“I want you to be mine,” she growls, and I tighten my grip on her.
“Yes,” I reply without hesitation. No matter how fun it might be with Freya, it’s never been quite like this. The passion in this unexpected meeting is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. If Freya hasn’t chosen me as a mate by now, it’s never going to happen, and this just feels so right.
Her teeth sink down into my shoulder, and a bolt of lightning races through me. My body is completely frozen in an instant, and Eve throws her head back and tenses around me. My skin knits back together before I can even bleed, but something fundamental has changed within me, emotions flowing that don’t feel like mine. When I can move again, I lean my head on her bosom, spilling into her with a gasp.
Too late, I realize we probably should have used protection.
I hold her tight, my heart racing. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but her. She is my mate now, and we are connected for life.
Chapter Five
Eve
I did it. I didn’t plan on it to happen so quickly, but I fucking did it. Now that Anderson is my mate, I’m absolutely drenched in his scent. To the rest of the wolves in St. Louis, I’ll be unrecognizable.
I kiss him on the forehead and unwrap my legs from around him, tugging my faux-leather leggings back on and checking my makeup in the mirror.
“Eve,” he growls, burying his face in my hair and taking in a long whiff of my scent. Without my permission, my heart races, but I shove the feeling deep down. I don’t have time for feelings. I have to get my pack back, and step one was to mate with one of the available males. Still, I tilt my head and swipe my hair away so he can kiss my neck, the skin burning where his lips brush against me. “That was incredible.”
It was, but I don’t tell him that. Instead, I look to him and say, “I’ve got a room nearby if you want to stay with me.” It’s a lie, but he doesn’t have to know that if this goes according to plan. I slump my shoulders and bat my eyelashes. “It’s not much, but there’s room for both of us.”
He frowns and bites his bottom lip, lost in thought. Then, just as I predicted, he replies, “No. I think you should come back to the pack.”
I wrap my arms around myself. Men like nothing more than to protect a woman, and now that we’re mated, I’m going to use every advantage I have to make sure this goes how I want. “I don’t know if it’s safe. They’ll know me as soon as they hear my name.”
Anderson pulls me into his arms, stroking my hair. I breathe in his scent, the comfort of home washing over me. I burrow into him, letting him comfort me and telling myself that this is just a way to get what I want. “We’ll make up a name, then. They won’t be able to recognize your scent since we’re mated, and it’s been years since anyone has seen you.”
I sigh. “Are you sure this will work?”
He presses his lips on the side of my head. “Of course it will. I wouldn’t do anything to harm you. I think you being back with the pack will be good for everyone, even if they can’t see it yet.”
I pull away from his arms, my body protesting as I abandon the comfort. “Thank you, Anderson.” My voice is thick with emotion, and this time, I’m not faking it. My heart swells as my mate watches me, but a knock at the door takes me out of my stupor. I need to focus, not get wrapped up in unimportant feelings. “We should probably go.”
He plants one last kiss on my lips, his hand tangling in my hair as he puts his whole body into the motion. “Everything will be okay, Eve,” he whispers.
The building where the pack lives used to be a shoe factory, but through years of hard work and dedication, my grandmother and then my father turned it into a home for everyone in the pack. It’s not far from the bar, but Anderson clings to me on the back of my motorcycle the whole time, his body stone against mine. As soon as the building is in sight, gray bricks glistening from the earlier rain, something inside me loosens, a tension that I’ve been holding onto for thirteen years. Despite the danger, every nerve ending in my body sings with excitement.
Home.
We park in the private garage beneath the building, Anderson’s body stiff as he clambers off my bike as fast as he can. “You weren’t scared, were you?” I taunt, propping my helmet under my arm and grabbing my sparse belongings.
He swallows and shakes his head. His voice is a husk when he says, “Of course not.” Still, the smell of fear radiates off him like a beacon. I can’t help but laugh. When his face turns a little hurt, I grab the front of his shirt and drag him down for a kiss.
“I promise not to kill you with my motorcycle,” I say before nipping at his bottom lip. He laughs breathily and takes my lips back in his, wrapping his arms around me as he totally forgets about the ride in an instant.
“Ready to go in?” he asks, and I turn my face to the elevator. Everything is just like I remember, although there’s a musty smell coming from all around. It’s like the place has been abandoned for years, although there are sounds of pack life clear even from here. Children playing in the courtyard, a car moving on the floor above us, people talking in the building across the walkway...
“Yes,” I say, pulling away from him and setting my shoulders. I have to see what’s become of my home. Anderson tangles his fingers through mine, his fingers rough with calluses. “Do you play guitar?” I ask, the words coming out of nowhere and surprising even me. There aren’t calluses on his palms from working, though, so I have to ask.
His face flushes, though, and he nods. “Ten years now. I thought it would impress the ladies.”
I laugh at him again, but instead of being hurt, he laughs with me. “Same old dork I remember,” I say, dragging him toward the elevator, which is dark and gross. The florescent light overhead flickers. He presses the button for the fourth floor, and I tilt my head. “Wasn’t your place on fifteen?” It’s a sixteen-story building, but nobody lived in the top floor apartment besides my father and I. The elevator creaks as it goes up, and I frown. They should really have someone take a look at that.
He grins and says, “I was given my own place when I turned twenty-two. It’s only a two bedroom, but it’s nice.”
I smile back at his enthusiasm. I can’t help it if his excitement is contagious. When we step out into a long hallway, the musty scent from the garage comes on even stronger. I almost think we’ve somehow entered the wrong building. There are water stains coming down the walls from the ceilings, and half he hallway lights aren’t even functioning. The paint on all the doors is peeling, some down to the barren wood.
“What the hell happened to this place?” I ask, tracing my hand on the wall and crinkling my nose at the smell.
Anderson stops at one of the doors and sticks a key in the lock, looking down at me with sadness in his eyes. “Things have changed since you were last here, darling.”
The pet name sends a jolt through me, but I know why it’s necessary. If anyone is listening in, it’s best that they don’t know who I am. I shake my head as another wave of sadness washes over me. My father’s entire life was spent making sure that the pack had a nice place to live. We never wanted for anything, and there most certainly weren’t problems like this.
“I shouldn’t have gone,” I say as he pushes the door open. The apartment beyond is far nicer than I’d been expecting. The floors are the original hardwood from the days when this floor was administration space, and the walls are clean and freshly painted. All the appliances are clean and newish, and the musty smell is subdued.
“It’s nice,” I say, kicking my shoes off out of habit. He watches me before doing the same. The furniture is fairly minimal, and all the exterior walls are exposed brick. I pad through the apartment, letting the scents of Anderson’s life overwhelm me.
When I walk into the bedroom, though, the scent that barrages me causes my hackles to raise. I lift my lip in a sneer.
“What the fuck is that?” I growl. The response is something totally new for me, but anger burns hot in my blood as the sce
nt of a she-wolf overwhelms my senses. There was a female in Anderson’s apartment. Recently.
He takes a step back after following me to the door, his shoulders slumping. “Freya,” he says. The name is one I instantly recognize. She’s the only female in the pack close to our age.
“Freya?” I growl, baring my teeth at my new mate. Logically, I know there’s no reason for this response. Anderson found out I had returned less than two hours ago, and he’s not the only one who’s had previous sexual partners, even female ones. I’ve never minded the gender of the person sharing my bed, and I would expect a mate to be fine with my past. Still, I can’t help but clench my fists and push down the wolf inside as it prepares to leap out and destroy her.
I drag Anderson into the room by his collar. The only way to get rid of that god-awful smell is to cover it up. After I’m done with Anderson’s body, there will be no trace of anyone else in this whole damn place.
Chapter Six
Thompson
I keep my back turned as I wait for my father’s rampage to be over. It’s like this on a weekly basis, but today is particularly strong. I’m sitting on the floor of the carpeted office attempting to file paperwork, but the number of unpaid bills stacking on the desk is far higher than the small amount I’m supposed to file. I push my glasses up my nose and skim through another form as Dad barks orders at some poor bastard over the phone.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he shouts. Surely he’s aware that the whole building can hear him, right? I don’t mention it. “I need the damn lights fixed. If you aren’t here by the end of the week, you’ll never work in this town again. Don’t forget what I’ve done for you. What I can do to you.”
That’s the alpha of our pack, for you. He can’t pay for shit, doesn’t take care of the pack, and gets mad when other people expect payment for their services. This is the third electrician in as many years who’s refused to return to us. If it weren’t for the scars on my body, I would attempt to explain to my father why he’s wrong.
“Where does this go?” I ask, holding up a piece of paper when he slams his phone on the desk. A tiny crack sounds in my sensitive ears. Another phone broken, then.
“Figure it the fuck out, Thompson,” Dad roars, storming out of the room. I hunch over even tighter as he walks past me, a shiver running down my spine. He slams the office door, though, and I sigh as all the tension leaves my body at once. Still, there’s adrenaline coursing through me that has nowhere to go.
I text Anderson. Thinking about hitting up Nightmare. You in?
We haven’t been to the shifters-only club in a while, but it’s the perfect thing to get my blood pumping. The twenty-five dollar cover is steep considering the pack’s financial situation, but so long as I don’t plan on drinking, I can swing it.
Can’t, he replies shortly after I’ve finished filing the last of the paperwork. Why haven’t we gone digital, anyway? The filing cabinets take up far too much space in here, and so much of it is out of order that they’re basically useless.
I frown. Since when can’t he spare the time to go clubbing? I decide to surprise him with a pack of beer instead. I stop by my tiny studio on the fifteenth floor, then head down. The sixteenth floor has been completely sealed off for over a decade now, so nobody lives up there. No matter how much my father tries to get in, the spells keeping everyone out are airtight. He’s tried hiring witches to remove them, but none of the covens in the area will accept work from him.
I knock on the door, and there’s a shuffling inside before Anderson opens it a crack.
“What’s up?” he asks, leaning in a way that I can’t see past him. He isn’t wearing a shirt, and I have to put in some real effort to not check him out. Dad would kill me if I ever hooked up with a man. He expects me to take Freya as a mate before I’m able to take over the pack, but Anderson enthralls me far more.
“I brought some beer,” I say. “Figured we could do a Lord of the Rings marathon.”
Something shuffles in the apartment, and I breathe in, expecting the familiar scent of Freya’s presence. I’ve never talked to him about their hook-ups, but it’s something that I can’t help but notice. Instead, I smell something else. Behind Anderson’s pine scent is a hint of jasmine.
“Do you have a girl here?” I ask, dropping my voice to a whisper. Anderson shoots his eyes to the ground, a blush falling over his face. His scent has changed, too. There’s the spice that I’m used to, but with that jasmine mixed in and something entirely new. I glance at his chest, and there’s a shining silver scar there in the shape of a crescent moon. “Holy shit,” I breathe. “You found a mate.”
At that moment, the door swings even wider. I hadn’t heard her approach, but there’s a woman standing in front of me, her body far less covered than I’m comfortable with. She’s wearing a matching set of underwear, a black lace bra and panties, and nothing else. The smell of sex rolls off of her, and she leans her head on Anderson’s shoulder, her mass of curly dark hair falling over his skin and washing their combined scent over me. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. Instead, I push my glasses up as they begin to slip down my nose.
“I’m Victoria,” she purrs, her voice sexy and filled with contentment. “Lovely to meet you.”
Eve
The name had come to me out of nowhere, a quick lie that felt perfect. I could get used to a name like Victoria.
A man stands in the doorway, a swallow causing his Adam’s apple to bob. He’s built with lean muscle, a button-up shirt rolled up to the elbows. He’s wearing a pair of stereotypically nerdy glasses that are chunky plastic on top with a wire frame below, but they somehow work for him in a sexy, geeky way. Tattoos line his arms, and for a wolf, I expect motorcycles and flames and shit. Instead, there’s a ring around his wrist in a language I can’t read but instantly recognize, and intricate art-nouveau type designs that spiral up under his shirt.
“Is that Elvish?” I ask, half tempted to reach out and trace the design. Before I was forced out of the pack, Dad and I used to do Lord of the Rings marathons on a regular basis. It was sort of our thing.
His face turns bright red as he looks at the ground. “Tengwar,” he mumbles under his breath. Nerds are a secret weakness of mine, and I lick my lips.
“It’s not a good time, Thompson,” Anderson says, his voice hard. My eyes widen at the name. I look back at the man in front of me with entirely new eyes. I had the biggest crush on Thompson when I was a kid. I used to follow him around like a puppy dog. The sophisticated geek in front of me doesn’t match up with the awkward emo kid who came to dinner at our apartment all the time.
“Nice meeting you,” Thompson mumbles before Anderson can close the door on him. I lift a hand to wave goodbye, but he’s already gone, a door separating us.
I cross my arms over my chest and watch as Anderson’s hungry eyes sweep over me now that we’re alone again. His waves of possessiveness assault me through our bond, turning me wet in an instant. “Bed. Now,” he growls. I prick an eyebrow at him and stand up straighter, and he takes a step back.
“You don’t tell me what to do,” I say, leaning up into his face. When he nods, I give him a peck on the lips and lead him to the bedroom anyway. I may be on a mission here, but let’s face it, I want him. The rest can wait until tomorrow.
Chapter Seven
Anderson
I trace my hands through Eve’s hair as my eyes drift shut, heavy as hell from the late night we’ve had. “I never believed that you killed your dad,” I mumble. Her body stiffens beside me, and I lean up on an elbow to look down at her face illuminated by pale moonlight. “Eve?” I ask when she doesn’t speak or look me in the eye.
She scoots away and sits up, grabbing my discarded t-shirt and covering herself, sweeping her hair out before tying it in a tight ponytail. “I watched him die,” she says, her voice raw with emotion that I haven’t heard from her yet.
I probably should have thought more about mating with someone who’s
basically a stranger, but I’d been too involved in the moment to care. It’s too late to regret it, though. Wolves mate for life, so there’s nothing either of us can do. We were best friends a long time ago, though. Maybe we can get some of that back over time.
I wait for her to continue. She looks up at me, her green eyes practically glowing in the moonlight. She’s so wolflike at this moment that I can almost imagine her shifted form. “Kenneth ripped his heart out. Right in front of me. He told me to run, and I did.” A shudder runs through her, and I wrap an arm around her shoulder. The bond between us lets me know that she’s telling the truth, and the grief running through her nearly takes me down.
“Why did you come back? Why not just stay wherever you’ve been all this time?” I ask. That’s the question I need her to answer. The one mystery that’s been left unsolved at the end of the day.
She sets her jaw and doesn’t look at me.
I sigh with frustration. We’re mated, but she doesn’t trust me at all. I’m under no illusion that she mated with me out of love. There had to be a reason for it, and it has something to do with her return. “You can have the bed. I’ll take the couch for the night. Tomorrow we can set up the second bedroom for you.”
If she isn’t going to treat me like a partner, then I won’t make her share a room with me. Even if her body is like heaven on mine, I can’t bring myself to share a bed if there’s no real emotion between us. That’s part of the reason Freya never spent the night. She never wanted to be open with me, and emotions just weren’t a part of our arrangement.
Rogue Wolf Page 3