“But I never made her any promises,” Marcus told him, “I never led her on. I don’t do that.”
“Some females get the idea that they can change ‘the player,’” explained Jaime, “and make them settle down. Maybe that’s what she did.”
“Maybe,” Marcus allowed. The more he thought about it, the more it did make sense that Kerrie had lied. And that made him want to slit her throat—he might have walked away from Roni, thanks to her “vision” of his supposed future.
Taryn spoke then. “Okay, so where is this bitch, and when can we smack her down? Roni, don’t forget to bring the shears.”
Trey shook his head. “No, no shears. You girls are lethal with those things.”
“I heard about your interrogation,” said Ryan. Although his usual scowl was firmly in place, humor was glinting from his eyes. “I’m disappointed I wasn’t there to see it.” Tao and Trick nodded their agreement.
Eli smiled. “It was honestly the best entertainment I’ve had in a while.”
“On to the subject of the interrogation,” began Marcus. “I might know who the tech guy is.” The Phoenix wolves tensed. “I got a brief look at a photo of one of Eliza’s clients. He fits the description, and he sure looks like the guy I’ve occasionally glimpsed on the vids.”
“Did you manage to get any personal details?” asked Rhett. “I can look him up.”
“His name is Noah Brunt. I have his address here.” Marcus held up the slip of paper on which he’d written it. Having read it aloud, he then continued. “According to Eliza’s paperwork, he’s been accused of trying to kidnap a fourteen-year-old human girl.”
Jaime chewed on her bottom lip. “The jackal did say that the wolf hacker liked to kidnap females and then take them to her pack’s kill site. It could be him.”
“I’ve never heard of him before,” said Trey. He ran a questioning gaze along the others, but they all shook their heads. He turned back to Marcus. “Rhett will see what he can dig up about him. I’ll get back to you later.”
“So,” drawled Taryn. “You’re moving to our pack, Roni, right?” Shaya gasped in outrage, and the two best friends began squabbling. Nick was no happier with Taryn’s question, so he then proceeded to argue with Trey about it. Dante and Jaime both joined in, claiming it was only practical that Roni join their pack. Then Eli jumped in . . . but his words were totally unexpected.
“I don’t like to get involved in other people’s business, but I think Roni should move to the Phoenix Pack.” Everyone gaped at Eli.
Shaya put her hand to her mouth, horrified. “Why would you even say such an evil thing?”
“Because even though she’s mated, Nick and Mom will still do their best to interfere in Roni’s life. That means Marcus will clash with Nick all the time, and Mom and Roni will argue even more than they already do.” He looked at Roni. “I don’t want you to go, sis. Everyone else here is unbelievably boring. But I want you to be happy. And I don’t want you to rip Nick’s throat out or poison Mom.”
The mention of Kathy had Marcus wondering where she was. It had pissed him off that she hadn’t congratulated Roni—he’d sensed her hurt and disappointment. Really, he didn’t understand Kathy’s problem, didn’t understand why she wouldn’t be pleased that her daughter had found her mate.
While Roni was busy trying to placate a crying Shaya, Marcus discreetly left the lodge in search of her mother. He found her on the porch swing, staring off into the distance. She didn’t appear to have sensed him, but her words proved him wrong.
“You think I’m harsh on Roni.”
Coming to stand next to the swing, he looked down at Kathy. “I think you do your best to undermine her just to make yourself look better. I think you’re hard on her and try to keep her constantly off-balance, and it pisses me the hell off.”
“I used to feel the same way about my mother; she did the same things to me.”
Baffled, he shook his head. “So, why do you do it to Roni?”
Kathy inhaled deeply. “When I lost my mate . . . I’ve never felt that kind of pain before or after. It was like someone had ripped me open and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. I suppose that’s sort of what it’s like, only it’s your soul that bleeds, not your body.”
Now that he was mated to Roni, now that his soul was knitted with hers, he could imagine exactly what it would be like if she were taken from him—a never-ending agony, a wound that would never, ever close.
“My mother brought me up to not need a male for anything, to be emotionally and physically independent. That was the only thing that made me strong enough to fight the need to slip away when my mate died. I didn’t want to live anymore, but I was strong enough to fight the temptation to let go, and to live for my kids.”
Kathy met his eyes. “I hope and pray that Roni never experiences what I went through. But I was going to make damn sure that if it did happen, she got through it. And if that meant raising her the same way I was raised, if it meant we had a strained relationship, so be it.”
Now he understood. Kathy truly did love Roni—he could see it right there in her eyes. She’d wanted what was best for Roni, and she’d done exactly what she thought was best. It was a messed-up kind of loving gesture, but it was still done out of love.
“So hate me if you want to, Marcus Fuller. Judge me for how I’ve raised my daughter. But I’ll never be sorry. My girl . . . she’s strong, resilient. Tougher than I ever was—not a thing in this world could break her.” It was said with utter pride. “I pray she never loses you, but if she does, she’ll keep on going. She won’t leave children behind who’d otherwise suddenly find themselves with no parents.”
She was right, Roni would have the strength to keep going. And that was what Marcus would want if the unthinkable happened.
Sighing, Kathy returned her gaze to the view in front of her. “Maybe I am a little guilty of putting her down because she’s more dominant than I am. But you’re wrong if you think I don’t love my baby girl. I adore her. I’m proud of her. Not that she’d ever believe that, but it’s true.”
There was a long pause before Marcus spoke again. “I get why you’ve raised her the way you have. I get why you think it was the right thing to do. But I’ll never like it. I’ll never like how it makes her feel. And I’ll never stop defending her if she won’t defend herself.”
Kathy gave him a measuring look. “Good.”
“The least you can do is congratulate her on the mating. She’d want that.”
“I’m shocked at how long it took you both to see you were true mates.”
“You suspected it?” His brows drew together. “But . . . you were always lecturing Roni about being with me.”
She looked at him with what could only be described as pity. “Really, Marcus, it’s good that you have such a pretty face. You’re not too bright.”
“Lecturing her served a purpose?”
“The more I lectured her, the more she . . .” Kathy trailed off, prompting him to fill in the blanks.
“Spent time with me,” he finished.
She grinned. “Exactly. She spent more time with you to get away from me and to be contrary. If I’d tried to push her to spend some time with you, she’d have done the opposite.”
“No, but she’d have tried. I wouldn’t have let her run.”
Kathy chuckled. “I like you, Marcus Fuller. You’ll be good for my Roni.”
At that moment, the door opened and Roni stepped out onto the porch. “Hey, gorgeous.” Marcus held out a hand to her. Eyes dancing from him to Kathy, she slowly walked to him and slipped her hand in his.
Kathy rose to her feet and sniffed at her daughter. “I suppose this is the part where I congratulate you.”
Roni snorted. “Don’t be too happy for me. Really. Calm down.”
“I’m glad you’ve found your mate. I’m not saying you’ll manage to keep him, but . . .” Kathy turned and went back inside.
Growling, Roni shook her head. “She was sen
t to test me. And I’m failing miserably.”
Marcus curled his arms around her and indulged in a long, thorough taste of that luscious mouth. “Let’s go for a run. My wolf badly wants to play with yours. He wants his mate.”
Her wolf liked that idea too, wanted to finally brand her male. Despite Marcus’s assurances that her wolf was free to mark his wolf as much as she wanted, Roni hadn’t let them run together before. Quite frankly, she’d worried that her wolf would claim Marcus fully as her own, and Roni hadn’t wanted to do that until imprinting started. Only then would she have felt confident that the relationship had progressed far enough to do that.
Now that Roni knew he was hers on every level, she had absolutely no problem with answering her wolf’s desire to run with and brand Marcus’s wolf. So, after dumping their clothes in Roni’s lodge, they shifted forms.
The female dark-gray wolf and the male, whose fur was a mix of gray, brown, and yellow, licked and nipped at each other’s muzzle in greeting. Then the female delivered a sharp nip to the male’s ear and bounded away. He followed her, and together they loped through the woods of Mercury Pack territory. They spent hours mock fighting, ambushing, pouncing, shouldering one another, and jaw wrestling before finally claiming and branding each other.
It was dark when they returned to the lodge. In the living area, Marcus shifted forms first and collapsed on his back. The long day had left him sapped of strength. A dark-gray female wolf stood over him, sniffing behind his ear and then licking at his chin. He smoothed his hands down her graceful neck. “Come back to me, Roni.” Seconds later, he had a gorgeous, naked woman sprawled on top of him.
“Your wolf is as insatiable as you are,” Roni mumbled against his chest, exhausted. She came close to purring when his fingertips traced the length of her spine.
“You weren’t kidding when you said your wolf is aggressive when going after what she wants.” Not that his own wolf had any complaints about the multiple brands.
“Your wolf isn’t exactly shy.” The bite on her nape had hurt like a motherfucker, but it had only served to further incite her wolf. Yep, their animals were well matched.
Rolling her onto her back, Marcus lapped at his claiming mark. “I love looking at this.” He wouldn’t have thought he could be this possessive. He hadn’t imagined it would be like this—so consuming, so fucking intense that it stole his breath. He wanted to keep her locked away, so he wouldn’t have to share her. Wanted to gouge out the eyes of any male who dared ogle her. Wanted to know her better than anybody else did, to be vital to her. He wanted to own her—body, mind, and soul.
At the same time, though, it wasn’t a destructive possessiveness like he would have imagined. It wasn’t a sinister greed that would grow into something unhealthy. It wouldn’t suffocate or hinder or hurt her. Not this. He didn’t look at Roni and see an object, he saw someone whose happiness meant more to him than anything. And, yes, jealousy came with it. But not out of insecurity or distrust. It came from a soul-deep need to protect and keep this person who mattered most to him, to safeguard their bond from any external threat.
“I want you to remember something. No matter how possessive or protective I am, don’t ever see me as not respecting you or believing you can’t defend or think for yourself. Don’t ever think I want to squash your independence.” He licked along her collarbone, pausing to swirl his tongue in the hollow of her throat. “You’re perfect to me exactly as you are.”
“I’ll remember. It doesn’t mean I won’t push back.”
He smiled. “I wouldn’t expect anything different.” Supporting himself using his elbow, he propped his head on his hand. “So, which one of us is switching packs?” When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t want to switch for two reasons: One, I’m close to the people in my pack; they’re all family to me. Two, I agree with Eli: Nick and your mom will make themselves a problem for us—they truly can’t help themselves. But if you really want to stay here, I’ll switch.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because you matter more than any of that.” With his free hand, he doodled patterns on her flat stomach, liking how it quivered beneath his touch. “I want you to be happy.”
“Which is great and all, but I want you to be happy. So we can’t try to make this decision based on happiness or we’ll just go around in circles. Let’s look at it practically instead.” At his nod, she went on. “It would be practical for me to stay here. My pack is smaller than yours. If I leave, the pack gets smaller and it loses an enforcer. Your pack doesn’t need me. It doesn’t need another enforcer.”
“Trey won’t object to having another enforcer, but I see your point.” He took a moment to nuzzle her neck. “If I was to join your pack, you’d gain another member. But I strongly doubt your brother will want me as an enforcer—no Alpha wants their sister’s mate directly under their rule like that in case they give an order that results in a tragedy. That means I’d have no role here. But I never wanted the position anyway, so I guess I could live with that.”
Roni narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re being too agreeable.”
“You’re complaining?”
“Yes, because switching isn’t what you truly want; you’re badly opposed to the idea. I can feel it. You’re just saying what you think will make me ‘happy’ again.”
“What I’ve said is true. Me moving here is more practical than you switching packs.”
“But something is holding you back. What is it?” Realization hit her, and her exasperation faded. “You feel disloyal leaving Trey. You feel like you owe him for what happened with his mom.”
“And you feel disloyal at the idea of leaving your family,” he pointed out, nipping her bottom lip. She retaliated with a nip of her own.
“Yeah, I guess I do. I really have no idea how we’re going to work this out.”
“Then we put a pin in it for now.” Draping himself over her again, he softly brought his mouth down on hers. The kiss was slow, wet, and languid. “I thought I was happy before you came along. I wasn’t at all.” How could someone be happy when they weren’t whole?
“Give it time and I’ll annoy you, like I do everybody else. It’s a talent.”
“Oh, you annoy me sometimes. Like when you steal my fries, or when you eat the last piece of cake, or when you threaten to withhold sex if I don’t let you have a tiny taste of what I’m eating.”
“So, basically, I just annoy you when I come between you and food?”
“Exactly.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll have to call my sisters and tell them about the mating. They’ll be thrilled.”
“I sure do hope they pass along the news to Kerrie. When I think of how she used the knowledge of your childhood to torture you like that, I want to kill her.”
She’d said it so matter-of-factly that he had to smile. “When I think of how her ‘vision’ stopped me from recognizing who you are to me, I want to kill her.”
“You said Trick told you to ignore the vision.” It was half question, half statement.
Marcus slid down her body so that he could trace the wolf tattoo on her abdomen with his tongue. “He figured out we were mates pretty much straight away. He made me think about it.”
“I wouldn’t have expected that from him, considering you’ve been, you know, friends with benefits.”
“You thought he’d be jealous?” He shook his head. “We enjoyed the ‘benefits’ of being close friends, but there wasn’t anything more than that.”
Combing his hair with her fingers, she said, “I didn’t think he liked me.”
Marcus snorted. “If he could, he’d whisk you away. You’re exactly his type. But no one will take you from me.” He’d kill anyone who tried—no questions asked.
“I’m pretty sure no one will be tempted to try. I’m not exactly a catch.”
He bit her hard. Right on the edge of her navel. “Don’t talk about my pretty baby like that,” he
warned, swirling his tongue inside her belly button to soothe the sting before trailing his fingers up her inner thigh. “I’d hate to have to keep you hanging on the edge until you beg me to let you come.”
Asshole. Roni cocked her head. “Did you know that thousands of different types of bacteria can be found in a person’s belly button?”
“Roni.”
“What? What did I say?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Too damn fucking early.
Swinging open Roni’s front door, Marcus glared at Dante. “You know, this new ‘getting woken up at the crack of dawn’ thing isn’t working out so well for me.” It was still freaking dark outside.
Like last time, the Beta pushed a mug of coffee into his hand. “Get ready and come to the main lodge. We need to talk about Brunt.”
Closing the door, Marcus turned to find Roni doing an almost feline stretch, dressed in only his T-shirt. “Did you hear that?”
“Yep. It’s obviously important. Doesn’t mean I won’t put salt in the bastard’s coffee.”
When Marcus and Roni entered the main lodge a short while later, they found Shaya, Taryn, and Jaime huddled at one end of the table while Nick, Derren, Trey, Dante, and Ryan were seated at the other end. The females didn’t even look up from whatever notes they were making, and Roni guessed it was most likely something to do with the plans for the mating ceremony tomorrow night.
Once Marcus and Roni both poured themselves a cup of coffee and helped themselves to some cereal, they took a seat at the table.
“So, what warranted the early wake-up call?” asked Marcus before scooping a spoonful of Cheerios into his mouth.
“The fact that I have a feeling it’s going to be a long-ass day,” replied Trey. “As I’ve already explained to Nick and Derren . . . there’s a problem.”
Roni frowned. “What?”
“We can’t get to Brunt.”
“He’s well protected?”
“No, he’s in jail.”