by T. S. Joyce
Luke and Jeremiah’s faces stilled and they drew questioning glances to Gable.
“It’s like a family,” he explained.
Americans had a funny way of saying things. My lips had gone numb and the room took on a comfortable hazy look around the edges. I swayed slightly and when Gable gripped my arm, I giggled.
Luke gave a toothy grin. “You want another?”
“Most certainly not. You boys have corrupted me quite enough for one night. I think it’s time I retire.” I hiccupped.
Two perfumed whores, apparently bored with the other patrons approached the bar. One ran a finger seductively over Luke’s shoulder and he shrugged her off.
“No,” he growled.
Gable’s eyebrows shot straight up like he’d never seen his brother turn down an easy bedding. A pretty redheaded girl whispered something into Gable’s ear and my insides turned to fire. Maybe I’d stay a while after all.
“Back off,” I slurred.
The woman tipped her chin slightly and looked up at Gable.
“You heard her,” he said.
Luke was already sipping another shot and leaning against the bar like he enjoyed the show.
“You Dawson’s are no fun anymore,” a blonde haired woman hissed. “Welcome home Gable,” she called over her shoulder.
I leveled him with a glare but he shrugged remorselessly. “It was a long time ago.”
Long time or no, I didn’t like the thought of that witch’s claws anywhere near Gable’s skin. Apparently the look on my face said as much.
“Hey,” he whispered into my ear. “You’re it for me now.”
“Tread carefully with them, Gable Dawson. The day you think about bedding someone else is the last day you’ll spend with me. Jeremiah, Luke, I’m happy to meet you but I must get some sleep. It’s been a long journey. I’ll see you in the morning. You boys have fun tonight.” I turned. “Not too much fun though,” I amended with an arch to my eyebrow.
The room swayed as I limped to the room with the number ten carved into the door. Was it room ten or twelve? I frowned. Ten, I think. I pushed open the door and stood shocked and frozen. There on the bed, a dark-haired woman was perched on elbows and knees and was being thoroughly pummeled by a completely naked man from behind. The woman gave a cheery crimson smile. “You want to join?”
I shut the door with eyes so wide, I thought they’d pop right out of my head. Now that I thought further on it, the bartender definitely said room twelve. The squeaking of the bed picked up again. At least I hadn’t ruined their night of…love making? I shuffled to room twelve and knocked first. When no one answered I peeked my head into the dark space. When I was satisfied absolutely no one was indulging in pleasures of the flesh in that room, I shut the door behind me and lit the lantern on the bedside table.
I’d made my mind up long before Gable’s boots graced our room. If I was determined never to be married, his being my man had to mean something big. My views on intimacy had evolved with my feelings about Gable. I didn’t know how our living arrangements would be when we got to the homestead tomorrow, but from what Gable had told me, it was one big house with a room for each of the brothers. Losing my virginity encased in the thin walls beside his sleeping family didn’t sound like an attractive option. Losing it in a whore house, on the other hand, seemed fitting somehow.
How far I’d fallen in the two months since the tragedy. I was unabashedly and undeniably a wanton woman now, but what difference did it make? Gable and I wouldn’t be a traditional couple. I wouldn’t wear his ring, or bear his name, but I was as devoted to him as I would be a husband. And from the way he treated me, I thought it was the same for him. I was about to live with an unwed man so already, my reputation was less than nothing. Oh, if Mother could only see me now.
Gable’s boots made a patterned shadow against the bottom opening of the door, and it creaked open. I stood and clasped my hands together to shop them shaking.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he ducked under the doorway.
I exhaled a shaky breath. “Are you drunk?”
His eyes went wide. “Not too much.”
I nodded crisply. “Good.” I plucked the final lace in back of the dress he’d given me and let it slip to the floor until it billowed into a small mountain around my feet.
Not a muscle moved except for his gaze. I viciously fought the urge to close my eyes against the embarrassment of bearing my body and soul to a man. The longer I watched his reaction to my skin, the easier it became. He liked what he saw, that much was evident in his slow, panther-like smile and accelerated breath.
His voice was as rich and deep as he asked, “Are you sure?”
For fear of my words coming out small and shaky, I nodded.
He removed his hat and unbuttoned his vest.
“Let me,” I whispered. With each button I undid, my heart beat faster.
His hand touched the skin at my waist in the barest brush that brought me closer to his warmth. When his shirt hung open to give a sliver of taut muscles beneath, I pressed my palms against the silken steel there and pushed the fabric away. His heart beat steady as a drum underneath my palm. His finger found my chin and lifted it gently up until I was hopelessly lost in the churning blue of his eyes. I didn’t see his scars anymore. Only the perfection of his face, made just for me. He brushed a strand of hair away from my collar bone, and that tiny touch of our skin filled me with an opening warmth.
Slowly, he leaned down and kissed me until I thought I’d melt right into his skin. His strong hand pressed into my back and pulled me closer as he rocked me softly backward into the bed.
“I haven’t ever—”
“I know,” he murmured against my lips. “I’ll be gentle.”
His tongue brushed the closed seam of my mouth, and I opened for him. His hand trailed fire down my neck, across my shoulder, then he cupped the fullness of my breast. I gasped and arched against his touch. Warmth pooled between my thighs as he kneaded me in that gentle way of his. I loved the feel of his skin against mine and I moved beneath him. As Gable covered my body with his own, I’d never felt safer than I did right now.
Kisses, soft as butterfly wings, dotted my neck until his lips found my puckered nipple. Tingling pressure build deep inside as he lapped at my oversensitive skin. Helpless noises wrenched from my throat, and I rocked my hips against his erection. Frustrated, I reached for the button to his pants. Gable chuckled a rich sound that vibrated against my breast.
“Woman, we need to take it slow. At least the first few times or it’ll hurt you.”
I’m sure I didn’t know what he meant. This didn’t hurt at all. In fact, it felt very very good, and I wanted more. “Gable,” I pleaded.
He canted his head and held my gaze with his.
“I’ve been thinking about being with you all day.” For weeks, if I was honest. “I’m ready.” It was true. I’d worked myself into an inferno just thinking about kissing him, and now I’d discovered he had the ability to kiss the rest of me. I didn’t want to wait anymore.
Gable’s dark brows lowered as the lantern light threw shadows across the handsome planes of his face. He cupped my sex and it felt so good, I gripped the sheets and rolled my hips against his palm. His finger dipped inside of me slowly, easily.
“Jesus, woman,” he breathed as he rested his forehead against my stomach. “You ain’t lyin’.” He lifted his gaze back to me. “You’re ready.”
He stood and plucked the buttons to his pants, then shucked them completely. My lips fell open at the sight of his erection, long and thick and ready for me too. A pang of fear washed through me as I tried to imagine how something so big would match me, but he lay against me and drew my lips into a gentle kiss. The feeling of safety washed over me again as he pressed my knees farther apart. Settling his hips against mine, he slid into me halfway. The stretch burned a little, but the pleasure was greater.
Gable withdrew slowly and I watched his face as he pressed i
nto me again. His gaze caressed me as he buried himself deeper inside, and he let out a soft growl that raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. The muscles in his arms strained and shook as he thrust all the way into me. As his hips met mine, he hit a sensitive spot that made me moan and arch my back. He withdrew slowly, then bucked into me again, and I gripped the back of his hair as pleasure warred with pain.
His breath shook, and I knew he was holding back for me, so I wouldn’t hurt. I grazed my teeth against his neck, and his response was instantaneous. One hard thrust for each time my teeth touched him, and I smiled against his throat at the power he’d given me.
His lips crashed onto mine as he pressed into me, and over and over, he filled me until the tingling sensation was too much. Gable gripped my shoulders and buried himself deeper, and I exploded around him. I cried out his name and clawed his back, and Gable gritted his teeth and swelled inside of me. Hot, throbbing bursts of wetness filled me as his powerful hips crashed against mine.
In that moment of utter release of control, he arched back and his eyes shone icy blue in the soft lantern light. I couldn’t bring myself to care as wave after wave of indulgence washed through me but here, in this moment, I knew what he was.
The wolf’s eyes were right there, in Gable’s face, and every peculiarity of the last two months clicked quietly into place.
I waited for a fear that never came as he brushed his lips against my neck and ear. “Your mine now, Lucianna,” he murmured.
I should’ve been afraid, but his words kept my terror at bay. I wanted to be his. Besides, I’d seen real monsters, and Gable wasn’t one of them.
Gable was good.
I didn’t know what was myth and truth about the horrifying legends I’d heard when I was a child, but my werewolf had been a tender lover, and had given so much to keep me safe. If he was dangerous, part of that ferocity was what drew me to him.
His muscles strained and twitched and I whispered, “Wolf,” into his ear.
His breathing was ragged as he lay frozen and cradled inside of me. “I wanted to tell you.” His dark stubble rasped across the skin at my shoulder and I shivered under the delicious feel of him.
I pulled the back of his hair until he graced me with those inhuman eyes. For a long moment we stayed locked like this as I accepted him—all of him. “I know why you couldn’t tell me, but you’re mine too, Gable Dawson. I’ll protect whatever secrets you carry, like you protect mine. No more hiding from me.”
His breath caressed my neck as he bent down to kiss the tender skin there. “You aren’t just my woman, Lucianna. You’re my mate. You don’t want to be married, but this is bigger.” He eased back. “Can you handle it?”
His thick drawl was so quiet and deep and I stroked his scarred face with a light brush of my fingertips. I was already devoted to him in every way. “I’m yours.”
The relief on his face brought a smile to my throbbing lips. He rolled to the side and traced an exploratory finger under the weight of my breasts. “I’m not like my brothers. I can’t stay human for long anymore.” His eyes darkened. “I’m broken.”
I wiggled closer and kissed his collarbone. “So am I. We’ll get stronger together.”
The sigh he released seemed to hold a hundred pounds of weight. His muscles relaxed and in the dark of a whore house hotel room, he confessed dark and frightening things that had burdened his soul for much too long. His war stories and the monster they’d created didn’t scare me. They made me understand him better and in turn, feel closer to him. He was letting me hold his secrets while he rested from the strain. That kind of trust he’d only given to me. What a feeling it was to utterly belong to someone, and to hold their love in return.
He hadn’t said the words out loud, I felt the truth of his love down to the very marrow of my bones.
I wouldn’t ever be a wife, but I was Gable’s mate, and that seemed more important somehow.
Chapter Thirteen
Gable
It felt so damned good to be home. I’d been running from the ghosts of the war for so long, I hadn’t even remembered the good in this town. Werewolves weren’t solitary creatures and I’d forced my animal away from the pack he led. No wonder I had no control. It was my wolf’s revenge.
Lucianna played such a big part in the happiness of my homecoming. Drinking with Luke and Jeremiah, and then me coming back to the room with her putting her needs right out there in the open like she’d done. And then her figuring out what I was, and accepting it? I shook my head in awe. Last night was easily the best night of my life.
For the first time in a long time, I looked forward to seeing the home I’d abandoned. The scrape of the straight razor was rhythmic as I shaved over the washbasin. If she liked my scars on display, they were hers. I didn’t care what anyone else thought about my looks so long as she kept touching my uneven skin with that look of wonder swimming in the deep green color of her eyes.
I paused when Lucianna rolled away from the gray light streaming through the window, but when she sighed and relaxed again, I kept shaving. Luke and Jeremiah were just like I remembered. Jeremiah was quiet and mannerly while Luke would be a rake until the day he died. We laughed into the night like I’d never left all those years ago. They liked Lucianna. I could all but smell my brother’s approval and it settled something in me.
With a smooth face, I studied the creeping scar that ran from collar bone to cheek. Lucianna was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and for some reason, my looks were okay with her too. The fates were repaying me for good deeds and the hell they’d put me through.
Lucianna’s voice was sweet and sleepy. “Gable? What time is it?”
I wiped my face with a towel and sat on the bed next to her. Leaning forward to nibble her ear, I said, “It’s almost dawn.”
She hadn’t bothered to put her dress back on last night and thank God for that. I couldn’t get enough of the alabaster lengths of her skin. She raked her nails against my chest until little trails of raised red skin followed. I liked that she wasn’t gentle with me. My wolf liked it too.
“Do we have time?” she asked in a husky voice that just about had my animal howling.
I nuzzled her neck with my smooth jaw until she giggled and hugged me close. “I saw something scandalous last night,” she breathed.
I eased back and tried to stifle a grin. She looked appalled, which perked my curiosity right up. “Oh, yeah? What did you see?”
“I’m embarrassed to say I walked into the wrong room after I left you and your brothers.”
I propped up on my elbow and laughed. I could only imagine what she’d walked in on. “What did you see?”
A woman was on her elbows and knees, and a rutting man was…you know.”
“Makin’ love to her from behind?” That was the cleanest way of putting it I could think of.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Like animals.” Her eyebrows, just a shade darker than her hair, arched delicately. “Have you ever done that with a woman?”
Nothing good would come from talking about my past with a well-bred woman like her. “Luc,” I warned, rolling away.
She caught my hand and tugged me back onto the bed. “I mean, would you like that?”
I frowned suspiciously but she looked back at me with such open honesty in her eyes. I heaved a sigh and relaxed onto the pillow next to her. “I’d like doing that with you. I like looking at your face when I make you feel good, but the animal in me would enjoy that position. That’s how wolves mate in the wild.”
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“Well, I don’t know if we should try it right this moment. You’re likely to be sore from last night and I can smell blood—”
“No, not that. I mean, does it hurt to be a werewolf?”
“Oh.” I traced her hip under the covers with my fingertips. “It hurts to be human,” I said softly. “Being a wolf is the easy part.”
A look of such sadness washed over her face and
I pulled her closer. I didn’t want to make her sad. All I wanted in the world was for her to be safe and happy.
I could tell she wanted to try what she’d seen last night, and we would when I was certain I wouldn’t hurt her. Right now though, I just wanted to take her gently and banish whatever had made her unhappy. Wrapping my arm around her back, I pulled her against me and kissed her lips.
My brothers would understand if we were a little late.
I reached for button on my pants just as a banging knock rattled the door. Bam, bam, bam. “Gable, load up!” Luke yelled from the other side.
Or maybe they wouldn’t.
I gave an irritated growl but Lucianna pulled my face to hers and smiled. “We have forever.” The ghosts were gone from her eyes, so I nodded and brushed my lips against the palm of her hand.
After splashing her face, dressing, and pinning her hair, she was ready. I hoisted the light bag over my shoulder and wrapped my arm around her waist. From the way she leaned into me, I didn’t think she wanted to be separated any time soon either. Her sleepy smile was so sweet, I could drown in it, but the sight that met us outside had me frozen in my tracks.
In front of a string of horses tied to the post, Jeremiah whispered into a dark-haired woman’s ear and Luke leaned against a fencepost across from a pretty desert blond-haired girl.
The latter quipped, “Luke Dawson, you better feed me at Cotton’s or get me home. You know my stomach ain’t gonna stand for this abuse.”
“Ladies,” Luke said with a genteel wave of his hand. “I’d like you to meet Gable Dawson. Gable Dawson, the wives.”
Only a moment of shock registered on their faces before the little blonde catapulted into my arms. “You’re home!” she sang, like we’d known each other for years. She stood back and fluffed her dress. “I’m Kristina. Dawson if that wasn’t obvious.”