Chapter Five

 

Colt watched the woman sitting next to him. The table and chairs were old and mismatched but comfortable enough. He supposed that he should be prepared for her to give the cabin a few womanly touches. Hell, she might want to give it a full makeover. Isn't that what women did? Nest and become all domesticated.

Ten years ago the idea of becoming domesticated would have made him want to chew his paw off to get out of that trap. But he'd missed her every day since. Now he was so damn thrilled to be two feet away that he'd give her anything she wanted.

She tensed, fork halfway to her lips. Her eyes went glassy and unfocused and he reached for her free hand. “Someone's coming.”

Obviously, she wasn't completely comfortable after her close encounters with Blackwood's boys. He'd have to make sure she felt secure because no mate of his would live scared.

“It's Matthias,” she murmured, shoulders relaxing.

As if she hadn't just had a psy experience in the middle of dinner, she returned to her food, eating with the kind of gusto he enjoyed. And he was pleased that she didn't try to hide her appetite. He'd heard human women did that and he couldn't understand. You ate when you were hungry. Hell, sometimes a wolf would go a day or two between meals when food was scarce. Thank goodness those times were almost gone.

But she seemed to enjoy her pasta and had praised his ability to throw dinner together on such short notice. Something was weighing on her mind and had been since he'd opened the front door and ushered her inside.

While she seemed at ease with him, she also seemed unsure about something.

He'd lost the battle a while ago, had decided he couldn't live without her. It'd taken a while to come to grips with that decision. Hell, it'd taken him almost a month to tell Matthias his plans and his second had never been anything but supportive.

He had a feeling that Matthias wasn't delivering good news though.

He pushed the thought aside and squeezed her hand. Words had never been his tool. Brawn, cunning, sheer ruthlessness, those were his weapons. But he needed to say something to her, something to ease her mind and prove to her that he meant what he'd said down the mountain.

She was his mate.

And he had no intention of ever giving her up.

She gasped, eyes swerving to his. A knock at the door drew their attention and he got up to answer it.

“Since when do you knock?” he asked the big man.

Matthias stepped across the threshold slowly, like he was afraid of what he'd find inside. His dark gaze flicked to Robin who gave him a soft smile. Deep inside Colt realized that she was trying to be friendly, to ease whatever news his beta was about to give them.

“Blackwood knows you've begun you're mating cycle,” Matthias said without preamble.

Robin's cheeks turned bright red and her eyes went as round as the dinner plate beside her. “I-he—” she stuttered.

Colt had never thought of a woman as adorable before. Bunnies were adorable. Babies too, but women? She snapped her lips closed and met his gaze.

Matthias's words finally sank in.

“Your mating cycle?”

She and Matthias nodded in unison.

“How did Blackwood find out? I haven't told anyone.”

Matthias shrugged. “Someone in your clan must have been paying attention. He wants your power.”

“Why?” she chirped. She shrank before their eyes but then she rallied and sat tall. He supposed it was natural for her to feel fear in a situation like this. From what he knew about her, she'd led a sheltered life. She hadn't dealt with wolves the way he had.

It was the second time today that she'd strengthened her backbone and tackled things head on. He admired the hell outta that.

Matthias shrugged again. “Who knows? Blackwood's an asshat of the first order. Someone told him. He's had his men tailing you. They decided today was the day.”

“How did you find me?” she asked Colt, shifting her attention to him.

“Matthias was also watching you, to make sure you're safe. I've had eyes on you for ten years,” he admitted. “When he told me you were missing, we started searching.”

He wasn't sure what to expect; women could be very strange about his protective nature. Nevertheless, he held his breath as he waited for her reaction.

“You were watching me?” she asked, her voice soft and cautious. “For ten years?”

He nodded.

He saw her chest lift as she took a deep breath. Glancing between him and Matthias, she seemed to draw in on herself and consider that.

“What do I do about Blackwood?” She asked the question almost absently, as if she was already losing herself in thought.

Colt hated that she was in the middle of any sort of pack dispute. But the idea that anyone wanted to harm her, to steal her psi powers...his wolf snapped forward so hard he felt fur start to sprout from his skin.

He pushed the beast back and stepped forward. “You'll let me deal with him.”

“But—”

He closed his hands around her waist to ground her. “No buts. He'd be stupid to try to take you from me.”

Her lovely red brows lifted and the cute freckles on her nose crinkled.

“What do you want me to do?” Matthias asked, cutting into Colt's lust.