by Cara Wylde
“Oh yes, I forgot. You don’t have friends.”
“I sure do, you just don’t know them.”
“Have you also got a boyfriend?”
“Are you trying to piss me off again?”
“Yeah… I think I am. This whole thing, you being nice and chatty, is rather scary. I guess I’m trying to go back to our comfort zone.”
“Pff…” Jocelyn fixed her eyes on Avelyn’s blue ones. The maid brought their dessert, apple pie, and set the round, delicate plates before them. “All right, you win.”
Avelyn rose a dark, perfectly arched eyebrow in curiosity.
“I just figured you’re not that bad after all. You make Max happy, and now you’re going to give him a child… That means a lot to all of us, me included.”
Avelyn moved her eyes to the apple pie and sighed. “That’s not going to happen, and you know it. You were there.”
“Don’t talk like that. You’re not alone, Avelyn. We’re doing everything we can to keep you safe and find a solution. You’re one of us now, and we Blackmanes look after each other.”
“I thought you were mad at me for releasing… her, and running away.”
“Oh, I was, believe me. Actually, I think I still am to some extent. You’re one hell of an actress and a cold-blooded schemer. However, it’s Max’s own damn fault that he kept you in the dark. He should have listened to me and Karl.”
“Karl… I don’t know what to think of him anymore.”
Jocelyn gave her a concerned look. “Just take him as he is. He’s changed.”
“He did what he did.”
“Over 100 years ago. People make mistakes.”
“I guess…”
They ate their dessert in silence for a few minutes, stealing timid glances at each other from time to time. They weren’t completely comfortable being together at the same table for so long, with no one else around. Despite the slight tension, however, it was still nice, so they ate and drank slowly, none of them hurrying to go back to their room.
They heard the front door open and then close with a bang. Avelyn jumped at the loud sound, and Jocelyn turned around to see who was coming. Kevin stormed into the room, followed close behind by Ryan. Their clothes were wet, and Kevin’s long blond hair dripped with small, translucent raindrops.
“Josie, Miss Avelyn,” Kevin greeted them while Ryan only nodded in their general direction. “Sorry to barge in like this. I was hoping Max was with you.”
“He went to his office,” said Jocelyn. “Is everything okay? Max didn’t tell me you two were supposed to come back today.”
“No,” said Ryan. “We weren’t. Something happened in Stuttgart. We drove back as fast as we could.”
“You know we have phones, right?”
“We had to be sure,” said Kevin. “We made a couple of stops between Stuttgart and Dunkelstadt to verify our theory.”
“What theory?” asked Avelyn. Her heartbeat had picked up the pace. She had always seen both Kevin and Ryan calm and calculated, but now they were clearly distressed, and their behavior scared her more than the cryptic things they had said.
Ryan took the last few steps that separated him from the table and poured wine into a random empty glass. He drank it in one breath. Kevin threw Avelyn a weary glance, then turned to Jocelyn.
“You better come with us in Max’s office.”
“Wait!” jumped Avelyn. “I wanna know!”
Jocelyn stood up. Her eyes were filled with worry, and all the muscles in her body had tensed. “Better stay here.”
“Stop treating me like a child!”
“We’re not treating you like a child, but you have gone through enough in the last few days. It might be nothing, and these two thick-headed idiots are just making a fuss.”
Ryan threw his Alpha a curious glance. Kevin was looking down at his boots.
“I’ll let you know, okay? Or Max will tell you himself tonight.”
Avelyn reached over the table and caught Jocelyn’s wrist before she turned around to run up the stairs.
“Please don’t keep me in the dark, Josie.”
The she-wolf looked down at her hand, then her green gaze went up to Avelyn’s blue eyes. “Never again.”
***
“Are you absolutely sure?” asked Max while pacing the room. Jocelyn was perched on his desk, arms crossed over her chest, while both Kevin and Ryan had taken a seat on the long sofa.
“Yes,” said Kevin. “Six disappearances in Stuttgart. While it’s a big city and shit like this happens, there were also three in Filderstadt, three in Aichtal, which is a rather small town, and one in Dunkelstadt. They can’t all be coincidences, and they’re not. Young women and men, between 25 and 30, no witnesses, no one has any idea where they might be, no leads. So, yes, we’re sure.”
“Crap,” whispered Jocelyn.
“Do you think they’re dead?”
Kevin hesitated, but Ryan took over, his thick, yet soft voice sounding confident and somewhat reassuring. “No. If they were dead and she did it, we would have found the bodies by now. Heck, the cops would have found them before us. You know she’s not very good at removing her traces. I think she kidnapped them.”
“Why would she do something like that?” asked Jocelyn, although she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
“That… I can’t tell you,” said Ryan.
Max finally stopped in front of the window and looked up at the starry night sky. At that moment, he couldn’t decide which of the past three days had been the worst in his whole life. Things were getting worse by the second, and what he hated most was that he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t know what or how. If Sabine had really kidnapped those people, then the situation was worse than he thought. The moment the Council found out about what was going on and made the connection with Clan Blackmane, they would all be in deep shit. Sabine was clearly an insane rogue wolf, but it was Max who had set her loose. Even worse, they would know he had tried to hide it from them.
“We can’t allow this to continue. We need to make sure the kidnappings are really her doing, and, once we establish that, we have to find her. By whatever means possible. Find her and take care of everything ourselves. We can’t let the Council find out, because I swear to God, I have no idea how to explain any of it.”
“It’s too late to come clean,” said Jocelyn. “The consequences would pretty much be the same.”
“We were screwed the moment Sabine bit Avelyn. A human being turned into a wolf… All those who are waiting for the shifter factions to make a mistake will throw themselves at the chance to challenge the peace.”
“We have to stay low, that’s obvious,” said Kevin. “But how do we do that? Thirteen people have disappeared, Max. Vanished. Poof! Into thin air. How do we fuckin’ cover that?”
“We have to find them. We have to find Sabine and find them.” The determination in Max’s voice could almost convince everyone in the office that everything would be sorted out the moment they got a bit more organized.
Jocelyn jumped off the edge of the desk. “Okay, we find her. Then what?”
“I don’t know…”
“Have you thought beyond that point? What do we do with her if we don’t turn her in to the Council? We lock her back up in the dungeons? For how long? How many years? Do you think any of us can take any more of that? Any more of the guilt and insecurity? Do you think Avelyn can take it?”
Max kept his gaze fixed on a cloud that was slowly covering the face of the moon. He heard Jocelyn round the desk and step closer to him, but he didn’t turn to face her. He couldn’t.
“Or do we… take care of it… some other way? By ourselves. No trial, no chance of redemption.”
His vocal chords refused to form any words, but he knew that Jocelyn wasn’t waiting for an answer. She was merely reminding him that it wouldn’t all end with catching Sabine. It would start with it. The heavy silence lasted for long, endless minutes. No one wanted to think about
the future. Finally, Max cleared his throat and turned away from the window.
“Kevin, go find Caleb and Daniel. They will start an investigation in Dunkelstadt and try to follow the victims. They work well together, and if they take everything step by step, they will be on the right track in no time.”
Kevin nodded and stood up to leave. Ryan glanced up at Jocelyn. “What about us?”
Jocelyn looked at her brother.
“We need our Betas close,” he said. “I have a very bad feeling about this.”
She nodded in approval, although she wasn’t sure about her brother’s decision. She turned to Ryan and shrugged her shoulders, indicating they would go with it for now. Kevin went to find Caleb and Daniel, and Jocelyn told Max she was calling it a night. Ryan followed her to the Lunar Wing.
Alone in the office. Again. Max pressed his forehead against the cold window, enjoying the coolness of the glass on his heated skin. “I’ll find you,” he whispered to the night beyond the glass. “I’ll find you and I’ll… I’ll…” He couldn’t say it. He wouldn’t say it. He couldn’t believe he had actually thought it.
***
She had no idea why Max had been so absent during dinner, but Avelyn was hoping her little surprise would help him get his mind off things. She couldn’t wait for him to come upstairs. At first, she thought it was because she was dying to find out what Kevin and Ryan had told him. They had been so agitated and mysterious. There was a fair chance they had given him very bad news. All the more reason to wait for him in a black see-through négligée, the tiniest panties she could find, and a pair of black, shiny high-heeled sandals in which it was easier to lie in bed than walk around. She had used just a touch of gray eye-shadow to make her eyes stand out, and the bloody red lipstick he liked so much. She had every intention to leave it where it belonged: on his cock. Her blond reddish curls were covering her shoulders and framing her heart-shaped face just the right way. She threw one last look in the mirror, decided she’d definitely fuck that if she could, then carefully lay down atop the virgin white sheets. Yes, she was stressed and overwhelmed by Sabine’s disappearance. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that she was pregnant, and everything seemed bigger, louder, closer. The new way in which things she had known all her life looked, smelled, tasted, and felt now threw her off guard every single time, but she couldn’t simply give up and let things happen to her and her body. She needed to take control.
Avelyn heard Max approach the bedroom, and took the sexiest position she could muster. She was lying on her right side, supporting her upper body on her arm, her left hand resting lazily on her hip. He opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him, all the while looking down at his shoes. He was obviously distressed and lost in his own thoughts. He took two steps, lifted his eyes and did a double-take. Avelyn smiled seductively. There it was. That face. His mouth slightly open, incapable of saying anything even remotely clever, green eyes wide with surprise.
“What took you so long? I almost started without you.”
Max took his time to take in the sight before him. His beautiful bride was in bed, waiting for him, her perfect curves filling the négligée, the dark areolas of her nipples evident through the thin lace. Oh, and she was wearing those high heels he loved. Those shiny sandals that made her long legs go on forever. He couldn’t wait to take those cute toes into his mouth and make her giggle. But, what was even better than the view was the way she smelled. That maddening combination of human innocence and animal lust. His cock twitched in his jeans, and he resisted the urge to adjust his swollen balls. He wouldn’t have to endure the torture too long, he was sure of it. Avelyn didn’t look like she was going to accept any clothes on his body. Not this time.
“Come here, baby. Come get it.”
He took a couple of steps towards her, his worries forgotten. “You look wonderful.”
She pouted. “Is that all you have to say? I’m trying so hard, you see… to please you.” When he was close enough, she stood up and reached for his crotch. She rubbed his erection through the rough material of his trousers and smiled up at him.
“Mmm… you’re beautiful, sexy, perfect… and you’re driving me insane.”
Avelyn took a hold of his belt and started undoing it. He looked at her tiny fingers, fascinated by her languid movements and the wicked curl of her red lips. How he wished to kiss them and smear all that lipstick down her jaw. He leaned in to make his dream happen, but she squeezed his balls hard enough to make him yelp.
“What’s the rush?” She cocked an eyebrow. “You do as I say, and you’ll get what you want. My way.”
He chuckled lightly. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now we’re talking.”
She started unbuttoning his jeans, making sure she pressed on his hard cock each time she fumbled with a button. He moaned deep in his throat, a sign of impatience and eagerness. She pulled his jeans down together with his underwear, and the gorgeous cock sprung right in her face, the tip almost missing her nose. The musky, deeply masculine scent of his skin made her mouth water and panties soak with hot, sticky juices. She closed her eyes, and tasted the pre-cum with the tip of her tongue, determined to enjoy every bit of the unique experience her heightened werewolf senses was giving her. Seeing the look of pure bliss on her face, Max finally understood what was happening, and he smiled. The first time they had sex after she had been bitten, she had been too horny to take her time to explore the new sensations and possibilities. He decided to adapt to her rhythm. He knew he wouldn’t regret it.
Avelyn took the engorged head into her mouth and sucked lightly, getting hungrier for her lover’s body by the second. Her pussy was throbbing almost painfully, and she had to fight the urge to pull him over her and ask him to stuff her full and fuck her until she couldn’t take it anymore. She pumped the base of his cock with her right hand, while the left one went to massage his heavy balls. When she felt his hands on her head, his fingers digging into her soft curls, she moaned around his cock, sending sweet shivers up his spine.
“Oh, that’s nice.” He threw his head back and closed his eyes, partly because he wanted to fully focus on each and every sensation, partly because seeing her plump red lips around his shaft could bring him too close to release too soon.
Avelyn bobbed her head in a steady rhythm, tasting every bit of flesh she could fit into her mouth. She withdrew for a moment to take a deep breath and admire her handy work. His cock was even bigger than before, the skin stretched to the limit, the head of an angry red. She loved the way his round, hard balls felt in her palm, and the messy trace of red lipstick her lips had left in their wake. She looked up at him and loved the way his Adam apple bobbed when he swallowed heavily, in anticipation of her next move. A satisfied smile crept on her lips, then she squeezed the base of his cock and dove down for a real blow-job. She was done testing the waters. She wanted to make him scream and moan, to make it impossible for him to keep his hands away from her curls and his hips from thrusting into her throat.
Max trembled under the force of her erotic attack. She was damn good with that tongue of hers, and he couldn’t help but moan and grab a handful of red hair. “Baby, if you keep it up like that, you’re gonna make me come.”
She pulled away for a moment. “Well, then you’re gonna have to control yourself. Now, shut up unless you feel the need to scream my name. Oh, and don’t you dare come.”
He growled in frustration, the wolf inside him stirring and raising goosebumps on his arms and legs. He wanted to turn her around, slap that naughty butt, then bury his cock deep inside her pussy and fuck her hard until he filled her with his seed. He took three deep breaths and tried to calm his heartbeat. Avelyn had resumed sucking him fast, her expert fingers rubbing and slapping his balls playfully. He noticed how she was faster than ever before, which had both ups and downs: while he could be rougher with her because she could take his strength now, he was also in danger of finishing really fast.
> She sucked him for a couple more minutes, humming in her throat to make it even more difficult for him to hold back. She slowed down, held his cock with both hands, and sucked lightly on the head, licking around it and pressing the tip of her tongue down on the tiny slit. She looked up at him and caught his eyes, dark with desire. She smiled and let go of her prize.
“Take off your clothes,” she said.
Max cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t argue. His fingers flew to the buttons of his shirt, and he undid them at an incredible speed. He threw the garment on the floor, then removed his shoes and stepped out of his jeans and boxers.
Avelyn followed his every movement, an appreciative smirk on her lips. She traced his chiseled chest with her eyes, stopped to admire his hard nipples and the soft chest-hair she so wanted to touch, then her gaze went down to his rock-hard abs and strong thighs. He looked like a Greek god. She’d never have enough of his tight, perfect body. When he got rid of everything that had been covering that soft, white skin, she adjusted her position on the bed so that she could extend one leg and touch his balls with the sole of her platform sandals.
“How about you kneel and give my high heels the attention they deserve?”
Max’s eyes went wide with surprise. For some reason, he still had difficulties wrapping his mind around the fact that his bride was much more than the non-submissive type; she was quite domineering. He held her gaze for a moment, but she didn’t waver. She added a little more pressure to his already painful balls, and he couldn’t deny that the feel of the cold sole of her sandal on his hot skin turned him on even more. “All right…”
“That’s a good wolf.”
His stomach tightened with uncertainty. Did he like her teasing, or did it made him mad? He dismissed the question and lowered himself on his knees. Her foot traveled to his chest, the pointy heel touching his left nipple. His eyes were fixed on her face, his jaw clenched.
Avelyn teased his nipple with her heel then raised her foot to the left side of his neck. Her toes rubbed against his tense jaw and touched the lobe of his ear. She enjoyed seeing him kneel before her, naked, exposed, at her mercy, but she knew he was a bit reluctant. However, she had long figured out something Max still had difficulties admitting: he liked her being in control. After all, what other reason did he have for falling so hard for a Vulpes bride instead of a Lupi one? She needed to take things slowly, though, get him used to the power play step by step, let him know he could reclaim control at any time. Her eyes went up to meet his, and she gave him a reassuring smile.