“What do you mean?”
She found it impossible to question him further because he ran his tongue over her nipple, then pulled it into his mouth and sucked. Chrissie’s hands came down on his shoulders. She threw her head back and tried to gain control. However, it was gone. She’d made a good show, but she did belong to Michael—every quivering inch of her.
He hoisted her onto the table and stood in front of her. She yelped in surprise when he parted her legs, but rather than explore her with his fingers or his amazing cock, he stopped to stare down at her, a forbidding expression taking over his handsome features.
“Why would you take money to stay away from me? Are you truly no better than Willie? I admit I’ve never desired a mate, never cared whether the woman who shared her body with me was morally decent. That didn’t matter so long as she satisfied the wolf. But . . .”
When he stopped speaking, Chrissie had to wonder if it was because he thought he sounded weak, admitting to how much it bothered him to think she had betrayed him. The bitterness she had harbored thinking he chose Willie over her eased just a little. She turned her head. “You’re one to talk. You chose that dirty prostitute over the woman you claimed was your mate. Not that I believe in that BS, but you apparently do. You’ve been keeping her bed warm all this time. What, did she give the excuse of a headache tonight and you came sniffing around for second best?”
Michael took hold of her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. She was startled to find softness there rather than the normal arrogance or anger. He ran his palm down her cheek and cupped the side of her face almost like he cherished her. She didn’t dare believe he—or any man—had that much sentiment inside him, definitely not a werewolf.
“I didn’t sleep with her once since meeting you,” he admitted.
She gasped. “I don’t believe it!”
He took his hand from her cheek and lowered it to cover her fingers, and then he placed her hand on his throbbing cock. “This will not rise for anyone but you, Chrissie.”
He kissed her, setting her heart to pounding when it had begun to settle down. His fingers closed around hers, making her squeeze him. A shudder went through his frame, and Chrissie watched in fascination as he closed his eyes, his head tilted back. Did she have that much of an effect on this powerful man-beast? Was she that special, that no other woman would do? If so, how long would it last? Would he grow bored after a few months—hell, a few days?
After a moment, he opened lust-filled eyes. “Tell me why.”
He didn’t have to explain what he meant. Chrissie knew he referred to her taking the money. He had allayed at least the most prominent of her doubts, so it was only fair that she settle his questions. “It’s simple. I never claimed to be anyone other than a woman who can and will watch her own back. I took the money to make Willie believe that’s all I cared for. If I just promised to stay away from you, she would have believed I was weak and that the first time you came after me—or even if you didn’t—I’d give into my desire for you. If I told her I was not giving you up no matter what she said, well, you know her better than I do. What do you think she would have done?”
Michael frowned and then grinned. “So you had to be the cold-hearted bitch that someone like Willie could relate to, a woman in it for her self-interests and nothing else. Should I believe that? After all, you spent the money, bought the café with it, I don’t doubt.”
“I’m not a fool.”
He chuckled. “No, my mate wouldn’t be.”
“I’m not so certain I am your mate.”
His eyes blazed. “I am.” With that, he lifted her from the table and carried her over to her bed, a few steps away since the second floor over her café did not use the entire square footage of the building. Her studio included a kitchen, bedroom, and a small eating area in close proximity to each other and no benefit of a wall to separate them.
Michael placed her on the bed and followed her down. He planted himself between her legs and cast a glance down at her heated pussy. An eyebrow rose in question. “I don’t think he has the patience to eat you this time. We need to be inside you.”
Chrissie opened her mouth to ask why he referred to the wolf like they were two separate people, but Michael pushed the head of his staff to her opening, and all she could do was close her eyes and moan. She welcomed him in, took hold of his hips, and wrapped her legs around his outer thighs. Soon Michael was buried to the hilt and began a slow rhythm of easing in and out of her silken heat.
“Fuck, you feel incredible,” he declared.
His shoulder came down toward her, and Chrissie pressed soft kisses to his moist skin. Tears pricked her eyes at his gentleness, not believing that he was capable of such a thing or that his wolf would allow it. The first time they were together, Michael had been all about his pleasure even though she had come multiple times. Tonight was different. She sniffed and hid her face behind his shoulder. He drew back.
“You’re crying? I’m hurting you?”
Embarrassed, she didn’t answer but pulled him back down to her. What in the world was going on with her? No, she knew what it was even if she wouldn’t admit it. She loved him. That fast and for no reason. It had happened in a flash, amid characteristics from him that would have never drawn her to another man. Maybe Michael was right. Maybe they were destined for one another.
“Michael,” she murmured.
He rotated their positions and pulled her on top. When he squeezed her thighs, ground her deeper into his groin, she was helpless to fight the sudden orgasm that shook her. Their hips moved in unison, and Michael kept her tight to his chest as he explored her mouth with his. Chrissie found his flat nipples and pinched them before reaching behind her to tease his balls.
Michael stopped her. “You’ll make me come too soon doing that.”
Chrissie laughed. She sat up, shook his hand off, and continued to stroke him. “I’m taming the beast. You’ll come for me now, wolf-boy, and as often as I want you to.”
He chuckled. “Do you think you’re woman enough to make the wolf do what you want?”
“I’m that and more. Don’t you ever forget it.”
To demonstrate her temporary control over him, she braced one palm on his ripped abs and rode him harder. His huge cock slipped in and out of her, making her feel so good, she almost forgot what she was doing. Her lids drooped and head bowed, but she fought to keep focused. A glance at Michael told her he wouldn’t last long. She increased her pace and took his balls in her palm.
Michael shouted once, and then he emptied his hot seed inside her. For the second time, Chrissie came, right behind him, quivering and unable to keep her balance. He caught her when she fell toward him and flipped her beneath him. Michael lifted one of her thighs and stroked the underside while grinding into her. Chrissie grit her teeth. Her sensitive clit grazed his flesh while he pushed deeper inside.
“Michael!”
“I need it again, my love,” he told her. “Surrender to me.”
Before she knew what was happening, she came again. Michael didn’t give her more than a few moments’ rest for half the night, until she admitted that she could never control the wildness that was in him. He grinned at her, the superiority that was a part of his makeup shining in his eyes.
“Don’t worry. Soon you will be like me, and your drive will match mine. When that happens, you’ll be able to take me until we’re both worn out. That I promise you.”
Fear gripped her insides. Like him? What did he mean? A werewolf, but how? She swallowed and would have asked him, but an arrested expression came over his face. He rolled to the side of the bed and sat there with his back to her. Chrissie sat up. “What’s wrong?”
Michael stood and began to dress. Her heart sank. So he was tired of her already? What happened to all the promises? He turned to face her after he had sat down to tie his shoes.
“I have to go.”
“Why?”
“I have to take care of som
e business.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back.” With no explanation whatsoever, he strolled toward the door, grabbing the forgotten sandwich from a chair where she must have dropped it. “You don’t mind if I take this? See you later.”
And just like that, he was gone.
Chapter Eleven
Michael downed the meat sandwich in a couple of bites, savoring the flavor. It had been months since he’d had anything like it, and as he hurried along the street where Chrissie’s café was located, he wondered if maybe the best decision for him and Chrissie after he had turned her was to fly to Earth. At least there, they could hunt, and he had heard there were spots that were not controlled by the agency. Werewolves weren’t allowed to roam outside the reservation, but he could find a way, somehow to keep Chrissie safe until Willie got over her obsession with him.
Thinking of keeping Chrissie safe, he frowned. “Gabriel, are you still there?”
“I’m here. How long until you arrive?”
“Half-hour,” Michael responded. “So you’re telling me you think Willie had something to do with why we couldn’t find the three werewolves over at that other site? You’ve got evidence of that?”
“I wouldn’t have interrupted your mating otherwise.”
Michael grunted. “Just how long were you lurking in my head?” Had Gabriel been listening in, maybe experiencing what Michael felt while he made love to Chrissie? Under normal circumstances, he would have sensed his brother’s presence in his head, but not when he was half out of his mind with bliss.
“Does it matter?”
“You know it does, damn it!”
“Fine,” Gabriel answered after a few moments of silence. “I was there long enough to know she is the one. She’s your mate.”
“I’ve been telling you that for a while.”
“You’re not like me, little brother. I would have claimed my mate by now. In fact, I’m pretty sure it didn’t take a month for me to bite her.”
“Kiss my ass.”
Gabriel chuckled and then sobered. “We can discuss what this means for your life later. What we need to do is find those werewolves before they cause trouble.”
“That is if they didn’t return to their downed ship and die of starvation,” Michael cut in. “And you’re not my alpha, so you can forget about us discussing what Chrissie means for my life.”
Gabriel didn’t comment on that assertion. Michael already knew his brother considered all lone werewolves his responsibility, especially those that happened to land or were made on Somana Two. Michael had the disgusting privilege of seeing how Willie’s cousin brownnosed his brother, since he was brand new to the fold. Okay, not exactly brownnose, but the man showed enough respect to Gabriel to make his brother’s head swell. Michael wasn’t falling in with that. He had been living just fine without a pack, and he’d continue to do so with Chrissie at his side.
“Get here soon,” Gabriel told him, and Michael sensed his brother break the connection between them.
Michael was a couple blocks from Kelly’s shop when his brother rounded a corner ahead of him. His brother indicated a southeast direction, and Michael dropped into step beside him. “So, what’s the situation?”
“Their scent,” Gabriel muttered, studying the ground as he strode. “Don’t you smell it? Funny thing is it wasn’t apparent before today. Somehow I feel like someone’s playing games with us, someone who knows a trick to keep us from tracking.”
“Hmm, but it doesn’t sound like Willie. She has a lot at her disposal, but magic-users, no. That’s not been her style up until now.”
“Yeah?” Gabriel nodded to a point ahead of them. “So, why do our noses lead us to that place? You recognize it.”
Michael turned to look and gasped. The building where the werewolf scent was strong, not even hours old, was the same place Willie’d had him imprisoned. The likelihood that someone was using her building without her knowing it was slim to none. “We’ve been avoiding the obvious for Kelly’s sake, Gabriel, but what about her father? He is a powerful magic-user, and he disappeared without a trace with his cohort and her ex-assistant. He’d have the motive to do this, to frame Willie.”
Gabriel sneered. “Are you defending her?”
“Don’t be stupid.”
His brother jimmied the lock on the front of the building, and they both stepped inside the darkened space to search for evidence of their brothers. The odor was strong all right. They had been here not too long ago, which was odd. The werewolves would be out of their minds, not thinking reasonably. After being without the mental guidance that Gabriel offered, they would not have had the clear-headed ability to secure a transport and drive it to the Somana Two station from the other site, and then once they got here to find this particular building, which was not on the border of the station.
“I’ve been giving it some thought,” Gabriel announced from his position on the opposite side of the room. Michael made out his brother’s figure with ease. “I think we have more than one situation going on here. Remember, someone hired Chrissie to steal equipment from Willie’s pet project, that other site?”
Michael’s eyes widened. “How did you know that?”
“I make it my business.” His brother went on like it was no big deal. “That person may have a vendetta against Willie or a motive to destroy any progress she might make as agency leader. Maybe it’s not Kelly’s father. Maybe it’s one of his two henchmen or someone else. Whatever. Too, Willie may have arranged for the rogue wolves to be brought here. She had to have known about them even though you delayed reporting it to her. The site was cleaned up when you and I went to check it out, the bodies gone. If you’re thinking she couldn’t have done that, think about the fact that with enough drugs, she put you down for a while. We’re talking about starving wolves, weak. A group of agents could do the job.”
Gabriel was right. Michael couldn’t deny what it looked like. Not that he wanted Willie to be innocent. What he wanted was her to realize the two of them were done, but surely her replacement for him wasn’t one of the others. Even Willie wasn’t that crazy, to take on a wolf that had all but lost its mind.
“That was more than a month ago,” Michael whispered.
“Yeah, enough time for them to regain their strength.”
“In order to . . .” Michael’s heart hammered in his chest. “In order for them to seek out Chrissie. If she’s hurt, that bitch will die by my hands! Damn it, I should never have left her.”
Ripping his clothes, Michael shifted on the run. He tossed the threads aside, and his paws hit the ground to propel him forward at top speed. He had to get there in time. He’d die without her. Would Willie sink this low to maintain control? She might. He couldn’t take the chance. He had to be sure.
Gabriel had shifted as well, and when they rounded a corner to head south, his brother paused, sniffing the air. “Two different directions. That bitch has sent one in Chrissie’s direction, and two in Kelly’s. I thought she was done with me. I have to go back, Michael. You can handle this. I don’t expect you will spare his life.”
“Like hell I will. If he has threatened her or even frightened her, he dies. End of story.”
His brother bobbed his head. “Be careful.” Gabriel disappeared into the darkness.
* * * *
Chrissie rolled to her back and stared up at the ceiling. She couldn’t believe he had walked out on her, not giving her a hint of why. Had it been that bad between them? She hadn’t thought so at the time. At one point, Michael had paused above her, his gaze intent as he searched her face. For just that moment in time, she felt like he might love her, but now this. With a grunt, she sat up and ran a hand through her tussled hair. She hated feeling anything for him. Caring about Michael made her weak, desperate. Wanting him by her side pissed her off all the more when it was obvious that he desired to be elsewhere. On top of that, her stupid mind chalked up the reason Michael left to him missing Willie.
&nb
sp; “This is not me,” she grumbled as she stomped into her bathroom to take a quick shower before returning to the café. She didn’t entertain insecurities. Her life had no room for them, and before that damn werewolf, she didn’t give a flying leap what others thought of her. “Is this what love does to you?”
Defeated by the thought, she completed her shower and dressed. When she descended the stairs outside her apartment, all she could think about was that love was half of the problem. The other half, and maybe more than half, involved Michael being a werewolf, and what it meant for her.
At the bottom of the stairs, she paused at the sound of growling nearby. She peered into the darkness ahead of her, wishing she’d installed more lighting back here. The agency sure wasn’t going to take care of it. “Who’s there?”
Shadows shifted, and Chrissie bent to the side to slide her hand down her pants leg. Since returning home, she had replaced one of her knives, and now she gripped it in her palm.
“You have two seconds to show yourself,” she warned.
The growling came again, and Chrissie thought she caught a glimpse of an animal. There were no dogs on Somana Two. Remembering the attack at the other site, she tried to wet her dry throat, to no avail. The beast inched forward, but before she could fully make it out, it shifted, and Chrissie found she was staring at a man, a sexy, naked man she had never seen before.
She wielded her knife in a way to threaten him. “Don’t do anything stupid, buddy.”
Then she noticed the eyes. They were almost coal black with a wildness in them that drove it home right away that the man was out of his mind. Chrissie might be bold and good with her weapon, but she knew that even with him in his human state, she was no match for this guy. She was in big trouble.
He leaped forward with an outstretched arm to grab her. Chrissie dodged to the side and swung her arm. Her knife found its mark and created a long gash in his flesh. If she expected a howl of pain, she’d keep waiting. He didn’t appear to feel the cut but came at her again. This time, she dropped down to the ground so he hovered above her, but then she came up hard and fast to drive her knife into his stomach.
Werewolf on Somana Two: Michael Page 9