Chapter 36

LLOYD

I woke in my bed—no, wait—whatever was beneath me was hard, but the pillow was soft.

My head throbbed painfully, each pulse reverberating through my skull, and an unfamiliar heat washed over me. Had I been drunk?

The last time I went drinking with my brothers had resulted in one hell of a headache, and I vowed never to down absinthe again.

Blinking rapidly, I struggled to clear my vision, but everything around me stayed frustratingly blurred. Where the hell was I?

~“Lou-Anne’s, maybe?”~ Vetus said, his voice faint and far away.

I grinned. Lou-Anne always took the edge off, but I never spent a whole night with her. I forced myself to sit up, but dizziness overwhelmed me, and I quickly abandoned the idea of getting to my feet.

~“What were we doing?”~ I asked Vetus. ~“Can you heal my headache?”~

~“Er, I can’t even focus…”~

Blinking, I took in the dim half-light that suggested it was just before dawn. Shadows flickered around me, but my thoughts were hazy and disjointed. No, it wasn’t dawn, but there was a lamp.

Then a scent drifted into my nose—rich, warm, and comforting—

~“Is that our mate? I can’t remember Lou-Anne smelling like that,”~ Vetus said.

~“Help me. I need to get closer.”~

~“Mmm, that smell is so erotic and spicy. Maybe Lou-Anne bathed in azaleas.”~

~“Maybe…”~

I tried to stand, but my limbs wouldn’t function. Crawling seemed like the safer option. Thoughts flitted through my mind but were distant and out of reach.

I turned and twisted to all fours and crawled toward that divine smell. It took so much energy, and my head pounded even more.

Clenching my jaw, I renewed my efforts. I had to get to that smell, even if it killed me. I saw a bare, well-formed foot and had the urge to suck on the toes. ~What the hell?~

The dots connected slowly, and I realized this was my mate. I focused on the beautiful foot before my gaze traveled upward over a curvy form.

I stared at her face, squinting, trying to make out her features, but everything was a little fuzzy. I had to get closer, much closer, and grinned in anticipation.

I grabbed the ankle and tugged, her body sliding along the ground until it aligned perfectly under mine.

Resting my head on her soft bosom, I sighed in pleasure and drank in her smell until I heard the shouts, and she was rudely yanked out from under me.

“Hey, she’s mine,” I rasped, letting out my dominance.

“Lloyd? Are you okay? You look feverish, and you’re hot to the touch.”

Feverish? That voice was like a soothing balm, and I tried reaching for her again, but I couldn’t touch her as though there was a wall.

“I’ll be much better when I have you close, little mate,” I said.

“To kill me?” she asked.

Kill her? I wanted to fuck and mate her.

“Come here and let me love you. I promise I will make you feel so good,” I reassured her, lifting my head to look at her and blinking repeatedly to clear my vision. “I can’t see you, but I need to run my hands all over your body and lick every crevice.”

Her gasp sent shivers down my spine. I would make her gasp and writhe in pleasure.

“You’re delirious, Lloyd.”

“You make me delirious.” I tried grinning, but the effort of looking up at her exhausted me, and I lay flat on the ground. Her arousal gave me such an olfactory buzz…

“No, you have a concussion,” she clarified.

Concussion? Wolves didn’t suffer from concussions.

~“Vetus?”~

~“She could be right, my thoughts are so jumbled, and I can’t focus on anything.”~

I heard footsteps approaching and lay still, letting that honeyed, smoky voice wash over me like a warm embrace. It was soothing, familiar, and wrapped around me in a way that almost made me forget my pain.

But then, her tone shifted, sharp and urgent, as if she was in the middle of an argument.

“He’s hurt and no threat to me,” she insisted, her voice firm.

“You don’t know that, Misty. It’s too dangerous,” another voice cautioned. I’d heard that voice before but couldn’t place it.

“I don’t care,” she shot back. “This is my mate, and if I can provide him with some comfort and speed up his healing, then I will.”

Misty? The name echoed in my mind, stirring something profound within me. How could I forget my mate’s name? A wave of confusion swept over me—maybe I did have a concussion—

She knelt by my side, her soft hand threading my hair and moving it out of my face.

“Lloyd, can you move back to the bedroll?” she asked softly.

“For you, I can do anything,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if I could get back on my knees, but I would try. Planting my hands on the ground, I hissed as a sharp pain stabbed through my head, radiating like a lightning bolt.

“Never mind, I’ll bring the bedroll closer,” she said, and seconds later, she was back and dropping something on the ground. “Just roll over. Can you do that?”

I rolled over onto my back, and she knelt by my side and adjusted the pillow behind my head. I opened my arms wide. “Lie on top of me,” I requested.

“No, I’ll lie next to you,” she countered.

I would take what I could get…

She slipped in beside me, her head resting on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around her, sliding my hand up and down her perfect curves. My cock hardened, and I sighed in pleasure.

I covered her hand resting on my chest and moved it down to my crotch, letting her know how much I wanted her. She tried to jerk her hand away, but I held it tightly and grinned when I realized she was innocent.

“Don’t be shy. Every part of my body is paying homage to you,” I whispered.

“Yeah, well, we’re in the open, and a dozen warriors are watching,” she whispered back, embarrassment coloring her tone as she slid her hand determinedly away.

“Why? Tell them to go away!”

“Lloyd, do you remember anything? Do you know who I am?” she asked with bated breath.

“Misty, my Misty. My dad will love you, and my brothers will be so jealous. None of them have found mates yet, only my sister,” I breathed, lifting my head with a groan and kissing her forehead.

“Oh fuck,” she said, her profanity surprising me.

Did she not want to be mated to me? Was she going to reject me? No, I didn’t get that feeling; her emotions were more in line with empathy.

I turned sideways and squinted at her. “Don’t worry, little mate. Whatever is plaguing you, I will fix.”

Angling her chin up, I claimed her mouth, surprised when my tongue made contact with her fangs. Happiness bloomed in my heart when I realized she couldn’t control her baser instincts.

I traced the swell of her breasts, the smallness of her waist, and the generous curve of her hips before moving between her legs to find the fabric damp. Adding a little pressure, I rubbed concentric circles till she broke the kiss.

“Stop. We are not alone. You need to sleep.”

“Let me give you a release, sweetheart. I can smell your desperation.”

“So can all the warriors. If you don’t stop, I’ll have to leave.” Her voice was a little more high-pitched and desperate.

“We could go somewhere else…,” I countered, already wondering where I would find the strength to stand.

“No, Lloyd, you can’t leave the circle.” She grabbed my hand, brought it to my chest, and held it in place.

Leave the circle? What was she talking about? I didn’t want to sleep… I wanted to sink into her depth and explore every part of her body.

“Let me just smell your release. I’ll sleep afterward,” I tried again.

She huffed and then asked in a voice tinged with jealousy, “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

I shook my head in confusion, a stabbing pain behind my eyes. “That’s what Lou-Anne is here for…”

She stiffened beside me and sat up in outrage. “Who? No, I don’t want to know. You’re delirious and not in the right century and will probably want to kill me when you’ve healed, so heal on your own—nice and slow.”

Wow, she was feisty. She stood up, leaving me empty and anxious at her words. Not in the right century? Something strange was going on. Maybe I ~was~ dreaming all of this.

“Now ~I~ want to kill you…,” she added, but I knew she didn’t mean it. She was excessively jealous, and for no reason.

All the unmated males went to Lou-Anne—it was nothing untoward, and besides, it was better to have experience when you met your mate so you could please her better.

I reached for her, wanting to console and reassure her of my fidelity now that I had found her, but instead, I sank back into a void and not the beautiful dream I was having.