Chapter 24

Rogue laughed as she ran, stepping off the path, racing not the man behind her, but the moonlight as it dipped and spattered between the trees. She knew she couldn’t outrun him forever, but she could wear him the fuck out, until she decided what to do next.

One night of pure, animal sex was looking better every moment, if only it wasn’t laden with everything that would come after. No, it was better this way. Something would happen that would give her a chance to slip away. The second she did, she would go straight home, pack what little she wanted to take with her, and get the hell out of Serenity. Chicago, too. She’d head out there, grab the pendants, split the state, maybe the country, and decide what to do about her house and Boe and her sister later.

But, for now, she ran, the simple childhood joy of moving warring with the hot anticipation of being caught. If he caught her, would she let him kiss her? Maybe. Maybe she would jam his thick hand between her legs and rock on him until she came, stealing enough satiating pleasure to let her think clearly, get over this obsession with him.

Werewolf, man, it didn’t matter what he was. She would regret leaving him, but she would regret staying with him more.

She zigged and zagged between evergreen trees, her hair streaming out behind her like a flag, her boots landing evenly on the ground. She could sense him behind her, keeping the same distance between them, just keeping pace with her so he didn’t lose her, looking for his opportunity to turn on the speed and catch her around the waist, throw her to the ground and fall on her. Take her, fuck her. She groaned as she ran, wanting it badly, trying to tear her imagination away from the images. How fucking hot would it be?

Her lungs burned in her chest and she pulled ahead a little, then stopped dead and held out her hand, turning to face him. “Stop!” she cried. “Let’s make this interesting.”

He skidded to a stop and looked at her, hands on hips, and she was dismayed to see that she might be just a bit more out of breath than he was. Fucker was in phenomenal shape. Which only made her want him more. Oh, and what do you know, his dick was still hard.

“I’m listening,” he said.

“I tell you what. If you can catch me, I’ll give you what you want. If I can elude you for ten more minutes, you let me go.”

He shook his head and said it again. “I can’t do that.”

She frowned. “Can’t do what? Let me go?”

He nodded, panting only a little, his shirt flapping where she’d cut it, revealing his hard abs. “Can’t let you go. Can’t ever let you go.”

She turned in a little circle, breathing heavily, encouraging the anger that flared up at that statement. She would need it. “You aren’t going to arrest me, you already said that. So I don’t get what you fucking mean, you can’t let me go. What are you planning on doing, kidnapping me? Holding me hostage somewhere?”

He shook his head. “No. But you and me, we’re together now. You just got to… understand.” He held his hands out, his words still coming in huffs. “Look, I can see how this is confusing for you, but believe me, you are going to want to stick with me. We’ve got some shit to talk about.”

Rogue’s heart pounded, and she knew suddenly that the answer to her werewolf problem was hers for the taking. All she had to do was talk to Mac.

But she didn’t want to know. Didn’t want her life as she knew it destroyed with a few words. Didn’t want to be put in this fucking situation!

Anger spilled through her and she whirled, using it to her advantage, taking off at a dead run, sensing she’d gained a few precious seconds on him.

She would get away from him.

***

Mac cursed in the moonlight as his mate pulled away from him, widening the distance between them. He put on a burst of speed, half-tempted to shift and corner her, but that would scare the shit out of her, so he wouldn’t do it, not unless he absolutely had to, but there was no way he was letting her out of his sight. Like the knowledge had been dropped on him from above, he finally understood Trevor, Crew, Graeme, and Beckett all choosing to live on the same plot of land. There was safety in numbers, and when you managed to mate a female this… phenomenal, one that a demon would give his left nut to get ahold of, you didn’t leave anything to chance. You didn’t let her out of your sight for a second. Even if she was strong, and sharp, and deadly, like his mate obviously was.

Now if only she would stop running and realize that she belonged with him.

His need for air drove all conscious thought from his brain as he tracked her movements and tried to avoid tripping over anything. She never once looked back over her shoulder to see if he was gaining on her, or even still chasing her. She turned suddenly, left past a tree, and he skidded right past where she’d disappeared, widening her lead on him. If he only knew her name he would yell it out, scream it, but he didn’t know it, and he needed his breath, anyway.

A thud and then a curse told him she’d hit the ground. He put on a burst of speed, saw her up and trying to run, but not quite standing, and he caught her, throwing one arm around her waist, twisting his body so he came down on the ground hard on his back, with her on top of him.

She didn’t struggle, just let him pull her until their bodies were snuggled in next to each other. He loosened his hold on her, just a bit, enough that she could push herself up, her legs on either side of his torso, her ass dangerously close to his erection.

“I caught you,” he told her, panting, and trying not to show it.

“Only because I fell.” Her voice was tight like she was pissed. At him? Or herself?

“Still counts.”

She didn’t say anything for a few moments as she caught her own breath, but her fingers on his stomach were coming dangerously close to caressing his skin through the hole in his shirt. He held her tight around her hips, so she wouldn’t think of running again. He stared at her, soaking in the feeling of her on top of him.

“Ok,” she bit out. “You caught me. So what do you want?”

Mac could see in her face what she expected him to say. But he wasn’t going there. When he kissed her, when he took her, she wouldn’t be doing it grudgingly. She would be completely there with him, wanting it as much as he did.

“I want to know your name.”

She licked her lips, then wiped sweat off her forehead. Her hair fell down around her face, and her small breasts bobbed with the great rolling breaths she pulled in. His hands itched to touch her there, so he clamped down harder on her hips.

She bit her bottom lip as if she was deciding what to tell him and he braced himself for a lie. It wouldn’t mean anything, if she lied to him, just that she had her own stuff going on. He could understand that. She didn’t know him, had no reason to trust him.

Her fingers spread, moving over his stomach and he bit back a groan. Her touch burned him, spread lust over his skin, made his cock jump in his pants. Fuck.

She wiggled backwards a bit, until her ass came in contact with his erection, then she gave him a sly smile. “You sure you don’t want something else? A kiss maybe? Or…?”

He smiled back. “I’m sure.”

Her smile disappeared. She appraised him with sharp eyes, then lifted her hips and moved towards his feet, then settled back down on him, the hottest part of her now in direct contact with his dick. Fuck him, he didn’t know if he could take it. The desire to get her under him, to get inside her was killing him.

His eyes drifted closed and his hips punched upward, lifting her, pressing their bodies together where they were joined. He groaned at the friction they were creating, groaned at the tightness in his balls, the pure need that had ahold of him.

When he opened his eyes, the sly look on her face told him she knew exactly what she was doing to him. Ah shit, he could give as good as he got, and he wanted to see her as desperate as he was.

In one move, he rolled her over onto the forest floor, the scent of dirt and leaves hovering for just a moment, then replaced by her clean, sweet tang. He parted her thighs with his knees and got all up in there, then pressed himself against her, watching her face so he knew when he hit the right spot. She didn’t give up much, but she pressed back against him, her breath tearing in and out of her mouth with a new rhythm, one that told him she wanted him, that she would happily exchange sex instead of giving up her name.

He gritted his teeth, then stopped himself. “Your name,” he growled. “I want it.”

She arched under him, pressing against him, opening her legs for him. “That’s not all you want.”

He ground against her again, running a hand up her arm and shoulder, fisting his fingers in her hair and pulling lightly. “It’s not, but if I can only have one, I choose your name.”

Her eyes closed and her head went back with his hand, a small whimper escaping her throat. Her smooth, creamy neck called to him, and he bent, pressing his lips to her throat.

“Fucking first,” she whispered, as her hands found his head and pulled him harder against her. “Name after.”

Fuuuuuuuck. She did not just say that. She was going to kill him. He hardened his resolve, realizing with a blinding force that threatened to knock him on his ass that she had no intention of giving him her name. She was willing to give him her body, but not her name. If only he could make her…

He moved deliberately to the side, pulling away from her, then pressing his hands into the sweet juncture of her thighs where it was hot enough to burn him. “Name first,” he growled into her ear. “Then kissing, then fucking.” He pressed down on her softness, feeling her response, knowing when he’d found the right spot by the soft gasp and the punch of her hips.

He worked it. She didn’t respond at first, and he didn’t care, pressing, caressing, gliding, until she moaned and arced into his hand. She was close. He was going to make her come, and come hard, all over-

Mac stopped. Pulled his hand away with a force of will he hadn’t had to exert over himself in twenty years. Just… done.

He stared at her, waiting for her to open her eyes. When she did, he could see how much she wanted him to go on, but that determination was there, too. She wouldn’t lie to him, wouldn’t give him a fake name, but she wasn’t going to tell him, either. Fuck, he was halfway to in love with her already.

But he would keep trying. “You want to keep doing this here? In the dirt? Or should we head to my place?” he said. “You can not tell me your name in my bed.”

She didn’t answer for a long time, and he could see the calculation in her eyes. When she spoke, he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. “How about you keep doing what you were doing, and I’ll tell you your own name in another minute or two.”

He grinned. “Oh yeah? I might consider it, just to hear you scream it out.” He looked around in the stillness, the darkness. “You can make sure the whole forest knows my name.”

A car door slammed, catching his attention. He looked up, unable to see anything through the forest, even though he could tell they were close to the road. Shit, dispatch had probably sent someone to check on him.

A young male voice came, eagerness making it sound younger than it probably was. “If she’s still here, she’s mine first. I’ll hit her with this, you two hold her down, then we’ll switch.”

Another young male voice. “Ah, Joel, I don’t really want to-”

The first voice spoke again. “She fucking knocked me out, Dean! You let her! You think she should get away with that?”

“But… you said we were just gonna fuck with her a little bit.”

The boys continued to argue, and rage built inside of Mac. “Motherfuck,” he swore, then looked at his mate. “Who are they talking about?”

Her eyes were narrowed. “Me.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me!”

She shook her head. “We had a little talk before you showed up. They were cutting the top off the playground. I taught one of them a painful lesson.”

Mac got to his feet, rage filling him so completely he couldn’t think of anything but getting to those boys. “Stay here,” he told her.

He headed straight out of the forest, stepping over downed trees and drooping plants, honing in on the boys, pulling his handcuffs out of his pocket as he went.

Nobody talked about his mate like that.