“You didn’t protect me,” she accused. “You said you would. You made me shift. You let him find me. Hurt me.”
“I meant for you to stay inside.”
She lifted her icy blue stare to my face. “You locked me inside. Trapped me.”
“I aimed to keep you safe.”
“Safe?” she scoffed.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous!” she cried. “You’re an ass. I can’t believe I let you mate with me.”
Chapter Ten
Kara
“You wanted me,” Titus said with all his alpha arrogance.
Damn him, he was right. I wanted to either kiss him or slap the self-satisfied smirk off his face. Maybe I’d do both.
“You were also using me.”
“I was not.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“You were.”
He copied my stance. “You understood I was an alpha. You knew once I claimed you, I’d be within my rights to fight for you. You also understood if Garth trespassed on my land, I had double the reason to kill him. You used me to kill Garth.”
I ran my warm tongue over my frozen lips. He was right. I had used him. But what he didn’t realize was that if this was my only reason, I would have sought an alpha years ago.
“Go ahead and run, Kara. It’s what you’re good at.”
“Maybe I will.” I dropped my arms.
“Go right ahead. I’ll just chase you.”
“Like Garth did?” I choked out.
“No, nothing like Garth,” he said. “I won’t chase you for years to torment you. I’ll chase you to catch you. To show you what it means to be my mate. And you’ll love every second.”
I raised an eyebrow.
Titus stood in the blowing wind, his sable hair tufting around his ears. White flakes of snow fell on his naked, well-muscled flesh, and he didn’t shiver once while I trembled. I had shaken since the second I stepped outside from fear, adrenaline, and now from the arousal Titus invoked in me with his presence and his words. I liked the idea of him chasing me. To cleanse the last few years of running from my mind. Of making my need to run into something more. Something pleasurable with him.
With frozen fingers, I unbuttoned my jacket. Tituswatched me with an intense expression as I removed my clothing piece by piece.
“I need to run, Titus. I’ve shackled my wolf for so long. Garth found me because of my wolf. I need to feel truly free.”
His hand dropped to his thickening cock and stroked the length. My body heated with anticipation. Even in the cold, my core was hot and aching. I appreciated what Titus would do with me once he caught me, and I craved the idea of running even more.
I shifted into my wolf form and raced across the snow. Titus was behind me in an instant. His gray wolf form was more noticeable than my white fur in the storm. I ran. Not from fear this time. I ran with freedom. I bounded over the landscape as a wolf, loving every second of the joy and exhilaration. And more, I loved Titus chasing me. I treasured the comfort of his scent close to me. Even though he hadn’t completely protected me from Garth, he had saved me. He’d killed Garth for me. If I’d stayed inside his house as he wanted, I might have been safe. I might not have gotten the backhand over my cheek. And I might not have seen Titus maul him to death.
That had been so satisfying to witness. To watch Garth’s blood seeping into the snow from his lifeless body had filled me with so much glee, I thought I might be a little crazy.
Titus nudged me in the side. I changed direction at his prod, and we raced up a mountain. Another nudge from Titus and we ducked through a narrow opening in the snow and stone and entered a cave. I dashed down the dirt track deep into the mountain. The cave grew gloomier until I stopped short at a thermal spring in an enormous cavern. Above, pale beams of muted sunlight filtered in through the skylight. Shifting in an instant, I splashed into the steaming water. Titus paced the edge in his wolf form, his lips drawn back.
“I thought you were going to catch me?” I taunted as myheart pounded from the exertion of the run, but also from the alpha waiting to make me his again.