Page 101 of A Wolf in the Garden

“Ellie, stop.Stop. We’re going to fix it.”

“Everybody said we were safe, and we weren’t. And I’m not convinced there’s a fix.” Fresh tears well in her eyes. “Van… I’m so scared, and… I don’t want to keep putting you and your family in danger if there’s no guarantee of safety. I can’t do that to you.”

I can’t breathe. “What are you saying?”

She shakes her head, face contorting with pain. “Don’t make me say it.”

Good. I won’t. “Do you love me?” I demand.

“Yes,” she sobs. “You know I do. You’re the only one. You’re the only one for me.”

I grip her shoulders tight, only just maintaining enough awareness not to harm her with my claws. “Listen to me. We will find a way.Wewill find it, together. I swore to you, that day that you showed up here with that mark on your hand that I would protect you, and I swore it knowing full well that it was the fae behind it all.”

“But your family —”

“They can go. They can all go. Lacey has a three-hundred-strong pack she can lean on. She can go back with the rest of the Livingstons. She doesn’t need me. Butyou, you are mine and I am yours, and where you go, I follow. It’s not even a choice. You are my love, my everything, andthatis not changing. You hear me?”

She nods, still crying, but I can see the relief in her eyes.

“We —” I begin, but my words choke off as I feel it, the sudden drop in energy, the rapid change, so different from when I shift because I have no control here. It’s the moon that holds the power over me as I shrink, shaking and groaning, my blunt, clawless hands now pressed to the tiled floor, the water hitting the bare skin on my back.

Ellie drops to her knees beside me. “Van!” Her hands are everywhere — on my back, running over my shoulders, my neck, my face. I rise to my knees and pull her to me, pressing my forehead to hers, feeling the flesh of her body against mine. She’shere. She’s here with me, not drowning in the fucking ocean, and I need… Ineed….

She kisses me violently and I growl into her mouth, tongue lashing hers as her nails score down my back. I need to be inside of her just as much as she needs me; I need toown her,because she is here and she ismine. Her body arches against me as she uses her grip around my neck to pull herself up, legs wrapping around my waist, and I am gripping her thighs, spreading, lifting, spearing into her with a roar, her cries echoing against the tiles. This is not lovemaking for either of us, this time. It’s a brutal fucking, it’s staring into each other’s wild eyes, the desire to claim one another as mates overwhelming. I can sense her need, her desperation tobite, and I grunt in surprise as she opens her mouth to reveal wolf’s teeth, perfectly sharp, a mirror copy of my own just after the change.

Fae magic.She takes what is mine and makes it hers.

“Do it,” I urge her, throwing caution to the wind. My wolves howl in agreement; how can we not complete the bond now, when she is so ready? I thrust into her again and again, capturing her lips in one more bruising kiss. “Do it, Ellie!” I growl, extending my neck, offering her my left shoulder, my wolves howlingYes!“Claim me, my mate.”

She strikes with all the fierceness of a she-wolf, biting hard, and I groan against the combined agony of it, the fuckingpressurein my balls, and the insane pleasure of the tight wet heat of her cunt. The instant her teeth release me I grab her by the hips, pulling her down hard on my knot as I thrust upwards, her bloodied mouth opening in a silent scream as it locks into place, and then I am biting her, teeth sinking into flesh, the iron tang of her blood flooding my mouth as she lets out a loud, guttural moan that reverberates around us. I’m coming, spilling into her as she contracts around me, the pain of our bites subsiding into a fog of bliss as our bond is complete, our souls exhaling with joy and relief asfinally, we are as we were always meant to be. The feeling of love and overwhelming happiness pours through the bond, bouncing between us, my wolves chantingmate, mate, mate, and I lick at her wound, suck at her neck, her jaw, her mouth, tasting my own blood as we kiss in a slow glide of lips and tongues.

I’ve lost all sense of time, but at some point I realise the running water now stings at my wound, and I feel the echo of her pain through the bond. I’m still on my knees, Ellie still impaled on my knot, but I’m able to shuffle over and reach the tap handle, shutting off the shower.

She trembles in my arms and I feel the echoing shake in my own bones. We’re both physically exhausted, our nerves pushed to the limits, our bodies desperately craving rest. “Hold on baby,” I murmur, and though she doesn’t speak, I feel her trust in me pulse through the bond. Carefully, I rise, carrying my mate to our bed, and lower myself backwards onto it. “Sleep,” I whisper as I drag the blankets over us, though it’s an unnecessary statement; her head is already growing heavy on my chest, her limbs draped over mine.

I should stay awake. There’s questions to ask, assurances to seek, but as exhaustion pulls at me, I can’t keep my eyes open.

My parents are both in the house. I can hear their voices coming from the living room, but my mind won’t focus on the words they’re saying. “You guys need to wake me if anything happens!” I call out, and it’s the last thing I can manage before passing out.

Twenty

VAN

Ellie is still in my arms when I wake, and her beautiful brown eyes are the first thing I see. “Hey,” she whispers, her gaze dancing over my face. Feelings ofreliefandlovewash over me through our new bond, though there’s an underlying layer of anxiety to everything I can sense from her, too.

“Hey,” I croak, my throat dry and my voice still thick with sleep. The mid-afternoon sun shines directly on us now, warm against my skin, and the house is silent.

It’s a lot later in the day than I expected it to be. “How long have you been awake?” I ask, running my hand over the curve of her hip.Mate, my wolves say, and I agree.She’s ours now, forever.It’s a comforting, cosy feeling that is short-lived; the terror of last night creeps in, making my wolves whine. The bond between Ellie and I is too fresh, too new to shield her from any of this, and she shakes her head in response to my feelings, tears already forming in her eyes, her face contorting with pain before she buries her face against my chest. She can’t control the bond yet, either, and I’m hit with all of the things she’s struggling to say; oppressive fear and guilt, her love and need for me, stress, and a little bit of embarrassment tucked in there too. We’ll never be able to share properthoughts, as such, but most wolves in a fated pair say that sharing feelings alone is enough to deduce what the other is thinking, and just this lets me know plenty.

“Oh,Ellie,” I say, my voice breaking on the last syllable.

The dam breaks, and she cries into my chest with huge wracking sobs that echo in the room. I hold her tight, nose buried in her hair, allowing myself to feel it all — the fear that steals the breath from my lungs, the weight of the unknown, and the desperate need to be together, toneverlet this happen again.

She cries, as do I, and inside me my wolves claw, chanting a futilewe’ll kill them. We’ll kill them all.

* * *

I’m concerned about how silent the house is until my brother — in his shifted form — runs past the bedroom window just as I’m climbing out of bed. He grins and wags his tail, and I wave him on as Ellie hastily pulls the bedsheets up over her exposed breasts. “Meet me out front in ten!” I call to him as he dashes away.

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