Defying Pack Law (17 page)

Dana stood and yelled back even as tears
spilled down her cheeks “Because you said you loved me.”

“
I do love you, but you didn’t
expect me to stay celibate, did you? After all, you’re the one who
made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me and ran
away.”

“
So why chase me then? Was it pride
that made you come after me? ’Cause it certainly wasn’t because
your body couldn’t live without me.”

“
I came after you because you’re
mine,” he growled.

“
You have a fine way of showing it,”
she retorted bitterly.

“
Get off your fucking pedestal!” he
shouted. “You were gone for twelve years. Are you trying to tell me
that you spent the last twelve years by yourself and didn’t let any
other men touch you?”

“
Pathetic, isn’t it?” she cried.
“The thought of letting another man touch me was repugnant. The one
I wanted was you, and yet apparently, you meant more to me than I
did to you because you had no problem sticking your dick in another
hole.”

“
It was just sex,” he
bellowed.

“
Well, I hope it was worth
it.”

“
You are such a fucking hypocrite.
You talk about me like I’m some kind of man whore, and yet, I don’t
see you staying true to this love you supposedly have for me. Hell,
only here two days and you’re planning to mark and bed three of
us.”

She slapped him. “Make that two,” she
spat.

“
Dana . . .” Nathan reached out for
her, but Dana dodged his hands and ran for the stairs.

Tears blinded her as she took them by twos, but
once at the top, she hesitated. She didn’t want to go back to
Nathan’s room and the bed he’d probably fucked those sluts in. She
followed her nose to another door and slipped in.

John’s calming scent filled the space. She
didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. She crawled into the
large bed that dominated the center of the room and hid under the
covers.

Then she cried, her shoulders heaving as the
rose-colored glasses she’d worn for the last twelve years
shattered.

It seemed stupid, and naïve, of her to think
Nathan hadn’t moved on. And yet, she’d thought just that,
especially when he’d come looking for her, declaring his
love.

Why on earth did I think he’d never
touched another woman?
He was young,
virile, and right about one thing—she’d left him.
But that never changed how I felt about him and
what we shared.

Dana had tried dating, but human males held no
interest for her—a man she could snap in two just wasn’t hot.
Irrational as her jealousy was, she couldn’t help the feelings of
hurt.

She loved Nathan, but she had to
admit there were parts of him that were a little domineering, and
cocky.
But isn’t that one of the things I
love about him?
Ultimately that’s what it
boiled down to—she loved him, caveman mentality or not. However,
she needed time to get over the shocking news that he hadn’t stayed
true.

She briefly thought of running, escaping the
pain of yet another betrayal. But she’d grown out of the immature
girl who’d escaped before when things got tough. Not to mention,
she knew she could be happy here. Her fight with Nathan didn’t
change the fact she still wanted what they offered.

However, one thing was sure, the order she’d
claim the men had shuffled.

She wouldn’t reward Nathan tonight, petty as it
made her. He and his alpha attitude needed to realize she wouldn’t
bow or give in to him just because of his size or loud
voice.

It’s time he learned that he can’t
just order me around and treat my feelings like they’re not
important. If he loves me, then he’s got to respect me.

And if it took punishing him by not marking him
first to see he couldn’t bully her around, then so be
it.

It’s not like claiming John will be
a hardship. I can’t wait to see my calm doctor lose control between
my thighs.

Chapter
Thirteen

Kody shook his head at Nathan. “You are such a
fucking idiot sometimes.”

Nathan glared at him. “What’s that supposed to
mean?”

“
I think he means that bragging
about how you fucked a ton of women and telling Dana she should
accept it because it was her fault crossed a line,” John
replied.

Nathan scrubbed a hand through his hair. “What
the hell else should I have done? Lied?”

John shook his head in disbelief. Nathan’s male
arrogance sometimes knew no bounds. “You could have tried playing
it down instead of flaunting it. Couldn’t you see how hurt she was
to find out?”

“
Dude, she is seriously upset,” Kody
added, peering with a frown in the direction of the
stairs.

“
What do you both care?” Nathan
growled. “You heard what she said. She doesn’t want me anymore.”
Nathan poured himself some more wine and took a swig of
it.

“
Give her time—” John started
saying.

Nathan threw his wineglass at the wall, where
it shattered, spraying the red wine. “I’m tired of fucking waiting.
I waited twelve goddamn years. What did she expect from me? Would
you have stayed celibate for twelve years?”

Kody shrugged. “I’ve just met her, and I can
say I don’t understand how you could even look at another woman
after having her. I haven’t even thought of another female since
she arrived in my life.”

Nathan’s gaze narrowed, and he tilted his head
toward John. “And what do you have to say?”

John’s jaw tightened, and he didn’t give Nathan
the excuse he was looking for to justify his actions.

“
I would have never let her leave in
the first place. Don’t forget, I know the whole story. Despite your
declarations of love, it took you five years before you seriously
started looking for her and that only because the council passed on
that report about the lone Lycan female who matched her
description.”

“
I never forgot her,” Nathan
yelled.

“
Then you did a piss-poor job of
showing it,” John shouted back. Like Kody, after having met Dana,
feeling the connection between them, he couldn’t imagine ever being
with another woman, let alone dozens like Nathan had.

Nathan growled, “She left. I thought I’d get
over her like my dad and everyone kept saying. You think I didn’t
think of her when I fucked those other women? Do you think it
wasn’t her face I pictured? I know none of those women measured up
to Dana. Maybe it was wrong of me to fuck everything with a pussy
hole, but damn it, I wanted someone to take away the pain. But I
learned my lesson, all right? I discovered I can’t live without
her. That there is no other woman who can satisfy both me and my
beast. Why can’t it be enough that I came to my senses finally and
brought her back? Not that it does me any good. She doesn’t want
me.”

“
Maybe if you acted like a man in
love instead of an alpha trying to dominate her at every turn, you
wouldn’t be in this position,” John retorted. “You should have told
her how much it hurt, how it took dating other women to realize she
was the only one, instead of blaming her for the fact you were
horny.”

Nathan let out an inarticulate cry of rage, and
muscles bunching in his shoulders, he grabbed the dinner table and
upended it. The dishes cascaded off to crash and shatter on the
floor. Nathan regarded the mess with glowering eyes. “You can both
fuck right off. I don’t need your advice. Besides, isn’t this just
perfect for you and Kody? I’m out of the picture now. You get her
all to yourselves.”

“
That’s not what either of us
wanted,” Kody said. “And I don’t think it’s what she wants either.
Give her a chance to cool down, and you’ll see. You just shocked
her. Once she has a chance to think it over, she’ll realize she
can’t be pissed at you for something you did while she was gone.
Especially if you apologize and explain you did it ’cause you were
lonely.”

“
I’ll talk to her too,” John
replied, his anger at his friend warring with his pity for him and
his pain.

“
Take the night to cool down and
think of a way to make it up to her. Get her flowers or something.
Make her breakfast in bed. Plan an apology speech.”

Nathan’s shoulders slumped. He turned to Kody.
“What’s your advice? You’re the Casanova around here.”

Kody grinned. “My plan is usually make her come
until she forgets why she was mad in the first place. But, somehow
I think trying that right now might go badly for you and your nuts.
Come on. Have a beer with me while John-boy here goes and talks her
down. I swear that man could talk a nun into dancing naked around a
stripper pole if he tried.”

Nathan’s lips turned up into a smile at the
attempted humor, but John could see the mirth never touched his
eyes.

John left them nursing beers, Nathan
sitting silent and dejected while Kody held up the one-sided
conversation. John didn’t like the simmer brewing under Nathan’s
seemingly calm surface.
Here’s to hoping
he sleeps his anger off and doesn’t end up blowing his top like a
volcano.

John jogged up the stairs. He made to turn to
the left in the direction of Nathan’s room, where Dana had been
sleeping, but a sniff of the air made him raise a brow in surprise.
He followed her scent to the door of his room. He paused outside,
listening to the stifled sobs from inside, barely noticeable over
the murmur of voices from downstairs. John hesitated before
entering because logic said Nathan wouldn’t like that Dana had
searched for comfort in John’s room.

He’ll like it even less if I go in
there and something happens between the pair of us.
But, while John wanted to aspire to an altruistic
nature, selfish desire, and a burgeoning love for the woman inside,
made him not care what Nathan thought.
He
had his chance and fucked it up.

John intended to make things right
again between Dana and Nathan, but at the same time, he was only a
man.
A man who will do anything to make
her happy. Anything . . .

* * * *

Dana cried into the pillow, her tears soaking
the fabric. How could she not when she heard Nathan bellowing? A
part of her ached to go to him, to clasp him in her arms and say
all was forgiven.

Another part of her feared that by caving to
him, he’d think nothing of hurting her again in the future. She
covered her ears with her hands, unwilling to listen to his obvious
anger and distress. A light touch on her shoulder made her thrash
wildly, her flailing fists striking flesh.

She rolled and opened her burning eyes,
expecting to see Nathan, come to hunt her down and beg her
forgiveness—or force it. Instead, she found herself wrapped in
John’s arms, his soothing presence a balm to her turmoil. Her tears
flowed anew. He dragged her onto his lap as she sobbed, stroking
her hair and rocking her as she wept for the twelve years of her
life that she’d wasted running. Wept for the life she could have
had if she’d only looked past her fears. Wept because she couldn’t
stem the pain that once again she’d experienced, even if
unthinking, at Nathan’s hands.

“
I am such an idiot,” she finally
sniffled. “I mean, why wouldn’t he have found someone
else?”

“
I’d like to be a dick right now and
say he shouldn’t have, but truthfully, I can’t blame him. And hate
me for my words if you want, but he did the right thing. The only
thing he could do in his situation. He didn’t know if he’d ever see
you again. I know firsthand how lonely and lost he was after you
were gone.”

Dana hiccupped. “I kn-know. But it hurts. All
those years I spent alone, I figured he did too.”

John brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Just
because he wasn’t alone didn’t mean he was happy. Nathan wasn’t
lying when he said he loved you all that time. But, it took bedding
those women to realize none of them could replace you.”

Dana sniffled. “A rational part of me
understands that, but the selfish part is pissed and
hurt.”

“
Then hit me. Take out some of your
frustration.”

Dana craned her head back to peer at his face.
He returned her gaze with a calm brown-eyed one. “Are you insane?
Why would I do that?”

John grinned. “Because sometimes hitting things
feels good.”

Dana gave him a weak chuckle. “Thanks for the
offer, but I couldn’t hurt you.” Seated on his lap, her tears at
bay, she noticed how nice his arms felt wrapped around her. She
inhaled his scent, and her wolf stirred along with a primal hunger.
Awareness of him as a man flooded her senses, bringing a tingling
arousal with it. “Actually,” she murmured, “I can think of a better
way of relieving my frustration.” She reached up to cup his face in
her hands and kissed him.

Earlier she’d thought about doing this as part
of a revenge against Nathan, but encased in John’s arms, she could
admit that she was just using that as an excuse to touch him. She
wanted John, wanted him in her life and as one of her mates. With
him, there was none of the chaos she got with Nathan, none of the
naughty playfulness that she saw with Kody. John was like a
rock—steady, dependable, and hard where she needed him.