Secretly Mated(6)

“The man who killed your woman…”

Aaron Redman. Rigor knew his name, his family, his hopes and dreams. The goddamn pattern of streaks in his iris, and how fast his pupil could contract under stress.

“His sister belongs to a wolf in western Arkansas. The Dirt Track Dogs.” He spit on the ground as if the name tasted bad in his mouth. “The pack is tight with the Ouachita clan. Get to the clan, you can get to her. Get to her, you can get the murdering bastard and make him pay. Six degrees of…”

“Separation?”

Felix tilted his head with a cruel twist of his lips. “Revenge, my man. Six degrees of the sweetest fucking revenge you could ask for.”

The idea was seductive and left Rigor hard below the belt. He’d dreamed of making that evil asshole pay for his crimes. Such vivid dreams he woke up choking on the high of ripping Redman to pieces while his own woman watched. It would be the perfect payback.

After all this time, he could finally avenge Eva. If a couple cats from the Ouachitas had to be collateral damage, so be it.

“Fine.”

Rigor stared past the car crusher and the gutted trucks that filled the lot, to a small building set away from all the others. It was where he kept his trump card. The thing he’d been saving for such a time as this. He was glad he was a hoarder of sorts. Because sometimes what looked like junk, was really a hidden gem.

“My wolves are in.”





Chapter Two



Restlessly, Doc rechecked her supply cabinets in the exam room off the side of her office. The gauze was refilled, the syringes and tranquilizers were well stocked, and the whole place had been wiped down. Twice. Was it wrong to wish someone would injure themselves so she’d have something to do?

Yes. Of course it was.

Doc shook her head, moving to wipe down the exam table one more time. Couldn’t be too clean, right?

It was almost time to head down to the spa for her shift there. She was taking on more of Mason’s shifts to help fill her time. She wasn’t as skilled as he and Bethany in the fine arts of massage, but she knew enough to put their guests at ease, and many of the afternoon rub-downs were walk-ins who didn’t require a certain set of skills.

Doc gasped as a solid male body pushed up behind her, pressing her against the hard ridge of the exam table. Barely gentle hands ghosted over her hips and around to rub her belly, one snaking up to knead her breast.

“Need. You.” His tone was rough and his breath hot as he rasped against her ear.

“Owyn,” she breathed, surprise and relief mixing into one exhale.

He was back. He was here. The hands she’d needed to feel. The solid steel of his body taking up space next to hers.

He was finally here and she wanted to cry with relief.

“I missed you so. Fucking. Much.” His breath exploded against the back of her neck. She heard his deep inhale as he scented her, and it made her stomach flutter just knowing he needed her smell in his lungs.

“I missed you too.”

They hardly talked beyond clan duties and randomly in the hall. And when they met for sex. But she knew what he meant. Just the fact that his presence was lacking among the lodge made her miss him fiercely. The idea that there was no chance she’d run into him turning a corner or see him across the room at dinner left her cat feeling lost.

In a quick move, he spun her to face him. His navy eyes burned with the nearness of his cat as he took in every feature.

He grabbed her bun, quickly unfurling it to release her hair. His fingers tangled in the strands, pulling her head back until her neck was exposed. His rough, hot tongue licked a trail up the column of her throat, returning to the base and following it up with soft wet kisses. She moaned when he nipped her jaw.

“Shh,” he admonished.

“I know.”

They had to be quiet. They always had to be quiet. Forever a secret. Even though mating was technically allowed now.

She’d been relieved when their leader, Magic, met his one and only. She’d assumed their days of hiding were over, that Owyn would wish to finally mate her. Mark her as his own.

But he didn’t. It was the same as always. He wanted her for sex, not for life.

He’d been honest about his intentions from the beginning. And she wouldn’t complain because she wanted him too. But she also wanted more.

Then after Christmas, Owyn went to visit the Dirt Track Dogs in western Arkansas. He didn’t even tell her he was leaving. The next day, he was just gone. And she realized he wasn’t nearly as anxious to mate as she’d hoped.

He pulled back, frowning. “Your scent’s changed.”

Doc shook her head.

“Did you have another while I was gone?”

Shit. The fact that he’d jumped right to that assumption hurt. And told her he’d probably done exactly what he was accusing her of.