CHAPTER SEVEN
Ella
Ella stood in the middle of Roman’s living room long after the front door shut and the night swallowed the sound of him leaving. The house felt bigger without him in it. Quieter.
And her body was still humming.
She pressed her thighs together. The ache between them hadn’t faded. If anything, it had sharpened the second he’d walked out. Her body was a traitor. It wanted the man who had left her in his kitchen with wet panties and a head full of images about counters and claiming.
Mate.
The word kept circling.
She paced. The living room opened into a wide hallway lined with doors. She hadn’t explored earlier. Now the silence felt like permission—or maybe a warning.
The first two doors she knew. The bathroom and the guest room she’d slept in last night. Her clothes from the hike were still draped over the chair, torn and muddy. She left them.
There were three other bedrooms and two more baths, not counting Roman’s bedroom and its adjoining bath. All the bedrooms looked like the one she’d slept in. Cold and impersonal.
Had he built a house big enough to house a pack?
Or did he want the rooms filled with babies?
The thought made her shiver in a way that had nothing to do with fear.
You’re ridiculous, she told herself. Thirty-one years old.
Standing in a stranger’s house thinking about babies with a man who had simply rescued you from a dangerous situation.
Women like her were lucky to get that rescue.
And after, they got polite brush-off and a lifetime of wondering. Of what ifs.
Except Roman didn’t feel like a stranger. That was the problem.
She opened the door to his bedroom and sat on the edge of the mattress.
The scent of him wrapped around her immediately—pine, clean skin, and that darker note that made her stomach pull tight.
She tried to think past her body’s responses.
Poachers. Witness. Mate bond. The way Roman had looked at her when he said the word.
The way his brothers had gone still the second they saw her, careful in a way that said she mattered more than she understood.
A loud knock sounded at the front door.
She froze.
Would poachers actually knock?
She laughed but peeked out the kitchen window before opening the door.
It was Declan.
He stood on the porch, hands visible, expression unreadable. Rain beaded in his dark hair. “He’s still, um, needs to run,” Declan said. “I was closer, so I came to check on you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Can I come in? I’ll stay on the other side of the room.”
She frowned as she opened the door wider and gestured him inside. “Why would you do that?”
“Because Roman hasn’t claimed you as his mate.”
“And?”
“Unmated males get a little upset when other unmated males get near their mates.” He studied her with those same gray-adjacent eyes all three brothers shared. “He hasn’t told you everything yet.”
“I assume he hasn’t. He’s very closed mouth.”
“And you’re finding it hard to accept.”
“Is that so surprising?”
“No.” Declan’s voice stayed low and even. “True mates are rare. When a wolf finds one, the bond starts the second the scent hits. It’s not a choice. The wolf knows. The man spends the rest of his life trying to catch up.”
He paused, glancing toward the dark windows. “Our entire pack was lost six years ago. Bad alpha. Worse war. Roman buried everyone he failed to save and walked away. We came here to live. Roman doesn’t feel as if he has the right to have a mate.”
“I have a feeling he’s not the only one,” Ella muttered. “And if I don’t want to be his mate?”
“The bond doesn’t break clean. For him it would be a slow bleed.
Years of ache that never settles.” Declan’s gaze was steady.
“He won’t force the claiming. The bite has to be wanted.
But every hour he holds back costs him. You felt it tonight.
That’s not restraint. That’s self-destruction on a countdown. ”
She sat down hard on the nearest chair. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on a woman he met yesterday.”
“I know.” Something almost gentle moved through Declan’s expression. “For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
He straightened. “One more thing, and then I’ll go before he comes back and rearranges my face for being alone with you.
We found tracks. Roman matched the scents to the ones who cornered you.
They’d already gone back down the mountain by the time we scented them.
The rain has washed away just about everything, but we’re still looking.
It won’t be safe for you to leave until we find them.
I’m sorry, Ella. Roman cannot let you go. ”
“You mean he can’t let me go until it’s safe.”
“He’s here,” was his answer.
The front door opened and Roman walked in, dressed in the sweatpants he’d been wearing, carrying his shirt and shoes. The brothers nodded to each other and Declan left without another word.
Roman’s gaze moved over her. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”
“Oh, and how am I supposed to do that with poachers threatening to knock on the door any minute. And you. Declan told me what happens if I walk away.”
Roman went still. “He should have kept his mouth shut.”
“I need the rest of it, Roman,” Ella said. “All of it. No more almosts. No more stopping in the middle of sentences. Tell me what claiming means. Tell me about the bite. Tell me why your wolf looks at me like I’m already his.”
For a long moment she thought he might refuse. Then he crossed the room, stopped in front of her, and cupped her face in both hands. His palms were cold from the rain. His eyes were not.
“A claiming bite seals the bond,” he said quietly.
“It ties your life to mine. Longer lifespan. Faster healing. The ability to feel each other across distance—mood, pain, need. Once I bite you, you’re pack.
You’re mine in every way the animal understands.
” His thumb brushed the corner of her mouth. “And.”
“And what, Roman?”
“A wolf shifter knots his mate.”
“What? I’ve never heard that.”
“It’s not something readily discussed with humans. When I take you, my body will lock inside yours. It’s intense. It’s built to increase the chance of pregnancy.”
He moved away, scrubbing his hand over his face. “My wolf already wants that. Wanted it the second he scented you. So did I.”
Ella’s breath left her in a shaky rush. “Pregnant. Great. I haven’t even figured out my feelings about being claimed by a man I met yesterday. I don’t even own a plant, Roman.”
“You don’t have to figure out anything, yet.
I just didn’t want to give you all the information.
I won’t lie to you about any of it. If you say no, I stop.
If you need time, I give it. But I won’t pretend this is casual.
You’re not a woman I’m sleeping with until the danger passes.
You’re the woman my wolf chose for the rest of my life. ”
She searched his face. No games. Just Roman, rain-damp and deadly serious, waiting for her to decide whether she could live with what he was offering.
The smart part of her brain listed every reason this was insane.
She’d accepted long ago that she did not get a forever.
That she might get the quiet, fade into black kind of relationship.
A companion if she were lucky enough. Not the passion, the possessiveness.
But that common sense part of her brain didn’t control the other part.
The part that made her want to run into his arms and tell him to never ever let her go.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“I know.”
“And I still don’t want you to leave again tonight.”
He exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for hours. “Then I won’t.”
He led her down the hall to his room. No rush. No hands under clothes. They stopped by the side of the bed. “Can I hold you tonight?”
“You mean you want to be big spoon?”
He chuckled and it startled Ella. It was the first time she’d ever heard him make a sound remotely resemble a laugh. Not that there’s been much to laugh tonight.
“I think I’m up for that job. The question is, can I hold you without anything between us?”
“You mean clothes? Because I think there will definitely be something between us.” She looked down at the front of his sweatpants where the thick ridge of his dick was clearly visible.
He pulled back the covers. “You first.”
Slowly she pulled her shirt over her head.
She stood there, for just a second, wearing nothing but her panties, blushing, her big breasts there for him to see.
She climbed into bed. She lay with her back to him, listening as he removed his clothes and climbed in beside her.
He pulled her back into his chest, his arm heavy across her stomach.
She could feel her body slickening, as if anticipating something else happening.
Ella Scott was naked in bed with a man who had a massive erection pressed against her ass and every insecure voice in her head was being drowned out by how much she wanted him to roll her under him and finish what he’d started in the kitchen.
She felt his mouth against the skin at the juncture of her neck. “When you’re ready, I’ll bite you here.”
His hand slid down her body, cupping her mound. “And here is where I’ll take you. Knot you.”
Ella closed her eyes and let the heat of him soak into her bones.
Tomorrow the world would still be dangerous. The poachers would still be out there. The bond would still be waiting.
Tonight she was exactly where she wanted to be. Held by a man who, while he hadn’t vowed his undying love, had accepted her as his mate. For the first time in years, perhaps her entire life, she didn’t feel alone.
Roman’s lips brushed her hair.
“Sleep, little mate,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”