Sometime later, she felt a tug on her braid and opened her eyes. “How do you move without making a sound? I have to know.”
Duffel in hand, Zander pulled her out of the recliner and drew her close. “Training.” He pressed a kiss to her mouth, breathing in her scent—there was still a slight spice of need to it, and it shot straight to his cock. Fuck. “Ready?” She nodded. “Then let’s go get Bracken.”
“I was thinking that . . . Never mind.”
“Thinking what?”
She waved a hand. “Nothing. It’s fine.”
“Gwen, finish the sentence.” Before he went insane.
“Really, forget it.”
“Tell me.”
She lifted her shoulders. “But it doesn’t matter.”
“Just fucking tell me what you were going to say.”
“Jesus, Zander, I hope there’s a way to block you in real life because you’re a pain in my ass.” She held up her hand when he went to argue. “I’ll pencil in some time to hear you whine about it later. Let’s just go.”
He breathed deep. “Fine.”
They were walking to the door when her cell phone rang. Gwen halted when she saw the identity of the caller. “It’s Geena.”
Zander’s brow creased. “Answer it.”
She swiped her thumb over the screen. “Hey.”
“I heard you were hurt last night,” said Geena. She wasn’t much for pleasantries. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Gwen frowned. “I’m fine. How did you find out?”
“One of Dad’s contacts called—the guy’s friends with Ezra Moore. Apparently Ezra found out that Kenny’s your father, and he wants him to talk to you about going before the shifter council and ask you to see reason.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised that Ezra dug into my past, given that he very easily obtained my bank-account details and all that shit.” Gwen told her about the goshawk assault, smiling at the string of curses her sister let loose. “The Moores have to be behind it.”
“Probably,” said Geena with a weary sigh. “Dad plans to contact you to set up a meeting. You should know that he thinks he can talk you out of speaking against Brandt.”
Gwen narrowed her eyes. “He can’t.”
“I know that. You know that. But maybe you should let him believe that he can.”
Pride made her bristle at that. “Hell, no.”
“I get that it would be hard to act like you’re bowing down to his greatness, but it would be harder to deal with constant attacks from the Moores. Pretend to fold. Agree to cooperate. Then go before the council and tell them the fucking truth. But if you’re going to tell the truth, you need to be sure you’re ready for what comes next.”
Gwen rubbed her temple. “Someone offered to put me in a safe house.”
“It won’t make any difference. They’ll just go after your foster family to flush you out of hiding.” There was a pause as voices mumbled in the background. “I’ve got to go,” said Geena quietly. “Call me if you need me. And be careful.”
“You too.” Gwen looked up at Zander. “Did you hear any of that?”
He nodded. Neither Zander nor his wolf wanted Gwen anywhere near Kenny. “Your sister’s right. It might be a good idea to let him believe he’s talked you out of it. I’d say he’s arrogant enough to think that you’ll give in to him.”
“He is, but it will gall me to let the Moores believe they’ve made me cower.”
Zander smoothed his hands up and down her arms. “Yeah, but just think how much fun it will be when Brandt goes to that hearing feeling smug as all shit . . . only to then sit there and listen to you tell the truth.”
Gwen couldn’t help grinning as she imagined the look on Brandt’s face. “He will hate that.”
“Of course he will. No one likes being tricked. And if he believes you are going to change your statement, he won’t do anything stupid like run before the hearing. In a sense, you’d be setting a trap for him.”
“And he’s arrogant enough to walk right into it.”
“Exactly.” Zander kissed her. “You’ll get the last laugh, baby. Do what you gotta do to get it.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Zander stretched across the table and took his shot. There was a loud, satisfying smack as the white ball connected with another. Straightening, he watched the second ball smoothly roll across the table and then tumble into a corner pocket. Zander’s mouth curved.
Derren tossed him an aggravated look, gripping his cue stick. “I hate playing pool with people better than me.”
Sitting on a high stool, watching the game, Ally snorted. “You’re such a sore loser.”
“I haven’t lost yet.”
They’d claimed the pool table in the far corner, which gave them the best view of the large space. It also allowed Zander to track Gwen’s movements as she worked. Watching her walk around in shorts and a tank top was distracting, to say the least. Still, he was kicking Derren’s ass at pool. But then she bent over to pick up a coaster from the floor, and Zander understandably missed his next shot—it was the black ball, to make matters worse. Derren was immature enough to smirk about it.
Zander propped his cue against the wall as he downed a gulp of his beer. Hearing Bracken curse, he looked to see that the wolf was finally abandoning the pinball machine. Good, because all its bleeping and blooping was getting on Zander’s damn nerves.
“What time is Gwen meeting Kenny tomorrow?” Ally asked.
“Midday,” replied Zander, voice unintentionally hard. He didn’t want Gwen anywhere near that son of a bitch, but he knew the meeting needed to go ahead. They’d arranged it a week ago during the call she’d received from Kenny, which had been the day after she’d gotten her warning from Geena. “I don’t like it.”
“You were the one who said Geena’s suggestion was a good one, remember.”
“Doesn’t mean I like that Gwen and Kenny will be in the same room together.”
Overhearing that, Bracken sighed as he reached them and said, “Yeah, I don’t like it either.”
“Hey, who is that guy that keeps staring at Gwen?” asked Ally. “Is he one of the Moores?”
Zander didn’t need to look to know whom she was talking about, because he’d already noticed. Placing his bottle on the tall, high table where the other drinks rested, Zander said, “No. That would be Aidan, Gwen’s old therapist.”
Ally sneered, no doubt remembering all he’d told his pack mates about the human. “Asshole,” she muttered.
“Yeah, he’s definitely that,” agreed Bracken.
“Clearly my warning to stay away from Gwen didn’t penetrate,” clipped Zander.
Careful not to knock the rack of pool cues, Bracken leaned against the wall. “Well, to be fair, he’s in a public place, and he’s on a date.”
“Sitting in Gwen’s section of the bar,” Zander pointed out. “He thinks that being in a public place means he’s safe.”
“Damn,” cursed Derren. “Your shot, Z.”
As he got a good look at the table, Zander understood Derren’s frustration. The wolf had managed to pot all balls but the black, and the white ball was lined up perfectly to hit it. Zander effortlessly sank the black and then leaned the cue against the table just as Gwen approached to take their empty glasses and bottles. That lush mouth kicked up into a smile as her eyes met his.
“Come here,” he growled. She did, and he pulled her close, splaying his hand possessively on her lower back. He kissed her, growling in satisfaction as her body fairly melted into his, fitting against him a little too perfectly. His wolf took in her scent, letting it drown out the distasteful smells of dry chalk and green felt.
Gwen smoothed her hand over the solid bulk of his shoulder. “Why are you so tense?”
“I don’t like that Aidan’s here.”
She shrugged, nonchalant. “He always comes here when he’s on dates.”
“Does he always sit in your section?”
“Yes. But
if I ask him to move or for one of the other waitresses to switch with me, he’ll think he bothers me. He’ll get a kick out of it.” Gwen nipped his lip, smiling at his low growl. “Now let me go. I’ve gotta work.”
Zander put his mouth to her ear. “If we were alone right now, I’d have you flat on that pool table with my dick in you.” He snaked his hand under her tank top just to feel all that soft skin. “On second thought, it wouldn’t be so bad if Aidan was here. Then he could see me taking you. He’d get that you’re mine.”
She arched an imperious brow. “Yours?”
“Mine.” He stroked the mark on her neck with his thumb. “Another shifter would see this and understand exactly what it meant—that you’re off-limits, that you’re not to be touched, that there’s someone who’ll raise fresh hell if you’re harmed. But a human . . . they know what the mark is, but they don’t get the true extent of how serious it is. That makes me antsy.”
“Zander, I think the humans here know that you consider me taken, since you’re rubbing yourself all over me like a cat.”
“Again with the ‘comparing me to a cat’ thing,” he complained.
“You know what I mean.” Gwen straightened, pushing against his chest. “Now I really have to work. Be good.” Collecting the empty bottles and glasses, she said a quick “Hi” to the other wolves, took orders for more drinks, and then disappeared.
Ally twisted on her stool. “Now there’s a guy staring at you.”
Zander followed her gaze. A tall, burly male was studying him closely through narrowed eyes. “That’s Gwen’s future brother-in-law, Chase. He owns this place. From what I understand, he’s protective of her.”
“And part of you is offended by that,” Ally sensed. “You feel that protecting her is your job. There’s no point denying it, Zander. I can sense what you’re feeling.” She crossed one leg over the other. “I like Gwen. She’s good for you.”
Yeah, she was, but Zander wasn’t the heart-to-heart type, so he said nothing.
“She doesn’t have any emotional expectations of you. She doesn’t pressure you to open up. You needed that at first. It was the only way you were ever going to know that, really, you don’t want distance.”
What he really didn’t want was to have this conversation. It felt like he was being profiled. Made him feel exposed to know someone could read him so well. Gwen was good at reading him, but he didn’t mind that so much—it didn’t feel like an imposition, though it probably should have. So Zander concentrated on the game that Bracken and Derren were playing, hoping Ally would take the hint.
“Marlon’s told me a lot about her,” continued Ally, unfortunately. “Enough for me to realize that, like you, she doesn’t give much of herself to people. You both seem to back away from anyone who pushes. But you didn’t like that she backed off and gave you space, did you? You wanted her to push. You wanted to know her, and you wanted her to want to know you. Over time, she stopped backing off and dropped her guard a little. But the irony is that if she hadn’t given you space in the beginning, if she hadn’t fought to keep a distance from you, you might never have seen that you don’t want it because your defenses would have stayed up.”
Zander sighed. “Are we done with the amateur psychology?” He tried to sound bored, but they both knew she’d interpreted the situation too well for his liking.
“No. Now, as I said, neither of you give much of yourself to people. You both seem that way for different reasons, though. With you, it’s because you find it instinctively uncomfortable to connect with people, probably because the connections you had with your family, particularly with your twin—a person who should have been closest to you—were weak and, in Rory’s case, warped. I wouldn’t want to let people close either.” Ally propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. “You confuse Gwen.”
That made him frown. And intrigued him, which was no doubt Ally’s intent. “Confuse her?”
“The level of attention you pay her. The possessiveness. The way you try to preempt what’s best for her. It baffles her. That’s how I realized that the reason she doesn’t give much of herself to people is that she doesn’t think they want it—and she definitely doesn’t trust that they’ll want to keep or protect her.”
That made sense, he thought. Gwen’s mother and stepfather were too wrapped up in their own drama to care about her. Her biological father hadn’t even acknowledged her.
“I think a big factor was that some of the boys who pursued her over the years were really just trying to get to her foster sister.”
He scowled. “Why?”
Ally pointed at him. “That right there is why you’re so confusing to her. She knows it’s not about looks for you. She doesn’t get what it is about. It’s not that she has a low sense of self-worth. She doesn’t. She’s confident, bold. She’s at ease with who she is; she just didn’t expect anyone else to be.”
“You said she doesn’t give much of herself to people, but she let Yvonne, Marlon, and Julie get close.”
“Ah, but have you noticed that she sort of mothers them?”
Thinking on that, Zander realized she was right. Gwen put them first, protected them, and was a rock to each of them. In a way, she’d fostered that family—not the other way around. “She’s strong for them. The dominant force of the family, really.”
Ally nodded. “You don’t need her strength, you don’t need a rock, and that makes you unfamiliar territory for Gwen. She’s not used to being around people who are as equally strong as she is. She doesn’t quite know how to deal with someone who’ll want her to rely on them. Everyone wants to know there’s someone they can rely on, even if they never intend to do it. She’s never had a rock. The idea of having one will be as alluring as it is scary.”
Because to rely on someone, you had to trust them, Zander thought, and trust was hard for Gwen. “Okay, Dr. Ally, I got a question for you.”
“Dr. Ally,” she echoed with a smile. “I like that.”
“She invested some trust in me. She’s let me in a little. She’s let me know her. But she still holds back. Why?”
“This confuses you?” Ally rolled her eyes. “We’re shifters, Zander. What are shifters most known for doing?”
He shrugged. “Mating.”
“Yes. We’re most known for having true mates and metaphysical bonds.”
“I already explained to Gwen that having a true mate doesn’t mean I’m spoken for unless I’ve bonded with them.”
“Which is likely the only reason she let you in her bed. But this is what she’ll be thinking: that once the Brandt situation is over, you’ll go back to your pack and she’ll never see you again—that this is a . . . holiday romance for you. If this is more, you need to make that clear to her.” Ally tilted her head. “Would your wolf fight you on it?”
“No. He adores her. It took a little while for him to warm up. At first, he backed away from her—practically hid from her. Little by little, he closed the distance he kept from her, though still not all the way. Gwen thinks he’s weird with women because he’s not interested in any female but his true mate. I don’t know. In any case, she won him over.”
Ally gaped at him. “Good God, Zander, you’re lucky you’re hot.”
“What?”
She plonked down her glass and leaned across the table. “Maybe it’s because you’re too close to the situation, I don’t know, but you’re missing some things here. Right, let’s imagine that there’s this wolf. He’s strong. Fierce. Hard. Wounded, though. He was shot a couple of times. He recovered, but he has scars. Now, he’s not afraid of guns as a result—no, he’s too brave for that. But he is wary of them, so if he sees one around, he’s going to be on his guard in case the damn thing goes off. Now, your wolf wasn’t shot, but he is wounded. What wounded him, Zander?”
He frowned. “The people who were important to him.”
“Right. So let’s say your wolf comes across someone else who’s important to him—maybe the
person that’s the most important of all. How the hell do you think he’ll react?”
“He’d be wary.” Zander swore as realization slapped him right over the head. His mouth went slack, and his whole body stilled in shock. Hell, even his heart seemed to stop—then it was pounding in his chest like a drumbeat.
His wolf did a sheepish, metaphorical shrug. The beast had known Gwen Miller was their mate from minute one; he’d simply been too wary of having a mate to accept it—even now, the wolf was still slightly wary.
Zander gave a slow, incredulous shake of the head and almost laughed. Not with euphoria, but at his own stupidity. He should have known. He snapped his gaping mouth shut and drew in a breath through his nose. “Why didn’t I see it?”
Ally’s smile was sympathy itself. “Maybe because your wolf isn’t the only one who’s wounded. Maybe you’re wary of finding your mate too. Who isn’t? A mate will want everything from you. But not to take and keep those pieces of you, Zander. To protect them, to love them. She’s the one person who’ll make everything worth it for you.”
He stood there, reeling as several emotions overwhelmed him. Astonishment. Disbelief. Satisfaction. Pride that the female heading toward them belonged to him. He carefully masked his expression as she neared, keeping his smile hidden. Still, she saw something on his face that made her frown. He bit down on a smile of pride—his mate was incredibly observant.
Gwen set their drinks on the table as she asked, “You okay?”
“Fine.” His world had been rocked, of course, but in a good way. Zander drew her close, drinking in every little detail of her face, quietly savoring the knowledge of what she was to him. “I’ll be even better when your shift is over and I can get you home.”
“Not long to go.”
As Gwen walked away, he said to Ally, “I have no idea how to tell her that I believe she’s my mate. She’s not a shifter; she wasn’t raised knowing that she’d one day be mated. She won’t be prepared for it or for how much the mating bond will demand of her.”