Dark Instincts

  Roni waved a hand, finding the woman nothing but pitiful at that moment. “Really, Kerrie, there’s no need to put me on a pedestal.”

  The Seer actually stamped her foot. “If you really cared about him, you wouldn’t ruin his life this way.”

  “It both astonishes and irritates me that you think your opinion matters.”

  “There, son,” began Jonas, “she doesn’t even care enough to stand aside for your mate!”

  “She is my mate.” He looked at Kerrie then. “But you know that, don’t you? You had a vision of me with Roni. You lied in the hope that I wouldn’t recognize her.”

  “No!” Kerrie shook her head madly. “Marcus, I would never do something like that. You have to believe me.”

  “I don’t believe you. Roni and I have mated—it’s done.”

  “You’re true mates?” said Jonas, losing his bluster.

  “Yes. And it wasn’t until I mated with Roni that I realized something—joining with your mate makes you whole. They suit you on every level, make everything right and balanced. So Mom had to suit you then, didn’t she? In a sense, you’re just the same as her—you want to suffer. It’s the whole martyr complex, isn’t it?” Jonas said nothing. Kerrie, on the other hand . . .

  “You can’t possibly believe she’s your true mate! She tricked you or something, she—”

  Roni growled. “Kerrie, you need to shut the fuck up or I will make you.” The female gulped.

  “Are you done?” Marcus asked his dad.

  Jonas straightened his shoulders, his expression softening. “So . . . you’re happy?”

  “I am. Roni makes me happy. But you sure never cared if I was happy before, so why now?”

  “He wants something,” Roni suspected.

  “I wanted to find out if we could bury the hatchet, so to speak.” As if the whole thing had been a minor argument.

  “Why would you want to?” asked Marcus, because there was always a reason when it came to Jonas Fuller.

  “Your mother . . . she misses you. We both regret that we didn’t leave with you when Trey was banished from our old pack. We’ve often wondered if things could have been much better if we hadn’t parted ways. You’re our son—we love you, we’re proud of you, and we want to be part of your life. Especially now that you’ve mated. It can only be good for both of you to have additional people around you, supporting you.”

  “You want to switch to the Phoenix Pack,” guessed Roni. She’d seen this with Eliza and Janice—the emotional manipulation, the flattery, and the implication that they could be useful.

  Marcus narrowed his eyes at Jonas. “Roni’s right, isn’t she?”

  “If it would help reunite the family, your mother and I would consider it.” Like he’d be doing Marcus a favor.

  “Outstayed her welcome, has she?” Marcus smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “Did someone find out what she’s been doing to herself?”

  “No, she misses you. We both do. You’re our son.”

  Marcus was quiet for a moment as he stared at the hard man in front of him. “I don’t wish you unhappiness. I don’t hate you. You see, I don’t care at all—and you did that. I watched the shit that goes on between you and Mom when I was growing up because I had no choice. Now I do. And I won’t expose Roni to it. I won’t expose myself to it.” He kissed Roni’s hair. “Come on, sweetheart.”

  Allowing Marcus to lead her back to the Toyota, she glanced over her shoulder at Kerrie. “You—if you come near us again, I’ll make you choke on your own ovaries. And I’ll enjoy it. What’s more, I’ll make you enjoy it. Just sayin’.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Roni could describe the mating ceremony with three words: Awkward. As. Shit.

  She wasn’t the romantic type, never had been. Lovey-dovey stuff had always made her uncomfortable. In fact, it confused her. For instance, she didn’t see the logic behind buying a girl flowers. Why buy a person something so that they could watch it wither and die? That was like giving someone a sick puppy. How could it possibly amount to a romantic gesture?

  Nope, Roni didn’t get it. Nor did she get why she had to wear a dress. Nor did she get why Shaya, Taryn, and Jaime had insisted on applying makeup to her face, or why she couldn’t wear sneakers. Shouldn’t she at least be allowed to feel a tiny bit comfortable? Apparently not. So, yeah, that had pissed her off. But Roni had agreed to everything. Why? Because she cared about Marcus enough to make the effort.

  So, primped and barefoot, she had advanced from her lodge through the forest on Nick’s arm, following Shaya’s fairy lights. He’d escorted her to the center of a huge circle of people—all the Mercury and Phoenix wolves bundled together, in addition to Marcus’s sisters, their mates, and children. The massive amount of attention made her heart race in the worst way, had made her want to turn back, but she hadn’t. Why? Because she cared about Marcus enough to brave it.

  As Trey had performed the ceremony, she’d kept her eyes on Marcus the entire time. Just as he always did, her mate managed to put her at ease . . . despite looking at her with that piercing gaze that told her she was getting fucked within an inch of her life as soon as they were alone. And when Trey had asked them to make their vows, she’d done it, even though she saw absolutely no sense in it. After all, the ceremonial words had no power. It was all simply a way to celebrate a mating: “an excuse for a party,” her mother had called it. Still, Roni had dutifully repeated the words. Why? Because she cared about Marcus enough to do so.

  What’s more, she’d smiled, she’d danced, and she’d resisted pulling out her lollipops. She’d pushed past all of the awkwardness for Marcus, particularly as he’d promised not to leave her on her own—knowing how she didn’t like parties, attention, and mingling. That was why she found herself seriously pissed a few hours later.

  Marching up to Dante, Jaime, and Derren, she asked, “Where’s Marcus?”

  A frowning Dante glanced around. “I thought he was with you.”

  “He went missing about twenty minutes ago. He said he was going to the tent to get a beer, and I haven’t seen him since.”

  Derren smiled. “He probably got distracted by all the food.”

  That had been her first thought. “I already checked. He’s not there. He’s not with his sisters either.” Marcus’s sisters had tried interrogating Roni again, so she’d offered them a few random facts and, basically, ran away.

  Smiling, Jaime touched her arm. “Off the subject, did you see Greta crying at the ceremony? They were tears of joy. She’s been singing your praises throughout the entire party, which is weirdly annoying your mother.” She gestured to where the two women stood having a heated discussion while Grace, Rhett, Lydia, and Cam looked on in amusement. Roni couldn’t hear the words over Lilah’s baby babbling. “Where’s your aunt?”

  “She left yesterday—to our utter delight.” Blowing out a frustrated breath, Roni scanned the surroundings for any sign of her mate.

  “It’s okay, sweetie, he’s probably just talking to the other enforcers.”

  Figuring Jaime might be right, Roni made her way to where the Phoenix and the Mercury enforcers were grouped together. “Anyone seen Marcus?”

  “I saw him about half an hour ago,” said Trick.

  Tao nodded, smiling at Roni. “He was with you at the time. You were fighting over a chicken wing.” She’d done it purely to irritate him.

  “You don’t need to worry.” Bracken gave her a manly pat on the back. “He’ll be here somewhere.” Ryan grunted.

  She arched a brow and pointed at her face. “Do I look worried?”

  It was Zander who answered. “No. You look . . . pissed.”

  “Maybe he’s with his Alphas,” suggested Jesse.

  Hopefully he was right, or Roni might just have to seriously hurt her mate. The Alphas were comfortably situated in a seating area with Kye, Shaya, Caleb, and Kent. But there was no sign of Marcus.

  “Ro!” called Kye the second he saw her.

&nbs
p; Shaya laughed when the kid tried to jump out of her hold and over to Roni. “I’m jealous that he likes you more than me.”

  “Sometimes I think he likes her more than me too,” muttered Taryn playfully, leaning her head on Trey’s shoulder.

  Cradling Kye against her—who then preceded to sloppily blow raspberries on her cheek—Roni announced, “I can’t find Marcus anywhere.”

  “He’s not with his sisters?” asked Caleb. “I thought I saw him with them earlier.”

  Roni exhaled heavily. “They haven’t seen him for a while.”

  Kent cocked his head, a pensive look on his face. “Have you spoken to Grace or anyone from her little group over there?”

  “No, actually, I haven’t. Thanks, Kent.”

  Taryn clapped her hands at Kye and then opened them wide in invitation. “Come on, baby. Ro has to go now.”

  Scowling at his mother, he curled his arms around Roni’s neck. “Mine.”

  “Yes, of course,” chuckled Taryn. “But she still has to go.”

  “Mine, mine, mi—ooh, cookie.” He practically flung himself at Shaya, who teasingly waved a cookie at him.

  “Oh, while you’re over there,” began Shaya, placing Kye in her lap, “ask them if they’ve seen Nick.”

  Roni’s brow furrowed. “Nick’s not around?”

  “I haven’t seen him for half an hour or so.”

  Trey exchanged a look with Taryn. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Eli for a while.”

  “Oh, I’ll kill them.” She knew her brothers well enough to know they would take utter joy in pulling some kind of stunt. “I can only imagine what they’ve done to Marcus.”

  “Who? Your brothers?” Kent shook his head. “They wouldn’t do anything to your mate.”

  Roni arched a brow, disbelieving.

  “Okay, they would do something to your mate, since they appear to like torturing him. But Marcus would be alert for that kind of stuff.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Shaya. “He won’t let them spoil the night of your mating ceremony. No way.”

  Oh, but it turned out that that was exactly what her mate had done. Later that evening, after the party was over, Dante and Ryan had appeared at her lodge, holding a singing Marcus. A singing Marcus who’d also had his face painted like a tiger and was naked . . . apart from a sparkling thong.

  They dragged him into the living area as Dante spoke. “It wasn’t us, it was your brothers. They got him drunk and then tied him to a tree, looking like this.”

  “Those motherfuckers. I’ll kill them.”

  “Something tells me you won’t have to. At this moment in time, Kathy’s ripping Eli a new asshole, and Shaya’s chasing Nick with her shotgun—and I’m not even kidding. I believe the last words she said to him before we left were, ‘Run, Alpha-boy.’”

  “Where shall we put him?” asked Ryan.

  She sighed. “On the bed.”

  Dante raised a brow. “You sure?”

  She knew what he was thinking: Why didn’t she want Marcus to suffer for choosing to get drunk with her devious brothers over spending the night with his mate? What Dante didn’t understand was that she had every intention of ensuring Marcus suffered. “Oh, yeah. I’m sure.”

  It was the bright light that woke Marcus the next morning. Or was it the pounding ache in his head? Or was it that irritating noise? The sound of his own breathing, he realized. He wasn’t sure. He went to pull the covers over his head to block out the light. Weirdly, he couldn’t move his arm. He tried again. Nope, it still didn’t budge. Even more strange, neither did the other one.

  Forcing his eyes open, he winced as the sunlight practically blinded him. Blinking a few times, he turned his head and, yep, his wrist was tied to the headboard. He looked at the other wrist to find that, yep, rope was binding that one too. Moreover, his ankles were secured to the foot of the bed with the same rope. He was spread eagle, totally naked.

  This was so not funny.

  Lifting his head, he called, “Roni?” He winced—even the sound of his own voice hurt.

  Fighting through the cobwebs clouding his mind, he recalled the previous night. Recalled how gorgeous Roni had looked as Trey performed the ceremony. Recalled how adorable it had been that she couldn’t have been more awkward. Recalled how she hadn’t run off somewhere and hid from the party, which had made him proud. Recalled how her brothers had . . . oh shit.

  “Roni!” Nothing. He fought the bonds hard, but they didn’t give an inch. It seemed his mate was very good with knots. Why wasn’t he surprised? No matter. Unsheathing his claws, Marcus angled his wrist just enough to slice at the rope. All he’d need to do was weaken the material and it would snap right off.

  But it didn’t. The rope didn’t even slightly give.

  “Keep slicing if you want. It won’t work. Shifter-resistant rope.”

  His head snapped up to find his mate leaning against the doorjamb, arms folded, in the same black dress she’d worn at the ceremony. And she did not look happy. It was fair to say he had some apologizing to do. He really didn’t think the excuse, “Your brothers said I couldn’t handle tequila better than them and macho-man pride dictates I can’t ignore that challenge” would help his cause. “Gorgeous . . .”

  Roni pushed off the doorjamb, fixing her eyes on his—letting him see every bit of her exasperation. She kept her voice even, flat. “Yes?”

  Marcus blew out a breath. “You’re pissed.”

  “Pissed? Why would I be pissed? All you did was let my brothers get you blind drunk, knowing how their cunning minds operate. All you did was choose to spend time with them over having time with me. Any other night, I wouldn’t have cared. But the night of our mating ceremony . . . yeah, that’s a problem for me.”

  Feeling like shit—and, admittedly, a little nervous considering his mate was pretty vicious when crossed—he said solemnly, “I’m sorry.”

  She came to stand at the foot of the bed. “It was our mating ceremony. It was, in your words, ‘one of the most special evenings we’ll ever have as a couple’ . . . And you’re sorry?” That was the best he could do? Hell, she should have left the thong and face paint on.

  Wolf eyes flashed at him, and he glimpsed her animal’s righteous anger. “Gorgeous, I’ll make it up to you.”

  “I know you will.” Roni peeled her dress up and over her body, watching as his eyes flared with hunger as they roamed over every inch of her. “You’ll give me exactly what I want.”

  “I will,” he promised with a low growl. “Just untie me, and I’ll—”

  She laughed. “Untie you? Why would I do that?”

  She had to be kidding. Right? “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. Really.”

  “You know, topping someone never really appealed to me before. But now, looking at you all tied up, mine to play with . . . the idea has its merits.”

  He tensed. “Roni . . .”

  “What, you don’t like the idea that you’re not in control? That you can’t ‘take’ what you want? That you’ll only get what I give you?”

  No, he didn’t. But he still couldn’t help moaning when she fluttered her fingers up one thigh. Clearing his suddenly dry throat, he rasped, “What do you want?”

  “What I wanted last night.” She dragged her nails down his other thigh, making him growl, as she flicked her gaze to his cock. “Hmmm. Uncomfortable with the situation, yet hard as a rock.”

  “Because you’re standing naked in front of me and I can smell your arousal.” If he were being honest, this whole thing was revving his engines a little bit; he was curious as to what his pretty little wolf would do. But, dammit, he shouldn’t be curious because dominant males did not submit. He’d never submitted in his life in any form. Not even to Trey—it was what made Marcus a good enforcer; his Alpha didn’t want obedient pets, he wanted people who would think for themselves.

  “That’s all it is?” she asked doubtfully.

  “That’s all it is.”

  “I see.” Roni crawled o
n top of him and licked a path from his navel to one taut nipple. She flicked it with the tip of her tongue, and he hissed through his teeth. Lowering herself, she rubbed her body over his, grazing her cheek on his chest.

  He groaned, loving the feel of her skin on his, and arched just enough to grind his cock against her. Wanting her mouth, he lifted his head and ordered, “Come here.”

  She flicked the other nipple with her tongue. “No.”

  “Roni.” He jolted as she bit his pectoral hard. “Fuck.”

  “Maybe. But not yet.” She licked and bit her way around his upper body, intending to deliver some sensual torture until he was desperate and on the verge of losing control. Between groaning and growling and making efforts to placate her, he struggled against the bonds.

  “Roni, let me up, and I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  “But this is fun.” She raked her teeth over her claiming mark, eliciting a low growl from him. Crawling a little farther up the bed, she dangled her breasts over his face. He latched on tight to a nipple, sucking hard enough to make her pussy clench. Then he held it firmly between his teeth while flicking it with his tongue.

  “Untie me so I can play with them.”

  She sat upright. “No.”

  He growled warningly. “Come here. I want to touch you.” It wasn’t a request. It was an order. She was his to touch. Neither Marcus nor his wolf liked being denied access to what was his.

  “And I wanted my mate last night.” She lightly scraped her nails over his nipples, making him jerk.

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “Oh, well, if you said you’re sorry . . .” she snorted.

  “Free my hands. I want to touch you.” He needed it. Needed to feel her. Needed to feel that smooth, toned skin, needed to feel her breasts filling his hands, needed to palm that ass he was obsessed with. His cock was heavy and pulsing and felt ready to burst.

  “Apparently, the strongest muscle in the body . . . is the tongue.” Shuffling forward, she knelt over his face and lowered herself. “Prove it.”

  Gladly. He swiped his tongue through her folds, groaning as her taste exploded in his mouth. Fuck, nothing tasted better than his mate when she was slick and ready. Again and again he licked through her folds, pausing to lash at her clit or circle it with the tip of his tongue. When she squirmed and let out one of those frustrated moans that always made his cock twitch, he speared his tongue inside her.