by Simone Elise
I was kissing her arm, and she was chewing on a bit of toast when I felt him appear.
“Ryder!” Allie jumped off me and hugged him.
Ryder was grinning, hugging her back, his hand dangerously too close to her ass. As if he knew what I was thinking, his hand went down lower.
He had enjoyed the fact he was closer to my mate than I was. Actually, he loved it. How many times did he tell me to let her go, so he could be with her? He had ended his relationship with his mate, and he was hoping mine would end the same way.
But he was hoping to pick Allie up as his.
Well, that didn’t happen.
As soon as she let go of him, I grabbed her arm and pulled her back, not feeling any easier about him and her together, even when she was back on my lap.
“So, how are you, Allie?” Ryder sat down next to me. His eyes on her.
“Good. I’ve missed you!”
“From what I’ve heard you’re far from good. I was meaning to come up to the hospital.” Ryder looked guilty for a moment.
She shrugged. “I was out of it anyway, so it would have been a waste of time.”
“See my brother helped you escape though?” He looked at me for a second, scorching me with one look. He wasn’t happy about her and me.
“He did.” She smiled. “How’s Cassie and Jake?”
“Good, we are actually heading up to ski next weekend if you wanted to come?”
The cabin. They wouldn’t be using it, but I sure as hell could with Allie. Dad usually forced it on new mated wolves. My mind started running wild with the things I could do to Allie locked up in a cabin, hopefully, snowed in.
Allie opened her mouth to answer, and I was guessing with a no, but I was quick to speak before her.
“We’ll come,” I said on behalf of her. I would do anything to have her one on one locked up in a cabin, in the snow, with no-one nearby. Maybe I could get that moaning of my name to a screaming.
Ryder looked at me for a second again. “I asked Allie if she wanted to come with me.”
“And Allie doesn’t go anywhere without me.”
“Since fucking when?” he scoffed.
“Since I made her mine.” I pushed her hair behind her back, showing him her mark. Yeah, suck on that, Ryder. She is out of your league.
He narrowed his eyes at it and looked at her with a hardened expression. “Tell me you didn’t mark him?” He was speaking to Allie, clinging to the chance she hadn’t committed to me. He wanted her, but he was never getting her. Even if Allie and I hadn’t worked out, I wouldn’t have let my big brother take my mate.
He could go fucking find Alannah.
Suddenly, I was wishing I was wearing a tank top instead of a t-shirt to show my mark off.
Allie frowned. “Why are you mad?”
‘Because he likes you, Allie,’ I spoke into her mind.
She glanced at me, still frowning.
‘He really likes you,’ I added.
Her expression changed to one of complete confusion. She really had no idea what she did to other males. What she did to Blake. What she did to Ryder. No idea.
Her phone started buzzing on the table, and Ryder hadn’t answered her. Instead, hewas glaring at me.
She picked it up answering, “Hey, Blake.” She glanced at me. “Will you calm down, I’m fine.”
I ran my hand up her thigh.
“How did you know I wasn’t at the hospital?”
I could hear Blake’s rude demands of wanting to know where she was.
“I’m with Zane.” Her eyes narrowed. “No, I didn’t do anything stupid and who are you to give a lecture!” She sighed. “Come get me then.”
What? No way was I letting her leave! I was planning on spending every single second of this weekend with her, in my bedroom, in my bed, and only breaking for food. Hell, that was the only reason she was down here now was for food. Otherwise, she would still be in my bed.
“You aren’t leaving,” I said, and she shushed me.
“Well, you can tell me all about it when you pick me up.” She frowned. “I don’t know if I can spend the night.”
NO, SHE FUCKING COULDN’T!
‘Calm down, Zane.’ Her voice floated in my head like she knew I was about to have a full-on rage attack. ‘You’re really gripping my thigh.’ She gave me a pointed look while still on the phone.
I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. I loosened my grip on her thigh, but that didn’t mean I was loosening the grip on her.
“I’m sure Ebony wasn’t thinking, and it was because of me, but come get me anyway and we can talk. I’ll make you see reason, even if you don’t want to, Falcon. I’ll be out the front in five.” She hung up.
“You aren’t going,” I said before she even hung up.
“I have to. Something about Ebony sleeping with some random guy.” She sighed and turned on my lap, smiling. “Stop looking so worried.”
“I don’t trust him near you.” That was an understatement. If Ebony had pissed him off, he would be looking for payback, and now that I had seen Allie naked, I knew what he was after.
Ebony and Blake’s relationship was toxic, and I wanted them far away from Allie and mine’s, especially when it was still new.
Her lips on mine caused me to reconnect to the moment.
“Stop worrying, Zane.” Her hand cupped my face, and she smiled. “I’ll be fine.”
“How long will you be?”
“Can you hear him?” Ryder snapped. “Seriously, Allie, this is what you are going to have to put up with for the rest of your life.”
She snuck a glance at Ryder and rolled her eyes.
“So, how long will you be?” I asked again. Maybe she would be half an hour?
“I’m guessing, but, by the sounds of it, Blake is going to need me for the rest of the weekend.”
I looked at her like she couldn’t be serious. She couldn’t be, could she?
“He has a mate. Tell him to go to her.”
“I think she is the problem. Stop looking so worried. I’ll be spending the weekend handing him beers and maybe helping him pull a girl to square things back up with Ebony, but that’s it.”
“You staying at his house?”
“I guess.”
I shook my head not wanting to believe it. “So that’s how you are going to work it. One night in mine. One night in his.”
“It isn’t like that.” She narrowed her eyes at me, looking hurt I had even said it. “I’m not fucking him.”
“You could be for all I know.”
“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT!” She was furious and got off me as if I had burnt her. She looked so hurt as she looked at me. “You didn’t even last twelve hours,” she spat at me with a hurt and a regretful expression. She walked off, and I was quick to follow her.
God, she could move when she wanted to. She was bolting up the stairs.
“ALLIE!”
Fine! If she wanted to run, I knew where she was running to and that was my room to get her stuff. I could easily lock her in there.
My door was open by the time I got up the flight of stairs and reached it, and she was already walking out. I gripped her by the arm.
“Tell him you can’t go.”
“After what you just said, what has you thinking I would want to stay here with you?!” She went to pull her arm from my grasp, but I held on tighter.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at me shaking her head. “You know what. Next time you apologize, put some effort into it. Now let me go.”
“I’m sorry,” I tried again. This time putting effort into it, as she would say.
“I’ve only slept with two people, you and him, so don’t make me sound like some slut! You have had hundreds of girls.” She looked slightly sick mentioning it. It was when her eyes lit up with tears I felt like a real jerk. “Let go of me.”
“I’m sorry, Allie. I was angry; I
didn’t mean it to come out like that.” I watched and hoped those tears didn’t fall.
She blinked and when the tears dripped down her cheeks, my heart clenched.
“I have to go.” She went to pull away from me again.
“I’m not letting you go until we have this sorted. I can’t have you doing what Ebony and Blake do. Sleeping with other people, even though they are marked. I can’t have you sleeping with him.”
Didn’t she see if I let her go now, hurt and angry at me, there was more of a chance she would end up in his bed? I could see it, which was why I wasn’t letting her go.
Her expression turned to one of hurt immediately. “And here I was thinking you thought more of me.” She wiped her tears off her cheek. “If you really think I would be like that, then you don’t know me. Not at all.” And this time she successfully pulled her arm from my grasp and took off. “Bye, Zane.”
I went to grab her again, but she took off, and I went after her like a fucking lovesick puppy following its master. I would kick my own ass if I weren't so pissed off with myself for causing the situation.
“Allie, don’t leave upset.” I got to her just as she opened the door.
Blake’s car was pulled up out front.
“If you didn’t want me to leave upset, maybe you should have kept your mouth shut.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “Thanks for telling me what you really think of me. It’s made what I do next a hell of a lot easier.”
What the hell did she mean by that! She was down the footpath and opening his car door before I could even say a word.
It’s made what I do next a hell of a lot easier. Her words repeating in my head as I watched the car pull away.
How the fuck did I screw that up so quickly!
Chapter Sixty-two
ALLIE
We had our normal rap music going. Blake was smoking and clenching a beer. I had lost count of how many we’d had. I inhaled my cigarette and crossed my legs, reaching for the bottle of vodka.
“So, how the fuck did we end up with such fuckwits for mates?” Blake blew out a mouthful of smoke. He turned, looking at me. “Seriously, how the hell did we end up with them? Why couldn’t you and I end up being mates?”
I smiled dimly and swallowed a mouthful of vodka. “Did Ebony say why she did it?”
“I could smell him on her. All she said was I deserved it.” Blake crashed his can. “Fucking useless bitch.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I can’t take her shit.”
“She was hurt. You did turn your back on her.” I knew how it felt now, personally what it felt like when your mate turned his back on you, when I put my heart on the line for Zane, and he ignored me. Yeah, I knew what it felt like. “She wouldn’t be thinking clearly. She was hurting.”
“It’s not like I fucked you, Allie. I was just being with you while you healed,” he scoffed and cracked open another beer.
“You wanted to run away with me.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t! I went back to her!”
I sighed. We had talked about this over and over. He wasn’t calming down, and I thought after a case he would, but he wasn’t. He was just as pissed off as he was when he picked me up.
“Can’t believe you let him mark you. Did you learn nothing from my mistake?” Blake snapped at me. “I told you I regretted it. Did you not think of that before you fucked him and let him mark you? Or at least think of it before you marked him?”
I never lied to Blake; well, apart from when I got my memories back, but normally I didn’t so I had told him about Zane and me before we even got back to his house. He knew all the details, well, apart from the part about how insanely amazing it was.
I remained quiet, not wanting to answer. He was right, I should have learned from his mistake; now I had a mark on the base of my neck, and I had marked Zane on his shoulder which meant right now I was longing for him. Needing him. It was painful. Physically painful. Nearly as bad as this headache I had which had come back as soon as I left Zane.
The liquor wasn’t even numbing it, but it was doing something I was pleased about. It was numbing my connection with Zane, as in mentally. I knew he couldn’t reach into my thoughts because my brain was aching too much. He wouldn’t be able to make sense of my thoughts.
Even if he wanted to.
“We should go to bed.” Blake got up, finishing his beer. “You are going to school tomorrow, yeah?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” I said, rubbing my temples. God, this headache.
“Maybe sleep will help the headache?” he said, and his arms went around me, and he helped me up. “Come on.”
Zane had said I would spend one night in his bed and one night in Blake’s, and he would be right if I slept with Blake right now, but I wasn’t having sex with Blake.
Sharing a bed with a friend wasn’t a big deal. Then again, how would I feel if Zane shared a bed with Ebony knowing they had always had a physical connection?
It would kill me, and then I would want to kill her.
So, as Blake ripped his clothes off and got in bed, I didn’t do the same. Maybe I shouldn’t do it. I knew Zane couldn’t reach into my thoughts right now so he wouldn’t know so I shouldn’t be worried about getting caught.
Still.
Blake frowned when he didn’t see me getting undressed. He got up off the bed, and his hands went to the hem of my tank top, and he pulled it off.
“You know I’ve been thinking…” he said as he pushed my skirt off.
“Normally that means trouble,” I said as he guided me back to the bed.
He laid down and pulled me down with him. His hand running up my leg. “Maybe you’ve had more time to think,” he whispered in my ear as his hand ran over my bare butt cheek. “About you and me.”
My eyes went wide. I thought we had put that subject to bed. Or to an early grave at least.
“Blake. Don’t,” I said, telling him not to bring that subject up, but also, at the same time, to stop his hand from gripping my bare ass. I really shouldn’t have been wearing a G-string, but it wasn’t like Blake hadn’t seen me in one before.
Still, if this was Zane and another woman, I would be furious knowing that. My hand went to his, and I pulled it off me.
“I can’t do this.” I got up. I couldn’t share a bed with him. I couldn’t sleep with him, even as friends. I physically couldn’t do it, so how the hell could he? He and Ebony were connected.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Since when did you stop staying here?”
“Since…” I paused, reaching for my clothes. “Since he marked me.” I threw my clothes on.
“You got to be fucking joking me. You’re turning me down.” He sat up, looking extremely hurt and pissed off. “You, Allie Winters, are turning me down!”
“I just can’t share a bed with you anymore,” I said, pulling my skirt up. It wasn’t easy to make this decision. It also wasn’t helping that my head was aching. It was hard to think clearly. All I knew for sure, was it felt wrong. So extremely wrong.
“I’ll keep my hands off you. Just don’t go.” He got up, just as my hand landed on his doorknob.
“I’m sorry, Blake, but I can’t be that girl anymore; the one you fuck when you are pissed off with Ebony. Whatever we had is over. I still want to be your friend and hell, it will hurt not to touch you, but I physically can’t have you and me getting any closer. I just can’t.” I stuttered out the truth of how I was feeling.
His expression. God, if only there were words to explain it. He was more than hurt. He looked like I was shattering his heart.
“I’ll take you home then,” he said, gulping and looking in all sorts of pain.
It wasn’t right. He shouldn’t have feelings for me. He should have those strong feelings for Ebony. I knew he did have them for her. He was just lying to himself saying he didn’t.
�
�No. You’ve drunk more than me. I’ll get a cab.” I smiled at him. “I’ll, um, see you when I see you.”
I opened the door and shut it behind me. Leaving him. I knew I had hurt him. I knew he wanted me, maybe to hurt Ebony, or maybe because his feelings for me ran deeper. Either way, it didn’t matter because I wasn’t letting whatever it was we had, get any closer.
I really had to start being a friend to him and not go back to the type of friendship that Blake and I usually had where we touched each other, where we fucked each other.
That relationship or friendship we had, had to end because now I had given my body and heart to Zane.
I physically couldn’t be with Blake anymore. I realized that when I closed his front door and stepped out into the night air, calling for a cab.
Blake and my’s friendship was about to turn into exactly that. A friendship.
Chapter Sixty-three
ZANE
I couldn’t feel her. Couldn’t reach out to her. Couldn’t feel if she was close or not. It was doing my fucking head in. I didn’t know if she was here or not. We hadn’t had any classes together this morning.
I had hovered near her locker, but she didn’t show. I had searched the grounds mentally for her, but I couldn’t feel her. All I could feel was a headache every time I reached for her. I still had a headache. I didn’t know if it was from her, or if I had one because I went on a bender with Taylor as soon as she left.
It wasn’t a sex bender, it was a drinking bender, and like the best mate Taylor always was, he was there for me. He didn’t even judge me when I said I marked Allie. I didn’t tell him though she marked me.
So, I was sitting at the back of the class with Ebony and Taylor in Math. Waiting. Waiting for her to show up.
The bell rang, and she hadn’t entered.
She hadn’t skipped the day, had she? Had she done that to avoid me? I attempted to reach into her mind again, but again, my headache just got worse. Why the hell did I drink so much yesterday?
The door slid open and in walked Blake.
He was the last person to be with her. He would know where she was. Normally those two were glued together at school.
