Page 22 of Witchblood

“You don’t get to be jealous when I barely know you.”

He snarled, baring teeth a moment, then he crushed his lips to mine, drawing a startled gasp from me that fell into his mouth. His fingers dug painfully into my thigh as he drew out a kiss. I closed my eyes to keep from staring into the intensity of his and just let him take the kiss where he would. I should have been afraid. He could have forced me down on the bed and done to me the same things Felix had. But his hand on my throat was caressing, soothing, fingers sliding from my hair, down my neck and back to trace my throat. His tongue surveyed my mouth, searching out the heat of my own and exploring every bit of me he could reach.

The pain in my leg pulsed. Reminding me of the injury. Liam touched the still tender spots of my head, and I almost cried out again. Pleasure teetered just beyond the edge of pain, and I couldn’t reach it. True desire pooled in my gut. Building in pressure until something cracked between us. Like a door opening with the speed of a flower bud waking to the sun. At first the energy was a trickle, just tiny zips of electricity rising in strength as the bridge between us built. Brick upon brick of energy, light, and electricity until finally power rolled through me in a wave of heat, soothing away my aches in some places and making others burn. Pleasure crashed through me, overriding the pain, swallowing it and sending me on a wave of floundering emotions of desire and need. I clung to him, returning the ferocity of his kiss, and flailing for stability in his embrace.

The kiss went on until I was gasping at the warmth of the power flowing between us. Like a boat oar-less in the ocean we swayed, back and forth, back and forth. A swinging cradle of power that I knew we could build into something large, something more. I yanked myself away, trying to catch my breath and sagging in Liam’s arms. I felt like a ragdoll. Boneless. Aches gone. Tired, yet pulsing with the continued flow of Liam’s energy. It shouldn’t have stayed after I broke the kiss, yet my muscles twitched and pinged with the sensation of his strength running through every cell. Home, my body sang, completion, mate. Fuck.

He cupped my face in his hands. “Much better this time.” He kissed my cheeks gently, thumbs gently massaging my temples. “Now you smell like me, and I haven’t even claimed you yet.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I wasn’t sure if it was from excitement or fear. Was he lying to me? He hadn’t mated with me, right? I knew enough about it to know how rare it was that a wolf actually tied themselves metaphysically to their significant other. It was so rare that it was only whispered about in stories. Mostly I’d read that when a mate died, so did their wolf. Tying themselves to mortality didn’t appeal to a lot of wolves. EvenApahad not officially mate-bonded with his wife, though she was actually a werewolf as well.

“You really didn’t bond with me?” I searched through my head, wondering if I would feel some sort of tie, or link to him. I could still taste him on my lips and feel his power zinging through me. It was unnerving, though not painful.

“There will be no question when we bond.”

“Really? Have you bonded before? What does it feel like?”

Liam sighed like my questions were exhausting him. Or maybe it was the fact that I’d used his energy to heal myself. “I’ve never bonded before, but knew a couple who were.”

“Where are they now?” I would love to question them. Maybe even look at them through alchemy. Would the bond be visible that way? Golden strings tying them together perhaps?

“They passed some years ago.” Liam sounded sad.

“I’m sorry,” I said automatically.

“It’s in the past. For now, we have time.” Liam released me to tend to the stitches and I immediately missed the warmth of his breath on my face. “You’ve healed enough that the stitches can come out.” He dug through his first aid kit again and began to cut them away and tug them free. I barely felt anything as every nerve in my body pinged with electricity. It was almost uncomfortable in its intensity. If this was what it was like when we hadn’t even bonded, I wondered how intense it would be when we mated.

Wait. Not when. If.

Hell, not even if. I’d had more than enough werewolf trouble in my life. The whole reason I’d needed to be healed was because some werewolves had tried to kill me, again. No matter how much I wanted the dream of forever that he’d dropped in my lap, my life never gave me the good stuff.

“Felix will come for me eventually. With or without your permission.” Now that I was healed, I could run.

Liam paused and was quiet for so long that I looked up to meet his gaze. “Don’t make me chase you. I will if I have to. Don’t make me. I’ve waited a year. My wolf has been pacing and fighting with me for a year. Begging to bring you home. Don’t make me chase you.”

“You can’t read my mind. We aren’t bonded. You said we aren’t.”

“I can read your face and body language. You’ve wanted to run since the moment you woke up in my home.”

“Your second doesn’t seem to want me here.”

“Carl doesn’t run the pack. I do.”

“And since you have a pack to run, you really shouldn’t be chasing after me,” I pointed out. “Protecting them should be priority.”

“You are part of my pack now. My wolf won’t let me wait another year. He’ll insist that we follow you.” He paused, then continued, “Only after last year did I know that it was you my wolf was waiting for. He’s very insistent on this. Mine.” He sucked in a deep breath like he was battling his wolf right that second. “Ours.”

One kiss. One great near orgasmic sharing of supernatural energy did not give us wedded bliss. I was a distrustful bastard who’d been through a lot and there were powerful monsters on my tail. “Wolf metaphysics aside, you don’t know what you’re asking for. Felix isn’t the only issue.” Though if the Volkov had given Liam the A-okay, maybe the wolves weren’t such a hurtle. But I had vampires after me, a handful of the fae, and more than my fair share of witches who thought I’d make better use as a spell ingredient than a living being.Witchbloodwas common enough. Omega somewhat rare. The combination was unheard of.

“I can handle your issues,” Liam said dismissively.

“You don’t even know what they are.”

He just shrugged. “As I said before. We have time. My wolf knows you are my mate and will do what it must to protect you. In this, we are in agreement. If I had met you before the attack, would I feel the same? I think we’d likely be mated already. The Volkov invited only the alpha’s he trusted and knew would be interested in you. I’m sure he tempted some with territories, but he weeded out those fast enough. Every alpha in that group had eyes for the Volkov’s little prince. I went with thoughts of territory and curiosity about the prince. I’d long since lost hope that my wolf would pick a mate. Now I’m thrilled he forced us to wait. I could not have chosen a better match.”

“I’m not a prince.” Was barely tolerated in the Volkov’s pack. “And how…we are nothing alike. I don’t understand you at all.”

“Men often forget in the boisterous noise of other men that what they say can be overheard. There was many a discussion about the spiritedwitchbornomega. Your father crossed half of them off his list that first night because they spoke of you as a possession, a thing to be bartered and traded. He made it very clear that you were to be treated as though you were royalty. We all knew before arriving that we were on a short list of alphas the Volkov considered trustworthy enough to care for thewitchchild,but put alphas with other alphas and the stupid really shines.” Liam shook his head. “I am thankful I didn’t say anything regretful, but I heard enough from others to really change my views on some of the alphas I had once respected.”