Wes

Wes woke up in his bed with a pounding headache. He groaned and tried to sit up but an explosion of stars in his vision threatened to pull him under again. His head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice and when he raised his hand to rub his throbbing temples he winced. His eyes brought his bandaged palm into focus.

“How are you feeling?” a soft voice asked.

Wes felt his bed dip as someone sat next to him. He turned to see Cali studying him with concern. “Like I lost a fight.”

She smirked. “You did. That mouth of yours is trouble.”

“Some women like trouble,” Wes retorted. Flirty banter was ingrained in him.

Cali shook her head. “This one doesn’t.”

She picked up his hand examining the blood soaked bandage. Wes studied her face while she unwrapped it. When she frowned he looked down at his palm, stunned to see so many stitches.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry. My medical abilities are limited when it comes to healing humans,” Cali said staring down at the angry wound. “I was more worried about getting you home and stopping the bleeding than making it pretty.”

“How did you get me home?” Wes asked.

“The guys that hit you are friends of mine.”

“Nice friends.”

“Yeah, they usually are when you’re not insulting their entire race. You know, not all shifters are assholes, Wes.”

“I know that,” he grumbled.

Cali sighed. “Look, I know you’re upset, but you really shouldn’t hang out at a place like that. It’s not safe for humans. I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened if I didn’t show up.”

Wes’s shoulders slumped. That’s why he’d gone to shifter bar. He liked tempting fate. He’d been looking for a fight, for someone to put him out of his misery. “Maybe I don’t care what happens to me.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Cali said wrapping his hand with a fresh bandage.

“I’m not being an idiot. I’m fucking mad!” Wes winced, his head began to pound again when he raised his voice.

“Why are you mad?” Cali asked patiently.

“Because Etti chose the wrong guy!”

“Is that really what you think?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Because he’s a shifter?”

“No. That has nothing to do with it.”

“So you don’t hate shifters?” Cali asked.

“No. I’ve lived in Blue Creek all my life. I grew up knowing about shifters and all the other supernaturals. Plus, I’m Native American. I’m not ignorant enough to hate an entire population just because they’re different from me.”

“So what’s the problem with Etti and Grey? You didn’t have a problem with him yesterday?”

“Yesterday I didn’t know what he did to her. Yesterday he wasn’t the asshole that hurt her.”

“Wes, Grey didn’t hurt Etti. He got her pregnant. There’s a difference.”

“He made her cry. Etti never cries. I’ve never seen her that upset. Not even when her mother used to beat her.”

Cali paled. “Etti’s mother beat her?”

Wes exhaled. He’d never told anyone that before. It was always his and Etti’s secret, even though it killed Wes not to go to the police about it. That’s how Etti had wanted it. But here was Cali, getting him to open up again. Wes didn’t see how it really mattered now. Etti wasn’t a kid anymore. “Yeah. She was fourteen when I found out. And once I knew, I put a stop to it.”

“How?”

“I never left her side. I became her shadow. And I promised I’d never let anyone else hurt her again.”

Understanding flickered across Cali’s blue eyes. “That’s why you freaked out on Grey.”

Wes nodded.

“You have to know that Grey would never hurt Etti.”

“You can’t know that.”

Cali took Wes’s good hand. “He’s her mate, Wes. It’s impossible for mates to hurt each other.”

“That’s bullshit. You saw how upset Etti was when she showed up at your house.”

“Upset yes. They’ll argue. That’s normal in any relationship. But Grey will never willingly hurt her.”

Wes frowned skeptically at Cali.

“The fact that Grey said something that upset Etti probably hurt him worse than it hurt her,” Cali added. “Seeing your mate hurting is unbearable. And knowing you caused it only magnifies that. Mates will do anything for each other. They’d rather suffer their own unhappiness than see their mate hurt. Trust me. The beating you gave him was nothing compared to the mental anguish he was putting himself through.”

“I just don’t understand it. Etti’s never even had a serious relationship. How can she all of a sudden be in love with some guy she just met a few weeks ago?”

“That’s the mating bond,” Cali said wistfully. “Once it snaps into place you wonder how you ever functioned without your other half.”

“I always thought Etti was my other half,” Wes said sadly.

“I know,” Cali replied, gently stroking Wes’s crestfallen features. “I’m sorry you’re hurting. But when you figure out who you’re truly meant to be with, it will heal even these wounds.”

“I’m human, Cali. I’m not going to find a mate.”

“That’s not true. I believe everyone has a soul mate. And humans and shifters can be mated. That’s how the shifter community continues to grow. Think about Etti and Grey. She was human when they met.”

Wes shook his head. “Etti was always a shifter. She just didn’t know it because her family hid it from her.”

“But Grey didn’t know that. And it didn’t stop him from knowing she was his mate,” Cali argued.

“Not every story has a happy ending, Cali.”

“Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t make it not true.”

Wes closed his eyes, agony squeezing his heart. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I just want the pain to go away.”

Cali drew her thumb slowly across Wes’s lower lip. “Let me take it away,” she whispered. Then she traced her finger’s path with her tongue, kissing him softly. Wes’s body responded, pulling her closer, breathing her in as the kiss deepened with his hunger to drown his sorrows. Cali was sexy as hell—all soft curves and creamy skin. And Wes’s body craved hers even though he knew it was wrong to use her this way.

Wes pulled her onto his lap until she was straddling him, her perky breasts level with his face. He could see the outline of her hard nipples pushing through the soft material of her fitted shirt. He let his hands skim under Cali’s top and she let out a moan of pleasure when he roughly cupped her breasts. She wanted him. And he wanted to use her. He’d never had a problem doing it before, but using Cali felt wrong on a different level.

Wes always used sex this way, as a distraction—a way to hide from his true feelings. It was the only way he could shut down his mind and heart simultaneously while ridding his body of the coiling anger that built inside him like a viper. But as Cali leaned into his touch and bent to kiss him again his chest tightened. He couldn’t do this to her. She cared about him. And he . . . he didn’t know what he felt.

“Cali . . . I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” she purred kissing a trail of fire down his bare chest.

It was heaven. Wes could already feel the crackle of arousal pulsing through him, begging to let this beautiful woman continue to quiet his ache.

“I’m fucked up, Cali. You know that, right? Like fundamentally broken.”

“I know,” she said reaching his waist. She looked up at him coyly. “That’s sort of what I can’t resist about you.”

Cali unbuttoned his jeans and slid a hand inside, lightly grazing his throbbing length with her fingertips. His cock twitched in her grasp and she smiled stopping to pull off her shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra. She didn’t need one. Her small, perky breasts stood proud. Fuck, she was beautiful. Her milky white skin glowed in the moonlight filtering through the window in Wes’s bedroom. His hands were on her bare breasts in an instant, rubbing her pink, pert nipples until she moaned.

She tugged at his pants until he sprang free. Cali appreciated Wes’s impressive length, dipping lower to caress him with her tongue. He hissed when she swirled her tongue around the tip. In one swift move Wes flipped Cali onto her back, pinning her beneath him. “I’m no good for you,” he warned.

Cali grinned wolfishly. “Are you gonna talk all night or put your mouth to better use?”

“You’ve been warned,” he growled, reaching under her skirt and sliding down her wet panties. Wes hitched her skirt up and nudged her legs wider with his knees. He thumbed a circle between her thighs teasingly, grinning with satisfaction at the wetness he found waiting for him. Wes slipped from the bed, pulling Cali to the edge in one strong, swift motion.

Wes knelt before her, spreading her wide. He took his time, teasing her with light touches and kisses. She yelped when he finally tasted her, caressing her endlessly with his tongue. He splayed a hand across her stomach pinning her to the bed as she writhed and bucked under his sweeping tongue. She fisted the sheets with a white-knuckled grip as Wes drove her toward the edge of ecstasy.

Cali’s labored panting drove Wes wild until he finally could wait no longer. He grabbed her hips and plunged into her, sheathing himself deep in one powerful thrust. Cali cried out in approval, clenching tight around him as Wes pounded into her, racing toward his own oblivion.