Roaring for Him (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Wicked in Wilder Book 1) (26 page)

“Grab my wrist? Why not my hand?”

He paused beside the couch and stared down at where he’d captured her. Her wrist. “Because I don’t want to lose you. Because if we twined our fingers together I gotta depend on you to stay strong if someone tries to take you. Because everyone needs to see you’re mine and if they want you, they have to go through me. And baby, if they do that, they’re as good as dead.”

Tilly trembled. “It’s wrong that I find that hot as hell.”

Chuckling, he lowered himself onto the couch. He tugged her closer and settled her on his lap sideways so he could still see her face as he spoke. If he was gonna get this bullshit out, he was gonna do it looking into her eyes. What the fuck was taking him so long to get this shit out? He wasn’t a fucking pussy.

“Mitchell?”

“I’m getting to it. Trying to figure out where to start,” he grumbled. There were so many places to begin. The first slap. The first punch. The first… He sighed. “My mom was a wolf. The daughter of another alpha. She was a strong bitch.” He shook his head. “So fucking strong. Put up with my shit. Put up with my dad. Damn woman should be named a saint.” Tilly laid her head on his shoulder and he stroked her back, taking comfort in her nearness. “But she wasn’t a true mate. She was
chosen
.”

He didn’t care that he spat the word. He hated it. Hated that wolves would sink to taking a chosen mate. He respected it. He knew how hard it was when the wolf rode a man, begging for pups and a mate. That sometimes he wanted to just lay down and accept it or go crazy with the animal’s wanting. But after his mother… He shook his head.

Dammit, he was supposed to be talking to Tilly.

“She was chosen by the Wilder alpha. Here. It united two strong packs and when my mother got pregnant, he had his potential heir. Everyone was happy. They were even happier when I was born a boy. I didn’t question things when he disappeared for days at a time since they seemed happy. To me anyway. They’d argue, but she’d smile and tell me they were just talking loud.
Communicating
. It’s what made good matings last. Right? Then…”

He swallowed hard, knowing shit was gonna get real in a few minutes. “Then I grew up. I grew up and began understanding those sly looks and hateful words that my father threw at my mother. I began hearing the whispers of other pack members when they talked about my parents. Their fucking alpha and alpha bitch and some of them laughed.
Laughed
.” Even after all these years, his wolf bristled at the disrespect his mother had been shown. “He cheated on her, Tilly.”

She sucked in a breath and her surprise filled the air. Yeah, he understood her reaction. Mating was serious. Chosen or fated, a mating was a mating and a wolf didn’t break that bond. Ever.

“He waited until I was born. Made sure my mother made it to my birth and didn’t lose me because he was a selfish fucker, but then it was done.” He squeezed the arm of the chair, taking comfort in the creak of the wood. “He fucked half the pack and then moved on to human women in the town. He drank. He was gone more often than he was home. And he was a sadistic asshole. If anyone in the pack spoke up, he took ‘em down. Hard. Sometimes permanently. So it went to whispers.” Mitchell closed his eyes, remembering that day. That. Fucking. Day.

“I didn’t know he hit her,” he muttered, the pain surrounding the memories rising hot and fast inside him.

“Mitchell…”

“Talking about them, my mom’s advice, probably not something I should apply to our mating, huh? That was a dumb thing to say. Because I want ours to be good. Whole. I don’t want my father’s shit following me. I shouldn’t have—”

“Mitchell,” her fingers were soft as she stroked his jaw. “Tell me.”

He swallowed hard, pushing down the bile that threatened to come up. He tightened his hold on Tilly, using her presence to ground him in the
now
so he wouldn’t get lost in
then
.

“Kade and I were traveling for football. We were seniors, which meant we got to drive ourselves to away games, but I forgot something at home. He was riding my ass about us being late and that coach was gonna give us shit. I wasn’t paying attention when I ran in, but on the way out…” He remembered his mother moving through the kitchen, averting her face, his dad’s yell for another beer, and the way she twitched as if in fear.

“Mom?” He padded forward, his hurry forgotten. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Don’t be late.” She rushed to the fridge, still averting her gaze.

“Wait, Mom.” Mitchell cut her off, sliding into her path and forcing her to stop. That’s when he put his finger beneath her chin and forced her to look him in the eye. He was already past six feet tall and his body was just filling out. She wasn’t about to dart past him. When she finally raised her head, he saw that her eye was swollen shut, cheek puffy and lip split. And her throat… He could see the clear imprint of a hand, fingers curling around her throat. “
Mom
.”

“It’s fine. You’ll be late. This will be gone before—”

“What the fuck’s taking so long?” his father roared and stomped toward them. As he came around the corner and entered the hallway, Mitchell spun to face him. He made sure his body remained between his parents. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at a game. You better not lose because you’re late.” His dad pointed at him, beefy hand forming a fist as he jabbed a fat finger in the air. Is that the hand he wrapped around his mom’s throat? Is that the fist that blackened her eye? “I’ve got fifty dollars on—”

“Did you hit her?”

“—that game.”

“Did you choke her?”

“Boy—”

“Did you?”

“Mitchell—”

“
Did you fucking hit my mother?
” His roar rivaled his own father’s, the sound booming in their home.

“She asked for it. And fuck it, she’s a wolf. She’ll heal in an hour like she always does.”

“How long have you been doing this?” How had he missed it? How long had he been oblivious to this bullshit and wrapped in his own world?

“Mitchell,” his mom whispered and he recognized her tone. She wanted him to drop it. To walk away.

No.

No.

“How long, asshole?” Mitchell took a step toward his dad.

He clenched his fists and his fingers burned with his wolf’s anxiousness to come forward. It’d take one slip of his control and the beast would be out. Out and tearing through his dad. That was the only solution now. The only answer to an attack on his mother. His. Fucking. Mother. She may be his dad’s mate, but Donna Blake belonged to
him
as far as his wolf was concerned. Anyone who hurt her, hurt him and
that
was unacceptable.

“Boy, I’m giving you one chance to shut your mouth and get the fuck outta here.”

Fuck it. He was seventeen. Young. Inexperienced. Hot-headed. He was all that and more. Yeah, he had
more
than his dad and now his father would learn just how much
more
. An alpha was strong. The strongest in the pack. An alpha wouldn’t be able to keep that many wolves in line unless he had the muscle to back it up.

Mitchell had his father’s blood running through his veins, but he also had his mother’s. The only daughter of Alpha Emory’s family and a true alpha bitch with or without an alpha husband. Mitchell didn’t know what his father had done to keep his mom from fighting back, but Mitchell had no qualms about going after him now.

So he did. He pounced. No more words or posturing or blustering or… It was just blood. A red haze colored his vision, staining everything the bright hue of fresh blood. They locked together, fangs and claws going after one another as they destroyed furniture, crashed into walls and finally burst through the house’s front window.

Then they had an audience—others watching him and his dad snarling and fighting on the front lawn. More than one set of hands reached for Mitchell. More than one for his dad as well. But they both fought those who tried to end the battle. Mitchell started it and one of them would finish it. Period.

Why? Because all Mitchell could see was the purple around his mom’s eye and the blood trickling from her lip. It didn’t matter she was a werewolf, that the damage would be healed within an hour. What mattered was that the injuries
existed
. That was enough to enrage his wolf until he no longer had an ounce of control. He was all beast, all animal, all instincts and cravings and he wouldn’t stop until…

“Mitchell…” Tilly’s low whisper drew him from the past and to the present. Her small thumbs stroked his cheeks and he realized they were damp. Why? He sure as hell hadn’t been crying.

“I’m fine,” he murmured, unwilling to discuss it further.

With a shake of his head, he tried to banish the images of his dad, broken and bloodstained on the front lawn with at least two dozen wolves surrounding their impromptu challenge. His left foreleg burned and he knew he’d broken it at some point. His chest throbbed and he remembered a particularly vicious bite from his father.

His father.

His dead father.

He’d killed his own dad.

“No, Mitchell,” she whispered and wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his neck. He felt her tears then, her sadness and heartache over his past. “You’re not fine.”

“I am,” he’d dealt with his shit already. “He’s dead. I’m not. And my mother… She calls now and again, but I haven’t seen her in a long time. Not since…” That day. She’d left and hadn’t looked back. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You took over the pack that day?”

“Yes. I took it and cleaned it up. Every male who stepped forward—who had a problem with me—was forced to submit or get the fuck off my land. I saw how my dad ran things and I refused to let the pack stay that way. We were weak. The men were assholes. Hell, plenty of them still are. But not a single one will treat his mate the way my mother was treated. Not a one will
ever
forget that our responsibilities are to our pack members—male or female, human or wolf.” He pressed his nose to her head and breathed deep. “No one.”

“But what about Darcy…”

He nodded. He knew what she was talking about. “I will never,
never
abuse someone, but I also can’t forget that at our core, we’re wolves. I didn’t hurt her—I wanted to fucking kill her for her disrespect—but I only made her show submission. We’re shifters, it’s part of us. We’ll always play King of the Hill. Always.” He brushed a soft kiss against her temple and drew in more of her scent. “But I’ll never abuse my power. I’ll never be my father.”

“I know,” she whispered and brushed her lips over his skin.

Mitchell held her close as time slipped past. He’d sit there and hold her for as long as she let him. The feel of her, her lush curves and softness, in his arms was what he lived for. The rest of the world could go fuck itself.

Four hours and a ton of kisses later and Tilly found herself checking her phone for the millionth time—hell, the billionth—and still no message from Phee. The girl disappeared and hadn’t checked in. A quick peek at the clock revealed the time: nine p.m. Not late for the average teen, but for Phoebe… To stay out after dark without a phone call was weird. And worrying. Especially with Verity hanging—

Mitchell’s large palm slid down her thigh and he gently squeezed her knee. “You okay?”

No, she wasn’t. They’d spent the afternoon at home with not a peep from her sister. A call to Marcia after closing told her that Phee hadn’t checked in with her best friend either.

Tilly had whipped up a nice steak dinner and now they’d settled in front of the TV. She enjoyed the quiet, the comfort of just sitting and watching television with her alpha mate. He’d fielded a few calls after dinner, Kade giving them an update on Tilly’s mother. The gist was she hadn’t been spotted lately and all was quiet. His beta would call if there was a change, but otherwise, it was just them for the evening. Just them when it should be Phee, Tilly, and Mitchell.

“Tilly?”

Oh, she’d drifted again. He’d spoken to her. “Yeah, I’m okay, just…”

“Worried.”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“She’s seventeen.”

“I know.”

“She’s a fully grown werebear.”

Another nod. “I know that, too.”

“So what’s got you nervous?”

She lifted her cell phone and gently shook it. “She always calls. Or texts. She never just bolts on me like that. I was distracted by
someone
,” she shot him a teasing glare. “And didn’t question it, but she doesn’t do that.”

Mitchell shrugged. “Marcia said she went chasing after a boy.”

As if that answered everything.

This time she shook her head. “No, Phee has plans for the future. She’s got college in the fall. She has goals. The last thing she wants is a guy in her life.”

“I’m not saying it’s her boyfriend or anything. Teens today—”

“Oh, she definitely isn’t going the fuck buddy route. She knows how Verity is. She wants to make something of herself and a guy—any guy—would—”

Tilly squeaked when she suddenly found herself straddling Mitchell, her knees resting on the couch on either side of his hips.

“That’s better,” he murmured, his hands sliding along her thighs until they rested on her lower back. His thumbs teased the waist of her cotton pants. The touch brought back memories of what exactly he could do with those bare hands on her skin. “I like looking at you when we talk.”

“We were looking at each other.”

“I like touching you, too.”

“We were touch—”

“Nope.” One thumb eased toward the crack of her ass and he teased that forbidden area. “I like touching you here.”

“Mitchell,” she whined. “We can’t get busy while—”

He leaned forward and nipped her lower lip. “I’m not doing a thing. Just appreciating my mate and trying to calm her while we talk. I know you’re worried, but she’s almost an adult and she’s strong enough to take care of herself against any human or wolf.”

“But—”

“No buts.”

She snorted. “Uh, let’s check where your hand is, Mr. Blake. I’m thinking you’re very
pro
butt.”

He grinned. “I like it there.”