by R. E. Butler
“Can’t hear you, I’m asleep.” She muttered.
The alpha in him clearly felt like she was defying him, because he leaned over her and braced his arms on either side and said with a very low voice, “You’re going downstairs either naked or dressed. If I have to get you out of bed myself, you’ll be eating with no clothes on.”
Her eyes popped open. There was a split second where she was afraid he meant it and she almost moved to get herself up. And then she realized that parents or not, he would not want her naked in front of any other males, period, so she decided to call his bluff.
“You kept me up until at least 4 with all that hot monkey sex. I don’t want to get up. So tell them I’ll be down when I’m down and save me a plate for later.”
He clearly wasn't happy. With eyes narrowed, nostrils flared, and lips pursed he had the calculating glare of a man trying to figure out if she was serious or not.
His tone changed suddenly, “Hot monkey sex?”
She couldn’t help herself and laughed at his surprised grin. Giving a shove to his shoulders, she complained, “You can’t treat me like a wolf all the time. I’m going to disagree with you. I won’t disrespect you in public, but there has to be a place where we can argue and you don’t go all primal on me.”
He straightened, looking miffed. “I wasn’t treating you like a wolf.”
She sat up on her elbows, “Yes, you were. Instead of treating me like an equal – in the bedroom of all places – you tried to order me around and then threatened me!”
Looking chagrined, he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Sorry, sweet. I’m not used to people defying me that are part of the pack. It’s, well, it’s screwing with me a little bit. We are equals, love. I just need some time to work out the kinks. So please, will you get dressed and come downstairs to have breakfast with my family? They want to congratulate us on our engagement.”
She conceded and got up. The man who rarely apologized had been sincere, so she could be gracious. He hovered while she cleaned up like he thought she might go back to bed to prove a point. Since he said she didn’t have time for a shower even though she’d gone to bed sticky and woken up that exact same way, she made due with a washcloth and soap. He said he liked falling asleep after having sex with her because until he took a shower, then he got to smell like the two of them together. That’s all well and good for men, but for women, well, it’s just not pleasant when everything that had been fun the night before starts to leak out.
She looked at him surreptitiously, “You wouldn’t have really taken me downstairs naked, would you?”
He smirked, “I feel like I need to tell you that I would have, so that next time I ask you to do something that you will right away. But you know I don’t want anyone to see you naked except me.”
Ha! She knew it. She hid her triumphant smile by turning into the closet and pulling a sweatshirt over her head and then they went downstairs, hand in hand.
Michael, Jason’s parents, and his grandfather Abraham, were sitting around her kitchen table with coffee. Abraham had been alpha before Peter, and his wife was shot and killed by hunters when Peter was a young man, before Jason had been born. Jason said that his grandfather lost the will to lead the pack and that Peter and the elders at the time had been worried that a rival pack might come in and take him out. Along with solidifying the alliance with the Garra Pack, Peter stepped up earlier than he would have liked and let his father step down while he still had his dignity. Jason seemed to think the story was one of a man not being able to handle his responsibility in the face of personal trials; that his grandfather should have put the pack first no matter what was going on in his life. Cadence thought it was much softer than that, though. That Abraham loved his wife so much that he almost went to the grave himself in grief spoke volumes about their life together and the depths of their love. She supposed you couldn't tell an alpha that there were probably going to be times of great loss in their lives at one point or another, and they’d be unable or unwilling to put the pack first. No matter the mantra of the pack, there had to be instances where the pack didn’t come first, not over family.
Michael, Peter, and Abraham kissed her cheek in congratulations and Tina hugged her and lifted her hand with hers to examine the ring. It was truly lovely. He’d done a very good job picking out a stunning but simple round cut solitaire. Apparently his errands yesterday had involved him selling his fix-up car and then buying the ring, along with planning their special meal.
The wedding was discussed, and Jason’s idea to get married in Pigeon Forge and spend a week alone was well received. Tina frowned slightly in thought and then said, “Don’t you think the pack would want to be part of the wedding? To watch their alphas get married? You know this is unusual, most alpha pairs are married for several years before they take over leadership.” Implied but not said was the simple truth that if they hadn’t dicked each other around for so long that she’d have already figured out that they were mates and she was alpha and they’d have been married earlier than this.
Cadence put down her fork, stuffed to the gills with a breakfast casserole overflowing with several pounds of meat, cheese and eggs. “What if we do the Pigeon Forge thing, but have a party when we get back? I don’t really want to have a big wedding.” All she really wanted was Callie as her maid of honor, Michael as best man, and to be married to Jason at the end of the ceremony. Nothing else was even on the radar of mattering.
She may be the only bride-to-be to ever have uttered those words, but it was true. She had everything she wanted now. They could get married on the icy courthouse steps in January and she wouldn’t care, because the only thing that mattered was that Jason was hers and she would get to keep him. Forever.
It sounded like everyone thought that was a good idea, and later, when Jason was apologizing with his cock for being bossy earlier, she asked him if they really liked the party idea or if they just said they did because she was alpha.
He lifted up from her neck where he’d been trying to suck her spine out through her skin, “Does it matter?”
“Kind of.”
He rolled his eyes at her and it made her smile. He picked up her bad habit. “Sweet, you may never know for sure if the pack goes along with you because of your position or because they really like your ideas. Some of them, like Callie, will tell you the truth because they trust you not to go berserk if you’re disagreed with. But for the majority of the pack, they would walk off a cliff if you suggested it, because they’d know that either way they were going to end up splattered on the rocks below.”
That was like the least sexy thing she’d ever heard anyone say and she stared gape-mouthed at him and then just laughed. It was an absurd mental picture. Wolves like lemmings and her cracking a whip at the cliff’s edge.
They spent their after-engagement day in bed, which was one of her very favorite places to be, and then their weekend was split between planning to leave town on December 10 and making arrangements for the reception once they were back home on the 18th. This first Christmas was important, because the pack hadn’t celebrated Christmas together since Jason took over, and Christmas Eve happened to be the night of the full moon, too.
Her silly mind wondered what would happen if Santa was a werewolf. She could picture it, how he’d be fine until the moon rose, and then he’d be driving the sleigh with his paws. The reindeer would probably spook, at least those he hadn’t eaten, and the little kids that waited up for him would be very, very shocked.
Chapter 16
“Jas, do you think that Renee hates me?” Cadence asked him the next week, swiveling in the chair behind the desk and tapping a pencil against the blotter.
Jason straightened in surprise. They had been discussing the schedule for the shop while they were on their honeymoon and she’d just switched gears suddenly.
“Why would you think that?”
She shifted and her eyes were glossy with pain. “They lost their son because of me.
The pack lost its next alpha.”
He stood up and went to her, gathering her in his arms and settling back down in the chair with her tucked against his chest. He had been waiting for her to let him know the reason for her guilty feelings. He could tell she was burdened in some ways by what had happened to her tormentor and his cronies. He would have rather she was able to forget about the nightmare entirely, but that wasn’t reality.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, baby, I swear. He was unstable. He didn’t just flip a switch and go crazy because you picked me; he was clearly like that all along and just very good at keeping the depths of his depravity under wraps.”
“I feel like a fool for trusting him.”
“He had us all fooled. But you don’t hold any fault. You responded to him because he was showing you a tender part of himself. If you’d given in, Cades, if you’d chosen him instead of me, you may still have endured the same scenario. Jake wasn’t planning to step down for him anytime soon and he may have simply taken off with you and done the same thing anyway.”
“I couldn’t pick him anyway, Jas, my heart was already yours.” She sighed deeply and snuggled into him and he tightened his hold on hers. There were a lot of regrets he had at the situation, but as long as his sweetheart was in his arms, then from his point of view all the pain and misery were worth it.
“You can talk to them, sweet, I’ll take you over if you’d like. They don’t hold you responsible. You were a victim, plain and simple.”
“I’d like to see them, before they’re gone.”
He promised, kissing her forehead and letting her have as much quiet as she needed. That night, he took her over to Jake and Renee’s. Renee had locked herself in the bedroom when they arrived and Jake looked sadly up the stairs. “I’m sorry, Cadence. She’s a wreck right now, packing up the things from his childhood. She’s afraid to see you. She’ll be okay eventually, but it’s still really fresh for her.”
Her head dropped and he saw the tear that fell to the floor. He tucked her closer against him while Jake said, “No, Cadence, no, it’s not your fault. Renee and I don’t hold you responsible in any form!” Jake knelt down so that she was looking down at him. The truth was on his face, if Cades only trusted it.
Her voice cracked, “I’m just so sorry, Jake.”
“I’m sorry, too. You give Renee some time, sweet girl; let her grieve for our son. She doesn’t want to see anyone right now. You have always been like a daughter to her, to both of us, and she’s laden with guilt right now for all the things she missed. I’m sorry, Cadence, for all you suffered.”
Jason took her home shortly afterwards and she curled up against him on the couch lost in her own thoughts. Several days later, Renee showed up at the garage and hugged Cades and told her that she was sorry and would miss her dearly. Cades told him later that she felt like Jake had pushed her to come to the garage knowing how upset she was, and it was probably true. Jake wouldn’t want Cades to suffer and she would if she thought for even a second longer that Renee held her responsible in any form. She was satisfied, though, relieved in some small way that Renee wanted to let it go. If Cades thought that Renee would hate her for the rest of her life, it would eat away at her. At least this way, she had the bit of relief she needed so she could begin to heal herself.
The following week, he sat in the living room from a vantage point where he could watch Gray and Cadence discussing the restaurant. He liked Gray. He trusted him. Except with Cadence. He must have growled a dozen times in the first half hour, because Gray leaned too close to her, or touched a paper at the same time, or looked at her too long. His wolf was in knots because Gray was a single, unmated male. Sure he was old enough to be her father, but his wolf didn’t care. You just couldn’t reason with a beast.
The Garra Pack was taking off in four days. Moving vans were parked in front of homes on the side of town where Jake’s pack lived, and the two businesses were slowly shutting down. For the restaurant, stable food that could be stored safely for several months was kept in a locked storage room in the kitchen of the restaurant and everything else had been distributed to the pack members and anything remaining was given to an orphanage in Falls Creek, an hour south.
This was their last meeting together. Before, they met in the restaurant and Jason sat through the powerfully boring meetings in the booth, right next to her so that he felt like he was keeping her safe. The November full moon had really screwed with his head and it was spilling out into his day-to-day life. He shifted and then walked Cadence back to the house, but didn’t go out to hunt. She had argued with him, which was kind of funny because he couldn’t actually talk to her so she appeared to be mostly just arguing with herself.
He tried to explain that after what happened in October, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her yet. And it wasn’t just his human side that was reliving that night then, it was his wolf, too. He and his beast were of one accord that night – their woman had to be kept safe, and the only way to ensure that was to stay right there with her. He reasoned he would feel better once the Garra Pack was gone, but the truth was that since he’d almost lost her twice, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get over that feeling that he was the only one that could keep her safe.
He heard them finishing up and he went into the kitchen. Cadence gave him a smirk combined with a raised brow but said nothing as she closed the portfolio with all the paperwork and notes so that the restaurant could be reopened whenever someone with enough skill to run it could do so. In the meanwhile, she would handle the books and make sure any residual bills were kept up to date.
He shook Gray’s hand and wished him well on their journey south to find a new home and when the front door was shut, he turned on a growl and stalked to Cadence. He jerked her over his shoulder, the fastest way to carry her upstairs he’d found, and she didn’t fight this time, not even in jest. She knew he was having a hard time right now and she was going to let him do whatever he needed to, to claim her again for his wolf, to prove that she was okay and right there with him.
He dumped her on the bed and she bounced once. He stripped, need making his fingers tremble, and then he was on top of her, biting and licking her neck. She had tensed at the impact but then relaxed immediately, dropping her hands to the side and turning her head so he could have full access to her flesh.
He let his fangs come out and he sank the tips into her neck and she moaned, writhing under him because she was just that turned on by his primal, alpha behavior. He was glad she wasn’t asking questions, because right now he couldn’t think far enough in advance to speak anyway.
He extracted his fangs and licked the tiny blood droplets that seeped from the wounds and then he sat up, straddling her waist. His claws pushed from his hands and he turned the curved ends and sliced through the front of her shirt, catching the lace bra at the same time and baring her from neck to waist. With another careful stroke of each hand, the shirt was in shreds and on the floor.
The jeans and panties fell next with the thick ripping sound of claws on fabric and his own growls that bubbled possessively in his chest. His overwhelming need to mark her again and again and fuck her so hard she wouldn’t be able to walk right for days roared to the surface and he gave himself over to the urges. She would tell him if he hurt her; he trusted her to do that much.
He took one moment to gaze down at her luscious body laid out for him; the swell of her breasts, the flare of her hips, the delicate arch of her neck. And deeper than that, the excited thrum of her heart, the rush of blood in her veins, and the soft pants of anticipation from her parted mouth. He picked up her wrist and licked across the flesh slowly and then bit down, and she sucked in a fast breath and wriggled under him. He drew blood on both wrists, just enough to put small, permanent marks on her, and then he slid down her body and shoved her legs apart.
Her pussy glistened with her arousal; the deep pink of her sweet center was like peering into the gates of heaven. Licking up the inside of one thigh,
he caught a taste of her honey and his body was ready to take her, but first, his wolf needed to mark this place as his, too.
He grazed the inside of her thigh with his fangs and she moaned her approval, either at his teeth or the fingers he began pounding into her. Licking and teasing with his fangs, he listened intently for her breath to catch just before she leapt over the edge of orgasm, and a heartbeat before she did and her body creamed for him, he sank his fangs into her thigh and she screamed, “SHIT! Jason!” He growled into the meat of her thigh before moving to her other thigh and biting hard. Still fingering her through her powerful climax, she whipped her head back and forth frantically and twisted the sheet in her hands and he eased up on his assault on her drenched pussy, carrying her down from orbit to earth.
He rolled her to her belly and hefted her up onto all fours before shoving her head down and kneeing her legs apart. His control of his beast slipped further and he slammed into her body and she cried out and it slid into a low moan and growl as his claws dug into her hips and he thrust into her molten core as fast and hard as he could.
Completely at his mercy, she took everything he had as his thrusts forced only panting breaths and quiet cries of submission from her lips. Her sweet honey dripped down her thighs and the scent of her at her purest, most feminine self branded his senses. Gone to his beast completely, he felt his claws break through her skin and tear and she reached a plateau of climax that made her pussy clamp down on his cock like a vise. He barely heard the sound of tearing fabric as he came, and he shoved her away from him just a split second before he lost control entirely and shifted.
He shook himself out and sat down on his haunches and looked at her as she rolled to her back with a sob, the sheet she’d been gripping lay in tattered pieces. Even as he was aware he’d never lost such complete control before, this was an extremely close call.