Her gaze flicked again to the fallen gun nestled in the grass. “You’re not going to end up like Quinn. Remember that you promised.”
“I promise.” He turned his back on her—turned his back on all of them.
Jay slipped his arm around Eden’s shoulders as her father and her brother walked away, out of sight around the front of the house. In the wild, an injured wolf might slink off alone to lick his wounds. Zack could do that, after a fashion, but with the support of his family and friends. Time—and space—to do a little healing. And then…
He could start over.
Chapter Sixteen
Eden spent most of the day unpacking boxes and setting up the master bedroom in the big house, but it didn’t feel like home until Jay walked through the door, dragging a suitcase of his own.
It had been hard, sending him back to work when she had to face the morning after with a wounded, broken-hearted pack. But Lorelei had rallied in the way only she could, and Eden could do no less in the face of such stubborn strength. They’d attacked the problem of moving Eden’s things together, and the onerous task of unpacking and organizing became less tedious as others drifted in to help them.
Pack building a den together. Family building a home together.
Home, but incomplete without her mate. He looked handsome in his uniform, and felt even better when she stepped close enough to wallow in the power he exuded as naturally as breathing. “I missed you.”
“Good, because I missed you too.” He slipped an arm around her waist. “How’d it go today?”
“We got through. Kaley may need a bit of space, but as long as we keep an eye on her…” Eden rested her forehead on Jay’s shoulder and sighed. “Did you stop by the diner on your way home?”
“I did. Your dad says hi, and to tell you that Zack’s going to be okay, so stop worrying.”
She choked on a laugh. “I’m that predictable, huh?”
He smiled against her temple. “Anyone in your position would be right now. That’s your family.”
“Some of my family,” she corrected softly. She eased back and circled around him, sliding the door shut with a soft click and the gentle buzz of wards humming to life. Stella’s clever soundproofing, which would let them steal rare snatches of privacy in the midst of chaos. “Pack’s family too.”
“Yes, it is.” Jay tensed, more a feeling that echoed across their bond than a physical reaction. “I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have hit you with that stuff about Zack last night.”
Eden pressed her forehead to the door, because it was easier to have this discussion with her back to him. “You had to. I think I wouldn’t have gotten so angry if it hadn’t felt…true. If the wolf hadn’t been so loud inside me, telling me you were right. I couldn’t listen.”
“And no wonder. I didn’t have to be wrong to be a jackass.”
“Fine. You were right and a jackass.” Turning, she smiled wanly at him. “I need time, Jay. I’m glad I have this viciousness when bad guys are trying to choke me. But I can’t be glad that some part of me can look at my cousin—my brother—and make a cold assessment that he’s too dangerous. I’m not ready to be that pragmatic.”
He brushed his thumb over the corner of her mouth. “You don’t have to be. He was there, Eden, at the edge, and his mind is still his own. He’ll make it.”
“You made him fight. Thank you.” She turned her face into his hand, pressed a kiss to his palm and savored the spark that zipped through her. They’d had a lifetime worth of courtship and responsibility shoehorned into so few days, it was hard to remember that touching him was so new.
“You’re welcome.”
Smiling, she nuzzled his wrist. “Do you hear that?”
He grinned. “Hear what?”
“Exactly. Everyone’s already relaxing in their soundproofed rooms. Nothing’s on fire. No one’s attacking. No panic, no emergencies…just you and me and a few minutes to breathe.”
Jay laughed. “Says you. Work was a madhouse today.”
“That’s what happens when the chief takes a week off.” She traced her fingers along his belt before tugging his polo shirt free of his pants. “Anything you couldn’t handle?”
“Just catch-up crap.” He caught one of the belt loops on her jeans and pulled her closer. “What about you? Thinking about talking to the committee about your job?”
“Not even a little. I’m going to try being a stay-at-home alpha for a little while.” The skin of his back heated under her touch, as if the sparks stirring desire to life burned in him, too. She smoothed her hands around his waist and up his chest, then pushed him back with a teasing smile.
Making him fight for her wasn’t getting old, it turned out. Not that he couldn’t tease back. He tilted his head and casually pulled his shirt over his head.
The sight of him wasn’t getting old either. Eden leaned back against the door and took her time admiring him. For the first time, it felt like…every other encounter had been shrouded in anxiety or fear or the pulsing adrenaline of the full moon.
Tonight he was a man. Her man. And she could trace the way his muscles moved gracefully under his skin all night, if she wanted. “I love you.”
She hadn’t meant to say the words. For a moment she froze, petrified that it was too much, too fast, but he braced his hands on the door and leaned over her, his forehead to hers.
For a long moment, he simply stood there. Then, “I love you too, honey. I have…for a while.”
Eden closed her eyes and floated on relief. “So I wasn’t the only one with a secret crush?”
“Not even close.” He leaned in farther and kissed her lightly, but light wasn’t enough. Eden tilted her head and licked his lips with a hungry growl before burying her hands in his hair. Nothing could ever be enough. Not kissing him forever, not holding him forever, not loving him forever.
Wouldn’t stop her from trying. She dug her teeth into his lower lip. “Can we ravish each other now?”
He swallowed a groan. “Do we have enough time for a proper ravishing?”
“This may be our only chance, Chief Ancheta. You going to waste it?”
“Nope.” Hunger echoed through the bond between them as he locked an arm around her waist, lifted her and dropped her on top of the blessedly bare dresser. “I know better.”
“Good.” She sank her fingers into his hair again and dragged her nails across his scalp teasingly. “What’s involved in a proper ravishing? It can’t be handcuffs, since I see you’ve forgotten them again.”
“Time,” he declared, the words muffled as his lips met her throat. “And effort. Mostly the effort. With a dash of creativity.”
She’d never been this impatient with any other man. Or maybe she’d simply never been this impatient as a woman. She was more now, a woman and a wolf, an alpha burning for her mate, and Jay’s soft, slow touches stoked arousal and frustration in equal measure.
Foreplay took too long, the wolf decided, and Eden had torn open her shirt before the thought finished. She grabbed at Jay’s belt with a growl. “Less time, more effort.”
He caught her hands and twisted them behind her back. “You can’t choose one over the other, or it isn’t a proper ravishing.”
“Oh.” Jerking at his grip did nothing. He had all the leverage and she didn’t really want to escape, but trying still got her hot and bothered. “So educate me,” she whispered. Challenged. “Show me how you ravish your mate.”
He kissed her, slow and wet, his tongue following the line of her lower lip. It was raw, unchecked lust, and she shuddered under the assault and pressed her lips together, fighting the natural urge to open to him.
His laugh blew hot on her mouth, but instead of becoming more insistent, his caresses gentled. Slowed.
It only stoked her hunger. Her pulse throbbed throughout her entire body, pooling need between her thighs and setting her ni**les to aching. She arched her back, struggling to reach him, to rub against him. Jay relaxed his hold enough to let her, and growled when she pressed her br**sts to his chest.
“Too much clothing,” she whispered, coaxing. He still had her hands trapped, and his fingers tightened when she tried to move. “Bra’s in the way. I want your skin against mine.”
He released her, ran his fingers up under her shirt to unhook her bra. “Take it all off, then put your hands back where they were.”
She slid her half-ruined shirt down to pool on the dresser and took her time with the bra, wallowing in his hungry expression as she peeled the fabric from her skin. “You want my hands somewhere, you better put them there. Because I’m going for your belt again if you don’t stop me.”
“Impatient,” he rumbled, pushing her wrists back to pin them at the small of her back. “Leave them there.”
Eden laughed and bit his chin. “And you thought I was joking about the handcuffs. Better invest in a spare pair, because I think I like misbehaving.”
“You could misbehave,” he agreed. “Go for my belt. Go wild, Eden. But then you’ll never know what I plan to do next.”
Oh yeah, he knew how to tame her. Not brute strength, but clever words. Whispers that stirred curiosity to life, and even the wolf could be patient for a little while. Her next nip was playful, teeth scraping along his jaw before she licked him, nuzzled into his chin in a brief moment of quiet submission.
“That’s right.” He combed his fingers through her hair, tugging just enough to tingle anticipation up her spine. “Remember…” He opened her pants and pushed them down, easing them under and off her body. “Hands behind your back.”
She twisted her fingers together as a desperate reminder, all too aware of how the posture thrust her br**sts out. There was something dirty about being na**d while he wasn’t, something that should feel vulnerable but was instead empowering. She felt it in the way his breath hitched when she arched her back, and the jump in his pulse when she eased her knees apart.