Page 25 of Howl About That

TEN

KEIRO

The drive to his pack territory in the Catskills passed in a blur of pine trees and mounting frustration. Keiro's hands gripped the Bentley's steering wheel with enough force to crack leather. The mate bond thrummed relentlessly in his chest—a constant reminder of what he'd just walked away from, what Poppy had forced him to walk away from.

But she felt safe with me.

The memory of her whispered confession this morning burned through him. She'd curled against him in sleep, trusted him enough to let her guard down completely in her most vulnerable state last night. Then she'd kissed him with a hunger that matched his after his own vulnerability this morning and claimed him with a passion that left him reeling.

And then she'd rebuilt every wall between them as if none of it mattered.

His wolf snarled, pacing frantically beneath his skin. The beast didn't understand restraint or political complications or emotional wounds. It only understood that their mate had accepted them, body and soul, and then retreated behind barriers of duty and fear.

What is she so terrified of?

The question had plagued him through the tense silence at the bank, where she'd signed the co-ownership papers with businesslike efficiency. It had followed him through the two-hour drive back to her estate, where she'd spoken only in clipped sentences about development timelines and revenue projections.

She was afraid of something deeper than losing her pride lands. Something that made her retreat the moment she allowed herself to be vulnerable and want something for herself.

The familiar stone gates of the Izell estate came into view, and Keiro felt some of the tension in his shoulders ease.

Home. My real home.

The sprawling mansion his great-grandfather had built nestled into the Catskill mountains like it had grown from the earth itself. Ancient oaks lined the winding drive, their branches forming a canopy that filtered the afternoon sunlight into dappled gold. He soon parked in the circular drive and stepped out, breathing in the scent of pine and earth and pack. His wolf settled slightly, comforted by familiar territory even as it whined for their absent mate.

"Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."

Keiro turned to find Dax leaning against one of the oak trees, arms crossed over his broad chest. His Beta's steel-grey eyes held their usual blend of amusement and concern, but there was something sharper there today. Something that suggested Dax had been waiting for him.

"What are you doing here?" Keiro asked, though he already suspected the answer.

"I tried calling your office. Tried your cell." Dax pushed off from the tree with fluid grace, his movements deceptively casual. "Funny thing—when the Alpha of the Izell pack goes radio silent after making spectacularly poor decisions, he usually ends up here brooding in the family estate."

Keiro's jaw tightened. "I'm not brooding."

"Right." Dax's mouth quirked in that infuriating half-smile that meant he saw straight through Keiro's bullshit. "So I'm guessing this has nothing to do with your mate and that ten-million-dollar mess you created at the auction? Just curious, did you manage to fix things with the lioness, or are we adding 'catastrophic incident' to your list of achievements this year?"

The casual way Dax said 'your mate' made Keiro's wolf surge forward, possessive and proud. But the mention of fixing things sent a wave of bitter frustration through him.

"I wouldn't say I fixed things exactly." Keiro ran a hand through his hair, disturbing the careful styling. "But we're co-owners of the land now. Business partners, actually. She's not the type to accept a handout, even if that handout was from her mate."

"Business partners?" Dax's tone was carefully neutral, but his eyes sharpened. "With a mate bond?"

Keiro's silence stretched long enough to be an answer in itself.

"Ah, I see." Dax nodded slowly. "So you complicated things further somehow. What exactly happened this morning to bring you back here?"

The question hit like a slap. What had happened this morning? He'd given his mate the most intense pleasure of her life, claimed her in every way that mattered to his wolf, proved their connection was real and powerful and transformative. And then she'd pulled away like it meant nothing.

"I had sex with her," he said bluntly, watching Dax's eyebrows climb toward his hairline. "So yeah, I just made everything infinitely more complicated than it already was."

"Christ, Keiro." Dax scrubbed a hand over his face. "You really don't do anything halfway, do you? First you torpedo her at an auction because your wolf got protective, then you throwmoney at the problem, and now you've slept with her before figuring out if she actually wants you."

"She wanted me," Keiro snapped, his wolf bristling at the implied criticism. "She kissed me first. She told me she needed to be close to me."

"And then?"

The simple question deflated Keiro's anger like a punctured balloon. "Then she pulled away. Put her walls back up. Made it clear this was just... temporary."