by M. L. Briers
She knew that she couldn’t break away from his hold – not in any conventional sense of the word, and so she threw her body sideways, prying her knee from between his legs, and rolling over onto her side as the lock of his hand against her wrist chafed the skin beneath the material.
She pushed up onto her knees just as she felt the heat of his body cover hers. That moment’s heat felt like an inferno as her body stole her thoughts and welcomed the warmth.
The winter sun streaked through the slats in the shutters and fell across the floor before her, waking her mind to the darkness that he possessed. She brought her elbow backwards and pain shot through her once more as it connected with the hard muscles of his chest… the sound of the air being forced from his lungs, and the half release of his hand against her wrist sent her mind spinning into action…
She yanked her wrist free and scurried forwards on her hands and knees away from him. A heartbeat later and she felt the brush of his fingertips against the collar at her neck as he gripped the material, and she threw herself forward to the sound of ripping and the sudden constriction at her throat…
The shaft of sunlight fell over the milky skin of her back. There, in that one moment, he was taken aback by the sight of the patchwork of healed wounds that showed him the picture, but didn’t tell him the full story.
Momentarily stunned by the brutality of what she had endured – he didn’t move, couldn’t breathe. His muscles were locked tightly throughout his body as his very soul cried out at the injustice of her suffering.
The sound of the scream that was wrenched from her lips – like a banshee’s wail shattered his soul into action as she spun on her knees and her fist came at him once more. He reached out and caught that fist within the cradle of the palm of his hand, his touch gentler now, as his other arm wrapped around her waist and he hauled her soft body up against his hard one.
Her head snapped backwards on her neck and her wide blue eyes locked onto his jet black ones. She was half crazed, half dazed, as she stared up into his face, unseeing, uncaring…
“Stop.” Justice demanded, almost begged at the same time. “I won’t hurt you.”
The sound of his deep gravelly tones flooded her ears and grated against her nerves, slowing seeping into her very soul to awaken her from the fear and inevitability of her demise.
Slowly the haze in her mind cleared… Slowly her eyes saw the reality of what was in front of her…
It wasn’t him.
Justice felt her body start to soften. She pulled in a breath and the fear in her eyes faded away, and then the shutters of her lids came down over those eyes and her head lulled as she fainted within his arms.
“What the hell…?” Justice growled out as he collapsed back onto his knees on the floor, keeping her body protectively close to his chest as he cradled her.
Justice felt the rush of her scent hit him all at once as her shields and whatever magic that she had used to keep it hidden fell away. Every muscle inside of him locked up tightly as his beast whimpered and whined at her plight.
He grunted in disbelief. He dipped his head and brushed his cheek against hers, slowing savouring the feel of her skin, and then he closed his eyes and took her scent at source…
Mine…
His beast stated their claim on her.
His heart leapt into his throat, and for a long moment he could not draw another breath… and then his mind filled with the image of her back – the patchwork of healed wounds that scarred her beautiful skin, and he growled like a man that wanted to kill every living thing on the planet until he found the one who had done this to her…
Justice knew the sight of claw marks when he saw them. Knew the shape of the wounds they would leave… and he knew what twisted, evil beast had left those marks within her delicate skin… wolf.
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Justice hadn’t wanted to leave her side for a moment. His mate was cold, bone cold, and he’d wanted nothing more than to wrap her body within his arms, skin to skin, and warm her down to her very soul…
And yet, those claw marks upon her back had told him that he couldn’t. Not now… not yet.
He’d carried her to the bed. Lingered with the feel of her within his arms before he had placed her back beneath the covers with which he had discovered her, and set about building a fire with the wood from the protected store out back.
It had almost killed him to walk out of the cabin away from her, but he’d forced himself with every step that he took to do it. She needed warmth and he doubted that she would accept it from him given the circumstances.
In truth, his next step should probably have been to contact his brothers and bring the witches out here. That side of his pack could have been a welcome acceptance for her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
She was his mate.
His to woo.
His to love and care for.
His to protect.
How could he begin to build the trust that would be needed between them after what he had seen etched into her skin if someone else cared for her?
He had two battles to fight. The first one was to win his mate’s trust, her love and acceptance of him for who he was. The second was to find the beast that had done that to her and end him.
As he stoked the fire that now raged in the hearth and would hopefully bring the colour back to her cheeks and the warmth to her bones; he had to wonder if he was doing the right thing. He had to trust in himself before he could ask her to trust in him.
The wound to his arm that she had inflicted with the knife ached as it healed. It was nothing compared to what she’d had to endure…
She would hate him. She would loath his kind and be fearful of him and his intentions, of his beast, and yet fate had sent her to him anyway.
He knew that he couldn’t heal the wounds upon her body, not even the vampire’s blood could do that, they were sealed into her skin just like ink on paper telling the story of her life. But maybe – he could show her his inner self and how he would never raise a hand towards her in anger or spite, and heal her soul enough to win her as his mate.
Pain gripped his heart and his mind rallied against the injustice of finally finding his mate and having a mountain to climb to win her. But he knew one thing to be true – the best things in life were the ones that took all of your effort and will to gain, sometimes even a personal sacrifice to win over…
It wasn’t called wooing for nothing. He only hoped that he was up to the biggest challenge of his life so far.
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Sophia awoke with a start. Her body felt warm and she welcomed it. She’d fought a battle with her demons as she’d slept.
Reaver had been there – they’d fought – as always, he’d won the day, and she’d expected the swift punishment that would follow… but nothing… As she stared up at his face it had blurred, morphed into someone else – someone like him, and yet, without the cruel twist of his lips, without the darkness of his soul.
The flickering light of the flames dancing in the hearth warned her that it was a fire that she hadn’t constructed. Her body tensed with the realisation that she wasn’t alone.
A sudden rush of panic gripped her stomach and forced her heart into her throat as she reached out with her magic and found him there…
Her eyes followed her senses and she saw the bulky silhouette of the man sitting deathly still within a chair on the other side of the room. Her magic found nothing amiss, and yet, her mind still rang alarm bells within her.
“Know that I will not hurt you,” his deep gravelly tone washed over her body and soul like it knew him to be something other than what her magic was telling her that he was – shifter – supernatural by origin and birth right, but that buzz against her shields that should have warned her was absent.
“Then why are you hiding in the shadows like a monster that doesn’t want to be seen?” She pushed up onto one elbo
w and drew her magic into a tight orb deep within her, ready to defend herself should the need arise.
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CHAPTER THREE
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Justice slowly pushed forwards into the light from the window – whose shutter had been opened, but not by her hand – and there he was. Bright blue eyes stared back at her, striking in their clarity.
His dark hair clung to his head. Those wide shoulders that denoted his strength stretched wider by his arms resting on the sides of the chair.
Dark stubble clung to a strong, square jaw, and a thin nose sat above full lips, not cruel, but soft, sat nestled inside what was sure to be a beard within a matter of days.
There was a personal power within his frame, within those eyes, that she couldn’t deny. Everything about him screamed alpha male shifter, but her magic didn’t fail her and she couldn’t reconcile the man with the monster that she thought him to be.
“I’m not a monster.” Justice tried to assure her, but he knew that would fall on deaf ears the moment that the spell his witches had woven around him fell away and his true nature appeared to her. For now he needed to gain her trust in him. “I didn’t want to frighten you.”
“Again,” Sophia pushed further up, sitting as she kept the blanket wrapped around her body. She had warmth now, and it felt good, she didn’t want the coldness again.
“I didn’t expect to find Goldilocks asleep in my cabin.” Justice offered back, trying to keep his voice level and even when his heart and his beast rallied against her words.
“That would make you one of the three bears,” she tested the waters to see if she could catch anything. He didn’t look like a bear shifter, and her shields would react to any supernatural presence.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and his head twisted just an inch to one side, but then his lips bowed upwards at the corners and she welcomed that smile, but it didn’t quite emerge.
“If you believe in fairy tales.” Justice offered back.
“You’d be amazed at what I believe in.” Sophia couldn’t drag her gaze away from him.
His body language said at ease, but to her it felt as if he had a beast coiled within him just waiting to be unleashed, to strike out… men like that were the most dangerous kind. Calm on the outside and bubbling with rage at their very depths – she knew that well.
“In that case, Goldilocks, I can’t offer you porridge because there’s a lack of milk.” Justice stopped the moment that she gave a small shake of her head. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her shoulders moved as she took a breath and prepared to speak.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Thirsty then?” Justice used his hands to raise himself from the chair, slowly, so very slowly as not to frighten her into action or fear once more.
She watched him. He could see that she was confused. Her mind told her the truth about him, and the mating pull would already be working against what she saw as her better judgement, and yet her magic failed her.
“No, thank you.” She pushed out the words on an afterthought. Her mind was still reeling, she felt… she wasn’t certain what she felt. Threatened by his size and obvious strength, and yet lulled to something approaching security with the deep tone of his voice?
None of this was making any sense to her.
“I started a fire.” Justice made his way slowly towards the kitchen counter, readying what he needed to make coffee, and watching her out of the corner of his eye.
When she dragged her gaze to the fireplace, he took that time to consign her face to his memory – those blue eyes that had held fear and now held confusion.
When her eyes snapped back to him he had already lowered his gaze to his task. She watched him work for a long moment before she spoke again.
“I couldn’t find any dry wood.”
“It was stored around the back under a snowbank, so unless you’d know where to look…” he left that open.
“Perhaps you should hang a sign above it for wayward strays that happen here from the bad weather.” Sophia needed to offer him an explanation. This was his cabin after all and she was an intruder, but he hadn’t thrown her out into the snow like an unwanted cat… yet.
“Not many people venture up onto the mountain in a snowstorm.” Justice allowed himself to smile, a small one, and he hoped it was reassuring. He didn’t want to push her.
“Neither did I. The snow set in when I was half way up.”
“You didn’t think to turn around?”
“I couldn’t see the sides of the road and didn’t want to put my car in a ditch.” She admitted.
The snow had come down thick and fast, and she’d thought that she could outrun it – she’d been wrong. She had to wonder if she’d been wrong about trying to outrun Reaver too.
“And where is your car now?” Justice asked as he stirred the spoon, first in one cup, and then the other. He wasn’t going to listen to her protestations that she wasn’t thirsty – it would warm her.
“In…” she bit down on the grimace that took her face. “A ditch.” She admitted, feeling like a damn fool.
Her eyes snapped to his face and the low, deep sound of a chuckle that rumbled in his chest. She frowned and he gave a little shrug.
“Sorry,” Justice offered, but he as trying to lighten the moment, relieve some of the tension within the air.
“I’m glad I could amuse you.” Sophia blew out a small breath of amusement down her nose. His rumbly laughter was both catching and warming.
“I’m not amused that you could have killed yourself,” Justice lifted a mug in each hand and took a slow walk towards her. At least with both hands full he wouldn’t appear such a threat to her, but she eyed him anyway. “The mountain is dangerous, especially in the winter.”
“I found that out, thank you.” Sophia sighed inwardly. She would take the harsh weather and possible danger over sitting in a hotel room down the mountain and awaiting a possible visit from Reaver.
“You’re welcome.” Justice grinned as he offered her the mug and confused her even more.
“I didn’t…” she gave a small shake of her head.
“It’ll warm you, and you’ve already helped yourself to some of my winter provisions…” he saw the look of guilt sweep onto her face. “Which I don’t mind sharing in times of need.”
It took her a long moment but she finally reached out her hand, and careful not to touch his fingers, she took the mug and nodded her thanks.
Justice had to force himself to retreat from her, when all that he wanted was to sweep her up from the bed and into his arms and to show her that he was her protector from this moment on – that he wouldn’t let a living soul hurt her again.
“You should take a shower, and there are some spare clothes in the wardrobes, although, this is a hunting and fishing cabin not a home. I have no idea what’s in there.” Justice forced himself down into the chair once more.
Keeping his distance from his nervous mate was going to take an effort of great willpower on his part, but it had to be done.
“There’s no hot water and I’ve just warmed up, there’s no way that I’m going to step under freezing water.”
“The generator can be, temperamental, like a woman.” He watched as the mug in her hand hovered just by her lips.
“As long as it’s not going to be pig-headed, like a man then we shouldn’t have a problem.” Her lips bowed upwards at the corners before she pouted to blow against the steam of the hot liquid.
“It generally needs a little coaxing to do its job, much… like a woman,” he grinned as he pushed back up to his feet and placed the mug in his hand down onto the table before straightening back up again.
“And how do you plan to coax it?” She asked, her eyes smiling for the first time.
“Hit it, really hard.” Justice started towards the door.
“Like a woman?” He heard her muttered words and it threw him off his step. With a deep frown cut into his forehead he turned back around to see that
her eyes weren’t smiling anymore. If anything, she looked a little lost.
“Not all men hit, and a man that hits a woman, in my book, is no man at all.” Justice assured her.
It wasn’t his words. She’d heard words like that before. They were words that she had desperately wanted to believe, and yet, in reality the opposite was often true. But it was the way that he had said them, the pure conviction in his eyes, and his adamant tone of voice that made her somehow imagine that this man might just be different.
“I’m Sophia.” Her given name was something that she held dear, all witches did, for it could be used for powerful spells and curses, but she didn’t think him a witch or a warlock, but there was something about him that she just couldn’t pin down.
“Justice.” He smiled as her eyebrows almost met in the middle.
“That’s a strong name to live up to.” She hadn’t meant to say it. She guessed she’d just had her witch hat on.
“I guess my mother saw something within my eyes when I was born.” He grinned before he turned on his heels and reached for the door.
“When will the mountain road be open again?” She had a need to be on the move once more. She only hoped that she hadn’t killed her car.
“I’d say you should get comfortable,” he informed her over his shoulder. Then he pulled open the door and was gone with the sound of wood hitting wood once more.
Sophia felt the icy chill in the air that swept through the room and she shivered against it. She debated his words. Stuck in a cabin with a man she didn’t know, miles from anywhere, on a mountain that was for all purposes isolated. It might have seemed like an ideal solution to her troubles – the only problem with that was that the man who might be following her didn’t need roads or cars to traverse the mountain – just four paws.
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There was banging from outside, and she couldn’t help but smile to herself at the sound. He was true to his word. He seemed to be hitting something really hard.
