by Scarlett Ray
“And she’s right,” I started away from him without bothering to explain, knowing he would disapprove—but he followed just as fast, grabbing my arm to stop me.
“Don’t do this.”
“Get off me,” I growled, wrenching out of his grasp, but he just moved to block me with his body instead.
“You know better. You can’t let that woman’s nagging get the best of you just because you want her to be right. I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but—”
“You’re not going to change my mind, and you’re not going to stop me,” My hands were clenched into tight fists, my body coiled and ready to fight him if I had to. Now that I’d made up my mind, I’d made it up without a single doubt. “I’m done watching my mate be in danger and just letting it happen.”
“For God’s sake, Noah, she’s not your mate!”
“Yes, she is!” I snarled, shoving past him and finally voicing what my beast had been arguing for years. “No matter how many times you say otherwise, no matter how much you don’t want to believe it, she is. She’s mine, and I’m not losing her to some northern mongrel who’s just going to use her. I’ve been holding back all this time because I trusted your parents’ judgment, and it’s done nothing but cause me grief. I’m not helping anyone by staying away from her when she needs me.”
“If you tell her about us, you’re only putting her in more danger,” my cousin insisted. My wolf bristled at that thought, and I stopped in my tracks, rigid.
“Don’t fucking threaten her,” I warned, glaring at Luke over my shoulder. “You’re like a brother to me, but if you even think about hurting my mate or my son, so help me God, I’ll tear you apart.”
He started, eyes wide, “Your son? Nicky? He can’t be yours; I would’ve smelled it on him.” Still, he didn’t seem completely sure of himself
“Trust me, he is. He’s as much a shifter as Matt or Todd.” But now wasn’t the time to be explaining it. “And if Dani’s in danger, so is he. I won’t stand for it.”
The news about Nicky seemed to have him shaken, enough that he didn’t try to stop me again as I marched to my truck and headed for the preserve.
* * *
When I got to the Visitor Center and rushed inside, I found Dani’s office empty and had a few seconds of panic. She didn’t go off with Will, did she?
“Noah!” Maggie’s voice drew me out of my fears. She stood in the doorway of her own office, wringing her hands, looking like she’d been crying recently. “I tried to call again. Dani already went home for the day. You have to go talk to her, honey. She’s so lost, and there was nothing I could do…”
“Hey, relax,” I came over to hug her tightly as her face started to crumple again. “I’m going to see her. She’s gonna be fine.”
Maggie nodded against my shoulder, sniffling, “You… You should go.” She took a step back and gave me a shaky smile. “You need to get over there and talk to her before she decides anything.”
I headed back out to my truck, but an unpleasantly familiar scent stopped me getting in. Will. I searched the parking lot for him, a snarl already building in my throat, but I didn’t see his car. The smell was coming from a smaller, even more expensive-looking red speedster, and standing next to it was another north pack shifter. He was a little shorter than Will, a little thinner, with darker hair, but the scent was exactly the same. When he caught sight of me—and probably noticed my scent—he raised his eyebrows in mild surprise and walked over. My body was tense already, my beast anticipating a fight.
“I almost thought Will was lying when he said there was another pack here,” he said in a kind of bored voice, seeming completely relaxed in my presence. “But there you are. You must be one of the Wrights.”
“Who wants to know?” I asked warily.
“So that’s a ‘yes,’ then?” Looking me up and down, he added, “You can relax, by the way. I’m not here to fight with you.”
“Sure.”
He rolled his eyes, “Listen, I’m sure you must hate Will, and I don’t blame you. I’m not really fond of him myself, but he’s our alpha’s son, so we need him. We don’t want him down here any more than you do.”
His pack didn’t want him in Palo Verde? Then what was he doing there? If he was the alpha’s son, that gave him more leeway to do what he wanted, but if the alpha himself was against it, then what was he thinking? “So you’re here to take him home, is that what you’re saying?” Be my guest.
“Something like that. If you happen to run into him, could you give him a message for us?”
Chapter Twenty-Three: Dani
I thought about picking Nicky up from daycare early but decided against it. He didn’t need to see me so shaken up like this. Besides, he was still upset with me over the situation with Noah; that would only get worse if I talked to him about Will’s proposal.
Proposal. God. But was it about business, about money, or was it about his actual feelings? Why make an offer like that if he didn’t care about me at least a little? It was a pretty huge commitment to make, and there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of benefit in it for him. And when I already knew his dad didn’t like me in the first place, how would he react? Maybe he wouldn’t even be willing to lend us his business’s resources.
The whole thing had my head spinning. When I got home, I stumbled into the kitchen, poured myself a shot of whiskey, and tossed it back without so much as flinching. With so much else on my mind, a little burn wasn’t enough to faze me. Exhausted, I sank to the floor and dropped my head back against the cabinet behind me, curling my legs up to my chest.
I’d always prided myself on being so capable, handling whatever obstacles life threw at me. As much as my parents’ death had shocked and hurt me, I had assumed it would be the same. Difficult but not impossible to overcome. The fact that I was collapsed in tears on my kitchen floor—their kitchen floor—said otherwise. “What did I do wrong?” I muttered to myself. “What did I do this wrong? How is it even possible I fucked up this bad?”
Despite knowing that self-pity wasn’t doing me any favors, I didn’t have the energy for much else, which only made me feel even more useless. While I was trying to force myself to get up, to face my problems, to make the choice I really didn’t want to make, there was an urgent knock at the front door.
“Dani!”
That voice was the one I most and least wanted to hear at the moment. On the one hand, even thinking about Noah caused me pain. On the other, I desperately wanted him to hold me, to let me be weak for just a few seconds and know I could come back from it.
I forced myself to my feet and trudged to the door to answer it. When Noah saw the red in my eyes and the tears on my face, he winced.
“What do you want?” I asked flatly, trying and failing to be tough despite my shaking voice.
“We need to talk,” he reached for my hands, but I pulled them away.
“Please don’t,” I begged, fighting back tears again. “I can’t do this. You’re going to drive me out of my mind, showing up like this and giving me a taste, then leaving time and again. I can’t—”
“Dani, I love you,” his words cut mine off completely, leaving me gaping like a fish out of water. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long to say it. I wanted to tell you, I’ve wanted to for years, and I had to hide it because of—” He shook his head. “But I’m done now. I’m done fighting with myself when I know there’s nothing I want more than to be with you.”
“Noah…” I could barely get a word out, in shock once again. Instead, I took a slow step back so he could come inside, my heart pounding so hard I was sure it would give out any second. “Why now? What changed your mind?”
“Maggie told me that Will wants you to marry him,” he explained as he shut the door behind him. “I couldn’t let you do that without knowing how I feel.”
“You mean it this time?” I was almost afraid to believe him. After all, I’d hoped for this before and had it taken aw
ay. How could I know this time was for real? “You said you wanted me before, but it still couldn’t happen. Are you saying you’ll actually stay?”
“If you’ll let me. Yes.”
“What about your family? Did something change with them?”
“No, but I don’t care. All that matters is you and Nicky. The only reason I held back before was for your safety, but I’m not letting it keep me from you anymore. If I have to fight to stay with you, so be it.” Holding my gaze, he told me earnestly, “I know I can’t offer you the kind of money or…stability that Will can. But I love you. And I love our son. And whatever else happens, I swear I’ll always be here for you both.”
“You don’t have any idea how bad I want to believe you.”
“Then believe me,” his eyes fell away from mine, like he thought I might reject him. “I know I haven’t been making this easy. I know I should’ve come clean earlier and saved us both all this trouble. If I’m too late, then it’s my fault for—”
“Noah.” I stood up on my toes to whisper against his lips, “Hush.” Grasping at his shirt with both hands, I pulled him into a kiss. It was slow at first, soft, but it quickly got deeper and hotter as I finally realized this was real. What I’d wanted for years, what I’d hoped for so many times but thought I couldn’t have, and finally, finally it was mine. And like hell was I about to let it go. Not for anything.
Without bothering with a single word, I dragged him into the living room to rest my back on the wall and pull his body right up against mine. Noah didn’t argue for a second, lining my neck with kisses and bites and already helping me out of my shirt.
“You never answered me,” he muttered.
“Oh, is this not enough of an answer?”
“You know what I mean,” he made quick work of my buttons and stripped my shirt off to throw it to the ground. “I want to hear you say it.”
“Say what, cowboy?” I teased, and he let out an impatient growl. Leaning close to run my tongue along the shape of his ear, I told him softly, “I love you, Noah. I’ve loved you since we were kids. I don’t think I could stop if I tried.”
Satisfied, he caught my lips for another deep kiss, both of us working out of our clothes so his skin could meet mine. I wanted to feel every single inch of him against me.
With his bare chest pressed against mine, he slid his hands down my back, around my ribs to my waist, then to my hips to tease along the edges of my jeans. Being so close to him, getting all this comfort after my downward spiral earlier, I was already burning up, wanting him like crazy; I couldn’t stand waiting much longer. Trying to encourage him to keep going, I slid my hand between his legs—and shivered when I felt how hard he was. He took in a sharp breath and dug his fingertips into my hips.
Biting my lip, I rubbed my palm slowly against the bulge in his pants, “If you want it so bad, what are you waiting for?”
“I figured you might want to take it slow.” Apparently forgetting about that plan, he was already unfastening my jeans to tug them down and off, taking my panties with them. Somehow, him seeing me naked didn’t embarrass me for a second, but the way he ran his hands up my bare thighs and covered them with slow, open-mouthed kisses had me shivering and losing my breath.
“Mm, you know me better than that.” As he stood up straight, I unbuttoned his pants to help him out of them. Without meaning to, I licked my lips at the sight of his cock, and I dragged him close by his belt loops. His erection slid between my legs, rubbing against my pussy without going inside, and I whimpered in surprise at how good the friction was.
“You like that, huh?” Noah must have seen how cloudy my eyes had gotten; instead of fucking me right away, he moved his hips slowly in and out, the heat of his cock steadily rubbing against my clit.
“Mm…mm-hm,” I breathed, gripping at his arms and pressing my thighs more tightly around his cock. Maybe ‘taking it slow’ wasn’t such a bad thing after all, if this was what it meant. He leaned down and kissed me while he was grinding against me like that, so my moans passed straight from my tongue to his. But as nice as it was, it was still teasing. The longer he kept it up, the hazier my mind got, the harder it was to stand up straight. “Noah, please. I…I need you to…”
“I was just waiting for you to ask,” he surprised me by lifting me up to wrap my legs around his hips, supporting me with his arms under my thighs. Seeing the shock on my face, he asked with a grin, “You trust me?”
“What kind of question—” I cut myself off with a moan as he started to press inside. Since his cock was already slick with my wetness, it was easy, and he gave me a second to catch my breath once he was all the way in. Despite how shaky I was, I never felt for a second like I might fall; Noah’s arms were as solid as ever holding me up. Threading my fingers through his hair, I begged, “Move.”
Noah didn’t need to be told twice. His rhythm started out gentle but quickly got faster with my moans and gasps encouraging him. In that position, with him holding me so close, everything was so hot and deep and perfect I could hardly stand it. Dropping my head back against the wall, I tried to speak past my panting, “God, that’s good! Don’t—ahh—don’t stop, honey. Tell me—tell me again…”
“I love you, Dani,” his hot breath fell against my neck, his grip on me tight, possessive, everything I wanted it to be. “Fuck, you’re incredible. And you’re mine.” That last bit came out in a growl that sent hot shivers up and down my spine.
“All yours, honey,” I agreed breathlessly. I liked the idea, and it seemed like Noah liked hearing it. He held me tighter, took me faster, and after all that teasing, my body was getting so hot I had to struggle just to get words out, “God. If…if you don’t…slow down, I’m—”
“Good,” his voice was so deep, so smooth in my ear. “Cum for me, Dani.” As if he was giving me much of a choice, talking like that, giving my body exactly what it needed. I didn’t bother trying to hold back, moaning out loud and tightening my legs around him when he pushed me over the edge. It only took a few more thrusts for him to cum with me, holding my hips down against his and groaning into my hair as heat rushed through me.
“Oh, God,” I mumbled, running my fingers slowly through his hair, enjoying his closeness. And he didn’t seem eager to let me go, leaning his body against mine, staying where he was inside me. I kissed him slowly, deeply, happier than I could remember being in years. Even when he finally slipped out of me and set me back on my feet, I refused to let him go, my trembling arms staying locked around his neck. “Hmm. I’m glad you finally came to your senses. I was about to make some…mistakes otherwise.”
“You don’t even know what a mistake it would’ve been,” he said grimly, stroking his hand gently up and down my side. “Listen, you should get rid of him as soon as—”
He was interrupted by another knock at the door and a voice that made my blood run cold.
“Dani? Are you in there?”
“Will!” I hissed, horrified.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Noah
My hackles raised immediately at the sound of Will’s voice, especially with my mate so vulnerable. Since she was obviously so shaken, I forced myself to stay calm for her. “It’s fine,” I told her as we got dressed. “The sooner he leaves, the better.” She nodded vaguely but still seemed nervous. When we went back to the front hall and opened the door together to meet him, his eyes went wide then narrowed into a glare.
“What the hell is going on here?” he demanded.
“Will…” Dani’s voice was thick with guilt. “I’m so sorry.”
“So this is what it looks like?” As if he had any right to be angry.
“Guess you didn’t overestimate me after all,” I told him, slipping an arm around Dani’s waist to hold her close. “You can go ahead and drop the act. Whatever you were trying to do here, it’s over.” He kept up his look of indignation for a second but quickly let it drop into something more like boredom.
“Well, I shouldn’t have expected it to be
so easy, I guess,” he strolled into the house and shut the door behind him, slipping his hands into his pockets.
“Expected what to be so easy?” Dani asked with a frown, and he sighed.
“Winning you over,” he explained, unfazed. “And getting you away from that mutt. No accounting for taste.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Come on, sweetheart, you’re usually quicker than this.”
“He’s been using you,” I told her quietly. “I don’t know what the fuck he wants, but he was manipulating you to get it. This whole…relationship was an act.”
“Oh, not all of it,” Will argued. “Everything I told you when we were in bed was completely genuine.” Between the smug smirk on his face and Dani’s cheeks turning red, it was getting harder to resist attacking him every second. “And I do still plan to marry you.”
“You think that’s still going to happen?” she barked. “Forget it. Whatever you were after, you’re not getting it from me, you son of a bitch.”
“You two are really a lot alike,” he slipped his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I can see why you’re so taken with each other. I was hoping you would stay blissfully ignorant and we wouldn’t have to actually talk about this, but now that it’s out in the open, I guess there’s no more point pretending. Here’s what’s going to happen.”
Starting to wander a little like he was checking out the house, he continued, “Dani, you’re going to marry me. Your preserve will become part of my family’s estate. We’ll do what we can to keep it functioning as-is, but it probably won’t work, considering how bad your reputation has become. Then you’ll have two options. You can either change how you operate, or you can hand the whole thing over to me and let me turn it into an industrial park. Although, let’s be honest, that’s probably what will end up happening anyway.”
