Jaded Hearts
Chapter 9

Matt

“On second thought, let’s go back to the house, beautiful. You shouldn’t be out here.” We were standing upwind from the pack, and when a swift morning breeze swept over us, I knew we were in trouble. Our men had respect for their superiors and their mates, but Taylor was an unmarked female in heat.

All rationality went out the window. The growls sounded off, and I could see the l**t in all their eyes. This was not good.

“Taylor, go back to the house, please. Go up to my room and lock the door. I’ll be there in a little bit, okay?”

She looked scared, seeing so many male wolves eyeing her like she was a piece of meat. “What’s going on? Did I do something wrong?” I could hear that she was panicking, so I took the time to reassure her.

“You did nothing wrong, baby, but you’re in heat. That’s why you’re so hot. Just do what I asked, and I’ll explain everything to you when I get there.”

She backed away and quickly began to walk back to the house. I saw a few warriors break off to follow her, which I quickly intercepted.

“Stand down now!”

They were fighting an internal battle: obey their Gamma or satisfy the need to mate?

Xander, I need your help out here. Now. Taylor’s in heat and came to the training grounds. Now I’ve got about seventy horny wolves ready to pounce on her.

f**k. I’m on my way. Get her as far away from them as possible.

I sent her back to my room. Just get here.

Kade also tried to calm them down, but this s**t was useless. The smell was too strong, and they were now beyond reason. Both Kade and I shifted into our wolves and continued to block them from leaving the grounds. A handful of the boldest ones shifted as well and started to approach.

A moment before I stepped forward to rip their throats out, Xander’s wolf, Alastair, howled loudly behind us. He slowly stepped between Kade and me and growled at the crowd in front of us. There was nothing they could do now. They had to yield to their Alpha.

Xander stepped towards the few who had shifted and growled again. They bowed their heads and quickly shifted back. Once he had broken them all from their delirium, the three of us shifted back and stood before the group.

“Control yourselves and stop behaving like horny f*****g teenagers! That was your Gamma female, and you will show her the respect she deserves!”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“And if you ever disobey a command from your Beta or Gamma again, I’ll rip you apart. There is no place for that in this pack, regardless of the situation.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Xander turned around and looked at me. “How in the hell is your human mate in heat when you haven’t mated or marked her yet?”

“I have no clue, but I’ve got to go replace her before she comes looking for me again.”

“I’ll talk to the doctor and see what she says. Just get out of here and stop starting shit.”

As I ran back to the house, I thought to myself, how was I starting s**t? All I did was fall in love.

If this is what falling in love does, I’m in a world of trouble.

* * *

Taylor’s scent was strong throughout the house, and I was so thankful that the only unmated male here was Kade. He had absolutely no control over his mouth, but he could control his biological urges … when he wanted to. When I made it to the room, Taylor was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled to her chest. She looked so sad and confused that I quickly ran to take her into my arms.

“I didn’t mean to mess up your training. I just really needed you and didn’t know what to do. The burning calms down when I’m near you.”

“You didn’t mess it up at all. You actually gave me a damn good excuse to leave early today. You did me a favor.”

She chuckled then looked up at me. “Why do I feel like this? It doesn’t make sense. Your body is like a space heater on high, but it turns down the heat burning my skin. This is crazy.”

She laid her head on my chest and sighed. The entire room was beginning to smell of her passion, and she didn’t even know she was aroused yet. But she’d feel it soon enough.

“Tesoro, I need you to listen to me. The reason you’re feeling like this is because you’re in heat. The men outside smelled it on you, and it basically drove them crazy.”

“What, do I stink? Do I need a shower?”

“No, it’s the opposite, actually. You’re an unmarked female in heat. To a male wolf, your scent is the most incredible thing they’ve ever smelled. It overtakes all rational thoughts except one: mating.”

When she realized what I was telling her, she looked terrified. “They were trying to rape me? What the f**k! I’ve got to get out of here.”

“You can’t, baby. You need to stay in this room until it’s over. Xander has taken care of the pack. They’ll control themselves from now on. They don’t have much of a choice at this point, but if you’re too far away from me, the heat will get worse. You’ll feel like you’re on fire for the next three days.”

“Wait, why isn’t it affecting you?”

I think it was affecting me more than her. My mate was in heat, and it was my job to spend the next three days in this room, making her scream my name in pleasure. But the universe was testing me.

“Oh, it is, but I’ve got it under control.”

Matt, come to my office when you get a chance. I’ve got news on the Dark Woods pack and Taylor.

Could you send Alaia over to sit with her while I’m gone?

Yep. She’s on her way now.

“I’ve got to go see Xander for a quick meeting. He’s got some information for me that I really need right now.”

“But when you leave, it gets worse. It hurts.”

I f*****g hated this. I wanted so badly to make her feel better, but my hands were tied.

“Try to stand under a cold shower. I know it doesn’t sound like fun, but it will work long enough for me to get back. And Alaia’s coming to sit with you. She’ll make sure you’re okay until I get back.”

“Being your girlfriend is becoming a real pain in the a*s, Matt Stone. You’re lucky you’re so damn sexy.” She stood up and walked off to the bathroom, mumbling about “shitty-a*s cold showers.”

This was one of my favorite things about her. She never let herself stay down for too long. She was a fighter, and no matter what came her way, she faced it head-on. When Alaia showed up, I quickly let her in.

“She’s in the shower, and I shouldn’t be too long. Do you guys need anything before I go? Towels or warm water or something?”

Alaia looked at me in confusion, then laughed. “She’s just in heat, Matt, not giving birth in the 1800s. And no, we don’t need anything. We’ll be fine until you get back.”

“Do you think you could use your powers and heal her, maybe? That’s possible, right?”

“Again, she’s in heat. She’s not hurt, physically exhausted, possessed, or the target of dark magic. She’s a female with a ton of hormones coursing through her body. No, I can’t heal that. You can, though.” She raised an eyebrow at me and smirked.

“Whatever. I don’t have time for this.” She laughed as I darted out the door.

I made my way upstairs, and after a quick knock, I barged into the office and threw myself on Xander’s couch. “This is going to be the longest three days of my life! Please tell me the doctor told you something useful,” I begged.

“She did, and once you get your shoes off my Italian leather couch, I’ll tell you.”

I kicked my shoes off, letting them fall to the floor before I turned to look at him.

“d**k. Anyway, this is all basically your fault.”

That got my attention quick. “How is that?!”

“A few reasons, really. First off, you found your mate six months ago, and you only just officially claimed her as yours yesterday. That’s a long time for unmated mates to wait to bond.”

“But she’s human! I couldn’t just mark her at the club.”

“Doesn’t matter. You didn’t have to wait six whole months. Who even does that? Second reason is that you brought her home with you. You’ve been in close contact. She’s been able to smell her mate’s scent continuously, and that’s pushed her body to the extreme. She knows you’re hers; she can easily reach out and touch you now, and she wants you.”

“So, I should’ve just left her alone at her apartment with a psycho wolf outside her door? Negative.”

“Stop interrupting me and listen. Lastly, you’re a Stone. Once she accepted that she was mated to you—the wolf part of you—your family curse began to influence her. It only stops when you’ve marked your mate, so you being all ‘you’ around her is just making her horny.”

“How is she even able to go into heat when she’s a human?”

“She’s the mate of a high-ranking wolf. Nature wants that wolf to procreate, no matter if she’s human or not. She’s really getting it twice as bad. Just plain old nature and your family curse at the same time. Being your mate is hard work, man.”

“f**k!”

“Yeah, that’s what you should be doing right now.”

“You sound like Kade. And she’s not ready for that. She’s still messed up from what that sick son of a b***h Drew did to her.”

“Well, you two need to figure it out soon. If not, it’s just going to get stronger and stronger. We can’t let her suffer for the next three days. That’s not fair to her or you.”

“So, to clarify. Being close to me brings her some comfort, but because I’m a Stone, it also makes the heat worse. And the only way to take the pain away is to have s*x when she’s clearly not there yet.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Well, what about Dark Woods? Do you have an update on them?”

“Yeah, but given the current situation, it’s not the best.”

“Just tell me. Things can’t get any harder for me right now.”

“Alpha Daniel has agreed to meet. His oldest son, Colton, will take over as Alpha in a few months, so he will also attend, along with Drew. The meeting will take place here tomorrow evening.”

“So now Drew will be in the house with Taylor while she’s in heat?”

“Yes, sir. I know this is a lot, and it may seem like I’m taking it lightly, but I’m really not. You can figure this out, Matt. Just go talk to Taylor now before she gets in the heat too deep. You’ve got a few hours, so come up with a plan now; otherwise, this cycle will probably not end too well.”

* * *

When I got back to my room, Taylor had her head in Alaia’s lap while Alaia rubbed circles on her back. I thought for a second that she had figured out how to break this thing, but she was just trying to offer any comfort she could. It was all she could do. I slowly walked over, thinking of anything I could that might help. Maybe an ice bath?

“Hi, ladies. How are we doing?”

“Stop stalling, Matty. You two figure this out. I’ve got to go replace my children.”

Taylor sat up, and Alaia hopped off the bed and left the room. “Did you figure out how to stop this?”

“I already knew how to stop it; I just wanted to know how and why it happened. It seems that I did this to you.”

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

I gave her a quick rundown of my conversation with Xander.

“That’s crazy. I knew your dad and brother were sexy, but I never would’ve thought it was a curse that made me feel that way.”

I scrunched up my nose. “I can’t believe you just called my dad sexy. Gross, babe.”

“Hey, it’s the curse, right?”

“Actually, it’s not. It goes away after we mark our mate. He hasn’t had that effect on women in over twenty-five years, and about four years for Geo.”

“Oh. Whoops.”

I had to laugh. I knew she was probably insanely uncomfortable, but she was still holding on to that quirky personality of hers. “Good genetics, I guess. Anyway, we need to figure this out, baby. Me being here will both help and hurt you. And in a few hours, you’ll be too far gone to even remember your name.”

She stood up and paced the floor while she thought. I didn’t have any suggestions; I would do whatever she wanted. Then she stopped and turned to me.

“Strip.”

“Excuse me?”

“Strip, now.”

“Taylor, wait—”

“Just do it, Matt. You said it yourself—in a few hours, I’ll just be a horny mess, humping anything to get a release. I don’t want my first time to be like that, so right now, while I’m still myself and can think straight, I want you to make love to me. Please?”

I walked over and took her hands. “No.”

Her jaw dropped, and she just blinked repeatedly. “Did you just turn me down? Seriously?”

“I did. I’m not going to make love to you; you’re going to make love to me. This is your show, baby, and I want you to do with me as you please. You take control and go as slow or fast as you want, got it?”

“That’s probably the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

I pulled her to my chest and dropped my mouth to her ear.

“Fammi urlare il tuo nome, piccolo.” (Make me scream your name, baby.)

Her entire body shuddered. “Damn … I stand corrected.”