My nostrils flared at the erotic image, but I quickly tamped it down. Millie wasn’t here to satisfy my base urges. She was here to be protected. To be safeguarded. I had to remind myself of that fact before I lost my senses altogether and satisfied my ravenous wolf’s primal urges without care for the long-term consequences.
Deep down though, I knew it was more than her beauty that was drawing me to her. More than my need to protect her. There was an invisible cord binding us together. Our inner beasts recognized each other like only true soul mates could. Mingled with our chemistry, it was overpowering. It made my inner animal want to play and indulge in the most deviant fantasies with hers. Millie was ourmate.
I’d never wanted to give in to my sexual urges as badly as I did tonight. I was literally shaking trying to suppress my wolf right now. Especially when I thought about what Millie was doing. In the shower. Soaping up those lush, beautiful curves of hers. Perhaps teasing her breasts? Or, even more naughty, her needy little pussy that smelled so ripe and ready to be fucked.
I had to fight it. It wasn’t right, given our past and the difference in our ages. But still, I couldn’t deny this otherworldly pull we shared. It was off the charts. It literally shook me, cut through my flesh, and rattled my bones.
My dick throbbed once more as I considered what would happen if I went inside the bathroom, stripped down, and entered the shower without saying a word. Would Millie want me there, or would she reject me? More importantly, would I be able to stop my wolf from indulging in what he wanted, whatever fucked up act that might be, once he scented her personal fragrance?
I couldn’t deny it any longer. I needed to act. To breed her like my body was demanding. This was out of both of our hands now. My princess was suffering, just like I was, and had to be attended to in a way that only I could give her. I had to breed her through her first heat before it drove both of us fucking mad.
As I was heading for my bedroom door, I heard a scream. It was the kind that sent icicles of fear spearing down your spine. The fact that the shriek was undoubtedly Millie’s only intensified my wolf-senses and catapulted me into action.
Snarling, I tore out of my room and down the hall. When I got to the opened bathroom door, I rushed inside. As soon as I entered, I was ready to kill whatever, or whoever, was causing my mate so much distress.
Gavin, a former member of the boy’s home I’d been raised in who was currently staying with me until he found a place of his own, was inside the bathroom. To my horror, he was trying to attack Millie! The boy, as gentle a ware as there ever was, he was now on the verge of rut, brought on by my omega’s heat. Crazed with lust, he was trying to access my mate who was blessedly protected by the high-grade, shatter-proof glass partition between them.
I’d thought Gavin had left the house for the weekend. He’d said he had plans with friends and wouldn’t be back for aweek or so. He must have cancelled last minute and decided to just stay home. Then, he’d smelled Millie and nearly gone mad from her intoxicating pheromones.
My eyes latched on to Millie’s now through the glass doors. Those ocean-blue orbs were open so wide I could see the entire rim of white that circled them.
Gavin, blind with mating fever, didn’t hear or smell me approach. Sneaking up on the powerful ware, I snagged him under his arms and dragged him out of the bathroom.
Tackling him to the floor, I screamed into his ear, “Gavin, stop! It’s Ethan. Stop fighting. Control yourself. This isn’t you!”
Like waking from a dream, Gavin stopped fighting and lay panting on the floor, pinned beneath my greater weight. The boy was solid muscle, but wasn’t filled out like a fully mature ware was. If he had been, I would have had a much greater fight on my hands.
“Ethan?” his muffled voice rasped after several seconds of silence. “What’s going on?”
Gavin’s youth, mingled with him living in an all-boy’s home, made it entirely possible he’d never even smelled a female ware before. Let alone one that had gone into heat. If that was the case, Millie’s scent would have taken him completely by surprise, and ridden his young, hormone-riddled body hard. So hard, in fact, that he’d likely blacked out and gone into wild-wolf mode. A place somewhere between a human state, and a full-on change.
“You don’t remember?” I returned, sweat prickling on the surface of my skin from our short-lived struggle.
“No. I was walking down the hall to ask you a question, when I smelled something unbelievably good. Then, everything went dark,” the confused boy explained. “The next thing I know, you’re on top of me shouting my name.”
I had to get Gavin out of this house ASAP. It wasn’t safe for Millie or him anymore. Not when she was so close to her heat. Slowly, I let go of my grip on Gavin and stood. Helping the boy to his feet, I led him toward the stairs.
“I have a female ware guest who’ll be staying with me for a while, Gavin. Until I’ve sorted things out with her,” I briefly explained, “I’m going to have you stay in my apartment in the city.”
Gavin looked horrorstruck. “Did I hurt her? Oh God, please tell me I didn’t hurt a woman. I’ll never forgive myself.”
The young ware had a complicated history. Like most of us at the boy’s home, he’d had a rough, violent past that had left him orphaned and homeless at a very young age. I knew firsthand what that felt like. That’s why when he’d turned eighteen, I’d volunteered to mentor him here in Montana. Now, I was kicking him out after he’d only just gotten settled in. But it was only until I could stabilize this situation with Millie. As soon as things improved, I’d call him back. Until then, he could stay at one of my other properties.
“You didn’t hurt anyone,” I assured him, “but you could have if I wasn’t here to stop you. That’s why I’m going to need you to leave the cabin and head into the city where my apartment is. It’s a temporary solution, but the safest for all involved right now.”
“I’m so sorry, Ethan,” the young man effusively apologized, his face wearing his overwhelming grief. “I can’t believe I almost hurt your friend. I don’t know what came over me.”
I shook my head. “It’s just something we have to work on. That’s why you’re here, remember?” I assured him.
Digging into my pockets, I handed the boy my key ring. It had both the keys for the apartment and my new truck on it.
“Take this,” I told him, handing over the key ring. “Do you have your wallet and the bank card I gave you?”
“Yes,” the boy eagerly replied.
“Good. I need you to drive to the apartment tonight. I’ll contact you tomorrow morning with a plan for going forward. Use whatever funds you need from the account I set up for you. Do you understand?”
Gavin’s head obediently bobbed up and down. “I do. Again, I’m so sorry about the woman in the bathroom, Ethan. Please tell her that for me.”
