Wicked Werewolf Secret (The Werewolf Society) by Lisa Renee Jones

selfless act that didn’t match the picture of a Guardsman her father had painted, and that she herself had used as a foundation to judge Kole. For almost two years she’d thought of him, considered calling him, but assumed he’d force her back to the Society and completely dominate her. Then later, when Derek still lived, she doubted their mating bond. What else explained why he wouldn’t avenge her family? Now, she didn’t believe he had forgotten her or Derek. She pressed her hand to her stomach. She’d misjudged him. God, how she’d misjudged him.  
    She pushed away from the wall and began pacing, her mind replaying every second with Kole, now and in the past. Replaying the moment the warehouse had exploded. The moment she’d taken off running and known she had to leave. She’d cleared what cash from her bank she could get to and hit the road. By morning she was at another bank, closing her accounts, and removing the emergency fund her father, always the planner and pessimist, had set up for her as a safety net. A very large safety net that had paid the hefty price to an ancient natural-born witch her friend had taken her to. Her hand went to the sword tattooed behind her ear, where magic was etched into her skin. The one hesitation she’d had was about her conflicted emotions with Kole. She’d known he wouldn’t be able to find her.  
    She stopped walking, aware of what a mistake that had been. He’d saved her life. He’d deserved more than her shutting him out. She had to find him, to talk to him. Sarah grabbed her skirt and pulled it on and then reached for Kole’s shirt, not even bothering with hers since it wouldn’t button. The spicy, male scent of Kole teased her nostrils and only made her more eager to find him.  
    Sarah rushed to the door and jerked it open, only to find a guard in the hallway, directly in front of her.
    “Hello, Sarah,” Shi said, leaning on the wall directly across from her, his long, dark hair wild around his shoulders, and she realized now that there were blue streaks mixed with the red.  
    “Surprise,” he murmured softly. “He told you not to-”
    “Leave,” she said. “I know. I don’t want to.”  
    He studied her a long moment, his eyes narrowing. “No. You don’t, do you?”  
    “No. Where is he?”
    “Locked in a room at his own request,” he said. “So he can’t get to you.”
    “Take me to him,” she said. “Please.”
    “I can’t do that.”
    “Why? Why can’t you just take me to him? I’m his mate. I don’t want him to fight this. He thinks I do but I don’t.”
    His silvery eyes narrowed. “If you go near him now, you could kill him.”
    “Kill him?” she asked, shocked at the unexpected words. “I won’t kill him. I’d never hurt him.”
    “You don’t understand the orange haze, do you?”
    “Orange haze? You mean his eyes. I saw his eyes. What does that mean?”
    “The long story made short is he’s got an excess of bonding hormones making him a little crazy right now. If he doesn’t get them under control, they will poison him. He’s strong. He’ll win, but not if he is close to you.”
    “I don’t want him to fight it.”
    “He’s too far gone to understand that right now. He’ll fight the mating and he’ll end up dead. If you care about him, you need to let him get past this on his own.”
    A million arguments came to her mind, a million commands that he do as she asked and take her to Kole. But there was steel in the silver of his eyes, unbendable steel, and beneath it, loyalty to Kole. He was Kole’s friend. He really believed he was saving Kole’s life.
    She had no choice but to accept his decision. “I’ll be here, waiting on him.” She slipped back into the room and shut the door, inhaling the lingering scent of Kole, and scared to death that she’d lost him when she’d only just found him again.
     

 
    Chapter Nine
     
    Shi smashed his hand into the concrete wall outside Kole’s locked room,