CHAPTER FIVE
Ella
Ella’s legs felt like jelly the entire walk back to the house.
That kiss had not been a kiss. That had been a full-on sexual assault on her mouth.
One she’d enthusiastically participated in.
Her lips tingled and her panties were decidedly not dry.
But Roman walked beside her like he hadn’t just tried to fuck her against a tree with a very impressive erection.
Great. Just great. She’d survived poachers only to be undone by the horniest wolf on the mountain.
Not that she was opposed to that happening… Just…
Every time she glanced at him, his jaw was clenched tight. His scent kept wrapping around her like a physical touch. Shifter hormones? She’d heard about that, but it usually didn’t affect the general population. Only—
Her mind scurried back to what he’d said yesterday after he’d carried her to the cabin, before his brothers had burst in like some invading army.
Had he really said that? Implied that?
No, not possible.
Men who looked like Roman Matthews did not claim thoroughly average nurses. They claimed sleek wolf females with athletic thighs and flat stomachs. Not women who got winded running downhill and whose sports bras staged full-scale rebellions. She had accepted that fact years ago.
She glanced again at her rescuer-slash-captor.
When they finally stepped back inside the cabin, Roman closed the door behind them with deliberate care, like he was afraid he might rip it off the hinges if he wasn’t careful. She could practically feel the tension vibrating off him.
Ella crossed her arms. “So. Are we going to talk about that? About what seems to be happening? Because something is happening. I feel like I’m getting the flu. I’m all hot and flushed and…” She drew in a deep breath. “What’s going on, Roman?”
He just stood there, back against the door, his hands hidden behind his back.
“Is this just your wolf testosterone talking? Or am I just easy prey?”
She could tell him that’s exactly what she wanted to be. His prey. His for the taking. Over and over.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes, I really do.” She placed her hands on her hips, looking him squarely in the eye.
Strangely, she wasn’t afraid of the man who could probably snap her neck with just one hand.
That was probably a red flag. She’d think about that later, along with everything else on the ever-growing list of things she’d think about later.
He stalked toward her, slow and predatory as if he’d taken her comment to heart. Ella refused to back up. He stopped just short of touching her, close enough that she could feel the heat rolling off his big body.
“It wasn’t testosterone. Or the heat of the moment.” His voice dropped to that gravelly register that did terrible, wonderful things to her insides. “You’re my mate, Ella.”
She blinked. “Your… mate. Like, wolf mate? The forever, bitey, ‘til death do us part’ kind?”
“Yes.”
Ella let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “Well, how the hell did that happen? No. It didn’t happen. Because men—wolves—who look like you do not take chubby mates. They take wolf mates. Slender, forever-athletic-looking wolf mates.”
She started to pace, mainly talking to herself.
“Or, if they do take human mates, it’s not women like me.
Not with the kind of body that makes men politely look the other way.
I’ve spent my entire adult life accepting that.
You do not get to show up out of the trees, kiss me like you’re dying, and then announce I’m your forever person.
That is not how this works for women who look like me. ”
“It’s exactly women like you.”
She turned to look at Roman, who was now leaning against the counter, arms and ankles crossed, waiting. He was no doubt waiting until she calmed down or ran out of steam.
“Right, you fall head over wolfie paws for me in twenty-four hours.” She looked at the clock on the kitchen wall.
“It’s not even been twenty-four hours, Roman.
This cannot happen like this. Not so fast. That’s not how any of this is supposed to work.
There’s supposed to be dinner first. Small talk.
At least one mediocre first date where you find out he votes weird or doesn’t tip. ”
He shrugged those broad shoulders of his, which did not settle the flurries currently taking over the insides of her stomach. “It happened the second I caught your scent.”
“And now? When some group of raving lunatics wants to turn me into bear-bait, now I’ve got a giant, ridiculously hot wolfman telling me I’m destined to be his eternal breeding partner or whatever.”
She heard herself say breeding partner out loud and decided she would simply not think about that word choice until later.
Possibly never. Because that word choice brought up all kinds of images her poor overstimulated body could not process at the moment.
Images that involved her his big hands and a lot of very thorough attention.
Something hungry moved across Roman’s face. “Not whatever. I want you. All of you. Under me. On me. Screaming my name while I fill you up.” He moved from the counter, coming to stand beside her. Leaning in, he whispered against her ear.
“I want to bury my face between those lush thighs, lick that sweet cream until you can’t take it anymore.
Then I want to fuck you so deep you feel me for days.
I want every perfect inch of you under my hands and my mouth.
I want to watch those full breasts bounce while I drive into you.
I want to grip those wide hips and leave fingerprints.
You are not whatever, Ella. You are exactly what I have been starving for. ”
Holy shit. Ella’s knees actually started to wobble.
“Where did you learn to talk like that?” she managed, but her voice came out breathy instead of sarcastic. Traitorous hormones. Someone should really study her hormones. There would probably be grant money.
A low, hungry sound rumbled in Roman’s chest. He looked two seconds away from lifting her onto the counter when the front door banged open again.
Cage strolled in, took one look at them, and grinned like a shark. “Am I interrupting something? Should I come back later?”
“Yes,” Roman growled.
“No,” Ella said at the same time.
They both stopped and looked at each other.
Ella turned away from Roman first. “You knew this was happening, didn’t you? You let it slip yesterday.”
Cage nodded. “I just read the room, sweetheart.”
He turned his attention to Roman. “Sorry if I cockblocked you, bro, but you need to hear this. Declan picked up scent trails just now. Men—we’re assuming the poachers—circling the lower ridge.
Fresh. Not more than a couple hours old.
They’re not leaving. They’re hunting. Looking for her.
And for the wolf that took her from them. ”
Roman’s entire body went rigid. The hungry lover vanished, replaced by the lethal protector she’d first seen in the woods. “They won’t get near her.”
Cage nodded in agreement.
“Why don’t they just leave?” Ella asked. “Didn’t they see Roman’s wolf. Oh God, are they going to hunt him now? Hunt all of you? What have I done?”
Roman took her in his arms. “You didn’t do anything, Ella.”
“Yes, yes I did.” She looked at him with tears threatening. “If you hadn’t rescued me—”
“Captured you,” Cage broke in with a grin.
Roman threw his brother a dark look even though he’d told her the same exact thing. His arms tightened around her. “And what should I have done? Turn my back on you? On my mate.”
She flattened her hands against his chest. “You keep using that word, but it doesn’t solve the problem.”
“There is no problem. You stay here. Where I can protect you.”
“What, house arrest with benefits?” She tried for snark, but it came out shaky. “Lucky me. Chubby chick gets locked in a cabin with the hottest wolf on the mountain while armed men circle the property. My life is a rom-com written by someone with a very dark sense of humor.”
“This isn’t a game, Ella. These men don’t leave witnesses. But I won’t let them touch you. Not while I’m breathing.”
Cage cleared his throat. “I’ll run the perimeter with Declan tonight. You two—keep doing whatever that was.” He winked at Ella. “Try not to break the furniture. And maybe keep all the windows closed. Scent carries you know.”
Cage left, closing the door behind him. After he’d gone, the silence returned, heavier this time.
Ella looked up at Roman. “So what’s the plan? I just hide here indefinitely while the three of you play guard dogs?”
“For now,” Roman said. “Until we find the men responsible. They’re still out there. Closer than I like. Declan’s warning wasn’t empty. Someone studied this land. They know our routes. They will keep coming until we make them stop.”
“And you really believe this mate thing, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Fine,” she said. “But I’m not some damsel who’s just going to sit around baking cookies while you handle everything. I want to know what’s going on.”
Roman’s voice softened. “Just. Let me keep you safe tonight. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow.”
She studied him. The tension in his shoulders, the way his hands kept flexing like he wanted to reach for her but wouldn’t let himself.
She had to admit she wouldn’t be opposed to spending the night with him, continuing what that kiss had started.
What the heck was wrong with her? She felt like she was going through some kind of hormonal event, flashes of heat every time he got within ten feet of her, and not one single part of her wanted it to stop.
Curvy women were not supposed to get this kind of attention.
Curvy women were supposed to be grateful for scraps.
And here she was, standing in a cabin with a man who looked at her like she was something worth bleeding for, and all she could think about was how much she wanted him to put his mouth on her again.
She stared at him for a long moment, caught between the fear of the men outside and the much scarier pull of the man in front of her.
The choice was no choice at all.
She’d stay with Roman—and try very hard not to think about the fact that this man, this wolf, had just told her she was his mate.
That was crazy.
Wasn’t it?