“Did one of them scare you?” he snarled. Harold’s eyes shifted, the room around him taking on a yellow hue. His canines sharpened and he wanted blood.
“No! No, not at all.” She gasped when she looked up into his eyes. “It’s just me. I feel like I don’t belong anywhere…except here in your home. It’s the only time I feel at ease.”
“With me?” he inquired, feeling his chest swell with pride knowing he’d taken care of the female when she was under his care.
“I just want to hide away from everyone and everything right now.” Luna’s eyes glazed over and she blinked a few times as the tears welled up in them. One by one, the drops slid down her pale cheeks. “I don’t want to be around anyone at all.”
“You will be leaving in two days with Theo,” he said, then swallowed hard. The thought of her leaving made his heart ache, but it was for the best. She needed to be somewhere she belonged, and the pride of misfit shifters was better than a pride full of panthers.
“I hope his land is secluded,” she whispered. “I just want to hide away.”
Harold felt his heart ache for her. She was going through a state of depression and definitely some PTSD. He couldn’t fault her for that. She’d lost her entire pack, been kidnapped, raped, and saw her brother killed before her eyes. Once rescued, she was taken to a foreign place with shifters who weren’t even her species, all to find a male that may or may not be her mate.
“I want you to stay with me and rest,” he offered when she yawned. “Take the bedroom in the back. I will sleep on the couch.”
“I can’t take your room,” she replied, wiping away her tears.
“You can and you will,” he ordered. “I’ll have Marie gather your things from the alpha’s home, and I will talk to Theo and Talon to let them know you are going to be staying with me.”
“If you’re sure,” she began, but a hard stare from him shut her up.
“You are welcome here for as long as you need,” he promised. “Now, let me show you to your room. I’m sure you are exhausted.”
“Yes…okay,” she conceded, allowing him to show her the way.
Chapter Eight
She knew Harold was her mate. There was no denying the pull she felt from her wolf. His concern for her, however, was what those human romance novels from long ago were made of. She shook herself. They couldn’t touch. This wasn’t a damned romance novel. She was a wolf and he was a panther…two totally different species.
She followed him into the room and waited until he stepped aside, wondering what would happen if they did touch. Was the mating bond the same between all shifters? Did the species ever cross-mate? Was that even a thing? She had been so sheltered in her pack, she’d never learned about the others. There’d been no other shifters in her area, and even if there were, her pack would’ve forbidden any involvement.
She didn’t want to impose on him, but the demand from him was enough to appease her wolf, so she climbed into his bed as soon as the door closed. The moment she did, her wolf growled from his scent. She whimpered and buried her face into the pillow. His scent surrounded her and she was surprised when she felt wetness between her legs.
“He’s my mate,” she whispered softly.
Her legs sawed together as the ache built. She was aroused to the point of pain. Should she touch herself? Even after all she’d been through, the thought of sex still disgusted her, but with Harold’s scent around her, she felt…safe.
She wanted that with him, but she couldn’t tell him. Her new pride would be leaving in two days, and she was going to fulfill her commitment to help him organize and be on her way.
Their mating would never work. She had to convince herself to stop thinking about him and tell her wolf to back off.
The ache in her womb wasn’t getting the memo, though. Another wave of heat hit her and she moaned a little louder, trying to turn her face into his scented pillow, but the sound was so loud, she was sure he’d heard her. His scent, however, strengthened the need.
“Luna?” Harold knocked on the door. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she called out, whimpering on the end when she heard his voice. She wanted to ask him to come in, because the need was getting stronger by the second.
“You are not fine,” he growled low in his throat. “Unlock the door and let me in so I can check on you.”
“No, please,” she cried. “Please do not come in here, Harold.”
There was a moment of pause before the handle on the door rattled a few times. She heard his panther’s growl again and the handle on the door twisted hard. The sound of the mechanism breaking was the only warning before he burst into the room.
“What…” he froze, his nostrils flaring from the scent.
“I’m in heat,” she cried, not even caring to wipe away the tears that were falling from her eyes. “You are my mate, and my wolf needs you.”
“You are in no shape for a mating, Luna,” he stated, but his words were strangled. She glanced down at his denim jeans and his cock was already hard for her. His knuckles were white from where he held the doorframe with all of his strength.
“I’m healed,” she groaned when another ache had her pulling up into the fetal position. “If you cannot touch me, please give me something.”
“You want me to medicate you?” he asked in shock. Those beautiful, icy blue eyes were amber now.
“My pack’s healer would give the females something to sedate them when they were in heat and unmated.”
“I will take care of you,” he offered, but turned around to leave. Luna buried her face into the pillow again when she realized he wasn’t going to touch her.
When he returned, Harold wore special gloves and had a syringe in his hand. She rolled over so she wasn’t facing him and allowed the male to inject her with a sedative in the back of her arm. It only took a few seconds before the ache between her legs eased and she fell asleep…only to dream for hours about the male who was fated to be her mate.
Harold collapsed in the hallway outside of his bedroom, sliding down the wall to sit heavily on the floor. Luna’s wolf had claimed him and she was obviously in heat. The scent inside his bedroom was pure sexual need in the air, and his cock wanted her more than the air he was sucking into his lungs. It took all of his power not to mount her to see if they were truly mates, but he wasn’t that type of male. Especially to a female who’d been through so much over the last month. Plus, she was obviously not of his kind, because a female in heat could only be detected by her mate.
The more he thought about the female, the more he wanted to rage against the men who’d done this to her, but Evie had taken the liberty of killing the human. Tears pooled in the healer’s eyes. He didn’t know what to do. She was going to be leaving in a couple of days, but his panther had been on edge ever since the announcement had been made. They didn’t want her to leave.
“Harold?” his alpha gasped as he pushed the door to his home open wide. The door was always unlocked for his pride, but it shocked him to see the alpha on the threshold. His mind automatically went to the alpha’s mate.
“Is Liberty well?”
“Yes,” Talon huffed. “It’s you. I felt your distress. What the hell is going on?”
“I’m sorry, Talon,” Harold said, climbing to his feet. “I did not mean to scare you.”
“Is Luna okay?” the alpha asked, looking around the home. His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. His alpha took a step back when he realized the scent in the air.
“She is in heat,” Harold replied. “I know I’m not to speak of my patients, but I need to inform you I had to sedate her tonight.”
“Sedate her?”
“She is in pain from her fertility, and I refused to touch her,” Harold grumbled. “She says that her wolf has claimed me for her mate.”
“Oh…” Talon froze, his eyes going wide. “So, her scent can be detected by anyone?”
“It seems so,” Harold replied. “She is nothin
g like us.”
“Can we cross-mate?” Harold was thankful his alpha was staying calm, because at the moment, the healer was ready to go insane with lust from the female’s scent.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Harold replied. “The Community was trying that at their facilities, but as far as I know, none of the experiments worked.”
“That was because they weren’t mates,” Talon reminded him.
“Do I touch her, Talon?” Harold asked in desperation.
“What does your panther tell you?” Talon pushed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. His alpha was knowledgeable and an old friend. Harold trusted his advice more than anyone else’s, just as he’d done with Talon’s father before he passed. Both males were worthy of their titles.
“To go in there and claim her the moment she wakes up,” Harold stated, honesty ringing through his words. “I want to love her.”
“What is holding you back?” Talon continued with the questioning.
“I’m having a hard time understanding why her? Why Luna, of all females? What if the histories have been wrong for thousands of years and our kind can mate outside of our species?” Harold wondered aloud. “Over the course of our existence, each shifter group has stayed to themselves. Only since we were found out by the humans have we been interacting with them. Think about the people of our pride who never found their one true mate. What if they had been destined to be with someone else?”
“Like a panther with a wolf?” Talon asked, his brow raised in a questioning quirk.
“Yeah, like a panther with a wolf.” Harold sighed. “What do I do, Talon?”
“Follow your heart, my friend,” Talon offered.
“My heart is shattering for her,” Harold admitted, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Chapter Nine
Luna woke in a fog. Memories filled her mind as she rolled to the side and pushed away the residual pain from being in heat. The healer took his choice and refused to touch her, injecting Luna with a sedative instead.
There was still an ache deep inside her body, she still felt the need to mate with him, but the pain in her heart was even worse. How could she tell the wolf that her true mate wasn’t going to accept her?
Once she felt safe enough to stand up on her own, she groaned as she reached for her sandals. It was time for her to just go to Theo and ask if they could depart earlier than expected. There was no need to stay at the Shaw Pride any longer. A new life and a new start was in order.
The moment she stepped out of the bedroom, Harold was just coming out of his office. He looked up in shock and his eyes flashed amber sparks. The pair didn’t move for several seconds, and the only sound in the room was their soft breathing.
“I’m leaving,” she mumbled, casting her eyes toward the floor. “I’m going to ask Theo if he can either put me up in a hotel until it’s time to leave or send me ahead of everyone else. I cannot stay here anymore, Harold.”
“I can’t let you leave,” Harold growled, his eyes completely taken over by his panther. The scent that surrounded her caused the ache to turn to pain, and with that, she crossed one arm over her lower abdomen.
“I thought I wasn’t a prisoner,” she shivered.
“You’re not.”
“Harold,” she whimpered, but paused when another pain flared. He smelled so good…so tempting. “Please, I know you don’t want me to be your mate, but being around you while I’m in heat is unbearable.”
“I never said I didn’t want you to be my mate,” he replied, taking a step closer to her. As he continued to talk, each step brought him closer until there was only a few inches between them. “I want to protect and provide for you. My panther wants to touch you, but I don’t know if you are ready for that.”
“I would welcome your touch,” she breathed out.
“I promise to be everything you’ll ever need,” he whispered and took her face into his hands. His lips crashed down on hers and the wolf inside howled.
Magic tingled Harold’s senses. The spark that ignited inside him was like an out of control wild fire in his soul the moment he touched Luna. The softness of her skin called to him in unexplainable ways. The delicate touch of her tongue to his set his beast in motion.
“You are my mate,” he groaned.
“And you are mine.” Luna’s tiny hands explored, tightening as she felt the muscles in his arms. There was appreciation in each movement. “Mate me the way of your kind, Harold.”
His canines thickened in his mouth at her words. The slide of his hand against her waist caused a shiver when he pulled her shirt over her head. Beneath, she wore a white lace bra that cupped her breasts perfectly. Luna reached for the front clasp, but his hands on hers stilled the movement. “No, let me.”
With a pinch of his hand, he unhooked her bra as carefully as if he held a scalpel in his hand to repair a damaged heart. His panther purred when Luna’s breasts appeared, her nipples hardening to points. They rubbed the center of his palm as he ran his hand over them. Luna’s head fell back and she moaned for more.
“Harold, please don’t tease me,” she cried out when he rolled one nipple between his fingers.
“Only pleasure, sweetheart,” he promised, pushing away the lacy material of her bra and discarding it on the floor. When she reached for his shirt, he growled low in his throat as her hands skimmed his sides.
“I need you,” she hummed.
Harold picked her up as soon as his shirt fell to the ground. He took three steps back and locked the door to his home and clinic. He didn’t think he’d ever turned the old silver latch in the twenty years he’d been at the Shaw pride. At the moment, he didn’t care for his healer duties. All he wanted was his mate.
Her lips were soft like the petals of a blooming rose each time his lips touched hers. He walked toward his room without taking his eyes off of hers. She blinked several times and the wolf that lived inside her pushed forward. Her canines elongated and her eyes glowed almost as brightly as his own.
“I need to mark you,” she whined. “Please, accept me as your mate, Harold.”
“I have to mark you, but not until we join,” he growled. “I need to know how your kind mates.”
“Bite first,” she panted, her hands tightening on the tops of his shoulders. “I have to have your blood in me before we have sex.”
“Then bite me, my mate,” he ordered, turning his head to the side as he stood at the end of his bed.
She struck with the speed of a snake, her sharp canines hitting exactly on his vein. His hand shifted to claws and the moment she released him, he used them to shred the jeans she was wearing. Fabric tore and landed in strips on the floor. Luna reached for the fly of his jeans and released his cock, but then she froze…
“Talk to me,” he ordered, taking her face with his hands. He held her as if she were a thin piece of glass.
“I don’t know what to do,” she finally admitted. “I’ve never done this before…well, I’ve never made love to a male before.”
“Fuck,” he swore, pushing back his beast. The animal wanted a mating…it wanted the healer to mount her from behind.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. “Please, tell me how a panther mates, Harold. Make love to me…show me what to do.”
“Are you sure?” he pressed. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.
“I trust you.”
Harold quieted her with a kiss so soft and full of need, he had to wrap his arm around her waist when she relaxed. Taking things slow was going to be a task in and of itself. She had been through so much already.
“Panthers mate a little differently than your kind,” he whispered.
“How do you complete the mating?” she asked.
“You trust me, right?” he asked. His panther was getting impatient, but he would fight his own beast to make sure she was cared for before they mated.
“Always,” she answered, wrapping her fingers around the bac
k of his neck and pulling his lips to hers. She tasted of expensive wine, and he wanted to savor every drop.
“On your knees, face down,” he hesitated, “I will take you from behind, and when my beast calls to me, I will pull you up where your back is flush with my chest. Then I will mark you.”
“Will it hurt?”
“My touch will always be done with love and trust, but I have to tell you…the first mating is frantic. My beast is pushing at my skin right now. He wants to claim you for his own.”
Luna paused as she appeared to be weighing his words. There was no fear in her eyes, and Harold was thankful for the way she’d overcome her time on the island. He was honored she trusted him with her life and body.
“My wolf will never want another,” she pledged.
His panther purred when she released him and climbed on the bed, taking the position he’d instructed of her. Her tiny body was perfect for him. When he saw her in the position of a mate, Harold was no longer a healer…he was the lover to his new mate. When his hands skimmed the backs of her legs, Luna moaned with pleasure.
“Do it, Harold.”
The sound of his panther’s snarl rattled the walls when he touched her pussy, finding it wet and ready for him. The scent of her mating heat made his beast frantic to be inside her. He tried to hold the feral need to mate back, but his panther took over.
He fisted his cock and rubbed it against her. His mate-to-be leaned into his action, causing his hardness to fully slide inside her. They connected on a heated curse, and he tried to calm his panther, but failed. His eyes changed with the presence of his beast. The yellow glow to his surroundings and the rippling of his skin was a sure giveaway that the beast inside him had chosen the white wolf as his own.
Luna gasped as he started to thrust, his hands tightening on her hips to hold her in place. The little mewling sounds coming from her urged him on. “More…”
The Healer (Rise of the Pride, Book 7) Page 5
