He noted Lilla leading Rebecca away from danger, so he could let loose. His men waited on the periphery, and they wouldn't interfere in an alpha battle unless asked to do so.
"You're a monster, Payne. A worthless little shit."
"And you're going to lose."
Their growls and snarling kept everyone away. They had a wide circle of space where they clashed, violently attacking, their wolves taking extreme punishment. But Liam knew he had to end this. Payne was evil, and he wouldn't stop until Rebecca was his and he'd destroyed everything good in the shifter population.
Liam rolled to his back, feigning injury. When Payne leaped atop him, he went for the jugular, sinking in hard and deep, ensuring there was no coming back from this wound. As the other wolf's life ebbed away, the taste of his blood flooding Liam's mouth, he flipped up to his feet and looked down at his enemy.
It was over.
Payne would never hurt Rebecca again.
Liam shifted into his human form, and when he looked down his skin was covered in blood, some his, most of it Payne's. He was tired, strung tight, and needed the comfort he could only find with one woman.
She was standing in the near distance with Lilla. Her mouth was slightly open. Was that shock or fear in her eyes? He didn't want her to hate him, to be disgusted by what he was.
He didn't approach her, not wanting to scare her.
Rebecca took slow, robotic steps toward him. When she was within arm's length, her scent enveloped him. "Are you afraid?"
She licked her lips. "Numb."
"My wolf likes you." He ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek, loving every single thing about her.
"I like your wolf."
His beast howled within, and all was right in his world.
Chapter Ten
Several days later
Rebecca stared out of the window at the beautiful forest beyond. Liam had been spending a lot of his time either making her tea, dinner, or patrolling the perimeter. They hadn't exactly had a good talk since he saved her from his enemy Payne. At night, he wouldn't come in until he thought she was asleep.
She'd pretend as she knew he found it all a little difficult to talk about. The thing was, he'd bring her tea, they'd eat lunch, and she saw the hunger he had for her in his eyes. She felt that same exact hunger herself. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, there was no getting away from what they shared.
He was a wolf.
An alpha of a pack.
A pack of wolves that were really nice and sweet to her. They were like a family she never had. They were perfect, and she loved them all.
Finding out Liam was a wolf and alpha was … strange. Worse than strange. She'd been scared. Seeing him, being near him, that took all the fear and pain away and left only one thing, love. She loved him with all of her heart. The wolf and every single part that made him Liam. It didn't matter to her who he was or what he was.
To her, he'd always be the love of her life.
Her savior.
She heard the spoon stirring inside the cup. He was lingering way too long on making a cup of tea, and she found it irritating. This wasn't what she wanted.
She'd already come to terms with his wolf side and now she wanted him to come back to her and for them to be a couple again. This living in limbo, in awkward silence, wasn't going to work.
Holding the pillow against her stomach, she watched the world pass by. He knocked on the door, and she was so tempted to throw the pillow at him just to shock him or to jolt him out of whatever stupor he seemed to be in.
"Hey," he said.
Gritting her teeth, she forced a smile. "Hey."
Staring at him, she waited for whatever it was he was going to say. He just kept on staring at her.
"More tea, yay."
"You don't like tea?"
"I love tea."
"What's the problem?"
"I don't have a problem."
"I can sense that you have an issue, Rebecca. Out with it."
He stepped into the room, holding that cup in front of him, and she didn't know what happened. Her emotions were all over the place. She threw the pillow, even though she really didn't want to.
"You are my problem!" she yelled.
Getting to her feet, she charged over to him. He still held the cup and was staring at her in shock.
His shoulders drooped, and she didn't get it. "I'm sorry for all the pain that I've caused you." He set the cup on the side table.
She shook her head. "No. This is not about the pain or Payne either for that matter. This is about you and me. About the fact that you're always avoiding me. You won't hold me in your arms or love me or do or say anything. You're always out of the house. Do you even want me anymore, or have I become tainted because that … man-beast thing, ruined everything?"
"How could you even think that?"
"I could be walking around butt naked and you wouldn't show an interest." Her cheeks were on fire right now.
"You just found out I'm a wolf. I'm being considerate here."
She blew a raspberry. She was so damn angry, and she couldn't believe that she'd just blown a raspberry at him.
Her body felt on fire.
He kept denying her, leaving her alone, and now she was at her wits' end. She didn't know what to do or say to make him see any kind of sense.
"You know what, I don't want to have this conversation."
"You cannot just blow a raspberry and leave!"
"I can do whatever the hell I like because you've done nothing but leave me alone. That no longer makes you my boyfriend or my mate. If you were either of those things, you wouldn't get to leave me, not once."
She brushed past him, heading straight toward the door, but he caught her arm.
"I love you, Rebecca," he said. "You're human. You're not used to having wolves around you or being part of a pack. I didn't want you to find out the truth this way, far from it. I love you more than anything else in this world. You being taken, it destroyed me. I failed you."
She saw the pain in his eyes as well as the fear. "You saved me."
"That asshole hurt you."
"And I'm healing. I'm not going to let him come between us, Liam. You shouldn't either. Otherwise he's won. We're better than that." She cupped his face, finally touching him after so long of not being allowed.
She pressed her head against his and breathed a sigh of relief. He was here.
He was listening to her.
They were home.
This felt like home.
"I don't want to leave."
"My wolf?"
"I'm not afraid of your wolf, Liam. I think he's beautiful, just like you. I don't want you to pretend to be something you're not. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "Make love to me, Liam. Fuck me. Have your way with me. I don't care what you need me to say. Just know that I love you, and I want you more than anything else."
He cupped her ass, drawing her close. "You mean like this?"
"Yes." Running her hands down his body, she cupped his rock-hard cock. "And with how this feels, I guess you want the same?"
"I never stopped wanting you, Rebecca. That has never been a problem with you. You're an addiction I don't want to stop."
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled his head down, kissing him hard. Her body came alive under his touch.
He lifted her up, and she held him tight. He moved them through his home until they got to his bedroom. When he dropped her onto the bed, she stared up at him as he removed his shirt. Need unlike anything she'd ever felt consumed her. His hard, rough body was the ultimate temptation.
"You're my mate now, Rebecca."
"Just as you're mine." She felt possessive of him. He belonged to her in every single way.
"Always. I'm yours." He tore at her clothes, and she did the same to him, getting them both completely naked.
"I want my baby inside you, Rebecca. Tonight, I don't want to stop until I know I've bred you."
Those words should turn her off, but they had the opposite effect. Her clit ached, her entire body quivering with need.
She wrapped her fingers around his dick, working the tip into her mouth.
He groaned, and she smiled.
"Before you breed me, I want you to do something else."
He combed his fingers in her hair. "Anything."
"I want you to take my ass. I'll be completely yours, every single part of me." She didn't know what came over her, only that she couldn't stop the demand the moment it left her lips. Rebecca needed dirty, needed Liam to own her in every way.
He pulled her up and claimed her lips, pressing her to the bed. His chest rumbled, and the resulting growl nearly made her come.
She cried out his name as he kissed down her body, licking and sucking at her breasts before moving to her pussy. She watched him spread her open, his tongue dancing across her clit, teasing her. She didn't want him to stop and knew there was no way she'd be able to last.