by Kyle, Celia
Except that wasn’t possible. It wasn’t allowed. Chloe had developed a very strict set of rules to protect her heart, not to mention others’. Every little girl’s dream for a happily ever after—a pack who supported her, a mate devoted to her, a litter of pups who thought the sun rose in her eyes—wasn’t her destiny. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, she’d seen enough to know better than to cling to a fantasy.
She was broken, unworthy of becoming someone’s mate—a fact her father had made abundantly clear when she was just eight. Cruel? Maybe. But he hadn’t been lying. If Boyd Soren had been one thing, it was honest.
None of that meant she couldn’t lead a fulfilling life. Maybe not the one she’d always pictured, but one that would give her purpose. She’d found that purpose in teaching other people’s kids. It wasn’t a family of her own, but it was the closest she’d ever come, and she’d made peace with that.
Mostly.
Which was precisely why the emotions Drew dredged up made her so uncomfortable. Deeply buried instincts stirred to life, reminding her of the beast within she’d kept restrained for so long. It whined and begged to be let out into the light, but Chloe couldn’t take the risk. Drew represented a future she’d forfeited many, many years ago. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to explore her feelings.
Yet the longer her gaze lingered on his face—god forbid his body—the more fiercely she responded to him. It seemed to skip the simple “attraction” phase and jumped right into “horny” territory. Every time their eyes locked, her feet itched to close the space between them. Every instinct she owned screamed for her to press her body against his, capture those sensual lips in a frantic kiss, and ride him till dawn.
Quit being so slutastic! she chided herself. Tearing her gaze away, she turned and headed for the kitchen without another look. She didn’t dare.
“Eggs okay?” Her voice was huskier than normal, even to her own ears. Huskier with a hint of need. Her chest and face flamed as she realized he probably could smell her desire for him, just as she could smell his for her. Sometimes being a wolf wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
“Don’t go to any trouble for me.” His voice was thick and sexy as heck.
“No trouble.” She rounded into the kitchen and headed straight for the chill of the fridge. “I’m starved, so either way, dinner’s happening.”
“Well, if you put it that way…”
She sensed him following her, always keeping a safe distance between them. Not safe enough though. Using a wooden spoon to point at her kitchen table—conveniently located in the far corner of the kitchen—she issued an order, “Sit.”
Apparently, her don’t fudge with me teacher voice worked on full-grown wolves as well as wild human kids. Drew took up the closest chair and clearly fought a grin teasing his lips.
And failed miserably.
As much as she wanted to keep his intoxicating effect on her as far away as possible, every inch of space that separated her body from his ached like a bruise on her heart. To distract herself, she focused on cracking eggs into a big bowl before beating them like they deserved to be punished.
“How long did it take you guys to get to Tremble from the Blackwood lands?” she asked, as if he’d been out for a ride with his buddies, not being kidnapped.
“Couple of hours or so. They grabbed me as I closed up my office at five and we were here by eight, at the latest. I do have to say that your pack moves fast.”
Chloe winced and gave him an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry about all this. Zeke means well, but like any alpha, he sometimes thinks his problems are the only ones that matter.” She glanced at the clock and gasped. “Holy crud! It’s after eleven. Did they at least feed you?”
“I don’t think that was their top priority,” Drew drawled, his lips tipped up in a soft smile. “To be perfectly honest, I’m famished. Haven’t had anything since lunch.”
A fresh wave of anger at her impetuous brother washed over her. How dare Zeke allow this beautiful man who actually wanted to help their mother go hungry! He should never for a minute be put at risk, as far as she was concerned.
Get a grip, Chloe, she reminded herself. Missing a single meal wasn’t going to kill anyone, especially not a healthy male wolf. Yet she couldn’t shake the intense protectiveness she felt for Drew. Thankfully he changed the topic to the only thing more important than her confusing feelings for him.
“Do you think you could tell me more about your mother’s condition?” She froze for a moment, and as if he held a copy of the Chloe Soren Emotional Reaction Dictionary in his hand, he quickly added, “If it’s too hard, I understand. I can wait until tomorrow.”
She stared into the bowl of yellow goo, mind tripping through ideas on where and how to explain everything. She never talked about her mother’s condition. Ever. Not to anyone, not even Zeke. But Drew’s presence in her kitchen calmed her, made her feel oddly comfortable. She had no doubt in her mind that she could share all of her dark and terrible secrets with him and he would carry them for her. Then he would crush them in his big, capable hands and set her free. The idea was ridiculous, of course, but it didn’t change the fact that she trusted him.
Still, every time someone learned about what had happened to her, they treated her differently. The thought of Drew looking at her in any other way than he did at that moment nearly tore her heart from her chest. Better to dole out the most pertinent details about her mom and keep the rest to herself for now.
“No, now is okay. What do you want to know?”
“Anything you can tell me. How was she exposed to X-15? Who poisoned her? How ill is she? For how long? Of course, the one thing I really want to know you can’t answer. How did she survive it? Especially this long.”
Chloe met his eyes for the first time since they entered the kitchen. Sadness overpowered her need for him, allowing her to answer without stumbling over herself.
“You’re right. I can’t answer that. I can answer the rest, I think, but you should probably hear it all in context.”
Drew waited patiently while she dumped the eggs into a big cast iron skillet. She set the flame, leaned back against the counter and returned her attention to him.
“When I was eight, Mom took me to Atlanta for a girls’ weekend. We had so much fun. We went shopping, saw a play, ate at fancy restaurants. She even took me for my first pedicure.”
“Sounds nice.” He leaned back, relaxing into the story.
“It was. One of my favorite memories. It’s just unfortunate it all ended so horribly.” Long-suppressed tears choked her, so she took a moment to stir the eggs and compose herself. “Anyway, on the way home, a drunk driver crossed the median and hit us. Not quite head-on, but bad enough to roll our car a couple of times, according to the investigators. I don’t remember anything.”
“Jesus,” Drew breathed. “Was your mom hurt too?”
“Physically, just scrapes and bruises. But emotionally… Let’s just say she couldn’t forgive herself for what happened to me. Obviously I lived, but nothing was ever the same. Mom sank into a deep depression while I was in the hospital. She blamed herself, even though it wasn’t her fault in the slightest. It was just hard for her to see her daughter…hurt like that.”
Another stir of the eggs.
“Even when I came home, she grew more and more depressed. She couldn’t pull herself out of it. It got so bad she finally sought the advice of the pack’s old healer. He told her about a treatment that might help calm her, except it wasn’t sanctioned by the NRC. ‘Experimental,’ he called it.”
“Serenity X-15,” Drew spoke softly.
“The very same. But Mom was desperate by that point. She only took micro-doses of it at first, and believe it or not, it actually seemed to help.”
Drew leaned forward, the scientist in him obviously interested in otherwise unknown effects of the poison that ruined her mother. He probably had a million questions, but thankfully he kept them to himself, for the mome
nt.
“I think she was so relieved that something was working, she increased her dosage. If a little was good, more would be better, right?”
A crease formed on Drew’s brow. He knew the answer to that hypothetical question.
“Eventually, she took a big enough dose that she fell into a catatonic state,” Chloe finished with a heartbroken sigh. “She’s been that way ever since.”
“I’m so sorry, Chloe.”
The caring in his voice nearly broke her. She returned her attention to the eggs and held onto her stoicism for dear life.
“Did anyone try the antidote?” he asked so gently her heart shredded.
“Eventually,” she finally managed after swallowing her pain. “But it was too late, I guess. Whatever the reason, it didn’t help. Honestly, I gave up hope a long time ago, but Zeke seems pretty convinced you can cure her.”
Storm clouds darkened his face as he dropped his gaze to a small stain on the table. “I really hope I can, Chloe, but we still don’t know as much about how it affects wolves as we should. I will do whatever I can, that much I promise.”
He’d already gone above and beyond, just by agreeing to stay and help. She couldn’t ask for more. Not where her mom was concerned, anyway.
“But first things first,” he continued. “Can I borrow your phone? Apparently, mine went missing in the scuffle at my office.”
Shame over her brother’s actions made her grimace as she tugged her cell out of her back pocket. “Service is spotty this far out of town, but texts almost always go through. I’d offer my land line, but that service can be just as spotty.”
Drew shot her an amused, quizzical glance, and then tapped her phone. On and on it went, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was texting his girlfriend or—it hurt to even think it—his mate. Not a true mate, of course, but wolves could select a mate if they didn’t believe they’d ever find a true mate. She stared hard at the phone in his hands, trying to catch a glimpse of his message, but it was too far away.
Snap!
Chloe gasped as the wooden spoon she’d been holding snapped clean in half. The broken pieces clattered to the floor to join her broken pride. “Fudge!”
Drew jumped up and a split second later she heard the telltale whoosh of a text being sent. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern etched on his handsome face as he drew close.
Too close.
Not nearly close enough.
Her silly wolf had grown so jealous over Drew’s mythical lady love that it had embarrassed Chloe with its strength and sudden snap of the spoon. Wrangling the beast back into the dark corner she’d kept it in since childhood, she gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m fine.”
He looked relieved and then handed her phone back. As her fingers wrapped around the device in the palm of his hand, his other closed over hers, enveloping it in the warmth of his skin. Whatever she’d felt for him before was a whisper in the wind compared to this. It nearly knocked her ass over teakettle. Her knees threatened to buckle. All the moisture in her mouth fled and traveled south—far south—to where she throbbed with need for this man. Every cell in her body yearned to leap into his arms and take him right there, amongst the broken remains of her spoon, and have a hundred of his babies. And judging by his hungry expression, he felt the same.
She almost fell for it. She very nearly believed she might stand a chance at making this man happy, that she could be a proper mate to him. But it was a lie.
Snatching her hand from his, she stumbled back a step. The shadow of pain that flashed in Drew’s eyes hurt her more than her own sorrow. She never wanted to see that look again, and the only way to guarantee that was to keep her distance.
Chapter Five
What the hell just happened? Drew wondered as he watched Chloe. She bustled around the kitchen, grabbing plates in such a strange panic she nearly dropped them. He lunged to help, but she only pulled away from him again. He was no expert on dealing with his mate—it was as new for him as it clearly was for her—but he didn’t need longstanding familiarity to recognize that something wasn’t right.
She felt the same connection he did. He saw it in her eyes. The tension was as thick as the butter she slathered on a couple of pieces of toast, always avoiding eye contact. Why the resistance? Nerves, maybe. Or it could have been shock.
Walking into her house after a long day at work only to find her brother had kidnapped her fated mate and stashed him in her living room? That would mess up anyone’s normal reaction to such a momentous occasion.
Hell, even he had a hard time wrapping his head around it all. It didn’t help that his wolf strained to be released so they could claim Chloe and show her exactly how good they’d be together. Her wolf undoubtedly reacted in a similar fashion, which might have overwhelmed her—especially if she’d spent as much time away from the influence of her pack as she’d claimed.
“Eggs,” she practically shouted and shoved a loaded plate at him.
Poor thing was still agitated, so Drew smiled and took the plate from her. As much as he wanted to touch her—every part of her—he was careful not to let their fingers touch. Physical contact would only ratchet up her anxiety. If she needed some time to process the situation, he’d give it to her. As much as she needed.
“Mmm, looks good.” He grasped the plate and then headed back to the table.
Her breathing calmed at his apparent easy-going attitude and soon she joined him, taking the seat directly across from him. Tension vibrated between them as they pecked at their food with the uncertainty of two people trying to decide whether to ignore the elephant in the room or drag it onto the dinner table. He needed to lighten things up, get to know her and vice versa.
“Boy, I would have swung by Tremble a long time ago if I’d known you cook so well.” He gave her a measured, appreciative smile.
He wanted to put her at ease, not make anything worse. Judging by the rise of pink in her cheeks and a twitch of a smile, it seemed to work. Unfortunately, her reaction gave him such a sense of pride at having an amazing mate, that familiar urge to sweep everything off the table and take her on it returned in full force. Desperate to turn his thoughts to something less sexy, he changed the subject to one he knew wouldn’t turn him on.
“Other than kidnapping me, Zeke doesn’t seem to be a bad guy. I’ve got a number of clients who are far worse.”
“Don’t you mean patients?” she asked.
“I’m a vet. I have no trouble with my patients. Their owners—my clients—are another story.” He sighed dramatically. “Sometimes I wish I had the power to prescribe them Xanax.”
Chloe snorted, a little harder than he expected over a stupid vet joke. He liked it.
“Zeke is a really good guy,” she tried to reassure him. “I can understand why you might not think so, but he is. He cares about his family. He cares about this pack.”
“Is he older than you? Or younger?” Drew was pretty sure he knew the answer but wanted confirmation. And a topic that wouldn’t give him a raging hard-on.
She nodded as she swallowed. “Older by a year. And since he was the son of the alpha, the booger always thought he was the boss of me. It’s fun to remind him from time to time that I’m the daughter of an alpha, and I can give as good as I get.” She pointed her fork at Drew and arched an eyebrow at him in mock warning. “Remember that. Mess with me and I will fudge your sugar up.”
He stared at her for a long moment, trying to understand her words, and then it hit him. She’d used her substitute swear words. In the sweetest possible way, she’d just told him she’d fuck his shit up. He burst out laughing.
“Hey!” she cried and kicked his shin under the table, all while struggling to keep a straight face. “Don’t laugh at me! I’m dangerous.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he chuckled and held his hands up in surrender. “Most everyone I know is pretty free and easy with their language. Took me a minute to translate.”
She finally grinned and it was like
the sun had just come out after a rainstorm. Drew’s soul ached to get closer to her, but he controlled himself.
“Curse of being a teacher.” Her words confirmed his earlier suspicions. “If I slip up in front of the kids, I risk my job. But it kind of works out well. When one of my kids starts talking like a sailor when they think I can’t hear, I pull them aside and tell them if I can’t cuss, neither can they.”
“And they respond to that?”
“Most of the time.” She shrugged. “They can relate because they’re not supposed to cuss either. Plus, they think I’m kinda cool because I want to cuss.”
“What grade do you teach?”
“Fifth. A lot of teachers don’t like teaching rowdy elementary-schoolers, but I love my kids. They’re so funny and smart. You can really see the adults they’ll become someday, and that’s just awesome.”
Her eyes lit up when she spoke about “her kids” and it didn’t take a psychic—or even a fated mate—to see she loved her job.
“Sounds like you have a good handle on them.”
“For a lot of them, I’m kind of their second mom.”
She jerked her head to the fridge where Drew finally noticed all the papers stuck to the door. They were drawings of animals and superheroes and families, some more skilled than others, but all obviously created by children. He’d been so caught up in her that he hadn’t even seen them. Some detective he’d make!
“You’ll—” he started but then abruptly stopped.
He’d been about to tell her she’d make a wonderful mother to their pups one day, but he’d already promised himself he’d give her time to adjust to their new status as mates. Talking about raising a family with a woman he’d met less than an hour earlier was the very definition of not giving her time. Clearing his throat, he quickly changed tactics.
“You sound very dedicated. I’m sure your mother would be proud.”
The bright light in her eyes faded, but didn’t blink out completely. “Thank you. It hasn’t been easy, but she’s been well cared for over the years. First by our father. Since he passed away last year, the pack healer and omega have tended to her daily needs.”
