by Maddy Barone
The question was should she want him? No, she told herself, the real question was, should I accept him?
*
The sun wasn’t up yet when Sky woke. His left arm tingled with the pins-and-needles feeling that came from having lain on it too long, but he didn’t move, because his mate was still sleeping cuddled against him. Her cheek pressed to the hollow of his throat. Did her right arm tingle from having slept on it? Her left arm was draped over him, and his right arm was over her. He smiled. They must have slept face-to-face in an embrace. Waking up with her like this was the most wonderful thing he could imagine. The only thing better would be if she wasn’t wearing the cotton gown and he weren’t wearing these stupid shorts.
Her breath tickled his throat and his body responded. Carefully, he eased his hips away from her. He didn’t want to. His body screamed at him to press closer. His mind knew better. Rose wasn’t willing to accept even his kisses yet. Anything more would have her storming across the hall to the other room and slamming the door shut in his face.
She drew in a breath, eyes still closed, before rolling away from him onto her back. Her movement slid her breast neatly into his palm. He froze, not even breathing, just as her eyes shot open. She looked down where his brown hand cupped her breast, and then stared, wide-eyed, in his direction. Was it light enough for her to see him? He didn’t think so. His own eyes felt wide. He should move his hand. He should apologize. He should get up and run for the shower before she noticed how his cock reacted to the feel of her warm flesh beneath the cotton.
He did none of those things. Without any conscious direction from his brain, his hand cupped her more firmly. When his thumb stroked back and forth over her nipple she gasped. His gaze finally left her eyes to stare at her parted lips the way he would stare at a cool stream after being stranded without water for three days.
“I want to kiss you,” he said in a voice that sounded too raw to belong to him.
“I haven’t brushed my teeth.”
“I don’t care.”
Her gaze slanted down again to her chest where he still held her breast, and then came back toward his face. “Okay.”
The whisper was so low he almost didn’t hear it. Or maybe he just didn’t quite believe it. He lunged up on one elbow to stare down at her. She licked her lips and reached a hand as if to touch him. He gently guided it to the back of his neck. The pressure she exerted on his nape was so slight he barely felt it, but he knew an invitation when he felt one. There was an almost imperceptible tremble in the fingers of the hand he lifted from her breast to smooth over her cheek to her chin.
Don’t attack her like a ravenous beast, he ordered himself. Be gentle.
He tried. Kissing someone gently was unknown territory for him. Kissing at all was unknown territory. Except for his mother, Rose was the only woman he’d ever kissed, and the few kisses he’d given Rose were not the same sort he’d given his mother. He brushed his lips lightly over hers, inwardly shivering at the feel of her breath against his lips. He did it again, lingering to touch his tongue to her bottom lip.
He braced himself, snatching at self-control with fierce desperation. One minute he was barely touching her, and the next his tongue was sliding along hers in her mouth. It took every ounce of his discipline, but he kept the kiss gentle. Her fingertips left trails of fire as she ran them up and down his back, pausing to stroke his hair at the nape of his neck, and then digging them into the muscles of his shoulders. Control frayed. She wasn’t just submitting to his kiss; she was participating. Hell, encouraging him. His blood was molten lava, most of it heading for his cock. He could feel the soft mounds of her breasts pressing against his chest. God, he wanted her. When he kissed along her jaw to her throat he could feel her blood pounding under her delicate skin. Her scent was laced with the musky tang of arousal. Knowing she was aroused too made his restraint unravel. The damn blanket was twisted around their legs, keeping him from rubbing his cock against her. He needed to feel her. He loved caressing her face and arms, but he wanted to feel that place between her legs.
With rough, impatient hands he tore the blanket away and tossed it aside. He paused to drink in the sight of her. The room wasn’t light, but with his wolf-born sight he could see every detail: The hem of her nightdress twisted up to her waist, the prim white cotton of her underpants hiding her secret place, her pale, silky thighs slightly parted, as if she were inviting him in. Holding his breath, he reached in awe to touch the cotton shielding her pussy. And let it out in a shocked, pained howl as razor-sharp claws sliced into his ankle.
“Fuck!” He saw twin beams of feline eyes glaring at him. “Damn cat.”
A sharp kick dislodged the cat. She leaped in an arc of bristling brown fur to the floor. The cat sounded like a full grown panther when she screamed defiance at him. When Rose shoved him off and scrambled over him to get out of bed, her knee landed like a sledgehammer in his groin. White-hot agony shot through his entire body. His scream drowned out the cat’s. When Rose snapped the light on, he was curled around himself, dragging in breath through tightly clenched teeth.
“Poor Mitzi,” his mate crooned.
Poor Mitzi? Still huddled around his injury, he looked over his shoulder and saw his mate bent over the cursed cat. The sight of her nightgown riding up to show her long legs and generous ass did nothing to calm his temper. If it hadn’t been for the stupid cat, his hands would be exploring those curves right now. He would kill it. He’d do it quietly, so Rose wouldn’t know. But accidents happened to cats every day, didn’t they? This evil little beast was due an accident. A fatal accident. And Sky would be there to comfort his mate when her pet turned up dead.
Rose stood up, cradling the cat tenderly to the breast he’d just caressed. She cast him an accusing glare. “I don’t think she’s hurt, thank goodness. You could have killed her!”
He hadn’t touched the damn cat. Yet. “I wish I had,” he ground out through clenched teeth.
She let out a gasp of angry horror. “Just when I thought I didn’t hate you anymore, you say something awful like that. How can you be so mean to a helpless cat?”
“Helpless?” He dared roll onto his back, but he kept his knees raised to ease the pain in his abused cock. He jerked the sheet up to his chin because her accusing eyes made him feel vulnerable. “That damn cat is about as helpless as a grizzly bear.”
“Ha!” She reached one-handed to jerk a dresser drawer open and snatch up some clothes. “I’m going to shower.”
He lay on his back, glaring at the slammed door. With every pulse of pain he clenched his teeth over a moan. When he heard the shower come on, he decided he had to get up. Carefully, he got out of bed, assessing the pain with each move he made. A human man might have been incapacitated for days after having a knee planted so forcefully into his groin. As a wolf warrior, he would fully recover in a matter of hours. He hoped. Right now he was afraid he was crippled for life.
He dressed with exquisite care. Sliding the shorts off was a delicate operation. Pulling a pair of slacks on was equally delicate. Normally on a Sunday morning he would wear jeans but slacks had a looser and more forgiving fit, something he was sure his cock was desperately grateful for. Once the zipper was up he blew out a sigh of relief and shrugged on a casual knit shirt.
A light tap sounded on the door and it opened an inch. “Are you decent?” Rose asked through the crack.
Decent? Probably not. “I’m dressed,” he called. Oh, lord, it was true; a man who’d been kicked in the balls could sing soprano. He cleared his throat and tried to lower his voice. “Come in.”
She came in and stood with one hand still on the door knob, staring at the floor. “I’m sorry about…about this morning. Are you okay?”
Was that her idea of an apology for nearly crippling him? Her hair was dark with water from her shower, combed back from a face that blazed with a blush. Her eyes seemed incapable of looking directly at him. If she didn’t look so miserably embarrassed he might
have held on to his anger, but her embarrassment made her look so adorable he had to forgive her.
“It’s a bit tender,” he said. A major understatement. “I’m a wolf warrior. I’ll be fine in a few hours.”
Her eyes widened and she actually looked at him. “Did Mitzi really hurt you?”
The scratches on his ankle were still bleeding when he put his socks on, but they would be gone in a few hours. “No, not really.”
“Then…” Her gaze looked him up and down, her fair brows pulled together in a slight frown. “Why do you sound like that? And why are you standing so funny?”
“Not my ankle! I’m talking about your knee in my balls.”
Impossibly, her face went from rosy pink to sheet white. “What?” Her gaze dropped to the front of his pants, and the flush came back, somehow twice as bright as before. “I-I—” She jerked her stare back to his face. “Did I really? Oh, God! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
Her horrified remorse was making him feel better all the time. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said again. She walked a few steps closer, her hands reaching for his shoulders before she jerked them back. “It was an accident. I never meant to, uh, knee you.” She glanced around the room, as if reluctant to meet his gaze, but she set her chin and looked directly at him. “I liked kissing you this morning. I’m not ready for more yet, so it’s a good thing we stopped. Not the way we ended up stopping,” she hurried to assure him. “But until then, I really liked it. I wanted you to know that.”
Her words brought an honest smile to his face. “I liked it too. I look forward to next time.”
Her gaze dropped, flicking over the front of his pants, and then rose to meet his again. “Are you really okay? Should I get you something? Ice?”
“I really am okay,” he said firmly. At least, I will be eventually.
“Oh. Good.”
Her blush was back. It made his smile widen. “Why don’t you go downstairs? I’ll brush my teeth and join you in a few minutes.”
After he heard her go down the stairs, he stepped into the hall. That damn cat sat in the single feeble sunbeam that lit the floor. Mitzi yawned insultingly, showing a row of jagged white teeth. Sky lowered himself gingerly to his haunches in front of the cat and pinned her with his fiercest alpha stare.
“Listen, you stupid cat,” he said, putting every ounce of menace he could in his tone. “I am the alpha of this house. I’m a wolf, and cats and wolves don’t mix. You live here because I allow it. Rose belongs to me. The next time you interrupt us is the last time you draw breath. You understand me?”
Golden eyes stared at him, unimpressed. The cat stretched one hind leg up in the air and began lazily washing her private parts. Sky felt his control of the situation dissolve. Control? That damn cat had never been under his control. He sneered into the feline eyes and took himself off to brush his teeth.
Chapter 17
In the chair she had appropriated for herself yesterday morning, Rose pretended to concentrate on her bacon and eggs. Neither Zoe nor Tanya were at the table, but Jocelyn was there with Savedra and Jes. Ms. Mary presided at the foot, chatting with Snow and Stone. Paint who was usually beside Snow, was absent. Sky’s chair was empty.
Rose felt the heat of a blush creep up her face. How could she have done that to him? Taye was very thorough in his training and of course she had been taught how to use her knee to disable an attacker. She had been taught that a knee in the groin could be a literally life-changing injury. Even a glancing blow could cause enough pain to enable her to escape an attacker, but a direct blow with great force behind it could rupture a testicle.
Oh God, she hadn’t done that to him, had she? Her blush doubled in intensity when Sky came into the dining room. He wore a casual smile but she noticed his gait was slightly stiff.
“Good morning,” he said in a cheerful voice.
Everyone looked up and smiled or nodded. Rose wasn’t the only one to notice how carefully he moved while filling a plate with breakfast from the buffet. Stone stood up and went to stand close beside Sky. They spoke in low tones for a minute, and when Stone shot a glance at her with one eyebrow raised she felt like crawling under the table.
Sky seated himself with care and smiled at her. “Don’t look so worried, princess,” he said. “I’m fine.”
“I’m really sorry,” she mumbled to the eggs getting cold on her plate.
His hand covered hers. “I know.” His voice was as gentle as the squeeze he gave her hand. “The Limit is closed to visitors today and tomorrow. Most of the girls go home to spend a few days with their families and return on Tuesday. I have paperwork this morning, and I go to the mayor’s house for a poker game every Sunday night, but this afternoon I’m free. Shall we stroll in the botanical gardens after lunch? They’re only a few blocks away.”
No one from the den spoke such elegant English. Especially after his mate had smashed his privates into screaming pancakes. She almost pointed that out in snarky tones, but shame kept the words back. “I’d like that. I think Amanda mentioned the gardens.”
“Yes, she enjoyed them,” he said.
As they spoke about Amanda and Sand, Rose relaxed. Sky was either a very good actor, or he really had forgiven her for the accident. Talking with him was comfortable this morning. He seemed to like talking to her. He really listened to what she had to say. And now that she was starting to get over her horrified embarrassment, her mind went back to what had happened before she jammed her knee into his groin.
His mouth pursed and then curved in a grin as he tossed some teasing comment at Paint, who came into the dining room at that moment. That mouth had been on hers. His hand, holding his fork with elegant, long, brown fingers, had touched her in places no man had ever touched. Maybe remembering should have made her shy, but it didn’t. It made her want more. Maybe tonight. Had she hurt him too badly for him to…
Sky broke off his conversation with Paint to lean close to her and inhale deeply. His eyes, so blue between thick black lashes, looked deeply into hers. He opened his mouth to speak, but the dining room door banged open and a stranger came in. Sky stood up quickly, almost hiding his wince, and angled his body protectively in front of her. He spoke like an elegant educated city man, but this evidence that he was still a wolf warrior at heart soothed her.
The stranger was a boy in his early teens. He nodded nervously at Sky and handed him a folded square of paper. Rose watched Sky open it. His face didn’t show any emotion, but she knew he was unhappy by the slight stiffening in his shoulders. He held out a hand and the boy gave him a pencil. He wrote something on the paper and gave it back to the boy. The kid trotted out.
Sky turned and met her gaze with a small shake of his head. Frustration and something like rage, forced to a mere smolder, showed in the set of his jaw and the straight line of his brows.
“I’m sorry, Rose, I might not be able to take you to the gardens today.”
Ms. Mary lifted a silvery brow. “Sky?”
He drew in a hard, controlled breath. “Ms. Mary, Rose, come back to my office. Paint, Snow, Stone? You come too.”
Rose abandoned the last of her eggs and allowed Sky to steer her to his office. Ms. Mary and the men followed them in. She flinched inwardly when she saw Mitzi jump down from his chair and saunter out just as he closed the door. Thankfully, he didn’t do more than cast the cat a half-hearted glare. He turned to face them all.
“That message was from Angel Glass. She’s Gabe Benson’s head businesswoman,” he added for Rose and the men’s benefit. “You know about Odell?”
Rose nodded, remembering him telling her about the girl who tried to escape from Gabe’s Girls and the fight that resulted.
“Gabe has her back and last night he gave her to one of his roughest customers. She tried to fight him off. It didn’t go well for her.”
Stone, Paint, and Snow growled. Sky’s face was hard and flat, and in spite of his slacks and polo shirt he looked
as feral as any wolf warrior. “I’m going to Gabe’s place to take her off his hands. I think I can buy her with enough gold, but there could be trouble.” He looked at his cousins. “I’d like to avoid a fight, but if that’s the only way to get this girl away from Gabe, then that’s the way we do it. Right?”
There was a low, threatening rumble of agreement from the men. Sky looked at Ms. Mary. “We’ll make a bunk up in the women’s dormitory for her. You’ll see to that?”
Ms. Mary agreed. “Katelyn doesn’t have a roommate. We’ll put her in there.”
Sky turned to Rose next. “I’m sorry that I won’t be able to take you to the gardens this afternoon.”
She was ashamed of her twinge of disappointment. “That’s okay. This is more important. How long will you be gone?”
He lifted his shoulders. “Maybe an hour. Maybe half the day. We’ll be back when we’re back.”
Rose glanced at Stone. Would he miss seeing his mate? She was sure he and Sara had planned to spend time together today.
Ms. Mary nodded and walked out. Sky put his arms around Rose. She found her cheek resting on his shoulder. She’d been hugged by the men of the Pack, but this was strangely different. Comforting. A little arousing. It came to her that he couldn’t be acting for the benefit of any spectators. There was no one here but Stone, Snow, and Paint.
“I really am sorry,” he whispered.
“I know.” She eased back and tried a smile. “Do you rescue girls often?”
He didn’t smile back. In fact, his face was grim. “Not often enough. I brought Katelyn here from a similar situation a few months ago.”
Paint twitched beside her, but said nothing.
Sky noticed, but didn’t remark. “Men like Gabe Benson like having power over women. This girl is only nineteen. She didn’t want to be a businesswoman, but Gabe auctioned off her virginity like it was a prize, highest bidder take all. I scraped together every gold bit I could lay my hands on, but it wasn’t enough for the winning bid. I heard the next morning she was bruised and hysterical. They had to drug her to get her calmed down. I told Miss Angel I would do anything I could to help. I don’t know how badly she’s hurt, or even if she is hurt, but it can’t be good.”