by Viola Rivard
“We can just do things like this, until you’re ready to start having sex again.”
Sounding affronted, he replied, “I am not the one who is not ready.”
She thought he might have had more to say, but if he did, it was quickly forgotten when she pushed his finger inside of her. She watched him close his eyes and suck in a breath, the rise and fall of his chest quickening as she pulled him out and then slowly pushed him back in again. It felt good to have his thick finger inside of her, but she wasn’t done playing with him. She had days’ worth of pent up sexual frustration to take out on him, and she wasn’t going to stop until the two of them were mating like animals.
Abruptly, she sat up and placed a hand on his neck. Caim didn’t remove his finger from her; instead, he flexed it inside her, looking disgruntled.
“I’m not being fair,” she told him, trailing her hand down his ripped chest. As she closed her hand around his swollen cock, he grunted. It was so full that she could feel his pulse thrumming within his engorged veins. She licked her lips. His amber eyes followed the movement. “Let me take care of you first.”
He gave no protest as she lowered herself between his legs and positioned her head over the crown of his erection. She let out a hot breath, teasing his over-sensitized flesh. Her lips twitched when she felt him strain in her grasp. She felt her own arousal building with his as she reveled in her newfound power. She was in complete control over his pleasure, and the second he gave in, she would win. The only thing he could do was stop playing and walk away, which she knew he stood no chance of doing the second she wrapped her lips around his cock.
Caim threw his head back and hissed as she took him into her mouth. She lowered her head, testing to see how much of him she could fit. She had gone down on Asch a few times and had figured out the things he liked. Caim was completely new territory, and she would take the time to learn the things that pleased him, just not tonight. Tonight was not about pleasure, at least, not yet.
She cupped his balls, rolling the large globes in her palm while she sucked and languidly moved her head up and down in what she hoped was an excruciating pace. She let her upper teeth scrape against his rigid shaft while her tongue lightly flicked over the underside of his cock.
Not used to being unable to set the pace, Caim fisted his hands in the blanket, his knuckles going white with strain. A drop of salty fluid escaped the slit of his cock, and Mila whisked her tongue over it and gave him a hard suck as she drank him in.
Caim lost it. He made a guttural sound, his hands going to her head. He twisted her hair around his fingers and pulled her back from his cock. She got one look at his wild face before he pushed her down onto the ground. A jolt of anticipation shot through her as Caim lifted her hips. Back to his usual impatient self, he wasted no time teasing her. He buried himself inside of her in one hard thrust.
Letting out a ragged moan, she met him blow for blow as he took her with frenzied need, pistoning in and out of her from behind. Her climax began almost at once, burgeoning up after only a few thrusts. She tried to fight it, but her efforts only served to prolong her peak until she was convulsing beneath him, her body wracked with waves of pleasure.
Caim leaned down to wrap his arms around her torso and held her close as he emptied himself inside of her in hot spurts. They remained still for a few moments, both panting and sweating. His mouth found the crook of her neck, and he nuzzled her, his bristly face tickling the tender skin.
“Stop it,” she said, giggling. She reached up to push him back, but he batted her hand away and gave her neck a hard nip. “Ow, cut it out!”
In a silken voice, he said, “It is not your place to order me around, mate.”
Mila laughed and clenched her inner muscles around him. She felt his softening length harden again and turned her head into the furs to hide her smile.
A long time later, after they’d had their fill of one another again, Mila got up from the bed and searched her shelves for something relatively clean to wear. While she dressed, Caim pulled back the hides from the window. The room flooded with moonlight. When she was done, she joined him, looping her arms around his waist.
Already knowing the answer, but unable to stop herself, she asked, “Do I smell any different today?”
Caim placed a hand over hers. “Not yet.”
6
T he cat’s carcass had been taken down, and three gutted wolves hung in its place. A chilly wind swept over the mountainside, making the branches creak as they swung back and forth. Caim surveyed the grim scene with a mixture of annoyance and admiration at the cat tribe’s boldness.
They were not his wolves. They were beasts—simple creatures of the forest. Some of his kind claimed to feel a sort of bond with such animals. He, however, had never shared that sentiment. Much like humans, he could hardly feel a kinship toward a creature he was vastly superior to. Still, the message was not lost on him, and the intended offense was enough to rouse his ire.
It was early morning, just before dawn. He and the females had been preparing to retire to the den when they caught the scent of decay on the wind. The wolves had been strung up for at least a day. Their bodies had already festered in the sun. The trees around the oak were marked, their trunks scratched raw in a brash display of disrespect. The cats had marked their territory.
“They will attack us,” Lotus said. She stood stiffly beside him, watching his face from the corner of her eye. He was not sure what reaction she anticipated, but he had no doubt she would be disappointed.
“Then they will die,” he replied mildly.
There was no show of bravado in his words. On their own, a single cat could have bested one of his wolves. As a tribe, though, the cats were fewer in numbers and lacked the cohesion of a wolf pack. Even with Asch and several of the betas gone, the cats would never succeed in taking the den.
“And how many wolves will they take with them?” Lotus asked, arching a brow. “As a leader, you must think of these things.”
Caim opened his mouth to give her a scathing reply, but Sable beat him to it. “Then they will do us the favor of culling the weak.”
He couldn’t have agreed more.
“If they attack, we will fight,” Caim said and folded his arms across his chest. “If they do not, we will wait for Asch to return, and then we will hunt them.”
Lotus gave him an impatient look, one which was becoming all too familiar to him. “And if they were to harm your mate?”
Unbidden, a growl rose from his chest and effectively silenced Lotus. She took a step back from him, her posture slumping in submission. The involuntary reaction disturbed him, almost as much as seeing Lotus cower from him. He reached out and placed a hand on the side of her neck.
Once he was confident he could keep his tone even, he said, “What is done is done. All we can do now is prepare.”
Her eyes flicked up to his before closing. In a subtle movement, she leaned into his touch. For a moment, the backdrop faded away. The dead wolves, the desecration of his territory, and Sable were gone, and it was he and Lotus as it always had been. He knew every dip and curve of her body, and he had never tired of her. He knew her so well he could almost always anticipate what she was thinking, and yet he still enjoyed her company.
He missed the easiness that had once existed between them and hoped they would have it again someday. But he doubted that time would come soon. He pulled his hand back and gave both of the females a perfunctory nod.
“Go alert the others of the situation and make certain my mate does not leave the den.”
* * *
Mila scooped up the pile of pebbles and added them to the growing pile on her lap. She heard Rosie huff and glanced up to see her eyeing the rocks with derision.
“You lied,” Rosie accused her. “You specifically said that you did not have any clovers.” She looked to Gem and the others for support. “She lied.”
“For one, they’re clubs, not clovers,” Mila said patiently. “
And for two, part of the game is being able to tell when people are lying.”
She stifled a grin at Rosie’s outrage. The other women were less merciful. Kallie and Trina were both snickering, and Gem covered her face with her arm as she let out high-pitched peals of laughter.
The deck of cards belonged to Gem, and it had been her idea to teach the women how to play poker. Mila suspected the whole thing was mostly for her benefit, though, as Gem had spent the past few days rather unsuccessfully trying to cheer her up. The cards were a welcome distraction, but they were just that: a distraction. Never in a million years could she have imagined that her happiness would hinge on finding out that she was pregnant.
One of the things Mila had always prided herself in was that she had broken the family curse. It was a curse that had dictated that every Foster woman would have her first child before the age of twenty. Every Foster woman for the past four generations had fallen prey to the curse, even Mila’s mother, who had generally been considered to be the only sensible Foster woman.
Mila had never been superstitious, and to prove just how skeptical she was, she had been flagrantly promiscuous throughout her first two years of college. When she turned twenty, Mila had given herself a pat on the back for having been, at least in one thing, better than her mother. But as of today, it had been two full weeks since the mating thrall, and with no change in her scent, Mila was seriously starting to consider that the curse was real, and it was enacting some sort of vengeance on her for evading it.
She knew not all women got pregnant the first time they tried, but it was little consolation to her. Maybe if she was back in the real world, in a normal relationship, it wouldn’t have bothered her as much. Instead, she was sitting in a cave, trying to teach werewolves to play poker with playing cards and stones, and wondering how long it would be before their leaders kicked her to the curb.
“I do not like this game, Mila,” Rosie declared.
“All right,” she replied and patted Rosie’s leg affectionately. “We can play something else.” She gathered up the cards from the center of the circle and handed them to Gem. “Know how to play go fish?”
Gem sobered from her laughing fit. “Sure, I’ll explain the rules.”
Mila leaned back and let Gem collect the cards to deal a new hand. Kallie and Trina listened intently as she explained the rules of the new game. Both women were fairly new additions to her group, and Mila hoped they wouldn’t be the last. As a whole, the pack seemed to be warming up to her, and she was finally starting to feel like less of an intruder.
The arrival of Lotus and Sable had all the women turning their heads to the entrance of the den. More than their beauty, Mila envied their ability to effortlessly command the attention of everyone around them.
Their expressions were somber, and with a measure of concern, Mila noted that Caim wasn’t with them. They bypassed the ramp that led up to the dais, their usual morning resting area, and headed for the area near the fire pit where Mila and her friends had congregated.
Mila stood as they approached, forgetting she still had the pebbles in her lap. They clattered over the stone floor. Ignoring the stones, she locked eyes with Lotus.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Caim?”
The two women stopped. Lotus glanced at Mila, blinking, before turning her gaze to the others. She spoke firmly, her voice carrying throughout the cavern. “As you know, the cat tribe entered the valley earlier this month. We now have reason to believe that they mean to stage an attack.”
The others stood and all looked displeased by the news, but not overly concerned. Taking her cue from them, Mila willed herself not to be frightened.
“We will discuss this further when Caim returns,” Lotus continued. She nodded in the direction of Gem and Rosie. “Take Mila to her room.”
Mila straightened her spine and folded her arms under her breasts. Forcing herself to be cordial, she said, “If it’s all right with you, I think I’ll stay for the discussion.”
Lotus regarded her with what had to be forced impassivity. Coolly, she said, “I do not think your input will be needed.”
Mila suddenly realized why she’d never before been in an actual fight with another woman. Never in her life had she wanted to punch someone so much. Her hand curled into a fist as she struggled to not make a fool of herself.
“As a member of the pack, I would be interested in hearing what—”
It was Sable who took a step forward, breaching Mila’s personal space. With only a few inches between them, Mila had to crane her neck up to meet Sable’s angry, obsidian gaze.
“You are not a member of this pack,” Sable said, enunciating each word as if she were speaking to a child or an idiot. “You are an asset, or at least, you would be, were you fulfilling your purpose.”
Sable spoke quickly, every sentence like a knife in Mila’s insecurities. “Asch is gone, along with four of our best fighters, and I doubt this has gone unnoticed by the cats. Your indiscretion put Caim in a position where he had to retaliate, and now they will likely try to attack us while we are weak.”
To her eternal humiliation, Mila flinched and took a step back. Her eyes moved from side to side as she tried to find a response, but Sable wasn’t finished. “You have no place in our discussions. It is our lives that will be put in jeopardy if they attack, not yours. If any of us die—if Caim dies—it will be your fault, though I doubt you will be overly concerned. Asch will be back any day to warm your bed in his place.”
Mila’s hand shot out in a movement that was faster than what she’d known herself to be capable of. Sable, however, was quicker. She caught Mila’s hand mid-slap and her hand tightened around Mila’s small wrist. Amusement replaced the anger in Sable’s expression, which Mila found to be even more infuriating.
“You cannot strike me any more than you can—”
She cut Sable off with a hard kick to her shin. Sable howled in pain, but her grip on Mila’s wrist tightened painfully. She gave Mila a hard jerk and her other hand wrapped around Mila’s neck. In turn, Mila grasped Sable’s wrist and clenched it as hard as she could. She heard the blood pounding in her ears as she dug her nails into Sable’s flesh, breaking the skin.
Their fight was short-lived, immediately broken up by Lotus and Rosie. Each of them pulled their respective friend back. Lotus roughly grasped Sable’s ear and yanked her back like a savage animal. Rosie gingerly looped her arms around Mila’s waist, drawing Mila into her arms from behind.
“You have both lost your minds,” Lotus barked, still holding on to Sable’s ear. “Get her out of here,” she ordered Rosie.
Mila ground her feet in as Rosie tried to pull her away. “Not necessary,” she snapped and shook free of Rosie’s hold. “I’m out of here.”
She stormed out of the cavern in a red fury—pissed at Lotus, pissed at Sable, and most of all, pissed at herself.
Nearly everything Sable had said was true. She wasn’t a part of the pack, not really. She didn’t contribute anything and had pretty much one job—get pregnant—and she couldn’t even manage that. Now, she had apparently caused some sort of pack war. Could she be any more of a disaster?
Rosie and Gem followed Mila to her bedroom. She heard the shuffle of their footsteps behind her as she made her way down the dark passageway. Thankfully, they kept their distance, because she was in no mood to discuss what had just happened.
Unfortunately, their tactfulness could only last for so long. No sooner did Mila fall down on her bed than did the two females flop down on either side of her, each of them tossing a limb over her body. It reminded her of being between Asch and Caim, and she couldn’t stay angry.
“Sorry, you two,” she said into her pillow. She added bitterly, “I’m probably just PMSing.”
“Don’t say that,” Gem said and scooted closer to her. “You were right to stand up for yourself. I bet Sable will think twice before insulting you again.”
Mila snorted. She highly doubted her lame attempt at
fighting had done much more than make her look ridiculous. She didn’t have the will to debate that, though.
“You should not trouble yourself with either of them,” Rosie advised while petting Mila’s hair. Absently, she added, “They are just mad because Caim no longer favors them.”
Mila’s head popped up. “What do you mean?” she asked her.
Rosie gave a casual shrug. “Well, everyone knows that Caim has not coupled with them since you joined the pack. They are obviously jealous of you.”
Mila dropped her head back down to the pillow, this time to hide her grin. The possibility had always been in the back of her mind. Part of her had felt too guilty to confront him on the matter, seeing as how she was also sleeping with Asch, so she had kept quiet, letting the question fester. Am I enough for him?
Obviously, just the fact that he hadn’t slept with anyone else yet wasn’t a real answer, but for now, it didn’t matter. It was a start.
Once she’d sorted through her thoughts, Mila asked her friends about the cats and Caim’s alleged retaliation against them. Neither woman seemed to be “in the know,” though. Both were unsure about what Lotus had been referring to.
As the sun rose in the sky, the room warmed a little, and they all grew tired. Unabashedly, Mila undressed and settled back in between them. Within seconds, she was lost in a tangle of limbs. A month ago, the prospect of being sandwiched between two naked women would have probably been, at the very least, undesirable. Now, she felt warm and safe.
7
T he sun had risen by the time Caim had finished burying the wolves. The work was beneath him, but he would not leave any of his own pack on the edge of the territory alone. Not surprisingly, he finished the duty undisturbed, then headed back to the den.
An undercurrent of unease was among the pack. All of the wolves were congregated in the central cavern, with the exception of Sable, who had disappeared, and Rose and Gem, who were with his mate. He let Lotus do most of the talking. Unlike Caim, she was good at such things, which was presumably why Asch had left her in his stead.