Page 42 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

“Scent is widely known to be an early sign, but the reason most people don’t talk about it is because it doesn’t count as proof in the case of a mate dispute. It’s too easy to fake. The fake marks, those can’t pass inspection. But two people could easily collaborate and decide to claim they’ve got mate scent.”

A rock squashed the joy trying to bloom in my chest. We weren’t out of the woods yet. And somehow, that reminder that we weren’tthereyet made the first tear fall. And then the second.

“Hey, now, it’s not that bad. The marks will come. We’re not faking, and I don’t give a shit what anyone else believes.” Gael cupped my face in his hand, thumb stroking over my cheekbone. “I know we haven’t always gotten along, but I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy and take care of our baby. Don’t cry, not over this,” he whispered, low and hoarse.

I nodded, pressing my lips together trying to stop the tears, hold back the tide. But it wasn’t enough, and they continued to fall anyway. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, his bare skin soothing even as I cringed internally at the fact that I was soaking him.

Gael made a soothing rumble deep in his chest as he cupped the back of my head in his big, rough palm, and then we were moving again. I wasn’t the least bit surprised a few minutes later when he carried me back into his room. Apparently, denning up was Gael’s signature move, and I wasn’t mad about it.

I kind of loved it. Maybe it was the hormones, maybe it was the vulnerability—between the pregnancy and the news about our first mating sign, I was as fragile as a piece of tissue paper. Whatever it was, I wanted every little bit of what he was giving me. Comfort, safety, quiet.

He pulled the curtains first, dropping the room into soft dimness. Then he carried me straight to the bed, but this time, he didn’t just tuck me in. He climbed in with me, pulling the covers up over us with me still plastered to his bare chest.

He stroked my hair softly, every touch meant to calm. The tears finally slowed as I listened to his heartbeat, the constant rumble in his chest melting me like butter.

“What happened back there?” he finally asked, still stroking.

Embarrassment crept up my neck in a hot flush.

“I had a long-term boyfriend back in Texas.”

He stiffened under me. “Someone you left behind?”

“Not quite.” I swallowed hard, not really wanting to share this story, but… I’d just blubbered all over the man the second we found out we were fated mates. If I didn’t want him to think I hated his guts, I needed to explain myself. “We were together for almost three years. And it wasn’t perfect, but it was good, you know? He was older than me, so he had a stable job and his own place. His family liked me, and his mom was kind of like the mom I never had. She baked apple pies and brought me lunch sometimes between clients at work. Nice, safe. And then one day, he didn’t show up to pick me up for dinner before our full-moon run. It was our tradition.”

His hand stilled briefly, probably guessing where this train wreck of a relationship was going. But it was worse than that.

“I called him twice, but when he didn’t answer, I started to get worried. So I called his mom, but when she picked up, I knew something was wrong. She wouldn’t tell me where he was or why he wasn’t picking up. She’d gone cold, almost. Like she didn’t want to talk to me anymore. So I drove over there. They had a couple hundred acres adjacent to the pack grounds. We’d sometimes start our runs there if we didn’t want to be with the whole pack for the full moon.” I closed my eyes, unable to face the last part otherwise.

“When I got there, I smelled her. This thick, cloying scent of cloves, hanging in the air. I should have realized, I should have climbed back in my car and driven away as fast as I could. But I didn’t. I walked myself down to the clearing where the family started their runs. The moon was already up, and my wolf was so antsy, I?—”

“It’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay,” he promised, gripping me tighter.

“They were bonding. I caught the tail end of it. She was wearing this plain white sundress—nothing even special, like they couldn’t possibly wait to do it up right—and he was in a pair of khaki pants. But as soon as the ceremony ended, they didn’t leave. He grabbed her by the neck, and he bit her right there. He ripped her dress right down the front and pushed her back on the flower mound. I left then, when he started unbuttoning his pants. I couldn’t watch him fuck somebody else, not when—not when it was supposed to be me. I found out a few days later through the pack rumor mill that she had gone intoheat, so they’d met the day before and immediately bonded since the moon was full.”

Silence fell over us, and I braced for his anger. I’d pretty much just laid it out for him that I was heartbroken over my ex, damaged goods. And he was stuck with me.

“That piece of fucking shit.” His furious snarl startled me, and I finally looked up at his expression.Murderous ragewouldn’t have been too fine a point to put on it.

“What?”

“He led you on for three years and then didn’t have the decency to tell you he’d found his mate and break it off with you before he bonded her? You deserved better. You deserveeverything.” His eyes glowed with his wolf, and for the first time, the shame of being abandoned didn’t sting. Marcus was the past, but Gael? Gael was my future, and he was so much better than Marcus could ever have dreamed of being.

I pushed myself up off his chest so I could straddle him, the ache in my core demanding friction, demandinghimas I wove my fingers together behind his neck.

He was still angry when our lips met, but that anger quickly melted into burning passion as our tongues clashed and tangled. I’d never been with an alpha before Gael. I liked to be the dominant one, the one in charge. But with Gael, it was all heat, all need, and less about thought.Primal.

So when he flipped us over, cradling me beneath him, I didn’t protest. He left my lips behind to nip and suck his way down my neck. My exercise shirt was gently removed, his hands caressing my sides with rapt appreciation as he fingered the band of my sports bra.

“Will it hurt you if we take this off? I’ve read that your breasts could be pretty sore from the hormonal changes.”

Holy shit. He’d been reading up on pregnancy symptoms? Warmth of a different kind filled me, and I dragged his lipsback to mine for a demanding kiss. He wasn’t Marcus. He wasn’t going to abandon me, at least not without a word.

I reached up and carefully undid the Velcro on the front of my bra, the cups sliding loose. There was a twinge of an ache, yes, but I had a bigger ache that beat the fleeting soreness. I needed him. Every last inch of him, from his head to his toes. He made me feel things I hadn’t thought were possible, and I didn’t want anything left to stand between us. Not the past, not the pack dynamics, not the problems we had to face alongside our best friends.

Just me and him. A man and a woman, desperate for each other. That was all I wanted.

He slid the bra out from under me without breaking the kiss, his hand coming up to gently knead one side before switching to the other. When he moved down to work me over with his tongue, licking and sucking and tracing the undersides of my breasts with painstaking attention, I wriggled under him.

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