But it wasn't.
No, being naked and sexual and wanting under Nic's gaze seemed as natural as shifting, as breathing, as running through the forest on a dark night. It was a part of who I was, who he was, and even a ritual as ancient and respected as the Pairing couldn't change that.
Nic dropped his lips to my left breast with some encouragement from my fingers, digging into the dark mahogany color of his hair and pulling him forward. But as soon as his mouth touched my skin … all bets were off.
With another growl, Nic took my nipple between his lips, suckling it and sending waves of hot, aching pleasure ricocheting through me. My body felt like it was coming apart at the molecular level, individual elements, individual atoms, liquefying the same way they did during a shift.
I melted in his arms, letting my hair fall back, the red strands tickling my lower back as I squeezed Nic's head to my chest and let instinct take over, guiding us both, egging us on.
He kissed and sucked and teased his way over both breasts and the skin between them, above them, below them, covering my chest and belly with his lips, flicking his tongue into my navel.
Abruptly, Nic stood and took me with him, carrying me to his bed and laying my body across a bedspread sprinkled with stars. They mimicked the ones I could see above him, through the skylight in the ceiling.
Nic tore his shirt over his head, flashing me a chest and belly made up of lean muscles that rippled and danced beneath his skin as he moved to turn off the light and shut the top on his computer, plunging us into blackness. After just a few seconds, my wolf eyes adjusted to the light and I could see Nic perfectly, albeit in shades of black and gray. As he passed under the skylight, beams of silver moonlight streamed over his face, reminding us that tomorrow night, the night of the Pairing, was the full moon.
Nic climbed on the bed and knelt between my legs as I sat up to undo the button on his jeans, pull down his fly. We locked eyes as he reached his hands down and pushed the denim (and his boxers) out of the way, revealing the thick, hard curve of his shaft. I'd seen this part of his body before, but usually it wasn't like this, proud and stiff and ready for me.
“Take them all the way off,” I instructed as he licked his lips, both submitting to me and flirting at the same time.
“Yes, Alpha.”
I watched as Nic stood back up and dropped his jeans and underwear to the floor, standing there just as naked as he was in the parking lot that afternoon. But infinitely more beautiful somehow.
I pushed my own pants down and kicked them off the bed, reaching a hand out to grab his wrist. Since Nic and I were both virgins (and both werewolves with naturally advanced healing abilities) we didn't have to worry about protection from STDs. As far as birth control, I'd been taking crushed buttercup (the only plant or medicine known to man that could block a werewolf's reproductive abilities) for weeks to get in the habit for the Pairing.
There was nothing stopping us from going through with this.
I dragged Nic down to the bed next to me, turning so he could pull me into his arms and kiss me again. Our skin pressed together in all the right places, searing my flesh with sensations that I would never forget, not even if I was lucky enough to live a hundred and thirty-seven years like Majka.
I savored his taste, his smell, let the flavors linger on the back of my tongue as my hands roved, exploring his body the same way he was exploring mine. When he finally made it to my ass, squeezing the soft flesh with his clawed fingers, I rolled and he rolled with me, settling between my thighs, aligning our bodies.
My own hands dug small grooves down his back as we continued kissing, breaking apart only once the heat was too much to bear, like standing too close to the sun.
We locked eyes as I reached between us and guided Nic to the warmth blooming between my thighs, the liquid desire staining my skin with need. We were still staring at each other when he thrust his hips forward, filling my body with his in a single motion.
There was this moment there where we both went very still, acclimating to the idea of being lovers, being mates, of breaking years of desperate feeling and want into pieces. I could feel his cock carefully cradled inside of me, feel his breath stirring my hair. It wasn't painful, just different, new, the sensations unfamiliar. But Nic, he was about as familiar as familiar could get; he felt like home and he was exactly what I needed tonight.
As soon as we'd settled into that feeling, adjusted to the idea of what we'd just done, there was nothing holding us back. Our slow moment of sensuality broke into an animalistic frenzy controlled more by our wolf sides than our human ones. Growls and groans both slipped from our lips as I dug my clawed fingers into Nic's ass, thrusting my pelvis up to meet his. Our bodies joined, separated, came together again.
When I closed my eyes and threw my head back, arching my spine and curving my body against Nic's, I felt this strange energy in the air around us. It had a familiar zing, a charge that I recognized from … somewhere. But I was too caught up in the warmth and hardness of Nic's body, the frantic beat of his heart inside his chest, the wild whispers of pleasure crossing his lips.
I kissed those sounds right off his mouth, encouraged his left hand to knead the tender flesh of my breast, bright red spots of blood appearing where his claws penetrated my skin. Lines of fire seemed to erupt from my breast straight down to my core, lighting me up into a blaze that burned too hot, drawing sweat down the sides of my face, teasing little beads of perspiration on Nic's upper lip.
Sneaking my hand between our undulating bodies, I found the hardened nub of my clit and used the slickness stirred up by our lovemaking to tease it in small, tight circles. That extra bit of sensation was enough to push me over the edge, and I found myself curling forward with a violent gasp, my body clamping down on Nic's with a tremendous amount of force.
The orgasm crashed over me like a heatwave, stealing one from Nic in the process.
Together we groaned and shuddered and rubbed our cheeks together.
And then the wall exploded behind us and blew out all the power in the house.
Both Nic and I were up and ready to fight in a split second, him in wolf form and me in human. I suddenly wished I had one of Montgomery's swords on me. Didn't matter though. I was a werewolf—a living weapon. Teeth and claws out, I looked around for a witch, a vampire, a rival pack, maybe someone that wasn't happy with the terms of the Pairing.
But there was nobody and nothing.
A second later, Nic's door was kicked in and there was Montgomery wielding those swords I'd just been lusting after, his boot crushing the heavy paneled door as he raced over it, trench coat billowing out behind him. He spun the iron and wood swords around in his hands and looked to me for direction.
“What happened?” he asked as the dust settled and pieces of drywall and framing lumber crashed over each other and tumbled to the floor at my feet. I was standing in a sea of broken glass from the lights in Nic's ceiling and it hurt.
“I have no idea,” I said, my body thrumming and my heart racing. I felt tender between my thighs, but sated in a way I'd never experienced before. My body felt like it was tattooed in all the places Nic had touched me, and down the inside of my thigh, I felt a warm trickle of liquid. “The wall just … exploded.”
Dropping my fighting stance, I moved over to stand next to Nic, looking out over the backyard and the pieces of broken siding, the shattered glass. Monty moved up next to us, his white braid snaking over his shoulder as he leaned over and tried to get a good look at the debris.
Swallowing hard, I glanced surreptitiously in his direction. The fact that I was naked meant literally nothing to a werewolf, but the semen on the inside of my thigh, my own lubrication, the mingling scents of Nic's and my sweat. As soon as Montgomery recovered from the shock of the movement, as soon as more of the dust settled, he'd smell it.
Everyone would.
My fingers curled in Nic's fur so tight that he let out a small growl.
'Who the he
ll did this?' he asked, lifting his nose up to scent the air as the other three alpha-sons stumbled into the room behind us. I glanced over my shoulder and found Jax in wolf form, Silas with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and Anubis looking at me with a horrified expression that said it all.
He knew. He knew. He knew.
Without a word, he moved forward and reached out as if he were going to grab me by the arm.
Nic turned on Anubis right away, snapping at him with a muzzle full of glistening white teeth, lips curled back in a snarl.
'Get your fucking hands off of her!' he said, but only so the Alpha-Son of Pack Crimson Dusk could hear him.
“I'm only trying to help,” Anubis said in a hushed whisper, dressed in a black wifebeater and sweatpants. He was sweating almost as badly as I was, his blue-black hair sticking up in all sorts of crazy directions. My skin felt almost too achy, too sensitive to be touched, and I carefully stepped out of reach of his grip. “The alphas are all in the forest just a few miles from here—I heard their howls. If you don't come with me right now, they'll all find out what happened in here.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Silas asked, turning his golden eyes over to me and then going completely stiff, his cigarette tumbling from his lips. Lifting his head up, he scented the air and I closed my eyes because I just needed a goddamn second.
I'd just had my first time, lost my virginity, mated with Nic.
And then the wall had exploded?
I was so confused.
I opened my eyes and took a deep breath.
“You slept with him!” Silas screamed and Montgomery immediately grabbed him from behind and clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Shut up,” he snarled, his green eyes flashing with frustration and anger. I couldn't decide if the expression was for me and Nic or Silas. “What difference will it make if she comes with you?” Monty asked Anubis, his nostrils flared wide and his lips pursed tight.
“Ugh,” Anubis groaned, putting his face in his hands and then dropping them to his sides before he turned and left the room at a run.
Jax simply climbed up on Nic's bed and sat there with his pink tongue lolling from his mouth.
“The alphas are going to kill him when they find out,” Montgomery told me, his face grave and his voice mournful, like he was already grieving Nic's death.
“I won't let them touch him,” I said firmly, dropping my palm to Nic's big head to calm him down. As soon as our bodies made contact, electricity seemed to shoot between us and Nic's computer short-circuited, sparks flying out as the silver top cracked right in half. I jerked my hand away, eyes flying wide as I felt it there in the room with us, as distinct as a fingerprint—magic. “This isn't possible,” I whispered as Montgomery dropped his hand from Silas' gaping mouth and they both stared at me in a state of complete and utter shock.
“Shit, you guys are making it really difficult for me to help you,” Anubis said, crunching back over the battered door with a glass bottle in his hand.
I could barely look at him as I lifted my palm up and just stared at it.
The sex, the explosion, the magic.
It was in the air, as heavy and pungent as it had been in the hidden room at the Triad Historical Society, but with different undertones. It was earthy and wild and feral, curling through the air like a pack of wolves on the prowl, paws crunching over snow, muzzles lifted in haunting melancholic song.
Before I could question the wisdom of it, I dropped my palm to Nic's head again and the leftover debris in the room—including Nic's desk and everything on it—was blasted into the backyard in a violent guest of wind, red hair whipping around my face and stinging my lips.
I peeled it away with my fingers as the gust died down as suddenly as it had come.
“Magic,” I said aloud and then we all went completely still as howls of alarm broke the quiet winter night into pieces. Cold wind—real wind this time, not supernatural—swirled around my body and turned my skin to gooseflesh.
“Forget the magic for now,” Anubis said, reaching out to take my hand.
The flatscreen TV on the dresser behind me exploded outward in a sea of glass, hitting my back with such force that I immediately felt blood oozing down my ass and the backs of my thighs.
My wide, frightened eyes meet Anubis' crimson ones and he very carefully drew back his hand.
“This is enchanted witch hazel,” he told me, offering the bottle of clear liquid instead. “If you get in the shower, wash off, and then douse yourself with this, you'll have no smell—both of you.”
Vaguely, I recognized the sound of whimpering from behind my closed bedroom door and realized the explosion had probably scared the shit out of Faith.
“Will you go make sure my friend's okay?” I asked the four thoroughly confused alpha-sons.
“Yes,” Anubis growled, holding out his arm to indicate Nic's bathroom door. “Now go. And hurry.”
Nic shifted back into human form just as I heard Greer's questioning voice from the stairwell.
“I've got her,” Montgomery promised as he and Anubis headed for the hallway. Meanwhile, Silas just stood there looking like I'd kicked him in the balls. He was pissed—and hurt, too, I think.
“Silas,” I started to say, but Jax gave a sharp warning bark that made my ears ring.
'They're nearly here,' he said to me, and I got my ass in motion, being very careful not to touch Nic as we squeezed into the bathroom and shut the cracked and splintered door behind us. The mirror and the glass shower door were both broken, but I turned it on anyway and hopped in, ignoring the cuts on my feet. I was leaving footprints of blood everywhere, but it didn't matter. Wounds that small would heal in fifteen minutes or less.
“Zara,” Nic said, looking at me with this aching tenderness in his eyes, like he'd already resigned himself to die and was missing me already. I sprayed myself off as I glared at him.
“Don't,” I snarled as he curled his fingers into his red hair and then sputtered when I sprayed him with the removable showerhead. “Wash yourself off and let's spray each other with this fucking witch hazel.”
“You don't think at least one of those assholes is going to tell your mother?” Nic yelled, gesturing at the door. I got pissed at him all of a sudden, but then felt bad when I realized there was more than just water running down his face. Nic was crying. “I'm going to miss you, Zara,” he whispered, my hands trembling as I dropped the showerhead to the tiled floor and climbed back out to wrap him in my arms, pressing my quivering lips to his ear.
“I won't let them hurt you, Nic. I promise, I promise, I promise.” I kissed the side of his face several times before I pulled away and cupped his cheek with my right hand. “The White Wolf always keeps her promises.”
A second later, Silas was pushing the door open and glaring at us.
“Nobody's going to say a fucking thing,” he snarled, running a finger along the scar that covered his left eye. “So get washed up and come up with a damn good lie to explain this shit—you have minutes at most.”
Nic and I looked at each other for a moment and then in a frenzy, we both soaped up and rinsed, taking turns spraying the other person's body with the witch hazel.
When we came out of the bathroom, Nic went straight for his dresser and snatched out a t-shirt and some boxers. Nakedness didn't matter to werewolves, but it would matter to Faith. Fortunately, Anubis had thought ahead and was waiting with a stack of clothing for me that he must've grabbed from my room.
I was grateful until I noticed a pink lacy thong sitting on the top with a matching bra. Both items had tags on them—gifts from Faith that I had wrinkled my nose at and stuffed as deeply as I could into my bra and underwear drawer.
“You went through my panties?” I snarled, and I think at that point I was almost hysterical.
I'd faced down the Crone, eaten and then thrown up a piece of Ebon Red brand werewolf meat, lost my virginity, and then discovered that wow, after decades of being co
mpletely magic-less, power was mysteriously being bestowed on me at the moment of orgasm (and simultaneously blowing up part of my mother's house).
“Only trying to be helpful,” Anubis said, and if he hadn't brought me that witch hazel, I might've torn his throat out.
Instead, I pulled on the clothes as quickly as I could and let Jax, Silas, and Anubis all sniff me and Nic both—vigorously.
“Nothing,” Anubis said as he stepped back and Silas nodded his head in agreement. “You don't smell like a damn thing.”
“Good,” I said as I took a deep breath and prepared myself to face Nikolina.
Not twenty seconds later, a pack of wolves exploded from the forest outside the crumbled wall and came to a confused and stumbling halt at the pile of unexpected debris. Leading them all, of course, was a glossy red coated female with a black stripe down her back. I watched as she took a few steps back and then raced forward, launching herself at the second story and landing with a crash in the center of Nic's debris strewn bedroom.
“Zara Wolf,” she said in warning, before her mouth was even fully shifted, her body sliding back into the sleek, svelte curves of my mother's naked human form.
“Alpha,” I said respectfully, and as if on cue, all the boys around me took a knee. Certainly they could tell how agitated Nikolina was. Her anxiety, fear, and battle ready rage swirled through the room like a storm, almost palpable on the back of my tongue.
But even that couldn't blot out the heavy, almost metallic scent of magic.
My mother's black eyes widened in surprise as she scented the room and I realized with a wild, panicked fear that I'd forgotten to spray the bed with witch hazel.
Pack Ebon Red (The Seven Mates of Zara Wolf Book 1) Page 13