Bracken’s eyes fluttered open, and he gazed up at a white ceiling. He wasn’t in his bed. In fact, he was lying on a sofa in a living area he didn’t recognize. But he knew where he was, because he knew the scent that permeated the room. And that scent had a whole new meaning to him now. Belonged to someone who was part of him.
His wolf let out a low growl of contentment, pleased that he was in his mate’s lair, pushing Bracken to go find her. Needing no urging, Bracken sat up. He scowled as he replayed the car accident in his mind. Someone had rammed their car into his side. Deliberately. Pitilessly. If it hadn’t been for the pack mate he could hear talking in a low voice somewhere in the house, he’d be in a bad way right now. And if it hadn’t been for the fact that he’d just discovered Madisyn was his mate, all he’d be thinking about was hunting the bastard. His priority right then was finding and talking to his little cat.
If Bracken knew her like he thought he did, she’d be freaking out—in her head, if nothing else—about the fact that she’d found her mate. Madisyn was good at surface interaction, but she wasn’t necessarily social. Didn’t really befriend people. In that sense, she was an emotional loner. She even seemed to like the lone shifter lifestyle. Having a mate—especially one who was part of a pack—would change everything. And when that male was an absolute wreck like him, she’d have every reason to be anxious about what would come next.
So many things made sense now—his primal reaction to her scent, his wolf’s growing attachment to her, and why there’d always been something indefinable about her that captured Bracken’s attention. The strain of the mating bond had disappeared, but it had left echoes of emotions behind. Protectiveness. Possessiveness. Longing. An elemental tenderness. And they seemed to tie him to her in a way he couldn’t explain.
Bracken pushed to his feet and tracked the voices to the kitchen. Jesse and Zander were leaning against the countertop while his Betas and Madisyn sat at the table. All were drinking coffee, so deep in conversation that it took them a moment to sense him. Madisyn noticed first. She didn’t smile or greet him in any way, just looked at him, cool and casual. She’d also flicked up her collar so it covered his brand, hiding it from the pack.
He could almost believe she hadn’t felt the tug of the mating bond. Almost. During the time she’d tended the bar at the Velvet Lounge, he’d watched her more than he liked. And he’d come to learn that Madisyn was very good at keeping emotions from her face, but they leaked out in other ways. She often flexed her fingers when she was anxious . . . just as she was doing right then. Yeah, she was freaking out, just as he’d thought.
She’d had one hell of a night, hadn’t she? A brawl with bears. A battle with touch-hunger. An orgasm in her hallway from someone she’d then watched get knocked over by a hit-and-run driver. And then, to top it all off, she’d discovered her mate just before he blacked out right in front of her. Poor baby was probably battling the urge to sling them all out of her house so she could have some time alone.
It was tempting to cross straight to her and pull her into his arms. But there would be no way he could hold her and not come across even half as territorial as he felt. His pack would easily guess they were true mates. There would be questions, congratulations, and talk of mating ceremonies. He didn’t want Madisyn freaking out any more than she already was. They needed to talk first, and they needed to do it alone.
He stepped farther into the kitchen, and his pack mates looked his way.
Jesse’s smile was strained. “Good to see you up and about. You took a pretty hard hit to the head. Fractured your skull, broke a few ribs.”
Ally gave him an exasperated look, but he saw the worry in her eyes. “Do you never answer your phone? I had a vision about the hit-and-run and tried calling to warn you.”
Calls he’d ignored because he’d been so focused on Madisyn. Heading to the counter, he asked, “Any more coffee in the pot?”
“Yep.” Zander grabbed a mug out of the cupboard. “Madisyn gave us a description of the car, minus the license plate, but she didn’t get a good look at the driver. Did you?”
“No,” replied Bracken, pouring coffee into the cup. “The car hit me from the side. It wasn’t an accident.” Mug in hand, he took the seat beside Madisyn, pressing his thigh against hers. She didn’t tense or withdraw, but she nudged his leg with her own in a move-over gesture. He didn’t, of course. Now that he knew she was his, he’d be up in her space in a major way, and she’d need to get used to it. “I heard the car coming but didn’t pay it any attention. It was moving at a steady pace. Didn’t speed up until it got close to me.”
“Madisyn recognized the person riding shotgun as one of the sows who gave her trouble at Enigma,” said Derren. “Enough for us to understand their pride took a huge blow. They must have followed you here, and then, thinking you were Madisyn’s boyfriend, decided to strike back at her through you. Did you notice anyone tailing you?”
“There was no one.” His attention had been on Madisyn, but Bracken was always hyperaware. He’d have noticed if someone were following him.
“Either they somehow managed to escape your detection, or they found out her address some other way,” said Ally.
“Madisyn gave us their first names,” Derren told Bracken. “We’ll work on finding out what clan they might be from. She’s promised to contact us if she thinks of anything else that will help us ID them. We will find them, and we will make them pay.”
Bracken nodded. Pissed though he was, he wasn’t raging and raring to hunt the bitches. All he wanted was time alone with Madisyn. So when his pack mates later filed out of the house, Bracken lingered, assuring them he wouldn’t be long. They looked confused but left without commenting.
Alone with Madisyn, who was now washing cups in the sink, he propped his hip against the counter and watched her. Absorbed her. Relished the knowledge that he’d found the female who was born for him. The female who belonged to him in a way that she could never belong to anyone else. She was just plain his. And she was currently doing her best to pretend she was alone. He couldn’t decide whether to be annoyed or amused.
“I know you felt it,” he said. “The bond. It was there.”
She flicked him a sideways glance. “I felt something.”
Anger flared inside him at the flippant response. “You felt the tug of a mating bond, Madisyn. Don’t you fucking deny it.”
Sighing, Madisyn turned to fully face him. She’d been shocked as all shit when she felt the mating bond pulling at her. Although she’d wanted him from day one, there’d been no mutual electric snap of attraction back then. No sense that he seemed in any way drawn to her. In fact, she’d often gotten the feeling that she annoyed him a little . . . which she could admit she’d found kind of fun.
The now-hardened enforcer had once been flirty by nature but never with her. Although he’d made her come with his fingers earlier, it hadn’t been because he was truly attracted to her. What was it he’d said? “You need me right now.” Not that he needed her. Not that he even wanted her. Nope. He’d just been helping her relieve the touch-hunger. And then he’d damn well gotten knocked over. But without permission from Dawn, the cougar shifter who ran the shelter, she wasn’t able to share everything she knew about the sows.
“I won’t deny that I felt the bond,” said Madisyn. “But it makes no sense that we’re mates. None.”
“Because we didn’t instantly fall at each other’s feet? It doesn’t always happen like that. People can know their true mate for years and not sense it.”
“Yeah, but they probably liked each other. Probably felt an itty-bitty hint of attraction. Us . . . there was nothing.”
“That’s a lie,” accused Bracken. “You wanted me. I wanted you, though I didn’t properly acknowledge it. There was sexual chemistry there, baby. It exploded between us in your fucking hallway.” He took a step closer, taking in her pale face and wide eyes. It made his chest tighten. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you spooked by anything before.”
“Well, it was a shock. We’ve known each other awhile, but I never once suspected that we could be mates.” Her cat hadn’t behaved in a way that hinted at it . . . though, to be fair, the mere fact that her cat found him tolerable said a lot. The feline had panicked when he blacked out, and very little caused her cat to panic. But even as she knew he was her mate, the feline wasn’t straining toward him. She felt he had some work to do. But that was how it was with dominant pallas females; they needed their mates to prove themselves worthy before they gave up their solitary ways.
“You never showed any interest in me until now,” Madisyn went on. “That makes me think that it’s not me you want. Not really. You want your mate, which isn’t the same thing.”
Bracken narrowed his eyes. “You think I want the bond more than I want you. That’s bullshit, Madisyn.”
“Oh yeah? Look me in the eye and tell me you would ever want a relationship with me if you hadn’t felt the tug of the bond,” she challenged. “You can’t, can you? I’ve never been on your radar. And that’s okay—a lot of people have types. I’m not yours. Simple. Sometimes it works like that with mates, which is why the mating urge is so sexually overpowering; it ensures two people who wouldn’t otherwise be together are forced to claim each other.”
He tilted his head. “You sound like you have some personal knowledge of this.”
“My father never showed any interest in my mother until he felt the bond—they were both grieving the death of a friend, and it lowered their walls, I guess. But if it hadn’t been for the mating urge, they’d never have gotten together, because Guy would never have looked at Cherrie that way. And that knowledge sat between them all their lives, eating away at what they had. Eating at them. I won’t live like that. I won’t bind myself to someone who’s only looking my way because fate paired us. That’s not enough to make a mating work.”
“You’re right, it’s not. But you’re not right in thinking that I don’t like or feel any attraction toward you. As for your belief that I didn’t want you before now, surely the fact that I finger-fucked you in your hallway disproves that.”
“You only did that because I was in a bad state with the touch-hunger.” It damn well hurt her pride that her own mate had only made her come as a freaking favor. “Don’t bullshit me, Bracken. You know I’m right.”
Bracken wanted to deny her statement, but he couldn’t—especially since he’d only followed her into the house because she’d been in pain. “Why does that have to mean it wouldn’t ever have happened? You saw the mark on your neck, Madisyn. It’s not exactly subtle, is it? I’ve never branded a female before. Not even once. What does that tell you?”
Her eyes flared, and she pointed sharply at the bite. “That is not a brand. Branding someone is an act of possessiveness. A temporary claim. A message to others to keep their distance. You didn’t have that in mind when you bit me. It was a lapse in control. An accident. Things were intense. They . . . got out of hand.”
“‘Intense.’ That’s a good word for it. Maybe another would be ‘inevitable.’ Look, I won’t lie and say I’m sure we’d have eventually gotten together at some point if we hadn’t sensed the bond, but I also can’t say that we wouldn’t. Can you be sure of either of those things?”
“No, but—”
“Then stop running, Madisyn.” He backed her against the counter and put a hand on either side of her, caging her in. “You’re no coward. Which is a good thing, because you’re in for a rough ride.” He honestly felt sorry for her.
She blinked, unsure if he meant that in a sexual sense. Her libido sure hoped so. “Excuse me?”
“Look at me, Madisyn. Take a good long look. I’m a fucking wreck. Barely functioning. How do you think I’ll handle having a mate? I’ll tell you.” He leaned forward, pressing his body against hers. “I’ll want everything from you. Actually, that’s a lie. I’ll demand it. Take it. Possess you. Own you. Be more overprotective than you can tolerate, because I’ll be totally fucking paranoid that you’ll be taken from me.”
“It’s not pointless paranoia. The extremists would likely target anyone who means something to me. That’s going to play on my mind night and day. You’ll never get a minute’s peace, baby—I’ll be up in your space twenty-four/seven one way or another. If I’m not with you, I’ll need to know where you are. Need it, Madisyn, because I won’t otherwise function. Now tell me you can easily handle all that. Lie to me, and tell me I’m not totally fucked up.”
Madisyn winced. The self-loathing in his voice was painful to hear.
“I should let you go, I know that. But I can’t. I’ll drown without you, Madisyn. I’ve been on a downward spiral for a long time. You’re the only thing that can pull me back up.” When she lowered her head, he said, “Hey, look at me.” She took a deep breath and then lifted her gaze to his. “I’m not walking away,” he told her, which sounded more like a threat than the firm statement he’d intended. “Wouldn’t even if I could. There’s nothing in this world more important to me than you.”
She gave him a bitter smile. “But that’s not because I’m me. It’s because fate says we should be together. And like I’ve already said, that’s not enough to make a mating work. It’s not enough for me.”
“I can’t claim to love you, Madisyn, just as you can’t say the same to me. We don’t know each other well, but that’s something we’ll fix. As things stand, I like you. I respect you. I admire your strength—it’s like a drug to my wolf. And I want to fuck you into oblivion. Not exactly a romantic declaration, but it’s the truth. The rest will come in time.”
“You sound sure of that.”
“I am.” He feathered kisses over the grazes on her cheek, silently promising that the sows would pay for making her bleed. “Fate didn’t just pair us up like a meddling matchmaker. Your soul is the other half of mine, just as mine is the other half of yours. It’s as simple and as complicated as that. So yeah, I’m positive that we’ll fit just fine. But we won’t know for certain if you don’t give this a chance.” His eyes dropped to his brand on her neck, and he breezed his thumb over it. “You can do that much, can’t you?”
Madisyn shoved her hand into her hair, overwhelmed and still very much in shock. “I need some space to think.”
He snorted, amused. “I’m sure you do, but it’s not something I’ll be able to give you much of.”
Her cat bristled, and Madisyn felt her eyelid twitch. “Don’t think you’ll get to walk all over me.”
“Oh, I know you won’t let me get away with that shit.” The thought made Bracken smile. He caught her face with his hands. “Kiss me, Madisyn.”
“I need space—”
“And you’ll get it.” For a few hours anyway. “I’m leaving right now. But I want a kiss first.”
“You want a lot of things from me.”
He shook his head. “No, baby. I want everything.” And then he swooped in and took her mouth, feasting and devastating. Her taste burst on his tongue—it was so fucking sweet, so utterly addictive, and the little hint of something wild there only made it more potent. She gave as good as she got—wouldn’t be Madisyn if she didn’t—but there was a hesitancy there that he didn’t like.
Snarling, he splayed his hand on her throat and gave it a little squeeze. Her eyes snapped open and blazed fire at him. “Don’t fight me,” he said. “You have no idea how hard it is to battle the instinct to deepen that brand on your neck and make it a claiming mark.” When she stiffened, he quickly added, “I’m not going to do that. Not yet.” Because he got where she was coming from. He’d be happy to make his claim and let the rest play out as they got to know each other. But if Madisyn needed things to happen the other way around so no doubts ever sat between them, then fine.
“I’ll wait until you’re ready for that, but I won’t be pushed away,” Bracken warned. “I won’t be kept at a distance. I won’t tolerate walls or barriers—not just because I won’t allow there to be anything standing between us, but because you don’t need to protect yourself from me. You hear me, Madisyn? I’ll move at your pace, but you have to let me in. You have to get used to not being alone anymore. It’s the only way I’ll be able to hold back from claiming you for a while.”
Madisyn stared at him, more than a little off-balance by the raw possessiveness and sheer determination glittering in his eyes. She jutted out her chin. “You’ll hold back because I’m telling you to hold back.”
His mouth kicked up into a smile. “And you’ll let me in because you know I won’t have it any other way.” He kissed her again, licking into her mouth, indulging in one last taste of her. He pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. He wanted to stay right there, where he could see and touch and taste her anytime he liked. Wanted to stay and cosset her and be sure she was safe. But she did need space, and he’d give her what little he could of it. Because after tonight, he’d be all up in her business in a way that would drive her crazy.
Bracken pushed away from the counter, ignoring how his wolf raked at his insides in objection. “Lock up after me. Stay safe. Call me if you need anything. Anything.”
For the second time that night, Madisyn followed him to the door and watched him head to his SUV. She also stepped out onto the porch and took a moment to glance around, on the lookout for any cars coming, but the road was quiet. His pack mates were waiting in the other SUV, and they eyed her and Bracken a little suspiciously.
His eyes flicked to hers just before he hopped into the SUV. And she saw his struggle, knew it was hard for him to leave. She just wished it was because he’d miss her and not because his instincts told him to stay by her side. And yeah, that was sort of unreasonable, since he didn’t know her well enough to miss her. But she’d had one fuck of a shock—she was entitled to be a little unreasonable.
When he shot her a raised eyebrow, she knew he wouldn’t drive off until he was sure she was safely inside the house. With an inner eye roll, Madisyn went inside and then closed and locked the door behind her. Leaning back against it, she let out a long breath. Vodka. She needed vodka.