‘Don’t act so surprised. Surely it happens in your pack all the time?’
‘I just told you I.DONT.HAVE.A.PACK.’
‘But you know how it works right?’
‘No, Jared, I’m fucking clueless when it comes to your shitty caveman ways.’
‘Devon…’ he scoffs
‘Don’t fucking Devon me. You did this, and I have no idea what it means. You can’t just claim someone. I’m a human fucking being!’
He stops pacing and stares at me
‘No, Devon, you’re a wolf, and this is our way. You should fucking know this. How can you not know this?’ He pulls at his hair, frustrated. I stop and let it sink into my head. It doesn’t take long for my thoughts to return to the blonde. Of all the things I should be thinking about right now. He has laid claim to me and my brain is still stuck in jealousy mode. Fuck a duck.
‘So she knew that night when she was all over you? She knew about me?’ He nods.
‘She knew when I got home that I’d been with another wolf, and she realised it was you at the bar, yes.’ When he got home? They live together? Fuck me sideways.
‘Can’t imagine she was too happy about that?’ I ask. He shakes his head looking like a guilty little boy. I wasn’t too happy; how dare he mark me as his when he hadn’t run it past me first. When he already has a mate. Oh, shit a brick. Hang on a fucking minute. ‘Have you marked her too? And you live together?’
‘Fuck no, have you not heard a word I’ve said? I never wanted her. I accepted that’s what was gonna be ‘cause I had to. It was a duty to my pack, to my father. But that all changed when I met you. I marked you. It’s not a choice I made, although I would have made it, it just happens when…’ He takes a deep breath. ‘Well, I don’t need to explain it ‘cause you know.’
‘When you fucked me?’ He cringes at my words. Well, let’s call it what it was.
‘If you have to call it that, yeah, but that’s not what it was for me. I was hoping it was more than that for you too but…’ His words creep into my soul, and I start to thaw.
‘It was, Jared. I was right there with you, but it was one time. I just didn't—’ He puts his fingers to my lips, silencing me. A moment passes as I fall deep into the depths of his green eyes. His lips meet mine, and our tongues entwine. The kiss is gentle but carries the weight of a mountain. I am his. And no matter how wrong I know it is, I want him.
‘It’s gonna be more than once,’ he says against my lips. And I know it will be. I’m his anytime-anywhere. I’m like a moth to a flame. A prostitute to a punter. A stupid fucking girl, screwing around with a taken man. Thinking with my Niagara vagina.
‘Yes.’ I groan out against his lips, the tenderness turning into a burning desire, his lips crushing mine. His hand pushes under my skirt and past my panties, his fingers expertly finding my slick folds. He moves down my throat with his kisses, nipping at me with his teeth. As his fingers slide home, he growls deep in his chest. I’m ready to come apart right there. But I hear the door creak open and see Brawny standing in the doorway.
‘Don’t move,’ Jared whispers against my ear. ‘What?’ he snaps, turning his head toward the door, where Brawny stands, completely unfazed.
‘Just checking on you, J.’ The guy doesn’t move and waits for an answer. It’s killing me. Jared doesn’t falter, moving his fingers inside me, stroking over the sweet spot inside. Making me groan.
‘I’m fine, Howard, and I’m busy. We’ll be back when I’m ready.’ Wow, that voice. His dominance is so clear, so sexy when it isn’t directed at me. I’m wet and needy, as he turns back to me, his lips meeting mine in a vicious exchange. I roll my hips shamelessly into his fingers, desperate for more. ‘You’re soaking, tell me what you want, baby.’
‘I need you.’ The words come out on a moan. I don’t even sound like myself. He pushes his face into my neck, one hand fisting my hair as his other works away inside me.
‘If I do that, everyone will know when we leave here. Are you good with that?’ I don’t give a flying fuck. I need him—it’s agony. I need him there now.
‘Yes, ppplease,’ my words are breathy and desperate. ‘Nnnneed you.’ I’m squirming under the building orgasm. His answering chuckle breaks me. The wall comes down, and I come for him. My toes curl in, and my legs are jerking out of my control. I bite down on his shoulder to stem my scream.
‘That’s it, baby.’ He lets it subside and then he’s there again. His fly unzipped, he slides himself in slowly, carefully, his hands on my hips as he deliciously slides inch-by-inch inside of me. I can’t fit him entirely, not like this, but he feels amazing. He pulls me forward, laying me on my back, his hands on my hips as he powers into me, for his pleasure and mine. He’s exquisite. He’s mine.
How long we are in that room, I can’t be sure. But we leave and find Howard looking mighty pissed off—leaning up against the wall in the small corridor between the two rooms. He’s clearly heard everything. And if he could smell Jared on me before there is no mistaking it now. Howard's lips twist in a disapproving way. Jared slaps him on the back.
‘Devon, this is Howard, one of my pack members, and one of my best friends.’
I look up at him.
‘Yeah, we’ve met already, remember?’
Howard rolls his eyes. He clearly dislikes me. Well, the feeling is mutual, dickface.
‘Howard’s problem is, he takes his job too seriously, don’t yah, Howie?’
I like this Jared. Fun, loving, and carefree. He has his arm slung around my shoulder, and we walk back through to the bar. The night has completely done a U-turn. I was out trying to get Jared off my mind and instead… Pfft who cares? This is right. We feel right. Apart from the giant elephant in the room. But right now I am not going to think any more on that. Not tonight.
He drops me home along with Maiya and the promise that I will see him again the next day. I decide it’s best to give my dad a call that night and wait for Maiya to fall asleep. I’d sent and received a few texts, but it was about time I made an actual call. We got all the usual crap out of the way, then I broached the subject.
‘So I met someone.’ Silence. ‘Dad?’
‘I’m here, Devon. Tell me about him?’
‘Well he’s a lot like you, dad,’ I’m hoping I don’t need to spell it out because although I think Maiya is asleep, I’m not a hundred percent sure. Again I’m met with silence.
‘Devon, are you alone?’
‘Maiya is sleeping.’
‘Okay, Devon. Just answer me the best you can. When you say he’s like me, do you mean as in personality?’
I laugh. ‘No, dad, I mean literally like you.’
He makes a strangled sound. ‘I knew this was a bad idea.’
I frown, pissed at his reply. ‘Why is it? Because I’ve finally met some people like me? Who accepts me as I am? Who I don’t have to hide from?’ I try to whisper, but my temper is barely holding out.
‘Devon, listen to me.’ My dad’s tone is serious. ‘When you say people? How many?’
‘He has a pack.’ I cringe at my words and look over to Maiya. She’s snoring. Phew. ‘Dad, I don’t get it? Why are you so upset about it?’
‘Devon, does he know about you?’
‘Know what about me?’
‘For god sake, Devon. About what you are. What your mother is? Have you told him?’ Jeez, calm down. What’s wrong with him?
‘No, I haven’t. Why? What’s the big deal?’
He doesn’t say anything.
‘Dad? Will you answer me, Jesus, you’re acting like someone fucking died?’ I inwardly cringe as I realise I’d just cussed at my dad. But his lack of reaction has me even more worried.
‘I really didn’t want to tell you like this.’
‘DAD?’ I can’t bear this, ‘I’m going to put the phone down now unless you start talking.’ I was so frustrated, and it reflected in the way I was speaking to him. I would never normally do that. Ever.
‘Devon,
listen to me. When your mother and I first met, it was a while before we realised how, shall we say, different, we were. We saw each other regularly, each of us thinking the other was merely human.’
‘Yeah, yeah. I know this story.’ They got serious and then started to notice the signs in each other around the time they needed to change, and eventually they talked about it. And although they were different, mom a kitsune and dad a werewolf, they decided that was fine. Until she decided otherwise.
‘The thing is, Devon, your mother is the daughter of a high-ranking member of her skulk. And she was forbidden to leave. She was meant to mate with a member of her group and her sons and daughters would be then mated to other high-ranking members.’ I listened now intently. I had never known this before. ‘Because I’m a werewolf, your mother and I were forbidden to be together. My pack wouldn’t accept her, and your mother’s skulk tried to take her back—to keep her away from me. They tried everything to force her back at first. But she was already pregnant with you by then so we ran. They would have killed you for being a crossbreed. And me for mating with your mother.’
‘Is that why she left?’ He didn’t answer. I feel sick. In that short conversation, my whole existence is shattered. Everything I’d known was a lie. I shouldn’t have even been born? I was a mongrel. And my mom left because of me.
‘Devon, there’s more. I need you to listen carefully…’
But I zone out for a while, in shock, trying to digest it all. The phone in my hand slips away. I can hear him calling my name frantically. Oh, my God. What am I going to tell Jared? Would he still want me? He’s the next alpha. How could he? He would have to abide by pack law. I disconnect and drop the phone. It starts ringing again immediately. I silence it and put my pillow over my head. I cry until I fall asleep.
I arrive home to find my father sitting at the kitchen table. Fuck me. He’s accompanied by his usual goons who all try to look important standing behind the alpha. He’s sitting at the head of the table. I have a lot of respect for my father. He brought me up in a very strict environment. I lost my mother at a young age, and I guess my dad did his best for me in the way he knew how. But he was never like the other dads I knew in the pack. He never played football or fished, or went to any matches with me. It was all about the pack. I grew up knowing how important pack life was. My father just never knew how important it was to love someone. I never had that kind of connection with him. It was a relationship born of respect and rules. Not love. That was just how we were. I never expected anything more from him, until now.
I’m acutely aware that I’m walking in reeking of sex and booze, and I could kick myself. I’m in a fantastic mood, and I don’t want to come down from that, but this little ditty is going to change all that. Guaranteed. Howard stiffens at the sight of his alpha and immediately goes to sit to his right at the table. I greet my father and try to walk right on through the kitchen as if his presence was as natural as the sun coming up each morning. No such luck.
‘Jared, sit.’ I’ve only made it to the fucking door, and my good mood plummets to my boots. I sit at the opposite end of the table, slumping in the chair with an ‘I don’t give a flying fuck attitude.’ My father is pissed. Real pissed. I know because I’ve learned over the years to notice the small signs. On the exterior, he looks as cool as a cucumber. But he has tells. His nostrils flare, and he has a small tick in his jaw that you can see only if you kn0w to look for it. And he grinds his teeth. The average person, they probably won’t hear it. But for me, it is as loud as a nut cracking at Christmas. And that only means one thing. He is going to lay down the law and put me in my place. Or so he thinks. I have other ideas. As my father begins his speech about alpha duties—the one I know by rote. I zone out. My eyes glaze over, and my thoughts go to Devon. How she felt, how she tasted, how she sounded beneath me. Fuck, I want to be back there right now. Without thinking, I get up from the table and follow my feet up the stairs. Howard catches me half way up.
‘What the actual fuck, Jared? Your dad is fucking raging in there, and you just walk away from the fuckin’ ALPHA? What’s gotten into you?’ His voice is almost high pitched it’s comical, he tries to tug on my arm to take me back, but I pull my elbow from his grip and walk on,
‘Fuck it, Howard. I don’t even care anymore.’
Howard’s eyes go as wide as saucers, and I chuckle. Whatever. I throw out my hand, dismissing him, and walk the rest of the way to my room. It isn’t long before the door opens. I say opens. It almost comes off the fucking hinges—no knock. My father stands there, filling the doorway. His calm exterior is slipping a little as he takes in my carefree sprawl on the bed. I don’t speak. I just lay with my hands tucked under my head and my ankles crossed. Staring at the ceiling.
‘I see you’ve been with her, despite my orders against it.’ It wasn’t a question, so I don’t answer. I just roll my eyes in my father’s direction and then back up to the ceiling. Whatever dickhead. ‘I will give you today, Jared, and I hope she is now fully out of your system because my choice still stands and you will do as I say.’
I sit up then, looking my father straight in the eye. ‘No.’
I don’t know what’s funnier, the shock on his face or the fact I’d actually said that out loud. To my father. Not many live to tell the tale when he isn’t obeyed. But I’d made my mind up, even if Devon didn’t want me, I wanted her, and I couldn’t change that. I didn’t want anyone else. Ever. And I was not going to mate with Kristen.
My dad seems to fly across the room, but I don’t flinch. He’s a fierce wolf, one to be feared. One who is feared by many.
I was scared shitless too, until I outgrew him, and outmatched him. I knew I could take my father if necessary. I won’t because I have respect for him as the alpha and as my father. But this is a sticking point I’m just not willing to move on. So either he will have to back down on his decision, or he will have to find a way to force my hand. The latter wasn’t working out so good for him, so he’d come down to do it in person. The fact that Devon’s feelings for me had been confirmed tonight only held me in stronger stead. I was not budging. Not even an inch. My father will hopefully accept that and respect me for making a stand. After all, I am the alpha heir. It’s in my nature to lead, not follow. I watch as my father’s face goes from pissed to shocked, and then there is a flicker of something else—fear? Respect? Before it finally settles on amused. I haven’t moved from the bed, and I’m in a vulnerable position with my alpha standing above me, but I don’t care.
‘Are you sure this is the female you want?’ my father asks to my surprise.
‘Absolutely certain.’ I didn’t hesitate. He snorts in disgust.
‘And she wants you?’
I nod.
‘Well I can see that nothing I say is going to change your pig-headed mind, but know this, you will be punished. You cannot and will not defy me and get away with it. I am your ALPHA!’ he growls out the last word.
I inwardly flinch but don’t show weakness. There’s silence for a moment, and I don’t take my eyes off of him, maybe he’s deciding my punishment and is going to dole it out here and now. And what about Devon? Is he allowing it? Is he calling off the mating to Kristen? I have so many questions I need answering. ‘You may have this female,’ he says, and I let out a breath. Thank fuck. ‘But, the mating to Kristen still stands. You will follow my orders, and you will produce great heirs. That is the way it will be.’
I stand from the bed and go toe to toe with him. I have at least four inches on my father, and I outweigh him easily pound for pound.
‘I won’t mate Kristen, and that’s the fucking end of it. You think you can make me? Try it.’ The indecision on my father’s face at that moment is clear. Does he challenge me head on, or does he accept my choice and make like he made the decision? Time seems to stretch while I wait. Then my father gives me a nod, turns and leaves my room. What the fuck does that mean? I pale. What the fuck have I just done? Faced my father—my alpha,
down, practically challenging his position. Shit, I wasn’t ready to be alpha yet, but I just came damn close. Is this how it’s going to be from now on? I feel like I’ve just let something loose—like I’ve just opened Pandora’s fucking box. Did I do the right thing? I knew sure as shit it was wrong to mate Kristen. But I’d just disobeyed my alpha for a female I barely knew. I could be cast out. Turned away from all I knew. Is she worth that? The answer is easy, though. Yes, she is worth all that. I know it in my gut.
Devon
The next morning comes around way too quickly. I have to register and fill out all the relevant paperwork dealing with finance, and various other boring bits regarding being an international student. I walk around in a daze, going through the motions, Maiya at my side the whole time, guiding me through it. She decides a coffee break is needed. I welcome the caffeine, but I’m not up for chatting, she seems to get that, so we each sit with our own thoughts.
‘Umm, you gonna get that?’ Huh? I look at her, startled from my thoughts. ‘Your phone? It’s ringing.’
I look and realise my phone is moving as it buzzes across the table. I shake my head at her. I’m not in the mood to speak to my dad. But no sooner does it stop, then it starts again. I stare at the screen, which reads ‘Home’. ‘Oh for god sake.’ Maiya snatches the phone from the table and answers, ‘Devon’s phone’ in a high-pitched girly voice. I listen as my dad asks where I am. ‘I’m Maiya—her roommate—she’s gone off to register this morning but left her phone charging while she went. Can I take a message?’ My dad asks that I give him a call when I get in. ‘No problem I’ll pass that on.’ Maiya hangs up and relays the message. ‘It would have rung all day, at least this way you have some slack. So, you wanna talk about it?’
I shake my head. I do want to talk about it, but not with Maiya, and certainly not with my dad. In the end, she lets it go, and we head back home.
I seriously need to think about changing soon. I’m very irritable and can feel my mood changing. Over the years I’ve learned that I can go about three weeks without changing, but my mood and general health are better if I don’t wait that long. Doing the math, I realise it has been two weeks. No wonder I feel so angsty. A little recon is required to decide where I can change safely. I will go as soon as it gets dark. It’s handy having the choice of Kitsune and wolf because in a town like this if a fox is noticed, it won’t look so out of place. Whereas a wolf would be best unnoticed. I preferred running as a wolf, though, and I’d always favoured that side of me.
Forbidden Love (Stone Pack Book 1) Page 6
