Maggie's Wolves, Part Five: A BBW Shifter Romance (Red Mountain Pack Book 5)

by Cara Morgan

  She glared at Declan.

  He surprised her by dropping to a knee only a few feet away. It should have been a less intimidating posture. A wolf might consider it a show of submission, but his expression told her otherwise.

  “I thought about not coming back,” Declan said. “I could have kept running until I forgot about this place.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  He lifted his chin toward the couch. Behind her, she could hear Case stir, but he didn’t intervene. “Case wants us to come to an understanding. You should know I won’t bend to you. My loyalty has always been to Case first and the pack second. Those loyalties have never conflicted until now.”

  “They still don’t.”

  “They will if I no longer belong to the pack. I came back to ask you one question. Is there any chance at all of you accepting me as your mate?”

  She swallowed hard. He wasn’t going to make this easy on her. “I’m willing to consider it.”

  “That’s not good enough. Your time’s almost up.”

  “I don’t…” She frowned and shook her head. “How can you know that?”

  “Your wolf knows it. That mating I just saw wasn’t a wolf in charge. That was a human woman fucking a man. I can tell the difference even if you can’t.”

  She flushed. She had felt the difference. She just hadn’t understood what it meant. She glared at Declan. “You don’t want me as your mate.”

  He stared at her for a long moment as she waited for him to deny it, or lie and say that he wanted her just so he could stay with the pack. Maybe it wasn’t fair to put him in that position, but it wasn’t fair the way he was treating her either.

  Finally, he said, “Let’s find out. Show me the pretty cunt that’s bewitched my pack.”

  “It’s not…” She licked her lips and tried again. “Don’t call it that.”

  He moved closer, slowly stalking, quiet as a wolf. Fear fluttered in her belly, mixing with an unwelcome dose of desire. When he was within touching distance, he placed his hands on her bent knees. The warmth of his touch made her skin tingle.

  “If I’m sticking my dick in it, I’ll call it whatever I want. Let me see this magic pussy.”

  His hands exerted the gentlest of pressure as he spread her legs. Proving that Declan wasn’t totally immune to her effect, his nostrils flared and a low growl trembled in his throat. His eyes turned molten gold.

  She let him look his fill. The moment his mouth opened to speak, she said, “I’m tired.”

  His brows twitched up and something like disappointment settled on his face. “Coward.”

  She lifted her chin and pulled away from him, ignoring the way her skin buzzed and tingled where he’d touched her. Standing, she took a big step away from him.

  “I’ve had enough for tonight.” She swept her gaze around the room. Eli had woken up at some point and watched her with disappointment. She couldn’t read the expression on Case’s face, but she didn’t try very hard.

  She could handle Declan thinking she was a coward. She couldn’t handle Case thinking it.

  She wasn’t ready to claim Declan. She didn’t know if she’d ever be.

  She turned toward the door, abandoning her pile of clothes on the floor. Case was right. What was the point?

  “I’m going up to bed. We’ll figure it out in the morning.”

  And if her heat was gone by then, so be it.

  Chapter Four

  The female was in his room. In his shower. Declan could hear the sound of her singing above the rush of water. She had a pretty voice, a warm alto that soothed the wolf clawing beneath the surface of his skin. The blankets on his bed were rumpled. Her smell would be there, trapped in the cotton sheets.

  Tearing his gaze from the bed, he crossed the room to his closet. He’d come for a fresh pair of jeans, not to wrestle with Maggie again. She would claim him, or she wouldn’t. It was just like it’d been with Margot.

  That’s what he should think about—Margot. Not the soft voice singing in the next room or the smell of female-in-heat. Not the memory of how soft Maggie’s skin had felt beneath his hands. He should think about Margot and what a female alpha was truly like without the lure of heat to cloud a man’s judgment.

  Case’s sister had always liked to toy with him, treating him like a servant when she was a child and then flirting with him once she hit puberty. She’d slept with him for the first time after her first year of college. Then she’d told him all about her human boyfriend before the sweat had dried on their bodies. She’d said she wanted to know what it was like to fuck a wolf before making the decision on whether to take a mate.

  She liked to fuck him. She liked rough. Declan thought the knowledge that he hated her turned Margot on. He hadn’t hated her. He’d loved her. The pack princess. He’d expected her to call on him when her heat started.

  She hadn’t. She went human, left the pack, and sold off a huge chunk of their territory. She didn’t even look at him when she came to the lodge occasionally to visit with Case. That was the sum of his experience with women. Maybe Maggie wasn’t like that, but even if she was just as sweet as she appeared to be, it didn’t mean he could be the kind of mate she needed. If she was just as sweet as she appeared to be, he’d probably break her within the week.

  But then, she hadn’t run screaming yet.

  He grabbed a pair of jeans off the shelf and a clean T-shirt and turned for the door. He’d promised that he’d stay here today and he would do that. He’d do his best to be civil, to act human, and the rest was up to Maggie.

  Maggie stopped singing and the water cut off. He froze, halfway across the room. Before he started walking again, the door to the attached bathroom opened and Maggie stepped into the room.

  She was naked, covered only by a small white towel. She’d used his larger bath towel to wrap her hair. She yelped when she saw him, her eyes going wide. She clutched at the towel but instead of securing it, somehow managed to loosen the tucked end. Declan watched with interest as the towel sagged in the front, revealing the edge of one rosy areola. He was rooting for gravity, but Maggie managed to jerk the towel up before it fell any further.

  She lifted her chin like she was ready to take a punch. “What are you doing here?”

  “It’s my room.”

  “It’s…” She looked around the small, plain room. He knew it wasn’t much. He didn’t have many personal items to begin with and he didn’t like clutter. She frowned as her gaze returned to his face. “I’m sorry,” she said grudgingly. “I didn’t know. I thought it looked like the guest room.”

  “No.” He held up his folded clothes. “I needed to grab a few things. I don’t mind you using the room. I might not be living here much longer anyway.”

  Her mouth tightened at that. She thought he was poking at her again, but that hadn’t been his intention. He was just stating plain fact.

  “Didn’t you scent me in here?” he asked, curious.

  Something flickered across her fine-boned face too quick for him to read. “I scented wolf, but I didn’t know it was your wolf.” She shrugged a sweetly curved shoulder. “It just smelled like pack.”

  He took a step closer, intrigued by the fact that she didn’t back away. He liked her this way, vulnerable, maybe a little bit nervous but not frightened as she’d been last night. Alone, his wolf didn’t feel as threatened by the other males, her mates who couldn’t help but bristle every time Declan so much as looked at her.

  He wanted to look at her now. He took another step in her direction. She stiffened a bit and he stopped. “Your wolf should have recognized the difference.”

  “I’m broken, remember? Split inside. Separated from my wolf.”

  He winced. Had he said that? He might have when he’d been fighting with Case. It was something they often argued about. He thought Case needed to let his wolf take charge more often. Case was of the opinion that Declan needed to leash his.

  Maggie wasn’t as connected to her wolf as she
should be. He could tell it was making the heat cycle difficult. Heat was wolf instinct, not human. Maggie should be letting her wolf make the decisions, but she was determined to remain in charge. She was fighting her wolf every step of the way and it was hard on her.

  There were bruises beneath her eyes and her skin was a shade too pale. She should be eating more too. An unwelcome wave of protectiveness came over him and he shoved it aside. It wasn’t his place to be taking care of her. She already had four mates for that.

  And yet here she was in his room.

  He reached out to touch her, uncertain of what she’d do. He barely brushed her cheek with his fingertips before letting his hand fall away.

  Her gaze locked on his. He still saw no sign that she was truly afraid of him. Unhappy about her own response—he could smell the faint spice of her arousal. Some natural wariness that seemed to be part of her personality. But not fear. Maybe the fear he’d scented on her earlier had been her being afraid he might damage her mates.

  He wouldn’t do that. He’d never have hurt Case or any of the others. He wouldn’t hurt her.

  He had to swallow past a lump in his throat before he could speak. “That’s a decision you’re making, not a permanent condition. Why don’t you let your wolf take charge of the heat? It would be much easier on you.”

  She surprised him by smiling. “Maybe. I was taught to keep my wolf in a cage.” She tapped her head with a finger. “That becomes a habit after a while.”

  He knew all about how hard bad habits were to break. He always lashed out at new people, throwing the first punch before they could hit him. Margot had taught him that.

  “You seem to be getting through it okay.”

  She nodded and her fist tightened on the towel. “I can leave you to your room. I’m sorry about messing up your bed. I’ll come back later to change the sheets and everything.”

  She moved to step past him, but he caught her shoulder. A jolt of electricity ran up his arm at the contact. Soft flesh under smooth skin. She was a walking wet-dream.

  “You don’t need to leave.”

  She looked up at him. He didn’t know what to say to make her stay a few minutes longer, but he didn’t want her to go. This might be their only chance. Maybe being with her wouldn’t be the same thing as being owned. Maybe Maggie wouldn’t demand he give up his soul to be her mate. The others seemed happy. Not collared.

  “It’s hard for me,” he said. “You said you were taught to keep your wolf caged. I learned young that the only way for me to survive was by trusting my wolf.”

  “Why does that make this so hard for you?”

  There was no accusation in her tone, just a simple query, but it struck at the heart of him.

  “My wolf wants you. You would not believe how much he fucking wants you.” The edge of growl crept into his voice. “My human half is trying to hold him back. I don’t know if I can ever be a good mate to you. I can’t love you.”

  Because love hurt like a bitch, and he wasn’t ever being that vulnerable again.

  Maggie turned to face him, her eyes soft. He didn’t like pity. It brought him back to the time when he was a lost child without a pack. He knew from hard experience that pity didn’t mean shit. Somehow it was different coming from Maggie.

  There was a little frown line between her eyebrows, and he had the strangest impulse to kiss the spot. That was the wolf responding to her need. That’s all it was. He could ignore it. He’d take another long run through the snow if he had to.

  “This isn’t about love for me,” she said. “I grew up thinking I was alone in the world, that I had to hide what I was. My aunt… She wasn’t even really my aunt. She meant well. After my parents died, she did her best to raise me but she didn’t know anything about shifters.” She dismissed that tragedy with a wave of her hand. “I didn’t think I’d ever belong to a pack. That’s what this means to me. A place to belong, people who know me and care about my well-being. I’m not looking for a fairy tale romance.”

  He heard the words, but his wolf heard the emotion beneath the words. She might believe she was speaking the truth, but she wasn’t. She already loved her mates. Half of him felt like he should warn her for her naivety, part of him wanted to protect her from the world.

  “That may be,” he allowed. “But the question still remains. Do you really think we could make this work?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He inhaled deeply, tasting her mouth-watering scent. “You want me.”

  “My wolf wants you.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched in a smile. “Do you want me, Maggie?”

  She didn’t answer for a long time. Finally, he nodded. “Then, let’s figure it out. Let me see you.”

  He reached for her towel, watching her face as he tugged it free, waiting for her to object. She didn’t. Her eyes fixed on his, challenging him. She would always challenge him if he stayed. Her wolf accepted Case’s dominance even if she wasn’t ready to admit that to herself. Eli and the others had already taken on submissive roles. Not that she was making them scrape and bow there, but all three of them would fall over themselves to make her happy.

  Declan had always stood outside of the pack hierarchy. He was as strong as Case but he didn’t have any interest in taking control of the pack. He allowed Eli his place as second for much the same reason. He truly was more rogue than not, but Case had never wanted him to leave the pack. So he hadn’t.

  Case was his equal and his brother, and there would always be tension between him and Maggie because of that. If he accepted her claim on him, it would bind him more tightly to the pack. He wouldn’t be able to go on living with one foot out the door. He would have to take his place in the pack hierarchy and by tradition that would mean placing himself under Maggie’s control.

  He should leave, but first he needed to know what he would be turning away from. The towel dragged against her pale, pink skin for a moment and then slid suddenly free. The weight of it pulled at his fingertips before he let it fall to the ground. He looked down at her body and stopped breathing.

  He’d seen her naked three times now. He’d watched her fuck three of his pack mates, but this was different. More intimate. They were alone in his room. The morning sun was cool on her skin, unforgiving. It exposed every flaw, the faint stretch marks at her hips and the tops of her breasts. A bruise on her thigh. The raw marks her mates had made on her body.

  None of it made her any less appealing. Her flaws only reminded him that she was a very real woman. And that she could be hurt.

  He let out a ragged breath, and to escape her watchful gaze, he circled her.

  He placed his palm on her back. “Eli marked you here.”

  She nodded. He could feel her heart beat beneath his hand. Fast and hard. She wasn’t frightened. He would smell it on her if she was. All he could smell was the heat. The salty spice of her arousal, and the deeper note of his own.

  He swept her hair aside and traced a smaller half moon on her shoulder. “Carson?”

  “Yes.” Her voice came out as a bare whisper. Goosebumps rose on her fair skin.

  He walked around her, taking his time to admire the extravagantly lush body before him. He wasn’t immune to her charms. Her body was made to be loved by a shifter. No fragile, willowy fashion model that would break under the demands of an aroused wolf. Her ass was beautifully round. Her hips wide enough to take a pounding. Her breasts generous, her belly soft. She was woman writ large. Fertility personified. If Eli had to bring home a mate, he couldn’t have picked a more fuckable one.

  Declan’s cock swelled, twitching against his thigh before beginning to rise. Maggie, her face lowered, obviously saw his reaction because she bit her lip and blushed like a virgin.

  She wasn’t a virgin. He’d seen Eli and Carson and Jack fuck her. He could smell the pack on her.

  That was…distracting. She smelled like pack, even though she wasn’t. She wasn’t his pack anyway.

  She finally tore
her gaze away from his cock and looked him in the eye. There it was. That little surge of pride that forced her to hold his gaze even though she probably didn’t even understand the challenge she was extending. He understood it just fine. That was her wolf, challenging him to take her. Maggie lifted her chin, and he touched the mark at the base of her neck.

  “Jack.” His mouth curved in a smile. “I bet that one hurt.”

  “He didn’t mean to hurt me.”

  Declan knew that. Jack was young and the instinct to mark a new mate was impossible to resist. Jack’s previous pack wasn’t known for being gentle. His human mind might not have intended to hurt her, but Jack’s wolf ran feral and would have wanted his mate to know she was owned. Sometimes Jack’s wolf got away from him.

  He touched the mark on her left breast, above her nipple, over her heart. “This was Case.”

  He couldn’t quite keep the edge of a growl from his voice, though he did try. Maggie lifted her hand to cover his. He looked up, and she smiled. A tentative, horribly vulnerable smile.

  They could hurt one another so badly, him and this woman.

  She moved his hand lower to cover her breast. Her nipple poked against his palm and his cock hardened to full, needy arousal. He wanted her. He wanted her so fucking badly.

  He shouldn’t walk away. He should run.

  Her lips parted and her eyes locked on his. “We can make this can work.”

  Chapter Five

  It was time to trust her mates. Completely. No holds barred. She was diving into the dark water headfirst because they seemed to think it was the right thing to do and she was running out of time.

  She had no reason not to trust them in their opinion of Declan. They’d been honest with her from the beginning. Declan might be rough and unkempt and a little bit wild, but every one of her mates loved him as a brother.

  She was beginning to realize that there was more to him than met the eye. More than his enormous size, intimidating scowl and cranky disposition. She didn’t think he was as indestructible as he liked to pretend. And he didn’t want to leave, or else he already would be miles away by now.