Completely unedited folks

Chapter 18

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They were all huddled in Nick's office room.

"Do we know who?" Nick asked breaking the silence, everyone was in their own deep thought, reliving the incident.

"No" Alex spat "our men went through the bodies, no documents, nothing to indicate who they were." But his voice had a conviction, like he suspected something.

"But you suspect...?" Nick trailed.

"Gordon Lockbourne and his band of merry men. But it will be next to impossible to pin it to him." Alex added.

"What about this Charles character?" Nick added. Wasn't he the one trying to finish off the Roma family?

Alex sighed rubbing his face, him mind had been reeling since morning.

"Where is Charles hiding?" Alex asked.

"Montana" Nick replied. The Roma wolves knew that, how he did not know but they were absolutely sure that he was in Montana.

"Who is the alpha of the Montana pack?" Alex asked.

"Patrick....." Realization dawned on Nick's face, how could he have overlooked something obvious? "Lockbourne" he added the last name of the Montana's alpha.

"Correct" Alex confirmed. "So now do you think Charles is operating without the blessings of the Montana alpha? And we all know whose permission Patrick Lockbourne asks every time he needs to take a piss." Alex added.

Patrick was Gordon's first cousin and underling.

Nick nodded in agreement, it was making sense now. Did that mean Gordon had a hand in Maxim's Roma's assassination or did he just give refuge to a man who took competition out? He was not sure even if Roma wolves knew the answer to that one.

"What now?" Jeff asked after a moment of silence. He was shaken, they had targeted his girl!

Alex opened his mouth but Nick beat him.

"She can't stay here Alex" Nick said as a matter of fact. Dropping a bomb in their midst with his declaration.

Alex thinned his lips.

Nick put up his hands before the room exploded at his statement and hurried on "I am saying this because I care about her safety, I barely have men to run patrols and I am yet to consolidate the remaining survivors and not to mention the surviving rogues and integrating them all is going to take time and for us to function again as a pack is going to be a lot of work. We are not ready to survive an assault and forget about a major assault." He said looking at the people in the room which included Cathy, Jeff, Alex and top cadre of Nick's pack and Roma wolves.

Adrian was guarding Jeff's house with a dozen of Roma wolves in which Max and Evelyn were resting.

"Roma is sending reinforcements" Alex said looking at Nick, while he agreed with Nick he was upset that he put this out in an open forum. Evelyn was technically a princess of Roma, the moment she accepted Max's bite and reciprocated she was a Roma royalty. The only thing was they had to complete the bond by doing the deed and at the rate they were going they would do it very soon if not already done.

So, Nick declaring that he couldn't not have a Roma royalty on his land, technically Roma's land chafed him.

Nick sighed, the tone of Alex's voice clearly showed displeasure. He understood why, he really did but he was not god and he could not do twenty things at once, even if he desperately needed to.

"Alex" Nick started in an appeasing tone "you and me know what their primary role will be. I need to think of the whole pack. If attacks like this happen, how can I rebuild this pack? You and your men will not be here forever, I need to build a pack that can protect its boundaries. We are surrounded by hostile forces, forces much stronger than us, how long do you think they will wait? And if you are correct, the wait is over, I cannot guarantee her safety Alex and the last thing I want is something to happen to her, either of them." Nick said honestly.

Alex's shoulders sagged, Nick had a point, as long as Evelyn and Maxwell were around everything would be a second priority and that would be bad for the pack, a pack that was in a tight spot.

"I will talk to Max" Alex said resigned. Apparently their time here was up.

"Thank you Alex" Nick said with relief.

"I would like to help you with rebuilding the pack as well" Alex offered, he wanted to help Nick who was holding his barely functioning pack from falling apart by duct tape.

"I could really use your help" Nick confessed. He could use all the help he could get and would not be ashamed to accept it. Alex could do wonders to his pack.

"Let's do this, once the reinforcements arrive, I will form a core team of ten members who will focus on rebuilding this pack and enhancing defenses against possible attack." Alex added.

"Sure, sounds like a plan" Nick said

***

Evelyn did woke up with a start.

She did not even realize that she had gone to sleep, lest she remembered she was huddled with her mate who was in his wolf form, his warmth cocooning her and apparently she dozed off.

She turned to face a pair of onyx eyes looking at her and she realized two things immediately. One, he was no longer in his wolf form. Two, both of them were wrapped in a blanket...naked. Naked as in no clothes, as naked as the day she was born...naked as in.... her mind was in a whirl.

A small smile broke out on his face, a corner of his lip tugging upwards, he was lying on his side his head supported by his arm, looking at her. She quickly took stock. All her critical assets were covered, her blanked ending at the swell of her breasts, relieved she let her eyes raked over his, the very blanked that covered her covered very little of him, she drank in greedily his bare chest and as her eyes traveled downward her exploration was interrupted by the blanket covering him on his hips..ohhh the secrets it was hiding! He was a fine specimen of a man and he was...hers, she could hear her wolf purr in contentment. Her wolf wanted her to flick the blanket away to expose him to take in her man in his true form...all bared before her.

A throat cleared and her eyes rushed to his face, his grinning face, a face that knew what she had been doing...ogling and probably guessed what she was thinking.

As if reading her mind he grinned and said "You show me yours and I will show you mine"

She blushed ever harder.

He leaned closer and whispered huskily "You have no idea how tempted I was to take a peak when you were sleeping"

She bit her lip and he groaned.

"so tempting, so beautiful, so delicious...so mine" there was awe in his voice.

He thought she was beautiful? He made her feel beautiful.

"I want to see you Evy" his desire laden voice broke in to her sending tingles down her body. "You have no idea how long I have been dreaming to see you...you have no idea how many nights I rubbed myself imagining you....I don't think I can wait any longer." He confessed, his one hand on the blanket, one tug and she would be revealed in all her natural glory.

"Don't deny me my mate..." he whispered. She looked in to his eyes, she saw pure desire and adoration and love? Was it love? Her heart beat sped up...no one looked at her like that, with such adoration, she basked in it and she realized he was waiting for an answer and she knew whatever she chose he would respect it. So she chose and gave a jerky nod, which was all she could do in her state.

Before she could even think of changing her mind he gave the blanket a hard yank and in that one stroke he uncovered her, he threw the blanket away from her just in case she wanted it back.

She moved her eyes away from him and she heard a sharp intake of breath.

She fidgeted in the silence that followed, and had to do everything in her power to ensure she did not cover herself. She peeked at him from her eyelashes shyly and saw him wide eyed and breathing hard, his eyes were roaming greedily all over her and he again overcame an urge to cover herself.

His eyes flicked to her "You are absolutely breathtaking!"

She blushed and he said proudly "And all mine!"

He pulled her closer and gave her a hungry kiss and she melted in to the fierceness of it.

Their naked bodies touching, her soft breasts rubbing against his hard chest, theirs legs entangling his hardness poking at her stomach...these sensations, so new to her were overpowering her, her brain was turning in to mush and bolts of pleasure were shooting up in to her body. She moaned in to the kiss further deepening it.

He abruptly stopped and pulled back. Both of them looked at each other heaving, trying to get their raging hormones under control.

"I...." He started but stopped "I cannot control myself and the last thing I want to do is take you on your bed in your parent's house" he paused looking at her face for any reaction. Her head was swimming in too much lust for any coherent thought, the bond tightening around her like a noose unsatisfied at the interruption. Her wolf was so ready to lift tail.

"However" he continued, slicing in to her thought "I want you Evy" he shamelessly confessed his eyes raking again over her body. "I want you so bad that it hurts." He added "I don't want to rush you in to something that you might not be ready for, but I wanted to let you know that I am...I mean ready" He paused again giving her time for his words to sink in to her, at the mention of his need for her, she felt a sharp bolt of pleasure between her legs...the scent of her arousal spread around her and he took a deep whiff of it. His eyes involuntarily lowered to meet her closed thighs, hiding her from him.

His eyes moved back to her face, he looked in to her eyes "As I said, it is up to you and I am ok with anything you choose. I will need to leave now to go out and figure out what transpired in our absence" They had blissfully forgotten the shit that had gone down in the morning and now he had to return to real life.

"But I will come back and, if you feel the same way I do...If you are ready...have an overnight bag packed and you will leave with me... I don't think after what happened today I cannot stay away from you but I am also afraid if I have you alone I cannot control myself." He sighed contemplating his fix. He quickly leaned over and gave her a quick kiss and got up in all his naked glory.

She was shamelessly checking him, her mate! Hers! All of that! And he strutted over to the door and opened it a little there was a bag in front of the door and he in a flash pulled it in and closed the door behind him. He turned to look at the temptress aka. Him mate who was lying on her side and her eyed roaming all over him uninhibitedly and when she saw he was looking diverted her gaze and blushed.

"All yours baby! Look all you want!" he grinned.

She returned her eyes to his grinning face and a small smile broke out on her face as well.

He stared at her intensely, making her heart beat even from across the room...the intensity was overwhelming her.

"I love you Evy" He whispered, he had not planned to tell her like this, but he could not help that he had blurted it out, well it was out now and there was no taking it back. The episode this morning just demonstrated how fragile life was and if anything would have happened to her, the very thought made him week at his knees. Yes, he should have confessed his feeling at a better setting but he was not sorry to tell her what he felt. He wanted her to know.

Her eyes widened at his confession but she could not open her mouth to form a coherent word, all the feeling were churning in her as emotions that she was feeling threatened to overwhelm her.

"I did not want to say it this way, but I meant it" he added getting dressed. He looked like he was not even expecting her to say something back, probably knowing that he had caught her unaware.

Fully dressed, he looked at her naked form on the bed longingly, hating to leave his naked mate and the bed on which she was perched on.

"I will be back in a couple of hours" he told her and gave her a sly smile "I really hope you can have a bag packed by then" and without waiting for her response he stepped out, closing the door behind him.

That bastard!

She sighed, collapsing on the bed she covered her eyes with her hand and groaned in frustration.

He told her he loved her! And he wanted her! She had seen the unbidden desire in his eyes and she was the cause of it and he told her he loved her! There had been absolute naked honesty in his eyes when he had looked at her.... He did love her!

With a grunt she got up and hunted for the pajamas he had made her discard and then she walked over to her closet and stared at it for a minute biting her lip and then took a deep breath and pulled out a small overnight bag.

Well...it was official now, she was going to lose her virginity tonight!

And the best part! She was so ready....