Jackie shook her head and gulped only to find her throat sorely in need of some water. “I’m fine,” she croaked.
Tara looked back at Thomas and they both watched her with concerned gazes.
“I’m sorry I didn’t think my question would get you all riled up.”
Jackie pressed a hand to her pounding forehead. “What question?”
She couldn’t recall any conversation with the girl, only kept seeing images of Thane naked, kissing other women. Her heart started pounding again so she forced her mental wall up, lining it with bricks, steel, titanium, a hundred layers of wood, anything.
“I asked you about being Thane’s mate. I was only teasing a bit. I didn’t mean to get you worked up. Here are your kebabs, they’re on the house.” She spoke softly, slowly as if she might spook Jackie. That had her snatching the kebabs and turning away without a goodbye.
How would anyone even know about her and Thane? She doubted anyone saw them kiss outside that club. Could it be...
Jaw cracking as she ground it side to side. Jackie heard a snap. Looking down she saw the three skewers split in half, the meat dangling down precariously. With a disgusted sigh, she dropped the food into a trash bin and got away from the pack.
She headed for the forest before she even realized it. As she crossed into the woods, her stress levels reduced instantly. It was like a soothing balm. The pounding at her forehead dissipated until she forgot about it as she trekked over fallen branches and loose soil covered with fallen leaves from the towering trees.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep her mind from returning to Tara’s question and what it meant. Had he been going around behind her back telling people that she was his? Staking some kind of invisible, unimaginable, claim on her as if her opinions or wants didn’t matter.
Baring her teeth in a snarl, she let her beast rise to give her added strength, then she spun and slammed her palm into a tree. The tree groaned in protest, chunks of bark falling to the ground; the leaves swung and shook.
This was unacceptable. She wasn’t his. No matter what he said, no matter that when their lips touched, she hadn’t felt the same since. Kisses weren’t supposed to be like that. Weren’t supposed to freeze her in place, slow the world around them, and make her feel strange, fluttery things in her stomach.
A soft sound came from behind her. Jackie spun, eyes glaring. Within a second, she had her senses sniffing the area, eyes darting around. She smelled the dark male scent a mere second before a hard body wrapped around her from behind.
Her pulse pounded in an instant, blood warmed like hot syrup, stomach pulsed with need. But she kept her body stiff against him. Would have, should have pulled away but damn her mind wasn’t working quickly enough. She used to pride herself on staying sharp around him but now with scary words like mate being thrown around things were different. Much different.
His hand pressed just below her belly button, pressing her gently back against his body. His lips were at her neck in a second, searing her with their heat, sending chills down her body.
“I’ve missed you,” he said huskily.
Just as Jackie’s eyes started to flutter closed, she roughly pushed away from him.
“You have no right touching like that.”
His eyes were darker than normal, his lids heavy. “I have every right. You’re my mate. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can ease the ache you’ve created.”
Jackie’s mouth opened and closed. “What? I’m not your mate! And I haven’t created any ache. Leave me alone, Thane.” She started walking in the opposite direction. It was too dangerous staying here in the quiet woods, the sensual smells of the earth teasing her senses, the moonlight casting them in shadows.
She made it three steps before he was in front of her pushing her backwards. Her back hit a tree and then his body covered hers, hips pressing against hers. She felt the massive steel of his erection and barely stifled a shiver.
She tried to recall the anger she’d been feeling. She remembered Tara’s remarks and it worked to cool the ardor. “You’ve been telling lies about me,” she said between clamped teeth.
He grinned at her and put one arm above her head so he could lean in. “Not lies. What shapeshifter wouldn’t be joyous to tell everyone he finally found his mate?”
She looked at him like he was daft. Slowly she said, “I’m not your mate.”
He continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “Besides I have to let the other males know that you’ve been claimed.” He said the words so seductively, with huskiness to his already deep voice. Then his lips were at the corner of her mouth pressing light, airy kisses across her cheek.
“You’ve been hiding from me, Jacquelyn.”
She stiffened at the use of her full name. No one used her full name. His hand reached down to curl around her hip and she almost moaned. How could something so simple feel so damned good? His lips found her ear, then her neck pressing more of those soft, light kisses that both made her shiver and hot at the same time.
“Stop.” She hoped he didn’t hear the breathiness of her voice but then he chuckled against her neck. Teeth grazed her, almost biting and she found herself leaning into him, craving the feel of his bite.
“You drive me wild, mate. Haven’t slept good in days. Dream nothing but of you, naked, sweating in my arms.” His voice sounded faraway as if he were remembering. His tongue darted out and licked a line up her neck.
Her fingers flexed and it was then that she realized she’d curled them around his shoulders. The strong muscles underneath were hot, sinewy with strength.
“Tell me you think about me too.” It was a hoarse plea that did strange things to her heart.
“Thane, I-I...no.”
He growled against her neck, his hands tightening at her hips in warning. “That isn’t what I wanted to hear.”
He grabbed her hand from his shoulder and pressed it against his cock.
“Do you see what you do to me?” His eyes were wild with a dangerous light, one she’d never seen before.
“I didn’t do that.”
He laughed. “Your scent,” he said diving his nose against the hollow of her neck, into her hair, “follows me everywhere. I search for it when you’re not around. I want more of it when you are. Tell me don’t feel the same,” he challenged roughly.
Jackie’s sex, so slick with need, pounded in time to her rapid pulse. “I don’t.”
Suddenly she was cold. He tore away from her and slammed a fist into a tree. Whereas when she’d done it the tree merely shuddered and shook a bit, when Thane did it, branches fell and a hole appeared where his fist was. He was breathing hard as he turned back to her.
He looked like he was losing control...over her. Jackie had never felt more torn about anything in her life. She wanted him desperately, wanted to ease the frustration in him, to believe his words that he so intensely believed. But how could she face the other women? Dozens of them at least living right alongside her.
He took a deep breath that seemed to calm him. “How long do you think you can keep up this lie?”
Jackie had no words. He growled at her silence.
In a harsh voice he said, “Don’t lie to me. Tell me you dream about me, think about me.” He sounded so torn, desperate. Jackie’s heart panged in her chest. She tried rubbing it but it didn’t help. His eyes won her over, raw with the desperation.
She looked away from him to focus on a pile of fallen orange and red leaves. “I do. Haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that...night.” Her heart pumped wildly in her chest at her admission. She heard him suck in a breath.
“Then what’s the problem?” He spread his arms open in frustration.