“My life has nothing to do with you, Ali.” I push her off me. Standing up, I grab her wrist, pulling her towards the door to escort her out.
“Go pack your stuff and get out of here.” I open the door, finding Dani stood on the other side, her hand raised as if she were just about to knock.
Frozen, I can't take my eyes from her. Alianna stands on her tiptoes, kissing my cheek. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. Till next time.” She winks, strutting off down the hallway, leaving me standing there, hard and naked in front of a distraught Dani.
“Dani, I … it’s not what it looks like.” The unshed tears in her eyes hit me like a knife straight to my gut.
She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to. The look in her eyes tells me everything I need to know. Danika Cortez wants nothing to do with me.
For the first time ever, I felt it.
Fear.
The fear of being rejected.
The fear of truly being alone.
She turns away, my cock finally taking the hint and going down. “Shit.” I slam the door. Going over to my bedside table, I pull out my emergency bottle of whiskey, taking a drink. Isn’t this what you wanted? To remain unmated. She’s not going to want a damn thing to do with you now. Slamming down the bottle, I quickly redress. Mick wanted the hunter interrogated, and I needed violence. As I leave my room, I can feel the monster within me rising to the surface, begging to be set free on the man in the pit. I should feel sorry for him. I craved destruction right now. And this man was about to get the full force of my anger.
“Where are you going?” Seth calls out behind me.
“The pit.”
“So, what, you’re just going to leave Dani here not knowing what you’ve done. She has a right to know.”
“Fuck you, Seth.” The way she’d just looked at me is the only image in my mind right now, and I need to get the hell away from it. “Does it kill you that even at my worse, I still haven’t stuck a needle in my arm?” I say, turning around to face him. I should take it back, but honestly, I just want him to leave me alone. I was getting tired of his endless bullshit where Dani is concerned. Not all shifters wanted a mate. To love someone so completely you would do anything for them. Whatever it fucking takes. Until one day, they die, leaving you with nothing. My Father was proof of that. The man he became was the fucking devil himself, and I can’t even blame him, not anymore.
“You know what, fuck you, Lautner. I’m only trying to help you, as you once helped me.”
“There’s one big difference though Seth, you wanted help, I don’t.”
“Is it really the end of the world to take a mate?”
“It’s not who I am. I’m a lone wolf. I don’t need anyone. Not Dani. Not the pack. Not you.”
“If you let Dani walk away, that’s it, you know that, right? Cortez and Drake win, and Lautner and Dani lose?”
Ignoring him, I break into a lope, heading for the back of the property and the darkness waiting to consume me.
“You know what, Lautner, you don’t deserve her!” Seth shouts out to my retreating form, finally saying something we can both agree on.
Chapter 35
Dani
I’m shaking as I make my way back upstairs to my room. How can he do this to me? After everything that happened between us. I refuse to cry. I wouldn’t give him or Alianna the satisfaction of breaking me. As I reach for the handle to my room, a hand covers my mouth, pulling me back against a cold firm body.
“Hello, my love, did you miss me?” Drake whispers in my ear, dragging me back into my father’s room.
“Danika,” my father greets me. He’s standing, warming his hands in front of the fire.
“You can let her go now.” My father dismisses Drake with a wave of his hand as he releases me, taking his usual seat by the fireplace.
“What do you want?” I mutter, irritated at being manhandled.
“Is that any way to speak to your father, Danika?”
I watch as he paces the room, wanting nothing more than to scream that I know all about the pills and his plan to keep my wolf from me, but I know I can’t. Not yet. “Forgive me, I’m tired. I did almost get killed last night,” I remind him.
“You will run about on your own, won’t you. I hope last night was a lesson to you.”
“It was. Out of everyone in this room, and our pack, the only one who came to find me was Lautner.”
He scoffs at my words. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed his interest in you. Clearly, we need to let him know that you are taken. Collect your things. From now on, you will share Drake’s room for the remainder of our stay.”
I can feel Drake’s eyes watching me, but I remain focused on my father. “No.”
“You’re not listening, Danika. It’s a command, not a request. From today, you will share his room and his bed. I want every wolf in this goddamn place to smell his ownership of you, especially Lautner.”
“Please,” I beg. For once hoping he sees the desperation in my eyes and shows me some compassion.
“You will do as I say.”
I bite my lip, trying to think of a way out of this. The Stone Valley Pack has a plan to take my father down. I just need to play the game long enough for them to catch him in the act.
“I need more pills,” I blurt out.
“So soon?” My father asks suspiciously.
“The migraines have been getting worse since we got here. I only have two left,” I lie.
“Very well, I will have you some more by tomorrow. In the meantime, I suggest you go to your fiancé and make sure he knows that you only have eyes for him.” The perverse look on his face tells me that he wants to see this. Reigning in my anger and disgust, I bow to my father before walking over to where Drake sits.
“I’m sorry, Drake,” I manage to choke out. He pats his knee, waiting for more. Taking a deep breath, I sit down, repulsed at the feel of how hard he is beneath me.
His hand grips my chin roughly. “Is that his t-shirt that you’re wearing,” he snarls, tugging at it as I look down, realizing I had forgotten to get changed.
I nod as his eyes bore into mine. “Take it off.” He smiles cruelly. I look over towards my father, but he is no longer paying attention to us. He is busy tapping away at his phone. Drake laughs cruelly. “Your father won’t help you.” His cold hand brushes my stomach as he lifts it over my head, leaving me bare before him. He licks his lips hungrily as he stares at my breasts, his thumb and forefinger pinching my nipple hard as I cry out from the pain. “Tonight, Danika, you are mine. Can you feel how hard you make me?” He whispers loudly, knowing my father can hear him, but he doesn’t care. “I can't wait to slide my cock deep inside you as you beg for mercy beneath my hand.”
I refuse to answer or look at him.
“Stay away from Lautner. I can make or break your first time. Don’t push me.” Drake grips my hips, pushing his erect penis against my ass before throwing me to the floor. “Go get changed,” he snarls, throwing Lautner’s t-shirt back at me as I slip it back over my head.
“Please, can I go now?” I ask, looking towards my father.
He nods. “Go pack your things. Drake and I have a meeting to attend.”
As I exit his room, I ignore his orders, heading downstairs to the bar instead. I needed some answers, and I know the only person that would give them to me now is Daniel.
“Did you know?” I demand.
“Know what?” he asks, looking at me, clueless.
“About Lautner and Alianna? Is that why you wanted me to go find him? So I could catch them together? I know you’re jealous that I was fated to him and not you, but do you really hate me that much?”
He shakes his head, looking confused. “Dani, slow down. I would never do that to you. What happened?”
“You lied to me. You told me that during the mating heat, he wouldn’t want anyone but me. You lied,” I cry loudly, grateful that we are the only two people in the room.
“Did you
talk to him?” he asks.
“I just caught him having sex with Alianna. Do you really think I was going to stick around and talk after that?”
“Follow me.” Daniel opens the hatch to the cellar, leading me downstairs. He pulls on a small cord hanging from the ceiling, casting the area in a dim white light. “Nothing would have happened with Alianna. It can’t.”
“I know what I saw, Daniel. I’m not an idiot. I caught her coming out of his room, he was naked, and she kissed him.”
“Arianna is a bitch, but trust me, whatever you think happened, didn’t. You marked Lautner. You staked your claim starting the mate bond. There is no going back for him. No other woman other than yourself will ever be able to touch him sexually without causing him unendurable pain.”
“Something tells me his stupid ass could deal with the pain,” I bark.
“Maybe so, but he wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Why? Why would he do this without telling me?” I snap.
He sighs, pushing his wavy brown hair back from his face. “To protect you. Lester and Brandon, they know you’re his fated mate. They won’t stop coming after you. It’s the only way to keep you safe. Now that you’ve marked him, he will be able to sense whenever you are near or in pain.”
“What about the contract and my father?”
“It doesn’t matter. This only affects him, not you. If he doesn’t mark you within the next day or two, then you will go on as normal, and he… well, he will eventually go mad,” he says with a shake of his head.
“I don’t understand. Why would he give up his life to keep me safe?”
“Because you mean more to him than anyone. He may not say the words, but his actions prove otherwise.”
“I won't allow him to put this on me, Daniel. I wouldn’t be able to go on, knowing he’d damned himself for me. I will make him mark me,” I say, determined.
He nods in understanding. “Don’t worry, we’ll deal with your father,” he promises me. “Mick has set up a meet in a few minutes. I will place the tracker in your father’s phone. Did you ask him for more pills?”
“Yeah, he said he will have them by tomorrow.”
“Good. Once we catch him in the act, my pack can present the evidence to the Council. Your father will be stripped of his alpha position, and your contract to Drake will be over. You will be free to be with Lautner without the threat of war between the packs. We just need a little more time. In the meantime, stay away from Drake. Lautner won’t be able to control himself now as he did before, and we can’t tip your father off when we are so close.”
“It’s too late. My father has already commanded me to move into Drake's room tonight. He knows something is going on.”
“You have to try. You need to speak to Lautner and explain it to him. He finds you in Drake's room, that’s it, game over.”
“Would it really come to that?” I ask worriedly. “A war between the two packs?”
“Yeah, it would. Lautner will do anything to protect you. You’re on Stone Valley Pack territory and fated mate to a pack member. In the eyes of my pack, that means you are protected by us, not your father. My father will stand by you. We all would.”
“I’ll go talk to him now.”
“He’s not here,” Seth calls out behind us, startling me. “He’s in the pit.”
“Take me to him.”
“I can’t,” Seth says. “You don’t want to go down there, trust me. When he gets like that, it’s not safe to be around him.”
“Take me to him, Seth, or I’ll find him by myself somehow. I don’t think Lautner will be too happy when he finds out you let me wander outside alone?” I go to walk past him.
“Shit, he’s totally going to kick my ass for this,” he grumbles, moving ahead of me. “Follow me. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Chapter 36
Lautner
I plunge the knife deeper into the hunter’s thigh as he screams, begging for me to stop. Ignoring him, I take another, piercing his other thigh. I don’t know who I’m more pissed at. The hunter, Jaxson, before me, who had spilled every secret he knew, trying to escape with as little damage to himself as possible. Or the fact that no matter what I did, I can’t get Dani out of my mind. I was a monster. I didn’t deserve her. Yet she unleashes something inside me I have never felt before. The fact that she lets me touch her still confuses me. The way her body responds to mine, always ready for me, just like I was for her. Even now, in the midst of violence, I’m rock hard. Her mark on my chest caressing my skin as if taming the usual rage that takes over. I had been raised to believe that my mate would be nothing to me but my downfall. Still, I can't get her from my mind. Dani had burrowed her way inside of me, and she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Please,” Jaxson begs. “I’ve told you everything, I swear. Please let me go.”
“You’re pathetic,” I snap at the weak man before me.
“I don’t want to die,” he whimpers.
“You should have thought about that before trying to kill my mate,” I seethe, picking up a hammer and forcing his hand onto the small makeshift table beside him.
“Please,” he cries. I don’t listen. I bring the hammer down hard on one of his fingers, hearing the satisfying crunch of bone. I wait for the numbness to take over. To get rid of everything Dani had been making me feel. But it’s still there. The man whimpers as I raise the hammer again.
“Lautner.” Her voice is like a soothing caress pulling me from the darkness I seek. I turn around, waiting for her to freak out, to panic. To tell me she never wants me to touch her again. Yet her face is calm as she wanders further into the room.
Jaxson’s eyes flick towards Dani, and I can feel the anger inside me begin to rise. It’s what I’ve been waiting for, and having this man's eyes on her finally triggers it.
“Don’t look at her,” I growl, dropping the hammer and pulling the knife from his thigh. I stand behind him, forcing his head back. I look over to Dani as she watches me. Without breaking our connection, I drag the blade across his throat. The man gasps, choking on his own blood, but I have no interest in watching the hunter die. Dani is looking directly at the monster within me. The man who can kill without question. Without remorse. And she doesn’t turn away.
“You shouldn’t be here, Dani.” I let the knife drop to the floor at my feet, advancing towards her, waiting for her to run. I see a faint tremble in her shoulders, but she stands her ground as I circle behind her. I grip her arms roughly, pulling her flush against my body as she gasps.
“Welcome to the pit,” I whisper in her ear. “Why are you here?” I place a kiss on her throat as she moans before turning her around to face me.
“I know you didn’t sleep with Alianna,” she says, “and I know what you did. I know about the mark.” Her eyes travel down to my chest, and I swear it’s as if I can feel her touching me. “You made me mark you, knowing damn well what it meant. You’re risking your life, your sanity for mine. You’re not selfish at all. You’re just pig-headed.”
Oh, I’m selfish, alright. But fuck if I wouldn’t do anything for her.
My hands roughly push her shoulders as I guide her away from the dead man in the room. Pushing her against the far wall.
“You care about me.” Her hands grip my cheeks roughly, forcing our eyes to meet, and I swear I’m looking into her soul. “All my life, no one has really cared about me, except for you. Only you cared enough to question my seizures and the pills. You risked your life to protect me from Lester and Brandon. You want the truth, Lautner. I may not feel the mating heat like you. I may not know what you’re going through, but I was dead until I met you. The first night we met, it’s like I took my first breath, and it’s all because of you. You say you’re a monster and you’re selfish, well then, I’m those exact same things. I know the risks, and I don’t care. I’m selfish. I would die for you, because without you, I’m already dead.”
Fuck. Her words hurt as they slice through me,
but damn it, if they aren’t the best words I’d ever heard. They unlock something inside me I’d never even known was there. The fear of not being accepted, of being too tainted to be loved. If she can take a chance and be selfish, then so can I. My father was wrong. Dani is not my weakness. She is my motherfucking strength.
I smash my lips against hers. I know I'm being rough, but I can't help it. Starting the mate bond and not completing it was sending me over the edge. Her body instantly responds just as it always does when I'm near. I love that about her. Her little whimpers against my lips, sends me into overdrive.
My fingers hungrily pull at her jeans as she breaks the contact helping me discard them. I’m acting like a sex-starved teen, and I can't hold back my groan as my fingers slide beneath her silk panties, finally connecting with her heat. She's already soaked as I rub my fingers between her folds, making her gasp.
I shouldn’t be doing this here. Dani deserved better than this place. I’m covered in blood, and I should stop. But I can't. She’s just accepted the man, the wolf, the monster, and she would get them all. I would be whichever one she needed, whenever she needed it.
“Do you have any idea what you’re letting yourself into, Dani? If you’re mine, you’re mine,” I state between bruising kisses.
“I’m yours,” she replies, kissing me back with just as much fervor. “I hate my father for keeping my wolf from me. I want to be consumed with the mating heat. I want to feel everything,” she murmurs against my lips.
I know what she is asking for, and my wolf gladly accepts. I lower my shields, letting my power consume her once more. I watch as she moans, this time embracing the heat instead of fighting it. My mouth finds her nipple and I take it into the warmth of my mouth, using my teeth and tongue to tease her. She arches her back as I switch to the other. She is a fucking goddess, and I want nothing more than to worship her.
I reach down between us, shoving my joggers down my legs, freeing my cock. I lift her hips as she wraps her legs tight around my waist. I can feel her heat where my cock touches her. “Fuck.” I bring my hand between us, snapping the panties at her waist. “I want to go slow, but I can’t. I need you,” I pant. She bites her lip, and with one quick thrust, I enter her. This female was made for me, taking everything I throw at her. I know I should go slow, and goddammit, I want to, but now isn’t the time. There would be plenty of time for that once we got her father and Drake out of the way and the bond was complete.
Lautner: A Dark Fated Mates Romance Page 15
