Page 68 of The Fated Hunter Wolf

Before I could react, before I could grab her hand and hold it there like the desperate bastard I apparently was, she jerked back.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean?—”

“Don’t.” The word came out harsher than I intended. “Don’t apologize for touching me.”

Her eyes widened. “Rhys?—”

“Not after what we did. Not after how you felt in my arms.” My voice dropped lower, becoming something that belonged more to my wolf than the civilized man I pretended to be. “Don’t pretend you don’t remember.”

Color flooded her cheeks, but she didn’t look away. “I remember.”

“Then you remember why ‘temporary’ is complete bullshit.”

Her pulse jumped in her throat, and I caught the scent of the arousal she was trying to hide behind layers of stubborn denial.

The door burst open. Logan strode in looking like someone had just told him his favorite restaurant had burned down. “We’re moving you both to the safe house. Now.”

“Together?” I asked.

“Together. Because separating you two is no longer an option. Not if we want either of you functional for what’s coming.”

I looked at Sable, and she looked at me. Everything had just become infinitely more complicated, which was really saying something considering our starting point.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, my wolf was practically smug with satisfaction.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, already getting out of bed despite the fact that standing was apparently still a work in progress.

“There’s a vampire scent on the border. Fresh one. Moving fast.”

The word ‘vampire’ hit the room like a piñata bursting with particularly unpleasant confetti. Sable went absolutely still, and something shifted in her scent that made my wolf’s hackles rise.

“How many?” she asked, and her voice had changed. Gone cold in a way that reminded me there were things about her I still didn’t understand. Possibly important things.

“Only one as far as I can tell. Moving fast toward town.” Logan’s expression could have been carved from granite.

“It’s coming here.” The fear in Sable’s scent was real. The recognition underneath it made my wolf pace restlessly. And then I heard her through the bond.

They’re coming for me.

24

SABLE

I’d been pacing the main room of the safe house for twenty minutes, my bare feet finding every loose board and worn plank, while Rhys sprawled on the leather couch with his eyes closed. He was watching me through his lashes, watching every movement with the patience of a predator who’d already decided his prey was caught. Rhys was a beta with alpha energy, and I still had to get used to that. It was the signature of the Orions. I’d felt the same thing in his brothers when I’d touched them.

Those brothers were the least of my concerns now.

A vampire had appeared at the border, and I’d reacted like someone who knew exactly what they were capable of. Because I did. I was giving myself away, and what had been a lifelong secret was on the verge of bursting out of my every pore. The presence of vampires was bringing my nature out to the fore.

Rhys was watching me as if he were solving a puzzle. I pretended I couldn’t feel the weight of his suspicions.

The proximity was helping with the bond damage—keeping the worst of the hollow ache at bay—but something else was building.

“You’re going crazy,” Rhys said.

“I’m thinking.”

“About what?”