Page 33 of Forsaken Desire (Ruthless Wolves #1)

J osephine remained plastered against my side, sleeping. Her legs pressed against the length of mine, her entire side touching me. She’d tried to roll away a few times, but I hadn’t allowed it.

She moved, twitching and whimpering in her sleep. She’d been doing it for the last hour now, and she had refused to wake despite my attempt to coax her, but now her whimpering was intensifying.

She suddenly went silent. I exhaled. Had her nightmare ended? Her body stiffened as if she were in pain.

“Don’t leave me,” she cried. My heart shattered, the muscle turning to dust.

“Josephine.” I couldn’t take the tears dripping from the corner of her eyes. “Josephine,” I said louder.

She didn’t rouse. Her arm lay limp over my lap, and it suddenly stiffened, clasping me like I would disappear. “Don’t leave.”

Each letter of her broken whisper was a shard to my organs.

I sucked in a shaky breath.

“I’m here, Josephine. I’ll never leave you.” Emotion coated my words.

All I could do was rub her skin. Eventually, her tension melted away.

Selfishly, I couldn’t tell her what had happened even if I discovered the truth. My part in it was too grave. I was the male who was supposed to be there for her in every way, and I had failed.

I tipped my head back, closed my eyes, and tried to breathe through the agony writhing in my chest. My mate was hurting, and I had caused it.

I continued to foster it by not telling her that I knew her before.

But regarding her accident, I wasn’t lying; I’d do my best to find the answers, and if she was at fault, I would have the documentation doctored.

Hurt would never touch her again. I’d ensure it.

And that meant her never discovering my rejection, because if she did, she’d never look at me the same.

If my precious mate no longer wanted me, I wouldn’t survive. I would burn the world down to keep her with me.