Finally, the wolves all settled in a clearing. Some lay sprawled on the ground while others played and tussled. Ally sat with Willow between her legs, but the infant apparently had no intention of staying in place. She crawled away and was quickly circled by a red she-wolf and a large gray wolf—Shaya and Nick. She giggled each time the wolves gently nuzzled her.
A black wolf—Derren—alternated between wrestling with the enforcers and lying at Ally’s side while she sank her fingers into his thick fur. The animal released a feral growl if any of the males, even his Alpha, got too close to Ally.
“I was right to stay in my human form then, huh,” Ally said to the black wolf, knowing Derren would understand the words. “Next time, I’m shifting.” Although going along on the run was satisfying for her and her wolf, it didn’t soothe them the way it would if she were in her wolf form. The black wolf trotted behind her, disappearing from view . . . and then suddenly a naked male was wrapped around her, his front to her back. Well, now.
“Yes, you were right,” Derren admitted, lapping at her claiming mark. “My wolf sees each of the males here as threats to our bond—even the mated ones.” His wolf’s jealousy was now worse than ever, which meant his mood was more temperamental than usual. Barely resisting the urge to clutch the breasts that were crushed beneath his arms, Derren told her, “He even gets jealous of the attention you pay to Bruce.”
Ally chuckled, tilting her head to give him better access. He nuzzled her and inhaled deeply. “My wolf can get just as jealous.”
“But at least she’s rational.”
“Well, there is that.” She hooked one arm over his nape to thread her fingers through his hair. Ally relaxed into him as he practically enfolded his body around hers, touching and kissing her both soothingly and reverently. She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensations: A kiss to her jaw. Fingers playing along her collarbone. A kiss to her neck. A stroke of his hand down her arm. A nip to her earlobe. A lick to her claiming mark. A kiss to the hollow beneath her ear.
As he brushed aside her hair to nip and lick her nape, she said, “I don’t think you’re in a position to judge your wolf.”
“What do you mean?”
She snorted at the innocence in his tone. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”
“What?”
“You’re making sure I’m wearing your scent.”
Smiling against her nape, he admitted with no repentance whatsoever, “Fine, so I want you to smell of me.” Just the same, he wanted his skin to smell of her. He brushed his cheek against hers. “Although I love your scent exactly how it is, there’s one thing that would make it better: if it was mixed with mine.” When the mating bond progressed a step, it would happen; their scents would twine and form a unique scent that would declare they were mated.
He wanted that, but he wasn’t sure how to make it happen. The bond wouldn’t fully snap into place until he and Ally were completely naked to each other—it was a form of surrender on both parts. For most couples, that often meant overcoming fears, accepting hard or painful truths, and exposing and moving past their personal scars.
Although he and Ally were working toward it, the progression of the bond wasn’t something that could be forced or hurried. That pissed him off, because Derren wasn’t a patient guy when it came to Ally—he wanted everything, and he wanted it now.
“Maybe your wolf will settle a little when he knows a single sniff will tell other males I’m claimed and off the market.”
He doubted it, but one could hope.
“Maybe you’ll be calmer too.”
“I’m always going to be very possessive, Ally,” he warned her, his hand cupping and shaping one luscious breast while no one was looking, loving her sharp inhale. “It’s not part of my personality, but it’s who I am with you. You don’t have to tell me it’s not healthy to want to own you—mind, body, and soul. I already know that. And I already know it’s not good to want to possess every part of you, to be all you need and want. But I do anyway.” He narrowed his eyes at the large wolf that wandered too close. “Fuck off, Brack.”
With a playful snap of his teeth that made Ally smile, the wolf bounded away—crashing into Jesse’s wolf and then flopping onto the ground.
“Don’t,” she moaned quietly when Derren licked and nipped a particularly sensitive spot on her throat. “Not unless you want me to have an orgasm in front of all these people.” As his arousal trickled over her and fed her own, she gasped. “Oh my God, a part of you likes that idea.”
Derren laughed. “Like the idea that everyone can see how hard you come for me? Yeah, part of me does. But it’s not something I’d ever let happen.” He spoke into her ear as he discreetly pinched her nipple just shy of pain. “No one gets to see what you look like when you come but me.” He punctuated that with a sharp tug on her neglected nipple.
She moaned inwardly when his mouth latched onto her pulse and sucked. “That’ll change fast if you don’t stop touching and teasing me right now.”
“I’ll stop before you can come.”
Little bastard. “If you do that I’ll fake an orgasm in front of all these people so they can see just what I look like when I have one.”
He bit her jaw. “Hey, don’t you ever fake orgasms with me.”
She huffed. “I don’t get why guys get so pissed when girls do that. Hell, your gender can fake an actual relationship.”
His mouth twitched into a smile. “Oh, you’re getting all huffy and snippy.”
“I’m snippy pretty often.”
“It’s true that, emotionally, that’s your basic setting.”
“Why are you saying that with approval?”
“I like that you’re prickly, because you’re hot when you get all flustered. Even more so when you’re angry.” Seeing her worked up just made him want to fuck her until she was boneless and relaxed in his arms—and he often did. “I also like that I know what’s under that testy, impatient exterior.”
He would bet that many people would be surprised to find a great deal of softness and emotional insecurity under Ally’s tough surface. The fact that he saw sides of her no one else saw, that she let herself be open and, in effect, vulnerable around him . . . it gratified and humbled him and his wolf.
“Just like I know what’s under your serious, secretive, and relatively intolerant exterior.”
“Yeah?” He arched a brow. “And what’s that?”
“You have an unexpected playful streak.” He fussed over Willow sometimes but never enough so that people could see past his solemn surface. “You can be quite a relaxing person to be around when you haven’t got your guard up. And you’ve got an amazing singing voice. But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
“It’s not amazing.”
“Oh, and there’s that too.”
“What?”
“You’re quite shy when it comes to revealing your talents.”
Derren nipped the tip of her ear, making her release a low yelp. “You really shouldn’t tease me, baby. Not unless you want a repeat of last night.”
Quietly, she hissed. “You spank my ass ever again and I’ll—”
“Love it, just like you did last night.” He chuckled at her snarl. “Hmm. It seems I have to prove it.” And he did exactly that later that evening . . . which earned him a rake of her claws to his chest. The brand did nothing but satisfy him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
You son of a bitch!”
Derren’s eyes snapped open. Looming over the hammock, his face twisted with incredulity and anger, was a very familiar male wolf—and the last person Derren would have expected to see. Three other faces stared down at Derren, curious and grim.
Ally shot upright, almost tipping over the hammock. “Fuck. What are you all doing here?”
“What’s he doing wrapped around you?” demanded Cain, fists clenched, his chest rising and falling with uneven breaths. This was going to be bad, Derren knew. A battle between him and Cain
was inevitable, since the fact that he and Ally were mated wouldn’t placate Cain much.
She raised her hands as she said softly, “Let’s just all stay calm.”
“Calm?” echoed Cain disbelievingly. “Calm?”
“Yeah, that would be good. Why didn’t you call ahead of time to let us know you were coming? Uncle Wyatt,” she growled at a shifter who clearly went for the cowboy look, “stop snarling at Derren.”
“This is the guy you asked to protect her?” Wyatt asked Cain, his voice bland. “Hmm. I think he might have taken the bodyguard role a little too literally.”
The second male, looking like he belonged on a GQ cover with his Armani suit and gelled hair, regarded Ally curiously. “You have a thing for Betas or something? I mean, you were with the Collingwood Beta not so long ago. And now you’re involved with this asshole.”
“Dan has a point, Ally,” said the third—and seriously muscular—male. Hell, he was even bigger than Dante. “Well, Cain, your worry about this guy’s bias against Seers was unnecessary. He seems very . . . close to our Ally.”
“Don’t make this worse,” Ally hissed at the mountain of muscle.
Wyatt nodded. “She’s right, Brad. We don’t want Cain getting more worked up than he already is. Besides, Ally’s a grown woman—if she wants to get involved with a wolf who took advantage of his friend’s trust, that’s her business.”
Oh, these males were good. Derren could tell that they obviously wanted Cain to be totally riled and were doing their best to get him all worked up. And that was exactly what he was.
Cain glared at Derren, his eyes glittering with rage. “You. Get up.” Then he backed off the porch and took a position on the grass, rolling his shoulders. “I’m going to shatter every fucking bone in your body!”
Ally placed her hand on Derren’s leg, encouraging him to stay in place. “No, Cain, you have to listen to me.” But Cain wasn’t paying any attention to her; he only had eyes for her mate. Worse, Derren had hopped out of the hammock and was striding off the porch before she could stop him. Leaping to her feet, she got between them. “Cain, you need to hear me out!”
“In a minute, Ally. I want to deal with this motherfucker first.”
“No, listen to me now before you do something you regret.”
“I won’t regret kicking the ass of this devious piece of shit, sweetheart.” At Derren’s growl, Cain arched a brow tauntingly. “Oh, you don’t like it when I call her that?”
No, Derren didn’t—and neither did his wolf; the animal raked his claws at this male who he perceived to be a threat to his bond with Ally. Derren found himself just as pissed. No one would ever take Ally from him. She was his. And he’d fight God himself for her if he had to. “She’s not your ‘sweetheart,’ asshole.”
Her mate’s provocative tone had her spinning to face him. “Derren, what are you doing? I’m trying to keep this situation calm and you’re not helping.”
Cain growled at Derren. “I’m an asshole? You were supposed to look out for her! Not use her!”
“Wait,” Ally snapped at Cain, “it’s not like that, he’s my—”
“Dan, get her!” Cain signaled to his uncle.
Dan raised his hands. “Oh no, I’d like to keep my ball sack. You taught her too many dirty moves.”
“I trusted you with her safety!” Cain shouted at Derren, baring his teeth.
Derren shrugged carelessly. “She’s alive, isn’t she?”
“You goddamn bastard!” Cain bypassed Ally and launched himself at Derren.
They met in a furious clash of fists, growling and snarling. Ally flinched at the sounds of fists meeting flesh, at each pain-filled grunt. Her anxious wolf paced within her, worried for her mate but also concerned for a wolf who had been her friend since they were pups.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone bait Cain before,” mused Brad, turning to Ally. “You couldn’t have chosen someone who’s, I don’t know . . . sane?”
When Ally moved to part the brawling males, Wyatt blocked her path with his arm. “You know better than that.”
She did. When two male wolves locked on each other like that, there was no separating them until they were ready. So she could only watch as they punched, shoved, head-butted, and charged at each other. She winced as Cain’s claws sliced into Derren’s bare chest, drawing blood. Her mate’s eyes flashed wolf, and then the two males went at each other even more furiously than before.
It was only moments later that the Alpha pair, Eli, and the enforcers arrived, but a signal from Derren made them resist interfering. None of them looked worried on Derren’s behalf as they stood back and watched—or surprised that a fight had commenced between the two males.
Shaya dashed over to Ally. “We didn’t even know they were on our territory.” She nodded in greeting at Dan, Brad, and Wyatt as she said begrudgingly, “You guys are good.”
“Why, thank you,” drawled Dan with a charming smile.
“I take it Cain doesn’t have all the facts yet,” Shaya said to Ally, sighing.
Shaking her head, Ally replied, “Cain’s too worked up to listen. And Derren seems happy to fight him.”
It pissed her off that Derren was fighting back rather than explaining the truth, but she had to wonder if her mate thought Cain deserved to get a few shots in, considering that Derren had pursued her before knowing they were true mates. Dumb but understandable for someone like Derren to whom loyalty was extremely important.
Or maybe Derren was fighting with Cain since he viewed the male as a potential threat to their mating and wanted to make his point that no one could come between them. She knew from her experience with Miranda that the need to ensure rivals understood a mate was off-limits was too strong for anyone to ignore.
Spitting out blood after a particularly hard uppercut from Derren, Cain pointed hard at him. “You shouldn’t have touched her.”
“Jealous?” taunted Derren, swiping the back of his hand over his bleeding brow.
Cain jerked back in abject horror. “What? No.” His tone said that being with Ally in a sexual sense would be like incest, but that only slightly mollified Derren’s jealous wolf.
Derren shrugged. “Then I don’t see how this is any of your concern.”
“Ally is family to me. That makes her, and this, my concern.” Then Cain was rushing at him again, his face a mask of anger.
Ally yelled, “Stop before one of you gets seriously hurt!” They didn’t. They continued to brawl like two drunken bikers in a bar fight. The only difference was that they were also clawing and biting each other—and they weren’t dressed in leather.
Pausing to snap his nose back into place, Cain grunted. “After today, I don’t ever want to see your ass again, you two-faced fucker. And you’ll stay away from Ally. I’m taking her away from here—”
Panting and sweating, Derren shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”
Cain stilled. “What did you just say?” It was a menacing dare for Derren to repeat himself. It made her uncles wince.
“I’ll rephrase. I won’t let you do that. Ally stays with me.”
“Do you want me to kill you, is that it?”
“You could give it a shot.”
“Don’t think you can stop me from leaving with—”
“You can go wherever the hell you like, I really couldn’t give a fuck. But Ally stays. She’s mine.” It was a possessive rumble that seemed to surprise Cain with its intensity.
Still, the male scoffed. “Yours?”
“We’re mates, Cain!” shouted Ally, her stomach hurting at the sight of Derren’s busted lip, swollen jaw, clawed chest, and the gash on his brow.
Cain completely froze, falling silent for a moment. “Mates?” The eye that wasn’t swollen shut darted repeatedly from her to Derren. Then Cain tipped his bleeding chin at Ally’s neck. “Show me.”
When she tugged at the collar of her T-shirt to reveal her claiming mark, she said, “There. See? He wasn’t
betraying your trust or disrespecting your friendship. This isn’t some casual fling.”
“You’re mates?” He looked at Derren. “You aren’t using her?”
“We’re mates,” confirmed Derren. “That’s as far from casual as you can get.”
“So you didn’t touch her until you realized you were mates?” When Derren didn’t answer, Cain lunged at him again.
“Cain!” growled Ally. As the males wrestled each other to the floor, she threw her hands up in the air. “Goddammit!” She marched into the lodge, reappearing only moments later with a bucket. As she slung the contents over the two males, they both jumped apart and got to their feet.
“You drowned me in ice-fucking-cold water,” said Cain in pure disbelief.
“Yes, I did.” Ally strode over to him and forced herself to speak calmly. “Now listen to me, hear me out. I know you’re just looking out for me. I know you don’t want to see me used or disrespected. I appreciate all that, I do. But . . . you can’t hit him again.”
“Why not? I like it.” He sounded like a child sulking over his toy being taken away.
Smiling a little, Ally replied, “Because I kind of like him in one piece. Not bleeding and bruised.”
“He broke my trust.”
“Probably because on some level he knew I was his mate and the draw was there.” She’d felt the draw from moment one; she simply hadn’t understood the source of it.
It was clear to Derren that her attempts to placate Cain weren’t working well; he looked eager to pounce on Derren once more. “Come at me again if you want. But it won’t change anything. She’s mine and I’m keeping her. I’ll never let anyone take her from me.”
A muscle in Cain’s bruised jaw ticked. “She can do better than you.”
“I won’t dispute that.”
“Hey!” complained Ally, not liking Derren putting himself down in any way. A silence descended as both males stared at each other, their expressions inscrutable.