But I did want to go back.God help me, I did.
I grabbed my coat before I could think better of it and headed for the parking garage.
The drive to the manor felt endless.
Sunday traffic on the mountain roads, tourists crawling along in rental cars, stopping to take photographs of scenery I’d stopped noticing years ago.Everything conspiring to keep me from her for another minute, another hour.The wolf paced and snarled and demanded I drive faster, take risks, do whatever was necessary to get back to her.
I gripped the steering wheel hard enough to feel the leather creak under my fingers.This was weakness.This hunger, this need, this inability to think about anything but the woman waiting in my house.I’d built my empire on discipline.On the ability to compartmentalize, to separate desire from decision, to never let want override strategy.
Now I was counting minutes like a lovesick boy.
No.Not lovesick.The wolf wanted what was his.That was all.Biology.Instinct.The primal drive to claim what belonged to me.Nothing more complicated than that.
The lies I told myself were getting harder to believe.
By the time I pulled through the gates, the sky had faded to deep purple.The manor rose against it, windows glowing with warm light.Welcoming me home in a way that felt different now that she was inside.The wolf settled slightly at the sight, some of his restless energy smoothing into anticipation.
Alice met me at the door.Her expression was carefully neutral, but I’d known her long enough to read the subtle warmth in her eyes.The quiet approval she tried to hide.
“Miss Hughes has been quiet today,” she said, taking my coat.“Stayed in the library most of the afternoon.I brought her tea and sandwiches at noon, but she barely touched them.”
The library.My library, with its thousands of books and leather chairs and the piano I’d had tuned the day after she signed the contract.I imagined her there, surrounded by my things, making herself at home in my space.Reading my books.Sitting at the piano.Breathing the same air I’d breathed for years.
She’s nesting.Making a place for herself.Ours.
The wolf’s satisfaction was almost smug.
I found her exactly where Alice said she’d be.Not playing the piano, just sitting on the bench with her back to the door, her fingers resting on the closed fallboard.The firelight caught the honey tones in her hair and painted her in gold.She’d changed into her own clothes at some point.Soft gray sweater, dark jeans, bare feet tucked beneath her on the bench.
She heard me enter.I saw it in the slight tension of her shoulders, the way her spine straightened.But she didn’t turn around.
“I didn’t think you’d come back tonight.”
There was an edge to her voice.Not soft.Guarded.Like she’d spent the day reinforcing her defenses.
“I said I would.”
“You say a lot of things.”She turned then, and I caught the flash of defiance in her eyes before she smoothed it away.The careful guard was back in place.Whatever vulnerability she’d shown last night had been locked away again.Good.This was easier when she fought back.
“You’ve been in my library all day.”I crossed the room toward her, letting the wolf set the pace.Slow.Predatory.“Making yourself comfortable.”
“You moved all my belongings here without asking.I assumed comfort was the point.”
The tartness in her voice made my chest tighten.I preferred this version of her.The one with claws.The soft, yielding woman from last night had been too easy to want.
I stopped in front of the piano bench.Close enough to smell her.Apples and cream, sweet and warm, filling my lungs whether I wanted it or not.The wolf purred with satisfaction.Mine.In my house.In my territory.
“Stand up.”
Her chin lifted.“Why?”
“Because I told you to.”
For a moment I thought she’d refuse.Part of me wanted her to.Wanted the excuse to remind her who held the power here, to push back against the strange pull that had been dragging at me all day.
But she rose.Slow and unhurried.Making it clear this was her choice, not my command.
We stood close enough that I could see the pulse jumping in her throat.Could smell the spike of her arousal underneath the defiance.Her body knew what it wanted, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
