Come Moonrise

by Lucy Monroe

  His hand gripped hers more tightly, as if an involuntary reaction to her words. "One mate, one mating," he said, each word spaced for hard emphasis.

  "That would mean that last night you were a virgin." She was back to practically shrieking.

  He winced at the volume of her voice. "Yes."

  "Impossible."

  His frown turned to a smug, mocking smile. "Thank you. I’d hate to think I didn’t live up to your ex-fiancé and other lovers."

  "There were no other lovers besides him, but..." Her voice trailed off because she didn’t know what else she wanted to say. "I’m finding all of this really hard to digest."

  She would not admit that the part she found hardest to digest was his affection for Olivia. She could live with him being a werewolf...she thought...but she couldn’t live with that.

  "Considering how hard we work to hide our existence from humans, that's no surprise. You're having to replace a lifetime of myth with a very different reality regarding our kind." The anger seemed to have drained out of him, leaving him thoughtful. "What does surprise me is the fact you seem to believe me. I thought it would take witnessing my change for you to accept what I am."

  She wasn't bringing up the incident when she was fifteen. His knowledge of her self-pleasuring while she daydreamed of him was way too embarrassing. She settled for saying, "You’ve never lied to me."

  "No, I haven’t."

  Thinking of a couple of things he’d said to her the day before made her heart cramp in pain. He’d said, or at least implied, he didn’t love her like a woman he wanted to marry. He’d also said any physical intimacy between them would be nothing more than sex.

  She didn’t want to face those revelations right now, but the pain refused to be dismissed in order to be dealt with when she was ready. It pulsed inside her in a steady, aching rhythm.

  She pulled her hand from his grasp and scooted toward the edge of her side of the bed.

  His eyes narrowed at her movement.

  "If I marry you, you’re stuck with me as your mate for the rest of our lives?"

  "I told you, I’m already stuck. The minute I put my cock inside you, we were mated."

  "That can’t be." Though if sex equaled mating and mating equaled some kind of permanent werewolf marriage ritual, then he really was stuck with her.

  No matter how either of them felt about that.

  "So, even if I walk away..."

  "I cannot take another mate."

  "That’s not fair."

  "Fair isn’t in the equation."

  No, it wasn’t. She either consigned herself to marriage to man who didn’t love her, or consigned the man she loved to life-long celibacy. After last night and this morning, she didn’t think he would thank her for that. "You should have warned me of the consequences. I had a right to know."

  "You didn’t give me the chance. I told you to leave. You wouldn’t go." His voice was rough, like he was angry again and the expression in his blue eyes had turned accusing.

  But remembering how he had responded to her presence made her balk at accepting all the guilt for their current predicament. "You didn’t want me to. Not really."

  "Like hell."

  Disbelief rolled through her. She’d never known Ty to shirk responsibility for his own actions like this. Okay, so maybe he didn’t like the results, but that didn’t mean he got to blame her for them.

  "You didn’t try very darn hard to get rid of me," she reminded him.

  "I couldn’t," he gritted out, sounding really disgusted with himself.

  "I don’t buy it. You are one of the most self-disciplined people I know."

  "Everyone has their limits. I reached mine."

  "Right. I’m irresistible."

  "Last night you were...to me."

  His obstinate denial of any culpability for their time together added more pain to the cauldron boiling inside her. This was so not the way she’d thought the morning after would be conducted. "How can you be like this after what we shared?"

  "You mean the sex? I suppose I should take comfort in the fact that my mate is a real firecracker in the sack. Not all humans can keep up with a werewolf, but you held your own last night. I’m surprised your ex-fiancé let you go so easily. Most men would kill for a response like yours."

  She stared at him. The words were border-line insulting, but he sounded jealous not mocking. Only he had nothing to be jealous of. She wasn't the one who had made love to him after only the day before having plans to marry someone else.

  She curled her lip with derision at his obtuseness. "If I’d been able to give it to my ex, we would be married right now and last night would never have happened."

  But she hadn't loved the other man. She loved Ty even if he was too stupid to see it.

  "Well, you’re with me now," he said through gritted teeth. "I suppose I should feel honored there haven’t been any other men since your ex-fiancé. You obviously like your sex."

  That was definitely an insult and it was one too many.

  She punched him in the chest. Hard. But it had been like hitting a rock, make that a petrified rock.

  Her hand stung and she rubbed it. "You jerk."

  "Maybe...probably..." he admitted with an angry shake of his head. "But I’m your jerk."

  "Oh no. Olivia can have you. With my blessing." It wasn’t a rational thing to say, not after what he’d told her about the permanency of mating, but she was so mad, she almost meant it.

  Did she really care if this condescending idiot spent the rest of his life without sex? She would do the same with the rest of hers. If she walked away... But it would be a cold day in Hades before she admitted that to him.

  "Oh yes," he growled. "You knew I wanted her, but you seduced me anyway. Now, you get me, Frankie. For a lifetime."

  "You didn’t want Olivia," she yelled in frustration, totally unwilling to stomach that lie on top of his nasty attitude.

  Maybe he hadn’t wanted to mate with Frankie, but he didn’t desire Olivia either. Not really. His head might say the femwolf would make a better mate, but his body had not been engaged. She refused to believe on top of everything else that she'd been a stand in for another woman.

  Her heart could not accept it and she was going to make him admit it. "You two fight like brother and sister."

  "Not everyone courts with roses and poetry."

  "Even the most unromantic guy in the world treats a woman he wants with more warmth than you treated her yesterday."

  "You saw us together one time. You are hardly in a position to judge. You have no idea what we were like together when we were alone."

  She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to control the mushroom cloud of pain imploding inside of her. "I can’t argue that, but you still went to bed with me last night. Not her."

  There had to be some significance to that fact.

  "I wouldn’t have, if you had stayed on the couch."

  The words slashed through her with a finality that left no room for rosy dreams and hopeful fantasies, decimating her defenses with the power of a nuclear blast. One time, fourteen years ago, she’d felt this way. Like someone had reached inside her chest and ripped out her heart.

  The day she was told of her parents’ deaths.

  She’d felt just as empty, just as bereft, and every bit as scared then as she did right now.

  "I was just a stand in. She wasn't here and I was," she whispered in agonized acceptance.

  CHAPTER SIX

  She rolled out of the bed onto her feet, dragging the quilt with her and wrapping it around her now trembling, naked body.

  She slapped at his hands when he tried to grab her. "Don’t touch me."

  "Frankie, come back here."

  "No."

  "We’re not done talking."

  "Yes, we are."

  He got out of the bed, not bothered by his own nudity as he stood in front of her, glowering down at her. "You are my mate, not Olivia. No matter how it came about. It is
now a fact."

  "So, you’re resigned to it? And I suppose you expect me to resign myself to marriage with a man who’s pining after another woman? You think I should be okay with you using my body while you think of her?"

  "It wasn't like that!"

  Her eyes burned with tears she'd be darned if she shed in front of him. "You just got through saying it was."

  "I did not. I would never do that to you." He rubbed his hand over his face, frustration lining his chiseled features. "Look, you’re right. The chemistry wasn’t there between Olivia and me. She didn’t want me any more than I wanted her. I realized that yesterday. I shouldn’t have implied there was more to our relationship than what you saw. I was being a prick and I'm sorry."

  He sounded more furious than apologetic and was his explanation supposed to make Frankie feel better?

  It didn’t. It just gave her another possible reason for him making love to her that was extremely painful. Had the other woman’s rejection caused him to accept Frankie’s sensual overtures? Had he made love to her in order to assuage his hurt pride at realizing Olivia didn’t want him?

  Her mind was spinning with one scenario after another, all of them awful.

  "What was last night?" she asked in a desperate bid to understand how something so beautiful could have ended in this sense of ugly desolation.

  "It was our mating."

  But what had it meant to him besides what pack law stated it meant?

  "Why did you make love to me like that..." Like he could never get enough, like she was ambrosia to his soul. "So many times...if you didn't want me?"

  "I couldn't help myself." He said it so flatly she couldn't argue.

  True, or not...he believed she had seduced him...believed she was at fault for them having sex.

  Wasn't she? a voice inside her head whispered. Hadn't she chosen to make love not caring what the future held? She'd known he hadn't wanted a future with her and she had wanted him anyway.

  "I don't know what to do..." All she knew was that she hurt. Everywhere. Both inside and out. She could barely walk, her thigh muscles were so sore. "I need some time to myself. To think."

  "Come back to bed and think with me."

  Was he serious?

  She looked down his body and almost choked on her outrage. "You’re excited."

  "That surprises you after last night and today?"

  "You just got through telling me that I’m the last woman in the world you would have chosen for a mate and you expect me to welcome you into my body?" she asked in angry amazement.

  Was he crazy?

  "I didn’t say you were the last woman in the world I wanted. And you can blame this," he indicated his hard-on, "on the fact it’s our first mating and the approaching full moon. My animal instincts are in the fore right now."

  "There’s a full moon every month and if what you told me is true, you’ve never succumbed to it in this way before."

  "No, I haven’t." He looked like he expected that to mean something to her and reached for her.

  She backed up toward the bathroom. "Forget it."

  He frowned. "Damn it, Frankie..."

  She glared. "You can stop swearing at me wolf-man! I hurt and you can take all the credit for that just like you want me to take all the blame for us having sex. I need a very long, very hot bath. I don’t suppose you lit the water heater?"

  "Early this morning. The water should be hot by now." He had the grace to look consternated. "Are you sore?"

  She turned toward the bathroom. "Yes."

  "I’m sorry."

  "Aren’t we both?" The pain in her heart was a lot worse than the ache between her legs.

  "I could join you."

  The man was pure Neanderthal and brain-dead in the emotional department too. "I want you in my bath like I want a root canal right now."

  "Are you sure about that?" Oh, man, even feeling the way she did, that voice was an invitation to decadence.

  Nevertheless, she turned to face him again, about falling on her backside when she realized how close he’d come without making a sound. "Positive. While I’m sure your precious femwolf, Olivia, would have withstood a night like last night without the slightest discomfort, I’m just a lowly human and my whole body hurts."

  He cupped her shoulders and rubbed her neck muscles with his thumbs. "I could give you a massage."

  She shrugged him away, unwilling to accept anything from him right then...even comfort. "You can keep your hands to yourself. If you wanted post-coitus lovey-dovey, you shouldn’t have been so quick to point out I’m everything you don’t want in a mate. Believe it, or not, that kind of talk has a very dampening effect on a woman’s affectionate nature. I’m sore and I’m angry and I’m taking my bath alone."

  He stepped back, his expression going blank. "Fine."

  But it wasn’t fine and she wasn’t sure how it ever could be. She reached the sanctuary of the bathroom, then slammed and locked the door.

  How could she have believed one night of ecstasy would be worth this kind of pain the next day? But then she hadn’t expected things to turn out like this...for them to be stuck together in a lifelong mating he didn’t want and blamed her for.

  No, she never would have expected that outcome in her wildest imaginings.

  ***

  Ty paced the outer room, his beast fighting with his man. Damn it. He’d hurt her. He hadn’t meant to. He should never have made love to a human this close to his change.

  His unruly body still wanted her and it was taking all his self control to stay out of the bathroom where the water conspicuously was not running. Was she in there crying? He couldn’t hear any sniffling, but Frankie had always cried silently.

  He wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t want him anywhere near her. She’d made that clear. And he couldn’t blame her. He’d given her none of the soft words and affection a woman expected after the kind of lovemaking they had shared.

  But he’d woken that morning hard, aching for her and furious at how easily she had circumvented his will.

  His lack of control the night before had lacerated his pride far more than the realization that Olivia would run alone, rather than with the pack to avoid mating with him in the fur. She’d realized his intention and acted to circumvent it. Or, she’d simply wanted to avoid any mating which would have been damn hard with so many wolves in the pack still single and her in heat. She knew as well as he did that her instincts would have been to seek out a mate herself.

  The fact he had planned to be that mate, even if it meant fighting another wolf for her was now a moot point. And right now, Olivia’s actions and motivations were the last thing he needed to worry about.

  He’d been unable to restrain his desire for Frankie and would spend the rest of his life mated to a human – the one thing he’d been determined not to do. The wolf in him did not take defeat well. He reacted like any predatory animal when challenged, he struck out.

  The soreness between her legs wasn’t the only pain he’d given her and his beast was actually glad he had drawn emotional blood. It needed recompense for his defeat, but the man inside him felt like the jerk she’d called him. He’d hurt one of the most treasured people in his life and he hated knowing that.

  He was furious with himself and the beast in him that had prompted sexual demands that left Frankie's body sore and words that had hurt her.

  He was such a prick.

  But he wasn’t entirely sure he really was her jerk like he'd claimed.

  She’d said she was his last night, but she hadn’t been acting like his this morning. And yesterday she’d told him she didn’t want to be his friend any more. She’d been prepared to cut him out of her life. Just like a human. He couldn’t help but notice she hadn’t said she would marry him either.

  She could walk away, but he couldn’t.

  That made him feel helpless, which in turn infuriated him. A furious werewolf on the verge of the change was not the best companion for a tender hea
rted woman who was soaking away the pain of an overzealous mating.

  According to his father, it was always like that the first time. Ty had never known anything approaching the pleasure of being inside his mate and if he didn’t get away from here and her scent that permeated the cabin, he was going to go seeking that pleasure again.

  It was less than an hour until the full moon. He had to go, for her sake as well as his own. She’d be okay until he could send rescue. There was plenty of wood and food in the pantry.

  As he moved toward the bathroom door, the water started to run finally. He waited until it turned off again and then knocked.

  "What?" She sounded surly.

  Once again he wished he could fix it and make her okay with everything. He hated being at odds with his best friend, but he was more likely to make everything worse if he tried to talk to her again in his present state. His wolf wasn’t ready to tuck tail and submit to a destiny he hadn’t chosen with the grace she needed.

  Better to get out away from her until he was.

  "I’m leaving. I’ll send help as soon as I can, but it’ll probably be moonset before I can talk to anyone. Don’t get worried. Just sit tight, all right?"

  The bath splashed like half the water was sloshing onto the tiny bathroom’s floor and then the door was yanked open. "What?"

  He turned away from the view of her naked body and the justified accusation in her gray eyes. "I’m leaving."

  "You can’t. It’s below freezing out there."

  "I’ll be fine."

  "You aren’t superhuman."

  "I’m a werewolf."

  "But you’re not a wolf right now."

  "I will be soon enough. You don’t have to worry about me." It shocked him after all that had happened, all that he’d said that she would.

  He wanted to kiss her, but didn’t trust himself to keep it to a simple kiss. Even though this lack of control of his libido was to be expected right after mating and was something most werewolves reveled in, right now he found it a total pain in the ass.