Trouble Walked In

by Michelle Roth

  “Can I see it?” she asked hesitantly.

  “My wolf?” he asked her. “Are you sure?”

  Ronan couldn't see the fear in her eyes anymore. Now it looked like genuine curiosity. He had expected the questions, but this caught him slightly off guard. He really hoped that she didn't freak out on him.

  Chapter Eight

  Ronan gave her a hesitant look and then slid from the bed. She watched as he stood there naked, an intense look of concentration on his face. Then there were loud cracks and pops of bone and muscle as he started shifting. His body changed in jerks and stops, fur growing in until a very large wolf stood on all fours in his bedroom.

  “Oh God,” she cried. “Did that hurt? The popping and cracking?”

  She watched as the wolf very clearly shook its head no. That made her feel somewhat better. She got out of bed and stood up.

  “Can I touch you?” she asked, feeling both curious and timid at the same time.

  In answer, he circled around the bed to where she stood and rubbed against her thigh. Taking that as a sign, Moira reached down and stroked a hand over his fur.

  “You're so soft,” she said. She felt like a gawker of the first order so she added, “I'm sorry to be weird about it, but this is the coolest thing I've ever seen.”

  She could see his silvery-blue eyes glowing. He licked her hand playfully. It looked like he was almost...smiling. She wasn't sure whether or not that was possible, but she'd like to think it was.

  He stayed by her side, seemingly content to let her stroke her hand over his fur for a few minutes before she climbed back into bed and said, “Your wolf is beautiful, Ronan.”

  He stepped back from her, then she saw the transition back into man start. She winced and closed her eyes when the cracks and pops started. She couldn't imagine the sounds coming from his body would feel pleasant. She felt guilty for even asking him to shift.

  “Moira,” Ronan said. “You can open your eyes now.”

  “I'm so sorry. That just looks like it hurts like hell. I wouldn't have asked if…”

  Ronan stood next to the bed, staring at her for a moment. “It doesn't hurt. It feels like…” He paused for a minute like he was looking for the words. “You know when you wake up in the morning and you stretch for the first time? Like that but ten times better.”

  Relief flooded her system and she said, “I felt so awful thinking you would hurt yourself just because I was curious.”

  “Feels good,” he said, shrugging. He hovered next to the bed, looking uncertain.

  “Why are you just standing there?” she asked. “Come back to bed.”

  “Yes, ma'am,” he mocked as he slid back under the covers with her. His tone more serious, he added, “I wasn't sure if you'd want me to. This is a lot to take in.”

  “Uhh. This is your bed. If I had a problem with you, I'd sleep on the futon of death you've got in the living room, or I'd go somewhere else entirely, Ronan. I knew you were different before I even met you. That's the reason I came to your bar. It'd be a little hypocritical to judge you now.”

  “Fair enough,” he said, propping his head up to look at her. “You're something else entirely, you know that?”

  She took in his grin and asked, “Something good, I hope?”

  “Real good,” he explained, tucking her up against him. “But, um...if you could maybe not share this with anyone.”

  “About us?” she asked him, confused. “I think you probably let that cat out of the bag when you told the whole bar you'd break their hands if they touched me again. Sorry.”

  “Not that,” he chided, nudging her in the ribs. “I mean the whole shifter thing.”

  “Oh. Jesus. Of course I wouldn't tell anyone. They'd turn you into some kind science experiment.” She frowned and then added, “That's gotta be a little scary.”

  He nodded in acknowledgment. “It really can be. That was part of the reason I freaked out on you when you just blurted it out in my office. I was hoping to scare you into keeping your mouth shut. Pretty much everyone in the bar is a shifter of some type.”

  “So you're not all wolves? Is that normal?”

  “Nothing about this community of shifters is normal. Like me, most of them left their pack or the equivalent. Either by force or due to some unfortunate circumstance. After I got out of the Army, I gravitated here. We don't have any kind of formal structure. No alphas. No real rules. It's more of an extended family. We protect each other when it needs to happen, but don't make any other demands on each other.”

  “Sounds nice. You're a family by choice,” she murmured.

  He stroked a hand lightly over her hair and said, “It's a life I can enjoy.”

  She smirked and said, “By the way, that whole hair pulling thing you did probably didn't have the intended effect. It's the first time I've been turned on while being yelled at.”

  Ronan was completely silent for a moment before he asked, “Like it a little rough, do ya?”

  “Honestly, I didn't think so till last night. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I really don't have a whole lot of experience. You were right earlier. You're nothing at all like the college boys I'm used to.”

  “I should hope not, Moira. I'm thirty-five,” he drawled.

  “Oh wow,” she said, tongue in cheek. “You're older than I realized.”

  “And just how old are you?” he asked carefully, the tension practically rolling off of him in waves.

  She remained silent until he tilted up her chin with his fingers and asked, “Jesus Christ, Moira. Are you underage?”

  “Calm down. I'm twenty-two last week,” she assured him, grinning.

  He let out a relieved breath and said, “Thank Christ! I thought you were gonna say something like seventeen.”

  Moira giggled. “The look on your face was priceless. I can see the headlines now. Shape-shifter caught nailing mayor's underage daughter.”

  He gave her a light swat and gruffly said, “Stop that! Don't even joke. I'm too pretty for jail.”

  “That you are,” she agreed, yawning. “That you are.”

  “Gettin' sleepy?” he asked, adjusting the blankets.

  “Yeah,” she said, yawning once more.

  “Go to sleep then, gorgeous. We can talk about how pretty I am in the morning,”

  “Oh, goody,” she snarked. “Let's set an alarm so we can get up early and pick up where we left off.”

  Ronan tilted up her chin and brushed his lips against hers. “Hush, you.”

  ****

  She moaned softly, her hips rocking against the gentle but insistent pressure on her clit. Even in her half-asleep state, she could feel the beginnings of an orgasm forming. It was the light nip of teeth against her labia that finally made her eyes pop open. “Ronan,” she squeaked in surprise.

  “‘Bout time you woke up,” Ronan's voice mumbled against her pussy. Before she could come up with any semblance of a coherent response, his tongue went back to lapping at her.

  “Oh, fuck, Ronan,” she moaned, her thighs shaking.

  He buried two fingers inside her cunt as he sucked her clit into his mouth. Then he licked slow circles against her on the outside while his fingers massaged her from the inside. Moira could barely even begin to savor the feeling before the combination of sensations sent her headlong into orgasm. She reached down and gripped his shaggy blond hair, crying out her release as a million tiny charges exploded throughout her body. Ronan ignored her cries and continued to devour her pussy until she finally let go of him.

  “Fuck,” Ronan said, raising his mouth. “You taste amazing.”

  Still trying to catch her breath, Moira assured him, “You can feel free to do that anytime, ya know.”

  “I'll keep that in mind,” he chuckled.

  “Now get up here so I can return the favor,” she ordered.

  “Well aren't you a bossy one.” He released her panties from where he'd pulled them to the side. He gave her a steady look as he explained, “Just
so you know, in the bedroom, I'm in control.”

  “Is that right?” she challenged.

  “Damn right it is,” he said. “Take those panties off before I tear them off.”

  Her eyes widened. She considered giving him a sassy reply, but thought better of it when she saw the dark hunger in his eyes. He merely moved to the side, watching as she shimmied them down her hips. Undisguised pleasure in his eyes, he pulled them down off her feet.

  She waited, her breath shallow, for him to make the next move. He slowly crawled back up her body, pushing the hem of her shirt up inch by inch. He pressed hot, openmouthed kisses against her skin until she partially sat up and tore the shirt over her head.

  He took his time, tracing his tongue across every single inch of skin. By the time he finally reached her breasts, she was ready to beg him. With seemingly infinite patience, he licked and nibbled until she was writhing against him. Inch by torturous inch, he broke down her resolve until she finally she whimpered, “I need you inside me.”

  His dark eyes flashing silver, he asked, “Should I get a condom?”

  Her heart pounding, she shook her head. Something that looked like relief flickered across his face as he settled between her thighs. Moira let out a soft moan as he pressed his hips against hers, his thick cock sliding into her an inch at a time.

  “Moira,” he groaned when he was finally fully buried inside her. “Christ.”

  She let her eyes flicker closed, her mouth lax with pleasure as he began to gently rock his hips against her. She wrapped her arms around him, her fingertips tracing over the planes of his back. It was way too easy to lose herself in the almost sweet way that he slid into her.

  His voice rough, Ronan said, “Open your eyes. Let me see you.”

  Her eyelids felt so heavy, but she forced them open. When she met his gaze, her breath backed up in her lungs. His eyes were bright silver again, as they had been when he was in wolf form. “Ronan,” she cried, her nails digging into his back. “It's too much.”

  “I know, baby. I feel it too,” he groaned, burying his face against her shoulder.

  Moira clung to him, grateful for the break in eye contact. There was something genuinely unnerving about his gaze. He saw too much. One part of her was terrified that he would see inside her and find her lacking. The other part of her was terrified that he wouldn't. Despite the connection they seemed to be making, she knew there was no way this could be a long-term thing. She needed to get her shit straight. They were fucking. This wasn't a love affair, for God's sake.

  Ronan must have sensed her attempt to disconnect because he propped himself up on one arm. Watching her, he said, “Wrap your legs around me, cupcake.”

  “Oh God,” Moira cried out after she had complied with his gruff order. “You're so deep!”

  “Christ, Moira. You feel so fucking good. Your tight little cunt keeps milking my dick.” When she clenched around him, he groaned. “That's right, baby. Just like that.”

  The slow drag of him against her g-spot drove her mad. He seemed to know exactly how to touch her to get the most response from her body. On each down stroke, he ground his pelvis against hers. Her whole body tightened in anticipation of her impending release.

  When her eyes slipped closed again, he reached up to grip her hair in his fist. Giving it a jerk, he ground out, “Eyes open, Moira. I wanna look into to those beautiful green eyes when you come for me.”

  The bite of pain and the authority in his voice pushed her over the edge. On a long moan, she came apart beneath him, her body shuddering with release. Not once did she look away from his predatory gaze. In that moment, she gave him everything.

  Seconds later, she watched his eyes go hazy. It was like he wasn't even seeing her anymore. The animal in him seemed to take over as his hand tightened in her hair. He pounded into her mercilessly until his body stiffened with a curse. His precious control gone, she could see that his face contorted slightly as his body prepared to shift. Eventually, he won the battle, remaining human as he emptied himself inside her.

  Ronan slumped against her for a moment before moving to the side. Both of them panted wildly, trying to get their breathing under control. He remained silent for so long that Moira finally asked, “Is that normal?”

  “Sex like that? It was pretty amazing, but I try to always give it my all,” he joked, still panting.

  “I mean the almost shifting thing.”

  The teasing note in his voice was gone when he replied. “No. That's new. Sorry if I scared you.”

  “I'm fine. Are you okay?” she asked him when he lay there silently.

  When he shifted to look at her, he must've seen the concern on her face because he gave her a gentle smile and said, “I'm fine. I've just…never not been in complete control of my wolf before. I don't particularly like it.”

  “Any idea why it happened?”

  He wrapped his arms around her, tucking her up against him. “Not sure.”

  Even as he spoke it, she could hear the lie in his voice. She was too stirred up and raw to call him on it, though. The part she found the most alarming about the entire experience wasn't the fact that he had almost shifted in the middle of sex. It was the fact she hadn't been alarmed by that at all.

  Chapter Nine

  Ronan stared at the paperwork on his desk and dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. His concentration was shit tonight. It had been shit from the moment that Moira had walked into his bar. A part of him had known it the moment he saw her, but it was undeniable now. She was his mate.

  The Earth Mother must really fucking hate him, he mused. This had to be repayment for willfully abandoning his duties as future alpha. This twenty-two-year-old girl, just starting out her life, was supposed to mate with him and live above the bar? She'd be out of town as soon as she finished her fancy degree. She didn't strike him as the settle down and start a family type. Not that he blamed her. She'd just escaped one person trying to marry her off, and now his wolf seemed determined to take away her freedom again.

  He'd been close to marking her this morning. He'd been really close. As much as he enjoyed her and as sexually compatible as they were, even suggesting it seemed unfair. When she'd asked him about the near shift this morning, he'd lied to her. He'd felt her stiffen against him, but thankfully, she hadn’t called him on it.

  “Yeah, babe. I almost claimed you as my mate. I was going to sink my teeth into your neck. It's gonna turn you into a shifter like me. Wanna spend the rest of our lives together? We can live above my bar,” he muttered to himself.

  He groaned, chewing on the end of his pen until he heard the plastic crack. When he saw the outer casing crack down the side, he tossed it aside in frustration. Fuck!

  Over the next hour, he managed to pay the outstanding invoices, do the payroll, and start on the quarterly sales tax reports. When the alarm on his phone went off, he gave a small start. It was time to go relieve Ty so he could take his dinner break.

  When he walked through the swinging door into the bar, he was relieved to see that it wasn't as slammed as last night. He skirted around the end of the bar and said, “Break time, Ty. I'll take over for ya.”

  “Thanks, boss,” Ty answered, relief written across his face. “Moira's doing a great job. I gotta say, I was a little shocked when you told me you hired her.”

  “Yeah,” Ronan agreed, watching her drop off another round of drinks. “You and me both. It's working out well so far.”

  Ty continued to watch her for a moment and then asked, “Is she single, ya think, boss?”

  “Not single,” he said shortly.

  Ty shrugged and said, “Figures. Might take a shot at it anyway.”

  A surge of protectiveness had him snarling out the words before he could stop himself. “She's my mate. Back the fuck off.”

  “Holy shit, boss,” Ty said, raising his hands in immediate surrender. “I didn't realize. Have you... Does she know you're... Fuck.”

  “That about sums
it up. She knows what I am, but not the other stuff.”

  “Good luck with that,” Ty said, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

  “Didn't you have lunch or something to do? I'm not out here for my health,” Ronan groused, rubbing a hand through his shaggy hair in frustration.

  “Right,” Ty said, slipping past him with a grin. “See ya in thirty.”

  Over the next twenty minutes, he slid into the easy rhythm of pouring beers and listening to the local gossip. As a bartender, he probably heard more than he'd like about pretty much everything. Tonight was no exception. There was talk that Scooter, one of the few human regulars, brought home an STD to his wife and she kicked him out. The way Scooter was tossing back shots, he certainly looked like a man on a mission to forget. Ronan suspected he'd be pouring him into a cab later.

  He was half listening to two customers trying to figure out who gave Scooter the clap when he heard Moira's raised voice. His eyes shot across the room in time to watch some guy in a dress shirt and tie pull her toward the door.

  “Stop it, Lyle,” she yelled. “I said no. I'm not going with you. Tell my father to go fuck himself!”

  In the time that it took her to get those words out of her mouth, Ronan flew across the room and put himself between the man and the door. “Let her go,” Ronan ordered. His wolf paced impatiently, watching the man and assessing the threat.

  The man ignored him completely, disgust on his face. “After all that your father has done for you, you're slumming in some hick bar? Let me take you home, Moira.”

  Ronan ignored his immediate instinct to deck the guy and said, “The lady told you that she wasn't leaving, so kindly let her go. If you don't, I'm going to call the cops have you arrested.”

  The man dropped Moira's arm and smirked. “You've got no idea who you're dealing with, do you?”

  Ronan took in the red mark around Moira's forearm and snarled, “I don't give a fuck who you are. You've got ten seconds to get your scrawny ass out of my bar before I beat you bloody. I've got upwards of sixty witnesses who would be happy to say that you fell in your haste to leave. Get the fuck out and don't come back!”