Page 165 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

I gasped for breath, captured beneath Cyrus’s massive, powerful body, every muscle within me turned to jelly. His cock jerked and more of his heat pumped into me, sending tremors of bliss rushing through me.

That had been?—

I had no idea what that had been.

Shocking? Confusing? Amazing?

My soul wept because once again Cyrus and I had sex and I hadn’t formed a mating bond with him despite everything within me screaming that he was mine.

The rest of me, however, was a confusing mix of boneless bliss and frustration. I’d seen the look in his wolf-darkened eyes, knew his wolf had taken over, and a mindless primal part of me had instantly submitted. He was the alpha. He was the perfect mate: powerful, strong, and commanding. He was going to fuck me until I couldn’t walk and that matching wild primal part of myself wanted that. She wanted it so badly that it didn’t matter that I still had no idea how he felt about me.

Sure, his wolf wanted to fuck, but that didn’t mean he wanted me like my soul wanted him.

I’d sworn to myself that I wouldn’t chase after him, but the second he looked at me, I presented like a bitch in heat.

An aftershock of my amazing orgasm rolled through me and my breath caught in my throat. His arms around me tightened and he released a low, purring rumbled, the sound vibrating through my body, relaxing me even more.

Even with everything that had happened between us and with him pressed over top of me, making it impossible for me to move let alone escape, I felt safe. And right now, I ached for that safety. Fighting the grimalkins had been scary, but using my alpha power to make them run away and breathing black smoke had been terrifying.

I didn’t know what was happening to me. I’d been fighting to keep my fears away from Knox and Bishop while they were battling the grimalkins and protecting the pack and then from Knox when he was freaking out about me being hurt.

And while I’d tell Bishop and Knox soon, I also hadn’t wanted to risk distracting them when their lives were in danger or when they had responsibilities to the pack.

My life wasn’t the only one in turmoil right now. Once again, people had lost loved ones and children had become orphans. There were also the delegates from the alliance to think about and any political fallout that came from the attack, especially if someone important had been hurt or killed — which I really prayed hadn’t happened.

Being confused because I wanted Cyrus to prove he cared about me while still letting my primal instincts take over could wait.

I could wait.

It was the responsible thing to do.

“Audrey,” he murmured, his gravelly voice shooting heat straight to my core. “I—” He froze and raised his head as if hearing something. “Fuck,” he snarled. “I have to go. I?—”

He jerked back, his cock sliding out of me and leaving me cold and empty despite the steam filling the shower room.

“Once Molly has wrapped your wounds, have Knox take you to your suite,” he said as he stood.

My throat tightened at his hard expression even though I’d already decided that I wasn’t the priority right now. His pack was in the middle of an emergency and from his expression, whatever news he’d just gotten was grim.

“I— We need to talk,” he said, his tone firm as if he’d made a decision.

And with those ominous words, he stormed out of the shower room.

Swell.

Logically I knew from the past few days that he wasn’t the same man who’d yelled at me in the stadium. Even if he was sometimes sharp with me, it didn’t feel like it was because of me anymore. It felt more like his anger or frustration or whatever it was that made him close everyone off and demand obedience was because of himself.

Except right now, the stress of the attack and my fears that something was wrong with me, not to mention the fact that he didn’t want to talk about it until all the other important things had been taken care of, was making me emotionally sensitive.

Leaving me after fucking me like he was trying to one-up my dream-Knox didn’t mean he regretted it or was disgusted by me. It just meant that things were happening and he needed to be the pack’s leader, not my lover.

But knowing that and feeling that were two different things, and despite wanting to be a strong, independent woman, I felt abandoned… something I couldn’t let slip through my mating bond with Knox. He wouldn’t understand and would probably try to kill Cyrus the second he saw him.

I stood on still-shaky legs while trying to shove those fears to the back of my mind. I had more important things to worry about, like letting Molly bandage me up then finding Quinn and seeing how Zavier was doing before hurrying out of the hospital to calm Knox down.

And the sooner I did that, the better.

Knox’s emotions were roiling, fear and anger and frustration barely contained within him and only partially kept back from flooding our bond. But I could also sense that he was trying to keep it together. He knew I’d needed to go inside and he’d let me go without a fight even though his instincts were telling him to hold me tight and not let go.

I washed off Cyrus’s cum and limped out of the shower room. All my aches and pains that Cyrus had momentarily made me forget about flooded back in, and with a groan, I grabbed a towel from the rack just outside the door.

As promised, Molly was waiting for me on the bench around the corner with a med pack, and she quickly got to work bandaging my wounds.

Thankfully, she didn’t comment on the fact that Cyrus had just stormed out naked or that the room smelled like sex — because even if I couldn’t smell it, I had no doubt it did. And while I was grateful that she didn’t say anything, I had no doubt people were going to find out sooner rather than later that I’d had sex with Cyrus.

My insides tightened at the thought of having to deal with more rumors along with the realization that I was alone with the closest of my guys being Knox, who couldn’t enter the building.

Sure, I’d killed two grimalkins and scared away two more, but I wouldn’t be able to fight members of my new pack like that, not if I wanted to fit in. I already had enough enemies. I needed to make more friends and prove myself worthy.

But first thing first, I had to find people I trusted?—

No, I had to check in with Quinn and Zavier. Then I needed to get back to Knox before he completely lost it.