by Vivian Arend
“Nope.” Although bright pink would be fun. Tessa maintained eye contact with the woman who’d started the trouble, hoping that sheer curiosity should stop anyone else from jumping in and starting a rumble.
The asked-for marker flew across the room. Tessa caught it in midair then snapped around to face Mark. He flicked a glance at her before focusing on his pack mates, watching for danger. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered.
She grabbed hold of his shirt and tore it apart, buttons clattering to the floor. She hummed happily at the broad expanse of muscles her actions revealed. “Trust me.”
Then she put the tip of the marker to his skin and wrote Property of Tessa Williams in two-inch-high block letters.
“Dark blue looks good on you. Brings out the colour of your eyes.” She laid a hand on his chest, tapping her fingers over where his heart raced. “There, you think that’s sufficient for now?”
Mark glanced down. “Permanent marker?”
She peeked at the label. “Yup.”
“You should be good for a few weeks if I promise not to rub it off.”
Tessa stroked the exposed skin under her hands. “Are they going away?” she whispered.
His gaze darted over her shoulders then back to her face. “Everyone but Keri seems to be real busy all of a sudden. I think we’re safe.”
“Good.” She went to close his shirt and cursed softly. “Sorry about that. You seem to have lost some buttons.”
He shrugged out of the material altogether. “I’ll just go without for a while. Make sure everyone sees your message.” He caught her by the chin and smiled. “You are unpredictable.”
“I’m nice too. I considered writing it on your forehead.” She cuddled against his warmth, strangely happy at the unusual twist to the evening.
“Well done.” The deep voice brought her around to see the pack Alphas, Keil and Robyn, standing a few feet away.
Mark straightened up and dipped his head politely. “Sorry for the commotion.”
“Not your fault.” Keil eyed her, and Tessa coughed lightly.
Yeah, okay totally her responsibility. “Hi.”
The head of the Granite Lake pack looked very serious for a moment until his mate elbowed him in the side, and he broke out laughing. “Right. Robyn wants me to let you know we’d like to have you two over for dinner later this week.”
Sweet. “We’d love to.” Tessa snuck her fingers into Mark’s. “Can we bring anything?”
Keil turned to his mate, moving his hands in sign language. Tessa watched in fascination as Robyn responded. It was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. She immediately put learn sign language on her bucket list.
Keil faced them again. “If you’d like to bring dessert, that would be great. I’ll call later to set the date.”
Mark leant over to whisper in her ear. “I’ll cook.”
“Hush, your Alphas are listening. Be polite.”
Robyn hadn’t stopped grinning, only now she reached out to offer her hand. Tessa accepted it happily, pleased at the gesture.
The Alphas excused themselves, wandering through the pack house and visiting with people, making sure everything went back to normal. Tensions seemed to have faded after Tessa’s little display, and she tucked herself against Mark’s side and hauled him back to the area they’d been sitting originally.
Really, it had been a pretty good evening, except for the wetness clinging to her body.
Keri shook her head. “Troublemaker.”
“Hey, it wasn’t me.” Tessa crossed her legs under her and relaxed on the couch. Mark had draped his arm along the back of the headrest, enclosing her in his embrace without touching her. It was cozy and warm, and she felt like purring—it was the closest she’d been to being in his arms in days. “Well, it wasn’t just me. It had to happen, and it might not be the last time someone objects to having a cat around. We’ll deal with it.”
Jared stared at the pen markings. “What I don’t get, and excuse me, I’m just a simple wolf… Why?”
“Why, what?”
He pointed. “Why are you claiming him without claiming him? I mean if you don’t want Mark as a mate, I can understand that. I bet you can find someone better.” He winked to show he was mostly teasing.
Mark growled. “You’re not helping.”
She wasn’t sure herself. “Mark says we’re mates. You think he’s lying?”
Utter shock at the suggestion flashed in both their faces.
“Um, why would he lie about something like that?” Keri frowned. “I don’t know that a wolf could lie about something like that.”
“Right. So…once we get to know each other and a little more time passes, I figure he’s got a good chance at being the one for me. I’m not letting anyone else drool on him.”
Keri nodded slowly, then shot to her feet. “Come on, I need to talk to you.”
In a total change of situation, this time it was Tessa being dragged across the floor to the front doors.
The guys rose, but Keri waved them off. “Alone. Give us a minute.”
The pack was getting some entertainment tonight. Tessa waved at the cluster of women where Linda had retreated. Two seconds later she was out the door and down the stairs, being backed against the outside railing by her best friend.
Keri glared at her. “Okay, blunt-speaking time. Are you out of your damn feline mind?”
What in the world? “No more than usual. What’s wrong?”
“You’re what’s wrong. I can’t believe you lived next to wolves your entire life and you’re acting like this.” Keri paused and dragged her hand through her hair. “I mean, okay—you were brilliant with the marker thing. And yes, I vaguely see your point in terms of wanting to be in love before you make it official…”
There was an unspoken but written all over the silence that fell as Keri’s words faded away.
“What?”
Her best friend shook her head. “Mark said you’re mates. You kind of, mostly, believe him. You just claimed him…and now what?”
“And now we’re going to turn the paddle wheeler into a B&B?”
Keri poked her in the shoulder. “No. You’re going to be nice to the guy and give him a break.”
She still didn’t get it. “Nope, you lost me.”
Keri dragged her closer. “When we were on the cruise ship, and I’d sniffed out Jared? I swear it was seven kinds of hell waiting until we figured out what was wrong and finally mated. You just told me about all the things Mark’s been doing around the B&B. All the fast-tracking and hard work he’s been putting in to make you happy… What the hell are you waiting for? Him to spout poetry and recite some specific lines you think you need to hear?”
“Is it wrong to want romance? To want fine gestures and romantic words? ‘I would die for you’—all that kind of thing.”
Her best friend laughed. “Oh, Tessa, you’re getting romance in the movies mixed up with the real romance of life. Not everyone does things the same way, right? Not everyone is going to say I love you the same way.”
Tessa clung to her ideals, even as they seemed to whither a little. “But Romeo and Juliet—”
Keri’s expression darkened, and Tessa jerked to a stop before she got bitten.
“If ever there were a couple of sickies… How does that story end, Tessa? With partners who listen to each other? Who grow old together? That’s not romance, it’s nothing but selfish, sorry people screwing up big time.”
Her friend’s admonishment was enough to make Tessa ashamed. “I’ve been so focused on the changes around the place, and all the plans I came to Haines to accomplish, I didn’t think.”
Keri rolled her eyes. “Stop with the excuses. And I’m not telling you that you need to simply accept him.”
“Aren’t you?”
Her friend eyed her, changing her tone to whatever-ish.“Okay. Fine. So you’re saying you don’t feel closer to him now than before you met him? As far as
you’re concerned it could be Linda he’s building things for. And other than you don’t want leftovers, it wouldn’t really bother you if she was the one curled up in his lap, running her fingers over his body—”
“Hey.” A hot flush of anger slid over her at the thought. “Now you’re getting nasty.”
“I’m being honest.”
Tessa froze, the seriousness of her friend’s expression making her listen, not just to the words, but to the lingering aftershocks of annoyance conjured from imagining Mark with anyone but her.
Keri lowered her voice. Slowed her tirade. “I realize as a wolf I can’t truly understand where you’re coming from. What’s built into me doesn’t compute when I hear you talking about what you need. I hear you say you want to wait for the forever part of the deal, wait until the sunset is just right or something. It makes no sense.”
If her friend couldn’t understand, what was Mark feeling?
Keri caught hold of Tessa’s arms and held her tight. “Maybe that sounds as if I’m putting down your choices, and I don’t mean to. You’re a good friend, Tessa, and a good, good person. What you’re doing isn’t good, though. You’re being mean to that wonderful man, because while wanting you to be his mate right here and right now might not be the cat way, he’s not a cat. And you can only push the wolf so hard before he’ll break.”
Chapter Nine
Tessa had been strangely quiet since she and Keri returned to the pack house. She curled under his arm again, but this time all the fidgeting seemed to have drained from her.
Mark stroked her arm gently, worried. “Are you okay? What did Keri say to you?”
“Nothing but the truth.” She blinked hard, and his heart skipped a beat.
“Are you crying?” He touched her cheek. “Don’t be sad. There’s nothing we can’t face together, okay?”
That only seemed to make her sniff harder. “Can we go home?”
The words snuck out slowly.
“Of course.” He brought her to her feet. They made their goodbyes to their friends, Mark resisting the urge to give Keri a dirty look for whatever it was she’d done to upset Tessa.
The short ride home passed in silence. The exterior lights were on at the house, the upper floor sparkling with the new fixtures she’d chosen and he’d rushed to install.
He pointed them out to her. “You picked the perfect ones. I love how they look.”
Tessa smiled, but it never reached her eyes. She tugged him to a stop before they hit the door. “Wait. I need to…look around.”
This night got more and more confusing. “Of course.”
She caught his fingers in hers and refused to let him go. The feel of her skin under his hand—he’d never got the concept of pleasure/pain before, but being with her without being with her was teaching him fast.
There didn’t seem to be anywhere specific she wanted to go. They shot past the full wood shed, through the freshly painted paddlewheel blades that she’d mentioned would look great in dark green, around the outside where he’d begun to widen the front walkway.
Tessa brought him inside and paced through the rooms that were ready and waiting for the drywall that was on order—he’d run out of things to build. While waiting for supplies, he’d switched to making furniture.
She trailed her fingers over the smoothly sanded surface of a bedpost, still not talking. Not explaining what was wrong.
His wolf was ready to burst free when she finally smiled. A real smile. “Come upstairs, I have something to show you.”
The beast inside calmed enough he could take the stairs at her side without panicking. But when she stopped in the kitchen of all places, he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Tessa, what the heck is wrong? What did Keri say?”
She poked at the new coffeemaker on the island countertop. “Keri told me to open my eyes and stop being a fool.”
One more tug, and she had him in the large open space where the giant table for the group dinners would sit. When she would have brought him to the floor, he hesitated.
“Tessa, this isn’t a good idea.” If he got down with her, she might not get up for the rest of the night. “I’ll just go—”
“Stay,” she ordered. “I need to tell you something important.”
He knelt, keeping a bit of distance between them.
She eyed the space, and sighed unhappily.
His heart ached, but he didn’t break. Not yet. Not until she lifted her gaze to meet his, and her eyes were full of unshed tears.
Mark moved without thinking, scooping her up and cradling her in his lap, holding her head to his shoulder and rocking her. The connection between their bodies heated like a branding iron, but somewhere he’d find the power to give her what she needed without claiming her.
Her fingers brushed his cheek. “You’ve been saying it all along, haven’t you?”
He paused, partly because her touch was driving electric pulses through his entire system, and partly because he wasn’t sure what she meant.
She wiggled upright and held his face in both her hands. “You’ve been saying it all along and I wasn’t listening. That’s what Keri smacked me over the head with—that I’m a cat and you’re a wolf. It wasn’t a stupid comment that my brother made not very long ago.”
“Tony?” Had she been chatting with her family? “That reminds me. I wanted to suggest you invite everyone over for a visit. Your mom, dad, Tony. Whenever works for them. We’ll have room—”
Her mouth covered his, stopping his rush of words and, holy moly, he really was going to die now. Because after a few days without tasting her, there was no way he’d be able to convince his wolf to stop. The buzz of chemicals turned him inside out, longing far too soft of a word for what he felt.
Her lips caressed delicately though, and his fingers trembled on her hips as he fought for control.
A slick of tongues together. The shaking increased to include his arms.
When she buried her hands in his hair and leaned back, pulling him over her, he was torn between stripping them naked and worrying about her getting hurt on the hard wood floor.
Her entire body softened as they kissed, his groin so tight to hers he was afraid he might spontaneously erupt. Mark rolled, putting her on top, protecting her from the cold and the unpadded surface.
His gums ached with the urge to mark her, to take her, to possess her. But while she was kissing him, at least he wasn’t doing anything crazy-like.
Tessa planted her palms to his chest and pushed herself upright, straddling his hips and pinning him in place. Well, as much as a lightweight like her could keep him trapped.
She calmed her breathing, and that beautiful smile he’d fallen in love with returned to brighten her face. “Do you even know you’re doing it?”
“That I’m lying on the floor trying not to ravish you? Oh, I know, sweetheart. I know.”
She shook her head. “I mention I’m worried about the cold winter—you fill the shed with a two-year supply of wood. I try to break your coffeemaker; you get me a different one. You’ve worked and worked and listened to every single thing I’ve said, and I’m so ashamed of myself…”
He curled himself upright, sexual tension temporarily forgotten in an attempt to reassure her. “Hey, stop that. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Tessa tilted her head to the side. “Maybe not if you were a cat, but you’re a wolf. And even if you were a cat, I’m guilty of one terrible thing. I haven’t been listening. Not like you have. Can you forgive me?”
Mark was lost, but… “Sure. I forgive you. But are you going to tell me what specifically I’m forgiving you for?”
She stroked his chest lightly. “I had my own agenda when I came out here, and that’s not wrong. It’s good for me to have goals, and even though we’re mates, I’m not going to give up thinking things through and making plans.”
“I wouldn’t want you to,” he insisted.
She nodded. “I know, yet that’s
why I’m sorry. I had an idea of what ‘being in love’ looked like, and when you didn’t do those things, I figured we had to wait. I wasn’t listening to what you were really saying.”
His brain had focused in on one part of her confession. “You figured we had to wait. Does that mean…we don’t have to any longer?”
Tessa paused. “Do you love me?”
“Of course I do.” His heart raced. “I mean, I’ll fall in love with you more as time goes past, but right now I can still say honestly that I love you.”
“You love me because we’re mates…”
Mark laughed. “You’re still hung up on that, aren’t you? I know it’s not a cat way. But, Tessa, I love you because you’re you. That’s why we’re mates in the first place. I wouldn’t have this draw inside toward a random stranger who wasn’t perfect for me. Who wouldn’t complement my talents, who couldn’t enjoy the things I enjoy. It’s not like a shortcut to happiness because we need to work at it, but we’re right together. That’s what being mates means.”
Enough. He stood and carried her into the bedroom. This time he dropped her—actually, he lofted her toward the bed.
Tessa twisted with a feline grace and landed on all fours, the most incredible smile beaming back at him. “Like I said, you listen all the time.”
This incredible mixture of sorrow and delight filled her.
She’d screwed up, badly, but he wasn’t going to hold it against her. That much she knew without the slightest doubt.
Tessa sat back on her heels. Stared at him as he waited patiently, as usual. “Remember I told you I don’t feel successful at times?”
He nodded.
“That doesn’t change the facts. I’m good at what I do. I have the skills, I have the drive and the enthusiasm, and I work and make things happen.”
There was a distance between them, but hope lit his eyes—just a flutter of it crossing his face. “Feelings and reality aren’t always the same thing?”
“No.” There was so much she wasn’t certain about, only she’d been an idiot to ignore the specific truths in this situation. “Mark, you’re a wolf.”