by G. K. DeRosa
Freefall. My heart plummeted to my toes. Those words pierced into me, more powerful than the deadliest dagger.
His gaze cast down to the floor, intent on the blades of grass jutting through the stone. “There’s someone else. I found my true mate, and only then did I realize what we had was nothing more than an infatuation.”
“You’re lying,” I hissed. This was not how this conversation was supposed to go. Not at all.
“I’m not.” His eyes remained fixed to the ground.
“Then why won’t you look at me?” I cried.
“Because I can’t bear to see you hurting.”
I clenched his chin between my fingers and forced his head back. “Look at me. If you feel nothing, at least have the courage to admit it to my face.”
His eyes hardened, and I could almost hear his jaw grinding. “I. Feel. Nothing.”
My throat tightened, an insurmountable lump of emotion clogging my throat. My lungs went limp as all the air whooshed out. It can’t be. I refused to believe it. I’d been so angry, furious, but I never stopped loving him. And I knew it wasn’t one-sided. I just knew it. “Why are you doing this?” I forced out.
“I’m letting you go, Sierra. It’s something I should’ve done long ago. I told you we weren’t meant to be together.”
The curse! Memories of our last conversation whirled to the forefront of my mind. “It’s the curse, isn’t it? That’s why you’re saying this?”
He shook his head, his teeth clenched so tight a ring of white circled his lips.
“Tell me what happened. Please.”
“I can’t,” he snarled.
“Maybe we can fix this. Find a way to remove the curse. We’re in an entire school-full of witches. There has to be something we can do.” We? I’d really lost it now. He’d just told me he met someone else, but I didn’t believe him. His mouth said one thing, but his eyes—the agony painted a different picture.
He stood, and his big hands balled into tight fists. “There’s nothing to fix, Sierra. I told you, I was wrong. We’re not mates. I came here to say goodbye and to apologize for leading you on.”
My head whipped back and forth. “No, I don’t believe you.” We had a connection, and it was real. More real than anything I’d ever experienced. Even now with his broad shoulders bearing over me, his presence pressed into me, robbing me of rational thought. I fixed my eyes to his. Another flash of—something. Then it was gone, a black curtain eclipsing the light. “Why are you doing this?” I repeated.
He scowled, kicking at the roughhewn stone of the fountain.
“What? Please talk to me.” My hand encircled his forearm, and his searing heat singed my fingertips. I jerked back and tucked my hand under my armpit, folding my arms across my chest once again.
Hunter’s eyes met mine, two vacant pools glazed over. “There’s someone else. Forget about me, Sierra. It’s over.” He grunted, a rueful smile splitting his lips into a sneer. “It never even started. We never had a chance.”
“I hate you,” I spat. The words bubbled out as fury uncoiled in my gut, tussling with the pain and anguish.
“Good,” he muttered. “You should.” He spun around toward the main hall as I crumpled. My heart shattered into a thousand jagged pieces. I watched him, my traitorous body still drawn to him in spite of everything.
Hunter made it halfway down the path before casting a glance over his shoulder. His eyes locked on mine. Vacant. Hollow. Tears swelled, threatening to spill over but I blinked rapidly refusing to let him see. Once he was gone, I’d let the dam burst.
Something stirred in my core, a presence brushing against my insides. A whine shimmied up and escaped through my clenched lips. Hunter’s eyes widened at the sound, and a streak of citrine lit up those deadened irises. In the space of a broken heartbeat, he closed the distance between us. I opened my mouth, but his lips crashed against mine before I could utter a word.
I tensed against him, bracing my palms against his firm chest. I shoved, but his arms only tightened around me. “Let go—” My words were swallowed up by his fierce kisses. His mouth claimed mine, a furious rage compelling his movements. And mine. His tongue lashed against my own, every stroke a punishment and a reward. I finally yielded, my body going limp against his. Gods, I’d longed for this. For his taste, his scent, the feel of him pressed against me.
What was wrong with me? Why did I still want him?
A wave of clarity crashed through the lusty haze, and I shoved Hunter back. Hard. He skidded across the courtyard, narrowly avoiding a dunk in the fountain. “Leave,” I growled. “You said we were done, so let’s finish this.” I was going to be sick. A bout of nausea roiled through my insides. I’d let him get to me again.
His head dipped. Before he spun away, he whispered, “I’m sorry, Sierra. For everything. Please, forgive me.”
My knees wobbled as a fracture ripped across my heart. If he said another word, I’d crumble. I’d break right in front of him. “Leave!” I shouted, a beastly snarl echoing in my throat.
He shot down the pathway as I chased the tears back. Squeezing my eyes shut, I focused on my breathing, focused on the sounds of the bubbling fountain, the cricket chirping in the distance. Anything rather than the pain cleaving my heart in two.
When I opened my eyes again, Hunter was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Present Time
My big wolf heart smacked against my lupine ribcage as I regarded the fierce black wolf in front of me. Those eyes, the pools of golden flames. My nostrils flared, and I breathed him in again. Musky cedarwood and warm vanilla. Hunter. My Hunter.
The proud beta lowered his gaze, and a sharp whine escaped.
It is you, isn’t it? How had I not seen it? How could I have been so blind? Aristaeus? I snapped.
Yes.
My lungs refused to inflate, all the air leaking out like a pair of punctured tires. I sucked in a breath, and his overpowering scent filled my nostrils. My pulse quickened as I dragged in the air I so desperately needed.
A bone cracked, then another. My fur receded, the eerie purple glow disappearing with the moonlight. Pain more pain. I squeezed my eyes shut. Muscles quivering, constricting and lengthening. Tendons snapping and bones returning to their human form.
Once the pain stopped, I pushed my heavy lids open. Curled into a ball, I glanced up at the black wolf still hovering over me. A big pink tongue lolled, drool dripping from pointy fangs. He swept his wet tongue across my forehead before taking a step back.
I shooed him away and a cool breeze swept over me as I tried to force myself up. Crap, I’m naked. I hugged one arm over my breasts and the other I used to cover my bottom half, Adam and Eve style. I glanced up to find the wolf still staring down at me.
“Do you mind?” I squealed. Glancing through the thicket, I searched the streets for my discarded bra and underwear. Even if I could find them, they’d be torn to shreds. Dammit. I needed to start hiding spares in the woods. At this rate, I was going to ruin all of my clothes.
The wolf ticked his head up at the lair looming a few yards in front of us. We must have been running around the compound. Come, I’ll get you some clothes.
“No way! Number one, I’m not going into the alpha’s home naked. Number two, I’m not going anywhere with you, Hunter. You’ve been lying to me for weeks, hell, for years.”
“I can explain.”
“Oh, you better effin’ believe it you will. But I’d rather have this discussion take place when I’m fully clothed, if it’s all the same to you.”
Heat burned my cheeks as his wolfish eyes lanced over my naked form. The gold smoldered, flames quivering within the incandescence. Fire. Dragos Pack. The dragon mask. It all made sense now. How had I been so stupid? I felt like Lois Lane staring up at a wolfy Clark Kent.
A million questions tumbled around my mind as I scrambled to put the pieces of our past together. It had been Aristaeus all along. He’d been at the academy the night of the ini
tiation, and he’d returned every year because he had to be there as beta to attend the ceremony. But why didn’t he say something when I arrived in Moon Valley?
I promise I’ll answer everything that I can.
“Don’t you dare!” I shouted. “Get out of my head. You have no right…” Gods, he’d put me through hell.
I’m sorry, Sierra. Even in my head, my name on his lips stirred something in my darkest depths. I chased away the confusing sensations.
Shifting my arm across my chest, I adjusted my hold on the girls. The one time in my life I regretted being well-endowed in that area.
The crunch of leaves spun my head toward the imposing fortress on the hill. Before I’d moved, Arista—no, Hunter, darted into the shadows, disappearing within the thick copse of trees.
“Hey, wait!” I hissed.
A second later, he returned with a backpack clenched between his white teeth. He dropped the bag a few feet away from me and turned his furry back. Get dressed, then we can go home.
Home? He better be talking about my home because there was no way I was going into the alpha’s lair at this time of night. Opening the backpack, I pulled out an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts. The scent of cedar and vanilla swirled in the air. Oh, hell no. “I’m not wearing your clothes.”
Why not? He kept his back to me as his words resounded in my head.
“Maybe you’ve forgotten our last conversation, but I haven’t. I hate you. Remember?”
He grunted. It’s all I have. I don’t exactly keep women’s clothes in my home.
The swirl of satisfaction that bubbled up inside me at those words was ridiculous. I stifled the incredibly uncalled for thoughts and shoved them far down. “I thought you found your mate,” I muttered. Wasn’t that why he’d left me?
Later.
“Right. What’s another twenty minutes? I’ve only been waiting for an explanation for four years.”
A golden mist swirled around the wolf’s paws, creeping up his long legs. I blinked and the haze consumed the beta, shadowing the tremendous wolf in gold. When the shimmery curtain finally dissipated, a very naked Hunter stood before me.
I swallowed hard. My eyes drifted over his perfect male form like a feeble moth drawn to the wicked wolfy flame. Gods, I’d imagined this moment for years. Seeing Hunter for the first time. Only it wasn’t Hunter, it was Aristaeus, the supreme alpha heir. And he was as gorgeous and forbidding as the first day I’d laid eyes on him.
My gaze descended from the shock of dark hair tumbling over his forehead, to the hard, square jaw, down to his broad shoulders, and—the wolf tattoo. That menacing black wolf head that covered his shoulder, winding down almost to his forearm. I’d seen it when he’d spoken at the initiation ceremony, but he’d hidden it somehow every time he visited me as Hunter.
“I’m sorry!” he barked, tearing me away from the blatant ogling. He cracked his knuckles, and the familiar gesture snapped my last shred of sanity.
A sharp giggle burst from lips, and my head tipped back. A bout of laughter shook my shoulders, chuckles pealing out as I huddled naked on the forest floor. How was this happening? Fate really was a bitch.
Hunter stared down at me, his mouth agape. Yup, I’d cracked, and he knew it. “Put the clothes on and let’s go inside. You’ve been through a lot.”
“How would you know? You don’t know anything about me,” I shouted.
A growl ripped from his clenched teeth. “I know that you’re angry, cold, and scared, and I know that you snore like a buzzsaw.” His lip curled at the last word, and I couldn’t help my own lips from parting. “Please, let me take you inside. You have no reason to trust me, but I am your beta, and if you haven’t realized already, I protect my pack. My duty is everything.”
I huffed because I believed him. He’d never betrayed who he was to me. All those years and he kept his secret, putting his duty as alpha heir first. “Fine,” I muttered, clutching his shirt to my chest. I’d just have to hold my breath until I got out of his clothes. I tugged the oversized tee over my head, and his heady scent consumed me.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
My head whipped back and forth. “Did you hear that?”
His eyes narrowed, and he slowly shook his head. “Come on, we have a lot to talk about.”
His eyes! They were green again, a deep shimmering emerald. I was momentarily distracted from his nakedness. “Why do your eyes change color?”
He raked his hands over his face, squeezing those eyes shut. “My eyes are green, but my wolf’s are gold. When I’m in my human form sometimes they change if my wolf is near the surface.”
The entire time I’d known him as Hunter they’d been gold. The thought bounced around my addled mind before settling on him once again.
My gaze veered from his face, down his arms to the wolf tattoo, then traced the cuts of his abs and delved lower. I sucked in a haggard breath at the sharp V that descended… I jerked my head, averting my gaze as heat seeped up my neck and blossomed across my cheeks. It was the first time I’d seen a man’s lower half so up close and personal, and it was the first time I’d desired it so uncontrollably.
Gods, I needed him dressed. Like now. Before I did something I’d definitely regret. Clutching his shorts, I tossed them at him. “Here. Your shirt is like a dress on me anyway.”
He shrugged and stepped into the navy shorts. “Nudity doesn’t bother me, and soon it won’t bother you either. You’ll see.”
Doubtful. Seeing a guy’s man parts hanging out didn’t seem like something I’d get over anytime soon.
“Ready?”
I hazarded a glance up and relief flooded through me. Fully dressed, phew. Still a hunger burned my insides, unable to tear my eyes away from his sculpted torso. My fingers itched to touch him, feel his warmth against me. What the hell, Sierra? One look at a naked Hunter and I’d forgotten the rollercoaster of misery he’d put me through?
“I’m not going with you,” I attempted again, but even I could hear my resolve waning. It was the middle of the night, I was half naked and I’d gotten so turned around I had no idea how to get home.
“Damn it, Sierra, why do you have to be so stubborn?” He dragged his hand through his tussled dark locks, tugging on the ends. Raven hair—just like I’d imagined it all those years ago. “Wolves have tried to kill you twice now. I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“Why do you even care?” I snarled and leapt to my feet. His shirt rode up on me, revealing my upper thighs. I tugged it down, and a swirl of embarrassment overshadowed the anger. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation with my ass hanging out. This was my worst nightmare.
“I told you, I care about all of my wolves.” His eyes glazed over, that blank look settling over his typically expressive irises. I’d memorized every shade of those gleaming orbs, every flash of expression, but in all those years, I’d never seen this. My mind whirled back through time. Except the last time, when he said he felt nothing for me.
He neared, reaching out before he changed his mind and tucked his hand behind his back once more.
Silence stretched.
Hunter loosed a frustrated breath and pressed his arms across his chest. “I’m not leaving you out here like this. I can wait all night if that’s what it takes.”
Like he’d stayed with me all night at the infirmary and then disappeared. Oh gods, oh gods. I just wanted to erase the past, pretend that none of it had ever happened. Now my Hunter was my beta and I’d be tied to him for life, despite his brutal rejection. My mind spun. My best bet was to get this over with. Pass my classes at Moon Valley U., maintain control of my wolf and get the hell out of dodge. I needed Hunter in my rearview mirror like yesterday.
Steeling my nerves, I sucked in a breath. “Fine, let’s go.” I took a step toward him and something sharp dug into my bare foot. Son of a--! I stumbled forward and fell into a wall of muscle. Warm arms wrapped around my middle to steady me. M
usky cedarwood and fragrant vanilla assaulted my senses, and I completely forgot about the prickly barb piercing the sole of my foot.
Hunter’s chest rumbled beneath my ear, and my she-wolf purred in response. I jerked my head up to meet his eyes and that smoldering intensity was back. In gold! His head tipped forward as his eyes locked on my lips. Up close, he was more beautiful than I ever dreamed. A light stubble dusted his wide jaw, and chills ran up my spine at the thought of running my tongue over it. Minty breath swirled between us as he inched closer, his eyes like lasers homing in on my mouth.
I snagged my lower lip between my teeth and bit down. My fangs sliced the tender flesh. Fangs? When had they popped out? The pungent, metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and jerked me from the intense moment. I staggered back and Hunter released me, a scowl carving into his jaw.
“Sorry,” he muttered and spun around. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
I released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and took a step to follow him. The damned bur was still embedded in my foot, and I let out a yelp. “Hold on a sec,” I mumbled.
He was at my side before I blinked, his hand extended. “Let me see.”
I grabbed hold of his palm, and he shuddered. Actually shuddered. How could touching me make him cringe? I tried to let go, but his hold on my hand only tightened.
“Let me see,” he repeated.
Leaning on him for balance, I lifted my leg and twisted my foot around. Beneath the caked-on dirt and dry grass, a trickle of blood dribbled. A prickly thorn was embedded in my heel.
“Close your eyes. I’ll get it out.” He leaned over me and reached for my foot.
“I can do it,” I hissed.
“Fine, then do it. I’m tired, Sierra, and I just want to get home.”
A snarl escaped my clenched lips as I cursed him internally. It’s not like I wanted to get attacked by wolves, lost in this damned forest and rescued by the biggest alpha-hole alive. Gritting my teeth, I pinched the thorn between my fingers and jerked it out. Another strangled curse tore from my lips.