Home > Wolf in Heat (Mated for Life #2)(8)

Wolf in Heat (Mated for Life #2)(8)
Author: Sam Crescent

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I want to help you and Heather.”

He ran a hand down his face. “We don’t need help.”

Mika snorted. “You guys have been through the mating heat. That should be the moment you’re both so happy and planning the wedding, finishing each other’s sentences and all of that. My sister is on her bed, crying. You’re out here, talking to yourself, staring at nothing for answers. Believe me when I say this, you both need my help, like sooner rather than later.”

If he just ignored her, she would eventually go away.

“You can stare up at the sky all you want and pretend not to hear me. I get it. What can I know? I’m just Heather’s sister. Probably the last person you want to see, but she’s been different lately. You don’t know it, but I do. She has always been the good sister. The one who followed the pack. Never made waves. Did as she was told. I don’t know if you know this, but Heather has wanted to find her mate since she was a little girl. She planned the wedding. She had this notebook of what she wanted her mate to be like. They were long stupid lists of kind and smart, but ferocious. How he would love her above everyone and everything else, because she was completely devoted to him.”

“That’s not the woman I know,” he said.

“Exactly. Ever since Heather found you, she hasn’t been like the person she claimed to be.” Mika growled. “Don’t you see? You’re not getting the real Heather. She is … terrified.”

“Why? I’m not going to hurt her.”

“Men are so fucking stupid.” She growled. “She’s still suffering from the attack, stupid. She might have PTSD, I think that’s what people call it. We’re wolves, right? Have you ever heard of a wolf having to deal with it?”

“No.”

“I’m not a doctor. I don’t know for sure if that’s what’s wrong or if she’s just being a giant pain in the ass and making you work for it. Believe me, David, Heather is not herself. Ask our uncle. We’re the only ones who know the real Heather, and well, in the attack, our stuff got destroyed. I don’t think the notebook with all of her hopes and dreams made it.” Mika looked up to the sky. “I love my sister. Please, don’t give up on her. She’s been through a lot, and you may not feel it now, but she does love you, so much.”

Mika got to her feet, and he didn’t call out to her or ask her to come back.

He gave one last lingering look at the night’s sky, stood, and took off back home.

No one was around when he arrived.

He’d already picked up his clothes, and made his way into the house, going straight to his room. After a quick shower, he dried his body and then left his room to go toward Heather’s.

David placed his hand on her door.

He felt her presence. She was already part of him.

The first whimper had him tensing. The second, he gripped the handle of the door and opened it.

Heather lay in bed, thrashing back and forth. The whimper turned to a scream. He closed the door and moved to the bed, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her in close. “I’ve got you,” he said.

Within seconds, she settled in his arms. He’d chased her nightmares away.

“I will never give up on you.”

 

 

Chapter Four

 

 

“You’re not marked,” Bethany said.

Heather shrugged.

It had been over two weeks since she’d spent a week alone with David. She’d heard the whispers and tired of the confused looks. Everyone seemed to expect an explanation, including her sister, but she didn’t have one to give. Heather was just as confused about her so-called mating as everyone else in their pack.

David and she had perfected the art of avoidance. She’d only seen him in passing a couple of times since the night he came into her room and saved her from her nightmares. She yearned for more but felt helpless to understand the full scope of her emotions.

Bethany had pity in her voice. “There will be other full moons.”

Heather didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for her. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her love life with the alpha’s mate. They were so happy and in love, and that perfect relationship seemed to mock Heather at every turn.

She smiled politely and headed outside. Before this crazy mating heat last month, she’d started to grow a friendship with Bethany. Now she was only a shadow of herself and unable to focus on anything other than her constant fuck-ups. No, she wasn’t marked. It was supposed to happen near the end of the mating week. That blood bond was for life, intense and incomparable. She craved that closeness with David yet pushed him away at every turn.

What was wrong with her?

Deep down, she knew she was scarred soul deep. The trauma of losing her family in such a brutal way had left her broken. She was too scared to love again. What if something happened to David, too? Heather couldn’t survive another loss. It was better not to love at all, then she’d never have to experience that deep-seated pain ever again.

As she walked through the forest, she knew that wasn’t the answer, yet she had no other ideas. Should she allow David to mark her, to finalize their mating? He probably deserved better, a meat-eating normal shifter with a good head on her shoulders. Heather was a freak, always had been. Her dreams of being mated were just that—pretty dreams.

She’d told him she didn’t love him. That was a lie.

Heather was just terrified—of everything. Rejection, pain, loss, the future, all her own insecurities and fears rolled up into one. There was only so long David would put up with her bullshit, then she’d be free. Alone but free of obligations and expectations. She was destined to be a rogue wolf, no matter how much she wanted to fit in and be normal.

“Heather!”

It was her sister Mika. The last person she wanted to deal with right now was her younger sister. Sometimes a person wanted to be alone and sulk. She needed to sit and feel sorry for herself right now. And Mika pushed her for answers she wasn’t ready to give.

“David’s hurt.”

That captured her full attention. As her sister neared, she grabbed her by both shoulders. “What are you talking about?”

“In town. He got hurt bad. He asked for you.”

“What happened?” Even as she spoke, she was already running, heading right back toward the house where they had numerous vehicles. “Answer me, Mika!”

Her sister was in the driver’s seat of one without being asked, doors slamming shut, steering them toward town. Her heart raced.

“I don’t know all the details. I just know there was another fight.”

“Another? And he got hurt?” David wasn’t a small wolf by any means. The man was huge and hard with muscle. She knew that firsthand. They’d kept their distance for weeks. It was just too awkward to deal with their issues right now.

“Well, there was a bear involved.”

The edge of the little town came into view and she saw Reese standing at the perimeter of the forest, flagging them down. Mika brought the truck to an abrupt stop, and Heather jumped out the moment it came to a standstill.

“David!”

She dropped down to her knees beside her mate, briefly skidding in the dirt. And that was exactly what he was, even if they hadn’t completed their mating bond. He was leaning against an old oak, his hand at his side, blood soaking through his shirt like it had been dipped in crimson paint.

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