Mad stood behind the desk, facing a pair of windows and staring out into the night. His back was stiff, his body erect. Only a small lamp and the glow of the computer screen lit the room, reflecting his tense expression in the glass. He must know she was there but he didn’t turn around until finally he said, “Come in.”
“I don’t want to disturb you.”
“You’re not.” Gingerly stepping deeper into his lair, Lana heard him sigh as he scrubbed one hand over his head, as if he was trying very hard to calm down. Frustration fairly simmered from him. Eventually, he turned, walking from the bank of windows to the front of the desk. Once he’d propped his ass against the dark walnut, he stared at her. “Do you want to sit?”
“Um. No, I think I’ll stand.” Two heavy leather wingback chairs were arranged in front of the desk and she settled her fingers along the top of one as if it would brace her for what might come. “Do you want to talk now? Get it over with?”
Mad crossed his arms across his chest. His beautiful eyes narrowed. “Since you’re here, I figure we should. I’ve just banished two wolves from the pack, given you sanctuary, and I’m exhausted and pissed. What have I got to lose?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Those two have been out of line more times than I can count and tonight they just topped it all off with a big, fucked-up bang. They deserved what they got. That said, I promised to protect you and figure I have the right to know what I’m up against. What we’re up against. You have the Rogue Pack at your back no matter what so start talking.”
“You don’t beat around the bush do you?”
“Not hardly.”
Lana blew out a breath, inched her way to the front of the chair then sank into the soft leather. “Guess I should sit down for this after all.”
His lips twitched. Whew. Good. Maybe some of that fierce tension was easing off a bit. She certainly didn’t want him scowling while she told of her hasty departure from her father’s lands. Lycans were predators, and Alphas? They were the biggest, most badassed predators alive. Unblinking, he studied her as the tension ratcheted up another notch, then finally he stood and moved close. He leaned in, propping his hands on the arms of her chair, effectively caging her in. A sense of intimacy rolled between them, an electric heat that made her body react. His lips were near, almost close enough to brush her own. Mad stared into her eyes, slid his focus down then back up again. “Start talking, beautiful, and make it fast unless you want to do something else with that gorgeous mouth. Believe me, babe, I’m skating on a fine line here so make it quick.”
Lana knew then, without a doubt, she was in big, big trouble.
Chapter Three
It wasn’t a good idea to have this little talk with Lana while riding an adrenaline high and he knew it. Already his cock was hard enough to pound rocks. Lycan power coursed through his veins and his need for a woman was strong. The sudden wariness in Lana’s wide blue eyes caused him to step back and resume his position against the desk. She’d been through something bad enough to make her seek protection and the dead last thing he needed was to go all caveman on her. Some of his pack had already scared her and he didn’t want to add to her distress.
He sighed as her shoulders slumped and she finally leaned back into the comfort of the leather chair to stare up at him. Despite her exhaustion and all she’d been through tonight, he found her beautiful, and the fact she wore his tee shirt didn’t help matters. There was something so intimate about it, so sexy, and it didn’t matter a damn that the shirt fell nearly to her cute little knees. If he gave in to the animal instincts that roared high through his blood, he’d rip the bit of cotton from her gorgeous body and pull her beneath him. Instead he drew in a deep breath and focused. “Tell me.”
“What do you know of the Snow Wolf Clan?”
“Not much really except they are secretive as hell, came to America from Eastern Europe, and settled in the mountains of Colorado.” He stood, walked over to a bar at the far end of the room and poured a couple of fingers of bourbon into a crystal glass. Glancing over his shoulder, he remembered his manners. “Can I pour you one?”
“No, thanks. Best not to get too loopy until I have all this out.”
“Can’t have that,” he murmured. He smiled into his glass then took a burning drink before returning to her. “I’ve heard your old man is something of a badass.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
Mad watched her absently fiddle with the hem of his shirt and from the faraway look in her eyes, figured she was deep in thought. From the few small comments she’d made earlier, he didn’t think he liked old Tomin Vronski very much. “Are you afraid of your father?”
“Who wouldn’t be? He’s a scary guy, but my situation got so much worse once I reached mating age and he began looking for a successor. Normally among our clan the position of Alpha would remain in the bloodlines but he wasn’t lucky enough to have a son.” She shrugged. “He got a girl instead. I don’t think he ever forgave me or my mom for that. Naturally, it had to somehow be our fault that he had no male progeny.”
“And he made you pay for that?”
Lana didn’t look at him. She nodded. “He doesn’t like me very much.”
“Then he’s stupid as well as a bully. So what did he do to cause you to run like a scared rabbit?”
Finally she looked up. “He’d chosen his successor. A wolf named Anton.”
A shudder shook her and Mad wanted to drag her into his arms and promise anything to keep the fear from her eyes. Damn it, he never wanted to see it again. “Go on.”
“Dad planned to force me to mate with him. For us, it’s common yet so awful I can’t put what I feel into words.”
“You’re doing fine, sweetheart.” He’d never been a particularly gentle man but her pain was obvious and it killed him. Giving in to temptation, he reached down and took her hand before discussing this sensitive subject. “But I don’t understand. You were in your wolf state in the woods tonight. Were you mated before? Did your mate die?”
Her cheeks colored and she shook her head. “No. I know that in most lycan communities a female doesn’t complete her first shift until she is mated. Is that how it is with the Texas Rogues? I’ve heard both the Rogues and the Wolf Creek pack in West Texas have beautiful consummation ceremonies. Afterwards, the female will go through her very first shift.”
“That’s true.”
“It’s not the same with us. My ancestors traveled to Colorado from Russia a few hundred years ago. The geography was perfect because we are white wolves so the snow and mountains helped us shield ourselves. Dad isn’t much for mystical unions. He finds them silly. I imagine he inherited those beliefs from Snow Wolf Alphas of the past.” She shrugged. “It really doesn’t matter though because our women shift as teens, just like the guys—a genetic thing, I guess. All I know is that lycan women, no matter their pack history, hope for that mystical union that binds us to a true mate but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. As you know, what the Alpha says is law,” she said. “It’s that way among all packs but I believe we’re the only ones to force females to marry where they don’t love. It’s like something from centuries ago.” Tears swept the surface of her eyes and she turned her head away.
Mad knew she was trying to be strong. He couldn’t imagine what her life might have been like with such a domineering asshole for a father. Impulsively, he reached out and lightly touched the short, pale strands of her hair, wondering what such an old-fashioned, overbearing asshole like her dad thought of this. “Bet he hates this hair.”
She looked at him and gave him a humorless smile. “I cut it after he informed me I was to mate with Anton.”
“I take it that didn’t go over well.”
“Hardly. He handed me over to Anton for punishment, saying it was now Anton’s right to do so.”
“What the fuck.” Mad recoiled, releasing Lana’s hand. She said he was brutal. No wonder she’d hopped in her car and
run. Mad’s every protective instinct went into overdrive and he knew if he ever got the chance he would teach this prick Anton and Lana’s dad the proper way to treat a lady.
Tears dripped down her face but she didn’t make a sound.
The damn woman broke his heart.
It was obvious she was tired and stressed and had suffered far more abuse than what he’d suspected. Men who terrorized women were less than nothing and he had no qualms about bringing them down.
He drew her from the chair and pulled her against his chest. She trembled, warm and so damn vulnerable despite her evident courage. Mad sent his hand down the length of her back, loving the heat of her and the way she molded seamlessly to his body. Savage impulses, the urge to mate warred with sympathy. He wanted to lay her down on the nearest bed and fuck her until every worry disappeared from her mind. After that he’d hold her, making sure she knew that no one would ever hurt her again. Tonight had been brutal on her composure and, despite the driving need to spread her out beneath him in bed, it was more important that she feel safe.
“I’ve got you. Keep talking. Believe me, darlin’, nobody’s going to hurt you again.”
“Anton is a brute,” she whispered, her voice shaky. “Mean as a snake. Every woman in the pack worried about ending up with him. He has a reputation for liking rough sex, a little too rough. Dad kept me close from the time I was old enough to understand what happened between males and females, saving me for when he would give me to someone. That isolation is a terrible way to live. A few days ago, when he told me his plans, I knew my life would be like going from one hell into another. My father isn’t a kind, caring man. He lives to control and sees me as chattel. I am simply a means to an end. My feelings don’t matter at all to him. Dad never hit me but Anton… Well, he thinks nothing of brutality.” Another shudder racked her body. She lifted her head from his chest and looked at him, seeming terrified and sad at once.
“You deserve better, Lana. The Rogues don’t operate this way.”
Lana’s gaze lowered to his lips and Mad went still. His normally slow, steady pulse kicked up another dangerous beat. A low hum curled through his brain but rather than being irritated by it, his body went from warm to hot in a nanosecond. His heart thumped hard then raced faster than it ever had before. His skin flushed and his cock throbbed, so heavy and thick that he thought it would implode if he didn’t bury it inside Lana’s body. The scent of her whipped through his senses and he ached, outright ached to have her. He’d taken plenty of women to his bed, human and wolf, yet none had ever affected him this way.
What the fuck?
Mad fought back the lustful urges that ripped through his body and, ignoring the soft but shattering buzz of energy, focused on her answer to his statement of fact.
She looked at him oddly. She shivered and closed her eyes briefly before speaking. “I think I know that. From the beginning I’ve known it. I had a feeling about you. Don’t laugh but when I saw you in the café earlier, you looked like a man who’d know how to protect a woman. I’ve never thought I needed that but I guess I was wrong. Dumb, but there ya go. I’m feeling a tad pathetic these days.”
Mad drew the edge of his thumb over her cheek, tracing the gently curving lines. “I’m not laughing. Nothing dumb about it. You looked like a woman in trouble, a very pretty woman in trouble.”
Her eyes went wide, almost as if she’d never had sweet words spoken to her before and Mad couldn’t resist cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand. Then he took her mouth in a kiss slow enough not to scare her but hot enough to make her sizzle.
Was Lana his mate? Did she feel the surge of powerful energy that zipped between them or was she too innocent to know? Hell, he’d never been naïve a day in his life but he was sure as shit confused. It was past time he answer the urges of his body and the demands of his mind. He needed answers but aside from that he wanted to show her that not all men were animals. Expanding the kiss, he sent his tongue deep, tasting her flavor, drinking her breath. A tiny sound rose from her throat and as he tightened his grip on her she wound her arms around his neck.
Energy thickened into a heavy mass as it rolled over his body, burning him like a brand, and the savage need to mate singed his flesh.
Emboldened by her acceptance, Mad dragged his hands down her sides and over the sweet curves of her ass, then settled his lips near her ear. Nipping the lobe, he breathed her scent into his nostrils. “Do you feel it?”
“You feel it too? I thought it was just me. What is it, Mad? What’s going on?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t guessed. I said you’re safe with me and after what you’ve been through not only tonight but over the past few days, I won’t push you.”
Lana sank against him, her nipples, hard and stiff, brushing the soft cotton of his shirt. Instinctively his fingers flexed at her waist then moved to settle higher, near her breasts. They were a soft but heavy weight against his hands. She shook her head. “I’m so confused. What the hell is this thing between us?”
“It’s lust, Lana, mating heat.”
Distress was plain in Lana’s eyes. “You mean—?”
“Yes, Miz Vronski, it looks like we’re predestined to be mated. Best get used to it.” Despite the heat roaring through his bloodstream, he gentled his hold. “You’ll be sleeping in my bed from now on, got that? You are under my protection and I’ll just feel better if you’re close. I’ve waited too long and I won’t lose you now.”
“But I—”
“No buts, honey. Don’t worry that I’ll push you into sex before you’re ready and hell, tonight was far too intense for you to even think about such a thing. Bottom line is, you’re mine and I’m not letting you go.”
* * * * *
Lana opened her eyes to brilliant light coming through the plantation shutters on the windows, feeling momentarily disoriented until she recognized the scent of Mad Moon mingling with hers in the air. Memories of the past night rushed over her in an exhilarating wave and, unable to stop herself, she smiled.
Perhaps fairy tales of mystical lycan pairings and happy ever afters were true and she’d been blessed in this strange meeting.
She’d found her mate!
Gods!
Last night she’d driven into Sweetridge never guessing that she’d bump into the man who would change her life. Yes, she was still on the run and hiding from her father. That grim fact had not changed yet now the world, and her place in it, seemed much brighter. A typical Alpha, Mad laid his position on the line and told her how things would be. Later, she’d climbed the stairs with him, then he’d tucked her into his big bed, crawled in behind her and told her to sleep. She’d crashed instantly, only vaguely recollecting the feel of his warm body pressed close.
Lana stretched on the bed. Glancing toward his dented pillow, she sighed, remembering the protective way he’d held her through the night. It was odd. He was a stranger yet he seemed familiar. She’d always believed that was the way it would be with predestined mates. Slightly disappointed that he hadn’t woken her when he’d left, Lana swung her legs over the side of the bed then noted the time blinking on the clock nearby.
Three in the afternoon!
She must have been more tired than she thought and was vaguely embarrassed by the hour. Her dad would have called her a lazy ass for sleeping in, but she was no longer under his thumb. Standing, she reached for a heavy robe left lying across the foot of the bed, obviously another bit of clothing belonging to Mad. She shrugged into it and looked around the room. It had been dark when he’d tucked her into bed last night so she hadn’t seen much.
She glanced around the space, taking in the masculine décor of wood, leather and earth tones. The bed dominated the room, big like Mad and comfy. Wide French doors stretched across the far wall leading to a balcony that offered a spectacular view of the Texas Piney Woods. A blast of afternoon sunshine threw shiny color over magnificent hardwood floors.
On a wide dresser sat a collection of f
ramed photos featuring a beautiful older woman who could only be Mad’s mother. Gingerly Lana picked up the photograph and remembered the room she’d been given last night. He must have loved her deeply. Lana’s own mother had been gone for ten years and there wasn’t a day that passed when she didn’t miss her. She understood that kind of love and admired Mad for feeling it for the woman who had given birth to him. Obviously he was a man who loved women, sheltered and protected them. Gods knew he was good at touching them too.
Lana blew out a breath, feeling a little nervous about seeing him again. She’d never been particularly good at understanding men. After his pronouncement and after all that had happened last night, how would he treat her in the light of day? The man was a mystery to her, a stranger still.
A knock sounded on the door and she turned to see a small Mexican woman come shyly into the room. “Señorita Lana? Am I disturbing you?”
“No. Hello.”
The older woman, lycan from her scent, wore her long salt-and-pepper hair in a single braid. She stepped farther into the room and smiled. “I am Ynez Gonzalez and I work for Señor Moon. He told me to make you comfortable while he is working and tells me to say he will see you tonight.”
Ynez carried Lana’s small suitcase and a basket that appeared to be filled with all kinds of lotions, bath salts and candles.
Hmm.
Rushing up, she took the suitcase from the woman’s hand. “Let me get this for you.” She glanced at it, frowning. “He wants me to move my things in here?”
“Sí, the señor wants you here. Comprende? Mr. Mad wants you in his room and he tells Ynez to bring things. He is High Alpha.” She followed the little speech with a broad smile then headed with the basket into the bathroom. It was huge and opulent, featuring a garden-style tub, beautiful terra-cotta tiled floors and a glass shower large enough for roughly four people.
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