Claimed by Werewolf, page 6
My jaw tightened. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”
She glared, but the fire in her eyes only stoked something darker in me. Something I’d been trying to choke down for weeks.
I rose and stepped closer. “You don’t get it,” I said low. “The more I let you in, the more dangerous it gets. For both of us.”
“Then stop pretending you don’t care,” she shot back. “Because you wouldn’t keep showing up if you didn’t.”
The words landed hard. A truth I didn’t want to face.
I dropped the cigarette, ground it under my boot, and walked back to my bike before I did something I couldn’t take back.
But even with my back to her, my body screamed to turn around.
To close the distance. To claim what I already had in front of the whole damn club.
“Go back up to your apartment, Demi.”
“So you can sit out here until the sun comes up?” she shot. “I know you sit out here every night, but you won’t talk to me. You won’t see me. Why? What happened from the party to now?” she demanded.
“Go up to your apartment, or I’m going to leave.” Everything had changed, but I couldn’t admit any of it. Not out loud. I couldn’t even admit it in my mind.
“So you’re just going to sit outside my apartment every night and never talk to me again?” she asked.
I didn’t turn.
She let out a heavy sigh, and then I listened to the sound of her footsteps retreat down the sidewalk and the thud of the door closing.
I had chased her away tonight, but I knew that wouldn’t last for long.
Demi Cross did not scare easily.
Chapter Fifteen
Demi
The words had been circling in my head for days.
“She’s mine.”
Not whispered. Not muttered. Not hidden away in a dark alley where no one else could hear.
No. He’d said it in the clubhouse. In front of the Sons. In front of men who lived by rules and codes.
“She’s mine.”
Like I was property. Like I was some shiny thing he’d snatched up and slapped his name on.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard it again. And every time, I hated how much it didn’t feel like an insult.
It felt like a promise.
That’s what made me furious.
He said it, and now he wouldn’t even talk to me.
He had sent me away last night like those words had never come out of his mouth. Like he had forgotten them, and I was supposed to do the same.
I think the hell not.
That’s what made me get out of my car and march across the street to the garage.
Because if he thought he could say that and then act like nothing had happened, he had another thing coming.
The garage was loud when I pushed through the door. Men in cuts moved around like they owned the place.
And maybe they did.
But my eyes went straight to him.
Werewolf.
He was bent over a bike, with his sleeves shoved up to reveal the ink twisting down his arms.
When he lifted his head, his eyes caught mine across the room, and the noise dimmed. Everything dimmed.
The other men looked, too. Some curious, some smirking, and some sharp with suspicion.
I didn’t care.
I shoved my way across the garage until I stood right in front of him.
“We need to talk,” I snapped.
His jaw flexed, eyes narrowing. “Not here.”
“Yes, here.” I crossed my arms and dared him to shut me down. “Unless you’re too much of a coward to talk in front of them.”
That got attention. A few brothers paused mid-task and glanced between us.
Werewolf’s gaze sharpened. He tossed the wrench onto the bench with a clang, grabbed a rag to wipe his hands, then nodded toward the back.
“Office. Now.”
The door slammed behind us, and the noise of the garage muffled instantly. The room was small, cramped, and reeked of oil and smoke. A desk sat shoved against the wall with papers scattered over it and a half-burned cigarette crushed in the ashtray.
He turned and towered over me. His body radiated fury. “What the fuck are you doing, Demi?”
“What the fuck am I doing?” My voice rose, sharp. “You’re the one who stood in front of your precious club and claimed me like I’m some kind of prize you won.”
His eyes flashed. “I said it to protect you.”
“Bullshit!” I shoved his chest, hard. He didn’t budge, not an inch. “You said it because you wanted to. Because part of you likes the idea of me being yours.”
His chest heaved, breath sharp. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then explain it!” My voice cracked, too raw. “Explain why you keep showing up, but only in the shadows. Why you keep saving me. Why you look at me like, like—”
“Like what?” he growled and stepped closer. He crowded me back until I hit the desk.
My breath caught, and heat coiled low in my stomach. “Like you hate me and want me at the same time.”
The silence that followed was thick. His eyes burned into mine, dark and dangerous. Every inch of him vibrating with restraint.
Finally, his voice dropped, low and rough. “Because that’s exactly how it is.”
The words ripped through me. My hands curled into fists at my sides. My nails bit into my palms, but I didn’t move.
I couldn’t.
Because he was so close. His chest brushed mine, and his breath was hot against my skin.
And I wanted him.
God help me, I wanted him.
“Say it again,” I whispered.
His brow furrowed. “What?”
“Say it.” My voice shook. “Say I’m yours.”
For a heartbeat, the world held still.
Then his mouth crashed down on mine.
It wasn’t a kiss.
It was a war.
A battle we were both fighting and had lost.
His lips were bruising and demanding while mine answered with equal fury. Teeth clashing, breath gasping, and hands tangled in clothes like we wanted to tear each other apart and never let go at the same time.
His hand cupped the back of my neck, held me firm, and dragged me closer until there was no space or air, just nothing but fire.
I fisted his cut and pulled him down harder. I matched his hunger with my own. Anger, grief, desire, and everything I’d been holding back for months poured into that kiss.
Raw and messy and real.
He growled against my mouth. The sound vibrated through me and lit every nerve.
When his tongue slid against mine, I moaned and couldn’t stop it from spilling out. His grip tightened, his other hand finding my hip and pulling me flush against him.
I felt him. Hard. Unyielding. Wanting.
It stole my breath and left me dizzy.
And then, as suddenly as it started, he tore away.
His chest heaved.
His lips were swollen.
His eyes burned with something wild.
“This is a mistake,” he rasped.
My body screamed at the loss of his kiss. “Then why does it feel like the only real thing we’ve done?”
His jaw clenched, and his fists curled like he needed to hit something. “Because it is.”
We stood there rattled.
Finally, he turned and dragged both hands over his face like he could scrub away what just happened.
“You need to go,” he muttered.
I swallowed hard and forced steel back into my spine. “No. I’m not running from this. Not from you.”
His eyes snapped back to mine. “You don’t get it, Demi. Wanting you is the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done. And if I don’t stop—” He broke off, voice jagged. “If I don’t stop, it won’t just be me who pays for it. It’ll be you.”
I stepped forward with my hands trembling but steadied them as I placed them flat on his chest. His heart thudded beneath my palms.
“Werewolf,” I said softly, “I don’t want to stop.”
The silence stretched. His eyes searched mine. They were desperate and torn.
And though he didn’t kiss me again, didn’t move, didn’t speak, I knew something had shifted.
“Demi, I—” he started.
I shook my head and stepped back. “If you’re going to tell me to leave, save it. I told you what I want. The ball is in your court now.”
The line we’d been dancing around for weeks had snapped.
“Come find me when you can finally say something more than I’m a mistake.”
Chapter Sixteen
Werewolf
I’d fucked up.
Big.
The second my mouth crashed down on hers, I knew it. The second I tasted her, I was lost. And the second I heard that soft, desperate sound slip from her throat, I was done for.
And then I’d pulled away. Because if I hadn’t, I would’ve taken it further, too far, too fast, with no way back.
Now the memory of it burned through me like fire I couldn’t put out.
Her lips were swollen from the kiss. Her hands clutched my cut like she never wanted to let go. The way she arched into me.
It haunted me.
It wrecked me.
And it made me want more.
And God help me, I wanted her, too.
-
At the garage the next day, I worked harder than usual. My hands tore through engines like they were therapy, and the noise of metal clattered loud enough to drown out thought.
But not enough.
Nothing could drown out her.
Every time I bent over a bike, I remembered the way she’d bent toward me. Every time a tool slipped in my hand, I remembered her grip on my chest like she could anchor me even when I didn’t want to be anchored.
“Wolf.”
Tremor’s voice snapped me back. He stood a few feet away and watched me with that hawk’s stare that always cut too deep.
“You’re slipping,” he said flatly.
My jaw clenched. “I’m working.”
“You’re distracted.”
I wiped my hands on a rag, stepping closer. “You got something you want to say, brother?”
He didn’t flinch. “Yeah. Whatever it is between you and that girl, it’s gonna cost us.”
The words landed sharp.
I leaned in, my voice a low growl. “You let me worry about her.”
“She shouldn’t be anywhere near the club.”
“She’s mine.” The words came too fast and hard, before I could choke them back.
And Tremor saw it. The truth. The slip.
His smirk was humorless. “Then you better be ready to bleed for her.”
He walked away and left me with nothing but the echo of his warning and the weight of the truth I couldn’t deny.
I already was.
By evening, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I found myself outside her building again like a dog on a leash. Like I had no choice.
Her light was on.
I should’ve left. Should’ve walked away before I made this worse.
Instead, I climbed the stairs and knocked.
She opened the door a moment later with her hair messy from where she’d been running her hands through it.
“Really?” she asked. “You here to kiss me and then tell me you hate me?”
I shoved my hands into my pockets and leaned against the doorframe like I had every right to be there. “Yes. That’s why I’m here.”
Her brow furrowed. “That makes zero sense.”
I dragged a hand down my face. “It means I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t want to be here. But I do.”
Her lips parted and her breath caught. For a moment, the fire in her eyes softened. Then it blazed hotter. “Then stop pretending. You kissed me, Wolf. You can’t take that back.”
My chest burned. “I know.”
The silence stretched, thick with everything we weren’t saying.
Finally, she stepped closer and tilted her chin up. “So what now?”
My body screamed to answer. To grab her, push her against the wall, and kiss her until we forgot our names. To make her mine in every way that counted.
But my head screamed louder.
“What now is you let me handle this.”
Her eyes flashed. “Handle it? You mean bury it like the rest of your secrets?”
I growled low. “You don’t get it, Demi. Every time you open your mouth, you make yourself a bigger target. And I can’t, I won’t, watch someone else I care about get put in the ground.”
Her breath hitched. “Someone else.”
The words hung there.
I turned away and ran a hand through my hair. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You shouldn’t have kissed me either,” she said softly. “But you did.”
I froze.
She stepped closer, so close her warmth pressed against my back. “And I’m not sorry.”
The world narrowed.
I spun, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her flush against me before I could stop myself. Her eyes widened. Her breath shook and her lips parted.
My voice came out rough and jagged. “You drive me insane.”
“Good,” she whispered.
My grip tightened and my resolve frayed. I leaned down until our mouths were a breath apart. Her scent filled my lungs, and her pulse raced under my fingers.
Every part of me wanted to close the distance.
But I forced myself back.
With a curse, I released her and shoved away before I burned us both down.
“This is going to get us both killed,” I muttered.
“Maybe,” she said with fire in her eyes. “But at least it’ll be the truth.”
I left before I could answer. Before I could kiss her again. Before I could admit that she was right.
Because wanting her was the most dangerous truth I’d ever known.
And I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it buried.
Chapter Seventeen
Demi
I found myself walking across the street toward the garage again, with my head high, heart pounding, and every nerve screaming that this was reckless, insane, and suicidal.
But I didn’t stop.
I felt their stares like knives.
But I kept walking.
Because if I showed fear, they’d eat me alive.
Werewolf was there, and the second he saw me, his jaw clenched and his shoulders stiffened. He muttered something to the brother beside him, then stalked toward me with the kind of deliberate stride that made people get the hell out of his way.
When he reached me, his hand wrapped tightly around my arm, his voice a low growl. “What the fuck are you doing here, Demi?”
I met his glare. “Stepping into your world.”
His eyes flashed, fury sparking. “You told me the damn ball was in my court.”
“Yeah, well, I’m taking the ball back.”
The men around us shifted and watched with open interest.
Werewolf swore under his breath and dragged me toward the back and into the office where the walls still remembered our kiss.
The door slammed behind us.
He spun on me with his eyes blazing. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
I lifted my chin. “No.”
“You don’t get it.” His voice cracked, raw. “These men, they see you here, and they start asking questions. They start wondering why I’m protecting you. That makes you a target. Makes you leverage. And if anyone gets the idea you mean something to me—”
“You already told them I was yours,” I snapped.
He froze.
“She’s mine.”
My chest heaved. “So stop pretending it was just to keep me safe. Stop pretending you don’t want this.”
His breath came sharp. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re asking for,” he said.
“Yes, I do.” I stepped closer. “I’m asking for the truth about my brother, and I’m asking for you.”
His jaw tightened, his nostrils flared, and his eyes burned with fire I could feel in my veins.
My body leaned closer, like his heat pulled me in like gravity.
I thought he was going to kiss me again.
I wanted him to.
But he turned away, slamming a fist against the desk hard enough to rattle papers to the floor.
“Demi, if I give in, if I let this happen, it won’t just be us who pay. It’ll be everyone. My brothers. My club. You.”
My voice cracked, soft but steady. “I don’t care.”
His head whipped toward me, eyes blazing. “You should.”
“No.” I stepped forward, and my hand brushed his arm. “I should care that my brother’s dead and no one will tell me why. I should care that the only person giving me even a sliver of truth is the man who terrifies me more than anyone. I should care that I can’t stop wanting the monster who keeps saving me.”
His breath caught.
We were too close now. My chest brushed his, my hand still on his arm, and his eyes locked on mine with a hunger that burned through every barrier he tried to throw up.
“Demi…” His voice was ragged, desperate.
“Yes?” I whispered.
His hand lifted for a second before he dropped it back to his side with a curse. “This will destroy you.”
“Then let it,” I said.
The silence that followed was suffocating. His eyes searched mine, raw and wild while his chest heaved. His fists curled like he was holding back something bigger than either of us.
Finally, he spun away and raked both hands through his hair. “You don’t belong here,” he muttered.
“Maybe not,” I said. “But I’m not leaving. Not until I have the truth. Not until I know what happened to Tyler. And not until I know what this is between us.”
His body stilled, his back to me, his breath sharp.
“You don’t quit, do you?”
“No.”
