Free Solstice Heat by Leila Brown Page B

the wall. The woman shook her head and growled.
     
    “Yeah. That growling? Not doing a damn thing for me.” Gio watched the other woman. Her muscles bunched again. Her legs bent slightly and the muscles in her arms tightened as if getting ready. She was going to try to ram her. Gio didn’t know how she knew it, but if her wolf believed it, so did she. Toni shifted, then burst forward.
     
    Gio waited until she was close, then jumped. Toni couldn’t stop fast enough to prevent herself from running into the wall. This time there was a definite crack.
     
    “Bitch,” she screamed.
     
    “No, honey, you must have me confused with you.” Gio stood and backed away from the woman when her wolf screamed at her to run forward and squeeze the life from her creamy throat. “That sounded like a bone snapping. I would get that looked at. I mean, if it doesn’t heal exactly right, you could be deformed.”
     
    “Just wait. This isn’t over.” Toni cradled one arm while she used the wall to help her stand up. She ran toward the door, never taking her eyes off Gio and not getting too close to her either.
     
    A very silent Jason sat near the door, holding her coat and gloves. She snatched them from him as she barreled out of the door. He slammed it after her.
     
    “Why couldn’t you stay in the room like I told you?” he demanded.
     
    The euphoria of victory slowly drained out of her, leaving behind a definite sense of betrayal. “Well, gee, that was kind of hard when your ex walked through that door looking like she wanted to eat you up.”
     
    “You’re exaggerating. She hasn’t voluntarily touched me since she broke off the engagement.” He laughed. But it wasn’t a funny ha-ha laugh; it was more the ironic kind of laugh you did when the information wasn’t something you were proud to share.
     
    “What? You wanted her to come in here and fall all over you? Take you back.” Her wolf howled inside her head at the thought. “She was just feeling you out. I could hear the bullshit from your room.”
     
    “No, I didn’t—don’t want her. She was about to admit why she was here before you stepped outside and decided to ruin everything. Now she’ll run back to Dane and tell him about you.”
     
    “What’s she going to say? You picked a fat black bitch that could kick her ass?”
     
    “No. That I have a woman strong enough to mate with. That’s why he sent her—to determine how strong you were. Now he knows, and he’ll plan for it. Not to mention she’s going to go around and tell the entire pack how you broke her arm for no reason. And that’s if we’re lucky. She could say that I broke her arm.”
     
    “You know what? Don’t turn this on me. You should have told me she was your ex. That you were engaged.” She felt her throat close and tried to swallow. Her skin tightened below her right ear, and pain shot along her throat. Her chest filled with pain as she pulled in a breath. “I don’t know if you hid me because you were ashamed of me or because you wanted her back. Either way I wasn’t good enough for you.”
     
    “Gio!”
     
    “No. You don’t get to say anything. You’ve made my life a living hell, telling me if I made the wrong move, I was going to die.” She swallowed hard. “And I trusted you. I listened to you. I had sex with you. At no time did I treat you as less than your worth just because you’re in a wheelchair. But the first chance you got to do me that same courtesy, you hid me away. And you pretended it was to keep me safe? Don’t lie to yourself.”
     
    “I did do it to keep you safe. If she had believed you were too weak to come out here and challenge her, it would have bought us a few more days.”
     
    “Are you sure about that? Are you sure it wouldn’t have just made Dane bolder? If I were weak, I wouldn’t have posed much of a threat. You don’t know what would have happened.” She turned and walked to the guest bedroom. If she had to chain herself