by Paige Taylor
“Yep, too bad the match didn’t go longer, I had some real tricks ready for you, Ava” she chuckles to me.
“I just bet you did, but, you know something more important came up,” I say, nodding towards the agitated wolf outside the cage.
“Don’t worry, I get it. Now, get away, so I can get up, bitch,” she says with a chuckle, her face wincing as she starts to lift herself off the ground.
I get back up and back out of the cage. The second my foot touches the ground outside the cage, Marco wraps his arms around me and just walks straight to the locker room. I snuggle my head into the crook between his neck and shoulder, breathing in his intoxicating scent. Choc mint always was my favourite ice cream.
“Ava, I know we don’t know each other at all yet, but that was really fucking hard to watch.” He groans as he sets me down on the seats.
He kneels in front of me, gently unwrapping my hands and looks over the already sealed cuts on my arm with laser focus. Marco pulls some white gauze from his pocket and begins wiping the cut that hasn’t healed yet, before his eyes settle on mine. Simultaneously, our lips start to gravitate towards each other, so close that I could twitch my nose and we’d be touching.
“Please,” I whisper with need.
Marco closes the distance between us, his lips descend on mine, softly at first, but with each passing second, getting firmer. His lips part, sucking on my bottom lip before his teeth sink into the soft tissue. My lips part in response my tongue sliding over his lips and into his mouth as soon as he grants entry. Mac’s hands go to my hips and pull me closer to him, making me feel every delicious inch of him pressed against my core, stomach, and chest. My hands run through his hair, grabbing and tugging, trying to get him closer still. Marco’s hands slip down to cup my ass in both hands, kneading and squeezing, pulling me even closer against his rock-hard body. Fucking hell, I can’t have sex with practically a stranger in a locker room! With a great deal of strength, we part; both puffing from exertion and excitement.
“You should go get cleaned up. Do you want to follow me back to my place on pack lands? It’s private, and I think we may need some privacy to talk things through,” Marco says after dropping his head on my shoulder. His hands start to draw lazy circles on my back, making shivers break out across my skin.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I say on a sigh.
He moves out of the way for me to stand up on unsteady legs. I grab my towel and clothes from the locker and walk straight to the shower stalls. I move to the closest stall, turn on the water and strip out of my bloodied clothes.
Maybe a cold shower will rein in my hormones.
Chapter Three
I meet Marco outside the complex once I’m showered and have put on a little make up to cover the fading bruises on my face. I spin my back pack around to the front to pull out my leather jacket in preparation for my bike ride, my eyes searching the car park for Marco. His towering frame is waiting by a very shiny, very beautiful Mercedes C-class coupe, I bypass him and squat down near the front of the car, putting my cheek against the hood.
“Well, hello beautiful, if I had known you were out here this whole time I would have hurried the fuck up. Are you going to let me drive you, gorgeous? Is your manly owner going to be nice to his lovely new mate?” I coo to the car as Marco laughs in the background.
“Okay, okay, enough love for my car, please. I’m starting to feel neglected, Ava.” he says with the cutest, little pout. There’s just something about a full-grown man pouting that is equal parts adorable and totally confusing.
I stand and walk away from the Mercedes, hitching my back pack higher as I come to a stop in front of Marco. The backs of our hands brush against each other, sending tingles flying up my arm and throughout my body. I glance up into his eyes but get side tracked staring at his gorgeous, brown hair that is slightly shorter around the sides than the top, a few loose strands from the top of his head curving over his forehead in an adorable kind of way.
“I’ll follow you on my bike, okay?” I ask softly, our eyes meeting once I finish my perusal of his head.
“Sure, sweetheart, drive safe okay? Can’t lose you so soon after finding you.” His hand comes up to brush my cheek, pausing when his whole palm is resting against my skin. The term of endearment causing the butterflies in my stomach to flutter.
“No problems, I wouldn’t want to lose me, either. See you soon, Mac,” I laugh, rubbing my face into his hand one last time, before walking over to my baby.
My baby is a 2017 model Honda Cbr-250 motorbike named Hera. It took what felt like forever to save for this beauty and last week I finally managed to buy it. This matte-black -and-red piece of machinery is one of the only things I’ve ever splurged on, every fight night for a few months, I squirreled away what money I could until I bought her in cash.
Swinging my leg over my bike, I start the ignition, intending to let Hera idle for a minute or two. Right before I kick off, my Wolf perks up again, someone is watching us. Someone we don’t know, I can feel it. Looking around I see nothing, but I feel it nonetheless. My connection to the abstract feeling is broken as Marco’s car drives up next to me, his window rolled down and his elbow resting on the door frame.
“You ready, Ava?” he asks.
“Yep, right behind you.”
Marco drives with me following him along the country roads in Montana. The drive is equal parts relaxing and terrifying, the memories of my old Pack devouring my focus the closer we get to his Pack. I’ve been a lone wolf for almost a year now, and I’m not sure I can put myself under that hierarchy again. The thoughts swirling through my mind are making the panic rise. I try to remember the good things about pack; my family, my best friend David, any happy thought to try to calm the storm. Imagining having a family with Marco, doesn’t inspire a fear of dread, but instead a feeling of hope. My wolf apparently agrees and starts rubbing up against my barriers, humming in happiness at the thought of having other wolves to run with, to be connected to. Wolf shifters are genetically programmed to accept and want to provide for their Mate, we literally can’t help but to have a bit of insta-love and to fit into each other’s lives. Okay, Ava, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. We don’t even know what his pack is like, or if Marco even wants to deal with all this crazy long term.
We continue to wind through the back roads for about half an hour, when we come across two, large stone columns on the edge of a property, pine trees lining the road as far as the eye can see. Driving up the dirt pathway, Marco turns his car towards the cabin closest to the property edge, on the left. A faint light glows in the distance, which must be the pack house and the other cabins. Most Packs are set up like a rustic resort, there was a main house as well as lots of private housing for the individuals that choose to live on Pack property. Usually about seventy percent of the population chose to live on the lands, but everyone in the pack contributed to the Pack funds, more so if you utilized Pack property or resources.
I park my bike next to Marco’s at the side of the craftsman-style cabin that has green accents across the roof, windows, and framing. Marco waits by his car as I lock up Hera and put away all my riding gear, before walking over to him. His hand grasps mine as we walk to his front door, while his free hand twirls his keys anxiously. The jangling of his keys follows us up each step until we reach the large, wooden door. His hands tremble slightly as he brings the key to the lock. The sound of the lock clicking over resounds through the still forest and, Marco’s body twists until his eyes meet mine, his eyes softening momentarily.
“I’m sorry if it’s a mess in here, I’ve been at the clinic a lot lately, and to be honest house cleaning is not my forte,” he rambles, looking around anxiously.
“Mac, I live in a shitty, dirty apartment. I’m sure there isn’t anything in there that will run me off,” I say reassuringly while patting him on the arm.
“Okay, here goes nothing.” His chest expands with a deep breath.
He opens the door to
one of the most simplistically beautiful houses I’ve ever seen, the wooden exterior is continued throughout the house. To the right of the doorway is a rustic wooden staircase leading to what I think is the bedrooms. The lower level seems to be open-plan; living, dining, and large kitchen. The living room is centred around a huge, black leather lounge and what looks like a sixty-inch TV hanging on the wall. The lounge room transitions into the kitchen, which has a large island counter and stainless-steel appliances lining the wall. The dining room only has a small six-person table in it, but plenty of room for what I assume a single man needs.
Oh God, he is single, isn’t he? I’m not mated to a married man or a guy with a live-in girlfriend, am I?!
“Do you have a partner?” I blurt out loudly to Marco before I’ve even walked past the entryway.
Marco turns from putting his coat on the rack, with a very bewildered look on his face.
“Do you think I would bring you here if I did?”
“Well, I don’t know you that well, yet, so I don’t know what you would normally do,” I reply, slightly panicking that there wasn’t a ‘no’ in that response. He must know that’s where my thoughts headed because his reply is instantaneous.
“No, I don’t have a partner, haven’t had a relationship in a few years. If I did have one, I wouldn’t be as tasteless as to bring you to my home and spring it on you both simultaneously. Come on, give me some credit, Ava,” he says in gentle admonishment.
The guilt flares within me for a moment, but not enough to apologise for my question. I only just met the man, so how am I supposed to know? I just shrug my shoulders and smile in response. When he doesn’t say anything, I continue to walk through each space, exploring Marco’s natural habitat. My Wolf rolls around on her back playfully within me as I move about the house, trying to picture myself here.
“It’s beautiful in here, Mac. My wolf and I feel so at home here, like the rest of the world can’t find me,” I say longingly. My shoulders drop in relaxation, a feeling of supreme comfort seeping through my body.
“Thank you, I love my home, too. I’ll go set up the spare bedroom if you’re more comfortable with that? It’s just down the hall from my room. We can drop your things off and head to the Pack House, I think they were having a party up there tonight to celebrate a pack birthday. If that’s okay with you, of course?” Marco’s tall frame angles towards me. His body looks so toned, his strong arms straining the shirt over his biceps, whilst his trim hips are covered in jeans that show off every glorious inch of his muscular thighs and tight ass. Damn, his ass is hot.
“Sounds good to me!” My enthusiasm is genuine, yet I can’t ignore that deep-rooted apprehension about meeting the Alpha.
We both turn and walk up the stairs to the bedrooms, his master must be the door straight to the right of the stairs, as it’s the only closed door. Marco walks into a gorgeous white and timber bedroom in front of me, the light filtering through the room making it look picturesque. The room, itself, is quite bare apart from the double bed with a plain grey quilt on it, yet the large glass window opens the room to the field behind the house that leads to the forest. Marco grabs my bag out of my hands, places it on my bed and then slowly backs me into the door. His hands are on either side of my head boxing me in, chest to chest, his forehead coming to rest on mine.
“I can’t believe I found you, finally,” he breathes before his lips capture mine in another exhilarating kiss.
We pick up right where we left off in the locker room, our moans intermingling as our kiss deepens and our bodies push closer. The meeting with the Alpha flashes in my mind, so I gently push him away and start righting my shirt that had started to move upwards thanks to Mac’s wandering hands.
“We should go see the Alpha before we do anything else tonight. Just to get it out of the way.” The anxiety rises again, my confidence wavering with each word.
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Okay, let’s do this and be back as quickly as possible,” he says in a rushed tone. Mac’s eyes drop down to where my hands rest on his stomach, his fingers slowly close over mine as pulls me back out of the bedroom.
We make our way down the stairs and lock up the house in under five minutes, before walking through the trees up the hill. Questions keep flicking over my mind, the things I want to know about Mac stacking up one thought at a time. I spend a minute or two trying to figure out how best to approach the topic, subtle would be best.
“So, if you’re an Alpha wolf, why aren’t you Alpha of the pack?” I blurt out, my hands coming up to slap over my mouth. Wow, what a way to be subtle, Ava, couldn’t have said it any better.
“Ha! Now don’t go asking me the easy questions first, Ava. Okay, where to start on this one? Well, the condensed version is that my cousin and I come from the same, strong, Alpha maternal lines, and both of our fathers were Alphas; mine was a lone, Alpha wolf. So, both of us are equally as strong as each other, and when it came time for one of us to take over from his father, he was in line first. My wolf, even though it knew he was family, still found it hard to resist the call of a challenge. I didn’t want to leave the pack, nor did I want to challenge him, so we came up with a compromise. We’re still in the same pack, but the distance my cabin and my job give me, give us both enough space to not kill each other.”
“Oh wow, that’s pretty intense. So, I take it that’s why the cabin is on the edge of the border instead of with the other pack houses?” That had been playing on my mind, why he is so far away from the other wolves.
“Precisely, it keeps us out of each other’s pockets, but still close enough that we haven’t lost the brotherhood that we had growing up,” his smooth voice explains.
He pauses, then continues. “Do me a favour, Ava? Just let me do most of the talking with my cousin tonight. I don’t want him to take his surprise out on you,” he warns, that comment, alone, has my nerves on edge.
“Why? What would he do?” I ask, trying to keep the bite from my tone. Marco can’t even introduce his Mate to his cousin and Alpha without apprehension. This Alpha sounds like a ray of fucking sunshine.
“He might yell or be a downright asshole. He is very, very protective of family, and isn’t a huge fan of change. He’s kind of anally retentive when it comes to plans and change,” he laughs lightly. The breath I had been holding finally releases taking some of the stress with it. I don’t think I could cope with another abusive Alpha.
“I can deal with assholes,” I say with just a bit of attitude.
“I’ll just bet you can,” Marco says under his breath with a heavier tone. The anger leaking into his body and voice with each passing second, I can only imagine what he imagines when I talk about assholes being in my life.
We meander through the forest, watching the tree line grow thinner and thinner until we reach the pack house. Cabins surrounded by cars become clearer, the path becoming more illuminated as we walk closer. I reach out to grab his hand, revelling in the warm tingles that race through me when his body touches mine. This man is addictive, in all the best ways possible.
We finally reach a break in the tree line and begin to walk through the cabins, hand in hand. The cabins are lined in four streets, all arranged in a semi-circle around the Pack house. Wolves play about one hundred meters to the left of us, running in and out of the tree line. My own wolf pushes to come forward and play too, but I rein her back in, we have bigger things to deal with right now. People in all different states of intoxication are dancing, laughing, and singing around the fire. Music thumps from speakers interspersed around a huge bonfire, the beat pulsing through me, drawing me closer to the people dancing. The laughter that runs around the camp is so melodic and uplifting, tendrils of hope start to unfurl within my stomach; maybe this will be okay. Marco pulls me along a little faster when the stares of people start to become obvious, elbowing each other, whispering curiosities about the stranger holding their pack member’s hand.
We stop just outside the Pack house, it ha
s at least four windows across the front on both sides of the door, two stories high, and so beautiful. It’s a gorgeous combination of modern and rustic. Walking up the front steps I notice a large porch swing that looks out across to most of the Pack’s individual dwellings. The front door catches my attention, the most intricate design of a wolf intertwining with a crescent moon made of swirls is etched into the door, this must be the pack’s sigil, and it is without a doubt, one of the most beautiful images I’ve ever seen. Its calling to me and my wolf on a level beyond just human interest. A connection flares within me the longer I stare at it, that little purple ball flickering with life.
My inspection of the image is short lived as Marco swings the door open, and I step inside to follow him. My jaw feels like it hits the floor. Holy shit! This house is decked out! The entire inside of the house is expertly done in blacks, greys, and whites, giving it a fresh, clean feel. My eyes don’t know where to look, too many things to take in. The lounge room has the largest TV I have ever seen sitting in front of the windows, with enough room on the ginormous lounge to fit about 20 people. Directly behind the lounge is what looks to be a very well-stocked bar. I know where I’m hitting before we leave, maybe Marco won’t notice if I just run over for a quick shot of liquid courage. Before I can go through with my liquid courage plan Marco moves a little further into the house. I jog a little to catch up to him because getting lost right now does not sound fun. To my left, is a long corridor that has doors running down one side, which look to be bedrooms. We venture into a room that has the biggest, most expensive-looking industrial kitchen I’ve ever seen in my life. If there was ever a time I wished I could cook more than toast, now would be the time. But, what really captivates my attention are the two large oak doors right opposite the kitchen, the golden handles just begging to be pushed on, to discover what’s behind them. My wolf stands to attention the more I focus on this door. Why has she been so active, today!? We already found our mate, and he’s currently rummaging through the fridge behind us, so what about this door does she have an interest in?