Page 10 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)

brIELLE

“Brielle!”

I could barely hear the booming voice calling out my name.

As soon as Jagger had opened the car door to leave, the blast of fresh air had sent me into a frenzy of need.

The second he was out of sight, I had stumbled out of the car and across the parking lot, desperate to reach the woods on the other side of the road.

When I’d reached them, a howl had threatened to burst from my lungs. The moon was high above, and my wolf ached to feel its glow on her rich brown fur. Responding to her desperation, I’d stripped the last of the clothing from my body and taken off naked into the forest.

I hadn’t gotten far, though. Every step was agony, and the more I moved, the hotter I became.

Flurries of snow swirled around me, melting the instant they touched my boiling skin.

Finally, the pull became too strong, and I dropped to all fours.

Panting rapidly, my heart thundering like a runaway horse, I crouched on the forest floor and waited for the first bone to crack.

“Brielle!”

Jagger’s clear desperation called to my own, and a pitiful whine burst from me. But it was too late. Digging my nails into the frozen earth, I shut my eyes and surrendered to the powerful need to shift.

“No! Stop. STOP!” Jagger roared, rushing toward me.

My body shook uncontrollably, and I felt my claws shoot from my nailbeds.

Just as my canines elongated, setting my gums on fire, Jagger crashed to his knees and yanked me back against him.

The contact startled my wolf, and she went wild.

With a savage snarl, she thrashed in his grip, swinging her head—my head—back and forth to bite him.

When he evaded her teeth, she dug her claws into any flesh she could find, scratching and gouging like a feral beast.

A breath later, powerful arms snaked around me and bound my flailing limbs tightly against my chest. Unable to bite, scratch, or even kick, I was rendered helpless, just like when I’d been subdued by those silver cuffs.

Sudden terror gripped me, and I belted out a scream that echoed through the trees.

“Brielle, you’re safe,” Jagger tried to reason with me, but the terror was too great.

I screamed and screamed and screamed until my screams became howls. Unable to break loose of Jagger’s hold, my wolf surged upward even more, and brown fur erupted over my skin.

“Brielle, stop.”

My wolf pushed and pushed, making several of my bones groan in protest. My howls intensified, filling with agony as every bone in my body vibrated, on the verge of snapping.

Just as the first bone began to break, a voice thundered, “ENOUGH!”

The word was like a slap to the face, dominant and demanding. The timbre was deeper than usual, and my wolf froze. Although she’d never heard him speak aloud before, she instinctively knew who the voice belonged to.

Onyx.

“Settle, pup,” he rumbled into the sudden stillness, his voice scraping over my sensitive nerves in a way that was somehow soothing. “Not time.”

The words were rough and halting as if he wasn’t used to speaking.

Unhappy about being told what to do, my inner wolf released a low growl. Before she could resume her struggle, I felt a sharp nip on my shoulder.

I gasped at the unexpected sting and glanced down at the patch of skin.

“You . . . you bit me,” I accused, the words garbled as my elongated canines got in the way.

“It was a nip, not a bite. If I’d bitten you, there would be blood.”

At the sound of Jagger’s voice, my eyes widened.

I’d thought Onyx had bitten me, not him.

Shocked by the discovery, a shudder rocked my body.

Jagger’s arms tightened around me, and I suddenly realized how close he was.

His powerful thighs were bracketing mine from behind, and I could feel the hard muscles of his chest and stomach pressing into my spine. My bare spine.

Crap. I was naked, and he was holding me. The hold wasn’t sensual or even comforting, though. It was meant to keep me together in my human form so I couldn’t shift, nothing more.

Such a Jagger thing to do, dictating what I could and couldn’t do. Even my wolf wasn’t safe from him.

She started to squirm again but for a very different reason this time. She wanted to rub against him. To play with him. To break down his stringent walls and convince him to have a little fun.

Oh, girl, that is such a bad idea, I told her. Told myself.

But the animal trapped inside me had a mind of her own. As she pushed at my bones once more, another gasp left me, this one pained. Wave after wave of heat pulsed through my insides, and I began to shake again.

“She really . . . really wants out,” I moaned, arching my neck back. My head fell against Jagger’s shoulder, but I was in too much pain to move it.

He was silent for a long moment, holding me steady as I writhed against him. And then he said, “Think about something else.”

An incredulous laugh burst from me. “Like what?”

Another beat of silence. Then, “I didn’t know you had two brothers.”

I scoffed this time. “That’s because we barely speak to each other.

This is the most we’ve spoken in over a year.

” When he didn’t respond, I added between pained gasps, “Zeke’s twenty-six and works in construction.

Sawyer’s twenty-five and a mechanic. They both moved closer to The Big Apple for better job opportunities, and I don’t see them much anymore. ”

“But they know you’re a werewolf?”

“Yes.”

The lines of Jagger’s body grew even more rigid. “Were they responsible for what happened at the house earlier?”

“No. No, it wasn’t them. It was . . .” I bit my lip as another painful shudder rattled my frame. “My dad . . . tried to have me committed.”

Admitting the words out loud was like a punch to the gut. A small sob left me before I could catch it, and tears came unbidden to my eyes.

“I can’t believe he would do that to me,” I said in a strained whisper. “My own dad thinks I’m insane.”

As my heart splintered all over again, Jagger didn’t say a word. But something about having him this close made the pain hurt less. Or maybe I was just too exhausted to feel any more pain.

Either way, my racing pulse and jagged breaths gradually slowed. Heat still simmered in my veins, but even that dimmed.

“You should eat,” Jagger said after a lengthy moment of silence. “It’ll help calm your wolf.”

At the mention of food, my wolf didn’t perk up like I thought she would. As soon as I’d brought up my dad’s betrayal, she’d curled into a ball like a kicked puppy.

I weakly shook my head, realizing that it was still resting on Jagger’s shoulder. “Not hungry.”

“Too bad. You need to eat, and we’re not going anywhere until you do.”

I bristled at his bossy tone but was too tired to sass back. Instead, I shut my eyes and let my body go limp against him.

“Brielle.” He lightly shook me. “Brielle.”

Silence.

Sighing through his nose, he abruptly let go of me and stood. With a startled squawk, I fell backward and landed in the snow with a soft thump.

“Here. Eat this.” He picked something up and thrust what looked like a slab of raw steak at me.

I sat up to take it, noting with surprise that my fingers were no longer tipped in claws and my skin was free of fur.

My elongated canines had receded as well.

The second I accepted the meat, Jagger pivoted on his heel and took off.

“Wh-where are you going?” I sputtered, confused and a bit alarmed by his swift departure.

“To get your clothes,” he muttered, then said more loudly, “We’re not leaving until you eat that entire steak, so hurry up.”

I gaped after him, struggling to decipher what had just happened. One minute, he’d been wrapped around me, and the next—poof. Gone.

Shaking my head, I gave up trying to understand him and focused on the steak. It looked wholly unappetizing, but the moment I caught a whiff of it, a loud growl vibrated my stomach. One tiny bite later and I was ravenously scarfing it down like the feral wolf I was.

By the time Jagger returned, the steak was gone and I was feeling a little more like myself. As I dressed, I was all too aware that he’d angled himself away from me. Now that the danger was over, he was back to his distant self, acting as if the moment between us had never happened.

Pain tightened my chest, but this time, it had nothing to do with my wolf. I finished dressing, and we left the woods in tense silence.