Page 34 of Midnight Bond (Wolves of Midnight #5)

JAGGER

I held my mate for hours, vigilantly guarding her while she slept.

Keeping her safe was all that mattered.

Despite my pain and exhaustion, I was wide awake, my instincts demanding I stay alert. The humans had wisely given her to me, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they tried to separate us again.

I had to be ready.

My strength wasn’t what it should be and neither was Onyx’s, but I was determined to get us out of this hellhole before they did God-knew-what with us.

Based on the room alone, this was a bigger operation than most. Not much could contain Onyx, especially when he was in rage mode, so the fact that he couldn’t break down that door was more than a little concerning.

I glared at its white, blood-spattered surface for the umpteenth time, willing it to open so I could unleash Onyx on the armored men I’d caught a glimpse of in the hallway. They might have bested us in a wide open field, but in tight quarters like this, we’d tear them apart within seconds.

They just needed to open that blasted door.

Feeling Onyx restlessly stir in response to my heated glare, I peeled my eyes off the door and dropped them to Brielle’s sleeping form.

All on its own, my hand lifted to grasp her honey-brown hair.

Careful not to wake her, I gently fisted the wavy mass and brought it to my face.

One deep whiff of her tropical-scented locks, and I felt the tension drain from my body.

No one, no one had ever possessed that kind of power over me.

Not only me but Onyx, too. I’d thought nothing could tame his instincts, but she’d single-handedly talked him off the ledge and coaxed him into relinquishing control.

I’d done nothing to make him back down. The second we’d woken up in this room and discovered Brielle was missing, the desperate need to get to her had become our sole thought and purpose.

Now that I’d claimed and mated her, now that I’d bred her, every instinct I possessed demanded I keep her close.

I no longer felt a need to protect her from the darkest parts of me.

She’d faced that part of me without fear.

She’d embraced it. Because of her acceptance, that wild unpredictable nature didn’t feel like a curse anymore.

She could handle it. She wanted it. And that meant more to me than she could ever know.

Those instincts would always be a part of me, would always shape my thoughts and actions, but just as she didn’t fear them, neither did I. Not anymore. I could feel them simmering in my veins even now, flooding my mind and body with dark urges.

But at the moment, every one of those urges wanted the same thing. To kill anyone who tried to take Brielle from me.

She was my female. My mate. Nothing in the world was more precious to me, and I would do anything, anything to keep her safe.

Continuing to let her scent soothe my inner fire, I waited for the inevitable moment when that door would open again.

They’d shoot me the second I burst into action, of course, but I’d be through the door and wreaking havoc before they could subdue me.

My senses were on high alert, supercharged by the danger surrounding us, not to mention the pheromones still flooding Brielle’s body and mine.

I hadn’t been able to breed her anywhere near long enough, and the need to do so now kept me from feeling hunger or any residual pain from the dozens of darts and electrical shocks Onyx and I had endured.

The need further heightened my protective instincts as well, which helped make up for the physical strength I’d lost over the past few weeks.

Those protective instincts eclipsed even my sexual drive, making it possible to think with my head and not my dick while I waited.

Once we got out of this place, I could breed my mate until every last feral instinct was finally, finally satiated.

But not before then. Right now, all that mattered was keeping her safe, and I needed to stay focused to make that happen.

Another hour passed before Brielle stirred against me with a low moan. The slight movement was all it took to harden my cock, but I ignored the feeling, continuing to breathe in her scent to keep the fire at bay. She stirred again with another moan, and after a moment, I understood why.

The intoxicating scent of her heat flooded my nostrils, and I stopped breathing too late. My cock hardened to the point of pain, and as I felt a knot begin to form, my focus wavered. The need to rut hit me like an avalanche, but I shoved down the feeling, determined not to cave.

I could control myself. I’d been doing it for years.

But that had been before her. Before the most exquisite creature I’d ever laid eyes on walked into my life and started to tear down my walls.

And now that creature was my mate, and I’d finally been allowed to lose control.

To unleash my dark side and ravage her body.

And even though we were currently imprisoned, having her flush against me like this was too much.

Clenching my jaw, I shifted her so that she was no longer pressed against my groin.

She moaned again in her sleep and reached between us.

Reached down and touched the very thing I was trying so hard to ignore.

I sucked in air through my teeth and shifted her even further away, but she wrapped her hand around the throbbing appendage before I could stop her.

“Brielle,” I grunted, hating to wake her but unable to endure this torture right now.

Breed mate, Onyx whined, not understanding my inner turmoil. All that mattered to him was satiating our hunger.

I ignored him, too. No way in hell would I allow myself to have sex with Brielle in this cage.

I’d allow my dick to explode before I subjected either of us to that humiliation.

The humans who’d captured us obviously considered us animals, and acting like one would only affirm that belief.

It was bad enough that they’d seen what I could become.

I wouldn’t add fuel to the flame by uncontrollably rutting my mate.

Still fast asleep, Brielle began to rub against me.

After hours of healing sleep, her body clearly wanted to pick up where we’d left off.

This was her first heat, and her potent pheromones hadn’t even remotely begun to fade.

Even trapped as we were, her instincts were urging her to scratch that incessant itch, to give in to her primal nature and pursue her mate.

That thought. That fact nearly undid me. My female, my mate, was pursuing me.

I’d longed for a mate of my own for so long, and now that I finally had one, I was in danger of losing her. And it was too much.

All of this was too much. Too much. Too much.

Brielle! I cried through our bond, and she startled awake with a gasp.

She immediately pulled back, disorientated and confused. I let her, too busy trying to drag air into my lungs. My chest felt tight. Compressed. Squeezed. Like something heavy was crushing it. My heart started to pound, faster and faster and faster until it hurt. Until everything hurt.

“Jagger. Jagger.”

I could hear her voice, but it sounded miles and miles away.

“Jagger, it’s okay. Look at me. Just look at me.” She placed her hands on my cheeks and knelt between my legs so that our faces were level. My vision tunneled, darkness threatening to consume me, but I caught a glimpse of green. It was rich and vibrant. Emerald. The color of my mate’s eyes.

Desperate not to leave her alone, I focused on those beautiful eyes, clinging to them like a lifeline.

Breathe, Jagger. Just breathe, her lilting voice flowed through my mind. It instantly soothed my panic, coaxing the darkness to release its grip on me. The pressure on my chest started to ease, allowing me to breathe again.

When my thundering heart began to slow, I curled forward and buried my face in her neck. We stayed like that for a long time, drawing comfort from each other’s scent and touch. She ran her fingers over my short hair, and the strokes were so soothing that I started to drift off.

Unwilling to fall asleep, I reluctantly lifted my head to murmur, “Sorry.”

She opened her eyes to search my face. “Don’t be. I’m scared too.”

I immediately wanted to deny that fear had gotten the better of me, but she’d know I was lying. My days of being a lone wolf were over. I could no longer distance myself. Could no longer hide. Not from her. My thoughts were hers now, and hers were mine.

So I decided to be honest. After everything she’d been through, she deserved nothing less. “Losing you would kill me.”

Tears welled in her eyes, but they didn’t fall. “After everything we’ve been through, I don’t believe this will be our end. Our pack will find us. I know they will. We just have to survive until they get here.”

I didn’t respond, determined to stay strong for her.

We’d been here for hours, and during that time, I’d managed to think of hundreds of ways the humans could kill us.

We were already sleep-deprived, malnourished, and bombarded by pheromones.

The full moon was only days away, and I worried what this stress would do to Brielle and her wolf.

Despite my determination to protect her, I didn’t know what we were dealing with.

We could be hundreds of miles from home for all I knew.

These humans had technology I was unfamiliar with, and I’d seen a lot of sophisticated traps and weaponry over the years.

They meant business, and I doubted their only goal was to keep us locked up.

“What do you think they’ll do to us?” Brielle asked, making me wonder if she’d picked up on my troubled thoughts.

“I don’t know, but we have to be ready for anything. We can’t let them separate us, or Onyx will lose it again.”

She nodded, one of her cheeks dimpling as she murmured, “Guess you shouldn’t have cancelled my training lessons.”

“No, I shouldn’t have.”