Hunting Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #3

by Harper, J. K.

  Rielle called out his name, drawing it into three uneven syllables, breathed more than spoken. Her voice filled his senses. Her sharp inhales told him she wasn't there quite yet. Anticipation gripped him as he fastened his lips around that tiny bundle of nerve endings she had right above her beautifully wet folds and began to lick and suck on it with every finessing move he had.

  He could taste it the moment she started to come, her flavor changing to dark honey spiced with anise and chocolate exploding into his mouth as her half-howling cry of release echoed through the clearing. Hips lifted off the ground beneath him, she stayed there as the tremors shook her core, hand still pressed down on his head, fingers clutching at his scalp in what was probably a painful grip but he was so caught up in her rolling bliss he didn't even notice. Her inner muscles squeezed around his fingers, and he could feel her throbbing release shudder and slip through her entire body.

  After long, incredible moments during which the wave slowly ebbed from her body, Rielle slowly eased back to the ground, her gasps still filling the small, shadowed meadow. Her hand in his hair relaxed, and she smoothed his head instead. He gently kept tasting her until he was sure she was spent, then slowly kissed his way back up her body, all the way to her face. Her eyes were open, so blissed out and relaxed she seemed to glow. Smiling at him, she let him claim her lips with his so she could taste herself on him. His wolf half guided his movements, keeping him both leashed yet also quiveringly ready for more.

  Gently, she pushed his head back so she could see him again. From the play of expressions on her face, which ranged from awed to satisfied to deeply content to knowing, he sensed her wolf still very close to the surface as well. Rielle was beyond sexy with the wildness of her wolf flowing through her movements.

  Gliding a hand along his cheek, she whispered, “That was even more amazing than I ever thought it would be. I mean, I knew it would be, because it's you.” She paused and stared with wonderment at him, shaking her head the slightest bit while the marveling smile lit her face even more. “But you still surprised me. I think my body just exploded.”

  Caleb thought he might almost blush from the surge of pride he felt.

  “But,” she said, and his blood ran cold for a split second. Then her voice continued, sure and low in its demand. “I want more.” She ran light fingers down his back, stopping at his ass and experimentally squeezing it. Heat roared through him again as her words and touch electrified him inside and out.

  “Caleb, I want to feel you inside me. I need to feel you inside me. Right now.”

  Her voice dropped to a low near growl of want as she stroked his ass cheeks and tilted her hips up into him, almost causing a riot in the forest.

  Just in case, although it almost killed him to do so, he asked in a ragged voice, “You're sure? Really ready? Because I've never felt this ready in my life.”

  She suddenly bit her lower lip, which almost caused him to lose all control at the purely erotic sight. When her voice came hesitantly, though, he wanted to smack himself. “You've probably said that to all the girls you've ever done this with, haven't you?” Her eyes stared up at him, suddenly solemn and uncertain despite the heightened tempo of her breathing just starting to spiral back down from the orgasm he'd given her. His sweet, innocent Rielle, who somewhere in the back of her mind still thought he might be that brutish caveman he'd pretty much shown her he was.

  Damning his stupid self, he pulled one of her hands to his mouth and kissed her fingers. Looking her straight in the eye, he shook his head while saying the most real words he'd ever uttered. “Ree. I have never, ever wanted any girl as much in my life as I want you right now. Trust me on that,” he said with a little laugh, shifting slightly to adjust the insanely throbbing mass of need that seemed to have a mind of its own right now. “You're the only girl I've been thinking of. I can hardly think straight when you're around. All I think about is you,” he admitted, even though that made him sound a little pathetic.

  To his surprise, and his wolf's satisfied, possessive rumble deep inside, Rielle's face lit back into that almost glowing look she'd had a moment before. “Really? Because I do, too. I believe you,” she added softly. She tilted her face up to kiss him again.

  Pulling back after a long moment, expression abruptly alight with what was a totally mischievous, daring looks, Ree then lightly spanked Caleb's ass. She giggled in amazed excitement as he inhaled sharply from the purely sexual zing it sent whipping through him. “Do I need to convince you further?

  “Hell, no,” he growled, startled but very pleased she felt confident enough to do something like that. “You're mine,” he/his wolf said, the word coming out with low-pitched force and impatience.

  “Yes,” she said back, pulling him back for yet another searching kiss that underlined the truth of that word.

  All uncertainty erased, Caleb took matters into his own hands, driven by his almost painful desire. He was harder than he could ever remember being, strained almost to the breaking point with his need to drive himself into Rielle and come inside deep her, making her his own. Trusting her request, he reached down to grasp his heavy, swollen shaft and guided the head through her still slick, plumped out, welcoming folds. Aware it might be uncomfortable for her, he eased in slowly but surely, not giving an inch as he finally began to push inside her.

  Rielle's eyes widened as he entered her and she gave a sharp little inhale that ended with a slight moan of sheer pleasure. Caleb kept his eyes firmly on hers as he sank into her. Despite her wetness, she felt tiny and tight as he carefully pushed himself inside her. Her face crinkled for a moment in pain, and Caleb managed to stop moving, horrified at the thought of hurting her even though he knew it might.

  “No,” she gasped, pushing on his back with her hands to urge him on. “Please, don't stop. I—you feel so big. I love it. Don't stop, Caleb. I want you all the way inside me.” Her sweetly fierce voice held a command.

  “Yes, ma'am,” he said in a strangled voice, earning himself another playful smack on his backside. He pushed another thick inch into her, then another. Her eyes widened again and her dark little berry of a mouth made an “o” shape, the sound of her breath sliding across the roof of her mouth making him dizzy with the strain of holding himself back from mindlessly pounding into her welcoming heat. The pressure of her hot, slick walls holding him at bay suddenly relaxed, and he slid the rest of the way into her, all the way up to his heavy balls.

  ~

  Completely sheathed inside her, Caleb felt so incredibly huge Rielle thought she might pass out from the sheer ecstasy of it. She'd known it would be like this—but not really. He levered himself up onto his hands, which angled his hips against hers and seemed to thrust his length into her even farther. But that couldn't be true, because he was already inside her as deeply as he could go. She'd never felt so filled before, so utterly possessed and consumed. He was so big, and she was so small, she'd been afraid they wouldn't fit together.

  But they did. Perfectly.

  Caleb eased back out almost the entire way, wringing a soft cry of protest from her. He paused right there, teasing her, then slowly stroked back inside her tight passage. Her cry melted into a deeper, more aroused sound, one of such primal satisfaction she could hardly believe it was her own voice.

  Her wolf writhed and twined and urged her on, meeting Caleb stroke for stroke, waltzing with him in a perfect harmony as if they'd done so forever.

  “Ah,” Caleb said. His voice sounded guttural, close to his wolf. “You're so soft inside, Ree.”

  He began sliding in and out of her, his rhythm roughly perfect or perfectly rough. She was losing her thoughts again, getting lost in the motion and the feelings and the slick warmth of the enveloping night around them. With each thrust into her, Caleb moved a little harder, a little faster. She found herself matching the rhythm with her hips, meeting him when he came to her, then seeking him when he pulled away. In and out, back and forth, the movement pulsed through her entire bo
dy, swirling along with it something big and hot and inevitable. She felt the roar of the inferno building inside in answer to his timeless dance with her body. Her own body wasn't hers anymore; she couldn't control it. Licks of fire sizzled along her nerve endings, flaring up every time she saw the intensity written on his face, the sheer power and lust rushing through him as he rolled his hips against her over and over, filling her with his hugeness and the sheer power of his need.

  Rielle caught Caleb's eyes with hers, sharing the magnitude of their desire as his wild, natural tempo lifted them both to a dizzying new height. The insistence of his flesh drumming against her still-sensitive nub while his enormous maleness filled and stretched her past what she'd thought she could handle built an even richer, more profound sensation than before. Caleb's mouth opened with a deep, primitive groan, making him look utterly feral and sexy in his most vulnerable moment. Rielle knew he was about to hurtle over that dazzling edge, just as she was.

  “Rielle!” he shouted her name, along with other words she hardly registered, and shuddered violently, beautifully against her. His voice sounded again, as thick and raspy and purely masculine as that huge part of himself hotly jetting inside her. She literally felt the long, hot spurts inside her, which triggered her own savage orgasm. It came screaming up through her, the astounding force of it tearing out of her throat in another wild, purely carnal shriek that left her shaking and raw. Whirled up and away, she felt herself shattering into a million tiny points of exquisitely stunning light. Mindless with ecstasy, she rode them into a radiant, splintering oblivion.

  Moments or hours or days later, Rielle drifted back into her body. Each limb felt deliciously heavy. Being in her skin had never felt so utterly right before. Caleb sprawled on top of her, his back sweat-slicked beneath her softly stroking fingers, his breathing still ragged. She sensed he was holding back his full weight from settling onto her. Carefully, lazily wiggling around, she managed to maneuver herself so he lay somewhat on his side, with his leg and arm still draped across her in possessive embrace. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her earlobe, sending new shivers down her skin.

  “Again already?” His sexy, deep voice rumbled with laughter and pure satisfaction.

  “Mm,” she murmured, smiling into his shoulder.

  They lay entwined on the forest floor for a long time, so long Rielle wondered if he had fallen asleep. Her mind played back the details of their lovemaking, thrilling her again with the magical yet genuine reality of it. Mine, her wolf thought, filled with possessiveness and contentment. Mine.

  Yes. This big, bad wolf was hers, body and soul. And heart, she hoped. She was pretty sure Caleb had captured her own heart already. Maybe he'd caught it years ago, when they were both still cubs trying to figure out their places in this world. She'd never realized it because he seemed nothing like the one she'd thought she'd wanted.

  Caleb is everything, her wolf thought, simple yet clear and filled with unshakeable conviction. He is all to me. To you. You are me. I am you. He is mine.

  Rielle felt more whole and content than she could ever remember.

  Caleb stirred. Stretching his hand over her side, his fingers found one breast and gently played with it, rolling his fingertips over the hardening nipple and stroking the rounded part. His lips found hers again, and she let him nip at the bottom one before he claimed her mouth in another thorough kiss that left her panting.

  After more long, almost timeless moments wrapped in his arms and feeling totally secure, Caleb finally spoke.

  “That was incredible, Ree,” he said.

  The simple words, said without force or brashness, touched her heart and made her eyes prickle. She tightened her arms around what parts of him she could reach and held on hard. Caleb nestled his face into her neck, the weight of his arm and leg over her making her feel possessed, safe, and grounded. She let her breathing match his, listening to nothing more than the sound of them existing together in this one moment.

  He gently shifted, sighing in contentment. After another few moments during which she almost drifted off, though, a simmering growl startled her into vivid awareness.

  “What?” She lifted her head and looked around the clearing, her wolf looking out her eyes for danger. The area remained empty of anything but whispering aspen trees and the last shards of moonlight peeking through the branches above them.

  Caleb shook his head. His suddenly tense body betrayed some sort of inner alarm, however. “I was thinking about the rogues,” he said. The growl stained his voice, deepened it. “If they ever come near you, Ree. Ever.” His voice clipped off the rest of whatever he meant to say, sudden rage darkening through his tone.

  A long, ominous pause held them wrapped in tension as Rielle waited for him to finish that sentence. Her nerves felt tight as she tried to stroke away the rigidity in his back. Pure male wolf dictated his words. In spite of the purely female response she had to his possessiveness, unease pricked at her nerves, wiring them tighter.

  “If any of them ever touches you, I'll kill them. Especially him.”

  Caleb's voice hammered the relaxation she'd been feeling into a memory. Tightening her arms around him, willing her breathing to stay even, she said, “Him who?”

  Before he answered, though, she knew whose name he would say.

  “That rogue who thinks he'd going to be an alpha.” Rielle sensed he struggled to rein in more colorful terms about Luke.

  With a sinking awareness, Rielle realized his antipathy toward Luke and all things rogue was now heightened. Because of her.

  “He is going to be an alpha,” she said gently. She only pointed it out to remind him there were rules in place. Even Caleb couldn't defy his own Alpha. At least, she didn't think he would.

  She could feel the aggravation rolling through him like a living thing. His muscles coiled and bunched beneath her hands. Even though she didn't fear Caleb and never would, no matter how extreme his anger might get, she did feel apprehensive about what he might do. She knew his temper could be volatile at best. With what they had just shared—the thought of which sent a shivering flush through her even now—he had another justification to let his stewing anger boil over.

  Even more worrisome, Caleb did not answer her. He simply took a deep breath, then started to kiss her again, with a fierce possession that instantly shot a bolt of liquid desire straight between her legs. After that, she forgot everything else except the presence of the man who had helped her finally free her wolf.

  Chapter 11

  Caleb couldn't seem to get rid of his smile. Every time he thought of Ree, which was only about two thousand times a day, a goofy grin slid across his face. The pillowy softness of her lips, that sweet hollow at the base of her throat, the breathy gasps she made when she was coming.... Oh, yeah. He'd pleased the hell out of his woman. No wonder he was grinning like a stupid fool.

  The second time he'd taken her, it had been just that—taking. Firm, decisive, although still gentle and ready for her to call the shots if she signaled in any way she was nervous. But her responsiveness to his advances surprised him yet turned him on so much he'd been a total stud the whole night. Not that he really felt like a stud when it was Rielle. Something about her made the act deeper, more meaningful. The way she'd come, screaming so hard he thought she might damage her throat, had washed him with awe that he had done that to her. Then the way she looked at him right after had made him feel funny inside. Sort of soft and gooey.

  She is mine. His wolf's flat out declaration matched the feeling deep in Caleb's every bone. Rielle was his, and he wanted to let everyone know. Well, maybe not exactly everyone quite yet. For the past few days, he'd managed to avoid his brothers. They'd know in a heartbeat and never stop teasing him. Especially Rafe. He'd just give that knowing look and nod like Caleb had finally figured it all out.

  Maybe he had. He knew one thing for sure: he'd never felt more certain about something in his whole life than that he and Rielle belonged together. That she was hi
s mate. His wolf growled in assent.

  His cell vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and scanned the message. To his surprise, it was his human poker buddy, Mason.

  Hey man. Some really sketchy guys have been asking around town about you n your fam. Pretty rough trade. You okay? Let me know if I need to kick some ass for you

  Caleb snorted at the thought of Mason offering to kick ass for a pack of wolf shifters. Even so, it was damn decent of him to watch his back. Mason might be just a casual acquaintance, but Caleb had always sensed he was a stand up sort of guy.

  His cell buzzed again.

  They said Licas sends his regards. Who the hell names their kid Licas? Poor guy

  The goofy smile scattered from Caleb's face in a nanosecond. With a bone-snapping speed, his wolf clawed at his mind, rage tumbling close to out-of-control. His vision blurred, his hands clenched so hard he almost felt real claws sprouting from them, and his entire body stiffened with the urge to shift so he could maim, rend, kill.

  Kill, his wolf snarled. Must protect mate. A vision of Rielle, fragile and untrained as a warrior, filled his head. Traitor. He flashed a mental image of Luke's wolf covered in blood, roaring as he leapt toward Caleb.

  Some alpha-in-training Luke had turned out to be. The asshole must have planned this from the very beginning. He meant to infiltrate the Black Mesa Pack, take them down with his false promises, with the way he played up to Alpha's needs to expand the Pack and create buffer packs nearby.

  “Bastard!” Caleb heaved the word out into his empty kitchen, his half-eaten, now forgotten snack sitting on the countertop. He followed that with a stream of curse words his mother would have grounded him for back when he was a kid.

  He shot back a text.

  When? Now? Where are they?

  Centuries went by before Mason responded.

  Just talked to them. Lied like a mofo n said your a lameass poker player so I don't keep in touch. Srsly man you need help?