Sleep doesn’t come easily for me anymore. All I can think about is protecting Laila. It doesn’t help that I hear every one of her movements in her bedroom just above me. After we walked back from the lake last night, I took her home and slept on her couch. The bond is getting stronger between us; I can feel it. She opens up to me more and more with each passing day. Still, the lingering thought of her losing her magic because of me doesn’t settle well. I would never forgive myself if that happened.
Stretching my arms above my head, I listen to Laila. She hums a lot, and I love it. Sometimes I don’t think she realizes she’s doing it. The sound of crunching snow catches my attention along with the familiar scent of a royal arctic wolf. I walk to the door and step out onto the porch just as Micah appears through the trees in the distance, dressed for his usual morning of fight training.
“Hey, man,” I call out.
Micah takes one look at me and chuckles. “On the couch again?”
Glancing down at my wrinkled clothes, I shrug. “I’ll take what I can get.”
Micah steps up onto the porch. “I’d be the same way if I found my mate.” He moves closer and lowers his voice. “Have you and Laila decided what you’re going to do at the next full moon?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.” I know she’s up in her room listening to us. I don’t think she’s ready. Micah stares at me, and I nod toward the backyard where he trains the women. I want to be as far away from the house as I can, so Laila can’t hear me. “She’s not ready,” I admit to him.
Micah nods. “I figured that. I’m impressed though. If you weren’t patient with her, I’d be kicking your ass right now.”
I snort. “As if you could.” But then, I smile. He’s her uncle, so I wouldn’t expect anything less of him. “The more I’m around her, the more I want to claim her. It’s not easy keeping my distance.”
“And if she were a full shifter, it wouldn’t be so hard.”
“Exactly.”
That’s what makes this bond with Laila a little more complicated than what the other wolves have experienced. Wolves are sexual creatures. We crave our mate’s touch, their blood, and the intimacy that comes with being with each other. Laila is more fae than shifter, so that side of her isn’t as heightened as it should be. She blocks that part of herself off. No matter what happens, I’m going to be patient with her.
Micah rolls his neck and stretches. “Don’t worry. Things happen for a reason. I’m a firm believer in that. Laila was chosen to be your mate and you hers. There are just a couple of obstacles standing in your way.”
Obstacles that could tear us apart. There’s desperation inside me that feels like it’s going to consume me if things don’t change. Could it be the rage? I don’t know, but it makes me feel out of control.
The screen door on the front porch slams shut, and I can hear Laila and Faith whispering amongst themselves, but I can’t tell what they’re saying. I look over at Micah, who’s busy stretching out his legs. “Let me be the one to train Laila today,” I say. “I don’t have to be at work for another two hours.”
Laila and Faith come into view, and Laila smiles at me. She has on a pair of skintight black leggings and a snug long-sleeve T-shirt that hugs her breasts. I’d give anything to touch her right now. Micah stands and chuckles under his breath. “Sure thing, Convel. I’m warning you, she’s not an easy opponent.”
Laila’s eyes twinkle as she comes closer. “You got that right.”
I wink at her. “I’ll take my chances.”
Micah shakes his head as if I’m crazy, and Faith snickers as they walk away to another part of the yard to train. Laila sets her phone down on the ground and cracks her knuckles. “Magic or no?”
“No,” I answer, placing my phone beside hers, so it doesn’t get broken if she kicks my ass. “I want to see what you got without it.” I want her to use her shifter instincts. I know she has them; they just need to be unleashed. I lunge at her and drop to the ground, swiping my legs under hers. She reacts quickly and jumps over me. “Very good,” I tell her.
She shrugs and tries her best not to smile. “I’m trying.”
I circle her. “Gotten a little cocky, haven’t you?”
She counters my movements, her body on guard, by the way, her muscles tense. Her face, however, shows nothing but calmness. “I blame it on the company I keep,” she says.
“I bet twenty dollars you can’t tackle her,” Faith shouts at me.
Laila giggles, and I turn to face Faith. “You’re on.” Without hesitation, I go on the attack, hoping to catch Laila off guard. She sidesteps me, and I almost get my arms around her waist, but she pivots out of my hold. By the surprised look on her face, I can tell it shocks her.
Micah claps his hands. “Damn, Convel, I’m impressed.”
It’s hard not to gloat. I give Laila a wolfish grin, and she crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at me playfully. “Luck is all that was.”
“All right,” I say, stalking toward her, “no holding back.” As quick as I can, I rush toward her, and she back handsprings out of the way. We go back and forth, and I get closer to her with each turn. I know I’m going to get her; it’s just a matter of time and patience. Laila’s quick, but I’ve learned to anticipate my opponent’s moves. I know exactly where she’s going to move next. From what I’ve learned by watching her, she tends to lunge towards the right to evade me. When she does it again, I’ll be ready.
Everything moves in slow motion. I hold my breath and watch as her leg muscles tense. The second I go on the attack, the muscles in her right thigh tenses as she digs her foot into the snow to jump away. I instantly change up my move and tackle her down to the snowy ground, making sure I get the brunt force of the fall. We roll around the snow, and I’m laughing so hard it hurts.
“You owe me twenty dollars,” I shout to Faith as I hold Laila down on the cold ground.
Faith scoffs. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m disappointed in you, Laila.”
Laila tilts her head back so she can see her. “Hey, I think I’m doing pretty good with what I got.”
When she looks at me, I smile. “You are. You’re quick and agile. I’m impressed.”
Her grin turns wicked. “Maybe you’ll be impressed with this.” She flicks her wrist, and the next thing I know, something grabs my ankle, and I’m yanked off of her onto my back in the snow.
“What the …” I jump to my feet, but the tree roots wrapping around my ankles make me trip and fall. Laila bursts out laughing and stands above me as more of the roots have my legs completely entrapped.
“Very funny,” I say, laying my head in the snow.
Laila grins down at me. “I can play dirty when I want.”
The tree roots continue circling my body and are now at my waist. I don’t even try to fight against it. Laila is having her fun, and I love the look on her face when she uses her magic. It’s who she is, but there are moments when I see her shifter side. If she’d embrace both, she’d be one lethal half-breed. The only thing I can do is be patient with her, but unfortunately, time isn’t on our side right now.
Faith and Micah walk over and snicker at me. “Looks like you got yourself in a bind,” Faith teases.
Micah kneels and tugs on the roots. “At least, she didn’t make you fall in a hole.”
I shrug. “As long as Laila doesn’t keep me here all night, I’ll be fine.”
Micah gets back to his feet. “Good luck with that.” He winks at Laila and walks off with Faith to the house.
Laila picks up a handful of snow and turns it into a ball of ice. “Over the years, I got creative. I hated the men in my pack so much that I’d do little things to make them miserable.” She sits down in the snow beside me.
“What would you do?”
She holds up the ice. “One thing I loved doing was in the winter. When I was a little girl, I’d make ice patches appear and watch the guys fall on their asses. None of them ever suspected it was me.”
“What else would you do?” I ask.
Her smile slowly fades, and she stares at the ice. It shatters and turns back to snow. “When I realized how evil the men were in my pack, my tricks turned a little darker. I’ve never told anyone this.”
She looks at me, and I reach for her hand. “You can tell me.”
Her hand clasps mine. “I was fifteen years old. There was this one guy in our pack, Chris Morgan, who was pure evil. He had many human women and loved to beat them. I used to overhear him talking about it all the time.” Her grip tightens around my hand, her eyes taking on a darkness I’ve never seen in her before.
“Go on,” I tell her.
“One night, he came over to see my brother.” Then she scoffs and shakes her head. “I can’t believe I still call him that.”
“The guy was a psychotic dick, but he was the only family you had for a long time, Laila.”
She sighs. “I know. He kept me safe from everyone, that’s for sure. I’m at least thankful for that.”
“Something tells me you didn’t need him for that.”
“You’re right,” she says, meeting my gaze. “In the end, I didn’t need him at all. When Chris left the house that night, I watched him go to his car. I kept thinking about how the world would be better with him gone. My heart broke for all the women he’d hurt.” She closes her eyes and exhales slowly. “I remember wanting him dead, and then, out of nowhere, it’s like the tree beside his car came to life and pierced him through the heart with one of its branches.” Her eyes open, and she looks down at me. “The pack searched for the killer, and I thought for sure they’d figure out it was me. But they didn’t.”
“Is he the first person you ever killed?”
She nods. “Is it bad that it felt good?”
I’ve killed many wolves over the years, but never any humans. I don’t like having to kill anyone, but sometimes there’s no other option. I’ll do anything to protect my pack and the people I love. The only time I ever enjoyed hurting someone was when I found the men who killed my parents. “Not at all,” I confess. “He deserved it.”
Her gaze saddens. “Just like the people who murdered your parents deserved it too. I know you try to hide that from me. I know I’m not a master at this mate thing, but I know it gives us the sixth sense on what the other is feeling.”
I don’t want her to see the violent side of me. That’s all she’s ever been around. What I did to the rogues who killed my parents is no better than what her old pack did to others. In a way, I’m just like them, and I don’t want her to see me like that.
She cups my cheek and smiles sadly. “It’s okay, Cedric. You killed evil men who took the people you loved away from you. There’s no shame in that. And I don’t care if you hung them up by their balls and sliced them to bits until they died.”
“Damn, woman,” I interrupt her. “You’re more vicious than I thought. I wish I would’ve had that idea all those years ago.”
She shakes her head and laughs. “All I’m saying is that we all do things in life that we question whether it’s right or wrong.”
I try to sit up, but then I’m reminded that I can’t move. Laila tries her best not to snicker and fails. “Guess you want up, don’t you?”
“It’d be nice. That way, I can kiss you.”
Her eyes twinkle. “Well, in that case.” She doesn’t release me but slowly lowers her lips to mine. Her kiss is soft, yet I want so much more but I can’t fucking move.
Groaning, I break from the kiss. “You’re killing me.”
She stands up and lifts her hand in the air but stops as she looks down at my body, her face full of surprise. “What the …”
“What is it?” I lift my neck as far as it can go, which isn’t much, but I’m able to see what she’s looking at. The roots that have wrapped around my body start sprouting little blue flowers. “Are you doing that?” I ask her, turning my attention back to her.
Eyes lit with wonder, she shakes her head. “Not at all. I’m not doing a thing.”
She flicks her wrist, and the roots gently slide away from me. I stand, and we watch the roots slide back into the earth. “Guess the tree likes me.” I walk over to the tree the roots came from and place my hand on the bark.
Laila rests her hand beside mine and grins. “I think it does. It feels warm.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
She nods. “It is.” The alarm on my phone goes off, so I walk over and pick it up off the ground, handing Laila hers.
“Time for me to go to work,” I say.
Her lips pull back. “I think I’ll go with you. That apprenticeship you talked about the other day sounds interesting. I’d like to get that started.”
She couldn’t have made me happier if she tried. Taking her hand, I walk with her back to the house. “You sure that’s what you want? If we work together, I might get on your nerves.”
She winks at me. “Don’t worry. I can handle it.”
And I do not doubt that.
* * *
Laila filled out all the paperwork to start her apprenticeship. She got fitted for her uniforms, and she’ll officially start on the job in a couple of weeks. It’ll take a while for her to work her way up to a full-time ranger. She says she’s happy, but what I like most is that she’ll be with me. It finally feels like we’re moving in the right direction together. However, I keep waiting for the bad shit to happen. I can feel it stirring all around me. Not only do I have to worry about the dark fae coming after Laila and killing her, but there’s also a fucking faerie prince who wants her as well. Ripping him apart isn’t an option. If he were a shifter, I could challenge him and kill him in my own right. I keep waiting for him to show up, especially with Laila spending all of her time with me, but luckily, he hasn’t. Maybe he’s given up on her, which I highly doubt, but one can hope, right?
After we finished up on the trails today, I promised Laila we’d pick out a Christmas tree for her house. Of course, she wouldn’t agree unless we got one for mine as well. Faith and Amelie helped us decorate the one at their home, and once that was done, we came to my house to decorate mine, but not before Laila fixed up a pot of chicken and dumplings. While the Christmas music plays in the background, I can’t help but smile as I observe Laila place each ornament on the tree. Everything is perfect right now.
I pick up a candy cane and hook it on one of the branches. Laila looks at it and smiles up at me. “Thanks for all of this.”
I shrug. “I’m the one who should be thanking you. I didn’t have to do any of the work.”
We both laugh, and she picks up another ornament, this one a glittery silver ball. “Hey, I can’t complain. It’s been fun. Once we’re done with the tree in here, we can decorate the outside.” She winks at me. “I have an idea.”
“Can’t wait. I’ll get the ladder and the lights ready.”
While I gather the boxes of white lights, she hums Silent Night while focusing on the tree. I take the lights outside and pull them all out of the boxes to hang them up around the porch and drape them over the rails. When I’m done, I walk away from the house to get a better view from a distance.
“Not bad,” I say to myself.
“Nice job,” a voice calls out behind me. I should’ve known I’d hear that voice sooner or later.
Growling, I jerk around. Beck stands there, leaning against a tree, with his arms crossed over his chest. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He nods toward the house where Laila is clearly visible through the window, dancing and singing around the tree as she finishes decorating it. “You know why. I’m here to check on her.”
My blood begins to boil. “I’m her protector and her mate. I got it covered.”
Beck shakes his head. “Keep fooling yourself, wolf. My people don’t know where Dorian’s at right now. He could be anywhere. Hell, he could already know Laila’s here. You’re an idiot if you think she’s safe.”
“So she should run off with you, and that would make her safe?” I snap.
He nods. “Pretty much. If you loved her, you’d let her go.”
I step up to him. “She’s mine. No matter what you say or do, she belongs here with me. We’ve never needed help from people like you. Where were you when she was with the Sierra pack? You didn’t save her from them.”
Beck shakes his head. “That was complicated. I had to wait for her to realize who she is.”
“And still,” I say, knowing I’ve won, “she made it out on her own. She doesn’t need you.”
Beck’s gaze averts to Laila. “She can still choose me. I’m a patient man.”
Rage consumes me. “You’re about to be a dead man if you don’t get your faerie ass away from here.”
His smile enrages me even more. “See ya around, wolf.” And with those final words, he disappears through a door I can’t see. If all faeries act as high and mighty as him, I have a feeling I’ll hate them all.
“Cedric,” Laila shouts from the porch. “You okay?”
Taking a deep breath, I slowly turn around to see her staring at me with concern. “I’m fine. Just checking to make sure the lights look good from far away.”
She waves for me to join her. “They look great. Come here. I want to show you something.” I try to hide my anger as best as I can. With Beck coming and going as he pleases, it makes me wonder if she’s met with him alone. The thought pisses me off to no end, but I can’t dwell on it. I trust her, not him. When I get closer, Laila jumps down the stairs and stops me. “Tell me what you think about this.”
She holds her hands out, palms down toward the ground. The snow swirls like little tornadoes, and when she lifts her hands toward the house, each swirling section turns into giant snowflakes that freeze onto my house below the lights. They look like something you can buy from the store, only better.
“Amazing,” I say.
She wraps her arm around my waist. “You like them? I can take them down if you want.”
Shaking my head, I turn toward her and cup her cheeks. “Keep them. They look festive.”
Her face lights up. “I’m glad you like it.” She stares into my eyes and narrows hers. “Sure, you’re okay? I thought I might’ve heard you talking to someone out here.”
“Nope. It’s just me.” I tilt her face up and kiss her. As much as I’d like for her to stay the night, I don’t want to be the one to make the first move. I want to wait until she’s ready. “It’s getting late. I should probably get you home.”
She nods. “Good idea. I have to finish the drawings for my dad’s client. Since I don’t officially start at the ranger’s office yet, I’m going to skip out on going to work with you and go to the meeting tomorrow to see if I get the interior design job. If his client likes my work, I’ll have two jobs.”
The one good thing about her being with her father is that I know he can protect her when I’m not around. It wouldn’t be so bad if I knew there wasn’t a dark fae trying to find people like her. I want to be the one to protect her always, but the last thing I want is for her to feel like I’m smothering her. I lower my lips to hers, gently nipping her bottom lip. “You’ll get the job. I have faith in you.”
She smiles and lifts up to kiss me again but stops cold when we both catch the scent of a rogue close by. Growling, I push her behind me as I scan the woods. The smell is gone, but I know we both smelled it.
“You caught that, right?”
“Yes,” she says, her body on full alert. “But I lost it. I don’t feel anyone around.”
Neither do I. The only shifters who can hide their presence are royals. This wolf was not that. First, Beck appears, and then a rogue wolf. I don’t like where this is headed.
“Let’s get you home,” I say to Laila, still keeping my eyes on the forest.
“Sounds good,” she whispers. “I have a weird feeling.”
“So do I … and it’s not good.”