Forever Mine (Westin Pack Book 3)

by Julie Trettel

  Her mother was openly crying through the line. It made me sick to have to share Maddie’s story, but it was better than for her to go through it all again.

  “She's been through a lot, but she's strong, and beautiful. She's a wonderful mother. I'm telling you, that kid is the best. You'd be really proud of her. And I don't know exactly why she never called to let you know she was okay. She told me once she thought it was best if you all just thought she was dead and moved on. I don't think she realized how impossible that would be for any of us left behind.

  I'll try to get her to come around, but please, she just needs time. Too many people here know who she is now, and I just didn't want you to find out through the grapevine. Of course none of them know the details of what happened to her, but even just hearing she's alive and here, it needed to come from us. She wasn't ready and I pushed her into it. I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt either you any more than you already have.”

  Zach's voice was filled with emotions. “There's no man on this Earth I would want for my daughter's mate other than you. Thank you. Thank you for taking care of her and bringing her back home. Thank you for telling us and”—he had to take a moment before he continued—“thank you for sending the pictures. They mean a lot to Cora and me. We've waited eight years in hopes of hearing anything, anything at all about Madelyn. I can't tell you what it means to know she is safe and with you, and hear her sweet voice even if only for a moment.”

  “She'll come around. I know she will. She loves you guys, but she's been through a lot, so I really feel like we need to do this on her terms.”

  “Okay, son. Okay. We're going to trust you on this, but do me a favor and try to get her to at least talk to us.” The door opened quietly and Maddie walked back in while he was talking. “We don't care what happened or why she stayed away. We don't ever have to mention it again if that's what she wants. We just want to be a part of her life. A part of Oscar's life, too.”

  She looked at me with big questioning eyes.

  “I'll see what I can do, Zach. And I'll call you in a few days and let you know how she is even if she's not ready yet.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “Thank you, Liam,” Cora added as they hung up the phone.

  “Did you tell them?” she whispered.

  “Yes. They needed to know and I didn't want you to have to relive it all again with them.”

  She cried as I held her. “They still want to speak with me? They still want to see me? Are you sure you told them everything?”

  “I told them enough, and of course they want to see you. They're your parents, and they love you, Mad.”

  “And Oscar? They said they wanted him in their lives, too?”

  I laughed, wondering how she could be so blind. “Of course they want to know him. He's their grandpup.”

  “It's all so much. Too much.”

  “I know. Shh, come on, let's go to bed.”

  I led her back to my room. Her bags were already waiting inside. I noticed she'd changed into her pajamas while she had been away and I grabbed a pair from the bottom of my drawer and went to the bathroom to change, too. I didn't usually wear pajamas, but figured tonight was probably not the night for her to find that out, and I sent up a quick thanks to my mother who insisted on buying me a pair every Christmas despite knowing I didn't use them.

  Maddie

  Chapter 18

  While Liam went to change in the bathroom, I pulled back the covers on his bed and climbed in. I should have been a nervous wreck. Any other night I would be freaking out at just the thought of spending the night alone in the same room with him, let alone the same bed, but I was numb from the emotional overload.

  I wasn't sure how to feel about my parents. I had tried for so long to bury them in my past and not think of them and how they were feeling about my absence. Hearing Mom break down nearly broke me, too. I was grateful Liam had shared stuff with them. Stuff I didn't want them to know and doubted I could ever tell them myself. Part of me wanted to be angry at him for doing that, because I still felt ashamed and didn't want them to know, but I knew it was for the best.

  He walked out of the bathroom with nothing but a pair of PJ bottoms on. I had only truly seen him without a shirt twice, at least as an adult. The first had left me mesmerized and drooling and that had been mostly from across a pool. Now he was about to climb into bed next to me like that. The room suddenly felt very hot and I fought not to toss the covers aside in an attempt to cool down. My mouth was suddenly very dry and my palms sweaty with anticipation.

  He walked over to a small mini fridge in the corner. Why did he have a fridge in his room?

  As if reading my mind, he chuckled. “Left over from my college days. I've got some cold water in here. Want one?”

  “Yes, please,” I said, and even I could hear the husky modulation of my voice.

  Liam stilled, like he was trying to compose himself, then reached in and grabbed two water bottles and headed to the other side of the bed. He climbed in and slid under the covers, but remained sitting. He handed me a bottle. The cool liquid helped my dry throat, but it did little to cool me off.

  “How are you holding up?” Liam asked, watching me cautiously. I hated thinking he was waiting for me to break. I had my moments still, and I got that he had seen me at some of my lowest points in years, but I had been doing really well and getting stronger before he showed up and turned my life upside down. I sighed knowing it was true, but also in the best ways possible.

  “I'm stronger than you think, you know,” I told him stubbornly.

  He looked confused for a moment. “Sweetheart, I think you are the bravest, strongest woman I've ever known.” He said it with such conviction and awe that I knew he was telling the truth. “I know today was a long, hard one, though. I mean, twenty-four hours ago I was walking into a charity ball expecting a boring evening.” He laughed. It had truly been a long day. “You faced a lot of demons today and I did pretty much kidnap you and Oscar. You faced both your families today. It's been a lot.”

  And you told me you loved me, I wanted to add to his recap of the day. All the rest didn't matter because of that. He had said it didn't matter what Oscar was, or that I couldn't shift. He was all in, and looking up at him, I knew it was time he knew I was, too.

  I sat up beside him trying to calm my nerves. My hands were a little shaky at first, but when I reached up to caress his face, they calmed instantly. I was amazed at how our bond affected me like that.

  I pulled his face down to meet mine, pausing when our foreheads bumped. I stared into his eyes and smiled. He smiled back, then I kissed him. It wasn't the first time we had kissed, but it sure felt like it. Instant need shot through me, a raw primal kind I had never felt before. I had experienced phantom needs before. Everyone thought I would shift early, so I had been taught of the wolf's primal urges at a younger than usual age. It was exactly as they'd described, minus the wolf, so I always thought of them as phantoms, ghosts of what would have been still lingering within me.

  I deepened the kiss and gave in to my desires. Here with him, I felt free. I groaned against his mouth and he slowly slid us into a reclining position, side by side, as we explored one another. His hands started to roam and when they found the hem of my nightshirt, he stopped. Pulling back, he stared at me with uninhibited lust clouding his eyes, but he still thought first of me.

  “You're sure about this?” he asked in a deep, sexy voice.

  I bit my bottom lip and nodded. I was sure. I wanted him. I needed him.

  His hands slid up my back, sending shivers through me. His mouth found mine once again. This was my mate. There was no reason to be shy or hold back, so I let my hands roam over his naked chest, memorizing every inch, every ridge and muscle.

  When his hands found my breasts, I moaned against him from exquisite pleasure. He shifted us, so I was now laying on my back with him next to me, giving him better access as he stripped off my shirt and tossed it to the floor b
ehind him before resuming his exploration.

  I didn't know it could feel like this. My head rolled back and my eyes closed in ecstasy as his mouth left mine to follow the paths his hands had just taken. It was so much, yet I craved more. I wanted him, all of him. My desires surprised me. It was more than I had ever hoped for.

  Everything was perfect. I was hot and buzzing with need when his hands moved further south, removing my bottoms and igniting a new kind of frenzy in me. The pressure kept building and I begged him for more. He didn't stop until my head fell back and I screamed out in pleasure.

  His mouth covered mine to silence me, as his hands slowed and my body shook, coming down from a high I hadn't known existed. I could tell he was smiling against my lips. I had expected him to pick up the pace, thinking we were just getting started, and I knew I was ready for more, but he pulled back and laughed, kissing my forehead.

  I didn't know what was so funny. Had I done something wrong? My cheeks flushed hot and I wanted to crawl under the covers in humiliation.

  “I'm sorry,” he said, trying not to laugh, “it's just really bad timing.”

  I tried to roll away from him. I needed to cover myself.

  “Shit, I really blew that moment, didn't I? It's all Kyle's damn fault. Hearing you moan and scream out, knowing it was for me,” he said, with desire still evident in his voice, “made me want to go punch every other person in this house who may have heard you, and then I thought . . . Kyle's office!”

  I should have been mortified, but I started giggling instead. “No, we can't.”

  “Oh, yes, I think we can. We are going to need furniture in the new house,” he teased, and I started laughing so hard tears sprang to my eyes. In hindsight it might not have been so funny, but we were both so exhausted at that point that it seemed hysterical. By that time we'd been up well over thirty-six hours straight, or at least he had, and me minus the nap I take in the car.

  I smiled up at my mate laying on his side next to me. “Thank you,” I said, feeling suddenly vulnerable and changing the mood between us.

  “Sweetie, you don't ever have to thank me for 'that!’”

  I blushed and tried to hide my face. I was tired and it had been an emotional day. I didn't want to cry anymore, but it was there just under the surface. I hadn't known for sure I could ever be intimate with a man. Not even my mate, but with Liam, it felt good. So good. I had told him yes when he'd asked me to stay and build a life with him, but until that moment, I wasn't confident in what our life would be like. Laying naked and more vulnerable than I'd ever allowed myself, I just felt like me. Madelyn Collier, the real thing, and for the first time in my life, I felt like a woman.

  “We probably should try to get some sleep, even if that's the last thing on my mind right now,” he growled, nipping at my neck and pressing himself into my thigh, causing me to gasp and my body to start to warm.

  He pulled back, grinning, “Sleep, I said, you dirty-minded woman.”

  I laughed, knowing there were no clean thoughts in my head and watching him roll off the bed. I frowned, realizing that while I lay there naked as the day I was born, he had remained in his pajama bottoms. I vowed to rectify that quickly next time, but also knew that the moment was over, and exhaustion was quickly settling in.

  He gathered my pajamas from where he'd thrown them and tossed them at me.

  “You want me dressed?”

  “Want? Hell no! But I didn't think we should traumatize Oscar quite so soon, should he come in before we wake.”

  My heart felt like it was going to explode. Despite everything that had happened between us— and somehow I knew it was just as big a deal to him as it had been to me—he was thinking of my son first. I was overcome with emotion, with love.

  By the time I dressed again, he was back in bed and pulling me close to him so that my back aligned perfectly against his body. He threw the covers back over us and contentedly sighed. He kissed the top of my head and squeezed me even closer.

  “I'm really happy you're here.”

  “Me too,” I confessed.

  “Good night, Maddie. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I whispered, as I fell into the most blissful sleep I could ever remember.

  Liam

  Chapter 19

  I groaned as an elbow jabbed me in the chest, then an arm whacked my shoulder. I wasn't ready to get up, but when I was nearly kneed in the balls, I started the slow process of waking up.

  “Good morning, Liam,” Oscar said, mere inches from my face.

  I was so shocked I jumped and nearly fell out of the bed. It took me a moment to realize where I was and what was happening. Maddie was still fast asleep as Oscar attempted to wedge himself between us.

  “Shh,” I said, putting my finger to my mouth. “We don't want to wake Mommy, okay?”

  He nodded.

  “Too late,” she said in a sexy morning voice. She rolled over to the other side of the bed, freeing up enough space for Oscar to stretch out between us. “Good morning,” she said happily as she planted a kiss on his nose. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yup. And I made it the whole way through the night,” he said proudly.

  She reached for her phone that she had set on my nightstand beside the bed and checked the time. I glanced over Oscar's head and saw that it was nearly ten in the morning. Late enough that I should have been up, but I really just wanted to curl back into bed and sleep some more. I groaned.

  “I rarely get to sleep in this late, yet it doesn't feel like it's been long enough.”

  Maddie readily agreed.

  “Maybe you guys should go to bed earlier next time, like me and Zander,” Oscar said innocently, causing his mother to blush as she no doubt remembered the night before.

  I knew it wasn't something I was going to forget that anytime soon. I thought back to how it felt watching her fall apart, laying naked in my arms, and I shuddered. Shit, think about anything but that! I didn't need to sprout any more wood than I already had in front of the kid, and I definitely saw a cold shower in my very near future.

  “So, what are we going to do today?” Oscar asked, settling in between us. I suspected he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

  I sat up, propping my pillow behind my back. Oscar leaned into my side, making himself right at home. I hadn't been around a lot of kids. I mean, I liked them and they seemed to like me, it's just that Zander was the first grandkid in the family and Chase was only a few years younger than me. None of my friends had kids, especially not actual kids—maybe a baby, or a toddler even, but definitely no seven-year-olds. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. It felt a little awkward having him squished there between us, and yet a part of me really liked it, too.

  My family. This was my family. They were a package deal. I'd known it all along, yet something about the intimate moment with the three of us crammed into my bed made it seem suddenly real. I was going to be the only father figure this kid ever had. I really hoped I didn't screw it up, screw him up.

  “Grandpa Jason says I can watch the shifters change at the pack run tomorrow. I'll bet it's so cool. I can't wait!” he said excitedly.

  “Um, maybe we should start off a little smaller for your first time,” Maddie told him.

  “But Mom, please! I want to see the wolves,” he begged.

  “Tell you what,” I said. “If it's okay with Mommy, we'll head out to the house site and I'll change for you. You can see what happens and we can answer any questions you have.”

  “I think that's a very good idea,” Maddie approved.

  “Okay, that's awesome! Thanks, Liam,” he said, turning around and hugging me. “Where's the house site?”

  “Just a few miles away. You can pick out where you want your swing set to go while we're there.”

  His eyes got huge as he looked back and forth between us before standing up and jumping excitedly on my bed. “You mean it's going to be our house? We're going to live there?”

  “We
ll, it's not built yet, but it will be,” I told him, seeing no reason to keep it a secret from him, though I glanced towards Maddie just to make sure I hadn't overstepped some invisible maternal boundary again. I was relieved to see her smiling and happy.

  “But I mean, we're going to live there? All three of us? You, me, and Mommy?”

  “Yeah, of course, that's what I mean,” I said.

  He stopped and his mouth opened. “You mean you and Mommy are getting married and we're going to be a family?!”

  Married? What was he talking about? Shifters didn't care about things like that. Marriage was just a legal bond for tax purposes. Mating was far stronger than the so-called bonds of marriage.

  “Why would we get married?” I asked him. It didn't make any sense to me.

  “You don't want to marry Mommy?”

  “I don't really see the point,” I told him, noticing a second too late that Maddie was trying to shut me up, and I had clearly said something wrong.

  Oscar looked at me with big tears in his eyes. “I thought you said we were going to live together. I thought you were going to marry Mommy and be my daddy and we'd be a real family.”

  He jumped up and ran from the room as Maddie moved to follow.

  “Hold up,” I said as she was reaching for the door to go after him. “What the hell just happened?” I honestly had no idea why the kid was upset. And what was that nonsense about being a real family. We were already a real family, or at least well on our way in that direction.

  “Liam,” she started, biting her lower lip as she gathered her thoughts. “I understand what you were saying. I do, but you have to understand where he's coming from. He doesn't know the ways of the shifters. He's only ever lived in the human world, where people fall in love, and get married and start a family and live happily ever after. Marriage to him is the commitment of family. He doesn't know anything about bonding. So, you pretty much just told him that you want to live with us, but not commit to us.”