Page 16 of Curvy Hostage Mate (Gold Wolves Black Ops #4)

Morgan. Morgan was missing.

I stared around the house, running between the two rooms in a panic, trying to make sense of the whole thing. But she wasn’t here. I knew that within a few seconds of returning home. I had only gotten home from a meeting with Declan a couple of minutes ago and instantly realized something was off.

As I stood in the empty space, overwhelming panic consumed me. The thought of her being out there on her own, vulnerable and just waiting for Cain to scoop her up, sent my wolf into a frenzy. Where the hell could she be? Had she run off on her own? Why?

It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was out there, and it was dangerous. I raced back outside and sniffed the air, desperately searching for the aroma of burnt incense and rosemary.

When I found it, I didn’t let myself think anymore. I shifted and followed Morgan’s scent.

I raced through the woods, my wolf as panicked as I was.

I needed her okay. I didn’t know what I would do if something happened to her because I let her out of my sight.

Her scent grew stronger, and no others joined besides the normal smells of the forest. I pushed myself to go faster, determined to get to her as quickly as possible.

I came to a halt as I saw her sitting by a stream. Her eyes grew wide, and she shot to her feet, looking almost terrified. She squeaked and took several steps back, her eyes locked on me as I shifted back to human.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I snarled, stalking forward as I glared down at her. “Cain is still out there. He’s still hunting you. Why the hell would you go running off like that?”

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, not looking at me.

“Sorry?” I snarled. “You scared me half to death. Do you realize how worried I was about you?”

Her eyes burned with anger before the fire winked out a moment later, so fast I might have missed it had I not been staring so intently at her.

“Sorry,” she repeated.

“Were you running?” I gestured at the bags. Her mouth twisted as she glanced back at them, then back to me.

“Yes? No? Maybe.” Her eyes fluttered shut. “I needed to clear my head.”

I opened my mouth to demand exactly what she needed to clear her head about. Before I could, something cut through the anger. A strange scent, so faint that it was no wonder I’d missed it before. I sniffed again, nostrils flaring as I tried to get a better smell. Then I realized what it was.

My eyes widened as I took several steps back, eyes flicking up and down Morgan’s body before locking on her stomach.

“You’re pregnant?” I asked.

Her hands wrapped protectively around her stomach. She glanced down at them, then back up at me. Her pretty face had gone even paler than before, unease and fear spreading across it as her eyes searched my face, trying to get a better feel for my reaction as I just gaped like an idiot.

“Yes,” she murmured. “And yes, it’s yours.”

It’s yours .

The words rang over and over again in my head like a high-pitched bell. No matter how many times they banged around in my skull, rattling there, they didn’t seem to make sense. And yet, all the facts pointed to them being the truth.

Morgan was pregnant. With my cub. And I was going to be a father.

Morgan continued staring at me, still waiting for my response.

I realized I was fucking this up even more than I would have thought possible.

She needed reassurance, needed me to say something to help calm her nerves.

I wasn’t the only one reeling from the revelation.

I tried to say something, anything, because I knew I was supposed to say something.

Except no words would come out. After a long moment, she gave a half-laugh as her arms tightened around her stomach.

“Do me a favor and say something,” she babbled. “Because you just staring at me is making me even more nervous.”

I blinked, forcing myself to come back down to reality. “Sorry,” I murmured. “I’m just surprised. I wasn’t…” I trailed off, not sure the best way to respond.

She nodded, as if that was what she had expected. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“I’ll understand if you want nothing to do with me,” she said, her voice tinged with hesitation. When she glanced up to stare at me, however, her eyes were steel, and she jutted out her chin in determination.

Something about the grit in her expression took me by surprise. She was normally so timid that seeing that on her face was unusual. I liked it.

“But I’m not getting rid of the baby, so you can kick me out or whatever.” She added.

The words sounded even more absurd than “I’m pregnant,” startling me from my stupor. What the hell was she talking about? Did she actually think I would abandon her like that?

“I’m not going to kick you out,” I said. “I’m not sure how I feel about the baby. I haven’t actually ever imagined myself as a father. But I’m not going to abandon you just because I wasn’t expecting to be a father.”

Unmistakable surprise flickered across her face as she stared up at me.

And I realized with a spark of anger and frustration that she legitimately thought I wouldn’t care about her after this.

She’d been so brainwashed by everything that had happened to her that she legitimately thought the only valuable thing about her was her body, when she was so much more than that.

I wanted to try telling her all of this, everything running through my mind. But I also knew that I wasn’t going to be able to find the words, even as I wished I could.

Instead, I walked over and pulled her against me so our bodies were flush.

She stared up at me, those beautiful green doe eyes glistening with unshed tears.

One of my arms wrapped around her waist as the other brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, the back of my hand caressing her cheek.

She leaned into it instantly, her eyes fluttering shut for the briefest of moments before opening and locking on me once more.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised her as I cupped her face, my thumb stroking her cheekbone. I gave a smirk as I slowly tilted her head up, our lips inches apart. “You’re stuck with me.”

Before she could respond, I pressed my mouth against hers. I held her head, locking it in place as I savored the taste of her. An overwhelming urge to have her, to have all of her, washed over me. My grip on her tightened as I pulled her closer to me.

She melted into my touch as I continued tasting her, savoring it.

But it wouldn’t be enough. I pressed her against a tree.

My hand grabbed hers, and I pinned them over her head, my knuckles scratching against the bark.

I kissed her again, a new surge of craving and need consuming me as I parted her lips with my tongue, slipping it inside her mouth, smothering the soft moan of longing escaping her mouth.

I could feel my cock growing harder. She did, too, because a moment later, her hand slipped between us, fingers stroking up and down the shaft through my pants.

I let out a growl of need and approval as my fingers tangled in her hair, trying to communicate a hundred different things that I couldn’t articulate into those touches.

My hand roamed along her side, fingers toying with the hem of her shirt, their tips brushing the bare skin beneath.

She let out another sigh as I began lifting it over her head, exposing her breasts and magnificent curves.

Overwhelming need consumed me, and it took all my strength not to tear the bra off her.

In a moment, she was naked in front of me, pale skin seeming almost to gleam in the light.

Any lingering self-restraint I’d been trying to hold onto vanished the second I saw her bare breasts. I took only enough time to take off my own clothes before picking her up and slamming her onto my cock, grinning as she cried out in pleasure, her nails digging into my shoulders.

In a few hours, we would talk about the future and figure out what to do about the baby. We’d come up with a plan together and figure this out. But for now, the only thing that mattered was this moment and the two of us. Everything else could wait.