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  I took a few moments to gather myself and, when I was certain my eyes would remain dry, I opened them.

  Then I once again did what he commanded. I let go.

  Of Lachlan.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lachlan

  I watched Chloe as she washed the breakfast dishes and I mulled. Something was different. She was different.

  Yesterday, I’d been surprised by the anger that rose up inside me when I heard her say, “I love you” to her friend on the phone. I’d been sure she was talking to a male wolf. I had to tamp down on the urge to walk outside, yank the phone from her hands, and throw it as far as I could.

  The strength of my reaction surprised me. I had no right to be upset if she was involved with another male.

  At that thought, my own wolf growled deep within me. A warning. While my human side understood that Chloe was allowed to have a relationship with anyone she wanted, my wolf hated it.

  Then, when I saw her tears, my anger grew even more. Though she never told me whom she was speaking to, I couldn’t resist the urge to comfort her. For the first time in our acquaintance, she needed me. This strong, dangerous she-wolf needed someone else to shoulder the burdens for a short while.

  Considering she’d dragged me back from the brink of death, a hug seemed like an inadequate repayment.

  Even now, a day later, the memory of how she’d relaxed against me, letting me take her weight and her troubles, was thrilling. The wolf within me wanted to howl in triumph over her surrender. He wanted her submission. Craved it.

  However, when she stepped back out of my embrace, her attitude…changed. She withdrew, the warmth that once sparkled in her hazel eyes was dulled. She was no longer the Chloe I’d known for the last few years.

  As I watched her rinse the last dish, I knew that I needed to get to the root of whatever was bothering her. I needed her focused and alert. I’d come to understand Chloe fairly well and physical exercise seemed to be the best way for her to work through her problems. After she pushed herself through a punishing workout, she often seemed lighter when she was done. Especially when she sparred with the other wolves. Fighting was the best medicine for Chloe MacArthur.

  “We should spar today,” I suggested.

  She glanced at me in surprise. “Sparring? I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re still not back in top shape.”

  Her words were a challenge that I couldn’t let slide. I may have struggled the past nineteen months, but I was a goddamn alpha wolf, even if she seemed to have forgotten that.

  Maybe it was time to remind her.

  “All the more reason to work out,” I retorted. “I need to regain my strength and speed in case we find ourselves in a situation that we need to fight our way out of.”

  She studied me for a long moment, drying her hands on a kitchen towel. “You’re right. You do need the exercise.” Tossing the towel aside, she crossed the cabin to the dresser. “Let me change and we’ll get started.”

  A few minutes later, Chloe led me through the trees to a clearing behind the cabin. We were both barefoot and she wore skintight black pants and a black sports bra. She’d woven her hair in a tight braid down the back of her skull to keep it out of the way. She looked exactly like what she was: a strong, deadly she-wolf.

  I’d changed into a pair of loose athletic shorts, pleased to see that they didn’t hang off my hips as they had just a few weeks ago.

  When we reached the clearing, Chloe tossed her water bottle and phone onto the grass at the edge and moved toward the center. I did the same with my phone before heading toward her.

  “Do you need to warm up?” she asked. At my expression, she shrugged. “Just checking. No need to frown at me.”

  Though we hadn’t yet begun, I could already see the energy and the tension emanating from Chloe. She was gearing up for the fight, her body growing loose and balanced, poised on the edge of action.

  Without a word, I lunged toward her and the fight was on.

  We hadn’t had the opportunity to spar often before the Faction had attacked the pack and killed my mate. Chloe parried my punches and kicks, her eyes intent. I knew she was taking in my movements, analyzing the best way to gain the upper hand.

  She held back her blows, her fists and feet barely meeting my flesh. I’d watched her train with the pack often enough to know that she was pulling her punches more than usual and it pricked my temper. I wasn’t a fucking invalid.

  I crowded her, moving quickly, and swept her legs from beneath her. In a blink, Chloe rolled to her feet, a few pieces of hair falling out of her braid to frame her face.

  “So it’s like that,” she stated, her eyes narrowing.

  I nodded. “Stop holding back. I know you can hit harder than that.”

  She came at me again. This time her punches and kicks were harder and faster. Sweat broke out on her skin, gleaming in the sunlight.

  When I blocked a particularly brutal combination, she stepped back and studied me with surprise and admiration in her eyes.

  “You’re getting stronger.”

  My only response was to lunge at her and take her to the ground. I discovered almost immediately that it was a mistake. Chloe was a damn good fighter standing on her own two feet, but she was nearly unbeatable when it came to grappling.

  As we twisted and rolled in the grass, I grunted and cursed as she seemed to slip from my grasp, her body twisting in ways that should have been impossible.

  The bout ended when Chloe managed to get me into an arm lock, her body perpendicular to mine, my wrist clasped in hers and her legs across my neck and chest. I tried to escape, but she clung to me. Finally, I had to tap her thigh, signaling that I gave up, as black dots danced in front of my eyes.

  She released me and rolled to her feet. I got up as well, watching as she walked over to pick up the water bottle she’d brought. While my human pride stung that I’d just had my ass handed to me by a female I outweighed by seventy-five pounds, the wolf inside me felt surprisingly different. He didn’t like to lose any more than I did, but he wanted the strength and the fire that Chloe possessed. A she-wolf like her would bite and claw, demanding as much as she gave in return. And when she finally grew pliant, her capitulation would be all the sweeter.

  My cock ached at the images and thoughts that I shared with my wolf. The shorts I wore did nothing to disguise the state of my body when Chloe returned to the center of the clearing, but she didn’t seem to notice.

  “Are we done for the day or do you want to go another round?”

  Her nonchalance and her indifference burned. It set off a chain reaction in my blood. I didn’t want to fight. I craved the chase. “I want you to run, Chloe.”

  She frowned at me. “Run?” Her eyes flashed. “Why, so you can chase me?” Her tone was biting.

  “Yes,” I hissed.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she cocked one hip and glared at me. “I don’t think so, Lachlan. I don’t run away from anything.”

  “Don’t you?” I retorted.

  Her eyes narrowed. “What the fuck does that mean?”

  I inched toward her. “It means that you ran from the MacIntire pack, Chloe. What I don’t know is why.” I’d been asking myself that question for weeks, unsure why I cared. But I did. Not only did I care, but her leaving the pack, leaving me, pissed me off.

  Her face changed then, but I couldn’t read her expression. It was as if she had shut me out completely.

  “Fine, Ian. You want me to run, I’ll run. But good luck catching me,” she declared before turning on her heel and sprinting into the woods.

  Chloe MacArthur might be the best fighter I’d ever met, but she was about to discover that I could track anything or anyone.

  “You’ll never catch me if you keep standing there,” she taunted from the woods, the wind carrying her voice to me.

  “Oh yes I will,” I growled.

  I ran toward the trees where she’d entered the woods, inhaling her scent as I
went. My blood pumped wildly in my veins. This was what I wanted.

  As I sprinted through the underbrush, one question echoed in my mind.

  What would I do when I caught her?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chloe

  I fought to control my breathing as I moved through the trees and underbrush. I heard the slight rustle of leaves, but that was my only warning that Lachlan was on my trail. The man barely made a sound as he followed me through the woods. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake him.

  I spotted a flash of grey out of the corner of my eye and turned my head to look. There was nothing there.

  Adrenaline surged through me and I took off in a dead run. Lachlan had been stalking me for nearly a half hour. Every time I thought I caught a glimpse of him, he would disappear. When the wind shifted, I could smell him, so I knew he was nearby, but it was disconcerting not to be able to see or hear him.

  Suddenly, he was right in my path, his eyes brilliant even in the shadows beneath the trees. I turned, skidding a little in the leaves that littered the ground, and tried to dodge him, but it was no use.

  Lachlan lunged for me, his arms closing around my waist before I could get more than a couple of feet away from him. I twisted against him, bracing my hands against his shoulders in an effort to leverage myself free. Before I could decide the best way to get loose, my back hit the trunk of a tree, the bark scraping the bare skin of my shoulders.

  “Lach, what are you—” The expression on his face made the words die in my throat. Any thought of fighting him vanished.

  His eyes gleamed beneath his lowered brows and his hands gripped my thighs, opening them so his hips fit in between. I felt him then, rigid against my pussy. He was hard and long.

  I stared up at him in shock as his hand wrapped around my braid, tugging my head back.

  “Lachlan,” I began.

  He snarled at me, a warning. My heart sped up in my chest, thumping so hard and fast that I knew he could hear it.

  Lachlan lowered his head, his nose nudging my neck. “You could never hide from me, you know that?” he murmured in my ear. He inhaled deeply. “Peaches and honey. I’d recognize your scent anywhere.”

  I shivered as his words rolled through me. He growled, grinding his hips against mine, and I trembled again. I turned my face toward his neck and drew his smell into my lungs. He smelled…aroused.

  Lifting my face, I pressed back harder into the tree trunk. “Lachlan,” I repeated, trying to get through to him. He was in the throes of something I couldn’t comprehend and he was dragging me with him. My skin heated as I drew more of his scent into my lungs. His desire ignited my own, feeding the fire within me.

  Once again, he stopped me before I could say anything else. This time it was with his mouth on mine.

  I was utterly lost.

  The sensation of his mouth against my own, his tongue sweeping across my bottom lip, it was like something out of one of my dreams. I couldn’t resist the temptation to discover if the reality lived up to the fantasy.

  As our tongues tangled, my hands moved up to cup his head. I missed his long hair and beard, but I loved being able to see his face. Lachlan’s hands left my thighs, one winding behind my back to wrap around my hips and the other moving up my torso to knead my breast through the thin fabric of my sports bra.

  I gasped into his mouth, winding my legs around his waist and gripping tightly. He groaned, rocking against me. My hips jerked instinctually as I felt a tug on the material binding my upper body and heard it tear. Then his palm was against my skin, his fingers rounding over the curve of my breast. My nipple beaded tightly as he massaged my flesh.

  Lachlan released my mouth and hefted me higher. I barely felt my back scraping against the tree as he closed his lips around one of my nipples, sucking me deep. I cried out, my head falling back as he tugged and laved at the tip of my breast before moving on to the other.

  I felt his hands yanking at my hips and heard another ripping sound. My fingers dug into his shoulders as he tore the top of my leggings away from my body. The strength went out of my legs and they loosened until I slid down his body a few inches.

  Lachlan growled against my breast, his teeth sinking into the inner curve just deep enough to surf the edge of pain. His hands came back to my hips, keeping me aloft after my thighs weakened.

  Feverishly, my palms moved over his bare skin, touching his pectorals and trailing around his ribs to his back. When his finger slid inside my pussy, I shuddered and dragged my nails up his back.

  He growled and yanked me away from the tree. In a blink I was on my hands and knees in a bed of leaves with his body draped over me. The skin of his chest was scorching as it rubbed against my shoulder blades and I trembled. His hand returned between my legs and he slid two fingers inside me, his thumb circling my clit in quick, firm circles.

  I threw my head back and moaned. It felt as though fire spread through my body from every part of me that he touched. Heat coursed through my veins and sweat broke out on my skin. My muscles clenched around his fingers as he stroked deeper and I knew I was close to coming.

  As I careened toward my release, he stopped and removed his hand. I twisted my head to snarl at him, my body aching with desperate need. He stared at me, his eyes nearly feral, as he yanked down his shorts. Then I felt the head of his cock glide over the flesh between my legs and I bit my lip. Once he was in position, he thrust inside me, deep and fast.

  I shook violently. Every dream I’d had about him, every fantasy I’d entertained, paled in comparison to how his cock felt inside me. I moaned and struggled to keep my upper body braced up by my arms. Lachlan leaned over me, wrapping my braid around one hand and placing the other on the ground to hold his weight.

  Then he moved. In and out, hard and fast. When I tried to move with him, to match his pace, he growled, tugging a little on my braid. I never thought I would like for a male to pull my hair during sex, but as everything else Lachlan did, it felt deliciously dark and sexy.

  I moved again, seeking my climax, and his growl grew louder, rumbling from his chest into my back, spreading throughout my body. Then I felt the edge of his teeth in my shoulder. Not hard enough to break the skin, but just enough that I knew he was close to losing control.

  My pussy spasmed at the sensation but the rest of my body relaxed instinctively. I gave in to the feeling, letting him have control. When I did, he growled again, this time in approval. He released my hair and let go of my shoulder, his right hand reaching around my hip to find my clit.

  All I could do was take what he gave me, which was everything. Though he no longer held my hair, I kept my head arched back, desperately seeking relief for the tension that wound tighter and tighter within me. As his fingers circled my clit rapidly, my thighs shook. My climax built beneath his touch until I could no longer contain it.

  My body tightened as the waves washed over me, growing in intensity until I cried out and my arms collapsed beneath me. Lachlan’s hands gripped my hips, holding up my lower body he pounded into me. A few moments later, he slammed into me a final time and his body shuddered as he came.

  We stayed in that position for a long while, our lungs heaving as the clamoring of our bodies died down. Slowly, Lachlan withdrew from me, collapsing into the leaves on his side. I turned toward him as I stretched out on the ground, keeping space between us.

  He had one arm thrown over his face as he struggled to catch his breath. I could see the pulse in his neck and reached out to put my hand on his chest, wondering if his heart was thundering as hard as mine.

  As soon as my fingers touched his skin, he tensed. A new scent drifted into the air between us, one I recognized even as it made my heart ache.

  Regret.

  I pushed myself into sitting position, refusing to let myself think or feel. If I allowed the emotions to push to the forefront, I would break. I removed my shoes and socks, tugging off my ruined leggings. It was unnerving, my sudden modesty around Lachla
n. Somehow, his presence made me feel more naked than before.

  “Chloe,” he murmured behind me.

  This time it was my turn to interrupt him. “We can talk about it later,” I stated, proud of the steadiness of my voice. “Right now, we need to get back to the cabin.”

  Without turning to look at him, I gathered my ruined clothes, leaving the tatters of my sports bra on my shoulders. I stood, aware of the twinge between my legs, and walked back toward the clearing where I’d left my phone and water bottle.

  After I retrieved them, I turned and found Lachlan standing near me. Though I knew what he was going to say and I wanted nothing to do with this conversation, it seemed I would have to endure it anyway.

  “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

  Unable to stand the idea of listening to him give me all the reasons why what we’d just done was a mistake, I tried to speak. “It’s okay, Lach. I—”

  He lifted a hand. “Let me finish,” he demanded.

  I clutched my clothes tighter to my chest and bit back my angry response.

  He moved closer to me, his expression unreadable. “I shouldn’t have behaved that way with you. I…” he trailed off for a moment. “I lost control.” His voice lowered. “I could have hurt you.”

  “I’m fine, Lachlan.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  “Look, you don’t have to explain anything to me. We were both running on adrenaline and we did something we regret. It shouldn’t have happened.”

  Lachlan didn’t respond. He put his hands on his hips and lowered his head to stare at the ground.

  Without waiting to see what else he might have to say, I set off back toward the cabin.

  Once I was inside, I went straight to the bathroom and locked myself inside. I dropped my clothes on the floor, turned the water on, and climbed inside the tub before it was even warm.

  As the bathtub filled, I curled into a ball, wrapping my arms around my knees, and I cried.

  Chapter Eighteen