He paused and seemed to mull my words over before he inclined his head. “Okay. I’ll wait.”
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Thank you.”
A growl had both of us turning to find Declan looming in the doorway. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at our joined hands.
I slowly withdrew from Inarus, a blush creeping up my face, and walked towards Declan, putting myself between the two men. “I’ll come check on you later. You should try and get some rest.”
Declan let me pull him from the room and despite his silence, I knew anger churned inside of him; I could feel it through the bond. But he wouldn’t say anything. Not here where everyone within earshot could hear.
Instead, his anger simmered as we walked deeper into the Compound and toward our shared room.
Once inside, Declan stalked to a side table hosting an amber bottle of liquid and a few glasses. He poured himself two inches of whisky and tossed it back before staring down at the glass in his hand.
“It wasn’t what it —”
The glass in Declan’s hand shattered. I jumped but otherwise stayed where I was. With exaggerated calm he set down the remaining pieces still in his hand and ignored the blood dripping from his palm. The wound was shallow, the flesh likely already knitting itself back together thanks to the lycanthropy virus—also known as Lyc-V—running through his veins.
I didn’t ask to see it. He wouldn’t show it to me now anyway. He was brooding and angry and if I were being entirely honest, he was hurt. I hated that it was me that put that hurt there.
“It wasn’t what it looked like.” I tried again.
He leveled me with his Alpha stare. Detached and inscrutable. But his gold-filled eyes gave him away. Declan was hanging on by the thinnest of threads. The man wasn’t in the driver’s seat—his animal was ready to take over.
“Truly.” I tried to reassure him.
His nostrils flared but he said nothing, so I waited.
I didn’t know what to say next. How to explain that I was damaged. That I refused to lose anyone else in my life. That I knew keeping Inarus around hurt him but I still couldn’t let him go.
We all had baggage. This was mine. And we would either hash it out—right here and right now—or I could walk away. I’d give Declan some space to cool his jets.
I could go back to my old room and hope whatever he was dealing with blew over by morning.
It would give me time to sleep. To get my head on straight. I knew I was a wreck. Melody was missing. Inarus was talking about leaving. My world was falling apart and the few people I cared about were going along with it.
But if I did that, the small foundation we’d built would crumble.
I needed to put my big girl panties on and deal with this. Declan meant too much to me to throw it all away over a misunderstanding. It was awkward and uncomfortable but Inarus was just a friend. Through Declan’s eyes he probably saw my unwillingness to let him go as something more. Something that it wasn’t.
“You can scent a lie. You know I’m telling you the truth.”
Declan’s beast stared out at me through his eyes, pinning me with his gaze. I suddenly felt like the prey to his predator.
I took an involuntary step back.
He narrowed his eyes and mirrored my step back with one of his own forward.
“Declan?”
He still wasn’t speaking, only stalking closer to me.
I edged further away, fighting the instinct to run. “You are mine and I am yours. I’m not sharing myself with Inarus or anyone else. What you saw was … ” I didn’t know how to explain. Anchoring my mind with Inarus’ brought us closer. Not in a romantic way but if I was loathed to lose him before, I was doubly so now.
A snarl curled Declan’s upper lip.
The back of my knees hit the bed. I had nowhere else to go.
Declan closed the space between us, towering over me. I reached up and cupped the side of his face, the urge to touch him, comfort him, too strong to ignore.
For a moment he closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, some of the gold had receded. He stepped back and my hand dropped between us.
He looked away but I moved with him, refusing to let him shut me out.
He’d already closed off his end of the bond and god that’d hurt.
I tugged on his hand. “Look at me.”
He shook his head as if to say what’s the point?
“Look at me.” Please. I silently begged, pushing my emotions through the bond in the hopes he would recognize them for what they were.
Despite myself, I clenched my teeth and braced myself for his rejection.
Declan’s eyes pierced me and rooted me to the spot. Every one of my senses on high alert.
“You’re mine.” Possession filled his every word. “I will walk through fire for you. I will bleed for you. But—”
I steeled myself.
“If he is who you want …”
A small part of me shattered. “Is that what you think? That I want him? Is that why you’ve closed yourself off to me?”
Declan pulled his hand free of mine. “I would do anything for you, Aria. But I cannot bear to feel you love another.”
A laugh escaped me. Then another. Before I knew it, I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop.
“You’re laughing.” He didn’t sound pleased. He sounded—confused.
“Stop that.”
I couldn’t. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes and I wiped them away with the backs of my hands.
“You think I want him? Like want him want him?” I choked out the words. “All of this is because you think I’m what … rejecting you?”
Declan folded his arms across his chest. The fabric stretched tightly across his muscular shoulders.
“This isn’t funny.”
It wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t but this whole time I’d been wrapped up in my own discomfort and insecurities. I hadn’t given any thought to his. I thought he was going to reject me. He hadn’t brought up the mating ceremony. He hadn’t tried to solidify our bond. Was all of that because he thought I didn’t want it? Want him?
“You’re my mate.”
He nodded his head. “I am.” His expression was still closed off.
That wouldn’t do.
I closed the space between us once more and placed my hand on his chest. He scowled down at me, his emerald green eyes uncertain. I slip my hand up and cupped his stubble-roughened cheeks in the palms of my hands.
His eyes searched mine. For what I wasn’t sure. But I hoped my words gave him what he needed.
“You are my mate. You chose me. And I chose you. In this lifetime and in the next. You are mine. I am yours. No one and nothing will ever change that.”
It took less than three seconds for my words to sink in before he hauled me into his arms and kissed me.
I kissed him back. It was hungry and desperate.
I gasped.
Strong arms lifted me before he laid me on the bed with the utmost care.
His skin was hot beneath my touch.
Declan trailed kisses down the sensitive skin of my neck. He lingered at the spot where my neck and shoulder met and nibbled along the scar left behind from his bite.
I moaned and leaned into him. I wanted him desperately. All of him. His lips. His touch. His cock inside of me. The need to feel every inch of his body bare against mine was becoming too much.
Declan ripped my shirt over my head and tossed it to the side. Our lips crashed together again and I felt the prick of claws along my ribcage before my bra was flung to the floor in pieces.
I sat up on my elbows only to be pushed back before Declan stole my breast into his mouth. He sucked on the right breast while squeezing the left. Every touch was perfect with just the right amount of pressure.
I smelled pine and mint and sucked in a lungful of air as Declan made quick work of rem
oving the remainder or our clothes.
My eyes widened at the sight of him. Broad muscular shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist. His body was glorious.
He crawled back over me, one of his hands skating over the soft, sensitive skin along my waist. I squirmed beneath his touch, a delicious feeling stealing through my body.
I nuzzled Declan’s neck as his hands began to wander lower and lower.
“So beautiful.”
Declan moved his leg between mine, spreading my legs further apart. I slid one leg around his hip and wiggled against him, smiling at the groan he released as I felt the hard length of him press firmer against my core.
He kissed me, our lips crashing in need and desperation.
Fire consumed me, emotions surging through the gates now wide open between us. I became obsessed with the press of his lips against mine, his rough hand pulling me closer as he slowly inched his length inside of me.
I closed my eyes in anticipation.
He growled and I snapped them back open. Declan rolled his hips against me and a throaty moan escaped me. God he felt good. So good.
His hands roamed over my breasts, the rough calluses on his thumb causing gooseflesh to break out across my skin.
“Mine.”
It wasn’t a question but I answered anyway. “Yes.”
He kissed me. His tongue thrust into my mouth and I licked and bit at it. My hands clenched in his hair and warmth suffused me as his thrusts picked up speed. He buried his face against my neck, the stubble on his jaw scraping against my skin.
Sensations spiraled through me. His hand reached between us, his thumb flicking my clit in a way that made my breath catch.
I rose my hips up to meet his thrusts, needing him more than I needed my next breath. My insides tightened. Close. I was so close.
Declan angled himself deeper, hitting a spot deep inside that sent me propelling off a cliff. I gasped and then his mouth was on mine, swallowing my moans, and suddenly my climax was building again.
This need between us was raw and terrifying in its intensity.
I threw my head back.
He thrusted harder as he claimed me.
“Mine,” he repeated.
“Yours.” I broke apart, my second climax sweeping through me in a whirlwind of pleasure, followed quickly by Declan’s release before he collapsed almost on top me.
We stayed that way for several moments, locked in an embrace as our breathing slowed and our hearts settled. My leg slid down his side and he shifted his weight off of me as he lay beside me and pulled me into his arms.
It was like every bit of doubt and fear had been wrung out of us. I lifted my head to meet his gaze and placed one hand on his cheek.
Declan’s hand came up to cup mine and he lifted it and pressed a kiss to my fingers.
“I love you.”
Butterflies danced in my stomach at the sound of those three little words.
“I—” I took a deep breath. “I love you too.”
“In this life,” he said.
“And in the next.”
12
A knock at our door had me pulling away as I retrieved one of Declan’s oversized shirts from his dresser drawer. He growled in appreciation as I shimmied into it and I hid my smirk as I tossed him a pair of pants. Tugging them on, he answered the door, shirtless and uncaring as I scanned the floor for my discarded underwear.
“What is it?” His tone wasn’t at all welcoming.
I wasn’t the only one who’d wanted some alone time.
Robert stood on the other side of the doorway. “I have news.”
Declan moved aside, making way for Robert to come into the room. Seeing me, he raised a brow but otherwise didn’t comment on my unruly state or the shredded underclothes littered across the floor. He was a shifter. If his eyes didn’t inform him what had happened here, his nose would. No need for me to spell it out.
“The boy caught a familiar scent on their hunt for the missing Harpy.”
“Whose?” I gave up my search—judging by the scraps of fabric, finding them would be a lost cause—and joined them by the fireplace.
Robert shook his head and ran a hand through his blonde hair, forcing the strands to stand on end. “He doesn’t know who the scent belongs to but he recognized it as belonging to someone from his time in captivity.”
My muscles locked up. If he recognized the scent from his time with the H.A.C., that meant one of my mother’s men took Melody. But what could they hope to gain by taking her?
I listened to the remainder of Robert’s explanation but he didn’t have much else to offer so while they went back and forth offering ideas and suggestions, I dialed Jason’s number, already kicking myself for not asking him to look into this sooner.
“Already missing our sessions?”
I snorted. “Definitely not.” My muscles hurt just thinking about it. “But I need your help.”
I walked to the opposite end of the room. “We have reason to believe Melody was taken by the H.A.C.. Can you look into it?”
There was a pause. “I’m not privy to most of what your mother does —” he began.
“I know. But she’s my friend. Will you try?”
He sighed. I knew I was putting him in a tough spot but it couldn’t be helped.
“I’ll see what I can do. But if I find your friend and I’m forced to act, we may need to push up our timeline.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see it. “How many do you have?” The problem with pulling the remaining psykers out of the H.A.C. was that many were still loyal. My mother had managed to keep her experiments on her own people under wraps and most didn’t believe Jason when he told them what was happening right beneath their noses. He’d needed time to sway them to his side. To protect them. And if Melody was in fact taken by the H.A.C., his time was running out.
“Twenty-three for sure. Possibly another two or three, I’m not sure yet.”
I swore. That meant twenty-six, best case scenario. Twenty-six out of fifty-two. We’d be leaving too many behind. “Do what you can. We always knew you were working on borrowed time.”
He made a sound of agreement and hung up.
My next call was to Twitch, an informant I’d frequently worked with in the past. I trusted him which said a lot given that I wasn’t the trusting type. But he’d proven his reliability on more than one occasion. He was also the one to discover who my mother was and that she’d been alive and working with the H.A.C. all these years when I’d thought she was dead.
I filled him in on our situation, telling him of Melody’s abduction and the possible connection with the H.A.C. It wasn’t much but Twitch didn’t need a lot to go on. A few breadcrumbs and the man could work miracles.
“I’ll see what I can find.”
I thanked him and turned when the door to our room suddenly swung open, a wide-eyed Brock on the other side. “Clan Wolf is under attack.”
Declan was already moving, Robert only one step behind him as Brock filled him in with any relevant information. I swore and jerked a pair of yoga pants out of the dresser, akwardly shoving my legs into them as I ran to keep up. From what I could tell the Clan house for Clan Wolf was taking heavy fire.
“When did the call come in?” Declan asked. We jogged down three flights of stairs when Robert suddenly veered off down a hallway.
“I’ll gather our fighters and meet you at the gates.”
Declan nodded before turning back to Brock as he waited for an answer.
“Five minutes ago. Jordan called it in.”
We both halted. “What do you mean Jordan called?” My voice was sharp as a whip and Brock visibly flinched. “Why isn’t he here? Both of the boys are supposed to be in the Compound.” Jeb and Jordan were twin wolf pups rescued from the H.A.C.. As wards of the Pack, they lived in the Compound.
They should be here where it was safe. Not at Clan Wolf’s home base. All the rescued kids who didn’t have parents or next of kin to
go to found homes within the Compound.
Brock scowled and ran his hand through his short brown hair. “He’s a wolf. Derek took him and Jeb for the day. The boys are theirs—”
“No. They’re mine.” Venom laced my words. I’d gotten them out. I was responsible for keeping them safe. They were supposed to be here where they could be protected. What had Derek been thinking?
“You can’t keep taking my kids like—”
Declan’s hand gripped my shoulder and I jerked my face toward him.
“They’re wolves,” he said as if that should mean something to me.
It didn’t.
I turned back to Brock. “I don’t care what they turn into. What animal they are. Every one of those kids we rescued from the H.A.C. is mine. That includes Caden,” I reminded him. “And if a single hair on any of their heads is hurt, you and anyone else who keeps putting them in harms way is going to suffer the consequences.”
Brock nodded though he didn’t look sufficiently cowed. Before I could say anything else, Declan interjected.
“We need to go.”
Not hesitating, we continued our descent to the main floor and the doors that would lead us outside. “What was the boy able to tell you?” Declan’s voice was calm but I could see the fury in the tension of his body, the hard set of his mouth. He took his role as their protector just as seriously as I did.
“He’s a child. He couldn’t give us much but the call stayed connected long enough for me to make out the sounds of gunfire and the screams of death.”
Ice ran through my veins. The boys had to be okay. They had to be.
“We’ll be going in blind,” Declan said. It wasn’t a question but Brock answered it anyway.
“Yes.”
“So be it. Help Robert gather as many able-bodied fighters as the two of you can find. We leave in five minutes.”
Unspoken were the words that any longer than that and we might be too late.
The drive to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where Clan Wolf resided took thirty-four torturous minutes. Six Hummers trailed behind us, each packed to the brim with shapeshifters prepared to wage battle. We had twenty-two with us. Twenty-two shifters filled with a rage so deep it was all-consuming.
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