The Mating Rite (Big, Beautiful Werewolf) (Werewolves of Montana) (13 page)

“You were my best friend,” she whispered. “Until the day you left. I spent so many days and months—years, Darius—waiting for your return. Then, desperate, I searched you out, only to find you had forgotten about me and turned to other women. Why did you have to come back into my life?
Why?
”

Darius opened his eyes, his gaze a fierce blue. “I never stopped being your best friend, Sam. I’ve had a lot of females in my bed, many who made offers I did not refuse. But even after I was told you died, I vowed I’d never let anyone get this close to me again. You had that special place in my heart and no one could ever replace you.”

Oh, she wanted to believe it. Her pride wounded by last night’s incident with Todd, she badly needed to believe it. Samantha rested her cheek against his palm.

His gaze focused on her mouth. Then he bent his head and kissed her, so softly she caught her breath on a sigh. Startled, she wanted to push away, knowing how dangerous this was. But the kiss was so gentle and sweet, it reminded her of the old Darius, the Lupine who’d once tossed an older male across the room for insulting her.

The old Darius who’d risked everything to protect her and cherished her deeply.

Closing her eyes, she moved her mouth against his, pleasure spiking her blood. Darius continued leisurely kissing her, his hand holding her steady. Not grinding his teeth against her mouth, or crudely groping her breasts. She parted her lips and licked his mouth. She heard his breathing intensify, and he thrust his tongue inside her mouth. Samantha squirmed, heat curling through her body, her internal thermostat starting to soar. She never imagined a kiss could feel so delightful, so sensual and arousing. Placing her hands on his broad shoulders, she drew him closer.

But he didn’t increase the pace, only kept up those steady, delicious plunges of his tongue. It felt like he licked her from the inside out.

Inside the pretty lace bra, her nipples hardened. The scant clothing she wore seemed too tight, too constrictive. She wanted it off now, nothing but skin between her and Darius. Samantha rubbed herself against him, her hands gripping his shoulders, feeling the flex of muscle beneath the tight T-shirt. She moaned beneath his mouth as he cupped the back of her head and kissed her harder, his mouth aggressive now as he took control.

She let him, feeling a rush of moisture between her legs. Samantha rotated her hips, eager for more, and slid her hands down his back, loving the muscles tensing beneath her exploring fingertips. Groaning, he squeezed her thigh, then ran a hand over the curve of her hip. Samantha climbed into his lap, needing more exquisite friction. Darius positioned her so she rode the ridge of his erection, and she whimpered with need, feeling the hardness slide over her damp center.

This was what she’d wanted all these lonely years, Darius close to her, Darius ready to claim and mate with her. Her wolf clawed eagerly to the surface, nudging her into letting him take her. Now, her wolf insisted.
Do it. Let him sink that hardness deep inside your body so we’ll bond and never be parted again…this strong, protective male…my mate.

Mate?

She went still as a chill slid down her spine.

Her stomach tightened with apprehension. She knew where this could lead.

Without breaking the kiss, he slid a hand into her bra, his palm warm and rough. Darius teased her nipple with expert little flicks that sent heat curling down to her toes. Moisture soaked her panties. He was good at this, so good, he knew how to arouse a woman…

Because he’d done it how many times before? Dozens?

Panic shoved at the edges of her hazed mind as she pulled his hand away. “No,” she whispered.

No, don’t stop
, her wolf howled.

She opened her eyes.

Darius’ eyes glowed amber, signaling the emergence of his wolf, an action triggered by the chase, the need for hunting prey…

Or the need to mate.

She could hear the rapid pounding of his heart, like a hard rapping on a kettle drum. She could feel the coiled tension within him and see the male hunger in his gaze, the fierce intensity of a male who wanted sex.

Not the fierce hunger of a man who wanted only
her.

“Let’s finish this,” he said roughly, his breathing ragged. “Finish what I should have done ten years ago.”

Desire evaporated within her as quickly as it had surfaced. Bitter grief surged as hot tears pricked her eyelids. Samantha removed his hand from her breast and climbed off his lap. Ten years was a long time. Too much had happened, too many things to simply forget the pain and grief. The emotional gulf lay between them like a huge chasm no bridge could ever cross.

What assurances did she have of his fidelity? He’d loved many women. Even if he swore up and down a blue streak to be exclusive to her, Darius was a strong Lupine determined to live in a wolf pack. She could never return to the life of a wolf again. Her life was here, blending into the human world. A world that played no part in a brutal mating rite where Lupines turned into wolves as they had sex.

As he leaned forward, as if to draw her back into his arms, she pushed at the solid wall of his chest. “I can’t do this now.”

Immediately he backed off, his expression turning so tender, it reminded her of the old Darius. Pain wrenched her heart.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I pushed you too fast. There’s time enough later.”

Not later. Not ever. “There won’t be a later, Darius. Because I don’t want you in my life, I don’t need you as my friend or my lover. Whatever feelings I had for you are gone. And they’re never coming back.”

Chapter 6

Samantha had never lied to him.

Except now. She refused to meet his gaze. He cupped her chin and forced her head up. Distrust and a haunting pain flickered in her eyes. Inwardly he winced, knowing his past actions with women had put those emotions there.

“Tell me again you don’t want me, Sam.” He dropped his hand and placed it over her rapidly beating heart. “Tell me what was between us is dead forever and I’ll leave you alone, right now.”

Shaking her head, she slid out of his bed. “Where are my clothes? I need to go home and pack. Pack as in luggage. Not Lupine pack, because I hated that life and I’m never going back. It’s safer here in Skin.”

Alarm prickled his spine. Safer?

“What are you running from, Sam? Why is living in Skin safer?”

“It’s nothing,” she muttered over her shoulder.

He followed her to the dressing room, watching her slide open the closet door. Every instinct warned him that she was evading the truth, if not outright lying. And this deeply worried him because it meant she
was
in trouble, but chose not to share it with him.

Sam reached for her dress and tugged it off the hanger.

“Is someone after you? What about your former pack, the pack you lived with before joining my father’s?”

The hateful black dress trembled slightly in her hands. “I never lived in a pack before joining yours.”

This was news. Darius leaned a hip against the counter. He needed to glean as much information as possible.

“You didn’t join our pack until you were twelve. Your mother said you came from a pack out west and you had just left because your father died.”

“Mom said that because your father was traditional Lupine. Marcia and I had different fathers. Marcia’s died when she was a baby and Mom was so desperately lonely, she had an affair with another Lupine. When I was born, the bastard abandoned Mom. So she took us to live in the Skin world. I’ve never lived in a Lupine pack before yours.”

His heart turned over at her hurt expression. Darius reached out to take her hand, but she pulled away.

“Mom had settled in Seattle and found a great job working for Cornelius Darken.”

Stunned, he ruminated over the revelation. “The reclusive billionaire?”

“She was one of his assistants. He was wonderful to us.” Her expression softened. “Cornelius used to surprise Marcia and me with little treats like sweets and dolls. One year he sent Mom an entire ham for Christmas dinner. I never touched it. I hate ham.” A soft smile curved her lips. “Later, when he found out I don’t like ham, he gave Mom a gift certificate for an organic grocery store so she could buy something I liked.”

Darius folded his arms across his chest. “If your life was comfortable in the Skin world, why did your mother join our pack? She said she was desperate.”

Sam sighed. “A few months before we joined your pack, Mom and Marcia got sick in Seattle. It was some kind of bug that affected Lupines because it weakened their hearts and they couldn’t heal like they normally did.”

“And you didn’t catch it?”

“No. I cared for them. They kept getting worse. Cornelius wanted to help, but Mom couldn’t see a regular physician. Mom was terrified if something happened and she died, the Skin authorities would haul us away to foster homes. She said the safest place for us was with a pack with a strong alpha who could protect Marcia and me.”

That made sense. He remembered the day Sam and her sister and mother arrived at the pack. Ellen Evers had been thin and haggard, looking little like a top assistant to a wealthy corporate scion. Marcia had also looked pale and wan. Samantha had been confident and assumed charge. Even at twelve, she carried heavy responsibilities on her shoulders.

“Mom heard about your father’s pack from a friend, how Maxim had a reputation for taking in Lupines who had no place else to go.”

Darius gave a humorless smile. “Dad did take in strays. He wanted to increase his numbers. The more Lupines in a pack, the more powerful an alpha becomes.”

Even though his sire was an outright bastard to his youngest son, and one to the innocents he’d lusted after, he’d been considerate to the weak and the sick. The paradox always bewildered Darius. How could Maxim be so cruel and insensitive to Darius, his own son, and treat total strangers as if they were family?

Sorrow flashed in Sam’s eyes. “Cornelius was sweet. He gave Mom a huge severance check. Mom knew how sick she was. I think she knew…she would eventually die. After she passed, with Marcia gone, I went to Oregon to start over again.”

She stared out the small window in the dressing room. “Darius, you were the only reason I liked living with wolves. But now, I have a new life.”

She’d never truly embraced pack life, never had a reason to trust her own kind.

But Sam had plenty of reasons to dislike and distrust them.

He had to earn her trust, but damn, every instinct screamed to bond her to him with sex and then hustle her back to the ranch where he could invoke his claim through a mating rite. Then she’d be safe. No one would ever dare hurt her…

Because she’d have not only him, but the protection of pack.

“Come with me, Sam. I promise I’ll give you the best life I can. I’ll do everything…”

Moisture shimmered in her violet eyes, but she blinked away the gathering tears. “It’s over between us, Darius. That part of my life is over, and I must move on. My life is here, my job…” She drew in a breath and her spine went rigid. “I have to leave. I’m not risking my job. If they find out I spent the night in your room…”

“No one will know.”

“And let’s make sure we keep it that way.” She shook out the dress, smoothing it with a trembling hand. “I’m to give you directions to the beach house, and you’re supposed to meet us there by six tonight.”

Predatory male instinct surged. “You are not leaving here without me.”

“You have no claim on me.”

Gently he lifted her long hair and stroked the place where he’d marked her neck, relishing the soft sigh and shiver that assured him she enjoyed his touch. “I believe I do.”

Sam removed his hand. “A claim that went unconsummated. Your mark is gone now, Darius. I’m living in Skin, and I don’t follow Lupine rules.”

“I won’t let you go back to your apartment alone.”

“Try to stop me. You’re not my mate.”

Gritting his teeth, he fisted his hands. “I can change that very quickly.”

“Try it and my claws would come out,” she taunted.

He gave a dangerous smile. “See? I knew you couldn’t forget being Lupine.”

Darius drew near, predatory male hunger seizing him at the rosy flush on her body. She was deeply aroused, and fighting it. “I can scent how much the thought excites you to draw your claws down my back. You know what will eventually happen. You can’t fight it, Sam. It’s in your nature, the burning drive to mate with me. You can run, you can hide, but you can’t escape the need. It will fill you, day and night, until you’re naked in my bed, me on top of you, driving deep inside, sealing our bond.”

She stared, eyes huge in her flushed face, her pulse pounding. Oh yeah, he’d gotten her thermostat cranked up. Fisting his hands, he controlled his raging wolf. Sex wasn’t the real issue between them right now.

“What’s frightening you, Sam?” He gentled his voice. “I sense it isn’t me, but someone else. Or something else. Please, let me help you.”

Her mouth wobbled, as if she were about to confess. Then she shook her head. “It’s nothing. No big deal. Please, let me alone so I can dress.”

Darius studied his mate, her skin flushed, her gaze refusing to meet his. “I’ll call you a cab to go back to your apartment. And I’ll pick you up at noon, and we’ll drive to the coast together. Since I’m a potential client, it will be seen as business.”