by Raye Wagner
That mother freaking asshole deserved to be burned alive—a thousand times over!
“And my mother?” I asked.
My dad dropped his chin, covering his face with his hands. “I don’t know if it was a cruel twist of fate or if the trauma of hearing her mate be brutally murdered caused the hemorrhage. When I tried to give you to her, she pushed you back and weakly told me she was dying. That I needed to flee—take you to safety. That’s when the floor became covered in blood.” My father frowned, his eyes glistening with tears, and salty tracks cut through whiskers, dripping to the floor unchecked. “The blood … there was so much blood. What more could I do?”
Oh my mage. Tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision until I couldn’t see. How could I blame my father? And for what? Listening to my dying mother’s last wish to keep me safe? As a wolf shifter, to flee would be going against his very nature. Emotion clogged my throat, and I blinked to clear the tears, but more came as I rushed into his arms, and he wrapped me in a tight hug.
“She collapsed, died right there on the bed,” my father said as I pulled away and looked up at him.
Anguish wrenched my chest—for him because the pain of that night still tortured him.
“Her chest was wet with blood, and her belly was still so swollen. She hadn’t even delivered the placenta yet … she still looked pregnant.” My dad closed his eyes and sighed. “I thought of all the carnage and destruction Declan had caused, knowing I could do nothing to change it, and then—” he raised his gaze and met mine. “—I saw you, Nai, and knew, for you, I could do everything. I hid in the woods for an hour … maybe more, but not much, trying to come up with a story. By the time I returned to Crescent Pack land, I discovered Declan had already attacked. Half of our pack was … destroyed … and the rest of us were exiled.”
A growl ripped from Rage’s throat, and I mirrored that anger. My father nodded. “In all the confusion of exile, I hid you with Lona and Mack—who was two months old at the time—in a secluded cabin at the back edge of our new Montana land.”
My heart swelled at his words. No wonder I’d always had such a close bond with that woman and her son.
“About a year later, I returned with you and told everyone you were mine and that your mother had died. I, like Mackay, had become well known for my long weekends away. I was off seeing you, Lona, and little Mack, but they didn’t know that. So I let them believe I had a lover. Lona went back to the pack with Mack in tow, and no one was the wiser. It was a crazy first year, fending for ourselves in exile.”
I tried to wrap my mind around it all.
“So the king killed my father and slaughtered half your pack?” Rage’s voice was barely-contained fury.
My father sighed. “Yes, son.”
Onyx fur ran down Rage’s arms, and his body twisted and contorted as he lost control. Not even a breath later, the black Midnight wolf tipped his head back and howled, the long, anguished sound the only adequate vocalization of how my dad’s haunting tale had shredded my heart.
Chapter 10
After talking to my father, we cleaned up and ate. Declan was already on my stab-to-death list, but knowing the truth moved him to the top spot.
Top douchebag who deserves to be cut into a million pieces and fed to the selkies.
After dinner, we moved our tension-filled vigil to the living room while Rage’s watch counted down on Honor’s life.
Come on, Grandpa! Where are you? I knew he wouldn’t let me down, but if he didn’t show up in the next hour, I was going to freak out. I excused myself for a quick trip to the restroom, and Kaja followed me down the hallway.
“You hardly ate anything,” Kaja said, giving me a sad look. “And that was the best food I’ve eaten in years.”
I shrugged. What could I say? The ache of my father’s story was still raw like my chest had been scraped empty and the very fibers of my soul oozed from the brutality of the injury.
“Between Declan … Honor … and then finding out my parents…” I struggled to form a complete sentence, to somehow explain all the horror and what it meant…
Once again, for like the thousandth time, she proved why she was my bestie. Pulling me in for a tight hug in the hallway, she murmured, “Go take a few minutes. We’ve got two hours on your ticking save-Honor-clock. I’ll come get you if hell breaks loose.”
I pulled back with fresh tears in my eyes. “Promise?”
“Pinky promise,” she said with a wink, but her eyes glistened too—as if she could feel my pain. The smile slipped from her face, and she whispered, “I’m sorry, Nai. I can see you’re hurting … and I wish I could fix it, but I probably can’t—and I don’t even know the right thing to say, so … I’m sorry.”
She tugged me back into her embrace, and letting the tears fall, I choked out, “That was pretty much perfect.”
The dam of emotion burst, silently at first, but instead of waning, the emotions I’d stuffed away for the last few days all bubbled up. When the first sob tore from my lips, I felt Kaja move, and then Rage’s warmth enveloped me.
“Come on, love,” he murmured, guiding me down the hall toward our room.
Nothing says romantic quite like a sob fest.
I bawled into his shirt, already wet with my tears, and clung to his chest, and still, he held me, giving me time to mourn two people I barely knew—and yet I existed because of their love, for each other and me.
“At least everyone you love deserves it,” Rage said as we slipped inside the door and he closed it, his voice rumbling through his chest and into my body. “It’s super shitty to find out the man who raised you is the worst person in existence. What does it say about me that I wanted to be like Declan for a time?”
He walked us over to the bed and lay me down on it. Patting his chest, his very nice firm chest, I sighed and snuggled closer to him. He smelled of cedarwood and sage and … sadness leaked through our bond, and I rushed to comfort him. “Every child wants to make their family proud. I think it took a lot of courage”—I poked his muscle—“to go against Declan at the mid-year games and what you thought was the truth your entire life.”
He said nothing, so I sat up, leaning back to take him in. His gaze captured me, his eyes misting and his voice raw with emotion when he said, “That’s very kind of you, but this entire time, I thought your father killed mine…”
“It’s all forgiven. Declan lied to everyone,” I said with a shake of my head. “You shouldn’t bear the fault of his deceptions.”
Rage stiffened at his uncle’s name.
Note to self: don’t talk about the d-bag unless it’s to plot to kill him—which I knew my dad was discussing with the pack right now.
Determined to chase that haunted expression off my mate’s face, I walked my fingers up his chest and looked up at him through my lashes.
He swallowed, but that tortured look still remained.
Scooting closer, I climbed onto my knees before settling on his lap, straddling him. He lay backward so that his body was beneath me and my hair fell around us in a white curtain. Pressing my body harder into his, a thrill raced through me when he gripped my hips and inhaled sharply.
Leaning forward, I ran the tip of my nose up his neck, scenting him before licking his skin.
Oh my mage.
My thoughts fritzed as my tongue pressed against his pulse. I moaned, pushing my fingers into his hair before nipping him lightly with my teeth. Another thrill as his heart rate picked up and heat began to work its way down my body.
“Nai,” Rage growled, clenching his fingers into my hips. His chest pressed into me as he sucked in a ragged breath, and he trembled as if trying to deny him—me—us—this.
Every moment we stayed together was a moment that our mated bond wanted to be sealed. It was starting to hurt to physically keep myself from this.
I wanted him. I was ready.
Pressing kisses up his neck, I then traced the outer rim of his ear with my tongue. His grip tightened o
n my hips, and I pushed my pelvis forward before sucking his earlobe between my teeth. Slowly, I grazed the soft flesh and then whispered, “Kiss me.”
He slipped his hand under the hem of my shirt, and I gasped at the heat on his skin.
“You want me to kiss you?” he asked, slipping his other hand beneath the hem, teasing me.
I nodded, my breaths quickening with anticipation. Shifting my weight, I dragged my lips across his jaw, pressing kisses between my panting breaths. “Yes.”
As if he needed an answer, his lips joined with mine, and immediately our tongues found each other, hungry and searching.
He ran his hands down my back from my neck to shoulder blades. I arched, and he kneaded his fingers over my ribs before wrapping his hands around my torso. Then, slowly, he slipped his thumbs under my bra and grazed the underside of my breasts.
Hunger and need shot through me, and my mind clouded with desire.
“Rage…” I pulled back from his lips, mine swollen from our kiss.
Instinctively, I lowered my body to his, letting him coax me as he dragged his hands downward in a delicious dance of lust and frustration. He groaned as I settled, which only served to heighten my desire. Using the pressure of his fingertips, he urged me to move, something I ached to do. I rotated my hips.
Oh. My. Mage.
“Nai,” he gasped, rubbing against me even harder.
I followed his lead, our bodies tangled as we slid against each other. But I needed more. I needed his skin against my skin. His body and mind together—as one. I needed this bond, our bond … I needed to seal it—seal him, to me, forever.
I fumbled with the button at his waist, and Rage stilled.
“Don’t start something we can’t—”
“Rage,” I begged, arching and writhing against him as I tugged at his shirt. Filled with aching need, I raked my hands over his taut abs and growled, “Please.”
He slid his arm around my waist, and I sucked in a sharp breath as he flipped me onto the bed. I landed on my back, and he crawled over me until he straddled me. He wet his lips, and then lowered his body, letting me drown in the sensation of him for only a moment before he whispered in my ear, “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“Yes,” I panted.
Was he kidding? Was he afraid that he was pushing or pressuring me? Afraid I’d regret this? I mean I was vaguely aware that my father was in the house, but the mate bond was calling, and I couldn’t turn it off.
‘I’ve never in my entire life been more ready for something. Please, Rage, don’t make me beg.’
I ducked my hands under his shirt, and he dipped his head, letting me pull it off him. I dropped it off the side of the bed, discarding it as I ran my fingers up his washboard abs to his yummy chest.
‘Now yours,’ he said, his voice rumbling through me, occupying all of me.
He slowly teased the garment up, his gentle caresses leaving a trail of fire on my skin. My chest heaved, and I whimpered and trembled as he kissed my feverish skin, first below my bellybutton, then above it. Up my abdomen, and the swell of my breasts.
I gripped his back, arching as he traced his tongue where he’d kissed, until he lifted my shirt over my head and gave me a wolfish grin.
‘You’re enjoying this,’ he said, his eyes brightening until they practically glowed emerald.
Enjoying? I heaved with the effort of containing the emotion. ‘Don’t sell yourself short.’
He chuckled, and then he let his gaze rove over me like a physical caress. He drank me in, his eyes growing more heated the longer he looked. His nostrils flared, and he growled. ‘I can scent your desire.’
He could? My skin heated, and I closed my eyes, mortified.
‘Don’t be embarrassed, love.’ He hooked his finger in the waistband of my pants, tracing his tongue over the sensitive skin. ‘It only makes me want you more.’
He tugged the waistband of my sweats down an inch, as my eyes popped open and my abdomen tightened. I raised my head to see what he was going to do and he looked up and met my eyes. ‘Do you trust me?’
Lust. Heat. Desire. Hunger. Need. Love. All of these feelings and more racked my body and swirled in my mind.
‘Yes,’ I said, falling back onto the bed, my chest heaving. I watched him slide from the bed, and then only his fitted boxers remained.
Yum.
He tugged one pants leg over my heel and then the other. ‘Lift up, love.’
My pants fell to the floor, somewhere near his, and then Rage hovered over me once more. Running my hands into his hair, I opened myself to him, needing him to hear my truth. ‘Rage, I want you so much it hurts.’
‘Nai,’ he growled. ‘You have no idea.’
His weight settled on me, his skin on my skin, and our lips met with a crash of teeth. He nipped at my lower lip, and I opened to him. His tongue stroked against mine; he threaded his hand into my hair. Coaxing my head back, kissing and caressing, this time with more fervor, the pressure of his lips and tongue and teeth increased as he claimed me. Rage worked his way down my neck, then my chest and abdomen before pausing right at the line of my undies.
‘Yes?’ he asked, his breath feathering over my skin with sensuous agony.
‘Yes,’ I said, giving him permission to take anything he wanted—because I was his, just as he was mine.
Rage licked my skin, just above the hem of my panties, and then sucked.
His teeth grazed me, and my entire body melted as a fine magic crackled in the air.
Oh. Oh … wow.
Another wet stroke made me tremble.
‘Rage,’ I panted, reaching for him. Another sensual stroke made me mewl.
‘I love you, Nai Crescent,’ he said, tugging my undies over the curve of my hips. He kissed me again, and I arched, desperate for more.
‘Rage.’
‘Mate,’ he growled.
The word shot through me, and, as I arched, Rage settled on top of me.
‘Mate,’ he growled again, tugging my panties all the way down. ‘Say it, Nai.’
His words melted into me, coursing through my body, but instead of possession, all I felt was love. So much love … and magic. Whatever force in the universe brought mates together was here now, I felt it in the air, charged and thick.
I panted, and he scented me.
‘Claim me,’ he said. ‘Make me yours. Mate.’
Yes.
Rage moved, his body slick with sweat, and I inhaled as the scent of his desire hit me. Overwhelmed me.
‘Ma—’
Someone pounded on the door, and we froze. The magical feeling around us popped like a bubble when the male on the other side of the door cleared his throat.
‘Uh…’ I said, my gaze darting to the door. ‘Do you think if we ignore them, they’ll go away?’
I slid my hand over Rage’s back, blushing when I realized he’d discarded his underwear at some point. I’d been two seconds away from losing my V-card to the love of my life, and whoever was at the door ruined it.
I cringed. Please don’t be my father.
Rage, naked and clearly pissed at whoever was at the door, rolled off me, keeping all his bits private as he sat on the edge of the bed. “Yes?” he called out, his voice rough. “What do you need?”
I waited, not wanting to get dressed unless absolutely necessary. My body still hummed with the feeling of unfinished business.
“Master Geoff is here,” Noble said with a cough.
Somehow, I knew they’d drawn straws to see who had to come up here. Poor Noble must’ve lost.
“We’ll be right out,” Rage muttered.
My gaze bounced from the door to my mate, only to be hit in the face by my shirt. No. ‘Uh … can’t they wait like two minutes?’
The tension in Rage’s body waned, and he pulled his jeans up with a chuckle.
Wait—how did he get dressed so fast?
I tugged my shirt on and frowned at him. “Seriously … why can’t they wait?�
�
Rage faced me with a crooked grin. “Nai, two minutes isn’t enough time to do what I want to you.”
Hot damn.
“It’s not?” I joked as my undies landed in my lap. “But there are all those jokes—”
In two steps, he crossed the gap and leaned over to brush his lips over mine. “There’s a reason those are jokes. Trust me, that’s not the way I roll.”
I swallowed. Hard. “I do trust you; it’s just…”
‘I’m disappointed too,’ Rage said, kissing me again. ‘But Honor is almost out of time. Besides, our bond isn’t going anywhere.’
He was right. My body ached with need, but I pushed it down and got dressed. Honor needed us more.
Chapter 11
“Where is my son?” a familiar woman’s voice screamed down the hall.
Rage closed the bedroom door behind us, and dread slithered through me.
“Where is he?” her voice cracked. “Where is my Nolan?”
Oh crap. Just what we didn’t need right now: Aunt Lilith.
Dad’s younger sister was a bitch. Literally. Entitled, argumentative, she was to blame for raising Nolan to be a lazy pig who tried to kill me.
‘Any chance we can sneak out the back?’ I joked to Rage.
Rage took my hand. ‘We only have an hour left before Honor’s time is up.’
Right. Honor. Focus.
So we strode into the living room like we’d just come in from a mid-day stroll—not almost sex in the bedroom.
“Nai!” Fiona leapt up from the couch with a fake smile plastered to her face, and the occupants all turned to us.
All. Of. Them.
Kaja, Fiona, and the two Midnight princes sat on one of the large sectionals, their heads inclined toward one another as if trying to ignore Lilith. Lona held my aunt’s arm, and Mack was doing his best to keep distance between my insane aunt and the rest of the room. Dad and Grandpa Geoff stood together in the doorway to the dining room. Geoff looked worse for wear, leaning against his redheaded shield, Reyna, who I recognized from the first day of school at my element ceremony. Kaja’s second eldest sister—she was built like an Amazon woman. Nearly six feet tall with lean muscle, she was beautiful.
