by Dana Archer
“Yes.” His wolves would alert him of danger. “I wouldn’t have stopped here if I’d thought you’d be at risk.”
“Then will you…” She gripped his shoulders. “Will you kiss me again?”
He glanced into her face. The lust displayed there fed his. “Are you warm enough?”
Gwen nodded. “I feel hot. Crazed. I need…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
“I do.” She ached. It was his fault. His lips on her body had aroused her. He hadn’t meant to. Their connection intensified everything, however. “And I’ll take care of you. Say yes, Gwen.”
“Yes.” No hesitation. He hadn’t even specified what he was asking permission for. The acceptance in her expression told him the truth, though. She’d give him anything.
He zipped her parka and wrapped the blankets around her shoulders, directing her to hold them.
With his wolves on alert, he stimulated her, stroking her at the same time as he took her mouth in a deep kiss. On and on, they twined their tongues while he languidly caressed her. He didn’t want to shock her by taking things too far, too fast. Honestly, he had no plans on loving her here, but she needed this as much as he did. The connection they shared demanded intimacy.
She sighed against his lips before arching into him. Hungers unfurled within him. The press of her chest to his and the soft sound of her submission stirred his darker drives.
Didn’t she know what effect she had on him? Didn’t she sense how he was struggling to hold himself in check? She had to know. He’d told her what he wanted from her. Yet she tempted him.
Instead of taking this too far, he broke their kiss and brushed his cheek against hers.
She wiggled her bottom, a silent attempt to get him to move. A shaky sigh escaped her mouth. “Xander, I need more than a kiss. I need—”
He nipped her lip, stopping her words. The desperation in her voice killed his plans. He would please her, giving Gwen what she craved, but at his pace, not hers. It’d be the only way to retain control. “Close your eyes and focus on what I’m doing to you. Nothing more.”
She didn’t move. Didn’t speak. He eased back enough to look into her face. Eyes closed, exactly as he’d ordered, she waited for him to stimulate her. It was the best sight he’d seen in ages.
His black wolf growled, but no sense of animosity accompanied the sound, and neither his Arctic nor his gray wolf reacted. Danger hadn’t found them, but someone had.
He opened himself to his black wolf, allowing the animal to partially merge with him, and looked through its eyes. The sight of Vlad a few hundred feet away confirmed his guess.
Possessiveness slithered through Xander, stirring the darker side of his nature. He forced open the pathway to his pack mate and growled. The menacing sound was meant to strike fear into those shifters less dominant than him.
Vlad didn’t flinch. He strode forward, anger radiating off him.
“Aren’t you going to touch me?” Gwen asked hesitantly, drawing Xander’s attention back to her.
With her eyes still closed, Gwen waited, exactly as he’d ordered. She was captivating, a beautiful and innocent female, but her trust in him enhanced her allure. He wanted to reward her.
Holding the pathway to Vlad’s mind open, Xander allowed the barrier around his most intimate emotions to fall and forced Vlad to feel the peace Xander’s wolves experienced in Gwen’s presence. Once Vlad shared in the undeniable evidence that Gwen was indeed Xander’s true mate, Vlad wouldn’t be able to claim she was actually his.
If Vlad still claimed to share Xander’s true mate, then… Xander didn’t have an answer to that. He’d worry about it later. This moment was his and Gwen’s. With Vlad on guard, he’d be able to indulge in it too.
Xander drew on his centuries of experience with women and used his knowledge to pleasure his true mate.
Gwen’s breathy sighs turned to whimpers, and Vlad’s anger morphed to lust. The first Xander had expected. The latter surprised him, yet it shouldn’t have. Before Elizabeth had walked into their lives close to two hundred years ago, he and Vlad had often shared women.
Those encounters had always been more satisfying than taking a lover alone. There was something about working together to shatter a female, bringing her to release multiple times, that had taken his pleasure higher. The competition to outdo each other’s skills had made the sex rewarding.
Xander put those thoughts out of his mind before he considered why it felt right to have Vlad’s gaze on them and focused on what he was doing to Gwen.
Her cry of release muffled behind her hand rewarded him. Her knees gave out. Her other hand slid from where she’d been clutching his shirt. He stood and wrapped his arms around her, supporting her while she relearned how to breathe.
“That was amazing.” She dropped her forehead against his shirt. “But you’ve ruined me for other men. You know that, right?”
Xander waited a moment until Vlad was within earshot, then said, “That’s how it’s supposed to be between true mates.”
Vlad’s anger slashed him. “If the two of you are done—”
Gwen gasped and yanked at her sweats, pulling them up and covering her exposed skin. “I didn’t… We didn’t—”
“If the two of you are done”—Vlad went on, ignoring her interruption—“then we need to dispose of that disc somewhere. Otherwise, Reno and his men will follow the signal here. Once they realize what happened, they will search the area, and the lake isn’t that far away.”
Gwen dropped her gaze. Brows scrunched and lips pressed tightly together, she looked as if Vlad had accused her of the world’s problems.
“Which is why we stopped here to remove it.” Xander ran a hand down Gwen’s arm, offering the most comfort he could give without drawing attention to her embarrassment. “Waiting until we got to the cabin would’ve drawn them right to us. With the storm, we might not be able to move quickly.”
Vlad stepped closer to Gwen and drew her jacket down, letting it fall to the ground, then fixed the blankets over her shoulders. “The coat has Xander’s blood on it. You need to lose it.”
Gwen nodded, and Vlad faced Xander. “The devices have a failsafe that could’ve been overridden if I’d been here. I could’ve pressed the small switch on its back, and it would’ve gone into redirect mode, which modifies the signal, skewing it so it appears to go in a different direction before shorting out completely.”
That was news to him. He’d read the informational packet sent to all shifter leaders when the technology had been leaked. The human government had wanted to inform the shifter community of the newest danger to them. “According to the information I’d been given, there isn’t one.”
Vlad snorted. “Of course not. Why would you think—”
“Watch your tone in front of your alpha, Vlad. We don’t have time now for me to put you in your place, but trust me, the lesson is coming.” Xander slammed the door on the mental pathway he and Vlad shared before Vlad felt Xander’s reluctance over punishing him.
Vlad cracked his jaw. “Shifter Affairs hadn’t wanted everyone to know of the override, especially when they didn’t know who they could trust with the knowledge. They’d purposely left it out of the informational packet.”
The reprimand stung, despite Vlad dropping the accusatory tone. Xander motioned to the device. “It’s not broken. Can you still override the failsafe?”
Vlad shook his head. “It’s too late now. Once the temperature of the disc drops below a certain threshold, it locks all reprogramming.”
Gwen jerked her gaze to Vlad’s. “It was my idea. I didn’t know. I—”
Vlad pressed a finger to her lip. “Why would you? I’m not blaming you or Xander.” He turned his head and met Xander’s gaze. “I’m just saying I could’ve saved us if Xander hadn’t shut me out, but he refuses to accept that my involvement in your life is necessary for your safety and your happiness. And if he doesn’t realize that soon, we’re all going
to lose, because we’re in this together. We’ve always been in this together.”
Chapter 10
Xander’s intense stare should’ve been enough to force Vader to drop his gaze. It wasn’t. Never had been enough. Before today, Vader had always assumed it had been because they’d shared too much over their long lives.
Watching Xander and Gwen together obliterated those theories, and affirmed the suspicion he’d formed in the months since he and Xander began searching for Gwen.
Her soul belonged to both of them, always had.
What that meant going forward? Vader had no clue, but their connection couldn’t be denied. Xander had purposely left his soul open, forcing Vader to experience what Xander felt in Gwen’s presence.
Peace.
It had echoed Vader’s contentment, intensifying it. His anger over Xander’s actions turned into some emotion he had no name for. He’d say, lust, but that word didn’t fit exactly. He didn’t desire Xander, but the sight of Gwen in his arms had left Vader energized and aroused.
He shut down the thoughts before his body reacted to the memory and met Xander’s gaze as an equal would. That was what they were. What they’d always been and always would be. Partners, joined by a small female they’d both hurt with their ignorance.
“Well, alpha of the Winchester pack? No comment?” Vader prompted, ending the silent battle of wills.
“Until we get Gwen safely back to West Virginia, we are in this together.” Reluctance echoed in Xander’s voice. “It’s unfortunate you didn’t disclose the facts about the tracking device when you’d had the opportunity.”
“And when was that?” Gwen glanced between them. “We’ve been separated and running for our lives.”
Xander glared at him. “We’ve been together every day for the past four months while we’ve followed one lead after another on you. We’d talked about the possibility that your captors had chipped you. He hadn’t mentioned the switch or the failsafe that blocked reprogramming.”
“Every day?” Gwen stepped closer to Xander. Happiness brightened her eyes and lightened her voice. “You walked away from all your responsibilities for me?”
Xander brushed his lips over Gwen’s. “Of course. You are my gift from the Winchester pack’s goddess. Nothing is more important than your safety.”
The wolves sharing Vader’s soul growled. No aggression accompanied the sound. Annoyance did. They’d seen what Vader had. Xander had a right to Gwen’s body, just as he did. They wouldn’t fight Xander’s claim, but their acceptance didn’t mean they weren’t irritated by Xander or their situation.
“I’m glad you feel that way.” Vader used the snow to clean the tracking device, removing the frozen blood. “Then you’ll agree taking it back to the waterfalls is the best place to dispose of it. The trail leading down from there isn’t the safest way to reach the highway, but it’s the quickest. Reno might believe we’d gone that route to get Gwen out of here because of the coming storm, and if we’re lucky, the chip will travel with the current.”
Xander glanced from the disc to Vader’s face. “Sounds like a good plan. Make it happen.”
“Not me.” He held the device out to Xander. “You should take it.”
“And why is that?” Xander asked.
“Because I know the way to the lake, and I—”
“No.” Xander chuckled. “I don’t think so. I’m not abandoning Gwen.”
“It’s not about abandoning Gwen. It’s about protecting her. I know the path, and I—”
“And I can smell the water in the air. My wolves will lead us there. Never again will I let anything happen to my true mate.”
Curses whipped through Vader’s head. He wanted to demand Xander look into Vader’s soul to see the truth about Gwen belonging to both of them. Convincing Xander to willingly do so would take too much time, however. They were short on it at the moment.
Vader curled his fingers around the tracking device. “I chose the smallest cabin. It’s the least drafty, and there’s some canned goods stored in the pantry too.”
“Hurry back. We’ll need the extra set of eyes once visibility drops with the storm. We can’t start a fire that’ll draw attention to our hiding spot, and I can’t be inside holding Gwen all night. Someone needs to be on patrol.”
Vader knew, without being told, who’d be delegated to lurking outside in the cold. He hated this. Every instinct he possessed demanded he stake his claim on Gwen too, but he wanted her safe more.
Vader slid his gaze to Gwen. “When I get back, you and I need to talk.”
“When he gets back, he’ll be on patrol.” Xander pulled Gwen against his body. “He won’t have time to talk to you.”
She cocked her head to the side and studied Vader. “Talk about what?”
Them—their past, their future, what they could do about their unusual connection. None of those would be easy topics. “Lena. I hurt her, and I hurt you. I want to apologize.”
She stared at him a long moment. Her eyes widened. “You didn’t mate her, did you?”
“No.” Vader shook his head. “She wasn’t my true mate.”
“Let’s go.” Xander wrapped his arm around Gwen’s shoulders before Vader could say another word and led her toward the ATV. “Vlad can apologize later.”
“I go by Vader now. You know this.” Why Xander had decided today to start correcting him in front of others, Vader didn’t have a clue.
Xander stopped walking and slowly turned his head, meeting Vader’s gaze. “Not anymore.”
“You have no—”
“Enough. I’ve put up with your nonsense for four months. I’m done playing nice. You accept who you’ve always been, or you sever your tie to the Winchester pack and join another pack.” Brown with streaks of black, green, and blue overtook the white in Xander’s eyes. “And let me warn you, my friend, if you choose that path, you will never see or speak to Gwen or me again.”
Xander’s threat drifted through Vader’s head before their connection severed, blocking Vader out. He didn’t bother trying to reform the mental pathway or speak, for that matter. He couldn’t. The hypnotizing sight of Xander’s eyes left him speechless. Only males who were in the presence of their true mate could pull off the feat.
Like this, Xander’s eyes were breathtaking.
“Deal with the tracking device quickly.” Xander lifted Gwen onto the ATV, then climbed on in front of her. “We’ll be safest together.”
The ATV’s engine turned over, drowning out anything Vader might’ve said in response. He stood there, watching the ATV drive away, confused by Xander’s words. Although he hadn’t acknowledged their unusual connection, he’d guaranteed they’d end up exploring it.
All Vader had to do was accept the name and role he was born into.
He grinned, amused by their connection instead of hating it as he’d assumed he would. He looked forward to the moment when he could turn Xander’s ultimatum on him, demanding Xander accept the role he’d been born into—alpha of the Winchester pack who was bonded to its top dominant through Gwen.
Chapter 11
The wind had picked up in the time since they’d stopped to remove Gwen’s tracking device. Although not cold—there was no way she could be with Xander’s body pressed to hers—Gwen buried her face against his back to avoid talking. Guilt and confusion left her thoughts muddled.
Xander’s revelation about them being true mates had shocked her, yet it hadn’t surprised her. She’d felt the connection between them back in Delaware. His commitment to her also made her feel incredibly special.
So why wasn’t she happier?
She had been before Vader arrived. No, Vlad. That was his pack name, and if he wanted to remain a part of the Winchester pack, he’d reclaim it and his role in the pack. Xander’s order had been delivered in the tone of an alpha, not allowing any room for discussion or dissention.
Hopefully, Vlad would follow his alpha’s command. To her, it didn’t matter what name he use
d. He was the same person, and the very idea of never seeing him again chilled her.
Her emotions toward Vlad confused her. They always had. She’d desired him. Craved him in ways she couldn’t describe. Longed for things she had no name for. It had hurt knowing he hadn’t felt the same, and it had destroyed her every time she’d seen him with Lena.
She squeezed her eyes closed before the pain and anger surfaced. The past was over. He’d chosen Lena.
But he hadn’t mated her.
Gwen lifted her head. “Who did Lena mate?”
“A Royal feline shifter named Devin Moore. He’s a member of the Alexander pride and my best friend outside the pack.”
She hadn’t liked any of the feline shifters she’d met while at the compound with Killer. They were colder and more calculating than the other groups, but she had to admit they were exotically beautiful. While the wolves and bears resembled humans for the most part, the feline shifters exhibited more of their animal traits.
“Does he love her?”
“Very much. She’s the light in his dark world.”
“And Vlad just let her go?”
Xander slowed the ATV, pulling in front of the cabin. “He didn’t have a choice. Lena is Devin’s true mate, and separating true mates hurts everyone involved. Once a shifter meets his, he can never be complete, even if you have no choice but to walk away.”
Sadness tinged his voice, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was referring to them. He had said they’d met before. She opened her mouth but closed it without asking him more about those lifetimes. The sight of the lake and snow-covered cabins lit up by the headlights of the ATV mesmerized her.
She climbed off the seat, leaving Xander sitting there alone, and strode forward.
The water shone as if it were a blackened mirror, and snow painted everything white, leaving the branches heavy and drooping. Never before had she seen a more beautiful scene. The light from the ATV’s headlights cut off, leaving her in darkness.
Her shoulders slumped, disappointment rushing over her.