Seduction (The Journal of the Wolves of Spruce Hollow) (7 page)

The sight of her delicate, curled up form floating in a sea of old letters was actually quite heartbreaking and it wasn’t until that moment that I’d truly understood what my leaving Spruce Hollow had really done to her.

Stunned, I’d walked back to the kitchen, plunked my ass at the table and had a beer while I waited for her to wake up and tried to figure out what to do next.
 

So much for my plans for an easy, peaceful reunion between the two of us.

In the end, I’d decided that hoping for things to go smoothly between us was an unrealistic pipe dream. I knew now that the two of us coming face to face for the first time in five years was probably going to be dirty and ugly. And it was probably going to hurt but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet, not by a long shot.
 

She was my mate and I was a patient man.
 

I’d been waiting so long for her, that to add in another few days, weeks or even months to smooth things over and make things right between us again wouldn’t make a difference in the long run.
 

We would work on our issues and I would finally tell her
everything
, like I should have done a long time ago.
 

My wolf had been right all along; Aspen had deserved to know what was happening between us. She’d deserved to know that we were mates. Things would have been so much easier had she only known.

But even though I had screwed up and done things the hard way, Aspen would still be mine in the end, of that I had no doubt. I’d seen the way her eyes roved over my half naked body while I stood in front of her and brushed my teeth and flicked the channels on the tv. Her pupils were enormous and if pop psychology had taught me anything, it was that enlarged pupils indicated sexual attraction and interest.
 

If any of that were remotely true, well, then Aspen would be tearing her panties off and throwing herself at me any day now.
 

Ha! It didn’t matter, I was so fucking happy to be breathing the same air as her again that I didn’t even care whether we mated any time soon or not. I wanted to reconnect with her and start building some trust.

There would be plenty of time for mating later.

Chapter 8

~Aspen~

I had dozed off.
 

Dammit!
 

How could I have fallen asleep?
I was emotionally and physically worn out, that’s how.
After seeing Roan again and finding out that he had been living in my mother’s house, I just had nothing left to fight with.
 

My emotional reserves had already been depleted by the death of my mother and I was running on empty right now.

 
Lying on my side, snuggled deeply into Roan’s bed, my limbs felt exhausted and heavy. His blankets were so warm and smelled of him. I remembered his scent well, it was one that used to bring me comfort when I was younger. Well, at least up until he’d ripped out my heart and eaten it for breakfast.

Stretching out, I discovered that my hands were untied and I was completely free to move about the bed. I briefly wondered if Roan had come to his senses throughout the night and was going to let me leave?
 

I felt relieved because getting away from him as quickly as possible was forefront in my mind. I desperately needed to return to Springbay so I could try and put the shattered pieces of my life back together.
 

Because Roan was like a freaking tornado. He had the ability to turn me inside out and spin me upside down until I didn’t know which way was up anymore. When I was a teenager, he frequently had me so completely screwed up that I didn’t know what I was doing when I was in his presence.
 

And now here I was again, an adult this time for cripes sake, and he was doing it to me again.
 

From tackling me to the floor. Forcing me to lie in his bed while his half naked, perfect body, lay just inches away from mine. Smiling at me. Looking so happy to see me.
 

It was all a complete mindfuck.

This almost cheerful and content version of Roan was one I had not seen since I was a small girl.
 

The Roan I had come to know was a master manipulator. He dominated and controlled people and bent them to his will. Roan didn’t smile like a lovesick idiot and he certainly never looked happy. He scowled and narrowed his eyes at you. That was the Roan I knew.
 

It completely screwed with my head to see this other happy Roan. He was absolutely freaking me out with all the smiling.

As I pulled the covers off and got up out of bed, I wondered if he was even still in the house right now? Maybe he had gone in to work at the auto body shop? I almost felt relieved at the thought of not having to face him again. It was unnerving being around him again.
 

Tiptoeing over to the door, I listened hard. I wondered if I could make a run for it? The house seemed pretty quiet, as I couldn’t hear a thing, so I cautiously opened Roan’s bedroom door and peered down the hall.
Nothing.
Ha! Roan couldn’t stop me from leaving if he wasn’t here, now could he?

Just to be sure, I silently crept down the hallway, peeking into my old bedroom as I passed by. It was empty too.
 

My heart was pounding like a drum in my chest.
God, where was he?
Was he waiting quietly somewhere to jump out and tackle me to the ground again?
 

Creeping past the living room, I silently made my way toward the front door. I was a nervous wreck as my eyes scanned back and forth, looking for any sign of Roan. The house was completely still and it was creepy as hell, knowing that he could be anywhere in the house. Possibly beyond the next corner waiting for me.
 

Or maybe he wasn’t even here? I didn’t know. My head was so screwed up from the past eight hours. I didn’t know if I was coming or going.

I knew what Roan was like and this whole scenario just wasn’t like him. To tackle me to the floor and force me to stay the night, just to let me go free the next morning without a word or any explanation for his actions wasn’t Roan’s style at all.

I knew he had to be here somewhere; he wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble for no reason.
It didn’t make any sense.
 

Of course, it hadn’t made much sense for him to take off and join the military without warning, either
.
 

As I reached the front door, I left my shoes sitting there, not wanting to waste time slipping them on and lacing them up. But I made sure that I grabbed my purse on the way out. My car keys were in there somewhere and I was going to need them. I could still drive without shoes covering my feet but I wasn’t going to get very far without the keys to start the car in the first place.
 

Last night, Roan had said that he had done something to my car but it sounded like he was just trying to threaten me so I wouldn’t try to leave.
What could he possibly have done to my car anyway?
Unhooked the battery?

Screw it, I was going to chance it and made a split decision to call his bluff. With my heart in my throat, I threw open the door and took off across the lawn like a streak of lightning.
 

My destination,
the driveway.
 

If Roan did cut the brake line or something, maybe I’d be lucky and careen over a cliff so my joke of a life would be over and I could be reincarnated into a world-class neurosurgeon who moonlighted as a supermodel and worked with Doctors Without Borders in her free time…or something like that. God, anything would be better than the lot I’d been dealt in this life.
 

I jumped into my car, a silver Honda Civic, and quickly locked the doors. My hands were shaking as I reached into my purse for my keys.

They weren’t there.
I couldn’t feel them anywhere
.
I set the purse in my lap, opened it wide and looked inside. Where the hell were my keys?
 

“Oh shit, think, think, think,” I said aloud as I laid my forehead on the steering wheel. Had I left them in my room? Maybe on the kitchen counter? I decided to search through my purse again, maybe my keys had fallen to the bottom and I just hadn’t felt them? I grabbed my purse and dumped the entire contents out onto the passenger seat. “Keys, where the hell are you?”
 

 
Wherever they were, it wasn’t in the car with me. Fuck, I hated to admit it, but I was going to have to go back into the house. I
really
didn’t want to do that.
Maybe I should just forget the keys and make a run for it?
I could hitchhike to Sorcha’s parents house and ask them to come back to the house with me. Roan wouldn’t dare to try and hold me here if I had someone else with me, would he?

 
I turned in my seat to open the driver’s side door and nearly had a heart attack when my eyes came face to face with none other than Roan. He was standing calmly beside the car, talking on his cell phone and swinging my keychain between his fingers. His face appeared calm, while I was absolutely coming undone inside.
 

Where had he been? He was unshaven and barefoot as he stood in the driveway and dangled the car keys. They were attached to a My Little Pony keychain and he looked ridiculous holding them.

“Looking for these?” he mouthed with a raised eyebrow.

My breath hitched in my throat as I scrambled to undo my seatbelt with fingers that were suddenly uncooperative. I was trapped in the car and my only option for escape would be to try and get out the passenger door.

That brilliant plan died as quickly as it had begun as Roan unlocked the driver’s side door with the car keys and reached in to pull me out.

“Yeah, she’s right here with me. Well, she’s trying to get away from me right now. Oh, I know. Yeah, she has no clue. Okay. Yeah, I’ll call you later. I’m going to drag her back into the house. Yep, bye,” he said into the phone as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me out of the car.
 

My back was held tight to his chest and right side as he wrapped one big, powerful arm around me and carried me up the driveway like a ragdoll. His body felt warm and hard through the thin cotton of my t-shirt and his hand lay flat against the bare skin of my stomach.

He was touching me.
Skin to skin contact.

It was accidental, of course, as my t-shirt had ridden up in the struggle. But his bare hand was touching my naked flesh and a sudden flash of desire?
Of something
shot up my spine.

“Let go of me, you muscle bound psycho! You can’t force me to stay here! I want to go home!” I yelled as I flailed around in his arms like a fish out of water.

“Aspen, please stop.
This
is
your home. I’m not trying to hurt you. Would I have untied you last night if I was trying to hurt you?” he reasoned calmly.

Apparently, I was going to get nowhere with Roan. It was hopeless. His years in the military had obviously permanently messed with his higher brain function.

“Help, someone help me,” I screeched as my head whipped around wildly. I prayed that some of the neighbors were outdoors.

I was in luck as old Mrs. Ross, our elderly next door neighbor, who was also a Were, was outside gardening and puttering around her yard.

“Mrs. Ross, help me, please help me. Call the police!” I screamed loudly.

She looked up, smiled kindly and walked over to the hedges separating our properties to check out the commotion.

“Mrs. Ross, help me! Please!” I called out to her as I kicked and struggled in Roan’s grasp.

“Oh, hello, Aspen dear! I didn’t realize you were still home. I’m so sorry about your mother. It’s awful, dear, just awful,” she said sympathetically.

“I need help Mrs. Ross! This man is holding me against my will! Call the police! Please!”

She cocked her head and looked at Roan.

“Hello Mrs. Ross,” he ground out as I bit him sharply on the arm.

“Ahh, good morning Roan, I see she’s giving you a fair bit of trouble, isn’t she? Well, no matter, things will right themselves soon enough. She can’t resist you forever, now can she? You know I remember my aunt Jennie, she made her….”

“Are you deaf woman? I need help! Help me for god’s sake. Call the police!” I hollered.
 

“If you’ll excuse us Mrs. Ross, I’m going to get Aspen into the house before she wakes the entire neighborhood with her screaming.”

Mrs. Ross waved and smiled as Roan continued up the driveway. He kicked the front door of the house open as I struggled and screeched like a wild cat. He lost his grip on me for a second and my wildly flailing arms accidentally made contact with his face and tore a scratch down his cheek.
 

“Jesus, stop it Aspen! I don’t want to hurt you. Now, stop!”

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when my salvation turned onto our street in a blue Volvo and stopped in front of the house. Like the cavalry coming to the rescue, it was Sorcha and her mother!
Oh, sweet merciful god!