“You are stuck with me now,” she said a little breathlessly.
He chuckled. “You were stuck with me the second I saw you.” His smile faded as he grew serious. “Bethany, my beautiful mate, please don’t ever forbid my touch again. It was torture.”
“Drake, my handsome mate, don’t give me a reason to forbid your touch.”
He groaned and laid his forehead against her chest. “Great, maybe Jen rubbed off on you more than I thought.”
She ran her fingers through his hair and he rumbled in pleasure at her touch. He would never grow tired of her touch.
“What now?” she asked softly.
Drake bit back the words his wolf was riding him to say. The last thing his little mate needed to hear was that now that they’d completed the Blood Rites, he was just as eager to complete all of their mating. His wolf was practically salivating at the thought of consummating their relationship.Not yet, he growled at his wolf, who snarled back at him.Stupid human,the wolf told him again. Drake nearly rolled his eyes. His wolf had become quite obstinate since they’d found their true mate. Before meeting Bethany, Drake had begun to wonder if maybe the abuse he’d suffered under the leadership of his former Alpha had caused the wolf irreparable damage. It seemed that since finding their true mate, his wolf was beginning to heal.
“Drake?” Bethany’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
He pressed his lips gently to hers. “For now let’s just enjoy this part of our story. It will change quickly as time passes. We will never get this time back. Let me enjoy you. Let me meet whatever needs that you have.”
Bethany smiled warmly up at him. “Any need?”
The mischievous glint in her eyes gave him pause. But he finally nodded.
“I’m pretty sure Ineeda foot massage.”
Drake laughed. “Okay. I can handle that.” He sat up and pulled her feet into his lap. She had tiny, cute feet which were attached to sexy, shapely calves.Focus, Drake,he snapped at himself.Just her feet.
“Unless you really want to massage my sexy, shapely calves. I’m okay with that.”Bethany’s voice filled his mind.
Drake’s eyes snapped up to hers. She was staring back at him with a look in her eyes that was having an incredible effect on him. And he was pretty sure that she didn’t even realize it. “Behave,” he growled as he began to rub her feet. “Don’t start something you aren’t ready to finish, beautiful.”
Bethany laughed. “Just keep telling yourself that I’m not ready to finish it; maybe soon you’ll believe it.”
Drake decided not to examine that statement too closely and instead focused on his mate’s feet. It was such a simple act, rubbing her feet, and yet the fact that he was once again touching her—was free to touch her—pulled the breath from his lungs. He never wanted to stop touching her; he never wanted to be separated from her, not for any reason, even for a simple disagreement.
“Don’t,” Bethany whispered as she laid her head back against the couch and closed her eyes.
Drake stopped and looked at her. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t ever stop touching me.”
He felt his heart swell inside of him and his wolf laid down, feeling contentment for the first time in a very long time. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll never be far enough away from you not to be able to touch you.”
Chapter 14
“I’m safe. Well, at least that’s what they tell me. So why do I feel like something terrible is coming? It feels like danger. Danger to someone, but not to me. I wonder, not for the first time, if I was rescued from the lion’s den only to be caught in the wolf’s den?” ~Zara
Zara held Titus’ hand as they walked through the large mansion. It still shocked her at how big the place was. At first, she’d stayed holed up in the comfortable room that they’d given her. But she couldn’t stay like that, not after having been trapped underground for seven years. She couldn’t imprison herself just because she was afraid to face what the future held. Even so, she still wasn’t ready to be out and about, mingling with the…wolves. She needed something to keep her busy, something to distract her, at least for now. When Alina had knocked on her door and explained to her that Vasile had a task for her, something inside of Zara awakened. She realized that her life wasn’t over. She was still alive, capable, and others saw it too. Or at least Alina and Vasile did. After the Alpha female spoke with her about moving forward, Zara realized that’s what she wanted, to move forward and leave all the ugliness behind. She knew, however, that moving forward wouldn’t be that simple. Zara understood that there would be times she would slip back into the dark places of her mind. When she’d expressed this to Vasile’s mate, the words Alina answered with shook her deep in her being.
“Everyone has dark places. Some are darker than others, but everyone has them. The people who survive those dark places are the ones who have people around them, pulling them out when they can’t make it back on their own. You, sweet girl, have us. We are your pack and the pack never leaves anyone in those dark places. When you find yourself slipping into the darkness, all you have to do is call out. I will hear you. Vasile will hear you. Rachel and Gavril will hear you. Jacque and Fane will hear you All of your pack mates will hear you and we will be there to pull you back because you do not belong to the darkness. Just because you have experienced hard, horrible, awful things, does not mean they own you. You belong to us and you will quickly learn that we don’t share well.”
How could she say no to that? So Zara had agreed to take care of a little boy names Titus who had also been held captive by the vampires. One of the she-wolves—Zara thought her name was Priath, but couldn’t remember exactly—took her to the Serbian pack mansion to take over the care of little Titus.
Zara hadn’t been in the same coven as Titus so she had no idea what his experience had been like. She hated the idea of one so young being held captive by those filthy vampires. It was one thing to suck the life out of a teen, but out of a small child? That was a new level of sick for her. As she looked down at the little boy who was chattering away, her stomach rolled at the idea of him sitting in a dark room or cave waiting, wondering if they were coming back for him. She knew the feeling. You didn’t want to be alone, but you didn’t want the vampires to come either.
She knew that children were resilient and she hoped Titus would be too. The forgiving innocence that was innate in a child’s heart could be his saving grace. She hoped that he wouldn’t grow bitter over what he’d endured. Zara hoped that Titus would be able to let go of his time with the horrible monsters and instead focus on the future he had. He didn’t yet know that he was surrounded by werewolves, but she didn’t think he was going to have a problem with the news. Not only were kids resilient, but they were also extremely accepting.
“Zara.” Titus’ little voice drifted up to her.
“Yeah?”
