“She’ll have the same as me.” Evander spoke for her when Bethany didn’t respond to Vi’s inquiry.
“Oh.” Vi’s forehead wrinkled as she eyed Bethany questioningly. “I’ll go get this started then.” She made to leave, but stopped to lean toward Bethany. “Sorry if I embarrassed you dear. I’m just so happy that Kane’s finally found you.” Tears filled the woman’s eyes again as she glanced at Evander with clear affection. “He’s such a good man, and he’s been looking for you for so long.”
Bethany dipped her head and forced a smile. Still unsure how to respond to the woman’s comments she offered, “Thanks, Vi.” Hopefully, the tag-on of the woman’s name would appease her. It did. The woman’s face broke into another beaming grin as she nodded once in approval before turning to hurry toward the kitchen.
“Sorry,” Evander apologized, and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “I’ve been coming here for years. Vi is like an aunt. She means well.”
Bethany nodded and concentrated on studying the restaurant to keep her attention off the feel of Evander’s fingers stroking her hand.
“So,” he laced his fingers with hers. “What’s this ‘fooled your wolf’ business?”
Bethany’s gaze jerked to his, and she tried to pull her hand away, but he smiled and held firm.
“Answers,” he demanded with a cocky grin.
Vi approached with two fountain sodas, and Bethany waited until she was gone before glaring at Evander. “This really isn’t the place for that discussion.” She eyed the tables around them warily.
“The man behind me in the jean jacket is a shifter. A lone wolf. He won’t listen to our conversation because he doesn’t care about it.”
“Vi?” Bethany couldn’t help but ask, knowing she couldn’t rely on her wolf’s senses.
“She knows what we are.” Evander eyed the woman behind the counter, smiling at her. “But she’s not one of us.”
“Still.” Bethany shook her head.
“Honestly, this is the best place to have this discussion, Beth. Because if you wait until we’re alone, I don’t think my wolf can take you denouncing us again. He’ll feel the need to show you that you’re ours.”
Bethany saw the truth of his words in his eyes and had to agree that, if she didn’t want a predictable reaction, then a public setting was probably the best place to explain her theory. Clearing her throat, she focused on the table as she spoke. “I could have escaped that bunker.” She glanced up and just as quickly dropped her eyes. “I didn’t, because the other women were human and they couldn’t take the beatings, and the…” her words stuttered when Evander growled. Peeking up again, she saw anger flashing across his features.
“They beat you?”
She forged on as if he hadn’t spoken. “Instead of them each singling out a female, they’d pick one and all concentrate on attacking her. They’d beat us until we couldn’t fight back, and then they’d…” She swallowed hard. “They’d bite us.”
She felt Evander’s finger’s shaking around hers, and she looked up to find his eyes black with rage. She blew out a pent-up breath and hurried on. “I could have escaped, but it would have left the human women unprotected.”
When Evander spoke, his voice had dipped dangerously low. “Unprotected?”
Bethany pulled on her fingers and he let them go. Under the table, she fisted her hands and continued. “The other women were weaker, and they couldn’t take the pain. So I…”
“You what, Beth?”
“I baited them. I taunted them into attacking just me. I knew I could take it. The others couldn’t.”
“Here we go.” Vi’s cheery voice cut into their conversation as she approached the table with two steaming cheeseburger platters complete with all the fixings and a pile of golden fries. She placed a plate in front of Bethany and the other before Evander. “Anything else?” She looked at Evander and stilled. “You alright, Kane?” Clear concern laced the woman’s tone.
“He’s fine.” Bethany eyed Evander, willing him to calm. “Can…can we get some ranch maybe?”
“Sure, sweetheart.” Vi pulled her attention from Evander to do Bethany’s bidding.
“Look.” Bethany leaned in to hiss. “Please don’t go all psychotic Alpha on me. I want to finish this, but I’m not going to if you can’t handle hearing it.”
Evander’s scowl lessened by only a fraction.
“Eat your food.” Bethany pushed his plate toward him. When he didn’t reach for it, Bethany frowned. “Please?” She looked toward the rapidly approaching Vi. “I don’t want her to think we’re fighting.”
Just as Vi reached the table, Evander reached down and lifted the burger to his lips, taking a vicious bite.
“That’s what I like to see,” Vi beamed. “A man with a healthy appetite. She turned to Bethany. “Anything else, dear?”
“No, thank you.”
“Enjoy.” Then Vi was heading back behind the counter.
Bethany relaxed a little, and gave Evander an appreciative smile as she lifted a warm fry to her mouth and nibbled on it.
“Finish!” Evander growled before taking a second bite of his burger.
“So, I could have escaped, but I didn’t. My wolf wanted to, and I sure as hell wanted to, but I couldn’t leave those women like that. After a few beatings, I no longer had the strength to leave, or to heal. I was at their mercy.” She looked up when Evander dropped his burger on his plate and fisted both hands on the table.
“Beth. Did they…”
He didn’t finish, but from the way his jaw worked and his face paled slightly, Bethany knew what he was asking.
“No. They didn’t touch me sexually. They didn’t hurt any of the women like that.” She watched as some of the tension left his frame, but he let his food sit.
“At first, I thought my wolf was just worn out from keeping constant vigil. She never slept, and I figured that being on alert twenty-four-seven protecting me was just too much. She healed me the first few days, but after that… I figured, once I was rescued, I’d eat, sleep, and then she’d heal me. It hasn’t happened. She’s…gone. She’s just gone.” Tears flooded her eyes. “I think she’s upset that I didn’t get us out of there when I had the chance. I let us be abused, and she abandoned me for it.” Bethany lifted her eyes to Evander’s. “Until you. She stirred when you rescued us, and I think it’s because she recognized that you’re one of us. She knew you’d protect us. Even now, the only time she comes forth is when you’re near, and I’m…I’m sorry Evander.” She shook her head. “My wolf has attached herself to you because you came for us. Because she needs your strength.”
“You truly don’t think you’re mine, do you?”
She flinched at the wounded look that flashed across his face. “I’m sorry, Evander. I’m just so…so damn sorry.”
He shoved his plate aside and braced his elbows on the table. “There are two things you need to know with absolute certainty, Beth. One, it is the wolf who should be relied upon in times of great distress. If she’s coming to me, it’s because she knows. Two, you are mine. I know it to the very depths of my soul.”
“Look at me.” Bethany thrust an arm forward, yanking up her sleeve to reveal bite-marred flesh. Evander growled at the sight. “I’m not healing, Evander.” She slumped back in her chair and whispered, “I’ve rested, I’ve eaten, and I carry your mark, but I’m still not healed. It can only mean one thing.”
“My mark on you isn’t even hours old.” He nudged her plate forward. “Eat. Tonight, you’ll sleep.” His lips curled in self-assurance. “And in the morning, when you’re healed, you’ll know the truth.”
Hope sparked deep inside, and Bethany knew it shone in her eyes when Evander smiled and nodded. It made sense. Everything else took time; a mate mark would as well.
Eyeing her plate with a renewed sense of promise, Bethany grabbed her burger and took a healthy bite while Evander smiled his approval.
Minutes later, both their pla
tes were clean and Evander eyed his watch. “Let’s get you back to the house. I think an early night is in order. You’re going to need your rest.”
Butterflies flitted to life in her belly, and it suddenly felt like Christmas Eve. If Evander’s theory were true, she’d wake and have proof that she was, in fact, his mate. Nodding once, she eased from the booth and let him escort her back to his jeep.
Chapter 12
Back at the compound, Evander hurried around the jeep to open Bethany’s door. She couldn’t help but smile at the romantic gesture. He was lifting her out of the jeep when he stopped, holding her in mid-air. “How about a quick walk before you turn in?”
She nodded and was rewarded with a smile as he lowered her to the ground and captured her hand.
They walked in silence for a while. Bethany allowed him to lead her around the property as the forest around them settled in for the night.
“What do you do to relax?” he finally asked, breaking the silence.
“Umm, I like to write.”
“Really?” He sounded genuinely interested. “What do you write?”
“Poems, short stories, stuff nobody wants to read.”
He chuffed a laugh. “Doubtful. I bet you’re a great writer.”
“It really is pretty lame stuff.”
“You should let me read something you’ve written sometime.”
Bethany curled her nose and shook her head, countering with, “What do you do to relax?”
“I read.”
She giggled, but quickly silenced when she realized he wasn’t joking. “Really? Me too. But I doubt you’re into the kind of gooey smut I’m into.” She kicked at a rock. “So what do you read?”
He was silent so long she didn’t think he’d answer when he finally recited in an even tone. “Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky, and the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.”
Bethany knew the poem well. Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Law for the Wolves’. She finished the next line. “As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back; for the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
Kane smiled at her. “You too?”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I assumed all shifters knew it.”
“You’d be surprised,” Kane scoffed. “I once tried to make the pack memorize it. It was going to be our pack mantra, our prayer. Half of them couldn’t even tell you the title if you asked.”
She laughed, but it caught in her throat when he gripped her hips and swung her until she sat atop a wooden fence rail. Evander insinuated his large body between her legs, letting his hands settle just above her ass as he turned to study the quickly setting sun as it filtered through the pine trees. He inhaled deeply and leaned forward, pressing his hard body into hers as he rested his head on her shoulder. Unsure what else to do, Bethany lifted a hand to cup the back of his neck. He growled suddenly, and she tensed before her ears picked up approaching footsteps.
“What is it?” Evander demanded without moving.
“Tracks near the creek.”
He straightened to scowl at Weston. “Wolf?”
“Human, but none of ours. Unless,” Weston turned to eye Bethany. “Have you gone down to the river’s edge at all?”
She opened her mouth to deny it, but Evander cut her off with a snarl.
“You’d have scented her there!”
Weston plowed a hand through his blond hair. “That’s the problem. There’s no scent.”
Evander waved him off. “Probably old tracks.”
“They’re fresh, Kane.”
Annoyed, Evander wanted to get back to holding Bethany while enjoying the sunset. “It’s probably just some fisherman or hunter. Who gives a shit? If it’s a threat, they’ve come to the wrong territory.” He turned back to Bethany but spoke to Weston. “Leave us.”
Weston huffed before walking away.
Alone again, Evander smiled up at her. “Where were we?”
But Bethany’s attention was centered on Weston as he stalked back to the house. “Shouldn’t you at least check on…”
“They’re grown wolves, Beth. They don’t need me to come running every time a tree falls in the woods.” He grabbed both her hands, changing the subject. “Let’s watch the sunset before it’s time to get you tucked in.”
He pressed his head back to her shoulder, and she had to admit it felt really fucking right. Still, the what-ifs wouldn’t relent. “Evander, if tomorrow…”
He didn’t let her finish. “Tomorrow, Beth. When you wake, you’ll have the truth. Tomorrow.”
Chapter 13
I am not his! Oh God, no! I’M NOT FUCKING HIS! She wasn’t Evander’s mate! It hadn’t worked. Bethany eyed her arms and then kicked off her blankets to eye her legs even as a whimper of denial escaped her parted lips, and panic set in. Why didn’t it work? It should have worked if I were his… But, I’m not. I can’t be. This proves it.
Hysterical, she hiked up her night shirt to eye her abdomen. Nothing! Not a single wound had healed. She sprang from the bed, but in her haste she’d failed to free her legs of the mess of sheets and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Fuck! That hurt!
Her palms stung, and her hipbone ached where it bore the brunt of her weight.
“Beth?”
She heard Evander’s voice and panicked even more. How could she face him?
Heavy footfalls thundered up the stairs. He must have heard the loud thump of her fall and was coming to check on her.
Unsure what to do, she swiped the tears from her cheeks and raced for the bathroom.
“Beth?” Seconds later he was pounding on her door, just as she slammed the bathroom door and quickly locked it. As if a lock would keep out her mate. He’s not mine! Another bought of fresh tears filled her eyes and she struggled to control her ragged breathing. She was having a panic attack!
“Beth?” Evander entered her room, and she heard him growl before he crossed to the bathroom door and pounded on it. “What’s wrong? Let me in!”
“No. I’m…” She’d been about to say ‘fine’ but that was clearly a lie. Obviously, he’d scent her distress and tears.
“Beth!” he growled.
“I’m not.” Her voice was breathless as she attempted to tamp down her hysteria. “I’m not…”
“What? What is it, baby?”
The endearment coupled with the tenderness in his tone had her finishing the sentence on an all-out sob. “I’m not yours!”
Shock was evident in his tone. “What?”
Bethany was crying full out now. “I’m not yours, Evander. It didn’t work.” She crossed to sit on the toilet, bending over and wrapping her arms around herself as she cursed herself for the fool she was. She’d known better than to get her hopes up, but she’d done it anyway.
“Get away from the door.” Evander growled. Bethany didn’t respond, and short seconds later the knob turned with a vicious click as the door jarred just barely open.
Evander slowly pushed the door the rest of the way open as if he were afraid she was on the other side. When he found her on the toilet, he rushed the room. “Baby?” She was up in his arms before she could object. She sobbed and fisted her hand into his shirt as tears wet the front of his shirt.
“I’m not yours. It didn’t work. I haven’t healed.” She shook her head. “I told you. My stupid fucking wolf!”
“Shhh,” he soothed, carrying her back into the bedroom and settling on the bed with her on his lap.
Weston and Clay rushed the room. “Kane?” Weston growled, looking for the threat.
“Leave us!” Evander snarled, and then thought better of it. “Clay! Stay.”
Weston bowed out of the room with true worry in his expression while Clay slowly approached. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“She hasn’t fucking healed.” Evander was back to snarling.
“Oh, Beth
any.” Clay was contemplative a moment before he began. “Evander, maybe she’s not your…”
“SHE’S MINE!”
Bethany jerked in his arms, and he was back to murmuring softly to her. “Shhh, baby. I’ve got you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Everything is going to be fine.” He looked up at Clay pointedly. “Isn’t it Clay?”
The clear warning in his tone had Clay fidgeting before he pinched the end of his nose and studied Bethany. “Maybe you should mark her again.”
Evander’s tone was full of impatience. “What?”
“Yeah,” Clay nodded as if he liked the idea. “What if we treat it like a series of antibiotics? Perhaps she needs more than the one time.”
The scowl on Evander’s face showed he wasn’t buying it. Locked in his displeased Alpha’s gaze, Clay shrugged and shook his head while silently mouthing, “I don’t know.”
For just a fraction of a second, Evander entertained the thought that Bethany wasn’t his, but his wolf lunged forward, snarling its discontent. No, she was his.
Evander stood and gently placed Bethany on her feet. “Get dressed, and then come down to the kitchen. We’ll try again.” He used a finger to tilt her chin up until mournful eyes met his. He let the amber eyes of his wolf show through as he spoke, so she’d understand the seriousness. “We’ll keep trying, Beth. We’ll keep doing this until it works.”
She simply nodded, and it took all of Evander’s strength to walk away from her in that moment when what he wanted most was to crawl into her bed, pull her close, and kiss away her fears.
***
In the kitchen, Evander paced. Clear agitation marred his brow. “Why the fuck didn’t it work, Clay?”
“Well, there could be many reasons her wolf is still in hiding.”
Evander could tell by his pack healer’s tone that he didn’t buy it. Clay believed that Bethany wasn’t his, and that once again Evander was attempting to force a mating where none existed.
“I was stricken!” Evander snarled stopping to square off against his healer.
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