Seduction (The Journal of the Wolves of Spruce Hollow) (36 page)

Fury boiled in my veins until it nearly choked me.
Aspen was mine!
No one was allowed to look at her the way these assholes were leering at her! Overcome by rage, I muscled my way into a standing position and shoved both Griff and Caver back with everything I had. I was a riled up, drunken, male Were and their Beta as well,
no one was holding me down
. The two of them went flying into the adjoining table as I stood up. Without a backwards glance, I walked over to the railing separating the dance floor from the rest of the bar, hopped over it and stealthily landed on the dance floor.
 

Aspen was on the far side of the dance floor, dancing her little ass off as I stalked towards her. She had no idea that I was coming for her. Her eyes didn’t even wander around and look for me, yet she
knew
that I was here at the bar. I’d left her a note saying so.
 

Curious as to what her motive was in coming here, I stopped for a second and watched her and the men surrounding her and Sorcha. I wanted to see which guy I had to knock out first.
 

Aspen looked sexy and naughty with full makeup and a skimpy top, revealing her rather perky, slightly engorged breasts. I didn’t like it when she looked like that. I liked her natural looking and thought she was more beautiful that way. Right now she looked like a grungy, sexual deviant and I only wanted that version of Aspen underneath me, moaning, with my hands and mouth on her. Not on display for all the world to see. It made me feel insane with jealousy.

Gauging the distance the distance between us, I quickly looked behind me as I heard Griff and Caver shouting at me above the music. They had gotten into a little scuffle with the guys at the table I had shoved them into but they were coming for me now.
 

If they thought that they were going to stop me, they were sadly mistaken. Neither of them were mated and didn’t understand the drive to protect your female.
No one
was stopping me from reaching Aspen, I would knock their teeth down their throat first.
 

Pushing and shoving my way through the crowded dance floor, I could smell Aspen and our baby and it ignited a frenzied need to protect and get her the hell out of here. I shoved people aside with ferocity and finally got to her. She was dancing away with her back to me.
 

As I got to within arms reach of her, some little jerk grabbed her around the waist and started grinding against her as she danced. She turned around, shock registering on her face and tried to shove him away but he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back towards him. Aspen stumbled into him, both her hands raised up and placed firmly on his chest to stop herself from falling to the ground.
 

Bad decision, buddy.
 

Without warning, I grabbed him by the collar, cocked my fist back and knocked him out cold on the dance floor. Aspen’s eyes were enormous as she turned to look at me. I looked like a monster with my fists clenched at my sides and my chest heaving with rage.
 

“Oh my god, Roan! What are you doing?” she yelled at me over the music, her head whipping back and forth between me and the guy on the floor.
 

I stood there, silently vibrating with ferocity when Griff and Caver came up from behind and took me down to the floor. The three of us scrambled around on the dance floor, each jockeying for position with fists and elbows flying.
 

Bar patrons started whopping and cheering. The morbid excitement of witnessing a fight never failed to incite a crowd’s baser urges.
 

With three physically fit, male Weres fighting, the action was fast and violent. But I had too much fight in me to go down so easily and I managed to get out from underneath Griff and Caver.
 

The fight was on in earnest as the friends of the guy that I’d knocked out joined in too. I didn’t even know who was on whose side.
I didn’t care.
If you were in front of me and challenging me, then you were getting knocked the fuck out. I was blinded with rage and grief as the past twenty-four hours came tumbling down on me in one fell swoop. I couldn’t even think straight, I just rammed my fist over and over into whoever dared to cross my path.
 

It was one nasty fight. I was bleeding profusely from a cut under the eye and one of my knuckles was cut open from making contact with some guy’s teeth, but I was still standing, which is more than I could say for most of the other guys.
 

Griff and Caver had started holding back those who were remaining to try and break up the fight, when I heard Aspen behind me, yelling over the chaos. “Roan, stop! Stop it right now!” She wailed hysterically.

I turned and looked in her direction, she was frantically trying to get to me but Sorcha was holding her back, keeping her out of harms way. Maybe Sorcha didn’t deserve my earlier harsh assessment as she obviously cared about Aspen. And anyone who cared about Aspen couldn’t be all bad, in my books.
 

Caver saw that my back was to him and saw an opportunity to take me down. He tackled me from behind and shoved me into a solid wood, floor to ceiling column. Hitting the column head first, I felt dazed but still managed to reach around and grab Caver in a chokehold. I squeezed tightly; it would have killed a regular human. But I was able to let loose and be more violent with him, because Caver was a Were and could take it.
 

Caver was a scrappy little fighter and managed to bring us both down to the ground. We were both snarling and ready to tear into one another before Griff jumped in wrenched my free arm around and put me in an arm lock, causing me to let go of Caver.
 

“Whoa, big boy, calm down” he said as Caver stood up, coughing and rubbing his neck. “Nice try buddy but did you honestly think that you’d be able to take him down by yourself?” Griff said as he shook his head with half smile on his face.
 

“At least I took the initiative, where the hell were you, you bastard?” Caver replied as they both grabbed an arm and muscled me off the dance floor.

The music started up again as soon as we walked off the dance floor and the bar staff quickly cleared the floor of the dazed or unconscious. It was just another Friday night for them.

Aspen and Sorcha quickly followed behind as we burst out through the bar door and into the parking lot.
 

Wrenching myself free from Griff and Caver’s grip, I turned around violently and was on Aspen immediately.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” I roared at her.
 

“What am I doing here? What are
you
doing here? We had sex and you wait until I fall asleep so you can go sneaking off to a bar! What kind of a asshole does that to his mate, err, girlfriend?” Aspen yelled as she glanced back towards her friend. Sorcha was white faced and staring at the both of us, her head whipping back and forth between Aspen and I.

Apparently, Aspen hadn’t told her about our relationship. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Sorcha was her best friend. Did Aspen not tell her because she was ashamed or because it was too confusing to explain without giving away the packs’ secrets?

“I left you a note, Aspen. You
knew
where I was. Don’t make it sound like you didn’t know. At least when I leave the house, I let you know where I’m going, unlike you who just takes off and runs away whenever you feel like it.”
 

Sorcha was looking around uncomfortably, trying to pretend like she couldn’t hear every single word of our very loud and very public argument.
 

Caver, with his usual smartass charm, tried to break the tension by cracking a joke and a relived looking Sorcha turned and smiled at him.
 

Griff, always the cool headed one of the bunch, stepped in between Aspen and I, and said, “Roan, buddy, I know you’re upset but right now, we need to get you to Dr. McArdle and get you stitched up. You’re bleeding pretty good out of that cut under your eye.” I could feel the blood dripping down my face but I didn’t care and wiped it with the hem of my black t-shirt.
 

“Go home Aspen,” I said as I turned back to her, “you shouldn’t be here. You belong at home, it’s not safe here.”
 

She looked enraged as she absorbed my words, her mouth slightly agape as she stared at me. “What? Don’t you dare tell me where I belong! You don’t own me, Roan!”
 

I moved towards her, shoving Griff out of the way and closing the distance between us, “You’re fucking right I own you! And if you don’t get your hooker clothed ass home right now, I will personally escort you there myself. Don’t try me, Aspen, you know what I am capable of,” I said as I cornered her.
 

“Roan, get in the fucking truck right now or I am going to shoot your drunk ass with your own gun,” Caver yelled as he walked back from the truck carrying my tranquilizer gun.

That little prick, how dare he threaten me with my own fucking gun! Who the hell does he think he is?
 

“You wanna go, Caver? Anytime. Just say the word,” I turned and challenged him.
 

“Oh my god! I have no idea what the heck is going on here but would you two stop this pissing contest and let’s just go before Roan bleeds to death out here in the parking lot. This is ridiculous!” Sorcha stomped over between Caver and I, her hands on her hips. I looked over at her, impressed that she would get in between two male Weres with their hackles raised.
 

Caver looked at her, his lips curving into a wicked grin. “Yeah, you’re absolutely right, Sorcha. We need to get the hell out of here, but first I think Roan should come clean about why he left Aspen at home alone in the first place. Don’t you have a secret you’ve been hiding from Aspen, Roan?” He looked positively gleeful as he glared at me.

I lunged for him, pushing Sorcha out of the way, “Why you little fucker, why don’t you just shut your fucking mouth about things you don’t understand before I shove my fist down your throat.”
 

Aspen watched me chase after Caver with wide, horrified eyes, “Umm, what the hell is going on here? What secret have you been hiding from me Roan? Let me guess, it’s about that skank Stacey or maybe one of your other little girlfriends isn’t it? Spill it, right now!”
 

I could hear the hysteria building in Aspen’s voice but was unsure how to get out of this shitstorm.
Caver and his big goddamned mouth.
 

“Aspen, I don’t want to talk about this right here, okay? It’s not the right time nor the right place, trust me on this.”
 

I hoped that this would placate her but she put her little hands on her hips and said, “No, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anything about you any more. I want to know, right now. Tell me or this is over between us! I’m serious, Roan. Tell me or I’m done with this whole thing. I’m walking away and going back to Springbay.”
 

I started laughing, bending over with my hands on my knees, gasping with nearly hysterical laughter. Her words seemed so comical to me in light of everything that had gone on in the past twenty-four hours.
 

“Roan, I’m serious. If this has something to do with you and Stacey, I’m done and this,” she said as she gestured between the two of us, “is over! I mean it Roan. I’m not putting up with anymore lies between us!”

Straightening up, I walked over and stood before her, my height towering over her diminutive form.

“It’ll be over between us? Baby, it’ll never be over between you and me. If you run away from me, I will hunt and track you to the ends of the earth. If you try to have a relationship with someone else, you will lie in bed at night and yearn for me to come and satisfy you. It will never be over between us, Aspen, because you’re mine. You wear my mark on your neck and my blood runs in your veins. No one will ever be able fill up the emptiness that leaving me will bring you. So, go ahead and leave. I dare you, little girl.”
 

We stood face to face and glared at one another. Me, the picture of smug confidence. Her, furious contempt.
 

“
Fine
! I will then, you jerk!” she screamed as she walked past me, ramming her shoulder into my chest as she pushed by.
 

Stunned, I watched as her furious little form stalked away from me.

“Make sure you look me up when your belly finally starts to pop, you might want a father for that kid!” I yelled at her as she stomped away with Sorcha in tow.
 

That made her stop dead in her tracks
.
 

“Jesus, Roan, come on now. You’re going to regret all of this tomorrow, I guarantee it, so let’s go now before things get any worse,” Griff said calmly as he wrapped his large hand around my forearm and tried to pull me back towards the truck.
 

But I wasn’t going anywhere, I wasn’t done with Aspen, not by a long shot. I had fifteen long years of pent up frustration, sexual yearning, unrequited love and anger stored up inside me and it was all because of her. Toss in the fact that she was now pregnant with my baby into the mix and I was good and ready for a monumental freak out.