He stepped closer, pressing his erection against her stomach and sending a shiver of anticipation through her body. Allan lifted and laid her out on the bed beneath him.
Her body wept for him. Nerves taut and anticipating. Her skin warmed with the dance of their magick. Her pussy throbbed and clenched, waiting…hoping. Their magick been swirling around and through her since the moment he stepped into the kitchen.
The prospect of returning to New Orleans the next day and possibly never seeing him again had been eating her from the inside out. His fantasy had offered her one last shot. And now to see him naked and wanting and ready to come for her. It made all the pain from earlier melt away.
This is how it should be.
Allan moved above her, pressing the thick ridge of his cock against her slick pussy. She arched against him, seeking the pressure she needed to release the coiled tension writhing within. He pushed forward, seating himself completely with one hard stroke. Her muscles clenched around his wide girth and she moaned, relieved to finally hold him inside her. She clung to his back as he worked himself in and out, thrusting harder with each stroke.
She met his dark gaze for a second before he closed his eyes.
Why wouldn’t he want to look at her? Tendrils of doubt clouded her happiness.
They writhed and rocked together until he found that perfect spot. Her pussy clasped hard around him until he joined with her, climaxing and filling her.
“Oh, fuck,” he shouted, thrusting once more. Hard. Deep.
When both their bodies began to relax, he sank down, lowering his body against her. His eyes bored into hers, wide and dark. Almost surprised. Reyna held her breath, trying to push away the nagging worry that had resettled in her belly.
She almost hadn’t stayed. She’d almost told her Dad she was going back home before the moon run. But she’d changed her mind and come to Allan’s house instead. All for this moment, when they would finally be able to bond.
They stared at each other for a moment of eternity and her heartbeat slipped into a faster pattern. He was about to speak, opened his mouth, let out a breath, and broke their eye contact.
Why? Why isn’t he bonding with me?
This was the time. Sex and then the spell… Everything was perfect. Ready… waiting. Their magick was poised ready and alive with the need to be joined.
But it wasn’t right. He did nothing. Said nothing.
She couldn’t beg. Wouldn’t. She had nothing left to give. Air whooshed from her lungs and pain wrenched her heart.
This was just sex for him. He’d said as much in the barn. He just needed to come. Release his tension. And now, what? I’m supposed to slink away like I did something wrong?
He tucked her tightly against his hard body, but the comfort of his touch was cold and fleeting. Moments later his breathing evened out as his body settled into sleep.
Just being with him wasn’t enough. A thousand men could fill that role—husband. She needed more than that. Sharing the essence of their souls was what wolves were supposed to do. It made them stronger. It healed them and she needed to be healed from the pain she carried around with her every day since her mother died. Only a mate could make her whole again.
A tear rolled down her cheek and she moved slowly, working herself loose from his arms. Reyna couldn’t give up everything that made her who she was. She was a wolf. An enforcer. She lived to protect the pack and those she loved. She’d been a fool to think she’d ever be anything but miserable baking pies and participating in local book clubs. If they bonded…maybe, but without a bond she was still lost. Still alone.
She lived and breathed magick and her pack. It was in her blood and if Allan couldn’t accept that. Love that. Want that. He didn’t deserve her.
She slunk through his house, silent and broken-hearted. This was supposed to have fixed everything, instead it’d shown her that no matter what she did, he would continue to break her heart. She’d rather have a broken heart and be alone than live in the shadow of a man who didn’t really want her.
She opened the hall closet where she’d hidden her real clothes—painted on jeans, a leather corset that made her breasts look amazing, and a pair of boots that were sexy and functional. After getting dressed, minus her underwear and bra—she wasn’t even about to go digging around in his bedroom for those—Reyna turned off the stove and oven and slipped out the back door of Allan’s house. Her car was parked around the block and she needed to get back to the ranch.
A good run with the pack would help her clear her mind. Help her forget what she’d be leaving behind when she went home tomorrow.
Not that she would ever forget the mate she was meant to have. The mate she already loved.
Sex hangover. That’s what he had. Heavy limbs, heavy eyelids, heavy stomach. His body was so sated, he couldn’t move at all.
Reyna. His wolf had known her, with his body buried inside hers, he had felt his wolf recognize hers. He had been able to ignore the magick, until he’d been hilt-deep inside her, pounding into her and coming in her.
Allan had felt the shift in his heart. When he was inside her, the whole world relocated. The magick had cracked him open and Reyna poured into him.
He wanted her. It wasn’t about wolves or Fate or anything floating around in the sky. It was about Reyna.
The tenacity she showed in pursuing him had been part of the turn-on, but when he saw her trying to be everything he wanted… or said he wanted… that ridiculous costume. He’d known it sitting with Laurel—when he couldn’t stop thinking about Reyna—and he’d known it when he saw her in his kitchen. He wanted Reyna more than he wanted any fantasy, past or present.
With her courageous heart and her headstrong will. She had been consuming his thoughts since the first time she threw a jackass over a bull. It was time to listen to his own heart.
As long as Reyna was beside him, the re-orbit of his planet was fine with him.
Allan could smell her, everywhere. The spicy, deep, almost woody scent of their mixed arousal, still in his sheets and on their bodies. He breathed it in like the oxygen of his new life. He’d seen it all laid out in front of him as he fell asleep holding her.
Everything could be better with Reyna. Instead of being the lone wolf trying to fulfill the legend he’d been told as a boy—the protector wolves, helping humans—he would have another wolf by his side again. Together, they could have so much impact. The kind of impact he’d only thought was possible with Aaron, ten years back.
How have I been so stubborn? So stupid?
Thank the gods that Reyna had been so persistently in tune with her magick, otherwise, he might never have felt this change. He might have ignored the pull forever. He might have hurt her.
He never wanted to hurt her again.
Allan reached his arm around where Reyna should’ve been, but he didn’t feel her skin underneath his. He rooted around in the bed until he found his tighty whiteys and slipped them on. For a long moment, he lay in the silk of his cool sheets and stared at the ceiling.
His. He knew it now. She was his.
She’d been right, they were mates.
The 80s cowgirl look had thrown him—he much preferred her in the corset and boots, truth be told. But the cleaning before a moon run, cooking for him—fuck, bringing him a cold beer—it was like having a real partner. Someone who knew he’d had a hard couple of days and who was willing to take time out of her day to make his a little better.
He would return the favor. Now.
Allan jumped out of the bed and walked out to the kitchen. She’d put in a pie or something, and she’d had all the food warming…but, forget dinner. He wanted to taste her.
“Reyna,” he called through the quiet house. The food smell began to die off, the closer he got to the kitchen, which was strange. He came around the corner and found it empty. He touched the side of the pot and it was cold.
He opened the oven, but it was cool, with just the hint of heat. The pie was a little too blonde to b
e done baking.
Did she shut everything off before we went in the bedroom?
“Reyna,” he said again. Allan walked through the other rooms calling to her, but she didn’t answer. He didn’t hear any water running and her clothes were still all over the floor in the bedroom.
The jean shirt was crumpled beside the bed and the skirt was hanging over the edge of his dresser. Her panties were still in the bed, so she couldn’t have gone far.
“Reyna.” His voice was a little louder, a little more insistent. The scent of her on the bed was still so strong, he couldn’t clear his head. He pulled on a green pair of McAdams University sweatpants that he usually jogged in, and padded out to the back yard.
No Reyna.
He ran back to the bedroom, heart pounding, and dug out a McAdams t-shirt and his running shoes and went to the living room to put himself together. Out in the front of the house, he was far enough away from their sex bed that he could get a little more control of his senses.
If all her clothes were here, but she wasn’t in the house or the backyard, his mind could only process one thought clearly.
Where the fucking hell had she gone naked and how in the hell was he going to keep from killing every man who saw her on her way?
Chapter Eleven
“Aria LeBlanc. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Reyna’s boots clicked on the hardwood as she crossed the massive library at the VonBrandt mansion.
Her cousin glanced up from a thick book and raised a brow. “I would say it went well, but you have asshole-broke-my-heart face.”
“I shouldn’t have done it.” She sank into the couch and sidled up to Aria, laying her head on her cousin’s shoulder. “I thought he’d finally changed his mind and then…” A sob caught in her throat. “He was my chance to finally feel whole and he doesn’t want me and now I’ll be alone forever.”
“We are not alone, Reyna.” Aria stroked her hair. “We have each other. We have your dad and the pack.”
“It’s not the same.” She took her cousin’s hand and threaded their fingers together like they always had done, growing up. “Pack magick can’t heal a broken heart. And I can’t talk to my dad about this.”
“Look. You are a survivor, and you will get through this.” Aria raised their joined hands and let out a strangled laugh, an echo of their years of pain. “We’ve survived losing our mothers, and outlived broken hearts before. Maybe time will heal the wound.”
“I’m sick of waiting for time to heal stuff.” Reyna frowned and squeezed her cousin’s fingers. “Time is out for a Sunday drive or something.”
Aria kissed the side of her head. “I wish I had a better answer for you. I know you felt like he was the one.”
“He is the one. I just don’t know why he wouldn’t bond with me…” A sob finally escaped and Reyna closed her eyes, pressing out the waiting tears. She could cry now. He wasn’t here to see it. Aria was her safe place.
“If he can’t see past his issues, then he doesn’t deserve you, sweetie. And that’s the truth. You’re beautiful and strong and one of the best enforcers the New Orleans pack has ever had, second only to myself of course.”
Reyna couldn’t help the half-giggle-half-sob that hiccupped from her throat. Aria was trying to cheer her up and it was helping…a little. “I just need to run. Maybe once we get home, I can find a project to consume my time and keep my mind off the fact that I met my mate and lost him.” More tears leaked from her eyes and she shuddered.
“He’s an absolute dick, jerk-face, coward who’s not worthy to lick the dirt from your boots. He blew it.”
She sucked in a deep breath and growled, soaking in some of her cousin’s outrage. “He did.”
“I know what might cheer you up even more.”
Reyna sat up, swiped at her cheeks, and faced her friend. “What?”
“Your dad and these other alphas can’t find any other leads on Elise’s origin so they are calling another summit. A bigger one.”
“What good will that do?”
“We are headed to Vegas, baby! They are calling in all the pack alphas they know. This is huge, Reyna.”
“At least we don’t have to come back here. The last person I want to see right now is—”
“Reyna!”
“Speak of the devil,” Aria grunted.
Allan came storming into the library. “You’re not naked.”
“Why would she be naked, asshole?” Aria stood, blocking Reyna’s view of his advancing figure. “And why should you care?”
“I woke up and you weren’t there.”
“Damn straight I wasn’t there.” Reyna jumped from the couch, ducked around her cousin and met Allan in the center of the library.
His eyes were dark and magick pulsed between them. “Look. You were right. The cowgirl thing—”
The crack of her palm against his face stopped his speech.
Shock spread through his expression, but she didn’t care. He’d broken her heart in a way that no other man on the planet was capable of doing. She’d been strong, before coming to Somewhere. Now all the walls she’d built to protect herself had been torn down and she would have to start all over again. He’d said fuck you more ways than she could count. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing but getting as far away from him as possible.
“Fuck you, Allan VonBrandt.” She gulped for air. “Everything I did…and it still wasn’t enough for you.” Reyna choked back another sob and fled the room, weaving between people who’d no doubt overheard her outburst. It didn’t matter. She was here for the run. Then she was going home, or to Vegas or wherever her father said.
Anywhere but Somewhere, Texas.
Once in the front yard, she unzipped her boots, toed them off and kept running. She undid her corset next and threw it across the yard. The run didn’t officially start until sunset, but she had no desire to speak with anyone—especially Allan.
She could hear him calling her name from the front stoop.
Reyna shoved her jeans down her legs and kicked them off too. Kneeling down, she embraced the flow of magick around her and called to it. Her skin tingled as the magick changed her.
One moment a woman, and then the next a wolf.
Thank the gods she wasn’t naked, so he didn’t have to kill anyone, but damn, his face hurt. On his heels from the slap, he ignored the angry, red-faced she-wolf in the library, and ran after Reyna.
Aaron stopped him with a steady hand. “Allan. I thought I told you—”
He pushed his brother off. “No, you don’t understand.”
“Come the fuck back here,” Aaron called after him, but he couldn’t stop. He had to find her.
He followed her out the front door. “Reyna!”
But she was…what the fuck…taking off her boots…what the hell was she doing? Something caught him by the heart.
She was going to shift. No!
Allan took off at a dead run, passing one high-heeled boot, then the other. She had her corset off and her breasts were unfettered. Fuck no.
If he could just reach her.
“Reyna!” he called again, passing the corset laid out on the ground and then her jeans, but there was no Reyna. It was the woods and the hill, and she was gone. He slid on his knees in the rough dirt and let out a long, ragged growl.
All he wanted was to clear up whatever misunderstanding made her run off. Made her cry. Shit, he hadn’t meant to make her cry.
He pushed to his feet and walked out of the trees, stopping to pick up her black jeans and throw them over his shoulder. He had the corset in his hand and was folding it into some semblance of quarters when he saw the dark-haired Louisiana wolf from the library come through the front doors. Her face was less red, but her jaw was set in a hard line and she stomped toward him.
Just what he needed, an earful.
Allan bent to retrieve Reyna’s last boot and stood to take his tongue-lashing from her friend with the matching features. Her sister? No. She didn’t ha
ve a sister, he didn’t think.
How could he not even know if his mate had a—
Smack.
The impact of the slap sent him reeling for a moment before he caught his ground and his vision narrowed. “What the hell was that for?” he asked. “And why is everyone slapping me?”
“You’ve got one of those slappable faces, I guess.” Adam’s sarcasm rang out from the stoop.
Allan wanted to smack a face or two of his own.
“You’re an asshole,” the she-wolf said, a curl to her lip. “No one hurts my cousin and gets away with it.”
From the porch, Aaron called out lazily, his arms crossed and his body languidly resting against a column. “You can’t kill him.”
“But he does deserve an ass-kicking,” said Reyna’s cousin.
“Be my guest.” Aaron raised his eyebrows and smiled. “We’ve been waiting for this for years, now.”
“Feel free to break some bones.” Adam’s tone of mockery earned a snarl from Allan.
“Everyone needs to just calm down and stay the fuck out of my business.” He used Reyna’s boots to point at the angry cousin. “And you. You stay away from me.”
“Aria.” Francis’s voice came from behind Aaron, and the porch parted to let the old New Orleans alpha through the red sea of on-looking wolves. “Leave the poor man alone.”
Her lengthening neck told Allan, while Aria might not like her orders, she wasn’t about to disobey her alpha. At least he was safe for the time being.
“And you, son,” Francis continued. “You’d better be about to bond with my daughter or I will let Aria break some of those bones of yours.”
Allan sucked in a breath and glanced at Aaron.
Apparently, everyone was immensely entertained by the prospect of seeing him get beat up by a girl. He shook his head.
“I don’t get it. I came here to bond with her. I thought we were going to run. But she just smacked me and ran off and shifted.” He waved after her. “I mean, I thought she was running around naked, when she left her clothes at my house, so I was a little mad, but…”
To Catch A Mate: Somewhere, TX (VonBrandt Pack Book 5) Page 7