Forbidden Mate (3 page)

She continued to rush about in a panic, unable to
see or focus her thoughts. A set of hands to her shoulders finally secured her
in one place.

“Stop before you hurt yourself.”

She stopped struggling long enough to catch her
breath. “Is it you?” Helen reached out knowing the man who rescued her wore no
shirt. When her fingers brushed against warm bare flesh, her nerves began to
ease. It was him. He was hard, his muscles doing crazy things to her libido.
She smoothed her hands over his wide shoulders and over his defined pecs.
Before she could explore further, he snatched both her wrists in a tight grip.

“You shouldn’t be out here. I told you to stay
inside.”

“I wanted to find you…to say thank you.”
 
She was starting to question her decision to
enter the forest. His tone sounded dangerous and threatening. Maybe her
savior’s charity had run out.

He brought her arms down to her sides, still holding
her wrists. She felt the heat of his breath against her neck as he leaned
forward. “I don’t understand why you smell this good.”

That was a new one. Was she supposed to say
thank-you for that too? She decided to keep quiet.

He released on of her wrists and then cupped under
her chin, moving her head from side to side as if examining every detail. “Can
you see me?”

“It’s too dark.” She couldn’t even see Wesley’s face
when she knew it was only inches from hers.

“What’s your name?”

“Helen.”

“Who sent you here?” he asked, as if accusing her of
a crime.

“Nobody.
I’m
just doing a favor for a friend of mine.” She didn’t want to say the wrong
thing and get herself into more trouble—or push him away. As much as she felt
leery of this man, her body had never been so alive and wanton. She was
behaving completely out of character. Part of her wanted to blame the town.
Ever since showing up it was like she’d entered a different world. Every sight,
scent, and sound pulled her out of reality, making her feel like a character in
a fiction novel.

“Sounds like a foolish reason to be in the woods
alone at night.” The backs of his fingers skimmed along her jawline before he
dragged his thumb over her bottom lip. “You’re out of your element. Don’t you
know there are wolves in these woods?”

“Are you the big bad wolf?” she coaxed, her body
coming alive from the gruff quality of his voice.

What
the heck am I doing?
She was flirting with a complete stranger
in the most secluded of places. But rather than run in the other direction like
she should, she only craved his attention.

“No, little one.
I’m
much worse.”

****

Wesley was ready to return to his apartment but
found
himself
lingering on the edge of town to ensure
the human girl got to her hotel safely. He shouldn’t care, normally wouldn’t
care, but he couldn’t get those big brown eyes out of his head. His panther was
thrashing about inside him like never before. He’d blame the power of the moon
on his erratic behavior, but it wasn’t even full tonight.

He didn’t expect the girl to come looking for him.
She was out of her mind. Humans usually had a healthy fear of the unknown,
especially darkness. But she came right for him, blind and vulnerable. In a
shifter town, she was ripe for exploiting. He didn’t know what to make of her.

Wesley hated humankind almost as much as he hated
the path his career was beginning to take. But this female was different. For
the first time in his life, he wanted to fuck a human.

“You’re not bad,” she said. “You saved me from that
man.”

He didn’t know what to do. A war played in his mind,
part wanting to push her away and forget he’d ever met her. The larger, more
dominant, part wanted to own her.
She’s
not a shifter,
he reminded himself.
Besides, as a Royal
Elite he had no right to claim a female—whether the queen changed the rules or
not.
 

“You don’t know anything about me.”

She kept quiet, only the sound of her breathing
competed with the wind through the leaves above. When she tentatively reached
out for the second time, he thought he’d lose his resolve completely. Her touch
seared his skin, his eyes lolling back in his head as her dainty fingers
trailed along his chest. He was glad she couldn’t see him in the darkness.

Wesley tried to justify his next actions. How bad
could it be to satisfy himself in the arms of a human? His friends, including
the Elite, did it all the time. It was just one night, not a prelude to mating.
Even Ulric could see he was overdue to bed a woman. It just surprised him that
his cock could become aroused by a human female, because it had never happened
before.

He wanted Helen, and judging by the sharp scent of
her arousal, she wanted him too.

“All I can think about right now is stripping you
naked.” He waited for her to react, but she kept still and quiet. “Does that
scare you?”

She shook her head. He wouldn’t have been able to
notice if he wasn’t a shifter. His panther’s night vision was nearly as sharp
in his human skin.

“I promise
,
if you knew all
the things I’d like to do to you, you’d be very afraid.” He punctuated his
words by kneading his fingers into her hair and locking her head in place. She
gasped as he increased the tension. Wesley instinctively leaned close, tempted
to breathe in her scent again. How could he feel these potent emotions for such
a frail little thing? Maybe his panther had been wrong. Once he confirmed she
was nothing special, he’d be able to walk away with no regrets.

But there it was again. The smell of her skin, her
hair, her breath—it pulled him in like a potent aphrodisiac. He licked the
pulse point near the base of her neck, tempted to sink his fangs into the soft
flesh. He was fucking losing his mind, confusing sex with the mating call.

“Still not running?” He didn’t want to force himself
on her like that lowlife coyote.
 
He
needed to give her every chance to run off and not look back. Once this
started, it wouldn’t stop. And he wouldn’t be sweet and gentle like a human
male. He was painfully pent up and hyped up on whatever spell Helen managed to
cast over him. In his last honorable act, he’d make sure he sent her racing
from the forest before things went too far.

Wesley reached around her and grabbed the fleshy
mound of her ass, pulling her flush to his body. She gasped and braced her
forearms on his chest. He bunched up the material of her skirt in his fist
until it was nearly at her waist. Then he slid his hand under the edge of her
panties. “Have you ever been fucked here?” He pressed the tip of his finger
against her asshole, certain she’d take off screaming.

She swallowed hard, clenching the tight little
rosette. Her desire perfumed the air around them. The girl was completely gone,
making his act of valor more and more difficult.

“Answer me,” he said, holding his finger in place.

“
No.”

“No what?”

“I’ve never done…that.”

What was he doing? Helen was playing a game she was
never meant to play. He could hear the innocence in her voice, the caution in
her words. Any other male would have succumbed by now. And if she was a
shifter, Wesley had no doubt she’d be on all fours with his cock deeply
embedded in her cunt.

“Turn around.” He gripped her shoulder and whirled
her around until she faced away from him. Then he forced her down over the
waist-high stump of a massive oak tree. He pinned her in place with a palm to
her back while he roughly hiked her skirt all the way up and stomped down her
panties with a foot.

Wesley stopped what he was doing for a moment and
admired the woman beneath him. She had the perfect ass, round and tight with
just the right amount of jiggle. He wanted to smack it to hear the sound it
would make. In fact, he wanted to lick every inch of her delectable body,
taking his time until she was begging him to fuck her.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“I’m going to give you what you want. Give you
something new to experience.”

Her breathing picked up on cue. Any minute and she’d
change her tune.
 

He parted her legs with his thigh to give him enough
room to access her pussy. She was sopping wet as expected, her folds swollen
and ripe. He couldn’t help but run his fingers along her slit a few times,
dreaming of how it would feel to sink his cock in deep. His panther wouldn’t
last much longer. He needed to frighten her enough to send her running.
 

He dragged the moisture from her pussy back to her
ass and slowly impaled his thumb into her virgin hole. “Next will be cock. Can
you handle that?”

She pulsed around his digit, clenching and
unclenching. “Yes.”

What
the fuck?
She was acting like a she-wolf in heat. Wesley did everything he could to scare
her off—and failed.

This time he made the choice for her. He walked
away.

Chapter
Two

“It’s almost the full moon,” said Marco.

Targus really didn’t want to hear about it. The fact
was branded on his every waking thought. It took all his will power not to shed
his skin and run wild. “Thanks,” he snapped.

“What? No date?”

“Funny.”

He’d been sharing a place with Marco by the lake for
the past six years. They lived off the grid, following their own rules. The
other wolf was no less than a brother to him. They were so close that the
townsfolk often mistook them for siblings. But sometimes Marco didn’t know when
to keep his mouth shut.

“You really need to stop feeling sorry for yourself
and get a woman. It’s embarrassing.”

“I don’t see a female on your arm,” Targus reminded.

Marco frowned and slipped out the side door of their
small cabin. It was their little piece of heaven, a private getaway from the
world. They both enjoyed connecting with their wolves rather than adapting to
humanity. Only recently did they both begin to question their plan to stay
isolated forever. It wasn’t natural for a man to deny his urges or ignore the
mating call. How long would they be able to keep it up without tearing each
other to shreds?

Targus actually thought he had a chance with one of
the princesses. He’d taken the queen’s extensive tests to get on the suitor’s
list, but he never stood a chance. Thousands had applied, and the first two
princesses went and chose mates of their own. When a wolf was chosen for the
last princess, he knew he was fucked. Since then he lost his drive, certain
fate had written him off.

Targus joined his friend on the wraparound porch
overlooking the lake. The wind was almost non-existent today, giving the
surface of the water a smooth, glassy appearance. He loved the way the shades
of green from the fir trees blended almost seamlessly into the shadowed blue of
the lake. He took a deep breath of black earth and pine, trying to think of the
right words.

“We can go for a run tonight, if you want.
Head up to the northern mountains.”

Marco shook his head.

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said. I’m an idiot,
okay?”

“No, it’s my fault. I was goading you.”

Targus was a champ at putting his own foot in his
mouth. Now he’d hurt the only person who gave two shits about him. “It’s
different and you know it. I just wish you’d—”

“Don’t,” Marco warned.

His best friend had lost his mate about a year
before they moved in together. He hadn’t been with another female since, not
even for a quick fuck. It was unnatural for such a virile wolf to give up on
life, but Marco wanted to fade away into nothingness most days. He’d sit and
watch the water without even blinking, his mind elsewhere for hours on end.

“I’m just saying.”

“You can do what you want, Targus. Just because I
don’t want to hit the bars, doesn’t mean you have to sit here growing old
beside me. In fact, you should go out and have some fun. How many times do I
have to tell you, there are other women besides the princesses?” Marco turned
around to face him, one elbow still resting on the porch rail. His voice was
disturbingly sober when he spoke. “Don’t end up like me.”

“You ask me to try new things, but the same rules
don’t apply to you. You should really take your own advice.”

Marco shook his head, a slight smile on his lips.
“Nice try, old friend.” He patted Targus’s shoulder a couple times and then
returned to the cabin. Targus stayed on the porch, his mind racing to come up
with something monumental that could change both their lives. He came up empty.

****

Marco punched the door to his bedroom before
entering. The burn on his knuckles was more welcome than the nagging sense of
guilt and despair. When he’d lost his mate, he’d lost everything. Even after so
many years had gone by, his sense of loyalty kept him from moving on. Targus
reminded him time and time again that he couldn’t betray a dead woman. But
Marco still expected his she-wolf to walk back through the door any day now.
A fantasy that was beginning to drive him mad.
He knew his
behavior was unhealthy, knew it couldn’t last forever, but he also couldn’t
help himself. It wasn’t as simple as one plus two. Targus could never
understand the bond between a mated male and female. His friend hadn’t even had
a serious relationship since Marco had known him. They were both fucked.