Hunter's Moon

weight on your knees.” Sasha sat back toward her heels. “Sit back really slowly, and be careful not to press on your feet.”

“No worries there.” The last thing I was going to do was put weight on my throbbing ankle.

“All right. Good.” She nodded and raised her hands up over her head, pressing her palms together. “This is the half-tortoise. It’s going to bring fresh oxygen to your brain and clear your head.”

Before I could scoff, she leaned forward resting her forehead on the towel while her hands remained in a prayer position up above her head. She stayed there, breathing slowly, sweating, and when she finally moved to sit up again, it was completely controlled. After another deep breath she glanced my way.

“Your turn.”

I shook my head. “Nah, I think I’ll stick to push-ups and sit ups.”

“You think those are tougher than yoga?” She raised a brow.

I gave it some thought and nodded. “Yeah. Probably.”

“Won’t know until you try.” But she smiled like she already knew.

That was all the challenge I needed. From up on my knees, I bent at the hip and sat back, careful not to rest my ass on my ankles. Then I brought my arms up over my head, pressed my palms together, and bent forward toward the towel like she had.

But for some reason my forehead wouldn’t touch the floor.

Sasha pressed down on my back. “Flatten your back so you can get your forehead to touch.”

I winced, but I finally did get my damn forehead down. Next, I felt her fingers clasp my bicep just above my elbow. “Lock your elbows, and pull your shoulders back. Only the edge of your pinky fingers should be touching the towel. Your elbows should be locked and up off the floor.”

“Jesus, this hurts,” I grumbled.

“Not so simple, huh?”

I sat up, proud that I kept my body tight like she did, although my back and abs were screaming. “It wasn’t too bad.”

“Ready for a second set?”

I struggled to keep my expression neutral. “Second set?”

“Yeah.” She got back on her knees on the towel beside me. “We’ll hold it a little longer this time.”

“Longer?” Crap, did I sound whiney?

Her eyes lit up with a playful sparkle. Shit.

“Still think push-ups and sit ups are tougher than yoga?”

“Yes,” I grunted, while raising my hands up over my head to bend forward.

Once I finally got my back flattened and my arms straight and my fucking forehead on the towel, sweat ran into my eye. Fighting the urge to break the pose and wipe it, I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. One breath and another.

Sasha moved beside me, and I tightened my abs to lift myself up. My back muscles screamed, but I managed to right myself without a word. My gaze locked on hers, her lips parted, so close to me I could almost taste them.

“How do you feel?” Her voice was soft, breathy.

“Like I need to kiss you.” I didn’t wait for an answer. Our lips met, fire coursing through me as I clutched her waist, drawing her in close. Her hands slid up my back, teasing my already hot skin into an inferno. I lifted the back of her tank top, my hands brushing against her silkiness. Our tongues tangled, hungry, as I slid my fingers up her spine to unclasp her bra. I needed her bare skin pressed against mine.

But before I could lift her shirt off, she pulled away.

I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” She got up. “Everything.”

She pulled her arm out of the bra strap and then slid it free from under her tank. Her nipples were erect against the fabric of her top, and every curve of her body tempted me. I wanted to touch and taste every inch of her. Our bodies should’ve been pressed together, writhing on the bed, the floor, the shower.

Instead, she was pacing again, and I was left with a raging erection.

Running my fingers along my jaw, I shook my head. “This dance we’re doing is making me crazy. Can we just lay the cards on the table? I showed you my hand when I told you about the wolf recognizing its mate.”

“What do you want from me?” She stopped pacing and turned toward me with pain in her eyes. “You’ve got some crazy werewolf mating instinct kicking in, but you told me yourself you wished it wasn’t me. It’s like cupid hit you with some arrow, and now you’re convinced I’m the one for you, but I’m not. If you didn’t have the wolf instincts making you crazy, you’d be killing me now, not helping me.”

I got to my feet, wincing a little when pain flared in my ankle. “Earlier tonight you said I saved your life, and I’m pretty sure you know who pulled you out of the fight with Nero up at Lake Tahoe. What else do I need to do to prove that you can trust me?”

“You’d need to go back in time. I don’t do trust. Not anymore.” She pulled the hair tie from her hair, shielding her eyes from mine as it fell. “And you and your wolf shouldn’t either. How many times have I attacked you already? I’ll never deserve you.”

Part of my brain short circuited. She’d never deserve me? Did that mean she might enjoy my company? I silenced the questions in my head and forced myself to take a deep breath. I’d faced tougher negotiations during business mergers but never for anything I wanted to win with every fiber of my being.

I met her eyes. “Are you saying you don’t hate me?”

“I’ve never hated you.” She turned toward the window. “Just myself.”

Okay, this wasn’t the right time to smile, but it felt like a huge weight had been lifted. She didn’t hate me. Then confusion settled onto my shoulders.

“So, if you’ve never hated me, then why do you keep pushing me away?”

“Are you nuts?” She shot me a look over her shoulder like I had two heads. “I shot you with a Taser, tied you up and held you hostage, and if that wasn’t enough, I shattered your ankle with a bullet. I ruined your life for my own selfish reasons. I was so anxious for an antidote that I behaved exactly like the criminals I used to arrest.”

My shoulders tensed up. “Look, I will admit I was bitter when my leg didn’t heal up the way I’d hoped it would. But I figure it makes us even.”

“Even?”

I nodded. “When I followed Adam and Lana to San Antonio, I went with one goal. I wanted to kill whoever made a move against my brother. Simple. I didn’t care who you were or why you were there, I hated you because you were a jaguar. Even though Adam trusted her, I thought Lana was setting him up. You know why I was so sure of that? Because she was a jaguar. I didn’t even know her, but I thought I did just because she didn’t shift into a wolf.”

“You were protecting your family. Justified suspicions based on past experience.”

I ground my teeth together. “And you were promised a way out, a way to get your job back and be with your sister again.”

“Don’t pretend you understand.” She spun around eyes blazing. “I was desperate. Nero isn’t a place you trust, but I took their bait anyway. I hurt you to get what I wanted.”

My patience evaporated, temper flaring. “Without any proof of any kind, I believed Lana killed a member of my Pack, simply because she was a jaguar. I made judgments against her and you based on my sense of smell alone, so spare me your self-loathing. I’m no better than you.”

“Fuck you,” she spat as she stormed into the bathroom.

Dammit. I yanked out the sofa bed, directing my frustration to the hotel furniture in the process. When I finally got into the bed, the cool cotton sheets soothed my hot skin and my equally hot temper. Fate was really fucking with me. First I find my mate and she’s trying to kill me, now we’re on the same team, and… And the woman drove me crazy.

Being with her was near impossible.

But being without her… I didn’t want to think about it.

Inside the bathroom, the shower came to life, and I rolled onto my side, trying not to fantasize about her