by Eve Langlais
“What do you mean he wants us gone?”
“Just what I said. I don’t know the particulars, and he’s not going to share any details with me until—” Mia bit off her words before she said too much. The only way she’d be allowed the privilege of knowing the inner workings of her father’s mind was to produce an heir. Mia definitely didn’t want Owen to know that.
“Until what?”
Mia clamped her jaw down tight. She could be just as stubborn as Owen and then some. His gaze bore into hers as though he could somehow compel her to answer him. Sorry buddy, not gonna happen. Owen let out a heavy sigh. He stared at her for another silent moment before his expression turned to one of resignation.
“All right. Fine. Where is your father? I’ll ask him myself.”
Well, shit. That plan sure as hell backfired.
CHAPTER 9
Owen wasn’t about to sit back and let Mia dictate to him. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to simply accept that her father wanted him gone and leave. She was going to come clean with him or he was going straight to the source. If she thought it would go down any other way, she had another think coming.
Mia’s expression transformed from indignant anger to shock. She obviously thought he was a male of weak convictions and that bothered Owen more than anything. Her gaze slid to the left and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. The tang of her anxiety soured the air and Owen blew out a breath. She was afraid for him to confront her father? Why? Did she not think him strong enough?
“You are not going to speak to my father.”
“The hell I’m not.” Owen would be damned if he slunk away like a fucking coward. Mia was his mate. Nothing and no one could change that fact. “I don’t need an escort. I’ll go by myself.”
Owen pushed himself up from the mattress and Mia reached out to grab him by the arm. “No!” The urgency in her tone set his wolf on edge and a low growl gathered in Owen’s chest. She was afraid of her father. Why? “Owen, please. You need to leave this alone. Confronting my father will only make it worse.”
“So you want me to play the coward, is that it?” Anger surged through Owen, constricting his chest. His pride demanded that he prove to his mate he was anything but a coward.
Mia let out a frustrated breath. Owen wanted to laugh. “I don’t want you to play the coward. But I do want you to exercise a little gods-damned caution.”
“Really?” Owen didn’t bother to mask his disdain. “Because it sounds a hell of a lot like you want me to run.”
“I want you to play it safe.” Mia’s voice rose with each word. “I want you to not stir up trouble. I want you to let me deal with this because this is my father, my band, and my responsibility.”
“I see.” Owen was becoming more agitated with every word out of Mia’s mouth. It was clear that she thought him incompetent. “So even though it is my pack your father is trying to run out of the area, this is none of my business?”
She flinched as though stung. Good. She needed to know Owen didn’t appreciate being treated as though he couldn’t handle the situation. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Owen cocked a challenging brow. “Oh no?”
“Argh!” Mia’s frustrated growl only egged Owen on. “You don’t know my father. I do. I need a few days to figure out what is going on. What if our situations were reversed? Would you be okay with me rushing to interrogate your pack?”
She had a point, but Owen wasn’t about to let her know it. “It would be a nonissue because pack rules are different.”
Mia’s expression turned skeptical. Apparently she wasn’t buying his bullshit. “Different from what? Don’t sit there and pretend like you know anything about the infrastructure of our band.”
“You’re right. I don’t know anything about you because you ran out on me.”
Mia sat up straight on the bed. She pushed herself away from Owen and practically vaulted from the mattress. Her forest-green eyes lit with an angry spark and the air thickened with her agitation. She opened her mouth to speak. Closed it. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw squared, and still she said nothing.
“You had no intention of staying, did you?” The reminder that he’d meant nothing to her punched Owen in the chest, knocking the breath right out of him. “I was nothing more than a one-night stand. You made me think that you felt our bond.” He gave a derisive snort. “That’s not true. I let you make me think that you felt our bond. Because I didn’t want to believe otherwise.”
Mia’s brow furrowed. “You’re right.” The words left her lips with reluctance, as though the admission were hard to make. “I don’t feel the mate bond like you feel it. There’s something different about you, I know that much. And you’re right that I never intended to stay the night. I’m sorry, Owen. But I wish you’d try and understand that staying away from me is the best thing you can do.”
Mia knew as little about werewolves as he did about wood nymphs. Owen sat up on the bed. He brought up one knee and slung his arm to rest on it. Gods, what a mess. He’d hoped everything would fall into place once he found his mate. Instead his life had grown increasingly complicated.
“That’s not going to happen. It can’t happen. Do you know what happens to a werewolf who’s lost his mate, Mia?”
She studied him for a quiet moment. “No. What happens?”
“A werewolf who’s lost his mate eventually succumbs to madness. The bond is so strong that without it, it becomes nearly impossible to function. The synchronicity of our dual nature deteriorates under the stress and the animal part of our psyches splits from our minds. The longer I’m forced to live without you, the harder it will be for me to keep it together. I’ll become wild. Rabid. And my alpha will have no choice but to put me down.”
“Gods, Owen.” Mia let out a slow breath. “I had no idea.”
Mia’s scent sharpened once again to betray her anxiety. Was their bond so unsavory that it filled her with such intense worry? Bound to a female who didn’t want him. Owen couldn’t think of a worse fate.
“I…” Mia dragged her fingers through the length of her hair. “I don’t know what to do. What to say. I don’t even know how to move forward from this.”
That made two of them. Owen hated to admit that he had no idea where to go from here. But one thing he knew for certain, and that was that he wasn’t going to walk away. Mia was his mate. Period. Their bond was absolute.
“I need something to take back to my alpha.” Owen could agree not to seek out Mia’s father, but he refused to keep this a secret from Liam. “Any little bit of information you have.”
Mia’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. “If you tell anyone in your pack what’s going on, all it will manage to do is agitate an already volatile situation.”
Hardly. The situation would be volatile no matter what. Liam was settled. Mated and happy. The Stanley area had quickly become their home and there wasn’t a force on this earth that could drive them out. A tiny knot of worry gathered in the pit of Owen’s stomach. Liam wouldn’t hesitate to go to war with a band of nymphs to protect what was his. Owen just prayed that he and Mia wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
“Liam needs to know. If anything, so we can be prepared. You can’t possibly want me to keep this a secret? What if your father decides to ambush us? Would you condemn my pack in the interest of buying yourself a little extra time?”
“Of course not!” Mia seemed appalled at the notion and for that Owen could be thankful. “I’m not trying to put you in danger. I’m trying to buy the time I need to convince my father that he has no need to feel threatened.”
What could her father possibly be hiding to feel threatened? Owen’s wolf gave a nervous whimper in the recess of his mind. Things were bound to get a hell of a lot worse before they got any better.
* * *
Mia didn’t want to fight with Owen. In truth, she didn’t even want him to leave. The simplest touch sparked something within her that filled Mia wi
th euphoric power. She might not have felt the bond that connected her to Owen, but she felt something. And it wasn’t anything she was ready to discount.
“Liam is a reasonable male.” Owen’s deep voice vibrated in his chest and Mia swore she could feel it over every inch of her skin. She was a little surprised to learn that Owen wasn’t the alpha of his pack. His personality fit the title to a T. If he wasn’t in charge, he was definitely a prominent figure in their hierarchy. She found herself growing more curious by the second, and that was a very dangerous thing. “He’s not going to go off half cocked and march up here to pick a fight.”
“You say that,” Mia began. “But can you be sure?”
“Without a doubt. I’ve known Liam for centuries. Besides, he’s not interested in picking fights with any of the local supernatural population. When we moved into this area there were no other wolf packs for miles. All he wants is to live here in peace. I’m sure your father wants the same.”
Did he? Mia was beginning to wonder. Something fueled his desire to run the wolf pack out of the Sawtooth territory. Mia just couldn’t figure out what it was. She planned to get to the bottom of it though, and soon.
“How did you find me?” The question came out of nowhere, but Mia had been curious since yesterday. “The snow would’ve covered my scent. Even an expert tracker would’ve lost the trail.”
Owen flashed an arrogant smile that turned her insides to mush. “You’re my mate. I could find your scent anywhere, even diluted to the point that there was barely a trace.”
Interesting. Just one more fun fact Mia didn’t know about werewolves. A familiar ripple of anxiety spread from her stomach outward. What Owen had so simply told her was that it didn’t matter if she ran or tried to hide. He could find her anywhere.
“Good to know.” She gave a nervous laugh that she hoped masked her worry. “If that’s the case though, I think it’s safe to say you can trust me when I say I’ll come to your place tonight if you leave right now.”
Owen studied her. She saw a hint of the animal in his gaze. Mistrustful. Wary. On edge. If Owen was stubborn, the wolf was one hundred times more so. Getting rid of him would be a lot tougher than she’d thought.
“What does my leaving accomplish?” His smile dimmed to almost a scowl. “Besides getting me out of your hair?”
Mia cringed. She’d done very little to build any trust between them so it wasn’t like she could blame him for exercising a little caution. Still, he’d said himself that he could track her no matter where she went. What would be the point in running? She needed him to meet her at least halfway on something.
“My father is ready to do whatever it takes to push your pack out of our territory. What do you think he’d do if he found out one of those werewolves had claimed his daughter as a mate?”
Honestly, if a pairing with a werewolf would’ve been somehow advantageous to her father, he would’ve welcomed Owen with open arms. But Mia had a feeling Owen wouldn’t pull up camp and leave his pack in order to live here with her. Likewise, Mia had gone through too much to walk away from her birthright. She wasn’t about to give up all of her ambitions for a male, no matter how amazing he might be.
Amazing? She barely knew Owen. It was a little early for adjectives like that, wasn’t it?
Owen bristled. “He’d hurt you?”
Her father was a lot of things. Self-serving, arrogant, at times ignorant. Stubborn, vindictive, and a little hotheaded. But he’d never raised a hand to her. He’d make her life miserable in other ways, but she didn’t think he’d physically harm her.
“He won’t hurt me. But he’s not going to be happy with me either.”
Owen scrubbed a hand over his face as he shifted on the bed. Mia’s gaze wandered to where the sheet gaped away from his torso and for the first time since she’d woken in his arms, she was painfully aware of his nakedness. Gods, he was a magnificent specimen. “I want to trust you, Mia. But…”
Okay, so maybe she hadn’t done much to invite his trust. They barely knew each other, though. What did he expect? “But what?”
“But … it’s too close to the full moon and the wolf wants supremacy in my mind. Making rational decisions is a little more difficult.”
“Owen.” Tender emotion swelled in Mia’s chest and she tried to swallow it down. She couldn’t afford to feel anything for him. There wasn’t room in her life for a mate. For a relationship. For … him. “I promise I’ll come by your place tonight. Give me some time to figure out what’s got my father so riled and we’ll decide how to deal with the situation. Together.”
That last word seemed to be the tipping point for Owen. He studied Mia for a quiet moment and she squirmed under the intense scrutiny. “Together?”
“Yes.” No matter how she felt about a future with Owen, Mia knew she couldn’t dissuade her father from his course of action on her own. Especially since she wasn’t yet sure if she’d managed to buy her place in their hierarchy by producing an heir. “I need to know his reasoning before we can form a plan of attack moving forward.”
“And what if he explains himself to you and you find that you agree with him?”
Mia suppressed the urge to laugh out loud. She’d agree with her father when hell froze over. “Believe me, Owen. That isn’t ever going to happen.”
“All right then.” Finally, he’d come to his senses. “But if you’re not at my place by nightfall, I’m going out to find you.”
“Fair enough.” It would likely take all day to drag even one little piece of information out of her father. She’d managed to buy herself some time and whether or not she had anything to offer Owen, she’d be sure to keep her word and show up at his house by sundown. “I’ll be there.”
At least, she hoped she would.
CHAPTER 10
Liam fixed Owen with an incredulous stare. “What do you mean he wants us gone?”
Owen hadn’t wasted any time in retrieving his clothes and daypack from the bowl of the tree where he’d left them the day before and hightailing it home. The sooner they got this mess straightened out, the better. Any strife between their two groups would ultimately affect his and Mia’s bond and Owen wasn’t about to do anything to disrupt the small amount of progress he’d made with her.
He’d enjoyed Mia’s surprise when he strode from her yurt completely naked and ready to trot through the snow back to his pickup. He couldn’t initiate another transition so close to yesterday’s without it weakening him considerably. With the threat of Mia’s father’s supposed machinations looming, Owen couldn’t risk being anything less than one hundred percent.
He needed to hope for the best and expect the worst. And he needed to be prepared for anything.
With any luck, Mia would open up to him even more tonight. He’d never known a more guarded female. She coveted her secrets, masked her emotions, and hid her intentions well. Owen realized she didn’t feel their bond in the same way he felt it, but she’d confessed to feeling something. He held on to the glimmer of hope that accompanied the word. Something was better than nothing. He could work with something. Mia could feign disinterest all she wanted but Owen had noticed the way she’d looked at him when he’d crawled out from under her sheets and left the comfort of her bed. His blood raced through his veins at the memory of her heated gaze as it settled between his thighs.
“I literally know as much as you do right now.” As the pack’s beta and Liam’s second-in-command, Owen prided himself on being on top of everything. His lack of knowledge in regard to the current situation was a serious thorn in Owen’s side. He just had to hope his mate would come through on her end. “Mia has no idea what her father’s problem with us being here is or why he wants us gone.”
“I thought moving us here would help to eliminate our problems,” Liam said. “Instead, it seems to only be creating more.”
Liam’s regrets were misplaced. Moving the pack had proved to be the best thing that ever happened to Owen. And he was sure it was the
best thing that ever happened to Liam. A guiding force had brought them to Idaho. They were meant to be here. Owen wouldn’t discount that certainty, and he wouldn’t let some power-hungry wood nymph push him out of his home.
“It’s not going to be a problem because I’m not going to let it become one,” Owen replied.
“This isn’t your issue to sort out.” Liam blew out a forceful breath. “You didn’t create the problem. In fact, your mate bond might have given us the upper hand.”
Maybe he hadn’t created the problem, but it sure as hell felt that way.
“Are you sure Mia will come tonight?”
As sure as he could be. Owen hadn’t sensed any deception in her words. Owen wanted to trust her because he had no other choice. The alternative would only take him down the road to ruin. “She’ll come,” he said without an ounce of doubt. “She doesn’t want conflict any more than I do.”
“Fair enough. We’ll wait until she shows up tonight and go from there. It’s a waste of time to form a plan until we know for sure what’s going on.”
Owen nodded in agreement. There was no point in jumping to conclusions yet. He only hoped he could get through the day without worrying himself to death. Mia would keep her word. He repeated the mantra to himself over and over again. His mate wouldn’t let him down.
* * *
“I think this might be the most time we’ve spent together in decades.”
Mia was less than thrilled with her father’s smug tone, but he had a point. She usually went out of her way to avoid him. Too bad that was no longer a possibility. Mia was going to have to step up and be assertive, especially if she wanted to assume any sort of leadership role within their band. An heir would secure her birthright, but proving she was a competent leader would earn the respect of her people.
“I’m pregnant.” Okay, so it was a little early to make that sort of declaration. Mia wasn’t entirely sure she was, but the bluff was necessary to gain her father’s confidence.
Her father’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. His gaze raked her from head to toe as though he could tell whether or not she was lying. He sat back in his chair looking every bit the king he thought himself to be. Mia was so tired of their antiquated pseudo-monarchy and part of the reason she fought so vehemently for her freedom and birthright was the opportunity to initiate change within their band.