Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(16)
“I’ll wait until you’re ready for that, but I won’t be pushed away,” Bracken warned. “I won’t be kept at a distance. I won’t tolerate walls or barriers—not just because I won’t allow there to be anything standing between us, but because you don’t need to protect yourself from me. You hear me, Madisyn? I’ll move at your pace, but you have to let me in. You have to get used to not being alone anymore. It’s the only way I’ll be able to hold back from claiming you for a while.”
Madisyn stared at him, more than a little off-balance by the raw possessiveness and sheer determination glittering in his eyes. She jutted out her chin. “You’ll hold back because I’m telling you to hold back.”
His mouth kicked up into a smile. “And you’ll let me in because you know I won’t have it any other way.” He kissed her again, licking into her mouth, indulging in one last taste of her. He pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. He wanted to stay right there, where he could see and touch and taste her anytime he liked. Wanted to stay and cosset her and be sure she was safe. But she did need space, and he’d give her what little he could of it. Because after tonight, he’d be all up in her business in a way that would drive her crazy.
Bracken pushed away from the counter, ignoring how his wolf raked at his insides in objection. “Lock up after me. Stay safe. Call me if you need anything. Anything.”
For the second time that night, Madisyn followed him to the door and watched him head to his SUV. She also stepped out onto the porch and took a moment to glance around, on the lookout for any cars coming, but the road was quiet. His pack mates were waiting in the other SUV, and they eyed her and Bracken a little suspiciously.
His eyes flicked to hers just before he hopped into the SUV. And she saw his struggle, knew it was hard for him to leave. She just wished it was because he’d miss her and not because his instincts told him to stay by her side. And yeah, that was sort of unreasonable, since he didn’t know her well enough to miss her. But she’d had one fuck of a shock—she was entitled to be a little unreasonable.
When he shot her a raised eyebrow, she knew he wouldn’t drive off until he was sure she was safely inside the house. With an inner eye roll, Madisyn went inside and then closed and locked the door behind her. Leaning back against it, she let out a long breath. Vodka. She needed vodka.
CHAPTER FOUR
A chime pierced Madisyn’s dream and tugged her out of a deep sleep. Her phone was ringing, she realized. Blinking away the cloudy vestiges of sleep, she snatched her cell from the nightstand. Makenna. After swiping her thumb across the screen, Madisyn slurred, “Hello?”
“Why am I hearing from Taryn that you brawled with three sows last night?”
Rubbing at her eyes, Madisyn explained, “I got home super late, and I didn’t want to wake you. How did Taryn find out about it?”
“Are you forgetting that she and Shaya are BFFs? What the hell happened last night?”
“I’ll explain everything when I see you at the shelter in”—Madisyn glanced at the clock—“an hour. The brawl is connected to the shelter, so I’ll tell you all about it. But I want to tell you and Dawn at the same time.”
A sigh. “Fine. You okay? I heard about Bracken. Must have been a shock for you.”
She tensed. “What?”
“Um, hello, that you watched him get knocked over by a hit-and-run driver last night? Ring any bells?”
“Oh. Right. Of course.”
“Are you okay? You sound weird.”
“I’m fine. Really. Just tired.”
“All right. See you soon.”
Madisyn returned her phone to the nightstand and buried her face in the plush pillow as memories of her conversation with Bracken began to play through her mind.
Lying in bed last night unable to sleep, she’d done a whole lot of thinking and—although she’d continued to freak out in her mind—she’d nonetheless made peace with three things. One, Bracken Slater was in fact her true mate, even if it didn’t seem to fit. Two, he wasn’t going to walk away, so she’d have to give this thing between them a chance. Three, she didn’t truly want him to walk away, but letting him in wouldn’t be easy.
It wasn’t just because pallas cats kept an emotional distance from others by nature. It was because Madisyn’s reflexive response to “change” was to reject it, and a whole lot of changes would come with accepting Bracken as her mate.
For one thing, she’d have to join his pack. That meant she’d have to answer to people, which she didn’t do well with at all. She’d been a lone shifter all her life, couldn’t imagine having Alphas whom she’d need to heed, support, report to, and even seek permission from to do certain things. She liked Shaya and Nick and could swear loyalty to them. But answer to them? That would be one fuck of a struggle.
She’d also have to move onto Bracken’s territory, which would be difficult. She’d not only have to share living space, she’d have to deal with his pack mates turning up day and night. She’d also be expected to eat with them at least once a day. To add to that, she could say goodbye to privacy. Living on pack territory would be like living in a small town—there were no secrets, everyone knew each other’s business . . . much like it had been at the shelter.