Blaze, page 26
“Unfortunately, Clarence, my gift is of past sight. I can’t see the future. So for now, I’m taking everything one day at a time.” Lena keeps the answer short with no wiggle room.
She’s drawing labored breaths, and I can see her breaking point coming.
I nudge Henri with my knee under the table. She pulls her head up from her tablet.
“I think that should be enough for you to run before the opening.” Henri ends the interview for Lena.
“Yes, I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.” Clarence looks at the windows, where the last light of the day streams through.
Lena is stiff to stand, and while no one else noticed it, my cock goes hard remembering the little present I’ve tucked away.
Henri graciously walks Clarence and his assistant out, and I focus all my attention on Lena. She draws deep breaths. The stress she’s feeling is painted through every breath. I wish more than anything our bond was there so I could reassure her and send her love. But without it, I’m left to do this the old-fashioned way.
Lena’s eyes rake across my face, looking for approval.
I give it to her with a big smile. “I’m so proud of you.”
That causes her shoulders to relax from around her ears. When she goes to wrap her arms around me, I bend and pick her up, hauling her over my shoulder.
“Really, Finn? Put me down,” she growls, but it comes out pouty.
I slide my hand up her thigh, pushing the skirt of her dress up a little bit, and she stills. The idea of me stripping her of the rest of her dignity stops her from fighting anymore.
Henri looks like she’s about to say something as we cross paths by the entry to the foyer. But with a shake of her head, she goes back to what she’s doing.
Up the stairs and into Lena’s bedroom, I don’t put her down until I get her to the bed and lay her among the pillows. She instantly starts to move, and I grab her ankle, correcting the behavior.
Lena stills.
“I will take care of you,” I tell her.
With a sigh and an eye roll, Lena stops fighting me and settles into her pillows.
I sit on the bed and adjust Lena so I can lift both her legs. The glint of the gem on the end of the plug inserted in her ass is alluring. My cock twitches.
I tap the plug, and she shuffles before complaining. “Finn.”
“Now, now, faolan,” I scold in jest before easing the plug out of her ass.
My heart rate picks up. God, do I want her. Last night was fantastic, but she deserves a huge reward for today, and I want to give it to her.
Keeping the plug clear of any textiles, I move out of the way for her legs to come down to the bed and go to clean up.
“Get undressed, Kathleen.” I bend over the top of the bed and kiss her. “Someone’s got an orgasm coming her way.”
“Mmm.” Lena gives me a happy little rumble from her chest.
With hopes of giving Lena some time to decompress, I take an extra minute after cleaning the plug.
That moment of decompression turns into a sweet little nap.
When I come out of the bathroom, Lena lies among the pillows, her arms wrapped around the one I sleep on. She shivers in her sleep.
Sex can wait. Her body needs rest, and I’m jealous of a pillow.
Chapter 44
Finn
“Finn. Finn, wake up.” Lena’s hand rubs my pec. “Please.”
Since her heat, her waking me up in the morning is a first. I open my eyes to find my beautiful mate looking at me from where she’s seated on the bed. Fully dressed, her hair is pulled into a braid running down the side of her neck.
“Good morning, faolan,” I answer, placing my hand on top of hers and holding it over my heart.
“We need to go,” she says firmly, raising her eyebrows with a concerning urgency.
“Go where?” I yawn and try to pull her back into bed with me.
Lena moves away from me, pulling her hand out from under mine. She wraps her fingers around two of mine. “Just go. You can ask questions later. Come on, we gotta go.”
“What’s wrong? Who’s hurt?” I follow her lead, letting her pull me out of our warm bed.
I don’t believe anything is wrong or anyone is hurt. But without the pull of our bond, I can’t get a clear read on her and where the panic is coming from.
“Come on. Get dressed. Gotta go.” Lena doesn’t answer my questions, but this time, her wolf flashes in her eyes, pushing around wild with unsettled energy.
She’s not hurt? My wolf and I let her pull us to the closet. But why is she thinking she can order us around?
“Kathleen.” I stand still, barricading her in the closet and taking charge of the situation.
“What is going on?”
“We need to go,” she repeats, trying to make me get ready.
I shake my head, denying her request. “I’m not going anywhere until you give me an explanation.”
The battle inside Lena is strong. She bites her lips together, mulling it over in her head. She takes a deep breath and finally pushes out the words. “I need to go mini-golfing. It can’t wait. You probably won’t understand and —”
“Okay. Let’s go.” I cut her off, showing that her explanation was enough.
Her jaw falls open for a moment before she closes it and nods her head.
It’s early, and with her keeping me up late, I’d love more sleep, but this is something she needs — urgently. I don’t understand the significance of mini-golfing, but it’s her escape, and if she’s feeling the need to run, I’ll follow.
She’s including me. She chose to include me. Today, she knows.
Lena woke me up rather than going alone. Already dressed and about ready to run out the door, she could have just left me in bed. Part of her probably wanted to, but instead, Lena slowed down and took a moment. Even if it was hard for her, Lena took that breath to wake me up.
Da’s stories of chasing Ma from Dublin to Belfast and back always ended when Ma came to Da when she was in trouble. It was the same point Da made when he said she wasn’t ready. I needed to wait for her to come to and choose me.
My heart hammers hard, striking each beat with relief in my chest, and I try to focus beyond my happiness.
Our mate is upset. My wolf watches Lena while I take in what she’s wearing.
I grab jeans and a jumper and get ready quickly. All the while, she’s nervously bouncing from one leg to the next, burning her nervous energy.
Whatever’s bothering her must be big. I tuck my wallet and keys in my jeans pocket and pull my gun from the nightstand.
“Let’s go, Kathleen.” I give her ass a squeeze.
“The gun —” She goes to argue with me, but Lena stops herself. She mutters, “Stupid fucking media.”
After securing my gun to be more inconspicuous under my jumper, I approach Lena, where she’s fidgeting with one of the keychains attached to the fob for her SUV. Her eyes slowly trail up my body before locking on mine.
Lena’s eyes hold fear, locked behind a deep barrier. I want to ask, to know, and to assure her that everything is going to be okay, but she’s told me that’s not what she needs right now, and I respect it. Instead, I wrap myself around her and press my lips against her hair.
She leans into my hug, and warmth radiates from her, not physically, but as if she’s setting my soul on fire. Her body relaxes against mine as she breathes. I don’t rush her out of it, but when Lena pushes away from my chest, I put us back on course.
“Let’s go mini-golfing, faolan.” I tip her chin up toward me and give her one last kiss before letting her lead me from the bedroom.
Lena flicks the keys on her keychain around one finger as we descend the stairs. When we get to the landing, she explains, “It’ll be faster if I drive.”
“It’s only faster when you drive because you drive like you’re late to a car chase,” Cade’s voice calls from somewhere in the common space.
Evidently, they arrived home from the secret location he took Thalia to for her heat sometime while we were in bed.
“We’ll be back later. I’ll catch you up on everything,” I shout back toward him, following Lena out to the SUV.
Cade doesn’t answer, or I can’t hear him, but it doesn’t matter. Lena walks over to her red Equinox and unlocks the door as she passes behind it to the driver’s seat.
“No, faolan,” I correct her.
She grumbles, “It’s winter. She has to get driven once a week, and she likes me best.”
“I don’t want you driving when you’re this upset,” I reply.
I hadn’t realized she liked driving so much. Ma and Revecca aren’t big on it. But Lena isn’t either of them.
Lena yields, offering me her keys. Which, seeing as how it’s a push-button start, it’s mostly symbolic.
I tuck her into the passenger side of the SUV and get situated behind the wheel before waiting for directions.
“Okay, well, you know how to leave the house.” Lena giggles, pointing over her shoulder toward the gatehouse.
“Fair enough.”
Lena gives me directions to a mall, and the nervous energy changes as she draws a deep breath. “Okay, so we’re going mini-golfing, and I’m expecting you to hate it, but I’ll play fast.”
“I won’t hate it, and even if I do, that’s no reason for you to move faster or do something quicker because of me,” I assure her, squeezing her thigh before letting her out of the vehicle.
Passing a dozen shops, Lena doesn’t even get distracted by them.
Putput and Gogo — this is where Deacon said she was when she was stressed out. This is where she goes when she’s not okay.
She pulls open the glass door for us to enter.
“Hey, Lena.” An employee says her name as she comes in the door. “Uh, everything okay?”
“Hey Matt, yeah. I know. Don’t worry. He’s harmless-ish.” Lena fake laughs, defusing some of the tension.
“Alright.” The employee, Matt, eyes me suspiciously. “Guy from the news, right?”
Lena walks up to the counter. “Yeah. He’s Finn O’Leary.” Her nails click against the counter. “I promise. He’s good. Let’s just play one round on the eighteen hole for both of us.”
Matt is clearly protective of my mate, but not in the same way Brayden was obsessed with her. This is evidently just concern for her well-being. He hands Lena a red putter and a red ball. Then, eyeing me, he picks a black putter and a black ball.
“Thanks, Matt.” Lena picks up a little piece of paper and a half pencil and leads me through another set of doors.
Beyond the second set of glass doors is a whole little wilderness. Well, a plastic one. Fake rocks are interspersed with fake trees on Astroturf to make a little woodland-feeling area. Bird noises overlap with croaking frogs.
What on earth is this fake little forest? My wolf wrinkles his nose at the scent of the chlorinated water.
“It’s a lot at first. But your brain gets used to the smell,” Lena explains. She draws a deep breath. “We can go. It’s okay.”
“Lena.” I step toward her and lift her chin with the crook of my finger. “Quit trying to tell me how much this sucks. Because, apparently, you come here so much that the young man at the front desk is protective of you. This is where Deacon said you were when you disappeared before. Thank you for letting me in.”
Her shoulders sag. “Okay, but if it sucks, we can leave, okay?”
“Any moment I spend with you, doing something you love, will never suck.” I point down the course. “Lead the way, the forest awaits.”
I’m pretty sure Lena has tears in her eyes, but she blinks quickly and turns away from me.
By the ninth hole, I’ve taken twice as many strokes as Lena and we’re laughing so hard about the chipmunk hazard, which looks like an explicit scene cut from a child’s cartoon movie. Evidently, I have a dirty mind for seeing it as anything other than them both trying to look in the hole. But I have a hard time believing she never saw it as something more sexual before.
When Lena bends down to pull her ball out of the hole, I slide my hand across her ass.
“Cameras, Finn,” she scolds me.
“I’ve done nothing more than cop a feel,” I grumble, watching as goose bumps run up her arms in response.
Lena clears her throat. “Make your putt, Mr. O’Leary.”
“Mr. O’Leary, is it?” I take the putt, and the black ball rolls effortlessly into the cup. For once, I seem composed. I keep my voice low. “I’d prefer Sir. But I can handle Mr. O’Leary.”
Lena’s jaw drops, and her cheeks turn pink. She bites her lips together and turns away from me, headed to the next starting point.
“Do you like that idea, Kathleen?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
She drops her ball on the green and turns to look at me. Her eyes blaze gold with that of her wolf. Her voice comes out breathy as she answers, “Yes, Sir.”
Two little words and my cock is hard. I let my wolf rise to meet hers. “Good girl.”
Chapter 45
Lena
Simply. Fucking. Pathetic. I make my last putt in the hole and play the worst back nine since I started mini-golfing. Finn kept his hands to himself, but I felt the way his eyes raked my body, undressing me with each moment.
I miss our bond. I never even fully experienced it with a feral wolf, but I miss that connection. There have been small instances over the past week where I’ve felt like we still had our bond, and today has been even more of that same feeling.
Finn wraps his arms around me after his ball, six strokes later, falls into the final hole and disappears.
My wolf is warm inside me. Happy and content.
“Feeling better, Kathleen?” Finn asks.
I nod. The swirly thoughts disappeared around the third hole, and I’m ready to sort through life.
On our way to the main doors, Matt gives us a wave.
Finn walks over to him, and I brace for trouble.
Offering his hand out, Finn shakes with Matt. “I appreciate you taking care of Kathleen. It means a lot to know she feels safe coming here.”
“Thank you,” Matt answers. “I don’t want to see her hurt.”
“I agree.” Finn breaks the handshake and leads me out the door. When we walk into the main part of the mall, he wraps his arm around me, pulling me close. “He’s a good kid.”
We watch the mid-morning shoppers walking about the mall on our way back to the car.
A small child comes waddling over to us, arms outstretched over their head. “Dadadadadada.”
Finn stops, looking around before looking back down at the toddler. “Where’s your ma, then?”
“Dadadada.” The child babbles, and I look around, listening for a distraught parent.
A young woman darts out of a store to the right.
“Hayden?!” she yells.
I wave, grabbing her attention.
“Oh God.” She runs over and scoops the child up into her arms. “I’m so sorry. God, I turned away for just a second.”
“It happens.” Finn nods to me. “Can’t take my eyes off her either.”
I smack his chest. “Rude.”
“Dadadada.” Hayden babbles, reaching for Finn.
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. His dad is overseas, and you’re built similarly. He must have thought . . .” Her voice trails off. “I’m so sorry.”
Finn’s voice comes out super soothing and calming. “It’s okay. You’re doing just fine. He’s safe with you. That’s what matters.”
That seems to help settle her before she backs away, taking the toddler with her.
“Can’t wait to see you with a pup on your hip.” Finn kisses the top of my head.
“Don’t get too hopeful that will happen.”
“Well.” Finn pauses. “I have faith it’ll happen. And, if it doesn’t, that just means God has other plans for us.”
“Oh.” My blood runs cold. “You haven’t had any chance to go to church or anything. I’m so sorry. My life blew up, and you’re paying for it.”
Finn wraps his arms around me, leading me out to the parking lot.
“Don’t worry about me and going to Mass,” Finn reassures me. “God and I have gone on hiatuses before. God has given me my mate, and I am to honor and care for you.”
I get butterflies. They swarm inside my stomach and threaten to bring a giant smile to my face. But the way Finn says things like that, I swear . . . it’s like he’s purposefully trying to make me blush. Over what? It’s not like he’s telling me he’s going to strip me down and fuck me over the hood. It’s just that he loves me, and it leaves me feeling like a flower in a sea of butterflies.
He opens the passenger side of the SUV, holding the door for me. “Did you still want to drive?”
“I’m okay. But can we get food?” My stomach growls at the mention of it.
“Absolutely, faolan.” When Finn buckles my seat belt, his hand stops between my thighs. “Though, it’s been a little bit since I had a real meal.”
His fingers brush the upper seam of my jeans, furthering the implication of his words.
My breaths come short and heavy, feeling his hand there. “You promised Cade you’d catch him up on what’s happened. And we don’t have someplace we can do that unless the apartment building is safe.”
Defeated, Finn squeezes my thigh one last time. “Let’s get you fed, confess my sins to your brother, and then we’ll see what deplorable things we can get up to.”
He kisses me and runs his thumb over my lip before closing the vehicle door behind him.
Chapter 46
Finn
Despite having a good time mini-golfing and seeming more relaxed, the longer we’re at the restaurant, the more the nervous energy Lena had before comes back.
“What’s the matter, faolan?” I ask, watching her push a piece of chicken around on her plate.
“The gallery opening. The people. The expectations,” Lena lists, hanging her head and not looking at me. “Plus, I already have a dress for the gallery opening.”
