by Lola Glass
“Excuse me?”
“I think you heard me.”
Sterling leaned forward, face only a few inches from mine.
“I’ve just offered to mate with you. You’re going to want to accept.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Am I?”
“Of course. You’re special and so am I; just think of the children we’d make together. It’d be a sin to keep something so amazing from the world.”
I laughed in disbelief.
What a douchebag.
He growled and stood, towering over me and trying to scare me. I’d been up against much scarier.
Standing as well, I glowered at him.
“I’ll choose my own mate. Leave.”
His eyes landed on the mark of Roman’s bite on my neck, and I saw in his eyes the moment his mind shifted. He lunged toward me, fangs at the ready, and I dove out of the way. My hip slammed to the grass and I rolled to the side when a big gray wolf launched my way.
Then all hell broke loose.
Turns out unmated males were ticking time bombs.
TWENTY-NINE
Wolves were everywhere. Jamie and I had climbed up on the table for a tiny bit of safety, and she shouted into her phone, kicking out at the faces of anyone who came too close. Oliver fought three wolves in his own beastly form, snapping and forcing Alpha power at them as he tried to regain control. Because he wasn’t the actual Alpha, the amount of power he could access was far too limited to regain control of the pack.
Males circled the table, four wolves who attacked anyone who came near. They must’ve been friends with each other, but I didn’t know them and they didn’t seem much safer than the ones they were attacking.
A battle broke out between two of the circle and two on the outside, blood and teeth and fur flying as the fight grew to include more and more wolves.
We really should’ve considered this outcome.
Damned speed-dating.
“I’ll protect you, you need to make a run for the house.” Jamie looked determined. I was as uncertain as she was sure.
“Told you I was going to get eaten by a wolf today.” I yelled after her as she launched off the table, shifting in the air. Clothes tore around her as her body grew, and I envied her fighting ability. My skills were too limited to be of much use.
The moment she was gone, another wolf pounced. I screamed as a furry, dark shoulder rammed me off the table and sent me crashing into the ground. The force of the impact knocked the air out of me, and my chest heaved.
My mind shifted as my attacker’s teeth went for my throat and I rolled to the side, but I was too slow. He bit down on Roman’s mark and an unnatural, fiery pain tore through the area. A sound between an agonized howl and a human scream met my ears and I realized it had come from me. Fur shifted back to skin as my vision spotted so badly I couldn’t even make out the wolf on top of me.
A raging, possessive snarl was followed by a punch of Alpha power, and then a black wolf slammed into the one who’d hurt me. Both went flying, and I struggled to sit up as Roman ripped into the man’s throat for daring to hurt me.
When my attacker’s heart stopped beating, the massive black wolf turned the crowd. He lifted his head and loosed a howl flooded with so much Alpha power it would’ve sent me to my knees if I wasn’t already on the ground.
My hand pressed into the bleeding wound on my neck. When I pulled it away and saw the amount of blood I’d lost, dizziness had me falling to my back once again.
Most of the males fell to their bellies at the power in Roman’s howl. The few that resisted did so because they were still fighting, blood and fur on their muzzles. Roman left them long enough to tower over me, animal-eyes taking in my injury. His tongue lapped at the wound on my neck a few times to close the skin before he stalked to the males who hadn’t submitted.
He gave one last snarl, a final warning, before joining the fight. Roman sent one of the men flying with a solid hit from his shoulder and snapped at a second’s throat. The man dodged, and Roman’s claws raked up his belly. Another guy lunged for Roman and the Alpha met the move with another slash of his claws, this time along the wolf’s side.
Roman lifted his head once more and howled again, hitting the men with enough alpha power to knock them into submission. He could’ve done that from the beginning, but even I understood the need to make a statement in this situation. The power had me seeing stars until Roman’s arms were pulling me up off the ground. Like the flick of a switch, his touch negated the impact of his Alpha power and I was blinking up at him clearly.
“I can walk.” I said.
His arms tightened around my body before he set me on my feet, movements wooden. Whatever discussion was going to follow this, it wasn’t going to happen in front of dozens of unmated males who’d been showing their interest in me.
“Who started this?” He demanded, looking between me and Jamie, who had appeared at my side. Since Roman had let go of me his power had my body trembling. I folded my arms over my chest in an attempt to hide it.
“Sterling started the fight.” Jamie folded her arms. “We started the speed-dating.”
“The what?” He shot her an incredulous look.
I glanced over at the mangled body of the actor who’d lost control.
Because of me.
Panic tangled within me and my breathing began to quicken as Jamie and Roman exchanged words rapidly, power practically boiling around me. My mind began to shift, and I barely kept a hold on my own body.
“Go inside, Hennie.” Jamie’s hand caught my elbow softly, giving it a quick squeeze.
Arla pulled up in her little SUV, slamming the door behind her and stalking up to us.
“What the hell happened here?”
Everything became too much when her power added to the rest. My mind shifted and my body followed, tearing through clothes as I stretched and expanded and then shot into the forest.
Run.
Escape.
Freedom.
The words pounded into my skull with every thud of my paw against the dirt. Some part of me registered that at least a couple of the males would lose to their animal instincts and chase me when I ran, but it didn’t matter.
Go.
I ran harder as the feelings intensified. A wolf wouldn’t rest while she was in danger, and every fiber of my being told me I most definitely was.
A flying black body came out of nowhere and knocked into me, rolling on top of me and then beneath me before shifting into the man who wore my bite mark on his neck. His touch once again canceled the effects the Alpha power had on me and this time, it calmed me in an instant. Though his hands held my furry body to his skin, his touch was gentle.
“I won’t let anything hurt you, Hen.” Roman’s gaze held a determination I’d seen from him before—one that told me he wasn’t going to walk away easily. I shifted and rolled off of him, furious with the Alpha again. His power had vanished, and I knew he was keeping it under wraps for me.
“You hurt me, asshole.” I snapped, stalking away. I’d have shifted back to wolf form if I didn’t think it’d lead me to run further and harder. As much as I wanted to run from the Alpha, there wasn’t another place on the planet that I’d be as safe as I was in the New York Pack.
Roman caught my left hand and caught up to me. We were both in our birthday suits and I was making a point not to look at his naked body too much. I’d have a hard enough time moving on anyway.
“I—“ He stopped himself and me, my body turning toward his with his soft tug. Roman lifted my hand, turning it so he could see my scarred and tatted wrist. “When did you get this?” His eyes were dark.
I tugged my hand from his grip.
“You don’t get to ask personal questions, Roman. You lost that right when you lied to me for months. Your bite is gone now; there’s nothing connecting us.”
“It felt like someone was cutting my fucking heart out when he bit you.” His reply was sharp and angry.
“You have no idea the amount of sheer willpower it’s taking me not to sink my teeth back into you so my scent replaces Sterling’s.” He bared the wolf fangs in his human mouth.
“Well, I’m sorry for causing you pain.” I snapped. “That makes one of us.” I spun on my heels and stalked back along the scent trail I’d left.
“What did you say?” Roman’s hands were on my biceps in an instant, his eyes black pools as he stepped closer to me. To avoid clashing naked bits, I stepped backward. He pushed and I pulled until my back hit a tree and Roman was glowering down at me. With his hands on my bare skin, I couldn’t feel his Alpha power and wasn’t afraid. If anything, his fury only fed mine.
“You used and manipulated me without a single regard as to how it would hurt me. You don’t seem to regret it, either.”
“I didn’t use you, Hen, and I sure as hell wasn’t manipulating you.”
“Save it for the next girl.” I shoved the arm that pinned my left side to the tree and shifted. Roman would chase me when I ran back to Jamie’s, but at least I’d have a few minutes away from the warring emotions inside me.
He was so close on my heels. There was no doubt in my mind whether he could catch me or not; his legs were probably twice as long as mine. Instead of tackling me and forcing me to talk, he herded me toward his house. I was outside his porch before I realized where he was leading me.
I shifted into human form and grabbed a shirt I could smell was Roman’s off the ground on the porch, yanking it over my head as a string of curses aimed at the Alpha bled from my lips.
“Where are you going?” he followed my blazing trail into his house.
“To get Arla to drive me to Grant’s place. He’s taking me to lunch.” I shot back.
Roman’s low growl gave me goosebumps.
“Like hell he is.”
“You lost any say you had in what I do.” I stepped up to the base of the staircase and lifted my head to holler up the stairs. “Arla! I need a ride!”
“She’s not here.” Rough hands latched onto my waist and spun me, pulling my chest to Roman’s. My curves pressed to all of his hard places and made me feel all fluttery.
I would’ve remembered that if he wasn’t such a distraction.
“Then I’m taking her car.” My voice sounded far breathier than I’d intended.
Roman’s hands kneaded into my waist and lower back, tugging me closer.
“Sterling’s scent on your skin is driving me insane.” His nose touched the somewhat-healed skin on my neck and his fierce growl rattled both our chests. “You should smell like me.”
“You lied to me.” The more of me his fingers touched, the harder it was getting to remember that.
“I protected you.”
“You hurt me.”
I went to pull away but Roman’s lips met mine and the world freaking disappeared.
Lips and skin and heat were the only things that existed. My legs wrapped around Roman’s waist and he gripped my backside. We were moving, but I didn’t realize where to until my back was pressed up against the cold tile of the shower. Our lips didn’t stop, bodies moving together as our mouths warred.
Roman held me up with one hand, reaching to turn the shower on. Cold water spouted from all three of the shower heads and I pulled away, gasping and arching my back. A chuckle rumbled his chest and I smacked him upside the head.
“I didn’t agree to shower with you.”
“You smelled terrible.”
I snorted.
“Debatable.”
“And you weren’t exactly kicking and screaming.”
He had a point there.
“What kind of guy drags a girl into a shower by her mouth?” I snapped. The water was warming, so I finally unwrapped my legs from Roman’s waist. He helped my feet to the floor, making sure I had my balance before letting go.
“The stupid kind.” Roman pulled a strand of wet, tangled hair off my cheek and rubbed it between his fingers. Blood and dirt ran down his arm with the water. “I’m sorry, Hen.”
“Don’t be. I’m glad you ended things before it went too far.” I took my hair from his fingers and rinsed the rest of it in the water.
This would’ve totally been one of those cliché romance-book ‘I wash you, you wash me’ moments if things were different.
“What?”
“We make each other unstable and we both need stability. Even if that wasn’t true, you need to mate with someone who can be Alpha Female. I can’t. Scratch that—I won’t.” I’d shocked Roman to silence. “You and Lilac look good together. Maybe you should finally give her a chance.”
I stepped out of the water stream and squeezed my hair. Dark water fell to the shower tile and I grimaced. I’d need shampoo to get the crap out, but I wasn’t about to use Roman’s shampoo and go on a date smelling like him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Roman folded those giant arms of his over his bare chest. The man somehow managed to look even better dirty and wet than he did dry. Wearing only soaked sweats was a surprisingly good look for him.
“Someone sent me a picture of you and her together.”
“I haven’t been in a room with Lilac for weeks. Whatever picture you got, it’s not recent.” He stepped closer and I backed into the wall of the shower. “Nothing about you makes me unstable. You’ve calmed my wolf more times than you should’ve had to, and I help you sleep when your memories make it difficult. You make me feel whole, and you would’ve ended things much sooner if I didn’t do the same to you.”
“It doesn’t matter. You lied to me and manipulated me.” I shot back, a bitter laugh slipping from me. “My life hasn’t been full of good things, Roman. When I choose a mate, you can be damn sure he’ll be one of them. I met fifty guys today who actually want to be with me, so no, I’m not joking. I have a date to get to, and you’re going to keep your beast in check and let me go on it because you’re the asshole who broke my trust.”
Roman captured my hand before I stepped out of the shower and tugged my body toward his. I stumbled into his chest, catching myself on his arms.
“You’re mine.” His hands sandwiched my face. “And I’m yours.”
“If you ask me not to go I’m going to punch you.”
I could take a couple more wonky knuckles to make that statement.
Roman’s eyes darkened as he studied my expression.
“Go on the date. Go on as many dates as you want. No one else will make you feel what I do.”
His lips met mine again. This kiss was polar opposite from the first. Soft and explorative, my body relaxed against Roman’s as his tongue danced with mine.
If I was being honest, I’d already reached the conclusion he expected I would just from speed-dating earlier. Not a single one of those guys had piqued my interest romantically. Some of them were attractive, others insanely gorgeous, but the connection I felt to Roman was something entirely different. Something I wanted.
But something I didn’t trust anymore. And trust mattered more than anything.
I pulled away and left Roman standing in the shower alone, walking out of the house. Since I didn’t know the way, I shifted and followed scents back to Jamie’s place.
Grant was waiting in the living room, chatting with Jamie and a couple that smelled mated. I called out that I’d be ready in a minute and made my way up the stairs in Roman’s shirt—I’d carried it in my mouth as I ran for this exact reason. Walking nude through someone else’s home wasn’t exactly cool.
I felt bad leaving them waiting while I got ready. I’d never been on a date before, but common sense said that was rude. The red in my hair hid whatever was left of the blood and dirt decently well, so I piled it all in a bun on top of my head, threw on some clean clothes, brushed my teeth, and hurried downstairs. I felt pretty gross, but at least I’d made it back for the date.
“Sorry you had to wait.” I grabbed my coat.
“Not a problem.” Grant smiled and helped me into the coat
. The back of my neck prickled unpleasantly as his hands came near my skin. My attraction was nonexistent; his touch felt wrong. “You smell like Roman.” He commented.
“Really? How weird.” I lied.
Grant seemed to like the answer and changed the subject. I sniffed myself discreetly as we got in the car.
Shit.
I did smell like him.
The date felt incredibly long. By the time I got back home only two hours had passed but I felt a year older. Grant and his friends liked to talk about investments and doctor stuff and inside jokes.
So boring.
I ignored the nagging part of my brain that said a date with Roman wouldn’t be anything like that.
After a long shower and a quick sandwich, I headed to the Alphas’ place with Jamie and Oliver. The pack would shift together in their backyard, and everyone gathered and mingled for a while before. Shifting as a pack at the cusp of mating season was a tradition every pack I’d been in had followed.
Werewolf mating season stretched from the end of December to the end of March, and it was the only time female werewolves went into heat and could get pregnant.
Because I didn’t know many people, when I got to the backyard I just sort of lingered on the edge of the crowd. Gazing into the forest, it occurred to me that I wouldn’t mind looking into these woods for the rest of my life. New York was my favorite place I’d ever lived because of the people, but it was beautiful too.
“How many of my males have your phone number on their hands?” Roman growled from behind me. I’d caught his scent as he approached so he didn’t scare me.
“However many were attractive enough and came up with a date idea that sounded fun.” I didn’t turn around.
Roman stepped in front of me, eyes narrowed and wolfy.
“What ideas?”
“None of your business.” I met his gaze. His fists clenched and he forced his eyes to shift back before striding to the front of the pack where Arla likely was. They’d start the run off with a few words, as they had last time.
At the stroke of midnight, mating season would officially begin and all werewolves older than fifteen would start to feel lonelier and hornier than usual. Mating season hadn’t ever affected me much, but I’d definitely seen a lot of change in the people around me. The women got meaner as they went into heat, the guys more wild, violent, and possessive as their hormones raged and they were affected by the scent of the women.
