Garrett knocked gently on the door, he identified him by his scent and he called out for him to come in.
“India wants to know when we can get her stuff, Bree’s clothes are a little small for her and she wants to get her laptop as well.”
“As soon as Imogen doesn’t want to cut my throat, we can go,” he said dryly and Garrett closed the door behind him and laughed as he came into the room.
“What the hell did you expect? I think she has accepted everything better than we could have hoped for Seann.” Garrett took the chair opposite him, “She likes you, I can smell it on her but she just needs to get over being pissed off at you first. India says she will come around, she says Imogen has a huge heart, but she is stubborn, sounds a lot like someone else I know.”
“What about you and India, is that going somewhere?” He changed the subject, never comfortable when the focus was on him, Garrett knew him too well.
“I hope so, she is amazing Seann, but she needs to get used to being a wolf and living here with us, this isn’t an easy life choice for an outsider.”
“Keep her close, move into the house with her for now. They will go after her too if she is unmated, especially the sister of the alpha’s new mate,” Seann stood up.
“We have a few things we need to take care of. Imogen needs to tell the police that her sister has been found and we need to pick up supplies as well as getting the girls what they need from home, we will leave in thirty minutes.”
He went back upstairs hoping Imogen was happy to be going into town. She had her back to him, looking out of the window when he went in but she had stopped crying. She turned to him with a ghost of a smile on her lips.
“Garrett and I will take you and India home to collect your things, we also need to go to the police and tell them your sister is okay, we don’t need them snooping around here looking for a missing person.”
She nodded and turned away from him again.
“I was talking to Bree when you left earlier and she told me that I can bite you at any time in my wolf form and that will complete the bond but if I do it in my human form it has to be while we are having sex,” she said knowingly but he could hear the quiver in her voice.
“Yes,” he responded quietly.
She turned back to him, “What if we are mated and then you fall in love with someone else?”
“That doesn’t happen Imogen. Mated wolves are devoted to each other and they mate for life. Since I bit you, I find it impossible to think of being with someone else, you are it for me, my soulmate if you like.”
“What if a wolf bites someone that doesn’t like him?” She asked, turning to face him.
“That never happens either because the wolf senses the attraction and would never bite someone who was indifferent to him or her. Normally a dating couple who fall in love would bite each other in human form to become mates.”
“Were you so attracted to me that you just couldn’t help yourself?” She asked sarcastically.
“Yes,” he answered simply.
“Are you saying that you are in love with me?”
“No.”
She came toward him and studied his face and he detected a change in her scent, she was aroused. He stifled a grin, knowing it would probably earn him a slap in the face.
“You don’t even know me Seann.”
“That’s easily remedied.”
He reached out and pulled her towards him and hesitated for a moment to gauge her reaction. She watched him closely for a few moments, but her pupils were fully dilated and then she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her heart was racing frantically, and he had never tasted anything sweeter than her soft, full lips. He lifted her so that they were nose to nose and he explored her mouth gently, reigning in his need to possess her. For the next few weeks, she was still human and easy to break, and he desperately needed to earn her trust.
“This could get interesting,” she said as she pulled back from him with a smile and then reached for him again.
Seann had to suppress a victory howl as his wolf tried to surface to tell the world that Imogen was his!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Imogen
The young policeman smirked when she told him her sister was safe as if to say I told you so and she thanked him for his time with a forced smile and went back outside to the waiting truck. Garrett and India were in the back seat and Seann was standing with the passenger side door open, arms akimbo, his long hair tamed into a ponytail that she found super sexy.
Her sunglasses allowed her to stare without being caught and she was appreciative of the snug faded jeans and fitted t-shirt he wore. She had to resist the urge to fist her hands into his hair and kiss him again as he helped her into the truck but she saw him try to hide a smirk and realized nothing about her would escape his notice from now on.
She knew it should bother her more that this man she had only just met seemed to have wiggled into every facet of her life and knew more about her than she was comfortable with. She had always been super private and the few men she had dated hadn’t lasted long when they tried to get too close. It seemed she had been waiting for something more and Seann Donovan was certainly more…of everything.
India and Garrett chatted in the back seat oblivious to everything but themselves as Seann navigated his way to their apartment.
“I have to get rid of most of our furniture if we are going to be staying at the compound,” she stated.
“I can have it brought there Imogen, or put it in storage. I don’t want you to feel you have to give up anything to be with me, with us.” He turned to look at her and her eyes went to his lips.
“I only have a few things that are precious to me, the rest doesn’t matter,” she forced a smile. “There is a good chance we would have been evicted soon, it was getting harder and harder to meet the rent and the landlord has raised it twice already in the last year. We probably no longer have jobs either as we haven’t shown up for them all week,”
“You couldn’t have gone back there anyway, not for a few months until you are in complete control of your changes. It’s different for the wolves who are born as they transition around fifteen or sixteen years old so by the time they are adults they are in control of their shifting, it will just take a little time.”
They pulled up in front of the small dingy apartment block and India let out a curse from the backseat which raised Garrett’s hackles.
“I see creepy Colin is here looking for his rent Imogen.”
“How much do you owe him?” Seann asked.
“Just for this month which isn’t due until tomorrow.”
“He hangs around because he keeps asking Imogen out and he won’t take the hint that she can’t stand him,” India said.
The growl erupted from Seann’s belly before he got out and stalked toward the other man who was standing on the front steps watching them approach. Imogen had always thought he was quite imposing, but Seann towered over him and creepy Colin took a step back as he leaned in to talk to him.
She got out quickly and followed him as he took his wallet out of his pocket and handed the other man a bunch of notes.
“This will cover the rent and for someone to clear out anything my fiancée and her sister have left behind, the keys will be left in the apartment,” he said snaking an arm around her as she reached his side.
“Sure, sure,” he said sneaking a look at Imogen and hurrying off down the steps and around the back where he had parked his car.
“I would like to break his neck, he was leering at you,” Seann ground out and Imogen smiled at his irrational show of jealousy but sensibly kept quiet as they took the stairs to the second floor.
She knew the ‘fiancée’ comment was meant to warn creepy Colin off but if Seann thought he was going to be this high handed with her over everything, he had another think coming!
The apartment was tiny, but it had been home for the last three years and she would miss it. She knew the rent
she was paying would have gotten them something a little bigger, maybe even a small house but hadn’t wanted to disrupt India again. She was only a year younger than her, but Imogen had always been her protector, especially after their parents died so suddenly. None of it mattered now and they had a new home in the compound.
“I’ll make us some coffee,” Garrett offered, filling the coffee pot as the girls started to pack suitcases and boxes with their belongings.
“Show me which pieces of furniture you want to keep and I will start getting them loaded,” Seann said coming into her bedroom. The room suddenly seemed so small with him in it and Imogen forced herself to look anywhere but at her small bed as a picture of him lying there, his naked torso on view popped into her head uninvited.
“Only my rocking chair and my dresser, they were my mother’s.”
Seann felt her pain and pulled her into his arms. She savored the feeling for a few moments before she pulled away and resumed folding the contents of her meager wardrobe.
He picked up the chair and the empty dresser up like it weighed nothing and took it down to the truck. India wanted to keep her dresser too but everything else was packed into the cardboard boxes they brought with them.
She sipped the coffee Garrett made as they carefully packed her pots and pans, her mixer and all of her baking trays, Imogen was the baker and cook, India was a talented seamstress and Garrett carried her equipment downstairs and loaded it up into the almost full truck.
“I don’t think there is anything else I want from here,” Imogen looked around the room for the last time.
“We have plenty of space in the Den if you want it Imogen,”
She smiled at the name they gave their pack alphas house, but it was fitting.
“No, most of this stuff came from Goodwill anyway, it has no sentimental value for me, we can donate it all back to them.”
He took more of the boxes downstairs and she cleaned up the kitchen and rinsed out her cup and put it on the top of the last box on the table. She wandered through the house, making sure they had everything of importance to them. India’s eyes were tear-filled, and she hugged her sister to her.
“This is the start of a brand-new life for us India, this place here was always just a stopgap. I have a good feeling about it love,” she wasn’t completely truthful, but she wanted to see her sister smile.
Seann and Garrett came back upstairs, and she picked up her jacket and glanced around for the last time before going downstairs and climbing into the truck. That was a little easier than she had expected it to be. Seann squeezed her hand and she gave him a little smile as he pulled out onto the road.
“Can you take me to the shop so that I can tell them face to face I am leaving,” she asked him and gave him directions.
“Lynda already left me a message saying that I was no longer required,” India said dryly. Her manager at the small hotel where she worked as a receptionist was the owner’s daughter and a sour-faced woman who had never taken to India since day one. Imogen suspected she was a little jealous of her sister’s looks and friendly personality.
Seann pulled up in front of the bakery and Imogen got out and went inside. The owner was a friend and Imogen told her that she wouldn’t be coming back and was sorry to let her down, but she had some out of state family business she had to deal with for the next few weeks. She was surprised when she told her to come back to work again when everything was settled.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she got back into the truck and they headed for home, her new home with her pack.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Seann
Imogen was full of surprises. He had expected more resistance to them moving into the compound, but she seemed to be embracing it rather than fighting him. He hadn’t yet dropped the bombshell that she would be sharing his room but it was important for everyone to think that they had already consummated their mating, it was much safer for Imogen. He would deliver the bad news to her in degrees, she would find it easier to accept that way.
The Den had an open-door policy and although no one had the right to go through his bedrooms there were cleaners and other people in and out on a daily basis. Wolves could be notorious gossips among themselves, maybe because they had to be so secretive in the larger world around them.
There was no time like the present!
He carried her suitcases upstairs and put them in the master bedroom. Hope and Bree had already cleared a space for her clothes in the walk-in closet and Garrett carried her dresser and put it against the wall.
“Isn’t this your room?”
“Yes, now it’s ours,” he watched her face for signs of panic, but she just shrugged and started to unpack.
“I guess it makes sense if we are to fend off other ‘suitors’ wanting to carry me off into the woods and have their wicked way with me,” she gestured quotes with her hands and he smiled despite himself. She really was quite funny.
“There may be other wolves in the pack that are not delighted with our mating Imogen, just be wary until things settle down. Wolves are usually accepting and rarely vindictive and I think they will love you when they get to know you.”
Unconvinced she raised her eyebrow but let it go for now.
“Do we need to put on a show in public,” she asked as she zipped up the empty case and closed the dresser drawers,
“Yes, it would be wise. The quicker the pack accept that we are mated, the quicker things return to normal around here.
A burst of laughter escaped her lips, “Normal? Will anything ever be normal again Seann? I mean if anyone had told me a week ago that wolf shifters were living among us, never mind that my sister and I would also join the ranks, I would have had them certified. India tried to tell me she saw a man shift nine years ago...but I didn’t believe her, I thought she dreamed the whole thing.”
She started to cry and he was across the room in a flash and had her cradled in his arms like a child, “If I had believed her, maybe we wouldn’t have been chased and bitten by the black wolf and we would still be living our lives, oblivious to all of you.”
“It’s just the changes Imogen,” he sat down on the bed, still holding her. “It will take a little time for you to adjust but I promise you will love it here with us, we are one huge happy family, well most of the time,” he muttered the last part under his breath.
Hope popped her head in the open door, “Seann, Roisin said to come downstairs for dinner, she made pot roast and it smells divine!”
“Don’t you ever knock?”
“I will try and remember now that Imogen is here,” she grinned showing two large dimples and disappeared again.
“Who all lives here in this house,” she asked as she dried her eyes.
“Me and my sisters and now you, India and Garrett. Roisin lived here when we were younger but since my father died and I became alpha she moved out into the cabin next door.”
“It’s a big house for a few people,”
“There are eight bedrooms and bathrooms and occasionally we will have guests from other packs. Hope and Bree’s rooms are far enough away at the other end of the corridor and for now, Garrett and India will be downstairs. He has his own cabin and if they mate, they will live there. Everyone needs a little privacy but especially a newly mated couple. The walls are soundproofed and as long as the doors are closed all the way, no one will hear a sound.”
“Why would they need to be soundproofed?” She asked and then her face reddened as she caught on to his meaning. “Oh!”
Seann couldn’t help but laugh at her discomfort, “You blush like a sixteen-year-old, Imogen.” He raked his fingers through her hair and gently tugged it back until she faced him.
His eyes were magnetic and she parted her lips as his head swooped down and she sighed as he kissed her. Her body tingled with awareness every time he touched her, and Seann could feel her resistance crumble as his kiss deepened. It was going to take every ounce of willpower he could muster to sleep in the s
ame bed as her every night. There was a full moon in twenty days and he doubted that he could hold on until then, but he would just have to. Wolf sex involved a lot of biting and was often rough, too rough for someone who was still technically human. After her change was complete, she would match him bite for bite and his stomach clenched in anticipation, he had never wanted anything in his life as much as he wanted to bury himself deep inside his new mate.
“Your eyes are glowing,” she held his gaze, “They’re beautiful.”
“They will glow when our emotions are high, yours will too after you have fully transitioned.
“Are you angry with me?” She touched his cheek.
“No Imogen, I’m not angry. Let’s go eat,” he took her hand and pulled her toward the door.
“Why are they glowing?”
He cupped her ass and pulled her against him and she felt his arousal as his glowing amber eyes watched her face. She fisted his hair and pulled his mouth towards hers and groaned as they made contact. She had kissed a few men but nothing prepared her for her wildly erratic emotions when she kissed Seann. He lifted her up and turned them around holding her against the back of the door with his body. She wrapped her legs around him and the deep rumble coming from his chest was primitive and raw and her tongue brushed against his sharpened fangs.
She drew back and put her finger in his mouth. His canines had grown, and his eyes were glowing feral. She slipped her hands under his shirt to feel his skin and he pinned her effortlessly to the door, his fangs grazing her neck as he cupped her breast and she became boneless.
“Seann,” she moaned out and he inwardly crowed at her reaction to him.
He pulled back and saw the disappointment on her beautiful face at the disconnect, “I don’t want to hurt you Imogen. We need to wait until you are fully transitioned, or I could hurt you. Wolves are so much stronger and sex can be rough, especially when the attraction is so strong,” he lowered her to the floor and held her against his broad chest.
The Children of the Moon Page 4
