Page 47 of A Trial By Blood

Rose turned, and my gaze dipped. Her nipples were tight and pointed. Her stomach soft and creamy. I looked lower. Between her thighs was smooth and delicate looking. I hissed.

Wrong. This was wrong.

I shouldn’t be here. I hissed again, releasing the grip I had on my stiff flesh.

Stumbling back, I rushed from the bathroom and strode from her room, down the stairs, and back to my car.

* * *

I parked outside the clubhouse. Most of the bikes were put away for the winter, but to the outside world, the hellhounds looked like a human motorcycle club.

Shaking, I got out of my car and strode inside. I couldn’t bring myself to go back to the knight’s compound. The last two weeks had been hell. I couldn’t spend another minute in that room, and I didn’t want my sister to see me like this. At least here, the hounds could lock me away if necessary. Because the driving need inside me kept growing, and I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from going back to Rose, from walking into her room again when it was wrong.

I thrust my fingers through my hair.

“Yo, Ronan,” Relic called.

I turned as he strode toward me but kept walking. The door down to the den was always locked, and I keyed in the combination and opened the door. The cavern they’d dug down here was lit by wall sconces, and I headed for the room they’d given me to use when I was here.

“Ronan, brother,” Relic called, jogging up behind me. “What’s going on?”

I pulled the door to my room open and walked in and Relic followed. I paced across the room and back. “You need to lock me down,” I gritted through clenched teeth. My fangs had extended and my gut was in knots. That boulder was back and bigger than ever.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on, then we’ll decide if you need to be locked down?” He crossed his arms and watched me pace the room.

I wasn’t sure he could help me. Hounds were almost as emotionless as I’d been, though Relic was somewhat different. He seemed more evolved than a lot of his brothers. I didn’t know if that were true or if he was just better at mimicking the emotions of others. Something a lot of the hounds had learned to do while on Earth to fit in. I turned to him. I needed help, now, before I got in my car and drove back to Rose’s house.

“When I saw you with Rose, I wanted to hurt you,” I said.

“I’m aware.”

“You need to stay away from her.” There was an unmistakable snarl to my voice.

“She’s yours, brother. I’m not gonna touch your female.” He frowned. “What’s going on, Ronan?”

I believed him. He wouldn’t touch her, but that didn’t calm the wildfire raging inside me. I shoved my fingers through my hair. “Something’s…wrong with me,” I bit out. I had no idea where to start. These males talked freely about such things, I’d heard them numerous times. Until I came here, I hadn’t had the words. Why would I? I hadn’t felt the things they’d described. I did now, though, so for Relic to help me, I needed to use their words.

“Okay,” Relic said. “But I’m gonna need you to be more specific.”

I planted my hands on my hips, and visions of Rose, her body, naked, beautiful, flashed through my head. Her image had been burned into my brain. Every time I closed my eyes from here on out, I’d see her. “I saw Rose naked.”

Relic didn’t move a muscle. “I’m not seeing your problem.”

I shoved my fingers through my hair again. “It was wrong. She didn’t know I was there. I saw her and I knew it was wrong to do that, to look at her while she was like that, but I…I liked it. I wanted to keep looking at her.” I couldn’t meet Relic’s stare. “I want to go back and look at her again.”

“That’s normal, brother. She’s your female. Of course you want to want to look at her like that.”

He didn’t understand. “Not only look. I got this feeling in my stomach, and my skin grew hot, and I…I wanted to…touch her as well. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

His brows snapped together. “You’ve never felt it before?”

“No.”

“You’ve had sex before, though, right?”

“Yes, but not with a female.” Though, I’d barely registered what was happening when I was with Azel. I was numb, switched off, and usually starving, trying to feed as fast as I could before he stopped me.

“Did you get off?”