Don't Touch Me

Chapter 3

I sink onto the edge of the bed, chains clinking softly. My hands are shaking again. I can't make them stop.

Kade's question echoes in my mind. The problem is, I genuinely don't know.

I've been touched before—briefly, sometimes accidentally—and nothing happened.

Pack members would bump into me and flinch away, but their wolves remained intact, but with Marcus, it was different; he grabbed me, skin-to-skin contact for several seconds.

I close my eyes and try to remember the moment. That surge of abnormal inside me. The way it reached toward Marcus like it was hungry and wanted something.

“That's impossible,” I said to the empty room, shaking my head. That doesn't make sense, although in my defense, nothing about me makes sense.

That's been true since my first failed shift. The window shows the moon—full and bright, mocking me with its perfection.

Somewhere out there, Marcus is learning what it means to be human in a wolf's world. Learning to live with the hollow space where his wolf should be because of me.

I don't realize I'm crying until I taste salt on my lips. Hours pass as the moon tracks across the sky outside the window.

The pack house gradually quiets as wolves settle in for the night. No one comes to see me.

I'm still sitting on the edge of the bed, chains growing warm against my skin, when I hear footsteps in the hallway.

“I hold my breath as I await judgement.” The lock clicks and the door swings open.

Kade stands in the doorway, backlit by torchlight from the hall. His shirt is streaked with blood, and his hair is messy, like he's been running his hands through it.

His eyes find mine across the room, and the expression in them makes me hold my breath even longer.

He steps inside and closes the door behind him.

"Marcus is stable," he says, his voice flat. "Physically, he's fine, but his wolf..." He stops and swallows hard.

"The physician confirmed it. His wolf is completely gone, like it was never there."

I can't speak as I am still holding my breath, almost turning gray.

Kade crosses the room in three strides. He towers over me, barely controlling his fury.

"You're going to tell me everything," he says in a baritone voice.

"Every detail about what you are, what you can do, and how the fuck you destroyed my Beta's wolf, and then you're going to fix it."

"I don't know if I can—"

His hand shoots out and grabs my chin, forcing me to look up at him, still not touching my skin—his fingers only grip through the fabric of my sleeve that's somehow gotten caught under my jaw.

"You will fix it," he says, each word precise and sharp.

"Because if you can't give him back his wolf, you won't live long enough to see sunrise. The only reason you're still breathing is because you're the only one who might be able to undo this."

He releases me abruptly and steps back, like proximity to me is physically painful. "So start talking."

He pulls a chair from the desk and spins it around, straddling it backward, arms crossed over the back.

"And Sera?" His eyes lock on mine, cold and hard. "Don't lie to me or omit anything to protect yourself because I will know, and I will make you regret it. Understood?"

I nod slowly.

"Good." He settles back, somehow making the casual posture look threatening. "Now. Start at the beginning." I take a shaking breath as I close my eyes and tried to figure out where the beginning even is.

Three hours ago, I was just trying to survive my own failure.I open my eyes and meet his gaze."It started," I say quietly, "at my third Lunar Awakening ceremony. The night my father disowned me in front of the entire pack…”