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

two

NOVA

I spent most of my day working on a back piece for one of the wolves from Crimson Pack. Most of my clients were from the Savages’ pack, at that point. Anyone who wanted me to ink them had to go through the security team Hunter had assigned me, and they were insanely careful.

Also, insanely boring.

None of them could take a joke. Or crack a smile.

I’d given up on trying to befriend them within a few weeks of the assignment, and none of them had ever been swapped out. According to Clay, they were the best of the best.

Except Aspen’s brother, Fletcher. He was in charge of the crew that kept the rogue wolf population under control, and took out any of the beasts that went rabid. Enzo had grudgingly admitted that his mate’s brother was just as good at it as the Alpha himself had been, before he basically retired.

Now, he and Aspen spent almost all of their time changing mated human women into werewolves. When they weren’t doing that, they were recovering from it.

They only ever took a few days off every month to visit Greenview when she went through heat, and no one dared ask them not to.

No one else could do what Aspen could. It had nearly killed me when I tried, and I was literally the only other option. As far as we knew, at least. There could always be another born female werewolf or two hiding out somewhere in the city.

Since Enzo was always with Aspen to protect her, and all of the turned female wolves except Sydney were mated (and couldn’t change human women), none of them were at risk. Syd and I were the only unmated wolf chicks, but she worked in the gardens at the Lodge, so she didn’t need protection.

Being Fletcher’s girlfriend scared people into staying away from her, too. After his twin mated with Enzo, he became a Savage brother in all but blood.

About halfway through the day, I started feeling a little warm and turned the air conditioning in the studio on. It was November, but Crimson River only ever got a little snow. It wasn’t too cold, so we didn’t have the heat running. Werewolves usually ran warm.

As far as the AC went, Silas, my old Alpha and the guy who owned the place, basically let me do whatever I wanted. We were good friends, or had been good friends before everything with Hunter. Now, we were… friendly.

Friendly-ish, at least.

We rarely saw each other, honestly.

Considering we had spent heat together more times than I wanted to admit, keeping our distance was the best way to keep Hunter from wanting to kill him. I didn’t think Hunter even realized I’d been with Silas that way, though.

It was a few hours after I turned the AC on when a bead of sweat ran down my spine.

That was weird.

I was finishing up the tattoo I was working on when I suddenly realized what was happening.

I was sweating.

That was bad.

Very bad.

There was only one time a month where I ever got sweaty.

“Hey, Charlie?” I called out to the guy who ran my security team. He was about as exciting as drying paint, but he was steady, and I trusted him. He sat with one other guy, Joseph, on chairs in the larger room I’d taken over after my identity came out.

“Yeah?” Charlie asked.

“Has my scent changed?”

There was a moment of silence.

“Smells the same to me,” the guy I was working on said. “I can’t smell anything over the coffee and ink.”

Which was why I started drinking coffee and getting tattoos in the first place. Since I loved both, I hadn’t stopped since the truth about female werewolves came out.

“Barely,” Charlie said.

I let out a breath of relief.

I had missed the tingle that warned me heat was coming, somehow, but I had at least a few hours until it really started. That was good.

“I’ll let Hunter know,” Charlie added.

“Thanks.”

The offer was a formality. That was part of his job. Hunter and I started speaking through Charlie when we couldn’t speak through Clay anymore.

I finished up the tattoo, and bandaged it. There was still time to get to Greenview. Probably.

After my client paid and left, I grabbed my bag and headed straight to my car. When Charlie followed me to the driver’s side door, I knew something was wrong.

I stopped just outside my car. “What’s going on, Charlie?”

He grimaced. “Hunter is in the forest, trying to track the scent that was on that sketchbook. He’s a few hours away from the nearest vehicle. By the time he could meet you in Greenview, you’ll have been under heat’s thrall unprotected for hours. And he would have to abandon the scent trail.”

“Oh. That’s fine, I can go alone.”

It was better than fine.

I could suffer alone for a while, without wondering if Hunter was listening to my heat-crazed pleas.

He wasn’t, of course.

He never did.

His wolf would’ve forced him to ease my pain if he listened. He couldn’t have known how much I suffered every time I went through heat alone.

And he wasn’t a monster. If he knew, he would’ve stopped it, either by letting the rut take over or finding a way to hold his wolf down so I could screw someone else.

But I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

Not when it meant potentially ending up in bed with him and making his wolf even more attached to me.

Hunter wasn’t a bad guy. Not even a little.

I just wasn’t interested in mating with him.

Aspen and Enzo had fallen in love after his wolf claimed her, but that didn’t mean Hunter and I had to follow in their footsteps. He had been determined not to since the moment we met.

And I wasn’t going to let myself develop feelings for a man who was that set on not wanting me, regardless of what his beast thought.

I started to open my door, but Charlie was shaking his head. “Hunter’s not going to risk that.”

My forehead creased, and I opened my mouth to ask what he meant.

Before the words escaped, a cherry red, luxury SUV pulled into the parking space to the right of my car. My eyebrows shot upward as Clay rolled his window down and draped an arm over the opening. “Hop in, Gorgeous.”

I looked at Charlie.

He lifted a shoulder. “Hunter said his brother is going with you.”

My eyebrows lifted higher.

“He told me how far away I need to stay to avoid the rut’s effects,” Clay clarified. “He’s not pimping you out.”

I scoffed. “He couldn’t if he tried.”

“You’d castrate him.”

“You’d hold him down for me.”

“Damn straight.” He patted the side of his car’s door. “Ready? I hear we’ve got to move.”

“Almost.” I opened my car’s back door and grabbed two sets of spare clothes, then strode around to the passenger side of Clay’s car.

At least Hunter wasn’t going to be there while I suffered.

Charlie lifted a hand, and I tossed him my keys. He would make sure my car got back safely. I wasn’t particularly attached to the vehicle, but since I basically lived out of it, I wasn’t about to leave all my stuff outside the studio.

“I’ll get it back to the Lodge. Good luck,” Charlie called out as I took the seat next to Clay’s.

“Thanks, Charles.” Clay saluted him.

I smacked him on the arm and leaned over so I could see past him. “Thank you!”

Charlie gave me a nod, and Clay backed out smoothly.

“I’m surprised Hunter’s letting you inside his mansion. He always makes me take the back entrance into the basement.”

“He’s always grumpy. It’s one of his best qualities.” Clay winked at me before turning his music up. My breathing grew easier with the steady beat. We both liked rock. “And we’re not going to his mansion.”

“We’re not?”

“Nah. I have my own place.”

“In Greenview?”

“Down in Stray.”

“Stray?” My nose wrinkled. “That tiny town down in the valley? Isn’t the population like twenty-five?”

“Yup. Nothing but farmers, cows, and trees down there. I own a couple hundred acres. It’s all gated off, and Hunter put up some cameras.”

“For your wolf?”

He dipped his head.

He’d never told me the details, but it was common knowledge in the pack that his wolf was kind of insane. Insane enough that Clay didn’t ever shift in Crimson River, or anywhere near the pack.

I expected my wolf to be terrified of his answer, but surprisingly, she wasn’t. I guess all the time I had spent with Clay made her more comfortable around him, because she wasn’t even cowering.

“It’s even bigger than Hunter’s mansion, huh?” I joked.

Clay grinned. “You’ll see.”

He turned the music up louder, and I relaxed as we wove through Crimson River, then out of town.

I’d never been to Stray before.

Four hours later, I was dripping with sweat while the air conditioner blasted. My eyes were closed, and my jaw was clenched.

“It’s freezing in here. How are you still hot?” Clay asked, his voice sharp.

He was worrying.

And probably fighting the beginning of the rut as it started to set in.

“It’s called heat for a reason, dumbass,” I gritted out. “And it doesn’t usually come on this fast. Are we almost there?”

“We’re only twenty minutes out.”

Shit.

“Has my scent changed drastically yet?”

“Yeah.”

I had let myself get too comfortable. Freaking irregular cycles. I must’ve been too distracted by the tattoo I was working on last night to feel the tingle. And too bothered by my stalker’s message earlier to notice when I started warming up.

“How drastically?” I asked.

He didn’t answer immediately, but I needed to know the truth.

“If it’s making you hard, we don’t have twenty minutes,” I said bluntly.

There was no point in beating around the bush. Not when it came to heat. All that would lead to was regret.

He didn’t answer, so I looked for a tent in his pants and swore when I found one.

A really large one.

I didn’t let myself think about the giant cock the fabric must’ve been hiding.

The car’s engine accelerated. “I can make it in fifteen.”

“Can you still feel your wolf?” I asked.

“No.”

I bit my cheek.

We were screwed.

“Hunter is going to kill both of us,” I said.

“No. We’re going to make it.”

“We’re not.”

“We are.”

“We’re not , Savage. If you’re that hard and I’m this sweaty, the pain is going to set in soon. The rut will come with it.”

“I can control myself.”

“Not during heat.”

“We’re going to make it,” he repeated.

His erection was already straining against his expensive jeans. The man was gorgeous. Insanely big and strong, with thick muscles and dark, wavy hair.

Any woman would consider herself lucky to spend a few hours in his arms.

I shouldn’t, though.

Not when his brother’s wolf thought I belonged to him. Even if we didn’t like each other.

The first wave of pain hit me, and I sucked in a breath at the burn of it.

“We’re going to make it,” Clay repeated, but I saw his erection throb against his zipper. “Hunter resists it, and his wolf is obsessed with you. I can do the same.”

“Hunter doesn’t come near me during heat, so he doesn’t have to resist anything,” I gritted out. “And he’s not even attracted to me.”

“We’re almost there. Ten minutes.” Clay turned the music up louder, like that would help.

The next wave of pain made me cry out, squeezing my eyes shut and gritting my teeth.

“It can’t get worse than this, can it?” Clay yelled over the music.

A harsh laugh escaped me. “This is nothing.”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “He’s going to kill me, not you.”

“This is my fault, not yours.”

We managed two more minutes before the next wave hit me, hard enough to make my eyes burn.

He finally turned the music down and let out a slow breath. “Five minutes.”

The GPS said twelve.

I didn’t argue, though. It would’ve taken too much effort.

“Enzo hasn’t told me anything about heat,” Clay said. “I won’t be able to walk away, will I?”

“No. Our only chance at avoiding a sex marathon at this point is if you pull over and I try to run away from you. But if I run, you won’t be able to resist the chase.”

“Fuck.” His fingers were pale on the steering wheel, clenched so tightly that the blood had left them. We were on a dirt road that was free of snow, and he seemed to know exactly how to avoid all of the ruts and potholes.

“Did Enzo mention knotting?” My hands were on the bottom hem of my tank top, pulling it over my head. I’d ditched the flannel I had been wearing over it hours earlier, while I was still in the studio.

“Did he mention what ?”

“Never mind.”

He’d find out when we got there. It’d be pretty hard not to notice. Pun intended.

“Don’t tell me never mind about something that’s about to happen between us, Gorgeous.” He ground out.

Another wave of pain and heat made me curse, bracing myself against the door to stop my hands from moving to Clay’s body.

“You know how wild wolves breed?” I asked.

“The weird cock thing that traps them together?”

“It’s called a knot.”

“You’re not saying?—“

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Savage.”

“Hunter is going to fucking kill me.” Clay shoved a hand through his hair.

“You can hold your own against him.”

A sardonic laugh escaped him. “I can’t even control my own wolf.”

“By nature, wolves aren’t controllable.”

Clay snarled. “You smell so fucking good.”

Another wave of pain made me bend at the middle. “Just get us to your house. It’s only five minutes.”

Despite my words, spending heat wrapped around Clay in the middle of the forest suddenly sounded amazing. Then again, anything other than the hell I was currently feeling sounded amazing.

Clay was shaking his head. His body was shaking too. “It’s too far.”

The next hit of pain was so strong, I cried out. Desperation clutched me, and I couldn’t fight it anymore. “I need you.”

He slammed the brakes and threw the SUV in park. My seatbelt was unbuckled a heartbeat later, and before I made it all the way over the center console, he dragged me onto his lap.

Clay’s hands moved roughly over my arms, unbuckling my bra and tearing it away. He palmed one of my breasts with one hand as the other gripped my hair. When he crushed his lips to mine, I moaned at his taste.

Cinnamon, with a hint of spice.

His hand left my breast and slid down my abdomen. His fingers dipped beneath the waistband of my leggings, then hesitated.

I pushed his hand down to my core, and he growled into my mouth as he dragged a finger over my clit.

The feeling was intense.

Insane.

Unreal.

It had been so long since anyone touched me, I could’ve cried.

Instead, I bucked and rocked until I was coming all over Clay’s hand. His fingers weren’t inside me yet, but they were close, and felt ridiculously good.

I clutched his shirt as we both panted after my insanely fast climax. He couldn’t have gotten off with me, and the intensity in his gaze confirmed he hadn’t yet.

His jaw was clenched.

His hand went still.

“Better?” His voice was so gravelly that I almost wondered if he was going to shift, but my heat would keep his wolf suppressed. His gorgeous eyes were free of the beast, too.

“For a minute.”

He jerked his head. “If you’re not in pain, I can get us home.”

Home.

What a word. I hadn’t felt like I had a home since my stalker left a dead animal at my doorstep years earlier. Even before then, none of my homes were all that comfortable.

Clay’s home wouldn’t be mine, either.

But that didn’t make it sound any less appealing. Anything was cozier than the tiny, top-floor apartment I’d been forced into, with a dozen security cameras facing the door.

“Okay.” I started to ease myself off Clay’s lap, but the hand he’d had in my hair went to my waist instead, pulling me down hard against him. His other hand was still in my pants, his fingers pressed exactly where I wanted them.

“Stay here.” Clay’s words were low. He wasn’t leaving room for argument.

And I didn’t want to argue.

He put the car in drive again, and slowly started down the dirt road once more. We’d been stopped in the middle of it, but we were on the outskirts of Stray. There probably wasn’t another vehicle within an hour of us.

The car bounced lightly over the rocks and potholes, and I bit my cheek to stop myself from moaning at the friction. Need slowly swelled in my abdomen again. The pain wouldn’t truly end until heat was over, and that couldn’t happen through fingering.

He would have to knot me.

There was no other way.

And in the moment, I didn’t want another way.

“Tell me this is as bad as it gets, Gorgeous.”

His cock was throbbing against my inner thigh. He hadn’t gotten off yet, so the rut would be riding him hard.

“This is still just the beginning, Savage.” My hands compulsively went down to the bottom hem of his shirt, my fingers slipping beneath it. “Can I…”

“Yes.”

I unbuttoned his shirt with unsteady hands and worked it over his thick shoulders. He helped me tug it free, and my hands went down to the button of his jeans, trapped between us. “Do you care if I?—“

“You’re not a woman who asks permission, Nova. Stop asking.”

Heat flooded me.

He growled when my core grew wetter, and he dragged his fingers over the slick, swollen skin. “You feel just as good as you smell. Bet you taste even better.”

I unbuttoned his jeans and ran a hand over the front of his boxer-briefs. His erection strained the fabric, and felt amazing beneath my hand. “You’re huge.”

“Proportionally large.”

“Unlike my tits.”

He barked out a laugh. “You’re tiny, so they’re proportionally small.”

“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

He parked the car again and put a hand on my abdomen, using it to ease me away from his chest.

I thought he was pushing me away, until he captured one of my nipples in his mouth.

He gripped the other in his hand, and kissed them both slowly, but roughly. With his tongue and teeth too. He wasn’t just licking or tasting them—he was making love to them.

Heat’s haze made me focus entirely on the moment. The way he touched me and kissed me. The throb of his cock against my hand, and the feel of his fingers between my thighs.

I came again quickly, gasping through the orgasm.

It seemed to take him a lot of effort to finally release my tits, but when he did, he shut the car off and threw the door open. His hand gripped my core as he hauled me out, and I held onto his shoulders to keep myself upright.

“Is there any way we get out of this without going all the way?” he asked, his breathing ragged as he typed a code into a large, modern door that I could see the far side of. I was facing away from the front of the house, but I assumed it was a monstrosity. His brother’s definitely was.

My stomach tightened with discomfort, though my desire didn’t fade. And wouldn’t. Not until heat was over.

“You can try.”

Clay carried me through the door and into a spacious living room. It was modern and clean, and smelled like cinnamon just like he did. But it wasn’t a mansion. It was just a house. A nice one.

I saw two bedrooms and a half-bathroom. Other than an over-the-top kitchen, that was it.

“It’s not a mansion,” I said, surprised.

“Mansions are a waste of money. They’re not even comfortable.” He set me on the countertop and opened my thighs, leaning in to capture my mouth again. The base of his palm ground against my clit as his tongue parted my lips, claiming my mouth brutally.

I slid my hands into his hair, tangling them in the wavy strands.

He stepped closer, tilting my head back to kiss me deeper and harder.

His fingers brushed my entrance, and he shuddered.

His teeth skimmed my lip, the sharp tip of a fang catching hard enough to draw blood.

I sucked in a breath, and he swore, ripping his face away from mine.

In one rough motion, he jerked away from me entirely. His shirt was off, his hair was a mess, and his jeans were unbuttoned to show off the massive erection fighting with his boxer-briefs.

He was stunning.

Completely and utterly gorgeous.

And then, he was gone.

The front door slammed hard behind him, the entire frame shaking.

I stared at it, lifting a trembling hand to my lips.

He didn’t want me.

Of course he didn’t want me. The rut tried to force him to, but he was loyal to his brother. Hunter had claimed me, even if he didn’t want me.

What we’d just done was fucked up on so many levels… but I wanted more.

I did.

And I wasn’t sure I could blame it all on heat.

My phone vibrated in my back pocket. The haze of need was coming over me again, but I was coherent enough to pull the device out. My hands shook as I read the words. It took a few times for them to sink in.

Clay

There are leftovers in the freezer when you get hungry. I’ll wait out here until it’s over. Hunter said about three days.

My eyes burned.

He hadn’t rejected me. That wasn’t what happened. He had never wanted me in the first place. I hadn’t hit on him, so there was nothing to reject. Everything that had happened was all heat’s doing.

It still felt like rejection, though.

Especially with the painful cramps in my abdomen.

It was only going to get worse. So much worse.

I would survive it, though.

I always did.

There was no other choice.