“I survived it.” She shrugged, though the fear at the thought of what had nearly happened couldn’t be shut off as effectively as she would have preferred.
“You survived it?” Male outrage dominated his features now. His eyes glittered with it; his expression was filled with it. “Son of a bitch, Jess, you were nearly killed.”
“Nearly doesn’t count. Would you leave now? I’d like to shower.” She turned away from him, trying to appear nonchalant, uncaring. She very much wanted to live, but she had learned in the past year that the rules to her life had changed. Now if someone would just tell her what the new rules were, then she might have a chance at living.
The amazement slowly left his expression, but what replaced it sent a surge of feminine weakness racing through her system. A look alone shouldn’t have the power to weaken a woman’s knees and send arousal flooding through her system. It shouldn’t be bold enough, hot enough, that she could feel her sex flushing, swelling, instantly growing damp.
And a man shouldn’t have the senses to detect it. She watched as his nostrils flared, his gaze darkening as he recognized the scent of her arousal. It wasn’t fair, because she couldn’t sense his emotions, his arousal.
Her gaze flicked uncontrollably to the crotch of his jeans and she found herself swallowing tightly at the sight of a bulge that hadn’t been there before.
The front of his jeans were full, the proof of his arousal pressing against the material and filling her head with erotic imagery.
She had to force her gaze back to his face, only to see the heavy-lidded, hungry look in eyes that assured her that he knew exactly where she had been looking.
“We’re fighting a losing battle,” he told her, his voice darker, deeper. “It’s going to happen, Jess, and when it does, there will be no turning back. You know that.” Yes, she knew that. She knew well what mating heat was, and what it would do to her, as well as to him. She knew that once it happened, she was tied to him forever.
But wasn’t she already tied to him forever? a little voice questioned her. It wasn’t as though she could get him out of her mind, out of her fantasies. He’d been there before her confinement, and thoughts of him had filled her dreams and her thoughts during the entire time she had been there.
The days and nights that she had longed to see him, ached to lay her head against his chest and feel his arms around her. She’d cried for him. They hadn’t kissed, hadn’t touched, but the time they had spent together had cemented him in her heart.
She didn’t understand why. She didn’t question it. She knew he was there. It was that love-at-first-sight crap, she thought with self-directed fury. That instant attraction, that instant need, which went far beyond the chemical and biological mating heat that the Breeds experienced.
“I want you to leave,” she whispered, though in her heart she knew that wasn’t what she really wanted.
She wanted him to hold her, to touch her, to ease the burning ache that filled her soul.
He stared back at her for long, bleak moments before nodding sharply.
“This time,” he stated with a hint of anger. “This time I will, Jess. Don’t expect it next time.” He turned on his heel and left the room. Seconds later she heard the front door close.
She collapsed on the pretty quilted bedspread covering her bed and breathed out with a long, weary sigh. He wouldn’t promise he would leave the next time. She was living on borrowed time where the mating heat was concerned, and she knew it. The problem was, she had a feeling that after today’s attack, she was living on borrowed time, period.
THREE
It’s escalating.” Hawke stepped into Alpha Gunnar’s office and faced off with not just his own alpha, Wolfe, but his second-in-command, Jacob Arlington, and Haven’s head of security, Aiden Chance.
The three powerful Wolf Breeds were a force to be reckoned with. They were perhaps the most powerful men Hawke knew, Breed or human. They had gathered together the Wolf Breeds, fought for a home, secured it, ensured it before ever revealing who they were or what they intended within their own community.
They had brought peace and safety to the people who followed him.
“We knew it would eventually.” Wolfe leaned back in his chair as he breathed out a hard sigh. “I’m surprised it’s taken them this long.”
“She locked her bodyguard in the basement before going out this afternoon,” Hawke revealed. “We can’t depend on her to watch her own back.”
“Telling her the truth might work.” Jacob Arlington, one of the few Breeds with the coloring of the red wolf rather than the gray or black, spoke up then. “She might care more about her own life if she was aware that it was actually in danger.”
Hawke threw him a hard glare. “I believe I was ordered to keep that information to myself for the time being.” He turned back to Wolfe. “That time is up, Wolfe. It’s now time for a measure of honesty with her. I’ll lose her otherwise.”
Wolfe stared back at him silently for long moments before he began to shake his head.
“Don’t make me ignore a direct order, Wolfe,” Hawke suggested, feeling the animal he was inside rising to the surface. “We’ll all regret it.”
He’d followed medical as well as security advice for a year now. He’d stayed away from his mate while she was confined, did nothing to risk the mating heat that would have demanded her release. He gave the pack a chance to secure itself, to determine the extent of damage that had been caused by her treason. When it was discovered that she had been drugged, he had heeded medical advice and kept his distance even after her release to ensure that all the drug was out of her system before the mating heat began.
He had taken all measures to protect his mate. He himself had stood at her door countless days and nights to make certain that her security wasn’t compromised. To make sure that she was safe. He had listened to her cry, listened to her whisper his name; he had listened to her pray to God for answers when she couldn’t figure out why she had betrayed the people she had sworn to protect.
He had ached with her. His eyes had grown damp with her tears; rage had eaten him alive through those months. And now, to think his alpha would suggest he stay away from her longer, when a threat to her life was clear, caused the wolf he was created from to snarl in fury.
“I would never suggest you refrain from giving her the truth that will protect her now, Hawke.” Wolfe surprised him with the statement. “I was merely going to say that perhaps a mistake has been made in keeping the information from her this long. She’s clearly in danger, just as we’ve suspected. Arm her with the truth and perhaps we can regain the loyalty we lost in her when we had her confined.” Hawke’s lips thinned at the continuance. It was the Tribunal’s belief that they had lost Jessica’s loyalty because of their need to confine her, to lock her away from the Breeds as well as from her own people.