Reflections of the Wolf (7 page)

Jerking away from him, she stepped back a few feet and glared at him. “Listen to me! I won’t be forced into any relationship, and I don’t need protecting. I am going to keep saying it until you get it through your thick head, hotshot. I don’t want a relationship. Period.”

Instead of responding to her tantrum, he rolled his eyes and walked across the room to the dresser. He pulled a T-shirt out and tossed it to her. “Get in bed, sweetheart. Some sleep should help brighten your mood. We can talk about it in the morning when you’re being reasonable.”

With that he haughtily walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. She glared at the closed door with its broken lock, stunned that he didn’t even acknowledge what she said. She had never dealt with anyone so obnoxious in her life. He made her blood boil in more ways than one, and she hated that she lost control of herself around him. Jerking on the T-shirt, she dug through the dresser to find a pair of sweat pants that had a drawstring waist. At least this way she was wearing clean clothes. She scooped up her bloody ones and slid her feet into her discarded sandals. She was almost to the front door when she realized that she didn’t have her cell phone with her to call a cab. It was still back at her house where she should have been.

“For fuck’s sake, can this night get any worse?” she said out loud as she looked around for a phone. Finding a cordless phone on the kitchen counter she called information. She stumbled when the cab company asked for her address until she found a stack of unopened mail on the kitchen table. She was sitting on the front porch waiting when the cab pulled up twenty minutes later.

She had to admit she was a little surprised that Liam hadn’t come looking for her yet. Surely he was out of the shower by now? As the cab pulled away, she looked back and met his eyes through the living room window. She could see the hurt and anger that burned brightly in his icy stare, and she hurriedly looked away. He hadn’t tried to stop her, so she must not be as important to him as he thought. Settling sadly back into the seat for the half-hour ride back to her house she let the tears slip silently down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed that he didn’t come for her or ashamed that she wanted him to.

Chapter 5

Several days later….

Liam sat shirtless on a rock at the meeting place, listening to Devin fill the rest of the pack in on what had occurred between Barton Diego and Caroline. Having resulted in Barton’s death, the fight left the Diego pack temporarily without a leader. For now Devin was going to have to lead their pack, too, until a new Alpha was selected. The leaderless pack would stage a competition battle between eligible wolves that showed Alpha tendencies, and whoever won the battle would take over. It sounded like Barton’s son Cadence Diego was a sure thing. Liam sighed heavily. He really didn’t care what happened to the other pack. He was just relieved that the threat to his own pack was eliminated. Now maybe they would all be able to move on with their lives.

As the meeting broke up and everyone headed their separate ways, he stayed seated, lost in his own thoughts. He had felt like a fish out of water ever since he watched the cab holding Tina pull away from his home the other night. It was like he couldn’t breathe right without her close. He was holding his breath that night while he stood under the hot water in the shower listening to her call the cab. His wolf’s stronger sense of hearing ensured that he heard every wobble in her voice and hitch in her breathing. He still wasn’t sure why he stayed in the shower until he knew it was too late to stop her from leaving, but he let her go, telling himself that space was for the best.

Hearing her make light of the life-changing experience of making love to his true mate had triggered an emotional shutdown for him. Logically he knew that she pulled away to protect herself from her own feelings, but it still hurt. They seemed to be unable to resist each other physically, and when they touched each other, it was so explosive that it left them both feeling raw and exposed. So after coming out from under the fog of sexual euphoria, they both shifted their protective armor back into place and started sniping at each other again. Seeing her cry after he helped her out of the tub was like alcohol on an open wound. It was painful enough to steal the air from his lungs, and when she kept rejecting him, his frustration just became overwhelming. He needed time to think, too, so he let her go.

Now he wondered if it was the second biggest mistake of his life to let her leave. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her since. He drove past her home every day, but couldn’t seem to find the courage to stop. She hadn’t given him her phone number, and he honestly didn’t think she would answer the phone if he called. So he had just wallowed in self-pity ever since. Even Rafe and Ryley had commented last night that he needed to get out of his nasty mood or move out. They didn’t want to live with him and his temper like it was right now.

His pack’s Shaman, Delaky, had even stopped by the cabin this morning, but Liam had Ryley tell her that he was sleeping. He knew that she would see through the lie, because she seemed to know everything, but he wasn’t ready to face her with all of this. It was Delaky who told him months ago to prepare for a life change, which he had refused to think about until meeting Tina. Ryley reported back to him that Delaky didn’t respond to his refusal. Instead she had simply smiled and walked away silently. He would have to meet with her soon to hear what she had to say. The woman was an integral part of their pack, and her talent for seeing things that others couldn’t had helped more than a few of his pack mates out.

A familiar feminine scent tickled his nose, and a soft body sat next to him. Glancing up, he couldn’t help but smile back at his sister’s pinched expression. Whitney was his baby sister by two years, and she was attuned enough to him to know when he was upset by something. It was Whitney who had held his hand and supported him while he went through the worst hell of his life. He counted on her to understand his emotional confusion, and he was relieved to see her.

“Hey, pickle nose!” he said, smiling. Her sharp glare at his favorite pet name for her made him chuckle.

“Do you have to keep calling me that?” She growled at him, her soulful stone-gray eyes flashing with irritation.

“I do when you keep making that sour face. Your little pickle nose makes me laugh,” he said.

“Well, it’s better than you stewing over here by yourself. What’s the deal? What’s got you so I-hate-the-world-and-the-world-hates-me?” she asked, crossing her arms and watching him.

A pensive look crossed his face, and he sighed. “I met my mate.”

“What? That’s awesome! Did you tell Mom and Dad? Where is she? Who is she?” She jumped up from her seat excitedly, and hugged him. “I’m so happy for you!”

“
No
, I didn’t tell Mom and Dad, because she’s human, and not interested. Don’t start planning a mating ceremony. I don’t think she will accept me as a mate.” He felt so dejected. The sorrow in his heart was physically painful, and he knew that nothing but Tina would ever heal it. He would probably feel it for the rest of his life.

“Why not? What’s her problem?” Whitney’s pissed-off expression warmed him a little. She was a feisty female wolf with Alpha-bitch tendencies, and he knew that she would go to bat for him if she felt it was necessary. The siblings had never talked about it, but they both knew that they were approaching the time when taking a mate would be the next logical step in their lives.

Whitney was a beautiful woman with long, black hair that fell in waves almost to her butt and expressive gray eyes rimmed with long, thick, black eyelashes. Her Native American roots blessed her with the same cinnamon-colored skin that most of the pack had, but on her it seemed to glow with an inner vibrancy. She was stunning and had piqued many of the male pack member’s interest. Recently he had even heard rumors of a few suitors from other packs contacting her. To his knowledge she hadn’t decided to accept the serious attention of any of them, but he dreaded the day that she changed her way of thinking. The idea of any man touching his baby sister caused his stomach to heave and his fists to clench. He knew that their adopted brothers Rafe and Ryley felt the same way. The three alpha males had scared off just about every wolf in the pack over the years trying to protect her.

“It’s complicated.” He paused and she sat down next to him again. “Her name is Tina Jameson, and she is Caroline’s best friend. It was Tina that Barton Diego took hostage the other night, her and Caroline. Tina was pretty amazing. She fought him, trying to keep him from killing Caroline, even while he was in wolf form. She ended up with some injuries in the process. After the whole thing was over, Caroline and the guys had to explain everything about us to her, and then I tried to explain that she was my mate. I meant to tell her slowly, but it all just kind of spewed out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I figured she would understand it better after hearing about Caroline, Devin, and Damon, but she didn’t. Against her wishes, I made her come back to my place, thinking I could take care of her and protect her.” He groaned and put his head in his hands.

“Okay. I don’t understand. That’s what you should have done. A wolf is supposed to protect his mate. What happened?” Whitney prodded.

“We…damn it. I don’t want to talk about it with you.” He growled his fists clenching at his sides.

“You had sex with her? What’s the big deal? Do you think I’m still a child that has never had sex?” Her irritated tone shifted to exasperation when he just sat there sullenly. “You know that your physical desires get stronger when you are with your true mate? Did it suck? Is that the problem?” She looked utterly befuddled.

“Hell no, it was fucking amazing. She was perfect in every way, but afterward she blew it off like it was just a quick lay. She couldn’t wait to hightail it out of there and get away from me. She doesn’t want me. She said so.” He sighed heavily, and Whitney laid her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arm around him.

“Well, there’s a first for everything, big brother. I don’t think any woman has ever tied you up in knots like this. You weren’t even like this when you met Roxy. If I were to guess, I would say that most women beg you to stick around and end up with their own broken hearts. What did she say when you called her the next day?” she said softly.

“I didn’t. I don’t have her number,” he replied. A moment of silence stretched, and he forced himself to look his sister in the eye. Her eyes held amusement, and he was instantly irritated.

“Damn, you are dumb, dumber than a box of rocks.” She laughed at his startled expression.

Jumping to his feet, he snarled at her. “I don’t need this. I’m already in a bad mood, and I don’t need you making it worse.”

“Stop it, don’t act like a pup. If Caroline is Tina’s best friend, then she would have her number. And every woman knows that the man is supposed to make the first move, so she is probably pining by the phone waiting for your call.” She looked very pleased with herself, and Liam wanted to wipe that smirk off of her face. But the thought of Tina missing him sent his heart soaring, and he paused to consider that scenario.

Maybe he handled this whole thing wrong. Maybe he needed to pursue her a little harder to make her come to her senses. She needed to accept him as her mate quickly so that they could get on with their lives. He froze as he realized that he was actually considering taking a permanent mate. The idea didn’t set well. He really didn’t want to get hurt again.

“I don’t think I can. Maybe I should just accept that she turned me down and let it go,” he said sadly.

“You’re joking right? This is your
mate
, Liam, the other half of your soul! Do you think your wolf is going to go for that? Will he just completely let her go and forget about her?” she said angrily, and she spun to face him, her long black hair swinging wildly around her.

Liam’s wolf was snarling inside of him, aching to find Tina and mark her. Liam knew that to walk away from her meant cutting out a piece of his soul, but he wasn’t sure he could handle being rejected again.

“I don’t want to forget her, but I’ll be damned if I will be with someone that doesn’t want me again. I’ve lived through one woman rejecting me and betraying me. I’m not going to let another woman tell me that I’m not good enough for her,” he yelled. He could feel his wolf edging closer to the surface. His skin crawled where the fur began to rise, and his canine teeth dug into his bottom lip.

“Stop letting Roxy ruin your life, Liam. She’s been dead for two years now, and you haven’t let her or Daphne go yet. I think that Tina came along at the perfect time. You need a new start. Start by asking for help from Caroline. She would know her best friend better than anyone else, and surely she will have some ideas. If Tina is your true mate, then she won’t betray you or reject you. Speaking as a woman, if it was me facing settling down, I guarantee that I would make the man work for it. I’m a prize, and I’m sure she is, too. Prizes have to be earned, not just taken.” Whitney stood and brushed off her clothing before smiling at him. “Besides, knowing your reputation with the ladies, this Tina chick would probably like another night in your bed to help her decide what she needs to do.”

Liam groaned at the thought of getting Tina back into his bed. His cock hardened and pressed tight against his zipper. Whitney’s calm interpretation of the situation eased his wolf, and he settled down to pace inside of Liam. It was times like this that he felt more animal than human in his own skin.