Page 21 of Property of Prowler (Kings of Anarchy MC: Nevada #1)

Pain and anger. He could smell it now that he wasn’t focused on Cass.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“Whatever do you mean? The part where your ex spent the night or the part where she tried to give you a goodbye hand job from her car? Or maybe the part where you couldn’t even bother to dress to tell her bye?”

“None of that is true, Taylor, just give me time to explain.”

“So, your ex didn’t spend the night?”

“Yes, but not like that.”

Both Taylor and Wolf called him a liar without words.

“Well, as far as her getting handsy, and you being half dressed, the evidence is clear, and there were witnesses.”

“I know how it looks, sweetheart, but come in for coffee and let me explain. I have so much to tell you, and I want to start this off with full disclosure.”

Before Taylor could respond, Langley walked up to them. “I’ve left the other things you requested on the counter. I’ll get this back to the office and then file these.”

“Thanks,” he muttered as Langley dipped his head to Taylor before striding to his car, briefcase in hand.

As soon as he drove off, Taylor took a deep breath.

“Look, Riley, I was wrong to be so overly emotional about Allie. You can sleep with whoever you want, and it doesn’t concern me.

It’s obvious we are better off as neighbors, so let’s just shake hands and go back to that.

This thing between us has run its course. ”

“The fuck it has.” Prowler grabbed her arm when she turned to leave. “You’re mine, Taylor, and I’ll never let you go.”

Wolf spoke to him for the first time since calling him a meat bag.

Gentle. She’s our mate, and she’s in pain.

He loosened his grip almost instantly at Wolf’s voice, and Taylor turned.

“Wow. It is true. Shifters are real.”

She didn’t speak with fear but with dissipating disbelief and shock.

Prowler flashed his eyes, and a sad smile crossed her face.

“That’s right, sweetheart. And I can make those romance novels you read a reality if you let me,” he purred.

“That’s fiction, Riley. This is reality. And in reality, we are friends who used to sleep together. Nothing more.”

“Bullshit,” he roared. The calm her gentle acceptance of his kind had brought him completely vanished. She was still trying to leave him. “You’re mine, Taylor, and we hold on to what’s ours. Don’t your romance novels cover that?”

Her mouth contorted like she was holding back tears. When she laid her hand on his cheek, he burrowed into the touch, and so did Wolf.

She took a deep breath and wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Riley. I was using Allie as an excuse because I fucked up, and I couldn’t face it.

” She took another deep breath and dropped her touch.

“It was me. I slept with someone else. I broke the agreement, so see? We have no choice but to end things. I can’t be yours. Your kind needs fidelity, don’t they?”

She turned and walked away, and Prowler roared.

“Who?”

The sound of Wolf chanting coupled with the roar of his own blood was too much to bear. Her scent was even more bitter. Taylor stopped but didn’t turn.

“Who did you sleep with? He’s a dead man.” Prowler growled, Wolf gnashing his teeth to break free and mark her.

Taylor remained silent, even with the alpha emphasis he put on his words.

“Was it the fucker at your door the other night? The one who picked you up?”

“Yes,” she answered, her voice wavering, but she still didn’t turn around. “And by the way, reposition your cameras. It’s a violation of my privacy to have them pointed at my property.”

With that, Taylor continued across the street, and Wolf broke free right there in his driveway.

His howl pierced the atmosphere before he bolted to the backyard and leaped over the wall. After pacing back and forth until the sun was high in the sky, Wolf curled up next to Prowler’s favorite chair. That’s where he stayed until his daughter appeared and opened the glass slider to let him in.

After padding into the house beside Cass, he leaped up on the couch next to where she’d plopped down. Having fingers buried in his fur, stroking and petting him, was a new experience.

“Why?” His daughter dashed away tears. “Why would you do that to Taylor? You told me she was your mate. You love her, and I know she’s in love with you, so why did you let Mom come between you?

” Her tears had turned into a full-on waterfall.

“I thought we’d be a family. I thought … ” Cass trailed off.

He wanted to change and tell her … what, he didn’t know, but he wanted to hold her, comfort her, something, anything, but the sun had already set, and Wolf wouldn’t concede.

Give me my body . Prowler commanded.

No. You fuck everything up, so maybe I should stay in charge.

She wrapped her arms around his ruff and just cried into his fur. When her tears were dry, she let him go and stood. As she headed to her room, she turned back to him.

“I love you, Dad. I love you too, Wolf. I’m disappointed in you both, but I love you.”

The words shot an arrow straight to his heart, but the disappointment and sadness stung.

He’d give anything to make her happy. He just didn’t know how.

The thought of Taylor with another man, writhing under him, was too much.

He couldn’t erase it from his brain. It was playing over and over. How could he live like that?

He couldn’t. He’d have to find a way to live without her, no matter how painful that would be.

He had no choice. Wolf may be able to forgive, but the man couldn’t.

As much as he loved her, and he did fucking love her, he just didn’t believe he’d ever get to a place where sleeping with someone else was forgivable.

But you wanted her to forgive you.

Wolf finally spoke to him.

I didn’t fuck Allie.

Keep telling yourself that, meat bag, and we’ll never be at peace.

I DIDN’T FUCK HER.

Prowler shouted in his own head. It was weird being in fur and speaking to Wolf. It had never happened before. When Wolf was in fur, Prowler was … sleeping for lack of a better explanation. Unaware of what was going on for the most part until it was time to shift back.

Our mate saw her in your bed.

What?

She came to the door and watched as that slag rubbed her gash against your dick, trying to get you hard while moaning your name.

Prowler didn’t remember that at all.

Why didn’t you fucking stop her?

I tried, meat bag, but you exhausted us by not truly letting me lead when sharing your body. That way of sharing control will eventually kill us if we don’t bond. It suppresses us both more and more until …

Taylor saw him and Allie in bed. She must’ve thought…

Thought you fucked her, yes. Her pain was crippling. Of course, you didn’t have to feel it.

Prowler did not like being a passive observer in Wolf’s head.

Now you know how I feel.

Wolf could hear his thoughts apparently. Thoughts not directed at him.

We have to bond. Until we do, I think I’ll stay in charge.

I thought we had.

Yes and no, but any bonding we had was broken by you.

Prowler knew somewhere deep down that Wolf was right. He’d broken it, and he had to be the one to fix it. They needed to bond for good. The problem was he didn’t have a clue how to make it happen.

Since that issue didn’t seem to have a ready solution, he focused on things that maybe he did have an answer to.

While he didn’t know if he could forgive Taylor, he still loved her and didn’t want to cause her undue pain.

Well, on a positive note, I didn’t fuck Allie. We have to find a way to tell Taylor so she doesn’t hurt.

Who said you didn’t fuck her?

You. You said she was trying to get me hard. Not that she got me hard. Therefore, no sex.

Wolf just whimpered like a wounded animal, and pain radiated through their shared body.

Prowler swallowed the lump in his throat, and it felt like a cannonball hitting his stomach. As much as he didn’t want to, he tried to remember. If Wolf could see through Prowler’s eyes when in the back, maybe he could tap into what Wolf saw while Prowler was in the back.

He remembered dreaming of Taylor. Dreaming of her lying on top of him.

How her skin and weight felt, but the dream stopped there when Wolf started beating the shit out of him from the inside before taking over.

The next thing he remembered was Wolf throwing Allie off him, but he didn’t remember anything else.

Prowler was skulking through Wolf’s memories when he ran into a vault. Instinctively, he knew he’d find what he was looking for in there. He threw his body weight against it repeatedly and nothing.

Wolf shouted in his mind.

ENOUGH.

Wolf, let me in.

No. You don’t need access. Those are for me and me alone. Wolf warned.

I need to know what happened. I need to remember. Prowler begged.

You don’t need to remember because I will never forget. I will always remember last night as being unfaithful to my mate, my heart, regardless of what your mind or body did or didn’t do. So, it doesn’t matter how or if you remember it.

Wolf whimpered before continuing.

You do not need the look on her face when she opened that door burned into your mind for all eternity as it is mine. Even if I get a new companion, I know that memory will linger.

Wolf sounded absolutely devastated. His voice was unlike he’d ever heard it before. Prowler was too. And not just for his current situation, but for Wolf. When he’d told Prowler only some memories remained from past companions, he’d assumed just special ones. But that didn’t seem to be the case.

Wolf was protecting him, shouldering the bad memories alone.

Hours more passed with silence between man and beast. He remembered Cass patting him good night as he slept on the couch in wolf form. Wolf still not giving up his body.

With the sunrise, Wolf finally spoke again.

You have to forgive her. We must win her back.

Fuck he wanted to. He wanted to so badly, but he just didn’t know. Maybe once they killed the fucker, he could find a way to let it go.