A Mate's Revenge(4)

“You’re going to pay for your insolence,” he growled.

The sound of his belt unbuckling made her stomach roll and words tumble from her mouth. “I’m close to my heat.”

He paused, his nose grazing the skin behind her ear. He inhaled deeply, taking in her scent, and even that small action made her feel sick. The thought that he might not stop, that he might make her pregnant with his young… it was the closest she’d ever felt to being desperate.

“Close,” he ground out, rubbing his erection into her thigh. “But not that close.”

Cheek pressed to the floor, she grappled with her instinct to submit. Her intended wanted to meet her heat, and as much as she hated him, her wolf wanted a young. Had in fact, waited beyond what any wolf would for offspring.

But Besh would rather die than bear the child of such a cruel man. And not because she couldn’t love the cub, but because the man would destroy any young he sired. From the inside out. Just like he destroyed the pack, his family, her.

“You’ve never broken your vow to me.” She hated how her voice quivered. And hated knowing he’d love it.

“The pack is starting to question why you haven’t contributed young. You can’t put this off forever. Now is a good time, Besh. You are ripe.”

He lifted the bottom of her robe, piling it at her shoulders.

“You said you’d wait until my last cycle. I’m far from that.”

“And you said you’d never resist me.” He spread her legs wider.

“I never have,” Besh argued. It had killed a piece of her soul, or maybe all of it, but she’d kept her end of their deal and submitted to the alpha when he’d required it.

“Your body, true, but what about the rest of you?” His whisper felt like barbed wire across her skin. “Do you think I deserve only half a mate? Your body, but not your heart?”

He deserved so much less than that.

Besh tensed as he poised his erection at her entrance. “Please!” she let her voice ring out, let her desperation show through. “Please don’t do this.”

A thunderous bang at the door of their lodge had Besh pulling in a long breath of sheer relief.

“Alpha, I must speak to you immediately.” The voice on the other side belonged to an elder. An elder Jax wouldn’t dare ignore.

Besh said silent thank-yous to whoever listened from the stratosphere.

Jax growled, and she felt cold air on her hindquarters as he backed away. “Get up.”

She obeyed, working to steady the shaking that resulted from the adrenaline. The alpha pulled his pants back into place, tucking his still hard shaft in the waistband. Besh clenched her teeth against a shudder.

“Fix your robe,” he hissed.

Quickly, she pulled the thin fabric together, tightening the belt.

Jax stomped to the door, leaving Besh in the kitchen trying to catch her breath.

“Elder,” he said through a barely restrained snarl. “Do you have news?”

“May I come inside?”

“If it will hurry things along.”

Besh heard the door shut and footsteps, and then the only elder she trusted was facing her in the kitchen.

She was short and stout and hardly looked older than forty-five, but she’d been around for nearly a hundred years. And might be around a hundred more. Her dark hair was peppered with streaks of silver and cut in a short pixie cut.

“Elder,” Besh nodded. She would’ve greeted her by name, as she’d asked in the past, but with Jax near, she couldn’t risk stepping out of line. If she embarrassed him, he might try to finish what he’d started.

“Lady Besh,” Illia greeted, her eyes slipping to the pile of busted wood. Anger flared in her eyes, changing the color from blue to something lighter and closer to a flame.

The elders knew of Jax’s abuse, knew he was running Ozarka into the ground harder and faster than they could recover. But there was little they could do against him. Illia had told her whatever saved the pack would come from outside. No one inside could help them. But who on the outside would care enough?

“What is your news, Elder?” Alpha’s voice cut through the room. “My mate and I were in the middle of something.”

“I see that.” Illia spun on her heal to face the man almost twice her size. “I’ve had a vision. Two actually. One concerning your mate’s inability to conceive.”

Besh stared at the floor. Jax had needed a reason to give the Elders when they asked about young. She hated feeling inadequate in an area so crucial to the pack, but if it kept him from impregnating her, she’d bear the shame.

“The other is about our missing wolf. Which would you care for first?”