With Her Capture (20 page)

If she loved Ayden, and she knew she did,
running from him had been a compassionate act. Answering that phone
in the convenient store parking lot, allowing Ayden to run to her,
had been a mistake. Now the pain of knowing she’d have to leave him
a second time felt like it might tear her in two. But she had to do
it.

Thinking of him sleeping so soundly in that
large bed out there helped convince her of what she had to do. If
Ayden truly had grasped what life would be like running by her
side, he would have sprung awake the moment she’d moved. Living
with the knowledge that the next day, or even the next hour, might
be her last, had trained her to be alert. Even when it seemed they
were as safe as possible, Magda had awakened early, attentive to
all sounds and smells. It wasn’t a life she wished on Ayden.
Although moving on without him now seemed more than she could
bear.

The water still ran hot when she finally
turned it off—albeit reluctantly. Magda wasn’t sentimental enough
to take each of these pleasures and store them away in some portal
of her memory. It seemed pointless pulling them out to mull over
when she’d reached a point of running and hiding in her fur for too
long. The only way she’d stay alive was to put aside her personal
feelings, and not grow melancholy over pleasures she might never
experience again.

She wrapped herself in the extra thick, large
towel after drying off. It crossed her mind to slip into her
clothes and out the door into the hall before Ayden woke up and
dressed. But her mother had warned her enough times growing up that
it was always best to plan and strategize instead of taking on the
full, brunt force of an obstinate, stubborn, incredibly angry male.
She only remembered her mother saying that with a smile on her
face, and the smell of happiness embedded in her skin. Magda didn’t
feel like smiling, nor was she able to truly make herself smell
happy. However, it still smelled like good advice. She needed to
think through how to howl to Ayden so he’d understand. Forever was
very short term with the two of them.

Not to mention, she didn’t have the strength
to bolt on him again. Ayden deserved to be made to see the
reasoning behind her actions. It might take another fight, but
somehow she’d endure it until she smelled his understanding. If he
ran with her it might all too easily get them both killed. A few
rogue werewolves, or an unknown pack, wouldn’t show him kindness if
he entered their territory with a Malta werewolf. Magda wouldn’t be
given a chance to belly up to a pack leader simply because she
approached him with a Cariboo
lunewulf
male.

She’d be killed. Ayden would be killed as a
traitor, a dishonorable death, for mating with her. Mated with
her.

“Oh God,” she moaned. How did something smell
so wonderful and feel so bitterly painful at the same time?

Ayden was the perfect male. He fit all her
fantasies of what she would want in a mate. She loved Ayden.
Fucking tail, if that thought didn’t smell of the truth. Leaving
him might kill her before anyone else was able to. But she had to
do it. It was the honorable thing to do. She needed to leave alone
to save the male she loved.

Putting the clothes back on she’d worn before
her shower, Magda then fished through her bag until she found her
brush. The door to the bathroom swung open, surprising her, before
she’d worked out all the tangles.

“Fucking tail!” she hissed, her heart
suddenly racing as she spun around.

Ayden filled the doorway, his tousled hair
and silver-laced eyes all she needed to see to know his mood.
Although when she sucked in a breath to slow her heart back to
normal, the strong spicy scent confirmed he was pissed.

“If you’re trying to sneak out again…” he
began.

“I was trying to take a shower.”

“With your bags in here with you?”

She held up her brush. “It’s where my things
are.” No way would Magda share her thoughts when he had her trapped
in this small space, and with him so angry.

Ayden tilted his head and studied her. He’d
put his jeans on before entering the bathroom, but his bare chest
and feet accentuated the wild beast that rested so near the surface
within him. Ayden scratched his head, straightening his short blond
hair. When he lowered his hand his eyes were once again a
magnificent shade of blue.

He didn’t ask but pulled her into his arms.
“I woke up and you weren’t there. My precious bitch, I won’t lose
you again.”

She didn’t have the strength to push away
from him. His scent wrapped around her as powerfully as his
muscular arms. What she wouldn’t do to make forever last a really
long time.

Magda wrapped her arms around his waist and
held on. It would be the hardest thing she’d ever done saying
goodbye, which was how they would part ways this time. She’d have
to utter the words. Leaving him would kill her. Would it be worth
living with the Malta werewolf pack if she barely felt alive?

“Why do you smell so sad?” he growled into
her hair.

Chills rushed over her. She’d run out of
time.

Magda pushed away from him, gathered up her
things, and inched around him out of the bathroom. She needed a lot
more space to howl this to him. Ayden was right on her heels.

“What is it?” he demanded.

It was the coward’s way but she busied
herself stuffing her few possessions into her backpack. “Ayden, I’m
leaving,” she said with her back to him.

Possibly that approach had been the wrong
one. Ayden grabbed her arm and spun her around fast enough that the
shirt she’d been about ready to put into the bag flew from her hand
and landed on the bed.

He lowered his face so it was level with her.
“With me,” he growled, the two words slicing through the air with
finality.

Magda swallowed. She didn’t doubt his temper
would flare as easily as hers once provoked. She was definitely
getting ready to poke the beast with a stick.

“No.” She maintained eye contact when she
pushed her response back at him.

Ayden let out a sound that began deep in his
chest and pushed itself to his throat until it resembled a deadly
war cry.

She didn’t want this to be war. Creating
space between them, her only choice was to move further into the
room. He stood facing her with his back to the door. The bed and
the dark wood bureau that held the TV were on either side of him.
Magda fought the sensation of being barricaded in.

“You are my mate,” he said, his mouth barely
moving and his lips almost white when he pressed them into a flat
line. Muscles bulged under his taut flesh when he fisted both hands
at his side. “You run by my side.”

“I can’t.” She almost held her hands out, but
she wasn’t giving him any sign of surrender. This wouldn’t be an
argument. Nothing was open for discussion. “I’m so honored that you
hunted me down. I smell your love for me, Ayden. You know I love
you, too.”

It was the first time either of them had
voiced out loud the emotion that was as strong on them as any other
feeling they had at that moment. Ayden straightened. His waist was
slender. His broad, bare chest was sprinkled with dark blond, tight
curls. His arms were by his side, biceps thick and powerful looking
and roped muscles protruding everywhere. She’d run her fingers over
every inch of his exposed body. The tiny scars and puckers of skin
from previous battles or fights had all been explored. Ayden was so
damn perfect, in every way. If there was only a way to do things
the way he wanted.

“You’re right. I do love you.” His tone
turned soft, but there was no soft emotion behind it. His
expression remained fierce. “I will run with you wherever you wish
to go. Whatever it takes to make you feel safe.”

“No!” She sliced her hand through the air.
“You would never see your pack again. You would never see your
littermate. All life as you know it would be over. If we ever go
public with this mating.” She paused, sucked in a breath, and held
her gaze up to his. “It would be a death sentence for you,” she
whispered.

Ayden shook his head. “You need to accept
that I already know the danger involved. I accepted it when I
accepted you as my mate.”

“You think you know, but you don’t.”

“Now you have the power to read my mind?” He
cleared the distance between them.

Magda took her one shot and leaped around
him. She jumped on to the bed, then off it, spinning around at the
same time he did. Grabbing the shirt she’d tossed to the bed, she
stuffed it in her backpack and zipped the sides.

“This time I’m not running from you.” She
would get the words out. She had to. It was the only honorable way.
If his last memory of her had to be this, he would at least know in
his heart that Malta werewolves run with honor. “You think you know
the danger, but how can you know something you’ve never smelled?
Life as you know it ends forever if you walk out this door with me.
I’m not worth you giving up everything you’ve ever known, and
everyone you’ve ever loved.”

She actually stopped him by raising her hand
when he started at her. “Ayden, I love you. This is killing me. But
I must run alone. You must not run with me. Any werewolf on this
planet would kill you for being with me. Keep your honor. Keep your
pride,” she choked out, then hurried for the door.

“Magdaline!” Ayden roared.

She tore into the hallway. Tears streamed
down her cheek. No way would she confine herself in an elevator.
Magda reached the stairs and flew down them, her backpack slapping
against her shoulder. She slowed when she reached the bottom stairs
leading to the large gathering room where the owls probably would
be. Rubbing her cheeks and eyes, she did her best to look
presentable. Then sucking in a deep breath, she walked purposely
out of the stairwell.

Both female owls stood behind their large
counter. They looked at her at the same time with those large round
eyes. Their expressions were so relaxed and their scent damn near
non-existence it was as if they were asleep while standing, and
watching her.

As much as she wanted to race out the door,
Magda had better breeding than to be rude to her hostesses.

“You have a wonderful nest here,” she said to
the two owls. Pausing in front of them at the counter, she worked
to master curtailing in her own emotions. “I’m honored to have
stayed here.”

Both females inclined their heads. Only one
of them offered a small smile, the other’s expression remained
blank.

Magda then remembered that her hair must look
wild. She’d barely finished brushing it after showering when Ayden
had barged in on her. Grabbing it at her nape she began twisting it
until it held in place in a knot at the back of her head. She let
her backpack straps slide to her forearm, then unzipped it enough
to stick her hand in and feel around for her hat.

“Good hunting,” she told the owls before
turning toward the door. These final steps out of the bed and
breakfast, away from Ayden, would be the hardest she’d ever
take.

“You are Magdaline Keller?” one of the
females asked.

Magda froze. Before turning she fought with
all she had to keep panic from rising in her like bile to her
throat. If the howlings were wrong and the owls didn’t offer safe
haven, her run for freedom was over before it had began.

Magda shifted her weight, held her hat in her
hand but didn’t put it on. Instead she took her time zipping her
backpack, a lesson in patience and preventing herself from
incriminating herself.

“Why do you ask?” she said, matching their
monotone when she spoke. She made eye contact with the female who
had smiled, and who’d asked the question.

Ayden came trotting down the stairs,
distracting their conversation when all of them looked at him..
He’d dressed and had a saddle bag draped over his shoulder. Why
hadn’t she noticed that in the room? Ayden already carried supplies
to run. Without asking she knew he’d prepared to run with her and
had packed what he’d wanted to take. He’d left his pack, and by the
slight bulges in the bag hanging over the front of his chest, it
appeared he’d brought everything he’d wanted to start his new life
with her.

Magda stared at it, frozen where she stood.
He walked up to them and slipped his arm over the back of her
shoulders. So much strength radiated from him where his bare arm
touched her. The power he displayed with his mere presence made her
wish running with him might work out. If he truly accepted never
seeing anyone from his pack again, and living in exile with her,
should she keep trying to stop him?

“Did I hear you ask about my mate?” he asked,
his voice smooth as silk. Ayden pulled her closer. “What do you
want?”

The female owl speaking straightened. Her
tall, slender figure was nicely displayed in her snug fitting,
sleek dress. Her skin was as white as her hair. Those dark round
eyes never blinked, nor did she appear intimidated in any way by
Ayden’s pushing into their conversation, or his gruff tone when he
demanded answers.

She simply redirected the question. “Is your
mate Magdaline Keller?”

“She’s Magdaline Toubec.”

Hearing him say her name as a mated female
did something to her insides. They twisted and her heart started
doing this annoying fluttering thing. In spite of her efforts to
remain composed and keep her emotions dormant, her scent changed
when a wash of excitement and nerves wrapped around this happy
sensation deep in her gut.

The female owl simply nodded once. Apparently
she accepted that Ayden had answered in the affirmative since he
didn’t deny knowing the name but simply altered her litter’s
name.

Ayden rubbed her shoulder when the owl looked
at her. Without too much conscious thought, somewhere in the back
of her brain, Magda knew Ayden wasn’t leaving her side anytime
soon. Again her heart did that weird fluttering thing.