Even if he hadn’t already seen the lie on her face, he would have smelled the deceit. Her scent of emotions came strong around him. He doubted she could hide anything of herself. A realization that surprised him. It’d been a long time since a woman had been so exposed. The last had been Jaclyn.
He studied her, pondering that thought. Her legs were crossed and her hand was tucked into her thighs as if it was cold. His gaze traveled toward her hidden hand and a sudden need to be that hand between her legs captured him. His cock acknowledged by firming up and he shifted in his seat to ease the pressure against his jeans.
When he glanced up, he met Rylie’s gaze. She was watching him with curious, surprised eyes. He wasn’t sure if she saw his reaction to her or if meeting the Alpha left questions in her mind. Quickly, he tore his gaze away and back onto the road.
He slammed on his breaks.
Rylie screamed. Her hands pressed against the glove compartment as she braced herself.
Cash snorted, nodding toward the man standing in the center of the drive. “Nothing ever does change.”
“What doesn’t change?” Rylie’s voice came out as a squeak. “And who is that?”
“That”—Cash turned off the car, then grabbed the door handle—“is the Alpha, Blaine.” He opened the door and glanced over to Rylie. “Stay here for a moment.”
She nodded, letting out a loud breath he suspected was to steady herself.
Once out, Cash made his way to Blaine who stood only a hairsbreadth away from the bumper off the car. “Do you always insist on trying to wreck my car?”
Blaine grinned. “Always did keep you on your toes.”
Cash laughed. The sound surprised him. He had laughed more in the last few hours than he had in two years.
Apparently, it had the same effect on Blaine. His golden eyes went a little wide, if only for a moment. The tight way of his mouth loosened and the high hold of his shoulders appeared to sink slightly.
“Am I welcome here?” Cash asked.
Blaine’s tension snapped back, and he frowned. “You think you wouldn’t be?”
It was the logical assumption. “I don’t belong to this pack anymore. It is only right that I ask permission to come onto these grounds.”
“You always were a stickler for the rules,” Blaine replied, almost mocking. “I grant your request.” As he gave him the once over, his tension made the air thick and heavy. “You are looking well.”
Cash snorted at the ridiculous statement. “We don’t age. Why would I look any different?”
Blaine shrugged. “I figured you had taken to the mountains and were living as a wild man.” He looked over him again. “You look well, though. I am pleased by that.”
Cash nodded at the compliment, then asked, “And you¯things been good?”
“Well enough,” Blaine replied. “The pack is strong. Any problems have been dealt with easily.”
“Glad to hear of it.”
Blaine’s tension had been building. His eyes were near slits, and his tone dropped an octave. Now, it was a low growl as he asked, “Have you seen your sister?”
“Just yesterday.” Cash’s voice came strong and unafraid. “I went to their home.”
“They well?” Blaine had begun to tremble slightly. His fists clenched by his sides. “The cubs?”
Cash squared himself, his teeth gritted in preparation. He’d known Blaine long enough to anticipate what was going to happen next. Blaine never disciplined with words¯ever. He braced himself and responded with tight lips, “All doing fine.”
To an outsider, this conversation would be pleasant enough. To Cash, this was nothing more than total hell. Blaine and his conversations never revolved around small talk. Neither cared for it. It clearly displayed the hostility that lay between them.
Cash glanced back to the car. Rylie watched with her eyes glued to them. He needed to get on with this and face it dead on. If things between him and Blaine weren’t resolved, he doubted Blaine would do all he could to help him. He looked back to Blaine in a challenge. “You have never been one to be tight-lipped, so get on with it.”
Blaine’s eyes narrowed. “You want to have that conversation?”
“It’s not a thing of want, but must have.”
Blaine nodded, his mouth pursed into a thin line, then in a move that was quicker than Cash could even register, landed a hard right hook into his jaw and sent him airborne.
The air made a whooshing sound as he continued to soar. From a distance, he heard the car door open, then Rylie screamed out his name. His back hit the ground first and his head followed with a sharp pain that stole his breath as a loud grunt escaped his mouth.
“Cash,” Rylie screamed out again.
He shot his gaze to her, not blind to the concern rushing across her face. The thought of her being protective over him made him smile. But when he heard Blaine’s pounding footsteps toward him, he shut off all emotion and said, “Get back in the car¯now.” To his total surprise, she didn’t hesitate. Before he even finished his words, she was back in the car with the door closed. Either she had been raised by a powerful male influence, or she was subordinate. He wasn’t sure which one he believed, and now wasn’t the time to decide.
Blaine was now glaring over him. “You are a selfish fuck.”
“Everyone keeps on saying that,” Cash groaned as he peeled himself off the stone driveway.
Blaine reached down and yanked him up to bring them nose-to-nose. Their height was equal, and their weight was nearly identical. Blaine had said on more than one occasion that if Cash wanted to succeed him, he could do it easily. The role of Alpha, of course, interested him. The idea of taking it away from Blaine didn’t. “You deserted your pack,” Blaine roared. “Do you know the pain you caused?”
“The pain I caused?” Cash growled in return. “Whose pain?”
“The whole fucking pack.” Blaine pulled him in closer now, his breath warm against Cash’s face. “Not only did we lose Jaclyn. We lost you, too. The pack had to deal with that. They depended on you. You were as much an Alpha as I am to them, and you left them high and dry.”
“They have you. They didn’t need me.”
Blaine’s glare deepened. “After you left, they pined. The entire pack mourned Jaclyn, suffered through your sister’s pain of losing a sister and a brother, then ached through your abandonment of them.” He walloped Cash again, this time with an uppercut that sent his teeth rattling and the world spinning around him.
The second Cash hit dirt, he lunged to his feet, not giving into the pain. “Staying here would have been worse.”
“You think?” Blaine pounced forward, sending them both tumbling backward.
Cash landed hard on his back, wrestled beneath him and blocked Blaine’s attempts to pummel him to pieces. “I know, dammit,” he shouted, breathless. “I would have only caused more pain.”
“Fuck that.” Blaine raised a knee and blasted Cash’s stomach. “We all could have been healed together.”
Cash keeled over and sucked in a breath in an attempt to not vomit. “I didn’t want to be saved.” His voice came out strangled. It took one more breath before he regained himself. He shot forward, kicked Blaine’s shin and landed a punch against his kidney. “I wanted to go.”
Blaine held his side as he limped forward. “And that is your failure. Your need to think only of yourself.”
Apparently, the pain was an act. Seconds later, he ran forward, jumped on Cash and sent them crashing against the hood of the car. “I have no loyalty to care about the pack,” Cash growled. His hands wrapped around Blaine’s face as he tried to push him away. “They are not mine to rule.”
“No...” Blaine grunted, pressing all his weight against Cash, “…loyalty? Your pack needed you.”
Cash held his breath, calling on all his strength to throw Blaine off, but it was impossible. Their strengths were too evenly matched. “I was no good for them,” Cash retorted. “It was better that way.”
Stars sparkled before Cash’s eyes. He slid off the hood of the car to land on the ground. Then, he gave his head a shake and a few more after that. Finally, when sense returned, Blaine sat a few feet away with blood dripping down his forehead.
Their gazes connected, Blaine growled, lunged forward, took him by the shirt and shook him. “Your pack needed you. You left them all.” His voice softened from his feral growl. “Including me.”
Cash had seen this look before in Blaine’s eyes. Disappointment. Blaine’s outrage wasn’t only Cash’s abandonment of the pack. It was that he’d chosen to not let Blaine in when he’d been suffering. A bond of friendship had been broken. Disgrace settled within him. At the time, his pain hadn’t acknowledged the thoughts of others. Now, he felt ashamed. “You have done much for me, Blaine,” he said in a whisper, his gaze focused on the stones below. “I owed you better.”
Blaine let out a long, slow breath, released his shirt, and sat back on his legs. “And there it is.” His voice returned to the soft nature Cash knew it to be.
Cash snapped his gaze up curiously. “There what is?”
Blaine gave a knowing look. “A small piece of the Cash I remember.”
A sudden drip on his nose diverted Cash’s attention. He, gave his nose a wipe, then examined his hand. It was exactly what he expected, blood. “Did you have to knock the sense into me?” he accused.
Blaine reached up to his head. “I planned to do it with my fist.” He stood and wobbled slightly. “When that didn’t work, my head seemed like a good alternative.” He reached his hand out to examine his own blood. “Fucking hurt.”
Cash rose to his feet. His hand squeezed tight against Blaine’s, and he returned the hold. To wolves, this was a happy embrace. “Words would have sufficed.”
Blaine knew better. “Not likely, Cash. You’re thick headed.” Then, he glanced over Cash’s shoulder and nodded toward the car. “What have you brought with you?”
Cash followed his gaze to see Rylie watching with wide eyes, and she appeared to be laughing at them. “That, my friend, is a problem.”
* * * *
Rylie watched the two burly men sort out their tiff. At first, she had been afraid for Cash, worried about him facing off with an Alpha. A reaction she thought odd. When the first hit came, she bolted from the car without thought and screamed as if her life was on the line. Sure, he’d been real nice to her, yes, he was sexy as all get-out, but to react with such force toward him startled her. Furthermore, he’d ordered her back to the car and she’d gone immediately. To trust his word so¯she’d never experienced this before.
Her worries only lasted a moment. She soon recognized Blaine’s anger came from love. His eyes weren’t vengeful. They were pained. She’d seen it before. Having a good fist fight unruffled feathers much easier than a long conversation. Well, with men anyway.
After a quick introduction, Rylie now sat atop the hood they’d just fought against.
Blaine leaned forward, and inhaled deeply. Rylie froze. He smiled as he backed away. “Not from around here then?”
Rylie quietly let out a fearful breath. If Layne hadn’t mated with her, she would have smelled like her father. Blaine would’ve recognized that a mile away. He would have known about Layne’s win over her father, but Blaine wouldn’t have scented him yet. He wouldn’t recognize her as an Alpha’s mate. She gave a soft smile. “Nope, I’m from Wyoming.”
Blaine’s gaze turned curious. “May I ask why you have come here in request of help and not to your own Alpha?”
“I hadn’t thought of it,” Rylie replied. “After my parents...” She gulped, then found some strength. “After they died, and after our mating ceremony, the second he left, so did I.”
Blaine’s eyes darkened. Apparently, Cash had told him the whole truth. He cleared his throat before he said, “Edwin, your Alpha, would have dealt with this wolf appropriately. If you wish, I can contact him.”
“No!” she shouted. Both men’s gazes swept with confusion. She laughed and quieted her tone. “No, I mean, I don’t wish to go back there.”
“You want to renounce the Wyoming pack?” Blaine asked.
She chortled as if that was even a question. “Very much so.”
Blaine gave her a look, which she only guessed was inquisitive. He was an Alpha, smart¯worldly. There were holes in her story and she could see as he tried to piece it all together¯the same look she’d seen come from Cash. Blessedly, instead of asking more, he said, “This mate of yours, do you think he will come after you?”
“From his past behavior,” Cash chimed in, “if he finds her, he’ll kill her.”
Rylie noticed that his voice held an air of protectiveness, and it raised strength within her. She glanced over to him. His gaze focused on hers and determination shined through his eyes as his lips set firmly. An urge to reach up, run her hand along his cheek to loosen those muscles, to lay her lips against his and kiss her gratitude, stole her thoughts. Warmth and wetness grew between her thighs as she imagined his lips, his breath, along her skin. Her body ached for him.
“This is a problem then,” Blaine commented, drawing Rylie away from her cravings.
She gave her head a shake and sat on her hands to ensure she didn’t act on those feelings. Her reaction to him was beyond shocking. Never had she met a man that stirred such emotions in her, or made her body so needy of him, and she hoped neither of the men had smelled her arousal. “A big problem,” she said, forcing her gaze back to Blaine.
He rubbed his hand across his jaw as he examined her. “You are welcome to join the Montana pack, and I would see to you finding employment to maintain yourself. That is not a concern. What concerns me is that this mate of yours has rights to you. If he came looking for you, I could not stop him.”
The truth of that sank her into a bottomless pit of despair. “I know...but...there has to be something.” She came very close to begging.
Blaine cocked his head, his brows furrowed in thought, then suddenly, those brows rose as if he’d latched onto a solution. “Cash,” he said.
“What?” Cash responded with a raised brow.
Blaine answered, “You have lost your mate. She doesn’t want hers¯”
Cash raised his hand to stop him. “You cannot possibly mean?”
Apparently, he knew what Blaine hinted about, but Rylie hadn’t a clue. “Mean what?”
“Wolf bonds are not always created by a destined mate,” Blaine replied.
Yes, she knew this. Some mates came together out of true love, not from the soul bond. If a wolf longed for a mate long enough, and she never came, he would seek out one that suited him and the ceremony would be completed just the same. It would never be as strong as a soul bond. But it still held some of the same rules, to feel each other deeper, long for each other while apart. It just wasn’t as overwhelming.
Blaine continued. “A bond can be broken, but to do so, another bond must be formed.”
Rylie absorbed his words, attempting to make sense of it. Then, it dawned on her. “Me”—she pointed toward Cash—“him.” That was all the words her mouth and mind were capable of forming.
Blaine nodded with no hesitation. “I would never suggest such a thing if neither of you hadn’t found your mate, but since you both have¯there is no worry as to that. This will break your bond with this mate of yours, set you free to join our pack, then you and Cash can part ways and go on with your lives. Think of it more as a friendship bonding than anything else.”
Rylie laughed nervously to hide the fact that the chance to heat up the sheets with Cash appealed to her. And her body responded appropriately. The warmth deepened, the wetness grew. She shifted on the hood to sit farther on her rump to alleviate the pressure between her thighs. Ignoring that feeling was of the utmost importance, and more than that, she was desperate to ensure Cash didn’t scent her desire. Before, it had only been an inkling. It
could be hidden. Now, her arousal was thick and demanding.
“Okay, that is so ridiculous.” She glanced to Cash. He wasn’t laughing. He was intent, serious, and apparently thinking this over. His nostrils flaring, his eyes molten¯he hadn’t missed her moment of interest. She adamantly kept her gaze on his nose to not see that burn in his eyes. “You can’t be honestly considering this?”
Cash shrugged, his voice deep. “It hadn’t occurred to me that this is a way to rid you of your problem. There is no reason not to help you in this regard. My mate is gone. I will never be granted another soul bond. Neither will you.” She finally looked up to meet his gaze, to see his brow was arched. “It is a way out.”
“But you don’t want me as a mate,” she gasped.
“You will be brought into safety,” Cash replied. “If you broke the bond, came into the Montana pack, your mate could not hurt you. It does make sense, Rylie.”
She wasn’t sure what stunned her more, hearing of this, or the fact that he agreed to it. For the life of her, she couldn’t see his reasoning behind it. Most wolves would never agree to this. A mate was considered treasure. It wasn’t taken lightly. “You...you would do that for me?”
Cash’s eyes softened, and a small smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “I have lived two years selfishly. Doing this would help you and might vindicate me.”
Blaine gave him a hard slap on the back, obviously approving of his line of thinking.
Rylie couldn’t wrap her head around this. “But what if you find someone that you love and want to mate with her, or what if I did?”
“Then, you can break the bond¯just as you will do now,” Blaine replied. “It is a solution. A way to free you and bring you into safety.” Then, he looked to Cash. “However, there is a snag we will have to work out first.”
Cash arched a brow. “A snag?”
“If she wants to belong to the Montana pack, and she is your mate¯”
Cash interrupted. “I have to belong to the Montana pack too.”
A Broken Bond Page 3