Faith Read online

  God love him, Hale didn’t hesitate for a second. He pushed into her, groaning at the friction. Within seconds, he was moving inside of her at a fierce pace, his hot breath sticking to her face.

  They were both still clothed, Hale wearing his animal skins and Taylor covered by her dress, with the exception of one breast that Hale had been toying with. He had forgotten it as soon as he was inside of her, his entire body working like a machine whose only goal was climax.

  Moonlight shone down on his face, accentuating the perfectly chiseled angles of his face. While she would never admit it to him or his brother, she was continuously amazed that such beautiful men could desire her so much. Neither male would have any trouble filling his bed with another female.

  The thought caused her jealousy to spike, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Hale had been with another woman in the week since the thrall. Her grip on his shoulders tightened, until her nails bit at his flesh. She dug them deeper, spurred by an atavistic urge to mark her territory.

  As her blunt nails drew pricks of blood, Hale snarled and began to thrust harder. Adrenaline flooded her veins, creating a potent cocktail of fear and excitement that had her wrapping her legs around his hips and crying out his name.

  Hale threw his head back, howling as he reached his peak. Even as he came inside of her, he continued to thrust, not stopping until she was right there with him in climax. Euphoria overtook her body, and for a moment she was aware of nothing except the glow of moonlight and the smell of sweat and grass.

  They lay together on the ground afterwards. Hale was still panting for breath as he settled his head between her breasts. Absently, she stroked his hair. In response, he nuzzled his face against one of her breasts.

  As docile as he seemed, she knew that at his core, Hale was a wolf. How could she ever hope to tame him?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A cold wind swept through the valley, causing the trees to sway. Loose leaves whipped around them, but Hale wasn’t ready to get up. He shifted positions, pulling Taylor into his arms so that she could curl up against him. Knowing how sensitive humans could be to the cold, he unwrapped the skins from around his hips and used it to cover her torso.

  After she buried her head in his chest, Taylor was quiet for a few moments. Hale became concerned that she was falling asleep and was about to nudge her when she finally spoke.

  “Do you think we can make this work between the four of us?”

  “Four?” he asked.

  She reached between them to point at her belly. “I don’t know how we can all be a family. Won’t it be weird?”

  With his nose resting against the top of her head, he took a long drag of her scent. She smelled like always, but with distinct traces of his own scent. Not the kind she could get from touching him, or even coupling with him, but the deep-set undertones that could only be imbued by carrying his pup.

  Or Alder’s, he had to remind himself.

  Hale closed his eyes. “I told you before, I make a great uncle.”

  A stray finger began to trace the muscles of his chest. “You would do that? Play uncle when the baby could be yours?”

  It was something he’d given a great deal of thought towards over the past week. After the fight with Alder, it was clear to him that he and his brother could barely share Taylor—how could they ever share the responsibility of raising a pup?

  Initially, he’d had half a mind to challenge his brother. Alder may have been his equal in strength, but when it came to experience, Hale had him beat. He was confident that he could have defeated Alder, but what then?

  He would lose his brother whom—current circumstances aside—was his closest friend. And Taylor would hate him.

  The other option would have been to assert his rights as a parent, but to what end? All it would do was cause friction between the three of them and besides, Alder would make a better father than him anyway.

  So in the end, there had only been one option. Hale could step aside of his own volition and allow Alder to be the father of Taylor’s pup. It would help to ease the strain between the three of them and make Alder more willing to share his mate.

  Because sharing her was one thing Hale refused to compromise on.

  “I’ve never really liked pups,” he told her.

  That was the truth. He’d grown up around a plethora of nieces and nephews and had always shied away from them until they were old enough to speak coherent sentences or hunt prey. He’d like to think it would be the same for a pup of his own.

  “I just don’t want to be forced out of his life.” He placed his hand over her belly. “I want to be there, for the both of you.”

  Taylor arched her neck up. As her eyes searched his face, he did his best to look sincere.

  Being with her, smelling her, knowing that his pup was growing inside of her, it made it far more difficult than he’d anticipated. He felt the renewed desire to hunt down his brother and challenge him. The irrational creature inside of him believed that Taylor would come to accept his claim and her role as his mate.

  But Taylor was not a wolf. She didn’t understand the significance of a powerful mate. She valued the things most human females did.

  Love.

  Even if Hale did love her, it wasn’t in the way that she needed. It wasn’t the way that Alder loved her.

  She held up a pinky and whispered, “I promise, you’ll always be a part of our family.”

  Hale stared at the proffered finger. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s a pinky promise. You have to hook pinkies with me,” she said with a grin. “It’s the highest form of promise, didn’t you know?”

  Hale gave her a dubious look, which led to her swatting his shoulder.

  “Just have a little faith in me, okay?”

  With a sigh, Hale moved to lock pinkies with her, but Taylor swiftly drew her hand back.

  “You can’t sleep around,” she blurted. “I know that I’m with Alder and it’s unfair, but… I don’t want to think about you being with other women.”

  Hale took exception to her holding his pup ransom for a pledge of fidelity. He considered toying with her on the issue, but ultimately decided against it. He had felt from the day the thrall had ended that he would never want to be with another female again. A week later, that feeling had only solidified.

  After making her squirm for a few seconds, he reached out and hooked their pinkies together. It was, by far, the most ridiculous thing she’d had him do to date, but as soon as their fingers were locked, Hale did feel a small measure of security.

  “You’re stuck with me now, hot shot.”

  He arched a brow. “Because of a finger promise?”

  Taylor moved to straddle his hips. “This is a very big deal.” She poked his chest. “You can’t take it back.”

  “Mhmm.” He was enjoying the view of her breasts that their new position afforded.

  Seemingly unsatisfied with his response, Taylor pinched his nipple. Hale feigned agitation, unwilling to let on how much the small action had aroused him. Narrowing his eyes, he rolled her over onto her back.

  “Hey, be careful!”

  Ignoring her protest, he went straight for her neck and raked his teeth along the tender flesh. Her body trembled beneath him.

  “Can we go inside?” she asked. “I’m cold.”

  “I’ll keep you warm,” he murmured against her neck.

  Hale was still hard and he wondered if she would let him inside of her without all of the touching and petting again. He had a week’s worth of sexual frustration he wanted to work off on her curvy little body.

  “I’m serious,” she said, not sounding all that serious.

  Although he was eager to be inside of her, Hale reasoned that she would be much more receptive if she were warm and decided to take her inside.

  With a final lick to her neck, he got up, picking her up with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

  Hale liked
that.

  As he reached the porch, another cold wind blew, this one bringing with it two familiar scents. Hale had to stop and sniff the air again, and then again, utterly bewildered by what he smelled. The scents were simply too out of place for his mind to reconcile them with reality.

  “What’s wrong?” Taylor asked.

  Before he could explain the unexplainable, Hale heard the telltale beating of wings that signaled Fenix’s arrival. The hawk shifter circled the cabin twice before swooping down to land in front of them. As usual, he shifted mid-flight, and stood before them in his human form.

  “You have visitors,” Fenix announced. “Two juveniles.”

  “I know who they are,” Hale said. “What are they doing here?”

  Fenix shrugged. “The male isn’t talking and the female seems to want to talk about anything but that. Laurel’s escorting them to the den.”

  “Who is it?” Taylor asked. “Friends of yours?”

  “Family,” Hale said.

  “Oh, wow. Can I meet them? Who are they?”

  Hale hesitated as he considered his options.

  The right thing to do would be to tell her to wait in the cabin while he went ahead, assessed the situation, and performed the necessary damage control.

  The very least he could do was inform her of what she was about to encounter.

  Hale did neither of those things. His wolf was tired of making concessions for Taylor and his brother. It was high time she saw that Alder wasn’t as perfect as she seemed to believe.

  “Of course you can,” Hale said, a slow smile spreading over his face. “It’s my niece and nephew. Caim has a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but I’m sure you’ll love Snow.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Taylor freshened up as quickly as possible before they set out for the den. Hale walked beside her, bare-chested. The alpha had insisted that she wear his bear fur as a cloak. It was heavy and a little scratchy, but it was a rare treat to have him dote on her, so she didn’t protest.

  She was excited to meet Caim and Snow, though for mostly selfish reasons. She wanted to see what the twins’ niece and nephew looked like because it would give her some insight into what her child may look like. Not to mention, aside from Glenn—who was only a few years younger than she was—she hadn’t met any young shifters before.

  They ascended the path to the den entrance in a companionable silence. As they neared the mouth of the cave, three figures came into view, two women engaged in conversation and one very large wolf.

  The wolf was almost as big as Hale in his animal form. He had a wavy black coat that appeared glossy in the moonlight. His bright eyes were focused on Taylor and Hale, but he simply stared, making no move to greet them.

  Taylor recognized the taller of the two females as Laurel. She was one of the many pack members that Taylor knew by name, but had never really interacted with. Laurel was talking about something with a girl who could only be Snow.

  Snow stood nearly as tall as Laurel, though Taylor could tell from the soft curve of her facial bones and her narrow hips that Snow was a young adolescent. Even so, she had the makings of a stunning woman.

  She bore a striking resemblance to her uncles, sharing their dimpled chin and almond-shaped eyes. Although her hair was black, it had the same frizz-free curls as Alder and Hale’s. Something Laurel said made her grin, and Taylor could have sworn she was looking at a female version of Hale.

  It was probably because Snow looked so much like the men she loved, but Taylor felt instantly endeared towards the girl.

  As the reached the crest of the path, Laurel turned to acknowledge Hale with an incline of her head. It drew Snow’s attention and her face lit up.

  “Uncle Hale!”

  She cleared the distance between them in three strides, swinging her arms around Hale’s neck. To Taylor’s surprise, Hale hoisted Snow up and nuzzled the side of her head.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked as he set her down. “Where are your parents?”

  Ignoring the question, Snow peeked around Hale to get a look at Taylor.

  “Is this your mate?”

  Not waiting for an answer, Snow sidestepped her uncle to pull Taylor into an embrace. Taylor had never been much of a hugger, but Lark had thoroughly desensitized her to abrupt violations of personal space, so Taylor was quick to hug Snow back.

  “Nice to meet you,” Taylor said.

  Snow released her. The cheeky grin on her face was made even cuter by her pointed canines. “I never thought any female would want to be with Uncle Hale. You must have the patience of a saint.”

  Hale’s hand clamped down onto Snow’s shoulder. “How did you get here, and where are Cain and Sarah?”

  His deep, authoritative tone caused Snow to flinch.

  The black wolf let out a low growl.

  Turning to the wolf, Hale glared and growled back.

  “Please, don’t fight,” said Snow. “Caim brought me here to see Alder. He was supposed to visit over a month ago, but he never came. He’s never late…”

  Tears welled up in Snow’s eyes, making her look younger and vulnerable. Taylor realized that Snow’s distress was entirely her fault.

  “I’m the reason Alder wasn’t able to visit,” Taylor admitted, regaining their attention.

  She tried to think of a way to explain the circumstances around the day she met Alder, without mentioning the whole ‘fugitive’ aspect.

  “Alder’s truck broke down,” Taylor said. “I stopped to, um, give him a jump, ya know? But then my car wouldn’t start. So we just decided to Halcyon…”

  Even Hale cringed as she recounted the fictitious events. When had she become such a terrible liar?

  Fortunately, Snow seemed eager to accept the answer. “So, Alder brought you back to Halcyon and then you met Uncle Hale?”

  “Uh, yeah, pretty much.”

  “Wow, so both of your cars broke?”

  “Yup. That’s exactly what happened.”

  Snow’s eyes widened. “It’s like destiny.” She looked between Taylor and Hale. “Was it love at first sight?”

  Hale’s lips curved. “Yup. That’s exactly what happened.”

  Taylor made a face at him before Snow looked at her again.

  Snow said, “I haven’t been in love yet, but I’m sure it will happen soon. I saw a wolf on the way here, but my stupid brother chased him off.”

  “As well he should have,” Hale said, all of his playfulness gone. “Where did you see this wolf?”

  Snow didn’t answer. Her attention was drawn to the den entrance, where Alder was emerging, flanked by Fenix.

  He seemed to only have eyes for Snow and he stared at her as if he were looking at a ghost.

  A muscle in Snow’s throat bobbed. She hesitated for only a second before she ran to him, tears falling down her face.

  “Dad.”

  Taylor felt as though she’d fallen through ice and into frigid water. Her mind went completely blank, save for one word, playing on repeat.

  Dad… Dad… Dad…

  Someone was trying to talk to her.

  Hale?

  She didn’t know.

  Her eyes rolled back in her head and she surrendered to unconsciousness.

  CHAPTER SIX

  When Taylor came to, she was on the furs in her cabin. She could hear Hale yelling and as her vision came into focus, she saw that an obstinate-looking Holly and terrified-looking Lark were the recipients of his rage.

  With considerable effort, she raised herself into a sitting position and grabbed the nearest object—a pillow—and hurled it at Hale.

  She attempted to say “stop yelling at my friend” or, if she was going to include Holly, “friends”, but all that came up from her throat was bile.

  Gagging as the bile filled her mouth, she covered her lips with her hand and looked around frantically. Hale was there immediately, thrusting a pot at her. Taylor managed to catch on to part of their conversation over the sound of her own retc
hing.

  Holly asked, “Aren’t you going to hold her hair or something? Don’t just stand there.”

  “I’m the one who got her the pot,” Hale retorted.

  “Maybe we should rub her back,” Lark suggested.

  Taylor clutched at her gut. She felt hot all over and all she really wanted was some breathing room.

  When she was able to speak, Taylor asked, “Tell me that was a nightmare and Alder doesn’t have a teenage daughter.”

  Hale said, “Technically, she’s not a teenager. She’ll be thirteen in March.”

  Taylor vomited again.

  Hale crouched down and began patting her back in what he must have thought was a soothing manner. It felt more like he was smacking her.

  “You’re being too rough,” Holly told him. “You, rub her back.”

  Lark was behind her within seconds, rubbing the small of Taylor’s back. It helped a little and Taylor was able to regain a modicum of her composure.

  She looked up at Hale. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He averted his gaze. “Shouldn’t you be asking Alder that?”

  “You took me to meet her and you didn’t even say anything. You let me get blindsided.”

  “Alder should have told you,” was his stubborn reply. “It wasn’t any of my business.”

  Taylor threw another pillow at him.

  “I’m your business,” she shouted. Everyone in the room recoiled. “We’re in a relationship! We’re having a baby! Anything that affects me is your business!”

  Hot tears burned her eyes. She knew that she wasn’t being totally fair to Hale, but Alder wasn’t there and she had more hurt and anger than she knew what to do with.

  Tentatively, Hale said, “Taylor, I’m—”

  Holly cut him off. “She’s right. You lied to her. Lying by omission is the same as lying. You’re really no better than your lying brother.”