Faith (2 page)

Aided by the light of the full moon, Taylor resumed archery practice. The last time she’d practiced with a bow and arrow was when she was fourteen and living with the Smiths. They had insisted that she join an afterschool club in order to make friends. Taylor had pitched a fit, complaining that an afterschool club would take away what little time she’d have to spend with the few friends she’d had. In the end, she’d joined the archery club, but had skipped most of the meets to hang out with other kids. She’d probably attended two club meetings over the course of the whole summer.

She was still lost in thought when she notched another arrow. As she drew back on the bowstring, she was startled by the sound of a branch snapping. In her surprise, she sent the arrow flying. It whizzed towards the forest, the arrowhead embedding itself in the trunk of a birch tree and narrowly missing Hale’s head.

Taylor gave a sharp intake of breath before dropping her bow and dashing up to where Hale stood, looking considerably cross. The arrow had come so close to hitting him that it had caused his hair to fly up and Taylor immediately took a lock of it in her hand, examining it for damage.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she chanted.

Much to her relief, he appeared to be unblemished. But as she sifted through his hair, she was struck by an errant thought. Would her baby have hair like hers, or would he have the burnished gold curls of his father? One thought led to another, and soon she was wondering what their baby’s face would look like, and if it would be a boy or a girl.

Hale’s sharp tone shattered her thoughts. “What the hell are you doing with that thing?”

All at once, Taylor remembered that she was supposed to be mad at him. Glaring, she dropped her hand and headed for the birch tree.

“What, are you going to lecture me for learning to defend myself?”

Hale had been very clear about his stance on her learning how to fight. He had said something to the effect of ‘women are supposed to be weak and helpless’ or at least, that’s how Taylor remembered it.

She tried to pull the arrow from the tree trunk, but it wouldn’t budge. She pulled again, putting all of her strength and considerable anger into it. The arrow came free at once, but the momentum caused Taylor to fall backwards. Of course, Hale had to catch her.

Ugh
.

His tone softened as he helped her back onto her feet. “I suppose it’s better than a gun.”

Not taking his hands from her hips, Hale lowered his head to her neck. When she heard him sniff her, a lump formed in Taylor’s throat.

“Why are you here?” she breathed.

He let out a low growl. “Is this how you want it to be between us?”

“Why? Are you saying you’ll back off?”

He pulled back to scowl at her. “Fuck, no.”

Taylor sighed. “Then what
are
you saying?”

“I want you to realize how ridiculous you’re being and quit shutting me out.”

Her eyes bulged. “Shutting you out? You’re the one who disappeared!”

“I was giving you space,” he said. “But that’s over now.”

With his trademark abruptness, Hale pushed her to the ground. He was gentler than usual and cushioned her fall with one large arm. The breath was knocked from her regardless, and he didn’t waste the opportunity. His hot lips descended on her, capturing her mouth in an aggressive kiss.

She wanted to fight back, and not just physically. After she slapped his stupid face and pulled out his stupid hair, she wanted to yell and scream at him until he was on his knees, begging for forgiveness.

But a bigger part of her was sick of being angry with him. She wanted it all to be over and she wanted to believe that she, Alder, and Hale could somehow reconcile their differences and be together like they were before.

She knew that sleeping with Hale again would do little towards achieving that goal, but as he settled his heavy body between her thighs, she found it impossible to deny him.

Hale tried to force his tongue inside her mouth, but she opened readily, moaning even as his teeth bore down on her tender lips. His hands were everywhere, tugging at her dress, running along her waist, and squeezing her breasts.

Though he’d only just gotten on top of her, she couldn’t stand to wait. Not only had Alder gotten her worked up earlier, but she’d spent many sleepless days craving Hale’s touch.

She reached down between them, her hands slipping beneath the skins he wore at his waist. Hale broke their kiss, hissing against her lips as she grasped his cock. He was already as hard as steel. Without releasing him, she moved her thumb to his crown, pleased to find a drop of slickness waiting for her. She smudged it around his head before guiding his cock to her entrance.

Although her body was coursing with heated blood and her nether region was throbbing in anticipation, their brief moment of foreplay hadn’t been enough to fully prepare her body to accommodate his girth. For once, she didn’t give a damn. As soon as she felt his hard cock pressed against her, she bucked her hips, urging him forward.

God love him, Hale didn’t hesitate for a second. He pushed into her, groaning at the friction. Within seconds, he was moving inside of her at a fierce pace, his hot breath sticking to her face.

They were both still clothed, Hale wearing his animal skins and Taylor covered by her dress, with the exception of one breast that Hale had been toying with. He had forgotten it as soon as he was inside of her, his entire body working like a machine whose only goal was climax.

Moonlight shone down on his face, accentuating the perfectly chiseled angles of his face. While she would never admit it to him or his brother, she was continuously amazed that such beautiful men could desire her so much. Neither male would have any trouble filling his bed with another female.

The thought caused her jealousy to spike, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Hale had been with another woman in the week since the thrall. Her grip on his shoulders tightened, until her nails bit at his flesh. She dug them deeper, spurred by an atavistic urge to mark her territory.

As her blunt nails drew pricks of blood, Hale snarled and began to thrust harder. Adrenaline flooded her veins, creating a potent cocktail of fear and excitement that had her wrapping her legs around his hips and crying out his name.

Hale threw his head back, howling as he reached his peak. Even as he came inside of her, he continued to thrust, not stopping until she was right there with him in climax. Euphoria overtook her body, and for a moment she was aware of nothing except the glow of moonlight and the smell of sweat and grass.

They lay together on the ground afterwards. Hale was still panting for breath as he settled his head between her breasts. Absently, she stroked his hair. In response, he nuzzled his face against one of her breasts.

As docile as he seemed, she knew that at his core, Hale was a wolf. How could she ever hope to tame him?

A cold wind swept through the valley, causing the trees to sway. Loose leaves whipped around them, but Hale wasn’t ready to get up. He shifted positions, pulling Taylor into his arms so that she could curl up against him. Knowing how sensitive humans could be to the cold, he unwrapped the skins from around his hips and used it to cover her torso.

After she buried her head in his chest, Taylor was quiet for a few moments. Hale became concerned that she was falling asleep and was about to nudge her when she finally spoke.

“Do you think we can make this work between the four of us?”

“Four?” he asked.

She reached between them to point at her belly. “I don’t know how we can all be a family. Won’t it be weird?”

With his nose resting against the top of her head, he took a long drag of her scent. She smelled like always, but with distinct traces of his own scent. Not the kind she could get from touching him, or even coupling with him, but the deep-set undertones that could only be imbued by carrying his pup.

Or Alder’s
, he had to remind himself.

Hale closed his eyes. “I told you before, I make a great uncle.”

A stray finger began to trace the muscles of his chest. “You would do that? Play uncle when the baby could be yours?”

It was something he’d given a great deal of thought towards over the past week. After the fight with Alder, it was clear to him that he and his brother could barely share Taylor—how could they ever share the responsibility of raising a pup?

Initially, he’d had half a mind to challenge his brother. Alder may have been his equal in strength, but when it came to experience, Hale had him beat. He was confident that he could have defeated Alder, but what then?

He would lose his brother whom—current circumstances aside—was his closest friend. And Taylor would hate him.

The other option would have been to assert his rights as a parent, but to what end? All it would do was cause friction between the three of them and besides, Alder would make a better father than him anyway.

So in the end, there had only been one option. Hale could step aside of his own volition and allow Alder to be the father of Taylor’s pup. It would help to ease the strain between the three of them and make Alder more willing to share his mate.

Because sharing her was one thing Hale refused to compromise on.

“I’ve never really liked pups,” he told her.

That was the truth. He’d grown up around a plethora of nieces and nephews and had always shied away from them until they were old enough to speak coherent sentences or hunt prey. He’d like to think it would be the same for a pup of his own.

“I just don’t want to be forced out of his life.” He placed his hand over her belly. “I want to be there, for the both of you.”

Taylor arched her neck up. As her eyes searched his face, he did his best to look sincere.

Being with her, smelling her, knowing that his pup was growing inside of her, it made it far more difficult than he’d anticipated. He felt the renewed desire to hunt down his brother and challenge him. The irrational creature inside of him believed that Taylor would come to accept his claim and her role as his mate.

But Taylor was not a wolf. She didn’t understand the significance of a powerful mate. She valued the things most human females did.

Love.

Even if Hale did love her, it wasn’t in the way that she needed. It wasn’t the way that Alder loved her.

She held up a pinky and whispered, “I promise, you’ll always be a part of our family.”

Hale stared at the proffered finger. “What are you doing?”

“It’s a pinky promise. You have to hook pinkies with me,” she said with a grin. “It’s the highest form of promise, didn’t you know?”

Hale gave her a dubious look, which led to her swatting his shoulder.

“Just have a little faith in me, okay?”

With a sigh, Hale moved to lock pinkies with her, but Taylor swiftly drew her hand back.

“You can’t sleep around,” she blurted. “I know that I’m with Alder and it’s unfair, but… I don’t want to think about you being with other women.”

Hale took exception to her holding his pup ransom for a pledge of fidelity. He considered toying with her on the issue, but ultimately decided against it. He had felt from the day the thrall had ended that he would never want to be with another female again. A week later, that feeling had only solidified.

After making her squirm for a few seconds, he reached out and hooked their pinkies together. It was, by far, the most ridiculous thing she’d had him do to date, but as soon as their fingers were locked, Hale did feel a small measure of security.

“You’re stuck with me now, hot shot.”

He arched a brow. “Because of a finger promise?”

Taylor moved to straddle his hips. “This is a very big deal.” She poked his chest. “You can’t take it back.”

“Mhmm.” He was enjoying the view of her breasts that their new position afforded.

Seemingly unsatisfied with his response, Taylor pinched his nipple. Hale feigned agitation, unwilling to let on how much the small action had aroused him. Narrowing his eyes, he rolled her over onto her back.

“Hey, be careful!”

Ignoring her protest, he went straight for her neck and raked his teeth along the tender flesh. Her body trembled beneath him.

“Can we go inside?” she asked. “I’m cold.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” he murmured against her neck.

Hale was still hard and he wondered if she would let him inside of her without all of the touching and petting again. He had a week’s worth of sexual frustration he wanted to work off on her curvy little body.

“I’m serious,” she said, not sounding all that serious.

Although he was eager to be inside of her, Hale reasoned that she would be much more receptive if she were warm and decided to take her inside.

With a final lick to her neck, he got up, picking her up with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

Hale liked that.

As he reached the porch, another cold wind blew, this one bringing with it two familiar scents. Hale had to stop and sniff the air again, and then again, utterly bewildered by what he smelled. The scents were simply too out of place for his mind to reconcile them with reality.