Page 16 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)

JAGGER

As I drove away from the campsite with Brielle in the seat beside me, I knew three things with certainty.

One: She was absolutely furious with me.

Two: I was hopelessly addicted to her taste.

And three: I desperately wanted to taste her again.

I’d screwed up big time on so many levels, but all I could feel was relief that she was unharmed, that no one had claimed her or even had sex with her, and that she was safely under my protection once more.

When I’d found out where she’d gone, I’d nearly lost my mind.

Onyx had gone crazy at the thought of her being with other males, and it had taken me over an hour to wrestle him under control.

Seeing that male in the ballroom all over her with his dick out, I’d almost let Onyx loose.

The bastard had touched her. Touched her.

He deserved to suffer. To be torn to shreds. To rue the day he’d ever laid a hand on my mate.

It had taken every last drop of self control not to exact my revenge.

If it wasn’t for her, he’d be dead right now.

The urge to kill him was still pulsing through my veins, the image of them together still sharp in my mind.

His hand had been between her legs. He’d been pleasuring her.

A second more and his dick would have been inside her. Hell, she still smelled of him.

That murderous feeling rose up again, rushing hotly through my system.

I gripped the steering wheel so hard that it audibly cracked beneath my palms. Surprisingly, Onyx was no longer fueling my rage.

He’d actually been rather subdued ever since I’d kissed Brielle.

To him, I’d finally begun the process of marking her as mine, and I could feel how pleased that made him.

That hadn’t been my intention, though.

I’d wanted to punish her for the wicked things she’d said. I made her miserable? Well, the feeling was mutual. My life had been a living hell ever since she’d walked into it. Everything she did was a distraction, and this latest stunt she’d pulled had finally pushed me over the edge.

But when I’d brutally kissed her, I hadn’t expected her to go pliant against me. I hadn’t expected her to whimper against my mouth. She hadn’t been cowed by the kiss in the slightest.

Hell, she’d enjoyed it.

The realization had made every molecule in my body explode awake, and before I could stop myself, I’d thrust my tongue into her mouth to taste her.

Onyx had howled with satisfaction, and I’d inwardly howled along with him, instantly becoming addicted to her exotic flavor.

A second more, and I wouldn’t have been able to control the need to explore every inch of her mouth with my eager tongue.

Even now, I struggled with the desire to taste her again.

To dominate her body with mine and feel her melt against me.

But doing so would be a terrible mistake.

I’d broken my promise to keep my distance from her again, and I could already feel the consequences for doing so.

The invisible bond between us had roared awake, an incessant thrum beneath my skin that grew more persistent with each passing second I was near her.

Sitting beside her for the next several hours was going to be the worst kind of hell, and not because she was spitting mad at me.

Her anger actually gave me something to think about besides that blasted kiss.

I was very much aware that she was a free spirit and didn’t like being bossed around, but once I’d seen her with that male on the dance floor, I didn’t care.

She was coming home with me whether she wanted to or not. Until she was safe, I couldn’t think. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. Nothing made sense while she was away, and I would rather she hate me than exist without her.

Deep down, I knew these feelings stemmed from our soulmate bond. But as they continued to pulse through me, it was getting harder and harder to differentiate between the bond’s pull and my own feelings.

An hour into the trip, the weather turned.

Wind and sleet pounded at the Porsche, and I was forced to slow.

But I kept driving, determined to make it back home without any stops.

Another half hour ticked by, and the sleet turned into a maelstrom of snow.

The storm screamed at us through the windows, but I kept going, refusing to let a little blizzard—

“Jagger!”

I saw the semi-truck in the rearview mirror just in the nick of time and sharply veered toward the shoulder before it could plow into us.

The Porsche hit a patch of ice, and I lost control, unable to brake or steer.

As we spun around, Brielle screamed, and I threw an arm out to brace her for the inevitable collision.

Seconds later, we struck what felt like a guard rail, and the Porsche jolted to a dead stop.

I was unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching for Brielle a moment later. “Any injuries?” I asked, running my hands down her arms.

She straightened with a groan and lifted a hand to touch her right temple.

“Yes. I just hit my head on the window.” When her fingers came away wet with blood, I gently grasped her neck and turned her face toward me.

She stiffened under my touch but didn’t pull away, her lashes fluttering as she recovered from the blow.

“The wound is superficial,” I said after a thorough inspection, watching the cut slowly heal before gently wiping the blood away. “You should be fully healed in a few more minutes.”

As her emerald eyes met mine, I suddenly realized how close our faces were.

One small move and our lips would touch.

Her gaze darted down to my mouth, letting me know that she was thinking the same thing.

Just like that, the air inside the Porsche crackled with tension, and the desire to kiss her sizzled through me.

My hold on her neck tightened, my hand circling her vulnerable throat like a necklace. Her pulse jumped beneath my thumb, and when I realized the reaction wasn’t fear, my own started to race.

In no time, every inch of me hummed with need. It became hard to breathe. Hard to think. My thumb stretched up to her jaw, guiding her lips closer to mine. As her warm breath feathered across my skin, the air between us became supercharged, whipping my need into a frenzy.

In response to my unraveling control, Onyx surged upward and tried to force the connection. My hand spasmed on her throat, and I almost gave in. Almost claimed her mouth in a heated kiss that I knew, just knew I wouldn’t be able to pull away from this time.

“Stop.”

The command was weak, and Onyx knew it. He pushed harder, his sole focus on making me claim my mate.

“I said stop,” I barked and threw myself back. As I violently collided with the driver side door, Brielle gaped at me like I’d grown two heads. Her hand fluttered up to her neck, and it was then that I noticed the faint print I’d left behind on her delicate flesh.

The sight was like a punch to the face, and I was out of the car in a flash, shame pressing down on me so hard that I nearly crashed to my knees.

The storm tore at my clothing as I slogged through the snow to check out the accident.

The semi-truck was nowhere in sight, and the dark road was empty, save for us.

I welcomed the blizzard’s fury, using the distraction to wrestle my wolf familiar under control once more.

Comfort mate, he growled, clearly pissed at me for not giving in.

“You hurt her,” I roared into the wind, instantly recalling the marks I’d left on her throat.

Not hurt. Aroused, he challenged, refusing to take responsibility for what had happened. Not that I should be surprised. To him, marks were good. The more, the better. He didn’t understand how they could be bad.

Knowing that arguing with him was pointless, I focused on the bent guard rail and Porsche. One glance and I knew we weren’t driving away from here anytime soon. Cursing under my breath, I pulled out my phone to shoot Kolton a text. When it failed to send, I tried calling with the same result.

Pausing for a few minutes to think, I finally accepted the only possible conclusion and rounded the car to inform Brielle.

“The Porsche is totaled, and the cell signal’s down,” I said upon reentering the vehicle. “We’ll have to wait until the storm passes to call for help.”

She didn’t respond, her gaze trained out the front windshield. I glanced at her neck, relieved that the marks were no longer visible. They were still there, though. Still imprinted in both our minds.

I opened my mouth to say something, to explain, to apologize. Before I could, she blurted, “I’m not staying here all night with you.”

Hurt lanced through me, but I ignored the feeling. I had no right to feel it, and she had every right to still be mad at me. Swallowing past the tightness in my throat, I replied, “There’s a hotel a few miles from here.”

A frown pulled at her mouth. “How do you know?”

“It’s my job as second in command to know Midnight Pack territory,” I explained, then hesitated before adding, “I also lived in the Buffalo area for a while after my old pack rejected me. Hotel dumpsters were one of my go-tos for food.”

Her eyes briefly met mine before flitting away again. “Oh,” was all she said. She opened her mouth to say more, then seemed to change her mind and slowly closed it.

Locking away the painful memory, I continued, “If you’re up for the walk, we could stay at the hotel tonight, but I suggest you change first. People might ask questions if you show up in high heels and a barely-there dress during a snowstorm.”

She snorted. “Barely there? If you didn’t notice, I was overdressed at the gala. No one bothered to tell me that the dress code was nude.”

I suppressed a snort of my own, forcing my gaze to remain on her face and not the sinful little black dress she wore. “No one should have told you about the gala in the first place.”

Too late, I realized my mistake.

Her eyes narrowed, and I knew she was about to give me a tongue-lashing. Sure enough, she turned to me and snapped, “Why? Because you were afraid someone would claim me as their mate and I would no longer be under your thumb?”

I stared at her, utterly lost for words.

Seeing that I wasn’t going to reply, she faced forward again with a short sigh. “Forget it. As angry as I am with you right now, going to the gala was a mistake and so was letting Theo touch me. I was actually trying to stop him right before you arrived all bent out of shape.”

I stilled. “You tried to stop him?”

She stiffened at the change in my tone, throwing me a wary glance. “He wasn’t forcing himself on me, Jagger. His brain—well, and his dick—just hadn’t received the message yet that I’d changed my mind.”

“That’s no excuse,” I bit out, my rage returning in full force. “He needs to pay for his lapse in judgement.”

“Well, maybe I need to pay too for stringing him along,” she shot back, then heatedly added, “And while we’re slinging around judgement, maybe you should pay too. I’ve been kissed numerous times over the years, but none of the guys wiped off the kiss afterward as if it disgusted them.”

At that, all of my rage vanished in an instant. “Brielle,” I started, but words failed me yet again.

Comfort mate. Comfort mate! Onyx howled at me, picking up on Brielle’s distress.

I hesitated, and it cost me.

“You know what?” Brielle said with a small laugh, yet I didn’t miss the sudden tears glistening in her eyes. “I think I’m up for that walk after all. I have a lot of pent-up energy to burn off.”

Not waiting for me to reply, she unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her hips off the seat to shimmy her dress up. Before I knew it, the dress was over her head, and she was sitting in nothing but a pair of lacy black panties and matching bra.

Blood immediately rushed to my groin, and I quickly tore my gaze from her shapely form to glare at her. “What are you doing?”

She blinked at me as if confused. “You told me to change.” Tossing the dress aside, she twisted in her seat to reach her suitcase in the back.

The move brought her backside parallel with my face, and my rebellious eyes couldn’t help but notice that the taut flesh was covered in nothing but a tiny thong.

Struggling and failing to swallow, I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the tortuous moment to pass. Clothing rustled, her tropical scent bombarding me from all sides. I stopped breathing, focusing my efforts on getting rid of the boner in my pants before she noticed.

After several long moments, the rustling stopped and she said, “You can look now.”

I cautiously peeled open my eyes, allowing myself to breathe again when I found her in jeans, boots, and a leather jacket.

“Jeez, you must think I’m hideous,” she muttered, blinking as if she was about to start crying.

“I don’t,” I quickly said, scrambling to say something before she burst into tears. “I think you’re extremely beautiful. I just didn’t—”

Sudden laughter sputtered out of her, gaining in volume by the second. “Oh, man,” she wheezed, waving a hand at me. “You should see your face.” More laughter, then, “Don’t worry. I’m not offended. I just wanted to see if you were completely immune to me, and guess what? You’re not.”

I stared at her, slowly realizing that this had been a test. No. A punishment. I’d punished her with that kiss, so . . .

She’d punished me back.

I stared and stared, not knowing what to do with this unexpected power reversal. She’d punished me back. She’d punished me back.

“Um, hello?” She waved a hand in front of my face, forcing me to snap out of my daze. “My door won’t open, so I’ll have to use yours. If you don’t want me to crawl over you, then you might want to—”

She started to move toward me, and I burst into action, exiting the vehicle in one second flat.