He’d lost her for good.

The only woman he’d ever loved ran away, just like she had six years ago. This time it was all his fault.

Nolan swore beneath his breath, and vaulted over the railing to hunt her down.

Bring her back at all costs.

I can’t lose you, Jordan. You’re everything to me.

He shifted into his wolf to track her, flushing out her scent. She’d cut through the forest where the Fae danced now, their fairy lights shining through the trees, visible only to Others, Lupines like himself.

Other pack members whispered the forest was haunted at night and they feared these woods, feared invading the Fae’s privacy.

Nolan didn’t care about the Fae’s privacy. He wanted his mate back.

The scent trail ended by the pond. His wolf growled low in frustration.

Now was not the time to go animal on Jordan. Shifting back, he paced, trying to think. If Jordan wanted to reach the road and hitch a ride, she’d head west, toward the stables.

He took that pathway. A few minutes later, his nose twitched as he picked up the fragrance that was uniquely his mate.

Nolan stopped, his breath hitching. Like a ghost in the moonlight, Jordan stood motionless on the path leading to the stables.

Body tensing, he took a deep breath. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

Now or never. He wasn’t one to gush sentiments or be real romantic, but Nolan had to say what he must.

“Jordan, I sure hope you’re coming back, not because you forgot something, but because you want to come back. And if you don’t… then I’m not going to make the same damn mistake I made six years ago.”

He paused, watching her. “This time, I’m coming after you and nothing will stop me. You’re mine, pixie. You became mine the day we were married and what I claim, I never let go. I vowed to honor and protect you to the last drop of my blood and I stand firm on that.”

Silvery moonlight showed her expression ease, the tension flee her taut body. Jordan still did not move.

He took another deep breath. “You’re mine. I will fight for you and protect you to my last dying day.”

Nolan held out a hand. “Come here.”

Putting just enough authority into his voice, he locked gazes with her. “Now.”

Jordan took a step forward, filling him with relief. Another step and then her hand sought his.

Nolan pulled her into his arms, holding her tight, stroking her hair as she trembled. “I came back because I made a promise the day we got mated. And I’m tired of running. So tired of not having anywhere to go,” she told him.

She looked so broken and lost, his heart ached.

“Will you believe me, Nolan? Or the pack and Sam and everyone who thinks I’m an arsonist?”

Nolan gentled his voice. “Pixie, I’m sorry I doubted you. I’m listening now. But forget the fire. I need to know exactly happened that night, and what my father told you.”

Taking her hand, he walked with her until they reached the barn. Inside, he found a bale of hay and sat, pulling her onto his lap. Jordan needed touch, needed comfort.

So he sat for a moment, stroking her hair, letting her rest against him.

Finally, he spoke into the quietness of the night. “Tell me.”

She hung her head. Tipping up her face with a hand beneath her chin, Nolan winced at her blank expression.

All the life had drained out of her.

“Why should I tell you?”

No emotion. Dull, flat voice. Nolan pressed on. Had to coax her back, his Jordan who had suffered a trauma and ran away instead of sharing it with him.

“Because I’m your mate. For life, Jordan. I made a promise as well, to honor you. I can’t do that unless you talk to me.”

Jordan twisted her hands in her lap. “I don’t know. This is hard. I haven’t talked about it…since it happened. Never told a soul.”

“Take your time.”

After a few minutes, she spoke in a faltering tone. “The night you and I made love, I went to the lodge, but didn’t follow the path up to the lodge. I heard them in the woods. Bryce, and two others.”

Nolan’s stomach tightened. “Males?”

Jordan shook her head. “Females. I scented them. I knew their scents, knew their voices, but couldn’t be certain… One smelled like jasmine flowers.”

After that night, she’d hated jasmine.

“I ran, but he was faster. Stronger. He taunted me, called me outsider and bitch. Bryce caught me on the path, dragged me into the woods. I wasn’t quick enough.” Jordan pushed a hand through her hair. “I wanted to shift, but couldn’t remember, it was as if everything inside me shut down.”

Nolan waited, not daring to breathe, though inside, he was furious.

“They dragged me into the woods, and blindfolded me. Couldn’t see…their faces. They ripped off my clothing, turned me on my stomach and held me down laughing while Bryce…”

Jordan gulped down a breath as his stomach gave a sickening jolt. “B-bryce said he knew you took my virginity. H-he watched us in the hayloft. S-said he would mark me so you’d never forget it. He took the knife, heated it with his lighter… I screamed and screamed, but no one heard me.”

Nails cut into his palms as he squeezed his fists. The things he wanted to do to his brother for hurting Jordan…

Good thing you’re dead you son of a bitch.

“When he finished, they started arguing. They wanted him to carve me up more, make me ugly to the world. Bryce said no, he only wanted this one mark. The ones holding me loosened their grip and…”

She gave a shaky laugh as fat tears dripped down her pale cheeks. “They let go. That’s when I rolled, broke free and ran.

“By then someone was on the path. Your father, coming down to check on you as I thought.” Jordan’s laughter held a note of hysteria. “He saw me, naked. I told him what happened with Bryce. Craig told me to ‘go on now, git to your room and wash up.” He would deal with it and punish Bryce ….”

The sickening nausea intensified. Bryce was dead, he kept repeating to himself. Focus on her. She’s more important.

“I was too ashamed to ask for help with the wound, so I treated it myself. Waited at breakfast the next day to s-see if the alpha would condemn Bryce. You were out riding with the Skin group. And Bryce sat there, looked at me. He mouthed the words, ‘Tonight, I’ll finish carving you up.’”

Nolan’s heart twisted at the woefulness in her wet eyes.

“I kept hoping all day the alpha would punish him, say something. I finally went to your father. He said, he said…”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Your father, my alpha, told me he questioned Bryce. Bryce said it wasn’t him, but I paid another guy to put that on my back and accuse him.”

How could his father believe such crap? Then again, Craig had always been blind when it came to his younger son.

“Bryce warned him I was an upstart female who wanted to get rid of him so she could gain power through the alpha’s heir. I had no roots, no family and needed to firm up my position in the pack. To do that, I needed to kick Bryce out of the way.”

Fury filled him, but he managed to control his emotions. “Did my father ask to see the wound in the daylight?”

Another characteristic shrug. “I showed him. Told him I wasn’t that desperate that I’d deliberately carve myself up like a Thanksgiving turkey. But Craig didn’t believe me. Because I wasn’t blood, Nolan. I was an outsider, just like Bryce had said.”

“My brother hurt you and my father did nothing.”

Jordan’s mouth wobbled precariously. She gave a customary shrug that hid much, but he knew how deeply his father’s betrayal hurt. “I couldn’t wait, knowing Bryce might try again, knowing others hated me enough to aid him. So I ran. I said those terrible things to you so you would never know what happened, would never come after me. I was the outsider, the one who didn’t belong.”

Rage filled him. He couldn’t imagine how she survived. Nolan wiped away a single tear. “How, how the hell did you get through it?”

Her mouth twitched in the merest smile. “You swore. You broke your rules about swearing.”

“Screw my rules,” he said fiercely. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She refused to meet his gaze. “I would have driven an even bigger wedge between you and Bryce, and your father as well. You were the alpha’s heir, his pride and joy. And maybe, just maybe, I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me, either.”

The last sentence grieved him. He put a finger on her chin, lifting her face up. “I wish you’d had more faith in me, Jordan. I would have believed you. What happened to you after you left? Did you get help?”

Jordan shrugged. “Nothing interested me. I couldn’t eat. Sleep. I couldn’t stand the sound of my thoughts. Or being near people, Skins or Lupines. Stayed in the forest, Tristan, he helped. He came to me in the form of a wolf, cooked me game, otherwise I would have died.”

He made a mental note to personally thank the Silver Wizard. “Jordan, there are no words. No words can make up for what my father did to you. Yeah, my brother, too, but more than that, my father. Craig should have stood up for you instead of dismissing you.”

“Pack first, then family.” She scrubbed at her face. “Last comes me, the orphan dumped here by Tristan. Your family was forced to adopt me.”

“My father was responsible for your safety and welfare. Good alphas watch out for the pack’s young. My father took away your sense of fairness, your innocent outlook on life.”

Nolan’s throat tightened. “Your safety and belief that the alpha would protect you,

“I had big plans for us.” Another small, humorless laugh. “Bryce knew that you and I would get married and I’d have a higher ranking than him. That’s why he wanted to degrade me, humiliate me, show his power over me.”

“Bryce feared you. You got away.”

She shrugged. “Got away, but for six years, I’ve been trying to get my life back.”

“That’s why you didn’t want to have sex the traditional way,” he realized. “It reminded you of that night, what my bastard brother tried to do to you.”

A huge intake of breath. “Yeah. It kind of ruined the mood for making our marriage and our mating permanent.”

He’d deal with that later. Right now he was more focused on justice. “Who were the women? I need to know, need to make them pay for the crime they committed.”

Jordan shuffled her feet. “They sounded like Erica and Shirl, but I couldn’t be certain.”

Nolan growled deep in his throat. “I’ll question them. My way.”

“I honestly can’t be certain. Go easy on them.”

Cracking his knuckles, he nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll be easy as I need to be.”

“Down, big boy.”

He stroked a thumb along her tear-stained cheek. “It makes sense now, why you don’t like Shirl or Erica. I wish you could have confided in me sooner.”

“It’s done. Bryce is gone and so is your father.”

“But I’m here.” He took her into his arms, his insides knotted. “I promise you, pixie, I’ll never let anything like that happen to you again. No matter what. If another man even looks at your cross-eyed or dares to lay a hand on you, I’ll claw him apart.”

“Thanks for going all alpha on me, hon.” Jordan gave a lopsided grin. “Made me get my lady boner back.”

Laughing, he looked down, staring at her mouth. “You willing to put that to the test, pixie? Want me to help you erase those painful memories and make new, better ones?”

Jordan nodded, her expression tightening a little. “Please.”

He kissed her, putting all his feelings into the act. Nolan kept kissing her, backing her toward the wall. Then he tore his mouth away.

“I love you so much it hurts.” He stared into her eyes. “I’ll love you until my last dying day, Jordan. I’ve always loved you. Been no one else but you. The day you left, pieces of my heart shattered like glass. I tucked them away, figuring I’d never love again.”

She tunneled her trembling fingers through his thick hair. “The day I left here, it took everything to not turn around and run back to you. I was so afraid for you. Afraid Bryce would hurt you more than he hurt me. Afraid you would end up killing him if you knew what he did, and then your father would disown you. And you’d be lost, like me. I always dreamed of your love, of us being together. Times at night I’d lie beneath the stars and think of you, sharing the sky with me. It gave me a little comfort, push back the edge of loneliness.”

“We were both lost,” he said solemnly. “But not anymore. We found each other again.”

And then he took her hand, leading her once more to the hayloft, the place where they had made sweet love six years ago.

Nolan flipped the lights on inside the barn and they scampered up the ladder to the hayloft.

They tore each other’s clothing off. Jordan didn’t care if anyone saw them or if it was wild and reckless. When they parted, their breathing ragged, amber flashed in his eyes, signaling the rise of his wolf. Apprehension mingled with arousal. When a male’s eyes flashed amber during sex, he risked going feral and turning savage and rough. Only a strong, experienced female could match that ferocity of lovemaking.

Nolan dragged in a shuddering breath and his eyes returned to normal. She wanted him, this wolf who looked at her as if she were the only female on earth. Anticipation shivered through her as he stroked a hand over the soft flesh of her inner thigh. A low moan escaped her as he cupped her sex. He slid a finger slowly across her wet core in a teasing stroke.

She needed her mate. Now. Jordan took Nolan’s palm, sliding it upward until it covered her breast. She stroked his hand over her warm flesh, the friction making her nipples erect.

A groan fled his lips.

“I need you, Nolan. As a female Lupine desires her mate.”

Eyes widening and darkening, he drew back. Jordan watched his penis lengthen and thicken. She felt her vagina grow moist and ready to take him once more.

“This time, I need you to make our mating permanent.”

Nolan caressed her cheek. “You certain?”

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

He gave her a long, drugging kiss. Then he snatched a horse blanket and placed it on the floor.

“Kneel and place your palms flat,” he said hoarsely.

Obeying, she flung her long hair aside, and peered over her shoulder. In the dim light, Nolan stood tense, his hot, hungry gaze stroking over her body in a heated caress.

For a moment, fear rippled through her. But there was no mocking laughter, or his damnable brother holding a hunting knife. Only her mate, his expression hot and hungry for her.

His swollen, red penis thickened and lengthened, growing longer than ever. A Lupine reaction.

Trembling, she dropped her head down and waited. She felt his hot, wet tongue part the soft folds of her vagina and delve between them. Nolan began lapping at her soaked core, each stroke creating unbearable pleasure.

All memories of that terrible night fled beneath the tender ministrations of his mouth.

Then his penis replaced his tongue, the angular knob pressing against her soaked folds. With a low grunt, he slid deep inside.

Jordan went still, her swollen vagina eagerly tightening around his thick cock.

Tenderly, he brushed back her hair, and kissed her neck. “You okay?” he whispered. “If you’re scared and can’t take it, tell me and I’ll stop.”

She rotated her hips. “Do it. Fuck me. Make me yours so no one and nothing can ever part us.”

A low, triumphant chuckle rumbled in her ear. Nolan drew back, then pushed his hips forward. His enormous shaft throbbed inside her tight channel, binding them together in the flesh.

Then he began plunging deep inside, stretching her wet, swollen vagina. Eyes closed, her long hair curtaining her face, she pushed back against every delicious surge. Nolan dug his fingers into her hips as he thrust and their flesh slapped together. He bent over her ass, reaching around to cup and knead her breasts. Thick, silky hair on his chest rubbed against her back. With each relentless thrust, she arched her ass upward, eager for more. The position did not bind her to submissiveness, rather it gave her a heady sense of feminine power as her mate took her.

A deep growl rumbled from Nolan’s throat. She felt his engorged penis swell as an odd roundness pressed against her wet, sensitive tissues.

As the protrusion thickened, it rubbed enticingly against nerve endings enriched with blood. Jordan moaned at the exquisite pleasure. Twisting her neck, she watched his fangs descend and sharpen. Nolan gently turned her head. His warm mouth nuzzled her throat, then he sank his fangs into her neck. Sharp pain flashed through her, along with an erotic throbbing in her loins that enhanced their lovemaking.

Then he licked the wound, his tongue dragging slowly over her skin. Nolan gave a final, deep thrust, his knot swelling and tripling the sweet pressure. Orgasm seized her loins, shooting up through her body as Jordan shuddered and screamed. Rearing back, he seized her hips and released a long, low howl as his cock thickened, thick streams of semen spraying hotly against her womb.

No other male would have her, for he branded her with his scent, his touch, his body. His mating mark on her pale skin.

For a few minutes, his big body shuddered behind her. Finally his climax slowed. Nolan buried his face into the curve of her neck.

“I love you, Jordan,” he murmured.

“I love you more,” she told him.

They collapsed to the mattress, his heavy weight pinning her down.

Hot breath bellowing in her ear, Nolan ran a hand over the curve of her hip. “I’ve dreamt of doing that to you for a long time. Both of us bonded together in flesh.”

His knot securing her clenched vagina loosened and he slid out wetly, then he rolled over and gathered her into his arms.

For a few moments they lay on the blanket, their ragged breaths filling the air. And then he began to make love to her once more in the hayloft.

Where he would have made love to her all night long six years ago had his father not phoned and interrupted him.

This time, he let nothing interrupt them.