“He gives us all a place to go when we don’t have one. Lets us stay in his home, helped me find a place to live. Treats his entire pack like what they’ve done doesn’t matter. I’ve disrespected him. I’ll pack when we get home. You won’t have to see me anymore.”
“No.” She exhaled a breath. “This stays between the three of us. No one else ever has to know.”
“But the Alpha….” George stammered.
“Look, I believe you didn’t mean to be rude. I could see how my family’s display in there might have brought things you’d rather not think about to your mind. I think in this case what the Alpha doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
Her skin felt too tight and the heat in her gut, which had disappeared earlier, started to creep up again. Best she wait inside. Maybe a cold bath until Savage came back. Or a long cold drink of water….
“Thanks for the escort. Tomorrow we’ll do it again. Here to there. I want to see my siblings.” Say goodbye since one way or another she was leaving them. “There are things about this place I am really going to miss. My grandmother used to say this land was powerful, old.”
“Ma’am….” George shook his head. “I don’t have words.”
“Sometimes things are better left alone. I said my piece. You explained. Let’s leave it be. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” Max and George spoke together.
****
Savage waited as long as he could before he stepped out of the shadows. Hayden grabbed his arm. “She’s never going to tell you. She told him she wouldn’t.”
“I know.” He shrugged out of Hayden’s grasp. “I am going to have a serious conversation with George about controlling his memories when he’s on the job. Then I’m going to inside and make her feel good all night.”
Because she was the kind of woman who wouldn’t tell on a pack mate who insulted her because she realized his history might make him do things not appropriate.
“You know you can tell her everything about yourself.”
“Hayden.” He’d had enough of his brother for one night. They’d figured out some things, there were phone calls to be made. People to interview in the morning. The dead of night was not the time for discussions about things he didn’t even want to face when the sun shone.
“Tomorrow, there are things to say whether you want to or not.”
Savage spared his brother a look. “No one has managed to make me talk about anything I didn’t want to in forty years. I don’t think you’re going to be the person. Go to Napa if you don’t like it.”
He shut the door on his brother before he turned to George with every intention of telling him off. How dare he lose control around Sydney?
Instead he nodded. “Night gentleman.”
Upstairs his mate waited.
Chapter Six
Savage watched her from the doorway of the bathroom. Sydney leaned back in the tub, her eyes closed, water surrounding her lush body. He walked forward until he stood over the tub, his cock already hardening. Her heat had returned, though it was not as ferocious as before. She had to be uncomfortable. He wanted nothing more than to help ease her with pleasure.
Well…he wanted her safety more. Damn it, he would have both.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “I missed you.”
“I’m sorry I left you alone for even a little while. You shouldn’t be in pain.”
Sydney groaned, a noise he hadn’t heard her make before. It was pure female annoyance. “I didn’t say I missed having sex with you, which I did. Don’t get me wrong you’re simply amazing, but I said I missed you.”
He wasn’t following her and had no interested in playing semantics with a woman whose temper had to be up, thanks to all the heat in her body. Sydney was remarkably pleasant—he had seen women rage when the heat was on them for nothing but a small annoyance.
Savage knelt down next to the tub. “I had to speak to my brother about some things related to the Garto.”
She nodded before she stood.
He reached out a steadying hand to keep her from falling. “That tub looks like it could get slippery.”
While he kept her still, he wrapped her in a towel. He had nicer at home, she’d be warmer, more comfortable. There were so many luxuries he could make hers.
“What did the two of you come up with?” Sydney let him lead her from the bedroom.
Savage breathed in her clean, soapy scent. He adjusted his pants from the sheer pleasure of her. It seemed like he was always going to be ready for her. When she wanted him, he would always be hers.
“Let’s assume for a second the Garto is real.”
She lay down on the bed, still wrapped in the towel, and opened her arms for him. Like he had done the day before, he lay on top of her. The closeness would hold the heat at bay long enough for them to talk.
“I’ve lived my whole life with the Garto as my destiny. It’s real. Until you can prove to me otherwise.”
Her words made sense and, considering he was planning to kill the thing, he couldn’t exactly claim to be a total nonbeliever himself. Of course, if he found Tobias or Thaddeus in a Garto costume romping through the woods, they were going to have two-hundred-seventy pounds of hard muscled, pissed-off Alpha on their hands.
“Where does he come from? Where is he when he’s not here? How does he know who the first-born daughters are? How does he know if you leave here?”
She leaned on her elbows. “You’re acting like this is a rational thing. He’s a big, scary, evil wolf who kills. Why does he need rhyme and reason?”
“Everything in the universe, even big-scary evil things, has motivation. What does it want?”
She pursed her lips. “To eat me.”
“Well, it’s going to have to find something else to want.”
He pushed her knees gently apart, and she sighed. Savage parted her folds, pressing one finger inside of her first. She smiled and closed her eyes. Good girl. That’s what he wanted. Her trust, her knowledge he would take care of her in all things. With his index finger, he teased her clit. Small movements first, and then he increased the pressure.
Listening to her sighs and the way her body twitched, he learned her cues. When she moaned, he added a second finger.
“Not enough.” She whispered and opened her eyes. “Skin-to-skin. Your body with mine.”
He stepped away from her and took off his clothes. Savage never gave much thought to nudity; it was a regular occurrence with his pack. With Sydney, being undressed was sacred. She pulled her towel off entirely, her breasts round and supple calling out to him.
“Talk to me.” She whispered. “Tell me things.”
He ran his fingers up her thighs, stopping at her knees where he placed a kiss on top of both of them. “You want to talk?”
“I want to hear your voice.”
He grabbed a condom from his pocket. Savage stroked himself once, before he sheathed himself. Her hands were better, yet the way she lay with her eyes glazed staring up at him told him she needed to be cared for, was in no condition to play. Savage picked her up in his arms and turned her until she was on her stomach.
“I’ll talk to you. Hold on to the headboard and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Her ass was luscious, round. He pinched it to hear her yelp before he pressed himself deep inside of her. She cried out.
“Oh, Savage.” She whispered, her voice shaking. “So deep.”
The mark on her neck lay out before him, and he nipped her on it for good measure. The sign of his possession. His. Forever.
Savage pulled out gently and pressed in; her body jerked again.
“Yes.” Her head fell backwards onto his shoulder, and he used the new position to grab onto her breasts. “You promised me words and you’ve gone silent.”
“Hmm.” She wasn’t wrong. “When I’m inside of you, it’s like going home after a long time away. I can’t find my voice.”
Another plunge, another pull and she
cried out. “L-later then. Oh, the pressure, Savage. More. More. Please.”
“You tell me if it’s too much.”
Savage gave up holding off. He thrust hard and jerked his hips, grateful when she called out, amazed when she cried out his name. He hadn’t lied to her. How was he to think, how was he to speak, when her muscles surrounded him the way they did?
How was he to do anything but love her?
Savage knew when he’d found the spot. Her body spasmed against him and he pushed his way home.
“No sleeping.”
Savage opened his eyes. Had he been?
Sydney kissed his chest, nuzzling against him. “We’re like two old people. We sleep, we wake up. We go back to sleep.”
He stretched. “What would you like to do instead?”
She rubbed against him, her breasts triggering his cock to rear to life. She was making him a sex addict and he didn’t even mind.
“Talk.”
Right. She was like a dog or, in this case, a wolf with a bone. He’d love to speak or, better yet, to listen to her.
“Do you have a particular topic you’d like to discuss?” The weather, the Garto, the price of gasoline.
“I don’t know anything about you. Other than what little my cousins who ran off told me about. I don’t want to assume anything since the thing about rumors is they are so vastly untrue most of the time.”
She’d brought up the topic he least wanted to speak about. Then again, she was his True Mate and she’d asked him a question. He wouldn’t lie to her.
“What did you hear?”
“They call you the giver of dreams, that nothing is off limits with you.”
He nuzzled her hair. “That’s what they say.”
“And….”
“Okay.” He sat up, better to get this over with. If his mate needed time to come to terms with who he was, then she should get used to it as soon as possible. He would not let her go, would not give her freedom. He would make her happy. If he repeated the sentiment enough in his own head, maybe it would come true.
Savage looked everywhere except at her. He wasn’t going to get through this if she looked at him with her guileless blue gaze.
“I’ve done anything and everything for a woman’s pleasure. So many werewolves, they don’t see their mates want more than a little attention during their heated times. Or they don’t take care of the non-mated females at all. You were the first one I’ve seen in a cage. The point remains the same. Sometimes meeting the wants and desires of a woman meant doing some things others might find…wrong. But they never were, because I was fulfilling the desires of a female.” He shook his head. “I really don’t want to talk about other women with you.”
It made him want to pound on something.
Her hand stroked his arm, gentle, reassuring. He looked down at her, finally. She didn’t seem shocked or broken.
“Am I going to be enough for you?”
Her words shocked him silent. “Are you kidding?”
“No.” She came up on her knees to kiss his shoulder.
“I’ve waited my whole life for you. Came to believe you would never exist and settled into that life. All I’ve ever wanted is my woman, my one, my soul. To protect. To see to. To cherish. I have a lifetime of knowledge wrapped in my head. You need only imagine it and I’ll make it happen for you.”
Sydney wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her face against his shoulder blade. “If all I want is this? You and me together? Quiet? Forever?”
“Then that’s all I’m ever going to want, too.”
“Hmm.”
He didn’t know what her noises meant, her scent wasn’t giving anything away, only her tiredness and the still present but dulled heat. Rolling over until he was on top of her, he let himself admire the view. She fit so perfectly against him. “The only thing in my whole life I’m ashamed of has to do with Hayden. I…didn’t protect him when I should have. He doesn’t seem to blame me, which in some ways makes it worse. Otherwise, I earned my reputation and I’ll own it.”
She lifted her head to kiss him, and he let himself melt into her warmth. “I wasn’t asking you about yourself as some form of judgment. I want you to understand. I think you’re wonderful. Strong. Protective. Your men love you.”
“Stop.” He tugged her to his side. “I’m tired.”
Savage really wasn’t. Their conversation had woken him right up. Shielding his scent so she wouldn’t know his deception, he settled her against him. Despite her protests of them spending too much time in bed, he wanted her to rest. There was a Garto fight. Tomorrow, he needed her to show him where the killing usually took place. Beaux would be sending on information and although he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure about what it would say he needed to study whatever the other Alpha sent.
“I think I upset you.”
He stroked her hair. “We may someday upset each other. At the moment, I’m not. I want you to know me. I want to know you. I…I’m not good at talking about myself.”
“Tomorrow can I bring you somewhere? A place I love.”
“Yes.” His busy list of things do hadn’t suddenly gotten smaller but seeing some place she loved moved to the top. Well, right below keeping her safe. He could do both of those things.
She snuggled. “Great.”
“You should sleep.”
“I know.” She pushed her leg on his, essentially pinning him beneath it. He grinned. Her movements weren’t subtle. She wanted him to be there when she woke.
He’d make it happen.
Savage sent sleepy vibes through her energy. One of the benefits of his Alpha abilities, he could force the people around him to take care of themselves. She yawned.
“I can feel you doing that.”
“Good thing I wasn’t trying to hide it.”
Her eyes shut, and within seconds her body loosened around him. Moments later she snored lightly. Stroking her hair, he stared at the ceiling.
Full Moon was coming, her heat was letting up. Had he made a mistake staying? Should he have taken her home to San Francisco and let his pack put themselves between her and the Garto, should it have followed them there?
What if it did, then went after her sisters? They were young, basically helpless, with a worthless father who spent time alternating between weeping and, he guessed, using the rod on his mantel.
By the Moon, why was nothing simple?
****
“So this is it.” Sydney twirled in a circle on her favorite plot of land. Although no one ever explained how farming worked to her—since her role was mostly to help their mom keep up the house, the children, and run errands for her father before dying at the hands of the Garto—she didn’t know exactly why it had never been planted on.
The grass was tall, and blue flowers bloomed everywhere. A big giant tree, perfect for a nap, except she wasn’t tired because Savage had knocked her out the night before, beckoned to be sat under.
Savage stopped moving. “On our drive to your home I saw a place like this. I wondered if you liked flowers.”
“I do.”
He grinned. “Good to know.”
She’d upset him the night before. Her questions had been innocent enough, but she’d stumbled into a minefield of issues. He was complicated and he was hers.
Savage pointed at her skirt. “I see that when you went to the house after breakfast you got more clothes.”
Sydney shrugged. “They’re what I have.”
“When we get to the guest house, I think you will see the situation has changed.”
She walked toward him and threw her arms around his waist. Nothing had particularly changed, his scent always remained the same except when he let go inside of her. Savage looked like a man who could use a hug. Closing her eyes, she squeezed him tight. His arms came around her, and he gripped her in return.
“I don’t want you to think you have to spend money on me. I’m easy, simple. I know how to save.”
&nbs
p; He kissed the top of her head. “I want to. That’s my right, my privilege. I’ll spend money on you when I want. End of story.”
Savage had a tone he used when he ordered his men. It wasn’t condescending like her father’s. Still, she knew most wolves wouldn’t be able to resist it.
“Do you have a favorite color?” The getting to know him had to take place more gently than it had the night before, lest he start to feel she placed judgment on his answers. Sydney didn’t know a lot about his world. Her own she managed fine. When she took care of the children, she understood how to approach them so they felt loved and cherished. Unfortunately her sister had gotten slapped for speaking out, something she usually could do around Sydney.
How many times had someone literally or figuratively struck Savage across the face to make him hate talking about himself?
“More like a shade I guess?” He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the tree. She’d not mentioned it and liked that he was on the same wavelength. She leaned up against him, both of them shielded from the morning sun by the big branches.
“I wear a lot of white. As I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
Today he was dressed white on white again. Khaki pants and white turtleneck.
“It works with your black hair. Very intense.”
He looked up at the sun. “I can tone it down if it bothers you.”
“Nothing about you bothers me.” She’d keep saying it if he needed to hear it. Sydney had wondered what the Moon was thinking giving her to an Alpha. What did she know about packs and politics? Savage could run the world. Days later, she understood. He did need her and he was going to be so easy to love.
Although maybe he didn’t know that…
“Do you have white everywhere? Is your house or wherever you live all white?”
He smiled. “The couches are. Some of the rugs. Then lots of silver, black.”
“So no bright orange bedspreads and pink walls?” She teased him. Savage did not strike her as overly dramatic when it came to his tastes.
He shook his head. “I can get some. If that’s what you like.”
“No.” She held up her hands. “I never thought to have a house, let alone to live through this week. Assuming the Garto doesn’t kill me, I think I’ll be happy to be wherever you are.”