Page 8 of The Wolf Guard’s Mate (Marked Beneath the Moon #3)

eight

OLIVE

I was so tired of being alone after a few days on my own in the mansion that having Hunter’s wolf around was amazing. He rubbed up against my leg every chance he got, licked me randomly, and wagged his tail almost constantly. He clearly liked being around me, and I couldn’t help but scratch his head and ears frequently.

I refused to consider that my enjoyment of his presence could have anything to do with the mate bond we’d accidentally created.

I was just lonely.

That was all.

I fell asleep partway through an episode of the dramatic mystery show I was watching, and Hunter’s wolf was already snoring next to me when I did. I woke up just long enough to lean the chair back as far as it went partway through the night. My legs were tingling because of the wolf’s weight on my lap, so I pushed him off of me and snuggled up against his furry side before falling back asleep.

I woke up with my face plastered to Hunter’s sweaty, bare chest. His erection dug into my lower belly, and one of his hands was tangled in my hair again. The other rested lightly on my ass.

If I wanted to avoid the outcome from the other morning—which I reluctantly knew was the best option—I needed to figure out a way to get away from him.

Which was easier said than done, considering how much bigger than me he was.

I eased my front away from his just a little, and froze when his grips changed.

The one on my ass dug lightly into the soft flesh, taking a handful. The one in my hair pulled, just a little.

I bit my cheek to stop myself from moaning.

I had never cared much for hair pulling, but the way Hunter did it was something else. It affected me way too much. Which meant I needed to get out before I did something I would regret.

Like screwing my jackass of a mate when I was mad at him.

Hunter had already told me he wasn’t ever coherent when he woke up, so I went ahead and pulled his hand off my ass.

He didn’t try to fight me on it, just scratching an itch on his face as soon as I let go of his wrist.

It took a little longer to free my hair from his grip, but eventually I was in the clear.

He reached toward the space I had occupied a moment ago as I slipped away, but I didn’t let myself look back at the gorgeous, naked man.

Boundaries.

I needed boundaries.

Mostly to stop myself from screwing him again. Even though that sounded really, really good.

I went right to the shower, too awake to go back to sleep and too sleepy to do anything else. I liked Hunter’s mansion, but I was getting tired of doing things alone. Soon, I was going to be trying to set a new record on his bowling lane or something, and I didn’t even like bowling.

As much free time as I had, I still hadn’t found the basement. Maybe I could find something else to do down there. Nova had stayed in it during every heat she spent in the mansion, so I knew it existed. I just wasn’t sure how to get in there.

I itched to ask Hunter where the stairs were, but I didn’t particularly want to talk to him.

I closed my eyes and tipped my face up toward the shower head, which was exactly the position I was in when Hunter found me a few minutes later. He opened the door, but I didn’t jump at the sound.

I’d figured there was a fair chance he would want to talk. If his wolf was taking over inside the house, the man was probably in bad shape.

“Can we talk?” Hunter asked.

I didn’t look over at him, scrubbing chlorine out of my hair instead. “Doesn’t seem like you’re going to leave unless we do.”

He didn’t respond right away.

I wondered if he was blushing again. It was cute when he’d blushed in the bar. Had that been a lie too?

I finally looked over, and found him rubbing one of his eyes with the base of his palm. The scarred one. Did the scar ever ache?

Maybe if we were actually mates, I could ask.

But we weren’t.

The bond was real, but the relationship was nonexistent.

He wasn’t blushing.

“Look,” he said. “I shouldn’t have lied to you. I realize that. If you had lied to me about that, I’d probably kill you. Pre-bond, of course.”

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes at the ceiling, facing away from him enough that he couldn’t see as I rinsed shampoo from my hair.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Okay.”

There was a pause.

I grabbed more shampoo. My hair was a freaking mess. I should’ve washed the chlorine out the day before, and I shouldn’t have left it in a bun all day while it was full of chlorine.

Mistakes had definitely been made.

“Okay?” Hunter finally asked.

“Sure.”

“Sure?” I didn’t have to look over at him to know there was a thick crease on his forehead.

“Yeah.” I scrubbed my hair again.

Hunter waited a minute before he cleared his throat. “I don’t think I’m following.”

“You apologized. I said okay. I don’t know how else you expect me to react. Saying you’re sorry days after lying to me doesn’t erase everything else that happened, Hun.” I finally started rinsing my hair again. I needed to shave, too, but I wasn’t about to do that while Hunter stared at me.

There was another minute of silence.

“In your text, you said you wanted me to get on my knees and beg,” he said. “Would that fix this?”

When I looked over, I found him folding his arms. His face was a little red, and he looked extremely uncomfortable.

“You should probably add reading a private conversation to your apology list.”

“I monitor conversations in the pack for security purposes. It’s?—”

“You were snooping. Don’t bullshit me.”

He growled halfheartedly. “Fine, I was snooping. I’d like to know what my mate is saying about me.”

“Then you should ask. I would’ve happily told you to your face that you were being a jackass.”

“I’m aware.”

“Because you read my texts.”

“Because you already told me, Olive. Would begging fix this?” he gestured between us.

“No. What is there to even fix? We don’t know each other. We barely like each other.”

“We’re still mates.”

“So?” I looked away from him again, shaking my head as I refocused on the shower wall.

On second thought, maybe shaving would scare him away. A razor could technically be used as a weapon.

I grabbed it and pumped some soap into my hand, lathering up my armpit in the most unattractive fashion I could possibly muster.

Hunter made a noise of annoyance. The shower door opened, and I looked back in surprise as he stepped inside and leaned up against the shower wall. He was naked, since he had just shifted back and whatnot, but I definitely hadn’t expected him to join me.

“What are you doing?”

He grunted. “DTR. The internet said it means define the relationship . You wanted it. I’m supposed to say something along the lines of, ‘our relationship has changed and I think we should have a conversation about where we stand and how we’re going to approach dating other people’ .”

I lifted my eyebrows at him. “Pretty sure I know where you stand about me dating other people. You already threatened to behead Jake and make his bodyless head watch you fuck me.”

The red on Hunter’s cheeks went splotchy. He was blushing again. It wasn’t supposed to be sexy, but it was.

“My mate was asking me to find another male to fuck her while I was affected by the rut. Rage was unavoidable.”

“So I can be with other people as long as you’re not affected by the rut?”

His chest rumbled fiercely. “No. I’ll kill anyone you date or fuck.”

“Like I said, I know where you stand.”

I finally shaved my armpit, though the soap had all rinsed away when Hunter caught me off guard with the conversation.

He cleared his throat again. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Where do you stand on me dating other people?”

I soaped up my other armpit. It hadn’t scared him away yet, but I really did need to shave. “I don’t know. I kind of want to murder my twin because you were interested in her a few months ago, if that tells you anything.”

“I wasn’t interested in her.”

“I drive a vehicle you bought her and live in a house you gave her, so I have a hard time believing that.”

Hunter scowled. “You keep bringing that up. You want the truth? Fine. Nova’s personality is abrasive. She’s obsessive with her art. It makes her too much like me. Even if I had wanted it to, a relationship between us never would’ve worked. We would’ve sat in separate rooms and done our own things for the rest of our lives. She’s much happier with Clay than she ever would’ve been with me.”

I stared at him again. Whatever I had expected him to say, it sure wasn’t that . “You actually considered mating with her?”

“Of course I did. I was making both our lives hell by rejecting her while my wolf claimed her. The only thing he cared about was how she smelled.”

“Wow.”

His scowl deepened. “You assumed I just ignored the situation for an entire year?”

“I didn’t know what to think. Much like Nova and everyone else.”

“I did everything I could to get my wolf to let go of his obsession with her. I tried medication. Physical pain. I locked myself in a small room and nearly lost my mind because of it. I went on trips out of the city. I drank around the clock. I tried to go on a date with another woman. I spent two weeks living in the forest. I?—”

“You weren’t trying to hurt her,” I said quietly.

“No.” The word was so full of emotion, it nearly took my breath away. “The only thing that worked was her literally telling him it wasn’t going to happen.”

“It was miserable for you too.”

“It was.”

“Fine, I’ll stop bringing it up.”

“Thank you.” A moment of silence passed. “That wasn’t really an answer, though.”

Right.

His random idea about DTRs from the internet.

“If I wasn’t allowed to screw someone else, and you did, I’d probably want to kill you. And her,” I said.

The sound he made was pure pleasure. My chest warmed.

Apparently, he wanted me to be violently possessive too.

“So we’re on the same page. Neither of us dates or fucks anyone outside our mate bond. If anyone tries to interfere in our relationship, I get to kill them,” Hunter summarized.

“I don’t remember agreeing to that last part.”

“I added it.”

Shaking my head at him, I finally shaved my second armpit. It also wasn’t soapy anymore, but I was careful.

Putting the razor down, I shut off the water. “This isn’t what I was talking about when I said we needed a DTR.”

He blinked.

I slipped out of the shower. Before I could grab my towel, he plucked it off the hook and draped it over my shoulders. It was so huge, it engulfed my body. That was one of the many physical pros of being mated to a rich asshole.

When I walked out of the bathroom, he followed me across the room and into the closet.

“What were you talking about?” he asked.

“This, for one.” I gestured between us. “You take a lot of liberties.”

He blinked again.

“You didn’t knock on the bathroom door before you came in, or check if I was comfortable with you watching me get dressed. You didn’t ask before you joined me in the shower. You literally abducted me out of our hotel room while I was asleep and covered in cum, even though you took the time to shower.”

His face reddened again.

That damn blush was going to kill my determination to be strong and independent. He was too freaking hot.

“I get that you’re a werewolf, and the possessiveness is unavoidable, but you don’t see me as your equal. You keep things from me and make decisions for me. I bet you haven’t even considered moving into my house when we get back to Crimson River. Actually, I bet you already paid someone to move my things for you, or you have a plan as to exactly how and when you’re going to move them yourself.”

The red on his cheeks darkened and spread.

I’d hit the nail on the head.

“When I said I wanted to define the relationship, I meant that I wanted us to figure out, together, what we’re going to do about our living situation and schedule. We need to make a plan to determine what being mated means for us. Nova said Clay is in the final stages of negotiation with the human government, so it’ll be safe for me to go back soon. I’d like to have a plan for that too, but I’m not just going to fall in line like the guys who work for you. I deserve to decide what my life looks like.” I grabbed a bikini and a pair of sweats.

Hunter lifted a hand to the back of his neck, the blush spreading over his neck. “I, uh,” he stopped speaking and cleared his throat. “I’ll need time to think about it.”

“That’s fine.” We had a few more days, at the very least.

Without another word, Hunter stepped back and left me in the closet.

It felt empty without him.

Lonely, too.

I just closed the door behind me and tried to ignore the feeling.

Somehow, things would work out.

Hopefully.