She stared at him. Damn. She could almost be certain he knew what she thought about. He could probably even smell her arousal. But instead of feeling embarrassed, Summer felt empowered.
Why did you never come for me, mate? Her voice sounded different to her own ears. Summer couldn’t tell who spoke, she or her wolf and she didn’t care. She paced around him in a circle. Her feet moved seemingly of their own volition.
What? Cullen’s voice sounded stunned, his head whipped around to stare at her. His eyebrows slanted downwards. It was a pretty good guess that she’d astonished him.
Why did you never come for me? Is it a hard question? What was there about me three years ago that you found so objectionable you opted to reject me?
“Summer, I think you’re confused.” The condescension in his voice made every hair on her body stand at attention. She could barely stand it. Moving forward, she shoved him hard. He actually took two steps backwards.
“Don’t talk to me like that.” She snarled at him. Somewhere inside she realized she wasn’t behaving in a reasonable manner. But screw that, he’d wanted her to embrace her wolf. Well, now he could meet her.
I never rejected you. This is insane. He took two steps back and looked down for a second. Was he actually being respectful or was he just trying to placate her?
I don’t know much about being a wolf. But I know what my wolf tells me. We both waited for you. For three years, I expected you to show up and you never did. That was your job, to come and get me. I was your mate.
Summer clenched her fists together to resist the urge to pound on him. He needed to know, to understand what that year had been like. She’d been thrown out of her house for dropping out of college to sing. She’d been completely abandoned by her mate. In the back of her mind, she knew that standing by a burning building was neither the time nor the place to have this long overdue conversation with him but everyone else had left.
She and Cullen were alone.
You are still my mate. Summer snorted at his remark.
Cullen paused and looked around at the ground. Finally, he stared at her and she could see his eyes had taken on a steel hardness of determination. I did come for you. I came to your house and your mother wouldn’t let me see you. She said you were twenty years old and too young for me. You had a life to lead, and she was sure you’d be back in school in a semester. She made me promise that I would leave you alone, completely alone, until you were twenty-five years old.
Cullen’s eyes looked wounded. The same little worry lines that had formed earlier were back around their edges but Summer felt none of the compulsion she’d earlier felt to smooth them or erase their existence.
And you listened to her? Did you ever stop to think what I might have wanted?
My relationship with your mother was always complicated. It might be fair to say it bordered on mutual abhorrence. He touched the top of his head with his hand as if he wanted to run his hands through hair that was too short for the act. I’ll admit to being nervous that if I didn’t agree to what she wanted, she could have soured you against me.
I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say to that. Some of her temper extinguished, Summer turned around and put some space between the two of them. Her eyes felt less dry, her wolf, after having said her peace, backed off.
“I broke my promise to her a couple of times.” His voice sounded hoarse and she turned around.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you mean?”
He looked down. “I came and saw you sing every Thursday night for two months.”
Light rain started and she shivered. Her naked body was unused to the assault by the cold water, but she didn’t want to leave. The logical, unemotional part of her brain noted that the rain would put out the flames.
“I never smelled you, never knew you were there.” She shook her head. The situation was impossible—he was impossible.
“I took herbs to hide my scent, sat in the back of the club. It was called Tiny’s and it was in Greenwich Village. Most nights you wore a red, floor length skirt and a black halter tank top that showed way too much cleavage. It was hell. I could see you up there but I couldn’t touch you, couldn’t even talk to you.”
A sob started in Summer’s throat and she swallowed it. “You were the only person I know who came. My parents never did. It was their protest of my life choices. They thought I’d never make it, that I wasted my time. Ashlee cut me off completely. They were right. After that gig I never got another one. I started waiting tables and doing temp jobs to pay my rent.”
Cullen shook his head. “Your father was proud of you. He wrote me an e-mail once and told me he’d never known anyone with more gumption than you. With all the odds stacked against you, and you never gave up.”
She finally gave into the tears. As they poured down her face, she crouched on the ground. It was too much. She couldn’t take anymore. Cullen’s arms came around her and held her tight against his solid frame.
“Is that what you thought? That I rejected you too?” His voice was low and tight. His cheek pressed awkwardly against her head.
She nodded and sniffed. “You’re the great Cullen Murphy. The most respected member of the pack, the one everyone relies on to get the job done. What would you want with a girl who doesn’t even acknowledge her wolf?”
Cullen took her face in his hands and moved it until she met his eyes. Only inches apart Summer could feel his breath on her face. “That’s just the thing. I’m not that person or that wolf. You saw me for who I am. A killer. That’s what I am, what I’ve always been. I can’t saddle you with me. If we mate, you’ll always be with me. I don’t know what happens during the mating ritual, it’s a secret the mated pair takes with them to the grave, but I know that it connects them somehow. I can’t do that to you.” His grip on her tightened. “I saw you on that stage. You’re an angel.”
“Cullen, you’re such an idiot.” Summer shook her head.
“What?”
“You think fate would give you a mate who couldn’t handle you? I’m not an angel—far from it. I crave the death of those who killed my family. I want revenge. In general, I don’t get along well with people. I love my sister, but I find her holier-than-thou attitude repugnant. I hate it here. I say what I think, and I’m hardly ever polite.” She paused, really wanting him to hear her. “I may never be as great a wolf as you are, Cullen, but as a woman, I think you’ve met your match. And you’d better be prepared.”
She pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him hard. She wanted Cullen Murphy and she would have him. Whether he liked it or not.
Chapter Eight
Screw his better intentions, this time he would not pull away from her embrace. Maybe she was right. Maybe fate had chosen her for him because she could handle his darkness. He’d have to hope that was the case because the longer he kissed Summer the more he didn’t ever want to stop. Everyone who waited for them at the newly built hotel would have to learn the meaning of the word patience or they could all go to hell.
Our mate. I’m so pleased.
His wolf panted inside of him and he resisted the urge to pant on the outside. Summer hadn’t really embraced her wolf yet, she might find that odd.
All coherent thought rushed from Cullen’s mind as Summer pushed her body closer to his. With a grunt, he manipulated their bodies until he lay on top of her, her back pillowed on the soft grass. Somehow this seemed right to him. He’d always felt most comfortable outside, almost as if he was more part of nature than anything else.