Chapter 22
ROY
My wolf was out of his mind–confused as fuck about what he needed or wanted.
The moment I shifted, he tore up the mountain, earth and pine needles scrabbling under my paws.
The need to run was too extreme to ignore.
The open space, fresh air… the fucking call of the wild. Because I was wild right now.
As I covered more and more ground, all I kept seeing was the bars in the Denver jail and the military prison’s cinderblock walls closing in on me, suffocating me, trapping me…
The nights on that cot in the tiny room as I attempted to contain my wolf had been the hardest of my life.
It broke me. The insanity had crept in from trying.
I hadn’t cared that I’d been discharged from the military, that my career was over.
I’d needed to be home in the wilds in Montana to heal, which I’d done somewhat. I knew my limitations and being in a city jail was definitely one of them. The fact that I’d been arrested specifically to protect my mate was what kept me sane-ish. Much longer, and I would’ve gone feral, for sure.
But I was free now. It was over. I was out on the mountain breathing the fresh air. I could run to my heart’s desire.
It felt so good to be free. I could run for days and not stop. Run until my paws bled. Run all the way home to Montana, only stopping to hunt and eat.
I covered a mile in a precious few minutes. Then another. And another.
It was only the vague notion that I’d left something behind, that something was wrong or missing, that finally slowed me down.
I checked my speed, climbing up to the top of a boulder where I lifted my snout to the moon and howled. The wind fluffed my fur, cooling the feverish heat that had been boiling me ever since they put me in cuffs earlier.
My breath quieted. The air stilled. My mind started to clear. I had left something behind.
Mate, I remembered.
Brooke is at the cabin.
Relief poured through me, followed by elation.
She was safe. I’d protected her. My wolf chest swelled with pride. My beautiful accountant. She’d shown up at the police station, and through my haze of panic and anxiety, I remembered she’d looked worried. For me. She hadn’t needed to come, but she had. That must mean she cared.
We hadn’t shared anything aloud about our feelings, how we felt about each other. I had kept her being my mate a secret, but I’d also kept quiet about how I felt about her. That she was mine. Forever.
She didn’t know.
She didn’t know.
And–fuck. I’d left her alone at the cabin.
I lifted my head and howled again, this time a mournful sound. What the fuck was wrong with me?
I gave my head a sharp shake and charged back down the mountainside. I didn’t belong on the side of a fucking mountain. I belonged with Brooke.
My mate.
Mate. Mate. Mate, my wolf chanted.
I needed to be with her. Was dying to mark her. The full moon had me so itchy to claim her. But I had to make sure I was calm before I came near her. I couldn’t take the chance of being too rough or marking without her consent.
Did I need to run around some more?
I couldn’t stop myself from going to her now, though. As fast as I’d run up the mountain, I ran back down, desperate to be near my mate. I needed to protect her from any kind of harm. To touch her. To hear her say my name. I needed to make her come tonight like she never knew was possible.
Even though it wasn’t scientifically possible, I swore I caught her scent and followed it straight back to the cabin, like she was the beacon calling me home.
She was because my home was with her.
I bounded up the wooden stairs in wolf form, forgetting to shift until I’d already lifted onto my hind legs and thrown my wolf body against the door. I bounced back, shook my head and shifted, only to find Brooke had opened the door.
There she was in the doorway.
Mine.
Her soft lips parted on a gasp, her cheeks flushed as her gaze raked over me.
I wanted to close the distance between us, toss her over my shoulder. But no. Not yet. I leashed my wolf. Shoved him down deep.
“Brooke.” My voice was rusty. I cleared my throat and tried again, but the only thing that came out was, “Ah…”
Fuck. I was standing there naked as a jaybird with a hard-on for my beautiful mate, and I was pretty sure she’d seen my wolf.
My alpha would kill me, letting an unmarked human in on our secret, but I didn’t care. I needed to be honest and explain who I really was. It was time.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she admitted.
“Please don’t be afraid of me. Of what I am.” She was still here, so that was something.
I was the worst mate ever. We’d driven up here, and I’d just left her on her own. I’d been desperate to run, but now my wolf and I felt like shit for abandoning our mate, even for a short time.
Shit. How long had I left her?
“I’m sorry I ran off like that.” I tipped my head down as if my alpha had scolded me.
“I, um, don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense, but I saw. It. You. I think… you’re a wolf?” She looked tentative about asking. Hell, I didn’t blame her because with anyone else, it was an insane question.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered.
“I did. You just didn’t believe me. I’d never lie to you, sugar. Never. ” I didn’t step forward because I wasn’t sure how scared she was. Whether she’d run from me now that she knew the truth. If she ran, fuck, my wolf would want to chase.
“You told me you were a wolf?” She cocked her head to the side. Her long hair slid like a silky curtain over her shoulder. “I think I would have remembered that.”
“In my van after I– after your house,” I clarified, but skipped reminding her that I’d killed two men with my bare hands.
She laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. “This is crazy, you know that, right? People are going to think I’m insane.”
“You can’t tell anyone. What I am is a secret, has to be a secret, to keep everyone safe.”
Her eyes widened, then furrowed. “Everyone?”
“Others like me.”
“Others… oh, um, God. Okay. I have so many questions.” She tucked her hair back again, clearly a nervous gesture. “ So many, but I want to save them for later.”
Now or later, it didn’t matter. The answers would be difficult to believe and harder to swallow. “Whenever you want, I’ll–”
To my utter happiness and total surprise, Brooke launched herself at me, wrapping those slender legs around my waist as she kissed the fuck out of my mouth.
Brooke. Was. Kissing. Me.
She knew I had a wolf in me.
She knew I shifted.
She knew everything.
And she was kissing me.
Fuck, yes.
My tongue swept between her lips, and I palmed her ass with my hands, walking forward in search of a bedroom.
“You don’t care that I’m part wolf?” I asked, kissing along her jaw. She had jumped me, so she obviously wasn’t scared of me. She was kissing me, so she was turned on. I was so fucking confused. I wasn’t sure if we should talk or fuck.
“Care?” she asked. “No. Turned on? Yes.”
“Fuck, sugar,” I growled. My mate was running hot, not running scared.
“Are you going to get rough with me?” She peppered kisses all over my face.
I froze. “Do you want me to?” Please, fate, have her say yes.
Thank fuck. I found a bedroom. I needed my mate in the center of that bed. Clothes off. Screaming my name. Like she said, I’d answer any questions she had. Later.
“Yes!” Brooke murmured against my lips.
I groaned. Growled. Groan/growled because my mate wanted it rough.
Oh damn. I needed it now.
There would be no holding back. Not after she told me that.
Fate, I hoped I could keep from marking her before we talked. I crawled onto the bed and pinned her beneath me, still kissing her like my life depended on it as I pulled her sweatshirt up.
“Condom,” she reminded me.
I froze, trying to get my brain to process more than fucking my mate and giving her as many orgasms as possible on my dick.
Condom. Condom! Fuck. Where were my jeans?
Outside, I remembered.
I held up a finger then pushed back, so I sat on my heels. “I’ll be right back. You get those clothes off, so I can lick every fucking inch of your body.”
I took a deep breath. The scent of her arousal was the best answer I could hope for as I dashed from the room to find my discarded clothing scattered outside on the ground.
I snatched them up and carried them inside, fishing in my wallet for a condom as I walked before dropping the tattered pile on the floor. Thank fuck I’d had several in there.
Brooke was up on her knees in the center of the bed, naked. Waiting.
“Good girl,” I praised, taking in every inch of her. “You’re such a good girl.” I climbed onto the bed, my weight making the mattress dip. “You’re going to get it good and hard tonight. Is that what you want?”
“Yes.” She mewled when I fisted her long hair to pull her head back for another fierce kiss. I cupped one breast as my tongue fucked her mouth.
Reaching between us, she gripped my cock.
My balls tightened. Dick lengthened. Oh fuck. I might not last long.
“Lie down. On your back,” I ordered. I needed to stay in control, not just to keep my wolf from marking her, but also so I didn’t come too soon. I had to please my mate multiple times first.
Her pupils were dilated, making her dark eyes look black. She dropped to her back, sliding her legs between mine.
I drew in a deep, savoring breath. Her scent was pure heaven.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” I dropped to my hands and knees and hooked my arms under her legs to spread her wide.
“You’re not scared of me?” I dragged my tongue up through her juices.
Fuck, she tasted so good. Pre-cum spurted from my dick and coated my stomach. “Of what I am?”
“Sh-should I be?” she asked, her eyes wide.
I shook my head, the long strands falling around my face. “Nope. I’m the safest male on the planet for you, sugar. I will live and breathe to keep you happy and satisfied for the rest of my life.”