Chapter 109

“I’m so sorry, Allie...” Violet says. She ran her hand over her tan arm, the guilt weighing heavily on her voice. “I... I didn’t expect they were going to go after my car like that, I should have—”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“I... If I had known...” She closes her eyes for a moment before opening them again. “I told you I would protect you,” she says in a broken voice. “Instead, you ended up getting kidnapped on my watch. And I couldn’t do anything to protect you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Isn’t that why you’re mad at me?”
“No! Of course not!” Aghast, I say, my hands throwing up in the air before I wince. Turning around, I walk over to the couch where I was before and sit down, too weak to continue standing up. “I would never blame you for something that wasn’t even your fault,” I say firmly.
“Then... Why are you so upset?” Vi asks, closing the door behind her and hesitantly approaching me.
Crossing my arms, I answer while she sits down on the couch next to me. “I understand that everyone had to lie to me. And forgiving them wasn’t easy, but I can’t blame them for keeping their secrets when I never shared mine in the first place. But you, Violet?” I frown, shaking my head. “No! I told you everything about my life! You’re my best friend! How could you?”
With wide eyes, she opens her mouth, looking surprised. “Allie, I, we, I—”
“Allie, I, we, I,” I mimic her in a very caricatured tone. “I told you everything about my family. I know you don’t have to tell me *everything* about yours, but *this*? If it were the other way around, I would definitely tell you!”
“But we can’t, Allie, humans can’t—”
“I don’t care! I would have told you! Especially if I knew Lily was a she-wolf, and you didn’t know.”
Her lips press together in a thin line. She drops her gaze to the floor.
My next words come broken. My voice almost sounds like a sad child, but I still say it. “I thought we were best friends.” 
“And we are!” She abruptly meets my eyes. “You’re my best friend, Allie! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you in the dark. If you take a moment to think about it, maybe even feel a little sorry for me in the process, you’ll realize this is all just one little misunderstanding—”
“Misunderstanding, my ass!” 
“I’m serious. We’re still the same, I swear to Goddess! Nothing in our friendship has been a lie,” she says softly. “Allie, I consider you more than my best friend. You’re like a sister to me!”
My eyes fill with tears, just like hers.
“How... How are you feeling?” she asks.
“What?” 
“You can tell me to leave if I’m upsetting you...” 
“No.” I take a breath, attempting to unclench my jaw. The bones in my skull hurt. I feel the same, just like she said, she is like a sister to me too. 
And I don’t want to ruin this. 
Tears pool in my eyes again. Head aching, I lift a hand and scrub my face. 
“I’m so sorry, Allie...” Looking at her face, I realize I’ve never seen Vi look so broken. “Can you forgive me, please?”
I take a deep breath. “Yes. But no more secrets, you backstabber—” I begin, but Vi cuts me off with a tight hug. “Ouch!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She loosens her grip slightly but keeps her arms wrapped around me, holding on just enough to stay close.
“I’m serious, Vi. If I find out you’re lying like this again, I swear to everything holy, even to your goddess, I won’t—”
“I know, I know, I know.” She tights the hug again.
“Ouch!”
“I almost forgot.” Vi lets go of me and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a small bottle filled with a yellowish liquid. “Here,” she says, holding it out. “This should help with your injuries.”
I take it hesitantly. “What is this?” 
“It’s a special potion that’s a hell of a headache to get because it’s specifically for humans. It will help heal all your wounds.” 
“How did you...?” 
She looks away. “I couldn’t go with Ian to get you because I was, uh, bad... from the accident, so I asked someone in Summerville to bring this to me because I knew you might be hurt when you arrived.” 
My tears finally fall. “That was so thoughtful. Thank you, Vi.” 
She smiles at me and then sighs, seeming relieved. “Bitch, don’t you ever call me Violet again,” she says, pulling me into another hug. “I haven’t been like this since I was a kid, and my parents scolded me! My hands are still shaking!” 
I bury my face against her shoulder. “You deserved it!”
She laughs. “I know. But can I finally say how happy I am that you’re okay, alive, and on top of that, you’re Ian’s fated mate?” she asks as she pulls away from me. “Goddess, help me! I know it sounds cliché, but I always knew there was something familiar about you since the day you gave me a ride when we met, you know? I felt like you were already part of my family.” 
“Really?” I ask in surprise. 
“Yes, Allie.” She nods. “Maybe it’s because you’re Ian’s mate and Lily’s Az’s mate. We Werewolves feel when a wolf is part of the family. It’s something strong. Intense. A feeling of instant trust.” 
“That sounds... incredibly logical,” I ponder after everything that Ethan’s told me. “When you met Kelly, was it like that too?” 
Vi looks thoughtful. “To tell you the truth, I actually don’t remember.” She gives a forced laugh. “It’s been so many years...” 
“Is Kelly here in Blackmoon?” 
“No. I talked to her and Jordan on the phone earlier. I told them that Ethan got you and you are safe. They’ll come to the pack tomorrow.” She smiles. “I’m going to surprise him. Jordan hasn’t been here in a while...”
I frown. But wasn’t this fated mate thing a bond to be inseparable? I knew Ethan had exaggerated in those explanations of his. “Ethan explained a bit about how everything works,” I confess. “But I’m still struggling to wrap my head around it... Honestly, it’s hard for me to come to terms with all his lies. Vi.”
She bites her lower lip. “Look, I’m aware Ian did you a lot of wrong, Allie. But he didn’t know you were his fated mate back then... I don’t even know if you know about it,” she glances toward the door before turning her eyes back to me and continuing, “Do you know why he always makes sure there’s medicines stocked in almost every room of the packhouse?”
I frown. “No,” I reply, remembering the medicine he keeps on the nightstand in his bedroom.
“We werewolves don’t need to take medicine, Allie. It’s just for you. And he did it long before he broke the curse,” Vi tells me. “I don’t want you to feel bad about this, but the entire pack had to hide so you wouldn’t find out. Ian made them conceal who they were just because my brother didn’t want you to leave here. He was always worried about your safety, Allie. Since the day you moved in, he’s been doing things you have no idea about, like adjusting the packhouse’s temperature to keep you comfortable, making all of us shut all the damn windows at night because *‘the cold might be too much for the human skin’*.” She deepens her voice to sound like his.
“But I’m the only human here,” I catch myself saying my thoughts without intending to speak them out loud.
“Exactly!” Vi says with a satisfied smile. “Ian is an Alpha, Allie, and Alphas always put the greater good before one person. A pack before a member. It’s in his genetics, and even so, without knowing that you were his fated mate, he chose you first in things that you have no idea. After he met you, I wondered why but I have only realized the answer now. The signs were all there that you were his fated mate, but we assumed he would only meet you after the curse was broken, not a moment sooner.” Vi takes a deep breath. “Boy, he did try to avoid you, but he just couldn’t.” She chuckles.
I clutch the small bottle she handed me, rolling it between my fingers as a faint smile tugs at my lips, her words finally sinking in. But then, without meaning to, my smile twists into a smirk as memories of the two of us flood my mind. I blush.
“Ew, wipe that smile off right now! You’re not supposed to be thinking such dirty things while I’m still here.” I giggle at her reaction, and she takes it like encouragement because she goes on, “Gross,” Vi groans. “That’s my brother!”

🐺 🐺 🐺

“What do you want, Ethan?” I ask, closing his big bedroom door behind me.
Leaning on one of the wooden bedposts, he runs his hand over his face. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn he muttered ‘You’.
Ethan scans my face, and then his eyes travel to my body before licking and biting his lower lip. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
I lightly touch my face, where I was hurt near my eye. “Yeah, that liquid thing Vi gave me worked wonders on my wounds.”
With a faint smile, Ethan cautiously steps toward me, hesitating slightly—probably because I’ve been holding him at bay, stopping him from coming closer to me with a raised hand ever since yesterday when we arrived, or maybe when he finally came clean with the truth of his world.
When he’s just one step away, he inhales, deep and slow, until his lungs are full, closing his eyes. “Little Dove.” Opening his dark orbs, he goes on, “I miss you.”
“Is that just why you called me here to your bedroom?” I ask, crossing my arms.
“*Our* bedroom,” Ethan firmly corrects me. “You should have slept here yesterday. With me. Like it should be every night.” He gently tucks my hair behind my ear. “*Trust me*, I couldn’t sleep knowing you weren’t here with me.”
Though it’s not exactly what he’s asking me to trust, I shoot, “How am I supposed to trust you, Ethan? How? After everything you lied to me!”
That has him falling back on a foot like I’ve shoved him or something. “Besides what I told you about my world, I have never given you a reason not to trust me. I—”
The laugh that comes out of me is mirthless. “And you think that’s a small thing? Finding out, out of nowhere, that the world you thought existed isn’t even a third of what it really is, huh? Ethan...” I take a deep breath. “I told you everything about my life. Everything. I begged you to give me crumbs about yours. About you. And you did? No! You left me in the dark. I don’t even know if you told me everything there is to know because I saw you killing a man like it was nothing!”
A knowing expression falls over his face. “After everything I’ve done, after every time I have come to you when you needed me since the first time you came to my pack, you’re still thinking I’m a murderer, aren’t you?” 
He moves closer, trying to touch my face, but I take a step back. 
Ethan nods to himself.
I blink, and then I find Ethan right next to me, towering over me like he really wants me to hear him. “I killed that fucking asshole because he sexually assaulted a member of my pack. I would do it again and again to protect any of them. I never said I was perfect, Alicent, but I am not a psycho. I know I lied and hid about a lot of things, and for that I apologize again. In case what I told you wasn’t clear enough, I love you, Alicent. If I could, I would never have hidden everything from you or treated you that way.”
As good as that statement feels, it’s hard to trust again.
Trust *my heart* to someone again.
I don’t trust Ethan’s open face or the way my body feels being this close to him. 
“So I’m supposed to believe you, an Alpha Werewolf, want to accept a human who only brought trouble to your doorstep since day one as your soulmate? That even after I shot you five times, you somehow still want to be with me? That you love me? Did the time you spent cursed make you desperate, or are you just insane?” 
No one in their right mind would want me after that. And Ethan doesn’t even know about that black light...
A faint smile lifts the edges of his mouth. “My time cursed was difficult to endure. But it didn’t make me insane or desperate to choose a mate. It was only after seeing your heart, your mind, your aura did I feel something. Your fights are my fight. You’re perfect for me. Even when you’re driving me crazy!” he says softly. “I want you so bad I can’t even think straight. You’ve been on my mind ever since I met you, Little Dove. All day. And when you’re not, it’s just because you’re right next to me. Because all I see is you. You, and only you.”
Ethan comes closer, boxing me in.
“Why do I love you? So many reasons, baby.” His deep, raspy voice causes me to repress a moan. “I love your sweetness and loyalty and fire and sass. The way your mind works. Your willingness to do what needed to get done like a true Luna. Your love of our son.”
My butt hit the bedroom door, stopping my retreat, and Ethan rests a hand on the door, crowding me so there is no chance of me getting away. I am not exactly sure I want to.
*Our* son. I almost stop breathing.
“So tell me, Little Dove. Are you going to admit you feel the same for me, too, or do I need to do a little more convincing?”
Swallowing hard, I can’t find my words. I look up at him. Ethan’s so tall he has to bend his neck to look me in the eye. 
“You already want me. You already want to trust me. You just won’t let yourself believe it, Little Dove. Because you’ve been alone ever since your family died, and the one person you thought you could count on all this time turned out to be a psychopath kidnapper.” 
That pisses me off. “Get out of my head. Stop mindlinking me, Werewolf!”
Ethan slightly presses his body against mine, a wicked smile blooming over his lips. “I’m not in your head, nor can I read your thoughts.” His smile widens. “But I know I’m in your heart the same way you’re in mine, love. I know what you really want. I can practically taste it. Let me give it to you.”
I’ve never been so happy to have chosen a floral dress with a padded bra to wear before coming here because my nipples can probably cut glass. And that says nothing about the way my breath stutters in my lungs and my thighs clench. 
How do I get here? How have I gone from feeling angry to wanting him so badly? What the heck?
And now I’m fighting with myself to not rise on my toes and just kiss him.
Because ever since I met him, I’ve always been fighting with my feelings for him.
Because somewhere inside me, I always knew Ethan’s different. He has only ever protected me.
As much as I want to not trust him, as much as I want to hold onto the ghost of my and his failures, I can’t do it anymore.
Unable to control my hand, I touch his chest, my fingers lingering before I lower them a bit as if taking them away is tantamount to torture. 
But before I can take my hand off him, Ethan’s hand covers mine on his chest, pressing it into him like he wants my hold to never leave him.
“That depends, Ethan,” I breathe, hoping I sound confident or even a little sexy.
“On what, my Little Dove?” 
“On if you can make me come.” 
Ethan’s smile practically makes me curl my bare toes. “As if you don’t know it already.”
With a smirk now, Ethan cups my face, jerking my jaw up and exposing my mouth to his. But the bastard doesn’t kiss me. 
No. 
He hovers.
He waits, drawing out this tension between us in my gut until it snaps.
Until I’m the one that snaps.
Unable to stop myself, I give in and reach up on my toes, pressing a fevered kiss to his lips, tasting him the way I want since I step in the door behind me. 
It takes him a second to respond, his surprise doing funny things to my belly. Oh, but when Ethan does, it is as if I have given him the green light on every dirty thing in his mind.
One second, I’m standing there against the door, his body pressed against mine, and the next, Ethan’s lifted me in his arms. Then he turns around and walks to his massive bed before planting my back on it, his hips between my legs as he devours my mouth. 
A thrill shoots down my body. Ethan’s thumb grazes the underside of my breast, his other hand firmly holds onto my ass as his mouth moves from mine to my neck. He licks and nibbles the skin. 
I pant softly against my will. But I find myself ripping his shirt from his skin and struggling with the buckle of his belt.
“Tell me what you want, my Little Dove,” Ethan whispers against my neck, letting his lips graze the skin as he speaks. His deep, raspy voice causes me to repress a moan. 
He can do nearly anything to me, and I know for sure I’ll likely love every minute of it. I especially want him to keep doing that thing with his hand on my ribs and his thumb almost grazing my nipple. Every time I moan, his fingers tighten.
Belt forgotten, I breathe, “You.”  
A second later, he has a hold of my ass and is dragging it to the edge of the bed. Then those huge, sexy hands go to the straps of my dress and pull them down, making my breasts bounce as he exposes them to him. 
Ethan’s hands work fast; unlike the straps of the dress, he rips my panties off as if they had personally offended him. But then, the next instant, he is pocketing them.
And before I can complain about my panties, Ethan hooks his hands under my thighs, pushing my legs open and back so I’m fully stretched and exposed to him.
Closing his eyes, Ethan inhales deeply. When he opens them again, his dark eyes are even darker, as though his pupils are blown wide.
Ethan looks like a hungry beast, ready to attack. My entire core clenches with anticipation and need. “So. Fucking. Beautiful,” Ethan says, his voice a guttural growl that reminds me he, indeed, is a Werewolf from the very depths of this mad world. At the moment, though, I can’t find a single thing wrong with that. 
“Is all this delicious cream for me, Little Dove?” 
“Ethan!” I blush my whole face. 
Then Ethan gets down to the business of devouring me.
And devour me, he does.
He takes a long, lazy lick from my asshole to my clit, sending a jolt of surprise through me. 
“Oh God!”