New Beginnings (13 page)

She let go and let the mating bond envelope
her, not that she could have stopped it once it began. She rolled
him back over and took his mouth in a kiss. He held her hips, and
she felt his cock jerk deep inside her as he found his release.

* * * *

Slater’s beast settled and the emptiness
that he hadn’t realized was there filled as Jess fell against his
chest. Their breathing slowed and their pounding hearts calmed.
They fit together perfectly.

He wrapped her in his embrace as he took a
look around. They were in the middle of the floor, tangled around
each other. Words wouldn’t come to him. This wasn’t how it should
have gone, but he wouldn’t change it for the world.

The shrill cry of his phone startled them
both. She jumped up and looked at him then herself and back at him
wide eyed look.

“I need to get that.” He looked around,
spotted his jeans and crawled over to answer his phone. “What’s
up?” He hadn’t caught his breath yet.

Clint hesitated. “Uh, you okay?”

“Fine. What’s up?”

“Liam just got to your house and you aren’t
there. He’ll probably be going over to Jess’ next.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” He clicked off
the phone and hurried into his clothes. “Liam’s coming.”

“Well, shit. He’s not invited in. If you
need to go deal with him, so be it, but I’m not having that pompous
ass here.”

“No, I don’t want him here, but maybe Hayden
should come while I run home. I’ll go through the woods where he
won’t see me. Though, you’ll want a shower. If he smells me on you
we may have more problems.”

She snorted. “He’s not coming in. I’ll
answer the door with a loaded shotgun with silver bullets. I’m not
about to fuck around with this.” She rolled her eyes and pulled her
shirt and panties on but left the rest strewn around the living
room.

“Damn it, Jess.” He growled and she glared
back at him. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I’m warning
you of the danger he poses. I don’t want him here either. I’m going
to send Hayden. Like it or not, you are my mate and I will have you
protected.”

“Stupid fucking wolves. See yourself out. I
won’t take shit from you just because we share some bond.” She
snapped up the rest of her clothes and went back to her room.

He followed her back and spun her around.
“Listen to me. I’m not asking you to do anything you aren’t
comfortable with. Think about this for just a minute. Liam wants my
position but he couldn’t handle being Alpha even in his prime. If
he knows we’re mated, he’s going to have a lot more ammo to use
against me, and against you.”

Her eyes widened and she jabbed him in the
chest. “You don’t want to tell anyone about us?” She flung her
hands up and spun back around. “Fine, we don’t tell anyone. If you
think that means I’m okay with you fucking around with other
people, you’re dead wrong.”

She had every right to be pissed if she
really believed he could do that to her. What the hell had he done
to make her think that? Then he caught the scent of her hurt.

Shit, this wasn’t going right at all, and
Slater wasn’t sure how to fix it. “Look, I don’t want to hide this.
Honestly, I don’t, but until we figure out what Liam has planned,
it’s best that we act as if nothing happened. Just for now. I swear
it, but I’m not fucking anyone else. I don’t know what gave you
that impression, but I’m not that guy.”

“Fine.” She groaned, the heat in her tone
dissipating slightly. “That means you should be leaving before he
shows up, because he should be here anytime.” She shoved him toward
the door and then pulled her pants up.

Sighing, he left through the window she had
wide open. “Please consider locking the windows until we get to the
bottom of this.”

She took a deep breath and made a motion for
him to go. He turned and dialed Hayden as he disappeared into the
woods. Before the night was over he would be back. Right now, he
needed to make a few calls. Then they would have a nice long
talk.

* * * *

Jess was ticked. Do this, don’t do that.
What the hell? She was her own person, mated or not.

Fuck. She was mated to the Alpha. That was
the last thing she needed.

With a heavy sigh, she hurried into the
shower and scrubbed off Slater’s scent in under a minute.

Unfortunately, the infuriating man had a
point, and that was the only reason she did it. She dried off and
then hurried into jeans and a tank before grabbing her phone and
dialing.

“Hi, Jess. I thought Slater was with you
tonight?” Brody sounded confused. She didn’t blame him.

She took a deep breath. “Long story. I can
fill you in. That is if you aren’t too busy. I want to go shopping
to get some food for the bar.”

“Uh… sure. Is everything all right?”

Her laugh bordered on hysterical but she cut
it off quickly. “Yeah. I’ll be there shortly.”

She hung up, locked her door but not the
windows, and then rushed to her truck. She considered taking his
advice. But damn it, she wouldn’t under normal circumstances, so to
hell with it. She drove out of the driveway just as Liam stepped
into it. She flipped him off and kept going down to Brody’s.

Slater could make whatever he wanted out of
her leaving. If the dickhead had been smart, he would have gone
with her somewhere else. Hell, she didn’t even get to enjoy the
afterglow after mating.

Mating… shit, not what she wanted,
especially if they had to pretend like nothing happened.

Sure, she had all good visions of them
together, but they all involved sex, every last one, except the one
of him holding her after something really bad happened.

She wanted him, all of him. She wanted to
build something real. She didn’t want a glorified fuck buddy with a
mate bond. She knew if he so much as flirted with another woman in
front of her, she would rip him to shreds.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” she
muttered to herself.

Her phone rang and she put it on speaker.
“What?”

“You’re mad. Aren’t you?” Slater asked.

“Ya think? That was a shitty way to leave.
Telling me what to do, even if you say that’s not what you’re
doing, was exactly what you were doing.”

“It was a suggestion, one you didn’t have to
take. Apparently you didn’t.” He sighed heavily. “Look, Jess, we
need to have a long talk.”

“Why? So far you want to hide what’s between
us, and you want to tell me what to do.”

He growled. “I don’t want to hide us, but
that seems the best option. And no I don’t want you to feel like
you have to do what I say when I say it. But damn it, Jess, you
need to listen to me, and I need to listen to you. We need to work
together.”

“Fine, we’ll work together when you have
time to talk to me.” She hung up.

The phone rang immediately. She pulled into
Brody’s driveway and stopped the truck. “What?”

“I have time to talk. What are you doing?”
His voice had gentled.

Jess groaned. “I don’t. I’m picking Brody up
to do some shopping for the bar. You didn’t want Liam to think you
and I were together. I figure if I’m in town with Brody, obviously
not doing any hanky-panky, the prick can chill.”

“You didn’t want Hayden around?”

“I don’t know Hayden. I’m not comfortable
just chilling with the big giant of a man whose middle name should
be
Suspicious
.”

“Fair enough. Please, call me when you get
home. I do want to talk to you.” He was actually being reasonable.
She felt like a bitch for her reaction, but it hurt when he decided
leaving without her was the best option.

“We’ll see.” She hung up just in time for
Brody to come out to the truck.

As soon as she unlocked the doors, he
climbed in beside her. One golden eyebrow rose as he looked over.
“So tell me what the hell is going on. Hayden just called to bitch
about you not being home when you were supposed to be.”

Jess sighed and told him what happened since
leaving the bar, minus any naked details. She finished as she
pulled into the bigger grocery store a couple of towns over.

“Mated? I never thought the old man would do
that again.” He half-laughed. “And you, well I just figured you
would stay away from anyone you could mate with.”

Her eyes slid over to Brody and she
shrugged. “He was hard to resist.” Slightly embarrassed by that
statement, she slipped out of the truck.

Brody followed her to the store, shaking his
head. “So you were just horny? The two people who might be even
less likely to mate than me, are mated together?” He snorted in
amusement. “And you were just horny?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen him do a
single thing wrong in any vision. Then again, I haven’t seen him do
anything to make me think this winds up being more than just sex.”
The vision of his tear streaked face played through her mind, and
she heard her call her name. “Or maybe I have,” she whispered.

What if his response was to nearly losing a
mate and nothing more? She groaned

“What did you see?”

“Shit,” she leaned against the truck, and
Brody stood a good few feet away from her but watched her
cautiously. “I think it coincides with the vision of Liam and the
gun.”

“We’ll just have to protect you. Don’t
worry.”

“It’s not that. I lived. Slater was just so
torn apart. I don’t want to see him like that.” She shook her head.
“Maybe I should have listened to him. Damn it.”

Brody laughed softly. “You’ll find that he
does usually know what’s best. Come on. Let’s get the store out of
the way.”

* * * *

Liam had gone home. Anger coursed through
his veins as he paced through the house. He hadn’t scared Jess, he
just ticked her off. Nothing was working out the way he wanted.
Jess and Brody were best friends. She kept her distance from
Slater. Liam couldn’t even get close to her.

He didn’t have a clue what he going to do.
The bar was just about ready to open. He was willing to bet that
Friday would be its first night. That meant it would be after the
full moon. Maybe it would be best to back off and wait until
opening night.

Tossing himself into the seat, he
contemplated his options. Slater was edgy, but maybe it wasn’t
because of Jess. Maybe there was something else going on that he
missed.

“Think, think, think,” he snapped at
himself.

Use Dacia.

Pit her against Jess.

She
’s crazy, she’ll start
something

He picked up his old rotary phone and called
Dacia. The ringing threatened to shatter his head, but he still
called.

“Hello?”

“Evening Dacia.”

“Liam,” she sneered.

“I thought you might want to know that your
man has his eyes on a new little wolf. I figured you might want to
take the opportunity to thwart that Friday night.”

“Are you referring to Jess Abrams?”

“I am.”

“I’ll check into it, but I doubt it. Slater
certainly seems interested in her. He nearly ripped my throat out
for talking to her. She avoids him like the plague. Seems to me,
she’s tempted by her alpha, but is trying like hell not to be.”

Good point. He had a feeling that was the
case, but he hadn’t really thought of it like that.

“Well, how about you help me just in case,
and I’ll help you. Brody is getting close with Jess, and it’s been
a couple of years since he’s had a woman under him. Jess might just
give him a pity fuck if you aren’t careful.”

The jealous bitch snarled, “Talk.”

Slater was going crazy waiting. Normally, he
was a patient man, but just then he was pacing a ditch through her
backyard. He stayed there, where he would be out of sight.

Where the hell was she? He expected her to
be gone for an hour or so, not all damned night.

His phone buzzed and he scrambled to answer
it. “Brody, is she alright?”

“Yes.” He sounded vaguely amused. “She just
dropped me off. She’s on her way home.”

Taking a deep breath, he slumped onto the
porch. “Tell me she isn’t second guessing what we did.”

“How do you know she told me anything?”

“Just a hunch,” Slater grumbled

“Right. Well, she wanted to talk. I think
she is worried about how your relationship is going to go. You are
the Alpha. She’s been around wolves a long time and her last Alpha
sounds like a real piece of work.”

“Tell me about it. Gregory is the scum of
the earth.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Is she all right? Is
she still mad?”

“Uh, yeah. I kind of get why too. I mean you
guys had
just
mated and you told her you didn’t want anyone
to know, and then leave. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Apparently I wasn’t.” He rubbed the back of
his neck. “I did it to protect her. Not to hurt her.”

“And then you told her to shut the windows.”
Brody chuckled. “She isn’t one of those women who will just accept
a man taking over. I have a feeling she’d run long and far to avoid
that.”

“You’re right.” Slater pushed a hand through
his hair. It had been loose since he left her place and he hadn’t
realized it until just then.

“Look, just talk to her. I’m sure you’ll
figure it out.”

“Later, Brody.” He hung up and walked around
the cabin. Just a couple minutes later, Jess pulled in and climbed
out of the truck. She watched him without moving as he
approached.

“Can we talk?”

Her eyes were filled with fire. “Is that a
request? Or a demand veiled as a request?”

“Request. Tell me to go, and I will. I would
like to talk though.”

“Fine, come in.” She walked around him and
up to the porch.

“Why are you so pissed off?”

She slammed her hand against the wall and
threw the door open before storming inside.