Wolfe's Mate (13 page)

Suddenly, Anton tackled
Eliza from the side. In moments, he removed the gun from her hands and subdued her. Jared jumped up, grabbed Esme, and shouted something. She blinked up at him as her legs collapsed.

Jared scooped her up and carried her to the
limo. Granger held the car door open. Jared slipped inside.

Esme couldn’t understand what they were saying. Why was everyone acting so concerned?

She felt Jared’s soul connect with hers and wrap around her. Warmth filled her body as he pushed his strength into her through their bond. He quickly stripped off her dress. “Esme, listen to me,
mon coeur
. You must shift. Now, Esme, you must shift.”

Esme smiled at
Jared. She loved him so much. If he wanted her to shift, she would. Everything seemed far away. She drifted as if on a breeze. The door opened. Laurel jumped in the car. She placed her hands over Esme’s chest.

Pain suddenly engulfed
Esme. She screamed. Sound burst around her. Sirens wailed. People shouted. Jared swore. “Come on, Esme. Shift.”

Warmth poured into her body.
White lights began to swirl around her. Her bones broke, and fur rippled down her skin. Her fingers shortened as her nails grew thick. In a moment, she was wolf. Jared crushed her to his chest.

“Thank the G
reat Asena!” Laurel sighed, holding the bullet up in her hand, tears running down her face.

Esme whined
. Jared had squeezed too hard. He pulled back and started kissing her face, her muzzle, her nose. She wagged her tail. He stopped a moment and looked at her. “Her wolf is black, like me. I didn’t know.”

Laurel laughed. “Is that all you can say? Esme, you have to change back. The police are already here
.”

§

“Never again,
ma petit louve,
are you to place yourself in danger on my account. My heart almost stopped. Do you hear me? Never again.” Jared paced back and forth at the foot of the bed.

“Jared, please stop shouting. Everyone in the Alpha’s lodge will hear you,” Esme said quietly
from the bed where she lay wrapped in a towel.

“You should have trusted me to protect you
.” Jared stopped and glared at her.

“I
did
trust you. I also trusted you to die for me. I won’t lose you, Jared.” Anger rushed through her. Didn’t he understand she tried to protect him?

“
Bébé
,” Jared sighed, coming to the side of the bed. “I had frozen the woman. When you shoved me out of the way, I lost the link to her mind. That’s why the gun went off. I was never in any danger.”

Esme
felt dismayed. She’d forgotten Jared possessed that ability. “I’m sorry. With the dust and people panicking, I guess I panicked, as well.”

“It’s all right,
ma petit
. Just promise me you will let me protect you. When you were shot, my heart nearly stopped. I can’t lose you. Twice now, a bullet has almost taken you from me.”

“
Jared …”

Jared
still shuddered every time he thought about the gun going off and seeing blood pouring from her body. He could have lost her today. Now, he knew he would have followed her into the next life. He understood why his father was unable to hang on. Jared didn’t want to live in a world without Esme.

Leaning down
, he took her lips, feeding his emotions into the kiss. Esme threw her arms around his neck. He pulled her close, needing the feel of her skin touching his. Smelling sweet woman and her body’s ready response to him, he yanked the towel from her body.

Esme
had already unbuttoned his shirt. He released his hold as she eased it from his shoulders. Her need was as great as his. He pushed off his pants and briefs before settling between her legs.

His hands found her breasts
, her nipples quickly hardening into little buds. He rolled one in his fingers as he massaged the other. He trailed kisses from her mouth to her neck and then to her shoulders, loving the taste of her skin. Esme pressed closer. Her hands tangled in his hair, her nails lightly scored his scalp. She tugged, leading him lower.

He obliged by taking a nipple into his mouth, sucking hard. Esme moaned and arched her back giving him better access. His licked and nipped before sucking hard again. She tugged on his hair, pulling him closer. He released the little nubbin and pressed kisses across her chest to the other side. This time he refused to suck, circling the distended flesh with his tongue. He licked and nipped, driving Esme’s desire higher and higher.

Esme groaned, her nails sinking deeper into his skin. He gave in to her and sucked hard at the sensitive bud. Pulling it deep into his mouth, he suckled. One day his child would feed from here.

His hands went to her flat stomach, picturing her be
lly expanding as his pup grew inside her. He ran his hands adoringly over the surface, caressing and teasing as he dipped lower.

Esme squirmed. Her hands ran down his back to his behind
. She grabbed his butt and squeezed.

Jared pressed his hand over her nestled curls before slipping a finger into her moistness. Esme lifted into his touch. Then she wrapped her legs around him, giving everything to him.

Jared pushed his finger deep before pulling some of the moisture from her core and spreading it around her clit. He circled the little bundle of nerves, teasing and caressing as it hardened beneath his touch.

“Please Jared,” Esme panted
, pulling him with her legs, her hands caressing his neck and back, her mouth pressing kisses to his chest.

Jared reached for her with the mating bond,
gathering her mind into the link. She was on fire with desire. Her need to be filled was as strong as his need to take her. He guided himself into her warmth and sank to the hilt. Esme gasped and pulled him closer.

He
drew back and sank again. Esme’s nails went a little deeper into his skin. Their telepathic bond expanded. Emotions filled them. Love, desire, passion, tenderness, so many feelings bloomed in the mix.

Jared’s control broke
, and he pounded into Esme. She met him stroke for stroke, both needing physical completion as their minds and souls became one. Then, as the tension built to a crescendo, they flew into ecstasy, wrapped so tightly together that there was no Jared without Esme and no Esme without Jared.

They hung there. A moment of merging
in perfection with all of creation. When they began to descend, Jared rolled to his back, taking Esme with him. Their bodies still connected, he held his mate to his heart where she belonged. Always.

§

Esme stood in front of the mausoleum where Norris had finally been interned. She laid flowers near the base of the door. Jared stood quietly beside her, his eyes ever watchful.

The exterior of the mauso
leum was surprisingly unharmed by the explosion. Only a small chunk of concrete near the base was missing. Monsieur Boulanger already arranged to have it repaired. The gravesite of Esme’s ancestors would remain a barrier against time.

This morning, t
he rest of the pack would meet them at the Paris airport. Jared knew after yesterday’s fiasco that Esme would need a moment to say goodbye to her brother. Now, as she stood here, she wasn’t sure what to say.

The evidence against Doctors for a Better Humanity was buil
ding with Nurse Campbell’s confession. Esme wondered if Anton’s telepathic ability had anything to do with the nurse’s revelations. Nurse Campbell hadn’t been able to remember anything linked with the lycan community, only that the members of the organization were running illegal genetic experiments while telling patients their cancers would be cured. The nurse also admitted that Norris had been threatened and coerced into helping the organization.

In his own way, Norris sacrificed everything to protect
Esme, the one person he loved best. She glanced at Jared. She and Norris were more alike than she’d realized.
“Je t’aime, Norris. Reposez-vous bien, frère
." She reached for Jared’s hand.

He took her hand and raised it to his lips, pressing kisses to her fingers. “Are you ready to go,
mon amour
?”

“Yes, Jared. Take me home.” Home, wherever they went, was with this man at her side.

“It will be my pleasure,
ma petit louve
.” Jared wrapped an arm around Esme’s waist and pulled her in close.

Brenda sat next to Susan on
a plane to Quebec City. One row ahead, Granger sat with Jared and Esme. Brenda studiously stared out the window, pretending to ignore the man with beautiful hazel eyes. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Granger, who was supposedly meant to be her mate. In fact, she found it hard not to lust after his tight behind and broad shoulders. He had come into her life just too quickly.

Then there were the erotic dreams she ha
d been experiencing. Dreams where Granger touched more than her mind. She wasn’t sure whether she should be ashamed or just enjoy them. Sometimes when she woke up the dreams drifted into mist and other times she was left with her body aching for completion. Those mornings Granger looked at her with something wild in his eyes, something hungry.

Brenda prided herself in being able to handle the unexpected.
That had been part of her military training before cancer stole her dreams of a career serving her country in a special operations unit. Becoming a lycan and everything that followed threatened her steady resolve.

Now
, she found herself drawn into the lycan community, whether she liked it or not. Her wolf wanted to please Jared and Esme as her Alphas. The connection to Esme made Brenda feel fiercely protective of her, a woman Brenda’s wolf deemed a sister but a person she barely knew. Not to mention, Susan, whom Brenda considered a nuisance but like a little sister. Brenda felt a need to look after the girl. Brenda sighed and fastened her seat belt.

Her wolf also wanted her to submit to the
attractions of Granger. How could she trust these feelings when they’d come so suddenly? She’d never expected any of this to happen when she signed up for the experimental cure for her cancer. At best, she thought it might go into remission, giving her more time to live some of her dreams.

Those dreams never included a handsome man at her side or the possibility of a family. In fact
, chemotherapy had long ago made her sterile. Becoming a lycan brought the opportunity of having children back into the picture, and a pack was all about family, especially because lycans were having trouble reproducing.

“Uh, Susan,” Granger said. “Esme would like to talk with you. Do you mind switching seats with me?” Brenda closed her eyes. She wasn’t ready to face
Granger. Why did his voice have to caress her skin like warm honey?

“Sure, no problem,” Susan said stepping into the aisle.

Granger sat down in the middle seat and put on his seat belt. He reached for Brenda’s hand, interlacing their fingers. “I know all of this is causing you distress, Brenda. I think you know we have to find a way to make this work for both of us. I promise not to rush you. I think you’ll like Quebec.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” Brenda replied.

§ § §

Beta’s Mate

Book Eight of the Siberian Volkov Pack Romance Series

Brenda Scott, while being cured of cancer, had her world turned upside down when she shifted into a wolf.
Now, living in Quebec with her new lycan pack, she wonders if her dream of joining a special operations unit is forever out of reach. Then there is the quiet man who watches her with the yellow eyes of a wolf wanting his mate. Will she be able to adapt to her new wild urgings?

Granger Thibault wants his mate more than anything in the world. But he knows that if he pushes her, she will fight back. Once a soldier and the Alpha female’s littermate, Brenda is a force to be reckoned with. Can Granger find a way around Brenda’s hard shell to the soft woman waiting to be loved?

Aerial Magic

Book Two of the Witch Guardian Romance Series

Elise Delaire, the Guardian healer, goes to the bonding ceremony of her best friend. While there, Mabel Avery, the commander of the Guardians, introduces Elise to Curtis Brant. But when Elise shakes Brant’s hand, she realizes that not only is this man not who he says he is, he is also her Destined One.

Owen Avery is on a mission from the queen of the Fae
: Apprehend the rogue Fae who is now being called the Red Wizard. Everything is going according to plan until Owen shakes hands with the delectable Elise. Not only can she see through his disguise, but her touch causes his magic-house tattoo to take on color, proving that she is his Destined One. Is he willing to give up his immortality and his home, the land of the Fae, to claim her?