Chapter Eleven
Rex stroked the side of Elizabeth’s face. They hadn’t spoken, not since the soul exchange had started. At last, mating made sense to Rex. He’d always gotten the physical side of it. He just had never understood why everyone was so hush-hush about the whole thing. It wasn’t just sex—it was the exchange of their very essences which made all the difference.
For the rest of his days, he would get to carry part of Elizabeth around with him and that made him the luckiest guy alive. It also finally explained why a shifter couldn’t live without their mate. Or, at the very least, didn’t want to. Who would want to continue on living after they’d had half their soul torn from them?
Elizabeth’s silence worried him. He’d always known he had a dark side. Had she gotten it? Did she hate how it felt inside of her? Here he was getting to revel in being surrounded by warmth, loyalty and love. Maybe she was trying to digest how she would live with his difficult nature. “You okay?” His voice sounded rough, like he’d been screaming. He cleared his throat, not wanting to make her run away. Now, more than ever, he knew he couldn’t lose her.
You won’t. His wolf sounded so damn confident. Rex had never shared his unerring belief all would be well, somehow.
“I am.” She nodded, turning to look at him, her blue eyes huge. “Was it bad?”
“Was what bad?” She couldn’t possibly mean the sex. If she did, he was going to have to do something about it immediately. It hadn’t even occurred to him she wouldn’t have enjoyed herself…
“My soul.”
He blinked at her words. They’d shared a common fear, and he’d had no idea she’d worried. Why on earth would she think she was anything but extraordinary? “You’re like a giant ball of light that has infused my body. I never knew goodness until I was given you. It’s my soul that concerns me. It must be a burden for you. Especially since I’m feeling so good right now. All of my negativity must have gotten transferred to you.” A tear slipped from her eye. “You really don’t know yourself at all.”
“Or maybe you just want to see the good in me.”
She shook her head. “Just the opposite. I wanted to hate you from the moment we met. You made that impossible.” She slid over until she straddled him. His cock jumped to attention. “I have to talk to you. It’s important. But right now, all I want to do is kiss you and…” Her voice lowered. “Kiss you.”
“Elizabeth, you have to be sore…”
She never gave him the chance to continue his thought as her mouth came down on his, hard. This was a different Elizabeth than before. Her kisses had started out tentative.
Now she seemed assertive and in control. A woman who knew what she wanted. He loved it.
Their mouths fused together. It was like she wanted to combine their bodies the way their souls had meshed. The closer he could get to her, the better. She tasted like citrus fruit and ambrosia. A gift the gods had given him he intended to cherish forever. He pulled back to take a breath. “At least I don’t have to take your clothes off this time.”
“You already destroyed them.”
When this was over, he would buy her more. A million articles of clothing if she wanted them. Whatever Elizabeth desired, it was hers for the asking.
Right now all she seemed to want was him, which was more than okay. If the real world didn’t need them, he would spend forever in this hotel room with her. It might be dark and moldy but it had become heaven for him. Although, he suspected anywhere he was with Elizabeth would feel that way.
His cock had gotten even harder. It hadn’t taken any time to get right back into the action. He wasn’t sure how that was even possible, considering how thoroughly they had enjoyed themselves just minutes earlier. Rex felt like a drowning man, and Elizabeth was all the air he would ever need for the rest of his life.
“Please. I know this is fast but I need you again, Randolph. Please.” He didn’t like the desperation in her voice, and something inside of him wanted to explore what made her feel like she had to beg for what he was happy to give her.
However, he wasn’t a stupid man. They would talk—later. For now, she needed, and it was his pleasure to provide. More than his pleasure, his ultimate goal in life from the moment they’d met.
“Roll over.” He wanted her beneath him. He wanted to look in her eyes as she came apart. She did as he asked, and in seconds he was above her, ready to place himself in her warmth—a place he’d never known existed until he’d found it within Elizabeth. “I love you.” He’d spoken the words and they felt right on his tongue. He could feel her love for him in the parts of her soul where she’d melded to him. But he wanted to tell her, in case she hadn’t received the same from him.
“Oh, Randolph.” Tears leaked from her eyes, and he wished he’d never said a word.
What was wrong? Was the idea he loved her so unappealing she wept?
She raised her neck until her head was right beneath his. Seconds later, she’d fused their mouths together. He could feel the wetness on her cheeks as her mouth begged him for attention.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Anything his witch needed, he would do. Anything to see her stop crying.
“Just, please, Randolph. Please. I need you.”
He wouldn’t have her ask again. She never needed to feel like she should plead for anything from him. She was his mate. With a gentle push, he was inside of her. Her muscles quivered around him, making him nearly end their joining before it had begun.
He groaned as he struggled to keep himself in check. Would it always be like this with her? Would he always be two seconds away from losing control?
“Yes, thank you. Thank you.”
He grabbed the side of her cheek, forcing her to look him in the eyes. “You don’t ever thank me for this. I should be thanking you. I’m always going to want to be with you like this. Always.”
Rex couldn’t imagine how alone she must have been feeling. Separated from everyone by a curse placed on her face. He would find a way to show her she would never be alone, never be without him.
“I hope that’s true, Randolph. I truly hope so.”
Together they moved, a rhythm forming which made him want to shout for joy. He thrust forward, and she took him deeper inside of her. She gasped, and it moved through him like joy and sadness. He felt so close to her, he was sure he could feel what she felt as she experienced it. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.” His words were barely a whisper but he knew she heard them.
She reached out with both hands, and he grabbed her behind her head to keep her from hitting the headboard behind them. Her hands cupped his cheeks even as their bodies picked up pace in this sweet mating dance he was sure he would never forget.
“Please don’t ever let go.” Her voice quivered as she exploded around him. Her body clenching around his, pulling at him until the pleasure was so intense he spilled inside of her, knowing he’d found home inside his little witch.
Rex felt certain time must have passed. He wasn’t sure how much of it, though.
Finally coming back to his senses, he rolled off Elizabeth. He had to have crushed her.
“No, don’t move. I like the warmth.” She sounded sleepy and, he was glad to hear, happy.
He snuggled next to her, pulling her until she spooned against his back. Much as he hated the cover for the bed—it did not smell exactly one hundred percent clean—he moved them both underneath it. “I’ll keep you warm.”
She sighed. “Your skin is like a furnace next to me.”
“We are hotter than humans by a few degrees.”
“I was cold now I’m warm.”
He pinched her arm gently. “It’s because you’re so thin. Five more pounds on you and you’ll be warmer.”
“Five more pounds and I’ll be fatter.”
“You could never be fat.” He kissed the back of her neck. “What did you want to talk about earlier?” He felt her whole body stiffen up. It was as he’d suspected. Whatever she had to discuss wa
s the reason for her unhappiness. Her scent changed from blissful to the acrid smell of fear in a matter of seconds. She was scared of him? “Elizabeth, whatever it is, you don’t have to fear me or be sad. Just tell me and we’ll work it out. You’re my mate. You are my only priority.”
All that mattered in the world was her. He had to get things straight with Westervelt—had to stop his father and make the pack stronger—so she could be safe. His brother’s reasons for excluding the non-mated males from decisions, while still wrong, made more sense to him now. Only the mated could truly understand how much there was to lose. He had to protect her soul; it had been entrusted to him.
“Rex, I did something before I understood…”
The scent of danger hit him hard. Someone—no, more than one person—approached the room. He jumped to his feet, shushing Elizabeth as he did. He’d destroyed her clothes and left her vulnerable.
“Go into the bathroom. Get the bathrobe. I know it’s gross but do it anyway.” She nodded as she rose from the bed. The room smelled of sex and passion. Anyone who entered would know he’d not been alone in here, which meant there was no way he could properly hide Elizabeth from what was coming. The good news was whoever now made their way up the stairs toward them was human. They’d tried to mask their scents, to eliminate them. His brother Az had a supply of herbs that allowed this trick, but Rex had always been able to smell through the lie.
Elizabeth wrapped the robe around herself before she turned to him. “Who is it?”
“Your twins.”
“What?” Her voice rose beyond which he would have preferred, and he hushed her again. “Stay in the bathroom.”
“No. If it’s the twins, you’ll need my help.”
“I need you safe. I’m going to shift.” His wolf paced within him, ready for a fight to defend their mate.
“You can’t kill them. If they so much as get hurt their mother will kill my family.” He shook his head. She still didn’t understand how capable he was of handling her problems. But she would. He would make certain of it. “She’ll never get the chance.” He pointed at the bathroom. “In there. Now.”
She bit down on her lip as her scent altered from terror to a combination of fear and anger. Good, it was better she was annoyed with him than downright scared. Frightened people did foolish things.
Elizabeth walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
I love you. He spoke into her mind seconds before the door opened. In a flash, he’d called the white light onto himself, his body moving fast into the shape shifting which came as naturally to him as breathing. Unlike some shifters, he’d never fought the ability.
He loved it, and when given the chance to run in the woods, craved the shift. Now he just wanted to kill these horrid creatures who had abused his mate for so long.
The door opened slowly. It was late. Perhaps they thought to find them asleep? He didn’t care. They slipped in together. One in front of the other like they’d moved in tandem their whole lives. This might very well be the last time they got the chance.
Leaning down, he growled his intentions aloud so they would hear them.
“Oh look, Penny, its wolf-boy. Should we turn him into a rat before we kill him or just kill him straight out?”
If the one on the left was Penny, that meant the one on the right was Charra. He’d hardly paid attention to them the first time he’d met them—all of his focus had been on Elizabeth. Now he regarded them as prey. They were neither tall nor short, standing, he would guess, at about five-feet-five. Like their height, they were of average weight. Their figures were nothing to write home about either. Bland brown hair, round faces, and small pug noses did nothing to improve their looks. All in all, they were the most unremarkable people he’d seen in a while.
They didn’t hold a candle to his Elizabeth, which must have been the reason their mother had chosen the type of curse she had inflicted on his mate. Jealousy. Pure and simple. These women were not in her league in external or internal beauty.
He leapt forward, catching Penny straight on the shoulders. They crashed together to the floor. She screamed, and his wolf shrugged. He hadn’t even done anything to the girl yet. His wolf had only wanted to show her how strong he was. Growling, he turned his eyes on Charra. She needed to see the hate in his gaze. If she had any brains in her head, she’d run.
“Kill him, Charra, kill him.” Penny’s shriek made his teeth ache to tear her throat apart.
The door to the bathroom swung open and Elizabeth screamed at the top of her lungs. Rex moved away from Charra. What was wrong? What had they done to her?
“No, don’t hurt him!”
He stopped his run. Him? She yelled like that about him? He was fine, why the hell hadn’t she stayed in the bathroom. Elizabeth, go in there and lock the door.
Charra must have realized what was happening because she lunged at him as he spoke with Elizabeth. “I can feel you talking to her, you freak of nature.” He whirled, ready to take off the woman’s head. Her mother would have to deal with only having one daughter returned.
The first blast rolled over his back. He’d been warded against most magic, thanks to his sisters-in-law. It wouldn’t work forever, but, for now, it seemed it was still intact. The twins could find a way around it, if they tried long enough, which meant he would have to make sure they didn’t get the opportunity.
Lips back in a snarl, he lunged at Charra. She would die first.
“Wait. I’ll kill her.” Penny’s voice cut through his haze. He turned around already knowing what he would find.
Can’t get to both of them. His wolf told him what he already knew.
Penny had Elizabeth by the back of the hair. Why the hell hadn’t she gone back into the bathroom? Rex shook his head. No matter, he had to exist in reality and this was what was happening now. He called the shift onto himself. When he was fully transformed, he stared at Penny. “Let her go.”
“I don’t think you’re exactly in a position to dictate what we do with our slave, wolf.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her. There was no way she couldn’t see his intention to kill her in his eyes. “We have a problem. You aren’t going to be able to kill me with your magic. It’s not possible. And I don’t honestly believe you will harm her.” Rex restrained himself from clenching his fists. He needed to look calm and relaxed even though he was anything but. Don’t worry, little witch. He tried to sound soothing in her mind.
Don’t underestimate them.
He wouldn’t.
“She is bound to us and she left us to go with you. We have every right to harm her.” Rex sighed. “What world do you live in?”
“Mine.”
Rex whirled around at the sound of a voice he’d not expected to hear in the room. He hadn’t smelled anyone coming or heard a sound, and yet there stood a man he’d hoped to never see again in his life. Well, he wouldn’t have minded witnessing the man’s death.
But like this? No. Not in a million years.
He could hardly breathe as he regarded the single figure leaning against the door like he had not one care in the world. His father looked exactly the same as the last time they’d been alone together. Kendrick Kane should have aged over the years—he’d been mated, which should have triggered his aging—but his father never seemed to.
Eternally thirty years old, at least on the outside, members of their pack often remarked how much their new alpha, Tristan, resembled Kendrick. But Rex didn’t see it.
He would never mix up the two. Dark-haired and dark-eyed, like the night had swallowed him up and spat him back out leaving a touch of itself behind, his father embodied all that was wrong in the world.
At the current moment, Kendrick didn’t have a smell. That meant he’d taken herbs that were better than the ones Azriel had for Westervelt, or Kendrick was dead. Rex didn’t suppose he could get that lucky. “Shouldn’t you be in Maine attempting to cause havoc on people who wish to never see
you again?”
His father shook his head. “I can be many places. I can be all over the world in seconds. You’ve never understood how things could be, Rex.” Moving from the doorway, Kendrick limped slightly, a reminder Az had nearly managed to kill him recently. Rex smiled at the knowledge. His father was not invincible.
Not by a long shot. “Whatever you’ve done, whatever magic you’ve engaged in—I’m not interested in knowing about it. I never have been, never will be. And somehow, I’m not surprised by the company you keep.” His father was involved with the coven that had cursed Elizabeth. It all fit. Like finding like; evil teaming up with evil.
Are you prepared?
His wolf jarred him back to the present. Yes, he knew what his canine half asked him. Was he ready to fight his father? This is the gift, isn’t it? This was the way he could save Westervelt.
His wolf nodded. This is the moment you’ve always known would come.
The white light would come, he would shift, and they would fight. He would not let Kendrick walk out of here with any ability to continue to attack his home in Maine.
Kendrick was injured. Rex might actually be able to kill him. And if not? His heart hurt at the thought. He’d be destroying Elizabeth’s life. Shit. Why couldn’t this have happened before I met her?
His wolf sighed. Because it didn’t.
“You know, I never would have found you, Rex. I had no idea you weren’t festering on the island with your brothers. But then your little friend over there called and let us know where you were.”
His father’s words blew over him like a cold wind dousing the flames in his soul.
Elizabeth had called them? He turned to look at her. She’d stopped struggling in Charra’s arms, her face pale. But it was her eyes that told him all he needed to know. Guilt. Yes, Elizabeth had done this.
His mate had betrayed him.