by Lauren Dane
But it kept on, wave after wave until he felt as if he’d surely drown in her and when he opened his eyes, the world shifted and he saw a look of utter wonder on her face just before he lost consciousness.
“Shit!” Tegan didn’t want to break free of the rope but she was worried about Ben so she reached down and pulled her wolf toward the surface enough to muscle through the ropes. Hands tingling and arms asleep, she pulled herself off his cock reluctantly and shook herself to get feeling back while saying his name.
Jumping out of bed, Tegan rushed into her bathroom, coming back with a wet washcloth that she pressed over his face until he began to return to consciousness.
Smiling at him, she kissed his forehead. “Are you all right?”
“Did you just fuck me into unconsciousness?” Startled, he sat up and saw the rope.
“Sorry. I broke free, I was worried about you. We can go to Monk’s together and buy some new rope. Are you feeling better?”
“What the hell happened?” He put a hand to his forehead and then looked at her, realizing how different he felt. “Tegan?”
She took a deep breath. “Well, uh, do you want a drink first?”
“Did you just change me into a werewolf?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’d never do that without your permission! Okay, so the short of it is, you and I have just mated.”
“What?”
“I know. It works like this. Werewolves mate for life. It’s a very long story but Lucas was my mate and I had an anchor bond, I still do so we don’t have to deal with that. But Lucas died and my Anchor saved me from dying too. When Lucas died, I was able to mate again. But of course I was devastated and I haven’t dated or even had sex in the last four years.”
“My head hurts, Tegan. Anchors, mates? What the hell are you telling me?”
“Hey, don’t be an ass. I didn’t plan this but it sure explains why I was so damned attracted to you from the start.” She gave him a narrow-eyed look and he relaxed, putting a hand on her thigh. “So anyway, it works like this—there are genetically compatible people out there. Not like only one person on earth but it’s rare enough. Anyway, when the semen of one of the genetically matched people enters the vagina of the other person it creates a, hell, I don’t know, it’s sort of magic. It changes the DNA of each party to something else entirely, something matched and coupled. It creates a bond between the two people. In my culture, it’s marriage. When you came inside me, you sealed the bond and Claimed me as it were.”
“Tegan, I won’t deny that I am really attracted to you and have been from the first moment I laid eyes on you. But I’m human.”
“Nina was too.” Tegan shrugged. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I won’t force myself on you. You have to accept it in your own way.”
He stood and began to pace, alarmed at how much he wanted to get back in bed and roll around with her. “Why did you do this to me without telling me?”
“I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known. I’d have waited to get to know you better. I know you don’t know me very well, but I would not have done this without your consent if I’d known. I’m not like that.”
And instinctively he knew that was true. But he didn’t know anything else. He grabbed his clothes and began to get dressed. She watched him from the bed with sad eyes.
“I can’t handle this. I’ve got to go home and think.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
“What does this mean?”
Sighing, she stood and pulled on a robe. “What do you mean, what does this mean? Do you want me to use the rope to keep you here? You’re freaked, you don’t trust what I’m saying and you’re overwhelmed.” She shrugged. “But, Ben? When I mated with Lucas, I wanted to be with him all the time. Wanted to touch him and be touched. When we were apart for any long period of time, like when he was in ranger school and when he was shipped out to Afghanistan, it was incredibly difficult. I expect you’ll feel it too. The need to be with me.”
She put her arms around herself. “I am sorry, Ben. I’ve chained you to me without your consent and I apologize for that. I didn’t know.”
“Is it reversible?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He felt the need to comfort her and reached out to caress her face. “I believe you didn’t know. I’m not angry. But I’m confused. I was ready for a regular sub and a girlfriend, I don’t know if I’m ready for a wife. I have to get out of here. I will call you. I promise.”
She stood in the doorway to her bedroom, watching him pull on his boots, grab his bag, and head for the door.
“Goodnight, Tegan.”
Even before he’d gone she felt him leave. Felt him pull himself away from her and the emptiness that had been her constant companion for the last four years suddenly consumed her again. Having that warmth of connection to a mate again after the aching hole inside herself, only to have it stolen again, left her bereft.
Lowering the hand she’d raised as he’d gone, she slid to the ground and began to weep.
Chapter Five
Tegan dragged her ass to the house, knowing there’d be a shit storm once she got there and they scented that she’d been Claimed. But there was no way around it so she went, hoping Nina was there to get her back.
She called Layla on the drive over and, as always, Lay was calm and cool and said she’d head on over to the house as well.
It was seven thirty when Tegan rolled into the kitchen and thanked her lucky stars to see Nina at the sink and Megan sitting at the table. No Cade or Lex in sight.
Both women spun as Tegan entered the room, nostrils flared. Before they could exclaim, she put a finger to her lips to silence them both. Nina’s brow rose as she turned to pour a mug of coffee for Tegan and hand it her way.
“Sit. Lex and Cade are in the office so we don’t have a lot of time. What happened?”
She told them the whole story, glad she’d cried all her tears the night before.
Nina looked shocked and then shrugged. “Shit. Well, Ben is a great guy. He’ll come around. He was shocked. Hell, I remember. I was shocked too.”
“I hope so.” Tegan took a sip of her coffee, thankful for her very common sense sister-in-law.
“Don’t you need to take care of the tri-bond?” The tri-bond was a second male who had sex with the female and formed an Anchor, like the third leg to a stool. The Anchor kept the female alive should her mate die. In some cases, a mated female who refused the tri-bond went insane from the intensity of her feelings for her mate and without the stabilizing influence of the Anchor. It was an accepted and honored position for males to hold in the lives of the mated couple.
Tegan shook her head. “No. My Anchor is still alive. In cases where the mate dies and the Anchor is mated to someone else, the wolf who moves to another mate doesn’t need to do the tri-bond again. So no insanity for me.”
Megan laughed and squeezed her sister’s arm. “I’m glad to see your sense of humor back. I’ve missed it.” She looked up. “Ah the rest of the cavalry has arrived I see. Hey, Lay.”
Layla came in, dropping her bag before delivering a kiss to each woman in the room. “Have the control twins heard yet?” Her voice was low.
Tegan shook her head. “No, but they will soon enough. And we have to find a way to keep them off Ben’s back. It’s hard enough for him to have to deal with this, the last thing he needs are Cade and Lex on his ass.”
They all agreed to that. “Okay, but I need to talk to Ben. Because I’ve been where he is and because I love you, Tee, and he needs to deal. If I’m guessing right, he’s got to be jonesin’ pretty bad for you right now. He may listen to me easier than anyone else,” Nina said.
And that’s when Cade and Lex came in. At first it was howls of joy until
they heard the whole story. That’s when all hell broke loose.
Cade stalked to the door, ignoring Tegan’s cries to wait. Until Tegan pulled a weapon and put it to Cade’s head. “If you leave this room and go to harass my mate, I will kill you, I swear it.”
Cade stopped and turned to face his sister slowly. Nina, Layla and Megan held Lex back. “You best be putting that gun down, Tee. I’m not joking. He needs to deal with his responsibilities.”
“I’m not! Don’t piss me off any more! He’s my mate and I’ll protect him. This is not your affair.”
“The hell it isn’t. You’re my sister and one of my wolves. He can’t just fuck and run.”
“He did not fuck and run! My God, we’d just started to date and then this metaphysical thing happens out of the blue and ties him to me in this rather permanent way. He’s shocked and trying to deal with it. Let it be. I mean it, Cade, don’t do this. I lost one mate, I will not lose another. I won’t.” A ragged sob tore through her and Cade took the gun, tossed it to Lex and pulled his sister into his arms. He rocked her back and forth, smoothing a hand over her hair as she wept tears she didn’t know she had inside her anymore.
Suddenly all of them surrounded her and comforted her, giving her love and support.
Some minutes later Cade pushed her into a chair and shooed the other guards who’d come running at the commotion, sending them off to patrol.
“We can’t let this go on, Tegan.” Cade’s voice was gentle.
“I’m going down there to talk to him about it.” Nina stood. “I’ve been where he is. Maybe he’ll listen to me. Certainly he’ll hear me easier than you two.”
“Nina,” Lex started but just stopped, knowing she’d made her mind up and that she was right. “Okay, I’m going too. As a guard. I won’t go into Stoner’s office or anything. I swear.”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
Ben’s stomach hurt. His back ached and he’d thought of nothing but Tegan since he’d left her place the night before. He’d heard her start to cry once he walked out, and wanted to go back to comfort her but not more than he needed to be away.
He’d driven for hours before going back to his house. Sitting in the dark of his living room, he’d thought about the situation until the sky had begun to pinken with dawn. While he really didn’t like the idea of this mate thing, he couldn’t deny that he’d been strongly attracted to her from the start.
Ten years ago there’d been Sarah. The great love of his life. Or so he’d thought. They’d lived together and planned to be married. He’d given her his love and a home and his trust. Until she’d broken it and betrayed him, cheating with his partner at the time.
He’d been utterly destroyed. Thrown himself into his work with such dedication that he’d been promoted to detective the next year. But he’d shut off his heart and his emotions, moving from one several months’ long relationship to another. He deliberately chose women who didn’t challenge him, who didn’t stir him. It was nice to sleep with them and then move on with no engagement of emotions on his part. But there had been one woman about a year ago, who’d been his girlfriend for nearly seven months. In her, he’d found his will to top a woman again.
In the last six months or so, he’d come to the conclusion that he wanted a woman in his life again, a girlfriend and a submissive. When Tegan Warden walked into that room at Club De Sade, he’d known she was meant for him.
Certainly not in the sense that it apparently meant now. He didn’t love Tegan. He liked her, desired her, wanted to know her more, but to him, marriage meant love.
He’d gone to work in a daze and sat looking at the papers on his desk in between phone calls and meetings until Nina Warden tapped on his door.
Warily he asked her to come in and motioned for her to sit down.
“So wow, huh? That magic semen is something else,” she said brightly and he blinked rapidly. “Ben, you know why I’m here. You may not have known that any werewolf can scent the bond on Tegan and now you, but we can. She walked into the house looking like death warmed over and we smelled you on her and the bond and oh boy was it an exiting morning at my house! Tegan held a loaded gun to Cade’s head when he threatened to come and talk to you.”
He stared at her. The woman just chattered and chattered.
“Oh all right, down to brass tacks. The deal is that I was human and had no real idea of the mate bond thing either when it happened to me. Here I was enjoying some, uh, horizontal interaction with Lex and then bam! I passed out and then he tells me his magic sperm has now changed my DNA. Oh man was I pissed off at him.” She snorted. “Anyway, it took a lot of adjustment. There aren’t a lot of things about my first few months with Lex that went smoothly. But I’ll tell you right now, Ben, he’s the best thing in my life. I know this all seems very woo-woo and spooky and you probably resent your lack of choice in the matter, I did too. But she’s meant for you. Give it a chance. You don’t have to love her yet, but you want her. I know you do. So why not go with that for now while you get to know her?”
And she made sense. Suddenly it all made sense. He could do that. They could continue to date and get to know each other. There was no harm in that. And if they were meant to be like everyone kept saying, it would happen the way it was supposed to.
“Do you think that would work for her? That she’d go for it?”
Nina nodded. “She understands you’re upset. She didn’t know, she wouldn’t have just bound you without telling you. She’s a good woman, Ben. One of the best people I know. I trust her with my life. With Lex’s life.”
He sighed. That was high praise. He knew how much Nina Warden adored her husband. “She’s off at five?”
Nina grinned. “Yep.”
“Your family, er, Pack will be okay with it too?”
She shrugged. “Look, I’m not gonna lie to you, wolves are pushy about Packmates. They’re downright annoying when it comes to their family. Tegan’s brothers are the top dogs, um, wolves. So they wanted to come here, beat your ass and drag you back to the house and give you to their sister to make her feel better. That’s what they do. That’s what brothers do. But as she quite unabashedly held a Glock to Cade’s head at the very threat, he’s backing off for the time being to try and let you two work it out. I’ll do what I can to help. But if you hurt her, you’ll wish Cade or Lex had found you first because I’m not playing around here. Tegan is special, you will not harm her. You have her heart, you will be careful with it or I’ll hack your balls off with a plastic spork and feed them to feral ducks while I make you watch.”
He shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “All right. I’ll call her when her shift is over and arrange to see her.”
“Call her now. She’ll feel better and you will too. I promise.” Nina stood and went to the door. “Oh and Ben? Welcome to the family.” She winked and left.
The woman was fucking scary. He snorted as he picked up the phone and dialed the number Tegan had given him.
She must have seen his name on caller ID because she answered, “Hi.” He felt her sadness and relief through the phone lines. Weird. Still, he wished like hell he could touch her to ease her worry.
“Hey. I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t know what to do or say. How are you today?”
She chuckled. “It’s been a day. I held a gun to my brother’s head earlier.”
“I heard.”
“Ah, Nina’s been by.”
“She said a lot of stuff. Most of it went over my head. She talks a lot. But some of it made sense. Can I see you tonight? Make you dinner at my place so we can talk?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.”
He gave her directions and she arranged to come over at seven. And he did feel better when he hung up.
* * *
Tegan took a deep breath as she got out of her car and stood in B
en’s driveway. She liked the look of the unassuming rambler. The front yard was nicely landscaped with Japanese maple trees and pretty shrubbery. Nothing fancy, but it was kept up and Tegan felt like the place was taken care of by someone who cared about it.
For her, the matter was simple. He was her mate. But at the same time, she didn’t think she could deal with waiting around until he figured out just what he wanted either. She was a patient woman, the years after Lucas’s death had taught her a lot about waiting and truly being ready for the big things. Ben was her big thing.
How she’d balance her need to respect herself and let him find a way to accept what was between them wasn’t something she’d worked out. She wanted to give him time. Wanted to help him through what had to be a very confusing situation. That would be her starting point because he was hers and she knew the joys of having a mate connection and she very much wanted it again.
Tegan had spoken with her grandmother earlier that day. All Grandma would say for sure was that things are thrown in our path for a reason. Ben was there and it was Tegan’s destiny to deal with him.
And while she respected her grandma very much, Tegan felt like she’d had her damned share of things thrown in her path for a reason and wondered why something easy couldn’t be her destiny instead.
Brushing the front of her clothes, she gave herself a mini pep talk and headed for his front door.
He opened it before she even knocked, standing there looking masculine and sexy. “Hi. Come in.”
She walked past him, trying to ignore how much the scent of his body made her weak in the knees. The place was warm inside and a fire was going in the fireplace on the far wall.
The feel of his body behind her washed over her as she tried to hold herself together, wanting to touch him but not knowing if she could bear to be rejected.
“You look beautiful. Even in jeans and a plain shirt you knock me out,” he murmured as his arms encircled her waist and she allowed herself to lean back into him.
