Reclaimed and Restored

Mates

The hard chest beneath her rose and fell with steady breaths, and a heartbeat thrummed under her ear in a slow and soothing rhythm. Warmth surrounded Ava, and with the lingering scent of coffee and cardamom teasing her nose, she found herself not wanting to open her eyes or move lest the comforting press of warm skin against hers and the delicious aroma vanish with the remnants of her dream-filled sleep.

Her content sigh could not be repressed, though, and the sound interrupted Marcus’s deep and even breaths. The arm around her waist and the chest under her cheek tensed, and when he shifted beneath her, Ava’s eyelids cracked open against soft dawn light.

“Sorry,” Marcus said in a sleep-roughened voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“That’s okay.” She had already been awake when he moved, but Ava wasn’t brave enough to reveal that fact.

Their wolf forms had shed with the rise of the sun, and Ava was suddenly very aware that they were both completely naked. With burning cheeks, she met Marcus’s gaze. His eyes didn’t stray from hers, but there was a fire in their brown depths that told her he was all too aware of their current situation as well.

Ava gulped and sat up quickly, putting her back to him and crossing her arms over her chest. She reached for her clothes, but her arm quickly returned to her chest when she saw the state they were in from her shift. She snuck a look over her shoulder, and Marcus’s eyes found hers before he quickly looked away and got to his feet.

The sudden movement didn’t give Ava a chance to look away, and her lips parted as she saw more of him than she had bargained for. She hastened to turn her head back around, but it was too late―she’d seen him. All of him. Every defined abdominal muscle, that glorious V that guided her eyes lower, and though she had turned away as swiftly as possible, her eyes had also taken in what those V-shaped muscles led to.

Ava’s cheeks were flaming, though whether from embarrassment or arousal, she couldn’t say. Too lost in her thoughts about her very naked and very muscular mate, Ava jumped when something brushed against her shoulder. Keeping her hands over her chest, she twisted her upper body around. Marcus had changed into his jeans, but the navy t-shirt that should have been covering his distracting chest and abdomen was held in his outstretched hand instead.

“I don’t think your clothes are salvageable,” he said in explanation, nodding at the shreds of material lying in the dirt beside her.

“Thanks,” Ava replied with an embarrassed smile as she reached out with one hand to take the shirt from him.

She didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved when Marcus spun around to give her privacy, but when she stood up, stiff and sore, she was grateful for the semblance of modesty that his shirt provided.

“How do you feel?” Marcus asked once he was facing her again. Those intense eyes of his searched her face as if he would find the answer there.

Great, was what Ava wanted to say. Over-the-moon. Ecstatic. “A bit sore and tired, but otherwise good. I think it helped to have you here with me.”

Marcus’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I’m glad I was here.”

He stepped closer, and with every inch of distance he covered between them, Ava’s heartbeat became faster until she could hear it pounding incessantly in her ears.

“You’re… We’re…” Ava was fully aware of how breathless and ridiculous she sounded, but she couldn’t find the right words to say, not when Marcus was standing right in front of her. Not when he was looking down at her with fire in his eyes instead of his usual cold disinterest.

The corner of Marcus’s lips twitched up into a half-smile. “We’re mates,” he finished for her in a surprisingly soft voice.

Ava bit her lip in a poor attempt at hiding her reaction to his words. Her wide grin couldn’t be concealed, and she was sure her eyes were practically sparkling with happiness. Marcus was her mate, and instead of coolly rejecting her or brushing off what it meant for them, he had stayed with her through the night. He had held her and cared for her, and now he was looking down at her with something close to amazement.

So, naturally, that was the moment Ava’s parents chose to arrive, their loud shouts breaking through the spell that Marcus and Ava had been trapped in.

“Ava!” her mother and father yelled in unison.

Ava stiffened, but Marcus had a very different and unexpected reaction―he moved even closer to her and possessively placed one of his hands on her hip.

“Ava,” her mother called out again, and she sounded much nearer that time. Thomas and Daniel must have told them where they had left her.

Instead of calling out to her parents, Ava looked up at Marcus and winced apologetically. “It’s my parents,” she explained.

Marcus looked down at his bare chest and Ava’s legs and grimaced, but before they could even attempt to cover themselves up more, her dad and mom appeared through the densely packed trees and spotted them. Her mother, who was clutching a pair of Ava’s sweatpants and one of her shirts in her hand, barely hesitated before she rushed toward them and pulled Ava into a fierce hug. Ava’s dad didn’t move, his gaze fixed on Marcus.

“Are you okay, honey?” her mom asked.

“I’m fine, Mom. Marcus found me and helped me through the shift.”

“Marcus?” the woman asked as she pulled away and looked at the man in question. “Your mate?” she guessed, her eyebrows pinching together in concern.

Ava stepped back toward Marcus and smiled up at him shyly. “Yes,” she replied.

His shoulders lowered in relief, and he returned her smile with a hesitant one of his own.

“Excuse me?” Ava’s dad spluttered. “No,” he denied loudly, making Marcus’s entire body tense up.

“Dad,” Ava hissed.

“Monica, take her to the car,” he ordered Ava’s mom.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ava argued angrily.

“Go to the car!” her dad yelled.

Ava flinched. Her dad could be strict and hard on her and the twins, but he’d never spoken to her like that before.

Marcus moved to stand in front of her in a protective stance. “You need to calm down,” he growled.

“Get the hell away from my daughter,” her dad seethed. “You’re what? Ten, fifteen years older than her?”

“Eleven,” Marcus admitted through gritted teeth.

“It’s sick,” he spat out, looking disgusted.

Marcus reared back as if he’d been struck.

“Dad, stop it,” Ava yelled. She’d never been so furious or so disappointed with her father. Or her mother for that matter―the woman was simply standing to the side, not even trying to calm her mate down.

“She’s still in high school,” her dad continued, completely ignoring his daughter’s plea. He charged at Marcus and shoved him backward with a roar. “You’re a f*****g p*****t. She’s a child!”

“Craig,” Ava’s mom snapped, but it was too late for her to intervene now. The damage was already done.

Marcus said and did nothing to defend himself, and Ava’s vision blurred as she watched him hang his head in shame.

“Enough,” Ava screamed. “Just stop talking,” she begged her father in a choked voice.