How could he have fallen in love with his pack master’s woman, his pack’s Alpha female? How could he have such strong feelings for a woman who was not his to have, to hold, or to cherish as his very own?
Chapter Seven
Frank came through the door like a raging bull. His eyes were wide. Unmistakable determination lived in his gaze. “Where is he?”
“Who?” Carla set a bowl of beans on the table.
“Heck, damn it. Where is he?” Frank’s brooding anger was clear, evident.
“Frank, please let this go.” Carla grabbed hold of his muscular arm. As soon as she touched him, she knew with certainty. Frank had felt her connection with another. He’d known the longing, the lust she’d felt for Heck.
Their eyes met. “I won’t have the beta at my flank ignore our laws.” His face was red. His neck was corded. Rage now had a face and Frank owned it like the emotion belonged to him and him alone.
“Please don’t do this, Frank. We didn’t do anything wrong.” Carla watched as he paced the floor. “You don’t know what it was like out there.”
“Then why don’t you tell me?” He tossed his cowboy hat to the coat rack and stood next to the small window next to the entrance.
“Why should I tell you what you already know? Heck carried me home while the rest of the pack chased the bears away.”
With his back still to her, he asked, “Did he touch you?”
“He saved me.”
“Did he touch you?” he screamed.
“Not in the way you think!”
Frank turned on her like a rebounding prairie storm. He stalked her like prey and grabbed hold of her arms. Catching himself before he shook her, he stared at her as if he were frightened. Perhaps he was. Perhaps in that moment, he realized there was a piece of himself he couldn’t control or harness when it came to Carla.
He thinned his lips. His nostrils flared. He took several deep breaths. “You’re my mate. You belong only to me and Jock. Do you understand?”
For a split second, she thought about agreeing with him, and maybe a wiser woman would’ve nodded her head or said the kind of things to reassure her lover, but the wiser woman wouldn’t have demonstrated her strength by telling the truth.
“You can’t see me or hear my thoughts when I’m with Heck,” she whispered, understanding why. “Can you?”
As if she’d slapped him straight across the face, Frank threw his head back and stared down the wide bridge of his nose. A very troubled expression washed over his handsome face as he released her. He tucked a lock of black, silken hair behind his ear and squared his shoulders as if he expected to carry a burdensome load.
It was one of the rare times when Carla had seen the Arapaho Indian emerge. His chiseled, high cheekbones flexed over and over again. He ground his molars until they made an awful racket.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said softly. “I only want to love who I’m supposed to love.”
“You were imprinted on by two pack masters. You belong to me and you belong to Jock.”
“I belong to him, too, Frank.” As if the words were torn from her throat, she added, “I’m certain of it.”
“You do not!” Frank’s voice ricocheted off the walls of their small home. It was a miracle the logs didn’t split down the middle.
Trying to understand how Frank might have viewed her expressed feelings as outright betrayal, she took cautious steps toward him. She cupped his cheek and stroked the wide corner of his curled lip, massaging his mouth with the pad of her thumb.
“I love you.” She wanted to reassure him, needed him to know that regardless of her feelings for another, she would always belong to him. He’d been her first lover. He’d been the one to teach her so much about loving another.
He turned his face to her hand, kissing the center of her palm. His eyes grew heavy. His tense cheeks relaxed.
“I need you,” he whispered, arching his brow as if he thought she would deny him.
“I’m right here, Frank.” She took his hand and led him behind the bedroom curtain. “I’m always right here for you.”
“Show me,” Frank said, sliding his suspenders away from his shoulders and down his arms.
Carla reached for him then, realizing this was one of the very few times when he would let her lead. She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed the garment out of her way, loving the way his muscles bunched under her fingertips.
“That’s right, honey,” he drawled, running his hand over the obvious erection imprinting the material he wore.
She stuffed her thumbs under the top of his low-riding breeches and with one flick of her wrist and a little applied pressure, Frank’s pants dropped to his hips. His cock sprang forward and her mouth watered at the sight of his long, stiff length.
Frank pushed down on her shoulders as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. Carla went to her knees, situating her body in front of Frank’s.
She walked her fingers up his thighs, watching him as he looked on with such a heated and fierce expression, one filled with ownership and devotion. She’d just touched the base of his shaft when he snatched her wrists and held them together between his hands.
“Don’t touch me with your hands.” His nostrils flared. “Use your mouth, honey. Show me how much you enjoy pleasing me.”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered, grabbing hold of his legs and hauling her upper body forward.
Frank aimed his penis forward. Her lips parted and he stuffed his heavy cock deep between her cheeks, watching with obvious approval as she went straight to work, caressing and pampering him with a firm and giving tongue.
* * * *
Jock arrived in time to witness the best of good loving. Frank was aware of his presence, but uninterested in inviting him to join them.
Helping Carla to her feet, Frank turned her to the bed and applied pressure to the small of her back, forcing her forward. Taking a belt from the top of an old wooden trunk, he doubled the strap over. “Do you know why you are being punished, Miss?”
“I know why you think I should be punished,” Carla replied.
Hard as stone, Frank quickly debated if he had the energy to spank her when all he wanted to do was ride the rebellion right out of her. Instead of considering the latter, he raised his arm and delivered the first of many strikes, loving the sound of the leather thwacking against her flesh. He especially enjoyed the markings on her skin, the evidence she would wear for a good number of days, something significant to remind of her betrayal.
“Are you wet, Miss?” He threw down his belt after he’d spanked her properly. Leaning over her back, he whispered at her ear. “Do you need me as much as I need you?” His firm cock rested against her hip.
“Yes, Sir. I always need you.”
Frank pushed against her. He reached around her chest and pulled her nipple, twisting the perky point until she cried out in pleasure and in pain.
“Again, Frank,” she whispered, arching against him. “Spank me again.”
Frank stood erect behind her. Glancing down at his outstretched penis, he was tempted to give her another lashing as she’d requested, but in that moment, he owed himself more. While he wanted to please his mate and he was desperate to turn her on, there was another lesson to be taught, a valuable example to set.
Positioning Carla’s hips in front of his rigid length, Frank clutched her sides and bypassed the puckered entrance he’d meant to claim. He lifted his gaze to the small window above the bed. In the back of his mind, he was certain he heard a whimper then. That stifled cry had come from the small gray and white wolf standing on the ridge.
Frank felt a small tug at his lips as he slammed into his mate, claiming the space that was his to take and his to own. “You belong to me, Carla.” He lifted his arm above his head and pulled out enough so he could deliver a hard swat to her bottom before entering her again.
She whimpered with the strike and moaned as he entered her once more. Then, just as he’d suspected, she
rocked against him, moaning and begging, pleading for satisfaction as she squeezed him with her pussy, bearing down on the width of his cock as she struggled for release.
“Not yet, Carla.” He grunted as he fucked her, working his hips into a hell of a grind. And when his cock was worn and his balls were strained, that’s when he shoved his shaft one inch higher and held as still as a man possibly could. “Come, Carla. Go on now, love. Show the one watching why you enjoy me.”
She dropped her head and whined, undoubtedly aware then of the audience spying on them. Still, she couldn’t resist. Her mate lust was more than she could deny.
Carla threw her hips back and jerked her body forward. She slammed against him once, twice, and then a final time. When she screamed out her release, an ear-piercing howl rang out over the prairie, and Frank knew then that the beta male who had served him at his flank had inevitably fallen in love with the woman now wilting away in his arms.
Chapter Eight
Jock had detected the eyes on the hill right as he’d entered the cabin and caught a glimpse of Carla and Frank fucking. Instead of mounting Old Dolly again, he phased into his wolf form and raced to the ridge. Once there, he shifted again, determined to discuss the Carla situation man-to-man.
“Shift,” he ordered Heck.
The gray and white wolf slowly turned and bared his teeth. He blew out a hard breath in defiance, but Jock stood his ground.
“Now, Heck.”
Stubborn as hell, Heck took another moment or two before he finally assumed his human form and slumped to the ground. Drawing his knees to his chest, he stared out over the prairie. “She belongs to me, too.”
“I think you may be right.”
Apparently startled by his reply, he whipped his head around and glared at Jock. “If you knew, why didn’t you say something?”
“It’s not my place.”
“The hell it ain’t!” He rose to his feet and marched from one side of the peak to the other, stomping out a fit of rage.
“When you’re done there, let me know and we’ll sit for a bit and talk about this.”
Minutes passed but Jock waited him out. Finally, Heck conceded. He reclaimed a seat in the high grass and Jock sat beside him.
“Want to tell me about it?”
“What’s to tell?”
“When did you know?” Jock asked.
“Maybe I’ve always known. Maybe the reason I didn’t want to accept you as one of her mates had more to do with Carla than the joining of two packs.”
“You never said anything about either one to me. I’m guessing you didn’t mention it to Frank.”
Heck snarled. “Oh, he knew. He just chose to look the other way.”
“I don’t think he did,” Jock said, defending Frank.
Since he and Frank had taken Carla as their shared mate, they’d become more like brothers. They lived together and somehow the three of them had made their unusual relationship work.
“He can hear my thoughts, sense my emotions.” Heck’s shoulders slumped. “He looked the other way because he’s too selfish to share.”
Jock laughed. “I might go along with that if I hadn’t been on the other side of Carla in many intimate situations.”
Heck frowned. “You imprinted first. He didn’t have any other choice but to accept you.”
“Oh, I think he had a choice. We all have choices. Take Grant for instance. He chose to go his own way when Frank’s pack joined with mine. Other pack members would argue Grant was never a true WolfDen shifter. If he had been, he wouldn’t have been able to walk away from us. You, on the other hand, were loyal to Frank and other pack members. You stayed.”
“What else could I do?” Heck propped his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands. “Frank’s pack is my family.”
“We’re all family now,” Jock reminded him.
“My response to that could be something along the lines of ‘families are supposed to share.’”
They laughed. After the chuckles subsided, Jock said, “I don’t think so. In every family there are individuals who seem to have and want more. That’s what you’re seeing with Frank. Part of it is his sense of entitlement, I think. The other part is he is the pack master. If he shares Carla with you, how long before someone else comes along and claims a sense of entitlement?”
“What I feel for Carla isn’t entitlement.”
“Then what is it?”
“Carla is my mate as much as she is yours or Frank’s.”
Jock swallowed. He had already suspected as much, but hearing the passion in Heck’s voice as he made such a bold claim left him slightly uneasy. “Have you and…” He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to ask. When he and Frank traveled outside the area, they lost the ability to communicate with their pack. Carla and Heck could’ve had a physical relationship without Jock or Frank knowing it. “Have you and Carla had relations?”
“Listen to yourself, why don’t ya?” He threw up his left arm and waved his hand over the prairie. “How long do you think it would’ve taken one of the other pack members to tell you if something like that had happened? Since the packs joined, it’s like a bunch of tongue-wagging tattletales.”
“You’re right. That kind of news would’ve been too good to keep. Someone would’ve said something. If they hadn’t, their thoughts would’ve given the two of you away because they would’ve carried around too much guilt.”
“I wouldn’t betray Frank,” Heck admitted. Then, to Jock’s surprise, he turned to him and added, “Any more than I would betray you.”
Jock patted his arm. “I believe you.”
“Where does all this leave us now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve told you how I feel about the only woman you’ve ever loved.”
“Carla is my one and only great love. That’s true,” Jock said, unable to conceal a smile when he thought about Carla and all the ways she pleased him as his mate. “I guess the best answer is a question only you can answer. Where do you want this to take you?”
“I want her, Jock. I ache for her in a way I never thought I would long for a woman.”
Jock studied on his confession before he asked, “If those feelings are so strong, what has kept you from imprinting on her?”
“I’m not sure if I have or haven’t.”
“You’d know.”
“How did you know?” Heck asked.
Jock felt his entire body tingle as he remembered the moment when he imprinted on Carla. “Our gazes met. I was able to see her past and bits of our future together.” His heart fluttered at the memory. “It was a connection like no other and in that moment, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. I’d live for her. I’d die for her. Every breath I’d take from that moment on would be for and because of her.”
Jock instantly recalled the glimpses of the future he’d seen with Carla and Frank. He glanced at Heck, wondering if he should share what he’d dismissed before. When he’d imprinted on Carla, he’d seen the future and he’d seen Heck as part of that future. He’d never really thought about it. Heck was always around. Of course he’d see him as a part of their future.
Now he understood there was a better reason. Heck and Carla were mates.
“I feel that way sometimes,” Heck said, bringing Jock back to the conversation at hand. “Maybe it’s not as powerful as what you’ve described, but it’s there.”
“The two of you spend a lot of time together.” Jock couldn’t mention his suspicions until he discussed them with Frank.
“Yes,” Heck said, a deep sadness lingering in the lone word.
“And you’re afraid now.”
“Yeah,” Heck admitted. “But I don’t know what I fear more—losing time with Carla in the future or facing Frank and telling him I’m in love with his woman.”
“The way I see it, you have to decide which one frightens you more. If losing Carla is what scares you, then you have to talk to Frank. If you’re more afraid of how Frank wi
ll respond, then you need to consider that, too. I know Frank as well as anybody and if you don’t talk to him, he’ll view your silence as betrayal. And when Frank feels betrayed, he’s an unreasonable man. More importantly, he’s a dangerous man.”
Chapter Nine
“I was about to send the wolves for you,” Frank teased. “Where have you been?”
“On the ridge,” Jock said, noticing how Heck avoided eye contact with Frank. If he planned to confront Frank and tell him about his feelings, he was off to a rocky start.
Frank watched him as if he were watching an enemy approach. Jabbing the air with his fork, he said, “Have a seat, Heck. Join us for dinner.”
Carla dropped the spoon in the potatoes and nervously carried the bowl to the table. She returned to the chopping block for the rest of their meal. Once she delivered the meat and bread, she took a seat opposite Frank.
Heck removed his hat and placed it behind him on the chair. Jock disappeared behind the curtain and placed his on the trunk. Noticing the belt doubled over on the side of the bed, he couldn’t help but imagine what he might have missed. The pillows were on the floor and the sheets were wrecked.
Carla had been punished, but she’d undoubtedly enjoyed a few rewards, too.
Releasing his suspenders, Jock glanced around the sleeping area once more before he rejoined the others. “Sure looks good, Carla.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip of water. “I hope everyone enjoys it.”
Frank took a bite of his meal, popped his lips, roughly wiped his mouth with a napkin, and took another bite. The whole time, he kept his gaze pinned to Heck.
A guest at their dinner table, Heck kept his head down. He shoveled one spoonful of potatoes into his mouth and then another and another.
Amused, Jock watched the three of them. Catching a glimpse of the wanted posters on the chopping block, he said, “I’m glad Heck’s here tonight. We need to talk about what I heard in town.”
“Carla heard all that nonsense when she tapped into your thoughts. She told me all about it when you were up on the ridge babysitting Heck.”
Bounty [Dominant Wolves, Submissive Mates 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 4