Page 15 of The Wolf Prince’s Mate (Marked Beneath the Moon #2)

fifteen

NOVA

It was after 1 AM when we finally got to Clay’s cabin. He looked as exhausted as I felt, but somehow managed to stay upbeat as he opened my door before I could, and scooped me out of my seat.

I was too tired to protest, just leaning my head against his shoulder as he carried me through the garage I’d never seen before (there was more stuff than I expected inside, and it was all organized with extreme effectiveness) and into the cabin.

He took me straight to his bedroom, and I started to mumble a protest when he put me in his bed. When he kissed my shoulder and told me he was going to sleep on the couch, I made a sound of complaint. But, I was too tired to move. So, I couldn’t do anything but drift off under the blankets that smelled strongly of Clay and faintly of me.

I woke up to the scent of bacon cooking. I felt wetness on my chin, and wiped away a little drool as my stomach growled fiercely.

I was coated in a thin layer of sweat, but that was far from my mind as I stumbled out of bed in the same gigantic shirt I’d borrowed from the man who was apparently cooking breakfast.

My stomach rumbled again as I made it into the kitchen, flushing immediately when I found a gorgeous giant standing in front of a stove.

Clay was scrambling eggs in nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs.

He glanced over his shoulder, his tired eyes molten as they dragged over my figure. “Good morning, Gorgeous.”

“No one’s supposed to look that attractive before noon.” I gestured toward him as I finally managed to force myself to move, and plopped down on one of the stools in front of the island.

His lips curved before he looked back at his pan. “You still look good enough to eat.”

“Kiss-ass.”

“Is that an invitation?”

I snorted. “You wish.”

“Hell yeah I do.” He flashed me a grin. “Any time, any place.”

I shook my head, setting my arms on the countertop and lowering my chin to rest on them. “I didn’t know this forced vacation came with free food cooked by a mostly-naked chef.”

“We can make that a fully-naked chef if you want. I’d say a meal and a show should always be part of the heat experience.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard any reviews for this show in particular. What do the other women say?”

“There’s never been a woman in this cabin before, but if there had been, I’m sure they would’ve given me ten out of five stars.”

My forehead creased. “Really? You haven’t brought another woman here?”

“Nope.”

“I’ve heard you’re kind of a man-whore, though. No offense.”

“I think that term is usually used as an insult, so offense is implied.” He didn’t look away from the stove. He didn’t deny the accusation, either.

“I’m not judging you. I slept with a few human guys while I was in Greenview, and would’ve probably hooked up with wolves too if I wasn’t trying to hide what I was.”

“I’ve only ever been with a woman once every couple of years, when the loneliness gets too strong to ignore. My wolf is usually more difficult to control afterward,” Clay said.

My eyes widened.

Once every few years?

Loneliness?

“You’re telling me that you only have sex two or three times a decade ?” I checked.

“Yup.”

Crap.

“So between heat and screwing me in my room at the Lodge, you’ve had more sex with me than you have in like… thirty years?”

“Mmhm.”

Holy crap.

“Is your wolf harder to control after you’re with me?” I asked.

“No. He hasn’t tried to break out of the cage because of it yet.”

Yet seemed like the most important word.

“And if he ever does while we’re doing the fuck buddy thing, we’ll have to focus on the buddy stuff for like… a couple years?”

“No. If that happens, I’ll get to focus on pleasuring you for a few weeks until I’m sure he’s settled again.”

“Wow.” I tried to run a hand through my hair. Some of it was trapped beneath my arms, so I gave up after a second. “Maybe you should’ve started with that.”

“I didn’t think it mattered.”

I guess it didn’t, really.

It still felt like something I should’ve known before agreeing to the friends with benefits thing, though. “What are the odds that you fall in love with me?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

“Not that I’m irresistible,” I clarified. “That’s not what I’m trying to say. It’s just that you rarely have casual sex, and have never regularly slept with someone. And you’re already possessive. So, how do you know you won’t fall for me?”

He still didn’t answer.

I watched as he turned the stove off and divided the scrambled eggs between two plates. Hashbrowns and bacon followed.

My stomach rumbled again.

Clay crossed the room and took the stool beside mine, setting one plate down in front of me and the other in front of himself.

Neither of us picked up our forks.

“Have you ever regularly slept with someone, Gorgeous?” he finally asked, his voice almost… dangerous.

“Silas, unfortunately.”

“Someone you liked?”

“I like Silas.”

Clay made a noncommittal noise.

“As a friend,” I clarified. “Which you already know. His wolf is an Alpha, so we never would’ve worked, even if there was any romance behind it. My wolf cowers around his. I did sleep with another tattoo artist in Greenview pretty regularly, but I never had feelings for him, either.”

“Who?”

When I glanced at Clay, his wolf was in his eyes again.

This time, it wasn’t a flicker. The beast was steady.

I held his gaze. “Are you going to kill him if I tell you?”

The wolf didn’t flinch.

“Of course not,” Clay rumbled, but it wasn’t even somewhat convincing.

I needed to distract him. His wolf was totally going to hunt Edgar down and kill him if I gave him the guy’s name.

“Show me a picture of the last woman you screwed, and I will,” I said.

Clay stiffened.

The wolf vanished.

“I’m not going to find you a picture of the last woman I fucked, Gorgeous. That feels wrong. It wasn’t like she meant anything to me.”

“So you do understand why I’m not giving you the artist’s name.” I finally picked up my fork. “No, I’m not one-hundred-percent confident that I can sleep with you casually without developing feelings. But because I’ve done it in the past, I feel fairly sure.”

Clay was still stiff beside me. He didn’t pick up his fork. “I couldn’t take a mate even if I wanted to, so I should be able to manage avoiding falling for you.”

“Those seem like two completely different concepts.”

He grunted.

The sound reminded me of his brothers so much that I had to bite my cheek to stop myself from snorting.

Clay usually seemed like the most civilized of the three of them. I liked seeing him lose control of his mask.

“Say we go through with this and you eventually develop feelings,” I said. “Six months or five years down the road. Where would we go from there?”

He finally grabbed a strip of bacon and took a bite.

I waited.

He swallowed, then answered. “It would depend on how you felt. I’d probably ask you to move in with me.”

“What if I told you I wanted to end the arrangement instead and choose a mate?”

He snarled.

When I looked over at him, I found his wolf looking through his eyes again. The beast was furious at the thought of me walking away.

Clay coughed a few times. The wolf didn’t disappear, but the man eventually cleared his throat. “Sorry. Yeah, I’d accept that. Of course.”

I couldn’t even sort of believe him.

It was almost humorous how much I didn’t believe him.

“What if your wolf claims me?” I asked.

“That’s not going to happen. He doesn’t care about anything except killing.”

I was looking at the beast’s eyes, and could tell that Clay was wrong.

Really wrong.

He cared about at least one other thing.

Me.

“Right,” I said.

Clay was too disconnected from the beast to accept the truth. So… I was going to have to figure out a way to make him understand it.

Because I’d seen the look in Hunter’s wolf’s eyes when he decided I was his. And Clay’s wolf looked far more serious than Hunter’s ever had.

Clay’s wolf had claimed me.

His human just hadn’t realized it yet.

Which put me in a real predicament. Because I couldn’t see Clay’s wolf ever being convinced to just let me go the way Hunter’s was. I hadn’t met the beast, but with the way everyone talked about him, it seemed safe to assume he wasn’t very reasonable.

But hey, at least his claim meant he wouldn’t kill me.

“You don’t sound convinced. Are you having second thoughts about the agreement?” Clay asked. I could tell he was forcing himself to sound positive, and wasn’t sure what to think about that.

“Nah.”

He didn’t respond right away.

I took a few bites of my food.

“ Nah ?” he finally asked.

“Yes, nah . I’m not having second thoughts about it. It won’t hurt anything to try it for a few weeks.”

It would only solidify Clay’s wolf’s claim.

But I didn’t think a few weeks of not screwing were going to change anything about what the beast had decided. It took a year for Hunter to get his wolf to stand down even partially—it was going to be a hell of a lot worse convincing Clay’s to do the same.

If we should even bother doing that.

Which was debatable.

I just couldn’t debate it with Clay, currently.

He relaxed. “Agreed.”

We both focused on our food, and his free hand landed on my thigh. His shirt covered my skin, and he pulled it up a little so he could touch my bare leg.

What we were doing was already far from casual, based on my past experiences.

But I didn’t think he was ready or willing to hear that.

So, I changed the subject.

“Why don’t you ever eat in the dining hall?” I asked, glancing over to see Clay’s response.

He lifted a shoulder. “It’s complicated.”

“I told you about my sister, and that’s complicated,” I pointed out.

“You did.” He didn’t look happy about the admission.

I took a bite of my food.

If he didn’t want to tell me, that was his prerogative. But if he wasn’t going to open up to me, I sure as hell wasn’t going to keep opening up to him.

A minute of silence passed before he finally said, “Our dad made our chefs poison my brothers and I when we were teenagers. The fucker thought we’d try to overthrow him. Took a damn long time for us to figure it out. Our minds were a mess, and we were absolute shit at just about everything. When Enzo realized what was going on, he killed our dad and the rest of his trio, and we took over. Our dining hall is safe, obviously, but it’s just easier to cook for ourselves.”

“Easier than wondering?” I said quietly, my chest aching for him.

My teenage years hadn’t been easy, but they definitely hadn’t been like that .

Clay nodded, and took the opportunity to change the subject. I couldn’t imagine the past was easy for him to talk about. “I was thinking about your problem with your sister. Olive. We haven’t figured out whether your stalker was working alone or not yet, given the problem with his phone, but I could reach out to her for you. Even Hunter’s people have a hard time watching every person I communicate with. I’m the one who handles all the government shit.”

As the Beta, Clay had the unique ability to make people feel comfortable and heard. I doubted the gift worked over the phone, but considering his brothers’ social skills, it didn’t surprise me that Clay handled their most important connections.

I hadn’t considered him being an option to contact Olive, but he was, wasn’t he?

“That would be amazing. When we get back to the Lodge, maybe I could write to her and you could get her the message?”

“Of course.” He squeezed my thigh, and my body warmed.

“Thank you.”

“You can thank me by letting me take this off of you.” He tugged on the hem of the t-shirt I was wearing.

I flashed him a smirk. “After I shower, maybe I will. But right now, I reek. And before you suggest it, friends with benefits don’t shower together in my book.”

He gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “Alright. Go take your shower.”

After we finished eating and cleaned the kitchen together, Clay gave me a clean pair of his clothes, and reluctantly let me lock the spare room’s door between us. I left the clothes on his perfectly-organized desk, and slipped into the bathroom.

With the shower running, I finally stepped in front of the mirror and forced myself to take in my appearance.

My hair was a mess. The shirt I’d borrowed was unbelievably wrinkled. My arm was still wrapped in that damn brace.

But my eyes were bright. I looked healthy.

My gaze finally moved to my throat, and I let out a slow breath.

Seeing the scar there made my stomach tense.

My wolf whined, too.

I forced out another breath and lifted my hand to the skin. It felt smooth, despite the visible mark that remained.

Memories flickered through my mind, but I didn’t try to push them away this time. That hadn’t done any good. I let them come—even when my breathing picked up and my eyes stung.

“I’m still here, and he isn’t,” I whispered to myself, still staring in that damn mirror. “I’m fine, and he’s dead. I’m okay. I’m strong enough to survive this.”

It didn’t feel true, but I’d rather lie to myself that everything was going to work out than try to convince myself that I was even worse off than I felt.

After another minute, I finally forced myself to step away from the mirror and into the shower. Thankfully, the situation with Clay and his wolf were a pretty good distraction.

I grabbed some shampoo and started working on my hair.

Clay’s wolf was… something.

A lot of somethings.

He was obviously vicious, if he’d tried to kill Hunter and Enzo before. His head couldn’t be screwed on completely straight.

But Syd didn’t think he could be rabid or completely insane.

And honestly? I didn’t either.

Clay clearly didn’t want him to have any amount of control, which was fair. He feared the wolf, and kept him locked down as much as possible.

But wolves were meant to be wild.

They weren’t meant to be caged.

What would happen if Clay freed his?

I didn’t know… but I knew I couldn’t make that happen.

I needed to focus on the wolf’s claim, first.

As far as I could see it, I had two options.

I could either accept the wolf’s claim over me, or I could reject it like I had Hunter’s.

If I was going to reject Clay’s wolf, I was going to have to reject Clay. Which would mean finding a way to leave his cabin and spend heat alone. And ending the friends with benefits thing before it really got started.

I wasn’t entirely sure Clay or his wolf would let me go, which made that difficult. But truthfully, I didn’t want them to let me go.

Being around Clay made me feel safe, and I just plain liked him. I didn’t want to screw that up.

So, that option probably wasn’t going to happen.

Which left me with one choice:

Accepting the wolf’s claim.

I let out a long breath and sat down on the floor of the shower. My arms went around my middle, my legs out in front of me.

Accepting Clay’s wolf wasn’t going to be simple. Clay hadn’t even realized that the wolf had claimed me. It wasn’t nearly as easy as just telling him I wanted to mate with him.

So… what was I going to do?

Closing my eyes, I forced myself to consider it.

Acting like I suddenly wanted to be together would definitely make him suspicious. And I would probably be shitty at it, too. Pushing him at all would go against my nature, and to be honest, it was probably unnecessary.

He and his wolf were both already possessive of me. He was the one who asked me to live with him and wanted to share a bed.

If I let him call the shots, he could slowly realize that he wanted more with me. Eventually, I was going to have to do something drastic so he would see that his wolf claimed me. But we weren’t anywhere near that point.

I bit my lip.

It seemed pretty safe to say that he was going to fall for me. Which sounded conceited but was still true. We were already friends, and we both knew we had a lot of chemistry. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine it turning into something more.

I just had to stop turning him down, and let him take what he wanted.

And that sounded… hot.

My lip popped free from between my teeth as I smiled.

Clay was going to be mine.

He just didn’t know it yet.