Bound to Her (5 page)

She smiled so brightly, it lit up her face. “Protect yourself, your loved ones,
shoot
to kill!”

Michele groaned. “You and your brother are almost alike.”

Luka frowned. He growled out the one word.
“How?”

Michele slid off the counter and smoothed out the robe. “He has the same attitude about people.”

His mouth curled up. “Ugh. No. We share a similar belief, but I took the high road.”

She pursed her lips together in a thin line.
“Fine.
I’ll see it when I believe it. But,” she let out a long, slow breath, “how do we proceed? You bound us.”

His eyebrows rose. “I did no such thing.”

Her shoulders tensed. She leaned against the countertop and sipped her bourbon then looked at him, her eyes staring directly at his. “I felt it.”

He lifted his chin. Setting a hand on his hips, he took a step back and examined her. Her scent had changed from when he’d first met her. Now it smelled of roses and honey and sex, a pungent yet intoxicating aroma that caused his nostrils to flare. “I didn’t bind you.”

She lifted a hand behind her head. “You had to have. I feel…different.”

Tiffany pulled out a broom and begun sweeping up the broken glass on the kitchen floor. She was managing to clear up much of the mess and restore some cleanliness to the kitchen. She looked up with a wry grin on her face and annoyance in her eyes that seeped out into the air in the scent of bitter peppers. “You two have issues to work out. I need to get busy. Get out of my kitchen.”

Luka scowled but offered Michele his hand. “Still think she’s being forced into this?”

Michele reached for his grasp and
laughed,
a light sound. “No, I suppose not. Where are we going?”

“My office.
It’s the one place she won’t go without knocking if the door is shut, unlike other sexy women.” He gave her a macho smile.

She swatted his shoulder.
“Beast.”

The two walked into the office. The door shut behind Luka with a soft click. He turned to face Michele.

She leaned back in the large leather chair behind his desk and closed her eyes. “What are we going to do?”

He shrugged. “Well, the necklace puts us together, obviously.”

She spoke dryly.
“Obviously.”

He set a hand on his hip. “But you don’t want this.”

Chapter Four

Michele shook her head. “Not interested in wolf politics.
Nor is saving the world my thing, either.”

Lifting his foot onto the footrest, Luka leaned forward and set his chin in his hand. He continued swirling bourbon around in the glass.

“You drink a lot, huh?”

He nodded, eyes closed.
“Helps me think to actually have something in my hand.
I’m a little neurotic that way.” Opening his eyes, he saw the faintest smile on her pretty mouth. He wanted to kiss her again.
Needed to.

But fucking her wouldn’t solve any problems other than the one in his pants.

“That’s the second time in a week I’ve been challenged. The rogues don’t want an open fight where they’ll have to play fair or lose. They know I can beat my brother, always have been able to.”

She leaned forward, tilting the chair with a creak. “I thought you said you were raised by humans.”

“I was. But he wasn’t. He found me by accident in a bar one night, and we started talking. It became clear our goals were different.”

She nodded, keeping her focus on him.

He swore she licked her lips.

Hell, her taste was still on his tongue. “The matter at hand became the standard ‘good versus evil and wolves are superior’ discussion. We fought, he lost.
Swore vengeance,
yadda
yadda
.”

She grinned. “Sounds like a wonderful brother. He and I dated briefly, but then as he rose through the ranks in pack politics, he wanted me to bend to his stupid will. I couldn’t do it for much more than a few months.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Bet you liked that.”

She dropped her chin and glared straight at him. “Oh, yes, I loved it. Not!”

He chuckled low and throaty. “You know, if the rogues get control of the packs up here, they’ll instigate a policy of hunting humans.”

Michele blinked and slumped back in the chair. “I know. That means—”

“People like your sister will be used for food and enslaved if the rogues get their way. An entire war will break out, and it’ll be wolf against wolf. Do you want that?”

Michele rested her head against the back of the chair and stiffened. “No. No, I don’t. I really just want this entire thing to go away!”

Pulling over his chair, Luka sat beside Michele at his desk. He thought if they were on the same side of the table, he could convince her to see his solution of binding her to him and joining him in the fight against those who would harm humanity, including her sister.
“So, what about your family?”

Michele’s head turned to the side. “I don’t want to discuss them.”

“They’re not worth protecting?” The words left his mouth faster than he could stop them.

Michele spun and faced him, eyes wide. “I killed them accidentally, okay?
I’m
the one who killed them, couldn’t control my powers. Couldn’t control what I am. I fucking hate it and hate the wolves because of it!”

By now her chest rose and fell. The scent in the room matched her emotions, burnt matches and white pepper. She was definitely angry over a lot of things.

Luka leaned forward, cautiously extending a hand to her cheek. “I can help you heal if you’ll let me.”

She turned away.

Luka settled against the back of the chair, aware he should probably give her space and time to deal with the magnitude of everything he’d just said. But they only had less than a few days left before the pack meeting and he was either challenged anyway or forced out of Alpha by the elder council.

He cleared his throat and kept one hand on his thigh, the other holding his bourbon. “They’ll vote on what to do if I don’t have a mate. Chances are, the rogues will want me defeated,
my
brother will want me dead. I stand a chance against him, but if I win, I’m still without a mate.”

A tear escaped her eyes. She kept her gaze on his, though, searching.

“I don’t like that we can’t court like a normal couple. But you see how I treat your sister. You see how I’ve treated the others in this area. We’re not stronger because we’re a larger
force,
the rogues outnumber us two to one.”

She crossed her legs. “Then why fight what seems like a losing battle?”

“Because it’s not our strength in numbers, it’s our belief in the system that gives us the ability to live in harmony with the humans as we go on mostly unseen. Our strength lies in our mercy. Our desire to do the right thing is letting us maintain the status quo.”

She sighed. Smoothing the robe over her legs, she rocked back and forth. “What do we do?”

Luka couldn’t keep his eyes off the line of exposed flesh, but forced himself to focus. “We have to bind to each other. I know—”

Her posture straightened. “No.”

Setting down his drink, he rested his elbows on the desk, clasping his hands together. He met her stare, looking deep into those beautiful, brown eyes, searching for the hidden meaning. Alphas had to do those things, be perceptive enough to hear someone out and catch the meaning from what was not said.

She waited, took a breath.

The rise and fall of her chest beneath his black robe made his mouth water. He needed to make her understand just how important the binding was.

He leaned back in the chair, still keeping his focus on her. Picking up his drink again, he took a sip and let the warm liquid slide down his throat along with the scent of spice and smooth, charred oak. “Perhaps a night’s sleep will help. You’ve had a rough day.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not hearing me. And I can’t stay here.”

His lips curled upwards in a smile. “You don’t drive, do you?”

She twitched and narrowed her eyes. “What are you getting at?”

His smile widened.
Tiffany, come here, please. I need you to help me convince your sister to stay the night.

A moment later, Tiffany appeared with a tray and three cups plus a pot of steaming tea.

“Smells like jasmine,” he said.

Michele groaned.
“My sister, submissive to a stubborn Alpha.
Great.”

Tiffany set the tray down on the corner of the desk and picked up one cup, filling it slowly before handing it on a saucer to Luka.

He took it and brought it to his lips, inhaling the rich aroma of his expensive tea. His nerves steadied just a bit from the calming fragrance.
 
He could think this out.

Tiffany set out another cup and poured tea into it.

Michele reached for it but stopped. She glared at her sister then at Luka.

He took a sip. “What? You don’t drink tea?”

She snorted. “I drink tea, you fool. What’s in this?”

Luka glanced at Tiffany.

Tiffany poured tea for herself and leaned against the edge of the desk. She set a hand on her hip and smirked. “It’s a nice jasmine tea from a local producer. Can’t you smell it with your superior nose?”

Michele rolled her eyes.

Licking his lips, Luka took another sip before setting his cup on the saucer Tiffany had provided. Keeping his voice low, even, he clasped his hands together. “Just how in touch with the wolf are you, Michele?”

Her eyes widened. “It’s none of your business.”

An eyebrow rose. “So you’re a typical denial case, then. I see. We have a much bigger problem on our hands if you won’t embrace what you are to the fullest extent. I realised when you didn’t speak back to me on the mental pathway that something was wrong. Just wasn’t sure what it was.”

“For your information,” she leaned forward with a glint of annoyance in her eyes, giving him an excellent view of her cleavage, “I don’t need to waste time on learning how to be a wolf. It’s what I am, and I accept me just fine.”

Luka set a hand on her thigh.

Startled, she jumped back, slamming against the chair so it squeaked.

“Nervous much?”
Tiffany snickered.

The glare in Michele’s eyes could have killed God right then. “What is it with you people? I’m fine the way I am, and I don’t need to stay here and think about anything. I’ll protect my sister from the rogues and kill your brother if he tries to come near her.”

Tiffany came to Michele’s side and squatted beside her. Looking up into her eyes, she spoke, keeping her voice soft and steady. “Sweetie, you’re not even hearing him, are you?”

Her eyes widened. “You don’t know what he’s asking of me!” Michele clenched her fists together and pursed her lips into a thin line.

“Oh, sweetie, I do.” Tiffany stroked her sister’s thigh.

Luka needed to ramp up the persuasive power here. Wolves as a rule couldn’t manipulate the will of others, but many humans thought they could. Wolves weren’t witches, just beings the Moon Mother had blessed with a dual nature.

Pushing back the chair, he stood in a swift motion that made Michele gasp. Keeping a fixed gaze on her eyes, he spoke softly. “Michele, I am
pack
Alpha here, and as law is mine to set, I’m declaring you mine. You can take up any grievances with the Council at the meeting in a few days. Otherwise,” he leaned forward and set a hand on her thigh opposite Tiffany’s, “by that which is given to us—”

“No!” Michele stood and shoved the chair out of the way before trying to get around her sister.

Tiffany gripped her sister’s thigh and held on tightly.

Luka caught Michele and pushed her to the couch.

The reflection in Michele’s eyes showed him the nature of his sorrow at having to be so rough with her, but this was a necessity.
 

“I don’t want this!” Michele kicked and struggled against Luka and Tiffany, but it was no use. She was trapped against the wall, now.

Gripping her shoulders, he held her firmly in place, careful not to bruise her despite her healing powers. His heart lurched in his throat when he saw the horrified expression she wore. “
Damnit
, we don’t have time for your wants and needs. There are others out there who will die if I lose the pack.
Do
you want that blood on your hands?”