Authors: Lorie O'Clare
It was all politics. For Josie, all it meant was that he got a fair bit of respect in this town. The fact that most of the American werewolves were leery of the gift and didn’t understand, or know, what he was capable of made them even more polite around him.
All of which worked to his advantage.
Maura picked up on most of this fairly quickly.
“There’s an ATM for my bank.” She pointed out her passenger window in his small four-wheel drive. “I might as well find out if my card still works.”
Josie pulled into the small parking lot and stopped in front of the small drive-up ATM machine. Maura hopped out, crossing her arms quickly against the cold wind.
Her hair blew off her back as she fumbled with her purse and then worked the machine.
Regardless of her financial status, she needed a coat. Possibly he could return to her old den, gather some of her things. Allowing her to return to the
lunewulf
pack didn’t sit well with him. Granted, he told her she could return to her den and enjoy her widow status, but swelling in her couldn’t be reversed. Her pack would detect his scent on her the second they smelled her. Damn shame. Probably would be better for her to stay with him.
He watched her press buttons and contemplated how best to handle the situation he had created by mating with her. Hadn’t he convinced himself the night before that simply assuring her freedom was all he planned on doing when he killed Pete? This wasn’t the deal he had made with himself. The simple truth that he wanted her settled 69
Lorie O’Clare
in his gut like a rock. He clenched the steering wheel, his palms suddenly damp. Maura didn’t view them as mated. He saw in her mind that she honored tradition and was more than moved by their lovemaking this morning. He was more than moved too. But emotion, feeling anything, was territory he swore he would never enter again. Mental anguish didn’t heal the way a physical wound healed. He couldn’t control those emotions—so as a self-imposed rule, he stayed the hell away from them.
But he was the one who swelled inside her. Josie didn’t have a damn soul to blame other than himself for bonding him and Maura together. No matter what happened, she belonged to him. Now to figure out what to do about that.
Her happiness hit him before she looked his way and smiled. Holding her hair out of her face as she hurried back to the car, Maura held the cash up for him to see as she slid into the seat next to him. Even her happiness smelled damned good mixed with his scent on her.
“Pete hasn’t taken my name off the account.”
“Then anything you want from that den is now yours.” He searched her face,
waiting for her mind to register that she spoke as if Pete were still alive.
Her smile faded, briefly, as she realized the obvious. When the glow didn’t return to her pretty blue eyes, something tightened painfully inside Josie.
He
’
s dead
.
I can
’
t believe it
.
Like the past six months can simply be wiped away
.
Oh man
.
If
only it could be that easy
.
“It’s going to take some getting used to that he’s really gone,” she whispered, turning her attention toward the parking lot in front of them as she lowered her hand and scrunched the cash in her lap.
He touched her before thinking about doing it. “If I could take the pain from your thoughts, I would.” Even the words came out of their own accord.
Something about Maura made him feel, and react to those feelings, even when he ordered himself not to. This wasn’t like him. But he didn’t like hearing pain and anguish in her thoughts. It affected him too.
He recoiled quickly, pulling his hand from her arm. She licked her lips, nodding quietly. His actions didn’t strike her as odd. If anything, she regretted his hand no longer being on her. Her scent turned warm, like something mouthwatering being pulled from the oven. She set her jaw, looking determined. There were as many white bitches in his past as there were Malta bitches. But Maura’s creamy complexion, the way her long, straight blonde hair contrasted with her intense blue eyes gave her a striking beauty that would have any male sniffing after her. Except now, when they did, the first thing they would smell was his scent seeping from her pores.
An odd sense of pride drifted over him. “There’s some business to attend to before we eat or do any shopping,” he added, turning to more practical matters.
“That’s fine.” When she looked at him, her gaze burned his flesh as she took in his body.
70
For Life
And her thoughts drew out his possessive side, a part of him he had considered dormant.
I hated walking down the street next to Pete
,
knowing the whole pack pitied me or
thought me an idiot
.
But to walk next to Josie
…
“I don’t know your last name.”
Her comment took him off guard. “Balzon. Josie Balzon.”
“I’m Maura Wagner.” She laughed, although it sounded dry and smelled nervous.
“Or maybe now I’m Maura DeBeaux again.”
“I know who you are, little bitch.”
He looked briefly into her blue eyes, which once again glowed like they did during sex. One whiff of her and any werewolf would know her last name—Balzon.
“I guess it does sound funny asking about last names when I’ve been in your den with you for the past twenty-four hours now.”
He wanted her to continue staying with him. “You can ask me anything.”
“Oh. I know that.” She glanced at him.
You just won
’
t always answer
, she told him with her thoughts.
He decided to prove her right by not commenting.
The post office didn’t take more than a minute. Putting the bundle of pack-related mail in his backseat, Josie then pulled Maura to him, enjoying her surprised look as she pulled her door closed.
“The shopping center here is predominantly run by werewolves,” he told her. “As well as the restaurant where we’ll have breakfast.”
Maura collapsed against him, but then straightened, running her fingers over his chest as she gave him her attention.
“No one will question you being with me. I guarantee it. You will show no fear, only trust and confidence. Do you understand?”
“I know how to behave in public,” she whispered, her gaze dropping to his mouth.
“Maura. My scent is dripping off you.”
“You smell like me too, wolf man.” Even though her expression was defiant, her mind raced with nervous, anxious guesses as to what he meant by his comment.
“And while we’re together—” he began.
But she interrupted him. “We’re going to act like we’re mated.”
“Would you rather I present you as my personal slut?”
Her eyes turned bluer than a cloudless summer sky. And the way her mouth
formed a small, perfect circle sent all blood draining straight to his cock. The car filled with the smell of his lust, which turned her thoughts sultrier.
“I’m no male’s personal slut,” she hissed.
“Your title, or rank, won’t be questioned.”
71
Lorie O’Clare
But they will think I
’
m your mate
.
Her thoughts were so clear it was like she spoke out loud.
Is that what you want them to think
? The way she looked at him, devouring his face with sensual, probing eyes, almost had him opening his mouth to comment. Maura ached to know what he thought.
Allowing his feelings to surface briefly, warmth washed over him like a blinding sun appearing suddenly from behind dense clouds. The urge to demand her
submission, force her to accept the traditions werewolves honored no matter their breed and say they were mates overwhelmed him. It took him off guard how strongly he wanted this. Anything or anyone he felt strongly about would inevitably be destroyed and cause unbearable pain. That was how it had always been.
Josie grabbed Maura, taking her head in his hands and tilting her so he could devour her mouth. For a moment he sensed her fight, which made his blood boil.
Carnal, hardcore desire ripped him apart inside. Fuck proper society and the lame assholes who turned their heads and pretended they didn’t smell why tradition and laws were what made werewolves so much stronger and better than any other species on this planet. He wanted this bitch. Already he had killed for her. Her body screamed for his. No matter that they were together now for only a day. The more primal, basic nature that swam strong and deep in his blood told him she belonged to him.
Josie nibbled at her lips, breathed in her growl when she stiffened initially and then her groan when she submitted and relaxed into him. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, and they rushed in a crazed circle around his overheated brain. Every breath he took filled his lungs with her rich scent. He drank her in, devoured all she offered and impaled her mouth with his.
Letting go of her head, he dragged his fingers down her hair. She moaned,
whimpered when he pulled on it, then cried out when he grabbed her breasts and tweaked her nipples.
His cock almost exploded in his jeans. Maybe one too many blood vessels popped in his brain. Maura did something no other bitch ever did to him. He opened his eyes and stared with blurred vision at her kiss-swollen, moist lips. They were parted and the tips of her teeth were a bit more pointed than they were a moment ago. Her long blonde hair was tousled around her face.
Not once did her thoughts turn manipulative. There was no agenda. Her actions weren’t designed to trap him or discover what made him growl or push him to change.
Maura’s thoughts melted his exterior with their sincerity and simple desire to be loved, honored for who she was, and to give the same.
What he wouldn’t do to have a bitch like her by his side. Lay his kill at her feet.
Keep her warm on snowy nights and bask in the sun on warm days.
Maura was that bitch.
He stared at her.
She opened her eyes. “What?” she whispered, her mind still soft and warm with sultry images of him.
72
For Life
Josie opened his mouth to tell her. Not knowing how to express emotions he rarely allowed to surface put him in a position he seldom experienced. Lack of control.
“Nothing.”
She sniffed the air and pulled away from him. He didn’t lie so she didn’t smell one.
There were no words to explain what was in his head.
He doesn
’
t know how to express his feelings
.
What do I want with a male like that
?
He didn’t have time to put his guard around his heart before her thoughts ripped into it.
“Let’s go.” He snapped at her harder than he meant to. But damn it. Like he could change for her. And shouldn’t love be about not changing? About accepting a mate for who and what they were?
“No!” Maura grabbed his arm, her fingers digging into muscle.
Josie looked down at her fingernails that pressed dangerously close to puncturing his flesh through his coat. Slowly, he raised his gaze, glaring at her. Now his heart was in check, his emotions nicely tucked away where they belonged, safe from harm and pain.
If you won
’
t share your feelings with me then I won
’
t have any feelings either
.
Fire burned in her eyes, turning them steel blue with silver shreds sparking around her pupils. She pressed her lips together, appearing indifferent to the spicy smell of anger that quickly filled the inside of the car.
Damn it
!
No
!
I
’
m not going to quit feeling simply because you
’
re a
coward and scared to feel what is growing between us
.
“I’m not a coward,” he growled, answering her thoughts before he could stop
himself.
“I’m not going anywhere and playing like we’re mates until you start sharing what is going on in that bullheaded brain of yours.” Maura had a temper. And if it flared any further his eyes would water from the spicy smell that actually drowned out his scent on her.
“Don’t push me, little bitch. Unless you would like me to drive to your pack and drop you off at your den? I’m sure I could find my way there easier this time.”
“I’m sure you could. And it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if you’re just as good at chasing a bitch away as you are at fucking her until she reeks of your scent.”
“I promise you there is no other bitch who has ever worn my scent.”
She opened her mouth, but then closed it, something changing in her expression that worried him.
“You’ve never swelled in a bitch before?” she asked quietly.
“No.”
“Then why did you with me?”
“I don’t know.”
73
Lorie O’Clare
“Like hell you don’t.” She shook his arm and slammed the dash with her other hand. “Tell me why you did it! Why did you mark me as your mate but then demand that I
play
like we’re mated?”
Josie took her wrist, removing her hand from his arm with little effort. She ground her teeth together, watching him easily slide her fingers from his coat.
“I’m not playing anything, little bitch. I’m offering protection. Don’t ask for more than what exists.”
But you do have more
.
I can see it in you
.
“And I can smell it on you.”
You hear
everything that I am
,
all of my thoughts
,
my fears
,
my hopes and dreams
.
“I won’t ever try to hide my thoughts from you. Not that I’m sure I would know how. Can’t you even exert a little effort to share what is going on inside your head?”
Or are you not strong enough to
take on something as harmless as feelings
?
“Feelings can be very harmful.”
She turned, twisting her body so she faced him. Absently brushing her hair over her shoulder, Maura gave him an appraising look while her thoughts bounced all over the place. “Just because you’ve been hurt doesn’t mean you should quit feeling. If that were true, then I’m sure as hell more qualified to quit feeling than you could possibly be. Is that what you want? For me to shut down like you have?”