The Wolf Prince's Fated Heart - Page 71

“Come on, fight me,” she dares me.

The words don’t sink in.

My world has grown too small to make room for someone as inferior as her.

I sense the pulse of her weak heart. It will make a good trophy once it stops beating.

No, it won’t, a small voice inside me tells me. It doesn’t belong to me or the wolf. It’s something else. Something stronger. Something ancient, loud, and powerful. She’s to be protected.

Despite the urge to get past her by any means necessary, I sheathe my claws. Instead, I charge forward, fully intent to step around her. Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t have the wisdom to stay out of my way. For some ridiculous reason unknown to me, she steps in my path.

My momentum’s too strong to avoid her, and yet, I do my best to hurl myself to the side. A small part of my body still hits her, but a lot less than a full-front attack would.

The sound of a glass breaking reaches my ears, followed by a sweet and familiar scent that fills my nostrils. Her hand reaches up to her neck, the skin turning red as the sticky liquid seeps through her fingers. With the jarring clarity, comes the realization that she’s landed on a glass table.

Cassie.

Sweet, tempting Cassie.

My mind immediately clears as my wolf, and I regain control over the ancient unknown, which tried to get us to protect Cassie no matter what, even from ourselves. It almost worked, too, if only she hadn’t stepped in my way when I tried so hard to avoid her.

Panic filters into me. How could I lose control like that? My fury almost killed an innocent.

My fear turns into cold dread.

What did we do? I demand.

She was in the way, my wolf growls back, still influenced by the red rage. He’s not thinking clearly. All he wants to do is kill, end this now, and then search for the true enemy. We didn’t mean to.

Let me out, I demand. We have to heal her.

My wolf retreats.

As soon as I shift back into a human, I crouch next to Cassie, trying to assess the damage.

Blood and gore cover her upper body. Wounds scream red and swollen.

“We have to clean and stitch these,” I say as I rip her blouse open to reveal her entire torso. My own clothes have been ripped to shreds by the unexpected transformation.

“Towels, bandages, sewing kit. It’s best we go to the penthouse,” I mutter.

“Graham.”

I glance at Cassie and note that her face is pale as she breathes laboriously.

It takes me all my strength to not lash out again and stop the beast inside me from ripping apart anything that threatens Cassie. I’m in control of my actions, not him.

“Everything will be alright,” I tell her, hoping that she can’t see the horrible state of her own wounds, or else I’ll never earn her forgiveness for doing this to her. “I’ll fix this.”

I gently lift her in my arms and hurry out of the office. Fortunately, it’s too early for anyone to be in and see my naked ass running around. The security guards could probably hear the wolf growls and the snarls. Even if they did, they are wolves themselves.

Inside the penthouse, I take her straight to the master bedroom and lay her on the bed. She’s bleeding out. There’s more blood than I’ve ever seen.

“I’ll fix this,” I promise over and over again, muttering it under my breath like a prayer.

Heal her, I order to my wolf. You did this. You have to fix her.

I can’t, he argues. I can only heal us.