Chapter 8: The Fallout: Part 3

“That won’t break the bond. We’ll still be connected, still linked. It will make us miserable. Don’t you see? What happened tonight changed everything for both of us.”

Colton sounds deflated, and I get the visual of him and Carmen kissing, right from his head to mine, and have to shake it away as insane jealousy claws at my insides from out of nowhere, proving his point.

It is irrational, illogical, but there it is, and he didn’t even mean to project his sad thoughts about her my way.

“Then what? Because all I am hearing is hopeless submission or death!”

My anger snaps, and out of somewhere deep inside, my bravado increases and pushes me to my feet, voice firm and frustration seeping through.

I feel an inner surge of tingling electricity as my emotions flare up.

Colton looks at me very oddly, suddenly stopping and staring insanely into my eyes while furrowing his brow dramatically, screwing up that cute face.

“They’re not amber.” He comes out with the most random reply.

I blanch at him like he has two heads. I have no idea what he’s talking about. “What?” I stammer as he paces toward me.

“Your eyes… when your inner wolf peaks. They’re not amber. They’re red. No one has red… we all have amber.”

He stalks toward me, grabbing my hand and spinning me to him to inspect me closely. “Show me,” he urges.

I gawk at him in bewilderment, confused at the side-tracking of this conversation and feeling like I fell through a reality hole.

If I knew how to do it on command, I would, but I only transformed for the first time tonight and have no idea how to call my inner wolf into my eyes again.

I stare at him, completely dumbfounded by the importance of color. “Why does that matter?”

I know that despite the more urgent topic at hand, the shaman has moved toward me also.

So has one of the silent elders—a formidable tall and muscular elder whose gray-white hair is unsuccessful in lowering his intimidation levels, and he snarls my way.

“Because you are part white, and now Cole sees red in your eyes. It matters. Now show us, or I will make you fully turn on my command, and you won’t enjoy it.”

He seethes my way, full-on hostility in his tone, and I wither back, scalded and instantly fearful.

Colton reacts instinctively to the veiled threat, and chaos ensues.

In the blink of an eye, he’s between the elder and me, growling, eyes glowing wildly, body larger and bristling with tension as he turns to him and huskily warns him off.

“My mate… mine! You touch her… I will exert my right to maim or kill to protect her. I don’t care who you are in this pack!”

His tone drops to satanic levels, and I recoil behind him, seeing the ripple of spines up his back as he begins to transform aggressively.

My stomach hits my knees, making me weak, unsure of what else to do, and the shaman intervenes as fear paralyzes me to the spot.

“See? This is what happens when you delay the bond. The urge gets insane the longer you deny it. The need to protect, the need to be joined, it creates madness.

“Colton, be still. No one will touch your mate without your say, and we will look into her eyes in time. Breathe and come back to us.”

He places a hand on his shoulder and gently brings Colton back to my side, lifting my hand and placing it on Colton’s before patting both and setting us down.

The instant spark and warmth generated between us give me all kinds of safe and familiar vibes I’ve not known in almost ten years, not since I last saw my parents alive and home.

It seems to do the same to him as his eyes fade to brown, and he inhales slowly, bringing peace to the aura between us.

“His mate holds the key to bringing him calm. Be that now. We need to talk without you both here. Go, the room through there.”

The shaman points us toward an adjoining door, and Colton tightly grasps my fingers in his, his energy pulsing through mine, and it seems to bring him back from turning.

I can’t explain it, but here, holding his hand, it’s the first time I feel a connection of love for anyone in a long time, that sense of belonging that I lost the day my family left me.

I barely knew him this morning, and yet, here and now, my instincts are that I would die for him if I had to, and the longer this plays out, the stronger this need to be near him gets.

Being physically joined causes all sorts of inner sparks and sizzles as tension builds between us, and I move obediently as he pulls me with him.

It’s insanity, and I don’t understand how this can be, but it is what it is. Colton is part of me now, and I can’t do anything about it.

We are ushered to the door, hands still entwined, and I follow him closely, the heady need to wrap myself around him worse when we have prolonged contact, and as much as my head tells me to let go, I can’t seem to.

The growing ache in my stomach and pelvis is getting irritatingly intense, and I am more than aware of how good his skin feels against mine.

Our hands are slotted together, warm on warm, and it’s weirdly sensual.

Colton leads me to the other room and shuts the door firmly behind us, still holding my hand and keeping me by his side as he turns to me.

He gazes down at our entangled fingers for a long second. Seems like he, too, is telling himself to let go, but he doesn’t.

We stand stiffly, pulsating energy growing between us as the air thickens, and I find it harder to breathe the longer he’s this close.

I’m fully aware of him towering over me in all his beautiful muscular glory, with his hot body, and he’s way too good-looking.

Even his voice does crazy tingly things to me, and standing, absorbing his heat, inhaling his unique scent, I get clammy in really embarrassing places.

My eyes keep straying to his face, his mouth, his beautiful eyes, and I edge closer absentmindedly, biting on my lip as crazy thoughts about leaning up and biting his course through my brain alarmingly.

I need to cool down and pull this back in. Hormones are well and truly kicking in with his proximity, and I need to breathe a little.

“How can I want to kiss someone so badly that a few hours ago, I never even knew? I have a girlfriend. Did have one. My head’s a mess.”

He seems instantly distraught and squeezes my hand in his a little forcefully before reluctantly releasing me and stepping back.

Calming my jets as guilt punches me in the stomach, I realize maybe he’s not getting as hot and bothered as I am standing here.

“This is… insane. I don’t know you. How can we…?” He paces away from me, seemingly in turmoil, then past me twice, back and forth, and then turns to me again.

I shrug at him, unsure of what else to say. If I knew the answers, I guess we wouldn’t be here like this.

I’m a little out of my depth and struggling to get this raging fire under control in my pelvis as what I assume is my libido finally introduces herself to me.

I have to stop checking out his ass as he keeps waving it past me. It’s making me all squirmy and uneasy.

I’m so sure he can probably tell with a look that I am about three seconds away from launching at him.

Shuffling from foot to foot and swallowing hard, I blow out heavily to release this growing pressure in my stomach.

“Please tell me you are feeling this, too. That this is not just me?” He stops and frowns at me, his eyes looking a little hazy and intense as he stares at my mouth and almost electrocutes me with the connection.

I glance away, face flushing with his effect on me, and try to focus on the floor, the table, a wall, and cool off this huge, suddenly suffocating room around us.

I can feel him without touching him, his presence seeping into me and stirring up all kinds of longings and sensations.

“I think that’s how it’s meant to work. We’re supposed to want to, you know… mate.” I blush as I say it and look away again, overwhelmed with sudden shyness.

Uneasy with this admission, he wants to kiss me while I’m all kinds of flustered, hot, tingly, and itching to slide my hands over that full and broad chest and…

Oh, God, stop. I want him to kiss me so badly I can almost taste it. I mean, I do, too, want to kiss him, that is.

I have done since after the whole imprinting thing, but I don’t think we should admit those things to each other, especially when neither of us wanted this.

I’m finding it hard to breathe as my lungs constrict and my heart flakes out with him being close enough to inhale, lick, grope… I need to get a grip.

I pull the neckline of my T-shirt to release the heat coming off me in droves and fan my face to push these insane urges and mental images of him naked out of my head.