Charles's POV
"Accept it," she whispered against my chest. "Like a man. Don't think I will take you back, because I won't."
Fire coursed through my blood, demanding release, but I held it back. My hands clenched, my jaw locked, and my chest burned with the effort of restraint.
Her breathing caught as I drew her closer, her delicate frame pressed against mine. Soft. Fragile. Shaking.
She was shaking.
My fingers instinctively tightened in her hair. Not to cause pain, but to anchor her to me, to remind her that I remained hers whether she acknowledged it or not.
My Lycan raged in my mind, demanding freedom, wanting to show her exactly who she belonged to. But I forced him down. I had already caused her enough pain. She was angry, and she had earned that right.
"You cannot scare me," she breathed, though her trembling intensified against me.
Without her wolf, she was exposed. Defenseless. She despised that vulnerability, hated being at a disadvantage.
