Wild and Free (The Three #3)(23)

Abel



Abel heard him long before he got to the door and knew by the familiarity of the sound who was coming.

So he didn’t stop drilling the screw into the hinge that would eventually be attached to a door to the toilet as the footsteps approached and the steel door opened.

“Yo!” Wei called over the drill. “Soup’s on and Ma wants your ass upstairs.”

Abel stopped drilling and looked to his brother. “Gonna get this done.”

Wei looked to the hinge, then back to Abel. “You can finish it after. Food’s on the table and Ma’s getting shitty.”

“I’ll be up when this is done,” Abel reiterated.

Wei’s brows went up. “You gonna court the wrath of Jian-Li?”

Normally, he would not do this. He was older than her, helped raise her, was stronger than her by far, but the woman had a temper. She was also the matriarch, a matriarch with four sons, all of whom were unruly in one way or another (including him). So no matter that Abel had one hundred and forty years on her; when needed, Jian-Li had an iron fist, even with Abel.

Still, he was not dragging his ass up there.

Not until he had a handle on it.

And knowing Delilah was up there, he was not close to having a handle on it. Not after he woke up hearing her make noises in her sleep that told him exactly what she was dreaming. Not after hearing her say “Abel, baby” like she was just about ready to come.

It had nearly torn him out of his skin, staying seated in that chair and not going to the bed, positioning her and mounting her, even in her sleep.

But it was definitely more. Something in him he didn’t understand was driving him to connect with Delilah in such a way, he was losing the struggle to fight it. In a way so powerful, he feared he’d harm her while doing it. But if he did, he knew at the very least he’d scare the shit out of her.

She told him she was hanging on by a thread and he got that. The shit she was learning, seeing, and experiencing—he was shocked as hell (and pleased as f*ck) she was handling it as well as she was. And he was even more pleased that the destiny he knew was his, which included her in it, she clearly felt as well.

But he needed to make her feel safer, to guide her to trust him, trust his family, allow her time to get to know all of them, primarily him; not attack her, force himself on her, possibly hurt her, and, in doing any of that, destroy any chance of ever gaining her trust.

So he had to get his shit together before he saw her again.

He just didn’t know how.

“She’s cool with it,” Wei stated, taking Abel out of his thoughts.

“What?”

“You goin’ gonzo about me touching her. Chen explained you were intense. She told us she’d already noticed that, then made a joke. She’s cool with it.”

At least that was something.

“She’s just cool,” Wei said, getting closer. “She’s up in the private room with Ma, Chen, and Xun, crackin’ jokes about all that went down last night and tellin’ us about her dad comin’ tomorrow. A dad who sounds like a f*ckin’ lunatic.” He stopped close to Abel, smiling his approval of Delilah’s “f*cking lunatic” father, but his smile died as he finished quietly. “She’s settling in, man, a lot easier than any of us would have expected. You don’t have to worry.”

Even if all that was excellent news, Abel stared into his brother’s eyes and laid it out.

“I need to f*ck her.”

Wei grinned. “I see that. Don’t rip my head off, literally, when I say it’s good to see your fated woman is seriously hot.”

“No, Wei,” Abel said slowly, “I need to f*ck her.”

Wei stared at him, the humor shifting out of his face.

“Consumed with it, brother,” Abel whispered.

“Shit,” Wei muttered.

“You touched her, honest to Christ, nearly did you harm. You. Almost couldn’t control the urge,” Abel admitted.

“Wolf,” Wei stated, and Abel nodded.

“I’m thinkin’…yeah. Pack traits, alpha male on female. That connects.”

“We’ll all be careful,” Wei promised.

“Know you will. But I gotta calm my shit before I’m with her again.”

Wei tipped his head to the side. “That bad?”

Abel turned fully to him, keeping the drill in his hand even as he crossed his arms on his chest. “That bad. I do not want to make love with her. I don’t wanna kiss her. I don’t want my hands on her. I wanna f*ck her, brother. Hard. Take her. Claim her. She’s known me less than a day and shit has not been good, not by a long shot, so I cannot do that. I gotta give her time. I gotta give her me, and not in that way. And I don’t know what this is…wolf, vampire, both…but I made breakfast with her, ate breakfast with her, talkin’ about important shit, shit that matters, shit she had to know, shit she told me about her I wanted to know, and I did it the whole time struggling with the urge to bend her over my table.”

“Fuck,” Wei whispered.

“Yeah,” Abel agreed.

“So you need to put up the door,” Wei stated.

“Yeah, and find a way to be with her and give her what she needs without takin’ from her what I need, takin’ her away. Because I go in the way I need to go in, she’ll be lost to me.”