His Innocent Mate (Unforgiven Country 1)

And then one string of thoughts catches my attention. It is thick and heavy, filled with this desperation … need, so strong it has me gasping. It’s familiar, like this string wrapped around my middle, pulling me closer. The desperation turns into arousal, hardcore lust.

Possessiveness.

Wyatt is looking right at me, his big body tucked away in the corner, the shadows partially concealing him. I should have known he’d spot me—sense me—as soon as I stepped through the door. His possessiveness takes me by surprise though. His hunger … his gaze is still locked on me. I look behind me just to assure myself that he doesn’t have someone else in his sight.

I don’t see anyone else, but I don’t try and probe Wyatt’s mind, don’t try and read him. It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, because he locks it down fast, like he did all those years ago. It is like this thick brick wall, impenetrable, a force to be reckoned with. He’s always been hard to read, even when I glimpsed his mind, even when he gave me consent to see what he thought.

My breath lodges in my throat as Wyatt begins stalking me. His long muscular legs stride toward me, eating up the space between us in moves that are deliberate and precise. It appears my trip to see Wyatt is now going to consist of me facing my fears and talking to him for the first time in two years.

He isn’t giving me a choice.2WyattI almost did a doubletake when I caught her scent in this fucking bar. She’s like the sweetest flower on the damn vine and I’ve been grieving the loss of it for two fucking years. The wolf inside of me has been pacing back and forth, barely resisting going wild and chasing my mate down and claiming her. Now that she’s back here of her own free will, nothing will stop me. I’m not letting her walk away from me again.

I zero in on her immediately. A snarl leaves my lips before I can stop it.

What in the fuck has she done to herself?

She’s lost weight. Her damn hipbones are pressing against that black, short skirt she’s wearing. Then there was her damn hair. Kendra had this thick mass of auburn hair that fell heavy around her face and reminded me of dusk, as the sun faded and light danced through the clouds in different hues and tones.

In the past, I couldn’t stop myself from touching her hair whenever the opportunity rose. Fuck, most of the time I made up excuses to run my fingers through it as often as I could. It was gone now, cut short and dyed a brown that looks expensive and pretty, but it isn’t the glory that belonged to my woman.

For probably the millionth time, I want to kick my ass for letting her walk away. For the hundredth time my wolf inside snarls and pulls against the restraints I keep on him. He wants free to claim his woman.

His very human woman.

And that’s the whole problem.

Kendra is human, physically weaker than my kind, and for a shifter who is destined to take over his pack … that can be a problem. Fuck, as many times as I’ve been over it, the scenarios are all the same. The females in my pack will eat my woman alive. An Alpha can’t have weaknesses, even if that was a human as a mate. Kendra would be a huge weakness to them and me.

Logically that’s what I know to be true, but in my heart my thoughts are different. In my heart, I truly believe the Fates have blessed me. They have picked out a beautiful mate who is sweet, smart, and brings me peace when we are together. She is also strong in her own right, holding more power than many shifters in my pack, whether they’d ever admit that or not.

Right now, however, having her this close after letting her go once is slowly killing me. I can’t stay away from her, that isn’t possible. Almost of their own volition, my legs begin moving, bringing me closer to her and with each step I take, a sense of rightness pours over me.

“Wyatt.”

She breathes my name and although she has taken great pains to change her outward appearance in the years since she’s been gone, that sweet, lyrical voice is still the same. It wraps around me like a siren’s call, drives deep inside and strokes across my wolf like a calming, healing touch.

“What are you doing here, Kendi?”

That isn’t what I intended to say, and I can tell by the pain that slashes across her face that my gruff words hurt her. My wolf howls with anger and I know my pack brothers hear him, because I can feel their gazes on me.