Chapter 26

Zander

Piper wasn"t on my bed when I woke the next morning as I"d hoped. I immediately felt she wasn"t near. It dawned on me as William unclasped my shackles, and I dressed, that I was getting attached to her being in the room with me.

Attached to her being in my home.

It was treading on dangerous waters to let myself grow comfortable because if she ripped it out from under me, I"d drown without her. It left me at risk to the beast. He could take over and I would cease to exist.

It tore at my insides to know that she could leave when her parents made it to our house, or at any time. I"d kept Piper prisoner at first, with her fear of getting lost in the bayou, but if she wanted to run, she could run.

She was here because she was curious.

Because my wolf called to her, and if the last few days meant anything, it meant her attraction was more than just physical.

The smell of Vivian"s cooking wafted up the staircase when I opened my door. My stomach urged me to go eat, but my heart longed to know why Piper left me so early.

I bypassed her room, following her scent down the stairs and toward the library. I ordered her new books, so I assumed she was looking for them.

The library door stood cracked and her sweet smell called to me like a siren at sea. She faced away from the door and was bent at the waist, skimming the bottom row of books.

I stopped in the doorway, enjoying the view. Her dress hid most of her curves, but I knew what sat underneath the excessive fabric. I"d dreamed of her the night before. Her sweet curves in the shower with me, the taste of her on my tongue, it was all so easy to replay in my head and find myself drowning in want again.

Piper stood up, and brought an old book with her, turning the old pages, she waved away partials of dust. She turned toward the lounge chair in the corner, pulling at the skirt of her dress, her bare feet slapping against the ground.

I smiled at the warm cup of coffee sitting on the side table, steam billowing up from the mug. She sat down, and noticed me, her book sliding to the floor with a big plop.

"Oh my God—," she yelped. "You scared the crap out of me. How long have you been standing there?" she asked, bending down to snag the book from the floor.

"Just a few minutes. What are you reading?" I asked, making my way over to her.

For a brief moment, she looked nervous. Tension formed in the air between us. What was she hiding? The blush and concerned pull of her brows made me more curious than before.

She stood up, slipping the book in her lap behind her onto the seat. "Nothing important. How did you sleep?"

I stopped inches in front of her. She angled her head toward mine, her gaze traveling over my face. "Good," I mumbled, swiping my thumb against her bottom lip. "Why are you nervous, Little One? Your heartbeat sounds like a hummingbird"s wings. Something has you worked up, and I"m sad to say it isn"t me."

She smiled. "I"m not nervous, Zander."

"You are," I said, reaching behind her to grab the book she wanted to hide. She tried to stop me, but I held it above her head. When I caught a glimpse of the cover, I chuckled. My mother had given me that book as a child. It was fairytales of werewolves and dragons. Something she read to William and me as children. I"d cherished it for so many years, knowing it was a fond moment I"d always share with her.

"Why are you hiding this?" I asked, handing it back to her.

She snatched it and tucked it underneath her arm. "I don"t know—I just thought it would tell me more about wolves and stuff."

Her curiosity warmed my blood. "And stuff? Hmm. Why are you so curious all of a sudden, Ms. Sloane?"

"I just want to understand the mate bond more."

Smiling, I curled my palm around her waist and pulled her closer to me. "Why not ask a wolf then?" I whispered. "You"re currently in the midst of a cat-and-mouse game with one."

"You were asleep," she said sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes. "You can always wake me, Piper. No matter the reason." I chuckled at the thought of her waking me for any reason. I planned to wake her day and night once I marked her. Once this beast was gone, I"d have her ten different ways in every room of this castle.

Shifting our positions, I took a seat behind her and helped her onto my lap. "Now, tell me what you want to know."

Piper fiddled with the neck of my t-shirt and gnawed on her bottom lip. "You mentioned an alpha"s mate is a Luna?"

I nodded.

"What does that mean exactly?"

Stroking her cheek, I untucked her lip from her teeth. "The Luna is the alpha"s second. She"s the counterpart to the alpha. The second in command."

She cleared her throat. "I—I would be the Luna if you marked me?"

"You would."

"Even though I"m not a wolf?"

"Yes. We"re given the perfect mate for us, it"s nature"s way, and it"s never wrong."

She reached for her coffee and took a sip. I liked the idea of her feeling comfortable enough to walk around with her coffee, and ask me questions.

"Okay," she said softly. "You said your mother was human?"

"She was, yes."

Piper"s hazel gaze met mine. "So she was able to have children with your father?"

My heart longed for the idea of children. The idea of her belly swollen with my child. I shifted her on my lap, hiding the hard evidence of my want for her in my jeans, and sank my fingers into her hair. "You"re asking about children?" I whispered against her mouth.

She shifted nervously, tightening her fingers around my deltoid. "Yes," she said breathlessly.

The tension between us warmed and boiled over into an unspoken fantasy. The image of having children with me did the same for her. "She gave birth to us just fine," I whispered, brushing my mouth against her jaw, I stopped below her ear. "You"d be just fine carrying my child, Little One." I curled my arm around her waist, and she shifted, moving the skirt of her dress out of the way, she straddled me. "As badly as I want to see you big with my child. I can"t wait to make it with you more."

She rested her forehead against mine and moved her hips against me. "I want that," she said.

Closing my eyes, I pressed my hips against her. "Me too, Little One."

"Now," she whispered. "I want it now. I ache for it."

My wolf stirred awake, his mate asking for his mark, asking for him, fed a hunger he held inside.

I opened my eyes, and angled her mouth upward. "You have no idea how badly I"ve waited to hear that, but you know I can"t mark you if you don"t plan to stay. If I mark you and you leave me, my wolf will go feral. He"ll lose himself even more so than with the beast. They"ll become one, and my timeline won"t matter. He"ll be gone forever."

She groaned in frustration. Something sat on her lips, and I knew it was her confession that she wanted to stay, but she couldn"t say it. Something held her back from it. How badly I wanted to break whatever it was into shards and blow them away. I wanted to demolish every ounce of doubt she held.

But I felt she wanted to say it.

I could almost taste it.

"This is torture. This is my own personal Hell," she whispered.

I angled my mouth over hers and kissed her softly, torturously, until she was a withering mess on my lap. "Zander," she said. "I—I think that ..."

A soft knock on the library door cut Piper off mid-sentence.

She slid from my lap and watched as Vivian poked her head inside. "I thought you two would be hungry," she said, sitting a tray of food on the desk. She went back into the hallway and pushed a rolling cart inside with more food and juice. "I"m sorry if I interrupted. Let me know if you need anything else."

Piper looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Smells good. I"m starving."

I was starving too. For more than food.

I stood and pinched her chin. "Let"s eat. Afterward, I want to show you some things."

She slipped over toward the cart and snagged a muffin. "What kind of stuff?"

I moved around her, squeezing her ass into my palm, I bent over and grabbed a cup of coffee. "Some things from my past."

She glanced up at me with excited eyes. It wasn"t a secret she wanted to know more about my life before the beast, and though I was scared to death to let her know the monster I"d become, I needed to start at the beginning.

Invite her into a part of me the beast was meant to feed on.

The innocent child that grew into an alpha made of nightmares.