He walked out of the bedroom, and Red stared after him. He was wrong. The wolf could please the fish. He just didn’t want to. Her throat tightened, and her chest ached.
She might not have her heart but she felt the sting of his rejection. Yet when he’d admitted he would steal only her heart… If Red had her mechanical heart, she was certain her ticker would tick a mile a minute. Waiting for him to return, she closed her eyes and thought of him.
The first time she saw Axel again after he’d left her at Charming’s, Red must’ve woken him. Comforting a crying bear cub that had fallen from a tree was not a quiet matter. Red had to raise her voice to be heard above the cub’s bawling growls.
The cabin’s door swung open, and Axel had stumbled out of his place, demanding what all the “damn raucous” was about. Seeing the foul-mood werewolf, the cub had scrambled off Red’s lap and scampered home.
Red couldn’t move.
Axel mesmerized wearing nothing but a pair of leather pants. The pants hung low on his waist and the leather clung to the muscles of his thighs. His blue eyes were bloodshot and his black hair stuck out on end.
While she attempted to catch her breath and slow the rapid beats of her mechanical heart, she’d realized the full moon had shone high in last night’s sky. He’d been up all night.
Once her breathing and heartbeat returned to a normal pace, she tipped her chin at him and left the forest for home. She’d chastised herself for having thoughts of a man other than Hunter. Hunter had pursued her a week after she’d moved into Charming’s cottage. She’d gone into the village for spices for her soup and had caught Hunter’s eye.
Yet she couldn’t ignore the effect the wolf had on her body. During their subsequent and frequent heated back-and-forth spat of, “get off my property, Red,” and “sharing is caring, wolf,” her mechanical heart would race and her mouth would go dry.
Just looking at him had had her mind spinning with dizzying images of them together. Damn that bark and Axel’s muscular body. All she could think of was having him inside her.
A creaking of the floor boards pulled her out of her thoughts. Red opened her eyes. “I’m sorry for what happened to your men, Axel.”
When he’d followed her through the forest, she wanted to hurry to him and apologize for her part in his men’s deaths. Yet she hadn’t.
Deep down, Red knew he wasn’t ready to listen. As he’d stalked her, hiding from her behind the trees, his anger was palpable, like wave after hard wave coming at her again and again.
She continued to let him follow her on the periphery and put up with his angry words when she’d strayed too close to his property. His anger and bitterness quieted the guilt that gnawed at her daily for what she’d bargained with the gods for. She could’ve refused, but Red wanted to live. Even at the cost of Axel’s Alpha position and… his sanity.
Oh gods, his sanity. She wouldn’t let him get to that point. Red would find her courage and return to the ocean. Axel would be a hero and get his position back.
He stood at the foot of the bed studying her with intense blue eyes that reminded her of the ocean. Seconds passed. His silence ate at her. Tired of holding her breath for him to say something, she exhaled and told him the truth.
“You make me feel alive, Axel.”
He shook his head. “You’re still a child at heart. Once you have more real world experiences, you’ll realize what I make you feel is but a speck of sand on a vast beach.”
He walked over. “I don’t want your cold heart. A fish belongs to the sea. Never forget that damning truth.”
Red couldn’t feel the constricting of a flesh and blood heart, but his words reinforced the emptiness inside her.
He pushed aside her clothes and gave her back her heart. When he closed the door, he did so with gentleness that betrayed the coldness in his eyes.
“Unless you’re ready to give me the truth, stay off my property, Red, you hear?” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “I’m headed out. When I get back from my hunt, you better not be here. Otherwise, I’ll eat you alive.”
His warning was dangerous and sultry, full of the promise of a different torture than being fed on by him in his wolf form. He left, and Red contemplated staying.
Should she? Moonbeams shone in through the big window. She shouldn’t. The longer she stayed, the more attached she’d become to the wolf.
A fish shouldn’t fall for the dog. And the wolf was right. She belonged in the ocean. Red climbed off Axel’s bed and headed home.
Though he’d spoken mean words to her, she hadn’t missed the catch in his voice, as though he regretted every harsh word. And he’d said less mean things, like apologizing for stealing her heart and telling her how brave she was for taking ‘the shot’ for him.
Her mechanical heart felt light and airy inside its encasement. Red hugged herself. Axel wasn’t mad at her anymore.
Smiling, she hurried to her small cottage. A breeze caressed her flushed cheeks, and she lifted her face to the moon, caught by the sudden urge to howl at the white orb. Laughter bubbled from her.
In the distance, a howl of what sounded like deep longing to her ears echoed through the forest. Red tipped her head to the side. Another howl resounded soon after. Little bumps raised along her skin.
Could it be? Did Axel have a wolf mate? Was a wolf mate Axel’s reason for his change of mind?
He might be banished from his pack but Red was certain there were many women—single and married, human or otherwise—who would grab at the chance to jump into the wolf’s bed.
A vise gripped her heart and wouldn’t let go.
Red would rip the metal from her chest if she knew she could survive without it.
Another howl, this one close to her cottage. She stormed inside and sat in the middle of her bed with her knees clasped to her chest. What a fool she’d been to trust him.
Axel Wolfe was just another lying, cheating animal. Once bitten... She gritted her teeth. No way would she trust that black wolf again.