by R. E. Butler
She stopped in front of him and pressed the lid of the laptop closed with one finger, bending over slightly. She met his eyes and the glare from their pretty green depths told him that she’d done some serious thinking and had something to say to him that he had better listen to.
His eyes roved over her quickly. He’d heard the shower come on and was not surprised to see her hair damp and her skin smelling of soap. He was surprised to see that she was wearing one of his t-shirts and a pair of sweats, rolled up at the bottoms. Sexy. As. Hell.
“We need to talk,” she said, straightening and folding her arms across her chest. It made her lush breasts plump up and strain against the material of the t-shirt. She cleared her throat when he didn’t say anything.
“Sorry. Sure. Want to sit down?”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m a little pissed, Acksel.”
Uh oh.
“Uh,” he started, but she raised a hand for silence and he closed his mouth.
“I realized what’s been bugging me. You never asked me to be your mate; you just talk about us as if we’re already a couple. I’m pretty sure that things don’t work that way in the forest, so I think you’re taking advantage of me being human and not knowing the score.”
“I am not taking advantage of you,” he huffed.
“Really? So when was it exactly that you asked me if I wanted to be your mate? Because I don’t remember you doing that.”
A low growl rumbled in his chest and she waved her hand and rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You know I’m right.”
Damn it. She was right. He’d made an assumption and it hadn’t occurred to him to actually ask her. Maybe because he’d been afraid of what her answer would be.
He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. “Brynn, would you—”
“Hold it!” she shouted, putting both hands up. “Are you serious? You’re going to just ask me now? How easy do you think I am? Wait, wait. Don’t answer that. What I mean is that you have to earn me, buddy, and I don’t come cheap. You might have been able to get me into your bed six weeks ago without all the fuss, but that ship has sailed.”
He stood and walked around the coffee table to her. He looked down at her, contemplating her words. A small voice inside him howled to carry her back to the bedroom and remind her just what kind of male he was. But a larger voice reminded him that he wanted her by his side as his mate and his lover and his friend. He didn’t want to coerce her into a mating because she might come to resent him for it.
Understanding filled him. She wanted him to show her how he felt. She wanted to know that he was serious about her, and not just because of the baby.
“What did you have in mind?” He steeled himself for whatever hoops she might want him to jump through.
She seemed surprised, but her smile told him that she was happy. “First, I want you to take me home tomorrow after the she-wolf meeting.”
“No fucking way,” he growled and she poked him in the chest with her index finger.
“I wasn’t done yet. Stop growling at me.” Sighing irritably, she said, “I want to go home, but I’m willing to agree to some protectors hanging around and making sure that no one unsavory comes calling. I plan to go to work on Tuesday. I feel fine and I’m conceding tomorrow off, too, but that’s it. I like my job and I want to see my friends and co-workers. And I want you to prove to me that you care about me. That you know me. When I know that for sure, then you can ask me to be your mate. But until then, no bossing me around and no keeping me here after tomorrow.”
He was not good at making concessions, but he had a feeling that everything she asked for was important to her. Establishing her independence, proving that he cared about her, showing that they could function in the real world, and that he respected her. Which he did. He respected her a hell of a lot.
Scrubbing his hand through his hair, he said, “I have some addendums to your offer.”
She chuckled lightly and sat down on the couch, crossing her legs and looking at him expectantly.
“First, you can go home tomorrow after the meeting, but I’m going with you.”
She opened her mouth to protest and he lifted a hand, which stopped her from speaking. Her brow arched but she said nothing. “I’ll have protectors watch your home, even while I’m there, but you being in your own house away from me overnight is not going to happen. I can’t handle it.”
“You’ll sleep on the couch, of course.”
Sighing inwardly, he nodded. “Of course.”
“Go on,” she encouraged.
“If you feel up to going back to work on Tuesday, I accept that. I don’t want you driving yourself, however. I want you with a protector at all times, a male of my choosing. He will drive you to work and pick you up.”
“Car service, huh?” Her eyes widened slightly and she smiled. “I could get used to that. Okay.”
“As far as proving that I care about you before we become mates, I accept that. But I want you to promise to kiss me goodnight every night before you go to bed.”
Her mouth fell open and he managed not to grin at her surprised look. Her cheeks pinked in blush and it made his heart pound. After what they’d shared that one night, she was embarrassed by a kiss? It was adorable, and very much in keeping with the sweet woman he knew she was.
“Okay, Acksel.” Her face softened from surprise to genuine affection.
“Seal it with a kiss?” He grinned.
“Don’t push your luck. It’s not bedtime yet.”
He wiggled his brows at her and she laughed. Joining her on the couch, he told her about the she-wolf meeting in the morning and opened the computer to share some of the new laws with her. She listened intently and asked several questions, which led him to believe that she’d spoken to Mia about what being alpha female meant.
“There’s one more thing,” he said, turning to face her. “Before we go to the meeting tomorrow, I need to mark you.”
She shook her head. “No. That’s mate-talk and we’re not there yet.”
Stifling a growl, he said, “This is different. I explained the new laws regarding mates to you. Previously, a chosen alpha female was vulnerable to the other females until the full moon when she would be claimed fully by her alpha and untouchable. The new law states that the future alpha female has to be physically marked to prove that the alpha intends to mate her. Without the mark, there is no protection. It shows intent.”
She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Why can’t your people just take your word for it?”
“That’s a good question. The truth is that we’re instinctual people. The human side of a female might recognize me saying that I want to make you my alpha female, but the wolf side would demand proof. Think of it like a pre-marking. An engagement ring before the wedding ring.”
Her skeptical look might have been humorous if there wasn’t so much at stake. “What kind of ‘pre-marking’?” she said finally.
He lifted his hand and brushed her hair from her shoulder. With his thumb, he traced the column of her neck.
“Here,” he said in a low voice, stroking a place halfway between her ear and her shoulder. “It will be shallow but enough to leave a scar. When we meet with the females tomorrow, they’ll see the mark and know that I’m committing to you. I know that I haven’t exactly done things right with you, Brynn, but I can do things right going forward. I won’t take you for granted.”
His thumb resumed stroking her warm skin. She smelled so good. Sweet and spicy, like cinnamon. He wanted to rub her scent all over himself.
Her head tipped to the side with a soft sigh, exposing more of her neck. She gripped his upper arm with one hand, her fingers squeezing slightly. “Mark me, Acksel,” she said in a throaty whisper.
He almost told her that it wasn’t necessary to do it right now, but the howl in his head warned him not to wait. He nuzzled under her ear, inhaling the sweet scent of her once more. He barely recognized his own voice when it came out, rough and deep be
cause his wolf was right there under the surface. “When I make you mine forever, Brynn, when I mark you fully as my mate, I’m going to sink my fangs into your beautiful neck while we make love.” He lapped at her skin, his fangs extending as he tasted her.
Her hand flexed on his arm, her nails digging into his skin. The scent of her arousal filled the air between them and he coveted the knowledge that she wanted him even though he knew that she wouldn’t follow through with anything else physical for now.
He found the place he wanted to blood-mark her, midway up her neck, and pressed his lips to it. The soft, nuzzling kiss gave way to his opening his mouth and sucking on her skin. She made a soft sound, and he slipped his arm around her and drew her close. He wanted to devour her, to kiss and lick every inch of her body and brand her taste on his mind forever.
With as much care as he could, he let his fangs slide into her skin just far enough to leave permanent marks. Although small and nearly undetectable to the human eye, wolves would see the marks easily and know she belonged to him. Both her arms wrapped around him and her hands twisted in his shirt as she exhaled sharply, panting for breath.
Lifting his fangs slowly from her skin, he licked at the small wounds and caught her blood on his tongue, savoring the taste. His saliva would help to ease the pain and ensure that she carried his scent. Catching his tongue on one of his fangs, he cut himself and swiped his blood into her wounds, completing the blood-marking. He nuzzled her neck just under the mark, pressed his lips to the wound with care, and then pulled her into his arms with a low sigh.
She was his now and there was no going back for either of them.
Chapter 15
Acksel spent most of Sunday working on pack law. Brynn found the history of his people fascinating. Shifters had come out of hiding several decades ago and demanded equal rights and were, for the most part, granted them. They could work and live where they pleased, but in spite of the progress in the human world, as a people they were still in the Dark Ages when it came to women’s rights and choosing mates. Until Acksel’s sister had chosen a human for a mate and Acksel had changed that law, wolves that took humans or other shifters as mates were banished from their pack and home and treated by the entire pack as if they were dead.
Their females were basically slaves to their biology, forced to go through a painful week-long mating heat each September. According to Acksel, every female who wasn’t nursing, pregnant, or past the age of reproduction would have to go through the heat whether they were in a relationship or not. At first, the idea of a week of hot sex had sounded like a good thing to Brynn, but Acksel assured her that most females didn’t actually think of it as a good thing at all. If a female was unmated, she had to choose a male to go through the heat-cycle with, and if he came inside her, they were mated and she would most likely become pregnant. The males could use condoms, the way that Mia’s wolf friend Reese did, but Acksel said that it was his understanding that some males who agreed to go through a female’s heat-cycle with her weren’t looking to be a stud for a week. They considered her to be theirs and would take the opportunity of her sex-addled state to become mates.
Brynn thought the whole system sucked.
There was a time when she’d wished that she was a shifter, able to transform and hunt and run, knowing that if she’d been a wolf she and Acksel could have been together before this time. But now, knowing what the females dealt with during their heat-cycle, Brynn was glad that she didn’t have to worry about it. She’d take her monthly period and cramps over having to go through a painful heat-cycle with a man she might not care for just because her body forced her to.
Acksel’s dad, Dade, brought dinner over for them and Eveny and Luke came over to eat with them. While they ate, Dade shared funny stories about Acksel that made him blush an adorable red color and snarl good-naturedly. She liked seeing the more vulnerable side of the male that had come storming into her life after such a long time away.
When the dinner dishes were done and the guests gone, Brynn stood on the back porch and looked at the sky. Her mind wandered through the years that she’d known Acksel. Like him, she’d lived in Wilde Creek her whole life. Her childhood had been stormy, to say the least, with her parents fighting a lot and her feeling like she was all alone. Without Mia’s steadying influence, she doubted that she would have turned out to be quite as normal as she was.
She felt Acksel join her on the porch. She couldn’t explain how she knew he was there, but something had made her aware of it, and she shivered slightly. A blanket was draped around her shoulders and she closed her eyes, demanding her heart not swoon so easily at a kind gesture from him.
Clearing her throat, she said, “I was trying to remember when we first met, and I think it was in first grade in Miss Applebaum’s class.”
“Sounds about right,” he said as he came to stand near her back, close enough to touch but not touching.
“I remember seeing you a lot but never talking to you. You were always off on your own.”
“It was easier to be a loner than to draw attention to myself.”
She opened her eyes and looked across the yard. The trees that lined the edge of the grass were darker shadows against the night sky. “Because of the bullying?”
He hummed in agreement.
“Why were you picked on so much? I never understood that.”
“I was small for my age. Wolves tend to think of a wolf that is weak as being prey, not worthy to be part of the pack. There’s a part of us that wants to drive out weakness so the pack is strong and those that can’t protect themselves – like females and pups and elderly members – will be safe.”
“But you were a kid.”
She heard the sound of cloth rustling and knew that he had shrugged.
“I was so busy in high school with cheerleading, student council, and my other activities that I don’t even remember seeing you for a long time. And then one day I remember walking down the hall towards the gymnasium and hearing the sounds of a fight. I looked through the windows of the gym doors and saw you fighting with another wolf in the middle of the gym, other wolves from your pack standing around and cheering.”
At first she had worried that he’d been targeted once more by other wolves and some of the stronger humans that liked to pick on him. Although they hadn’t been close, she had still found him irresistible in a way that never made sense. But then she watched Acksel completely dominate the other guy, who was at least two years older than him. She’d been helpless to turn away from the sight of Acksel beating the guy to a bloody pulp. And then she’d seen something that had both confused and aroused her: the guy sank to his knees in front of Acksel and tilted his neck, exposing the fragile part of his body as Acksel stood, panting heavily before him. Acksel had wrapped his hand around the guy’s neck and squeezed slightly, but then he had released him, shoving him to the floor and lifting his head, howling loudly. The crowd had joined in, and the sound had grown so loud that the doors of the gym rattled.
“No one picked on you after that,” she said finally as the image faded from her mind.
His breath washed over her neck as he spoke. “It’s our way, Brynn. The strongest lead, the weakest follow. I am what I am because of the blood on my hands. I will always have to prove myself to be the strongest so that my position is secure and the people that I care about most are protected.”
She shivered from head to toe.
Turning slowly, she looked up at him, gripping the blanket around her shoulders so she didn’t grab him. “I thought about you.”
His head tilted to the side, but he didn’t say anything.
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, and licked her lips. She’d already said more than she should, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “I hardly ever saw you, but I thought about you. I wished that things were different, that I was the sort of person that you’d want to be with. When you showed up at my door…” her voice trailed off as emotion grabbed her hard, swe
lled up inside her, and threatened to destroy the fragile walls she’d erected around her heart to make sure that he couldn’t hurt her again.
His lips touched her forehead and she closed her eyes. Strong, warm arms surrounded her and pulled her close.
He rested his cheek on the top of her head. “You didn’t see me, but I saw you. I wished that things could be different between us, too. I know now that the reason I always felt drawn to you wasn’t just because you’re beautiful or kind or sweet, but because you’re meant to be mine. Your scent calls to me on a cellular level.”
Her fingers tightened on the blanket. “What do I smell like to you?”
“Cinnamon,” he said. “You always have. For a long time, I thought it was because you like cinnamon candy and gum, but now I know it’s just the way you smell naturally to me.”
She lifted her head in surprise and looked at him. “You know I like cinnamon candy and gum?”
Even in the darkness of the porch she could see the corner of his mouth lift slightly. “I told you that I was aware of you.”
She took a step back, although it was difficult to do. He let his arms drop. “The shrubs outside my house smell like cinnamon. It’s why I picked them. Maybe you followed that scent when you were drunk.”
He snorted and fisted the blanket, jerking her close. Dropping his head to her neck, he scented her the way he had in the bedroom in the doctor’s house. “I followed the scent of my mate, Brynn. The gum, the candy, the shrubs — they smell good, but not like you. Don’t try to make it sound like the reason I found you that night was because of a mistake.”
For a long moment, she stared at him, tempted to tell him that she was ready to be his mate. The temptation was so great, in fact, that it took every ounce of her will to remind herself that she wasn’t looking for sweet words from him. She wanted proof of his feelings for her. She was beginning to see, though, that he really did care for her. That even if she hadn’t become pregnant, that he would have come for her eventually.
