Ansley’s face grew serious. “You have a sword too, don’t you?”
“Yes. All my brothers have one. Same with Saskia. That’s our weapon of choice.”
“I think I would like to see your sword, Roan,” Ansley said softly. “I have to admit Jager looked pretty hot standing there with his sword raised like that. It made me think about other raised swords.”
Roan growled low in his throat. “You had better be thinking about my sword and not Jager’s. I would hate to beat the crap out of my own brother.”
Ansley smiled. “It most definitely was your sword I thought about since you know how to use it so well.”
With another growl, Roan kissed Ansley until she grew pliant against him. He then urged her head on his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. He knew she would still need some time to come to terms with everything that she had learned today, but he felt more than pleased that the distance she had tried to put between no longer existed. Later he would show Ansley how much he loved her. And, if she made the decision to stay a mortal, he would show her that he would stand by it and wouldn’t force her into becoming a werewolf. He had already taken one choice away from her. He wouldn’t take this one away from her too.
* * *
Ansley watched Roan cross swords with Jager down in the training area in the basement. After they had left Roxie and Beowulf’s place, they had gone back to Roan’s house, actually her house now too. She and Roan had had a long talk. He had told her everything about him, even what it was like to be a werewolf. It had helped her to be more accepting of what he had done. And it helped her to understand the whole mated business. She knew she had strong feelings for him, the strongest she had ever felt for a man, but she still didn’t know if she would call it love. She wished she could tell him she loved him in return when he told her he loved her, but Ansley wouldn’t just say the words because he wanted to hear them.
During their talk, Roan had also explained why he and his family had trained so hard to protect Roxie, the foretold one. According to Roan, Roxie was more than just special. She could do things no other werewolf could, much more than just being able to shift into a half wolf/half human form and use a spell to turn mortals into werewolves. Since she also ruled over all the packs, it made her vulnerable. If another werewolf somehow managed to get control of her, they could use Roxie as a figurehead to rule instead. Roan had also told her about Miles, Saskia’s true brother, who at one time had been trained to protect the foretold one alongside his sister. But that was before he decided to switch sides and covet the foretold one for his own.
The sound of swords clashing together brought Ansley out of her musings. She followed Roan’s movements with her eyes. Shirtless, she could easily see the muscles in his arms and shoulders bunch when he swung at Jager. Each man’s hits were controlled. Not once did they draw blood.
Soon Roan stepped back and held up his hand to Jager. “That’s enough for one day I think.”
“Are you sure?” Jager swung his sword in an arc in front of him. “I could do this all day.”
Roan nodded in Ansley’s direction where she stood off to the side. “Unlike you, I have something more important in my life than my sword.”
“Since I’m no longer wanted, I guess I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. I’ll tell the others that you and Ansley will be fooling around down here and not to disturb you.”
Roan shook his head at his brother. “Jager.”
“What? Isn’t that what you want to do?”
“Would you get the hell out of here?”
With an unrepentant smile, Jager then headed up the basement stairs leaving Roan and Ansley alone. Ansley crossed over to Roan. “You definitely were right about Jager. He says whatever he wants and doesn’t give a crap what other people think.”
“We’ve tried breaking him of that habit over the years, but I don’t think he’ll ever change.”
“Will he tell the others we’re fooling around down here?”
“Of course, but Saskia will soon set him straight. She usually does.”
“I still can’t get over the fact that Saskia is the leader of you all.”
“It wasn’t on a whim that she had been picked to be our leader. She knows how to put each and every one of us in our place. She’s also lethal with a sword. She’s the only one who can best Jager in sword practice.”
Ansley let her gaze run over the sword Roan held in his hand. “Can I?”
Roan moved to her side and put the pommel of his sword in her hand. “You got it? It’s pretty heavy.”
The way she had watched Roan swing it, Ansley didn’t think it could be all that heavy. She wrapped her hand around the pommel and nodded. “Okay, I got it.” Once Roan let go, she soon found out how wrong she had been in that thinking. The tip of the sword thumped down onto the floor. It took both her hands to lift it back up to her waist. Her arms soon started to shake with the strain of holding the heavy sword. “I think you had better take it, Roan.”
He easily took it from her and held it as if it weighed nothing. “I told you it would be heavy.”
“The way you and Jager handled them you wouldn’t think it would be that heavy.”
Roan put his arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the stairs. “I’ve had years of practice. How about I go take a shower then we can watch TV or something?”
“I guess.”
Instead of staying downstairs, Ansley followed Roan up to their room. Roan and she planned to start moving the things out of her apartment to the house the following day. She decided while he was in the shower that she would see where she could fit her dresser into the room. Most of her furniture she would have to either sell or give away to charity. Not that she cared. None of her furniture held any sentimental value. Ansley sat on the bed after Roan went into the bathroom. Since he had left the door open, she easily heard him undress before the water turned on in the shower. It didn’t take much for Ansley to picture what Roan would look standing in the shower, the water running down his naked body. His arms would flex while he ran the bar of soap all over him. Her pussy started to ache and wetness pooled between her legs as she pictured him running his big soapy hand up and down his cock as he washed it. She stood up and walked over to the bedroom door and locked it. She stripped off her clothes and let them drop to the floor. She then crossed the room to the bathroom. After revealing what he was, Roan hadn’t once tried to initiate sex. If Ansley didn’t know better, she would think he held off, afraid she would reject him. Not that she would have. They were mates and nothing would change that. She may not be able to tell him she loved him, but she could show him with her body that he meant much more than what she could say in words.
Slipping into the bathroom, Ansley walked over to the glass enclosed shower. Roan had his back toward her with his head under the running water. She pulled open the shower door and stepped inside behind him.
Roan spun around. “Ansley?”
She gave him a smile. “I hope you didn’t expect another woman to get in the shower with you.”
“I thought you were going to wait out in the bedroom for me.”
“I decided I would much rather join you.” She stepped closer and pressed her lips to his chest.
Roan moaned. “Are you sure?”
She dragged her tongue across his nipple. “Why wouldn’t I want to?”
His hands fisted at his sides. “I thought maybe you would need more time to get your head around what I am.”
Ansley slid her hands down Roan’s back to his ass. She then rubbed herself against his cock, which had grown thick and hard between them. “I’m over my initial shock. And right now all I can think about is making love to you.”
As if that had been all he waited to hear, Roan threaded his fingers through her hair and took her mouth in a hard kiss. Ansley pressed closer and rubbed her taut nipples against his chest. She sucked his tongue into her mouth. She reached between them and took his hard
cock in her fist. She pumped her hand up and down his length. Roan growled softly. He cupped one of her breasts in his hand and thumbed her nipple. The fingers of his other hand trailed down her body to her pussy. He found her clit and rubbed it before he pushed a finger inside her core. “You’re already wet for me.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Ansley asked coyly. She squeezed his cock even harder.
“First I’m going to taste you.”
Roan pulled out of her grasp and went down on his knees. He nudged her legs apart and used his fingers to spread the lips of her sex. Ansley gasped at the first stroke of his tongue. Roan flicked her clit with the tip of his tongue before he sucked it into his mouth. She held onto his shoulders and rocked her hips. Waves of pleasure shot through her body when Roan pushed two fingers inside her. He pumped them in and out of her while he continued to suck and lick her clit.
Ansley’s moans filled the shower as he continued to work her, pushing her ever closer to an orgasm. It was all she could do to keep upright. Her legs started to shake. She knew if she hadn’t been holding onto Roan she would have fallen. Roan spread his fingers as he moved them inside her, stretching her. “Come for me, Ansley,” he half growled. “I want to taste you when you come.”
He sucked on her clit harder. Ansley called Roan’s name as her climax tore through her. He replaced his fingers with his tongue. He lapped and sucked until the last wave of pleasure receded.
Weak, Ansley sank to her knees in front of Roan. “My turn.”
She bent and circled her tongue around the head of his cock. Roan sank his hands into her hair and groaned. She opened her mouth and took just the tip of him inside. Sucking, she wrapped her hand around his shaft and pumped it up and down. Roan’s hips bucked. He growled deep inside his chest. The sound of his growls made her body liquefy.
Taking hold of his shaft at the base, Ansley took more of his length inside her mouth. Roan’s cock grew even harder. He pumped his hips when she alternated between sucking and swirling her tongue around the head of his cock. She would have continued to pleasure him this way until he came, but Roan had other ideas. He pulled away and turned her so she faced the glass shower door. Both still on their knees, Roan came up behind her. He took hold of her hips. His cock slipped between her spread thighs and probed the entrance to her body. Ansley rocked back against him, rubbing her wetness along his thick shaft. With a growl, Roan sheathed himself inside her to the hilt with one stroke.
Ansley placed her hands on the glass door. Roan pulled back until he was almost free of her body then rammed back inside. She clamped her inner walls around his shaft as he pounded into her. Moaning, she pushed back, matching his strokes. Her body started to coil tighter once again. The feel of his thick cock stretching her, moving in and out, pushed her ever closer to orgasm.
Roan surged into her harder, faster. With one hand still on her hip, he reached around her body and found her clit. He rubbed it as he bent forward, bit the top of her shoulder near her neck and held onto her with his teeth. Ansley cried out when she started to come. Roan stiffened behind her when he too found his release. His cock pulsed deep inside her, filling her with his cum.
Ansley leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the shower door. Roan was still buried thick and hard deep inside her pussy. “You’re still hard.”
He pumped his hips once. “Of course I am. All male werewolves can keep an erection for hours, even after coming.”
She pushed back until she leaned against Roan’s chest. “It’s a good thing that isn’t common knowledge among mortal women or poor mortal men would never get laid.”
Roan swirled his tongue inside her ear. “The only mortal woman I’ll be sharing that information with is you.”
“I’m not complaining. How about we go to bed and you can show me just how many times you can come. Maybe you can set a new personal best.”
Roan pulled out of her, turned off the water and picked her up in his arms. He carried her out to the bedroom and put her on the bed. “Now that is one challenge I’m more than up for.”
Chapter Eleven
The next day, Roan and Ansley arrived at her apartment a little later than they had first planned. It was already going on late afternoon. Considering they hadn’t gotten much sleep during the night, they had both slept in. Instead of taking his Lexus, Roan had taken the black Cadillac Escalade SUV that belonged to his family. He figured they would be able to pack most of her things into the SUV, and then rent a truck later to get the furniture.
The first thing Ansley did when she arrived was to go to the building’s superintendent and give her notice. Even though she would have thirty days to clear out her apartment, Ansley knew she would be long gone before that deadline. Glad she hadn’t accumulated too much stuff over the years, Ansley started to pack her belongings in the boxes she and Roan had brought with them. With Roan’s help, the packing didn’t seem to take as long as it would have if she had been by herself. She hadn’t forgotten how hard it had been for her to move most of her things into the apartment alone. She had only asked Sherry and her boyfriend at the time to help with the heavy lifting.
By the time they had packed everything in boxes, night had started to descend. Ansley stood up and stretched her aching back. She took in all the boxes stacked on top of each other in her living room. What had originally looked like not much at first glance had turned out to be more than just a little. Ansley hated moving and hoped this would be the last time she would ever have to do it.
Roan came into the room from the bedroom where he had been dismantling her bed.
“All done?”
“I think I got everything. It looks as if we’re going to have to make more than one trip.”
He glanced over at the boxes. “I think you’re right. At least we have lots of time. Why don’t we just load up the SUV with the things you’ll miss if you don’t have and we’ll leave the rest for tomorrow? I’ll ask Leif or one of the others to come with us. I’m going to have to get help with moving the furniture anyway, plus we’ll have the rental truck by then.”
“All right. You can bring the SUV to the back of the building. The super doesn’t like tenants to use the front entrance when moving.”
Roan gave her a kiss. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
After Roan left, Ansley pulled out the boxes she wanted to take with her. She also decided they could just pull the drawers out of her dresser and take them too. It would make the dresser much lighter for the guys to move. Once Roan returned, he and Ansley started loading up the SUV. Roan seemed to be able to get up and down the stairs much faster than she did. Obviously this was one case where being a werewolf had the advantage over being a mortal. He also could carry a lot more than she could. Her sixth trip up the stairs, Ansley had to sit down for a few minutes on the couch to rest. Her legs started to feel like lead weights. Roan didn’t seem tired at all. While she sat he continued to take boxes downstairs.
One particular run, it took Ansley a few minutes to realize Roan hadn’t come back up. Usually he came back up in a minute or less. Wondering what could be keeping him, she got up and headed downstairs to the back entrance. She hoped the super hadn’t decided to give Roan a hard time about them moving her things so late. She didn’t find Roan cornered by the super. What she did find had her frozen in place with fear. Roan stood by the back of the SUV while another man stood with a sword pointed in his direction. Roan stood with no expression on his face as he stared down his attacker. Ansley had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop herself from calling out to him. She didn’t want to distract Roan. Neither man had noticed her standing on the other side of the glass door.
From one second to the next, the standoff ended. The man swung his sword at Roan. Even though he had no sword of his own, Roan avoided getting hit by jumping out of range. The man continued to swing at Roan, forcing him back until both men had disappeared around the side of the SUV. No longer able to see them, Ansley quickly bolted
outside. She didn’t go too close to where the two men fought. When she heard both Roan and his attacker growl at each other, Ansley realized Roan’s attacker was a werewolf just like him.
Feeling powerless, not sure of what she could do to help Roan, Ansley searched for something she could use for a weapon. Her best bet would be to look in the SUV, but she knew if she distracted Roan now he could end up hurt. Just about ready to go back up to her apartment to get one of her kitchen knives, the attacker’s sword skidded across the pavement not too far from where Ansley stood. Somehow Roan must have disarmed his attacker.
Her heart raced. Ansley went over to the sword and picked it up. She tiptoed to the SUV afraid of what she would find. She stuck her head around the back end of it and took a quick peek before she pulled back. Two large wolves were snarling and clawing at each other where Roan and his attacker had been. With the sword gone, they had switched to teeth and claws.
Taking a couple of deep breaths for courage, Ansley hefted the heavy sword in both her hands and moved around the back of the SUV to the side where the wolves fought. She easily could tell which wolf was which. She recognized Roan as the wolf with the light brown fur that matched his hair. The other wolf had dark grey fur. She focused on the dark grey wolf as she slowly stepped closer.
She tried not to think about what she was about to do. She focused on the fear she felt for Roan. He was her mate, her other half. No one would take him away from her. She loved him too much to allow anyone to hurt him. Ansley blinked. She loved Roan. Now that there was a chance she could lose him she knew without a shadow of a doubt she loved him, and had from the start. More determined to make sure she got a chance to tell Roan how she truly felt, she gripped the sword tighter in her hands. Once she dared to get close enough to the wolves, Ansley used all her strength to lift the sword as high as she could. She then brought the flat of the sword down on the dark grey wolf’s back, putting all the force she had behind it. The dark grey wolf yelped and went down hard on the ground. Roan took advantage of the situation and jumped onto the back of the dark grey wolf and took the back of his neck in his strong jaws. The other wolf yelped again and then went still when Roan growled and dug his sharp claws into the grey wolf’s side. Defeated, the dark grey wolf whimpered and put his tail between his legs.
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