Read Online Howling Mad: A paranormal wolf shifter romance (Badlands Book 2) by Rebekah Blue - Free Book Online
Authors: Rebekah Blue
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“Please, I don’t want—”
“We insist,” Mae said. “We don’t sleep much anyway, at our age.”
“Indulge an old man,” James agreed. “We won’t hear of anything else.”
Naomi glanced at Byron. His gaze was fixed on his boots, his jawline tense. No help there. He obviously wasn’t going to tell them he thought she’d been involved in a plot to kill him…or at least not until the morning. Maybe it was better for the lions’ digestion if people were thrown to them in the daytime – or he just hadn’t decided yet what to do with her. It was hard to make light of it, even to herself. Tears burned behind her eyes as the wretchedness of the situation hit her all over again, but she managed a faint, polite smile.
Chapter Thirteen
The trailer was large, but outer space wouldn’t have been big enough for Naomi and Byron to spend the night comfortably together. Tension seethed and sizzled between them, and a horrible silence descended as soon as Auntie Mae and Uncle James wished them goodnight and withdrew back to the office.
Byron felt prickly and raw, and he longed to shift into wolf form and go for a run in the moonlight, letting the night breeze ruffle through his fur, but he couldn’t. However badly Naomi had betrayed him, he’d promised to keep her safe. He wouldn’t break his word.
He didn’t know how to handle it. He’d spent years keeping Naomi at arm’s length along with everyone else, fighting the intense attraction he felt to her. Some days he’d felt almost as if his crazy act wasn’t pretend at all – he’d felt halfway insane, he’d wanted her so badly. And then he’d weakened and he’d opened himself up just a chink, letting her bring a little warmth and brightness in. And she’d transformed everything and left him exposed and naked and blinking in the pitiless light. And it burned.
He’d been hurt and betrayed in the past. Before he’d found a home with Mae and James and the carnival, he’d been not much better than a starving stray. And his years at the Zoo hadn’t exactly been a picnic. Acting crazy to keep from being tortured, knowing Dr. Atkins would stop at nothing, however cruel, when it came to Dynamic Earth’s experiments.
This hurt more. Knowing that he’d given Naomi his trust and all the while she’d been wearing a listening device for her monster of a father…that was like a knife in his gut.
He didn’t mean to confront her with it. What was there to gain? Either she’d lie, and twist the knife further, or she’d tell the truth, and he’d hear from her own lips how little he meant to her. How he was nothing more than a lab animal. Barely human. Utterly disposable.
But he couldn’t help himself. The pain welled up inside him and the words spilled from his lips. He said, bitterly, “All those times back at the Zoo, when you were trying to get me to talk to you.” He didn’t look at her. He didn’t think he could. “You kept telling me that I could trust you. That anything I told you would be our secret. That you just wanted to help me.”
“And I meant it!” she cried. The pain in her voice was so raw, so convincing, that he almost believed her. “I didn’t know about the bug – Byron, you have to believe me.”
He turned on her, snarling. “Liar! It was a set-up from the very beginning. Who’d have thought a guy who’d been locked up without female company for three years would be able to resist a pretty, sweet-smelling little thing like you, right?”
He slammed his fist against the wall beside them and hung his head for a moment.
“You bitch,” he said hoarsely, then forced himself to lift his head, to look at her again. “When your daddy’s honey trap didn’t work, he had to come up with a plan B. How convenient that you were right there when the alarms went off. How lucky that a security fault left my cell door wide open. Oh, and the gatehouse guards were called away? Well the coincidences just keep on coming, don’t
“We insist,” Mae said. “We don’t sleep much anyway, at our age.”
“Indulge an old man,” James agreed. “We won’t hear of anything else.”
Naomi glanced at Byron. His gaze was fixed on his boots, his jawline tense. No help there. He obviously wasn’t going to tell them he thought she’d been involved in a plot to kill him…or at least not until the morning. Maybe it was better for the lions’ digestion if people were thrown to them in the daytime – or he just hadn’t decided yet what to do with her. It was hard to make light of it, even to herself. Tears burned behind her eyes as the wretchedness of the situation hit her all over again, but she managed a faint, polite smile.
Chapter Thirteen
The trailer was large, but outer space wouldn’t have been big enough for Naomi and Byron to spend the night comfortably together. Tension seethed and sizzled between them, and a horrible silence descended as soon as Auntie Mae and Uncle James wished them goodnight and withdrew back to the office.
Byron felt prickly and raw, and he longed to shift into wolf form and go for a run in the moonlight, letting the night breeze ruffle through his fur, but he couldn’t. However badly Naomi had betrayed him, he’d promised to keep her safe. He wouldn’t break his word.
He didn’t know how to handle it. He’d spent years keeping Naomi at arm’s length along with everyone else, fighting the intense attraction he felt to her. Some days he’d felt almost as if his crazy act wasn’t pretend at all – he’d felt halfway insane, he’d wanted her so badly. And then he’d weakened and he’d opened himself up just a chink, letting her bring a little warmth and brightness in. And she’d transformed everything and left him exposed and naked and blinking in the pitiless light. And it burned.
He’d been hurt and betrayed in the past. Before he’d found a home with Mae and James and the carnival, he’d been not much better than a starving stray. And his years at the Zoo hadn’t exactly been a picnic. Acting crazy to keep from being tortured, knowing Dr. Atkins would stop at nothing, however cruel, when it came to Dynamic Earth’s experiments.
This hurt more. Knowing that he’d given Naomi his trust and all the while she’d been wearing a listening device for her monster of a father…that was like a knife in his gut.
He didn’t mean to confront her with it. What was there to gain? Either she’d lie, and twist the knife further, or she’d tell the truth, and he’d hear from her own lips how little he meant to her. How he was nothing more than a lab animal. Barely human. Utterly disposable.
But he couldn’t help himself. The pain welled up inside him and the words spilled from his lips. He said, bitterly, “All those times back at the Zoo, when you were trying to get me to talk to you.” He didn’t look at her. He didn’t think he could. “You kept telling me that I could trust you. That anything I told you would be our secret. That you just wanted to help me.”
“And I meant it!” she cried. The pain in her voice was so raw, so convincing, that he almost believed her. “I didn’t know about the bug – Byron, you have to believe me.”
He turned on her, snarling. “Liar! It was a set-up from the very beginning. Who’d have thought a guy who’d been locked up without female company for three years would be able to resist a pretty, sweet-smelling little thing like you, right?”
He slammed his fist against the wall beside them and hung his head for a moment.
“You bitch,” he said hoarsely, then forced himself to lift his head, to look at her again. “When your daddy’s honey trap didn’t work, he had to come up with a plan B. How convenient that you were right there when the alarms went off. How lucky that a security fault left my cell door wide open. Oh, and the gatehouse guards were called away? Well the coincidences just keep on coming, don’t
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