Her mother may have been cool with Max sleeping in her bed but she drew the line at a naked Max waking up in it. So for the three days Max turned into a wolf, he was banned from sleeping in the bed with her. Correction, he was banned from waking up with her. Josette, with the help of her father, talked Brianne in allowing Max to stay in the room with her until she fell asleep or right before dawn, whichever came first. Julian was leaving on Monday to try to talk some sense into his mother as well as continued negotiations to end the feud between the packs. The Lupa of the other pack name was Lydia. He asked Brianne to go with him and she at first refused, thinking it too dangerous to leave Josette alone, but Julian assured her that she was perfectly safe with Max and after much debate she agreed. Josette thought her mother was also nervous about meeting his mother again. The queen obviously hated them both but her father said that she would have to learn to deal. The thought of Brianne being a queen at all was mind-blowing and made her that much more nervous. Josette was nervous herself. It meant she would be the Lupa, the wolf princess.
Saturday morning greeted them with a hundred plus temperature, perfect weather to try out the pool. Josette wore a white one piece bathing suit. Her hair up in a lose bun that hung low on her head. She’d been wearing it down lately because Max liked it that way. He would run his hands through it and she loved it.
So many things were still brand new to her and her mother but Josette thought they’d acclimated to untold fortune and mythological creatures well. Like fish to water as the saying goes. They were going to pick out luggage for her mother’s trip as it was the one thing that Julian didn’t think of when he had the house furnished and the closets filled.
Josette rounded the corner and entered the kitchen to the smell of bacon. She wasn’t in the habit of eating first thing in the morning opting instead for a cup of coffee and a smoke. Max stood next to the fridge in all his glory in his swimming trucks ready for a day in the pool with her. He peeked around the open door when he heard her approach and smiled.
“Hey.”
“Good morning,” she said smiling at him and going to my mother to give her a quick hug before going to the bar and sitting next to her dad.
“What’s up kiddo,” he said looking at her over the newspaper.
“Morning,” she said and turned her attention back to Max, who was making a tray of snacks to take to the pool.
“What time does your flight leave on Monday,” Josette asked.
“Nine AM,” her parents answered at the same time and smile at each other.
“Ready,” Max asked.
“Almost,” she said and remembered that she had not put on my nicotine patch for the day.
Josette and Brianne promised to stop smoking. In the past they had always been cross and short with each other in their attempts, but not this time. Josette chalked it up to being so eager to please the men in their lives. Max had not mention a dislike for her habit, but he was so like her dad that she knew he wanted her to quit. She opened the drawer next to the sink and pulled out a patch, ripped open the packet, and stuck it on her shoulder.
“Now I’m ready,” she said, not missing the approving smiles from both Max and her dad.
Josette held the door for Max and he made his way to an umbrella covered table and sat the tray down. The walk from the door to the side of the pool was short but the stickiness of the humid air had them both ready to jump in the pool as soon as the tray was out of Max’s hand.
“Sleep well,” Max asked turning and pulling Josette in his arms.
“Yes,” she answered and kissed him quick on the lips before turning, running and diving into the pool. The cool water was welcoming to her hot skin.
“Coming,” she asked when she surfaced and noticed that Max was still standing where she’d left him.
“Sure am,” he said and did a cannonball right next to her.
They played for a while and then got out and set up camp on side by side loungers with an umbrella between them. Josette had on the sunglasses.
“What are you thinking,” Max asked and Josette turned her head to look at him.
“Nothing really, how nice it is, I guess.”
“It is nice,” he said and took her hand.
Max started to play around with the ring on her finger. The ring had taken on both more and less importance. Cherished because it was a gift from him but after the revelation of the whole mated pair she knew what they had went beyond material things or pieces of paper. She wanted to do something special and decided that she would tell him sometime during the next week while her parents were away.
“Josette, Max, lunchtime,” her mother called out the window.
“Lunchtime?” she said hardly believing that the day had gone by so fast. It seemed that they had just come out.
“Coming,” Max called and got up, pulling Josette with him.
The inside of the house was cold after sitting outside on such a hot day. Brianne had made sandwiches and they were sitting on the counter. It seemed weird that she was considering marrying, and metaphysically bonded with someone, but her mom still made lunch for both of them but not enough for her to dwell on it. Brianne seemed to enjoy it, making up for all the time she missed making Josette breakfast and lunch over the years because she worked all the time.
“I’d like to go and pick up luggage when you’re done eating,” she reminded Josette as she sat down.
“I’ll get dressed when I’m done.”
“Thirty minutes. I want to start packing. Your father hasn’t really told me what I will need,” her mother said before leaving her and Max to their lunches.
It was still strange having access to so much money. Julian told them that there was no limit in what they could buy, he was fine with anything. He had seventeen years of birthday, anniversary and Christmas presents to make up for. At the mall they went to a luggage store and her mom picked out a set of luggage that came with several trunks. Her parents would be gone anywhere from a week to two she’d been told and she was packing a lot. Even with a station wagon they couldn’t fit it all and so they paid extra to have it delivered. Brianne called home to make sure that someone would be there to accept the delivery since there was a small chance that it would be delivered before they made it back home.
The delivery truck was pulling off and her dad waved at them from the front door. Jonathan, a butler, driver bodyguard, was loading the boxes of luggage on a dolly. Her mom went straight to her room to start packing. Josette went to her room and sat down on the couch and curled up with a new novel she’d found online. She’d just bought an e-reader and loved it. She fell asleep while reading and woke with Max sitting at the foot of the couch watching her.
“How long have you been there,” She asked sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
“Not long, I like watching you sleep,” he answered.
“Where’s everyone,” she asked swinging her legs off the couch and sitting up.
“Your mom is packing and your dad is sitting in the closet with her going over paperwork.”
“They’re so cute,” she said getting up and going to the mini fridge to get something to drink.
“Almost as much in love as we are,” he said.
“Almost,” Josette agreed.
The mini fridge was full of soda for Max since he spent so much time in there and bottled water for her. It also had a few snacks so they didn’t have to walk all the way downstairs. Josette room was set up like a suite in a fancy hotel. She grabbed water and sat back down next to Max. They were going to be alone in less than forty eight hours and she was excited and nervous.
“You’re nervous,” Max said with a little surprise in his voice. She lay in his arms every night. He couldn’t figure out her feelings of unease.
“A little,” she said looking at him.
“There’s no reason to be.”
Her mother said she had an old soul and her father was from a place where it was perfectly acceptable for younger peopl
e to be in very serious relationships, even wed, at an early age, but neither made her any less nervous about being alone with Max for days on end with the things that were going through her head.
“I know.”
“Hey, come here,” Max said and Josette went to him.
He followed her every moment. Still sitting he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him until his head rested on her stomach. She ran her hands through his hair, closing her eyes, relishing their closeness. There was a knock on the door and her dad walked in without waiting. Josette looked up, but Max moved slower, keeping his head pressed into her stomach for a few more seconds before releasing her and standing up.
“Sir,” he said.
“Max, Brianne and I will be going out for dinner tonight. Would you and Josette like to join us?”
Max looked at Josette. “No but thanks for the invite,” Josette answered
“Very well, but tomorrow I’d like for us to sit down for dinner since we’ll be away for a while.”
“Of course sir,” Max answered this time.
“Very good.”
It was amazing how her dad treated Max as if he was already a son-in-law. Her parents left shortly after. Her mom looked great in a white halter dress with gold accessories. Her gold strappy sandals were platform. Her dad looked very dapper in a navy suit and steel grey tie. Max whistle when Brianne entered the room made her blush. Julian looked on proudly and smiled as she turned for them.
“We won’t be too late but, don’t wait up for us,” her mom joked and took Julian’s arm.
Max and Josette ordered pizza and sat in the downstairs den channel surfing until about midnight. Well, around eight Max went wolf on her, but he sat next to her on the couch while she ran her hands through his fur, his massive head in her lap. Tomorrow was his last day and she couldn’t wait. She loved him in wolf form but she like falling asleep in his arms more.
Max found himself for the second time in three days standing outside Josette’s door shrouded in uncertainty. This time it was hers. She was a nervous wreck, which made him a nervous wreck. Common sense told him to go to the Lycaon with Josette’s plan. But his body wasn’t ruled by his head, not when Josette was involved, it was ruled by his heart...his soul. Hell, his very being. They were bonded on a damn near molecular level. The pressing power of his change, in addition to Josette’s increased ability to share all things with him, and the thoughts going through her mind, almost made him lose form. Already he could feel his gums itching and his fingertips throbbing. In the last three days their bond had grown and now he knew she was headed for the door. She’d picked up his presence and he smiled at the thought. He opened the door right before she reached for it and almost lost his mind.
What Max hadn’t picked out her father had and he was pretty certain that the Lycaon had not purchased the nightgown Josette was wearing. It was floor length and that’s where the modesty of the garment stopped. The diaphanous fabric allowed him to see every...last...glorious ...inch of her. He ran his hand across his face. This was going to be sooo very bad…and sooooo very good. Josette’s father, his king, the Lycaon, was going to kill him. Max was almost certain of it. He crossed the threshold welcoming certain death.
Josette backed away from Max with each step he took in the room. The sound of her heart was almost deafening. With each fluttered beat Max’s beast stirred just beneath his skin. He scented the air, breathing deeply until his shirt was snug across his chest. Wildflowers and grass, hints of citrus and earth that he knew were his scent, he breathed in again; this time closing his eyes and raising his head a little, his nostrils flared before he exhaled out his mouth. The unmistakable and undeniable scent of something darker, a smell like no other and only a woman has. He opened his eyes and Josette gasped and stumbled in her last step. Her heart kicked started and was a drum in her chest that he could see pulsing in her veins; the one in her throat, the ones in the crook of her arm, and in her wrist. It was her neck that his eyes locked on. The spot low, near her collarbone. It was where his mating mark would go, where his teeth all but shot out of his gums for. The little bit of fear that Josette had only made it worst. Max was more beast now than he had since he’d learned self-control. He was so past the point of no return. Short of the Lycaon coming in and killing him where he stood, there was no going back.
“It’ll hurt Tehila,” he all but growled at her, “I’d rather rip out my own throat than cause you pain but it’s the only way,” he said.
“I know,” Josette said. Her voice was, low but there was no hesitation, no doubt in what she wanted.
“Stop moving,” he growled, his self control slipping further.
“Why,” she asked, taking a step back but her head tilted to the side.
“Because I want chase you,” he said and this time the growl was almost menacing.
“Oh,” she said and sweet Jesus, she smiled. A mischievous kick at the corner of her mouth—a second before she turned and ran.
It didn’t matter that they were in a closed room and short of her running out of the door, she had no place to go. She got a head start only because Max had to tightened every muscle in his body to stop from howling loud enough to scare every man, woman and child within a ten mile radius. Josette had reached the end of the couch in the sitting area of her room when he caught her. He’d changed forms somewhere between the end of the bed and the first step leading down to the sitting area. His shirt and shorts ripped at the seams the band digging into his waist was uncomfortable but was a distant thought as he grabbed her from behind. She turned and was facing him by the time he’d tightened his hold on her.
He cleared his head long enough to say, “Are you sure Josette?”
She nodded and that was all the confirmation he needed.
The bite was quick as a cobra strike. Her nails bit into his biceps and hard enough to draw blood and when he felt her short blunt teeth sink into his chest to muffle her scream he actually growled at the sensation. Her blood, warm and salty filled his mouth and he wished himself a vampire, he wouldn’t have to bite her again, but damned if he wasn’t thinking about it with his teeth still locked in her flesh. He opened his mouth to release her from his jaws. She was still holding his arms in a vise, but no longer biting him. He could feel her tears in the fur on his chest but he didn’t hear her crying, only heavy breathing as she worked through the pain and didn’t that make him proud. She was going to be a strong wolf...his strong wolf. He licked the bite mark he’d just made on her neck, long lazy strokes of his tongue that he could see himself doing for eternity.
“Why are you licking me,” Josette asked with a little laugh.
“It’ll help with healing,” he said. His words were thick from speaking around all his big teeth.
He raised his head to look at his mark. It was bright red and still bleeding a little, blood had run down the front of her body staining the top of the gown and going lower covering the top of her left breast. He ran his tongue the length of the blood trail, shuddering when his tongue reached the fabric and a low moan escaped Josette. He was headed lower when things got bad.
“Maxwell!”
The command of the Lycaon was like a gunshot in the room. Max turned and Josette actually stepped in front of him. To protect him from her father. It was cute.
“Josette!” Brianne said standing next to the seven foot tall beast that was Julian. Her eyes widened. Max didn’t know if it was from the blood or the gown, but remembering that Josette was all but naked made him push her behind him, she peeked around his arm holding on to his bicep.
Max could feel the power of the alpha wolf pressing down on him, demanding submission, but there was none to be had. Not when mated wolves were involved. Max’s responsibility to his mate overrode any and all commands that the alpha could dish out. Respect had Max stammering as he tried to come up with an appropriate reply. There would be no apologies.
“I had expected a formal asking for Jo
sette,” Julian said coming in the room. Brianne was headed for the closet to get something to cover Josette no doubt. She was coming back when Max said, “She ran.”
The sound of Julian’s laughter stopped Brianne in her tracks and she looked at the man like he’d lost his mind.
“What’s funny?” she said in not the friendliest of tones.
The Lycaon was laughing too hard to answer. Brianne walked over and handed Josette a robe.
“Someone better start explaining what’s so funny about Max turning my child into a werewolf or I’ll be wearing fur come winter.”
Julian, Max and Josette all looked at the fuming tiny woman with opened mouths. They all started laughing at the same time. It was Josette that got herself together to answer her mother... barely.
“Max warned me not to run because it made him want to chase me,” she said through fits of laughter. “I ran,” she said shrugging her shoulders and wiping her eyes.
“Why, Josette?” Brianne asked. She wasn’t mad anymore, but she wasn’t happy either.
“I didn’t want to wait another month.”
Brianne sighed and looked at Julian, “Now what?”
“There is no what, only what is,” he said.
“Excuse me?” Brianne said crossing her arms and starting to look ticked off again.
“Their bond is complete. At the next full moon Josette will turn into a werewolf. They are two pieces of a whole.”
“No,” Josette said, “We were two pieces of a whole, now we’re just one,” she corrected her father.
He bowed his head to her. “The Lupa is correct,” he said. It was the first time he’d called her by the formal title, it stole her breath. “Josette and Maxwell share something that few could ever fathom. Even my love for you, my darling, pales in comparison. Maxwell will protect Josette with his life. He will put her above all things and be her constant companion, never leaving her side.”
Put that way—what parent could object?
Brianne looked at Josette and then Max. “I don’t know whether to congratulate you or send Max to his room,” she finally said. “But I guess it’s too late for that. You’re both just so young.”
“I won’t apologize Nonakris,” Max said since the Lycaon had thrown out Josette’s formal title. “I love Josette, but more than that I knew what she wanted. I asked before I bit her, but it was just a technicality. I could feel in my heart and hear in my head what she wanted. I was and will always be powerless against her. Her every want and need are my reason for living,” Max said.
“Hey don’t blame it all on me,” Josette said giving him mock evil-eye from next to her mother.
“It’s true Tehila.”
“Please Max, I don’t think this old heart can take it, you calling my little girl lover,” Brianne said, “Not after everything else that’s happened tonight.”
Josette turned to her mother. “I’ll always be your daughter, but I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m Max’s ulrich. I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to try talking me out of something I was going to do anyway.”
Max and Julian watched Brianne as she weighed Josette words. Rolled them around in her head and tested them to see if she liked them. They both breathed out a sigh of relief when she started nodding her head.
“Okay,” she said at last, “Congratulations it is then.” Brianne hugged Josette and then stood and went to Max. “I guess there’s nothing I can say to you. What more can a mother want for her daughter, than someone who would give their life to protect her and lives only for her happiness,” she said smiling at him.”
“Thank you Nonakris,” Max said.
Josette stood next to Max as her father approached them. “Make arrangement for you to visit your family,” he said. “I’m sure they would like to meet your ulrich.”
There was no kissing; his current mouth was full of teeth meant for ripping and tearing not kissing. He held his arm out to Brianne and they left Josette and Max. Her mom had just closed the door when Josette yelled out as loud as she could. “Run mom!” The sound of a growl that seemed to vibrate under their feet and earsplitting howl had them both rolling.
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