Maya“She’s not dead,” I say, leaning against the doorframe and concentrating hard on identifying Kim’s almost non-existent heartbeat and breaths. They’ve slowed down dramatically, but they’re there.Nathan is at my side immediately, lowering me into a chair carefully. Even just his touch seems to cool the fire burning within me. My skin is slick with sweat now and I feel like scratching the skin off my body. I need relief and there’s only one person I want to give it to me. My own fingers have been able to take the edge off, but my heat continues to rise.“How?” Nathan squats beside Kim and pushes her hair back to take her pulse. My claws dig into the wooden chair leaving deep gouges. Snarling, I push to my feet and drag him away from her. In this state, I can’t stand to see him touching another woman. Especially one he has touched intimately before.“Who can you think of that might have found a way to force hibernation?”“Fucking bears,” Nathan mutters, running his hands down my arm
NathanMaya’s eyes widen in surprise, and she looks at me, confusion written all over her pretty face. She’s holding her breath, afraid to hope, but eventually, she takes in more air in through her nose and moans. Then I feel her joy through our strengthened bond and I jump up to my knees, grinning down at her as she giggles and rolls over onto her back.“You can scent me, can’t you?” I think I might be happier than she is about it. She smiles coyly at me and then nods, just once, but it’s enough. I pounce on top of her, wrapping her up in my arms and rolling us so she’s lying on top of me.“Nathan!” she shrieks, batting my arms and trying to get off me, but there’s no way I’m letting her go. Her struggles are having an unintended side-effect. I had planned on letting her rest. Her heat and the trauma of nearly being forced together with Ethan have to have taken their toll on her. While she has a brief reprieve from the most extreme symptoms, I wanted her to sleep and recharge her bat
Maya“She’s still not talking?”Nathan leans back on the large plush sofa, one arm stretched along the back and the other holding his phone to his ear as he speaks quietly into it, trying not to disturb me. His back is to me, and I take the opportunity to observe him. The waves of his chestnut brown hair are messy, and he’s dressed only in a rumpled t-shirt and boxers. A dark shadow of stubble dusts his strong jaw after days in bed with no time or inclination to shave. He looks delicious with his long legs stretched out in front of him, his tanned, strong, thighs solid and made for climbing on top of.The last three days have been a blur of sweaty bodies, fucking, and moaning, broken only by brief sex-induced comas and room service. Taking a deep breath, I’m overjoyed to detect his scent still covering me from head to toe. Not only because it’s incredible to have my sense back at all, but because I smell like sex and cum. I never thought I’d love that so much, but it’s like he’s marke
NathanLeah offered to arrange a family dinner when we arrived back in Grey Ridge to celebrate our mating, but it didn’t feel right. The pack is reeling from discovering Kim and Beth were the traitors that allowed Toby to go free and almost got Leah and the wolf guarding him killed. Beth was always in and out of trouble, and we knew she was hanging out with Leon Lennox’s crew, so she was always a suspect, but Kim was always so good. Model employee, nice to everyone, nothing that would hint she would fall for our prisoner and betray us all.My role in her unhappiness weighs heavily on me.I had always assumed that because Kim said nothing, she was happy with us just being friends with occasional benefits. It’s made me rethink my harmless bachelor lifestyle and wonder about the careless way I conducted myself previously. I have some apologies to make once the dust settles.Everyone’s thoughts are on Carla now. Did she run away because she thought she was going to get the blame for her s
MayaNathan’s been gone for a week on business in the hope he won’t have to travel again for a month. To keep myself distracted, I’ve thrown myself into getting up to speed on the pack businesses. Unofficially, I’ve stepped into Kim’s role, which feels weird and right at the same time. Hayley’s friend Sam, who she used to work with before but is now mated to a local shifter, is going to come and give a dig out too. With Leah dipping in and out where she can and Rex filling in for some of Cooper’s alpha duties, it’s manageable in the short term.Just about.The whispers and gossip about what Kim may or may not have been up to have died down. People are no longer expecting another attack and for the first time since I arrived, the atmosphere feels lighter and the mood better. For everyone, that is except me. I’ve never felt anxiety like it and I know now that we’ll never spend so long apart again. Rex had warned Nathan when he suggested that an entire week was too long to be away when y
Nathan “No. Absolutely no way.” I look to Maya for support but she looks away, hands up in front of herself to distance herself from me. Clearly, I’m on my own. My mate is abandoning me, edging toward the door slowly. She’ll pay for this later. “It’s only for an hour. I’m desperate, Nathan. You have to help me.” Cooper looks it. His hair is a mess, and he has dark bags under his bloodshot eyes. Stepping forward, he holds a bundle in his outstretched arms. I shrink back, terrified to accept it. He’s so tiny. But when Cooper moves near and I get a glimpse of tiny fingers gripping the edge of a soft blue blanket, my heart melts a little and some of my panic ebbs away. “What if I break him?” Cooper gazes adoringly at the newest member of the Jones clan and future alpha, that is if he wants the job, of the Grey Ridge pack. Such responsibility is on such teeny shoulders. “You won’t. You’ll be a natural.” While I stare at him with curiosity, Cooper takes advantage of my moment of weak
Maya “Where did he disappear to?” I scan the garden party sprawled across the lawn of the packhouse for my mate’s broad frame. His messy chestnut curls and booming laugh are usually easy to find even in a crowd. Everyone is here to welcome the new arrivals to the pack, and the atmosphere is jovial. Normally, Nathan would be in the middle of all of this, in his element. Especially since there was a cloud hanging over the pack for so long, but no more. Since then, they celebrate everything. “Do you really need to ask?” Leila laughs as she bounces her beautiful, dark-haired baby boy on her knee. Surely not? Not today. Sighing, I get up from my chair and head toward the back doors into the packhouse. Hayley and Cooper stand chatting to Rex and Leah, wide grins on their faces. Hayley clutches the baby monitor in one hand as she leans back against Cooper’s chest, a content smile on her face. Cooper rubs one hand up her arm, the other resting possessively on her hip as he speaks to his b
NathanThis was a terrible idea. The worst.Whatever is driving my wolf crazy hasn’t been helped at all by the vigorous workout I enjoyed last night with the delightful Faye. A peppy little blonde with an eagerness to please and no expectations. She’s a fun bedtime companion when I want to blow off some steam. Normally.Last night, though, my wolf didn’t want to be anywhere near her. Every time she touched me, he recoiled, refusing to take part because she wasn’t my mate. For years, we’ve had a mutual agreement that finding our mate wasn’t the be all and end all, and that we’d live our life to the fullest.It appears he’s had a change of heart.Try as I might, I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for doing the deed itself, and so I resorted to doing what any self-respecting alpha wolf would do. I lied and said I wanted to make last night all about her.Except now, that has backfired spectacularly because this little she-wolf that I lavished with attention now seems to think something has