Embracing the Wolf by Felicity Heaton Page B

hair,
clawing it back in a movement of sheer frustration and
helplessness. His hair fell back down when his hand had passed,
brushing his forehead.

    “ He needs you,
Kat.” The deep voice didn’t suit his tall slight figure. Neither
did the black jeans and dark zip up jacket. She was used to seeing
him in smarter attire. Blue eyes held hers, bright in the
moonlight.

    Kat knew what those words
meant.

    Leyton took a step towards
her.

    When werewolves reached
maturity, the need to find their mate would arise. Once it had
awoken, they only had a few years to complete the mating or they
became feral and dangerous. The longest recorded time between the
mating awakening and being completed safely was five years. Four
years ago, Amon had told her that she was his mate. That night, she
had fled. By now, he would be verging on dangerous. If he turned
then she would have to kill him.

    As much as Kat feared that
thought, the alternative frightened her more. To become his mate
she would have to accept what she was and change. She couldn’t do
it. The idea of becoming an animal, a hybrid being, turned her
blood to ice.

    “ He knows that
he scared you,” Leyton said in a coaxing whisper, calm and
measured. “He was only being honest that night. You’re his mate,
Kat. Without you he’ll—”

    “ Don’t!” Kat
cut him off with a glare. Leyton didn’t need to tell her what would
happen. She dealt with rogue werewolves on a nightly basis. She saw
the dark, violent creature he would become. She closed her eyes and
told herself that it would not happen to Amon. Leyton was only
trying to scare her.

    The trouble was he was
succeeding.

    “ Will you see
him?”

    Kat looked into Leyton’s
eyes.

    There was hope in their
depths. Meet Amon?

    She couldn’t.

    Every inch of her rebelled
at the thought. It would be dangerous. Not because he could be
close to turning, but because if she saw him, she might lose her
nerve and return to him.

    She longed to feel his
warm fingers stroking her skin, caressing her in a way that spoke
so deeply of his love. She ached to have his soft lips sliding
against hers. She craved the way it felt to be in his arms,
comforted and safe from the world as she breathed in his spicy
scent.

    Her eyes closed. She
couldn’t do it.

    “ You must feel
it,” Leyton continued with a desperate note in his voice. Clearly
he had realised that she needed convincing. If anyone could do it,
he could. Leyton was Amon’s beta wolf and she had grown close to
him during her time with Amon. She trusted him. He knew that and it
seemed he was going to use it against her. “You must sense the
looming danger.”

    Kat lowered her head and
turned it away. She stared blindly at the grass. She did feel it.
As a potential mate for Amon and someone who shared a love bond
with him, Kat felt his pain as though it were her own.

    It ripped her apart each
day.

    “ Will you see
him?” Leyton repeated, firmer this time. His tone demanded an
answer. He stepped towards her, until she felt his presence close
to her back. “Just see him, that is all I’m asking. It will soothe
him. He will not hurt you.”

    Kat’s stomach turned. Was
Amon that far gone? Icy fingers squeezed her heart. She couldn’t
bear the thought that he might become dangerous and make it onto
her unit’s list. The idea of having to hunt him turned her stomach,
but her only other option was to give in to the werewolf
inside.

    “ No,” she
whispered, unable to say that word with conviction when her heart
begged her to go to Amon.

    Leyton stepped closer. Her
senses detected the aura of worry surrounding him. Leyton never
worried, not even about Amon. It confirmed her worst fear. Amon was
growing close to turning.

    “ I promise you,
Kat, he will not know that you are there. Just see him and then
make up your mind. The next time you meet, do whatever your heart
decides. Save him or kill him.”

    “ Perhaps
killing him would be saving him,” she