by Liza Street
“I know.” He came forward and took her into his arms. “I wish there was something I could do. Can we find another enforcer? Someone to call that Gregorio guy’s decision into question?”
“From what I know of enforcers, they don’t allow that sort of thing. It defeats the purpose, they say, because if they’re called around to dispute other enforcers’ decisions, nothing would get decided.” She sagged against him.
He hated that she was hurting, but it made him feel proud to be able to support her. She was delicate, yet strong. Her skin was cool to his touch, and he widened his stance, pulling her closer against him.
“I’m not cold,” she said, but she snuggled closer, anyway.
Her golden-brown hair was curling in the damp, and he pressed a kiss to the spirals. He would do anything for this woman.
He felt her move against him, her lips pressing against his chest, trailing kisses across it. She reached between them and put her hand over his cock. Immediately, it began to engorge.
“Hayley,” he whispered.
“Take me out of this,” she said. “Take me out of my mind, just for a few minutes. I can’t think about this anymore.”
“Okay,” he said. “Okay.”
He tilted her head up and kissed her. Immediately, her tongue twined with his. All of her desperation, all of her love, all of her passion could be felt in this kiss, and he strove to share his own intensity in turn.
The rain barely reached them here, beneath this giant tree. Marius’s cock was hard in Hayley’s hand as she stroked him. He walked them back to the tree, pressing her against the bark but bearing its roughness with his arms.
“Marius,” she whispered. “Now.”
He let go of her with one hand to dip a finger into her wetness. “Is the tree hurting you?” he asked.
She shook her head wildly. “No. I want more. I want more feelings, more sensation. I want more of you.”
He stroked his finger within her, feeling how tightly she clamped over it, and using his thumb to spread the wetness over her clit.
She moaned and hooked her leg around his waist, trying to pull him closer. “Marius, please,” she whined.
He smiled into her neck, pressing kisses below her ear, and pulled his hand away. Before she had a chance to take a breath, he’d replaced his finger with his cock.
“Yes,” she hissed through her teeth.
“You’re mine,” he said, thrusting in as far as he could go. “Aren’t you?”
“Ye-yes,” she said.
“And you’ll always be mine?”
“Always.”
The pleasure was growing. He didn’t know how long he could last. “And when I mark you, when I claim you…you’re going to be okay with that?”
She knotted her hands in the short hair at the back of his head and pulled him away from her neck. Her eyes blazed in the dim moonlight filtering through the trees. “Do it,” she said.
He pumped into her wildly, feeling out of control. This was the moment. Their moment.
“I want—your mark—too,” he said. He bent his head to her shoulder where it met her neck and sank his teeth in. The sharp tang of her blood filled his senses. So sweet, so Hayley. He felt her orgasm take her, her legs tightening and her pussy clenching, and she leaned forward and bit his shoulder, just over the collar bone. The slickness of her wet heat around his dick and her skin beneath his hands, the scent of her blood and arousal in the air, the pain of her mark—it all came together and filled him until he fragmented around her. He whispered her name as he filled her with his pleasure.
“Marius,” she said, brushing away some of the blood on his chest. “I bit you too hard.”
“Not a chance.” He glanced down at the mark and felt a warm sense of pride washing over him. They belonged to each other now. “Mine’s already healing. How is yours?”
She lifted her hair to the side. “I can’t see it. It feels fine, though.”
The punctures in her skin were knitting together. He’d marked her. She was his, he was hers. Forever.
“We should go back to my apartment,” Hayley said.
Something sounded false in her voice. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Was that really what you wanted?”
She smiled at him, her blue eyes softening. “Yes. I wanted it more than anything.”
That, at least, sounded true. No tension there. He held out his hand. “Let’s get home and snuggle up in your bed together.”
“Your bed, too,” she said.
He couldn’t keep the surprise from his voice. “So we’re moving in together?”
“If…if you want to,” she said, suddenly sounding shy.
“Dream come true,” he said, winking.
They drove back to her place, chatting about where to live. The house Hayley would build on her family’s property, eventually. But until then, they had fun decisions to make on whether to crowd into her studio or move to Marius’s circa-1970s one-bedroom rental, or find something else together.
“Can we stop for some food?” Hayley asked. “I’m famished.”
“Sure. I worked up your appetite, didn’t I?”
“Smug bastard-pants,” she said with a laugh. “But yes, you did.”
He drove up Main Street and pulled into the diner’s parking lot. He got out of the truck and came to get Hayley’s door, but she cranked her window down.
“Sorry,” she said, “but, um, would you mind going in alone? I don’t think I should be seen like this.”
He checked her out—her hair was a snarl of golden-brown wilderness. She looked exactly like she’d just been thoroughly fucked in the woods. “Is that…is that a chunk of bark in your hair?” he asked, reaching for a particularly clumpy tangle.
“Probably,” she said, laughing.
“Okay, what do you want?”
She gave him her order, and he jogged into the diner. When he came out, a giant white bag full of greasy food in his hand, he saw that she was on her phone. Probably one of her brothers. He climbed into the truck and put the bag between them.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“As good as it can be.” She sighed. “Will’s such a twatnugget.”
They drove back to her place. He wanted to talk more about the conflict with the Spokane Pride, and Will’s challenge on Sunday, but Hayley seemed determined to keep their conversation on living accommodations and other light-hearted topics.
Something about that bothered Marius, but he wasn’t sure why.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Her man slept quietly on her bed. Their bed, now.
Her man. In their bed.
Her man.
It bothered her that she was betraying him within their first twenty-four hours together as marked mates, but this couldn’t be helped. Silently, she padded into the bathroom and tugged on her clothes from last night. Slightly damp from the rain, they smelled like sex and cedar. The still-tender wounds on her neck rubbed uncomfortably against the cotton of her t-shirt, but she liked the reminder of Marius’s mark on her skin.
She took one last glance at Marius’s sleeping face. His features softened in sleep, and he looked more like a youth than a terrifying giant of a grizzly shifter. Her heart clenched in her chest. He would tell her not to do this.
She had to do this.
Once she was safely outside, she opened her Volkswagen’s door and rolled the car down the driveway. The similarities to the night she’d crashed Will’s truck and lost the respect of her parents were too strong. Sneaking out. Rolling a car down the drive before starting it so as not to risk the engine waking up the people she loved. Acting in defiance of what those people would want for her.
Tonight, though, she wouldn’t crash. Tonight, she wasn’t sneaking out to be irresponsible—she was sneaking out to show them how responsible she was, and she wouldn’t disappoint anybody. This challenge was her problem, and she would solve it.
Once the car was all the way to the road, she climbed inside and
pulled out her phone. She texted, I’m on my way. Then she turned the keys in the ignition and drove to Paris Lake. The Spokane Pride had no problem adapting to Hayley taking Will’s place in the challenge, and the asshole dickface buttsniffing enforcer had given his blessing.
When she arrived, three cars were already parked in front of her ruined childhood home. She climbed out of her Beetle and slammed the door.
“You came,” Alec said, stepping out from the shadowy trees. “I didn’t think you’d have the nerve.”
“Of course I have the fucking nerve,” Hayley said. “You really don’t know me at all. So, are we doing this?”
“Sure,” he said easily, wearing a smug smile that didn’t meet his eyes.
No wonder his parents were so desperate for him to marry that they’d hire a crooked enforcer and hold Hayley’s family territory over her head. Something was definitely off with Alec Lockman, from his single-minded focus on her to that strange, empty smile.
Gregorio and Boris stepped forward as well, both of them looking positively delighted at the sight of Hayley in front of them. They seemed certain that Hayley would lose this challenge. But like Alec, they really didn’t know her at all.
“Let’s begin,” Gregorio said. “Clothes off, shift into your lions.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Marius woke up, his belly full of greasy food and his mind on Hayley. She’d seemed distracted while they ate last night, and it wasn’t just the murder mystery they’d been watching on her laptop. Something had been bothering her, and he was sure it had to do with Will’s challenge, but she’d refused to discuss it.
He rolled over to tug her closer, but his arm landed on the mattress, empty beside him. Gone?
She was gone. He knew without listening for her movements in the bathroom, without listening for her heartbeat or breathing from the other side of the room. Her scent still surrounded him, but it was tinged with regret. She’d left, and she hadn’t felt good about it.
Marius sat up and rubbed his eyes, thinking hard. Where would she go? What had been bothering her? Will’s challenge.
Fuck. Marius jumped out of bed and scrambled to find his phone. He dialed Jackson.
“Wha—?” Jackson said. “What time is it?”
“Hayley’s gone to fight,” Marius said, tugging on his jeans with one hand.
Jackson swore. “I’ll call Will.”
Marius said, “I’ll meet you at the property,” and ended the call.
He dashed out to his car. Hayley’s wasn’t in the drive. She must have sneaked it out to move it without him hearing. Or had he slept that soundly, that he hadn’t heard it? They’d both been so tired after the meeting and their late-night run through the woods.
Slushy rain slapped against his windshield. His fingers shook as he struggled to get the keys into the ignition. All he could think about was Hayley, taking that challenge alone. Who would she be fighting against? Alec Lockman? Or the alpha, Boris? He knew she was intelligent and strong, but he’d never seen her fight before. How would she fare against a lion who would doubtless surpass her size and strength? His truck’s engine roared to life and he tore out of the driveway. He sped to the Jaynes property and saw two sets of taillights in front of him—Jackson and Will, likely. They turned off of Main Street in front of him, toward the Jaynes property, and Marius followed.
When they pulled up to the house, Hayley’s car was there along with three others. So she was really doing this.
“Hayley!” Marius shouted, jumping from his truck. He was already ripping off his shirt, ready to get in and defend her. The thought of her coming to any harm filled him with horror.
The sounds of fighting—snarls, growls, hisses—reached his ears. It had already begun. They weren’t too far away. Jackson and Will caught up with him.
“How could you let this happen?” Will asked, his voice low with anger as they rushed forward.
“She sneaked out,” Marius said. “I…I should have woken up, but I didn’t even hear her leave.”
“Idiot,” Will said.
“It’s fine,” Jackson said, louder. “She’s strong. She knows how to fight.”
They followed the sounds of the fighting until they reached two men in their human forms—Boris Lockman and the crooked enforcer, Gregorio. Beyond them, two lions fought. Hayley’s honey gold coat was a blur against the darker gold of Alec’s. Blood seeped along her side, crimson dripping along rain-dampened fur.
Marius reached for the buttons on his jeans.
“What are you doing?” Will asked. “You can’t get involved or we forfeit the challenge.”
“But she’s—”
“No,” Will said. “I’m right, aren’t I?” he said, looking to Gregorio.
Gregorio glanced away from the fight to look at Will, and nodded.
She was hurt, though. Marius wanted to roar. If Hayley didn’t kill that bastard, Marius would do it after.
She spun around, but not fast enough, and Alec raked a claw against her injured side, tearing her apart even more.
Hayley fell to a crouch and raised her foreleg. Ears back, hissing. She was on the defensive, and that was never a good thing in a challenge. The other lion circled her, his paws looking massive as he stalked around.
“Finish it,” Boris whispered. “Finish her.”
Marius couldn’t bear it. Come on, Hayley. You can do this. But she looked weak after that last attack. The fight had been going on before Marius had arrived, and while it looked like she’d gotten some good hits on Alec, Hayley bore the most injuries.
“Screw the territory,” Marius said to Will. “We have to stop this. We’ll find somewhere else to go. Will, come on.”
“You’re right,” Will said, and started toward Gregorio.
“Finish it,” Boris whispered again.
Alec rushed forward to pounce. Hayley was in no position to meet his leap, and Marius cringed at the sight of her crouched so low.
“Make them stop,” Marius yelled.
But Alec was nearly on top of her. It was about to be over. Marius started forward, but he could already tell it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Instead of fighting back in the way Alec seemed to expect—meeting the leap head-on—Hayley instead rolled to the right. The agony of her injured side raking over the wet pine needles took her breath away, but there was no time to think about that. No time to see the look of despair on her mate’s face as the world tilted with her movement.
She took Alec’s momentum and turned it against him, spinning with him in a whirl of claws and fangs and fur until he was on the ground, and she was on top of him. Before he could get a sense of what had happened, she clamped her jaws over his furry neck. She shook him once, twice, ensuring that her fangs punctured his skin. He growled, and kicked with his legs, but it would be no use. Her hold was solid.
She raised her eyes to look from Gregorio, to Boris, and back again without releasing her hold.
“The challenge has been won,” Gregorio said, not even bothering to disguise his disappointment. “The Dark Pines territory remains under the power of the Jaynes family.”
She didn’t trust him. Why should she? He’d lied when confronted with the truth of her bond to Marius. Now, she could easily kill this shifter and decide this challenge definitively. He’d nearly killed her a second ago at the urging of his father, and he and his family were a threat to her freedom and the land which would nourish Hayley’s family for generations to come. This land was her survival, as was her place upon it. And they wanted to come and take it, despite the fact that she’d found a mate who nullified the original agreement? Screw that. She tightened her hold on Alec’s neck. He went limp beneath her, no longer struggling.
“It’s up to you,” Boris said to Hayley. “The challenge is lost. Do what you want.”
He turned away to walk back toward the ruined house and his car. Gregorio followed him.
A minute later, Hayley heard two cars start
up and drive away.
A sound escaped Alec’s throat. Disbelief, maybe. Dismay. To be turned on by his own father like that? Harsh.
The poor asshole had been abandoned, essentially. His alpha—his father, who should care about his well-being—had just taken off without seeing whether Alec would live or die. Despite the strange deal her parents had made, using Hayley as a bargaining chip to ensure an alliance, at least she’d never felt like they would throw her aside like Boris was doing to Alec now.
Looking down into Alec’s face, she stared at him. I am the boss here, she said with her eyes.
He blinked slowly up at her and then the defiance melted from his gaze. He closed his eyes in defeat.
Hayley let him go, but she didn’t let down her guard. Instead, she remained in her lion form, ignoring her bleeding wounds, until he shifted into his human form. Then she limped after him while he walked to his car.
Marius and her brothers followed her, unspeaking. She would have some apologies to make in a moment, but first she needed to make sure this threat was off her territory and far from the people she loved.
Alec found his clothes on the ground and gingerly pulled them on while Hayley watched, impassive. Her enemy was leaving, broken and bruised, while she sat as a queen on her territory, having defended it for her pride.
Once his car’s taillights faded from sight, she shifted into her human form. Marius was at her side instantly, examining her ribcage where the wounds were concentrated. She had some lighter scratches and puncture marks on her forearms, but those were nothing compared to her side.
She looked at Marius, kneeling on the ground next to her so he could carefully prod her injuries. She winced when he found a particularly tender spot, but the pain didn’t seem so intense with him here, next to her. His eyes, the color of melted chocolate, were full of tenderness, not reproach. Although she was pretty freaking sure she deserved some reproach.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “And I’m sorry.”
“Hayley Ann Jaynes, what the fuck?!” Will shouted, stepping toward her. “You nearly got killed!”
