The Trail Back by Ashley Malkin Page A

brothers didn’t accept their mate, and he didn’t care. This, right now, was still the happiest he’d been in his entire life. If all he ever got to do was be with Abbie and hold her every night as they slept then he’d die a happy man. His wolf snarled and howled inside him again, and he knew it wouldn’t be an easy thing to do, but the alternative was untenable. “I can’t lose you, Abbie.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Abbie woke to the sound of voices—female voices. She quickly ran to the bathroom and washed her face. Her eyes were still puffy from crying, and she noticed her skin looked paler today, the dark smudges under her eyes more pronounced. She finger-combed her hair and went back into Brayden’s room to dress in her borrowed clothes.
    Brayden’s shirt smelled even better now he’d held her while she’d been wearing it. She found her body reacting to his scent. Her pussy tingled, and her breasts felt full and achy. She hadn’t been a virgin before her abduction. She’d had two previous lovers. But after what the vampires had subjected her to she thought she’d never be interested in sex again, it seemed her body had other ideas.
    Her wolf whined softly in her mind. She wanted her mates. As she reached for her wolf, she found it was also confused and apprehensive. Neither of them would easily forget the pain and humiliation of their captivity. Her wolf shuddered, and the brush against her skin from the inside sparked a shudder in Abbie, too.
    Even though she had fought the vampires and eventually been beaten into unconsciousness for all but her first rape, she had been awake when they’d raped the other captives. She’d been unable to shift, unable to fight for them. She’d been helpless to do anything but cry with them when the vampires had eventually left their cages.
    “No more. I will go there and stop them if it’s the last thing I do.” She looked at her reflection as she made her vow. If she was to live with no prospect of a mate then she could die trying to free those other captives.
    “Would you throw your life away on a futile rescue attempt and deny me what we have now, little wolf? Even if it’s not a complete mating, I would love you for all of our days. I would be happy just sharing the rest of my life with you.”
    Abbie didn’t answer Brayden. She didn’t turn to look at him. She’d heard the raw emotion in his voice, and her heart ached. It ached for him, for her, for what they would never share. It ached for the emptiness of his existence prior to this, that a half-life with her could still make him happy.
    “Don’t cry, little wolf.”
    He wrapped his massive frame around her, and she felt him wrap around her soul, as well. He meant every word. His mating musk was so thick in the air that she could almost hold some in her hand.
    “You would never be fulfilled. We would be on the very edge of complete happiness, always yearning for more but never able to have it. You’d grow to hate me.”
    “I’m happy now, Abbie. You’re already in my heart and soul. If you leave me I’ll die, the same as if we were mated.” He kissed the top of her head and held her tighter to his chest.
    “I think you mean that.” She knew he meant it. She felt his wolf brush against hers. It was as though their wolves knew that that was all they’d ever have, and Abbie felt her wolf accept the offer of friendship. There was no drive to mate, just his wolf attempting to know hers. She also knew that if she threw her life away trying to rescue the other captives in some pseudo-noble gesture, she’d also be killing Brayden.
    “Can we run together soon, little wolf?”
    Brayden whispered the words in her ear, and despite her just telling herself that they could never have a sexual relationship, her pussy clenched. The tingling had gone. Now her pussy ached, and her clit swelled and throbbed.
    “You’re dangerous to me, Brayden.” She tried to pull away from him, but she was trapped between the