Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Wild thoughts (explicit content)

Amina

"I guess you like our little house, Mina!" Grace Miller laughed from the front seat as her husband drove us to the main entrance.

"Uh-huh," I mumbled under my breath, at a loss for words at what she dared call a little house.

What stood before me was no such thing; it was more like a castle. A massive mansion made up of bricks, woodwork, and twenty-foot-high bay windows. Never in my life had I seen anything so extravagant as the Miller's home, and if the exterior wasn't testament enough to its grandeur, the lavish interior was sure to do the trick.

Everywhere I looked, I saw pristine white walls, marble flooring, exotic plants, expensive furniture, beautiful sculptures, and all of it highlighted by a few crystal chandeliers.

'What the actual fuck is this?' I kept thinking, glancing between the house and my friend Roxanne.

I had been living with the girl for six years, supported her through countless odd jobs before graduation, taught her how to save, and even watched her worry with me about the bills we couldn't afford. So this was all very unexpected. Roxanne had some explaining to do, and judging by the look on her face when her eyes met mine, she knew it too.

"So, what do you girls feel like doing?" Grace's voice echoed through the hall as Carson disappeared up the main staircase with our luggage.

"I'm exhausted, Mom, and I could use a good soak," Roxanne answered, heading towards the wooden stairs. "Is my room ready?"

"Yes, honey, it's been cleaned," Grace nodded and turned to me. "We've also prepared a room for you, Mina. It's right across from Roxy's," she said.

"Benjamin's room?" Roxanne yelled out from the steps, staring down at her mother. "You're putting her in Benji's room?"

"Sure, why not?"

"You know why not! What if she's his-" she stopped herself short.

"Well, we'll know soon enough anyway, won't we?" Grace replied without skipping a beat. "So, what's the harm?"

"Umm… I'm sorry," I interrupted hesitantly. "I don't wanna take up your son's space if it's a problem. I could-"

"Nonsense!" Grace cut me off with a wave of her hand. "He doesn't live here anymore, and I'm sure Benjamin would be more than okay with you borrowing his room. He'd probably even like it," she insisted with a small smile.

"Excuse me?"

"Mom! Not now," Roxanne shouted over me, and before I could even ask about Grace's innuendos, she grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me up the stairs with her.

Roxanne led us, huffing and puffing down a long, broad, and bright hallway until we reached the bedrooms, where my bag and hers patiently waited outside two sets of double doors, courtesy of Carson Miller.

"Hey, lady? Where do you think you're going?" I stopped Roxanne as she tried to slip into her room discreetly.

"Bathroom," she shrugged.

"Don't you think we need to have a little chat before? I mean, seriously! Look at all this! What is this place? And what in God's name was your mom insinuating just now? What's going on?"

"Mina," she whispered, clutching my shoulders firmly. "You're right; I have so much to tell you, but, babe, I desperately need a bath first."

"Roxy…."

"Just a quick one!" she promised and let go of my arms. "And I'll tell you everything afterward."

"Fine, but I'll hold you to that. Don't think I'll forget," I warned Roxanne and nervously watched as she vanished inside her room.

No, I wasn't going to forget, but I was certainly beginning to panic. There were too many things Roxanne didn't say, too many things she kept hidden, and if I was reluctant to come to Jester before, I now felt downright uncomfortable. Uncomfortable and yet, more than ever fascinated. There was something in me slowly awakening since my arrival in Jester and drawing me entirely towards the Miller family. I knew not what, how, or why, but somehow, I knew they did.

Roxanne and her mother's words swirled inside my mind as I pushed open the doors of Benjamin's old bedroom. His name and the fact he was a year older than his sister were the extent of everything I knew about him, so what on earth could they have possibly been trying to say? He was nothing but a stranger.

"A stranger," I hummed the word again almost silently as whiffs of an earthy scent passed under my nose.

I entered the room, and suddenly, memories of my time in town and the blue-eyed man I saw came flooding back to me like a wonky film. And as my nostrils flared and my lungs opened to inhale more of the woody, oakmoss scent, my shoulders and my chest slumped. It was as if, for the first time in years, all the tension my body had held until now rose into the scented air and left me feeling lighter than I could imagine.

Such a sweet high, I was hooked within seconds. My whole being began to venture into the room, seeking, first quietly and then frenziedly, more of that scent until I stood in front of the closet, knees wobbling. The smell was stronger here, seeping from every garment that hung above me, and like earlier this evening, I became overwhelmed with emotions I thought were long gone—eagerness, passion, arousal. All the things that scared me the most.

"What are you doing to me?" I mumbled sourly, ripping a white shirt off its hook and holding it to my face without so much as a second thought.

I wasn't talking to anyone in particular, or maybe I was, in part, to the bewitching perfume around me, and in the other, to the handsome stranger from town. But now, in my mind, both man and smell were fusing into one perfect being, and I couldn't believe just how quickly a red-hot and unstoppable lust swept over me. Wetness pooled in my underwear, and tiny beads of sweat dripped from my forehead as I moaned relentlessly into the shirt pressed against my lips. It felt as though my body was igniting like a powder trail, and it suddenly couldn't help but want for more and beg for more until my hands had snaked their way under my clothes.

"Fuck!" I let out, horrified, as my fingers ran the shirt across my bare skin from heaving chest to pulsing core.

So wrong and yet too good, I couldn't stand it. I didn't want this, but how could I stop it? I was losing control, impulsively surrendering to my darkest needs in ways I hated, ways I had spent years fighting. I was shocked; forty long months of restraint and self-deprivation were so easily being pushed out the window in minutes by a just smell. And as I neared climax, panic-stricken, I sank my teeth into my bottom lip to keep from screaming.

"Jesus, Mina!" I scolded myself when it was all over, shameful.

The misty cloud of sex above me was now dissipating and allowing me to come to my senses. And as the used shirt then fell from my hands and, a second later, the heavy closet door closed behind me, I vowed to myself never to enter it again.

Benjamin

"Hey, man!" Anderson greeted me first, getting out of his gray coupe as two other cars pulled up my parents' driveway. "You been waiting long?" he asked.

I shook my head no, but in reality, I couldn't say. I had lost track of time hours ago and barely remembered getting here. My mind was overwhelmed, almost obsessed, with the mere memory of my mate's voice, and my thoughts revolved only on my need to find and claim her.

I drove around town and searched in vain until late in the evening, and with each new mile my truck gained, my desperation grew, and my frustration slowly turned to anger. Where the hell was she hiding, and why hadn't she contacted me again? Was she even real? Or had my innermost desires, after ten years, finally consumed my mind?

No, it couldn't have been that. The mate-pull was definitely settling in; I felt it throughout my body, and so did Silas. For hours, he searched with me, his nose pointed and his ears pricked up, for the slightest sign of her whereabouts, and by the end, his exasperation had come to equal mine. We had to hurry. The pull was only growing deeper, and without our mate, I feared we would never be ourselves again.

"Yo, Benji?" Ryan's voice suddenly made me look up from the ground as he and Craig walked towards me.

"Huh?" I gasped, eyelids snapping open in surprise.

"I asked how you were doing. You okay?" he repeated, worriedly glancing at the other two men.

From the knowing looks they all shared, it was clear Ryan had been made aware of this afternoon's incident, and I was more than a little annoyed to know that my men were talking about me.

"Yeah, I'm great," I hissed between my teeth, leering at the blond Beta. "It's nice of you to finally show up, Lafleur."

"Bro-" Ryan tried to say, tilting his head to the side before I cut him off.

"Where are the Deltas?" I asked, turning my head towards Anderson.

"Jason had to pick up Sheila," he said, suddenly busy avoiding my accusing gaze. "But they'll be here any minute," he added, eyes to the sky.

"Fine, whatever. Let's just get this thing done," I groaned, leading Anderson and Craig to the front door without further orders.

Ryan, however, remained behind, his feet frozen in place.

"What are you doing, man?" I stopped to ask him, motioning the other two to head inside.

"What are you doing, Benji?" he answered my question with another. "Why are we here?"

"What?"

"Why can't we have the meeting at your place? You know I can't fucking stand this house."

"Ryan," I sighed, approaching him.

Yes, I knew.

For years, Ryan avoided my parents' packhouse like the plague, and with good reason. I understood why, and I even felt bad about it, so I never forced him back here, to the place that saddened him the most. Only tonight, I needed him and had no other choice.

"Dude," I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but my dad says he needs to talk to me- to us. Says it's about our little problem with the rogues, so you see? There's no other option," I told him and immediately noticed his eyelids crinkling as if he were in thought. "What?" I asked, curious. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure. It's just that the old man and I were talking about the attacks down at the river, and I don't know, but it felt like there was something he wasn't sharing. Or at least, that he couldn't say. It was weird."

"Really?" I asked, a bad feeling suddenly taking root in my gut.

As his son was to me, Ronan Lafleur was my father's best friend and his Beta, and together they led our pack until ten years ago. They were so close they had become brothers and had no secrets for one another. So, if anyone in Blackwoods knew my dad better than my mom, it was him.

What the hell could he be hiding for my dad?

"Let's go, man," I said, determined more than ever to talk to the previous Alpha.

"Benji-"

"It's only an hour, Ryan," I whispered to him. "Keep it together for just one hour."

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter