by Emilia Rose
“I thought you were going to reject me,” I whispered through me tears.
“Reject you?” He pulled away enough for me to see him, but I pulled him closer. “What made you think I’d reject you?”
My lip trembled. “Because you let Vanessa into your home, you told me to leave without even placing the necklace on me, you refused to mark me… I-I didn’t hear from you for a whole month.”
He pulled me closer to his chest, lips against my ear. “I waited three years for you. I would never reject you, especially since this is all my fault.”
When I stopped sobbing and my body stopped shaking, I pulled away from him and stared into his golden eyes. I needed to tell him everything. I didn’t care if it hurt him; I didn’t care if he didn’t tell me what happened here. I wanted the air to be clear between us.
“I was going to let Raj mark me.”
“I know,” he said, tensely. “I could smell him on you.”
I swallowed hard, on the verge of tears again. “And that rogue… I was only doing it for work. I didn’t mean to kiss him; I didn’t want to kiss him.”
“You kissed one of them?”
I pressed my lips together. There was no hiding anything now. I wanted to start clean. “Yes, I kissed one of them, then I killed him even though my mission didn’t call for it.” I swallowed hard. My mission was supposed to be to get information out of the rogues, not to kiss them, not to kill them, not to run to Roman’s house afterwards. I fucked up my one solo mission by getting my heat and killing the rogue. “I killed him,” I whispered. What would Ryker say about that?
“You kissed one of them,” Roman repeated, hurt sewn into his eyes.
I ran a hand through my hair. I should be back at the Lycans now, reporting to Ryker that I failed the mission… but I wanted to be here with my mate who was now seething because I told him I kissed that rogue. “Roman, stop,” I pleaded. “It was for my job.”
He stood abruptly, tugging on his sweatpants. His teeth lengthened into canines, and he eyed my neck. My body shuttered just thinking about him plunging them into my flesh and claiming me. But, instead, he stormed right out of the room and slammed the door.
I grabbed his shirt and followed him down the hallway. “Roman, where are you going? I don’t want to continue playing this game. Come on.” This was ridiculous. I didn’t even want to kiss him, but I had to for work. “Roman, please.”
The muscles in his back were tense. “Isabella, don’t follow me. Please.” He shut and locked his office door.
And, just as it did, the bitch herself walked out of her bedroom, dressed in only a t-shirt—Roman’s t-shirt—the same one from the day at the café. She smirked at me, her red-painted lips curling into a smirk. “Isabella?” She furrowed her brows together. “What’re you doing here?”
I glared at her. “You need to pack your bags and leave.”
“Leave?” She grabbed my chin, inhaled deeply, and smirked. “You don’t make the rules around here, Izzy. Roman does, and Roman wants me around.”
I snatched her elbow and twisted it, making her yelp. “One, I’m not in the mood for you. Two, I’m not going to take your shit anymore like I used to. Three, if you touch me like that again, I’ll pull your shoulder out of its socket so fast that you won’t even know I did.” I released her elbow and she pulled it back, then knocked on Roman’s office door.
“Roman!” Her voice was so high-pitched and squeaky I thought I was going to lose my mind. “Roman!”
He growled from inside of his office. “Leave, Vanessa.”
She pouted her lips. “Please, Roman.”
“I’m not going to tell you again.”
She marched straight out of the hallway and slammed her door shut. What was the goddamn point of that? To get on my nerves?
I pounded my fist onto the office door. “Roman, let me in.”
He growled again, and my wolf purred for him.
“Stop acting like a child.”
The door suddenly opened, and Roman’s wolf stared down at me, eyeing the one spot on my neck where my wolf had been begging him to bite me.
Chapter 44
Roman
I walked out of the room so I didn’t mark her out of anger. Just listening to her tell me she willingly kissed one of those rogues made me furious. All I wanted was to thrust her against the bed and sink my teeth into her.
But I waited three years—three fucking years. I wanted our moment to be special. Not rash.
I wasn’t a Ryker. I wasn’t going to mark a woman out of pure rage, even if she was my woman.
She glared up at me. “You can’t be angry at me, Roman. It was work. It wasn’t like I willingly let someone that I knew liked me live in the packhouse and walk around in my own fucking clothes while my mate was chasing her dreams.”
I clenched my jaw, trying to hold back my wolf who could never relax when he was with her. He was always there, always vying for her attention, always wanting her to submit to him.
In the heat of the moment, I pulled her into my office, slammed the door shut, and pressed her against it. She smelled so fucking sweet, I couldn’t help stuffing my face into the crook of her neck and inhaling. My teeth brushed against her soft spot. “I’m not angry at you,” I said tensely, fighting with my wolf to stay in control. I pulled away momentarily. “I just want you too fucking bad.”
I needed to put space between us or I would be one more moment away from taking her out of rage and pure innate need. I stepped back but grasped her hands. “All I want is to mark what is mine.” I eyed that lovely little neck of hers again and resisted my wolf. “To show everyone that you are mine.”
Her cheeks flushed. “What’s stopping you?”
She always knew exactly what to say to bring my wolf to the surface. I stepped back, bumping into my desk so I wouldn’t jump at her. “I don’t want to mark you out of anger,” I said slowly.
She frowned, thinking for a few moments, then took my hand and placed it on her fragile neck. When my fingers brushed over her soft spot, she shook with utter bliss and I growled.
She was mine. Only mine. All mine.
“Isabella,” I warned.
“Roman,” she whispered. “Don’t make me make you mark me.” She brushed her hand across the front of my pants, and I hardened at her touch. “You know I have ways of making you do things.”
She had gushed about her parents' moment when we were kids, hanging out in my parents’ backyard. She always told me how she imagined her moment: finding her mate, kissing him under the moon inside a garden of Moonflowers. I wanted to give her that; she deserved it after what I put her through.
But now… it was all about to be ruined.
I growled one last time, and she tilted my head away from me, giving me a clear view of her neck—right where she wanted me to mark her. “Roman,” she whispered again. “Imagine your mark right here.” She gazed up at me with those big blue eyes and drew my fingers across her neck. “Your teeth sinking into my neck, claiming me.” She blushed and sucked in a breath. “How good it would look on me.”
I cursed under my breath. She would break me. Right here. Right now.
She slipped her hand into my pants and grasped my hard cock. “Don’t you think it would, Roman?”
Control, Roman, control.
She stepped around me, hopped up onto my desk, and pulled me closer to her until I was pressing against her wet… fucking… pussy. “Mark me, Roman.”
Mark mate.
I wrapped my hand around her throat and pulled her closer to me, my teeth against her neck. I brushed my thumb against her jaw and growled. She was mine.
“Let me show everyone—Cayden, Raj, Ryker—that I’m yours and yours only.”
“Mine,” I growled. “Mine.”
“Yours,” she said breathlessly. My canines brushed against her skin. She was mine, and I was going to claim her.
Chapter 45
Isabella
Someone knocked at th
e door, and Roman pulled away from me—but didn’t stop staring. The sunlight bounced off his eyes, making them a golden sea. All I wanted was for him to drop this tough-guy act and sink his teeth into my neck. Claiming me.
Roman readjusted himself and opened the door. Cayden stood outside, running a hand through his thick locks and pacing back and forth. “Where have you been? We have a—”
Ryker appeared down the hall, storming toward Roman’s office with a tight jaw and even tighter fists. “Isabella, I need to talk to you. Now,” he said. My eyes widened. Shit. Shit. Shit. I knew I should’ve called him or went back to the Lycans or something.
Without giving me a chance to speak, Roman growled and pulled me behind him. Ryker stepped forward, but Roman didn’t back down. He growled again, his nails lengthening into claws.
Vanessa opened her door. “What’s going on out here?” she asked. She actually had the decency to put on clothes this time. “Oooh, a love triangle.” She leaned against the door frame and looked between us three. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Isabella.”
Roman and Ryker both growled, causing her to snap her lips closed. Thankfully, because if they didn’t, I would have done it myself.
“Get out of my house,” Roman said through his teeth to Ryker.
“I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Isabella, one of my Lycans.”
Oh, no. This was bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.
They stepped closer to each other, and I stepped between the two of them, placing my hands on each other their chests, before they could kill each other. What was wrong with these two? Hell, what was wrong with all these big-headed, testosterone-filled men?
Roman pulled my wrist away from Ryker’s chest, but I stopped him. “Stop it.”
“This is your fault, Roman,” Ryker seethed, eyes flickering to a vicious black.
“My fault?” Roman growled. “What the fuck is my fault?”
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek and turned to Ryker, placing both of my hands on him. They needed to be as far apart as I could get them. Two leaders, two violent and vicious leaders, facing off in the middle of Roman’s hallway with me between them both… that would end badly. Roman wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me close to him.
Cayden stood behind Ryker, running his hands through his hair. He gazed at me with eyes that pleaded for me to stop them because he sure as hell couldn’t. “This isn’t the time for—”
Roman pulled me out of the way again and pushed Ryker. “Get off of my property. This is—What?—the second, third time you showed up without my permission.”
“I don’t need your permission to talk to one of my Lycans.”
“She’s not yours.” Roman growled.
Cayden cleared his throat, yet neither one of them heard it. So, I stepped around them to Cayden to see what this whole fuss was about. Vanessa stood next to him, her eyes wide, hanging off of every single word he said. “She’s what?” she asked, her voice barely audible. A tear rolled down her cheek.
Cayden frowned at me. “Jane is gone and so is Raj—that Lycan from your pack—Isabella.”
“What do you mean that they’re gone?”
“How do you just disappear?” Vanessa cried out, black drops of mascara running down her cheeks.
“They’re gone,” Cayden said again, nodding to Ryker who shoved Roman into the wall. They were moments away from going at it, but I couldn’t care at that moment. The one reason I had become a Lycan was to protect, and now my partner and my mate’s sister were taken. “Ryker said that the rogues took them.”
“The rogues took them?” I asked in disbelief. When Cayden nodded his head, I marched right over to the two men and pushed them both back. “Stop!” I shouted, my jaw clenched. Both of their heads snapped to me, and I gazed at Ryker. “Is it true?”
Roman growled, but I placed a hand on his chest, hoping that it’d calm him enough to get us through this.
“Are they both really taken?” My voice wavered.
“Who’s taken?” Roman asked.
Ryker gave him a long look, then he nodded at me. Despite his overt anger, Ryker seemed calm about the situation—as if something like this had happened before. “Jane and Raj are gone.”
I pressed my lips together, a heap of guilt washing over me. This was my fault. “How do you know that rogues took them?”
“Jane? What was my sist—” Roman asked.
“Their scent was all over Raj’s last known location.”
My heart sunk in my chest. I should’ve been there with him. I should’ve been there. This was my fault. They were gone because of me, because I was afraid of being marked by him or some rogues. If I was there, I could’ve helped him. Now he was… taken.
Roman tensed behind me, suddenly becoming quiet. Vanessa wiped her tears with the back of her hand, her hiccups louder than before. Cayden awkwardly patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down. “Maybe they’re just mates and decided to sneak away,” she cried.
“This is my fault,” I said. “If I would’ve just come back to the Lycans when I started heat like we decided… if I would’ve stayed there and not run away like I did…”
It was written all over Ryker’s face that he thought it was my fault too, but he said, “It’s not your fault.” He sighed deeply through his nose and gazed back at Roman. “It’s his.”
The vein in Roman’s neck pulsed violently, and his eyes turned darker than I had ever seen them. “It’s my fault that my sister got abducted by rogues, okay. Keep telling your dirty little lies to my mate to get her to like you,” he seethed.
Ryker growled. “You tracked his scent. You were the last person at his last known location. You refused to mark your own fucking mate. If you would’ve just done it, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“If you didn’t go behind my back to take my mate away from me, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“If you weren’t so fuck—”
I drown them out. I couldn’t bear to listen to their bickering anymore. Not when this was neither of their faults. It was mine.
~~~
“I can’t believe it.” Vanessa sobbed. Her cheeks were stained with streaks of black mascara. “Why is this happening? Why would they take her?”
I sat in Roman’s chair in his office and rubbed my sweaty palms together. It didn’t make sense. These rogues were after alphas, not ordinary wolves. Roman paced around the room, ordering his warriors to guard the perimeters and to track any scents that they could find. Ryker sat on his phone, talking to someone back at the packhouse and gazing at me every few moments.
This was my fault. And he knew it.
Roman growled. “Crying will get us nowhere, Vanessa.” He snapped at her, his teeth already lengthened into canines.
Derek ran into the room and sighed in relief when his eyes met mine, but I looked away. He pulled me into a hug, and I barely had enough energy to hug him back. My stomach was twisting with uneasiness. Why take Jane? She wasn’t an alpha. Neither was Raj.
If these rogues were after the alphas… she shouldn’t have been taken.
This was not the rogues’ original plan. This might’ve been the heat of the moment after hearing that seven of them were killed at the Night Raider’s Full Moon party. They might’ve left clues or forgotten to hide their tracks.
Ryker gazed up from his phone and nodded to me. “Yeah, she’s fine. I’ll talk to you later.”
When he shut off the phone, I stood up. “Let’s go,” I said. “We need to find them before something happens.” I pursed my lips. “Because of me.”
Roman snatched my wrist. “You’re not going. You’re not leaving this house.”
Ryker growled at him. “She’s going. This is her job.”
I rolled my eyes. Not this again. They were about to waste another fifteen minutes growling at each other and getting nothing done. I gazed at the warriors in the room. “Can we have a bit of privacy?” I asked, nodding to Roman.
Ryker eyed us for a moment. “Two minutes.” He looked back at his phone and tapped on it. “Then we have to go.”
Once everyone left, I shut the door and pressed my hands against Roman’s chest, resting my forehead against his. “I have to go, Roman,” I whispered.
He grabbed my hands. “No.”
“I do.”
“They’ll take you too,” he said, a sudden sadness in his voice. It was like everyone he had ever loved was taken from him. Over and over and over and he could do nothing about it. He squeezed my hands. “They can’t take you. I’ve waited too long.”
“Nobody will take me, Roman.” I smiled. “I hope you have enough confidence in my abilities to believe that.”
“I do.” He shook his head and leaned back against the oak desk, pulling me into his taut chest. “I’m sorry that I didn’t put you on the warriors. I really am. I regret that decision every single day of my life, and now I’m paying for it.”
I pushed a stray piece of hair out of his face and gently caressed his cheek. This man.
“But you can’t go.”
I clenched my jaw lightly. Why couldn’t it be easy? Why couldn’t he let me protect him and his family?
“I’m going whether you like it or not,” I said.
“They’ll take you. They took Jane to get at me, what makes you think they won’t take you too?”
“Why do you think they took Jane?” I asked, trying to claw at any piece of information that I could.
He paused for a moment. “To weaken me. Just like they took Mom to weaken Dad.”
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek and shook my head. “They haven’t done this with anyone else in the past five years. No other pack. What makes you so special?”
Of course, he was very special to me, but why was he special to these rogues? His parents died years ago, and if these rogues were a new group like Ryker had told me, then they shouldn’t have any information about that.
