by Viola Rivard
The chiffon nightgown was gorgeous. The bodice was a little snug, accentuating her full breasts. She spun in a circle, wishing that she had a full-length mirror.
“Mila that’s… lovely.” Brae’s praise was broken with a loud yawn.
Mila realized it was probably past noon now. The wolves were nocturnal and generally slept for the better part of the day. With a pang of sadness, she knew that conforming to their sleep schedule would be no easy task. She had slept in Caim’s room for the better part of the night and wasn’t the least bit sleepy.
“You should get some rest,” Mila said. She looked to Rosie. “Both of you.”
Rosie nodded. “You are right. Let us sleep then.”
Mila watched in muted disbelief as she crawled into the cot, tossing one of the blankets over her legs.
“You shouldn’t presume on Mila,” Brae said, narrowing her eyes on Rosie while she climbed under the covers herself. The space between the women crackled.
“She accepted my gifts. What have you given to her?” Rosie countered.
Brae clenched her hands in the sheets, her face flushing with anger.
“You are like a tick. You latched yourself on to Lotus and Sable, and now Mila. She will never allow the likes of you around her pups.”
Mila watched, bleary-eyed, as the women went back and forth. Okay, now she was starting to get tired. Clearly they had a history and frankly, Mila couldn’t care less. She was already caught between two alpha males; she so did not need this.
Taking a page from Asch’s book, she puffed out her chest and pointed to the door. “Both of you, out.”
Sometime later, as she lay tossing and turning in the afternoon light, she reflected back on their dejected faces, feeling guilty. While their motivations for wanting to be her friend really sucked, at least they were trying. None of the other wolves had seemed interested in getting to know her.
It had only been a day since she’d arrived at the pack and so much had happened already. She had come there expecting that by virtue of her position as the alpha’s mate, she would be instantly adored and cherished. She knew now that she was fighting an uphill battle and each day would bring her closer to the summit.
If she made it that far, what would be on the other side?
She flattened a hand over her abdomen. One thing was certain, no matter which male she ended up with, Asch, Caim, or both, by this time next month, she’d probably be pregnant, her place in the pack firmly cemented. Once that happened, there would really be no going back for her.
CHAPTER FOUR
The sheer, peach cloth of her dress billowed in the drafty room. Her chestnut hair had been combed and spilled in waves over one, exposed shoulder. Her elbows were on the windowsill, cupped hands propping up her chin as she stared out into the valley.
Her back was to him, and Asch knew that she hadn’t heard him coming. He hadn’t been deliberately quiet as he made his way to her room, but she did not have a wolf’s hearing.
He watched her for longer than he should have. She seemed to be in deep thought, perhaps regretting ever agreeing to join his pack.
In the months he had spent dreaming of finding her, Asch hadn’t really considered what he would be bringing his human mate in to.
Initially, he had thought that he and Caim would each take their own mate, much like they had their own favorites within the pack. When he had expressed this to Brae and Lotus, they swiftly rejected the notion. If one woman was more favored by the pack, the other would be isolated. If neither women liked one another then it would cause friction between the alphas and, by proxy, the pack. If one woman was dominant over the other, the wolves would come to see her mate as the dominant alpha. The list of reasons went on and on.
After weeks of trying to work out a solution, with minimal input from Caim, Asch had grown frustrated and impatient. His entire human life had been about denying himself what he needed. Now that he was free of that torture, he would not deny himself a mate.
The woman, he decided, would just have to choose between them. Naturally, a human would choose him over Caim, and the other wolf would either have to accept that and stay, or move on.
But she hadn’t chosen him. For some reason that Asch could not fathom, she had let Caim imprint on her first. Even if he said that didn’t piss him off, it did.
He couldn’t blame her. He had dragged her into a shit storm of pack drama and she was doing what she could and what he couldn’t, which was finding a solution to their problem. If anyone was to blame it was him, but as the breeze brought her scent to him, woven with the heady smell of Caim’s imprint, he felt his wolf thrashing against its chains, voracious with the need to stake his own claim.
He knocked his fist on stone of the doorway, letting the sound alert her to his presence so as not to startle her. She jumped a little and looked at him over her shoulder, her brown eyes misted. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of him. He went to her, not waiting for her invitation.
He drew her into his arms. She didn’t protest. She let her head fall onto his chest, but kept her hands at her sides and her eyes averted.
“I don’t deserve this,” she said, blinking rapidly. He caressed the hollow of her back in an effort to ease her distress.
“You’re right,” he told her, gripping her chin. He brought her gaze up to his. “You deserve better.”
Her chin wobbled and she shook her head.
“You and Caim both got saddled with me and I’m a total train wreck. You were looking for the future mother of your children, and instead you got an impulsive, indecisive, commitment-phobic—”
Asch silenced her with a finger pressed firmly to her mouth.
“I didn’t get saddled with you,” he said slowly. “I chose you.”
She blinked up at him. “Really?”
Tired of standing with her, he lifted her up and carried her over to the bed. He climbed onto the bed, sitting back against the wall with Mila in his lap, her back against his chest. Naked as he was, the material of her dress teased his cock. He was able to stifle his arousal, knowing full well that he wasn’t leaving this room until he’d mated with the curvaceous creature in his arms.
~~~
Predictably, Mila had been unable to sleep. She had tossed and turned, had tried to bury herself beneath the blankets, and when all else failed, had tried to smother herself with a pillow.
It had been no use though. Her body was just not made for sleeping during the daylight, at least, not when she wasn’t hung over.
She had gotten up to stare aimlessly out the window. There hadn’t been much else to do. Yet another thing Marie du Luponte hadn’t mentioned was how incredibly boring it was to live in a wolf pack, at least for a human. Mila had been miserable living in Terry Creek, where they still used dial-up and the only cellphone reception she could get was on the roof of Aunt Gina’s shanty.
And so it had begun again. She had gotten herself all hyped up about something only to hit a roadblock and immediately want to bolt. As she had looked out onto the valley and at the mountains in the distance, she had realized that for the first time in her life, she may have encountered a problem that she couldn’t run from.
Asch had come then. She must have looked like the wreck that she was, because he had immediately tried to soothe her. She hadn’t cried, even as she had confessed her insecurities. Now that he was holding her in his arms though, all bets were off.
Distressed though she may be, Mila was not impervious to Asch’s nudity. Positioned as she was on his lap, she could feel the thick length of him beneath her rear. She may have been able to ignore it, if his hands weren’t gliding up and down her bare arms, or if she couldn’t feel his hot breath on the nape of her neck. Gently, he placed a kiss to said nape, and her body reacted as if he had pressed it somewhere much more sensitive.
“You were saying, about the uh, you said you chose me, right?” She babbled, trying to distract him. She seriously needed to get her head straight before she let
another man get between her legs.
Oh, but what amazing hands he had. They were masculine hands with long fingers, slightly calloused. Where Caim’s touch had been rough and greedy, Asch’s was nimble and sure.
“Ah, yes,” Asch said absently, one finger tracing the floral embroidery above her nipple. “Tye County wasn’t the first to throw their hat in the ring, so to speak.”
“Oh?” She asked, now trying to distract herself. She wanted to arch her back into his touch.
“Mm,” he affirmed. “We’ve rejected five in the past year.” Taking his hand from her chest, he held out a finger. “There was one from Carter, she couldn’t have been more than thirteen.”
“Oh my god,” Mila whispered. The fluttery feeling in her stomach was replaced with nausea. She had volunteered and still, she had been nervous and afraid on the journey to their territory. She couldn’t imagine what the trip must have been like for that poor girl.
He held out another finger. “There was one from Massie who wouldn’t stop screaming as soon as she saw the wolves. It was actually kind of funny.”
Mila grinned at this.
“And then there was the lovely woman from Johnston,” he said wryly, holding out another finger. “She was a forty-something, chain-smoking prostitute. She was actually quite charming.”
“Oh, really?” Mila asked, laughing now.
Asch shifted her until he was cradling her in one arm. With a wicked grin, his hand went up her gown. She yelped in surprise as he cupped one rounded cheek.
“She had a wolf tattoo right here that she was more than happy to show the whole pack.”
Mila snorted with laughter, playfully swatting at his arm. Asch leaned in close, pressing his forehead against hers. She stilled and stared up into his eyes. They were such an uncanny hazel. The golden starbursts that ringed his pupils seemed embossed onto his leafy-green irises. They were eyes made to dazzle and enchant, and right now, they were focused entirely on her. She wet her lips. God help her.
“Nothing really stood out about the rest,” he murmured. “They were all young, frightened, and clearly coerced. And then there was you.”
Asch gave her a meaningful look, before dipping his head and capturing her lips.
He kissed her like she had never been kissed before. His sensual lips moved against hers purposefully, pulling her own into a slow, smoldering rhythm that sent a liquid heat pulsing through her veins. With each pounding of her heart the heat moved through her, travelling to her center where it pooled between her thighs.
He pulled back to stare at her through hooded eyes. She let out a sigh of frustration and pursed her tingling lips. His grin was back.
“When I saw you, Mila, I knew you were the one.”
She winced at that. “You’re insane. How could you possibly know that?”
She liked to think of herself as one of a kind, or even one in a million, but the one? That was way too much pressure.
Asch rubbed his nose against hers, chuckling. “Relax. I just meant that you were finally the woman I was looking for. You were beautiful—”
“Well, I guess that makes sense.”
“And brave—”
“I was scared out of my mind.”
“You smelled good enough to eat—”
“I hadn’t bathed in days.”
Asch brought his index finger to her lips, silencing her again.
“Hush,” he ordered. “Now, as I was saying, I knew that you were the one because even under the scents of fear and sweat, I could smell that you wanted me.”
She pulled his hand away from her flushed face. Softly, she said, “You have very low standards, Asch.”
Asch pulled his head back and laughed, a full-bodied roar of amusement that made Mila beam. In the midst of his abandon, she thought she caught a glimpse of a much younger man. It was fleeting though, and he quickly settled back into the mature sensuality she was growing accustomed to.
In a lowered voice, he said, “You were beautiful, brave, and you knew what I was and still wanted me. That, Mila, is why I chose you.”
Tears prickled at her eyes again. She really did not want to cry twice in one day.
As much as she wanted to run far, far away and never look back, she knew it just wasn’t an option. She didn’t know how she was going to make it work. She just knew that she would.
Asch brushed his thumb over the corners of her eyes, and then his mouth was on hers again. His teeth nipped and tugged in ways that made her toes curl. If Caim was a raging inferno, Asch was a slow burn, and right now, that was exactly what she needed.
She put her arms around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss. He opened his mouth then, delving into hers with his hot tongue. His tongue massaged hers languorously, his movements unhurried but still devastatingly effective. Her desire returned to her in full-force, her breasts growing heavy and the area between her thighs growing slick with her need.
Keeping one arm wrapped around her, his hand gripped her side. His thumb rubbed slow circles into her flesh, while his other hand glided up her leg, slipping beneath the fabric of her gown to caress her thighs.
She knew that he wanted her. His breathing had deepened and she could feel him hard against her bottom. Despite this, he seemed perfectly content to keep kissing and caressing her. Hoping to incite him, she made a muffled sound of pleasure into his mouth, rolling her hips against him as she did so.
His lips curved knowingly against hers, his kiss becoming deliberately slow before he pulled back. He eased her back onto the bed until he was leaning over her. He smiled down at her then, giving her a look that said he was unaffected by her feminine wiles. She couldn’t stop herself from pouting.
Asch used a finger to trace the curve of her jaw. His eyes glowed as he spoke.
“Caim has his own appeal, but I think you’ll find that I’m a much more generous lover.”
“Oh,” she breathed, melting against the bed.
He tapped a finger against her nose. “Now relax and be patient,” he instructed. “I’m going to please you. Thoroughly.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Of all the things Caim did exceptionally well, the one thing he prided himself in the most was his ability to quickly fall into a deep sleep.
When they were juveniles, Caim had often boasted of his sleeping prowess to Asch. The older male, who had usually lain awake for hours at a time, never seemed as impressed as he should have been. Eventually, Caim had decided that he just did not understand the significance of an untroubled sleep.
Sleep had always come easy to his father. He had once told Caim that all wolves needed to sleep, but it was the mark of a great wolf, one who was self-assured and in control, that he could rest deeply and easily.
Caim thought of this as he lay awake in his chamber. With summer long past and autumn coming to a close, the rays of sunlight that usually warmed his hide had grown pale and weak. He was used to the cold.
Unlike Asch, who had strongly involved himself in the pack and rarely slept alone, Caim had made it clear from the start that he rested separately from the other wolves. Hunting, eating, and rutting were things he did not mind doing with or within view of the pack, but to Caim, sleep was the most private and intimate of all things. It was when he was most vulnerable, and with the exception of Asch, none in his pack had earned the privilege to share that with him.
Except for the human.
Briefly, he had rested with her. It had been his intention to keep her close and to let his scent sink into hers. But she had been warmer than sunlight and smelled like things that pleased him. He had drifted for a while. Not into a deep sleep. There had been some impulse from within his bones that had not let him sleep deeply, not while she had lain in his arms, so much more vulnerable than he.
He blew out a breath from his snout. Dust rose from the floor, catching a shaft of sunlight and dancing in front of his eyes.
Yesterday, he had resented her. He had not wanted to carry her back to his den.
He had wanted to toss her from the bluff. He had happily envisioned her drowning in the river. The only thing that had stopped him from ensuring her demise was the knowledge that Asch would not approve.
Then, in his very chamber, she had challenged his authority. Perhaps some males may be intrigued by such actions, but that had angered him. Once she had sensed his wrath though, she had immediately cowered. That had pleased him. And so, he had decided to explore the possibilities of her body.
Her flesh had yielded to his touch in ways he had never experienced. She was soft and delicate like prey, made for tasting and feasting upon. Her breasts had fascinated him. They were large, voluptuous globes that weighed heavily in his hands. He could have kept touching them, sucking on them for longer, if his cock hadn’t been so painfully hard.
Being gentle with her hadn’t been the ordeal that he had anticipated; it had been part of the pleasure. She had tried to spur him on, encouraging him to take her harder, and he had been glad to oblige, though he had not taken her with anywhere near the strength that he was capable of.
That knowledge had aroused him more than anything he could remember.
He felt so in control, even while he had lost his control. It was such a strange experience, and one that he wanted to repeat again and again.
But he had hurt her. Maybe even scarred her.
It was entirely her own fault.
And yet he still felt… unsettled.
Caim had been so certain that he could take care of the human, but he had hurt her and it had been Asch that had comforted her. Perhaps, after he assured her that he was not to blame, Caim would have comforted her as well. The pack was there though, and to comfort her in front of any one of them was to admit he was wrong and an alpha did nothing wrong.
It had made him angry that Asch could comfort her and that he could mend the damage that Caim had inflicted. It was only hours later that he had come to the bitter realization that he was simply unsuitable for caring for a human. He had accepted Asch’s offer to share her, not out of care for the pack, but because he knew that Asch could understand her needs and provide for her in ways that Caim simply could not. The more reasonable thing may have been to cede to Asch entirely and leave the pack.