“Responsibilities?” The gentle would-be lover was once again replaced by the hard-edged Warden. He stood, a snarl on his lips. “Woman, do you have any idea what kind of mess you’ve dragged me into?” A different kind of light lit the gold of his eyes and they snapped fire at her. Their connection, one she now recognized, burned with the heat of his ire as he stalked around the couch. “You think you have a hold on me. That you can run around teasing and taunting.” India backed up, shaking her head in denial at his deliberate advance. “Sneaking around.”
“I don’t know what you mean. I have no hold on you. Let me go and I’ll leave” she whispered. Guiltily, she thought of the Hunter and Reggie, still hopefully at Betty’s. “You don’t ever have to see me again.” India’s back touched the wall. Chase brought his hands up to rest on the wall, caging her inside his arms. Nerves tightened her stomach.
“Simple as that, eh, darlin’?”
India nodded, sensing his disbelief.
“Guess that makes you one fickle b—” he stopped before finishing his sentence. Hackles rose on the back of her neck at the insult, though he remained where he was, an immovable wall. “Fine. Undo it and get out.”
Blindsided again, India blinked. In the space of three hours, she’d been hunted, taken prisoner, courted, and bullied. Charles Chase Redding had more sides to his prickly personality than a geometry exam. Yet, for some reason she was completely unafraid and hadn’t been since he’d gathered her up from that driveway. “Undo what?”
“You have some gall.” He pressed nose to nose. “Undo. The. Matebond.”
“What matebond?” She had an urge to kiss and nuzzle the angry line of his jaw. To feel the rasp of whiskers against her cheek until he wrapped her in his strength. India stopped. “We’re not matebonded. We can’t be.” Without her permission, her hands sought out the intriguing landscape of his torso. “We’ve only met just today.”
One gold eyebrow rose. “You’re still in denial, Cleo.” Chase’s right hand left the wall to trace the outside of her ear. “Only the female has the ability to bind mates, permission or not. And you tied me without consent.”
Could she have matebonded him without knowing it? His anger seemed to have abated, replaced by tentativeness. India relished the warmth of his body as he eased against her. It felt right, as though he belonged right there beside her. As if he belonged to her. India’s hands stopped their exploration. Shoving Chase away she stared at him in horror at what she’d done.
Good God. India’s hand went to her neck. Her other covered her slack mouth. What had she done? Staring at him, she finally understood the odd packmate connection. The feeling of security. Sure she’d planned on trapping a wolf in the same way. There was no crime in matebonding with an animal, just an unspoken taboo. But this was different. Way different. Matebonding a male without his permission was tantamount to rape.
* * * *
Chase saw the instant realization dawned on his mate. He’d thought that he’d feel vindicated. Instead, he wanted to comfort. Damn him.
“I’m so sorry.” Tears of self disgust swam in India’s pretty eyes, twisting a knife in Chase’s gut. He couldn’t bring himself to hate her when all he wanted to do was hold her. Giving in to instinct, he pulled her against his chest letting her bury her face against him. “I thought,” the words muffled against his shirt. “I didn’t think you were real.”
Not real? The thought was so silly, that Chase wanted to disbelieve. He sighed. No, the idea was very Cleo. “C’mon, darlin’” He herded her to the tiny bathroom, scooping up her bags. It’s late. “Get cleaned up and then get some rest.” Pushing the tired female inside, he shut the door securely behind her. Resting his bulk against wall, he wondered what the hell he was going to do. “Everything looks better in the light of day.”
The door popped back open. India’s dark head eased out, the loose strands of her hair swinging like a swath of silk. Big dark eyes full of secrets pinned him where he was. “Tag? Ummm,” India worried at her full bottom lip. “I mean Charles?”
“Everyone calls me Chase.”
She nodded, still worrying her lip. “Chase. About the matebond….” She had his full attention. Then again, she always had his full attention. “I can try to undo it.” He kept his face impassive as tendrils of both hope and despair unfurled in his chest. “But I’m not sure if I can. I don’t know what I did to begin with.”
“We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
India nodded closing the bathroom door. Chase rubbed a hand over his face, about to move from his post, when the door popped back open and India’s earnest eyes fixed on him again. “I’m very sorry. About everything.”
Shooing her back inside, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket as he closed the door again. “We’ll talk in the morning. Take a shower and bandage that arm.” He fished the device out, glanced at the display, then with cold trepidation, turned the phone off.
Great. Now, on top of everything else, he was officially dodging his alphas.
* * * *
Waking with a start, India tried to sit up in the unfamiliar room. An arm curled around her middle tightened, keeping her securely in the bed as she recalled last night’s events. She had a mate, albeit a temporary one, until she figured out how to undo whatever she’d done. Apparently, Chase’s gentlemanly offer to sleep on the couch had been short lived. As had her nightmares. Did she talk in her sleep? God, she hoped not. With his warmth cuddled up behind her, she felt safe and secure.
India frowned, restless. This was a not a permanent arrangement. She could not allow herself to fall into a false sense of security. She had Reggie to think about and in good faith, if she left the area, her trouble should follow. There has been no sign of the Hunter in weeks. What if he really was gone? The insidious voice of hope whispered in her ear.
“Be still.” Chase’s sleep roughened voice rumbled in her ear.
“You’re not a morning person, are you?” India had to smile at the grunt he offered in response. His hold loosened enough that she could turn and face him. Even with his golden eyes determinedly shut against the morning, he looked incredibly handsome. His rumpled slept in t-shirt and jeans scuffed the almost aristocratic features of his long aquiline nose and high cheekbones. He was a man who looked terrible in a beard. The two-day growth came in pale, highlighting his long jaw and calling attention to the cleft in his chin. Even his limbs were long, his fingers large and masculine, yet tapered with elegance. Yes, clean him up and stick him in a tux, and Chase would blend right in with her mother’s crowd. Yet, he wouldn’t fit in there.
“Oh, come on.” India grinned. “It’s the perfect time for a morning run.”
“Coffee,” he growled without opening his eyes.
Through the link she recognized at theirs, she felt exhaustion weighing him down. He had not slept, she realized. “I can make coffee.” She touched her nose to her tired warrior’s, belatedly understanding the intimacy of the act and pulled away as if burned.
“Food.” A bit of amber shone between his lush dark gold eyelashes.
“Sorry. Trust me, you don’t want me to cook.” The amber vanished as if food had been the deal-breaker. India slid out of bed, intent on greeting the day. “I’ll make coffee. Maybe there’s something prepackaged around here that you can eat.” India’s mouth watered as he stretched, his bulk encompassing the space she vacated. He buried his face in her pillow with a content rumble that made her stomach clench with sexual heat. He wasn’t hers to keep, she reminded herself.
In the middle of her absolutions, she hit the mother lode. India poked her head out of the bathroom. “Why is the bathroom cabinet stocked with PopTarts?”
“The runt has PopTarts?” Chase rolled to his bare feet to investigate. Gads, even his toes were sexy, India thought. Evil calculation lit his eyes with merry glee as he pushed past her. Sure enough, under the bathroom sink, where most people kept cleaner and other junk, Brandon had filled the space with enough of the pastry
to wipe out a shelf at Supercenter. He took in the sight, rubbing his hands together in sinister glee. “Life is good. Then you have to restock.” Chase grabbed a couple boxes of his favorite flavor. On second thought, he grabbed a couple more of his next favorite before heading to the coffee pot to enjoy a rare breakfast treat.
Taking his actions as an okay, India chose a box of blueberry pastries for herself. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she spied the second cup of coffee waiting for her where Chase was already tearing into his breakfast. Literally. As she sat down, he actually chortled as he tore open the box like a kid unwrapping Christmas presents.
“You must really like PopTarts.” Her own pace was slower. Once more he surprised her by offering one of his frosted treats.
“Try the strawberry. They’re the best.” When she accepted, he ate the other. His eyes closed in bliss. India swallowed. Chewing the last bite, he reached for another package. “It’s not so strange when Packhome is a No Sugar Zone.”
“Why is that?” India had never heard of such. Wolven metabolism allowed them to eat pretty much anything, save for chocolate, without consequence.
Chase paused, the decision not to share passed visibly over his features. “Just is.” He shrugged, his manner telling her that the issue was none of her business. The action hurt, but she took it in stride. He wanted his freedom from the matebond and she had things she hadn’t told him either.
“I need to go for a run.” Standing, she took her cup to the kitchenette to wash. “I won’t be long.”
“Darlin’ you’re not going anywhere without me.” Once again, his tone and the thread of steel in their link said that this was not open to negotiation. Still a girl could try.
“I have responsibilities.” She almost cringed at her use of the same words as last night.
His eyes gleamed with decisiveness. “As do I.” She felt a bit of last night’s anger creep back into him. “And thanks to you, I’ve got to fulfill them while going against my Alphas’ wishes.” At her look of confusion, he gave a short bark of laughter. “Rules and tradition, darlin’. You didn’t think that the Anderson County Pack was filled with a bunch of anarchist werewolves did you?”
She flinched at the derogatory term for an outlaw wolven. “Sorry to disappoint. Even here, there are rules.” He got up, his disgust loud and clear, as he threw away the empty boxes and wrappers. “You didn’t apply to the pack.” Dumping the coffee grounds into the bag he crunched it down before tying the ends together to dispose of later. “No marriage contract was negotiated before you did your thing.” They both knew what she’d done was the worst sort of theft. Marriage contracts were detailed affairs that had little to do with love. Negotiation of business and territory were what most wolven unions were about. India watched as he dropped the bag beside the door. His anger at her fanned with his every step. “In my Alphas’ eyes, you’re a poaching stray.”
In any pack, poaching strays were killed on sight. India stayed quiet, helping to straighten the little space before he ushered her back out to the car. In light of his revelation, she couldn’t tell him about Reggie or the Hunter. She winced inwardly. What if the Hunter decided to come after his pack? India fidgeted while he drove. “Where are we going?”
“Palestine first, for some decent protein.” He didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Then I’ve got rounds. I want to catch that Hunter before he makes his next move.”
A bucket of ice water in her face couldn’t have shocked her more. “You know about the Hunter?”
Chapter Twelve
Chase’s knuckles turned white against the black padded steering wheel. Of course, she knew about the Hunter. A sidelong glance and a quick scan of the matebond confirmed his suspicions. The connection between them felt stronger this morning. He began to get an idea of the closeness the couples at home shared. “The bastard followed you.” India nodded. He considered the mysterious secrets in her eyes that had enchanted him last night.
In the light of day, those secrets weren’t so sexy. Added to his suspicion that she wasn’t getting the same thing out of the bond he was, had him grinding his jaw. She was blocking somehow. “What else aren’t you telling me?” She inhaled, her scent going from wary, to fearful. He remembered the feel of her breasts just under his hand last night. They weren’t overly full, but small perfect round apples that would fit in his palm. He could almost imagine the berries of her nipples that would tease his palm. With a growl of frustration at the direction of his thoughts, Chase shot a glare at her. “What else is there?”
India bit her bottom lip, unaware at how the nervous action drew his gaze. “You’re going to be upset.”
“I’m already upset.” He wanted to wrap his hands around her lovely mocha tined skin and choke her, or kiss her senseless. “Spit it out.”
“Okay. Let me start at the beginning.” Her ominous words and the heavy resignation he felt from her set a tingle at the base of his skull, raising his hackles. India stared out the window, lost in the past. “My pack wasn’t very large. North Carolina tourism, you understand.” Chase did, more than she realized. India’s voice held a wistful longing for home. “We were only thirty or so members, all spread out, depending on if you counted the handful of pups and newborns. Then the Hunter came.”
Feeling the shadows of her loss, he closed himself to the matebond, watching the emotions play on her face. “You killed that one.”
India nodded. “But not before he got everyone but Darrell, Gail, and Reggie.”
“And you.”
She nodded again, her eyes unfocused, her mind somewhere else. “And me.”
Chase’s blood grew cool as she recounted her flight from her home to Texas. He could understand everything, up to her plan to secure a mate to protect her remaining members. It reminded Chase of Lissie. He’d been so foolish then, sneaking around to see her, thinking she cared for him. In the end, sleeping with Charles Redding had been just a way to gain the Knight family name. Lissie had miscalculated, thinking her pregnancy would destroy his and Tank’s, then Theo’s, friendship.
“I see,” He said when she finished. So much for his hope of changing Diana’s mind and integrating India into the pack. He didn’t realize he’d even harbored such an idiotic notion.
India breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t think you would.” She offered a small smile he was sure was calculated for his benefit. “I just don’t want Reggie hurt anymore. He’s been through so much.”
Chase stayed quiet, thinking about the situation he’d unwittingly been sucked into. He circled around the loop that encompassed Palestine and stayed on highway nineteen, out of town. He’d rather have gone to his favorite hamburger bar downtown, but the place was both the pack’s and Lobos Luna’s, Adam’s construction company’s number one mealtime hangout as well. He needed to check in with Jude and some of his other contacts before he—did what? He was working on the fly and he knew it. Tank was the planner, not him. Usually, Tank called the shots and Chase backed him up. It was the way they’d always worked.
Ignoring the increasingly nervous looks India shot him since her story, he dug his cell phone out of his pocket and turned it on. About ten messages beckoned his attention. Chase cringed and exited out of the message notification screen. So far, Adam and Diana were playing nice. Eventually, the Alphas were going to get tired of his dodging and Call him. Then he’d be forced to come to heel. Until then, he was playing hard to get. Since he hadn’t been the one so keen on being part of a pack in the beginning, the fact that he was so much the Alphas’ wolf struck him as ironic.
He did the next best thing, dialing the number of the one warden who would work outside the Alphas’ edicts. Bradley answered on the first ring.
“I wondered when you’d be calling. Diana’s having a fit.” The hissing smack of nail guns and the ear-grating whine of circular saws told Chase that his fellow warden was working with the construction crew today. Over the years, several of the boys Adam and Diana Weis had adopted a
s their own had become involved in their dad’s company. At one time or another, all of them had worked with Lobos Luna. Hell, even Chase and Tank subbed out there when needed. Bradley, now a foreman over his own crew, paused to direct one of the human workers under him before returning to the conversation. “She knows you’re with, and I quote, that female. Brandon’s trying to talk Karen into them packing up and taking the pups out of town for a couple of days.”
They knew Bradley’s twin would roll on anyone in favor of the Alphas. It was his way of giving Chase time and he appreciated the favor. The Alphas ruled supreme in a wolven pack. That was the proper order of things. Part of Chase wanted to present India before them and claim her as his own. That was instinct. Realistically, Diana would eat India alive. Chase had no intention of maintaining a relationship past the point where his calculating mate figured out how to dissolve their bond.
“Yeah. Thanks for the heads-up. I’m on the move myself.”
“Gotcha. Anything on our gun-shy Hunter?”
Chase appreciated the other warden’s succinct brevity. Bradley wasn’t a barrel of laughs, but he was reliable, up to a point where the fairies weren’t involved. “Appears, the Hunter followed India and her packbrother into our territory.” More construction sounds filled the silence on the other end.
“Meaning, he’s not waiting us out. Hunter’s not so stupid after all. He’s waiting your woman out. Or for us to take her out.”
“Yeah, and I need someone to head back to Frankston to put the other wolf on ice until this blows over.”
He held a hand up against her gasp of protest. “No! I told you, Reggie isn’t going to hurt anyone.”
“…the stray last night?” A burst of static obliterated the first part of Bradley’s sentence, but Chase caught the meaning anyway.
Creature Comforts Page 11