by T. F. Walsh
The twinkle in her eyes was genuine, yet behind her gaze lay something else—sorrow. Cacey and her daughter deserved a happy Christmas, and maybe I could help. Get them a new tree, ask Mom to bake them her famous deer pie. But at the back of my mind, I couldn’t forget the name she’d mentioned earlier with a tremble in her voice.
“Who’s Daan?”
Cacey’s lips thinned. Her gaze lowered as she fidgeted with a shiny, red ornament in the shape of a bell. She gave a wistful sigh. “He’s the alpha of the Denmark pack.” She slid a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. “Sometimes we make stupid mistakes in life. I don’t want to talk about him. He’s ancient history.” Her chin lifted to a defiant angle.
Had Daan harmed her? I’d break his ribs if he showed his face in Susi. In fact, when I got back to Hungary, I’d find him and pay him a special visit. As an alpha, Daan had a responsibility to keep his pack safe.
Her eyes widened, and her gaze jerked toward the kitchen. “Oh shit, the hot chocolate.”
She skirted around me, brushing my arm. My wolf rumbled in my chest. He demanded we take her into our arms, comfort her, and reassure her that no one would ever touch her again.
“I already took it off the stove.” I aligned the star on top of the tree as a sense of calmness threaded through me. The last time I’d felt this way was back home with my parents. Then again, the town of Susi had a way of grounding me.
“Thank you.” She served the steaming chocolate milk into two mugs and set them next to a plate with only one steak. “You should enjoy your meal.”
I stepped up to the counter and cut the raw steak with the knife. Half on my plate, half on Cacey’s. Even though I was ready to eat four of these steaks, I’d rather go hungry than see someone else miss out. “Better eat before that sneaky fox steals it.”
She broke into a chuckle, and her face changed into that of unrestrained mirth. “Can’t believe you brought that thing into my house.”
“Hey, every critter needs a safe place from the storm. And now he has a meal too.” With both of us sitting on stools at the counter, we ate, and somehow the silence now became the enemy. Regardless, I wanted to make it clear to Cacey that she should feel safe in her home. “This is a decent pack in Susi. You and your daughter will be protected. Let me know if Daan shows up, and I’ll take care of him.”
She slowly turned, wearing a strange expression—a blend of joy and confusion. Her eyes kept wandering across my face as if searching for something. “Why do you care? I’m sure Varlac have bigger issues.”
“You distrust us, don’t you?”
She shrugged.
How could I put this in a delicate way without giving a two-hour history lecture of the Varlac family in Hungary? “There’s always at least one rotten soul in every pack. Unfortunately, the Varlac had theirs appointed as emperor. But don’t paint everyone with the same tainted brush because of one wulfkin’s actions.”
Cacey narrowed her eyes, studying me as if searching for that loose thread to pick.
I lowered my gaze, away from the judgment every Varlac received. Having to explain myself, to defend the ruling clan. “If I were the monster you think I am, I would have arrested you the moment you punched me.”
Her breath hitched, and when she finally spoke, she stared at me, unblinking, as if I were a television and not a wulfkin to be interacted with. “You might do that once the storm runs its course.”
“You have my word.” I pacified her as the conversation was getting old quick and resembled a circus act—me rehashing the same story. Reassuring others that I wouldn’t harm them, that they didn’t need to hold their breath around me, that I wasn’t looking for any excuse to detain them. “I’m here to visit my family and have no intention of hurting you. I appreciate you for taking me into your home and feeding me.”
Softness washed behind her eyes, along with a hint of something else. She ran a finger over the lip of the mug cupped in her hand. The silence that followed softened our moods. It seemed as if I had shared a meal with a friend and the uneasiness between strangers was evaporating.
She climbed off the stool. “Let’s go sit on the couch. It’s more comfortable.”
The crackle of the fire and the humming drone of the dryer in the distance was a soft, repetitive tune.
We sat at opposite ends of the couch. I took a long sip of the hot chocolate. At once, a flavor boost of chocolate, cinnamon, and something else, something bitter, danced across my tongue.
“Whoa, it’s strong.” Cacey glanced at me, her lower lip caught between her teeth. “Think I ruined it. Too much mixture.”
“Nah.” I swallowed another mouthful of the sugary milk. “Nowhere as bad as my first attempt at making a cup of coffee. It’s good.”
“On the bright side, it’ll keep us extra toasty.” She sat cross-legged, glancing my way, sipping on her drink. Was she considering the best way to grill me to make sure I didn’t murder her in her sleep? Or picturing me ripping her clothes off, bending her over the arm of the couch, and taking her from behind? The latter was on my mind.
Outside, the blizzard howled, and the tree branches occasionally scraped across the roof. “Back home, we hold wrestling matches during snowstorms. The wulfkin get restless being stuck inside, so it makes for light entertainment.”
“Wrestling, hey? Is oil or jelly involved?” The corners of her mouth tugged upward.
Laughter rolled through my chest and burst free. “I can just picture it now. My alpha rolling around in strawberry jelly. Would never happen, but I might propose it during the next storm.”
“So, you’re second-in-command, you said. Do you ever want to be alpha of your own territory?”
The last remnants of hot chocolate washed down my throat, leaving me too warm. “I’m already an alpha of a small pack, but would love to have my own piece of land one day. Isn’t that every wulfkin’s dream?”
“Not mine.”
“Being an alpha means having responsibility for other wulfkin and keeping them safe. Always putting them first. By the way you care for Tianna, you’d make an incredible leader.”
I stood, and she handed me her cup, her thumb caressing my fingers. A single jolt of electricity zapped through me. She flinched, as did my wolf, who pressed against my insides, urging me to get a move on with Cacey already.
She wiggled her cup in my hand. “D . . . do you mind filling me up?”
My gaze locked on those red lips, certain they’d taste sweeter than this brew. Damn, speaking of filling her . . . Tone it down, man, and put it back in your pants. If I had pants, I would.
Outside, a gust of wind broke the silence as I returned with full cups.
“My ex is an alpha,” she said. “He’s a perfect example of why not everyone is suited to the job.”
“Daan?” Back on the couch, I downed half my drink, while Cacey finished hers in record time and wore a giddy grin.
“Yeah, he’s a jerk.” She blew a long breath upward, sending strands of hair billowing into a wave across her brow. “But I won’t talk about him, so stop asking.”
“I can keep you safe from him.” I inched closer, embracing the inferno building within me. Why was it so hot? Inside my head, heat waves rippled. I studied Cacey’s wicked smile, the gentle slope of her shoulders.
Slowly, she reached out and touched my knee. Her fingers were matchsticks, fueling the blaze.
“Something about you makes me want to trust you.” Using my thigh for leverage, she pushed herself to her feet and headed for the kitchen.
I set my mug on the floor near my feet, missing her hand against my skin. Where did she go? I cranked my head around and spotted Cacey gulping back the rest of the brew straight from the pot.
“Isn’t that hot?”
She lowered the saucepan, sporting a white mustache, grinning. “Not at all.” Then she broke into an uncontrollable giggle, and before I knew it, I was standing next to her. When had I moved? Didn’t matter with a gorgeous wulfkin who
se voice had my hair standing on end for all the right reasons.
Even though my brain told me to sit back down, remember who I was, right then, I could barely remember my name, let alone logic. The earlier electric charge sparked deep in my gut and radiated within me.
My wolf hungered for a mouthful of the morsel before us. And with the way Cacey stared at me, a savagery in her eyes as her laughter eased off, she might mirror my thoughts.
Despite the muddled fog in my head, a strong urge soared through me. My wolf stirred awake. He demanded that we had to keep Cacey safe and protected at any cost. She was ours.
Chapter Seven
CACEY
I hadn’t laughed that hard for a long time. Yet for the life of me, I couldn’t recall the joke. Staring at Vincent, I considered jumping into his soul, diving deep and never resurfacing. I’d misplaced my inhibitions. But I also couldn’t think straight to remember why being with him was a bad thing.
The fox had darted so fast and disappeared into a crack near the fireplace that I didn’t even know existed. A spirit animal that reminded wulfkin to enjoy life, or so Vincent had told me. Maybe the fox represented a premonition, a message I ought to listen to.
A childish giddiness filled my soul. I inched closer to Vincent, whose chest rose and fell, his starved gaze locking onto me. His musky, manly scent engulfed me, infusing heat into every inch of my being, caressing my wolf.
My heart beat so fast; I swore my whole body pulsed. I wiped my upper lip. Milk streaked my hand, and the giggles returned threefold. My stomach ached in the best possible way.
“I seem to have a milk problem.” Had I just purred those words?
A grin raised the corners of his mouth.
His powerful hands gripped my waist. In one swift motion, he lifted me onto the counter and wedged himself between my thighs.
My voice vanished as the thrumming of my pulse sharpened. Every molecule in me focused on the point of contact of his fingers finding skin under my shirt.
“You going to help or keep gawking?” My breathing became rapid and uneven. Vincent’s presence made me batty with temptation, with desperation, with urges I hadn’t experienced for anyone.
He leaned in, his mouth on my upper lip, licking my lips, leaving me trembling.
The need coursing through my veins zoomed faster, and I embraced the flames radiating off his body.
I slid my hand to the nape of his neck, drawing closer. Nothing else felt more perfect. Not the tingle in the pit of my gut, not the way the recessed lights illuminated his midnight eyes, and definitely not the cinnamon aroma teasing my nostrils. Only Vincent and me.
He pulled back. “It’s like you’re inside my head. I want you.”
“Fuck.” My response was a squeak. I couldn’t take another breath after hearing a hunk like Vincent saying he desired me.
His fingers swept through my hair and grabbed a handful. The back of my head cradled against his fist. He tilted it back, and my chin lifted when he stared down at me. “From the first moment I met you in front of the grocery store, I fantasized about tasting you.” His devilish smirk left me burning up. “Unless you have any objections?”
“If you don’t hurry, you’ll have a major problem.”
“I like your style.” His voice flowed over me like caramel. His mouth brushed mine, hot, fiery, and demanding, his tongue pressing past the seam of my lips. I kissed him back, and my world fell away.
An inferno invaded my insides, leaving me breathless. I was against his warm chest, and my heart fluttered. My wolf stirred too, giving her approval, insisting Vincent was ours now. Always.
I shoved her aside and focused my attention on Vincent.
His tongue swept along my chin, nuzzling on the hollow of my throat while his hands unclipped my bra. In one swift movement, he lifted my shirt and bra over my head and tossed them behind him. My nipples beaded tightly in anticipation.
I gasped at the way he homed in on my breasts.
“Damn sexy.” He reached out with both hands, cupping my breasts, kneading them. His thumbs flicked the taut nipples.
A moan trilled past my throat, and my eyelids waved shut as I melted beneath his strokes. The moment his mouth seized a breast, the apex between my thighs tightened.
I eased my eyes open and found Vincent studying me. He winked and ran his tongue in a circular motion around each breast as if I were no more than ice cream. If he asked, I’d give him the entire tub to lick.
“You’re killing me.” My hips rocked back and forth, unable to scratch the insatiable itch burning deep inside.
When his teeth gently gnawed on a nipple, I mewled with delight. He pulled, heightening the sensation as his hands tugged at the button on my pants, unzipping me, yet somehow I felt completely unprepared. After a night of gawking at Vincent, finding him naked in my living room, I should be jumping his bones. Desire burned through me, but a light shiver of the unknown trickled through me as well.
Releasing his hold, he focused on drawing my pants down, and I shimmied to help him drag them and my panties off.
I reached over and trailed my hands across his hard, muscled arms. My brain was on fire from touching the chiseled God in front of me. “How did you get so strong?”
“Lots of training.”
“Mmm hmm.” My hand caressed lower and over the huge bulge beneath the towel around his waist.
Vincent groaned as he nudged my hand away. “Not yet.” Instead, he took me into his arms and kissed me with ferocity. Lips, tongue, and his whispering breath against my cheek. His chest pressed against mine, steel covered in warmth. He nudged me onto my back, the counter cold, but a welcoming reprieve from the heat invading me.
His mouth trailed lower on my chest, my abdomen, as his hands caressed down my thighs, over my knees, and down to my feet. He lifted my legs onto the counter and spread me.
He glanced up at me, a swirl of lust cramming behind his eyes. “I’m going to lick you until you beg me to stop.”
Why’d he have to tell me? Knowing it only made the anticipation worse. A shiver ran the length of my body at the image of him taking me. He slid a finger along my silkiness, stealing any attempt I made at a response. My mewls played a melody deep inside my throat. He took mock bites out of my thighs as he dipped lower. “You’re intoxicating, and I want you now.” He latched onto my bud, sucking, his tongue flicking.
I writhed beneath him, floating on air. This was magic. My body and wolf having a mind of her own, responded to Vincent like a puppet. “Yes. Yes.” He drove me closer to the edge. The electricity on my skin sparked, the rise of my wolf intense.
When I arched my back, he slid two fingers just past the entrance, then three, short-circuiting my brain. I cried out as I was overcome by an orgasm, teasing, shuddering me at the core. I released every bit of pent-up tension.
With a long lick across my sensitive folds, Vincent stood, his eyes caught in his own ecstasy. “You’re delicious.”
He ripped off his towel, and I snapped my head forward for a better gawk. Sure, I’d seen him before, but sweet goddess, not in full hardness mode. I panted.
“Come here.” He took me by the elbows and lifted me upright, his hands gliding behind and across my back.
Beneath his passion, I swooned, lost in a world I never intended to emerge from. His lips traced my cheeks and across to my ears. “Wrap those sexy legs around me.”
I held on to Vincent, and he picked me up into his arms, hands squeezing my butt.
“Let’s go to my room,” I suggested.
He shook his head and grinned. Instead, he carried me to the rug in front of the fireplace and knelt down in slow motion, never wavering once. His strength was unbelievable. With my back on the rug, I bathed in the lust capturing Vincent’s gaze.
He rolled back on his heels and pried apart my knees as he inched closer and guided his tip along my sleekness. I moaned from the desperation to take him. With a kiss, he’d breathed fire into me, a heady passion fill
ing every inch of me.
“You’re ready?”
“You bet your sweet ass.” I raised my hips up to meet him. “Stop teasing. Come on.”
He slid himself into me, filling me with a shudder of ecstasy. My inside walls clenched against his girth as he pushed deeper.
My groans escalated, my body taking him in. Shit, who was that huge?
“You okay?” he asked.
“Why are you stopping?”
He broke into a chuckle. “Checking.” He drove back into me, faster, deeper. Shivers overcame every fiber of my being.
“Harder.”
He rocked into me so fast; I forgot where I started and where I ended. We were a tangle of limbs, and I never wanted this to end. A tingle gripped me as his slapping continued, the sound a siren’s call.
With my ankles in his hands, he positioned my legs against his shoulders and . . . “Goddess.” He reached so deep on the next thrust that an orgasm shattered me from head to toe.
I shook, riding the tide as he rammed hard. He moaned and pulsed inside me. After we caught a breath, he lowered my legs on either side of him as he pulled out.
I lay there, spent. Vincent crashed alongside me, and he rolled me over onto him, his legs snaking around mine. “We’re doing that a few more times tonight,” he breathed heavily.
A laugh broke free. “You animal. Let me rest a bit, then I’m all yours.”
My world faded into the background, because while I remained in Vincent’s arms and drunk on his kisses, nothing could touch me.
Chapter Eight
VINCENT
The scorching water from the shower streamed down my shoulders as the night played over in my mind. I pictured Cacey wriggling beneath me, sending me to further heights with her moans each time I drove deeper into her. My pulse skyrocketed in a second flat at the memories.
Overnight, the hot chocolate had somehow lowered our inhibitions, and considering I’d never behaved that way after such a tame drink, I’d say the thing was spiked. But this morning my thoughts were sharp and crisp and centered on Cacey. These two weeks in Susi promised me a much-needed break with fantastic company because no other wulfkin played on my mind like she did, lingered in my veins, consumed me. Not even my last girlfriend.