Caged Wolf (Wolves of Willow Bend Book 2) (17 page)

The uncertainty and the worry were too much. He retreated a few steps and released his wolf. The change was as brutal as the first, and as painful, but he sped through it, driven by the need to answer the shaky tenor of her questions. Her worry spiked with every crunch of his bones, but he couldn’t respond to her yet. The shift took every ounce of his concentration.

Surging to his feet, he limped the three steps separating them and knelt in the grass before her. Then she was in his arms, and he held her. His skin tingled, burning and sensitive from the swiftness of his change.

“You’re not sick,” he said when he could use his voice.

“A.J.—”

“Shush.” He gave her a squeeze then pulled away enough to see her face. His eyes adjusted to the darkness easily enough. Her pupils were huge and the flashlight had landed on the ground at her feet, shooting a cone of light away from them. “Listen to me…you’re my
mate
. You’ve been my mate. The fugues, the loss in here,” he said, touching his fingers to her breast over her heart. “You were pining.”

“I don’t understand. How can you know this?”

“Because I was pining for you. I suppressed my wolf, I buried all of it into a pit, covered it up and then tried to pretend it wasn’t there. I crippled us.” Dropping a hard kiss on her lips, he grasped her nape and held her close. “Emma tried to tell me without telling me. She said she had to research it, but she told me to take you back to the cabin, to stay with you, to take care of you and to play.” Thick-headed and stubborn, he should have recognized all of it sooner. The only thing he’d definitely noticed was his need for her. Pure, undiluted, need. He had her, he didn’t want to ever let her go.

“I still don’t understand. Why do I feel so lightheaded? So…happy?” Her grin turned pained, as though her joy frightened her.

“You said you love me,” he told her. “You said you choose me.” His delight knew no bounds. “I love you, Vivian. I chose you a long time ago.”

She blinked slowly. “And that’s it? I just—wait, you love me too?”

Rising, he lifted her in his arms and swung her in a circle. “I adore you, and yes, silly woman. I love you, too. I’ve loved you for years.”

“But we barely know each other.”

“We have lifetime to know each other. I look forward to every minute of every day spent with you.”

He kissed her again and her mouth opened to him, her need and demand matching his own. When he came up for air, he glanced around the forest. It was beautiful, but he wanted her soft skin in a bed. She still needed a lot of care and the time to recover from the harshness of their soul-deep injuries. Slipping an arm beneath her legs, he cradled her and began the hike back toward the cabin.

“A.J.? What happens next?”

“We’re going back to our bed,” he told her, then nipped the corner of her mouth. “Later, I’ll petition Mason and then we’ll discuss the rest.”

“Just like that?” Why did she seem to have trouble comprehending it?

“Yes,” he told her with another kiss. “Just like that. You’re my mate.
No one
comes between mates.”

For the first time since he walked into that cell, so many years before, his future stretched out before him and the sun shone down on it, all because of the woman in his arms.

“I love you, Vivian, and you love me,” he said. “That’s all that matters.” His wolf stretched inside of him, content. They wanted to run, and they would.
Soon
he promised. His wolf was patient. They had their mate. They could wait for everything else.

“I do love you and because I love you, I feel like you should know something,” she whispered.

He raised a brow, but since she couldn’t see him in the dark, he added, “And that would be?”

“You’re sexy as hell striding through the forest naked.”

Laughing, he increased his pace. The sooner he was inside her, the better.

Chapter Eleven

Vivian rubbed her hands together. No matter how hard she tried to avoid fidgeting, she couldn’t stop. Next to her, A.J. was the picture of relaxation. He rested an arm behind her on the sofa. They’d arrived at the Clayborne house to speak to Mason and the other senior members of the pack. Were there senior members?

A.J. had mentioned something to her about a council or advisors—or maybe they were the PTA. They’d been naked and in bed, and the last thing on her mind had been wolf politics.

“Shh,” he murmured, caressing her nape. Two weeks. They’d had two weeks since he’d told her they were mates and her world shifted completely on its axis. Every day she felt stronger, her thoughts clearer, and her joy? Well, her joy knew no bounds. The world had color once more, deep, vibrant and rich colors.
Two weeks of pure bliss
. “It’s going to be fine.”

She wanted to believe him. Part of her did. But she couldn’t cease the fluttering feeling in her gut, like someone was about to burst this beautiful bubble of a dream she’d been experiencing. “Are you sure he’ll like me?”

“He likes you just fine,” Mason said from behind her and she jerked. Only A.J.’s soothing hand on her nape kept her from screaming. If he hadn’t reacted to the approach of the Alpha, then she didn’t need to. The man circled the sofa, then set his hand on her shoulder. The air in the room seemed to fill up with his presence. Maybe it was the mating bond with A.J. or her own reawakening, but how she could have ever doubted Mason’s authority, she had no idea. Course, she’d done more than doubt him, she’d openly defied him. Mason glanced from A.J. to her then back again. “So you two finally worked it out?”

The question got A.J.’s attention. Tension invaded his previously relaxed posture. “You knew.” The accusation hung in the air.

“No,” Mason squeezed Vivian’s shoulder lightly before releasing her. The gesture was almost fraternal. “I suspected.” He took a seat on the sofa opposite them.

“That’s really splitting hairs.”

“What do you want? I’ve got a thousand problems and sorting out your mating wasn’t my responsibility.” The dry response did even more to alleviate the tension cording Vivian’s spine.

“A head’s up would have been nice.”

“Sure, A.J., the next time you shove your head up your ass, I’ll be sure to give you a shout.” The two men locked gazes and the temperature in the room spiked. A.J. lowered his eyes first, a fraction, but the discord eased immediately. He’d lowered his gaze on purpose. The dominance thing she understood a little more than the other pieces, but she didn’t see a great deal of difference between the power Mason presented and the strength she knew A.J. possessed.

All A.J. said, however, was, “Thank you for giving us the time.”

“You’re welcome, and I meant what I said. I’m glad you two worked it out. Now you have a question for me, but before you can ask it, I have one for the two of you.” Interestingly enough, Mason didn’t look at her. His attention remained on A.J.

Her stomach bottomed out once more.

“What happened that night? Tell me, and only me. No one else needs to know. Your brothers know, but they publically refused to tell me. It’s caused an issue, not that I give much of a damn, but we can’t afford to be divided in the pack. Not while we’re still recovering from Toman. So, tell me.”

“Will you hurt him?” Vivian asked, ignoring A.J.’s low growl of warning. “If we tell you the truth, are you going to put him or anyone on trial again?”

Mason gave her the barest courtesy of a glance, still wholly focused on A.J. “Pack Law says I have to try him if he is responsible for the
unprovoked
death of a human.”

“Then do it,” A.J. said. “What happened that night…”

No
. Vivian shook her head. “Stop. No. If the past doesn’t have a hold on us anymore, then keeping it a secret—hiding it—has to stop, too.”

“Vivian.” The rebuke tempered by exasperation and affection made her smile, but she sat sideways, facing him so she could watch his face.

“Does the past hold us or not?”

Like Mason, A.J. only glanced at her. The Alpha held his attention, the two refused to look away from each other as though suspicious of every activity. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Then it has to be okay to tell him.” She hoped she could. She’d never been able to before, not even when she wanted to. When the silence stretched between the three of them, Vivian thought back to every conversation they’d had. “A.J., do you trust me?”

“Yes.” Succinct. Immediate.

“Then I don’t mind if he knows. I think it would be good for both of us.” For her to take responsibility and for A.J. to let her. He’d shouldered their burden alone for so long. “Let’s put it behind us for real.”

“We went to St. Louis for a long weekend away from the pack,” A.J. said, a pensive note in his voice.  “The three of us wanted to have some fun. We were out looking for a club when I caught her scent. She was in pain and, by the time we arrived, she’d managed to strike him with something. I don’t know what.”

“It was a pipe,” she offered, covering his hand with hers. “I only remember because of the shape. I remember the way it cut into my palm when I swung it.”

“He’d attacked her.” There was no disguising the growl in his voice. “She was hurt…badly. He’d hit her, repeatedly. She was injured…and he was dead. But it wasn’t enough.” The darkness in his words gathered tighter. “I had one thought and one thought only.”

“Protect your mate.” Mason nodded once. “Everything you did from that moment forward was to protect her.”

“Yes.” A.J. cleared his throat. “I ordered her not to say anything to anyone. To not tell them what really happened.”

“I wanted to tell.” Vivian slanted a look at Mason and found only quiet sympathy in his tense face. “I tried. A thousand times I tried, but the words wouldn’t come out. A.J. did
nothing
wrong. If you have to punish someone—”

“No,” the Alpha said, not letting her finish. “I don’t have to punish anyone. But we needed to know. What you did, you did for you mate and I would have done the same.” Then, to A.J., “You’ve both been punished enough, suffered more than enough. This matter is settled and everyone will know it is done.”

Relieved, Vivian closed her eyes and pressed her face to A.J.’s shoulder. His hand slipped around to rub her neck. They were going to be okay. Really, okay.

“And yes,” Mason continued as though he’d not paused. “Vivian is welcome in Willow Bend and I more than approve your mating.”

“Thank you.” Voice thick with emotion, A.J. seemed to relax against her. “I want to turn her, too.”

“Does she want to be turned?” Amusement laced with irony did little to disguise the steel in the Alpha’s voice.

“I’m still getting used to the idea. I’m not sure I understand all of it.” Vivian answered.

“Then talk to my mate and her mother,” Mason said. She could almost feel the lick of an order skating over her skin, but it carried no heat or weight. So, a suggestion maybe? “They were both human.”

The others in the pack had come up, but like so many subjects, had fallen victim to the lust she and her mate shared. Mate. She was still getting used to that idea, too. “I’d like that.”

“So would they, I’m sure.” A slash of a grin eased his countenance, then he rose and held out a hand to A.J. Their audience was over. “Speaking of my mate, I have to pick her and the baby up.” Everything about him became so much brighter when he talked about his mate. “As for you, A.J., I do have a job for you, when you’re ready.”

The shift in subjects seemed to be normal and considering the tangents her mind liked to rush off on, she could roll with it.

“What job?” A.J. slid his arm around Vivian and tucked her into his side. He was forever doing that, holding her, touching, keeping her safe. Not that she had a single complaint. The last two weeks had been magic, and each day seemed better than the one before.

“I need a second,” Mason said and Vivian didn’t imagine the shock riding through A.J. She felt it both in his body language and deeper, in the place she’d come to associate with the bond. “Someone who’s loyal, but understands the value of the pack. Someone who understands how it should be and isn’t blinded to what is. You know what makes a pack healthy, what helps drive it and make thrive. You’ve also been gone long enough to have a fresh perspective. Think about it, discuss it with your mate, mull it over with your family, then come back and tell me yes.”

A.J. didn’t say anything immediately, but nodded. “Thank you, Mason. For everything.”

“My pleasure.” Then the man did something Vivian didn’t expect. He hugged them both to him and she and A.J. returned the affection. “My pack,” Mason told them, then he gave her a light kiss on the cheek, before gripping A.J.’s shoulder tightly. “Both of you are mine and I take care of what’s mine. Understood?”

Emotion clogged her throat. Being with A.J. had been a miracle, and his family a gift. But she belonged to more than that now. Still dazed by it all, she hung onto A.J.’s arm as they left the Alpha’s house and stepped out onto the quiet suburban street. In the distance children played, while people tended their yards and others came and went on various errands.

Just another, normal day in Willow Bend.

And she belonged. “A.J.?”

“Hmm?” He glanced down at her.

“I love you.”

“And I you, mate.”
Mate.
Her heart sang. “We still have to go to my parents for dinner.”

“You don’t think they’ll mind if we’re late, do you?”

He laughed and her world was perfect.

Vivian’s world continued to change. A.J. stroked a hand down her naked back, lingering at her bottom, then repeating the gesture. “How are you doing?”

Three months in Willow Bend and she’d settled into life with A.J.’s pack. His family had all but adopted her. Claudia proved to be a terrific fount of knowledge, not only of the town, but the people in it. Linc and Tyler teamed up to help A.J. build a house, and he’d moved her out of the cabin and into their own place a month later. After a long discussion about what a second did, A.J. took his time to consider Mason’s offer.