what we need to talk about.” I stood firm, ignoring the way butterflies took wing in my belly as he pushed his massive, imposing frame effortlessly out of the little chair. The way I could feel the impact of his steps as he crossed the small room, coming to tower over me. I swallowed hard, tearing my eyes from his chest to stare indignantly up at him as he braced one hand on the doorframe over my head, leaning down into my personal space as if he belonged there.
He didnotbelong there.
“Do you mind?” I gestured for him to back up a step.
“Not at all.” He leaned in closer with a wicked grin. “What did you want to talk about, Firecracker?”
I blinked, processing the fact that he’d just given me a nickname. I absolutely refused to feel warm and fuzzy about that. I wasn’t warm and fuzzy; I was a warrior.
“Firecracker?”
His thumb trailed over my bottom lip, and my wolf’s earlier rumble picked back up. She seemed disconcertingly pleased with the contact.
I jerked my head back, swatting his hand away. “Keep your paws to yourself, Brute.”
“I’ll keep my paws to myself when you’re honest with me, Firecracker.”
I blew a breath out through my nose, resisting the urge to snap. He didn’t get to be under my skin. No, I had more control than that. And whatever this attraction was between us, I was here to shut it down.
“This has to stop. I’m a warrior maiden on an official enclave assignment. We take a vow of chastity, and we’re dedicated only to serving our cause. There is nothing between us, and there will be nothing between us.”
He blinked slowly, staring at my face as I spoke, giving the impression he hadn’t heard a single word I’d said.
“Are you even listening?”
“I’m pretty sure you just told me you’re a virgin, which I have to say is surprising. You’re fiery. I don’t picture you as the sitting-around-chaste-and-bored type.”
My mouth fell open. Was he serious right now? “That’s what you took from what I just said? Seriously? I’m not a virgin, but I’m still not touching you.”
He shrugged unapologetically. “You can deny it all you want, but the attraction between us isn’t going anywhere, because you’re mine. I don’t have to argue and push you away.” He looped his hand gently around the back of my neck, drawing me in like a bee to honey. “One kiss is all it would take. One kiss, and your wolf would show you the truth.” The barest hint of a connection was a shivery iridescence on my skin, too tempting for my own good.
He hovered, waiting patiently for me to close the short distance between us, the heartbeat of space left between his lips and mine.
I didn’t want to push him away. And that was the most dangerous thing of all.
My career, my life’s purpose, my goals… Gone. If I gave in, it was allgone. Flushed away and leaving me with… what?
What would I do with myself if I weren’t a maiden? Who would I be if I weren’t Galyna’s partner, a defender of innocents, the last line of defense for the defenseless?
No one.
I would be no one.
I jerked out of his grip, spinning so my back was to him. My chest heaved at the effort, and I hung my head.
“This isn’t happening. That’s all I needed to tell you.”
