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Page 65 of A Wolf’s Wound

Ryder

“No,” Hannah says without hesitating. “None of this is your fault.”

“But if I hadn’t bitten Brian, none of this would have happened,” I protest.

“I’m not going to pretend that biting Brian wasn’t majorly fucked up,” Hannah concedes. And although I’m glad she’s being honest with me, my stomach drops at her words.

“See? If I hadn’t done that—” I begin, but Hannah puts her hand on my mouth.

“I wasn’t done talking!” she says.

“Sorry,” I say, my voice muffled by her hand.

“As I was saying, it was fucked up. But you weren’t in your right mind, and everything that Brian did after that was his choice,” Hannah says. “He could have found you the next day and told you what happened. Right?”

I hadn’t thought of that. But she’s right. I nod slowly.

“Okay. Instead, he just dropped out of your life. Not to mention that he provoked you into biting him!” Hannah says.

“I shouldn’t have let him do that. I should have been stronger. And more sober.”

“I mean yeah, you probably shouldn’t have gotten blackout drunk in the first place,” Hannah says. “That’s just stupid in general. But you did, and he saw an opening and took it. Because that was what he wanted, Ryder.”

“And he also wanted all of this chaos,” I say with a sigh. I’m so incredibly tired.

“He did all of this deliberately,” Hannah says. “If you hadn’t bitten him, he would have gotten someone else to do it. I hate that it was you because I know how guilty you feel. But this is not your fault. None of it.”

I let her words sink in. Everything she’s said made sense, and a little bit of the guilt that’s been gnawing at my brain recedes. But I know it’s going to take a long time before I no longer carry any guilt for what happened to Brian, for what he became.

“Ryder, I wouldn’t lie to you,” Hannah finally says.

“I know,” I tell her. “I appreciate everything that you said.”

“Good. Then can we go inside, please?”

As we step out of the car, I remember something. “Hey, where’s Shadow? Is he okay?”

“He is,” Hannah says as she unlocks the door. “I sent him home with your parents earlier. He was exhausted.”

“I hope he won’t bother them too much,” I say as I follow her inside. “They’re probably wiped out too.”

“Um, when they left, your mom was carrying him all wrapped up in a blanket like he was a baby,” Hannah says with a laugh. I close the door and grin. “I think they’re pretty happy with the arrangement.”

“Good.” I eye the couch. “I feel like I want to sit down, but if I do, I’ll never get up again.”

“Same.” She nods. “But you could use a shower. Just be careful you don’t get your stitches wet,” she warns me.

I pull off my clothes in the bedroom and take stock of my injuries. The worst is the wound on my head that Hannah had to stitch up and my bruised ribs. My legs are covered in smaller cuts and burns. I know how lucky I am that my injuries weren’t worse.

Hannah goes into the bathroom as I undress. By the time I join her, she’s turned on the shower and the mirrors are steamed up from the hot water that’s pouring out of the showerhead.

I pull the curtain back and step inside. “This feels fucking amazing.” I sigh as the water rushes over my body. I carefully tilt my head back, letting the hot water soak my hair, careful that the spray doesn’t hit my stitches.

“Good,” Hannah says from the other side of the curtain. “I thought it might help.”

“You have no idea,” I reply. “Wait, why don’t you join me?”

There’s no answer, and I wonder if she left the room. Then the curtain slides back and she’s in front of me, naked and gorgeous.

All the fatigue I felt in the car vanishes, replaced by a deep stab of desire. “Hi,” I say, moving toward her and wrapping my arms around her waist.

“Hi,” Hannah replies, putting her hands on my shoulders.

I lean down and kiss her. She responds eagerly, her lips smooth and warm. She pushes my lips apart with her tongue and then plunges her tongue into my mouth. I gasp with pleasure and kiss her back the same way, enjoying how she clutches my shoulders even tighter as I do.

“Hannah,” I moan.

“Ryder,” she whispers.

I push her wet hair out of her face and kiss her again until she’s the one moaning. As I do, I run one hand down her back and then back up again. I bring my hand down once more and gently finger her clit.

“That feels amazing,” Hannah moans.

“Good,” I say hoarsely. I feel myself grow hard as my hand moves faster against her, her wetness evident even with water pounding over us both.

Hannah grabs my hand in hers and we move together for a few glorious minutes. Then she turns around so she’s facing the shower wall. “I want you inside me right now,” she says, her voice low and urgent. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”

“Happy to oblige,” I reply, running my hands down her back again and stopping at her perfect ass.

I cup each ass cheek as she arches her back toward me, providing the perfect angle for me to slide inside her.

As I do, I move one of my hands around so I’m fingering her clit again, and she gasps with pleasure.

“Oh my god, you’re incredible,” I groan into her soaking-wet hair.

“Don’t stop,” she pants, matching my rhythm. We move together against the wet tile, my hands roaming over her body, until I can’t hold back any longer.

“Hannah!” I cry as I come.

“Oh! Ryder! Yes!” Hannah yells, bucking back against me as she rides out her own orgasm. “Oh, yes, yes, yes.”

I shudder against her and drop my head onto her shoulder, completely spent. “That was… That was better than I ever imagined it could be.” I sigh.

Hannah turns around and kisses me. “Agreed. We definitely need to do this again.”

I grin. “I don’t know if I’m up for round two quite yet.”

“Lightweight,” she teases. “Fine, we’ll be boring and go to bed.”

“Hannah,” I say, kissing her again, “I don’t think you will ever be boring.”

She turns the water off. We quickly dry off and then get into bed, still completely naked. I pull her close to me, and we lie on the same pillow, facing each other.

“We should be exhausted,” Hannah says.

“I am, but in a weird way I don’t want this night to end,” I admit.

“I know! I feel the same. So much has happened, and while a lot of it was terrible, some parts were pretty fucking remarkable.”

“And made for remarkable fucking,” I joke and she laughs.

“And that, yeah. This feels even better than before,” Hannah says.

“Now that we know what we are to each other?” I ask, and she nods. “So you meant what you said before?” I add.

“Definitely,” Hannah says, looking more serious. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”

“How long have you felt that way?”

“Pretty much since we met,” she confesses. “Or at least, that was when I knew you’d never hurt me.”

“Wow, that quickly?” I ask.

“Yeah. Weird, right? Although,” she continues in a joking tone, “maybe me knowing, like, on a gut level that you’d never hurt me means that I felt the mating bond before you did.”

I know she’s teasing but her words land harder than she meant them. “Then why didn’t you act on it? Why did you always push me away?”