Untamable (19 page)

He nodded slowly. “The elders of my pack said I’d have to be killed because my wolf would turn forest crazy before I reached twenty. That I’d destroy my pack and everyone else around. Dane took me in. For my promise of servitude, he promised me a female who would calm me, calm my wolf and give me life. But then that wolf was taken.”

“Taken?” Sidda blinked, her vision blurry.

“Yes, taken by the devil to keep me on my path to insanity. But now she’s back, and she can save me. Sidda, you are mine. You are my savior.” The sincerity in Stephan’s words startled Sidda.

She wasn’t his. She’d given herself to Jasper too many years ago to be anyone but his. “I’m not, I can’t be. I’ve already mated with Jasper.”

Stephan shook his head. “Not truly. He may have marked you, but the bond couldn’t be complete. Not when he’d marked your sister first. The first Marking is the bonded one. They are bonded, not you and him. You are mine, Sidda.”

“I can’t be yours. Now please go away. I just want to be alone.” Tears poured from her eyes. Stephan’s fingers brushed them away before his hand traced her jaw.

“You’re so strong. You can stop me, Sidda. I need you more than Gandillion ever will.” His broken whisper made her tears fall harder. Jasper didn’t need her, because he had her sister.

“I will give you everything.”

“I can’t. You’re a monster. I’ve seen and heard about the things you’ve done.” She stared into the abyss of his violet eyes. A storm of emotions raged in them.

“But you can stop me. Don’t you see that? Don’t you know you were made for me? Come to me and stop me, Sidda, before I destroy everything you love.” He grabbed the bottle, turned it up one more time, then left.

Sidda sat motionless on the bar stool. Her head swam, her eyes were blurry, and her heart was breaking. She slid from the seat and sat down some money on the bar before heading to the car.

What was she going to do? She slid into the car and rested her head on the steering wheel. What the hell was Stephan talking about? She couldn’t be his. She hadn’t been made for him, right? She slammed her fist down on the steering wheel beside her head.

“You really want me to add breaking my steering wheel to the list of things I’m going to whip your pretty little ass over?” Jasper growled outside the window.

Sidda turned her head slightly. Towering over the car, Jasper stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a nasty bump on his head. No wonder her knee hurt.

“Get out of the car, Sidda.”

“No. Go away.”

“Sidda.” He growled menacingly, and her wolf trembled inside her. “I can smell him on you. Get out of the fucking car now.” His voice dripped with accusation.

How dare he? Sidda’s head snapped up. Her anger soared to new heights. He had the nerve to take that tone with her after everything he’d done? “Jasper, leave me alone.”

“I warned you.” He leaned down, and before she could scream at him to go away, he’d ripped the door off the car and had her by the ankles, dragging her out of it.

“Jasper! What the hell are you doing? Let me go, you bastard.”

“No. Now shut up.”

“God, I hate you. Please just let me go. I don’t want to be around you or see you, hear your voice, nothing. Just stop, leave me alone.”

To her surprise, he dropped her ankles and stared down at her. She crab-walked backward to the car. Her back hit the metal hard, causing it to bend and creak.

His eyes bore into hers. Deep regret filled those beautiful green eyes. “You’ve chosen? You’ll believe a bastard like Stephan over me?”

“Why should I believe anything you say to me? You lied to me. You said you loved me and that you wanted a life with me as your mate, but you already had a mate.”

“No, I didn’t. I was forced to start the Marking Bite as a child. I never finished it. Vivian was believed to be destined to be my mate, but I knew, always knew, that there was someone else out there. I didn’t—”

“You never told me any of it. And she’s been in Romania with you this whole time, hasn’t she? That’s why you never came home and why you stopped talking to me. What happened? She didn’t want to come here with you, so you figured you’d claim the next best thing?” Sidda turned from him. Screw this, screw him and her both. She inhaled and on the exhale spun to tell him to go to hell, but her phone lit with a new text message. Sighing, she glanced down at it.

A picture of Ms. Joy, her mother, Doc, and Cole at the movies surrounded by Dane’s wolves met her eyes. The message was simple.
Save me before I destroy them.
Shit, Stephan had them the entire time he’d been talking to her in the bar.

A car pulled up to one side of the parking lot. Her eyes took in the driver’s profile. A strong hard-edged profile met her before those violet eyes flashed in her direction. He was forcing her to chose right now! Damn, she hated male wolves. All assholes. She glanced at Jasper, who stared at the car.

“He’s got our family,” Sidda whispered.

Jasper growled and glared at her. “I won’t let you go. You know you aren’t getting in that car. I’ll kill him and everyone else who tries to take you from me.”

“Jasper, he’s got them, all of them. He told me I had to stop him before he destroyed everything I love. I have to.”

“I am your Alpha. I will handle this.” His hoarse tone made her back stiffen.

The human side of her, the one that she’d always relied on, surged forward. He might be her wolf’s Alpha, but he wasn’t going to control all of her.

“Jasper.” She grabbed his hands and focused with all of her mind on returning the sleep favor he’d bestowed upon her so many times recently.

His body began to relax, his mind opening fully to hers.

“Sidda, what the hell are you doing?” He snatched his hand away but slumped against the car.

“I’m saving everything I love, even if I’m still pissed.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, sending the last of the power she could summon into him. His eyes rolled back, and she helped him into the car.

His hair dropped over his forehead, and she tucked it away. With one last kiss to his warm skin, she turned and walked away from the wolf she loved.

Chapter Seventeen

“You see, already you’ve calmed my beast.” Stephan put down his phone. “They are all safe.” Sidda slid into the passenger seat of his car. She shook her head before their gazes locked.

“This is insane, and we both know it. I can’t control your wolf.”

“It’s not insane. If you only knew how I felt right now, you’d understand.”

Sidda pulled her phone from her pocket. “You’d better hope they’re all right.” She punched in Cole’s speed dial number.

“Or what?” Stephan mocked her.

“Or I’ll break your nose, dipshit.” A flash fire of anger scorched her. She hated being mocked by anyone.

“Sidda, Sidda, Sidda. It’s not wise to threaten me.” His sing-song voice grated on her nerves.

“It’s not wise to be in the damn car with you either, but here I am,” she muttered more to herself than to him.

Beside her, Stephan gave a snort of laughter but quickly reined in his humor. “Who are you calling?”

“My brother.” Close enough, Cole had always treated her as a sister, and god knows, she loved him like one. “I want to make sure you aren’t lying.”

Sulfur filled the small space. “I may be a lot of things, but a liar I’m not. I said they are safe, and they are.”

Sidda gaped. “You used them to get me in this car and away from Jasper. You could be lying.”

The phone rang once before Cole’s carefree voice filled her ears. “What’s up?”

Sidda glanced at Stephan.“Where are y’all?”

“Home. Where are you and Jasper? There’s some guy and girl here. The girl’s hot. She looks just like you but blonde. I’m kinda excited.” His laughing voice did nothing but remind her of who the blonde was and why she’d come.

“Sidda? You all right?” Cole’s voice slowly turned concerned.

She cleared her throat, wiping the tears forming in her eyes away. “I’m fine,” she lied. She was a damn mess. “Listen, I need you to get the guy that’s there. Has he talked funny and referred to me as Alpha?”

“Yeah.” Cole hesitated. “But…”

“Shut up, Cole, and listen. Get the new guy, whatever his name is, and drive out to Ven’s bar.”

“Why the hell do I want to drive all the way out there?”

God, Cole would shit a brick when she told him what she’d done. “You need to pick Jasper up. I knocked him out. Now just go get him. I’ll call you later.” She hung up. Sidda had no desire to explain anymore.

Sidda took a deep breath before turning her phone off. Cole would just call her over and over until he found out what the hell was going on.

“What did you do to Gandillion?” Stephan eyed her.

“I don’t know. I wanted him to black out so he couldn’t try to stop me, and when I touched him, he did.” It wasn’t entirely the truth. She’d done a little more than that, but she didn’t want to reveal how strong the bond between Jasper and her had grown.

“Interesting. We’ll have to test that power and see if it works on other wolves. First though we need to get home. For now that home is Dane’s. Soon, after our Marking Ceremony, we’ll build our own home together.”

Panic welled in her. She couldn’t go to Dane’s home, and she damn sure couldn’t build a home with Stephan. She wanted to turn back the clock and run far away with Jasper. Who cared if he’d bitten someone before her? She loved him. She fought back the bitterness. That wasn’t entirely true. She did care that he’d marked someone else. But she wasn’t what Stephan thought. She had no special ability to stop him from doing anything.

“Look, I know you think I was made for you, but I’ve mated with Jasper, and we are bonded.” She hoped her even, calm tone would help him understand that she was Jasper’s.

Stephan glanced at her, his eyes turning black. “You can’t be fully bonded. He already has a mate. Maybe you feel a bond for him because you are pack members, but that is all.”

For a second she thought of arguing with him, but maybe having him and Dane believe she and Jasper hadn’t bonded would work in her favor. There was a chance Jasper would never speak to her again after she’d turned his power against him, but she had to save their family. She hoped he understood. But then, by now, he was probably with the blonde, her half-sister, who she’d knocked out. Yet he’d tracked Sidda down, still confessing his love for her.

She shook her head. There was no hope now. He’d believe she picked Stephan over him, and he’d never forgive her for that. The angst in his face when he thought she believed Stephan instead of him nearly made her wretch from the whiskey was now burning in her stomach.

Wanting to get her mind off her heart-ripping pain, she changed the subject. “Does Velham know you’re bringing me to his home?”

A muscle twitched in Stephan’s jaw and sulfur filled the air. “It doesn’t matter. You’re my mate.”

Sidda wanted to ask more about the tension that filled his body but let it pass. Stephan wasn’t exactly stable when he was mad. Hell, he wasn’t stable on a good day from what she could tell. “What about rooms? I can’t stay in the same room with you. I don’t know you.”

He laughed, a small bitter laugh. “No, I didn’t figure you would be willing to stay with me. And I’m not monster enough to force you…yet.” His gaze raked over her body. A shiver of unease crept along her spine. He meant to have her soon, and he was just crazy enough to believe it possible. But it wouldn’t happen. “I’ve had a room made up for you next to mine. But soon you’ll share my bed. Sidda, I was dead serious earlier. You calm me and make the forest call fade.”