by T. S. Joyce
“I would never bite you. Or feed on you, or hurt you at all. I can’t anymore, Ashlyn. You belong to me. You belong to The Taker.”
If any other man would’ve declared she belonged to them, she would’ve balked. She was independent, stubborn, and her own woman. But the way Asher had said it, with such devotion on his lips, she only fell deeper for him. “You know when something really good and really bad is happening at once? It’s like I’m standing on this platform over nothing, and the bottom is crumbling away, and I’m rushing to learn how to fly. I’m scared, but just think if I pulled it off. Just think if I flew.”
“Then fly, Ash. Stay here. Stay with me. Let me handle my own fate, let me fix it, let me protect both of us.”
“But what if flying means losing you?” she asked in a small voice. “Things obviously work different for you—”
“We’ve bonded, yes.”
“Asher, let me finish and stay out of my head so I can think for myself. Don’t finish my thoughts right now.”
He swallowed hard again and nodded once.
“I’m human, though, and afraid of how strongly I already feel for you. I feel like I’ve known you my whole life instead of a few days. It’s not supposed to be like that—this strong, this fast. I’ve never had the urge to settle down with a single person, and then when I look at you…I see my whole future. It revolves around you, around this town, and I imagine Blaire and I raising little werewolf babies together in the same…I don’t know…commune or pack, or however the inn works.”
“I’m rogue, so no pack, and our children will be human.”
“Will be? Asher, do you see that future, too?”
He shook his head. “I don’t see it, but I want it. With you.” He ran his hand down his beard and relaxed back in his seat, canted his head, leveled her with a look that made her heart skip a beat. “I’ve wanted one person for myself. One person who looks at me like I’m normal. Like I’m worth taking risks for. And I thought, after Genevieve, I would never have that because I would drain anyone who got close. But I don’t drain you. I want to make you smile, and feel safe, and buy you shit. Ashlyn, I can’t even walk by a goddamn store without thinking, ‘Would she like that?’ That includes the grocery store. I bought these damn frilly cupcakes because they had pink sparkly sprinkles on top. You asked me once if I was happy. You didn’t think so because I never smile. But I wanted to see your face when you saw those cupcakes because your smile is my happiness. The thought of losing that after I’ve tasted the relief you’ve given my soul? I can’t. I can’t go back to the dark now. Please don’t leave. Give me time to hunt whatever is hunting me. I’ll end it outside of Winter’s Edge woods and ruin Odine’s prediction. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I don’t care about me, Asher. It’s you. I want you to be safe.”
Asher shook his head, and his brows pinched in confusion.
“What?” she asked, frustrated.
“Did you not see me earlier, woman? Did you not see the beast wolf or The Taker that leveled the fucking trees? Did you not see the memory of me sitting in the middle of all that ash? I killed that forest when I was barely out of my teens. My powers have grown ten-fold since then, but you’re worried about my safety? It makes no sense.”
“Because you haven’t been in love before. That’s how this works, Asher. If you feel about me the way I feel about you, it’s love. I don’t give a shit if you can turn into a giant wolf, or if you can level a forest. Odine said you’re going to die because of me, and then Blaire, my best friend, whom I trust more than anyone, said Odine’s visions are never wrong. So no, I’m not really excited about you going off hunting evil on your own. I feel this gut-deep instinct to keep you close so I can protect you somehow, and it’s warring with my head, which is telling me to get away from you so I can keep you safe from myself.”
“Give me two days. Mila’s calling a Bone-Ripper meeting first thing in the morning to bind the pack to her. I won’t be alpha of them. And I’ll take my brothers hunting with me if it’ll make you feel better. I’ll get it done. I’m a good hunter. So is Gentry, so is Roman. Two days, and I’ll be back here with you, fate changed, and we can start building that future we both see. Just…don’t go.”
“Asher—”
“Two days,” he begged in a whisper, his clear silver eyes pleading as he shook his head. “You haven’t fixed The Taker. You haven’t left me weaponless yet, so even if this prediction was really happening, we still have time. Please, Ashlyn.”
God, he looked beautiful in the bar light. Like a beautiful, bright-eyed demon, and it was hard to be scared for him when he was here and solid, confident in his hunting abilities. He was so tall, and his arms flexed against his sweater. He was the epitome of strength. And this tough-as-nails, tender monster-in-disguise was begging her for time, and how could she deny him? She couldn’t. What he’d said made sense. There was time. He was leaving the woods of Winter’s Edge, Mila was securing the pack under her, and The Taker was altered, but inside of him was still a weapon of mass destruction that she couldn’t imagine any wolf being a threat to. They were attacking every part of Odine’s vision in an attempt to change everything about Asher’s fate, so how could she look him in those gorgeous blazing eyes and tell the man she loved no?
“Take me home, Asher.” Disappointment washed over his features in the moment before she specified, “To ten-ten.”
Asher rolled his eyes closed and let off a relieved breath, then leapt over the bar startlingly fast and crushed her to his chest. The jukebox in the corner was playing a soft, slow song, and on the chorus, he gentled his hug and started swaying slightly with her, cupped the back of her hair, and left his lips pressed on the top of her head.
They didn’t utter a word for the rest of the song. They didn’t have to. This moment with him was settling all her fears that had built up throughout the day, of hearing how uncertain and dangerous his life really was. How hard it was for the Strikers, Blaire, and Mila. For whatever reason, things didn’t seem so dark and hopeless when he was here, touching her, reassuring her that everything would be okay. Safe, safe, safe.
“I believe in you,” she whispered.
She felt it just as much heard it—the soft, shocked laugh that eased from his chest. “You’re the first person who has ever said that.”
“To your face.”
“What do you mean?”
“Today, Roman and Gentry were listening to Blaire tell me all she knew about you. She was talking about how you kept great power in check. How her inner wolf didn’t like getting too close to you because her instincts sometimes said you were scary or off or…”
“Or what?”
“Wrong. But Gentry spoke up immediately, and said you weren’t wrong. That you’d never been off. That when you were growing up, even if you hated Gentry, you didn’t let anyone fuck with him. You protected him and tried not to let him find out. He told me about these kids bullying him in school freshmen year, and he walked in on you pummeling the shit out of them in the bathroom. He said he knew you didn’t mean for him to find out because you looked startled, and you walked out really fast, knocking him in the shoulder as you left. You said, ‘What are you looking at, Favorite?’ But Gentry said he knew deep down you would have his back if he asked for help. He believes in you.”
Asher swallowed audibly and massaged the back of her head as he danced with her to the next slow song that had come on. “And Roman?” he asked. She didn’t miss the hope there.
Ashlyn already wanted to cry just thinking of what Roman had admitted. He and Gentry had defended Asher as if they wanted Ashlyn to know how good he was. Or how good he could be. “Roman said when you two got kicked out of the pack, the only thing that kept him going…was you. You gave him an out. You let him escape Rangeley, but he didn’t have to do it alone. He told me about that first year when you two were just kids, teenagers, making it on your own. He said he had trouble finding steady work because he was underage, but you w
orked three jobs so he could finish up his last year of high school in this town on the coast. He said you were working yourself to the bone to pay for a one-bedroom apartment and keep enough food on the table because Roman was on a growth spurt and eating everything to keep his wolf steady. He said you were going through the same, but you would eat less to make sure Roman had enough. When your dad failed, and kicked you out of the pack, you stepped in for Roman, and he knows it. He appreciates it. Roman said he wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you propping him up when you two were going through hell in those few years that followed being banished. He told me, ‘Asher’s always been rogue, but when our lives went to shit, he made me his pack.’ So, you see Asher…it’s not just me. Your brothers believe in you, too. The people who matter see the good in you.”
The song ended on a long note. The jukebox didn’t turn over another record, but Asher didn’t stop the slow dance. Not for minutes. He just held her in the silence, behind the bar of Winter’s Edge. This was one of those moments that changed a life. She’d never noticed one before as it was happening, but deep inside of her, Ashlyn knew this was the exact moment her life took a hard right and went on a different path. One with the potential for destruction, sure, just like every fork in the road had. But it also had the potential for great happiness she could’ve never imagined before stepping foot in this town blanketed with the supernatural. She’d discovered a world few knew existed, and sometimes it still felt like a dreamscape. Like it was surreal, and she would wake up and wish she was back asleep and dreaming again. But Asher was real, and solid under her arms, his heartbeat thumping against her cheek, his lips soft in her hair, his breath warm against her, his scent crisp and clean. He was the dream she didn’t know she’d wanted. Didn’t know existed. Didn’t know she could have. Didn’t know she could wish for.
He was flawed and dangerous and quiet, but gentle with her. He showed her a side of himself he hid from the world, and she’d grown addicted to him. His flaws were now beautiful. And if he was dangerous to others, it was only if they were a threat. She knew—knew—he would never hurt her. He was in a fit of rage earlier at Odine, and still, the lethal part of him, The Taker, had left her alone and let her protect Odine, had absorbed some of her goodness at a cost to itself.
“I love you,” she whispered, too scared to look in his face.
“Which parts?”
With a private smile, she told him, “I love the wolf. I love The Taker. I love Asher.”
“Truth,” he murmured. “And now I wish you could see in my head.”
“So you wouldn’t have to say it out loud, ya chicken?” she joked.
He chuckled and eased back, then brushed a knuckle gently down her cheek. “No, so you could know I’m telling the truth when I say I love everything about you.”
“Even my bright clothes?”
He nodded. “Even those.”
“Even my sparkly phone case, and my love of make-up? Oh, and my glittery head-bands, my shoe collection, and my frilly coffees?”
“I didn’t at first.”
“And now?”
“Now I love them. They’re you. And you make me happy.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Pretty.” He kissed her cheek. “Mate.” He lowered his lips to hers and gave her the softest kiss. And when he eased out of it with a faint smack, he tipped his chin toward the door and murmured, “Come on, Sparkles. I want one more good night with you before I start hunting in the morning.”
“Oh, you have plans for us tonight then?”
Asher took her hand and led her around the bar top and toward the door. “Yep. Big date plans. I’m about to woo the shit out of you.”
She giggled and shook her head as her cheeks heated with pleasure. That man. What he did to the butterflies in her stomach.
Two days, and the uncertainty would be through, but for tonight, she was going to focus on Asher and the time they had together before he left in the morning. Before the bone-deep worry would set in. Before she would pace 1010 for two days obsessing over his safety.
Tonight, it was just her and Asher. Her man, her protector, her love, her beating heart…her mate.
Chapter Fourteen
“Can I come up there yet?” Ashlyn called up the stairs of 1010. Asher had made her wait down here for ten minutes already.
“No! Wait…yes. Yes, come on up. I’m ready.”
“Asher, I swear to God,” she muttered, stomping up the stairs, “if you’re lying on the bed in some zebra print G-string, I’m out.”
But when she made her way into the bedroom, she locked her legs and gaped at the flower petals on the bed, on the floor, and in a trail leading into the bathroom. Candles flickered a soft glow from the dresser, and Asher stood on the other side of the room with his head canted in a very wolf-like manner, eyes silver and locked on her lips, which were gaping open. This looked eerily similar to a fantasy she’d told her bestie Blaire about over cocktails one night.
Suspiciously, she narrowed her eyes as she made her way into the bathroom. The flower petals led to the clawfoot bathtub, and beside it sat a basket with bubble bath and scented bath salts.
She’d definitely been betrayed by her best friend.
“Blaire wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about my dream date,” she murmured as she turned to find Asher leaning on the open doorframe.
“Why not?”
“Because it was a fantasy, and it was told to her in confidence. We pinky swore not to ever share those.”
“But you told me about the cabana boy fantasy.”
“That part was a joke. The rest of this…” Ashlyn waved her hand around the room. “That was real. She shouldn’t have broken a pinky promise.”
“Blaire didn’t betray you.”
“Well, she’s the only one I ever told so—”
Asher leaned down and kissed her forehead. Oooh. Now she got it. “You took it from my mind. Dammit, Asher, you have to stop doing that. Stay out of there. My thoughts are for me.”
“I didn’t take all of them.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “What do you mean, and why don’t you sound sorry?”
“Look. I listened, too.” He pulled a bowl of plump, purple grapes from behind his back.
“Gasp! Are you gonna play naughty cabana boy?”
“Told you I was gonna woo the shit out of you.”
To the rapid cadence of her pounding heart, she whispered, “I like you.”
“Mmmm, now say what you really mean, Sparkles.”
“Not until you give me two orgasms.”
Asher snorted, and yep, he was definitely blushing as he ducked his gaze to the floor. “You’re negotiating?”
Ashlyn arched her eyebrow primly and waited.
“Fine.”
“Yes!” she hissed, pumping her fist as she blasted past him. Ashlyn flung herself onto the bed, twisting in mid-air so she could land on her back like a star, and then she said dramatically, “Ravish me. Twice.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to joke this much during sex.”
Ashlyn lifted onto her elbows. “I’m pretty sure you’ve been doing it wrong then. I spy with my googly eye…” She pointed to his erection pressing against the seam of his jeans.
“You do have ridiculously big eyes.”
“Stop. You’re only allowed to say nice things to me right now. I’m opening up my treasure palace for you. I spy with my googly eye a boney-macaroni.”
“Ashlyn,” he admonished, trying to control his smile. “Don’t ever, ever call it a macaroni again.” Asher made his way to the bed and hovered over her. “You’re not turning me on right now.”
Ashlyn pointed her finger a few times at his crotch. “Mac says differently.”
“Don’t.”
“He’s been named, and now—”
Asher kissed her hard, and oh, she knew exactly what he was doing. He was shutting her up, and a naughty part of her wanted to bite his bottom lip so she could eas
e back and finish her jokes, but the bigger part of her—the part that found Asher so damn sexy—just wanted to get lost in his touch right now. The teasing was covering up how truly scared she was for him. He probably knew it, and she was glad he hadn’t called her out. She wanted to keep her fear quiet and just for herself because fear could make a man weak, and Asher had work to do.
Ashlyn angled her head and parted her lips for him, allowed him to slip his tongue inside as she slid her hands over his shoulders and locked them behind his neck. And then she dragged him closer, so his body weight pressed against hers, and she rocked her hips. A soft, growly groan rattled Asher’s chest. Sexy monster.
With one hand, he reached behind himself and pulled his sweater over his head and tossed it to the floor. Without hesitation, and in the same graceful motion, he pushed her sweater up her ribs and plucked it from her head. And then he was instantly on her again as her shirt joined his on the floor.
His powerful legs straddled her hips, but she didn’t feel trapped. She felt safe here all surrounded by his strong body. His lips moved against hers like they’d done this a million times, and he had learned exactly what she wanted. God, she loved him. He smiled against her lips, then pressed his tongue inside again and eased himself between her thighs. He made quick work of her jeans, didn’t even bother unzipping them, just ripped those mother fuckers down her legs and tossed them. And when he leaned back and gave her a wicked smile, she couldn’t help but laugh. She didn’t even care what his devilish plans were. She just loved his smile.