by Desiree Holt
Ruby shifted back to wolf and set off at a trot, keeping her nose close to the forest floor to try and catch Holton’s trail. The scent of the other wolf was ingrained on her from the brief moment they’d spent in the forest together, before Joel had interrupted them. Even though she was annoyed Holton had tricked her, something about him had held her attention. Part of her didn’t want to be attracted to him, but she just couldn’t help it.
She supposed that was a good thing. Life wouldn’t be much fun if she was going to be mated to someone she wasn’t even attracted to.
Mated.
It still seemed crazy she would be mated this time tomorrow. She felt like she barely knew Holton, even though they’d grown up in the same compound. His being eight years older meant that by the time she’d started school, he was finishing. When you were young, eight years age difference might as well be a hundred.
She ran deeper into the forest, but she saw no sign of anyone—either from her pack, or the outsider wolves they’d been trying to find. Had she taken the wrong track? Ruby slowed to a walk, her ears pricked for any sound. The forest had always felt like home to her, but for the first time in her life she found herself cautious and over-aware of her surroundings. Had she made a mistake by coming out here? There could be rogue shifters who might attack her.
No, she wouldn’t allow herself to be afraid. If she was attacked, she would fight with every ounce of strength she had.
Perhaps I should go back?
She was annoyed she hadn’t found Holton and the others. Were they avoiding her? No, that was stupid. They didn’t even know she was out here. No one knew she was out here. Everyone was supposed to be at home. Safe. She lived alone in her small house. If something happened to her, no one would even know she was missing, for several hours, at least.
Her stupidity hit her like a physical punch to the gut. What the hell had she been thinking? She’d been trying to prove she was one of the guys, but she was smarter than that. She didn’t need the brawn when she had the brains, but it seemed both had let her down on this occasion.
With a low rumble of a growl that came from nerves more than anything else, Ruby turned around to head back to the compound. She’d wait for Holton there—assuming nothing happened to him and the rest of his group.
The feeling of ghosts at her back suddenly swept over her, the fur all over her body pricking on end.
A body bounded out in front of her, and she gave a yelp and reared back. For a moment, she thought it was one of the strange wolves, but then she realized Holton was standing in wolf-form in front of her.
Relief flooded through her, but Holton didn’t seem so pleased to see her. He snarled, and, when she tried to move forward, snapped at her forelegs and blocked her way.
She huffed air out through her nostrils. He was clearly angry with her about something, but she couldn’t communicate with him like this.
Ruby shifted back to human and got to her feet, her hands on her hips. Her fear from earlier had dissipated. What was it about him that riled every sense in her? It was as though, as soon as Holton was near her, she was primed to fight him.
Holton transformed back into the form of a man, and she tried not to let her eyes rove over his body and instead focused on his face, which was hard and masculine with anger.
“What do you think you’re doing out here alone, when you know there are strange wolves around?” he demanded.
She flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “I came to find you, of course. I figured you must have forgotten about meeting me.”
She was teasing out of nerves, but he scowled. “You don’t know what sort of dangerous situation you’d have found yourself in.”
“Well, neither did you. Why should I be protected, and you not? I’ve got teeth and claws, just like yours. Did you even find anyone?”
“We didn’t find any strange wolves, if that’s what you mean. They must have taken off again after they attacked Jaco.”
She tried to focus her attention on the conversation, and not on the fact he was standing so broad and muscular and completely naked. He wasn’t the only one who was naked. Ruby angled her body slightly, presenting her shoulder and hip to him so he didn’t get a total eyeful.
She realized he was alone. “So, where are the others now?”
“I caught the scent of you, and sent Joel and the rest of them on their way. I didn’t want you getting in trouble if one of them reported back to your uncle that you were out here on your own and without permission.”
“I wouldn’t have been on my own, if you’d met me like you said you would.”
“I didn’t want you putting yourself in a dangerous situation. Not that it did much good, considering you put yourself in one anyway.”
“Neither you nor my uncle own me. I’ll do whatever I want.”
He snarled. “Why do you have to fight me on everything?”
“You’d better get used to it.”
“We’re not mated yet,” he snapped.
She put her hands on her hips. “Does that mean you’re going to call it off? Am I too much for you to handle?”
With a growl, he stepped forward and shoved her up against a tree trunk, the naked skin of her back grazing against the rough bark. His mouth found hers and he kissed her hard, his lips bruising. He was rough and coarse, and everything she’d sworn she didn’t like about the man. The way he kissed her was more like he wanted to devour her, or own her, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth, his body locked against hers, so she was unable to move. She thought she should try and pushed him off, but all rational thought fled her mind. To her surprise, she found her arms wound around his neck, and she felt herself melt against him, her body molding into the hard planes and ridges of his torso. Her softness to his hardness. His erection was like a rod, pressing between their bodies. Her entire being had sprung to life beneath his ministrations.
The kiss grew softer, his fingers reaching to knot in her hair. Using the ponytail his fist had created, he yanked her head back slightly, sharp pricks of pain affecting her scalp, and exposed her throat. His lips left her mouth and crept down her neck. And then his body freed her, and instead of pressing her up against the tree, she found him on his knees before her.
Ruby looked down at his dark head, tousled hair around his broad shoulders, and her breath caught. What was he going to do with her?
A line from a fairytale went through her head … All the better to eat you with, my dear …
She held back a whimper.
“I want you, now,” he growled.
“But the mating isn’t until tonight.” She gasped the words out. “My uncle …”
“Fuck your uncle.”
He looked up at her, focusing on her face with those dark eyes of his. He reached between her naked thighs, and used to his hands to press her apart, her feet taking involuntary little steps to create space at her entrance. He gave her one last stare, and she didn’t know if she should feel terrified or horny—truthfully, she was a little of both—and then his mouth pressed against her pussy, his breath hot against her delicate flesh. She whimpered again as the tongue that had been so forceful in her mouth now sought between her folds, licking her open. No one had ever kissed her there before, and what Holton was doing was so much more than just kissing. He had buried his face against her, his tongue pushing inside her, so her back arched against the tree trunk and she cried out. She might have been clueless about this kind of thing, but Holton seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
His hand slipped up the inside of her thigh, and then his fingers joined his tongue, first one digit pushing inside her and then the second. His mouth moved to her clit, sucking gently, and then flicking with tip of his tongue. She was wet, and getting wetter by the second. Pleasure made her head spin.
Holton removed his mouth from her and got back to his feet, but his fingers remained inside her, thrusting hard as he studied her face. She reached for him, watching to feel the press of his hard body
again. His other hand covered the swell of her breast, pinching her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He twisted just enough to make her gasp as shocks of pain fired through her body, sparking straight between her thighs. She felt like her body had been taken hostage, that she was a slave to his fingers, and mouth, and …
Ruby glanced down to see his cock, long and thick, standing to attention. The head was bulbous, and a darker pink than the rest of the shaft. Even in the moonlight, she could see a dribble of fluid leaking from the slit, and she reached for him, unable to help herself. Holton growled as her small hand wrapped around his girth. He was so big, and she moved her fist up and down his length, hoping she was doing what he liked. She’d played around with a couple of human boys when she’d been a teen, but had never touched anyone like Holton.
He caught her by the chin and lifted her face to his. “I want your mouth on me.”
Then he kissed her again, slow and sensual this time, and she could taste her pussy on his tongue.
He released her from the kiss, and stepped back slightly, giving her space. She had no intention of saying no to him. She dropped to her knees, never letting go of the base of his shaft. He was big, and she didn’t know how much of him she’d be able to take, but she intended on doing the best she could.
She didn’t want to let him down.
Bare knees on the hard ground, soft heat, musk filling her nostrils. She opened her mouth and stretched her lips wide to take him. The smooth head of his cock slipped across her palate. His salty pre-cum coated her tongue. His hands fisted her hair, not pushing her down his shaft, but holding her firm. She swirled her tongue, tasting him. Holton jerked his hips, and the glans hit the back of her throat. She held back on her gag reflex, and he pulled out and then thrust again, fucking her mouth.
Ruby reached up and cupped his balls, massaging him gently while he moved his cock between his lips. She heard his breath growing ragged above her, felt him grow even harder in her mouth. If he came now, he wouldn’t mate her and, right now, she wanted that more than anything else.
He must have sensed her need, for he released his hold on her hair and dragged her to her feet.
He kissed her again. “Ah, hell, Ruby. That was so fucking hot.”
She couldn’t even speak.
His hands moved beneath her bottom, cupping both cheeks and lifting her. Her legs wrapped around his hips and her back crashed back up against the tree trunk. Her thighs were spread wide for him, and while she clutched his shoulder to hold herself steady, she reached between them to grab his cock and position it at her slit. She was so wet—from her own cream and his saliva—and she was ready for him.
He pressed his forehead to hers. “Tell me if it’s too much.”
“No, never too much,” she gasped. “I want you.”
He entered her, the head of his cock breaching her inner lips. She felt herself stretch for him, and he nudged his hips again, pushing deeper.
Ruby moaned, and dropped her mouth to his shoulder, sinking in her teeth.
“Fuck, Ruby,” he groaned, and thrust deeper.
A sweet stab of pain speared through her, making her suck in a breath of air, but as quickly as it arrived, it had already faded.
Have I bled? She wondered briefly, and then thought no more as Holton drove deep, shoving her hard against the tree trunk.
She held onto him, tightly, her arms around his neck, her legs around his hips. His fingers dug hard into her ass cheeks, and he kissed her mouth, her neck, bit her shoulder.
He moved slowly at first, pulling almost fully out of her, before edging back in again. Every inch felt delicious. He was in complete control, holding her up while he thrust his hips. Her heels dug into his ass. She grew frustrated, and bucked her hips, urging him on. Holton’s thrusts became faster, more aggressive. He was losing control, too, and she wanted to absorb every inch of him when he did.
They were together, one being. Two hearts, two minds, but one combined body, moving toward the same release. Ruby forgot everything else apart from how it felt to have Holton inside her. The ground beneath her vanished, the tree at her back no longer existed, even the moon above their heads disappeared into obscurity.
Tension coiled at the pit of her stomach, every muscle in her body tightened like a spring. He was so deep inside her, filling her completely. She’d never been so close to another being before—wolf or human—and she never wanted this moment to end.
The tension that had been building since he first pushed her up against the tree finally broke, rolling through her body over and over, until she was left jerking and shuddering as she came down from the high.
Holton was still hard inside her, and he’d held himself still while she’d come all over his cock, but he started moving again; slow at first, but quickly growing faster, his hips slamming into hers. His hands still gripped her ass, and he used his hold on her to move her with him. She flung back her head and cried out as he came inside her, pumping her full of hot semen, letting out a growl of release as he did so.
They clung to each other and slid to the ground. Her thighs were wet and sticky, but she didn’t care.
“I can’t believe I waited so long to do that.”
He laughed and kissed her. “You were waiting for the right person, remember?”
She thumped him on the shoulder, and noted the small, red teeth marks pressed into his tan skin. “Then you should have come to me sooner.”
“You weren’t ready. You at eighteen, and me at twenty-six. You’d have thought I was a pervert.”
She smiled. “Maybe I was more the pervert at eighteen.”
He scooped her up close. “I bet you were, filthy bitch.”
She laughed, but his mouth over hers silenced her again.
Suddenly, his lips froze against hers, and his whole body went rigid.
He lifted his head.
“What’s wrong?” she said.
Holton frowned. “We’re not alone.”
Chapter 9
Holton held Ruby closer as he sensed movement around them in the forest. It came from all sides, slowly approaching. A rustling, and the sound of numerous paws crunching on the forest floor. His nostrils flared as he tried to pick up the scent.
Wolf. Definitely wolf.
“We need to get up,” he said softly to Ruby, dislodging her from his lap and gently pulling her to her feet.
“What’s happening? They’re here, aren’t they? The strange wolves.”
Holton frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean—”
Furry bodies broke through the tree line, bright yellow eyes glaring at them from the moon-cast shadows.
Ruby’s hand clutched his forearm and he glanced down to see her staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes. He moved her slightly, positioning her so he stood with her just behind him, the tree trunk behind her, guarding her rear from the new arrivals. Ruby might say she didn’t want or need protecting, but that didn’t make him any less protective of her. He contemplated shifting, aware they were both naked, and defenseless, but already he could see there were at least four wolves and, if he or Ruby shifted, it would mean a fight. At least if they remained human, for the moment anyway, they might be able to talk their way out of this situation.
“What are we going to do?” Ruby hissed from behind him.
He touched her bare hip, hoping to give her some reassurance. “I haven’t quite got that figured out, yet.”
The wolves moved out of the darkness, surrounding them on all sides. As they got closer, Holton frowned. He recognized these wolves. What the hell was going on?
A human figure broke through the trees, determination in his step, striding to come to a halt between two of the wolves.
He heard Ruby’s gasp of surprise.
Gregory.
Their alpha stood in boots, jeans, and a dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves. He glared at Holton, and then at his niece. “Ruby, get the hell over here.”
&n
bsp; “What is this?” Holton demanded, holding Ruby back with one hand, even though he didn’t think for a moment that she would run to her uncle, especially as she was completely naked, and had his semen still running down the inside of her thighs.
“You’re not supposed to be out here,” said their alpha, still focused on Ruby. “What the fuck have you been doing, you little whore?”
His word might as well have been a slap to her face, and Holton felt her jerk back. Then she recovered herself and leaned to one side so she could peer around his shoulder.
“Nothing more than you wanted!” she spat back. “You told me Holton was to be my mate, remember?”
“I didn’t want this,” Gregory snarled. “What the fuck are you doing with him?”
“No?” she said, a slightly hysterical tone to her voice. “Then why did you tell the whole pack that we’d be mated?”
“Making everyone think I wanted our families to be joined was a good way to cover my tracks. No one would suspect me, then, would they?”
“Suspect you of what?”
“Of wanting this asshole dead.”
Ruby’s body pressed closer to Holton’s, and he reached back to hold her tight. A massive part of him wanted to jump in on this conversation, but he had a strong suspicion Ruby was more likely to get the truth out of her uncle than he was.
“Why would you want Holton dead?” she said. “He’s done nothing but support you.”
Gregory’s upper lip curled. “Bullshit. As soon as he helped his sister run, I knew he was working against me.”
Ruby shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. We’re mated. We’re meant to be.”
“He wants my position as alpha, Ruby, that’s the only reason he’s with you now.” He looked toward Holton. “Do you think I didn’t see how you’ve been eyeing up my position since Alyssa ran off? I didn’t get to be alpha by being a fool, Holton.”