I try to keep my expression neutral as I’m lit up by the headlights of the car, while also mentally groaning over the realization that come morning, every shifter will know what happened tonight—how I walked out of a security report to call Callie at the same time the weather went from cold and damp to warm and humid with heat lightning shattering the sky, that my wolf immediately leapt to the surface moments within the call and announced my mate would be visiting in the middle of the night, and when I arrived at the gate, how I was singing to her over the phone, which is something that I haven’t done in earshot of anyone since I was a boy.
When I heard Callie’s quivery voice say how she didn’t want to be alone, my first instinct was to shift and run straight toward her, my wolf anxious to help our troubled mate, but that wasn’t what she wanted, and I’m doing my best to use my head more. It’s a delicate dance at the moment, and I want her to choose to stay with me. My best did happen to leave some new scratches in the banister surrounding the alpha house and spook a couple of betas.
Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of leading such a tight, interconnected community is that my mate and I are always at the forefront of gossip. An alpha with a witch as a mate would be a precarious topic amongst any shifter community, but when at least half feel the Call, it can get pretty volatile. Fortunately, Sam is good at easing tension, leaning heavily on a happy alpha means a stable pack. What happens when I’m not is still very fresh in their minds. I don’t like it—the crack of each challenger’s neck snapping still haunts me—but if it protects Callie, I’ll take it.
I wonder how the pack will feel about tonight’s events. Will they be amused by the antics of a lovesick alpha doing anything to comfort his mate? Or will they be fearful that a witch has such a hold on me? Not that any of it matters. I don’t care if it makes me a bad alpha, Callie will always come first.
Once Callie comes to a full stop, I shake thoughts of the pack from my mind and focus my attention on where it belongs—my mate. Resisting the urge to pull her from the car to check every inch of her to make sure she’s okay, I take controlled, measured steps to the passenger side and knock on the tinted glass window.Breathe. Stay calm. Give her what she needs.
When I hear the click of the door unlocking, I slip inside, having to adjust the seat far back to fit my legs. Callie stares at me, chewing her bottom lip. Her face is wet with tears, and her hair is a wild mane around her heart-shaped face. She also reeks of blood, arousal, and Nolan. My wolf is immediately up in arms, and I have to use most of my mental willpower to leash it. She flinches, and it’s like a spear to my gut. I have to keep my shit together. She came to me because I promised her safety and protection, and I need to make sure she doesn’t regret it.
Noticing the smear of blood across her neck and the stain of it on the chest of what is clearly a guy’s shirt, with strained caution, I ask, “You hurt?”
She self-consciously touches her neck. Her voice is small when she answers, “Nolan didn’t hurt me. I… I hurt him. I didn’t mean to, but I… did.” Dropping her face into her hands, she starts weeping.
“How?” I question, the sounds of her tears and her feelings of shame and despair are like claws shredding my insides, but I have to find out what happened before I can help.
“He… We… I…” She hiccups between her sobs.
I press my hand to the back of her neck, rubbing at the tight muscles, and wait for her to finish. Callie wouldn’t have left his side if he was physically wounded, so it has to be something else, something that would make him push her away.
“He was feeding,” she begins, her voice wet and broken. Another wave of shame and arousal hits me, and I grit my teeth to keep from reacting. “He was different tonight… more…” She trails off, searching for the right word—probably one she thinks won’t set me off. She’s not wrong. The thought of his hands on her does put me on edge, but that’s my problem to deal with.
To put us both out of our misery, I get to the root of what I need to know. “Does Nolan need help?”
She nods as her face collapses into fresh tears. “He shouldn’t be alone. I wanted to stay, but he…”
“Told you to go,” I finish for her, pulling my phone from my pocket. I swiftly send a message to D, telling him that Nolan isn’t hurt but needs help.He’ll figure out the rest,I reason before putting my phone back in my pocket.
Gently, I unbuckle her seat belt and lift her into my lap, her feet dangling in the driver’s seat. She cries harder, her face buried against my neck and her hands reaching under my shirt along my lower back.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers over and over again.
“Shhh,” I hush softly, rocking her side to side, trying not to enjoy her hands on me too much. “It’s okay.”
It used to be so easy to detach into an emotionless calm, but it’s impossible with her in my arms. I’m open and raw whenever she’s near, and my very being can’t help but offer every part of me for her use in whatever way she wants. Instead, I offer the one thing I have that might soothe her aching heart—my love. Filling myself with everything I feel for her and all that she means to me, I telegraph it as loudly as I can through our connection.
Her sobs turn to sniffles, and my head rocks back against the seat as she begins to nuzzle my neck. I’m not proud of it, but as my body comes alive under her exploring hands, a sick part of me is grateful that she was turned away. Lost and wanting, she came to me, and I’m not going to mess up this opportunity to show her what mates can do for one another. I know what she wants, and I can fulfill her desires without her having to utter a word, but not in Mildred’s car on the doorstep of pack lands.
“Mi reina,” I rasp, her nimble fingers already undoing a few buttons at the top of my flannel so that she may press her lips to the hollow of my throat. A shiver of heat radiates from the point of contact, and my fingers dig into her soft hips. “Not here.”
Callie immediately pulls back, her eyes wide as she covers her horrified mouth. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have… So wrong of me to… After what happened, you probably don’t…”
Before she can scramble off my lap, I wrap one arm around her waist and use the other hand to cup her face, guiding her to look at me. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are still wet and puffy from her earlier tears. She is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, and I can’t help but drop soft kisses against her forehead, the tip of her nose, and the backs of the fingers that hide her sweet mouth from me.
“I want this,” I assure her while unleashing the full force of just how much through our connection. Her gasp in response pulls a smile from my lips. “But not here.”
Shocked out of her more negative emotions, she drops her hands to my chest, nods absently, and echoes, “Not here.”
“Quiero darte lo que necesitas,” I purr into her ear, my voice an octave lower than normal. “There’s a new bed. Let me take you there.”
“Okay,” she whispers, and I’m pleased to see that desire burns in her eyes.
Meeting her gaze with a burning look of my own, I slide my hands up her back and note that all that separates my touch from her skin is Nolan’s shirt. A mixture of pure lust and possessiveness grips me, and it takes more effort than I’d like to admit to keep me from ripping it off her body.Not now. Not here. Get to the damn house.
“Need me to drive?” I offer, needling desperation taking root inside me.
Clearly feeling everything I am, because it’s impossible for me to hide it anymore, it takes her a moment to notice I’ve said something. She’s too enraptured by the river of emotion and desire between us.
