Chapter Eleven
“Guess who we’re sharing a drink with?” Yukon spoke to his brother through their link.
“Guess who won’t have any hands if they go anywhere near my mate?” MountDenali raged.
“Everyone, because Arkham Kennesaw, Ph.D. is one hella good-looking woman.”
His brother’s responding growl only made him laugh. “I told Arkham to stay home.”
“Amusing, you are, dear Brother. Did you just meet that woman?”
“And where is she?”
“The diner.”
“Renig?” his brother asked with concern.
“Had his ass handed to him less than two minutes after she walked in. He’s nursing his wounded pride…and face…and ribs…and spleen…and some other stuff. Arkham’s actually drinking out of a clean cup.”
“I hate all of you. Keep everyone away from her.”
“Not a problem. Everyone is scared of her, especially after they saw the website.”
“She has a website?”
“Yes, I imagine you were too busy getting into other things to worry about anything else.”
“Indeed.”
“Should we keep her here until you arrive?”
“Yes. I’ll be there soon.”
**
MountDenali turned his truck around and headed to the diner. He and Arkham were going to have a serious talk about her not being spread-eagled on the bed when he got home. Slamming through the entrance of the diner, he came to a skidding stop and stared. Truckers he’d known since his early twenties, mean, impatient, hardened men, were doing things he’d never expected...ever. They had shut the fuck up…and were listening as Arkham regaled them with tales as she knitted. If the sight and scent of Arkham hadn’t called out so strongly to his wolf, MountDenali would’ve wondered if he’d walked into an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Frankly, he was disturbed by everything, but the most disturbing thing of all was the fact that they were all surrounding his woman, holding onto each word she spoke with awe. Even Renig was listening to Arkham.
MountDenali knew that these men couldn’t help themselves. Arkham Kennesaw was fascinating. While she was certainly educated, Arkham wasn’t just book smart—she was knowledgeable about so many things. However, Arkham Kennesaw was his.
MountDenali motioned for a cup of coffee in order to have something to do with his mouth lest he use it right this instant on her. Once he got his lips on Arkham, it was just a matter of time before his voluptuous mate had a pussy full of him. While he knew Arkham wanted him just as bad, he doubted his female would appreciate being mated in the center of the diner, despite him being all awesome and whatnot.
**
Arkham knew the moment that fine motherfucker stepped into the diner because her whole body went haywire. It was all she could do to stop from swiping everything from the table and tossing MountDenali onto it and climbing him like he was the entire Rocky Mountain chain.
She was holding on, but barely. Of course that was when Asshole-Bastard decided to stroll over. He was wearing that black cowboy hat, jeans that were probably going to need a shoe horn and a prayer to get off, cowboy boots big enough to house the old lady with all her kids, and a shirt that was so tight she could see all of his esophagus. She missed a beat in her knitting. Damn MountDenali and his visible nipples.
Despite Sendoa and Yukon talking much shit about MountDenali, they’d dropped a lot of hints about him being a good man. The men in the diner had cosigned. Though they were bossy, she couldn’t discount what they said. After all, her man had kept her warm, well-fed, and loved senseless. She discovered that she really liked saying that, even if it was only in her head. Her man, her man, her man!
As sexy as he was big, MountDenali stared at her all the damn time, which really should’ve been annoying, but it was hard to be annoyed when he kept smiling at her. Arkham was positive MountDenali didn’t know that his canines were lengthened. Knowing shifters, she definitely knew that was the universal sign of “I want you.”
Still, she ignored him and went right back to her discussion about stock car racing. Arkham only saw a flash of black cowboy hat and blue jeans before she was lifted and sitting on MountDenali’s lap. Already having commandeered the best seat in the diner, she now had the best seat in all of Alaska.
“Hey, MountDenali,” Arkham said as the wolf shifter tilted his cowboy hat back and smiled at her, canines and all. She wanted to sigh, so she did and leaned back against his wide chest whilst listening to the men around her.
Well, at least she tried to listen to the men around her. All she could focus on was MountDenali. His scent teased her…and then there were his touches. He kept touching. His teeth were on her ear. His hands possessively rested on her hips. Even his breath against the back of her neck turned her on. His hard cock ground into her, making her think of how well he worked her body.
“Stop it,” she hissed as she dropped her knitting to the table.
Fluffy had crawled off of her lap as soon as MountDenali entered the diner. There was nothing for her to hold onto except for her wolf.
“No,” he whispered into her mouth before he kissed her.
“I’m talking to the guys,” she began, but even she couldn’t miss the tremor in her voice.
“Mmm mmm,” MountDenali said as he gently pulled her hair, forcing her head back.
Before Arkham knew what MountDenali was about, the wolf bared her shoulder and gently nipped his mark before taking her lips in a possessive display.
Arkham knew she should be pissed, but all she could do was feel. MountDenali felt so damn good beneath her. Everything he did to her set her ablaze. Instead of wanting to tell him off, she silently demanded more.
“Harder,” she found herself saying.
“Baby, we have to go,” MountDenali whispered in her ear.
“Why?” she whispered back.
“Because everyone is standing outside in the cold,” he said.
Opening her eyes, Arkham noted that the diner was a ghost town. Deep down, she knew that she should care about them being cold, but the stone-cold truth was that all she could focus on was the man before her. Turning in the chair, she straddled him.
“Mine,” she said before taking his lips. “Mine,” she reiterated as she grinded her sex against his jean-covered cock.
“Damn right,” MountDenali growled as he picked her up.
**
Though Arkham wasn’t a small woman by any means, he was not at all a small man, so the trip to his truck was quick. He didn’t have to tell her animals to come; they simply followed. Their ride was made in silence, but he could clearly hear the staccato beat of her heart and smell her desire.
He didn’t recall much of the short trip home; he was simply thankful that they’d arrived safely. The animals took up their regular spots and all shot him looks of warning: Don’t start nothing.
He wasn’t about to start anything with them, but he was most definitely going to start something with Arkham…and finish it…and then start it again.
“Arkham,” he rasped as he carried her to the bathroom.
“MountDenali,” she whispered as she kissed him back.
“I need to take a shower.”
“I’ll join you,” she said as she shimmied out of her clothes. Seeing her beautiful dark skin revealed, he was glad Alaska was cold because he didn’t think he could take it if other males saw Arkham like this. Hell, he could hardly take it. After testing his endurance with her slow striptease, she shot him a saucy look and stepped into the shower. Quickly stripping, he was right behind her.
“I thought I told you to stay home,” he said as he backed her against the shower wall.
“I thought I told you who gets to tell me what to do, and it’s not you,” she said as she pulled him closer.
“You’re my mate.”
“I don’t recall you asking me anything.”
“That’s because you were too busy calling the Creat
or, trying to catch your breath, and begging me not to stop,” he said as he gently soaped her lush curves.
“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Arkham said as she returned the favor and soaped him with her body.
“Arkham,” he rasped.
“Yes?” she responded but did not stop.
He wanted nothing more than to bury himself in her lushness and remain there forever, but first he had to tell her his displeasure at her disobedience.
“Do you know what could’ve happened at the diner?”
“Um, I could’ve gotten some decent coffee the first time I asked and a meal that didn’t taste like it came out of a vending machine.”
“Arkham,” he warned.
“Your eyes are glowing, are you going to wolf out?” Arkham asked.
“Is that what you want, Arkham?”
“Yes.”
The bluntness with which Arkham replied stopped him cold. His mate was serious. She wanted him as he was—untamed, uncouth, dominant. Every time he thought he’d reached the threshold of turned on, Arkham showed him different.
“You’re mine, Arkham. Mine. If anyone in that diner had touched you, I would’ve torn them to shreds.”
“No one in the diner would’ve dared. I wear your mark. I’m covered in your scent. Additionally, I’m covered by the Mann name, and even if they didn’t know who I was, they know who the Manns are.”
MountDenali felt pride at her words as a Mann, but as a lover, he still needed to be appeased. There were crazy people in the world.
“No one touched you, but they wanted to, Arkham. You look like sex on a stick. They all wanted you, Arkham. All of them, and I can’t blame them but I would’ve killed every single one of them—including my own brother.”
“Oh.”
“I will not share you. I will not joke about sharing you. Nor will I allow anyone who touches you to live. I will kill them and I will not feel one ounce of guilt.”
MountDenali watched as Arkham’s dark eyes brightened then with surprise and something else…lust. Ah, his woman was bloodthirsty…and she was his.
MountDenali closed the distance between them, not that it was much. Cupping her generous ass with one hand, he buried the other in her loose hair. He pulled her head back so that her throat was bared to him.
“I felt fear, Arkham Kennesaw. I have never felt that until you,” he muttered into her neck.
He felt the shuddering response from Arkham’s deeply drawn breath.
“Everyone there knew that I was yours,” she said.
“I want everyone everywhere to know that you’re mine. I want you to know that you’re mine,” he rasped as he gently nipped her throat.
He took a deep breath meant to soothe. However, it did nothing but fan the flames of his libido. His cock was hard and he was covered in her scent, and still he needed to be closer.
“MountDenali,” she rasped as she soothed him with her touch, her soft hands reaching for his cock.
“This is supposed to be my seduction,” he groaned.
“Then seduce me,” she commanded. “But first, admit who you belong to.”
“You, Arkham. Only you. Always you,” he said as he lifted her and thrust into her silken heat.
The sound of his name mingled with her scream of pleasure set him off just as much as the feel of her nails clawing his back. “That’s right, mark me, Arkham. Mark me good, baby,” he commanded as he stroked in and out.
He was tempted to go fast, but he wanted this to last so he slowed down. Keeping her pleasure just out of her reach, he finished soaping them, much to Arkham’s displeasure.
“I want,” she said, eyes flashing fire.
“I will give it to you,” he promised as he carried her to bed. He’d barely laid her on the bed before he had her legs spread and his mouth in her sex. “So good,” he moaned into her sex. “So damn good.”
“Yes,” she agreed even as she lifted her hips.
MountDenali would never tire of hearing her “yes,” her “please” or her pleas. He would never tire of her hands in his hair, her hands on his body, her lips under his. Never would he tire of Arkham Kennesaw in his life, he declared a moment before he rose and slid home.
He made love to Arkham as if he had all of the time in the world. Not an inch of her skin went untouched, unlicked, unnibbled. Marking one’s mate was serious business, and while he’d marked her several times, he wanted, needed for Arkham to look at her body and know without a doubt just what wolf it belonged to. Despite hearing her gasp out his name several times and feeling her body clench around his, he did not stop. He would not stop until he had nothing left to give his mate.
MountDenali meant to maintain control of their lovemaking, but Arkham had other ideas.
“I want to be on top,” she rasped.
Buried deep inside of Arkham, he gasped at the feel of her pussy gripping him tighter. The snug fit made him harder.
“I planned for something more…” MountDenali’s sentence broke as Arkham bit into his throat.
Pleasure spiked through his body when Arkham’s teeth broke his skin.
“Damn…mate!” he snarled as her mouth sucked at the bite site on his skin.
“My name, MountDenali,” Arkham said, sounding as prim as she pleased.
Opening his eyes, he looked into the sparkling black diamonds.
“Arkham, you’re going to break me, mate,” he said through clenched teeth as she worked her sex around his cock.
“Uh huh.”
He drew in a deep breath in an effort not to release, as he wanted Arkham to scream his name at least twice more.
Without pulling out of his mate, he took back the dominant position. Everything within him beat at him to ride her hard and fast, but he managed to slow it down—even after Arkham wrapped her thick legs around his waist and pulled him deeper into her gorgeous, hot, welcoming body.
“Now, MountDenali,” Arkham demanded.
Unable to deny their bodies any longer, he began to hammer into his mate. The bed moved. Hell, he thought the wall moved at some point, but most of all Arkham’s throat moved as she screamed his name. Never would he tire of hearing Arkham say his name like that.
That was a good start, but he wanted more. He worked to draw the next orgasm from her. She felt so good…so damn perfect, and he had to focus on the lines in the wood of his bedroom wall in order to stay the course. He was going to mark Arkham—again—and he wanted her to be in the throes of an orgasm when he did.
His muscles were screaming at the effort. His back, thighs and ass were covered with well-deserved marks from his female, as was his throat. MountDenali knew he’d proudly parade that mark around for the rest of his life.
“Please, MountDenali,” Arkham pleaded.
“Please what, Mate?”
“Love me, show me, need me.”
“Always,” he promised and kissed his mate. The tender kiss contrasted with the demanding rhythm his hips were beating out. Hearing Arkham moan out his name, he kissed his way down her neck.
“MountDenali,” she gasped as her body tightened around him.
“Arkham,” he responded as he licked that delicate space where her neck and shoulder met.
“Please.”
Sinking his teeth into her soft skin, he gave thanks. That was when the air exploded around them as they both screamed out their completion.
“I love you, Arkham,” he admitted.
“Never did I doubt that, MountDenali. You show me in everything that you do for me,” Arkham said as she gently stroked his jaw. “I love you.”
Holding her close, he rained gentle kisses over her until he felt sleep claim her. Dropping a nightgown over her lest she get cold, he dragged her closer and tucked the covers around them. Yep, his mate was right where she belonged—in his cabin, in his bed, in his arms and right there in his heart.
Chapter Twelve
The voices woke him. MountDenali didn’t know how these two males managed to get in
to his cabin, let alone his bedroom without him detecting them. Scenting them, he realized that they shared a blood tie with his mate, thus he did not jump up in kill mode. Instead, he listened to Arkham’s rather bloodthirsty relatives with a little bit of awe. If he wasn’t the intended target of their violence, he might’ve better appreciated their inventiveness.
“No,” the deep voice said seriously.
“Why not?” the other deep voice sounded surprised.
“Because I hate killing after you’ve ripped vital organs out. It’s like flogging a dead horse.”
“But you go on and on with the talking. I’m an action kind of guy.”
“You’re insane. I’ve still got the certificate to prove it.”
“Look, we could each take half of his body and then do what we want with our half. That way, he’s dead and we’re both happy.”
“And how do you propose we ‘halve’ his body? I didn’t see a band saw anywhere nearby.”
“Why would we need a band saw? Why can’t we just use him like a wishbone?”
“Because you always end up getting most of the body!”
“I can’t help that you suck at breaking bodies in exact portions.”
“You’re just greedy!”
“And you’re a sore loser!”
The unmistakable sound of disgust preceded the first question aimed at him.
“You going to keep acting asleep or should we make that sleep permanent, boy?”
“I didn’t want to interrupt when you were planning my death.”
“Granddaddies?” Arkham asked as she snuggled deeper into his chest.
“Baby, why is there a naked boy in your bed?” the other deep voice asked softly.
“Probably because I’m all hot and stuff. I get that from Grandma.”
“Mmm hmm, not helping,” they said.
None of the three males were prepared when Arkham suddenly sat up, turned the lamp on and pulled the covers off of MountDenali, before ogling him in his birthday suit.
“You so are yum,” Arkham said, grinning down at him. “But I still look better naked than you do.”
MountDenali grinned right back and put his hands behind his head and stretched. A second later, he was being dragged from the warmth of his mate.
In Search of the Fountain of Couth Page 6