Her man.
Her... mate.
Maylee didn’t have the strength to swat back the press of her bear.
The relentless pump of Ellis’s fingers and swipe of his tongue worked her to her limit, then back down again. He held her on a knife’s edge between begging for more and cursing his name when he denied her a final release. The wait built needy moans in her chest and rolled them off her tongue, which just seemed to make Ellis try for more.
Maylee shut her eyes against the spinning of the world around her. With one sense shut off, she was left with a barrage of touch and sound. His hands on her body, his growls in her ears, shoved her closer to the edge until stars danced in the darkness behind her lids.
She dug her nails into his shoulders as her release rocketed through her. Her toes curled, her heart stuttered, and her man kept his mouth on her until he worked the last throb of her aftershocks.
Ellis pushed to his feet. His eyes latched onto hers as he raised his fingers to his mouth and sucked them clean. “You taste delicious.”
He didn’t make any other moves. He didn’t sway an inch closer, didn’t try to dip his head and catch her in a kiss. His hands stayed locked at his sides.
He offered her a way out, she realized. An end. A chance to wrap herself back up in all the layers he’d stripped bare.
He also offered her a hand back to her feet and an even more dangerous road than she’d already traveled.
That was the model every man should aim for, in her book. Wanting to help, willing to let her find her own way back to a place of strength.
He had her back when she had no right to his loyalty.
Instead of wanting to run and hide, she wanted to hunker down and earn it. What had he said? She didn’t flinch when she looked at him? Oh, he was implying that he was as much of a project as staying out of Dustin’s hands and keeping Esme safe. She didn’t see him like that, though. He was good. Rough, but good.
She leaned into him. “I thought you were going to take care of me.”
Realization hit and a growl vibrated in his chest. Ellis cupped the back of her neck and crushed his lips to hers.
His tongue delved into her mouth with a wicked twist and tangle that put even what he’d done to her body to shame. Heat flared in her heart and her core, blazing hotter than the sun.
He lowered back to the ground and pulled her into his lap. Liquid gold eyes met hers and a growl tumbled out of his chest.
She rose up on her knees and reached between them. Ellis’s eyes drooped half-mast when she wrapped her fingers around his thick shaft. One pump, another, drew a groan out of him and left her feeling powerful.
“Maylee,” he gritted out.
Big man, tough man, and she held all the control.
Maylee sank down over him. The first inch ignited a fire inside her.
“That’s it, beautiful. Take me. Take every inch.”
Holy hell. Dirty talk usually wasn’t her thing. Nine times out of ten, it always sounded too contrived or like the script from a man’s favorite porno.
Ellis did it right. His beard scratched against her skin as he mouthed his way to her ear. Hot breath tickled against her skin before his lips traced the outer shell. The words didn’t matter at that point. He could have recited math equations as long as he kept working his vocal magic.
Inch by inch, she slid down his impressive length, until she burned with the press of him inside her. So big. So damn good.
He knew the exact moment she’d adjusted to him. His hands stroked down her back, over her ass, to rest on her hips. His teeth nipped at her lobe. Heat blasted off his chest and rolled through her, sparking against all the nerves that wanted to feel everything he had to give.
Ellis growled and urged her to move. His fingers dug into her skin as he worked her over his cock, pulling her back and forth. He stayed deep, bumping against her clit, making her gasp.
Harder. Faster. Deep and perfect and holy hell, she didn’t know which one of them snarled first, but their beasts were in their eyes and throats and she didn’t hate it. She loved that she brought his wolf so close to the surface.
“I want to take care of you from now until we’re old and grey.”
He spun her out of control. Needy noises poured out of her throat, which just encouraged him to thrust into her deeper, drag her against him harder. His growls grew louder and his breath turned ragged, right along with hers.
He threaded his fingers in her hair and arched her back with a gentle tug. His lips found her neck; his beard scratched her skin and boiled heat in her veins. “Until you say yes, until you want me for a lifetime, I’m going to take care of you.”
Pressure built in her core. Breathless, arched against him, her body throbbed around him. Ellis groaned, but rode through her release, bucking his hips into her until she saw stars again.
“I’ll make you come again and again,” he growled.
Promise. Oath. Vow. Maylee dragged her nails down his back and cried out as she flung over the edge into pleasure once more.
Ellis gritted out her name again as he froze deep inside her. Warmth filled her, pulsing with his own release.
Quiet settled over the forest again.
Maylee clung to Ellis with the same tight embrace he wrapped her in. Their breath mingled, and their eyes met.
Neither spoke, but the words were as loud as if they’d screamed them.
Mine.
Chapter 13
Maylee’s entire body buzzed as Ellis flew around the curves of the road leading back to his home. Her bear sat in the back of her mind, totally content for the first time in months.
She’d tried to pinpoint the exact feeling from the moment they dressed and made their way back down to his motorcycle. It’d taken the entire drive with her arms wrapped around him and huddled against his back to avoid the cutting wind before she figured it out.
She felt safe.
And it wasn’t just the comparative danger of riding on the back of a motorcycle or the multiple orgasms that lulled her into a sense of security. The absolute promise Ellis made to stick by her side was more than anyone offered her in the past. He wasn’t like the males of her clan. He didn’t demand anything in return. His price was simply her standing on her own two feet.
He was a good man, and he wanted to treat her well.
She was still cruising high on cloud nine when Ellis pulled to a stop in front of his house. A growl vibrated in his chest and he stiffened between her arms.
Maylee’s bear spiked alert at the sudden tension. She scrambled off the back of the motorcycle, ready to fight for her life.
And stopped dead in her tracks.
Maylee blinked, then blinked again, hoping she was simply seeing things.
“Maylee?”
She didn’t turn. Didn’t answer.
“Maylee?” Ellis asked again.
The windows were busted out. The front door cracked around the lock. Slats of the front porch railing were busted out in uneven places, looking like the ragged teeth of a jack-o’-lantern.
She could smell fur all over the damn place. Up the porch, around the side of the house. The trails meshed together into a giant fuck you meant for her.
Her blood iced in her veins. They’d come for her and Esme. How many, she couldn’t be entirely sure. Enough to overpower her and Ellis, definitely.
If Alanna and Wyatt hadn’t come over, if she’d said no to their offer…
She didn’t need to imagine the possibilities. Helena had suffered them already.
Something flapped against the busted door. Maylee carefully mounted the creaky, loose steps and ripped a note from its nail.
The child-stealing whore must pay for her crimes. Turn over the cunt and the cub before nightfall.
Anyone aiding her will face the consequences.
Maylee glared at the writing. The message was unsigned, but there was only one person who would have pinned it to the door after smashing up the place.
Ellis’s boots thudded behind her. He plucked the note from between her fingers, then crumpled the paper in his fist. “Come on,” he snarled, fingers lacing around her upper arm and spinning her around. “We’re calling a pack meeting.”
Maylee didn’t fight him.
Her mind raced faster than he did down the road toward Dark Horse. Esme was safe with Alanna and Wyatt. They would have called if there had been any problems. Even Dustin’s note suggested that he didn’t know where to find them.
The relief lasted about as long as it took for Ellis to park behind the bar and unlock the back door. The quiet inside clashed uneasily with her noisy thoughts. Too loud, too demanding, the roars and objections to her every thought and action followed her all the way to the row of empty bar stools.
Ellis set her up with a glass of bourbon while he made calls summoning Jensen and Wyatt.
Maylee stared into the amber liquid and tried to quell the biting fury of her inner bear. All contentedness from the outing with Ellis disappeared under the red-hot anger and demand to first, protect Esme, and second, destroy anyone who threatened the cub.
But lurking behind her anger was the deep, insidious knowledge that she’d never be free.
Dustin would never stop hunting her.
Maylee jerked to attention when the Employees Only door sprang open and slammed into the wall. Jensen strode through, scent stinging her nose like burning plastic. Even her bear paused in her restless pacing and watched the man carefully.
His forceful presence was so strong, she took a long second before noticing Noelle sidling up next to her. She and their little pup seemed entirely unbothered by the alpha power washing off Jensen.
Maylee tore her eyes away from Noelle handing Sienna a baggie of crayons and a coloring book. She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush of words. “I’ll go. I’ll take Esme, and go. You don’t deserve any other this.”
Noelle shook her head in firm denial. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“If she goes, I go,” Ellis rumbled. He dipped his chin to his chest, eyes slashing to meet hers. “I told you I’m in this with you.”
“You’re not going anywhere, either.” Jensen folded his arms over his chest. “No one tells my pack what to do, especially not some murdering asshole.”
Alanna walked in with Esme in her arms and Atticus and Wyatt right behind her. “What happened?” she asked, eyes flashing amber. “I only heard part of the call.”
“Those fu—” Ellis cut himself off with a grimace. “Maylee’s old clan busted up our den and left their demands pinned to the door. We turn both Maylee and Esme over by nightfall, or we face the consequences.”
“Face the consequences?” Wyatt snorted. “Couldn’t they come up with anything more original? Some examples, maybe? I guess we’re about to be sent to bed without ice cream. Those are your consequences. Fucking amateurs.” He pointed to Noelle. “I’m not apologizing for that.”
He was wrong. Maylee knew the consequences firsthand. They weren’t amateurs in killing. Not in the slightest.
She reached for Esme and held the cub close. Her familiar scent filled her nose, smelling so much like the spray of the ocean. Helena had smelled like that, too.
She shook herself out of her memories. The others were talking. Debating angrily, more like it, while she was lost between disjointed surges to do something and shock that kept her stuck in her seat.
The last time she’d felt stuck at such a crossroads was the night Helena dropped Esme off at her door.
Six months. Skies above, she’d been racing down the same path for six long months with one end in sight. She’d been stupid to believe for even a second that her life could be normal and uncomplicated.
Noelle touched her arm and nodded her head toward the back. Maylee slid off her chair and, along with Alanna, followed Noelle to a private corner while Ellis, Jensen, and Wyatt argued over the best ways to keep everyone safe.
“Are you okay?” Noelle asked quietly.
Her bear paced restlessly through her head. Her leg bounced with an equal need to move. Even Esme seemed to have picked up on the tension, her little head moving from side to side with a stern look on her face.
That sternness disappeared whenever she focused on Maylee. A bright smile split her mouth, showing off the few teeth she’d grown over the last month. Milestones Helena wouldn’t ever see and Dustin didn’t deserve.
“Mmmmamamamama,” Esme babbled.
Knives sliced through her heart as she managed a smile for the little cub. “Fine,” Maylee lied. “Just fine.”
“You know,” Noelle murmured, “Jensen had to take me across state lines once when things got too hot here in town.”
Alanna nodded. “And Wyatt challenged an alpha tiger for his spot, just to break the streak apart when they wouldn’t leave us alone.”
Her next move was in their words.
Run.
No matter what they said, her best course of action was to get the hell out of town. Leave. Vanish. Get as far as possible from her last known location and try again. Because Ellis, like Dustin, wouldn’t quit.
Her bear ripped her apart over the idea of leaving Ellis behind. But she had to. She couldn’t pry him away from his pack.
The rest of them, too, didn’t deserve the trouble she brought. She should have taken their offer to wait out Greg, then started a long walk to the next town.
Noelle and her pup were too sweet for anything bad to happen to them. Alanna would likely join the fight. Her cub, too. Jensen and Wyatt would, of course, bare fangs right alongside Ellis.
Maylee could see it all too clearly. Dustin wouldn’t give up until he had his property back under his control, which meant Ellis wouldn’t back down in her defense.
She was a bomb waiting to go off. A grenade thrown into their very center. She couldn’t be the damage that undid all their happiness.
She had to go.
Alanna covered her hand with her own. “It’s going to be okay. The mates will keep us safe.”
Maylee’s cheeks hurt with what she hoped was a convincing, accepting, normal smile. She nodded to the cub in her arms. “I’m going to put her down for a nap in the back.”
Noelle nodded. “You let us know if you need any help.”
Maylee opened her mouth, then closed it again. She had to stay strong and keep her resolve. “I can manage. Thanks, though. I appreciate it. All of it.”
At least that wasn’t a lie.
Chapter 14
“Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Ellis snarled.
Thank all the gods in the sky for the bar standing between him and Wyatt. He wanted to launch himself across the space and wrap his hands around the man’s throat.
Gone? How the fuck did that word come out of his mouth without anything else following?
Maylee’s gone.
How? Why? Where? He needed more details.
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “Gone. Not where she said she’d be. She’s not here.”
Ellis shot a glance to Jensen’s pup and Wyatt’s cub before the anger coursing through him did more than tinge his vision red. Noelle and Alanna helped bring him back down, too. They didn’t need to see him flip out. He didn’t want them to flinch every time they got near.
“How did this happen?” His growl sounded like a low burr on his tongue.
“She went to put Esme down for a nap,” Noelle said quietly. “We went to check on her, and neither were there.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Twenty minutes. Maybe a half-hour.”
Fucking hell. That was long enough to walk back to his den and grab her car. More than enough time to get snatched up by Dustin and his clan. They could be anywhere.
“Any scents? Did they sneak in under our fucking noses?”
“No, no scents but ours.”
“I think she left to protect us,” Alanna added after a beat.
Gone. Left. Disappeared. Vanished.
She. Left. Hi
m.
His wolf snarled away and tore into his insides. The tantrum felt right. Necessary.
And a repeat of the past.
He hadn’t found Maylee in the arms of another, but the rejection was just as plain. They had something spark to life between them, and then she set him aside.
“She couldn’t have gone far. We need to check everywhere.” He started for the back, swallowing back his wolf’s rampage through his mind. No good would come from letting the beast loose. He had to keep his head. Had to stay steady. “I’ll check my place. We can spread out.”
He barely heard the words falling out of his mouth. The details mattered, but he couldn’t focus on a single damn thing other than finding Maylee and Esme. His mate and his cub were out there, alone and unprotected.
His.
Because fuck the past. Fuck her old clan. Neither played into what they were building for themselves.
Five hard knocks pounded on the front door and stopped him in his tracks.
“Don’t make me huff and puff and blow this bar down!” Dustin’s muffled voice shouted from the other side.
Fuck. There went any idea of heading out immediately to track down Maylee.
But if Dustin was knocking, that meant he didn’t have her.
“Go,” Jensen ordered the mates. “Take the pups and get to the back.”
It was a stopgap. A quick way to hide the precious parts of themselves. Ellis hated that he had no one waiting behind those doors.
When they were out of immediate harm, Wyatt stalked to the entrance. Jensen slid Ellis a look, then dipped his chin. Wyatt unlocked the bolts and yanked open the door for their unwanted guests.
Dustin sauntered inside with a handful of his males, Vinnie among them. The rest didn’t have names and Ellis barely registered their faces. They didn’t matter except as pawns he’d mow through to get to Maylee and Esme.
He didn’t like that the other one, Greg, wasn’t among their number. Maybe he got stuck waiting with the mouthy female, Sheila.
“Not nightfall,” he rumbled as Dustin came to a stop in the middle of the bar.
“Figured you saw my message. What else would rally the troops here in the middle of the day? Little bit of property destruction is better than ringing someone up on the old telephone.” Dustin chuckled at his own joke and shrugged when no one else chimed in.
Bourbon and Bears: Book Three: Shifters and Sins Page 9
