by Sophie Stern
Red: Beyond the Dark
Sophie Stern
Copyright © 2016 by Sophie Stern
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Red: Beyond the Dark
About
Other Books by Sophie
For my readers
May you find your wolves
“You look lovely,” Nash greets me with a smile, and suddenly, I feel like I’m the only girl in the room. It doesn’t matter that there are wolves and humans alike surrounding us on all sides. The only thing that matters now, in this moment, is that we’re together.
It’s been a year.
It’s been an entire year since we swore to love each other, since we swore to take care of each other and Nash’s pack.
It’s been an entire year since my entire life crashed and Nash brought it back to life again.
It’s been a year.
And now I’m standing in the middle of our anniversary party, wondering what I did to deserve someone like him.
I’m wondering what I could have ever done to make a man like Nash fall for a girl like me.
It doesn’t make any sense when I think about it. He’s sweet, he’s kind. He’s everything I could have ever wanted and still, he fell for an imperfect human like me.
I’m no shifter, but then, Nash has never needed me to be. He’s always just wanted me to be me: myself. He’s always just wanted me to be the girl he fell in love with, the girl who made him laugh and smile when no one else could.
After his cousin died, he was broken. He was lost. After she died, he was just floating through life, barely surviving, but then we found each other and everything changed.
And now it’s been a year.
An entire year.
“Thank you,” I manage to say, even though there are a million other thoughts racing through my head. I want to tell him I can’t live without him. I want to tell him I’ve never felt so perfect. I want to tell him he makes me fly.
I want to tell him there’s never been anyone else who makes me feel the way he does.
I want to tell him about what the future holds for us, but it’s not time for that. Not just yet. First, we have to schmooze and laugh and make small talk and idle chatter with the people around us. First, we have a lot of socializing to do.
Later, when we’re alone, we can have some fun.
Later, I can give him the big news.
“Congratulations, you two,” Aunt Germaine breaks into my thoughts as she wraps Nash and me into a big group hug. “I always knew you had it in you.”
Nash quirks an eyebrow, but I just laugh. His aunt gave me a hell of a time before our mating ceremony, but there were other factors at play. Now, Aunt Germaine views me as part of the pack and I get the feeling she can’t imagine life without me.
I know Nash can’t. Right now, we’re both just glad we have each other. Things haven’t always been easy leading the pack together, but we’re a team. We’ll always be a team. We focus on getting through one day at a time, knowing the other one is always going to have our back.
We make our way through the crowd, slowly greeting people and talking to the shifters and humans who came to celebrate with us. My long, black gown is complemented with my red cape. I wouldn’t be me without it.
The cloak was a gift from my Grandmother. Even though she’s been gone for a year, she’s always close to my heart. Wearing my cloak makes me think of her. It reminds me that one day, I’ll see her again. One day.
Aunt Germaine is the one who made the dress and to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever looked prettier. The strapless gown accentuates my breasts and fits snugly around my tummy before falling the rest of the way to the floor.
If Aunt Germaine noticed my recent weight gain, she didn’t say anything. Maybe she knows this time.
Maybe she just wants to act surprised.
***
The music shifts and our DJ makes an announcement.
“It’s that time of the night,” he says with a grin. “As if partying with your Alpha and Mrs. Alpha wasn’t fun enough, it’s time for our favorite couple to cut the cake.”
“Food!” The wolves shout in unison.
Wolf shifters love food. I thought my Grandma’s Bingo buddies were bad when it came to eating, but wolves are much, much worse. You always have to have food around or they’ll go nuts. Part of the reason being one of the few humans in the pack is tough is that all wolves are basically built like gods.
Seriously.
As much as they eat, and as much crap as they eat, I don’t understand how Nash and Ryder and Thorn can still look the way they look. Talk about chiseled abs and strong backs and pecs that don’t quit.
Nash shoots me a look and I realize he can smell my arousal from thinking about him and his friends.
“Do you really love cake that much?” He whispers, winking at me, and I just shrug. Nash takes my hand and leads me through the parting crowd to the side of the room where there’s a table set up.
Everyone laughs and cheers as we make our way to the giant cake. The past year has been rough on both of us. So many things went wrong and we had so many arguments about how to make our relationship with each other and with the pack work, but somehow, we made it through.
Somehow we made it with each other.
Nash reaches for a knife and we both place our hands on it. He looks at me and smiles that boyish grin: the one I love so much. How did I get so lucky?
We press down, slicing the paw print shaped cake. Instantly, I hear people begin to sniff and smell as the scent of the chocolate fills the room. Fuck. Even as a human, I have to admit that the chocolate cake smells amazing. I want to eat all of it.
Maybe it’s just the hormonal changes I’ve been going through or maybe it’s just part of who I am, but lately, I’ve been craving chocolate like nobody’s business.
I may have demanded our anniversary cake be chocolate.
There may have been foot-stomping involved.
“I’d like to make a toast,” Nash lifts his glass, and the room silences as everyone turns to watch the Alpha. What will he say this time? What words of wisdom does he have to share?
Nash hasn’t had an easy time gaining the respect of the pack. Even though he grew up with most of these guys, he was outcast and shunned by the former Alpha before he finally took his rightful place as leader of The Silent Canines. When he did come back, he brought me with him: a goofy, awkward human.
Things haven’t been easy, to say the least.
“The past year has brought many changes to our pack. We’ve lost people we loved, people we respected. We’ve lost people we should were our friends, whom we thought loved us, too. We’ve had obstacles thrown in our way. We’ve had things go against us, but we haven’t backed down. We haven’t quit. Why?”
“Because we’re wolves!” The crowd cheers and laughs. A few shifters pump their arms in the air, 90s style.
“Because we’re wolves. Because we don’t quit. We don’t give up. We’ve grown and changed and adapted instead. We’ve evolved. We’ve grown stronger this year and we’ll continue to grow and adapt with each new year.”
“To us!” The wolves cheer.
“To us,” Nash whispers, so only I can hear.
We smile and lift our glasses. Everyone drinks. I sip my sparkling cider, happy and content as Nash continues speaking, offering words of encouragement to the wolves, but then he turns back to me.
“And to my darling mate,” he murmurs. “Words can never express how I feel about you. You’ve stood b
y my side through the darkness. You’ve been with me during the ups and the downs. I plan to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much you mean to me.”
He kisses me, then, in front of the pack, and once more, everyone cheers.
I’m struck again by just how damn lucky I am, only now, after a year in the pack, no one else seems to mind that Nash married a human. Now they seem happy their Alpha is happy, and that in itself is its own reward.
I still can’t wait until we’re alone, though.
I can’t wait to give Nash the good news.
The next year is going to bring even more changes, and this time, all of them are wonderful.
***
By the time Nash and I get back to our room after the celebration, we’re both exhausted, but happy. The rest of the party was wonderful. There were speeches and dancing. There were cheers and toasts and laughter. There was companionship.
We got to celebrate with our friends, with the pack. They might not have been my family at first, but they certainly are now. I can’t imagine living anywhere else but with them.
“Finally, I have you all to myself,” Nash whispers, pushing me against the wall. He kisses my neck and I groan as I lean my head back to give him more space. He knows exactly how to make me wet, exactly what I need.
I don’t even have to tell him. He just gets it.
I slide my hands up and down broad chest and allowing my fingers to wander around the edges of his muscles, feeling the hardness just beneath his shirt. His hair is still short, but it’s shaggier now. I run my hands through it, allowing myself to become absorbed in the way he feels.
Moments like this make everything else in life worth it. Moments like this make the darkness fade away. Moments like this make me feel like no matter what else happens, I have him. I have Nash.
And in moments like this, I realize that’s the only thing that matters.
He reaches for the red laces that hold my cloak in place, and he unlaces them. Slowly, he pushes my cloak off my shoulders. It pools around my feet on the ground.
“You’re beautiful, Red,” he whispers.
“I could say the same thing.”
“I’m beautiful?”
“You have no idea.”
“You just like when I turn into the big, bad wolf,” he nips at my ear when he says it.
“Wolfy,” I whisper, and smile. We press our foreheads together for a second, remembering when we first met each other in the forest. He stayed in his shifter form and I called him Wolfy because I didn’t know his name.
Now, sometimes when we’re alone, I’ll call him the first name I ever chose for him, and we’ll laugh about it.
Tonight, though, there’s no laughing.
Tonight we’re all business.
He kisses me again, passionately.
He kisses me like there’s no tomorrow, like no one has ever needed to kiss as badly as we need to right now.
He kisses me like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
He kisses me like there’s never been anyone else for him.
“Have you been a naughty girl, Red?” Nash licks my cheek, running his tongue up to my ear, and he bites me once more.
“No,” I whisper. “I’m a good girl.”
“Aw, what a pity,” he murmurs. “I thought I was going to get to spank you.”
My body tightens at that thought. A spanking? I shouldn’t be turned on when he whispers that, but it sounds so fucking nice, so naughty, so damn bad.
“I was wrong,” I say quickly, deciding to be bold, to be brave. Tonight I can be a little bit wild. It’s my anniversary, after all. “I have been bad. I’ve been so very, very bad.”
“Is that so?” Nash raises an eyebrow, pulling back slightly. He searches my face, checking to see if I realize what I’m getting into.
Nash doesn’t half-ass anything. If I tell him I want a spanking, I know full well he’s going to give me a spanking. It’s going to be some gentle slap while he’s sliding into me from behind, either.
No, he’s going to spank me hard so I remember it.
He’s going to make sure I feel it tomorrow.
“Scarlett?” He asks.
“Yes,” I whisper, swallowing hard.
“I’ve been bad, Nash. Spank me.”
***
He smiles, but it’s not the smile of my sweet husband.
No, Nash gives me the smile of a wolf. He gives me the smile of someone about to devour the thing they want the most. He gives me the smile of someone who knows I just made a very, very wrong choice.
Suddenly, my mouth goes dry and I realize I have no idea what he’s planned for me, and this scares me. Maybe I’m a little bit of a control freak. Maybe I’m just a little bit intense, but the idea of not knowing freaks me out.
I’d make a horrible submissive.
That’s exactly what Nash has planned for me, though, and he turns and strides across the room to our bed. He sits on the edge and places his hands on his lap. Then slowly, slowly, he strips his shirt off.
I don’t move as he unbuttons each button on his white dress shirt. Swallow. Somehow, I manage to swallow instead of drooling on the floor as each bit of his chest is revealed.
He shrugs out of the shirt and tosses it to the ground, then he places his hands back on his knees and looks at me.
He’s waiting for me.
He’s waiting for me to go get my spanking.
That’s what I wanted, right?
That’s literally what I just asked him for.
Why the hell did I do that?
Spank me, Nash, I said. Why? Why, oh why?
He grows tired of waiting for me, I think, because he crooks his finger, motioning for me to come over to him, and I realize this is the moment where everything changes. This is the moment where I decide to be brave or I decide to run away.
I’ve done both before.
I’ve sucked it up and been brave in our relationship.
I’ve wimped out and run away.
I’ve done both.
Staying is so much better.
Sucking it up is so much better.
Being strong and brave and wonderful is so much better.
I can do this.
I move my feet slowly. I place one foot in front of the other as I move toward my wolf. I move toward Nash. The space in our room has never felt so huge before. It’s never felt so scary before.
I don’t even know exactly what I’m scared of. The pain? Maybe. Maybe a little. I know this isn’t going to be fun at first, but I know the slow burn the spanking builds is going to make me wet. I know it’s going to make me excited.
If Nash wants to play this way, I have a feeling he’s going to want to try other things, too. He’s not just going to spank me and let me come. He’s not going to spank me and then give me an amazing orgasm and call it a day. No, if Nash wants my submission in this way, he’s going to want it in others.
He’s going to make me trust him.
He’s going to make me fall apart beneath his touch.
And I’m not sure if I’m ready.
***
“You have five seconds to get in front of me or you’re getting a double dose of spanking,” Nash says calmly. His voice is deep, husky. He’s aroused. I can see his dick straining at his pants, and I can see why he kept his slacks on.
If he took them off, we’d already be having sex. There’s no way I’d be able to resist bolting to my knees in front of him, taking his cock in my mouth, and sucking him until he was about to come. He’d turn me around and bend me over, slamming into me until I screamed out my orgasm.
Still, Nash’s threat works because I manage to scurry in front of him before the five second countdown ends.
“Good girl,” he says, and I feel a rush of pride jolt through my body.
Good girl.
He thinks I’m a good girl.
The idea is sweet to me and the compliment feels nice. Some women might feel patroniz
ed, might think he’s treating me like a pet, but I don’t mind. I like it. I like the way he murmurs to me. I like the things he whispers.
“Now, let’s get you out of that dress, shall we?”
I nod, suddenly unable to speak. If I say anything at all, I’m going to start begging, and that’s not the way we’re playing right now. This is all about Nash and his control right now. It’s all about me giving myself up to him as an offering. It’s all about trust. It’s all about our power exchange and right now, Nash holds all the cards.
I won’t beg him.
I bite my bottom lip to stop from asking him to just kiss me, to stop from asking him to suck on my nipples just a little. They’re already hard and pointy and it’s all I can do to keep from playing with them myself.
I watch Nash take me in. He looks at me with those dark eyes, watching me like he wants to fucking devour me. I know he’s going to ravage me tonight. I know he’s going to take everything I have to give, and I love knowing we’re in this together.
I love knowing that after all this time, he still looks at me like I’m a luscious treat just for him.
I love knowing that he still wants me, needs me, gets me.
“Turn around, Scarlett,” he says, using my given name. Most people call me Red. Most people just know the color of my cloak. Most people don’t see beyond that, but Nash does. Nash sees me.
Slowly, I turn around so I’m facing away from him. I hear Nash get off the bed, but he doesn’t speak right away. Not just yet. First, he touches me, and my whole body comes to live. He strokes up and down my arms, gently tracing my skin with the tips of his fingers.
Then he shifts his fingers, just a little, and I feel the sharp sting of his claws as they scratch my skin. I’ll never get used to these half-wolf shifts he can do, but tonight, it’s incredibly arousing as he touches me with his claws. He doesn’t pierce my skin, but Nash puts pressure on my arms, and I’m very aware of how powerful, of how strong he is.