Jolie took the risk of slowly stepping up alongside Liam. He didn’t seem to notice her. She made him notice when she pushed her fingers through his coarse grey fur.

That seemed to startle him, and Liam looked back at her, his eyes glowing, but his growl looked a touch less…growly, she supposed when he saw it was her.

He did know it was her. She’d been hoping for this, and now that she had it, she was glad for it. The relief was so much it was as if a real physical ache she’d been carrying around had finally stopped hurting so much.

Jolie breathed a sigh of relief, and she looked back up at Dempsey. “I’m sorry for tricking you, but I’m not going with you. I’m staying with him.”

Dempsey shook his head. “No, he’ll kill you if you stay with him.”

“No, but he will kill you.” She needed him to see that, to understand it for real this time. “If he attacks you, I won’t be able to stop him, and Dustin and the others are getting Red out of here. You’re by yourself.”

“I’m an alpha.”

“Yes, you are, and Liam is bigger and stronger than you are, and I can’t control him.”

She said it slowly, not because she thought Dempsey was stupid, but she definitely didn’t want any of his alpha pride coming forward and getting him killed.

Seeing Red’s blood had been enough. Her ears were ringing because of all the violence. She couldn’t take anymore. She wanted to beg Dempsey to turn around and go back to Renzo, but she said nothing else.

If he did as she’d asked him to, he would do it now. He wouldn’t wait any longer.

Dempsey growled. His eyes were such a bright shade of red that it had taken over his pupils. Jolie’s heart stopped. Holy shit. He was going to attack. He wasn’t going to stop. He was going to come at her and Liam was going to kill him.

She waited, unable to breathe or move and already trying to think about how she could possibly change his mind and get him to stop.

Dempsey’s shoulders bunched up and in that next moment, the tension released in a heaving sigh. He barely let himself look away from Liam. A man was never supposed to take his eyes off the enemy waiting to gut him from the front, never mind an alpha who wanted to bite off his face.

“I’ll come back for you,” Dempsey said, his fists clenched, looking to Jolie once more before glaring at the bear-sized wolf in front of him.

Jolie shook her head. “You wouldn’t be saving me from anything, Dempsey. I want to be here.”

Dempsey shook his head, but whether he believed it or not, Jolie wouldn’t know, because he started to back away.

Liam made as if he wanted to follow, but Jolie fisted her hand into his fur. When the wolf felt the tug, he growled back at her, but at least he stopped following Dempsey.

Jolie shook her head. “You don’t need his blood.”

She prayed he listened.

Dempsey took another step back, and then another. Jolie didn’t move and she wouldn’t allow Liam to move either. Only when Dempsey was a fair enough distance away that he could get some real traction did he turn his back on his enemy, properly shifting into his wolf shape and running off.

Jolie still didn’t move, and at least now Liam didn’t seem to be fighting her on wanting to chase, though he did release what sounded to be a hard sigh.

“I know you want to kill him,” Jolie soothed. “That’s just too damned bad for you.”

Liam growled back at her.

Jolie looked the wolf right in the eyes. She was the mate of a wild wolf. She’d set herself up for this, for the rest of her life. It was time for her to learn how to not back down when the wolf showed his teeth.

END CHAP 9

START CHAP 10

It took about ten minutes before Liam stopped growling as if he was watching a squirrel get away from him.

And even then, Jolie was so paranoid he would want to chase after Dempsey, or Red, that she refused to let him go for another five minutes after that.

She figured, hoped, that they would be far enough away by then that a wolf eager to hunt wouldn’t want to bother with them.

She released her grip on Liam’s fur. Jolie hissed when she did so; the blood rushing back into her aching knuckles absolutely did not feel good.

At least Liam wasn’t growling at her anymore. It was progress.

He definitely didn’t look happy, though, so it wasn’t as if she could feel overly safe and good about that.

“Liam? Please give me a sign you recognize me.”

The wolf stepped forward. Jolie stepped back.

Those bright wolf eyes glanced down to her hand.

Jolie looked, and was shocked to see she still had Dempsey’s gun in her hand. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the handle, but her finger was not on the trigger. At least that was something good.

Liam made a soft noise deep in his throat. A groaning sound that got her attention, and made her understand what he was upset about.

She bent down, still keeping her movements slow and steady to keep herself from startling him. She let the gun settle on the ground before standing back up.

Liam sat down, his back straight and paws perfectly in front of him.

Jolie’s heart pounded hard and fast, but in that moment, she couldn’t help but look at him as if he was the most regal thing in the world.

He was beautiful. And alive.

“Are you…are you okay now?”

She didn’t expect an answer. Part of her thought she would be handling Liam in his wolf shape for the next several hours before he came out of it. Not that it mattered so long as he wasn’t attacking her or carrying her off by the scruff of her neck.

She just didn’t think he would transform back into his human shape so suddenly, and be standing there in all his naked glory so soon.

Liam shook his body off, as if he was shaking out loose hairs. It was ridiculous to watch him do in his human shape, and Jolie laughed at the sight.

She needed to laugh after what she’d just been through.

When Liam looked at her, she couldn’t make herself stop. “I’m sorry. Sorry, it was just funny watching you do that.”

He rubbed his hand through his hair, which was long and loose, and a touch messy on the sexier side, around his shoulders. “Did you have to grab my fur like that?”

He asked it as if he wasn’t finding the whole situation as funny as she was. He sounded more put off about the whole thing.

Which was when she realized he’d spoken to her, as if he was in control, and as if he remembered what she’d been doing to him.

No faster way to get her serious and alert than to speak, apparently. “You…you were in control?”

“Barely,” Liam growled, his eyes narrowing at her. “What the hell were you thinking getting in the middle of that? I could have killed you.”

Jolie had to think about what he just said. “So, you got your control back when I got in the way?”

“You’re lucky I did.” He sounded furious. He looked it, too. His shoulders bunched up. Some of his veins popped and his fists were clenched hard enough that his arms trembled. “I nearly killed you. I might not have recognized your scent in time and I would have put my teeth around your throat and—”

Jolie rushed at him, shutting him up as she reached up, grabbed him by the ears and yanked his head down, crushing their mouths together.

The perfect way to shut him up.

Again, he seemed shocked to have her mouth on his, but like the last time, it had the desired effect. He was quiet, and then his body melted against hers, allowing her to mold their mouths together the way she wanted, the way she’d needed to ever since she’d found him.

That one little quick kiss she’d given to him before rushing out of their cave hadn’t been nearly enough.

He was alive and well and he was himself. He could understand her. He was here with her and everything was going to be all right now because Dempsey was gone and it would be hours before he was able to come back.

This time, it would be with even more people than before if he could get Renzo to sign off on it. That didn’t matter now because the only thing in the world Jolie cared about was the taste of Liam’s mouth.

She licked the crease of his lips, delighting in the way his mouth parted from the sudden shock of the touch, allowing her to teasingly lick at the inside, her tongue very briefly touching his.

She pulled back, too happy with herself for being brave enough to stand up to Dempsey, and with Liam for knowing who she was even when he clearly had been struggling for control.

“Your body is stiff.”

Liam glared at her, the pointed ends of his fangs showing. “Of course it is when you kiss me like that.”

Jolie barked a laugh, and had to quickly stifle it from the embarrassment of making a noise like that, but she couldn’t help it. She could hardly contain it, even as she covered her mouth.

Jolie shook her head, getting control over herself. “I’m not talking about your…you know.” She glanced down to his dick.

Yeah, it was stiff, and looking right up at her as if it had a mind of its own and wanted something from her.

Right, as much as she wanted to give in and put them both out of their misery, now wasn’t the best time for that. They needed to get out of here.

“I was talking about the rest of your body,” she said, taking Liam by his wrists and putting his hands onto her hips. “You’re allowed to touch me when we’re kissing like this.”

“Are others allowed to touch you like this?”

“They’d have to be kissing me, and no one other than you is allowed to kiss me.”

That got his attention nicely enough. Jolie noted the sudden spark in his eyes, and the faint upward curl at the corner of his scarred mouth.

The grip of his hands tightened very briefly just then, and Jolie couldn’t have been more proud in that moment.

“If Dempsey had touched you, tried to take you away, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. You should know that.”

Jolie nodded. lifting her arms and curling then neatly around his neck. They fit there so perfectly. “I know. We can deal with that. You’re only a little wild. We can work with the rest.”

“I have nothing to give you.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll share what I’ve got and you can provide the muscle.”

Liam growled at her again. “You’re determined to be a pest, aren’t you?”

She grinned up at him, her fingers twirling into his hair. “If by pest, you mean not put up with your self-pitying shit, then yes, absolutely.” Liam rolled his eyes, that hard growl still on his mouth when Jolie grabbed him by the chin and made him look back at her. “Cut that out and kiss me. We don’t have long before we have to get out of here. They’ll be back.”

Liam nodded. “And if they try to take you, I will kill them.”

“Try not to.”

“What will you do if I kill someone and can’t stop myself?” he asked. “You wouldn’t want to be with me then, would you?”

It was a valid enough question, and one Jolie realized she had to answer right now. “You’re my mate,” she said softly. “It took me long enough to come for you, and so long as you do your best to not kill anyone whenever possible, then if it happens, we’ll deal with it then. I’ll still be with you. I won’t leave you alone again.”

It seemed to be the again part that got to him the most. Jolie noted the hard movement in his Adam’s apple as he swallowed, and the tension in his jaw when he nodded.

“I promise, that for you, I will do my best to not kill him, even though Dempsey deserves it.”

Jolie wasn’t sure if Dempsey did deserve it or not, but she wasn’t going to argue with him about it right now. Not when they were so close to making peace on this.

Baby steps. Jolie was going to make baby steps, and this was enough progress that she could be happy.

“You’re going to be a wild card, aren’t you?”

Liam tilted his head to the side a little, as if he didn’t fully understand her.

Jolie shook her head, smiling. “Never mind, I’ll explain later, but right now we need to get you cleaned up and dressed if we’re going to head into town.”

Liam tensed. “Leave the pack?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “And it’ll be okay to leave because we have each other. There’s a clan of bears not that far from here. We can ask to join then.”

Liam’s nostrils flared. He looked anything but happy about the thought of leaving the pack.

Even though he’d been kicked out of it, after how badly they had treated him after his father’s death, it was still home.

“I don’t want to leave it either, but Liam, you are my home now. I can be happy anywhere we go so long as you’re alive and healthy and safe with me.”

“It will be my job to make sure you are those things.”

She smiled at that. “And I will be, just stay with me, please?” she begged.

He looked down at her. His hand came up, touching the softness of her wolf ear.

Jolie winced a little when he touched the hole Dempsey had punched into it.

Liam pulled his hand back, glancing at the blood on his fingers, and then at her. He nodded. “I will go with you. Anywhere you go, I will have to follow.” He sighed. “The pack…you are half the reason I stayed. More than half. With you not there anymore, there’s no point.”

Jolie honestly felt as if she could cry. The sudden burn in her eyes hit her had. It was a struggle to hold back. “Really?”

Liam nodded, and there was something adorably innocent about how this powerful alpha could barely allow himself to look into her eyes in that moment. As if he was embarrassed to admit to this. “Yes.”

Jolie couldn’t contain herself. She bounced on her heels and had to kiss him again, so she did, and this time, Liam came down with a little less shock on his face, his mouth not quite as stiff as before.

He was getting better at this.

And the heat of the kiss, the sensation that this was the most right thing in the world, was still there.

Jolie was kissing her mate. She was kissing the man nature had chosen for her, and she would have never been given this feeling of excitement, and oddly enough, peace, had she ever been forced to kiss Dempsey.

“I’ll take care of you, I promise,” Jolie said between kisses. “Whatever you want, I’ll get it for you, or help you get it.”

If he was so worried about his job qualifications, she’d help him out with that. If he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to provide her with money, then she would be the one to provide it.

Liam seemed to have an opinion about this as he broke off their kiss. “I will give you everything you want, too. I don’t know how—”

“Doesn’t matter how, just shut up and kiss me!” Jolie laughed, and then brought his mouth back down onto hers.

He melted against her, which was fine. It was preferred, actually, and Jolie let herself get swept away in the mouth of her mate.

Might as well enjoy this while they could. After this, they were going to have some real work to do.

To Be Continued......

Ending this chapter by the skin of my teeth with that character limit. Thank you so much for your patience, & to everyone who likes, comments, adds this book to their library, and even tosses me the occasional tip. I love you guys, and I try to reply to every comment so please let me know what you think :) 

Hugs and happy reading!

Mandy