Page 34 of X-Clan The Origin

In his mind, I was a cherished wolf meant to carry his pups, or the pups of another Alpha. Nothing more. Nothing less.

He wouldn’t understand my drive to be anything else. None of them did.

Jonas blew out a breath and drew his fingers through his hair. “Why can’t you respect me like you do the others?” he asked, making me frown. “What have I done to earn your obvious dislike?”

“I don’t dislike you,” I started.

“Well, you obviously don’t like me either,” he countered. “So what’s your problem? What do you need from me for us to get along?”

“I…” I wasn’t sure how to answer that.

All my wolf wanted him to do was mount me. He was exuding a hell of a lot of dominance right now, which I supposed he always did, but there was something even more intense about his posture and tone now.

“You’re about to go into heat in the middle of the fucking woods during an apocalypse,” he said, a subtle growl underlining some of his words. “It’s going to take a hell of a lot of effort to protect you through that.”

A lump formed in my throat, making it difficult to swallow. “Depends on your version of protection.”

He gave me a look that suggested my response was the wrong one.

“Protection being barricading the damn den, listening to you beg for a knot, and fighting off anything that responds to that screaming,” he defined. “While also fighting the urge to suit your ‘any knot will do’ requirement.”

I flinched. Yeah, I deserved that barb. But that didn’t mean I liked it.

“And afterward, I have to escort you to the base.”

“Which base?” I asked.

“Fort Bragg,” he replied. “We only held a five-mile-an-hour pace today, so it’s at least another two hundred miles from here. Likely more.”

I was familiar with Fort Bragg.

But it wasn’t a CDC facility.

I almost asked where we were going afterward, but Jonas wasn’t done speaking.

“That means we have about two weeks together, Doctor. There’s no one coming for us. No other Alpha to guard you. So tell me what you need to make this work, and I’ll do it.” He didn’t sound defeated so much as exhausted. And not exhausted as in tired, just… tired of me. My antics. My rudeness.

Which he had every right to feel.

I’d been nothing but hostile toward him from the beginning.

“I don’t dislike you,” I said again.

He grunted but didn’t say anything else. All he did was fold his arms across that chiseled chest and stare at me.Waiting.

“I didn’t want you to find out what I am,” I finally admitted. “You’re an Alpha. You take. And I don’t want to be taken.”

Another grunt. “Is that what I’m doing right now, Doctor? Am Itaking?”

“Well, no. Not yet. But—”

“You don’t know a damn thing about me, Dr. Campbell. And you’ve never tried to know me.” His arms fell to his sides as he stepped toward me. “If I wanted to fuck you, all I’d have to do is growl. I’d have you weeping on your knees in seconds.”

I swallowed, part of me hoping he would prove his point by doing just that.

It would make this so much easier.

However, the ice coating his blue eyes told me it was the last thing he wanted to do right now. “There would be notaking, onlygiving,” he added.