“Open,” Fletch’s deep voice pulled her from her thoughts. She did as he asked, and opened her mouth for another spoonful of delicious ice-cream sundae.
“Why are you frowning?”
“Am I?” She reached out and walked her fingers down his bare abs.
He wrapped his thick fingers around her wrist, halting her progress and ignoring her attempt to distract him. “Don’t bullshit me, Laney.”
She blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m going to speak to my father tomorrow.”
“No.” He scooped another mouthful of dessert and brought it back to her mouth.
“What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“Did the meaning change without anyone telling me?”
Her mouth dropped open, and he took advantage, slipping the spoon past her lips.
Bastard!
She swallowed her mouthful. “I warned you not to pull that alpha shit on me.”
He dropped the spoon back into the bow and sat up straighter, the sheet dipped low on his hips. “Are you gonna bite my ass now?” His lips tipped up.
“Fletch…”
The grin disappeared. “You’re my woman, my mate. You don’t do that shit on your own.”
“I know what kind of man my father is and I’ll never forgive him for what he did to us, but he wouldn’t physically hurt me. I need to have this out with him. He needs to answer for what he did to us. And he needs to know, and accept, that you’re coming back.”
Coming back?
He had no intention of going back, not the way Delaney wanted, and neither was she. Once he’d dealt with her father, she could visit her pack mates whenever she wanted, but with him, so he could protect her.
She sat there biting her lip, worry clear in her eyes, and waited for his response. What the hell could he say? He shook his head, reached out and smoothed his hand across her bare shoulder, moving his thumb over the soft skin of her throat. She shivered. Fuck, he loved her. “Laney…babe, I’m sorry, but…”
Her hand lifted and she curled her fingers around his wrist. “I wasn’t the only one devastated when you disappeared, Fletch.” She lifted his hand and threaded their fingers. “You still have friends there, people who’ve missed you, and would be so happy to have you home.”
Denying her anything rubbed his fur the wrong way. But dammit, moving back wasn’t something he would consider. No fucking way. What the hell was he going to do? Anthony would see him dead before allowing him to remain his daughter’s mate. There was too much money at stake, too much bad blood. He needed time to figure out a way to keep Laney safe before he could consider letting her go back.
He tugged her closer, and she rested her head on his shoulder. Her silky hair came forward and slid across his chest. It was his turn to shiver. “Give me a couple more days, yeah? I’m not ready to share you yet.” Not a lie, not by a fucking long shot.
“I go alone, Fletch. I need to do this on my own.” Her breath tickled his throat, and his cock twitched.
Laney didn’t like people telling her what to do, never had, and he didn’t like that he was the one doing the telling, but Anthony Jones certainly wouldn’t expect to see his daughter back on Black Hills land any time soon. Oakwood land? That was another story altogether.
Curling his fingers around the side of her neck, he gave her a light squeeze, and she lifted her head to meet his gaze. “Okay,” he lied. “But not till I’ve had you all to myself a little longer.”
Her body relaxed and she nodded, cuddling into his side again, accepting what he said. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed, evened out, and he knew she’d fallen asleep. He couldn’t help running a hand over her thick hair and down a bare arm, couldn’t stop touching her. He shook off the guilt weighing heavy in the center of his chest. Withholding the truth for the time being was for her own good, as well as his.
The female in his arms had consented to become his mate, and that meant a whole lot of things. Fucking good, amazing things. But what his headstrong, feisty mate needed to remember was that it was his job to keep her safe. She may not always like the way he went about it, but that was the way it had to be. Eventually she would understand why he did the shit he did.
Until then, he had to be careful. The truce between them was a fragile one and he couldn’t risk her going to Anthony alone. He just needed a couple of days to strengthen their new bond and then, though he knew it would hurt her, tell her the rest of her father’s part in all this.
The deadline Brody had given him to deliver Delaney ran out tomorrow morning. When he didn’t show with her in tow, the guy would know something was up and run to Anthony. It was a good thing Laney’s old man didn’t know who the Oakwood alpha used to do his dirty work. Anthony had underestimated him from day one. When Fletch wised up and learned to stay under Anthony’s radar, the old bastard all but forgot about him.
Laney snuggled closer, still asleep. He tightened his hold around her. The thought of what might have happened would torment him for the rest of his life. If Brody had hired anyone but Fletch, Laney would be the mate of the Oakwood alpha by now. A shudder travelled through his body. He would have forced her into an unwanted union. Her selfish bastard of a father had traded her like cattle, treated her like nothing but a pawn. In return Anthony got protection and a guarantee Laney would keep working, growing their bank balances while he sat back without the threat of a challenger for pack alpha.
Laney had built that business from the ground up for the good of her pack and Anthony couldn’t bear the thought of one day losing control over the purse strings. So he’d sold his daughter, plus a percentage of the profits.
Wrapped around her sleeping form, his hold unconsciously tightened as anger pumped through his veins. She squirmed and he quickly loosened his grip, smoothing gentle fingers over the silky skin of her hip. Sighing in her sleep, she relaxed and her breathing evened out.
Lifting himself up on an elbow, he brushed back the hair resting across her neck and shoulders. A shot of possessive hunger surged through his body. His mark stood out against her golden flesh, pale pink, but already healing. It would fade further over the next few days, but would never disappear completely. Bending down, he brushed his lips over the abused skin, inhaling her scent now mixed with his. Fuck, nothing had ever felt more right in his entire life.
Settling back down beside her, Fletch curled his body around her warmth and buried his nose in her hair, letting her scent soothe him. Calm him.
No one knew where his cabin was. She was safe here. Delaney was his and, despite what he’d said, she wasn’t going anywhere—not until he’d figured out the best way to reunite her with her pack and at the same time keep her safe from her asshole father.
***
Laney’s eyes snapped open, heart racing at a frantic pace, palms sticky. She blinked into the darkness, not sure why she’d woken. Then the dream came flooding back. The same dream that plagued her nearly every night since Fletch disappeared. She relived that day each night in her sleep, a Technicolor kind of hell, accompanied by a full kaleidoscope of dark and painful emotions.
Why the hell is this still happening?
The heat from Fletch’s body pressed against her. His reassuring weight, his scent, all helped to settle her nerves. She tightened her fingers around her mate’s wrist which was wrapped protectively around her waist. Fletch was back, the dreams should have stopped.
God, she needed them to stop.
That dreadful day was still so vivid in her mind. She had waited for him, but he hadn’t shown. In her gut she’d known something was terribly wrong. Had run to his quarters and discovered what little he’d owned was missing from his room. Still, she refused to believe he would leave her like that and searched for him. She’d run the surrounding woods until she collapsed with exhaustion.
Her father had found her—a broken, inconsolable mess a few miles from home. He’d picked her up and carried her home. He’d wiped her tears, sympathised, all the while pretending to be con
cerned over Fletch’s whereabouts.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. In time you’ll feel better, I promise. This was the way it was always going to be. Fletch is a lone wolf. He could never truly belong here. It just isn’t in him.”
“But he was my mate.”
“You didn’t…has he marked you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Thank God for that.”
“But we love each other…he wouldn’t just leave me.”
“I know his rejection hurts, but the sooner you accept the fact that he didn’t return your feelings, the better.”
Those final words from her father had cut like a blade. He’d lied to her face.
The dreams started that first night.
Until she confronted him, she couldn’t move on with her life and those nightmares would continue to haunt her.
Fletch wanted her to wait. She understood where he was coming from. She also knew as a newly-mated male, his instincts to protect and keep her close would cloud his judgement, at least until he grew accustomed to their new connection. She’d seen it many times among the males in her pack. Growling, scowling males acting like overbearing asshats with their females. Ready to maim any male stupid enough to come anywhere near their mates. It was the only reason she hadn’t put Fletch in his place the minute he told her she couldn’t go alone. Right now it would be a waste of breath.
Her father was many things, and a saint wasn’t one of them. But she couldn’t believe he would hurt her like that, not intentionally. She needed to hear it from him, had to believe that no matter how incredibly wrong he’d been, his actions had been the result of some misconceived notion about Fletch, that someone had fed him a pack of lies.
If not? She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to think about what that might mean. That level of betrayal would tear her apart, would mean the one relationship she’d trusted in when everything had gone to hell and her world had fallen down round her, was nothing but a lie.
Lifting Fletch’s heavy arm from around her body, she slid from beneath the covers. He growled low in his sleep and reached for her.
Shit, shit, shit.
Grabbing her pillow, she thrust it down beside him. He immediately dragged it against his big body, growled again softly then drifted back to sleep. His fierce expression dissolved into one of contentment and she wanted nothing more than to crawl back under the covers with him.
Sneaking out felt wrong on so many levels, but this couldn’t wait. Despite what Fletch had said, in his current state he’d never let her go back alone. She didn’t doubt for a second that if he woke now and caught her slinking off into the night, that damn chain would be back around her ankle before she could blink.
Not bothering with clothes, she stepped out the front door. Dawn was only an hour or so away, but the thick canopy of trees kept the surrounding forest shrouded in darkness. Tilting her head towards the cabin, she held her breath.
Her mate was still asleep.
“Sorry, Fletch.” Swallowing down her guilt, she shifted and headed towards home.
It took little more than an hour to reach the strip of forest bordering her pack’s land. In an attempt to stay down wind, she took a longer route to avoid the sentries who guarded her people from picking up her scent. She didn’t want to deal with their questions right now. This was between her and her father. The need to return to Fletch increased with every passing minute.
By the time she reached her father’s cabin, the sun was high in the sky. The front door was unlocked from his early morning run like it always was. Shifting, she entered the small hall and padded down to her old bedroom. Her cabin was on the other side of the compound, but she had clothes in her old room. Pulling on a pair of sweats, she headed towards the gurgling sounds of the coffee maker coming from the kitchen.
Running a shaky hand through her mussed hair, she shoved down the sick feeling in her belly and pushed open the door.
Her father froze, and so did the mug at his lips. “Delaney?”
The uneasy sensation settled in the pit of her stomach. She’d been missing nearly two days, but he seemed more confused than relieved to see her. “Hey, Dad.”
His mouth opened and closed a few times before he said, “What are you doing here?” He looked beyond her. “Where’s Brody?”
The unease kicked up a notch. “Brody? Why would I…? I have no idea.” She avoided the creep as much as possible.
His expression darkened and she fought the urge to take a step back.
“I knew I couldn’t trust that idiot to do this properly.” He slammed down his mug, and black coffee sloshed onto the counter.
The outburst surprised her. Her father rarely lost control. “Do what?”
He shook his head, looking madder than she’d ever seen him.
“Delaney, go to your cabin and stay there until I tell you otherwise.” He picked up his phone from the counter and keyed in a text.
“No.” He wasn’t going to push her aside, not this time.
His skin mottled before her eyes, turning an angry shade of red and his eyes went wolf. “Do as you are told.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not going anywhere. You owe me some answers.”
“I don’t have time for your theatrics, girl.” Two males stepped into the kitchen, blocking the exits. “Alex, send someone to Oakwood. Brody needs to get his ass over here. Tell him I have Delaney. Blake, take her to her cabin and make sure she stays there.”
What the hell?
Her heart skipped a beat. “Why are you locking me in my cabin? And what does Brody have to do with anything?”
Lifting a hand, he stayed Blake who had a hold of her arm and was in the process of dragging her from the room, and let out a long breath. “Daughter, you have pined for that deformed, packless mutt for long enough. It’s time you were mated.” His gaze darted away and his voice lost its edge. “And I’ve arranged it.”
Laney’s legs gave out. If it wasn’t for Blake’s tight grip, her ass would have made friends with the linoleum. “No,” she choked.
“Don’t be so melodramatic, child. If Brody had done his part correctly, you’d never know my role in all this and that’s something I’ll always regret. But that can’t be helped now.” He lifted a hand and took a step towards her. “This is for the best, angel.”
The use of that name cut her to the quick and she jerked away from his touch. “How can you do this to me?”
The anger returned, his dark gaze hard and unyielding. “Love is a weakness. This will save you heartache in the long run.”
No! Laney fought to remain calm. How could her father do this to her? But then she’d always worn blinders when it came to him. She’d never wanted to see the truth. Her father was a selfish, greedy bastard. “So, what do you get out of this?”
Something flashed cross his eyes, something she’d never seen before. Shame maybe? “You’re a clever girl, always were. You’re like your mother in that respect.”
“I know the day Mom died a part of you died with her. But aren’t you glad, if only for a short time, that you had her in your life?”
He shook with rage. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I think I do.”
He turned away. “Take her to her cabin.”
“You don’t want to do this, Dad. I know you don’t.”
Jesus, she’d known her mother’s death had altered him. She’d noticed the difference, even as a little girl, but never this. This heartless monster capable of bartering off his own flesh and blood. She didn’t know who he was, if she ever had.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him it was too late, that she belonged to Fletch, but the unhinged look in her father’s eyes caused the words to stick in her throat. He wouldn’t let anything derail his plans at this point and she couldn’t risk him sending someone out to follow her scent back to Fletch.
She looked up at the male holding her. “Come on, Blake. You know this is crazy.�
�
Blake appeared uneasy, his gaze darting between her and his alpha. “I’m sorry, Laney,” he whispered.
He wasn’t going to help her. Gripping her wrist, he led her out of her father’s home and into the bright midmorning sun, ushering her towards her temporary prison.
***
Fletch tightened his hold around the warm bundle in his arms and buried his face against Laney’s thick locks, but instead of her soft, warm hair, he got a face full of pillow.
His eyes flew open. She wasn’t in his bed. Cocking his head, he listened for sounds of her moving around his cabin.
Nothing.
“What the hell have you done, Delaney Jones?” Shoving off the covers, he sprinted straight through the cabin and out the front door, shifting mid run. He knew where his mates scent would lead him before his paws hit the forest floor. He should have seen this coming. His stubborn female intended to confront her father. On her own.
Head down, he tore over dead leaves and fallen logs. Fear increased his pace. Branches tugged on his fur and slapped him in the face, but he barely felt it, so focused on getting to Laney.
Still, he knew the minute he’d picked up a tail. He’d just crossed into Black Hills territory. So far there was only one, but that could change any minute. They seemed happy to hang back and observe. Whatever, he wasn’t worried. Nothing would stop him from getting to Laney.
His old friend didn’t show himself until he was about to breach the pack’s boundary.
Fletch skidded to a stop in front of the butt-naked male casually leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his wide chest and a wary expression on his face.
“Never thought I’d see you back here,” Gabe drawled.
Fletch shifted as well and stood to his full height, eyeing the other male, waiting for his next move.
“Why’re you here?” Gabe asked.
“I’m here for my mate.”
He pushed away from the tree. “That so?”
Fletch took a step forward as well. Gabe was one of the few people he trusted. He didn’t know the other male’s story, didn’t need to. They’d taken each other’s backs more times than he could count. He was a wolf hybrid and Fletch had never asked what the rest of his DNA was made up of. It didn’t matter.
Lone Wolf's Captive (novella) Page 6
