by A. D. Ryan
Marcus paused a moment, reading my expression, possibly wondering if there was a reason I was asking. Like, maybe I knew something and was fishing for more clarity. This only intrigued me further.
“Once. A little over six years ago,” he said. “Your brother.”
My knees buckled, but I quickly righted myself. “M-my brother? I don’t understand. If you had him, why didn’t you just—”
“Kill him?” I nodded. “Because I was looking for information on Gianna, and he was her most recent progeny.”
“And he escaped,” I guessed.
As if cross at the memory, Marcus glowered. “Not without help.”
“Gianna?”
“Nick.” He sensed my confusion. “He was still relatively new to all of this when we’d found your brother. He fell for his act. He believed your brother when he told him he wasn’t like the others.”
“M-maybe he wasn’t,” I said, trying to hold onto that one last shred of hope that my brother was a decent person, even as a vampire.
Marcus only held my stare. “As soon as he was free of that cage, he threw Nick against the far wall. Several weapons fell on him, and a dagger pierced his abdomen.
“On his way through the manor, he ran into Miranda and our youngest daughter, Cordelia.”
I drew a blank at this name. Why had I never heard of—
“He took her,” Marcus continued, answering my unspoken question. “My wife pushed our six-year-old daughter behind her in an act of protectiveness. He shoved Miranda away and snatched my daughter from our home. What he did after that, I have no idea. We haven’t seen or heard anything about her in almost seven years, so we’ve all come to accept that she’s dead. How she died, we don’t know, and I don’t think I could handle knowing the truth. He took her as revenge for us holding him hostage.” Marcus shuddered visibly, and I covered my mouth. “I’ll admit, I’ve held out hope all these years, even though I’m pretty sure I know the truth, but when that wolf showed up on our doorstep…”
It suddenly made sense why Nick was quick to assure Colby that it was a regular wolf and not anyone they knew. There was always that possibility that it was her little sister.
Marcus sighed, sounding weary. “Look, I know he was your brother, but you do need to understand what he had become. You’ve met a couple of them already, so you know what they’re capable of.”
A knot formed in my stomach, and I couldn’t say anything. I only nodded my head in agreement.
“Very few of the others know about your familial ties to him, and it’s up to you if you want them to or not. What he was won’t have any bearing on how they view you, because they know that what he was and what he did had nothing to do with his human life.” Marcus continued to gauge my reaction, making sure I was okay to hear all of this.
“I’m fine,” I said, my voice quiet.
Marcus smiled, and then heavy voices and footsteps were heard echoing down to us. “Sounds like everyone else has found their way back,” he announced. “Why don’t we go check in?”
I nodded, taking one last look around the room before heading back upstairs. I’d just hit the main level when Nick appeared, a smile on his face, a sparkle in his eyes, and a light sheen of sweat on his brow. He looked exhilarated and relaxed…but also a little amped.
“Hey,” he said, sounding a little breathless. “Where’ve you been?”
I glanced back at Marcus as he showed up right behind me, then back at Nick. “Downstairs,” I replied vaguely.
“She found the pit,” Marcus offered up. “We talked about it.”
Nick’s eyes went wide with concern. “You did?” He looked between Marcus and me. “Everything?”
“Everything she needed to hear for now.”
“He told me about what Bobby did when you…” I stopped myself from accusing him of something I likely would have done also had I been in his shoes. “When he escaped.”
Nick glanced at Marcus again. “We good for now?” he asked. “I’d like to talk to Brooke.”
Marcus nodded. “We’ll be having an early dinner. Miranda said to be down at three if you’re going to eat before heading out tonight. Sundown’s at 4:29.”
I glanced at the clock on my phone and noticed it was already after two in the afternoon. Just over two hours until I would shift. This both terrified and excited me. I welcomed the relief that shifting would bring after days of anxiety and taught muscles, but I still wasn’t used to this part.
The tightness in my back returned the minute I started thinking about tonight. Nick noticed and took my hand, leading me through the house and to our room. He closed the door, and I paced the floor like a caged animal, looking out the window, wishing I was out there now.
“So, Marcus told you about what Bobby did?”
“Yes.” I stopped pacing, looking at him sadly. “You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
Something about the way he said it reminded me of his conversation with Jackson. Was this what they were arguing about? Was this what he had been keeping from me? It would make sense that he would keep Bobby’s involvement in something so horrific from me. He wanted to protect my memory of my brother, not sully it.
“Losing Cordy was hard on the entire Pack. I was new, but even I felt the sorrow that engulfed them all.”
I remembered how I felt when Bobby died—or when we thought Bobby died—and I could relate to that all-encompassing grief a family felt when losing a member of it. Then I made the connection that it was Bobby—the family I grieved for—who was responsible for making this family feel this way, and I felt dizzy.
“I can’t believe he would hurt a little girl,” I mumbled, my vision darkening around the edges before I sat in one of the chairs by the window. Nick knelt before me, taking my hands in his, grounding me. When my vision cleared again, I held his gaze. “Marcus said you were hurt that night.” I shook my head, wanting to deny the claim, but Nick confirmed it with a nod, and I was crestfallen. “He was your best friend.”
“And he played that for everything it was worth,” Nick said sadly. “Made me think he wasn’t like the rest of them, and I was so new that I took the bait. I let him out, and he wasted no time trying to escape.”
“Y-you were cut,” I whispered, clenching his hands in mine. “Where?”
Nick pulled one of his hands free and pointed to a spot on his stomach, near his bellybutton. I’d seen his roadmap of scars several times at this point, but for some reason, I needed to see this particular scar again. I stood, pulling Nick to his feet, and I gripped the hem of his shirt in my hands.
“Brooke, what are you doing?”
The tempo of his heart picked up as I raised his shirt slowly, and my breathing increased along with it. He lifted his arms above his head as I slipped his shirt off and located the scar immediately.
“This one?” I asked, glancing up at Nick through my eyelashes. Warmth spread through my body, thick and comforting. It infused the air with sweetness as I traced the scar with my fingertip. Nick’s stomach quivered and his breath stuttered slightly. My fingers moved over his skin, over the contours of his sculpted body, and as they did, his hands trailed up and down my arms, making my own heart race.
Something between us shifted in an instant, and this was no longer about what happened to him all those years ago. This was desire, but not that sweet and innocent desire one usually felt. This was primal and urgent…animalistic.
Like the other day in the shower, only stronger.
I tipped my head back to look him in the eye, and all I saw was hunger. All I felt was hunger.
Before I could even take another breath, Nick’s lips were on mine. The gentle restraint he’d shown over the last few days melted away as his strong hands ensnared my waist and pulled me roughly against him. I gasped upon contact, but it turned to a breathy moan as his hands travelled down my body and cupped my ass, lifting me off the ground. To balance myself in his arms, I wrapped my legs around his waist and
let him carry me toward the bed where he threw me down and hovered over me.
He pushed his hips forward as his lips glided over my jaw and down my neck. When his right hand slid down over my shirt and cupped my breast, I arched my body against his, reveling in the way he made me feel. While his lips were soft against my skin, his stubble was rough. It was a delicious contrast of sensations, and it made me light-headed.
Nick inhaled sharply, lifting his face from my neck and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, but before I could ask what for, he tore my shirt open and continued to kiss his way down my body.
“Always a gentleman,” I breathed, reaching down and running my fingers through his thick hair on his descent.
A low growling chuckle rippled through him, vibrating against the skin of my stomach and deep into my bones as he looked up at me. “There’s nothing gentlemanly about what I’m going to do to you.”
His confession made my toes curl, and a tiny spark ignited the fuse within me. The heat travelled outward in every direction all at once, consuming everything in its path and raising the temperature beneath my skin.
Everything about this encounter was intense; each and every one of my heightened senses was being utilized. The heady scent of our combined lust was intoxicating, forcing the rest of the world to slip away as we got lost in it. I licked my lips, tasting Nick on my tongue, and my body buzzed as I felt his hands roam over every curve of my body. Hearing his low moans was beyond words, but the intensity of his eyes as we momentarily held each other’s gaze made me tremble.
I would go as far as to say this was infinitely better than the shower we shared the other day.
“How much of this is you?” he asked breathlessly, confusing me at first.
“Huh?” I panted.
“I want to know if you want this, or if it’s because of the moon.” He paused. “After what happened a few days ago, I don’t want to screw this up. I want you, Brooke, but I need to be sure you want the same thing.”
I recognized my desire for him as a little from both columns. While I’d wanted things between us to heat up lately, I could tell that something else was amplifying my hunger for him again. It made me insatiable, pushing me to take the plunge.
“It’s a little of both,” I confessed, my voice soft and breathy. “Is that enough?”
Nick smiled, moving back up my body. He pressed himself firmly between my legs, stroking my cheek with the backs of his fingers. “It is… But you realize there’s no going back from here for me, right? I’m all in.”
I hesitated, suddenly second-guessing my answer. Was I ready for that? I didn’t want to regret this when it did happen, and I knew Nick didn’t want that either. And what if I wound up hurting him? I wouldn’t be able to handle that.
All it took to ease my mind was looking deep into his ocean-colored eyes. The amber ring around his pupil was brighter as night descended on us. “I do,” I whispered.
The words had barely passed my lips when he crushed his mouth to mine in a kiss that would have made my legs give out had I been standing. Our hands moved frantically to remove our jeans, the desperation we had to be together driving us completely.
I had barely slid my hand into Nick’s pants, my fingertips brushing his arousal, when a loud bang startled us both. Our lips broke apart and we froze, wide-eyed, panting, and unsure what it was we just heard. Seconds passed before we heard a loud crash followed by someone yelling, and we both flew off the bed, doing up our pants as we flew down the hall. Nick was still shirtless, and my bra was completely exposed given the missing buttons on my blouse.
None of that concerned us, though, as we picked up on the mounting tension coming from the kitchen.
Chapter 13 | heat
We reached the stairs within seconds, and just as I hit the first one, Nick leapt over the banister at the top and landed with ease on the tile floor of the foyer. I stared after him in shock, and it wasn’t until Vince and Layla came flying out of their room, dressed in little more than Nick and me, that I moved. We arrived in the kitchen mere moments after Nick to find Marcus, Miranda, Colby, and Zach. Miranda stood at the island, watching as her husband glared murderously at Zach who he was holding by the front of his T-shirt. There was a casserole dish overturned on the floor, food everywhere, and Colby was leaning against the fridge, her eyes wide with fear, hair messed up, and skirt crooked…
“Oh…” I whispered. This wasn’t good at all.
It wasn’t long before I noticed the air infused with not only our roasting dinner but the same heady scent of lust and arousal that currently hovered in mine and Nick’s bedroom. No wonder Marcus looked ready to kill Zach. I’d suspected they liked each other, but if they were doing what I thought, then this had the potential to get ugly fast.
“Daddy, stop!” Colby shouted from beside me. “This wasn’t all him!”
Miranda shook her head. “Colby, that’s not helping.”
She was right; this only seemed to make Marcus’ face redden more. A fresh wave of fury filled the room, and Marcus shoved Zach against a wall. “You think you can just do whatever you want…whoever you want and I won’t find out?” Zach’s fear permeated the air, and I felt every ounce of it as it seeped into me as well. Marcus, while the sometimes-gentle and authoritative Pack leader, was not to be fucked with…especially when it came to his kids.
“I-it wasn’t like that,” Zach stammered, eyes never holding Marcus’ for long. This seemed to be his submission to his Alpha. “We didn’t mean for it to happen, it just did.”
I knew the second the words left Zach’s mouth that he’d misspoke, and I cringed for him.
“So this wasn’t even pre-meditated? You just—what?—tripped and fell into her?”
Miranda made a sound of disgust. “Marcus, don’t be so crass. That’s your daughter.”
“Exactly my point!” He tightened his hold on Zach, and I could see his muscles begin to shift under his shirt.
I reached out and tapped Nick’s arm, hoping he could maybe step in before something horrible happened. Nick seemed conflicted, and it only took me a second to realize why: this was his Alpha. To defy him was the ultimate betrayal.
Colby was trembling next to me, holding her stomach and groaning as she hunched over. I could smell the changes in her body as they happened, and I panicked. I rushed to her side and laid a hand on her back. She was burning up. I realized that being this close to her could result in the loss of my arm, but I needed to at least try to help calm her down.
“Hey,” I whispered softly. “Colby, I need you to stay with me, all right? The moon’s not even out yet. We were going to do this together, remember?” My thoughts were scattered as I tried to file through my memories of how Nick usually helped me through an attack like this. “Sweetie, I need you to breathe, okay? Deep breaths in through your nose and then out through your mouth.” Colby listened, her breaths shaky at first, but eventually evening out as her fever broke. “That’s a good girl.”
Once she was calm, I stood up with her, holding her around the waist. Miranda gave me a smile of appreciation, but also looked ashamed with herself for being so caught up with Marcus and Zach that she missed what was going on with her daughter.
“I’ll take her up to her room,” I offered. “You guys can…work this out?”
Colby stopped dead in her tracks, refusing to be moved another inch. “No way! If we leave, he’ll kill him, and I love him!”
That got Marcus’ attention. Without relinquishing his hold on Zach’s shirt, he turned his head, his eyes widening with shock.
“Daddy, I love him, and he loves me! You knew we were hanging out more and more, so this couldn’t have been a big surprise!”
She was a brave little wolf; I gave her that much.
“This is what you call ‘hanging out’?” he demanded, finally letting go of Zach.
Relief was written all over Zach’s face as he stumbled back and away from Marcus, but he didn’t go far, knowing that
he couldn’t show absolute fear to his Alpha. Even I knew that would make him appear weak and unworthy of the Alpha’s child.
Colby shook her head. “N-no…this was the first time we went further than a little kissing.”
Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “You went from kissing to…to…that?! On my kitchen counter?”
I rubbed my hand up and down Colby’s arm as an act of comfort, but I didn’t say a word. I understood young love. It was a wonderful and all-consuming thing. Sometimes it made you do crazy things… Though, I couldn’t say I had sex with my boyfriend for the first time on my kitchen counter.
What were they thinking doing anything in a shared space?
I glanced at Nick, shirtless, and then down at my own state of undress before noticing Layla and Vince in a similar state, and it clicked. It wasn’t just their feelings for each other that caused such a heated and risky rendezvous, but the moon. It intensified everything for all of us. It made us slaves to our primal urges and base desires.
Not that Marcus was going to accept this as a sufficient explanation at that exact moment in time.
“You’re seventeen, Colby. And unmated! You see where the problem lies, don’t you?”
This brought up questions for me about being unmated and having sex now. Was it the same basic principle of pre-marital sex? If so, that seemed kind of old-fashioned and dated.
Marcus must have seen my confusion, because he looked me in the eye. I don’t know what came over me, but I dropped my eyes from his. It took a second, but I recognized it as my own submission. It unnerved me, because I didn’t submit to anyone. The wolf part of me instinctively knew what to do, though, and I strangely understood the animalistic nature of it all.
“What if you’d been in estrus?” he demanded, and I glanced to Nick, confused.
He gave me a single head shake, telling me with his eyes we’d talk about it later, but when I felt Colby shudder beside me and roll her eyes with embarrassment, I figured it out.
“Ew, Dad.”
“She’s not,” Zach spoke up, and the room went deadly silent. How would he even know if she wasn’t?
