Jace (River Pack Wolves 2) (Paranormal Romance) (21 page)

Jace grimaced. That was all too likely. “No matter what, I’m not going to let him near you again.”

She shook her head. “I’m not worried about that. I just want him to pay for what he’s done. Unlike Agent Smith.”

“Wait… what? What happened to Agent Smith?”

“Daniel says someone sprung him after about three hours. I think he must have some kind of connection to pretty high-level brass, maybe even Senator Krepky. As far as I know, he’s still planning to propose that law about shifters—you know, the one where we all have to register? I’m sure the good Senator would be willing to pull some strings to keep Agent Smith out of the limelight and pin all of this on my father. Not that he’s innocent, but one rogue Colonel is a whole different thing than the Feds being directly involved. He’ll want to keep all that as quiet as possible when he goes for the new legislation.”

“Well, that’s easy, then,” Jace said with a tight smile. “We don’t keep quiet.”

Piper nodded. “Olivia’s already talking about taking the entire story to some guy in the press she knows. I guess she used to be a reporter or something?”

“Yeah. And that sounds like a reasonable approach.” He ran his fingertips across her pale cheeks—she allowed it, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. She was still hiding something. He pressed on. “So, Olivia will take it to the press. Daniel will try to get your father to pay for what he’s done. And Agent Smith might manage to slither under a rock. What’s left?”

She took a deep breath, still avoiding his gaze. “Noah’s going back overseas.”

“I can imagine he’d like to get far away from here.” Jace ducked his head and peered into her dark eyes, which were fixed on his chest. Was that it? Was she planning to go back to work overseas as well? Was that what she was hesitating to tell him?

The distant howl of his wolf welled up from deep inside him. It surged closer to the surface, but Jace was no longer afraid his beast would burst out at any moment. He and his wolf had just been reacquainted, and it felt good to be able to listen to what his wolf was telling him again. And right now, his wolf was insisting that Jace not let his mate go. Only Piper wasn’t his mate—and she’d already made it very clear she never wanted one. Hot sex? Yes. Fall in love? Maybe. But a magical bond that forever tied her to him? No. And Jace could understand why—her father had abused everyone he loved, including his mate… who eventually killed herself to escape it. If all that had happened to him, Jace wasn’t sure he would ever take the chance, either.

Piper was keeping silent, obviously struggling for words. He gave her time, not pushing.

Eventually, she said, “Daniel’s going to stay here in Seattle at the Joint Base. Partly, I think, to make sure my father pays for what he did. Partly because Daniel’s finally out from under his shadow—now he can have a career of his own. Taking down his own father and this horrible shifter experimentation program might even be what launches it.”

“Good for Daniel.” Jace waited, but it was clear he was going to have to force this out of her. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?” But he could tell by the way she was avoiding looking at him that she knew exactly what he meant.

Jace slid his hands up from her waist, along the soft length of her arms, and up to hold her cheeks gently by his fingertips. He tilted her face and brought her eyes up to meet his.

“I know you don’t want to mate,” he said softly. “And I get why. Your father has ruined so many lives, I’m sure you can’t imagine mating as anything other than being horrifically trapped.”

Her eyes were wide, and her lip trembled a little. It reminded him of when they made love, and how open and vulnerable she had been to him. His wolf responded to that sweetness and surged inside him, wanting to protect her from anything and everything that might hurt her. Including mating with him, if that was how it had to be.

“Having a mate…” He swallowed thickly, the words getting caught in his throat. “Well, it’s not something I thought I would be able to have. But thanks to you, my wolf and I have a new understanding—one that doesn’t involve him rampaging at night, out of control. And one where I listen to him, keep him close. As it should be. And right now, he’s telling me to sink my fangs into you and claim you for my own.”

Her lips parted, and he could feel her chest heaving. He pushed one hand back through her hair and pulled her in for a quick kiss, soft and light and full of the tenderness he held in his heart for her.

Then he pulled back and continued, “It wasn’t possible before, but now, I think I could—and I have you to thank for that. You’ve settled my wolf in a way he never was, even before what happened in Afghanistan. I have a faith in him that I didn’t have before, now that I know the truth about what he did. What
we
did, together. But that doesn’t change how you feel about mating—I understand that.”

She shook her head in small rapid movements. “You
should
have a mate. It’s not right for you to finally know the truth and not be able to reclaim everything an alpha like you should have.”

He smiled. “I won’t lie. Having a mate would be…
incredible.
Everything I’ve ever wanted. But it doesn’t matter… all I want is you, Piper. You said before that you would stay—did you mean it?”

She visibly swallowed, and he didn’t want to push her, but he was dying to know—was this just a three-day torrid affair like many she must have had before? He didn’t think so, but he wasn’t sure she wouldn’t just walk away, now that her brother had been found. He needed to hear it straight from her lips, whatever the answer was going to be.

“Well, Seattle
is
a pretty city,” she said, her voice trembling, “and there’s plenty of counterintelligence work to do here—not least, I’d like to figure out what Krepky is really up to.” She was changing the subject again.

And he wasn’t going to let that happen. “I thought you liked traveling the world.”

“I think, maybe, I’ve had enough of the world for a while.” She touched him again, tracing her fingers from one scar to the next. She seemed to be searching for words, so he waited. “There’s only one person my wolf has ever cried for,” she whispered. “Only one she was ever willing to do
anything
for… including submit.” She dragged her dark eyes up to meet his.

His heart swelled. “You would?” He held perfect still, holding his breath, unsure he had even heard her right.

“Only for you.” She bit her lip.

The joy welling up inside him was almost too much to contain. He let his hands slide to her shoulders and pulled her in for another kiss.

“Are you sure?” he gasped, his lips brushing hers. “If you do this, Piper, I promise—I’ll never be anything like your father.”

She smiled, her lips curving against his. “I know.” She pulled back to look him in the eyes. “You’re already a better man than anyone I know. And your wolf… goddammit, Jace, your wolf is fucking hot.”

A bubble of laughter rose and burst out of him. “I’m fairly certain you’re the only person who’s ever thought that.”

She looked askance at him. “I doubt that.” She slid her arms around him and rose up in his lap, pressing her T-shirt clad chest against his bare one. “And if so, then everyone else is a complete idiot.”

He gripped her hard, kissing her, barely believing she was actually doing this. Actually willing to do this. For him.
With him.

He had to ask one more time. “Piper Wilding, I’ve never wanted anything so badly in this life as I’ve wanted to claim you as my mate. Please tell me you mean it. Please tell me that you believe me when I say I’ll do everything in my power to love and protect you all the days of my life.”

This time, there was no hesitation, just a smile. “Love is daring to be who you really are with someone. At least, that’s how it should be. How I want it to be. And I want to take that dare with you.”

His wolf growled in his need for her. Jace tipped her back on the bed so that she was lying on top of the blankets and his body was covering hers. “Goddammit, I want you so badly,” he growled into her neck between hungry kisses. He really didn’t need the words—his rock-hard cock was already pressing into her belly, explaining everything for him. What he needed was to remove all her clothing instantaneously.

“I like the sound of that,” she whispered, holding his head and opening her neck more to his fervent tasting. But then she pushed him back and wriggled out from under him. She shifted to her wolf form as she went, rolling off the bed and landing on her paws in one smooth motion. She stood there, with her glistening black fur silver-tipped by the moonlight, eyes bright and shining for him. Then she stretched her paws forward, leaning back with her rump in the air and dipping her head.

The submission pose.
She was submitting to him, and it charged his body with magic… and he wasn’t even in wolf form yet, where it would be ten times more powerful. He brought his wolf out, and the magic surged inside him. The aches of the surgery and his wounds quickly faded, erased almost literally by her love.

He jumped down from the bed—his wolf form was so large that his ears had nearly been brushing the ceiling. He stood on all fours before her, tail erect, standing proud, striking the alpha pose that her submission automatically wrenched out of him.

I pledge everything to you, my alpha.
Her thoughts made his heart soar, and then the magic of it rushed him—her magic had a wild feel to it, untamed and strong. He didn’t need to ask—he knew she had never submitted to anyone voluntarily before. His wolf had always been strong, filled to the brim with magical power, but her submission supercharged him even further, literally strengthening him. He had submitted many times to his brother Jaxson, the lead alpha of the River pack, so he knew what it felt like on Piper’s end of things—the rush of magic, the surge of power, wasn’t something he drained from her. It was something they
shared
—each stronger for it. He could see the shine in her eyes grow brighter, her wolf’s mouth dropping open and panting with the heat of it. He was desperate to claim her, right then and there—take her as his mate,
 claiming her with his bite and his love. But 
his hottest fantasies about claiming a mate hadn’t taken place in his dingy bedroom. This was the place where his wolf had thrashed and raged so many nights. They needed to go somewhere else. A
 special place for something as magical as this.

Rise, my love.
He sent the thought to her, releasing her from the submission pose with words he never thought he would be able to say.

She leaped up and hurried over to him. His wolf was so large, she had to lift up on her hind legs to rub her muzzle against his. He dipped his massive head down and rubbed his face all over hers, along her body, covering her with his scent. He wanted to touch every part of her, and soon enough, he would do exactly that. Again and again, forever.

Run with me, my love.
She yipped in response, and he led her out of his bedroom, charging down the stairs and rushing in a headlong chase through the kitchen that had him nipping at her as she playfully tried to catch him back.

Jace vaguely noticed there were other people in the house, milling around in the kitchen and the great room. They gasped in surprise as he and Piper raced past them, heading out into the night.

The others were unimportant.

The only thing that mattered to him was taking Piper Wilding out to the forest that was his home, making mad love to her, and claiming her forever as his mate.

Piper raced to keep up with Jace’s wolf.

Her paws pounded the hard-packed dirt outside the back kitchen door, but he was so big and strong and…
fast.
She could tell he wasn’t even
trying
to race ahead, he just had to keep slowing down to stay close and loop back to nip playfully at her rump. They raced toward the forest outside the River family compound, and he was gorgeous in the moonlight—his thick, black fur shone with the magic of it. His wolf form radiated power, and as he turned back to her, she caught a glimpse of his giant-wolf-sized cock, hard and ready for her. A shudder ran through her—there was no way that thing could fit inside her, but she wouldn’t mind running her tongue and hands along it. Her mouth watered just thinking about it—she wasn’t joking when she said his wolf was
hot.
And that was
before
he had a monster erection. She suddenly got why Jace was so freaking well-endowed in his human form—it was a reflection of his wolf—and she couldn’t wait to have him inside her again.

Not much further,
Jace’s thoughts came to her. He pulled ahead a little, leaping over fallen tree trunks that she could barely clear, his stride four times longer than hers. She struggled to keep up, but the power of the submission bond spurred her on.

She had been frankly terrified of submitting to him, but the bond turned out not to be a cage around her mind, the way she’d always envisioned it had trapped her mother. Submitting to Jace had lifted Piper
up.
Energized and empowered her in a way she never suspected was even possible. Her magic was strengthened, but even more—she felt adored. Protected.
Loved.
It was a literal feeling that enveloped her body, like a warm blanket wrapped around her tenderly and yet lifting her up. 
Rather than trapping her, submitting to Jace had set her free.