“Give me your phone.”
He didn’t look away for a second, hovering in the space between us, but he retrieved his device and slid it across the table after he’d unlocked it. I went into his messages, forcing myself not to look at any of the recipients of the others. I created a new message and sent one to my number with the details of our meeting tomorrow. We’d go down to the jetty again. That would be hard for him to miss and Evie loved it there just as much as I always had. Then I got to my feet.
“Don’t run from me, Lily,” he warned. “I’m making bargains with my wolf as fast as I can. That somehow, some way we can convince you to become ours, but…” His nostrils flared and right then he didn’t look like a man at all. He was a beast. “Once you run, you become prey, and he’ll take over, hunting you down until you’re safe with me and my brothers, a part of our pack, like you always should’ve been.”
“Is everything OK in here?”
Sophie’s voice was tight as she came to stand in the doorway, her eyes taking everything in.
“I have that agreement ready,” Leo announced, breezing in, before pausing as he sensed the mood.
“Awesome.” I pulled a pen out of my bag and scribbled my signature before pulling away. “I’ve given Ben my contact details and a time and place for the meet up tomorrow. We’ll be in touch to formalise the broader parenting agreement, particularly when it comes to the rest of the pack.”
And with that I swept out of the room, down the corridor, not able to take a full breath until I was out of the building, my hand going to my frantically beating heart.
“Lily!” Sophie called. “Fuck, Lils, what happened in there?”
I shot my best friend a desperate look, no doubt looking like the prey Ben labelled me as.
“He said he wants all of us to be the one pack,” I stammered out. “Me and his brothers and Evie. I… I…”
Her expression softened and she wrapped her arms around me, giving the kind of bone deep cuddle I needed right now, even if part of me wanted it from a different source.
“Of course, he does, Lils,” she said. “He was a fucking dickhead for walking away from you, but even Ben’s not dumb enough to do that twice.”
Chapter 16
Sophie offered to come and hang out with me after the meeting but I felt bad enough about her having to come into work over the weekend. I just gave her a final hug and shook my head, before getting into my car and driving home. But when I got there, the open emptiness started to prick at me. I’d forgotten Evie was staying with Carmen tonight.
There was a weird ambivalence about being a mother. If she was here, I’d have been forced to endure a rapid barrage of questions that would’ve gone on for hours as she interrogated me for every scrap of information she needed. She’d have been bouncing off the walls, wound up and ready for tomorrow and not bed. I’d have been clinging to my coffee mug, tempted to put a slug of whiskey or something in it to get through this. But when she was asleep or I was alone? I’d do what I did now, looking around me at the empty house and not knowing what to do with myself.
I knew what I should be doing. There was washing to be done and the floors needed a vacuum. The big trees in the backyard were dropping heaps of leaves, so raking them would’ve kept me occupied, but I did none of these things. Instead, I settled on the couch and turned on the TV, looking for something to relax with.
Trouble is, when the house was quiet and I had nothing to occupy my mind, that’s when the… itch started to scratch. A niggling restless feeling, one that tensed my muscles, ready to get me up off the couch and out of the room. It pushed me to go out that front door and find… I stared down at my hand, as though Ben’s had left a hot imprint there that I could almost see. Then I heard that growl of his.
“Once you run, you become prey and he’ll take over, hunting you down until you’re safe with me and my brothers, a part of our pack, like you always should’ve been.”
How did he know? How did he fucking know that was exactly what I wanted? To be hemmed in, have all my choices taken away for just a minute, and have someone else be in charge? To have him and his brothers ranged around me, hard and desperate for me, wanting me with every breath. I wouldn’t be weak then or overwhelmed. I’d be loved…
But that wasn’t on the cards. The muscle in my jaw flexed as I considered the reality. If there was something between us, something beyond hot sex and attraction, where had he been? I knew he lived in another town and with his pack, but surely… Surely if I was the one for him and he was for me, nothing would’ve stopped him from making contact. Getting my number, friending me on my socials. Reaching out in some way.
Just like he was now.
Except what prompted him in this instance was a combination of instinct and expediency. I was the bearer of his child. A whole cascade of potent hormones was surging inside him, forcing him and his wolf to make rash decisions that we’d both live to regret, because no matter how we worked things out for Evie’s benefit, this remained.
No one stayed away from their soul mate for nine years.
That. That was the thought that hit me in the guts much more effectively than my daughter had the other day and perhaps that’s what led to me picking up my phone. Almost as if anticipating that I’d be looking for something, anything, Reed had left me a message.
When you’re ready for me, little beta, call this number. Just be aware.I blinked and then scrolled to the next message.You come to me; I take control. That’s what I do. You can tell me in this message anything you don’t want if that makes you feel better, but… I’ll know. I always know. Just, when you make that call? Be aware that you’re signing yourself over to me for the night. I’ll wring every single ounce of pleasure from your body and mine, but only for one night.
Well, damn. Reed had said the magic words. Unlimited pleasure and with a distinct end date. I wasn’t sure if he was talking a big game or not.He’ll know…I snorted at that. How the hell was that possible? But my thumb hovered over the number in the message and as I consulted the echoing emptiness of my house, I tapped on it, making the call.
“Ready, little beta?”
His voice, it sounded rough and scratchy and oh so knowing, and what the hell was that about? At first, all I could do was blink and stare at the blank TV screen.
“Hey, I’m—”