“And Sayre’s got some news to tell you,” Cian added, “so don’t be surprised if she comes knocking on your door bright and early tomorrow morning, before the meeting at Mason’s.”
He lifted his brows as he brought his attention back to the Runner. “What news?”
The guy just gave him a crooked smile. “My girl will kill me if I steal her thunder.”
Hmm. From the look of intense satisfaction burning deep in Cian’s silver eyes, Elliot wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they were adding a new little rug rat to their growing family, and he was happy as hell for them.
Making his way back to Skye’s side, he told everyone they could talk to her more tomorrow, then took a leaf out of Mason’s book and swooped her up into his arms, carrying her over to the cabin he’d been living in for about eight years now. It’d taken a while, but he’d finally come to think of the place as home. Especially after Torrance and the other women had helped him fix it up.
Once he had Skye inside, he kicked the door shut behind them, then slowly lowered her to her feet, enjoying the feel of her soft body sliding against his. He could not, for the life of him, get why this woman was so self-conscious about her figure. Sure, some men liked skin and bones, but Elliot wasn’t one of them. He couldn’t get enough of the way she felt under his greedy hands, or when he was covering her with his body.
And he sure as hell couldn’t get enough of how impossibly good she tasted, from her warm, honey-flavored mouth down to her tender, juicy sex.
Unable to help himself, and not even wanting to, he pushed his hands into all that lustrous hair that fell over her shoulders, tilted her head back for him and leaned down, covering her lips with his. Then he kissed her like he’d wanted to kiss her back in the truck.
“Elliot?” she murmured, rubbing her cheek against his chest, when they both had to break away for air.
“Hmm?”
In a quiet voice, she said, “I love your cabin. And the Alley...it’s beautiful. I get it now, why you love it so much up here in these woods. But...there’s something I need to ask you.”
His lips curled in a smile against the top of her head. “What’s that, baby?”
“It’s kinda awkward, but you are house-trained, right? I mean, I won’t have to worry about you cocking your leg up and peeing on any of the furniture, will I?”
He put his hands on her shoulders and stepped back so that he could see her face, hoping to God she wasn’t serious—then burst out laughing when he caught the mischievous gleam in her eyes. “You little smart-ass,” he growled, loving the way she shrieked with laughter when he started to tickle her. He was ruthless, going after her most sensitive places, until she was begging for mercy.
“Uncle, uncle!” she cried, desperately trying to catch her breath. “I was only teasing, I swear!”
“You better have been,” he rasped, nipping her earlobe with his teeth, before reaching around and swatting her on the ass. “Now go grab that shower you said you wanted, and I’ll see what I can scrounge up for dinner.”
“I can cook,” she said, green gaze still shining with humor as she rubbed her bottom and backed out of the room.
“I’d love you to cook for me,” he said, unable to take his eyes off her. “But tonight it’s going to be something quick, like sandwiches and chips, because I can’t wait to get you in my bed. Been thinking about what you’ll look like there from the moment I first saw you smile.”
Suddenly, the look in her eyes wasn’t so much teasing as it was hot. “In that case, just bring the sandwiches with you to bed. We can eat them there.”
Elliot gave her a slow, wicked smile just before she disappeared down the hallway. Then he rubbed his hand over his jaw as he turned and headed toward the kitchen, his voice little more than a guttural rumble of sound as he said, “I fucking love the way my girl thinks.”
* * *
I fucking love the way my girl thinks. My girl. My girl.
My.
Girl.
Pulling her brush through her hair, Skye shook her head at herself and laughed. God, she had it so bad when such an innocent little phrase she probably hadn’t even been meant to overhear had her swooning like he’d proposed.
Lev or one of the other mercs must have brought their bags in for them, because she’d found her backpack and Elliot’s duffel sitting on the foot of his bed before she’d taken her shower. Quickly throwing on a clean pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, she padded on bare feet through the cabin, admiring the packed bookshelves that lined so many of the walls as she searched for him.
She found two plates loaded with sandwiches and chips sitting on the kitchen counter, but no Elliot. He wasn’t in the living room, either, or out on the front porch, so she headed back into the hallway, figuring she’d find him somewhere in the back of the cabin. The master bedroom and bathroom were on her right, but there was a door farther down on her left, and then the back door at the end of the hallway. As she neared the door on the left, she caught the sound of Elliot’s voice, but could tell by how low he was speaking that he didn’t want to be overheard.
Crap. She knew the right thing to do would be to turn around and go back into the bedroom, giving him the privacy he’d obviously wanted for what had to be a phone call, since she heard him say Max’s name. But...she couldn’t. Something had her feet rooted to the floor, her lower lip caught tight in her teeth as she listened to him warning Max to be careful and to call his sister, because she was worried about him. Then he said something about wanting to send a few of the mercs to join him and Vivian, but from what she could hear, it sounded like Max wouldn’t agree.
“Why the fuck are you being so stubborn?” Elliot asked with a harsh growl. “Just get your ass back here.”
Max must have said something about Vivian, because Elliot’s next words were: “Then convince her. Christ, her best friend is here. Skye is worried sick about her.”
Thinking that she’d probably heard enough, since she really was feeling ill, she started to walk away, when his next words stopped her in her tracks.
“Look, before you go, there’s something I need to tell you. Skye...she’s mine, man.”
What the what?
Max must have had a similar reaction, because Elliot muttered, “What do you think I mean? I knew the instant I caught her scent. She’s mine.”
Scent? Oh... Ohmygod! Was he talking about the life-mate connection—the thing he’d so awkwardly explained to her on their way up to the Alley, after Lev had put him on the spot? And now he was... Jesus Christ! Was he saying she was his mate? As in the one woman meant to be his?
Unable to process what she’d heard, Skye stumbled down the hall and through the back door, then down the porch steps. She didn’t know why, but instead of being happy, she felt like something in her chest was being twisted and torn into pieces, and she put her hands on her head as she pulled in deep breaths of the cold mountain air, needing it to help clear her thoughts.
I mean, it’s not like I don’t want to be Elliot’s mate, she thought, trying to make sense of her panic. Any woman in the world would want that!
No, it was something that lay beyond that that was wigging her out. Something else that was making her want to throw her head back and scream at the top of her lungs.
And then she had it. The reason. The thing that was breaking her heart.
All this time, she’d been thrilled that Elliot was attracted to her for who she was...just the way she was. That he genuinely desired her. Curvy and shy and awkward. Average. Human...
But that’d been a lie.
He didn’t want her for herself. He only wanted the woman his instinct told him to want.
All the little things that made her the woman she was, they were... God, they were nothing. Heavy, skinny, short, tall. Funny, boring, quick, slow. None of it mattered. She could have been an ax-wielding psychopath and he probably would have felt the same. Seen her the same.
Elliot Connors only wanted her b
ecause of what she was. Because that animal part of him told him he had to feel that way.
And now she felt like the biggest fool alive.
Chapter 12
“Skye? What are you doing out here? It’s freezing and you’re barefoot!”
She flinched at the sound of Elliot’s worried voice coming from the back porch, then slowly turned to face him. As she took in the way he stood there under the moon and stars, it was suddenly so easy to see that she’d been such a naive, crushed-out-on-him idiot. She should have freaking known!
Frowning as he studied her tight expression, he started down the porch steps. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, his deep voice rough with concern.
She swallowed so hard that it hurt, then somehow managed to scrape out, “I heard you.”
“What?” Though he sounded calm, she could see the slight flare of panic in his dark eyes as he drew closer.
“On the phone, with Max,” she said stiffly, finding it difficult to get the words past her tingling lips, the frigid wind whipping at her hair. “I heard what you told him about me.”
With only a couple of yards separating them, he froze like he’d just slammed into a brick wall. His big hands curled into fists at his sides, and his gaze narrowed as he muttered, “Shit.”
Her voice was shaky, but sharp with accusation. “You’ve been lying to me, Elliot.”
“Wait. What?” He drew in a deep breath, his brow furrowing with tension. “What do you mean lying?”
“You didn’t tell me that you have to like me, which is as good as a lie.” She could feel her anger rising, filling her up inside until she felt like she might explode with it. “That’s kind of an important detail not to share. Especially between two people who are sleeping together!”
His worried expression started to bleed into a scowl. “Damn it, Skye. I don’t know where your head is taking you, but just stop.”
“Why?” she demanded hotly, fisting her own hands as she took another step toward him. “I haven’t said anything that isn’t true. If it weren’t for my scent or whatever the hell is causing this, you would have never even looked twice at me!”
“That’s bullshit!” he snarled, giving her a blistering glare.
Stomping one frozen foot against the snow-covered ground, she shouted, “The hell it is!”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut again, his nostrils flaring as he exhaled a harsh breath and did a quick visual sweep of the area. Then he brought that pissed-off, frustrated gaze back to hers, and stepped to the side. Lifting one long arm, he pointed his index finger toward the open back door. “You want to argue about what I feel for you,” he growled, “then get inside the fucking cabin.”
“Don’t boss me around,” she flung back at him, bristling and spoiling for a fight.
He worked his jaw a few times, seeming determined not to completely lose his temper. But he was clearly furious as he quietly seethed, “You can walk in there, or I’ll toss your backward little ass over my shoulder and carry you in. Your choice.”
“Backward?” she gasped, stalking toward him and shoving him in the chest. “What the hell?” she snapped, pissed that she hadn’t even made him budge.
“Yeah, backward,” he forced out through his gritted teeth. “You’re coming at this thing so wrong it isn’t even funny.”
“I know it isn’t funny!” She wrapped her arms around herself so tightly she could barely breathe, fighting back the stupid tears that wanted to fall. “Do I look like I’m laughing?”
With his brown eyes beginning to glow with a thin ring of gold, he leaned down and got right in her face. “I’m going to set you straight, Skye. One way or another. We can either do it out here, where I promise you everyone will hear us and you’ll freeze from your stubbornness, or you can get inside, where it’s warm, and we can sort this out in the privacy of our cabin.”
“Your cabin,” she huffed, giving him a wide berth as she decided he was right, and headed back inside. Her anger was only going to keep her from turning into an icicle for so long, and she really didn’t want all of Elliot’s neighbors hearing what she had to say.
“Go and sit on the sofa,” he muttered behind her, heading into his bedroom. He came into the living room a few moments later, tossing her a thick pair of socks for her feet and one of his sweatshirts to pull on, since she was shivering from the cold. She tightened her jaw, muttering an angry “Thanks” as she pulled the socks on, her feet instantly feeling better, even though her emotions were still bleeding and raw.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he started in a harsh voice, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as he began to pace the hardwood floor on the other side of the big ass coffee table that separated them.
“Good,” she grumbled, pulling the sweatshirt over her head. “You should be.”
Sliding her a frustrated look from the corner of his eye, he kept on pacing. “I know, okay? But...think about it, Skye. It’s not like it’s the easiest thing to explain to a woman who’s only just met you. Who doesn’t even know that Lycans are real.” He rolled his broad shoulders, his tall body vibrating with a raw, visceral tension that seemed to fill the room, and she hated how what he was saying made sense. Turning his head, he locked his dark gaze with hers, and asked, “In all honesty, how the hell do you think that conversation would have gone?”
“And what about after I learned what you are?” she demanded hoarsely, her throat so tight she could barely get the words out. “You couldn’t tell me then?”
He shoved his hand back through his hair with so much force she almost winced for his poor scalp. “I could have. You’re right. But you were already dealing with the fact that werewolves exist. I didn’t want to throw too much at you.”
She had to swallow twice before she could manage to say, “And when...when we finally fucked?”
“Jesus, Skye. Are you serious?” His voice was low and clipped, and the look in his eyes as he stopped in the middle of the floor and just stared at her, hard, made her pulse race madly. “It was a hell of a lot more than fucking and you know it.”
She lifted her chin and blinked furiously, refusing to let the tears building behind her eyes again fall in front of him. “What I know is that you only want me because you have to! It has nothing to do with me at all!”
“I told you before, that’s bullshit!” The muscles in his arms bulged as he locked his hands behind his neck and dropped his head back, broad chest rising and falling like a bellows as he stared up at the beamed ceiling. He took five harsh, ragged breaths, before dropping his arms to his sides and looking right at her. “I...I might not have all the answers for how this mating shit works, but I don’t really give a damn.” And then, in a lower voice that shredded her, he said, “I’m just happy that it’s you. Can’t that be enough?”
Oh, God. She could have crumpled right then, but fear had her arguing, “You’re just saying that because your instinct or whatever you call it is telling you to! Because you—”
“No!” he roared, the guttural shout shocking her into silence. A muscle pulsed in the hard edge of his jaw, while his dark gaze drilled into her...digging...searching for the truth. And then he slowly lifted his hand, and rubbed it over his mouth. “Oh...hell,” he breathed, his hand curling into a fist as he dropped it back to his side. “Are you... Are you reacting this way because of that Derek asshole?”
“No,” she whispered, even though she could feel the angry flush of color leeching from her face. Talk about a direct hit. “It’s, um, just that...”
“Just that what?” he barked, looking as if he’d like nothing better than to get his hands on Derek Carlton and wring his cheating neck.
Head spinning from the force of her past and present colliding, she grimaced as she heard herself slowly say, “He taught me a lot.”
“What? To be blind? Is that what he taught you? Because it’s bullshit, Skye. Fucking bullshit!” he growled, the dark of his eyes so golden now she felt like she was st
aring into that most primal, visceral part of him. And yet, there was so much tenderness there, in those beautiful eyes, it was breaking her heart. “I want you so badly I’m aching with it,” he said low and rough, sounding completely shattered. “Going out of my goddamn mind.”
She dug her fingers into the sofa cushions, trying to find her way through an argument that had shifted on her so quickly, she no longer knew quite where to go with it. Blinking with confusion, she looked up at him and blurted, “But you’ve already had me.”
“Yeah, and it only made me want you more,” he said huskily, taking a step toward her. “I’ll never get enough, never get my fill. And I can’t help that the pull is there between us, but this is more than that. I was drawn to you from the first.”
She wet her lips with a nervous flick of her tongue. “I...I wish that was the truth.”
Hooded gaze burning with determination, he stepped right up to the other side of the table, and said, “You want to hear some truths? Then you can damn well hear this one. Before I caught even the slightest whiff of your scent in my head, I had your face in my line of sight. And it stole my breath. I stood outside the diner and watched you for over an hour that first night, studying you, growing completely obsessed. I watched you charm poor bastards down on their luck, making them smile. I saw you be kind to people for the simple reason that you are kind. And I couldn’t wrap my head around how you could be so fucking sweet and so incredibly beautiful all at the same time.
“Right then, I started falling, hard and fast, before I ever even got up the nerve to walk inside and sit down at one of your tables. I was already gone for you before I even knew you were mine. And each day that goes by, I learn more about you, and I’m gone even deeper. That’s not the connection. The connection makes me want to protect you, makes the lust I feel for you nearly impossible to control, but it doesn’t control how I feel about you. That’s all on you, Skye. Every ounce of it.”
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