Wolf's Ascension

by Lauren Dane

  Kari stood in the shower and let the hot water wash away the sweat and gunk. She willed away the tears, then stepped out and swallowed her surprise as she took the towel Andreas handed her. She should have known he’d come in to be sure she was all right. At least that was right and whole. Her connection to Andreas was one of the few things holding her together at that moment.

  “The babies are awake and hungry,” he said. She nodded, pulling on some clothes, and walked through to the nursery.

  Pausing in the doorway, she watched Hellie pull herself up in her crib. “Anna said Hellie was pulling up on the furniture last night again. She’ll be walking soon.”

  “That’s my girl.” Andreas watched as Kari picked each child up and settled them in to nurse. The morning sun shone in through the window, lighting the scene, and it punched his gut. This was his family and he would do whatever it took to keep them safe.

  Fury seethed from him as he thought about how one of their extended family members was responsible for the terror that kept bodyguards on his wife every moment of the day. Not wanting to let anyone spoil those small everyday moments with his wife and children, he looked out the window over the lake until he got his anger under control.

  They stayed close together for the rest of the morning doing normal family things. They went for a walk, bathed the kids, played, read books. It felt almost relaxed at moments instead of being under siege.

  After getting the babies down for a nap, Kari bumped into Andreas as she left the nursery. Without a word, he pulled her into their room and closed the door quietly to not disturb the babies.

  He stopped when they were standing next to the bed and peeled off her clothing and eased her to the mattress. Quickly spreading her thighs, he entered her in one breathtaking thrust. He took her then, hard and fast, watching her breasts sway with each press he made into her body.

  The entire exchange was silent. Everything was said through their eyes and the caresses of fingers and lips. Kari raked the sheets with her nails, bunched the comforter in her hands, bit her lip until she drew blood.

  Andreas was single-minded in his lust. His hands gripped her hips tightly, the only sounds in the room skin slapping against skin and panting. He leaned down and flicked his tongue over a distended nipple. Her eyes slid halfway shut as he pulled it into his mouth. He healed her and took her and gave her a place to hide and took all she had to give and more.

  His hands began to roam her flesh, squeezing a breast just to the point of pain, flicking the nipple with a thumb. She began to tremble, a monumental climax looming on the horizon. The friction of Andreas’s thrusts overloaded her senses. It ebbed and flowed, coming within reach and subsiding, teasing her. Rolling her hips, she moved to meet each plunge he made into her pussy. And finally her climax broke, showering a thousand stars in her vision. Her mouth opened on a silent cry as Andreas leaned down and pressed his lips to her collarbone, to her ear. His heat, the heat from his skin, buffeted her.

  She felt his muscles tightening, hands gripping her body so hard she was sure there’d be a bruise or two. With a last, nearly silent roar he came inside of her and fell onto the bed, trapping her body underneath his own.

  Knowing that he was smothering her, he rolled off and pulled her to him, heartbeat hammering against her back. Through the whole experience, neither had spoken a word, their intimacy being the thing to bridge the gap, saying all that needed to be said.

  She and Andreas left the connecting door open and fell asleep, listening to the rhythmic rise and fall of breath.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Despite the continuing threats, life for the Pack continued to move forward. Emma’s pregnancy progressed, and their house was being finished quickly. Perri and Devon made the decision to try in vitro fertilization. They knew the odds but wanted to try anyway.

  Kari was terribly grateful for the support and friendship of her sisters-in-law. They’d become so close and had so much fun together, their husbands had begun to refer to the three of them as the “trio of terror.” She reflected on that good fortune as they all sat out on the deck in the late afternoon sun together, watching the twins play with Andreas and his brothers.

  Fear ripped through Kari as she watched her brother approach, pale-faced. “What is it? Jack, are you all right?”

  “Alyssa just called. She’s here. In Seattle. She wants to see me.” Alyssa was his ex from Boston. He hadn’t seen or heard from her in nearly eight months.

  “What? Wow. Why?” Perri laughed at Kari’s questions.

  “She says she misses me. She wants to talk things over.”

  “Do you want to talk things over? Do you miss her?” Kari asked, annoyed that the woman had broken her brother’s heart.

  “I wish I didn’t. I wish I could have never looked back, but yeah, I do miss her. Thing is, nothing’s changed for me. I want to be married. If she can’t give me that, I don’t know what to say to her.”

  Kari hugged him. “Go and see her. Tell her that. She’s nuts if she doesn’t want you, Jack.”

  “Okay. Will you be all right without me?”

  Andreas cleared his throat. “I think I can do an okay job of taking care of her now.”

  Jack laughed and jogged out to the car, driving off.

  Kari looked to Perri and Emma. “She’d better not break his heart again or I’ll kick her worthless ass.”

  “I’ll get in line right behind you,” Emma said. “Shall we go for a walk? My back is aching.”

  Kari called in to Andreas that they were going for a walk and he waved absently, keeping his eyes on the twins.

  Kari, Perri and Emma were out near the lake, Phillip and Skye trailing them, when something whizzed by Kari’s head. Before Kari could even figure out what it might have been, Skye had knocked her down, his body covering hers protectively. He pulled Emma behind his body and Perri was partially under Kari.

  They heard a car engine rev and tires squeal.

  Andreas, Devon and Sean came running down the slope from the lodge. “Kari! My god, Kari?” Andreas called out as he ran in a blur to where she was. Plucking Skye off her, he pulled her into his arms.

  “What the fuck happened?” she asked, a little out of it from the force of Skye’s body knocking her to the ground.

  “Someone shot at you. The bullet hit the house.” Ryan ran up with a first aid kit and Emma took it from him with businesslike calm—but not before Sean could run his hands over her making sure she was unharmed. Devon did the same with Perri, carrying her in the house.

  “The twins!” Kari said, pushing her hair back out of her face, trying to shove Andreas aside to get up and rush into the house. Andreas gasped and pulled her hand away.

  “Blood. Were you shot, Kari?”

  “What? Never mind that! My babies, where are my babies?”

  “They’re all right. I gave them to Anna and Laurent. They’ve gone into the office and locked themselves in. Now damn it, why are you bloody? Were you shot?” he demanded, looking at the bloody spot on her forehead

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. What does getting shot feel like?”

  Emma pushed his hands out of the way. “Let’s take her inside. It looks like she was just grazed but I can’t tell for sure in the dark.”

  Andreas insisted on picking her up and carrying her into the house, laying her down on a couch. Emma checked her over. The blood had come from a graze. The bullet had taken off a few layers of skin from her neck, nicking just above her artery. Now that the initial shock had worn off, it hurt like a mother. The blood on her forehead was a spatter from her neck.

  It was then that she noticed Phillip. Pale as a sheet, his face was covered in a sheen of sweat. “Phillip, what’s all over your arm?” She sat up and pushed them all away and went to him. “Jesus, Phillip, you’re bleeding! Emma, come here, I think he’s been shot.”

  “Why isn’t it healing, then?” Sean asked, forcing Phillip into a chair, pulling off his shirt to expose the wound. “Oh m
y god, it’s silver shot.”

  “Silver bullets? No way! Are you telling me that the silver bullet thing is true?”

  “Well, regular bullets can kill us too if we get shot enough times and in important enough places. But yes, silver can kill us. There are those who know of our existence, human hunters who use silver bullets and silver traps and chains when they catch us.”

  Kari held Phillip’s hand while Emma dug the bullet from the wound and disinfected it. He gritted his teeth and grunted in pain but within a few minutes, the wound began to heal up.

  “If it had stayed in him for longer than about half an hour, the silver could have gotten in his blood and killed him,” Andreas said.

  “Oh my god, Andreas. Phillip got nearly killed because of me. This is no way to live. I think we should go away for a while. You can stay here if you want but I’d like to go to New York or to the apartment in Portland. They’re in high-rises. Much easier to secure than here.”

  “This did not happen because of you. A crazy person shot Phillip.” He sighed, raking his hands through his hair. “You’re right. Let’s go to Portland tonight. I’ll call ahead and have Drew and Craig go down and secure everything, be sure it’s safe.”

  He looked to Emma and Sean. “You two are welcome to come or to stay here. This all seems to be focused on Kari but I don’t know for sure if that doesn’t mean others are safe without us. Skye can stay here as a guard if you like.”

  “I have patients to see at the clinic,” Emma said.

  “As do I,” Sean replied. “We’ll never keep the clinic going if we leave now. I think we’ll stick around. You need to take Skye with you, Ryan, as well. Have as many guards as you can. Carey’s offered to come up and stay when he’s not working. Between him and Jack and me and Gregory, we’ll be fine.” He hugged Andreas and kissed the top of Kari’s head. “Go.”

  Kari gathered a few bags of clothing for herself and the twins and some toys. The condo in Portland already had a nursery and would be fully stocked with food and anything else they might need.

  “Don’t tell anyone we’ve gone,” Andreas ordered Anna. “If they ask or come by, you don’t know where we are.”

  Anna nodded and hugged Kari, kissing the sleeping twins. “Let me come with you. Who’ll cook for you? Who will take care of you?”

  Kari laughed softly. “I’m not as good a cook as you, but I think I can manage for a while. We’ll be back.”

  Andreas took the Suburban with Kari and the twins. Ryan and Laurent rode with them. Perri and Devon followed them back in their truck, Skye and Phillip after them in the Outback.

  In the little over an hour since he’d been shot, Phillip was already totally healed. Natural werewolves were like that. All but the most egregious of wounds healed quickly. While changed werewolves were extremely resistant to illness and disease and healed very fast, they had nothing on the hyper-resilience of a natural wolf.

  “Gee, you think four guards will be enough?” Kari asked sarcastically.

  “No, I don’t, actually. But it’ll have to do for now. Go to sleep. We’re all okay.”

  Kari fell asleep during the long drive to Portland and thankfully the twins slept the whole six hours. Andreas looked down at his sleeping wife and back at Ryan and Laurent, who still looked outraged enough to kill. The large men each had a car seat next to them, one to a row of seats. Laurent had a lock of Hellie’s hair around a finger and Ryan had his arm protectively around Tomas’s car seat. If they couldn’t find who’d done this and soon, he’d send Kari and the twins to Paris for a while.

  Drew and Craig were waiting for them at the elevator in the parking garage and helped carry up the bags. Devon and Perri had gone home and would call the following day. It was three in the morning and Kari looked every minute of it.

  Of course, the twins were awake and it looked like they’d be that way for a while. The excitement of coming to their other home and all of the toys they didn’t get to play with as often, coupled with the different cribs and environment, only served to wind them up until they actually bounced off the furniture with energy.

  Kari sat in the large recliner and tucked her feet up under her, watching the twins run around and play with their many uncles. She was damned tired. Tired of living under the threat she’d been shadowed by for nearly the last year. All of this werewolf stuff was overwhelming. She loved it but at the same time she’d lost her freedom in a big way when she married Andreas. She missed the ability to just walk out the door at a moment’s notice to go to a movie or grab a bite to eat.

  She’d been so adamant about not giving into the constant threat, about trying to live their lives normally, and yet there she was in a high-rise fortress. On the run with no other choice because some fucking maniac hated her and wanted her dead and seemed willing to hurt anyone who got in their way.

  Sighing, she pushed away the mini pity party she’d been having and sat up. Ryan brought her a cup of tea and sat at her feet, watching the twins roll all over Skye and Laurent, a faint smile on his face.

  “What is it, Kari? I mean, other than the obvious?” Ryan asked quietly.

  “I’m sick of this. Well, not this.” She waved her hands, indicating the children romping with Skye and Laurent. “But everything else. The tension, the worry. The fact that someone in our Pack wants to harm me and I don’t know why. I want a normal life.”

  Ryan leaned back into her, his beautiful hair cascading over her knees. She ran her hands through it idly. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. There’s always been a slight division in the Clan. It was bad for a while when Tomas was Alpha. So bad that it’s part of the reason he stepped down and let Andreas take over.”

  “I’d always gotten the feeling that there had been some big kerfuffle about something but no one ever said anything. What happened?”

  Andreas came over then, eyebrow raised. “Are you sniffing around my little wolf?” he asked teasingly.

  Ryan laughed, a deep, throaty sound. “Your little wolf is more than I can handle, Alpha. I’ll leave that to you. She does give a good scalp massage, though.”

  It was Kari’s turn to laugh then. She stood up, stepped over Ryan and approached the spot where the twins wrestled with Skye and Laurent. “Okay, you two, time to go to sleep. Give your uncles kisses and hugs and let’s go.”

  It was hard to tell who was more disappointed, the adults or the kids. But soon, after many hugs and kisses and promises of more playing when they woke up, Kari and Andreas were able to get them both to bed and surprisingly they both passed out within minutes.

  The condo was quiet. They had Craig posted at the outer door, and Phillip just inside Kari and Andreas’s bedroom door. Skye slept on the large couch in the living room, Drew in the room next to Kari and Andreas’s, Laurent in with the twins.

  Kari looked over at Phillip, who rested on a chaise, and sighed. “Come over here, Phillip. Snuggle in with us. I want to know you’re all right.”

  Phillip looked over at Andreas, who nodded imperceptibly, before sliding into the bed next to Kari.

  It wasn’t unusual for wolves to snuggle up together at nap time as well as during waking hours. Kari had often napped with Phillip but never at night before. She turned, pressed her back into Andreas and put her arms around Phillip.

  “I’m sorry you got shot. I couldn’t bear it if something had happened to you,” she murmured and kissed his temple.

  “It’s part of the job. And it wasn’t your fault. Andreas is right, this whole thing is about the crazy person trying to kill you.”

  Kari took Phillip’s hair out of his braid and ran her fingers through it. “I love your hair. The color, the texture. I wish you’d wear it down more often.” She put her face into his neck and breathed him in. She stroked her hands over his arms and chest, soothing but inflaming, as well, as her small body pressed against him.

  Phillip looked over her head at Andreas and raised an eyebrow. Andreas ground his cock into Kari, turned on
by seeing her minister to one of his wolves. And admittedly, seeing how much her gentle touching affected Phillip tightened things low in Andreas’s gut too.

  Kari froze, feeling Andreas’s reaction and then his fingertips drawing her nightgown up her thighs.

  “Andreas?”

  He put his lips to her ear. “Do you want to continue, little wolf? I’m not okay with you fucking another man, but I love Phillip and I’m all right with bringing him into our bed tonight. I’m sure we can work something out that leaves us all satisfied.”

  Phillip’s breathing quickened as he heard Andreas’s words. Andreas understood why his friend would be sexually attracted to Kari. He was with her all the time. She was one of his best friends and someone he loved dearly.

  “Phillip? What about you?” Kari looked up at him even as she arched back into Andreas’s touch. Sensuality coursed through her, the raw heat in the air between them thrilled her.

  “I...uh.” He laughed. “What’s not to be okay with?”

  “Will you be with Phillip?” Kari leaned her head back to look at Andreas, who laughed, startled. In the background, Phillip choked.

  “Naughty little wolf!” Andreas chided. Putting her arms above her head, he kissed her hard until she yielded with softness, opening up to him. “Let’s take this as it comes, shall we?”

  She nodded and he grabbed the front of her nightgown and pulled, ripping it from her body. Her mouth made a silent “O” of surprise but her nipples were hard and he could scent how wet she was.

  Phillip reached out to touch her stomach gently. Kari turned to him. “Naked. Be naked. Both of you.”

  Andreas quickly pulled off his boxers, which were all he had on anyway, Phillip sat up and pulled off his pajama bottoms and Kari came to kneel behind him and brought his T-shirt up and over his head, pressing herself to his back.

  The cool silk of his hair seduced her skin, the sensitive flesh of her nipples. She brought her hands up his arms and he turned.

  His kiss was so different from Andreas’s. Andreas devastated with his kisses. He owned her. He possessed her and seduced her. It was always overwhelming to give herself to Andreas’s mouth. Phillip’s kiss was soft and reverent. He needed her. Needed comfort and sex at the same time. To assure himself he was still alive and that someone cared about him deeply.