Crystal Lake Pack: The Complete Series: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance
Page 44
A muscle in his jaw locked.
I let out a sigh. “I’m sorry about what I said, the things about Hannah. When you came, I thought it was just another nightmare. You were in them, you know. Most of the time, you saved me from whatever horrible thing the nightmare versions of the guys were doing to me, but…it didn’t last long, because every time, a woman would show up. You left me for her each time.” I was beyond embarrassed telling him this, but might as well get the whole thing out in the open, because the sooner it was, the quicker it could be done with.
Forest only stared at me, saying nothing. What was there to say at this point? I hated the things Clay had made me live through.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t control what Clay put in my head. Everything I said was out of line, so please, just…just forget it,” I hurriedly spoke, turning my face away, away from the hand that still touched my jaw and cheek.
I should probably just get up and walk out of the room now, before things got even more awkward.
What he said next stunned me: “Lay with me.”
I slowly glanced back at him, watching as he slid down the headboard, laying his back on the bed, his head on a pillow. Lay with him? That’s what he had to say after my confession? Wasn’t he mad or upset—or even sad that I’d brought Hannah up like that?
He moved his arm, blue eyes watching me through semi-closed slits. Forest wanted me to lay beside him, to lay against him, basically snuggle with him.
I probably shouldn’t…but I did.
I moved to his side, curling against him, resting my head on the crook of his arm as that same arm wrapped around me. Being pressed against his heat, feeling his warmth creep over me, was one of the best feelings. His heat, his scent, I liked it all, as did my inner wolf. It was both too much and not enough to sate the beast inside of me.
“I’m—” I started to say, but he cut me off quickly.
“Don’t. Whatever Clay did to you, whatever he made you think, don’t,” he told me. “I’ve had years to mourn her, and I will always miss her, but she’s gone.”
All I could do was nod once against him.
“Addie,” Forest whispered, “what I said before you left, when I said it was a mistake…” A heaviness lingered on his tone, pressing down on me with an invisible weight. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to finish the sentence.
Why would he want me to lay with him if he was just going to reiterate it was a mistake? I didn’t need that kind of constant negativity, not now. I didn’t need the added heartbreak—not that my heart was in this…
Okay. Who the hell was I trying to kid? My heart was in this one hundred percent. There was no way my heart wouldn’t be in it, not after everything.
“I lied.”
He…he what?
Confusion grew within me, followed very shortly by waves of uncertain joy. He lied. Did he mean what he’d said was all a lie, that it wasn’t a mistake? Did he want me in the same way I wanted him, even though I knew with every fiber of my being it was wrong?
I had three mates, and just because they said they were okay with it didn’t mean I had to throw myself at him. Plus, the whole age difference thing was a little much, wasn’t it? Not to mention my mom…
I had to stop thinking about it. I had to—
“I said what I thought we both needed to hear, but when that thing grabbed you, all I could think about was getting you back. Not just because you’re a part of this pack, but because I see you as mine.”
So straightforward. So simple, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Still, I found I could hardly breathe. A sudden sharpness nearly stilled my heart as I wondered if I’d fallen into a dream while not realizing it. This was how the nightmares usually started, and then he’d run off at the first sight of Hannah.
But this wasn’t a Clay-induced dream. This was real.
“My wolf wants yours, and I…” Forest paused, exhaling. Thank goodness I stared at the side of his chest and not at his face. I was not sure I could handle holding his gaze while he spoke. “I want you, too.”
What the heck was I supposed to say to that? Was this another way of him trying to get me to deny him, to stop him? Clearly, I didn’t have the willpower for that, either; I was just as weak as he was.
I felt fingers on my chin, which forced me to tilt my head, to look up at him. His lips were slightly parted, his stare unblinking. The look on his face said more than his words could—and his words said a hell of a lot. I couldn’t deny him because I felt the same way. It might’ve been wrong, but for us, in this moment, it felt so right.
I lifted my head off his arm, bringing myself closer to his face. All the while, his fingers never left my chin—though when I leaned over him, my damp hair draping around his head, he did move them to cup my jaw. His thumb on my right cheek and his other four fingers on my left.
“Forest,” I whispered his name, not sure why. To prolong this moment? To put some sense into either of us? It didn’t matter, because the time for logic was long past; this was a matter of the heart, of the wolf. This was so natural; it was instinct.
I brought my face to his, our noses touching. A faint movement of his lips caught my eye—a smile. A tiny one, one that faded fast, but a smile nonetheless. “You smell like my soap,” he murmured. Both his hands moved to my hair, tangling in its brown, wet tresses.
And then, in a fast, imperceptible moment, it was over.
Our mouths collided in a fiery heat, passion unmatched. I felt myself drowning, losing every thought in my head, all logic and resistance slipping away bit by bit until there was nothing but a hungry desire, an urgent need that only the man under me could fill.
This was what I’d never been able to get in my dreams, the point I never crossed. Forest’s lips had always been off-limits, even in my Clay-induced nightmares.
Now, though, they were all mine, and I would drink my fill until I could drink no more.
I ran my hands along his shoulders, tracing his collarbone. I was barely able to do anything, so lost in the heat and the hunger burning beneath me, in me. My body moved to straddle his, and Forest broke our lip lock to wince. I’d touched his wound, accidentally as I’d moved on top of him.
“Sorry—” I started to say.
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “Like I said, for you, I’ll take the pain.” Forest surprised me by flipping us more quickly than I would’ve thought possible, given his wound. He positioned me beneath him, a knee between my legs. His hands moved to my wrists, forcing them above my head, holding onto me tightly but not so hard that his grip hurt.
It was sensory overload when Forest brought his mouth to my neck, just as he had before, that day when he had me cornered against the bathroom door frame. And, just like that day, I shivered with pleasure, a rushing bliss traveling down my spine. He was good with his mouth, and if I was honest, being mostly unable to move due to his body pressing down on mine, with his hands holding my arms at bay…it was only more of a turn on.
I never thought being submissive was my thing, but maybe it was when it came to Forest. I could sense the alpha wolf in him, could taste the need he had for dominance. My inner wolf wanted to bow to him, to roll over and give him her stomach, and I wanted to let him do whatever the heck he wanted. Letting him take full control, letting him grab the reins and steer wherever he wanted—I got a secret thrill out of it, an ecstatic high that put me above the clouds.
Forest was slow to draw his hands off my wrists, his mouth never leaving my neck as they moved down my arms, over my chest, along my sides. I only squirmed when he touched the bare skin on my stomach, inhaling sharply when he went lower, toying with the top hemline of my shorts.
His lips moved to my jaw as his fingers worked to undo the button on my shorts, drawing down the zipper. I didn’t even think to stop him, didn’t even think to ask what he planned on doing down there. I was still firmly in the school of no pups for me right now, but damn, did he know how to torture me in the best of ways.
Just his hand, then? Surely, I could handle that. Surely, I could…
A breathy gasp escaped me when his fingers touched me, rubbing me in a place no man had ventured before. It was a place I’d never let a man go, though if Maze would’ve tried in the shower, odds were I would’ve let him.
Maze, however, had acted like a good wolf in the shower; Forest played the bad wolf. The bad, naughty wolf who knew what he wanted and took it.
And I…who the hell was I to stop him? Not when it felt this good, not when I could feel the pleasure coursing through every inch of my body, tickling every nerve in the best of ways. No, I didn’t dare stop him, lest he move his skilled hand away from the apex of my legs.
As his hand worked, he continued to shower my neck and jaw with kisses, though he did pause every now and then to watch me writhe and squirm, a glinting look in his eyes and a small smile on his face. Other than anger and sadness, it was the most expressive expression he’d ever given me, and it made me want more.
More, more, more.
I felt insatiable, like no amount of him would ever be enough. When his fingers focused on the small nub of flesh, applying just the right amount of pressure to my clit, I let out another moan. Based on this, I knew there’d be no quiet sex where I was concerned, but that was for another time.
A growling sound erupted from Forest’s wide, strong chest, and he kept working at me as he murmured, “I love the sounds you make.” If he felt pain from our activities, he didn’t show it, hiding it behind the mask of lust he wore. “I can’t wait to hear you scream my name.”
Maybe it was the way he whispered it so eagerly, maybe it was the way his fingers slid along me, knowing exactly where to focus to push me to the edge—or maybe it was everything put together, a sensory overload I could not fight off, even if I’d wanted to.
Which I didn’t—it was a sensation I didn’t want to deny, not even a little.
Pressure built inside of me, a storm waiting to be released. I arched my back, crying out as the pleasure exploded inside of me. Toe-curling, muscle-clenching, it was so much pleasure all at once, a whirlwind of the best sensations all mixed together. My heart rate spiked, my skin reddening. A tingly feeling of decadence, a pure carnal feeling, gratification in the highest degree.
As Forest unhurriedly removed his hand from my shorts, the feeling of bliss lingered. I could hardly breathe, and it took me a moment to realize what that was.
An orgasm. It was an orgasm. Forest had given me my first orgasm, and if it was any indication of what was to come in the future, I knew I was going to like getting more. The more the better, really.
Who could blame me?
Chapter Ten – Addie
Forest gave me a tiny smile, though it was gone within seconds. He rolled off me, breathing hard, his voice ragged, “You should leave before I get other ideas, Addie.” His head hit the pillow beside mine, as if other ideas weren’t already swimming around in his head, just like they were in mine. I still felt all warm and tingly, and kind of tired. An orgasm like that, apparently, wore the receiver out.
When he’d moved, I’d seen his back had mostly healed, fresh scars from his shoulder to his lower back. The skeleton at the funeral had clawed him deeply. Had he shifted to heal? Had he shifted to heal faster so he could go with Arthur to save me? If that was the case, why wouldn’t he shift now to speed up his stomach injury?
I laid there for a minute, trying to get my breathing under control. I really hoped Dylan had kept my mom busy, otherwise I’d have a lot of explaining to do. Then again, with shifter hearing, Sarah still probably heard the whole damn thing.
Ugh. How awkward and humiliating.
“If you don’t go,” Forest whispered, turning his head to look at me, “I will never get rest.”
Rest? The alpha claimed he needed rest?
Funny, considering how gung-ho he was about getting under my shorts. Not that I could complain in the least, because I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I should’ve. My mom was going to kill me, after killing Forest. And Arthur…God, Sarah would probably tell him about it, too.
We were both dead meat.
I propped myself up, glancing at the alpha on his back, at his bare chest, covered with a sheen of sweat. I knew his dick had gotten hard, but he asked for no reciprocation. A bad thing for him, but a good thing for me—that was not something I was ready for. Not yet.
It was hard for me to get to my feet, difficult to stand. “Fine, fine,” I said, my voice still a little breathless and uneven, “I’ll leave you alone. Don’t want to disturb your beauty sleep.” I shuffled to the door, tossing a look over my shoulder, eyes meeting with Forest’s.
Laying there in the rumpled sheets, his body coated in a thin sheen of sweat, his black hair wild and out of place—even with the bandage on his side, he was a drop-dead gorgeous specimen of a man, the very thing all shifter males inspired to be. The alpha, strong, dominant. The one in control. Forest was…very good at taking control.
The space between my legs heated at the recent memory, and it was almost as if his hand was down there again, stroking me and bringing me to the edge of paradise. His fingers were that good, and I had to break eye contact and leave the room before I lost all resolve and threw myself at him again, this time begging him to do more.
I slipped out of the room, closing the door behind me only to further put a wall between me and Forest. My heart still beat rapidly in my chest, and I ached for more. Both my wolf and I wanted more, just as we both had with Maze. If my sex drive stayed like this…
Well, it was a good thing I had multiple mates then, huh?
Landon leaned on the wall opposite me, watching me leave the bedroom. His arms were still crossed, as if he had hardly moved a muscle the entire time I was in there. A wide smirk grew on his face, a knowing glint in his azure eyes. Even if he wasn’t a shifter, if he was in the hall, he most definitely heard what went on in the bedroom.
“Enjoy yourself, Addie?” he asked, cocking his head, studying me. His gaze lingered below my waist, making me feel self-conscious.
Was it obvious I’d had my first orgasm? I was loud, yeah, but…was I glowing or something? Too sweaty, too out of breath, too—
“You might want to fix that,” Landon said, lazily lifting his gaze back to me.
I blinked, having no clue what the wolf meant.
The smirk never left his face as he uncrossed his arms and stepped toward me, closing the distance between us so quickly I couldn’t avoid him. Not that I would, but the last thing I needed right now was more testosterone giving my horny wolf ideas.
Landon. Oh, how I’d hated him at first.
Not so much hated as strongly disliked, maybe. His first words to me hadn’t been nice ones, but after finding him in Clay’s cabin, after talking with him and learning of his past, my icy exterior toward him melted quickly. He’d been abused by his former alpha, ran away from his old pack and lived on human streets until Forest had found him when he was fifteen and brought him to Crystal Lake. With a backstory like that, his prickly demeanor made sense.
I was glad, though, he hadn’t stayed cold to me. He was still rude on occasion, but it was just his lovely personality shining through. Now, I wouldn’t have him any other way.
“Let me,” Landon whispered, still grinning that rage-inducing, lopsided smirk that both annoyed me and set my nether regions on fire. He stood less than a foot from me when his hands reached down.
I inhaled, thinking…I wasn’t quite sure, still floating on the orgasm high Forest had given me. I wasn’t in my right mind to deal with anything.
The sound of a zipper moving entered my ears, and it was then I realized what he meant. Forest had undone my shorts, and I would’ve walked right downstairs to my mom if he hadn’t caught me.
As Landon buttoned them, he acted too smug. Far too arrogant and self-assured. I wanted to wipe the haughtiness right off his face, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t find his smugness somewhat attractive. I was all kinds of messed up, wasn’t I?
“I thought you were a take-it-slow kind of girl,” he whispered, remaining near me even after he fixed my shorts. “The way you were howling in there, I’d be surprised if the neighbors didn’t hear you.”
My face burned. I didn’t think I was that loud.
“It’s okay,” he added, “I agree with Forest. Your noises are…amazing.”
Was this a normal conversation shifter mates had? After a sexual encounter with one, the others talked about it? Seemed a little strange to me, but I wasn’t sure if I was weirded out by it or kind of turned on.
Still on the horny side of things, obviously.
“Uh,” I so eloquently said, “thanks.” All the blue ribbons in the world to me, the girl who could whip out a comeback under any sorts of pressure. First place, every time.
I wanted to smack myself.
My fumbling made Landon chuckle. “You’re welcome. Who knew you had a freaky side under the good girl you pretend to be?” He rose a single eyebrow, the king of making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside while simultaneously making me want to punch him.
“I’ll have you know I am a good girl,” I spoke the words before I thought better of them, which I immediately did.
“Oh. Do all good girls get expelled for attacking their professors?”
I puffed myself up. “Just so you know, it was only one professor, and he wasn’t even really a professor. He was a TA, so…” I stopped rambling when he held up a hand. “You don’t care, I know.”
Before the infuriating wolf could say anything more, I took a step back, straightened myself out and headed down the stairs. I smoothed down my damp hair, because the last thing I needed was Sarah commenting on it.
Although, again with the shifter hearing. Either way, I probably had a few uncomfortable conversations in my foreseeable future.