Strength from Within

My nose followed Sienna’s scent like a GPS, leading me from her house to a club downtown.

I’d heard of it before—Lupine, a place where wolves could go to let their Hazes run wild—and suddenly I was getting an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Owned by a human, the club appealed to werewolves and humans alike, and it showed; even from outside, the place reeked of sex.

I parked my car near the back entrance and tried to home in on Sienna’s location, but there were hundreds of Hazed scents, making it difficult.

The anxiety in my stomach was starting to turn to dread.

There was nothing wrong with going clubbing, and if it was any other time of the year, I wouldn’t have batted an eye at the decision—but this was the mating season.

Going to a club full of sexually charged, unattached men—and worse, wolves—was an act of careless rebellion.

I’d marked Sienna specifically to protect her from unmated wolves, but when they were drunk and Hazed…that might not be enough.

I headed to the back entrance of the club since I didn’t want to draw unwanted attention by going through the main entrance.

I had just reached the back alley when I thought I heard something, a muffled scream.

Then I saw it. My worst nightmare.

Sienna was pressed against the outer wall of the club, a Hazed wolf pinning her with his body, rubbing himself against her, while she was white as a sheet, her eyes wide with horror.

I didn’t even stop to think before my wolf rose to the forefront of my mind and took over, charging forward.

Through a beastly blind rage, I slammed the wolf against the wall, punching his ribs over and over, snarling in his face when the fucker tried to scream and fight back.

But there’d be no fight left in him after I choked the life out of him. There’d be nothing left of him at all.

I pummeled his ribs until they cracked with a sickening crunch.

His body fell limp. I dragged the pathetic piece of shit across the pavement and dumped him by the trash bins. Exactly where he belonged.

Turning around, I approached Sienna, who was now crumpled on the ground, shaking.

I got down and crouched before her, my chest tight with the need to protect her, to take away her pain, to take away the fear that tainted her scent.

I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her tensing. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said softly.

She didn’t move, didn’t speak. She was paralyzed with shock and fear, and I just knew one thing: I needed to get her out of there.

I picked her up in my arms, and she let me, even leaning into my chest. Tremors overtook her entire body as she asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“My house,” I replied quietly. “I promise I have no intention of taking advantage of you. I just want to be there for you.”

She was quiet, almost pliant, as I gently placed her in the passenger seat and drove away.

I made sure to keep my eyes on the road, to give her room to process what had just happened, and reined in my wolf, who was feeling overprotective, possessive, wanting to make sure she was all right.

I was out of my depth. I didn’t know what to do to help her, how to make the horror she’d faced disappear. But it wouldn’t, I knew that.

She’d almost been raped. That kind of trauma wouldn’t just go away.

If I hadn’t shown up, my mate would’ve suffered a far worse fate.

My hands clenched the steering wheel. It took a significant amount of willpower to keep myself contained, calm, and rational.

The last thing Sienna needed right now was more unwanted aggression from another man.

I could feel her panic rising, which made me grit my teeth, forcing my wolf down. She needed me to be calm, comforting, not angry.

~You’ve done your part~, I said to my wolf. ~Now let me do mine.~

I felt a sense of calm wash over me as I parked the car in my driveway. This was my safe haven, and I wanted it to be that for Sienna too.

I got out, moving to the passenger seat. I opened the door, expecting her to still be panicking, but instead, I found her still, her eyes fixed on my humble abode.

I could see it through her eyes.

The cobblestone bridge stretched over a trickling stream, leading to a modest manor surrounded by dogwood trees and a garden of flowers I tended to whenever I needed to clear my head.

My home was in good shape, I knew, and from Sienna’s face, I could tell she must’ve thought I lived in some cave like the Neanderthal she believed me to be.

And with the way I acted sometimes, could I really blame her?

Smirking despite the gravity of the situation, I asked, “Not what you expected?”

She seemed as though she was in pain, unable to speak. It made my smirk disappear, and I felt her pain then, deeply.

I wished I’d put the fucker who’d done this to her in his grave, but Sienna had seen enough of my aggression. I didn’t want her to experience any more violence tonight.

Taking a deep breath, I helped her out of the car. She was quietly compliant, just going through the motions, so unlike the fiery-tempered woman I knew.

I hated that she had been made to feel so unsafe that it had dimmed her light. It made me want to punch something, break more bones.

But I took a deep breath, channeling empathy and comfort rather than rage, and helped her to the living room.

Once she was seated, I heated up some coffee and sat across from her, looking anywhere but at her eyes.

I didn’t want to make her feel like she had to talk, and avoiding eye contact seemed to be the only way I could think of to give her space.

And it wasn’t as if I knew what to say anyway. How could I even start telling her how sorry I was for what she’d gone through? How could I possibly have made this better?

All I could do was sit there with her, letting her know I was by her side.

However, the minutes passed, and the silence became deafening to the point I couldn’t take it. I asked the first thing on my mind. “Why were you with that man at the club?”

She flushed, and I felt like a dick. “What exactly are you asking?”

I knew I was already saying the wrong thing, but I suddenly couldn’t stop my thoughts from pouring out.

“You should never have been alone with another man when you’re Hazed,” I said, feeling my anger rising again. “It’s the fucking season. Why would you put yourself in that position?”

I should’ve just shut the fuck up, but I was letting the fear talk. All I could think about was what would have happened if I had lost her.

She stood up suddenly, her eyes flashing. “Are you fucking serious?” she barked out. “Are you implying that what happened to me was my fault?”

The fire was returning to her, and seeing her so livid, so bright, a contrast to the pale, defeated woman she had become for a moment, my anger eased a bit.

“Don’t snarl at me,” I said almost conversationally. “I wasn’t saying that.”

Actually, that was how it had sounded, she was right. Again, and I needed to reel it in. But at least she was talking again, the color returning to her face, her eyes on fire.

She was bursting with energy, and she had found her voice again. “How did you even find me? Were you following me?”

Keeping my face neutral, I said, “It’s my business to know where you are at all times, Sienna. As a marked woman, you shouldn’t be—”

“And whose fault is that?” she cut me off, eyes glowing.

“You’re the one who marked me! Against my will! You forced me into a Haze, Aiden! You took my free will and twisted it to fit your own selfish needs!”

That was like a knife straight to my heart. For a moment, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Because she was right. I’d been possessive and selfish.

I wished I could make her see that I just wanted to protect her, to keep her safe from what had just happened. I never wanted her to go through that ever again.

“Don’t you understand that once the season hits and you’re marked, the Haze won’t go away unless you give in and have sex with the one who’s marked you?” I asked, that pervasive fear returning to mind.

“I know that!” she snapped furiously. “That’s why I never wanted to be marked to begin with!”

But Sienna was speaking out of fear too. She was scared of the feeling that I brought out in her. Of what I had awakened.

“You wanted me at the pack house,” I countered. “Don’t deny that.”

~Please, don’t deny that.~

Because if she did…it would break me. Fuck, did she really not feel what I felt? Yes, she might not have known we were mates, but the connection between us was too powerful to be ignored.

Why was she fighting her feelings for me so much? Why did she hate the way I made her feel?

I wanted answers, I wanted to get on the same page, but I was just so fucking scared of pushing her away.

“You have no idea what I want!” she yelled. “Just stay the hell away from me!”

I rose to my feet and walked toward her. She backed away until she was against the wall.

I was doing everything in my power to show her I meant no harm, but she was in a vulnerable state, her scent laced with uncertainty.

I stopped in my tracks, feeling a cold kind of surprise trickling down my spine.

“Please, you’re too close, you’re—” She broke down crying, tears staining her face as she looked away from me.

This wasn’t what I wanted. I was just making things worse when all I wanted to do was be there for her, to make her feel safe.

“Sienna,” I said softly, gently clasping her chin, turning her head toward me. “I’m not going to take advantage of you. Not now or ever. All I want is to protect you.”

I pulled her into a gentle hug, my heart stopping in my chest in fear of having her push me away when I needed to hold her close, to offer her real comfort, to show her I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

To my relief, she surrendered, letting me envelop her in my arms, letting me give her the warmth she so obviously needed.

I felt her hold me tighter as she murmured against my chest, “You shouldn’t have marked me.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. Taking her down with me, I pulled her to my lap, holding her as close as I could, my wolf content now that she was in my arms. But it wasn’t enough.

Sienna was a woman of words. And she needed to hear me say what I was feeling.

“There’s something between us,” I said softly. “Neither of us can deny it. I felt it when I marked you, but I even felt it the first time I saw you, back on the riverbank.”

It was the closest I could get to the truth without revealing it to her. I just hoped it would be enough.

“You remember that?” she asked, incredulous.

“Of course I do,” I said. “I felt your power even then. Your scent radiated a strength and sensuality that I couldn’t resist.”

I felt the power she could wield over me when I had realized she was my mate. I had felt her strength and sensuality in a way that was so powerful it had completely changed the course of my life.

I was never going to be the same after I’d stared into those electric-blue eyes. They had opened up my heart, mind, and soul all at once. I’d felt like I had a new purpose.

She had become the reason for my existence.

It was so powerful I didn’t even know how to put it into words, so I just let it swim around my head as I got lost in her gaze.

She pulled back just a bit, her eyes filled with turmoil. “I didn’t radiate any strength tonight,” she said quietly. “I was weak.”

“Stop,” I said, my heart hurting for her. “What I said a minute ago…I was wrong.” Because now that my head was letting myself feel what I’d tried to push down, I could admit it to her…and to myself.

“Let me tell you something,” I said. “Your scent hit me the moment I walked into that dinner party. It’s not something that happens in human form, so you threw me off balance.”

Even if she wasn’t ready to know the full truth, I needed her to understand how I felt.

“The Haze hit me, and I had to follow you, to find out more about you, to just be in your presence.” That was completely, utterly, embarrassingly true.

“I’ve never been so overcome by anything more powerful in my life,” I continued, seemingly unable to stop the stream of words, of confessions.

“That’s your strength, the kind of power you have over me. That’s why I marked you.”

I would’ve continued spouting poetic shit if she hadn’t suddenly got up from my lap and looked at me as if she’d never seen me before, as if she had no idea who I was.

And I tried so hard to mask the hunger I felt for her, the need to hold her close, to just put my arms around her, to breathe her scent in, to make her understand her unmatched beauty, inside and out.

This wasn’t the Haze I was feeling. This was something else entirely.

“Why are you suddenly telling me all this?” Sienna asked.

I wanted to tell her the truth so bad, right there, right then.

Part of me didn’t care that she was so young, so unready for what was to come; I just wanted to spit it out, get this weight off my chest, to have someone else share this beautiful burden with.

Then there was the part of me that knew she wasn’t ready, that this wasn’t the right time. I would only force her into a corner, ask her to make a decision she wasn’t prepared for.

But even as a war brewed inside of me and I struggled to find my words, I knew I needed to say something, anything. And before I could stop myself, I let it out.

“Because I think you might be my mate.”