A Mate's Sacrifice: (Hot Paranormal Romance) (Ozark Mountain Shifters Book 2) (12 page)

Damn it, he was such an ass. Vesh threw the remote. Because he couldn’t deal with shit, he’d fucked up. He’d needed to run, needed time for his wolf, needed to think without his mate clouding his judgment, so he’d just taken off without worrying what she might think.

But on his run, he’d gotten angry. Angry about their situation. Angry about Besh and Jax. Angry that he’d lost his position of authority.

Angry that he needed Braeh so much. He had to make a decision. He was either going to find a way to line up with his wolf, and claim her as his own. Or he was going to let her go and put a stop to this freight train romance before it ran him flat over. She was powerful like that, his mate. His feelings for her were powerful.

He ran his hands through his hair. What was he going to do?

He listened to the water of the shower, and thought about how it looked sliding over her smooth skin. Fuck. He wanted her so bad. But he couldn’t have her. The incident in the shower proved it. He was too fucked up. And she deserved better than that. She deserved someone who she could touch without them seizing up.

His wolf prowled in warning. He’d been patient, but Vesh still couldn’t pull himself together enough to make this work with her.

He lay in the bed, his back to the bathroom.

All they would have was now. This time, here at the camp while he waited to take down the bastard who had his sister. After that, their time would end and he would have to find a way to move on with his life.

The water shut off, and a few minutes later the door opened, and the scent of his mate flooded the area. He laid as still as possible, while she turned off the lights and climbed into bed. He heard her furious breathing, and could sense her disappointment through their bond even though it had taken a major hit.

He stayed quiet until her breathing evened out. When she gave a faint snore, he knew she’d fallen asleep.

Carefully, he turned over to face her. He wanted to watch her sleep. It had become his new favorite pastime.

She was so beautiful. Relaxed and peaceful, she looked like a real life angel lying there. He’d give anything to be right for her. What had the fates been thinking giving him a woman like Braeh?

In the morning, he’d do better. He’d make what time they had worth something. If it was all they were to have, then he had to do a better job loving her.

***

Braeh awoke warm. The source of the heat was Vesh. He was fused to her back, from shoulder to toe, his head buried in her neck, and his hot hand on her hip.

Apparently when he slept, the asshole gene went dormant.

She wiggled out from his grip, but he stirred.

“Wher’re you going? S’not time to get up yet.”

“I was going to go for a run before breakfast.” It wasn’t exactly true, but now it looked like she’d be running.

He opened his eyes. His stare was so intense, she had to look away.

“Stay,” he said.

Braeh met his gaze. It was foggy with sleep, but pleading at the same time.

She shouldn’t. She should get dressed and dig out her running shoes and leave him to whatever crap he was dealing with. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. He was asking her to stay.

She eased back down on the bed and let him pull her close again.

“There’s going to be a celebration tonight,” he murmured sleepily.

“What kind of celebration?”

“Full moon. A bar-b-cue and bonfire. That sort of thing.”

“Full moon? Does anything weird happen to shifters on a full moon.”

He stiffened. “Not… exactly weird.”

She turned her head so she could see his face. “Explain.”

“It just happens to mated shifters. They get very, uh… needy.”

“Needy?”

He grabbed her waist and pushed his erection against her backside.

Braeh’s eyes went wide. “Oh.
Needy
.”

“Yes.”

They were quiet for a while, but her mind kept going back to what he’d said, and the hardness that still lay against her hip.

“Will you… be needy tonight?”

He leaned forward nibbling on her ear before whispering, “I’m needy every night, mate.” Vesh pushed away and rolled onto his back. “But you don’t need to worry about that.”

Braeh turned over to face him. “That right?”

He sighed. “Listen, there are things you don’t know about me. Awful things that I’ve done, that I’ve been through. And… it’s fucked me up. What I want and what I do are not always in sync. It causes… problems sometimes.”

Braeh’s mouth dried. This was a huge breakthrough. It was the most open he’d been, and still, she wanted to scream because it didn’t really explain anything. Her heart hurt to think of what might have happened to him.

“It’s okay,” she said, keeping her voice neutral.

“But it’s not. None of this is okay. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.” He rolled from the bed and added a log to the fire.

He stared at the growing flames while she scrambled for something to say. For the second day in a row, Braeh found herself speechless. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to. Speaking her mind was her gig.

“Your wolf, what does he say?”

It felt strange to ask a question like that, but hanging out with the wolves in the kitchen had taught her how much they rely on their animals. She wondered why Vesh never talked about his.

“My wolf? I don’t think you want to know.”

She went cold. “He doesn’t like me?” In the shower, hadn’t he said the wolf craved her?

Well, that bastard could take a long walk off a short bridge. In Alaska, where the water was really effing cold.

Vesh met her eyes over his shoulder. “Oh, he likes you very much. He’d have his way with you if I’d let him.”

Oh. “So, it’s you then, who doesn’t want me?”

“What? No. Damn it, baby. I can’t explain this. Me and the wolf are one. But we’re at odds. He’s fearless. I am not.” It all came out in a frustrated rush.

“Okay.” Braeh was shaking. They needed a break. She needed to think. “Let’s go to breakfast.”

Vesh nodded, his stare returning to the fire.

By the time they got to the cafeteria, Vesh’s mood had changed infinitesimally for the better. He joked with Kerrigan, and even Trager, but for Braeh, he only had his stony exterior.

So, when he once again took her hand to walk to the barn, it left her confused all over again.

“They won’t have dinner in the cafeteria tonight since everyone will be at the bonfire. I’ll meet you there, okay?”

She nodded.

He kissed her cheek and then walked away.

Braeh touched her hand to her cheek. Yesterday he’d kissed her breathless; today he’d kissed her cheek.

On her way to work, she thought of rainbows and pots of gold. Her mom’s biscuits and gravy. Geico commercials. Will Ferrell. Anything to take her mind off of what was happening between her and Vesh.

As the day wore on, she began to feel the anticipation throughout the camp. The wolves were excited about the full moon celebration and it was starting to rub off on her. It would do her and Vesh some good to cut loose and have a bit of fun. Soon enough, all this stuff with his sister was going to come to a head, but for tonight, maybe they could just relax and have fun. Maybe they could breakthrough whatever was standing between them.

When her shift in the cafeteria was over, Braeh showered and dressed, donning a little makeup. It would be dark, but it made her feel a little more spruced up.

She walked to Kerrigan’s spider-riddled cabin, and knocked on the door. Trager answered. Shirtless.

Braeh tried not to ogle him, but her sister had landed one fine piece of man-candy. “Oh. Hey, Braeh. Kerrigan’s almost ready.”

Braeh peeked through the door and saw her sister straightening her disheveled clothes.

“I’m ready,” she called in a shaky voice.

Trager sighed, but smiled. “Alright, dream girl. Let me get my shirt.”

The three of them walked past the main part of camp, following a path through the woods and ending at a clearing. The fire was already roaring and the scent of cooking food was strong in the air. People were gathered in smaller groups, chatting, their laughter floating up on the air along with the smoke.

Trager started talking to a couple of guys Braeh didn’t recognize. Buzz-cut—Haze, was it?—from the bar, joined them while she and Kerri got drinks.

Vesh was nowhere to be seen.

It didn’t take long for the party to grow obnoxiously loud. Someone with a guitar jammed out songs and people started singing along. When it got really loud, they switched to a radio with speakers.

As the music boomed in her ears, she watched her sister dance with Trager and couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. Where was her wolf?

Scanning the area, she spotted him chatting with a group of people. One of them was the busty redhead. Braeh felt like she’d been dipped in scalding water, just seeing him near her. He laughed at something she said, but when her hand landed casually on his arm, he pulled away. He scanned the area, his nose going up as if to smell. He took a deep breath and then his eyes landed on Braeh.

They were hot and hungry.

She knew hers must be furious.

He stalked away from the group, winding through the crowd until he was standing before her.

“There you are, sugar,” he said.

“Been right here, waiting.” She glanced over his shoulder to see the female wolf staring at them.

Fuck this. If the woman needed a blaring neon sign to let her know Vesh was taken, Braeh could give her one.

She stepped up to him, planting her lips on his. His arms went around her, gripping her ass, and hauling her against him. He was freshly showered and smelled delicious.

Breaking away, she glanced past him glaring at the woman.
Mine
, she wanted to yell across to her. Even if it wasn’t true.

Vesh pulled back to look in her eyes. “Watch it, mate. You’re dangerously close to claiming me.”

She glared at him. “So?”

He turned so she was partially hidden from everyone else, bending his head to her neck, kissing lightly. “So, if you do, I won’t be able to stop myself from claiming you. And we can’t have that.”

His words were a knife in her chest, but before she could respond, he grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the fire.

Vesh joked with the others in his sarcastic way, while he filled his plate with food choices. Braeh tried to forget what he’d said, and laughed with them, but every time his eyes landed on her, his smile faded.

The only thing keeping her at the party was his hand holding hers. Sometimes his arm would end up around her shoulders and she’d press into him. One of these times, she caught him staring at her. His eyes raged stormy, but his face was a stone wall.

She couldn’t understand him.

Kerrigan laughed, pulling his gaze away. Braeh watched a smile bloom on his face, and it made her insides shrivel. What the hell? Why couldn’t he smile at her?

“Why are you like that with her? With all of them?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “With everyone else you tease and play. With me, you’re always…”

“Always what?”

Mad
, she wanted to say. But she didn’t think that was true. He looked mad a lot, but she didn’t think he actually was.

“Serious,” was what she ended up saying. “With me, you’re always serious.”

He glanced at Kerri where she sat by the fire next to Trager. “Do you want what everyone else gets? Or do you want what I only give to you?” His eyes met hers. “I’m serious with you because I’m not with everyone else. Because they get my mask. You get the real me.”

Her heart stuttered at his words, but she knew they weren’t a hundred percent true. “The real you?”

“As real as I can be right now.”

“You know, I wish you would smile at me just once. She gets all your smiles and…” Braeh dropped her voice to a mere whisper, hating what she was about to say. “It hurts sometimes.”

Before he could answer, she turned and walked as quickly as she could without running, down the path to their cabin. Tears threatened to spill, but she refused to let them.

Just as she reached to open the screen door, two strong arms banded around her waist, yanking her into the hard planes she’d become familiar with.

His breath against her neck was harsh, but his hands were gentle as they brushed down the front of her body, exploring. He slipped a hand in her shirt and kneaded a breast before continuing downward past the waistband of her jeans.

Braeh swallowed hard, knowing he wouldn’t stop there.

His erection pressed into her backside. “She doesn’t get this,” he ground out. “No one gets me like this. No one but you. Ever again.”

His hand slid down, cupping between her legs, and she bit her lip to hold in a whimper. His touch affected her like nothing else. Made her feel weak and strong at the same time. Satisfied and wanting.