by Lisa Hill
Once they were back at her place, they sat in her kitchen and snacked on some crackers and cheese.
“I’m not much of a hostess,” she said as she looked in the refrigerator for something they could drink.
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her back flush to his body. It set her nerves on fire and her wolf jerked through her body wanting her to take him. She fought the urge and slowly turned around in his arms.
“I like you Charity,” he said and bent down to capture her mouth with his.
She kissed him back and he walked her over to the couch sitting down with her and pressing her back into it. The kisses kept getting hotter and she was losing control of her ability to maintain when he was around.
“I should go,” he breathed heavily holding her with his head pressed to her forehead.
“Yes, that’s probably a good idea.”
She grabbed him and kissed him again as he pulled her shirts over her head and ran his hands over the exposed skin. He allowed her to take his shirt off and pressed against her. The feeling of his hot body against hers made her feel like she was going to lose her mind. They were past the point of no return. She climbed into his lap and pressed herself against his growing erection. He growled and pinned her down to the couch in one quick movement pressing into her sex and rubbing himself over her.
They pulled at each other’s clothes taking off pants and leaving socks in the floor as she pulled him into her bed room and they fell onto the bed. She groaned as he pulled her panties down and the last of her defenses were completely gone. She felt vulnerable but she also felt extremely turned on. He kissed her deeply before moving down her chest and her stomach. He wasted no time diving inside her with his tongue and she writhed beneath him wanting more as she grabbed the back of his head. He brought her almost to the edge before pulling away and moving back up to take a breast in his hand and run his thumb over her nipple. She could tell he loved to watch her squirm and she tried to pull him back up to her mouth but he resisted moving to the other breast. Finally when she couldn’t take it anymore he moved into position and entered her. She arched off the bed to draw him in and felt relief and passion wash over her as he started to move.
Shivers of pleasure ran through her as they matched each other’s rhythm rising and falling as they climbed towards ecstasy. It was the most intense sex she’d ever had and each stroke sent burning lava flowing through her veins and she clung to him. Both their bodies were slick with sweat and her wolf was fully awake and in on what was going on. It urged her forward as her body urged her towards climax and when it finally came, she blacked out as fireworks went off inside her and her wolf took over for a minute.
Charity awoke in the morning to discover that Kieron had left while she was asleep. She sighed and got up to start her day. She couldn’t believe he had sex with her and left her. She really thought he could be the one for her. She wasn’t sure what to think now.
Chapter Five
Charity was depressed and sad for the rest of the weekend. How could he spend such an intense time with her and then just disappear it didn’t add up to her. She didn’t talk to anyone all day on Sunday and slowly got ready when Monday rolled around. The last thing she wanted to do was go to work. She knew the girls were going to want to know what happened. But, she also knew she couldn’t call into work sick of depression. She sucked it up and got ready to leave.
Not surprisingly the girls jumped her almost instantly wanting to know what happened. But, the way they questioned her caught her off guard. “Why didn’t you meet up with him? I thought he was perfect for you!” Helen squealed.
“You texted us and everything,” Christy said her voice going up in pitch.
Charity looked at the girls with a puzzled expression on her face. “What do you mean why didn’t I meet up with him? I met up with him! I went out with him again on Saturday. I took him home and we had sex!” She was wondering if they were playing some sort of joke on her where she didn’t get the punch line.
Helen and Christy’s mouths hung open. “Kieron called this morning and wondered where you were, he said you never showed up and he spent the evening alone at the bar.”
The girls explained to Charity that whoever it was she met with was not Kieron. The arguing continued until Charity’s mother showed up and insisted that they head to lunch together.
“You called my mother?” Charity was in disbelief. Why did her friends hate her, to involve her mother was just
“I called them dear, I wanted to see how your date went and they explained you never went on it. I’ve gotten Kieron to agree to come to lunch. It’s time for you to stop running and meet your mate.” Her mother walked out and she had no choice but to follow her.
When they arrived at the restaurant her mother led her over to a gentleman sitting in a booth. He was dark haired, with piercing green eyes, and the whitest smile she’d ever seen. It was striking how good-looking he was.
“This is Kieron.” Her mother explained. “This is who you were supposed to meet Saturday.” Her mother excused herself to go sit with some ladies she knew and Charity felt like that was part of the plan. She couldn’t help but look him up and down before she sat down across from him.
“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m sorry about the other night. I was under the impression I did meet you.” She shook his hand politely before continuing to tell him how she was at a table when a man, who claimed to be him, ended up spending the night chatting with her. She left out the part about the second date and all the sex. She felt like those details were better left unsaid.
“Who does that?” he was pretty shocked and the two moved into easy conversation after ordering. When their food came she was glad to concentrate on eating.
At some point during lunch he moved to her side of the booth to taste her food. Kieron sat as close to her as he could. She glanced over to see her mother giving her the thumbs up. It was really embarrassing. It was obvious he thought Charity was cute as the conversation continued. Charity giggled. Kieron flirted. She felt a sadness deep in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong. Her inner wolf wasn’t feeling Kieron the same way she was feeling the guy from the other night. So much for a match making service.
“Hey!” A familiar voice shouted before rushing over to the table. “You must be Kieron. The guy who stood this beautiful lady up the other night.” Charity jerked her head sideways to see the man from the other night.
Kieron stood up and growled at the man. “Excuse me? You pretended to be me just to get her to go home with you!” The two alphas were allowing their wolves to perk up and she knew it would be a matter of time before they were fighting.
The two continued to bark back and forth at each other for some time before Charity decided she couldn’t stand it anymore and forced herself between them. “STOP IT!” She hissed. “Kieron it was a pleasure meeting you, but I have to be honest. I just… I don’t feel anything.” She sighed and looked down at the ground. “Given what has happened I think we should just shake hands and part ways.”
Kieron gave one last glare at this mysterious man before saying a friendly goodbye to Charity and her mother before departing. Charity’s mother didn’t move from her table but gave her a disapproving look.
“Outside, now.” She told the stranger she’d let in her bed. She wouldn’t have this altercation in front of her mother. They walked out on the patio where some tables were set up.
“You missed me,” he started.
Charity turned towards the mystery man and slapped him across the face before glaring in his eyes. “You…” She hissed. She was so angry and humiliated she didn’t know what to say. “You lied to me! You made me think you were him! Why would you do that?”
The man’s lips curled up into a smile and Charity went to slap him in the face again for smirking. He caught her hands and pulled her close to kiss her instead. She let him before pulling away and pushing him, damn that man’s lips, she thought.
“Sit down and let me explain.” He whispered in her ear before taking a seat at the table.
“I’m listening.” Charity said with an angry hiss as she sat down at the table.
He cleared his throat before starting to speak. “Ask yourself. Would you have stopped and had a conversation with me if I wasn’t Kieron? Would you have gone on a second date with me? Would you have taken me back home with you? That bar is the best place to meet and get to know people, but the only time girls who are interested in mating come in there after they’ve went through the Wolf Mate system. I knew from the moment I saw you that I wanted to get to know who you were. But, I also knew you were probably waiting for someone. Lying to you was the only way I could see you.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“Truthfully?”
“Yes, truthfully. I mean it, no more lies.”
“I didn’t want you to roll over and realize you made a mistake. It seemed to me if I was gone then the memory of the intense passion we shared would keep me favorably in your mind. Then the next time we saw each other, you’d have a good opinion of me. It was stupid, I should have stuck around and came clean.
Her mother walked out and glared at her. “What is the meaning of this?”
He paused for a moment before turning to her mother. “Ma’am. My name is Derrick Sampson. I’m an alpha without a pack and I’m very interested in your daughter. With your permission, I would love to get to know her.”
A smile stretched across her mother’s face. Charity knew that smile. Her mother was happy with the situation. Why was her mother so happy with the situation? “I think my daughter being with an alpha would be great for her! Her father is an alpha!” Her mother had been sucked in by him already, he was a liar. Her mother was usually not so trusting.
“Hello!?” She shouted to remind the two of them she was still sitting there.
“Listen.” He said clearing his throat again. “Don’t make your decision now. Go back to work, let me pick you up after work and take you out to dinner. We can go somewhere nice and talk. Then, you can make your decision.”
Charity sighed again, but she couldn’t deny the connection she felt between his inner wolf and hers. The wolf inside her wanted to take him right here on the table. She blushed a bit at the thought before collecting herself and nodded.
Her mother grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.
“You’re not helping Mom,” the older wolf smiled and went back to her friends without another word. Charity was too emotional to be embarrassed that her mother was so involved with her life, and now her lover knew it.
Chapter Six
She made her way back to work only to get Helen and Christy approaching her almost immediately. It felt more like gossip central than a place of work today. “You two are never going to guess what happened at lunch.” She said, deciding to feed into the fact that they clearly liked gossip. It worked and they swarmed all over her wanting to know what happened.
“So, Kieron was at lunch with my mom. We talked, we got to know each other, but I just didn’t feel it. You guys know the connection your inner wolf feels with your mate right? It just wasn’t there. No spark. I just didn’t find him attracted. Just when I felt the whole thing was a waste of time it happened.”
“What happened?!” The two squealed wanting to know every last detail.
“The mystery guy showed up. He ran up to the table and acted like he owed me! He didn’t want Kieron anywhere near me. They fought, I got Kieron to leave, and then this mysterious guy asked my mother if he could go out with me. It was all very bizarre.
The girls squealed again with excitement. “What was his name?” Helen asked.
“Derrick Sampson.”
Both of her friend’s faces fell. They exchanged a glance with each other she didn’t understand.
“What is it?”
“Derrick is a rogue, Charity. The reason he doesn’t have a pack is because he murdered his second in command in cold blood. There are rumors he murdered his love as well. The pack kicked him out. Now he’s a lone wolf, disgraced.” Helen had never sounded so condescending, but it clearly struck a nerve with her that someone could do that to their pack.
“Charity, I can tell you’ve fallen for him,” Christy said glaring at Helen. “Just be careful and ask him about his past. If you’re meant to be together you need to learn the truth as soon as possible.” Leave it to Christy to be the reasonable one.
All Charity was thinking was she couldn’t believe how much she didn’t know about this man that she’d let into her home, her bed, her body. She felt a little sick when she thought about it. It wasn’t something she would have ever done before meeting him. He did something to her and it made it impossible
When work ended despite the information that she had received from her co-workers she held out hope. When she went outside, he was waiting for her. He sat looking really good perched on his bike and he took her to a restaurant on the outside of town she’d only been to years before.
“I know the owners,” he smiled as he helped her off the bike. “They have some of the best food in town, you just have to know what to order.
“Okay,” she was always willing to try new food. The man at the front of the restaurant greeted them.
“Derrick, welcome back. It’s been a while, and with a lovely lady,” the man was an elderly Italian gentleman and she assumed he was the owner. “It’s nice to meet you, um.”
“Charity, what do you suggest for an appetizer?”
“The garlic mussel appetizer is the best ma’am,” he winked and she nodded. “I’ll get it whipped up special for you.”
She smiled and he showed them to a table where he poured wine for them without even asking what they wanted.
“You do come here a lot.”
He smiled, “They’re really good people.”
Charity was quiet as she ate her food trying to find the right time to bring up what she needed to ask. The meal was good, but it was hard to enjoy it knowing what she knew.
“I know I lied to you about who I was, but the person you met was real. I didn’t lie about anything except for my name. I wanted you and I was happy you let me in.”
“Then why don’t you tell me the truth about your pack.” She wasn’t happy she had to get to the point. She couldn’t be with a murderer. There was no way her parents would approve of her being involved with a disgraced alpha.
“I will tell you the truth, because I feel something with you and I think you can feel it to.” Her heart hurt a little as he took a deep breath to tell the story. His sadness washed over her and she wanted to put her hand on his arm. She refrained.
“Heath was my best friend, all through grade school we were inseparable. I would have done anything for him. When we were of age the time came for my parents to pick a mate for me. It was done that way in our pack so we didn’t really have a say in the matter. I didn’t know he was in love with Gwendolyn. Had I known I would have told my parents to find another wife, the day before we were to marry, he killed her, and I killed him. The way it was thought about in my pack and the way everyone glossed over it, I couldn’t deal so I left. I wasn’t ran out and I wasn’t shamed. I just left. There are rumors, there will always be rumors, but the truth is it was an awful time in my life and had I not killed him he was going to kill me.” He pulled up his shirt to show a long jagged scar. Charity wondered how she could have missed that.
“I believe you, she said. She didn’t know why, but she knew he was telling her the truth.
They finished dinner and left the restaurant. She felt his pain within her, it was like they were connected. She knew what that meant, and it was hard to deny a mate once they’d became part of each other, but she still wasn’t entirely sure.
They went into her apartment
He sat his glass down and took both of her hands into his. “Listen Charity. I don’t think I have the strength to stay away from you anymore.” He said softly.
“I’m sorry I lied to you, but my wolf knew you were right for me the moment I saw you. I want to be with you – whatever that means. We can stay here and settle down or we can move somewhere else and establish our own pack. But, I need to be with you. Please…. Will you be my mate?”
Charity hands shook a bit inside of his. He squeezed them tightly and gazed into her eyes with a smile on her face. He didn’t say anything giving her some time to think about what she wanted to say.
“I…” She paused and looked away for a minute before looking back at her. “I’m still really mad at you for lying to me, tricking me, and sleeping with me under false pretenses. But, I can’t deny the connection our wolves have.”
Before she could say another word he moved in close and captured her lips with his. It was a much more passionate and loving kiss than the other night. The other night was a lustful experience. This one was almost – loving.
She broke the kiss and smiled. “I want to stay here. So I can continue to work at Wolf Mate with Christy and Helen. I like working there. And in some weird way I feel like I owe them for meeting you. After all, if they wouldn’t have matched me up with Kieron I wouldn’t have met you.”
He smiled and stood up taking her hand and walking with her to the bathroom. “Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed.” He whispered as he started to gently slide her clothing off of her. She could feel her heart racing in her throat. Is this what being in love really felt like? Was this what it meant to be mated?
Derrick helped her out of her clothing before going over to the shower and turning on the faucet. He plugged the stopper and grabbed some soap to fill the tub with bubbles. He turned and took her hand to help her into the tub. “Sit down, let me clean you up.” He purred.
Her face felt so hot, she was sure it must be bright red. Derrick took his time touching every inch of her perfect body with the sponge as he gave her a very relaxing bath. He massaged every inch of her body and then let the water out and used the shower head to rinse all the remaining suds off of her. Once she was squeaky clean and free of suds, he turned the water off and grabbed a towel. She stood up and he wrapped it around her.