His Wolf Chose Me. The Man Chose Another

Kael caught Ayla against the wall before she could finish telling him how angry she was. His hand landed beside her head. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him close enough to feel the fast, uneven beat beneath it. “You were supposed to come home yesterday.” “I know.” “And the day before that, you promised—” “I know that too.” He brushed his nose against hers. “I missed you.” “Four nights, Kael.” “I woke up reaching for you. Every single night.” Ayla planted two fingers against his chest. She had come to count four unanswered nights, not to let him turn them into a confession she wanted to kiss. “Did you?” “Ask Riven. He hasn't let me sleep.” Sable stirred at the mention of his wolf. Across the narrow space between them, Riven answered with a low, impatient sound. Ayla felt both wolves lean toward each other. “Your wolf has better manners than you,” she said. “He's also been threatening to take over my body and run here.” “Maybe I should have opened the door for him.” Kael laughed. Ayla hadn't heard that laugh in four days. Then he kissed her, and she forgot the rest of her argument long enough to kiss him back. She caught his hair, tilted his face and made him work for the next kiss. He let her. Outside the locked room, Northmere's Alpha could make councilmen rise with a glance. In here he nearly tripped over the edge of her dress when she tugged him toward the bed. “Careful, Alpha.” “I'm trying to impress you.” “You've made a terrible start.” “Then stop laughing at me.” “Make me.” He did. The kiss stole the laugh from her throat and left them both breathless. His jacket hit the floor. Ayla opened his shirt, button by button, and kissed the pale scar beneath his collarbone. Kael closed his eyes. It had taken her months to learn that the scar embarrassed him; tonight he turned toward her touch without hiding it. He unfastened her dress. It slipped down her arms, and she stepped free of it, taking him with her toward the bed. Their remaining clothes followed in a careless trail. Sable reached for Riven's warmth, delighted; Ayla reached for Kael because she wanted him just as badly. He kissed the hollow of her throat, then her shoulder. She drew him down against her, feeling the familiar weight and heat of the man she'd missed. They made love with the tenderness of people who knew one another's small, secret habits and the urgency of four nights apart. Later, tangled in warm sheets, Ayla lay against his bare chest while he pressed absent kisses into her hair. “Better apology,” she murmured. “Only better?” “Don't become arrogant.” “Too late.” She bit back a smile and caught his hand. Kael laced their fingers together, lifted them to his mouth and kissed each knuckle. His Alpha ring lay on the bedside table. She turned his bare hand over and pressed her mouth to the pale indentation the metal had left. He watched her do it without a word. For a few minutes the room held everything she wanted. Then his thumb stopped moving. Ayla followed his gaze to her bare neck. Ayla tilted her head, giving him the place he had kissed so often. Riven stirred; Kael’s mouth followed the old path and stopped short of the one thing she needed. Sable lifted her head, waiting. Riven answered from within Kael, hungry and restless. Kael bent to her throat. His lips rested there for one trembling second. Then he drew away. “When are you going to mark me?” Ayla asked. His expression closed so quickly she almost heard the door. “Not yet.” “You said that last month.” “I remember.” “And the month before.” She pushed up on one elbow. “I don't need a ceremony tomorrow. I need to know when I stop being a secret.” Kael reached for her hand. She let him hold it but didn't lie down. “I want you, Ayla.” “You've spent the evening showing me that. I'm asking about the morning.” A knock sounded somewhere beyond the outer suite. Kael glanced toward the locked door. His hand slipped out of hers. It was such a small movement. She hated that she noticed it. “Tell me what you're afraid of.” “It's complicated.” “Then use more than two words.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “Please. Not tonight.” Ayla sat up and reached for her nightdress. He moved to help; she shook her head and pulled it on herself. “I love you,” he said. She went still. He hadn't said it carelessly. He never did. That made the next question harder. “Will you still love me when someone sees?” “Ayla—” “Tomorrow. Walk me out the front entrance. Hold my hand. We don't even have to say what we are.” Kael looked toward the window. Dawn was hours away, but she could already see him choosing the corridor. “There's a patrol change at six.” “That's not what I asked.” “The eastern passage is quieter.” She laughed once. It sounded nothing like laughter. Sable retreated from Riven's reaching warmth. Ayla moved to the edge of the bed. Kael caught her fingers and pressed them to his mouth. She let him have that small kindness, then took her hand back. “I love you too,” she whispered. “That's why this hurts.” She lay beside him because she couldn't bear to go home in the middle of the night. His arm settled around her waist. She didn't take it off. Neither of them pretended it was an answer. ✦ ✦ ✦ Kael waited until Ayla's breathing deepened. Then he sat up, found his phone and read the message he'd been avoiding since midday. Father: Breakfast at eight. Elise Marlow arrives this afternoon. You will be courteous. Riven rose inside him with a snarl. Our mate is right here. “I know.” Then stop acting as though she's the danger. Kael opened the drawer. Inside lay the card Ronan had given him two days ago: an independent lawyer who could challenge a residency petition before it reached the council. He picked it up, thumb covering the number. At the last meeting, Garrick Thorne had spread the Greywater maps across the desk. The southern roads carried food and medicine between settlements; two Marlow trustees wanted to sell their rights to a consortium. Garrick had tapped the road with one blunt finger. “Edmund Marlow controls the deciding vote. A marriage settlement to his daughter will keep the crossings open.” “Negotiate the roads without selling my life.” “We have forty-eight hours to prove the alliance will last.” “I have a mate.” Ronan had turned sharply. Garrick had not. “Then keep her unnamed,” his father said. “If Greywater falls and the council believes your private interests interfered with essential passage, they'll come looking for someone to blame.” “You can't exile a woman for loving me.” “No. They need a petition, witnesses, a hearing. Frightened people can be persuaded to provide all three.” Ronan had pushed the lawyer's card across the desk. Kael had left it there. Now he held it in his own hand while Ayla slept beside him. He touched Ayla’s shoulder. Her lashes fluttered, and he almost said Elise’s name. He took his hand away before she opened her eyes. Ayla shifted closer in her sleep, trusting him to make room. Kael laid the card face down. At six he would send her down the eastern passage again. At eight he would sit across from his father. And by afternoon he would meet a woman Ayla did not know had been invited to take her place. Riven refused to settle. Kael checked the lock on the door, though nobody had tried to enter. On the bed, Ayla reached into the empty space where he'd been. He went back to her. He still didn't wake her.