Pact of the Pack

by Deidre Huesmann

  Rachael shook her head. “Nothing,” she said softly. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to take a nap. If Aaron asks....” Her voice trailed off.

  Jackson hesitated, but then awkwardly crossed his arms. “Our rooms are right there,” he said, pointing to a couple of plain doors side-by-side to the left of a partially stocked DVD rack. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  Rachael forced a smile. “Have fun.”

  Eva nodded her thanks.

  After she locked herself in her room—using a deadbolt and a chain—Rachael kicked off her shoes and collapsed to the bed. Dimly she thought about taking a shower, but that would require moving. Right then she was just tired and... confused.

  When had Nathan started feeling that way? What had she done to encourage it? How long had Aaron known? Did anyone else know?

  Poor Ana Sofia, she thought with a twinge of sorrow. Lately Nathan had just put more and more distance between them. She must have seen it. While it wasn’t likely Ana Sofia held anything that strong toward Nathan, he had infected her for companionship. How did it feel to go through hell, come out alive, and then have the person who nurtured you through it turn his back on you?

  Her mind was fuzzy, but her body was all keyed up. That was an odd sensation. Rachael reluctantly decided to start some exercises. She’d been neglecting them for weeks and knew she could be in better shape.

  Once she was done with those and felt a little less anxious, she tried her shower for the first time. The supplies stocked weren’t exactly her favorite, but it was amazing to feel scrubbed down and cleaned properly again.

  From the dresser, Rachael found jeans and a plain stone-grey T-shirt. She also discovered bras and underwear that fit. For a moment the thought made her smile—and then it fell flat. A sweet, kind of sexy gesture, but since Aaron was acting so cold toward her....

  She left the room to discover Jackson playing a game, Ana Sofia watching enraptured on the couch, and Eva making sandwiches in the kitchen. Rachael joined her and began to help in silence.

  Neither Aaron nor Nathan joined the rest of the pack while they hung out. Rachael finished her meal while hardly tasting it. She kept looking toward Aaron’s room, but the door remained firmly shut.

  After a time, she finally stood. “Excuse me,” she murmured. She might as well have remained silent for all anyone responded.

  Aaron’s room was on the opposite side from hers, deep into the kitchen with a snug door between two counters. Rachael tried to pretend the others weren’t there—but it was still awkward, and even without looking she was positive at least one of them was staring.

  Shaking her head, she knocked. The first tattoo was weak, but she solidified her resolve and tried again with a firmer touch.

  After a few seconds locks slid open. Then the door cracked and Aaron stared at her coolly. “One knock will suffice,” he said mildly.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you going to be rude or invite me in?”

  “Those rules do not apply to one’s bedroom,” said Aaron, though he smirked and opened the door wider. “But please, come on in.”

  Rachael fought to keep her face neutral as she swept past him and inside. She paused to take a look around, unsurprised to find very little in the way of anything. Aaron always remained a minimalist when it came to his bedroom décor, so he only had a bed, a dresser, and a closet. She guessed one door was the bathroom, but a second one puzzled her.

  “Do you have an escape route in here, too?” she asked.

  Aaron locked his door again. “No. Given you, Nathan, and I are the most likely targets of Holden’s wrath, I did not find it prudent to attach any sort of entrance to our rooms once I decided whose was whose.” He paused. “Though I am uneasy with Ana Sofia in the line of danger like that.”

  Rachael frowned and turned to face him. “I thought we were supposed to be well-hidden?”

  He shot her an exasperated look. “There is always the risk.”

  She pressed her lips together. He hadn’t offered an explanation for the extra door, still. But that didn’t matter—not right now. Rachael raised her chin and said, “How long have you known Nathan was in love with me?”

  “Is he not, still?”

  His cavalier tone grated on her nerves. “Of course he is. You knew that,” she snapped. “Is that why you’ve been weird all day? You and Nathan had a talk?”

  Aaron’s mouth pulled to one side. He leaned against a nearby wall. “He wanted a chance to confess,” said Aaron calmly. “I agreed, so long as he took your answer for what it was.”

  “You had to know I’d tell him no.”

  One eyebrow rose. “I certainly hoped.”

  “Well, I did.” A slight tremor colored her voice. “You put me in a really shitty position.”

  Genuine confusion tugged the lines of his face. Aaron cocked his head to the side. “If rejection was the only answer, how did that place you in any more an unfavorable position?”

  Rachael growled. “Don’t give me that, you ass! You acted cold to me and got me all riled up, and instead of just telling me, you set all this up so I had to break his heart. And don’t you dare suggest it could have gone differently. I can’t be in love with someone I know as a little kid. But you played it so he thought he had a chance—and more importantly, you hurt me. How could you do that to someone you said you loved?”

  At her last three words, Aaron’s eyes darkened. “Do not assume my feelings for you are in the past.”

  For a moment she didn’t understand. Then, once the words sank in, Rachael yelled, “For the love of God, stop that! Stop taking everything I say literally. I get it, Aaron. I’m not as smart or well-spoken as you. Okay? I get it!”

  “I did not—”

  “Mean to,” she interrupted, closing her eyes. Rachael hoped she still looked angry, because she was dangerously close to crying. “I know. You suck at being human.”

  Surprisingly, Aaron had no smart answer to that.

  Taking a breath to steady her voice, Rachael said, “Do you even want to be with me anymore?”

  She expected him to respond positively. So when he murmured, “It is becoming troublesome,” Rachael lost her breath. She fumbled for something to say, but came up empty. What could she say?

  Finally, she just shook her head and headed for the door. But Aaron saw her intent immediately and moved to stop her, grabbing her by her shoulders. “We are not done talking,” he said firmly.

  Enraged, Rachael lashed out and struck his chest with a balled fist. Then she shoved him back, and he released her without a fight. That just heated her blood further, and she shouted, “I just got done telling Nathan not to treat me like Holden used to. I won’t let you do the same just because I love you!”

  Aaron sighed. “I love you, too.”

  “Then stop being such a dick!”

  “What do you expect of me, Rachael?” he spoke through his teeth. “I have changed very little since you met me, except that I have run out of patience for my pack’s insolence. That includes Holden, and in very short order, Nathan as well. You asked to become a lycan. While your infection was not ideally done, it is done. You are a lycan, you are of my pack, and you will not get preferential treatment just for being my girlfriend.”

  She glared at him. “Over Nathan, too? He gets preference?”

  “Nathan is blood,” stated Aaron, as though he’d given it as an excuse a thousand times before. Rachael didn’t doubt it.

  Rachael threw her hands up and took a step back. “Fine. Apparently I was the only one who took this relationship seriously.”

  Now he chose to take insult. “How so?” he asked coldly.

  “Because, Aaron, unless I’ve suddenly gone stupid, wolves don’t mate with just one person. You can say lycans aren’t people all you want, but falling in love with me? That’s human. You don’t get a free lycan pass for this one.” Her words shook audibly. “And the proper human thing to do is to prioritize your loved one. I’m not asking for
special treatment, but if you’re going to base this relationship on how convenient it is for your brother, who shouldn’t even be a factor since I can’t love him like that, then this has been a complete waste.”

  He stared at her. When he had no immediate response, Rachael felt grief swell in her throat. As a teenager she might have just cried and stormed out. And she almost did anyway; the storming out part, at least. But Aaron took her hands, effectively halting Rachael in her tracks.

  Infuriated, she hit him again. She moved to smack him with her other hand, but this time Aaron grabbed her wrist in midair and glowered at her. “Do not think of it,” he said ominously.

  “Let go of me.”

  He just looked at her with those terrible black eyes.

  Rachael jerked on her arm. “God damn it, Aaron, let go.”

  He closed the slight distance between their bodies, his eyes colder than an arctic night. “If I let you go,” he said with disturbing softness, “you will leave, and I will lose you.”

  She tried to pull free again, frustrated to find that even as a lycan he was stronger than her. “What do you care?” she spat, too hurt to worry about the pettiness of her words. “You have Nathan. He’s all you need.”

  Aaron glowered down at her. “Do not presume such things.”

  “What am I supposed to think?” she demanded. “What, did you lie about not being able to get over me for the past six years? Did you actually fuck Olivia and now you’re just hoping I don’t find out?”

  Her baseless accusations blew the spark in his eyes to an inferno. “What of you, Rachael? Did Holden force you to watch him with another woman, and you decided you enjoyed it?”

  Rachael slapped him. Aaron snarled. He grabbed that wrist as well and forced her arms together. So she kicked him, screamed obscenities, and finally he released her to step away. Part of her understood he was trying to put space between them, but most of her hated him for what he said. Rachael launched herself at him, and Aaron struggled to stop her again.

  “You bastard,” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “The entire time I went through that, all I could think about was how much you were going to hate me!”

  Aaron’s anger transformed to controlled surprise. His hold on her loosened just enough for her to beat him on the chest with both fists.

  Now that the words had been said, she couldn’t seem to stop them up. “That was the absolute worst thing in my life. How was I supposed to tell you I saw that and how my own body told me I wanted it? It literally made me sick. And Holden knew and I had to use that to make him think he’d won me over.” She hit him once more. “And I knew it. I knew if you found out, you’d hate me.” Fire rose within her throat and exploded outward. “Fuck you, Aaron! I fucking hate you!”

  Aaron said nothing, yet he didn’t pull away. Rachael’s chest heaved; she wanted him to stop her, to fight back, to get angry, to become disgusted—she just wanted him to react.

  So she did what she had to do the last time she needed an answer: Rachael grabbed Aaron and pulled him into a kiss.

  And she was not gentle about it.

  Aaron yanked her close. Tension thrummed through his body, spilling over and into her. The heat from his mouth blistered and overflowed with ferocity.

  Rachael bit his lip before realizing she knew this tension. It was the same she’d barely noticed when she was human, the sign that he was physically holding himself back. He might be trying to control the situation, but Aaron still handled her as though she was a porcelain doll—and that pissed her off more than anything. He was still trying to treat her like she was already broken.

  Fuck. That.

  Rachael buried her fingers in his hair and pulled. Aaron growled against the move, but she used her free hand to yank his shirt open. She heard buttons pop, and Aaron went rigid at the sound. Rachael knew very well that she was provoking him.

  That was precisely what she wanted.

  The arms holding her tightened, but that almost palpable tremor inside him buzzed in her ears like a persistent yet faint swarm of wasps. So Rachael tore at his shirt again, not bothering to keep her nails from scraping across his torso as she flung the material from his body. She yanked on his belt and within moments had the hem of his pants loose—

  And Aaron responded by shoving her back. Rachael met his stare with clenched teeth, daring him to make a move.

  When he did, it was to grab her by the arm and pull her toward the second, unknown door. Rachael didn’t resist out of curiosity. He pulled her through and closed off the room. She had only a moment to realize he had recreated his office from the first house: several bookshelves fully stocked, a fine desk, laptop, chair... had he stored everything here, all this time? she wondered. But again, like the last study he’d had, it was isolated from the rest of the living spaces.

  Aaron abandoned all pretense of gentleness, yanking her shirt off over her head before shoving her bra down to her waist. He knocked her to the desk so hard Rachael felt her hip bruise. But she was too busy pulling him down so she could attack his mouth, using one hand to free his hardened cock. She gripped him and stroked. Rachael gasped when he lifted her to the desk and removed her jeans so they barely hung off one foot.

  Then he slapped her hand aside and entered her with one full, angry thrust. Rachael cried out and clung to his shoulders. Her nails dug deep into his skin until she felt him bleed.

  If Aaron had any reaction to the pain, it was to fuck her vigorously. Rachael bit the fleshy area between his neck and shoulder and reveled with vicious satisfaction at the predatory rumble in his chest.

  Never before had he been so rough with her. The murmuring tension in his muscles was absent, and he drove into her without seeming to care how it felt.

  And it felt amazing. Violent, angry, cathartic, blissful; Rachael ached to have more of him.

  Aaron abruptly pulled free and spun her around. He pushed her down so she had to use her arms for balance before her face slammed into the desk. Rachael moaned and spread her legs, standing on her toes to keep the edge from biting into her.

  This time when he slipped inside with ease, Aaron snagged a handful of her hair and yanked while he thrust. Rachael arched her back, tilting her head to look at him. His expression roiled with unbridled lust. Aaron wrapped an arm around her and pinched first one nipple, then the other, tugging and rolling until a stinging, beautiful pain made her whimper.

  Then he abandoned her breasts to rub her clit. The swell of Rachael’s pleasure grew but remained just out of reach. She pushed back into him. The combined effort of his rubbing and fucking her forced her over the edge into an orgasm. Rachael kept herself up with one arm, using the other to remove his hand and pleasure herself instead. Aaron used his now-wet fingers to dig into her hip and pull her into his grinding.

  One orgasm turned into another, and then another—that, or it was just one long, drawn-out experience of furious pleasure. Rachael wasn’t certain; it just felt like the sensation swept over her body in waves without fully ebbing into obscurity. The wet slapping of their bodies grew as her arousal slickened her fingers.

  She protested when Aaron pulled out again, but the look he gave her sent wonderful chills through her. He helped her off the desk only to urge her to the floor.

  Rachael understood before she reached her knees. She grasped his pulsing cock in one hand, used the other to steady herself on his thigh, and she drew him into her mouth. Aaron groaned the loudest she’d heard from him. He pressed his palms against the back of her head and silently told her to continue. Rachael didn’t bother taking her time, going at him as though to mimic the brutality he’d shown her just moments before.

  The sounds he emitted made her tingle. Aaron had never been so vocal. Rachael felt him throb in her mouth, tense—and then he came in a bitter flow.

  Rachael left off only when she was certain there was nothing left. Finally, she raised her eyes to his, still on her knees as her hand fell away from him.

  Aaron shud
dered and pulled her up. This kiss was gentler, and he took his time expressing tenderness in the wake of their aggressive sex. Aside from her mouth, he pressed his lips against her reddened nipples and ran his tongue over each as though to soothe them.

  Rachael sighed and leaned against the desk, enjoying the moment. She returned the favor by kissing the scratches she’d left behind. Eventually their mutual tension drained, leaving the atmosphere oddly peaceful.

  Rachael hated to ruin the moment, but she knew she now had his attention.

  Softly, looking into his eyes, she said, “Is this troublesome because of Holden, too?”

  Aaron’s gaze sparked. Contrastingly, his voice was calm. “Holden does not concern me.”

  Relief made her dizzy. Were the situation not so serious, Rachael might have smiled. Instead she said, “So it’s just Nathan.”

  He closed his eyes momentarily. “His recent behavior has been the only incident that has made me question whether this is a good idea.”

  Rachael took his hand. Blood pumped heat to her ears, and her rising pulse made her voice slightly unsteady. “If you don’t want to be with me, that’s fine. I can get over that eventually. But if you break this off because your brother has hurt feelings, you’re sending him the wrong message.”

  He nodded but didn’t reply.

  Loathing that he had no answer, she asked, “So what do we do?”

  Aaron stared at a point past her, his expression unusually pensive. “For now, nothing.”

  “That’s not a good solution,” she pointed out, trying not to show her ire.

  “I know. As I said, for now.” Aaron leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. He looked anything but happy, even as he murmured, “I will handle Nathan.”

  Anxiety curdled her next words. Rachael swallowed them, not wanting to push him so hard he changed his mind about her right then and there. It was selfish, she knew, but she didn’t want to lose him. She could wait—for the time being. But they needed a better way to handle Nathan’s pain, and Rachael knew she couldn’t put her own needs on hold forever.

  She’d already waited six years. Even if she had to try moving on again, Rachael didn’t intend to have him in the back of her mind forever.