A Wolf's Obsession (26 page)

Just tell me what you can. Anything you can’t think to say or you just can’t get out don’t worry about. I’ll piece it together. I’m a clever girl you know?

The warmth and amusement in her voice made him relax and things suddenly seemed much clearer. “I can’t claim you without proving to the instinct that you know who and what I am. I have to show that I can provide for you, that I’m strong enough to protect you…I have to prove that I’m worthy of you.”

And how do we do that?

“We’ll need to spend a day together with me in my wolf form. It’ll show the instinct that you know what I am and are happy to have me as a mate. Until that happens I can’t take your body.” His gaze was hungry and as he spoke he devoured her with his eyes, leaving her in no doubt that he wanted nothing more than to take her…heart, body and soul. “I wish I could but the instinct won’t physically let me take you unless I show you what I am first.”

What would happen if we didn’t do that first?

“I’d be forced to change into a wolf but the change would be agonising. The instinct punishes wolves who try to ignore it and you end up doing what it wanted anyway.”

She winced. Wyatt hadn’t complained when he’d torn his heart out, he hadn’t said a word when Anna had tortured him…if he said the pain was agonising it had to be something truly horrific. She didn’t want him going through that.
I’d rather that didn’t happen to you. I can spend a day with a wolf.

Smiling, he squeezed her hand. “We’ll have to be outside.” He waited for the words of protest to come from her mouth. He had his counter arguments prepared and was ready for battle. None of the human women he knew had willingly gone into the woods even for the claiming. The men in his family had spent a great many months of his childhood explaining what he should say to his mate when this moment came. Drawing from a wealth of memories, he waited with baited breath for Kass’ response.

I thought as much.

“You sound pretty relaxed. You’re not going to tell me that you hate the idea of spending a day in the forest?”

I’ve had to spend nights outside before. Sometimes it was the only way to get away from Ethan. As long as you stay with me I’m sure it’ll be amazing.

“You’re amazing.”

Just because I don’t hate camping?

“Because you’re always surprising me.”

Things would be pretty boring if we could always predict what would happen.
Her easy, relaxed smile chased away any of his lingering doubts. His mate wanted him and she wanted the claiming to happen. Life was good.

So you take me out into the woods for a day and then ravish me the next.
She laughed, trying hard to make light of the situation. Wyatt’s hard stare quickly brought her laughter to an end
. Wyatt?

“I won’t be waiting until the next day. As soon as the sun sets and the moon rises, you’ll be mine.”

His heated voice washed over her and made her shiver in anticipation. She squeezed his hand and forced a smile she didn’t really feel. “And then that’ll be it. We’ll be mates forever. No going back?”

The uncertainty in her voice made Wyatt tense. “Mating is permanent, it’s more permanent than the human equivalent of marriage. There’s no word for divorce in wolf speak. When we mate that’ll be it. The only way to end a mating is of one of us to die and as I have no intention of that happening any time soon then yes, it’ll be forever.”

She took a deep breath, her head starting to spin. Shaky hands reached for the almost empty glass of water and she swallowed the last of it in a single gulp. Her chest rising and falling quickly, she forced her throat to work. Her connection to Wyatt was her strength but having his mind merged with hers when she didn’t truly understand her own thoughts was a recipe for disaster. “I feel like we missed a step.” Her voice was raspy but it got stronger the longer she spoke and with her mind a mess, words spilled from her lips unimpeded by conscious thought. “Most people wait months, years, even before they even start thinking of getting married and starting a family. I’ve only known you a few weeks and in a few days there’ll be no going back. This, this thing between us will be forever. The idea of forever is too much for lots of people and they aren’t even going to live that long. We are Wyatt. When we’re talking about forever, we mean it literally. What if after a few weeks we feel differently about each other. Have you even thought about that?”

His smile was relaxed and it made Kass feel nervous. After all that she’d said she would have expected him to blow up and plough his fist into a wall but he’d never looked so calm. It was disconcerting. Clearly she wasn’t the only one capable of being surprising.

“Kass, even if I didn’t claim you in the next few days we’d still be forever. We’re mates and nothing can change that. If you run, I’ll chase you. If you die, I’ll follow you in a heartbeat. We’re destined and there’s no running away from this. I know why you’re nervous. You’ve been running from Ethan your whole life so you’ve never had the chance to really think about the future and now, when you’re so close to being free I come in and tell you that we’re bound together for eternity. It must feel like you’re losing your freedom all over again. You’re not.” He leaned forward and rubbed his cheek against hers savouring her sweet scent. Soon their scents would merge and he’d be able to carry her around with him at all times…as long as he could convince her that the claiming was what was best for her.

We’ll do it,
the wolf said confidently.

The wolf’s faith was contagious and Wyatt quickly agreed with his other half. He might not have spent years thinking about what he would say to his mate when the time came but he had the instinct on his side. He couldn’t fail. “I’ll be here for you in whatever you do and you’ll always know that I’m supporting you. I’ll be your safety net. You’re free to do whatever you want and you’ll know that there’ll always be someone in your corner no matter what you do. Even if you did something wrong I’d back you. I’d follow you to hell and stay there if that’s what you wanted. I love you Kass and you love me too. It’s scary I know but we’re stronger together.”

Her lips twitched in the beginnings of a genuine smile. With every word that he’d spoken her fears had melted away until all that was left was the warm feeling she experienced whenever she thought of her mate. The future was a daunting prospect for someone who’d never expected to live this long but she’d be able to face whatever the world threw at her because she’d have a loyal and fierce wolf in her corner. Sighing, she leaned her head against his. “I love you too. I’m sorry about that. You didn’t need that.”

“Never apologise to me. You’ll never have done something that I think is sorry worthy. You have every right to be afraid. You haven’t been thinking about this your whole life and I have. I’m your mate, if you have fears I want to know about them so I can make them go away. That’s what I’m here for.”

She nodded in agreement, took a deep breath and tried to get back to get Wyatt to relax. He’d done a lot better than she’d thought he would. Only a few days ago the very idea of her having second thoughts about the claiming would have sent him into a violent spiral but today he’d shown that she wasn’t the only one changing because of their mating. They were good for each other. “So you take me into the woods, we spend a day together with you as a wolf then you claim me when it gets dark? It sounds like a plan…a good plan. I can’t wait.”

Pleased with her analysis of the upcoming day’s events Kass pulled away from Wyatt expecting him to be beaming with joy but his smile didn’t reach his eyes and she frowned in confusion. Questions almost spilled from her lips but her mind reached for his instinctively, trying to solve his problem and help her mate.

Don’t tell her about the chase. Don’t tell her about the chase. Don’t tell her about the chase.
The words repeated in his mind on loop and she tried hard to prevent herself from frowning in confusion. His agitation had made him forget that she could hear his thoughts, now was not the time to remind him of that.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I’ll make it good for you, I promise. I’ll take care of everything. All I want you to focus on is getting better so that the claiming can happen without any problems.”

She forced a yawn she didn’t feel hoping he would get the hint so that she could delve into his mind and see what it was that he wasn’t telling her. Whatever the chase was it was clearly important to him otherwise he wouldn’t have tried to hide it from her. She hid another smile in a yawn. Didn’t he realise that there was no hiding a secret from your mate? He was the one that was constantly reminding her that there were no lies or secrets between mates and yet here he was trying to keep one from her. It didn’t matter that it was probably for her own good, all that mattered was that there was something about the claiming that he was keeping from her. If he wanted the claiming to go off without a hitch then she had to know everything and thanks to her connection with his mind she fully intended to know what she was heading into. If he wasn’t going to tell her then she’d just have to go rooting about his brain for the knowledge.

He stood up and ran his fingers through her hair before he kissed her. Brushing his lips over hers, he tried to keep things light; there was no point in getting worked up when relief was days away. His attempt failed miserably. The taste of her exploded in his brain sending every nerve in his body on to full alert. He groaned then pressed his lips against her
s more firmly, sighing contentedly when she began kissing him back. His hot tongue slid over the seam of her lips silently asking for an invitation and he got one quickly. Her luscious lips parted on a breathy sigh and he quickly pressed his advantage, sliding his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues tangled furiously, each trying hard to taste the other before Wyatt pulled back. Her heart was racing and she was running out of breath. With the claiming only days away there was no way he was going to risk his chance to claim his mate just because he couldn’t control himself.

His lack of control made him curse. There was only one thing that could make him risk the claiming happening successfully. His mind had been so focused on getting back to Kass that he hadn’t stopped to think about anything else but now reality was unavoidable. “Kass,” he sighed and rubbed the strands of her flaming red hair between his fingertips. “The moon is full.” He didn’t need to look out of a window to know that the milky orb had would be taking up residence in the sky tonight. His skin itched with the need to let his wolf free and allow reason and logic to disappear. The moon changed things. It made him dangerous. It was difficult enough reasoning with the wolf on a good day but the moon would drive every thought from the wolf’s mind. He wouldn’t remember there were reasons that they couldn’t claim their mate, all that he’d be thinking about would be fulfilling its instincts.

The frown she’d been working so hard to hide appeared quickly. “Does that change things?”

You have no idea.
Another sigh left his lips this time much heavier. How to phrase this so that she doesn’t freak out? His mind raced to come up with the perfect words to explain the situation. “My control…isn’t going to be as good as I’d like for it to be and with my…” It was never easy discussing the broken state of his mind especially with his mate. Who would want to admit to such a massive flaw especially when it had been responsible for hurting her in the past?
I don’t have a choice.
She deserves to know the truth and if she doesn’t want to go ahead with this then that’s her right.
“With my…condition, I might try to claim you before your birthday. I can’t let that happen. Your heart wouldn’t be able to take it especially not with the moon, I’d have to take you again and again until the wolf was satisfied…that might not be until the next morning when the moon has disappeared.”

She didn’t have to read his thoughts to know where he was going with this. “No. You are not going to allow yourself to be restrained. I can talk to the wolf, I can reason with him. I know he doesn’t want to hurt me–”

“Not deliberately,” he interrupted. “But that doesn’t change the fact if I hang around then I’ll be putting you at risk. I can’t live with the idea of hurting you again. I’ve done enough of that to last me a lifetime.”

“Well then don’t hang around. Go somewhere else but I’m not having you restrained because of me. I’ve seen enough of
you
being hurt to last me two lifetimes and seeing as I’m the only one in this room that has actually lived two lives then I win. You don’t like the idea of me being hurt and I feel the same.”

He started to pace the length of the room. “Running could work,” he mumbled under his breath. “If I could get far away enough then you’d be safe and by the time I got back I’d have worn myself out, I’d be able to be gentler with your body.”

“This is sounding like a win, win situation. I’m not going anywhere for the next few days. I’ll stay here, get better and then by the time you’re back I’ll be one hundred percent fit and ready for the claiming.”

He rubbed his chin in thought. It didn’t take long to make a decision. “I’ll go. You stay here. Dylan will take care of you and you’ll be safe. Promise me you’ll stay here. If I don’t know you’re safe I won’t be able to stay away.”

“You’re sure it’s safe here?” she joked.

“My family is here, they’ll protect you with their lives. As long as you stay inside these walls nothing bad will happen to you. Promise me Kass, promise me you’ll stay here.”