Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 122: Chapter 122

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
Thunder roared in Thor’s brain, and he wanted to hit something just to make it stop. He was angry, furious at himself, at Derrick for ordering him weeks ago not to seek retaliation against those hateful fucking cowards who’d hurt her. Only an Alpha’s order could have stopped him from going after the stain, who so richly deserved the vengeance Thor wanted to reap against him.
Should’ve hit that prick. Should’ve given him a nice shiner like he gave our Nica, his Demon Wolf snarled.
Thor expelled a harsh breath, the growl in his chest never ending as he tried to control his emotions. The second that Crow motherfucker had left the bar with his lackeys, Thor had to use all his strength to stop his beast from going after them.
Oh, he knew what the man really was. King of his Murder to all his cronies, but he was nothing but a coward. A phony with a crown and Thor didn’t give a fuck about his position. His beast was old school when it came to revenge, and he demanded blood for the bruises that asshole had put on Nica’s sweet face.
Weeks wasted, snarled his Demon Wolf.
The animal was right. He’d spent weeks dancing around his feelings, staying away from the only woman he had ever wanted. A woman he’d thought was already mated. But here she was, standing in the otherwise empty garage and facing him down bravely. It seemed Nica wanted answers, too. But he kept his mouth shut until he knew he could speak without snarling at her. Only then did he speak.
“You said your mate hurt you. The day you fell.”
“I did? Well, I mean, we were supposed to be mated, but he already had two mates when he brought me to the trailer park, and, um, I j-just couldn’t.”
“I’m going to need you to explain what you mean by that, Nica. Start from the beginning.”
He watched her process his request, waited until she nodded her head in agreement. Thank fuck. he didn’t know what he would have done if she refused him. Her assent was step one in the quest to find out more.
Of course, it was made that much more difficult since the movement of her head had the long curls down her back and around her shoulders flutter about like magic. She was pretty before, but fuck, right then, she was beautiful. He didn’t know when she’d pulled the elastic band from her hair, but he preferred it this way. All loose and wild and perfect.
He had to work hard not to reach out and run his fingers over it, not through it. Curly hair demanded a different approach. Despite shaving his head, Thor understood her curls worked differently than waves or straight hair, and he would never want to hurt her.
Not ever.
“I guess it started with my mother,” she finally began after some seconds of careful consideration.
“Your mother?” he asked.
Thor was incredulous. How did her mother have anything to do with this? Patience, he reminded himself. Nica was not like the other women in his life, and he would do well to remember that.
“Ravens are different from most Shifters. We tend to live solitary lives, unless paired up. And only then do we live with our immediate families. We don’t gather in groups because there just aren’t very many of us,” she explained.
“Ravens and Crows don’t usually live together?” he asked.
“Sometimes, but not always. There aren’t that many Crows either. Not like Wolves and Bears. Anyway, when Dad died, it was just me and Mama for a while. She worked at a small diner waitressing, and after I finished high school, I worked there too after my community college classes. It was a tough couple of years. Quiet, boring, until the Crows came through.”
“Came through how?”
“Motorcycles. Not like that, though,” she said, nodding towards his hog and he thought he saw excitement light her gaze for a moment. “They aren’t wealthy, and well, I hate to speak ill, but they don’t take care of their things like you all do.”
Thor’s Wolf looked on approvingly, but he needed to reserve judgement for when she finished. So far, it had been nothing but the truth. Even if his supernatural senses couldn’t hear a lie, there was something so innately honest about Nica. Even when she was hiding something.
And yes, there was something else she was trying to keep hidden. He wanted so badly to use his sight, to ferret it out of her. But there was another side of him that wanted her truths freely given.
Wait. Don’t force it.
So he stood and listened to her talk. Her Maryland accent was subtly different from the Jersey girls he was used to hearing, but he liked it. Like her tone and the cadence of her speech. Nica was naturally soft-spoken.
Sweet girl. Pretty girl.
“Then he started coming to the diner more often, and one day it was like he was there every afternoon during my shift after my classes,” she mumbled through that part.
“You went to college?” Thor asked.
“Yep. I know I don’t sound very educated, but yes, I did. I liked school. A lot.”
She shrugged as if it were something to be embarrassed about, and Thor frowned. She deserved a chance to follow her dreams. If that meant going back to school, then why the fuck not?
“First, I think you sound just fine, Nica. Real fine. Smart, funny, caring. I’ve been watching you for weeks, and I don’t think you’ve ever said an unkind word about anyone,” he murmured.
“That’s not true. I called Leo a fathead one day when he criticized my shot pouring.”
“Leo is a fathead. So again, you were just being honest,” he told her with a grin he couldn’t hide if he wanted to. “Second, how old are you?”
“Oh, I’m twenty-six. I know it’s still young, but I feel older sometimes. Much older,” she mumbled, and his heart squeezed for another reason.
Twenty-six. Fucking hell. It seemed the Fates were more fucked up than he’d thought. Dire Wolves aged even slower than other Shifters, and Thor was almost twice Nica’s age, though he looked about thirty tops.
“Third, what did you study?” he asked, scrubbing a hand roughly over his face. He needed to focus on something other than their age difference.
“Well, I had to take some regular classes like English and Math. But I was really into these horticulture classes,” she told him.
He watched, interested, as Nica’s cheeks turned pink, and she averted her gaze. Was she embarrassed? He grinned and asked her for more details, delighted when she spoke about hydroponics and raised garden beds, experimenting with different soil types and experimental filtration systems. There were so many layers to this woman, he mused. And he wanted to know them all.
“Horticulture? Wow! I wouldn’t have guessed that,” Thor replied.
He had one hand on top of his head, rubbing the stubble that had grown that day, and the other on his hip as he stood shaking his head and grinning at her. It felt like a present, this little snippet of information she was giving him about herself. Yeah, like a really good present, and he liked it so much, he wanted more. But Nica was just staring, so he dropped his hand.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she blurted, and he could scent her embarrassment now.
“Nica, what is it?” he repeated.
“You just have a really nice smile, is all. Like a really, really nice smile. And you don’t do it very often. Smile, I mean. So I don’t get to see it very often. It surprised me, but like, in a really nice way. You look good when you smile. Well, you look good all the time, but you look fantastic when you smile, and I am talking way too much now, so I am going to shut up,” Nica finished with a popping sound on the final p. Now Thor was smiling even harder.
“Tell me why you said that Crow was your mate,” he said, needing to know before he did what he was dying to do.
“H-he told me he was. That is, he started courting me. He was sweet at first. Said all the right things, brought me gifts, won my mother over right away. She couldn’t have said yes to him when he suggested a pairing any quicker than she did. At least, that was what I thought.”
“Did you love him?”
“I thought so,” she replied honestly. “But understand, I’d never had a boyfriend till Jack. The things I should have questioned, I didn’t because I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe that was what love was supposed to be. He hid stuff. He left for days on end. He told me what he liked me to do, how I should act and what I should wear, and I tried to make him happy. But he would leave, and when he came back, he’d be different. Sometimes happy. Sometimes cruel. I was very green, you see. Jack liked to make fun of me for not knowing about stuff,” she confessed.
That black rage inside Thor grew as she told her story, but he held it in. He did not want to make it any worse for Nica. Keeping his Demon Wolf hidden was necessary. So, he zipped his lip and listened. He wished he could smile for her right then, the way she’d liked, but that grin was nowhere to be found.
Not then, anyway.
“Mama conducted a promise ceremony that spring under a cherry tree in the local park. He gave me a ring, and I was floating on air, thinking I was gonna be married and mated. We went to a motel, and we, well, you know,” She muttered, cheeks red now, and he could scent her discomfort. “Jack was so angry after. He made fun of me, said I didn’t know a damn thing about being a mate. After that humiliating experience, he brought me to the Pine Murder trailer park, where I was placed with two other women. I didn’t know till after he took off that they were his mates, and that I was going to be his third.”
By the time Nica finished speaking, Thor was trembling with rage. That motherfucker. He’d taken something precious from her, and instead of being grateful and easing her into it, he’d humiliated and abused her trust. Thor’s fury intensified. And her mother! How could a mother give away her innocent young daughter like that? It was revolting, and more black fury filled him. But there was something he didn’t understand.
“He had other mates. Living mates and he wanted you, too?”
“Yes. Ella and Denise are both alive and both wear his mating mark. Crows don’t bite like other predatory Shifters, they scratch and offer a token. He got Denise on the right side of her face, and Ella on her left. Used to call them a matched pair,” she whispered, shivering before she continued.
“Poor Ella was not well when I got away. He broke them, and he wanted to break me.” Horror leaked into her voice.
“Nica,” Thor said her name and took a step closer to her.
“They’re both just broken shells of the women they once were. I thought I was lucky when Denise got pregnant. He left me alone for years, but then she lost the baby, and then Ella got sick. He still has no sons, you see. So suddenly, he wanted me again, but I refused him. I swear to you, I refused him. I was so afraid Thor, so afraid would break me, too,” she confessed, tears running down her cheeks.
“He didn’t break you, Nica,” Thor interrupted, taking her by the upper arms.
He couldn’t stand to see her pain, but she needed to see the other side of it. He had to help her see. And he would if it took him all his life, he would. That was his vow to her, though he didn’t voice it.
“You got free, Nica. You aren’t broken.”
“I ran. I was afraid, and I ran, and I just left them!”
She hiccupped, her blue eyes were wild, and her tear-stained cheeks were ruddy. Nica trembled beneath his fingers and something darkly possessive grew within him. His protective instinct went into overdrive, and he growled deep and low before reining back the Wolf. When his eyes met hers again, she was no longer crying, but shivers seemed to run through her and into him.
“Listen to me, Domenica Corvo, you are not broken. You did the best you could in a terrible situation. You got the fuck out, Nica. You got out! And I am so fucking proud of you,” he told her, and pride filled his veins, lacing his voice.
Brave. Fierce. Badass female.
“You shouldn’t cuss,” she whispered, eyes glued to his mouth, and that warm feeling inside him grew some more.
Thor couldn’t have stopped what was going to happen next even if he wanted to, and he had to be honest with himself, he did not want to stop it. Not at all. He closed the space between them, lifting one hand to cup Nica’s cheek. Her big, blue eyes stared, unblinking, as he slowly lowered his head to hers. He needed to make sure she had ample time to step back, to tell him no if that was what she wanted.
Please don’t tell me no.
Thor continued his advance, nuzzling her nose and tipping her head to the side before pressing his lips ever so softly to hers. That warm buzz he felt whenever he was around her was focused now, right on their meeting lips. Then he kissed her harder, pressing against her mouth, waiting till she parted her lips on a sigh, and he delved inside.