Page 24 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)

~Troy~

I’d never felt the kind of undiluted rage that flowed through my body when Amanda outlined how her father treated her. As if she were inadequate, or unworthy.

How could he not see the incredibly strong woman that I did every time I looked at her?

“He might be responsible for the necklace,” she conceded, still mulling over my last words.

“It makes as much sense as anything else I’ve come up with.

If it was left in my mother’s jewellery intentionally, with the goal of binding me to the genie, it had to be someone who knew it would cause me harm and wanted that to happen. My father fits that criteria.”

Though she kept her tone neutral and analytical, I didn’t miss the tightening of her lips or the flash of pain that crossed her eyes so quickly that most people wouldn’t have noticed.

She was putting on a brave face, playing a part like she always did.

Being so strong that no one would notice the hurt underneath.

But I saw it.

I always had.

“He’s lucky he’s not in the territory right now,” I growled, the palms of my hands pressing into my thighs so I didn’t give into the urge to punch the concrete wall.

That wouldn’t accomplish anything, hurting me more than anything else, but I needed to put that energy somewhere .

“Now that he’s not my Alpha, he’d find out exactly what I’m capable of. ”

One of Amanda’s manicured eyebrows rose, a ghost of a smile dancing over her lips. “Oh, really?”

“You don’t think I could take him?” My chest puffed out on instinct, my muscles rippling beneath the fabric of my shirt, jumping with anticipation at even the thought of getting my hands on the man who’d denied me the greatest blessing of my life for far too long.

“I think it’s easy to say when we’re locked up and he’s thousands of miles away.” She leaned back, her hands on the mattress behind her and that faint almost-smile still hovering over her mouth. “Talk is cheap.”

Was she trying to rile me up? “As Alpha, he hid behind the power of his bloodline and his authority over the pack. Man-to-man, he wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Again, my muscles flexed almost out of my control, and Amanda’s eyes dropped to the taut sleeves stretched over my biceps. “You are awfully… large… for an unranked wolf.”

She wasn’t the first to make that observation.

Among werewolves, the highest-ranked men were usually the tallest and strongest, genetic traits passed down in their bloodlines.

But occasionally, there would be exceptions and I’d always been the biggest one in my class, in my training program, and now in my unit.

Something in the way she said it made me pause, though, and when her eyes flicked up to mine, just for a second, amusement danced in those gorgeous brown depths.

“You’re teasing me,” I realized, a little too late.

“The conversation was getting a little too depressing,” she confirmed, tossing her head back so that the long, brown waves of her hair hung down so far, they almost touched the mattress. “I don’t want to talk about my father anymore. I don’t want to think about any of it, not right now.”

This side of her was new, at least to me.

With the air somewhat cleared between us, the past finally on full display even if neither of us had brought up what it might mean for our future, the tension that always existed between us eased.

Some of the weight that hung over my heart for seven years had lifted, and I had to guess she felt the same.

She seemed lighter, almost buoyant. A little giddy, even.

As soon as I stopped to really let the conversation we’d just had sink in, I felt it too.

In the weeks since her father left, we’d gone in circles, spinning our wheels, her trying to push me away and me resisting. Now, we could put that to one side and suddenly, the path ahead seemed full of new possibilities.

I forced my body to relax as I mirrored her pose, leaning back until my face came into alignment with hers. A few feet still separated us but after years of seeing her only from a distance, it felt like nothing. “So, you’d rather talk about my… size?”

The deliberate pause before the final word made it clear that it could have multiple meanings and Amanda grinned, obviously pleased I’d decided to play along. Fuck, she was beautiful when she smiled. Instantly, the tug towards her, always there in the background, grew stronger.

“I can think of worse things to discuss,” she said, her eyes still gleaming with that teasing playfulness.

“I can also think of better things,” I countered. “Wouldn’t want to get you all worked up when we might be called back at any minute.”

I held my breath for a moment after the words left my mouth, not sure if I’d pushed things too far, but she simply laughed, her head tipping back again, drawing my attention to that gorgeous cascade of thick hair.

If she had any idea how many times I’d wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it or wrap it around my fist, she’d probably have me committed.

“I’d be more worried about you getting worked up,” she replied, casting a meaningful glance towards my lap where the bulge in my uniform cargo pants had definitely grown over the last minute or so. “It’s a little more obvious for you than for me.”

This little game she’d started was quickly moving into dangerous territory. The air sizzled between us, thick with electricity, and for the first time since that very first night when we found each other, it actually seemed possible that it might ignite.

“I don’t know about that,” I shot back, my voice thick with building lust. “Visually, it might be more obvious, but don’t rule out the sense of smell.”

To prove my point, I inhaled deeply and nearly groaned when I caught the faint aroma I’d been hoping for, just behind her delicious mate scent.

She was getting fucking turned on.

Rather than looking embarrassed or uncertain at my discovery, Amanda held my gaze steadily. “It doesn’t take much at this point. It’s been a long time for me.”

“I know.” The words were so throaty, they barely sounded like English. Based on the last time I felt the agony of her pleasure at another man’s hands, she hadn’t had sex for eleven months and twelve days. That was a long time, but not nearly as long as it had been for me.

Regret flashed across her beautiful face as she absorbed that response, and I could have kicked myself for throwing the equivalent of a wet blanket onto the growing heat between us. However, just as quickly as the mood dipped, Amanda pulled it back up, raising her chin a little higher.

“Well, how about you let me take care of that before it becomes an even… bigger… issue?”

Again, her eyes moved to my lap, and my bones turned liquid. Did she actually mean she would…?

Holy fuck, Hunter breathed in my head, sounding just as awed and hopeful as I felt. How the hell did we get here? It seemed like a fucking dream.

There was just one little problem with that scenario, which I realized as soon as some of the blood that rushed to my dick gradually returned to my brain.

“There’s no world in which my mate gets me off before I do the same for her.”

Amanda’s eyes widened in surprise, either at my declaration or my tone, I couldn’t be sure which. Maybe both.

But a moment later, a slow, devilish smile spread across her lips. “Who says it has to be one or the other?”