by Lynn Howard
She felt hollow. Yet her body felt heavy at the same time. That weird magnet thing between her and Brax felt stretched until it was uncomfortable, as if he’d taken a piece of her soul with him when he’d left.
She didn’t know where he lived so she couldn’t even rush after him to ease the pain building in her chest.
There was always one thing she knew she could do to burn off anxious energy. It was getting late, but there were sure to be at least a couple of assholes roaming for victims.
But she’d promised Brax she wouldn’t go out alone anymore.
Picking up her phone, she pulled up their last text message then let her thumb hover over the letters. If she went out hunting tonight and something happened to her…
Why the hell did this have to be so damn difficult? Why couldn’t they be two normal human beings who were falling in love instead of having all this mystical crap in the way?
The discomfort and pressure in her chest continued to grow until she pressed the heel of her hand to her sternum. No way could she sleep like that.
Shame she hadn’t gotten someone else’s number so she could ask them to come hunt with her. She’d didn’t want to give Brax the wrong idea.
Stop kidding yourself. Even as she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew there was no way she could ever let Brax go. They were bonded, whether she liked it or not. And even if she didn’t fully understand all of it, she’d accepted it. At least she had before she’d found out she literally held his life in her hands.
Deciding against hunting alone – and not brave enough to ask Brax to go with her so she didn’t break her promise – Campbell laid down in bed. As she’d feared, she was swamped with his scent, with the memory of what they’d done less than an hour ago in this very bed.
He’d made her burn in a way she’d never experienced with any previous lovers. He’d made her feel so beautiful, so precious in his eyes.
And then she’d shut him out.
Why the hell did she always do that? Her mom and dad were the only ones she really talked to anymore, and she hardly talked to her dad. That was mainly because he’d become a shell of a man after her sister’s death. She didn’t blame him, but still missed him.
Of course she feared for Brax’s safety as he did hers. And she was terrified he’d take his own life if she was killed. But…what if she allowed him to protect her the way he wanted? What if she embraced this new family? All of them. Even the wolves and lions and bears.
Oh my.
Giggling to herself at her own inner joke, she rolled toward Polo, resting her hand on his side. His eyes were closed and he already breathed heavily as he slept, probably dreaming of the two little girls who’d had him running around like a puppy.
Closing her own eyes, Campbell tried her damnedest to keep Brax off her mind to no avail. And as she feared, her thoughts were plagued by the pain in his eyes as he’d looked up at her through the side window before leaving.
What was she doing?
Sitting straight up, she threw her legs over the side and ran for the door without bothering to pull on a hoodie or shoes. She grabbed her keys and phone as she sprinted past the coffee table and burst through the door. She might not know where Brax and the rest of Ravenwood lived, but she could at least try to catch up with him.
A fleeting thought hit her as she jogged down the stairs – she could always text him and tell him to come back. Tell him she was an idiot. Tell him that, if she were honest with herself and with Brax, she felt the same way. She wasn’t sure she would ever be okay again if something happened to Brax, even if they hadn’t known each other very long.
She’d never in her life felt so comfortable with someone, so connected to them as if their hearts beat at the same rhythm, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking and how he felt with a single look into his eyes.
Campbell looked up as she grabbed the handle of her door. There. His taillights were at the end of her road. He hadn’t immediately left for home. He’d stayed near. He felt the same pull and tug on that bond she did as he’d walked away and climbed into his car.
“Brax!” she yelled, not bothering to care whether she woke any of her neighbors.
He was still there. The lights were on, but the taillights weren’t bright enough to suggest his foot was on the brake. Did he plan to sleep there?
“Brax! Wait!” she screamed as she forced her feet faster.
Oh no. The lights at the back of his car brightened. And then the car rumbled forward. She wasn’t going to catch him.
As she ran, she pulled his number up on her phone, ready to beg him to stop, to turn around, to come back.
She’d do anything to suck the words she’d said to him back into her mouth.
She just prayed she hadn’t succeeded in running him off for good.
****
Just push down on the gas and go home.
But no matter how many times Brax told himself to let her go, to let her take her time, to let her make up her own mind, he couldn’t drive away from Campbell.
Brax dropped his head against the steering wheel and fought the burn of tears at the back of his eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried. Now, he wasn’t sure he could stop the flow as the first one fell over his lashes.
“Fuck,” he muttered into the dark car.
He’d go home, maybe go hunting, then text Campbell that he’d always be there waiting for her. There was nothing else he could do tonight.
Putting the Camaro in gear, he eased off the brake and aimed his car for home.
“Brax!” Campbell’s voice. Faint over the rumble of the engine, but he’d heard it. “Brax! Wait!”
He glanced in his rearview in time to see Campbell lift her phone as if to call him or use the light as a beacon.
He didn’t need either.
Slamming his foot onto the brake, he threw the car into park and leapt from his seat. Door still wide open, he ran for her, wrapping his arms around her and moaning as she crashed into him and smashed her mouth onto his.
“I’m sorry,” she said, breathless between kisses. “I’m so sorry.” Kiss. “I’m an idiot.” Another kiss.
Brax deepened the kiss and lifted her from the ground, keeping her held tightly to his chest.
“Will you shut up!” someone yelled from a house near them.
Campbell giggled against his lips. Carrying her to his car, he kept her in his lap as he backed the car up and parked in her driveway. And then he lifted them both from the seat and carried her up the stairs and into her house.
“I’m so sorry,” she said over and over again, her fingers tangling in his hair as he kicked the door shut behind them and carried her to the bedroom.
“Stop apologizing,” he said, pulling his mouth away from hers only long to say those words and smile down at her.
He sat at the edge of her bed and sighed as her arms went around his neck and she pushed herself as close as possible. One sob was all she released, but his own tears were streaming down his cheeks now. Tears of relief. Tears of joy.
“I don’t know why I freaked out,” Campbell whispered after a few moments of silence. “I can’t think about you dead. But…I get it, Brax. I do. The second you pulled away, my heart felt like it shattered into a million pieces. I can’t even fathom how bad it would hurt if you were no longer walking the planet.”
Brax pulled her away from him so he could look into her pretty brown eyes. He cupped her face in his hands and smiled down at her again.
Her hands raised to his face and wiped the tears away. “I hurt you,” she said, her words choked with the emotion she was trying to hold back.
“I’m fine.” He couldn’t look away from her, couldn’t stop touching her. “I need to tell you something. And it might seem weird to you, but I love you. I love you so fucking much, Campbell.”
He didn’t know her last name. Didn’t know her favorite color. Didn’t know her birthday. But the second he stepped out of her house tonigh
t, he knew without a sliver of doubt he was head over heels in love with the woman in his arms. And it was beyond the mating bond. It was pure and deep love.
Campbell’s mouth crashed onto his as it had outside. Her lips moved against his, her soft tongue teasing the seam of his lips.
Opening to her, he moaned at the feel and taste of her. He’d only felt her under his hands once and feared it would be the last. He’d had no reason to fear. He should’ve known Campbell would feel their separation as greatly as he had. She might be human, but his woman felt things others of her kind didn’t. Maybe even couldn’t.
Campbell pushed him onto his back and straddled his lap, pulling from his lips to pull first his shirt off, then hers. Their first time had been rushed and desperate. The second time felt even more so.
How could this woman have become so damn important to him in such a short amount of time? Didn’t matter. Nothing but her mattered. Not the how or why or what of any of it. Only this moment.
The way Brax was sitting, his back was arched, and his legs hung over the edge. Not overly comfortable. Scooting back with Campbell still draped over him, he moved until his head hit her pillow and rested his hands on her hips.
He wouldn’t rush her. He’d let her take charge of this moment. Let her show her love with her body since she either couldn’t or wouldn’t say it with her mouth. And, he knew she loved him back. Even if she never said the words, he could feel it between them like a fucking pulse.
Campbell lifted off of him and shoved her sweats down her legs before freeing his cock from his pants. He’d been pretty much hard since the day his Pride had found her in the woods. Even after feeling her warm tightness wrapped around him, the want and need for her hadn’t waned.
Without any foreplay or preamble, Campbell wrapped her thin hand around his shaft and guided him to her, lowering until she was settled against his hips. Her lips parted and her eyes rolled shut as a moan escaped her sexy mouth.
She rode him slowly at first, her head tilted back, her hands resting on his chest.
Brax had so many emotions rushing through him he wasn’t sure which one to focus on. There was lust, elation, love…he decided to ignore all of it and watch his beautiful mate make love to him.
With each movement of her hips, each time she rose and then lowered, those beautiful boobs swayed and begged for his mouth. Lifting to a sitting position, he wrapped his arms around Campbell’s back and wrapped his lips around one perfectly puckered nipple.
Even her skin tasted like ecstasy.
Threading her fingers in Brax’s hair, Campbell sighed softly as he sucked and nipped at first one nipple, then the other.
And then her movements became faster, more desperate.
Her arms clung to his shoulder as she threw her head back. He used his hands to hold her and began to pump his hips up, meeting her thrust for thrust.
She was tightening around him and he was struggling to keep from losing himself before she did. She needed to be the first to fall apart. Then he’d follow her over the cliff.
“Brax,” Campbell moaned, lowering her head to look into his eyes. “I love you. I love you,” she breathed out over and over before her eyes slammed shut, her lips parted and she cried out with her release.
Good thing, too, because Brax wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.
Pulling from her tight warmth, he trapped his cock between them and spilled on her skin again, leaving even more of his scent behind.
She’d said the words. Campbell had told him she loved him. She’d chased after him, clung to him, kissed him, then made love to him. And that was truly what they had done both times – they’d made love.
He might never be able to sink his teeth into her beautiful tan flesh, but Campbell was his. Brax’s panther had picked the most beautiful, strongest, more perfect woman for Brax in the world.
Chapter Twelve
Campbell couldn’t wipe the smile from her face as she dressed. The water ran in the bathroom as Brax showered. Why, she didn’t know. They were going hunting with his Pride. She was going to hunt with the panthers for the first time since she and Brax had made it official. Well, as official as they could without him leaving his mark on her flesh.
Braiding her hair and tossing it over her shoulder, Campbell sat on the couch to pull on her boots. Polo sat at her feet as usual, aware of her routine for the nights when she’d be gone for a while. Brax and Campbell had taken him for a nice, long walk to hopefully hold him over until they got back. He was a good boy; he’d yet to mess on her floor, even on the nights when she didn’t return until dawn.
The faucets squeaked in the other room, indicating the end of Brax’s shower. She finished tying her boots as Brax stepped out the room, a cloud of steam preceding him. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and his long hair looked darker as it laid over his shoulders and down his back. Little beads of water occasionally dripped from his hair, sending trails down his body.
Yum. And all hers.
“I’ll be a minute and we can go,” Brax said. His voice was calm and all businesslike, but the hint of a glow behind those pretty green eyes of his told her he was anything but on the inside. “How are you so fucking hot? Seriously. I swear it doesn’t matter what you wear, you’re always smoking.”
Campbell chuckled and made herself stay sitting or they’d be late meeting up with the rest of the Pride. “I could say the same thing about you,” she said with a wink. “Go get dressed. The guys are waiting for us.”
He’d expressed his concern over her hunting alone. He’d expressed his concern over her hunting with the Pride. But she’d reminded him she’d been doing it alone for a year before she even knew he existed. And although she’d earned her share of injuries, including the gash Brax had tended to, she’d yet to be mortally wounded.
She still checked in with her mom every night, even though she hadn’t hunted in two weeks. And her mom actually sounded receptive to not only meeting Brax, but accepting the fact her daughter had fallen for the same creature they’d both hated for so long.
Her dad still didn’t know. About Brax or Shifters. And both women intended to keep it that way.
Brax stepped into the bedroom, the same bedroom they’d been sharing since the night Campbell realized how important Brax was to her. He’d even brought some clothes over so he wouldn’t have to go home to shower and change every day.
Five minutes later, Brax came out of the bedroom in a pair of worn in jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt and boots. His wet hair was twisted into something like a messy knot at the back of his head. She’d never been one to find man buns sexy, but Brax made it work. It wasn’t a fashion thing for him. It was a way to keep his hair out of his face when he was fighting asshole rogues.
“You ready?” he asked, grabbing his phone and keys. Brax reached down and scratched behind Polo’s ears. “I still can’t believe he hung out with a group of Shifters and didn’t try to eat anyone or go into cardiac arrest. You should see what happens when one of us goes to a pet shelter.”
“I can only imagine,” Campbell said, pushing to her feet and tucking her phone into her back pocket.
They took Brax’s Camaro to meet up with the rest of the panthers. Brax said they always took the large SUV so there was room for the four of them – five counting Campbell – and any woman they might have the luck of finding and rescuing.
She’d rather be on her bike. It was faster and she was able to traverse areas where the SUV couldn’t go.
But the motorcycle was a one-woman machine. Well, technically, she could fit Brax on the back, but most men bristled at the thought of riding behind their girlfriend.
The trip to Ravenwood territory took less than fifteen minutes. She’d only been there one other time, and that was when Brax had gathered some of his clothes.
“Hey,” Daxon, Brax’s twin, said as he stepped out of the single wide trailer where all the men lived.
Daxon had asked why Brax and Campbell never
stayed there. And of course, Campbell had to remind him the place was way too small and they’d have zero privacy if they wanted to make love. That had stopped any further questions about their current living situation.
“You guys ready?” Brax asked, wrapping an arm around Campbell’s waist when he was beside her.
“Are you ready?” Daxon asked with one brow raised.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Campbell asked, instantly getting her hackles up.
“I’m not talking about you. I’ve seen you kick ass,” Daxon said, barely ghosting her a glance. Even if she knew why the panthers barely talked to her, it still irritated her. “I’m talking about your boyfriend.”
Campbell winced a little. Boyfriend. That sounded so juvenile and not even close to what he was to her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brax asked.
“It means, can you keep your head in the game and avoid getting your ass killed because you’re constantly watching her?”
Brax turned his head to look down at Campbell. That was something she was worried about, too. She’d even lectured Brax about pretending she wasn’t even there if they ran into a group of rogues. She wouldn’t turn down help if she was outnumbered, but she was fully capable of taking care of herself.
“I’ll make sure he’s on point,” Campbell said, nudging Brax with her arm and smiling up at him. “We had a deal. Remember that.”
Brax rolled his eyes but there was a hint of a smile on his lips. The same lips that had tantalized and pleasured her a couple of hours ago.
Aron and Mason stepped outside, nodding once at her before averting their eyes.
“Can we get something straight before we go anywhere?” Campbell said, pulling away from Brax so she could see them all.
Four sets of eyes met hers.
“Talking isn’t flirting. Ignoring me isn’t a sign of respect. It kind of pisses me off.”
Mason grinned wide and nodded. “I like her,” he said, pointing at Campbell.
