Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
But he hated Astrid’s silence so damn much. She had turned her back on him and started to work at the dishes. He clenched his hands into fists.
Blake had told him to just start speaking the truth. To be real with Astrid. He wasn’t used to opening up to anyone.
Getting to his feet, he closed the distance between them and placed his hands on her hips. He expected her to push him away, but she didn’t. She did go tense in his arms, not that he could blame her. He had to earn back her trust, and he knew that was going to take time.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Stop, Lord.”
“No, I’m not going to stop. You’re not a convenience to me, Astrid.” He pressed his lips against her temple. “You have no fucking idea what you mean to me, and I am sorry you had to listen to me being an asshole. Blake’s my friend, but I didn’t want him to know how ... special that night meant to me. How, even now, I can feel your sweet cunt wrapped around my dick, and all I want to do is drive inside you, over and over again, and not stop.”
Her heard her soft whimper.
Mine.
He smelled her attraction.
“Please leave me alone,” she said.
He heard the desperate plea in her voice, and he wanted to ignore it and just feel her against him. It felt good to have her in his arms, but that wouldn’t be building trust. That would just be taking what he wanted. He was not going to do that to her.
Against his very will, he let her go but didn’t leave. He grabbed a towel and started to dry the dishes. She didn’t tell him to leave, and he considered that a breakthrough.
Lord was not used to talking about his feelings. It did surprise him how much he must have hurt her.
After the dishes, Astrid turned to look at him, then excused herself, and he watched her leave. He had no choice but to step outside. The snow hadn’t stopped all morning, and it was filling up the doorway. Leaving the warmth of the house, he was shocked by how cold it was.
Mine.
His wolf didn’t like being out of the house or away from her.
Lord was not going to force this. He had fucked up, and now he had to give her space. That was all he could do.
He walked to the shed and grabbed the large snow shovel. He went to the house and began to clear away the snow from the back door as well as the front. Once he was done shoveling snow, and he couldn’t feel his legs anymore, he decided to check on the cattle, and they were fine as well. Everything was more than fine, and he had no choice but to go back into that house.
Before he got to the door, his cell phone went off, and he saw there was a call from Blake. The cell service had been in and out since the snowstorm started.
“Hello,” he said.
“Finally, I’ve been trying to call you all freaking day. I love snowstorms, it means the kids will tire out from playing outside, but cell service turns to shit. How are you? How are things at the ranch?”
“All good. The cattle are settled. Everything is looking good,” he said.
“How are you and Astrid?”
Lord stayed silent.
“You’re alone with her, and you’re silent right now.”
“I’m trying, all right?” Lord said. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to ... ugh, I don’t even know what the fuck I’m saying. I hurt her, and I don’t think there is any way back from that.”
“Of course there is a way back from that,” Blake said. “You’ve got to apologize and be real with her.”
“I have done that and trust me, it’s not working. She doesn’t want to know.” He looked toward the house. He missed Astrid. He had really fucked up, and he would gladly go back to that day, shut his mouth, and just tell Blake how he felt.
Why don’t you start now?
“I think she’s ... my mate,” he said. He didn’t even know if Blake understood the significance of that.
“Holy shit, that is a big deal. Like a big, big deal.”
He guessed wrong. Blake did know.
“I thought you guys had some kind of ... I don’t know, something that stopped you from being assholes to your mates,” he said.
“Clearly not.” He didn’t know how it was for everyone, but he was pretty sure there were a lot of rumors flying around No Wolves Road, about some of the couples, both human and wolf couples. He wasn’t the kind of wolf to interact and mingle.
“Clearly. Look, you will figure this out, and Astrid is a good woman. She is worth fighting for.”
Blake started to cut out, and he couldn’t quite hear what he was trying to say. It was all static, and he had no choice but to hang up the phone. He didn’t know what to fucking do.