Forever Bound Series 1-4(24)
Some of the wolves laughed.
“As for what I saw…” Morgan shook her head. “Some things are better not said.”
When she turned back to him, memories were in her eyes. While her body might have healed, Jace knew she’d carry the scars inside. Some memories couldn’t be forgotten.
“Is the gateway closed for good?” Because he didn’t want any more demons coming after her.
“Yes.” He still held her hand. She didn’t pull away. She inched closer as she said, “It closed when the demons killed Devon. He was the sacrifice I gave to them. He opened the pit, so it only seemed fitting that he close it.”
Jace waited. He knew there was more.
“I made a deal while I burned.” Her lashes lowered as she stared at their hands. His dark, hers so light. After a moment, she glanced back up at him. “I told those demon *s that if they accepted Devon and shut the door, I wouldn’t send my wolf down to tear hell apart.”
And he would have. If they’d kept her…
“When you yanked me out of their hands, they realized I was serious. You were ready for hell. But hell wasn’t ready for you.” Her hand fisted beneath his. “Besides, I don’t think the guy in charge down there really liked for his demons to escape.”
No, Jace bet he hadn’t been eager to lose those bastards. “So it’s over,” he said.
“No.” Now her body brushed against his. “The demons are gone, but things are far from over.” Her head tilted back. Her lips were inches from his. “In fact, I think you promised me that things would just be getting started…”
They would be.
“You locked me in a cage,” she told him, a faint frown pulling between her eyes.
He brought his hands up to curl around her shoulders. “But I also pulled you out of hell. Makes us even, doesn’t it?”
Her soft laughter put an ache in his chest.
“I don’t know,” she told him, “I think that might put you ahead.”
His lips took hers because his control broke. The kiss was too rough, too wild, but that was his way.
And she kissed him back just as wildly and with just as much desperate need.
He lifted his mouth from hers long enough to growl, “There’s no score between mates. You don’t owe me anything.” He wanted her out of the bar and naked beneath him.
“I owe you forever,” she told him as she rose onto her toes and kissed him again. “And that’s what I’m giving you.”
Forever with his vampiress…it was the only thing he wanted.
“You’re mine, wolf,” she told him. “And I’m not letting you go.”
Enough. He grabbed her and hoisted her high into his arms. The pack shouted and laughed as he passed them, but he didn’t slow down. He wanted her alone.
Wanted in her.
Jace took her upstairs. Since his house had burned, he’d taken over Howling Moon. The apartment above the bar had a bed, and that was all he needed.
He kicked the door shut behind them and lowered her in front of him.
Morgan smiled at him. “When are you going to say that you love me?”
He blinked. “But…you already know.” She had to know.
“A woman still likes to hear the words.”
He yanked off his shirt and kicked off his boots. Then he reached for her. If she needed the words, he’d damn well give them to her. He’d give her anything. “I love you.”
Her fangs glinted. “And I love you, wolf.”
Enemies no more. Lovers.
Mates.
Forever.
They’d told the devil to screw off, and now they had eternity waiting.
Sometimes, it was good to be an alpha wolf…
Very f*cking good.
Prologue
“I know what you are.”
Cade Thain carefully put his whiskey glass down and glanced up at the woman before him. “And what’s that?” His hands flattened on the old, wooden table.
She sat down and leaned toward him. Her hair was blonde, her skin a sun-kissed gold. And her eyes—they were the coldest blue he’d ever seen in his life. “You’re a werewolf.”
He laughed, the sound deep and loud.
Her jaw tightened. “And you’re an assassin.”
Cade kept the smile on his face. “Lady, you’re crazy.”
“No, I’m not.” A thread of anger—no, that thread was far closer to fury—rumbled beneath her words. “I’m here to hire you.”
Cade glanced to the left. To the right. In this pit of hell that passed for a bar in some hole-in-the-wall Oregon town, no one was paying any attention to anyone. Or anything. “You’ve got the wrong man,” he said slowly.
Her gaze searched his face. “Not too many men have scars like yours.” And that icy stare had locked on the scar that slipped from his right eyebrow all the way down to his jaw. Another scar sliced around his neck. There were more, so many more, hidden beneath his clothes. “Cut you with silver, didn’t they?” she asked softly. “When you were so young that you could barely heal.”
Fuck, yeah, they had. His back was covered with long, twisting scars. Wounds administered by sick pricks that Cade had personally sent to burn. Cade had been fourteen when he made those kills.