They can’t get me.
I’m not in the forest.
I’m safe.
I suck in air, each breath harder than the last, and it’s not fucking working.
I’m safe, I repeat.
Over and over, like a mantra.
“Morgan!”Lynx growls my name, low and feral, the warning in it unmistakeable and I shatter.
Because I’mnotsafe.
And I’m not sure I ever will be again.
13
LYNX
“Morgan!”It’s too raw, too rough, toowild, but it rips out of my chest because my control is fucking shot with Morgan falling apart in front of me.
The air reeks of his fear, his desperation, and I want to claw my own skin off because I can’thelphim.
I can’t.
I can’t give in to the instinct burning me from the inside, or I’ll lose all objectivity where he’s concerned.
It’s so fucking hard, though.
It hurts to keep my distance, to stand by and watch as terror sinks its claws in deeper and deeper. I know he’s reliving that night. His panic tastes bitter on my tongue, his body betraying every thought going through his head, and I’m clinging to the last shreds of my control as I watch it unfold.
And then he moans.
It’s low, desperate, and so full of fear.
Powerful enough to slice through everything holding me back.
I’m beside him in the blink of an eye, catching him in my arms as he finally loses his fight with consciousness and slumps to the side.
With a lap full of Morgan, I scoot backwards until I hit the wall. His head falls back against my shoulder, and I cradle his jaw, stroking a thumb along his cheekbone in an attempt to sooth him, to let him know he’s safe with me.
Then finally,finally, I dip my head to the base of his throat and inhale.
It’s the sweetest fucking relief.
The effort of denying this part of myself, of whatheis to me is exhausting. It’s only been days, but I’m tired down to my bones. I breathe in and out, soaking up his scent and letting it fill every part of me.
Mine.
It’s a whisper in the back of my mind.
I indulge it for one glorious moment before shoving it back where it belongs, because even if I wanted it, Morgan Webb and I are never going to happen.
Not least of all because I’ve threatened to kill him more than once, and I’m pretty sure he hates me on some level, even when his scent says otherwise.
There are so many reasons it won’t work. I don’t have it in me to name them all.
