Authors: Janet MacDonald
“I love you,” he
told her. “I know it sounds silly, but I do.”
“I love you too,”
she whispered, tears again falling from her eyes.
* * * *
While he played with
the braid around his wrist he knew they were fated to be together. Dante was
almost lost. She’d refused to come back with him, refused to leave Craig. Anya
told him she was worried her brother and Craig would come after her, which
would start a fight. She was right. Although Dante had gotten Alex’s approval, Mitch
had given his to Craig, and as the elder brother, he could overrule Alex’s of
Dante. It was something he had not considered. He knew better, but in his
desperation to be with Anya, he’d overlooked it. Now that they had mated, it
could start another war. It was something neither he nor Anya wanted.
Anya asked him
for enough time to get Mitch to warm to the idea of her being mated to Dante
and not Craig. How she would accomplish that, however, was something she didn’t
share with him. They were to meet again at the fountain in two nights’ time. It
would do for now, but he needed her, had to have his mate by his side. To be
apart for even two days was more than he thought he could endure.
Dante felt bad.
Anya’s first time should have been in a romantic setting with candles and soft
music. It should not have been in the openness of a public park in the middle
of the night. Why she hadn’t told him she was still a virgin was beyond him. Now
he would make it up to her. He had to, he thought. The next time they met he
would bring her somewhere private and a little more comfortable then the open grass
in a park. Even if it were a motel for the night, it would be romantic. He made
plans in his mind as he approached the wharf and met up with his men.
Chapter Twelve
Sneaking back
into the house was a little harder than getting out had been. She had to pry a
window open in the garage and crawl in. It was a clumsy affair as she tripped
on some old paint cans and sent them clanking across the cement floor. She held
her breath and rehearsed her excuse for being in there at that hour. Although,
she doubted Craig would buy her story of needing to clean at two in the
morning.
With bated
breath, she waited, but no sounds of him awakening and coming downstairs could
be heard. Carefully she picked up the cans and tried to place them back where
they’d been. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice, she thought as she made her way to
the door, which led into the house.
Thankfully
everything was silent, except Craig’s snoring, which drifted downstairs. Being
extremely quiet, she ran a shower, letting the strong scented body wash take
much of her lover’s scent away. It would linger, but if she wore enough perfume,
it would make it next to impossible for Craig to get the scent. Although Anya
would miss Dante’s smell, it had to be done.
That night she
slept with a smile. Her dreams were pleasant ones of her mate. When she awoke
the next day, she was still smiling. While making breakfast, she tried to make
sure she stayed away from Craig. Dante’s scent was just faintly about her, and
if he caught wind of it, there would be trouble. In the old farm house, it
proved easy enough to do. Craig ate and then left to go attend to his farming
chores while she tended to the household ones.
After he’d left,
she dug the clothes she’d worn last night out from her closet and stuffed them
into the washer. The blood and heavy smell of sex were strong on them. She
added lots of bleach to the water in hopes to kill the smell. Anya cleaned her room
and sprayed it with a fruity air freshener and opened her window to let the
fresh air drift through it.
Around noon,
Kari and Mitch showed up. Anya made coffee, feeling a little awkward. Her
thoughts on how to get her brother to approve of Dante were weak. To come right
out and tell him she’d mated with someone else would have him in a fit, she was
sure.
“So how do you
like it here?” Kari asked, drawing Anya’s attention away from her deep
thoughts.
“I hate it,” she
said truthfully.
“Anya, you’ve
been here one week,” Mitch stated. “How can you hate it?”
“Because I don’t
want to be his mate,” she snapped.
The creaking
sound from the floor caused her to turn, and she saw Craig standing there. She hadn’t
heard him come in. The look in his eyes was cold as he stared at her. A mixed
feeling washed over her—one of being stupid for blurting out she didn’t want
him and one of fear.
“Don’t worry,
Mitch, she’ll come around afterward,” he said to her brother, not taking his gaze
from her. Anya didn’t like what she perceived “afterward” to mean.
“I’m sorry. She’s
too damn stubborn for her own good,” Mitch said.
“A good sign of
an alpha bitch. She’ll learn to like it here, and the wedding is Saturday, so
she’ll change her mind soon enough,” Craig said finally, releasing his cold
stare and moved to sit at the old wooden kitchen table.
“Well, she needs
to settle down. The sooner you two start having babies the sooner she’ll start
being more responsible,” Mitch went on, and that was the last straw.
Again they were
talking as if she weren’t even in the room. As if she were a child in need of
discipline for some bad behavior she’d done.
“I’m right here.”
She growled loudly, and even Kari stared at her a little surprised.
“Anya—” Mitch
began.
“Don’t…I’m not
mating him. I don’t care what any of you say. This is my life, not yours,” she
screamed.
That started the
argument, and for the next two hours, they ranted and raved at one another,
Craig putting his unwanted opinion in as well and Kari looking as if she were
in shock. When Mitch said he would drag her to the alter himself, Anya really
lost it.
“I already know
who I want as a mate, Mitch,” she snapped.
“Really? You don’t
have any suitors.” He snarled.
“Yes, I do,” she
said, but knew she shouldn’t have.
“You were held
captive, so where—” The words died on his lips as his eyes went wide.
“Like hell are
you ever mating a Temple wolf,” he barked.
“It should be my
choice. It’s my life for, Christ sake.”
“Well, it’s not.
I’m your alpha and I’ve made up my mind. Craig is your intended, no one else,”
he roared.
“I’d rather be
dead then mate Craig,” she hurled at them as she turned and stormed off to her
assigned room. She slammed the door, heard a soft thud on the floor and looked
down to see the small carved wolves had fallen from the dresser top.
After scooping
her beloved carvings up, she tossed herself onto the bed and curled up in a
ball around the pillow. Tears came in a torrent, and she felt more trapped now than
she ever had on the island. The soft knock at the door was barely heard over
her sobs.
“Go away,” she
wailed.
The door opened
and she heard soft footsteps enter the room. “Anya. Oh, honey, it’s going to be
okay,” Kari said as she sat on the edge of the bed.
“It’s never
going to be okay.” Anya cried as she turned to look up at her. Kari’s eyes
looked softly at her and she stroked her hair.
“You know your
brother means well.”
“But it’s not
what I want. I don’t love him.” Anya sobbed.
“You’ll learn to
love him, Anya.”
“I don’t want to
love him. I don’t want to have his babies or be his wife,” she said between
sobs.
Kari hugged her,
stroking her hair like she used too when Anya was little. If Anya couldn’t be
with Dante, then there was no other man she would be with. No one could force
her to love another.
“Anya, someday
when you’re married and have had your first child you’ll understand that this
is the way it’s supposed to be.”
“No, you don’t understand.
I love someone else,” she whispered, and Kari stiffened.
“Anya…what have
you done?” she asked after she sniffed the air.
“Please, oh god,
please, Kari, don’t tell him,” she begged as her sister-in-law stared at her
with a knowing look.
Anya held her
secret in check, not telling Kari what had happened, or that she was already
mated. Although she and Kari were close, Anya knew she also had a duty to Mitch
and would tell him of Anya’s indiscretion. That would lead to a confrontation
that could turn deadly, and she was not willing to risk either her brother or
her lover. In her heart, she knew her brother only wanted her to settle down to
be responsible. But he didn’t see it wasn’t fair either. As alpha his duty was
to protect his pack, help it grow and also to approve any and all matings.
A match between
her and Dante would be a hard sell. Mitch had wanted to kill him for everything
that had happened already. If he knew what they’d done, Mitch would lose it and
go on the war path. Anya knew in her heart he would never accept them as a
mated pair.
* * * *
Dante had been
beside himself for the last two days. His eagerness to get there nearly drove
him nuts. He prayed with all his heart that she’d been able to sway her brother’s
mind into allowing them to be together. Still, he had his doubts that would
ever happen. When Alex told him just how stubborn Mitch was, Dante felt the bit
of hope he did have fade.
Dante walked into
the park and had to fight not to run to the area they’d agreed to meet. When he
saw her sitting on the edge of the fountain, a smile danced over his lips at
seeing her in the partial light from the moon. Her hair moved about her in the
evening breeze, and her eyes almost glowed as she looked at him. His beautiful
mate, such a striking creature, he thought as he walked toward her. Anya rushed
to him, and he enveloped her into his arms. Just to hold her was the most
incredible feeling, and his heart was now more at ease.
The warm embrace
was broken as he heard her begin to cry. He pulled her face up to look at him
and saw the tears in her eyes. “Anya, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“My brother, he
won’t reason with me.” She sobbed.
“We’re mates,”
Dante told her. “There’s nothing he can do.”
“He doesn’t know
that, though. He is hell bound on me mating Craig.” She trembled.
“That’s not
going to happen.” He growled.
“Dante, I don’t
know what to do. In a few days I’ll be married to him.”
“Like hell you
will. You need to tell Mitch we’ve already mated.”
“I can’t. He’ll
go on a war path.”
“You have to or
else…” He didn’t want to say the rest.
For Anya to be
mated to another was just not something the man or beast would be able to bear.
The mere thought had his heart pounding with fear, fear of losing her to
another and never being together again.
“Anya, I won’t
let him have you. I’ll kill him first.”
Anya’s lips trembled,
and he pulled her back into his arms. Tonight he had everything planned out for
her, and this was not the best start to those plans. “I have a surprise,” he
whispered against her hair. No matter what else happened, he wanted her to know
how he felt, to know she was his soul mate. Tonight he would not only tell her
that but show her.
* * * *
Dante had taken
her for a short drive, texting someone before he’d gotten into the driver’s
side. When she’d asked where they were going, he’d simply smiled and said it
was a surprise. The curiosity was killing her. Now as they pulled into a motel
parking lot, she knew what he had in mind, and she smiled. He jumped out, rushed
to her side and opened the door for her, taking her by the hand and leading her
to a room.
As he unlocked
the door, his smile turned into a mischievous grin, and he covered her eyes
with one hand. “Now no peeking,” he said. He helped her to walk inside, and his
large hand made it impossible to see what the surprise was. As the door clicked
closed behind them, he took it away.
“Oh my,” she
whispered. She was indeed surprised.
The room was lit
with what seemed like hundreds of different sized candles. Rose petals were cast
over the bed, and several bouquets sat in vases around the room. A soft
romantic love song playing from a radio filled the room as did the fragrant
aroma of the flowers. Never in her life had she seen anything so romantic.
Dante swept her
up into his arms and carried her to the bed where he sat her in among the rose
petals.
“I love you,
Anya,” he said as he sat beside her and pulled her into his arms.
“I love you too,”
she said as tears threatened to fall. She did love him. Why, she didn’t know.
They hardly knew one another, but he was all she could think of.
“I made you something.”
He pulled it from his pocket.
Anya stared at
the small carved twin set of hearts that interlocked with one another. One was
made of a dark stained wood, and the other was a light-colored piece. Both had
small engraved wolves on them. The detail was incredible. They dangled from a
gold chain. Tears fell then.
“It’s a symbol
of us,” he told her. “How our souls are connected.”
Dante moved her
hair and clasped the chain around her neck. It was the most beautiful thing she’d
ever seen. It meant more to her than anything else she owned because he had
made it. Made it just for her as a sign of his love for her, and she would
never take it off.