by E A Price
Reid shot her a look of bafflement that she couldn’t help but feel was genuine. “Marley…”
“I saw you kissing her yesterday!” exploded Jolene, amidst the yowl of her wolf.
“I didn’t know you were at the bar.”
“I didn’t want to interrupt so I left,” she said prissily.
His expression turned stony, and just a little disappointed. “You should have hung around. You would have seen me pushing her away. She came onto me, I told her I wasn’t interested – that was it.”
Jolene chewed on her cheek; interest replacing hurt. “So you haven’t been spending your nights with her?”
“Fuck no!”
“But Beau said…”
Reid roared. “The only female I spend my nights with is you. Can you not see how I feel about you? When I’m not with you, I sleep outside your house.”
“You sleep outside my house? Why?”
“To protect you, to… to be near you. Fucking hell, Jolene, as crazy as it sounds, I’ve cared for you since I was ten fucking years old. I had to watch you be with Beau, and it nearly killed me. I left because I couldn’t stand watching you pining for him. Then I stayed away because you got married. I was stupid, but I’m here now. Jolene, you are mine. You belong to me as my mate.”
“Reid, I…”
She shrank away. Her wolf pushed at her. Mate, yes, ours. Yes, she wanted him. Her wolf wanted him. But, no - long-festering instincts urged her to back away.
True mates meant nothing. It was just a way to trap, to ensnare, to hurt… she couldn’t stand being hurt in the way her mother had. The beaten down sadness of being slowly destroyed by the one person you loved more than anything in the world. No. That wouldn’t be her.
“I care for you, Reid.”
He prowled the room like a caged animal. “Fuck, Jolene, you are my mate.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want a mate.”
He chuckled hollowly. “Well, you’ve got one whether you want one or not. Can you not see what you do to me?”
Jolene blushed. “That’s just lust.”
“It’s not. It’s more than that. I can barely breathe when I’m not near you and when I am, I’m not satisfied unless I can scent you, unless I can feel your body against mine. Tell me you don’t feel the same?”
“I…” No, she couldn’t deny the effect he had on her. Couldn’t deny it, but she could deny what it meant. “It’s just hormones.”
“The fuck it is, you belong to me. Say you’re my mate.”
“Reid…”
He quivered with rage. “Say it!”
“No!” she snapped. “I don’t want a mate.”
“Say it, or I leave right now, and I don’t come back.”
Jolene wrapped her arms around herself as her wolf whined. “You promised you wouldn’t leave.”
“I can’t stand to watch you be with anyone else, you’re either mine or you’re not. If you wanted me, you wouldn’t hesitate.” His eyes flashed with accusation.
“Reid, this is so sudden, can’t we just talk?”
He closed his eyes. His breaths came out in ragged pants. “You still love Beau.”
“No!”
“But you don’t love me.”
“Reid, please don’t pressure me.”
“Do you love me?”
She froze. Her heart, wolf and mind all clamoured with an answer, but she didn’t know which one was true. “I don’t… I don’t know.”
“What do you want, Jolene?”
Visions of her mother, once a lively creature and now merely a ghost of a woman, rose before her, and she shuddered. Anger at her father, anger at her mother and especially anger at Reid for pushing her fuelled her. “I don’t want to bond with a mate – not even you. And right now, I want you to leave.”
Reid growled. “Fine, if that’s what you want. I won’t ask you again.”
He hurtled out of the house, shifting to his huge beast the moment his paws hit the ground. He tore away from her house like he was on fire.
“Ugh!” Jolene slammed the door and then threw an ugly lamp at it for good measure. It shattered, and she immediately regretted it.
Mechanically she started picking up the pieces. Her wolf yowled pathetically.
Her mate? Okay, yes, he meant a lot to her. And yes, she believed she was falling in love with him. But… true mates?
Did he really expect her just to throw herself at him and say ‘take me forever’?
Her insides clenched as she thought of her mother. Did she really want that? Her mom was… she was nothing. Her dad wouldn’t even let her get a job because he wanted to provide for her. And he got jealous and angry over any friend she ever made. Her mom just sat at home, waiting for her dad to turn up. She was like a freaking prisoner to his jealous whims. That wasn’t a life anyone should lead.
No, she never wanted that. But she wanted Reid.
Maybe she always had. When they met he was young – a child - so they’d fallen into a friendship. But hadn’t she known after he turned eighteen, ever since she started having that dream, the one where he kissed her – that there was more to their relationship?
It was at the engagement party, and she was drunk, and he laid her down on his parents’ bed, and he kissed her. It was the dream she had over and over; she didn’t know what to make of it.
She’d felt like an idiot, dreaming of a teenage boy. But he wasn’t a teenager anymore. He was all grown up. So what was her excuse now?
Easy - she was scared. Scared of being taken over by him, scared of being dominated. Hadn’t she already enjoyed it when he acted like a gruff male, trying to protect her, making her feel like a dainty female. What if it got worse? She didn’t want to lose herself like her mom had.
But Reid’s different, whimpered her animal. He cared for her, wanted to protect her.
Is that why he slept outside her house? Or maybe he was there to make sure she had no other male visitors. It was the kind of thing her father did to her mother when they were courting. Her dad caught a friend of his trying to visit her mom and he almost killed him. Her mom told her that with pride, like it was a funny story. Jolene felt disgust when she heard it.
But Reid hadn’t stormed into her house and attacked Beau. He’d waited until he left. In spite of the thoughts going through his head – he had waited and confronted her.
She rubbed her head, feeling the headache of a sleepless night catch up with her. She called work and said she wasn’t coming in, took some painkillers and went back to bed, trying to sleep, but all she could think about was Reid.
Jolene wanted to be with him but having a true mate doesn’t mean a happy ever after. Everything wasn’t magically fixed by a mate, but as she felt her heart melting, she wished it would be.
Chapter Eighteen
Jolene blinked awake to the sound of breaking glass. Her wolf growled dangerously.
Reid?
No, he wouldn’t come back to see her in a hurry.
She heard muffled voices and silently jumped out of bed. She pulled her nightshirt off and shifted to her wolf. As she crept downstairs, she scented two males. One seemed familiar but was overpowered by a mix of sweat and cologne, not to mention the other male – clearly a bear shifter, and whose scent was more dominant.
The she-wolf considered trying to grab her phone and running back upstairs to call the pack enforcers. But grabbing the phone in her mouth wasn’t exactly easy, and she didn’t want to be trapped in the house with them.
Maybe if she got past them, she could run for help.
The bear shifter growled and looked up, sniffing the air.
Well, decision made. Jolene growled and leaped at the males, knocking the smaller wolf shifter over and… her wolf recoiled in recognition.
It was Mark.
He held up his hands as she backed away, snarling. “Jo-Jo, it’s okay, it’s me.” She bared her fangs, and he slowly got to his feet. “C’mon, baby, shift.”
&nbs
p; Reluctantly, she did. The bear shifter gave a slow appraisal of her body and smiled grimly. She grabbed the throw from the couch and wrapped it around herself.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed at Mark, eyeing the unpleasant looking bear shifter.
“Baby, I need to talk to you in the kitchen.” He tried to grab her arm, and she shrugged away from him.
“No, Mark, tell me what’s going on. You’re not supposed to be on pack land.”
Mark gave her a pitiful look. “Baby, I just need…”
“Don’t baby me!” snapped Jolene. She had too much on her mind to deal with Mark’s crap at that moment. “Either get out of my house or I’m calling the Alpha.”
“Jo-Jo!” he whined.
“That’s it!” Her wolf gave her a mental high five as Jolene snatched the phone.
There was just one problem. The huge bear shifter put his massive paw over hers. “I wouldn’t do that,” he rumbled. He pulled the phone out of her hand and pushed her onto the couch. With a sickening crunch, the phone crumbled in his colossal fist.
The tension in the room ratcheted up to about a thousand and the dawning feeling that she might actually be in danger trickled coldly down her spine. “Mark?”
She flicked her eyes to her ex-husband. The once perfectly coiffured wolf looked desperate, like he hadn’t slept or bathed in days. The stench of his fear was overwhelming. Something told her he and the bear weren’t best buds. Her wolf growled.
“Look, Jo-Jo, if you just give me your grandmother’s jewelry, I’ll leave.”
“What?”
The bear sat down on the couch, far too close to her, with a heavy thump. The piece of furniture sagged magnificently, unintentionally forcing Jolene to lean against the obnoxious male.
Her animal howled as he placed a paw on her bare leg. “Sweetheart, your husband owes my boss a lot of money. And until I get it, I’m his new best friend.”
She tried to get up, but he firmly kept her in place by squeezing her leg, almost painfully.
“Mark?” she hissed, flexing her claws. The bear stared back at her with a maddening smirk.
“I’m sorry, but I had a sure thing and then I lost the money I borrowed. I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t desperate. If you could just give me the jewelry and some money.”
“H… how much did you lose?”
“Twenty grand,” said the bear shifter, with a certain amount of satisfaction.
“Mark! I don’t have that much and the jewelry…” Her voice trailed away as the bear’s eyes glittered.
She loved her grandma, and the older she-wolf left behind some pretty pieces of jewelry, but most of them were paste and non-precious stones. Her grandma had sold most of her real jewelry over the years so she could send money to Jolene’s mom. Grandma thought Jolene would never find out. Not that she minded; her mom needed all the help she could get.
“That’s too bad,” crooned the bear. “Because one way or another, he has to pay.”
“And if he can’t?”
Jolene snapped her jaws, and her wolf howled as he tried to twirl a strand of her hair through his meaty fingers. He chuckled. “I could break his legs, cut off a finger I guess…” Mark whimpered wretchedly. “But that won’t get my boss his money, will it? The debt could be worked off, but I don’t think your hubby here has the required skills. You, on the other hand…”
“I guess you’re not talking about cooking and cleaning,” she spat as her beast pushed at her to allow the shift.
The bear leered horribly. “My boss has a lot of friends who would enjoy your company. But if you don’t want to, I could revisit my decision on leg breaking. Course, if we never get the money, eventually we would have to cut our losses.”
By the flash of excitement in his eyes, that wasn’t the only cut he would be making.
“Mark?” she appealed to her erstwhile husband desperately.
“It wouldn’t take you that long to work off the debt,” he stammered, hanging his head, refusing to look at her.
“Mark, you can’t be serious!” she yelled.
“Please, Jolene!” he begged. “You wouldn’t let me get hurt over this, would you? You wouldn’t be so heartless?”
Her beast snarled. “Heartless?!”
*
After stalking several innocent bunny rabbits, and then catching them and doing things to them that would make the staunchest carnivore wince, Reid lay down and panted. Involuntarily, his shift took over. Even his beast was sick of him and wanted to go and sulk.
What the fuck had he done?
All his plans for wooing her, taking it slowly and easing her into being his mate were all shot to hell. Anger and jealousy had fuelled him, and now he’d lost her. Maybe forever.
How could he have been so fucking stupid? Barging in there, demanding she give him an answer… he knew better than that and yet, he’d still done it. It was like he’d been taken over by a madman. Vaguely, he had been aware of what he was doing, but he was powerless to stop himself.
Damnit! He’d be lucky if she even talked to him again.
Sadness enveloped him. He’d spent more than half his life pining for her, and any hopes he had of being with her had now disappeared in the blink of a raging argument.
As he contemplated feeling sorry for himself for the rest of his life, his wolf suddenly snapped to attention.
“What now?” muttered Reid, dispassionately.
His frantic wolf pushed at him, forcing the change. Uncaring, Reid let him. The beast tore away, running to Jolene’s house. Reid tried to regain control, but the beast snarled at him.
It wasn’t until they were outside her house that he realized why the wolf was so agitated. There were shouts, crashes and the sickly, awful scent of Jolene’s fear emanating from her house.
Without thinking, Reid barrelled into the house, roaring. A half-undressed Jolene was grappling with a behemoth of a shifter. Her ex-husband, Mark was whimpering over his bloody arm.
Jolene spotted him. “Reid, no, run!” she screamed.
She twisted in the bear’s grip and lunged at the huge shifter, sinking her claws and fangs into his flesh. The enormous male howled, trying to tear her away from him while reaching for a gun.
Reid snarled and leaped, ignoring Mark as he yelped and ran straight for the door. The bear struggled to aim the gun at the she-wolf attached to his arm, which was copiously pouring blood everywhere. Reid latched onto his other arm. The gun went off. The bullet sped past his haunch grazing his fur. The she-wolf, worrying that he had been hurt, loosened her grip in alarm. The bear grabbed her and hurled her across the room. She hit the wall with a sickening thump.
Reid howled and allowed the shift to take over. He punched the injured bear and grabbed a lamp, bringing it soundly down over his head.
The bear slumped to the floor, not passed out, but groaning at his injuries. Reid grabbed the gun and snarled at the bear to ‘stay down’.
He ran over to find Jolene curled on the floor, moaning.
“Reid?” she murmured in confusion.
“Sshhh, sweetheart, it’s okay, I’m here.”
“Reid…”
Chapter Nineteen
Jolene groaned.
“Hush,” came soothing tones.
She felt a hand stroking her cheek. It felt quite nice but wrong at the same time. Her wolf yapped at her to wake up. It took an effort, but her eyes flickered open.
“Reid,” she burbled.
The finger stopped for a moment. “It’s Beau.”
She frowned as she focused on him. “What are you doing here, Beau? What happened to Reid?”
“I was worried about you. My brother left.”
Jolene struggled to sit up. He tried to help her, but she batted his hands away. She realized she was in bed and her nightgown. She pulled the covers up to her neck.
Beau grinned. “Sweetheart, that’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“That was a long time ago,” she grouch
ed. “How did I get into bed?”
“Reid brought you up here, he was a bit wild after what happened and wouldn’t leave until he was sure you were going to be okay. He was antsy, so Alec ordered him to leave. A couple of the females cleaned and clothed you. They arrested Mark.” Beau snickered. “He’d almost run all the way to Alexandria when they picked him up. They arrested his friend, too… what was left of him anyway. Your wolf has a mean bite on her; I’ll give you that.”
“Is Reid okay?”
“He’s fine. He was more worried about you than anything else. You know I think the pup’s always had a bit of a crush on you.”
Jolene blinked at him.
Beau chuckled. “Hard to believe, right? I used to taunt him about it when he was a kid. Looks like he still hasn’t let go. Can’t say I blame him. You always were the most beautiful she-wolf I ever saw.”
She sighed. “Beau,” she warned.
“Just telling the truth.”
“Until you met Tawny.”
He grimaced. “Can’t we get past that? It was a long time ago.”
She gave him a critical look. He hadn’t changed. He was still handsome, and still the same sweet and selfish Beau. With Beau, it was just easy. He wasn’t perfect; that was for sure. But he was easy to get along with. She never really had to worry about hurting his feelings or enraging him. She didn’t worry he’d lash out and hurt her. Their relationship was easy. Sure, he had annoyed her when he flirted with other girls and yes, he could be downright thoughtless, but she could have lived with those things. Ultimately, those things wouldn’t tear her apart in the way that being hurt by a true mate would.
Jolene glanced at the wooden apple on her nightstand. “You’re right, it was and we can.”
Beau looked at her in surprise. “Really?”
“Yep.” She threw back the covers and clambered out the other side of the bed. His eyes brightened in expectation.
“I completely forgive you for what happened between us. In fact, thank you.”
Now he seemed worried. “Uh, you’re welcome. But thank you for what?”
“For breaking off our engagement. Because us getting married would have been a huge mistake.”
