The silence in the woods is undercut by my own breathing. Stopping to get my bearings, I hear shuffling just ahead. I walk as slowly and quietly as I can. The closer I get the more I hear her heavy breathing. She’s hiding behind a tree. Her head turns just enough to catch a glimpse of me. Her eye widens before she’s taking off again. Not this time. I’m catching up to her in no time, wrapping my arms around her from behind and turning us so my back hits the tree closest to us instead of her due to our momentum.
Every heavy breath she takes fogs up the air in front of us. “You—”Pant. “—caught me.” She rests her head against me, tilting it up to look at my face. I am still mad she did something so reckless. My hand moves from her soft stomach to her jaw, turning her face more as I move down and kiss her for the first time. It’s not a nice kiss. It’s an inferno, consuming and devouring. Her perfume begins to surround us.
She tries to turn in my hold but I don’t let her. Breaking our kiss, I rumble out, “What’s my prize for catching you?” Her eyes darken, her hand coming up, fingers running through my beard.It takes every ounce of control I have to keep my eyes open at that touch. I want to see her as she answers.
A softness enters her eyes as she says, “Micah.” She leaves it there hanging. Is this her respecting what I said about not wanting anything sexual? I need her to say it.
“Say it, Wildcat,” I order, accidentally slipping the nickname I’ve had for her. Her last name means wild after all and she’s never been shy of showing me her claws.
Her brows briefly pinch together in confusion before smoothing out. “If you want me, I’m yours.” My self-loathing flares. It was never an issue of me wanting her. But I made her think that. I don’t deserve her or her forgiveness.
I can’t be soft like some of the others. At least not in this moment. I quickly swap our positions. She faces the tree, her forearms braced against it, the bark likely digging into them. I pull her hips further back away from the tree and run my hand over her barely exposed ass. Liam’s mark peeks out. Moving down, I feel her slick center. She really is turned on by this, by me.
She looks back at me, eyes pleading. The setting sun makes her eyes look like they’re lit from within. Two of my fingers enter her. Based on the stuttered breath she releases, it’s clear she was holding it in. She’s so fucking wet. I don’t finger her long before I’m pulling my sweatpants down, letting my hard cock out. I don’t have it in me to be slow and teasing right now.
I enter her in one sharp thrust, making her cry out softly. Damn, I feel her squeezing around me. My hands are holding on top her plump hips for dear life as I fuck into her with abandon. Her moans, driving me higher and higher. I hate that I’ve been so suspicious of her, hate that I couldn’t let myself trust her as my mate, hate I couldn’t let her in, hate that she made me feel something I never wanted to feel again.
But I love that she accepted everyone in our pack, even me. Love her dedication to helping Ben with the lodge. Love her smile. Love the glare she gives me. Love her soft plump body that is melting under my touch. Love….
I’m close, I can’t knot her because it’s too cold to be stuck here. The closer I get the more my control loosens. Leaning forward with her back to my chest, I brace my hand on the tree. “My mate,” I say softer than I thought possible before I’m coming, filling her up. My knot slips in and locks us together, triggering her orgasm. Fuck. I didn’t mean to do that. It’s too cold.
Resting my head against her back, I catch my breath. Her pussy is still squeezing my cock and knot. “You have to stop that or it’s going to take longer to go down. You have to be freezing.”
She laughs hollowly. “I feel extremely warm at the moment.”I know that won’t last long. I need this to go down quickly.
It’s getting dark by the time we get back to the house. Thea is shivering a little. I should have brought a jacket like Liam did. As we enter, the kitchen is full with everyone—except Keelan and Liam—including Harrison and Taz. Eli is smiling broadly, clearing waiting withbatedbreath to tease me. They had to have felt what happened in the bond and me returning with her just confirms it. I love my pack but they’re insufferable when proven right.
Eli walks up to us, taking Thea’s hand. “Geez Sunshine, you’re freezing. Let’s take a nice hot bath and then finally eat our fill of what Ben and Micah cooked for our post heat meal,” hesays, leading her out of the kitchen. She doesn’t say anything but briefly looks back at me.
I take Eli’s vacated stool at the island and rest my head against it. The room bursts out in laughter. Turning my head, I glare at those closest to me, Parker and Jake.
“So you had a good time then?” Ben asks teasingly. My glare moves to him, causing him to hold his hands up in surrender. I don’t want to talk about it. I have enough to disentangle in my own head.
“Good thing you stayed inside the perimeter. Otherwise we would’ve had to go get her,” Taz says.
I’m moving quicker than I would have thought possible, pushing him against the fridge. “Did you watch us on those cameras?” I growl out. Taz’s smile widens, though his eyes are hard. Interesting. He’s clearly letting me push him, he has me beat when it comes to training.
“Whoa, let’s relax. No one watched you and Thea together. Taz kept an eye on where she was until you found her and left the room,” Harrison rushes out, trying to mediate the situation. Taz’s expression doesn’t change. For some reason it feels like he’s testing me. I don’t understand him in the slightest. I release him and return to the island.
“Wait. Don’t those cameras record?” Jake asks.
Before anyone can say anything, Parker is getting up and walking out of the room, saying, “I’ll delete the history for that one.”I relax at that.
Keelan and Liam trickle in not long after. Keelan still looks frustrated. I can imagine what his punishment will be for our wiley omega. Ben and I reheat some of the food that sat during all this and finish what still had to be cooked. As we’re wrapping up, Thea and Eli finally rejoin us.
“Breakfast for dinner. Mhm sounds good. I’m starving,” Thea says emphatically. Her eyes catch on the plate of crepes I made.I wonder if she’s realizing I tested them that night we talked with the plan to make them for her post-heat meal. She has a sweet tooth and I wanted something other than chocolate chip pancakes to give to her.
The meal goes by uneventfully. The conversation flows easily and is relaxed. I’m anything but relaxed. I have to straighten out everything I’m feeling and talk with Thea. My entire pack is bonded with her. I know she won’t just run off. I knew that before, but couldn’t let myself go there with her if there was the smallest chance she could. But now I know she wants me just as much. Her eyes catch mine, softening. I want her to look at me like that more often.
21
THEA
It’s the last day before we all go back to work. My body is still pretty sore, especially from the run last night. Harrison messaged all of us that we need a status update on the situation. I’ve been trying and failing to not think about it. I keep ruminating on what could have happened.
We’re all gathered in the living room. Jake and Harrison are talking in hushed tones. Taz isn’t here but their other pack member, Ren, is. Harrison moves to stand further back against the wall while Jake has the floor.
Taking a deep breath, he looks at me as he says, “On my trip to Florida, Logan and I confirmed that Mark Henderson is your stalker. There’s some other details but that is the important one. We are working to get concrete evidence tying him to Connor’s murder.”
