Page 19

nineteen

ASPEN

Enzo didn’t come back that night.

Or the next.

Or the one after that.

I didn’t hear from him, either.

I went shopping for shoes the first day without him, and replaced my missing combat boots, sneakers, and sandals.

I met Nova for lunch the day after that, and we talked about everything except her stalker and the fact that we could both grow fur.

And Enzo.

We didn’t talk about him either.

We went to a bar together the next night. My entourage minus Fletcher flirted up a storm and made plans to meet up with the groupies they met after I was safely home. Nova and I just sipped fruity drinks and hung out, though.

Honestly?

It was fun.

I’d never had a friend I could actually be myself with before. I got along fine with the women in my old packs, but I never hung out with them.

Nova and I went to a different bar the night after that. We were weighing the pros and cons on a list of potential jobs I could get, when everyone in the bar suddenly went quiet. I only vaguely noticed it, and not in time to do anything about it.

“The nice thing about a gig at a smoothie place would be the quiet,” Nova said, tapping the paper. “You probably won’t need the money from a better job, and—” she cut herself off as her gaze focused on something over my shoulder.

And she paled.

Immediately.

My nostrils flared, and my wolf purred.

Shit.

Enzo took a seat beside me in the booth and slid over until his side was pressed against mine.

I tried not to react to his presence, but my wolf made me rumble. His wolf did the same.

“Go on,” he said.

I wasn’t sure whether he was talking to Nova, or everyone else in the bar.

The conversations around us resumed slowly.

Nova cleared her throat.

“Nova, this is the Alpha King, Enzo. Alpha, this is my friend, Nova,” I said, to bridge the sudden awkwardness.

And to warn him that he was already on thin ice with me.

He still wasn’t communicating, and calling him Alpha was the easiest way to let him know I wasn’t happy.

If he cost me my friend, I was going to be the one breaking bones. And they would be his bones.

He draped his arm over my shoulder, lowering his nose to my hair. His arm and chest were bare, since he was just as shirtless as usual.

When he took in my scent, he growled.

“Wow, look at the time,” Nova said with fake brightness in her voice as she slid out of her seat. “I have to go anywhere other than here. It’s been fun.”

I mouthed, “Sorry.”

She mouthed back, “Don’t worry about it.”

And she left.

I envied her freedom to do so, even though I wouldn’t have traded places with her. She’d quietly shown me the newest messages from her stalker, and that shit was terrifying. If they got any worse, I was going to have to be a really terrible friend and straight-up tell the king what she was so him and his brothers could protect her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Enzo, speaking quietly so everyone in the bar wouldn’t know our business.

He ignored my question. “Why the fuck does your hair smell like Jake’s?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jake slip out the front door with a woman.

Coward.

“You didn’t order the unscented conditioner you said you were going to buy me. Jake had an extra bottle of one that barely smells. I won it off him in poker two nights ago.”

“Poker?” Enzo’s voice lowered.

“Yeah. Your pack likes me. I like them. They invite me to play poker now.”

He growled. “ Our pack.”

“Sure.”

He gathered my hair in one hand so he could lower his nose to my throat.

I tensed.

He went still after he inhaled. Then, he inhaled again. “Why do you smell like ink?”

“I got a tattoo.”

Technically, I’d gotten three tattoos. But a tattoo sounded better when I wasn’t sure whether he’d be pissed or not. And a public bar in his city was not the place for him to lose his shit.

His entire body tensed. “You what?”

“I got a tattoo,” I repeated.

He let out a slow breath.

Then, he pulled me out of the booth, setting me on my feet in front of him.

The room quieted again.

Enzo’s grip on my hips was tight as he walked me across the bar, his cock hard against my ass. He was wearing jeans again, and was still missing a shirt.

He guided me into the women’s bathroom. It was empty. Everyone in the building was in the main part of the building, watching the king.

Waiting to see what he would do to me.

He released my hips as he shut the door behind us. I stepped back so there were a few feet between us, and put my hands on my hips.

“Why are we—” I began, but he cut me off.

“Clothes off,” he said.

I blinked.

“Take your clothes off, Princess.”

The command shouldn’t have turned me on, but it did. I hated myself for that, just a little bit. My wolf was practically vibrating with excitement, so I was blaming her.

“That was a command, not a request,” he stated.

“Fuck you. I’m not one of your wolves.”

He took a step toward me.

I took a step back.

“You are my mate, and you altered your scent without my permission. Take your clothes off now .” He wasn’t joking.

My wolf surged to the surface, and my t-shirt was over my head a heartbeat later. My boots, socks, and leggings followed.

My bra and thong stayed on. I had enough control of myself to ensure that.

His eyes were narrowed as they moved down my figure slowly.

Too slowly.

Down, then back up.

I tried to slow my breathing. It was too fast. But it only grew faster as he took me in from head to toe.

Finally, he stepped forward.

I forced myself to stay where I was.

He prowled around me slowly, like he had in his shower that first day. This time, his fingers moved over my skin as he moved.

They brushed the small tattoo of birds flying over my collarbone. The moon and flowers on my ribcage, just below my breast. He crouched down to get a better view of the aspen trees wrapped around my ankle, growing up my calf.

When his hand slipped around my knee and he kneeled in front of me, my breath caught.

He leaned his nose to my core, pulled my panties aside, and inhaled my scent there.

His chest rumbled.

It sounded like approval, but that didn’t ease my tension. It could’ve been something else. Like anger.

“Which male had his hands this close to your breasts?” he asked, his voice low and gravelly.

“None. My artist is a woman.”

The woman his brother was looking for, but I didn’t say that.

His chest rumbled again.

Definitely satisfaction.

I relaxed a little—but then his tongue moved over my clit.

I choked on the air, grabbing his hair to hold myself upright when I nearly fell backward on my ass.

Enzo adjusted his grip to steady me, wrapping his hand around my ass before he snapped the fabric of my thong with a claw and tossed it aside. He hooked one of my legs over his shoulder, opening me up so he could kiss me deeper.

Rougher, too.

My face twisted as he fucked me with his tongue, taking more of my weight until I was choking back a cry of pleasure as I came on his mouth.

As my high faded, reality set back in.

We were still in the bathroom.

In a bar.

In public.

With people knowing we were in there together, and probably listening very closely to us.

“You like the tattoos?” I managed, pushing his face away from my core. He was licking me clean, taking every drop of my desire, and making me wet again as he did.

“I do. I like them even more now that you smell like me.” He let me pull my leg off of his shoulder and take one shaky step back—but then he was standing in front of me.

Walking me backward, until my bare ass met the wall.

Gross.

“We’re in a bathroom, Enzo,” I said, as he slipped his hand between my thighs.

He captured my lips, and my toes curled at the taste of him mixed with the taste of me.

He’d never kissed me before, but his mouth was perfect.

I pulled back anyway. “There are people outside, listening to us.”

He recaptured my mouth.

I let him kiss me for a moment, barely suppressing a moan when he rolled his thumb over my clit just right.

Then I pulled away again, breathing a little harder.

“They’re going to watch us when we leave. They’re going to smell us. We can’t do this here.”

His lips brushed my ear.

I squeezed my thighs together when he dragged his teeth lightly over my lobe, catching on the piercings there. “I’m the king, Princess. I can do whatever the fuck I want. And right now, that’s you.”

Oh.

Wow.

Shit.

He kissed me again, harder, and I put a hand to his face and literally pushed his forehead away from mine.

His eyes narrowed at me.

“I haven’t heard a word from you in days, Enzo. You don’t get to show up, scare my friend off, and fuck me in a bar bathroom. You’re the king, but if you want me to be your queen , this shit will not fly.”

I should’ve stopped him sooner, but hey, better late than never.

He blinked.

I waited.

After another minute, he grudgingly pulled his hands away from me. My wolf growled at me for depriving myself of his touch, but she would just have to get over it.

“I was hunting a rogue wolf,” he finally said, his voice low and gritty. Goosebumps broke out on my bare skin at the sound, but they were ignored. “I slept too many hours with you and lost its scent. I’ve been trying to find it again.”

“Did you find it?”

“No.” There was bitterness in his voice. Worry, too.

“It hasn’t gone rabid yet, then.”

“Not yet, but it will. And rogue wolves always find a new pack quickly.”

If one rogue on the edge of going rabid joined a pack of others, it could set off a chain of blood.

More rabids.

More death.

“Why did you come back, then?” I asked.

He didn’t look nearly as tired as he’d been the last time I saw him. He must’ve slept in the forest and eaten out there, at least a little.

“My wolf.”

The furry monster wanted to see me.

It was sweet, if slightly disappointing.

I needed to stop hoping the man would come back for me. Or reach out to talk to me. Or… do anything for me just because he wanted to, really.

I needed to accept that there was no desire on his side of our connection. It was just the wolf.

But I didn’t know how.

“Alright. Let’s find somewhere else to talk, so he can get his fill of me and you can go back to hunting.”

Enzo blinked again, clearly surprised.

I pushed his body away from mine lightly, and he gave me just enough space to slip through. Before I could bend down and grab my clothes, he had picked them up for me.

Neither of us mentioned the torn panties as I pulled my leggings on without them.

And it didn’t pass my notice when he slipped them into his pocket.

A glance in the mirror proved that my face was flushed, but I looked normal other than that. Everyone would be able to smell my desire on Enzo’s breath, and know exactly what he’d done to me.

At least his release wouldn’t be dripping down my thighs. I could maintain some of my pride.

Every eye that had been on the bathroom door snapped away when we walked out. Enzo held me in front of him, the way he usually did, using my body to hide his erection. His jeans helped keep it under control for the most part, but the man was gigantic. There was no way to fully hide it, especially after he had his mouth on me the way he did. The man was just plain horny.

Maybe everyone would smell his desire too.

Fletcher was waiting outside the bar when we made it out, and fell into step beside us. I expected Enzo to let go of my waist, but he didn’t.

“I’ll get her back to the pack’s land. You can have the next few hours to yourself,” Enzo told my brother. “I’ll leave again whenever you’re back.”

Fletcher grunted and turned back to catch up with his buddies.

“He’s only been to his room to change for the last few days. He hasn’t even had time to get settled in your pack. Find someone else to switch off with him so he can have a break sometimes,” I said.

“No one else cares as much about making sure you’re safe. After we seal the bond, my scent will protect you and his hours will be reduced.”

“No one needed to guard me while I was in our room at the Lodge before,” I countered.

“I’m taking your safety more seriously now.”

I scowled. “Is it about my safety, or about your possessiveness?”

He didn’t answer.

I didn’t think he really knew.

“Your friend. Who is she?”

“Nova Jacobs. She’s one of the females from Silas’s pack. Born in, not a groupie. I met her a few months back while I was waiting for him, and we talked about tattoos for hours. I like her. You’re going to treat her politely.”

“Fine.”

We reached his truck, and he lifted me into the passenger seat. He reached past me to buckle my seatbelt for me before he shut the door and walked around to his side.

His door closed too, and we were officially alone.

I let out a puff of air. “If you join me in a public place like that, you can’t put your hands all over me the way you did. It makes people uncomfortable.”

“You belong to me. I can touch you however I want, whenever I want.”

“I belong to me . If I say no, that’s the answer.”

He growled, but didn’t disagree. He knew I was right.

He pulled away from the curb. “Nova smells like coffee and ink. Like Hunter’s mystery woman.”

Shit.

He was smarter than I wanted him to be.

She was going to be pissed if he abducted her too.

“I didn’t smell a wolf on her, and I would know if she was a shifter,” I stated. It was a risk. Enzo could call my bluff.

But both statements were true.

The coffee and ink hid her scent from me entirely, and I would know if she was a shifter. I did know.

He made a noise of reluctant agreement, and I knew I’d won for the moment. He’d bring it up again, but I had time. He wouldn’t pay her any more attention until he was done with the escaped rogue wolf.

There were a bunch of ways I could try to warn her over text that he was asking about her, but we had plans to meet up for lunch again the next day. It would be safest just to tell her then, so Hunter wouldn’t read the texts and think there was anything fishy going on.

“How did you end up at a bar with her?” Enzo asked.

“Nova? Oh, she’s my tattoo artist. We had a good time talking, so we made plans afterward.”

He nodded. “And there were no men who…”

“Tried to flirt with us? No. None of the women even tried to talk to us. I don’t have to have your scent on my skin to tell people I belong to you. The three gigantic alpha males did that for me, and scared everyone away from me in the process.”

Enzo looked satisfied by that.

He turned onto the highway, headed back toward the Lodge. After a minute of silence, he swore and lifted his hand to his temple.

“What happened?”

“The rogue went rabid,” Enzo gritted out, flipping the truck in a sudden U-turn. I grabbed the oh-shit handle as I slammed against my locked seatbelt. “He’s only a few minutes down the road from here. I have to handle it before he kills someone. You’ll stay in the truck.”

His voice rang with authority, but when his gaze moved to me in the rearview mirror, I could see that he was worried.

He turned sharply down a dirt road.

I tightened my grip on the bar. “Agreed.”

There was no world where I could fight a rabid male werewolf and not end up dead. I had no idea how to fight. My wolf would try to hold her own, but she was as clueless as I was.

“It hurts that badly when you communicate with someone?” I asked.

“It’s easier to talk to my brothers.”

Maybe that was why he hadn’t talked to me when he was gone.

Still, he could’ve asked one of his brothers to add me to a group chat so I knew what was going on. He clearly just didn’t want to.

“Has anyone died yet?”

“Not yet. A few of my enforcers are chasing him, and he’s headed in our direction. There’s a human woman injured. Her scream brought them over. One of them is with her, and it doesn’t look good.”

“Shit.”

“You’re staying in the truck.”

“I know. You already said that. I agreed.”

The silence between us was tense until he stopped in the middle of the dirt road. There was nowhere else to park, but he didn’t turn the vehicle off.

“Don’t leave the truck,” he repeated. “If the fight comes here, back up or drive straight. If someone brings the wounded woman, they’ll take you back to the Lodge. You can trust them.”

“Okay, Enzo. I’ll be fine. Deal with the threat.”

He jerked his head in a nod, like he was trying to convince himself that he agreed.

Then he grabbed my face and kissed me.

Hard.

The kiss was over as soon as it began. He stepped out of the truck, and dropped his clothes. Black fur replaced gorgeous, smooth skin before he disappeared into the forest.

Suddenly, the road felt very dark.

And very small.

And very empty.

My wolf watched the trees closely, on alert.

My fingers dug into the seats.

I should’ve shifted. At least then, I could’ve been ready to run. As it was, I felt like a sitting duck.

I lowered my window just a sliver, so I could hear the forest. My wolf’s ears strained as she listened, but she couldn’t hear a thing.

Logically, I knew Enzo wouldn’t leave me close to the rabid wolf. He wanted to protect the city, but he was insane about it when it came to me.

So obviously, he hadn’t left me where I could hear the wolves.

I listened anyway.

A few tense minutes passed.

Then a few more.

When I heard a large tree branch snap in the distance, my eyes widened.

Was the rabid coming? Was Enzo on his way back?

More snapping branches followed.

Someone was barreling through the trees. Moving fast.

My wolf listened closer.

Only two feet.

Moving too fast to be human.

It had to be a massive werewolf, because they sounded heavy.

Maybe it was Enzo, but it didn’t make sense for him to be coming at me that fast on two feet.

I rolled my window up and climbed quickly into the driver’s seat, putting the truck in drive. If it wasn’t someone I recognized, I was hauling ass out of there before anything bad could happen. I was still a female wolf. People could still want to?—

A man burst into the clearing. I vaguely recognized him from the pack, but didn’t try to place him.

Because there was a woman in his arms. Her body hung limp, her light skin pale and speckled with blood.

I threw the truck in park again and climbed into the backseat. I had no idea how to get to the Lodge, so the guy was going to have to drive.

He saw me in the back and ripped the door open, setting the woman in my arms. “Hold her tight and try to put pressure on her chest. We need to get to the hospital.”

His voice was grim.

There was wet, shiny blood on his hands, and all over his bare chest. The scent of it was so thick, it turned my stomach.

I looked down at her abdomen and nearly choked.

Peeking out below the shirt he had balled over her chest, I could see the tops of four thick wounds.

Claw marks.

Slashes.

Deep ones.

The guy was in the driver’s seat, taking us in a quick U-turn, a moment later.

I pressed down hard, but I could see how shallow her breathing was. She had to be unconscious. She had to be barely?—

“I’m going to die,” she rasped, her eyes opening as she stared vacantly at the ceiling.

She was going to die.

I could almost smell the death on her skin.

My wolf sat up, and though we couldn’t speak, I knew what she was thinking.

The girl was going to die… unless we tried to save her.

My teeth lengthened. My wolf was ready. But the only time we’d tried in the past, it had almost killed me.

What if it really did kill me this time?

“You’re going to be fine,” I told the girl.

We both knew it was a lie.

Her eyes closed.

A tear tracked down her cheek.

“What happened to her?” I asked the driver.

“Her dad was one of the rogues. His pack wouldn’t let her leave, even though she was the only one in human form. They were all insane. We don’t know how long she’s been out there.”

My throat swelled.

She looked so young.

Seventeen or eighteen. Maybe nineteen.

I couldn’t let her die.

I just couldn’t.

“I’m going to try to change her.” My heart pounded fiercely. “If it works, she’ll be a werewolf. Enzo will know how to make sure she’s safe. If I don’t make it, tell him… well, tell him to protect Nova.”

“What are you talking about?” The enforcer sounded agitated.

Worried.

I didn’t have time to explain, though. And if I did, it would only give him time to argue that my life was more important.

It wasn’t.

At least I’d gotten to live nearly twenty-six years. I wasn’t letting a teenager who’d been trapped in the forest with insane wolves die.

So I lifted her arm to my mouth, and I bit her.

I felt the drain on my energy immediately. Every hair on my body seemed to stand up straight, and the energy felt electric as it left me.

My breathing went ragged.

My vision started to wobble.

The girl gasped and jerked upward. I didn’t have the strength to hold her down any longer, but she didn’t roll off my lap.

The drain on my energy grew fiercer.

My wolf growled when my vision spotted.

I released the girl’s arm. The connection between us had officially been created. There was no turning back unless I killed her. Which wasn’t going to happen, since I was risking my life to save her.

Though the world was spinning around me and everything had gone out of focus, I felt a rush of something.

Pride.

Confidence.

I wasn’t sure whether it was mine or my wolf’s, but one thing was clear.

I’d done the right thing.

The connection between me and the girl snapped suddenly, and everything went dark.