His Curvy Mate
Chapter 8

Holy f*****g crap balls.

Willa couldn’t believe she’d walked out on Xander when he was actually telling the truth. She hadn’t believed him. Now, faced with a great deal of wolves in front of her, she wished she hadn’t been so closed-minded. He’d accepted her for everything she was, but she hadn’t done the same for him. She felt horrible. And now it was going to cost her.

She’d been watching, listening, and taking everything in around her. None of it was good. The man who had taken her, Greer, had shown her exactly what he and Xander were. The only difference, this man was going to kill her. He was going to hurt her, torture her—all for some revenge on Xander. This was a power play. All set in motion by Tyson.

Willa couldn’t believe it, but a small part of her did. Tyson had so much anger inside him. A rage she had never fully understood until now.

Greer stepped toward her. He extended his arm, and it morphed into that of a wolf’s. She wasn’t grossed out, but she was taken aback. The truth was, when Xander had kept referring to her as a life mate, or something like that, it had sounded serious and real. Even turned her on. She wanted that. She wanted to be his everything, but fear and horrible old insecurities had reared their ugly heads, and now, she had nothing.

It svcked.

No, it f*****g svcked.

“Wow, you do surprise me. Human women are usually terrified when I show them the real me.”

“Let me go.”

Greer laughed. “There is no way I’m going to do that. You see, you’re the key to making me force Xander to realize he’s weak. He doesn’t deserve to have a pack. Well, certainly not one competing with mine for land and power.”

“He’s more man than you’ll ever be.”

He threw back his head and laughed again. “Well, that’s a good thing. I don’t claim to be a man. I’m an animal, Willa. A cold-blooded animal, and I have a thirst for b***d and death.” He stroked his claws across her neck, the threat real. “You know, it’s funny, but when I heard Xander had a son, many years ago, I thought he was a f*****g moron for knocking a she-wolf up. Then I killed that woman. It was too easy. She was weak from taking care of a baby.”

“You killed Tyson’s mom?”

“Yes, I did, for sport. That !itch was a lot of fun. She wasn’t even his true mate. It was just luck that they caught. A spur-of-the-moment f**k that resulted in Tyson. I never for a second thought that little brat would help me to torture his dad some more.” Greer laughed. “Do you know what he thinks?”

Willa didn’t want to know. What she wanted was to be strong enough to gouge out this man’s eyes. No, not man, animal, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t see that as an insult.

Gritting her teeth, she glared at him.

“It’s okay, seeing as you’re tied up and waiting to die, I’ll tell you. Tyson thinks human hunters killed his mother. It’s fed his hatred of humans for years. All part of my plan.” Greer tried to stifle his laughter. He snorted as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

Willa had already guessed that before he said anything.

Tyson’s anger when it came to humans, how he acted, and the constant disgust on his face. It all made a whole lot of sense to her now.

“Instead, it was you,” Willa said. “You took his mother away from him.”

“Yes.” He shrugged and lifted his arms in mock guilt.

“Does … Xander know?”

“Of course, he knows.” Greer chuckled. “He knows that I’ll take everything away from him. He’s always too busy trying to save his son and his soon-to-be-mate to take me out. It makes him weak, all these distractions.” He tutted. “Useless excuse for an alpha.”

“Taking care of his child and his pack doesn’t make him a bad man.”

He whirled away for a moment. “That goes to show what makes him so f*****g weak,” Greer said. “An alpha is strong because he is willing to use whatever means possible to take out those that oppose him. My pack, they know they mean nothing to me. That they have to stay in line or risk being put on the cutting block. I do not accept weakness! They all have to be willing to die.”

“That makes you a bad alpha,” Willa said. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t believe what she was doing or what she was saying. This wasn’t her.

She never caused an argument. Certainly never started a fight.

Willa screamed as he slapped her hard across the face. Pain shot through her skull, and she was sure she saw stars appearing in front of her eyes.

Lifting her head, she blinked a few times.

“You’re not a good alpha. A good alpha takes care of his pack. He nurtures. He loves. He doesn’t kill. He doesn’t allow those around him to die. You’re weak. You’re a coward. You’re nothing.”

This was dangerous.

Willa didn’t have a plan. Her mouth had a mind of its own.

Listening to him tell her how he was going to kill her, and saying all kinds of horrible things about Xander, was pissing her off.

He didn’t deserve to live, and she wasn’t going to make this easy for him.

All she could think about were poor Xander and Tyson. Xander had tried to protect his son from the cruelties of their world. Tyson didn’t even know the truth, and it had created a wedge between father and son.

There was only one thing she wanted. If her death could do anything, it would be to bring their small family together. That was what she wanted more than anything.

Tears filled her eyes. They were not of fear, but of anger.

She hated this man in front of her with a passion she didn’t even know she could feel. It helped to make her strong. “You’re nothing. You’ll die, and Xander and Tyson will kill you. They will tear you apart limb from limb and feed on your bones.”

Greer snarled and got into her face, but Willa didn’t jerk back, she didn’t flinch. She stared unwavering into his eyes and waited.

“We’ll see about that.”

Over the years, Xander had come face to face with Greer multiple times. He had lost count of the number of times he’d crossed paths with his enemy and allowed him to walk away. Not out of fear or cowardice, but to protect his pack and his son. If anyone deserved revenge, it was Tyson. He wouldn’t take that from him, but he hadn’t wanted to tell him the truth until he was older and wiser.

Tyson never knew what happened. It had been torture keeping it a secret, especially when Tyson started doubting him.

When his son was ten and decided to run away, Xander found him in a park, but Greer had been there. His hands on his son. Xander had no choice but to wait. He couldn’t take out Greer and risk his son’s life, so he’d stopped. He had no choice.

Greer had gotten away so many times. Always calculating. A true enemy of the pack. All this time, Xander believed he was in the right. Biding his time. Taking care of what was important, family and the pack.

Greer now had Willa. His woman.

There was no right or wrong.

His wolf was going crazy within his head, wanting to kill. Wanting to take out Greer at all costs.

He would never be able to survive without Willa. Losing Tyson’s mother had been hard, but they hadn’t been bound mates. Tyson had briefly brought them together. They didn’t love one another. Sure, there had been an initial attraction, but that had fizzled out fast.

Xander stared forward. He was a few steps away from the old south bridge.

He didn’t fear death. No. Losing Willa was what he feared. He had finally found his true mate at forty-four, and he’d been so f*****g excited that he hadn’t been patient. What he should have done was take her away from here, back to his pack. Lured her into his life, and then, slowly and surely, got her to fall in love with him before revealing what he truly was.

He’d messed up.

She hated his wolf. He scared her, confused her. She’d run from him.

There was no going back now. If he was lucky, he’d get the chance to tell her how he felt. Greer wasn’t going to take anyone else. He’d already taken Tyson’s mom. He wasn’t going to take Willa as well.

Stepping toward the old south bridge, he scented Willa. He knew she was terrified, but there was something else as well, a rage he didn’t quite associate with her scent.

He had excellent vision, and it was already torture for him to see Greer’s clawed hand wrapped around her very human throat. She was so fragile. Even wolves would struggle to live with their throat slashed. A human against a wolf had no chance of surviving.

No chance at all.

“It’s about time you showed up. I was starting to think you grew a pair of balls and saw how ridiculous you were for wanting a human.”

Willa stared at him.

Xander didn’t understand the look in her eyes. There were so many things he wanted to say, but none of them came to him.

What exactly could he say that would make this any easier?

I’m sorry.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

I put you in harm’s way.

There was absolutely nothing.

“Let her go,” Xander said.

Greer snorted. “Let her go. Now, why would I do that?”

“She isn’t part of this. It’s between you and me.” His wolf was not going to be able to last much longer. Xander felt close to the edge. The need to protect his mate was so f*****g strong. He couldn’t stop it.

Greer was the enemy. A rival like no other.

He had to protect her.

“Oh, but you see, she is very much part of this,” Greer said. “I can scent your claim on her.”

“Let her go, I said.”

He wasn’t going to tell him again.

“I think Willa has something she would like to say.”

Greer loosened his hold around her neck, and he heard her quickly drawn inhale.

“Go, Xander. Tyson needs you. He needs to have a father, and you’ve got to tell him the truth. He has to know you are only trying to take care of him.” She started to choke as Greer grabbed her throat once again.

“Let her the f**k go!” He ended on a growl. Once his wolf was out, all bets were off. What he wanted was Willa safe and far from here.

“Naughty f*****g b!tch. She was supposed to beg you. Tell you her undying love. You make me sick.” Greer glared at him. “Why don’t you tell her, Xander? Tell her how much she means to you. Tell her how desperate you are to mate with her. How badly you want to make her your own.”

Xander was going to die today. Willa was going to survive. He stared into his mate’s eyes, seeing the tears shimmering back at him, along with that edge of fear that had no right being in her gaze.

“I love you, Willa. I should have taken you far away from here. I should have protected you. You’re my mate. I’m a wolf. For me, we’re mated for life, and I can’t live in a world that you’re not in.” He shook his head. “I need you to trust me.”

“This is such a touching moment, but I think I’m going to vomit.”

Xander watched her, hoping that she knew what he was going to do and all she had to do was … get out of the way. His wolf was about to bring carnage.

She blinked twice, one after the other, and he knew, deep in his gut that she understood him.

“You sick, f*****g bastard!”

Xander looked past Greer’s shoulder to see Tyson.

They had been so focused on each other that he hadn’t heard his son approach. He’d come from a different direction, and he jumped on Greer’s back, wrapping his arm around the bastard’s throat.

“You think you can use me, take my mom from me, lie to me, and now you think you can kill my dad and my tutor as well?”

Xander had never heard such rage in his son’s voice, but at that moment, he didn’t care. It was beautiful to his ears. Tyson had distracted Greer long enough to make him let go of Willa.

Now, he had to save his son.