Page 19 of Fractured Mates
I would never, he practically shouts in my head, but he can’t hide the truth from me. Just as I can’t do the same with him.
Would I have rather it been any other day that I met Sophie? Absolutely. But it wasn’t, and this is where we are. With a woman who won’t hesitate to kill, actually seems to hate me, yet still intrigues the hell out of me.
“I should have fucking left him behind like I said I would,” I hear her mutter just a few feet ahead of me.
“You were going to leave me?” I ask, butting into a conversation I know full well she doesn’t want me part of.
She swivels around and the deep line between her brows along with the narrowing of her darkening green eyes tells me just how furious she is before she even speaks.
“Of course I was.” She huffs, crossing her arms over her breasts, covering them most of the way up. “You made a stupid choice, and it nearly got us killed.”
“So, why didn’t you?” I press, forcing my lips to stay in a flat line instead of allowing them to rise like they want to.
Her head lightly shakes, and her eyes roll. “Because I stayed with you, basically agreeing to your stupidity, which made me feel responsible for making sure you didn’t die. Something that was about to happen right before I finished off that wolf. Did you let the rest of them go, too?”
The judgment in her tone no longer makes me feel ashamed. Instead, I find amusement in her words. I’ve heard that there’s a fine line between hate and love. While I’m under no assumption that love has anything to do with this situation, attraction does. I’m starting to wonder if she and my wolf are more alike than either of them realizes.
“You must have been so hellbent on murder that you missed the other dead wolf back there,” I say dryly. “But yes, another one did get away. Not because I let him go. I made the choice to stay and fight the ebony one instead of chasing after one who was no longer a threat. Maybe that was a mistake, but excuse me for wanting to be done with them so I could find you.”
She barks out a harsh laugh. “I will never need you to come to my rescue.”
With that, she turns again and heads toward a manmade trail up ahead. I gladly follow and another minute later, there’s a parking area with only one car in it. But that’s not what catches my attention first. It’s the blood splatter and two dead wolves lying in front of the vehicle that give me pause.
There are claw marks everywhere. On the shifters, in the dirt, and even on the hood of her car.
Still naked, she picks up one of the wolves and catches me watching. “Are you just going to stand there like the idiot I already think you are, or are you going to help?”
While the first time she called me that hurt, this time it’s more annoying than anything else. “Are people not allowed to make mistakes in your presence, princess?”
I pick up the second wolf, careful not to get blood all over my clothes as I carry the corpse back into the woods. There’s already enough from where she stuck her claws in my chest.
She doesn’t respond to my question, though I don’t expect her to. We don’t go too far before we drop the bodies and head back to the car. I’ll have to text Maciah, asking for someone to clean this mess up before any humans stumble upon it in the morning.
Sophie is still naked but doesn’t seem to give a damn, even when she’s facing me. I take in her full, round breasts before noticing that the scar on her ribs reaches almost to her belly button.
Any rising attraction is halted, and I’m tempted to ask what happened, but something tells me we’re a long way from swapping war stories.
When she stands back next to her car, she leans down and picks up her shirt, finally putting it on. When I raise a brow, she shrugs. “I didn’t want to get my clothes bloody.”
Makes sense.
I open the passenger’s door, but she stops me. “I don’t think so. I saved your life. You’re driving.”
“I could have killed that wolf on my own,” I reply, even though I’m already walking around the front of the car to get in the driver’s seat.
“Then maybe you should have,” she taunts, passing me by, now also covered by her jeans. “We’ll drive for at least two hours, find a big city, grab supplies, and get a hotel.”
She says the plan as if this is a normal Tuesday night for her.
“Done this a few times, huh?” I ask as she buckles up and I start the car.
Her brow raises as she opens the glove box. “And you haven’t?”
She’s still judging me, but I let it go, too curious about the items she’s reaching for. There’s a bag of chips, two chocolate candy bars, some gummy worms, and a few other things I don’t catch.
In the next second, she opens the chips and one of the candy bars, eating a bite of each, one after another.
I watch in fascination as she inhales the food like it’s the best thing she’s ever consumed. After a minute of witnessing…whatever this is, she finally catches me staring.