side wasn’t sure it was sensible to bind himself to a stranger, but since losing Jilly, he hadn’t been rational at all.
His stupid natural wolf prowled through his psyche, demanding to run its tongue over the scratches in the healer’s arm. Afterward, his wolf would have licked at the soft flesh of her breast before it moved on to taste her pussy. Then, when she moaned and thrashed with need, he’d turn human and screw her until she screamed his name.
His inner wolves must be so desperate for sex that they’d settle for any woman they could get. It couldn’t be more than animal lust that drew him to Viola. Not after everything he’d endured to save Jilly.
Viola’s sweet floral essence reminded him of the open hillsides where he’d run as a pup. She made him think of family, home, and pack—all the things he’d given up to keep Jilly safe. Titus wondered how the healer would look naked and smiling, her nipples peaked and her cunt wet with desire—for him. Then he snarled, and he cursed himself for a fool.
One woman—his true-mate—had almost broken him with her lack of compassion. He refused to let another she-wolf bring him down again, least of all a healer who preferred cold, hard cash to caring for those in pain.
Every pack needed a healer, but given this she-wolf’s greed, he understood why the Rock Prowlers didn’t offer her the support she deserved. Other packs revered their healers and treated them as second only to the alpha female.
When he thought of how Viola had demanded coins before she so much as looked at Tansy, a growl rumbled in his throat. Bedding any female but Jilly—especially the Rock Prowlers’ healer—wasn’t in his game plan, no matter what his inner wolves thought.
Wise men fled from his angry glare, but the healer had lifted her chin and held his gaze. Her courage could prove addictive, and the sooner he put some miles between them the better. Time for him to leave. “Where do I find her true-mate?”
Viola kept one hand on her coin purse as if expecting him to wrest it from her. “He runs the general store in Prowlerville, but the town’s no place for strangers. Best you keep moving, especially if you rouse Daniel’s jealous streak. He’ll come looking for her the instant the drayman tells him she’s here.”
Titus pulled his shirt back on. “Did I ask your opinion? I have business with the alpha and his daughter. Besides, I should reassure her mate that’s she’s fine. And don’t even think about making him pay you again.”
She flushed and would have walked off, clearly unwilling to look at him any longer, but he grabbed her chin and turned her face toward his. “I mean it, hedgewitch. Bad enough that you insisted on payment up front, but I won’t let you cheat the woman’s family.”
She jerked away and grabbed her knife. “I refuse to be bullied in my own home. Get out. Now.”
Titus didn’t know what amused him more, her show of spirit or that she thought that bitty blade would scare him. He should turn and leave, but he’d never been a turn-the-other-cheek sort of guy.
He grabbed her wrist and twisted until she squealed and dropped her blade. Her sharp intake of breath made his natural wolf growl that he’d hurt her. His primal wolf roared, dominant and eager inside him, demanding he fling her to the ground and fuck her until she begged for more.
When she struggled and kicked at his shins, she almost overbalanced. Only his hold on her wrist kept her from falling as he backed her toward the flimsy wall. His grin turned feral, and when he growled, his fangs dropped.
She struggled harder, slapping out with her free hand and trying to thrust her knee into his balls. His primal beast cried out for him to tame her and make her his. Instead, he gathered both her wrists in his huge hand and forced her arms over her head. Using his superior height and weight, he pinned her against the wall.
The fight went out of her. Her head dropped, and her