As the darkness pressed in around her, her other senses heightened, and every one of them seemed to zero in on the male sitting in a chair at the end of the bed. She became acutely aware of his presence—every exhale, every little movement. She could picture him sprawled there, moonlight highlighting every ridge and bulge on his bare chest, the play of muscles as he moved.
Her own breathing started to come faster, her body reacting in unwanted ways. Burying her face in the pillow, she tried to drown him out. Instead she got a lungful of his addictive, arousing scent.
Flipping onto her back, she shoved her hair off her face. “Would you cut it out?” She growled into the darkness.
“What am I doing?”
The jerk actually sounded sleepy, like he’d been asleep or close. Great, she was laying there all but panting from just the smell of him, and he was completely unaffected. She winced, not sure what to say. “I—I can hear you breathing,” she snapped.
He laughed, soft and low. “Not much I can do about that, Sugar.”
“Well, try.” Yeah, she sounded like an idiot, but it was too late to take it back now.
There was a shuffling sound and the chair creaked a couple times. “You want some company? I could help you relax if you’re having trouble sleeping.” The rough edge to his voice hit her low in her belly.
“Like hell,” she muttered, hating that she sounded all breathy and needy when she’d been aiming for pissed and disgusted.
“You know where to find me if you change your mind. Sleep well, Delaney.”
“Sleep with one eye open, asshole.”
He laughed again, but this time there was nothing soft about it.
Bastard.
Chapter 4
Fletcher watched Delaney sleep in the dappled morning light. Wild curls spread across his pillow, thick lashes resting against her cheeks, lips slightly parted, soft.
Fucking beautiful.
He wanted to go to her, climb in beside her. The need to feel her skin against his was so fierce he ached.
She stiffened, tossing and turning as a whimper broke past her lips. She was having a nightmare. He kneeled down beside the bed and ran the back of his knuckles across her soft, warm cheek.
“Laney, Sugar?” He continued to speak in a soft tone, trying to ease her awake, but her struggles increased. “Laney?”
She gasped and shot up into a sitting position, eyes unfocused. “Fletch.” His name tore from her throat, raw and full of pain.
He gripped her shoulders. “I’m here, baby.”
The sleepy haze lifted and those golden eyes focused on him. “Why didn’t you come for me?”
He struggled for words, where to begin. His hesitation was obviously several seconds too long for Laney. She shoved his hands away.
“I need the bathroom.” Scrambling off the bed, she pushed past him and waited while he unchained her. Then all but ran to the bathroom and shut herself in.
A few seconds later the shower came on.
She took her time and Fletch was so close to going in after her when she finally came out. Without a word, she sat on the edge of the bed, threaded the loose chain through the leg of her jeans and pulled them on. He noted she kept on his t-shirt, which made him insanely happy. What he didn’t like was how quiet she was. When she was ready, she silently followed him into the living room.
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Laney…look…”
“No. It’s fine. I’ll just hang around until you decide to man the hell up and tell me what’s going on. Obviously my feelings mean squat to you. Everything’s on your terms right, Fletcher?” She laughed, a bitter sound he’d never heard from her before. He didn’t like it. “You proved that five years ago.” Then she sat down on the couch and turned away from him.
Those words struck like a shot to the solar plexus. He fucking hated that he’d hurt her.
The dinner dishes were still on the coffee table, and he gathered them up, stalling, trying to ‘man the hell up’. It was time, past time. He left her to dump the plates in the sink, and stared out the window. The forest—thick and lush—surrounded his small cabin. He’d looked out at that view for close to five years, wanting nothing but the woman sitting in his living room.
He had to believe there was a future for them, anything else was unacceptable, and the only way to move forward was to open up to her and not hide in the kitchen like a fucking coward. When he walked back in, she was slumped against the couch. She looked dog-tired and, dammit, resigned. When she looked up, he sucked in a breath, hating the pain lining her beautiful face.
“How all this went down, I didn’t—”
“You can save all the extra bullshit. Why’d you leave, Fletcher?” She said quietly, cutting him off and getting straight to the point.
What he was about to say would hurt her and it killed him.
“I know I’m asking a lot, especially after…everything, but I need you to trust me on this.” Once upon a time she’d trusted him without question. It shouldn’t hurt, that look of unease she kept throwing his way, but it did.
“Untie me and take off this fucking collar. It’s kind of hard to trust someone when they have you chained to the floor.” Her lips cocked up on one side. “And if you’re a good boy, I promise I won’t rip out your spleen and serve it to you for breakfast.”
Well, she hadn’t exactly told him to drop dead, not in so many words. He decided to take it as a step in the right direction. And like she said, if he wanted her to trust him, it wasn’t going to happen with her collared and chained.
“You’ll stay put, hear me out?” Her chin dipped in a stiff nod. “If you go back on your word, I will come after you. You understand?” Another nod.
Pulling the key from his pocket, he released the cuff around her ankle. Her eyes didn’t leave his as he reached up and gently unlatched the collar, then smoothed his fingers over the skin beneath.
This would kill her. How could he expect her to choose between her mate and her father? How could he do that? But then, he hadn’t forced that choice. No, her bastard of a father had brought them to his point. Fletch didn’t deserve Delaney, but he refused to live another day without her either and he’d destroy anyone who tried to take her from him again.
“I’m just gonna lay it out for you, babe. There’s no sugar-coating what I have to tell you.” Her shoulders stiffened, but she remained quiet. “I didn’t leave that day, Laney. Your father threw me out of the pack.”
Her whole body jolted like he’d slapped her. “No,” she shook her head.
“Baby, I never wanted you to know the shit he was capable of. But I’m telling you like it is.”
“No,” she repeated.
Though he hated to hurt her, she had to know it all. “He saw the way things were headed between us. He didn’t want my worthless ass anywhere near you. He threatened to have me killed in front of you if I came back. It was the only thing that kept me away. I swear.”
She jerked back. “You’re lying. He knew we were going to be mated.”
Not many parents would deny their children that kind of happiness, but Anthony hadn’t thought twice.
“You really think he wanted you tied to a deformed, packless mutt?”
“He wouldn’t do that to me,” she repeated. Her incisors extended, pain and anger burning hot in her eyes.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Delaney. He already did.”
Despite her assurances to the contrary, she shifted. A vicious growl ripped from her throat, her clothes disintegrating into tattered ribbons, scattered across the floor.
His own wolf reared up, but not because he sensed a threat. No, he wanted to run with his mate, wanted to play. He tamped down the urge and stood his ground as she padded towards him, head down, teeth bared. Then she charged, lifting up on her hind legs, her paws hitting his chest with force.
He let her take him down, knocking him on his ass. She crowded over him. Cool wooden floor boards at his back, while warm, silky f
ur pressed into his chest. He kept his arms at his side, when all he wanted to do was bury his fingers in the dense, golden mass. In that moment, he knew if she didn’t believe him, if she chose to go back to her pack, he would hunt her down and kidnap her all over again. He couldn’t be separated from her again.
Never again.
Her jaw hovered above his throat and he could sense her confusion. She’d expected him to resist. Another low growl rumbled from her chest, challenging him, calling to his wolf. Did she truly think he could fight her?
He clenched his fists in an effort to keep from touching her. “My family never fought for me, Laney. They turned their backs on me without a backward glance. And honestly, I never believed I was good enough…not for you. Why would a female like you choose a waste of space like me? You had your father, your pack,” he rasped.
Her father had known that and had used his weakness against him.
He hadn’t submitted to anyone since the day Anthony kicked his ass out, battered and broken. He vowed he never would again, but this was different. He belonged to Laney. She owned him, body and soul. The woman didn’t need to tear his throat out to destroy him. It was as easy as walking out that door. So lifting his chin, he bared his throat to her, relinquishing his power and giving himself to her in every way he knew how.
She lurched back, growling, but it lacked conviction this time.
“Do your worst, Sugar. I won’t fight you.”
She leaned in, fangs an inch from the vulnerable artery there. Slowly, carefully, he lifted his arm and buried his fingers in her soft fur, stroking gently. Her body trembled beneath his hand, and she howled, an agonised sound that broke his heart all over again. Then the thick mass disappeared, replaced with smooth, naked, female flesh. The heat of her skin scorched his chest and stomach and he resented the denim denying him full body contact.
Her hollow gaze found his. “Fletch?” The reality of what he’d told her dimmed her amber eyes, pain turning them liquid. But she knew. Deep down she knew it was the truth.
“It’s going to be all right, baby.”
Her long, slender fingers threaded through his hair and she buried her face against his neck. “I need you to tell me everything.”
Being like this felt so damn good. He didn’t want to talk anymore, didn’t want to hurt her more than he already had. “You want to go in the bedroom? It’s not very comfortable on the floor.”
She gritted her teeth. “So help me if you don’t start talking…”
“Okay.” He let his hands smooth over her bare skin, trying to soothe her, all the while ordering his dick to stand down. Yeah, like that was going to happen with his woman naked and back in his arms. He reached out and grabbed a t-shirt off the floor. “Put this on.”
No way could he get through this with her like that. She pulled it over her head, and before it had the chance to settle around her hips, he tugged her back down and folded her tight against his body.
Telling her the truth meant a bond would be destroyed that could never be repaired. But then her father had obliterated that bond when he planned to sell her to the pack with the fattest bank account.
He didn’t have any trouble returning to that time in his mind and he let the words flow. “I was escorted off pack land with no money and nowhere to go. I couldn’t bring myself to leave, despite your father’s threats. So I lived in the forest just beyond the border for weeks.” He cupped her face, and she let him. “I couldn’t leave you. I needed to be near you.”
“I wish you’d come to me,” she whispered.
“Believe me, I tried.”
“What happened?” She spoke so quietly, he barely heard her.
“I was beaten and thrown back out. Your father realised I wasn’t going to give up. I’d called his bluff. He hadn’t dragged me in front of you and ended my life. So he threatened to send you away, to tear you away from your pack, your family. I believed him.”
“I knew he’d never let us be together. I could take the beatings he dished out because nothing wounded more than being separated from you. But I couldn’t let him hurt you. How could I let him send you away from everything you knew? I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t do that to myself. I needed to know you would always be there.”
She stilled, wooden in his arms, her heart beating rapidly against his chest. “So you gave up on me?”
“Fuck no.” He tightened his hold on her. “Never.” God, how could she think that? But then how could she think otherwise?
He forced himself to continue. Now he’d started, he didn’t intend to stop. Laney deserved the truth, or as much as she could handle right now. “Anthony had me brought to him. He said I would never be good enough for you. I had no real pack, no money. I was weak and damaged. I wasn’t whole. You deserved so much more than I could ever give you…He confirmed all the shit that kept me up at night, all the shit I knew was true.”
Goosebumps broke out across her skin as she lay frozen, trembling in his arms, her pain a tangible thing. “Fletch…”
“I decided to make something of myself, to be a better man for you, to prove him wrong. Instead, I proved him right.” He tightened his hold on her. “After I left that last time, I wandered into Oakwood territory. One of their sentries caught me.” He’d known the price for trespassing, but he’d exhausted the game in the small patch of land he’d been living on. He’d needed food and didn’t want to stray too far from Laney. “Their alpha at the time agreed to let me go if I dealt with a problem for them.”
She lifted up, looked down at him. “What kind of problem?” He drew in her scent, letting it wash over him.
“One of the humans they were doing business with had been messing with the books, siphoning funds from the pack’s share of the profit. He wanted to send him a message. They didn’t want to risk one of their own getting caught, so they sent me.”
“So you, what? Beat him up?”
“Yes.” He didn’t try to sugar-coat it. “I was good at it, too. By then I was so full of rage, it was a relief to have someone to punish, to take the brunt of my pain.” He felt that familiar anger well up inside him and ruthlessly pushed it back down. He didn’t want Laney to see what he’d become. To see the cold disconnected side of him, the side that could break another man without flinching.
“They started paying me for the jobs they sent me on. Then other packs hired me. They paid me well. I was young, naïve. I thought once I had enough money, I could come back for you, be in a better position to provide for you.” He laughed derisively. “You want to know where I’ve been? Here. I’ve always been here. How could I leave? I used to watch you, waiting for a glimpse when you finished work. Every damn time I would convince myself that today was the day I’d finally walk across that street and claim you. But then I’d see you, so beautiful, so fucking trusting…How could I ask you to become my mate after what I’d done, what I’d become?” He drew in a breath. “I’m nothing but a hired thug, Laney. I knew. I knew you deserved so much better.”
She swallowed several times, looking both sad and really pissed. “You should have come to me.”
“I couldn’t. Not after all the shit I’d done.”
“We’ve been through so much, Fletch. You should have trusted me.”
Delaney had always been there for him, had never once turned her back on him. He’d felt the bond between them the moment he’d laid eyes on her. They’d been too young to recognise what that connection meant at the time. She’d become his best friend—his only friend.
He’d been the lowest of the low. An omega with no family, forced to share quarters with older boys who wanted to prove their dominance. He’d been an easy target, beaten daily to reinforce his insignificance in their pack. He’d never wanted her to see him on his back, bearing his throat in submission, but she had and she’d loved him anyway.
She’d also been there when he’d grown stronger and turned the tables on his tormentors. She’d cleaned the blood from his body, had kissed e
very cut, every bruise. Laney had been proud of him and he’d felt ten foot taller because of it. They’d been each other’s first kiss and the night before he’d been thrown out, they’d become lovers. At the time, he didn’t want to rush her. He had decided to let her get used to the physical side of their relationship before he made her his mate in truth.
“I’m sorry,” he croaked, because what else could he say? He had done this to them, had torn them apart. Instead of fighting for her—like she had for him—he’d shamed her and shamed himself.
She was silent for so long, he thought he might actually throw up. He couldn’t lose her again, but he couldn’t keep her locked up either.
Then a tentative hand threaded through the hair at his nape and he raised his eyes to meet hers. There was no sign of scorn or disgust in them.
“You can’t leave me again, okay?” His gut clenched. Fuck, she was killing him. Tears started to run freely down her smooth, golden skin and he reached up to brush them away. The bitter smell of fear had disappeared, giving him a measure of hope. Laney’s heart shone through her eyes, her emotions stripped bare for him—so full of warmth and pain that he nearly came undone.
“Never.” The word growled out, a vow he would never break. Never again.
And then she wrapped her arms around him, her face buried in the crook of his neck, her warm tears soaking his skin.
He held her tight and let her process everything he’d just told her.
***
A heavy weight rested on her hip, warmth at her back. Delaney snuggled deeper into the covers and started dozing off again. But a sharp snort broke passed her sleepy brain and her eyes flew open.
Fletch.
She was in Fletch’s bed.
Every nerve in her body fired to life and she became acutely aware of every point their bodies touched. She glanced over her shoulder and her tummy did a somersault. He was barely covered, the sheets tangled low around his hips, revealing the thick bands of his cut abs. An arm rested above his head and he’d thrown one heavy thigh over her, as if even in sleep he was determined to keep her from leaving. She snorted. The guy had always been a messy sleeper.
Lone Wolf's Captive (novella) Page 4
