Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Wolf’s Forced Mate Chapter 8

Leah

Tanner came home earlier than I had anticipated. Worry sat on his features, a tumultuous strained effort put into resisting the frown that perpetually stole his lips regardless of what he did. Part of me wondered why I cared or how I had noticed at all. But when he sat me down on the couch, all the urgency in the world collided with my body. None of that mattered. The only thing that did was why he was worried. I wanted to know so I could help. And that didn't even make sense.

Before I could say a word, he reached out to steady my jiggling leg. "Easy, princess. It's not that serious."

"No, it is that serious."

"How would you know?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. The fact that he could read me so well irritated me and comforted me at the same time. "It's serious. I can tell. Otherwise, you wouldn't try to control my response."

He parted his lips to speak, the words disappearing from his lips as soon as they surfaced. I knew he was going to argue with me.

But what I didn't know was how easily he would drop it.

He raised his hands to show surrender. "Alright, you got me."

"And you called me that nickname again."

"Right. You got me again. Two for two. Happy?"

My posture relaxed slightly. "Yes. Get it out already. I'm dying."

"Well, don't die yet. We have a lot to discuss."

Great, that just sounded so exciting. My forced mate wanted to discuss a lot of things. Couldn't imagine what that was all about.

No, really, I couldn't imagine. I thought everything had been handled.

Inez barreled down the stairs and flung herself at Tanner. He flipped her around midair and settled her into his lap, the movement gentle despite how quickly it happened. She snuggled into him with her eyes hooked on me. That dazzling smile on her face melted my heart into a puddle.

"What's this about?" I asked.

Meeting his gaze was difficult. Not because I didn't want to look into his eyes.

But because it felt too good when I did.

"The ceremony," he whispered. His hands hovered over Inez's ears briefly. Finally, he covered them and said in an even lower voice. "We have to bite each other."

A sweltering wave of heat flushed my entire body. That was terribly unusual. It was like I was dehydrated and bursting with fluid all at once. I touched my face, my palms clammy and cold from what I was sure the gods only knew. Inez was watching. What I did next was important.

With a gentle smile, I dropped my hands to my knees and leaned forward. I motioned for Tanner to release my daughter's ears.

"Inez, sweetie," I said brightly, "would you go upstairs and play with your tablet? Use your headphones, okay?"

Inez stared at me blankly and then peered up at Tanner.

He nodded. "Do what your mother says. We'll get you in a minute, alright?"

"Airplanes?"

He smiled. "Later we can do airplanes."

"Kay!"

My daughter zipped up the stairs so fast that I thought it might have been a hallucination that she had appeared at all. Tanner raised his eyebrows. "Well, that was easy."

"She understands."

"That you and I need to have a very long talk?"

I steepled my fingers together while looking at the carpet. "I mean, it doesn't have to be particularly long. It makes sense."

"So, you knew?"

"I knew what?"

He scrubbed the back of his neck. "That the bond was useless without the bite."

I frowned. "Is it? I thought the ritual handled all that until the couple was ready to initiate the bite."

"Apparently not."

"What happened?"

Tanner swiped his hand down his face. The usually goofy demeanor was gone, replaced with the worst kind of concern. "Jermaine and I were sent to check the beach for intruders. We were ambushed."

I clutched my chest. "Is he okay?"

He blinked a few times. "I'm okay. Thanks for asking."

"Obviously, you're okay, Tanner. You're sitting right here."

He waved away my comment. "You still didn't ask."

"Really? That's the hill you're going to die on?"

"Come on, Leah. You could show a little concern."

That was rich coming from him. My arms tightened across my chest again, unwilling to drop my guard. "I was worried when you came in."

"And now?"

"I'm just plain annoyed. Would you just get on with it?"

He groaned. "I already did, Leah. I told you we need to trade bites because I'm at risk."

"So, you're not okay then?"

"Maybe you would have known if you had asked!"

Though his voice hadn't pitched too much higher than usual, it was still jarring to hear his tone shift. Late-night arguments resurfaced. Things I had forgotten came out of the woods, sprinting toward me at high speeds. My legs locked into place and my body went rigid. The couch conformed to my body and gave me a steadiness I didn't have back then.

But maybe that was because I was different now.

Four years and one baby later, I wasn't the little Leah of the past. I was the Leah of the future. I was a single mother with a mate chosen by my alpha and I was going to do my best not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I didn't want that life anymore. I wanted something new.

It was something my daughter and I deserved.

My brows furrowed together. Not with concern-with resolute strength. "If you want me to ask about your well-being on missions, then I'll do that from now on."

He blinked again. No response. That was fine with me.

"As far as biting goes, I'm willing to do it. We just need a sitter for tonight so we can do it without being interrupted."

A bang echoed upstairs followed by my daughter shouting an apology.

That cracked a smile on Tanner's face.

After a moment, he nodded. "Alright, I can work with that."

"We have no choice but to work together."

"I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic about it."

My frown deepened. "You can save the sarcasm, Tanner. It won't do any good in this house. If we're going to live together, then we're going to have to get along." "So you don't hate me."

"I don't need to hate you. That's such a useless emotion."

He scoffed. "But lying isn't useless?"

My heart thudded a few beats too loudly. "Are you serious right now?"

"Who's the father?"

Another hard beat sent me sinking into the couch. My strength wasn't lost. It was just on hold for a minute.

This was a lot to chew on all at once.

I scratched my arm anxiously. "He took off. I don't know where he went."

"I asked who he is, Leah."

"His name is Edward. That's all I feel like saying right now."

He narrowed his eyes. "What kind of shifter is he? Wolf? Bear?"

My mouth opened and closed a few times. Shoot, I'd known it would come to this soon. And with him accusing me of lying, it wouldn't look good if I left out a pretty significant detail about my ex-husband. I bowed my head. "He's a human."

"Oh."

Oh. That wasn't the sound I'd expected him to make. Perhaps it should have been a laugh or even an indignant snort. Though Tanner had never come across as the type to be a separatist in any sense of the word, he also didn't seem like he was excited to adopt a half-breed daughter.

"I understand if that's upsetting," I rushed to explain. "Inez is perfectly healthy as a shifter wolf. She's got a good balance between her human and animal sides. I think you can see that."

More silence. Not great. Totally not great.

"She's house-trained." I pointed upstairs. "As you can tell."

"Leah, I'm not worried about that."

I dropped my hand into my lap. "You just didn't look very impressed."

"It's not that. It's just-"

"Shocking?"

He shook his head. "It's the fact that you can get pregnant."

No, this couldn't be happening. I didn't want to rehash this argument. It wasn't something that would help the situation. It was only going to shove us apart.

It was best to let it go.

I sighed. "Inez surprised me."

"So, you lied."

"I didn't lie."

He looked away, anger seeping into his expression. "You lied, Leah. You can't deny it now."

Deny it? How could I have denied something that I thought couldn't happen?

"Fine, I lied." I smacked my knees resolutely and then stood up. "Let's drop off Inez with your mother and get this over with."

Tanner stood up and went for the door. "Fine by me."

***

Afternoon light shed lines across the carpet when I walked back into the townhouse. Tanner was right behind me, practically trudging after me like he was heading for the guillotine. What would be our crimes? Lying? Or not trusting each other? Gods, I didn't even want to think about it. I just wanted the bite to be done so we could move on with our lives. Nobody said mates had to be in love. They just had to agree to be connected. That was it. That was the only requirement. So, why did it feel like I was marching toward a beheading?

The banister steadied me as I ascended to the second floor. Instinct took over, sending me to the right and down the carpeted hall to the main bedroom. A moment of clarity struck me when I turned around and found myself boxed in by Tanner. I gulped. "Your room or mine?"

"You went to my room, so..."

Right, instinct. Maybe it was just a subconscious thing. This was Tanner's territory, after all. It smelled like him. It felt like him.

It was intoxicating.

I played with a lock of hair, twirling it around my finger. "Which side?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Just pick for me, Tanner. I can't even think straight."

A sharp inhale and a few padded steps later, he was right in front of me. Tall, muscular, almost furious in his energetic expression. His jaw tensed up and his eyes drilled into me like screws swirling into a wall. It felt like he had me pinned. And he hadn't even touched me.

Something about the shuddering movement of his eyes-how they danced between mine-made me think he was considering something more than a bite. But perhaps that was just the heat of the moment. Desire curled in my core while I rested my hands on my shoulders, guarding myself.

Or maybe I was trying to stop myself from doing something stupid. Like touching him. Who knew?

He swept my hair away from my left shoulder. "Here's fine."

"Then, I'll do the opposite on you."

"Don't be gentle."

I rolled my eyes. "Not a time for jokes, Tanner."

"It's not that serious. It's just a bite."

Was he trying to convince me?

Or himself?

The air shifted as he bowed forward. The tip of his nose grazed my cheek, sending a dazzling explosion of sparks from the point of contact to the rest of my body. Blood coursed through my veins like a rushing river toward my neck. Heat pooled in the area he had chosen like my body was aware of what we were doing.

I mean, it was silly to think otherwise. Every wolf had a significant receptivity to intention. Shifters in general were astute creatures equipped with the kind of intuition that helped us hunt, evade hunters, and blend with humans. Our gifts were plenty-and that meant that mating and sex were particularly pleasurable events.

But this was so much different. I had expected him to just bite me. However resistant I was to the idea, the bite wouldn't work unless my body was receptive. All that thinking on the way back had done nothing but make my thighs ache.

And it wasn't from the long walk.

His hand rose to cup my cheek as his lips and only his lips met my neck. No canines. No twin pinpricks. Just the warmth and softness of his lips.

Just like that, I weakened.

My knees bobbed together until they gave out, inspiring him to catch my waist. Hot exhalations drifted over my flesh, inciting a riot of goosebumps to form. His lips should have drifted to my main artery. His canines should have descended. His bite should have been completed by now.

But it wasn't.

I grabbed his shoulders as he bowed toward me. Every part of me ached for release, a familiar sting growing in my center. While my heart battered the inside of my chest, my breath labored and my eyes rolled back, a chorus of desire thickening the air. I wanted him.

Badly.

My mouth dropped open when he kissed my earlobe. Nothing should have made me want him like this. But then again, nothing was the same, was it? The things that had once aroused me about Tanner were suddenly back in the front of my mind.

His scent was the first thing that struck me as his lips climbed from my throat to my chin. Frosted earth mixed with a spice that made me want to surrender-that was him. Sensations came next, a cumulative heat that radiated from his palm to the small of my back. He climbed my spine. He cradled my upper back. He bent me even more...

I gasped when he nipped my throat. "What are we doing?"

"We're mating."

"But you're supposed to bite me."

He took a shuddering breath as he tilted my head up and met my gaze. "I changed my mind, Leah."

"To what?"

Was I serious? The question was silly, almost downright stupid.

I knew what.

I just didn't want to recognize it.

But how desperately I wanted it to happen.

He growled as he rested his forehead against mine. His silver eyes were clouded with desire, milky with the heat that resonated between us. The way his fingers fluttered over my clothes reminded me of his patience, his diligence, his spirit. He was waiting for my

cue.

All I had to do was tell him what I wanted. That was it. If I said no, then he would stop. But if I said yes...

Would we cycle back through what had happened four years ago?

Or would things be different?

The lump in my throat resisted when I swallowed. I repeated the action as many times as I could manage, trying my best to reduce my fear.

All that terror and anticipation swirled into lust, a horrible combination when I truly thought about it. For what was worse than an animal such as me backed into a corner?

A lot of mistakes could happen.

And a lot of beautiful things too.

I just wasn't sure which one it would be this time. But there was only one way to discover just what precisely would happen.

Licking my lips drew his attention. With his focus on my mouth, I knew what I said next would hit harder than anything else. Those words were his key. And I knew he would open me up with them.

I caressed the back of his neck and arched into him. "Take me." His eyes locked on mine as I struggled to breathe. "Take me right now, Tanner."