“I saw it in my mind like I dreamed it too.” She shook, her entire body quivering against him like she couldn’t get warm.
And he didn’t blame her. She’d just experienced the nightmare for the first time that he had been living now for almost six years.
“My sweet little bitch.” He stroked her hair, brushing it from her face as he relaxed his grip on her and then cupped her cheeks until he saw how her moist lashes clung together and the salty smell of her sadness wrapped around the still strong scent of their lovemaking from the night before. “I was old enough to know better, and to not be scared of the angry aggression of another werewolf.”
“He was your pack leader. Your loyalty to him was so strong that if he were alive now, you would submit to his commands.”
She was right. But that didn’t change the facts of history. “I should have found out why he was pissed at Dante Aldo. I could have run to every den and warned them. So many lives would have been saved that day. My den, mother and my sire—I would have saved all of them.”
She stiffened in his arms, then pushed him to arm’s length. Even though her eyes were so moist they glowed like beautiful gems, she grabbed his arms, making an effort to shake him.
“Dimitri Spalto.” Her voice was harsher than he had ever heard her speak before. “You can’t continue blaming yourself for the past. You did the best that you could that day. And look what you have done since. Weren’t you and your littermates the first to arrive here on the mountain when you heard news that Dante Aldo was here?”
“I came here to kill him.”
Rosa nodded slowly, then let go of his arm to run her fingers over her face. “And you came here to help build a pack for all of us. Look at what you have accomplished.”
“There is still so much to do.”
“And you’ll do it.”
God. She believed in him more than he did himself. Pulling her back into his arms, he kissed her forehead, breathing in deeply the smell of him on her. There would be no way he could allow her to walk among their pack now without making some sort of announcement concerning her.
Hell. He wanted to make that announcement. Rosa was his bitch. Why not howl it to the world?
“You need a shower,” he decided. Turning her around, he kept her tucked in next to him as he walked with her to the bathroom.
Rosa didn’t say anything but stood in the bathroom, waiting as he adjusted the water and then the shower curtain. Her eyes were dry now as she looked up at him and then took his hand as he helped her into the bath.
The water streamed over her hair, soaking it and making it cling to her, looking flatter and shinier as she closed her eyes and arched under the showerhead. He didn’t want to move, or even blink, content to simply watch her beautiful body as paths of water made curvy lines over her full breasts and down the slender slope of her hips.
Grabbing the soap, he lathered it in his hands and then bathed her, taking his time to make sure every inch of her was clean. Just as he would his mate.
His female. His bitch.
Dimitri meticulously took his time cleaning every inch of her, adoring her beauty. He would care for her and protect her with his last breath. God only knew why he was blessed with such perfection, but nothing—nothing—would ever bring her pain.
The thought hit him so hard it was as if he were just punched in the gut. Rosa didn’t move, didn’t stop him from bathing her and gave no indication that she followed his line of thinking.
But he knew better.
“Now that you know the truth about me, what do you think?” If he could improve on any of the many fucked up traits of his personality, he wouldn’t be selfish. Rosa deserved that much out of him. He wouldn’t mate with her if she saw the truth of what made him who he was and didn’t like it.
Pain speared through him at a deadly pace when she didn’t answer right away.
She stood perfectly still while he gathered up all her hair and worked shampoo into it. He would wait out her silence and hear her answer. Her hair was so thick and so long as it tumbled over his fingers. No one ever would have made him believe that cleaning a bitch could be such a wonderful experience. He tried focusing on that instead of the ache that filled his gut as the silence between them lengthened.
“Why did you run toward the fire instead of away from it?” she asked, and then spit soap away from her mouth when he pushed her under the water.
“I had eight littermates,” he told her, running his fingers through her hair and watching the suds stream down her back and arms.
His cock got hard watching the white streams of suds flow over her dark skin. She would be too tender this morning though, and he fought his urge to avoid this conversation and simply fuck her instead.
“A coward would have sniffed out his own safety.” She opened one eye and stared up at him. “I think the same of you that I’ve thought since I first smelled you, Dimitri. You’re an incredible werewolf.”
It was only right that he make her see the truth. “I was too wrapped up in my jealousy over Dante. My own pride made me storm out of Bruno’s den that day. I should have confronted him and demanded that he allow me to help when he couldn’t find Dante.”
Her hair lay flat against her head and she looked up at him with water clinging to her lashes. Dimitri didn’t move when she put her hands on his shoulders and then went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Her lips were warm and her scent smelled so much like him that it made his heart swell with such an odd sensation of pride.
“Dante and Juan have a lot of regrets about that day too. I’m afraid the terrible truth is that the fires were started too quickly, by too many werewolves, for any of you to prevent all those deaths from happening.” She spoke with her lips against his, her breath mingling with his.
He ran his hands down her slender arms, feeling her small muscles and knowing they offered no indication of how much power and strength ran through his little bitch.
“I could have saved my den.”
“Maybe. And I’m so sorry that they all died. So very sorry.” She held him close, like a mother would her cub.
When her scent grew richer and she reached and scratched her nails over his scalp, her clean, fresh scent brought back memories of the way his parents used to smell. The smell of love.
Chapter Thirteen
Rosa walked into her den knowing what to expect before she spotted her mother. “There you are.” Her cheerful tone wouldn’t curb Maria Anthony’s biting tongue.
The older bitch stuffed a strand of gray hair behind her ear as she looked up, eyeing Rosa first, then looking past her at Dimitri.
“By the smell of you two, I assume you come to my den to bring an old bitch good news. Especially since you didn’t return to your den last night.”
“When there’s good news, you’ll hear about it before you have a chance to ask.” Rosa leaned forward to kiss her mother, who sat with the newspaper spread before her at the kitchen table.
Maria pushed Rosa’s arm, using the gesture to help herself stand. Then applying more force than Rosa guessed her mother had used in years, she shoved Rosa out of the way and walked up to Dimitri. The top of her mother’s head didn’t even come to his shoulders. For some strange reason, at the moment she looked very powerful even though he seriously dwarfed her.
“Are you going to mate with my daughter?” she demanded to know.
Rosa covered her face with her hand, doing her best to stifle the smell of her sudden embarrassment and humiliation.
“Yes.” Dimitri’s response knocked her a few paces backward.
Weren’t either one of them thinking at all before they spoke?
The refrigerator stopped her backward journey and her hand fell to grip the handle as she gaped at Dimitri. He didn’t look up at her. But her mother spun around, as if the news had just been announced, and she almost squealed as she rammed into her daughter.
Rosa caught her mother, accepting her embrace as she looked over her and up
at Dimitri. His expression wasn’t readable, but his thoughts were.
Get the things you came for and let’s get out of here.
Oh yeah, right. Like they could just prance out of here after what he had just said to her mother. But she couldn’t answer him with her thoughts.
“Mother,” she said, managing to pry the older bitch off her.
“You will be queen bitch!” She clasped her hands in front of her, beaming with so much pride it filled the kitchen with its ripe smell.
“Mom.” Rosa had a few choice words for Dimitri right about now. She told him as much with her glare.
Werewolves were a stubborn species. Thankfully, he took the hint.
“Maria, there is no announcement to make yet.” His tone was so calm, as if he just told her that there wouldn’t be a run tonight.
“What is this?” Maria turned slowly, giving Rosa a quick look before settling her attention on Dimitri. “Males and bitches today have sex without mating?”
“I didn’t say that.” He looked a bit uncomfortable.
Rosa cocked her head, deciding he could get accustomed to Maria’s sharp tongue on his own.
“Then help an old bitch out here. What exactly are you saying?”
“Mating is a very serious step and one I don’t take lightly.” If he thought deepening his voice and trying to sound authoritative would help matters, he would soon learn how Maria Anthony did business.
“So it’s just the sex that you take lightly?”
Are you going to help me out here? His thoughts were loud enough that it was as if he shouted at her.
She raised her eyebrows, dying to hear him answer her mother’s questions. “Mom, I came over here to get some things. And to say hello and let you know that I’m fine. Is there anything that you need?”
“Yes. There is. I need to know right now if you plan on dishonoring my daughter.” Maria poked her finger into Dimitri’s chest. “I don’t care if you are pack leader or not, werewolf. If my Rosa puts one paw outside our den smelling like she does with no mating to announce, then she will be tarnished. So unless there is some new law about fornicating without mating that an old bitch missed out on, I want to hear some news.”
Dimitri looked more uncomfortable than Rosa had ever seen him. “I haven’t discussed mating with her yet,” he admitted.
“She doesn’t leave this den until you do.” Maria put her hands on her hips and glared up at him.
Dimitri stared at Maria for a long moment. He never looked at Rosa, but his warring thoughts made her stomach churn. He turned around and walked out of the den, closing the door slowly behind him.
“Mom!” She wouldn’t let him leave without her. “Dimitri!” she yelled, hurrying toward the front door.
“Don’t you dare chase after that werewolf.” Maria sounded more forceful than she had in years.
Rosa stumbled over her feet, torn between obeying her mother and racing after Dimitri. She stopped at the door, feeling her fingernails prick her palms when she fisted her hands and fought the urge to pound the wood in front of her.
“He’ll be back.”
Rosa spun around. “How do you know?”
“I know.”
The door hit her in the back when it opened. Rosa got dizzy turning around again so quickly.
Dimitri’s eyes were darker than night when he looked down at her. “Rosa.” He choked on her name.
Her heart swelled into her throat, making it impossible to answer him.
Be my mate. His thoughts hit her but his mouth opened, then closed again. Then opened. I want you to be my mate. He didn’t speak. Rosa, would you mate with me?
“Dimitri?” she whispered. God, if he would just speak.
“Mating should only happen if a male and a bitch love each other,” he said quickly.
That wasn’t in his thoughts. She nodded once dumbly.
“I wouldn’t honor a mating any other way.” He straightened, suddenly sounding serious, like he was giving a speech.
I think we would make it if we mated. His thoughts spilled over each other, various word orders of the same sentence tangling around in his mind.
Rosa smelled amusement trickling off her mother and wanted to kick her out of the room. She swallowed the lump in her throat, closing her eyes and trying to focus on her own thoughts. So much was shared between the two of them in his den last night and this morning.
But love?
Slowly she turned around. The broad grin on her mother’s face disappeared quickly.
“Mom. Please allow us a few minutes alone,” she said quietly, grateful that she sounded calm.
“You will honor my instructions.” Her mother pointed a knowing finger at her.
“I won’t leave,” she told her.
Maria nodded once and left the room. Rosa let out a long sigh before turning around. The dark, brooding stare on Dimitri’s face ripped all air out of her lungs. Her mouth went completely dry simply staring at him. He didn’t look this serious even when he discussed his dream with her.
“Leaving you here under your mother’s terms brings you dishonor.”
“Hell, Dimitri. You told her you would mate with me.”
“It has been on my mind recently.”
“It has?” Her heart fluttered in her chest, creating butterflies in her gut. She hadn’t heard those thoughts on him. Dreaming his dream with him scared the crap out of her though. It took her a while to understand that she never before had slept beside a werewolf after mastering the gift. If this was part of the deal—dreaming together—it would take some getting accustomed to.
“There are many things on my mind.” It was like he justified why she hadn’t heard that one little tidbit from his brain. “The most important thing is that I smell every situation out carefully. I won’t make any more mistakes.”
“Dimitri.” She moved to him before she gave it any thought. His heart thudded hard in his chest when she pressed her palms over it and then stretched her fingers, feeling the hard, raw strength of him warm her hands. “We aren’t perfect.” She licked her dry lips and watched his dark eyes move to follow the small act. “But you are the best male for me.”
“Your mother is right. Taking you out into the pack with my scent so wrapped around you would be dishonorable if you weren’t my mate.”
“Then make me your mate,” she whispered.
“I just did.”
She stared at him, his expression so frozen that not one muscle moved. She didn’t smell happiness, or fear, or anger—nothing but the rich scent of her sex drifting from his pores.
“What?” she whispered, the one word cracking out of her mouth.
“Isn’t that what you want?”
“Is it what you want?”
He exhaled slowly, although his chest remained solid and stretched under her hands. Every muscle in his body seemed harder than steel. “Rosa,” he said quietly, seeming so calm that she didn’t dare breathe. I think I’m falling in love with you.
A squeal escaped her mouth before she could stop it. Even though his expression remained hard, his dark gaze piercing through her, her grin spread across her face until her cheeks hurt.
“That is what I needed to know.”
“What?” She didn’t understand.
“I just said a few minutes ago that I wouldn’t have a mating without love.”
“Oh God.” She threw her arms around him, jumping on him until he wrapped his arms around her so that she wouldn’t fall. “You hardheaded wolf man! You are the most stubborn, bullheaded… Tell me that you love me.”
He buried his face in her neck, his lips tickling the sensitive flesh next to her collarbone when he spoke. “I love you, Rosa.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, respecting his need to keep this moment private and intimate.
Dimitri raised his head, straightening, although still more solid than a large boulder. “Maria,” he called for her mother.
Rosa heard the quick footsteps. Di
mitri didn’t let her go so that she could turn around.
“You have news for an old bitch?” Her mother’s excited tone made it sound like she hadn’t just demanded that the two of them mate.
Dimitri didn’t answer her. Instead, putting Rosa at arm’s length, he searched her face without speaking for a moment. Her mouth was too damned dry and her heart raced too quickly in her chest to utter a word.
“You will stay here with your mother until I return for you.”
“Where are you going?” Rosa pulled away from him, searching his face.
Dimitri shook his head, forcing himself not to think and turning for the door. “You will stay here,” he repeated, and left her den quickly before she could figure out what he was about.
The cold, damp air didn’t soothe the growing heat building inside him. As much as a good, hard run would make what he would do now a lot easier, it was best to get it over with. He wouldn’t leave Rosa waiting with her mother long. The old bitch would make the best of werewolves rabid.
A few minutes later, he parked his truck in front of Dante Aldo’s den. His heart pounded with nervous anticipation, but if he was going to mate, he would do it right. And Dante was the head of her den.
“Son of a bitch,” he growled, praying he would be able to pull this off without baring his teeth. He wouldn’t belly up, that was for damned sure. But he would honor Rosa and her den by taking her properly.
Although Dante saying no wasn’t an option. That much he had the satisfaction of knowing. Dimitri was pack leader.
The door didn’t open for him this time as he approached. Dimitri smelled Dante and his bitch inside, and knocked twice, hitting the wood solidly with his fist, then waited. And the male would make him wait. Dimitri didn’t doubt for a moment that Dante knew why he was here and what was about to be said.
Kind of made the whole scene a bit of a charade, but nonetheless, traditions would be upheld to the last word, and growl if need be.
It was Moira who opened the door. She studied him a minute with her dark gaze, her expression masked but caution weighing heavily in her scent and the way her lips pressed into a fine line.
'Til Death Page 17