His heat radiated into her body, consuming all of her attention. She closed her eyes. How could Cyrus feel so right when everything around her was so completely wrong?
Her body vibrated, and she opened her eyes, and then wished she hadn’t. Betsy moaned. Oh God, how could such animalistic noises be coming from her? How could she be a wolf? She didn’t even like wolves. They ate livestock and made walking through the darkness in the woods a terrifying experience.
Pain radiated through her body. Her muscles ached, and she screamed out, but she couldn’t even hear herself yell. What was happening to her? She was dying. That had to be it. She wasn’t meant to be a wolf, and now she would die because someone had messed with her genes or whatever it was they had done to her.
The sound of her own pain changed as she realized she lay on the floor in her human body. It hurt to use her voice; her throat was scratchy. She raised her head, which pounded like she’d been drinking for days.
Cyrus knelt in front of her. “I forced the change back on you. It seemed the only way.”
Lake squatted next to him. “How did you do that? I’ve never seen that before. You didn’t do that with Lilliana.”
“Lilliana belonged to Travis. It’s an Alpha thing.” Cyrus stroked Betsy’s head, and she took a deep breath. His touch brought relief, which should have concerned her, except the ease of her aches made it impossible for her to think about anything, but the sudden absence of pain. “You’re going to be okay, princess. The first couple times are awful. Then it’s nothing at all.”
That was good news, she supposed, if she didn’t want to ever have to go through that again. “Somebody had better explain to me what is going on, or, so help me, I don’t care how much trouble it causes you, I’m going to the police. Where am I?”
Cyrus extended his hand, and she took it, allowing him to help her stand. If pride was the last to go before the fall, then she must have already tumbled headfirst into some kind of endless pit. The only plus she could see was that, apparently, clothes remained intact during these situations. She wasn’t naked. That would be much, much worse.
Small silver linings…
“You’re in my company headquarters. And two things, princess…” Cyrus spoke as he ran a hand down the side of her face. She shivered, and warmth invaded her core. Uh-oh. She knew that feeling. Any second she’d be begging him to take her from behind. The image made her wetter, and since her nose detected all sorts of new scents, she strongly suspected he knew what was going on inside her womb.
How could she make sense of any of this? Maybe it had always been an illusion; she’d never had privacy. Werewolves had turned out to be very real, which meant they had always been able to smell things best left to the imagination. But she preferred the naïve ignorance she’d possessed before.
She swallowed. Thankfully, he didn’t remark on her desire. They could both pretend the other one didn’t know. “Two things?”
“Right.” He nodded. “The first is I don’t like threats, particularly ones I know you can’t follow through on. They insult both of us. You going to the police is not a possibility.”
Her temper flared. It might be hard to look him in the eye, but she forced herself to keep his gaze. “I can go to the police if I want to.”
Lake snorted, and Betsy ignored her. She had nothing to say to Cyrus’ sister. At least not right now. Her attention locked on Cyrus and his cinnamon smell.
“You can’t.” He stated.
She shook her head. “Unless you’re going to keep me prisoner, I can.” Her own statement startled her. “Are you planning to force me to remain here?”
Cyrus shook his head. She waited to see if he would say something, and, when he didn’t, she had to speak again.
“Then I can go to the cops if I want to.” She’d much rather they gave her some answers, but it seemed important he understand her—wolf or not—she would be the one to make choices regarding her actions. She was tired of everyone else ordering, blackmailing, or otherwise forcing her to bend to their will.
“I suppose technically you could, but you won’t. Want to know why? Here is Wolf 101. You will never want to do anything that could bring me harm—both because I am Alpha—your Alpha and your mate. The first would be enough to stall you, unless you felt compelled to challenge me, and the second would absolutely prevent you from betrayal and the challenge itself.”
She couldn’t deal with that at all. One thing at a time. He did smell fantastic, and she’d thought him handsome when she’d only been human. But mating? That had implications she would need to dwell on later when not in his presence. Or after a few stiff drinks like her father did.