Not the mate! Not the mate! That’s Roy’s trigger point!
“Austin, no!” Savannah cried, but it was too late.
Roy went insane.
His face twisted in a maddened scream, and he hurled himself against his chains so hard that Savannah heard several of them snapping. Fur rippled all over his body.
She reared back and shot him, twice, but Roy was so frenzied he didn’t even seem to feel it. His jaw was stretching, fangs descending. She had to shoot him twice more before he finally collapsed.
“Austin. What. the. Hell.” She stared at him in dismay. “Damn you, Austin! You made me waste all those tranqs! He promised to behave for six hours, and he would have if you hadn’t provoked him!”
He sucked in a breath. “You’re right.”
“And you ran off and left me with him!” she shouted, fear and worry boiling over and rushing out of her. “The agreement is, we’re working together!”
“You’re right. You’re right.” His head bobbed miserably, and he clenched his fists, then crossed his arms over his chest.
“Don’t keep saying that! It doesn’t help!” she yelled at him. “Just tell me what the hell is going on here!”
“Okay.” A haunted expression twisted his face. “I ran off because I saw a vision. You were catching on fire. I can’t control myself when I see them. I was afraid I might hurt you.”
Alarm jolted through her. “You…saw a vision.” What exactly did that mean?
“Yes. Again. I keep seeing visions. It’s been happening for months.” He chewed his lower lip in anguish. “I’m going feral. I’m not going to last much longer, and when I finally go, somebody’s going to put me down. That’s why I moved away from my pack, to Greenville. That’s why I’ve never tried to pursue anything with you. If I weren’t going crazy, I’d have been at your house courting your crazy ass from the day I met you. Losing you? That’s what sucks the most about all of this.” He shook his head miserably. “We should just get going.”
Savannah’s jaw hung open.
He’d just tossed a bomb into her lap, and…they should just get going?
“Seeing visions…that could mean a lot of things. What if you’re a Seer?”
“My visions aren’t like that. They’re twisted and crazy. I…I went to a healer. He said that I’m going feral, and there’s nothing that he or anyone can do to stop it.”
“Austin, you idiot, I do not have enough bad words in my vocabulary right now.” She bit the words out so she wouldn’t scream.
“I do. I’m a motherfucking stupid asshole. Is that good for starters?” His lips twisted up in a wretched smile.
“Don’t make this into a joke!” she cried out, blinking back tears. “I am seriously pissed off that you didn’t tell me that before! Because you know what? We’re True Mates, and I know that, and you probably knew that. And I’m not even worth fighting for?”
He shook his head in denial. “Savannah, I’d fight to the death for you! Every time a man even looks at you, I want to bite his head off! If anyone ever tried to hurt you, I’d skin them alive! That’s not the problem at all. This isn’t me running from a fight. This is me making a sacrifice, Savannah. This is me letting you go so I don’t flip out and kill you.”
Her heart pounded against her ribcage. Austin was dumb and stubborn and too blind to get out of his own way, but he washers.
The only man who’d ever made her feel pretty and sexy and incredibly talented at her job, all at the same time.
He looked at her like she was the tastiest dessert on the buffet table and he was starving. When she was with other men, she was always sucking in her stomach, trying to tone down how much stronger she was then them, trying to sound natural when she laughed at their dumb jokes.
Austin made her laugh without even trying.
And a curl of his lips made her knees melt and her heart pound.
Sure, he was a hothead. And he loved to torture her. But she loved to torture him back. He was the only man who’d ever challenged her.
He made her yearn for things she’d never even dreamed of before. A mate. Kits, or cubs, whatever they would have together.
She wasn’t going to give up on him, and she wasn’t going to let him give up on himself.
“Tell me everything,” she said tightly. “From the beginning.”
