The Beast in Him
Page 89

If you wont leaveI will.
She found her discarded sneakers by the couch and reached down to grab them, but big fingers wrapped around her bicep and yanked her up.
Youre not going anywhere.
Im not? Jess pushed up against him. And how are you going to stop me?
He let her go so abruptly, she stumbled back a bit.
No, were not doin this. When youve calmed down, well talk.
She followed him to the front door. He snatched it open and marched outside.
Yeah, yeah, she said with a glibness she didnt feel. Not when the only man shed ever love was walking out of her life. Maybe forever. Go on and run.
She watched him walk down the stairs and toward his truck. I guess your daddy was right all those years agoyou are afraid to take whats yours.
He froze beside his truck, his body one rigid line of rippling muscles. And in that instant she knew shed said the one thing that might push her wolf over the edge.
Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, Smitty opened the passenger side of the truck. He took off his baseball cap and tossed it inside. Then he did the same with his heavy winter coat, shrugging it off his big shoulders. He carefully closed the door shut and turned to face her. All Jess saw were cold wolf eyes and fangs.
Thats when she made a run for it.
He never expected her to shift, but it didnt stop him. He simply shifted to wolf and went after her. Wild dogs and wolves were equally fast, but wild dogs could run for hours before running out of steam. Wolves could run for miles and lope for hours. But the weather worked in his favor. Wolves could maneuver in the snow easily; wild dogs not so much. Theyd been built for hunting in grasslands, not the uneven terrain of North America. Hed take advantage of that weakness. Because nothing would stop him now. Nothing would hold him back.
Smitty looped around and came at her from the front. She spotted him and made a fast change, her small paws slipping slightly on the snowy ground, losing momentum.
He quickly backtracked and looped around again, cutting her off from the new angle. She dashed off in another direction and he stayed right behind her, pushing her through the woods.
For a moment, he thought he had her. His front paws slamming against her hips. But she easily spun and slapped him with her paw, ripping into one side of his muzzle.
Jessie didnt even stop, merely ran off in a different direction. Smitty turned and followed. Again pushing her where he wanted her. This time toward snow-covered rocks.
She leaped up but couldnt keep her footing and slid across, then off the big stones. She quickly scrambled to her feet, but shed lost precious time. Smitty tackled her from behind, shoving her hard to the ground. She kept fighting him,though. Her paws slashing at him as she tried to get out from under him, her jaw snapping at his. Not a fake fight. Not a show of a struggle. She fought him like her life depended on itbecause it did. Her future life. Their lives together. Which was why he didnt give up. Hed never give up where Jessie Ann was concerned.
It took some doing and a lot of slashes to his chest and side, but he finally forced her onto her back. He immediately wrapped his maw around her throat, the additional fur protecting her throat tickling his nose. He bit down hard and shook her.
Jess wiggled, trying to get out of his grasp, but he growled and bit down harder, shaking her one more time. Making his intentions, his demands, very clear.
Jessie Ann stopped moving, stopped fighting. She panted. She waited.
He held on a little longer. Long enough to make sure she wouldnt run again. Not merely at this moment, but ever.
She let out a sigh and her body relaxed beneath his. Thats when he knew.
Smitty unhinged his jaw and nuzzled her neck, licking the blood off where hed buried his fangs.
At the same moment, they shifted back to human. She had faint bite marks in her throat and blood on her cheek where it had dripped from his face. Her claws had ripped a rather healthy chunk out of his flesh. He dragged his hand across his cheek, wiping off the blood. He ignored the rips in his chestthey werent that deep.
It hurt, what she did to him. Physically, it hurt like a bitch. But emotionally, it only proved what hed already known. Only Jessie Ann could push him like this. Only Jessie Ann could bring out the wolf inside him and face it head-on. Hed been fighting it so hard, for years. Afraid that by letting out the wolf, hed be letting out the Smith. But he wasnt his daddy. He wasnt his brothers. He was Bobby Ray, and hed be damned if he didnt take the woman he wanted, who loved him more than anything, and make her his the only way predators could.
No wonder shed been so mad. A Smith courting must have seemed an insult to her when shed known damn good and well how Smiths took their mates. They didnt call it a Smith mate-maul jokingly.
But thats what shed deserved. Because no one else matched him as perfectly as Jessie Ann. As different as they were, they still belonged together. Shed challenge him again, and next time... hell, next time shed probably win.
Jess forced herself not to wince when she saw how badly shed fucked up his face. Thank God the Smith wolves werent so much pretty as hot. The scar that would leave might make some guys look less attractive. Not Smitty. It would make him look even hotter.
As he flashed his fangs at her, Jess felt no fear. No regret. Nothing but a need to be fucked and marked by her mate that went deeper than anything inside her had before.