A Wolf's Obsession Read online

  “What?”

  “Ethan knows about me, he know what I look like. He has people that are capable of finding me but he knows absolutely nothing about your werewolf. He’ll never find you if you stay with him.”

  “So you want me to stay here?”

  “Can you honestly tell me that you don’t want to stay? I’m your father Kass, I can hear what you’re trying not to tell me. You like this man.”

  “I might like him but he thinks that he’s in love with me.”

  “And maybe he’s right. Maybe things work different for supernatural people like you. All I know is that he’s going to keep my baby safe and that’s enough for me. Kass, I’m not arguing with you about this. Don’t call me unless you’re twenty seven or dying. I’m doing this because I love you. Goodbye Kass.”

  “Dad, wait,” she called frantically but it was too late. The call ended with a distinct click. Confused by what had just happened, Kass stared unmoving at the phone hanging from her limp fingers for long moments, her mind struggling to understand what her beloved father was doing. She could call him but what would be the point? She knew very well what the iron in his voice meant. He’d probably turned off his phone by now. She was in this alone.

  Not alone, a small voice at the back of her mind reminded her. Forcing herself out of the chair, Kass smiled. She might not like what Charlie had done but the voice was right, she wasn’t alone anymore and if Wyatt got his way she’d never be alone again. She had a mate now. She might not have wanted one in the beginning but she had one and there were only two things she could do about it. Rail against her fate or accept it. Remembering how Wyatt’s smile created an torrent of butterflies in her stomach Kass knew there was only really one option available to her. She was going to take the bull by the horns and get on with it. If everyone around her seemed convinced that she was destined to be with Wyatt then the least she could do was to see if there was any truth to it. Her eyes fell to the door and she knew what she had to do. Her mate was out there and she was going to grab hold of him with both hands and if her father was right she’d probably never let go.

  Chapter Ten

  Wyatt paced. He’d been pacing ever since he’d given Kass his phone and time was doing nothing to make him less anxious. His claws had long since sprouted from his nails and pierced through his flesh. His ears strained, desperate to hear what was being said on the other side of the door but he forced himself not to eavesdrop. He hadn’t used them in years but Kass seemed to be very fond of manners and his vague memories of when he’d been a functioning member of his society reminded him that listening in on a private conversation was frowned upon. Despite his best intentions he was still able to hear titbits of her conversation and nothing she was saying was doing anything to ease his nerves.

  I don’t know what you’re worried about, the wolf yawned, clearly not sharing in Wyatt’s distress. She’s not going anywhere.

  And how do you know that? Wyatt snapped.

  You might have decided that listening to what our mate has to say is rude but I don’t. I can hear it in her voice she wants to stay with us and her own father is telling her that she should stay here. I haven’t even met the man and I like him already. Besides, he drawled lazily, even if she wanted to go would you have let her go?

  At the very suggestion his eyes became incensed, fangs grew where once teeth had been and his claws skewered his palms as he fought the urge to smash his fist into a wall. I’ll never be separated from her again. She can’t leave me and I’m not going to let her go anywhere.

  Then I’m not sure what you’re even worried about. You’re not letting her go, she’s not going anywhere. Relax.

  I wish it was that easy.

  It is that easy, you’re the one that’s making things complicated.

  “Wyatt?”

  He spun around at the sound of her voice. It should have been impossible for her to sneak up on him but she had him so distracted with the mere thought of her that he couldn’t focus on anything. Staring in to her unusual eyes he was struck anew with just how lucky he was. She’s so beautiful.

  A blush came to her cheeks and he couldn’t help but wonder just how much of her skin was that delicious pink colour.

  I have the most beautiful mate in the world, no doubt about it.

  Her blush deepened.

  Concerned, he cupped her cheek letting the heat of her skin soak into his palm. “What’s the matter?”

  Seeing as a few minutes ago you were the one that was reminding about this special connection we have you should watch what you say. You’re embarrassing me. ‘The most beautiful woman in the world’?

  His gaze became intense, his feelings burning from his amber gaze. “It’s true.”

  She struggled not to laugh. “Take a look around, Emily is much prettier than I am.” She turned to point at the many pictures of Emily that covered the walls and quickly came up short. The pictures that only yesterday had made it hard to even see what colour the walls were had all vanished. Her confusion was evident in her voice. “What happened to the pictures?”

  “I took them down last night before I came in to watch you sleeping.”

  “Why? I thought she was important to you.”

  He grabbed her hand and squeezed in reassurance. “You’re right. She was important to me but you are important to me. Emily is gone and I wouldn’t change that because now I have you and I’m going to fill the walls with pictures of you. You are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  “And you want to plaster my face all over the walls?”

  He didn’t even take a second to think of his answer. “Of course.” His voice was cheerful, his expression merry despite the disbelief that was radiating from Kass’ face. “This is our house and we only want the best.”

  It was his words that should have captured her attention but it was his eyes that made Kass pause. The colour was changing, the bright amber darkening to a rich brown. “Wyatt, what are you doing to your eyes?”

  His hand rose to his face automatically but he shrugged when he didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. “Nothing.”

  She shook her head. There was definitely something going on and if he wasn’t controlling it then what was? “The colour is changing. That isn’t nothing. It’s not normal even for phoenixes.”

  “Oh that.” He shrugged. “I’ll tell you about it when we’re outside. Go and get changed so that I can start taking my pictures.”

  Remembering the professional looking pictures that had adorned the walls, Kass shook her head. There was no way that her half mad wolf could have taken such stunning pictures. “You’re taking the pictures?” Her voice was filled with disbelief.

  “Of course. I might not look it but I’m a wolf of many talents.” He winked suggestively and his meaning couldn’t have been any clearer. “I took the pictures of Emily but this is going to be so much better. She could never know that I was taking pictures of her but I can do this properly with you. Now hurry up and get changed.” She didn’t move. “If you don’t get changed I won’t say a word about what’s happening with my eyes.” She resisted for a moment before her natural curiosity won out. Wyatt smiled. He was slowly but surely learning about his mate and now he knew that she couldn't stand for her questions to go unanswered. He’d make sure that he took advantage of that in the future.

  Spurred into action, Kass turned to leave before remembering something important. “I don’t have any clothes. These were all I had and they’re ruined.”

  He rubbed her shoulders gently, turning her towards the bedroom. “Do you really think that I wouldn’t take care of your needs?”

  “You seem to be forgetting that I’ve only known you for a few days. I have no idea what you think about my needs.”

  “Well we’re both learning something today then. I’ll always take care of your needs even before mine. I got you new clothes yesterday after….” He coughed. “The incident. They’re in the wardrobe. I cleaned up the bedroom whil
e you were making breakfast so no more excuses. Hurry up.” Taking care to rein in his monstrous strength he pushed her towards the bedroom and waited. He didn’t have to wait long. Within minutes Kass was dressed and ready to go.

  “I thought you would have taken a lot longer to get dressed,” he mused aloud as he led her out of the house, his camera swinging from around his neck. “My sister, Dylan, takes an age to get ready to go anywhere.”

  Turning her head up towards the warm rays of the sun, Kass soaked in the beauty of the world around her. “I’m not like other women. I’ve had to learn how to get ready quickly. When your life is on the line you can get dressed pretty quickly.”

  The casual way she spoke about threats to her life made his hackles rise but Wyatt fought to keep his tone neutral. She wouldn’t tell him anything if she thought he was going to go out and murder the asshole. No, it was better that she thought he was more in control of the animalistic urges that were racking his body than he actually was. She’d seen enough to know that he was capable of violence, there was no need to expose her to anymore. “Are you going to tell me about him? This man that you’ve been running from?”

  “Ethan. His name is Ethan. I’ve already told you about him, why would you want to hear more?”

  His eyes fell to her feet. There were scars on the soles, marks on her calves and he had a feeling that Ethan was responsible. How did he explain to her that he needed to know every crime this Ethan had committed against her so that he could pay the bastard back in full? “It never hurts to know more about your enemy,” he answered, hoping that his non-committal answer was enough to satisfy her.

  “I can see your point but don’t think I’ve forgotten that you promised to answer my question before we even came out here. So let’s make a deal. You ask a question and I’ll give you an answer and the same applies to me. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “Right so you tell me about your eyes and then I’ll answer one of your questions about Ethan. What’s going on with your eyes? Why are they changing colour?” He smirked, the simple movement of his mouth sending butterflies into Kass’ stomach. His smile was a devastating weapon and she feared that he was going to use it often against her.

  “That’s two questions,” Wyatt pointed out casually as he snapped another photo. “But because I’m a generous mate I’ll answer them.” Wyatt was sure that the scowl on her face was meant to be menacing but it wasn’t frightening in the least. In fact it was rather cute but he refrained from telling her that, she didn’t look like she would take the news well. “My eyes weren’t always amber, they’re meant to be brown. They used to be brown….before I lost Emily. I became so consumed by grief that I couldn’t function without my wolf and I let him have control. I spent years as a wolf and kept my contact with people to the bare minimum but one day Dylan came to find me and she noticed that even when I was in my human form my eyes wouldn't change. They’ve been this way for years. If they’re changing colour then it must mean that I’m getting better.” His fingers curled around the nape of her neck, the heat of his palm searing against her skin. “You’re changing me. I’m regaining my humanity and it’s all thanks to you. Dylan is going to want to get you a medal.”

  Turning away from his blistering intensity Kass took a deep breath. It was heady stuff to find out that you were responsible for bringing someone back from the brink.

  “My turn,” Wyatt beamed. “Back to the fucker.” He paused for a minute trying to think of the best way to word his question so that he would get the most information out of his mate. She was tricky and he had no way of knowing just how long she was going to want to play this game. “What’s your earliest memory of him?”

  Her smile faded as she was drawn into memories of the past. “I was eight. I remember being strapped down to a table with him looming over me. The look in his eyes….” She shuddered at the memory. “He looked at me like I was less than human, like I didn’t matter because he just wanted what was inside me. I was terrified. He told me what he was going to do to me in detail, he didn’t leave anything out. I still remember seeing the things that they were going to use to cut my chest open. I was lucky that time. One of his men was a smoker and I managed to steal his lighter. I set the building on fire.”

  His heart stopped as quickly as his steps. “When you were outside I presume?”

  His voice was cold, the lack of his normal warmth making the hairs on the back of Kass’ neck stand up in warning. He wasn’t going to like the answer to his question. She shook her head sadly. The memory was a vivid one but that didn’t mean it was a pleasant one. “Nope, I was inside. I remember having the lighter in my hand and trying hard to light it against the sheets. My fingers were so cold that they were pretty much useless but I knew that it was the only chance I was going to get. I lit the sheets on fire and the mattress followed pretty quickly after that. Without the bed to hold me down I managed to get up and made sure that the fire spread. I got outside and ran for as long as I could. I made sure that I took the most difficult path because I didn’t want to be followed. That’s where I got some of the scars from. I crawled over wire and ran over glass to escape.”

  “You set yourself on fire?” he asked hardly believing that he was having to even ask such a question.

  “It was the only way I was getting out of there. Desperate times make people do desperate things.” She cocked an eyebrow at his slack jawed expression. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never done anything that other people would have thought was madness in a moment of desperation?” Even as she said the words she knew the answer. The madness was returning to his gaze, the warm brown disappearing under the feral amber. “Wyatt?” she squeaked. He was changing right before her eyes, the funny man that she had been talking to mere moments ago disappearing as a predator took his place. Unnerved by the sudden change in his behaviour Kass backed away from him unsure of what it was he was planning on doing and their mental connection did nothing to ease her fears. His mind was a mess, his thoughts disjointed and becoming more and more chaotic.

  He stalked towards her, there was no other way to describe the way he moved and Kass had never felt more like prey than she did in that moment. Carefully, she backed away, her hands behind her back feeling for anything that might stop her from making a quick get away. She knew it was never wise to run from a predator but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try if the need arose. “Wyatt?” she tried again, hoping to get through to whatever was left of his humanity.

  Whatever chance she had at escape was scuppered when her back hit a tree and all air fled her lungs. “Wyatt?” she croaked, unsure of what he was planning on doing.

  “Desperate times don’t just make people do desperate things they make them do stupid things.”

  “Really?” Pushing her back harder into the tree’s bark she tried to make herself seem as small and unthreatening as possible but Wyatt was quickly closing any distance she managed to put between them.

  “Yeah. After losing Emily I lost my mind as well and I let my grief make me do something inexcusable.”

  His eyes were burning holes into hers, forcing her to look at him even though his intensity was scary. “What did you do?” Even as the question left her mouth she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. Wyatt had hurt her when they’d first met and he seemed to think he’d mellowed with time. If he’d been much worse than their first encounters there was no limit to the atrocities he could have committed. Suddenly it seemed like a very bad idea to be walking in the woods with a wolf who could have killed people. Warmth suddenly flooded her body and left her boneless, perfectly happy to radiate in the glow and she knew exactly where it was coming from. Wyatt was many things but he’d never been anything but honest with her and there was no way she’d feel so strongly about him if he’d done any of the things that her imagination had conjured up.

  “I left you alone. I didn’t come and find you. I failed you as a mate.”

  Her hand rose carefully to h
is cheek and she cupped the side of his face in an instinctive gesture. Wyatt was hurting and the pain he was feeling was unbearable. She didn’t know how he’d lived so long with the burden of his grief and she had a feeling he wasn’t even sharing its true intensity with her. Even in his despair his mind instinctively shielded her. “Emily was dead, you didn’t know that I even existed,” she said softly, leaning into his body and wrapping her arms around his waist.

  “And I should have been too. If there really was no way that you would ever come back to me I shouldn’t have been able to go on. I should have found a way to end my life. I should have found a way to be with you in the after life. If you’d really been gone nothing Erica or Dylan said should have been able to convince me that there was a reason for me to stay on this earth. You should never have been alone. Mates stay together no matter what. I carried on living, I should have known something was wrong. I should have tried to find you.”

  “Wyatt, you can’t blame yourself for this. You didn’t know that Emily was a phoenix, you didn’t know that I’d come back in her place.”

  “I should have known.”

  “How? How should you have known something that I’m damn sure she would have kept a secret from everyone around her? It’s not exactly something you go around shouting from the rooftops. ‘Hey everyone, I’m a magical creature that can grant you an extra hundred years of life, nice to meet you.’ I don’t think so.”

  “I watched over her, I should have known everything about her. I should have known that you would be coming back. I should have been able to prevent these scars.” He fell to his knees and eased her feet out of the flimsy shoes that she’d chosen to wear. His hands wandered up the exposed length of her calves, gently playing with the hem of her shorts as though he might try to explore even higher up. Sucking in a breath as heat of a different sort flooded through her body, Kass couldn’t stop her body from shaking. His fingers on her skin were pure magic and she had to force herself to remember that they were outside where anyone could see them.