HAVEN
“And I have the results,” Dr. Russo’s voice said through Wesley’s phone. The volume was loud enough I could hear most of what he had said to
Wesley, but not everything. Enough to hear he’d already run whatever special test they had to detect supernatural blood and to know he already knew the answer. Which I was sure was going to be “She’s just human.”
Wesley’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the counter, and his head whipped towards me.
Our eyes met, and through the bond, I could feel his anticipation. I gave him a weak smile, then turned back to the stove to shut off the burners since I had finished plating our food. I pressed my lips together and shut my eyes as he said, “Hold on, let me put you on speaker.”
My throat tightened, and my hands mimicked Wesley’s as I gripped the counter in front of me. I waited and focused on anything other than how worried I was about his answer. I didn’t want Wesley to feel it, to know.
But I was terrified. I knew I wasn’t anything special, but what if Dr.
Russo confirmed I wasn’t, and then Wesley decided he didn’t want me?
Yes, he’d accepted me as a human, even before he knew we were soulmates. But he’d had a glimmer of hope that maybe I was something more, that maybe I was like him. I could sense that blossoming of excitement in him at the possibility. If it turned out to be a false hope, would he drop me?
Wesley’s body moved in behind mine, his bare chest as close as it could be without touching me, and I heard him say, “Just one second, Doctor Russo.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw as he muted the call so the doctor wouldn’t hear us, then his other hand grabbed my chin and turned my face to look at him. Once again, the pure, undisguised devotion laid bare for me in his eyes stole my breath away. I knew I would never grow tired of seeing him look at me like that.
He stepped in close to me, his chest brushing my shoulder. His hand gripped my chin firmly but gently as he looked me straight in the eyes. “Are you doing that on purpose?” he asked.
“Doing what on purpose?” I whispered back. “Blocking your emotions from me,” he answered.
“I didn’t even realize I was doing that,” I admitted. “I was just thinking I didn’t want you to feel how worried I am.”
“Worried about what?”
“About you not wanting me if he says I’m just human,” I said in a voice almost too quiet to hear, my eyes dipping down for a split second.
His eyes lit with understanding, and his hand moved to stroke and cup my cheek. “His answer doesn’t change anything between us, Sugar Plum. I love
you for who you are, not what you are,” he murmured.
My entire being relaxed at his words, as the feeling of acceptance washed over me again. I felt foolish for even thinking he’d change his mind over one trivial thing like me not being a werewolf or something else supernatural.
This was Wesley, after all. He’d shown me time and time again his love wasn’t conditional. Both as kids and as adults, he’d given me what I needed from him and expected nothing from me in return.
His love was like the sea—vast and endless, with new depths I constantly discovered just as I thought I’d reached the bottom. And all of that love was for me.
He lowered his face to mine and gave me a reassuring kiss, his hand sliding into my curls and combing down to the ends. His head rested against my forehead, and we stood there, breathing each other in and soaking in the other’s presence, neither of us caring about the man we left hanging on the phone.
“Are you ready to hear his answer?” Wesley asked, and I nodded.
My arms slipped around his waist as he lifted the phone again and unmuted Dr. Russo. I pressed my body close to his, soaking in his warmth and his presence to soothe my frayed nerves and frazzled mind.
“Okay, Dr. Russo. Go ahead,” Wesley said, his free hand rubbing my back.
Dr. Russo’s deep chuckle rang out of the speaker. “Well, I feel like that was quite a bit of a buildup for me to tell you that Haven is, in fact, just human,” he told us.
I pulled my head back just enough to look up at Wesley. “Told you,” I whispered to him, and I heard Dr. Russo laugh again.
“I have heard she’s quite the ballet dancer, though, according to my daughter. In my opinion, that makes her better than ‘just human.’ And being human doesn’t negate that she’s your mate and our future luna. So that makes her pretty special, too. And judging by the number of pack members gathered outside her room the other night, I’d reckon they agree with me.”
“You’re sure?” Wesley asked.
“Yep. One hundred percent positive. The DNA test didn’t show any supernatural genetics at all. I’d say that ex-boyfriend of hers just felt like he had some sort of claim over her and lost control of himself and his lycan when he attacked her and attempted to mark her.”
Wesley swallowed back the surge of anger that rushed through him at the doctor’s words, and my brow furrowed.
Marking. I’d heard it mentioned a few times, but I wasn’t sure what it meant, or why it was significant, or why it would make Wesley so upset.
“Thank you, Dr. Russo,” Wesley said. “I’ll call you if we have any other concerns, but I don’t think we will. Haven seems to be completely healed,” he said, looking down at me with a raised brow. I nodded, letting him know I felt fine.
“Goodbye, Wesley! Bye, Haven.”
“Bye,” I murmured at the same time as Wes.
He set the phone on the counter, wrapped his arms around me, and just held me. His love and acceptance of me flowed from his end of the bond to mine, warming my heart.
And even though he had already reassured me it wouldn’t change anything, feeling through the bond how his words held true was a different type of reassurance.
“Let’s eat breakfast,” Wesley said, kissing the top of my head.
He grabbed my waist and lifted me onto the counter, then handed me a plate before grabbing his own. I parted my knees so he could stand between them while we ate our breakfast casually in our kitchen.
“Please don’t block me out like that, Sugar Plum,” he said between bites. “It makes my lycan antsy when we can’t feel you. It’s one of the ways we are able to protect you, and if we can’t feel you, we can’t know if you’re in trouble or hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” I replied. “I really didn’t even know I was doing that.”
“You did it yesterday, too. When you left with Nolan. I couldn’t feel you all day.”
His face wrinkled into a little pout, his brows pushing together, and I held in a laugh. My hand reached for his face. “I won’t do it again.”
“Good,” he replied, his frown turning into a smile.
We continued to eat, and his focus moved to his plate as he wolfed down the food I’d made for us. When he’d finished what was on his plate, he moved to the stove to serve himself some more, and I asked the question that had been dancing around in my mind since the phone call with the doctor.
“What’s a mark? Or being marked or whatever?”
Wesley’s back tensed, the muscles shifting and flexing at my words. A flash of nerves hit me, and a glimmer of hesitance with it. He gulped and set his plate down next to the stove, then turned towards me, crossing his arms.
“It’s how we… claim our mates,” he said.
“But what does that mean? Claim your mate? We accepted each other already, right? I’m already your mate.”
“Yes, but the bond isn’t complete until I mark you.”
“Okay, but you still haven’t explained what that means.” I shrugged, setting my plate down on the counter next to me. “I’ve heard you mention it, and the doctor, and even Nolan, but no one has really elaborated on what it is or what it means.”
He blew out a breath, then uncrossed his arms and walked towards me, standing between my legs again. “When we are ready to completely claim our mates, we mark each other, so other wolves know we are unavailable. That we already have a mate.”
He looked down at my neck and reached up to brush his fingers over my scars. “When I mark you, I will bite you, right here,” he murmured, his fingers circling a spot on my neck that sent a shiver all the way down to my toes and tingles straight to my core.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, my voice a breathy whisper from the arousal he was inciting in me.
“I’ll do it when we’re mating.” “You mean having sex?”
His lips twitched. “Yes.” He chuckled. “From what I understand, the pleasure of being with your mate and being bitten at the crest of your orgasm will outweigh the momentary pain from my canines piercing your flesh.”
My breath caught in my throat, my eyes closed, and my heart stuttered at his description. The idea of being claimed by him like that sent a thrill through me, a thrill like I’d never experienced before.
I wanted that. I wanted to be unquestionably his.
Even the memory of Lennox biting me there in his lycan form didn’t diminish the excitement racing through my soul.
My eyes popped open, and my jaw dropped as I put the pieces together.
What he said, and what he did when he attacked me.
“You are mine. You were always meant to be mine, and you will always be mine.”
“Is that… was that what he was doing? When he—when he attacked me and bit me?” I asked, my voice and my hands shaking as I gestured at my neck. “Was he marking me? Claiming me?” I continued, my volume rising, my eyes watering, and my throat tightening.
Wesley’s eyes hardened, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Yes, we think that’s what he was trying to do,” he said, his hand tracing the scars again.
Those stupid tears I could no longer control fell out of my eyes, and I struggled to breathe. “But—but I don’t want to be his. I don’t want to have his mark,” I stammered out. “I only want your mark. I only want to be yours.”
I gripped his arms and closed my eyes as I tried to focus on breathing and not sinking into the whirlpool of emotions threatening to drag me down.
I couldn’t be Lennox’s. He’d already tried to claim me, to control me in so many ways when we were together. And if he marked me, if he felt he had some sort of claim or hold on me in that way, then there was no telling what he would do to assert his dominance over me.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he soothed, his hands sliding up to cradle my face. “It didn’t work. He didn’t mark you. We can only do it when we’re in our human form.”
The massive wave of relief I felt at his words pushed me forward into his arms, and he clutched me to his chest, his hands holding the back of my head and my neck, his body swaying and rocking slightly.
“I didn’t tell you about marking or how we do it because I was worried you’d be afraid of me biting you,” he admitted.
“That doesn’t scare me,” I said into his shoulder. “You don’t scare me.” “Not even a little?” he teased.
“Nope.” I chuckled, and he growled, but his growl quickly morphed into a laugh.
“Good,” he said. “You shouldn’t fear your mate. Although you’re pretty scary when you’re pissed off.”
My head snapped up, and I let out a sharp laugh. His eyes twinkled as he kept chuckling. “I mean it,” he continued. “You didn’t even hesitate when you said you didn’t know if you were going to reject me. I really thought you might!”
I shook my head at him and leaned up to kiss him. “Never, Pal. I couldn’t have rejected you,” I said against his lips.
He kissed me back, and I moved my arms around his neck, sliding myself forward on the counter so my body pressed all the way up against his body. His hands slid down my back to my butt, rubbing circles into it. His hips moved against me, showing me how hard and ready he was.
I opened my mouth more for him, and his tongue slipped in as his hands lifted the hem of my shirt. I raised my arms, and he was about to pull my shirt over my head when the doorbell rang.
“Mother fucker,” he growled, his hands moving to grip the edge of the counter and his forehead resting against my chest. “This better be something super fucking important!”
“Who is it?” I asked him as he stood up straight and adjusted himself in his pants. I knew whoever it was had probably done that thing where they
talked to each other through their minds and just rang the doorbell as a courtesy to me.
“It’s my dad.”
