by J. L. Wilder
“Don’t threaten me, old man.”
“It isn’t a threat. It’s a promise.”
Gunner spat again, turned, and walked away into the woods toward the house, carrying his staff with him and leaving Wyatt standing alone in the middle of the clearing.
Wyatt breathed deeply, feeling his heart rate return to normal. “You can come out,” he called to Izzy.
She crept into the clearing, wide eyed and trembling, looking up at him. “You fought him off,” she said. “You saved me. He was going to—”
“He won’t hurt you,” Wyatt said. “Not now. I’ll talk to Robert and make sure he fixes his order so that it can’t be circumvented. He’ll reissue the directive at dinner tonight, and this time he’ll phrase it in a way that holds up.”
Izzy shook her head. “You can’t,” she said. “You can’t tell him what happened. You said you wouldn’t.”
“I can tell him there’s a loophole without telling him what Gunner did,” Wyatt said.
“But if you tell him, won’t that stop us from spending time together?” Izzy asked. “You’re my only friend, Wyatt. You’re all I have.”
“It shouldn’t stop us,” Wyatt said. “We haven’t crossed any lines.”
“But if he changes the order, you don’t know what the new lines will be.”
He regarded her. “What are you worried about?”
“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered, moving closer.
And as her hand came to rest on his, he realized that he could no longer deny what he had been feeling all along. His protectiveness toward her—it wasn’t coming from a desire to help the pack. He wasn’t worried about their image, or the kind of people they all were. It was strictly about the girl who stood in front of him. He was falling in love with her.
She seemed painfully young in that moment. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, shelter her from everything he knew was going to happen to her over the next few weeks. He couldn’t keep her safe from the Omega Games. He couldn’t prevent her from being claimed by a member of his pack.
She was looking at him as if he were her savior, but there was nothing he could do.
Giving in to instinct, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. I can touch her, he realized. I can hold her. Gunner was right. The order didn’t prevent him from doing anything but claiming her as his.
She leaned into his embrace, inviting him closer, her eyes shining up at his. “Don’t tell them,” she said quietly. “Keep it between us.”
“Why would you want that?” he asked. “You’re at risk. You know Gunner has his eye on you. He’s not going to give up.”
“Robert will take you away from me,” Izzy said. “And I need you. I don’t have anyone else.”
“You can trust Robert,” Wyatt said. Her body pressed against his was starting to become distracting. The animal in him was beginning to rise again, but not in anger this time. It felt as if something deep within him was reaching out to her. He wanted her in a way he had never experienced before. And it seemed to him that he could feel her reaching back.
“I don’t want to trust Robert,” Izzy said. “I want to trust you, Wyatt.”
Then her hand was at the back of his neck, pulling him down to her, and before Wyatt knew what was happening, his lips had met hers.
She was as fresh as a breath of spring air, light and gentle, and he pulled her closer and felt the moment when her feet left the ground. The next thing he knew, her legs were wrapped around his waist, her fingers fisted in his hair, and the kiss deepened.
Wyatt was lost in that moment. He had been lost the moment he took her in his arms, he realized. Kissing her felt as right and natural as shifting, as letting his wolf side take over and range through the woods. I’ve wanted her since I saw her, he thought desperately. That’s what this has always been about. Trying to win her freedom, convincing Robert to let her out of that room—it was all for this. How could I not realize?
Izzy was pliant in his arms, bending willingly to his desire, and even as he berated himself for letting things get this far, he was taking them farther. His hands traveled down her sides to her waist, learning the shape of her. Mine, he thought, knowing the thought did him no good, knowing he had no power to claim her yet. Mine.
She pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes searching his. “That was something.”
He lifted her gently away from him, setting her back on her feet, stepping back a pace and trying to regain control of his senses. Mine—mine—mine thrummed through him with every beat of his heart. He longed to claim her. The fact that he couldn’t do it pained him.
“We can’t do this,” he told her, averting his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the look on her face. He felt like a coward. “We can’t be together.”
“Why not?” she asked. “No one knows. Gunner doesn’t know.”
“He’ll find out. Or someone else will.” Wyatt inhaled deeply. “The Omega Games are just a few weeks away. If I can win, we can do whatever we want, and no one will be able to stop us.”
“But what if you don’t win?”
“I’ll just have to,” he said, trying not to let her see the uncertainty he felt.
“Wyatt...you could lose,” she whispered. “Gunner could win. Anyone could.”
He couldn’t help himself. He drew her close again and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
“Be with me,” she whispered. “Be with me while we still have a choice.”
He knew he should tell her no. He should turn her away, for her own safety as much as his. But he found he couldn’t. I would run with her right now, he realized, if I thought we had a chance at eluding them.
He bent to kiss her again, and this time he didn’t stop himself. His hands were hungry for every inch of her, and moved up her shirt to tease her hard nipples. Her breasts were perfect and he squeezed them hard, as his cock pressed into her belly.
“Do you like that, my little omega?” he asked.
“Yeesss..” she breathed in compliance.
They moved into the treeline, ensuring they were out of view. They could no longer resist the ancestral pull between an omega and her mate.
She loved his body. He was so big in every way and he made her feel safe. She pulled his pants down and watched as his magnificent cock sprang forward. She rubbed her hands along his shaft, as he let his fingers trickle down to her dripping pussy.
“Grrrrrrrr, I love how wet you are for me,” he said.
“Take me please,” she begged.
He lifted her up and pinned her against a cedar tree, carefully pulling down her panties and letting his cock sip on her juices before entering her completely.
As they grinded against each other they became one. His cock felt like it was meant to be inside her. Their eyes locked on one another’s as they let the intense pleasure consume them. They were meant for each other. They were meant to perform this erotic dance. He felt his life long aching evaporate.
The mounting pressure in his cock increased until he could not wait any longer, exploding cum deep inside her walls.
“Oh, Izzy. You make me a happy wolf,” he said, looking at her with loving eyes.
Chapter Eleven
IZZY
Walking around the Hell’s Wolves property over the next week, Izzy felt as though she was carrying a talisman in her chest.
It doesn’t matter, she thought as she walked by the men in the yard on her way to dinner. They all stopped what they were doing to watch her, just as they always did. Some looked on with detached interest, the way they might look at a museum exhibit, drawn by the presence of an omega in their midst. Others were more forward, stepping away from what they had been doing, as if they were actually about to grab her. It had always bothered her before.
But now there was Wyatt. It was as if she was protected by him, even when he wasn’t around. The idea that she could be happy here in the midst of all this horror seemed magical, and she felt as though Wyatt had sa
ved her from a fate worse than death.
It wasn’t just her newfound freedom from the third-floor bedroom. It wasn’t just having someone who treated her like a human being when nobody else did. It was Wyatt himself. Seeing him stand up to Gunner had sparked something in her, something she had never felt for another man. It had been a struggle for him. She’d seen that clearly. He had been afraid and confused and unsure. But he hadn’t hesitated. He’d done what he believed was right. He’d protected her.
How could she help but love him?
As the days slipped by, as her connection to Wyatt deepened, she began to embrace the nickname he used for her. When it had been used by her kidnappers it had felt like a leash. But when Wyatt spoke the work Izzy it was gentle, careful, almost a caress. She came to enjoy hearing it.
It was hard to be alone together. The clearing wasn’t safe, obviously, and neither of them had bedrooms to themselves. Izzy wasn’t permitted to leave Hell’s Wolves property, so they couldn’t go somewhere else. But they found ways, little ways to sneak off and be on their own out of sight of the rest of the pack. Every moment was stolen. But every moment was precious.
“This is a terrible idea,” Wyatt moaned as Izzy slid his shirt over his head. They were in the garage, leaning against the wall farthest from the door that led to the house. He kept voicing these objections, Izzy noticed, but that hadn’t kept his hands off her. “Someone could come out here at any moment.”
“We’ll hear them,” Izzy whispered. She’d been thinking about this moment all day. It was the only thing that had gotten her through an afternoon working in the garden with Val and Heather, who had ignored her the entire time. “We’ll hear them, and we’ll stop.”
“No, we’ll be caught—” He let out a gasp as she arched against him, and passion and pleasure flooded her body.
“You don’t want to stop,” she said, slipping a hand down his pants. “You don’t, not really.”
He groaned again. “God help me, I don’t.”
It was always like this, always quick and grasping and threaded through with adrenaline and just a tinge of fear. If they were caught, Wyatt would almost certainly be pulled from the Omega Games and would lose his only chance of claiming her openly. And, Izzy found, she wanted to be claimed by him. She had lived in fear all her life of what it meant to be an omega, what it would mean to give herself to someone. But as she stood in Wyatt’s arms, her body pressed against his, she knew that she would give herself to him a hundred times over. It would feel wonderful to be his.
But it couldn’t be. Until the Games, and unless he won, he was subject to Robert’s order forbidding it. They could sneak away to be together, but only the claim of another shifter would be enough to keep the rest of the pack off her.
They never dared to undress fully. The risk of being caught was too great. They shifted their clothing strategically, and then Wyatt lifted her in his arms. He was so strong, she thought, despite his age, and the ease with which he picked her up never failed to surprise her. He shuddered as he entered her, and Izzy bent her head to his neck and inhaled the scent of him. She wrapped her legs and arms around him tightly, pulling him close, canting her hips to rock against him, her skirt hiding their bodies from view. She felt the rub of his denim jeans against the inside of her thighs and the scrape of his stubble on her cheek. She didn’t care. More, she thought, tightening her heels against his back. More, God, please.
His stamina was impressive. Izzy wore out before he did. Even after her pleasure had peaked and plateaued several times, though, she didn’t want to stop. She clung to him, feeling limp and sated, full and happy. “Keep going,” she whispered. “Keep going, baby, do it.”
She lost track of time in his arms, but eventually she felt him shudder again and go still. A moment later he eased her back down to her feet, supporting her carefully as she composed herself. They gripped each other for support, both of them still shaking.
“Are you all right?” Wyatt asked quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“That wasn’t too much for you, was it?”
If anything, it wasn’t enough. Wyatt had satisfied her, there could be no doubt of that, but Izzy didn’t think she’d ever get enough of him. “It was perfect,” she assured him. “Why are you worried?”
“You’re just...”
“Young?”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I know you don’t feel that way.”
“I’m not that young,” she said.
“Have you been with a man before?”
“Just you.”
He bent his forehead to rest against hers and sighed.
“You don’t think that’s a good thing?”
“I don’t think it’s a good or a bad thing by itself,” he said. “But I worry...”
“What do you worry about?”
“I don’t want you to be with me just because I’m the best available option in an undesirable group,” he said. “You don’t have to do this. I would still be your friend.”
“I know that,” she said.
“You shouldn’t have to be with anyone,” he said. “Not if you don’t want to. I like this pack, Izzy, and I think you can be happy here if you give it a chance. But these are the people who kidnapped you. I know that.”
“That wasn’t you,” she whispered, stroking his cheek with her thumb.
“But I’m one of them. They’re my pack.”
“You know you’re not forcing me,” she said. “You haven’t made me do anything. I wanted you, Wyatt. I kissed you. Did you forget?”
“Why would you want someone so much older than yourself? I don’t understand. There’s so much I can’t give you.”
“What can’t you give me? You can father children as easily as any of the rest of the pack. You ride a bike better than most of them.”
“That’s what you’re looking for?” he asked. “Someone who can ride well?”
She laughed. “All right, maybe not that. But you’re kind, Wyatt. You’re thoughtful. You came to me when I had no one.”
He looked anguished. “But that’s just what I’m worrying about, don’t you see? You can’t be with me because you had no one else.”
“Wyatt.”
He looked at her, his turmoil showing clearly on his face.
“It’s not that I had no one,” she said. “It’s that you came. You saw a girl without a friend and decided to be there for her. I don’t love you because I had no one to love. I love you because you did a lovable thing. A remarkable thing.”
“You love me?”
She bit her lip.
“I love you, too,” he said, and kissed her fiercely.
AFTER THAT, IT SEEMED even more urgent to find time to be together. Creeping out of the bedroom in her nightdress, Izzy thought of the time she’d felt determined to run away, the time Wyatt had stopped her. Tonight, as then, nobody awoke. Unlike that night, however, she felt grateful to have been stopped. If she’d gotten away, she would be scraping for a living, and she never would have gotten close with Wyatt.
He was waiting for her in the library, standing by a shelf with a book in hand. He closed it gently when she arrived and placed it back on the shelf. “Any trouble?”
“None,” she said, and crossed the room to his waiting arms.
He had spread a blanket on the floor, and now he took her by the hand and pulled her to it. She sank to her knees beside him and let him capture her mouth with his.
It was a long time before either of them spoke again. All the lights in the library were off, and they moved carefully in the darkness, feeling their way as if they were uncertain of each other. Izzy’s hands explored the planes of Wyatt’s chest as he peeled away her clothing, laying it in a small pile beside them.
“I wish I could see you,” he breathed when he was done, his hands ghosting over her.
She took his wrists and pulled his hands down to meet her bare skin. Carefully, slowly, he found his way to her breasts. Sh
e breathed slowly, hyper aware of how close he was and the press of his skin against hers.
“I love you,” he whispered.
All around, she knew, the rest of the pack were sleeping. She imagined she could feel the house resonating with their deep, steady breathing, hear their snores emanating from their rooms. It felt as if all it would take would be a single eye opening for them to be caught. The fear that lit her up from within heightened everything else, brought every one of her senses to full alert.
They made love slowly. It was the first time they’d ever taken their time with it, the first time they’d ever chosen not to rush. Izzy couldn’t have said why, exactly. Everyone might be asleep, but the risk of being caught hadn’t been removed. Not by a long shot. It could still happen. They might hear footsteps on the stairs, a cry of realization that Izzy wasn’t in her bed. Or perhaps there would be no warning, and the door to the library would suddenly swing open on them...
It was terrifying, and it was risky, but it made the whole thing more exciting somehow.
And Izzy felt safe, sheltered by Wyatt’s giant form. She felt tiny beneath him. She had wrapped her arms around his chest, and as he propped his upper body up off the ground, he lifted her with him, as if she were nothing. Surely nothing could hurt her while she was with him.
She rolled her hips in time with his thrusts, slowly, purposefully, they always seemed to go through this so quickly. She knew his body, and yet she didn’t. Today she took the time to notice details that had escaped her before. The way his lower back dimpled. The breadth of his shoulder blades, each one bigger than her hand. The way his arms flexed with effort as he fucked her, effort that seemed to cost him nothing. He wasn’t young, but he was tireless. She imagined he could keep this up all day.
He rolled them over so he lay on his back with her sitting astride him. Izzy gasped, feeling him penetrate her even deeper. His hands settled on her hips and she rested momentarily, adjusting to the feel of him. Then she began to move.
His hands gripped hers. She bent to kiss him, riding him faster now, her breath coming in short gasps, chasing the high she knew was coming.
