Wild (Wolf Ranch 2)

I wanted Colton.

Dammit--no! I slapped a hand over my face to try to block out the unwelcome thoughts.

And that was when a heavy knock sounded at the door. “Marina?”

I gasped, stared at the dark door.

Colton.

My spine stiffened, my heart instantly revving into a rapid staccato. My stomach flip-flopped. He was here.

“Marina, I know you’re in there, sweetness. Please let me in.”

I didn’t move. My whole body was a live wire, trembling with potentiality.

“Just let me try to explain about tonight,” he said through the door. “Hear me out. Then if you tell me to go, I’ll go. I promise.”

A tear escaped one of my eyes and ran down my cheek. I was already crying, and I didn’t even know what he was going to say.

“Please, Marina. I fucked up. I failed to tell you something crucial. Something you needed to know. About us. It’s important. Life or death important. I won’t hurt you.”

I silently slid my feet to the floor and stood. My knees were weak and shaky. Was I holding my breath?

“I was trying to protect you, Marina,” he continued, as he was going to tell me everything whether I opened the door or not. “I didn’t want you to get hurt. But I know you did, anyway. I was stupid. Please just open this door, sweetness. I’m having a really hard time not bashing it in to get to you.”

I sob-hiccupped and covered my mouth with my hand, fresh tears flooding my eyes. I heard his growl and knew somehow, he’d heard the sound. Knew I was crying.

He did want me.

Colton Wolf wanted me. And there was an explanation for his behavior.

I dashed across the room and threw the door open.

“Thank fuck,” he muttered, already entering, like his body was drawn to mine like a magnet. He wore jeans and a black t-shirt, perfectly tame, but his eyes were wild, almost desperate. For me.

I meant to be strong and proud and not need him at all, but instead I let myself fall right into his arms, and he lifted me up, held me tight. I should have made him beg. Grovel, but I just didn’t understand. I was mad at him, but I needed to know why.

“Oh, thank fuck,” he breathed. He wrapped me up and sank to the floor, to his knees, keeping me tight against him. “Thank fuck. I was losing my mind without you, sweetness.”

“How… how did you find me?” I asked, my cheek pressed to him as I absorbed his energy, just like I had with Lucy, the horse.

“I’ll always find you,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head. “It also helps you have the smallest car in the state. Easy to spot.”

I regained my senses and tried to push away from him. He didn’t let me go, though. Instead, he began speaking in a rush. “You’re my mate,” he blurted. “Wolves don’t choose their mates, fate does. I recognized you as mine the moment I first caught your scent out in the rain.”

“Wait… what?” I pushed away from him enough to see his face. He shifted me, so I straddled his waist, and our faces were just inches apart. Was that why he’d sniffed me out in that storm? It had seemed so strange then. Now? It made sense. I’d seen Boyd do it, too, the other morning in the kitchen.

“You smell people?”

“I smell you. I’d know you as mine anywhere.”

His gaze burned with intensity, but his eyes didn’t glow amber. They were his human irises this time.

“Wolves only have one mate. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to find them. Some never do, and they go moon mad and have to be put down.”

“What?” This was a lot to absorb all at once. Moon mad?

Colton plowed on, like he had to get all the words out. “When a male shifter finds his mate, he bites her to embed his scent in her skin, so other males know she’s been claimed. I know… this is probably freaking you out,” he said quickly, probably seeing the shock on my face. “That's why I didn’t spring it on you sooner. Why I didn’t tell you what you are to me. Tonight was the full moon, and it made me crazy. My wolf wanted to mark you. Right there in my bed even when you didn’t know what it meant. I was too aggressive. Too wild. I scared you, so I had to get out of there. I had to shift and run off the urge, so I wouldn’t hurt you.”

He sighed, stroked my hair back. His gaze dropped to my lips, then to look me in the eye. “I’m sorry, sweetness. I thought finding you, my mate, would quell some of the moon madness that’s been creeping up on me, but I don’t think my wolf will be satisfied until I’ve fully claimed you.”