by Lola Gabriel
Grey didn’t respond and the silence spun out for a moment. Then Ariel spoke again, a note of suspicion in her voice.
“Wait. You only said her. What about the other two?”
“I mean in an ideal world, yeah, we’ll save all three of them. But Ellery is special. I knew it the moment I first saw her. She’s meant to be my mate, Ariel. I can feel it inside of me. And I’ll do whatever it takes to get her out of here, even if she doesn’t want anything to do with me after that.”
“Why wouldn’t she want anything to do with you? She’s lying right beside you. It’s not like she’s afraid of you or anything. Or haven’t you told her you’re a wolf yet?”
“She knows,” Grey replied. “But I have no idea if she feels this thing between us. It’s hardly the time to ask, is it?”
“Probably not,” Ariel conceded. “Look, rescuing her and the others, I’m in. But what if we’re too late and Alex takes her away before we get here?”
Another moment of silence hung in the air.
“You’re going to have to…” Ariel started.
“I know. And if it comes to it, I’ll do it. But she’ll hate me for it,” Grey said.
“Give her a bit of credit, Grey. She might see it’s the only way.”
“I doubt it,” Grey sighed. “Anyway, go. I just wanted you to know that this isn’t just about me. It’s about her as well.”
“Got it,” Ariel said. “You love her.”
“As crazy as it sounds, yes, I do.”
“It’s not crazy. It’s our way. Just remember it might not be hers. Be patient with her.”
“I’ve waited nearly three hundred years to meet her. I can be patient,” Grey laughed.
Three hundred years? Ellery couldn’t quite process learning that Grey was nearly three centuries old. It didn’t matter, though. None of the details mattered. All that mattered was knowing now that this feeling inside of her was real. And he felt it too. She decided in that moment that whatever his plan, whatever he might have to do that he thought would make her hate him, it wasn’t going to come between them. She would do whatever she had to do and let him do whatever he had to do. And maybe when this was all over, they could laugh about it. Or maybe that was too much to hope for.
Ellery heard Ariel moving away. Her footsteps were so light, she barely made any noise. Ellery waited until she heard the door close quietly and then she sat up and smiled at Grey. He returned her smile, but his cheeks flushed slightly and he looked a little uncomfortable.
“How long have you been awake?” he asked, trying and failing to sound casual.
“Long enough,” Ellery smiled, realizing his sudden discomfort was embarrassment because she had heard him telling Ariel how he felt about her. She rushed on. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Grey. I know it’s crazy, but I feel it too.”
“You do?” Grey said.
Ellery nodded and smiled again.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone, and especially not so quickly, but I don’t know, there’s something about you that my body, mind, and soul just responded to.”
“So would it be alright if I kissed you?” Grey asked.
She wanted to know what his plan was, the one he thought she would hate, but how could she say no to a kiss? Especially when Grey when smiling at her in a way that was so damned sexy, she wanted to fuck his brains out right here. She would hear about the plan soon enough, she decided. She nodded her head.
Grey leaned in and she bent forward to meet him. His lips brushed across hers, making them tingle and pulse, and then his mouth fit over hers, his tongue gently nudging her lips open. She met his tongue with her own, massaging his and wrapping hers around it.
She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and pressing her body against his. She slid her hands to his lower back, slipping them beneath his t-shirt and running them over his smooth skin. He pushed his hand into her hair, pressing her lips tighter against his. His other hand cupped her ass, pulling her even tighter against him. She could feel how hard his cock was—it was pressing against her, teasing her and making her want him even more. Her pussy was wetter than it had ever been and she was sure her juices must be running out of her and down her thighs. Her clit was spasming wildly, screaming for Grey’s touch.
She took his hand as he moved it out of her hair. She moved it lower, pressing it against her wet center. He moaned into her mouth as his fingers brushed over the damp material of her panties. He pulled his mouth from hers.
“We can’t, Ellery. What if they wake up?” Grey panted, tilting his head toward Lisa and Ava.
“They’re deep sleepers. And we’ll be real quiet,” she grinned back.
She didn’t wait for him to say more. She leaned in and found his lips with hers again. At the same time, she moved her hips, rubbing her clit over Grey’s hand and sending a series of delicious shivers through her body. It seemed to do the trick. Grey moaned again and then his fingers shifted slightly, pushing into the side of her panties and finding her clit. Ellery had to make a conscious effort not to cry out as her clit pulsed into life at Grey’s touch, spreading heat through her body.
Doing this quietly wasn’t going to be easy. Grey’s fingers worked her clit from side to side and she moved her mouth from his, pressing her face against his shoulder so her panting breaths didn’t echo around the room. She wrapped her arms around Grey’s shoulders, resting the top of her head on her arm and holding him tightly against her. She moved her hips, rocking in time with Grey’s movement, making the friction on her clit deeper and more intense.
She was nearly there, her pussy clenching and her stomach contracting as Grey pushed her toward orgasm. She sucked in a sharp breath through her nose as he pressed down on her clit and her orgasm flooded through her. She pressed her face into Grey’s shoulder again, muffling the sound as her moaning exhale came out of her unbidden. Her muscles clenched, her body going rigid as pleasure assaulted her. She took another deep breath, inhaling Grey’s scent, a musky, earthy scent that pushed her deeper into her orgasm.
Grey turned his head and ran his tongue up the side of her neck and goosebumps scurried over her skin, heightening her pleasure. When she finally started to coast down from her orgasm, she realized she had stopped breathing, and she began to gasp, panting for air as her muscles turned to warm jelly.
She sagged against Grey. He pulled his hand out of her panties, leaving her still wanting more, and held her in his arms while she recovered. When she had herself back under at least a modicum of control, she lifted her head and sought out Grey’s mouth with hers once more. It started out as a tender kiss, but almost instantly, it became desperate and hungry as her body responded to his yet again.
Ellery moved her arms from around Grey’s shoulders. She shuffled her ass back a little, making room for her hands, and she reached between them and began to unzip Grey’s jeans. He moved his head back, breaking their kiss.
He looked deep into her eyes and she could see lust there, turning his eyes even darker. They were almost completely black now and Ellery couldn’t see where his pupils ended and his irises began. It sent a shiver of desire through her whole body.
“Are you sure you want our first time to be here, Ellery?” Grey asked her.
She paused for a second, her fingers on Grey’s zipper, but no longer pulling it down. She thought about it and then she nodded slowly.
“It might be our only chance, Grey. And if I have to spend the rest of eternity serving Alex, I want to have this moment,” she said.
“I won’t let it come to that,” Grey vowed, his voice filled with steely certainty.
“Then our next time can be somewhere romantic,” Ellery grinned. “And when we tell our grandkids about how we met, we’ll skip over this part.”
“If we’re telling this story to our grandkids, I reckon we need to skip over the sexy parts no matter where we are,” Grey chuckled.
“Well, there you go, then,” E
llery laughed softly.
She went back to opening his pants. He made no move to stop her. When his jeans were open, he released Ellery for a moment, and she instantly felt cold without his arms around her. Grey lifted himself up on onto his knees and pulled his jeans and boxer shorts down his thighs. Ellery gasped when she saw his huge, hard cock. She looked it at greedily. She could hardly wait to feel him inside of her, claiming her.
Grey lowered himself back onto his ass, hissing slightly as the cold ground touched his skin. Ellery giggled softly as Grey pulled her onto his lap again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. She looked into his beautiful, intense eyes for a moment longer, and then his lips were on hers again.
She lifted herself slightly as Grey’s hand reached behind her, grabbing his cock. He pressed it against the edge of her pussy and then he was entering her, impaling her on his cock. She lowered herself, meeting his thrust, taking all of him inside of her. She was glad he was kissing her, because his mouth on hers stopped her from crying out as he filled her up.
She kept moving, lifting herself up and down on his cock, moving herself in time with his desperate thrusts. There was nothing slow or gentle about this. They were both wild, desperate for the release orgasm would bring them. Their mouths were all over each other, their desperate kissing landing on each other’s mouths, necks, shoulders. Their hands roamed around each other’s bodies, and they pounded faster and faster.
Ellery felt her orgasm coming on. There was no slow build-up; it was just there, and then it broke through the surface, crashing over her like a wave. She bit down hard on her bottom lip, stopping herself from screaming Grey’s name as her center clenched around his erection.
Warmth spread through her stomach and chest, out into her limbs until even her fingers and toes were tingling with pleasure. She bit down on her lip again and then she was coasting down, feeling the warm, sated feeling her orgasm left behind.
She knew Grey was almost there. He was thrusting into her harder and faster and his face contorted as his own orgasm slammed through him. She felt his cock twitch inside of her, and then the warmth of him coming filled her. He pulled her against him, holding her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe.
He put his mouth close to her ear, whispering her name in a low, husky voice as he came. She felt tingles go down her neck and across her shoulders where his breath tickled her skin.
He let out a breath in a deep whoosh, and then they held each other for a moment, both of them panting for air. Too soon, they broke apart. Grey got back to his knees and tugged his boxer shorts and his jeans back up, fastening the closure. Ellery pulled her panties into place, feeling a rush of desire in her stomach when she felt how wet they were. She pulled her dress back down quickly before she could let her desire overtake her brain once more.
They sat facing each other, their knees crossed in front of them. Grey smiled at Ellery.
“That was awesome,” he said. “Especially considering the circumstances.”
Ellery laughed softly, nodding her head in agreement.
“It seems captivity agrees with us,” she said.
They sat looking into each other’s eyes for a moment. Ellery thought it would be easy to get lost in Grey’s eyes, and she decided she would like that. But right now, they had to concentrate on how they were getting out of here without her ending up mated to Alex.
She knew they had to talk about this sooner rather than later. The outside light that came in through the tiny, high-up windows no longer looked like moonlight. It was bathing the warehouse in a warm yellow color. The sun was just starting to come up. Ellery thought they still had a couple of hours, but she needed to know what the plan was or it would eat at her.
“You said to Ariel you had a plan but I wouldn’t like it,” Ellery said. “Grey, I think it’s time you told me what it is.”
“Okay,” Grey said, nodding his head, although he looked a little reluctant. “But you’re not going to like it.”
9
“The only way I can think of to stop Alex taking you as his next mate is simple, yet huge,” Grey said. “Let me turn you into a shifter.”
Ellery thought for a moment as a hundred reasons not to do that flooded into her mind. Before she even got started on the reasons she didn’t want to be a wolf, she decided to concentrate on the one practical objection she had.
“How will that help?” she asked. “Won’t it just mean there’s even less work for Alex to do? If I’m already a wolf, he won’t have to turn me. He’ll just have to do whatever it is they mean by the mating ceremony.”
She shuddered as she said the words “mating ceremony” and Grey smiled.
“Look, I know the thought of being mated to Alex is far from pleasant, but you shudder at the words like you think the mating ceremony is a big, horrific ritual,” Grey said.
“Isn’t it?” Ellery asked.
“No,” Grey smiled. “It’s just shifter speak for a wedding ceremony.”
“Then that’s nowhere near as bad as I was imagining it to be, but I still don’t want any part of that with Alex. You didn’t answer my question. How will making me a wolf quicker stop Alex from wanting to marry me?”
“Because, and I mean this with all due respect, you’ll be used goods,” Grey said.
“I think I’m already used goods,” Ellery smirked, looking pointedly down into her lap.
Grey laughed softly and shook his head.
“Sex isn’t what I mean. There are instances of shifters turning people—a friend maybe, or in our situation, say I wasn’t here and Ariel executed our plan and turned you—where it doesn’t really matter who turns a person. But technically, a shifter wants to turn any woman who’s going to be his mate himself. In the case of nice guys who have found someone who they love and who loves them, it’s because they want to be there with them for something that’s kind of like a rebirth and marks the start of their life together. With someone like Alex, it’s purely territorial. He doesn’t want a mate who bears the mark of another man.”
“So if Alex finds out someone beat him to it, he won’t want me anymore,” Ellery said, catching on to Grey’s meaning. “But surely he won’t just free me. Won’t he just get angry and kill me?”
“No,” Grey says. “He’ll keep you alive to use you as bait to lure me in. But that’s okay because I’ll be coming back for you anyway. Much quicker than Alex will be anticipating.”
“So what’s the catch?” Ellery said.
“What do you mean?” Grey asked.
“You said I’d hate the plan. What’s the catch?” she repeated.
“You told me earlier you don’t want to be a wolf. That’s the catch. You’ll hate me for turning you,” Grey said. “And once you’ve been turned, there’s no way to go back. You’ll be a shifter and an immortal.”
Ellery thought for a moment. Grey was right. She didn’t want to be a wolf, and the thought of immortality terrified her. But she had promised herself when she heard Grey tell Ariel he loved her that she would do whatever she had to do to make this plan work. And maybe eternity would be okay if she had Grey by her side for all of it. And he could teach her about being a wolf. She wouldn’t have to do it alone, or worse, with Alex.
“I won’t hate you,” she said. “How can I hate you for saving me from a fate worse than death?”
“Because I’ll be as bad as Alex. I’ll be doing this against your will,” Grey said, looking down at the ground.
Ellery reached out and touched his chin, gently pushing his head up until he was looking her in the eye again.
“No. You won’t,” she said. “I’ve only known this world existed for, like, four days, and yes, my first thought was that I don’t want to be an immortal wolf shifter. Honestly, I’m still not overly taken by the idea. But one way or the other, by the end of today, I’m going to be a wolf shifter whether I like it or not. And if I had to choose between you and Alex for who turns me into one, well, I thin
k it’s fair to say it’s a no-brainer.”
“So you choose Alex, then,” Grey said, the start of a grin forming on his mouth.
Ellery laughed and gently swatted his arm.
“Don’t even think it,” she said.
Grey leaned in and kissed Ellery gently on the mouth.
“You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met, Ellery,” he said.
“I don’t know about that. Honestly, the thought of it terrifies me,” she admitted.
Grey moved on the ground, changing position so he sat behind Ellery. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest.
“What part of it scares you?” he asked. “Maybe I can help.”
“Eating human flesh, for one thing,” she said.
She felt a rush of air on her neck as Grey laughed.
“Okay. That’s zombies,” he said. “We eat a normal human diet. Although honestly, we eat way more junk food because we don’t have to worry about cholesterol or high blood pressure. You won’t be undead, Ellery. You don’t have to die to become a wolf.”
She felt herself relax a little. That had been one of her chief concerns.
“Alex’s pack kills humans because they’re nasty,” Grey went on. “My pack isn’t like that. We go out of our way to protect humans.”
“Okay, that’s something,” Ellery admitted. “But the thought of immortality scares me. Like being alive forever scares me and I don’t really know why. I guess it feels like it will be lonely. Do I have to spend eternity on the move, never putting down roots, never making friends?”
“Yes and no,” Grey said. “We do have to move around or people will become suspicious when we don’t age. And it’s hard to form real friendships with humans for that reason. But as my mate—wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. I haven’t even asked you if you want to be my mate…”