Brice’s mother gasped, his father cursed beneath his breath and Brice tried to blot out Cassie’s words so the images of what could’ve happened wouldn’t ravage his mind.
* * *
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Guilt heated Cassie’s already flushed skin. She had called Brice, three times. The sound of his voice would’ve made her feel better. He would’ve made everything better. Or at least tried to. That’s why she’d hung up each time before the first ring. She needed to get through this setback on her own.
“Rafe is a mechanic who owns a tow truck.” She didn’t meet Brice’s gaze. “You have family and...other obligations. I didn’t want to be a bother.”
Brice’s strong, gentle hands clasped her face. “I’m never too busy for you. I should be your first call. Always.”
“The car can’t be salvaged.” The tightness in Cassie’s throat had nothing to do with the bruises on her neck. The burning constriction spread into her chest and threatened to break her in two. She forced her mind off how much she wanted to fling herself into his arms and allow him to take care of everything.
“Forget the damn car, baby. You could’ve been killed.” The lines in his brow deepened and the color drained from his face. Until now, Cassie had never noticed the faint spider-string scar along the bridge of his nose, curving below the apple of his cheek to fade into the stubble along his jaw.
Of course, he’d never looked so pale and worried. Last night, his face had flushed when she told him about Victoria’s attack. He’d been upset but not afraid. Now his eyes held a definite fear that squeezed her heart.
He cared. He actually cared about her.
For how long? A week, a month, maybe two? Then what?
He brushed his mouth across her lips, the barest contact, yet the sizzle penetrated her core with the power to weaken not only her knees but also the stubborn streak in her spine.
She glanced at his parents. Abigail’s drawn features and turned-down mouth and Gavin’s icy eyes set in a stoic face shored Cassie’s resolve not to allow Brice’s misguided affection to override her common sense and wreck her dreams.
The loss of her car changed her plans somewhat, but they still did not and could not include Brice.
“I appreciate everyone’s concern, but I’d like to clean up before my shift starts.”
“Doc said you needed rest. I’m taking you home.”
“No. I need to work.” Cassie pushed him away. “I’ve decided to withdraw from my classes for a year. If I save every penny, I should be able to afford a used car by next summer. Then I’ll reenroll and finish my last semester.”
Squaring her shoulders, she looked at Brice’s mother. “Mrs. Walker, I would appreciate the opportunity to work additional hours. I can cover Natalie’s shifts whenever she calls in. I’ll even work in housekeeping or the kitchen.”
“No.” Brice glared at his mother before he turned to Cassie. “You will finish the semester and graduate on time. Whether you go on your own volition or bound and gagged makes no difference to me.”
“Then the matter is settled.” A dismissive air swirled amid the audible click of Abigail’s heels as she stood with her husband.
“Brice is right, Cassie.” An inscrutable expression darkened Gavin Walker’s features. “No work for the next few days, and don’t make any rash decisions. When you’ve rested, you may discover less drastic opportunities.”
After the Walkers left, Cassie cut her eyes at Brice. “You have no say in my choices.”
Brice’s dark brows slashed over stormy eyes. “We’ll discuss this later.”
He should’ve had the sense to stop. Oh, no, he had to keep talking.
“Regardless, you will be in class on Monday if I have to hog-tie you and carry you to class.”
“Don’t boss me.” Cassie pocketed her hands beneath her arms.
“Here we go,” he muttered.
“I didn’t appreciate that eye roll when you were a wolf, and I like it even less now.”
“This morning, you refused to miss one day of class because after the first it would be too easy to skip the next and the next, until you eventually stopped going,” Brice argued.
How dare he use her words against her!
“This is different,” Cassie declared, although the fear he was right gripped her stomach.
“How?”
“I’m not playing hooky. I don’t have a car to get to class.”
“I can fix that.” Brice’s sincerity would’ve given a less independent woman pause to consider his offer.
“No!” Accepting his charity would undermine her independence. She had to make it on her own.
“So, you’re a quitter.” An unmistakable challenge glittered in his eyes.
“I am not.”
“Glad to hear it, Sunshine. No mate of mine is allowed to quit when things don’t go her way.” He cradled the back of her neck, inching his face closer. Closer. Until his mouth hovered over the bow of her lips.
The accident, the aftermath and the arguing left her no strength to turn aside.
Lacking the intensity and urgency of yesterday’s kiss, the whisper softness of his mouth was a gentle persuasion that wrapped her in Brice’s warmth and comfort. Cassie wanted to curl into him and bask in his strength.
Oh, she was in trouble. So much trouble. Brice had been her first in many things. First crush, first kiss, first to make it to third base. She couldn’t allow him to be the first to break her heart. Or her spirit.
He wasn’t the type of man to hurt her intentionally. Still, when his life returned to normal, he would realize she wasn’t his caliber. His initial reaction of tossing her aside had been the truest. Everything since was nothing more than a fantasy.
Chapter 31
I have plans for the future and you’re not in them.
The absoluteness of Cassie’s words on their first night together slashed through Brice’s heart to shred the most vulnerable part of his being, mostly because she used the sentiment as a shield to block the mate-bond.
Had he come home too late after all?
Tonight, the buzz inside Taylor’s grated Brice’s nerves. The music sucked, the food sucked and all the people laughing and having a good time sucked.
He clinked his glass at the bartender.
“Want something stronger than an RC this time?”
Brice shook his head. He didn’t want to add to Cassie’s agitation by returning home smelling like beer.
Following her accident, he’d taken her to the cabin, hoping some peace and quiet would settle them both. It had the opposite effect. She couldn’t relax, her mind fixated on one course of action, and nothing he said steered her away from withdrawing from her classes.
Deep in his soul, he knew quitting now would become a fatal blow to her tightly held dreams. Whether or not he agreed with her plans to leave the Walker’s Run Resort for bigger and better opportunities after graduation, he desperately wanted her to graduate, on time, because all her hope rode on that singular accomplishment.
His offer to help blew up in his face. Everything escalated from there until he realized Cassie’s inability to accept his assistance wasn’t a simple matter of pride. Far deeper and darker than he had experience to probe, she held fast to the belief that accepting help from anyone, for any reason, would cripple her ability to stand on her own two feet. She couldn’t understand no one became a success in isolation.
Wisely he chose not to argue the point. Since nothing he said or offered to do de-escalated her rising hysteria, Brice simply walked out, climbed into his metallic blue Maserati—delivered this morning, along with all his personal effects from his Atlanta penthouse—and drove like a demon to see Rafe.
“It was bad, Walker,” his friend said when he�
��d offered Brice a drink before guzzling a half-empty bottle of bourbon. “If Red hadn’t climbed out of the car when she did—” Brice’s knees still felt weak, and his stomach staggered thinking about it.
Brice cradled his head. The throb in his temples matched the tortuous beat of his heart. Agony spread through his body, amplifying the constant pain in his leg.
“How the hell did you find me, Adam?” His scent preceded the soft squeak of his shoes.
“Your car is hard to miss.” Adam cautiously sat on the stool next to Brice. “If you’re able to single out my scent above this crowd, then your nose must be working again.”
Shrugging, Brice raised his glass and downed half of his drink. He didn’t feel like talking, and when Adam decided to say his piece, he would.
It didn’t take long.
“I shouldn’t have kept you from Walker’s Run. I failed to understand your connection to this place.”
“I left of my own accord.” Brice bore some responsibility in that misguided venture. “I can’t blame you for the years I lost. You didn’t steal them. I gave them up without a fight.”
“Only because you trusted me.” Adam reached toward Brice’s shoulder, then curled his fingers and dropped his hand. “I was wrong to breach that trust. Our relationship will never be the same, but I want to be a part of your life, Brice.”
“Is that why you fired Victoria and banished her from your territory?”
Adam looked surprised.
“Dad told me.”
“Victoria violated one of our fundamental tenets when she attacked Cassie. I don’t want my reputation or my pack tainted by her recklessness.” Adam finger-waved at the bartender. “Sadly, I did have ambitions for you and Victoria as a couple.”
“You’ve known Victoria since she was a baby. Her parents will be devastated.” Brice rested his right ankle on his left knee and pressed his thumb into the tight calf, rubbing deep, small circles into the muscle to ease the spasm. “Your decision couldn’t have been easy.”
“I did what was right for you, my firm and my pack. The Woelfesenat is aware of the incident. Philip saw the marks on Cassie this morning.”
Brice’s blood thinned into icy streams. The Woelfesenat had zero tolerance for acts of aggression against humans. Their reactionary responses were swift and often fatal.
Brice’s heart seemed to skip every other beat. He was the reason Victoria had attacked Cassie. And if Cassie found out about the severity of wolfan justice, she would be appalled. “I’m not saying Victoria doesn’t deserve some form of punishment, but as Victoria’s Alpha, you have to convince Philip not to pursue the full extent of the law.”
“Philip isn’t rash. He’ll come up with a viable solution before her case is formally brought before the council.” Adam laid a hand on Brice’s shoulder. “I expect he’ll seek your input since you’re acting as Cassie’s guardian.”
“Our relationship is a bit more complicated.” Rolling up his sleeve, Brice turned his arm so his uncle could see.
“Is that a bite?” Adam fingered the bruise.
The wound would fade soon, although Brice had used his cell phone to take a picture so he could keep the memory close. “Cassie gave it to me. At Walker’s Pointe.”
“Does your father know?”
“He knows I’ve chosen her, and he doesn’t approve. Neither does Mom.” Nor Cassie, it seemed, since she was blocking the mate-bond. “He’s willing to lift the Christmas ultimatum if I agree to find someone more suitable. God, how many times does he want to screw me over?”
“Gavin loves you, Brice. I made a mistake when I took you from him. He needs you and you need him. More than you’ll ever understand.”
“My father wants an heir, Adam. Same as you.” Brice’s entire world had been spinning out of control long before the day he stepped into a steel trap. He was so damn sick of being stuck in an endless tornado, tossed here, there and everywhere by people who were supposed to care about him but didn’t give a fuck about what they were doing to him.
Brice tested his leg before he stood. “He doesn’t need me. No one does.” Including Cassie, who had a daily mantra of reminding him how much she didn’t need him.
Maybe it was time to stop stalling and accept the Woelfesenat’s offer, after all.
Chapter 32
The sweet smell of late-blooming honeysuckle perfumed the evening breeze tickling Cassie’s skin. The buzz of insects vibrated in the stillness of night, and the twinkle of fireflies winked through the trees. The serenity did nothing to calm her turmoil.
Stretched out on a large flat boulder at the edge of the stream, she stared at the stars.
Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion—none offered wisdom or comfort about what lay ahead.
Cassie’s college financial aid advisor had arranged for her to live in campus housing and had assigned her a job in the work-study program so she wouldn’t have to withdraw from her classes. She should have been ecstatic, not worried about resigning from a job she intended to leave anyway, and she certainly shouldn’t have been nervous about what Brice would say. He didn’t want her to quit. Now she would be able to finish. He should be pleased with the news.
Deep down, she knew he wouldn’t be thrilled at all. Neither was she, really.
In the span of a week, she’d grown used to his company. Especially at night, because his presence soothed the lonely ache in her heart. Even when they argued.
As she numbered the Pleiades, a faint plop splashed the water in the distance. She sat up, watching a dark blob ebbing toward her. The shadowy figure leaped from the current and landed on the embankment.
“Brice?” She swung a heavy, square flashlight in the direction of the sound and bit back a relieved sigh as a black wolf shook, slinging peals of water from his fur in every direction.
He cocked his head and stared for several suspended heartbeats. She turned off the flashlight and set it aside.
In a blink, Brice the man rose naked, haloed in a silvery sheen.
Cassie sucked her bottom lip between her teeth watching him stalk toward her. Since the night he’d found her in the hospital parking lot, Brice had stopped prancing around the cabin naked, and she missed how comfortable he’d been for her to see him.
Stupid roommate rules!
She could only blame herself.
“What are you doing out here?” Brice ran his hand through his dark, damp hair. His eyes searched her face as if she were a huge mystery.
Cassie believed herself too boring to captivate his attention for long. Brice, however, being all that he was, mesmerized her so completely that Cassie knew he’d enchant her forever.
“I needed to clear my head.” She slid off the rock.
Brice closed the slight distance to tower over her. Tall, broad and masculine. On instinct to protect her personal space, Cassie placed her hand on his chest and then wondered why. Brice didn’t care much for boundaries, except to test them. Over the last few days, he’d certainly pushed hers to the limits, and then some.
Trailing down his scarred flesh to his belly button, her fingertips tingled from the soft buzz of electricity. Eyes nearly hooded, he sucked in a breath.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.” His raw, needy sigh scraped her skin. “Your touch always feels damn good.”
Cassie lowered her face to hide a smile. “I meant when you change forms.”
“A current travels down my spine and into my nerves, but it isn’t painful.”
“One second you’re a beautiful wolf.” Cassie allowed him to lift her chin.
“The next, I’m a man.” He touched his lips to her mouth, a sweet brush of tenderness that made her ache for more.
More of life. More of love. More of everything.
If she had died today, what woul
d she regret? Aside from being dead, that is.
Not earning her degree would suck, but what caused her stomach to fist and roll were the missed opportunities with Brice. She couldn’t afford to fall in love with him. Yet somewhere deep inside, Cassie realized her biggest mistake in life or death would be to allow him to drift out of her life without grabbing on to one consequential moment.
She cupped his neck, pulling him forward and sealing her mouth to his. Taking the hint, he angled his body into hers, nudging her back until she was sandwiched between him and the boulder. He deepened the kiss, holding her face with both hands. The length of each finger heated her flesh, holding her steady as he nipped her lower lip without breaking the skin. Then his tongue soothed the momentary sting.
A chaotic flutter swept through her belly, and further down, a clenching need sprung to life. Of their own accord, her hips moved against him in a slow grind that only intensified the need. A deep, ragged moan rose from Cassie’s core.
Brice stilled. He lifted his head, turning on that fierce gaze that bore into her soul.
She’d seen this look. Every night when she climbed into bed, every morning when she awoke to his smile. And every time he kissed her, touched her. Only tonight, caution tempered the desire in his eyes.
Had she waited too long?
“Cas.” He pivoted away. “I can’t play the hot and cold game tonight. Go back to the cabin before I get carried away.”
“Quit telling me what to do,” Cassie replied sharply. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want you to stop.”
Her declaration dangled between them. Cassie’s heart demanded that he believe her. He had every reason to turn her down. She’d been such a ninny to discourage his interest, belittle his feelings. If he walked off, leaving her cold and wanting, it would be what she deserved.
“Do you understand what you’re saying?” he asked in a deep, husky voice that quickened her pulse.
“Yes.”
He turned back to her, slowly.
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