Wild Wolf Claiming

by Rhyannon Byrd

  For some mind-boggling reason that she simply couldn’t wrap her head around, Elliot Connors honestly seemed to be attracted to her, but who knew how long that would last? Those couples he’d talked about back in Maryland—they no doubt had a strong, powerful love working to keep them together, while she and Elliot had...lust? Budding friendship? Affection? Despite knowing him for such a short time, she already treasured those things, but she wasn’t naive enough to think they would hold him to her. Not when he was the most amazingly awesome guy she’d ever met, and she was just shy, kind-of-chunky, so-normal-it-was-sad Skye Hewitt.

  And, yeah, the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on her. Here he’d spent all this time trying to reassure her that he was a good person—and not a monster—when she was the one with the stains of sin on her soul. Blots of darkness caused by stupid mistakes that hadn’t saved people, like Elliot did, but had destroyed them instead.

  With one last teasing stroke of his tongue against hers, he slowly drew back from the kiss, then set her on her feet as he stood from the chair. Taking her hand, he murmured, “Come on,” and started pulling her along behind him. “I need to clean up, and I need you with me. So we’re both going to take a shower.”

  Blinking at the tapered, masculine shape of his back under his tight T-shirt, she said, “Um, you mean in the bright light and everything?”

  “Yep.”

  She groaned as he opened the bathroom door and flicked on the light, the damn thing even brighter than she’d feared. “I’m not completely comfortable with that,” she mumbled, feeling whatever temporary confidence she’d managed to find in his attraction to her begin to shrivel like a grape left out too long in the sun.

  “Stop worrying, Skye.” He shot her a determined but somehow tender look over his broad shoulder as he reached into the shower and started the water. “In about five minutes, you’ll be too busy coming to think about things like being comfortable.”

  Pulling her hand from his, she muttered, “Elliot, I’m being serious.”

  “So am I,” he said, turning back to face her. “We had to break things off at the cabin before I could make you come. Then we had the what-could-have-been-heartbreaking talk about my non-humanness, that instead went so fucking well it’s only made me want to make you come even harder.” His dark eyes glittered with mischief. “So I’m gonna take care of that right now.”

  She couldn’t help but grin at the goof, even when she was twisted up with self-consciousness. “At least turn the overhead light off. It’s too bright.”

  “No way,” he drawled, pulling his lower lip through his teeth as he reached down and yanked her sweater over her head, followed quickly by her tank top. Hooded gaze glued hungrily to her bra-covered breasts, he growled, “I want to watch every part of this. Every second.”

  “Elliot, I’m—” she started, moving to cover her chest with her arms, but he cut her off as he wrapped his big hands around her wrists, tugging them back down to her sides.

  “If you’re not about to say ‘so fucking beautiful,’” he muttered, staring hotly at her body, “then don’t.”

  Her lips mashed together, but her eyes must have given away exactly what she was thinking when he slowly brought that smoldering gaze back to hers.

  With his hands working to open her jeans, he leaned down and pressed his open mouth to the side of her throat, his deep voice rough with lust as he vowed, “You’re gonna believe me, Skye. You might not now, but I will make you see the truth.”

  She moaned, body flushed with heat and mind spinning as he set about stripping away every bit of material that covered her. His low voice filled her head, his sexy assurances only making her hotter as the steam from the shower filled the tiny room. Then she was naked and alone, her eyes blinking rapidly as he stepped back from her, looking her over. His chest rose and fell as he took his time, one hand lifting to hook around the back of his neck, firm lips parted for the quickening of his excited breaths. The only thing that kept her from diving for one of the thin white towels and jerking it around her was the way he was staring at her, with so much heat and possessiveness, as he raked every inch of her nude body with his gleaming, molten gaze.

  Then she got completely distracted by the sight of him grabbing his T-shirt with the hand on the back of his neck, and pulling the shirt off, revealing a torso that was breathtakingly hard with powerful slabs and cords of muscle, sculpted to perfection. He had a few scratches and scrapes from the fight at the cabin, but they didn’t do anything to detract from his beauty. When she saw him like this, so magnificently raw and tough and painfully gorgeous, it seemed so obvious that he wasn’t just another average human. Like there should have been a big neon sign hanging over his head that read: Open your eyes and see the truth! This perfect male is so much more!

  When he reached down and undid the top button on his jeans, Skye kind of forgot how to breathe altogether. He pulled the denim down his long, muscular legs, then kicked the jeans away, the thick, heavy length of his erection impossible to miss as he did the same with a tight black pair of boxers. She was desperate for the sight of him, but his hands were suddenly on her shoulders, spinning her around to face the wall, breath catching in her lungs as he dropped to his knees behind her.

  What the what?

  Bracing her trembling hands against the wall, she squeaked at the first touch of his lips at the top of her right butt cheek, and a deliciously low, utterly male laugh rumbled up from his chest.

  “Jesus,” he groaned, squeezing her hips between his hands, “your ass is so fucking sweet, Skye.”

  “My ass is b—” He nipped her with his teeth, making her choke off what she was saying with a gasp. “Hey, you bit me!”

  “Naw,” he drawled, rubbing those warm lips across her stinging skin. “I gave you a playful nip.”

  Breathless and so turned on she felt light-headed, she asked, “Um, why?”

  “Because unless you were about to tell me that your ass is goddamn beautiful,” he muttered, squeezing her round buttocks with his hands, “I don’t want to hear it.”

  In the sexiest move she could have ever imagined, he licked and nipped his way up her spine, his big hands drawing up her sides, then reaching around, cupping her heavy breasts as he pressed his front against her back and touched his wicked mouth to her ear. “Come on,” he whispered, and she could hear the sinful smile in his rough voice as he wrapped his arms around her middle and lifted her off her feet. “Time to get you wet.”

  She laughed as he carried her into the shower, amazed by his strength...his size...and the feverish heat of his skin. Then he set her down under the warm spray, turned her around to face him, and her breath caught at the desperate, almost violent look of need that was burning in his dark eyes. His lips parted, and he shook his head a little, looking as if he was dying to say something...to do something...but was as frozen in the moment as she was. Trapped by the power of it. By the crushing weight of need. The hands on her shoulders trembled, and as she took a reflexive step forward, she had to look down at the hard length of him pressing against her belly.

  Heart pounding in her ears like a drum, Skye reached up and curled her fingers around him, loving the thick, gravelly sound that broke from deep in his throat. His head went back, eyes shut, tendons straining in his tanned throat as she ran her thumb over the broad, swollen crown, and her greedy stare pinged between that massive, magnificent part of him that she held in her hands and the mesmerizing look on his face as she touched him. He was so gorgeous it was unreal.

  “Elliot,” she groaned, every speck of her self-consciousness suddenly slamming back into her. “What are we doing? You’re so freaking perfect, and I’m—”

  * * *

  “Don’t!” He’d cut her off with the sharp command, and knew his eyes were about two seconds away from turning the golden color of his wolf. “I’m serious, Skye. If you say one more negative thing about your body, I’m putting you over my knee.”

  Her brows lifted wi
th surprise, cheeks turning adorably pink again. And her eyes... Oh yeah, the look in her beautiful eyes was telling him all kinds of interesting things about how his little life-mate felt about having his hand on her bottom.

  With a slow smile kicking up the corner of his mouth, Elliot shook his head. “God, baby, don’t tempt me.”

  She gave a quiet laugh, the soft sound part embarrassment...and part arousal. “You’re crazy.”

  About you, he thought, determined to show her just how desperate and aching she made him. But then she looked back down to where she was still stroking his cock, and he felt a fresh surge of blood rushing to the engorged shaft, his hand slamming against the tiled wall of the shower as his head began to spin.

  “Damn it,” he growled, popping his jaw. “The way you look at it, Skye. It’s gonna make me come, and I’m not ready for that yet.”

  “Sorry, but I can’t stop,” she whispered, flicking a quick look up at him from under her lashes. “I love looking at you like this. And touching you. It’s, like, the best thing in the world.”

  His chest lifted with a harsh breath, his voice so raw and thick it didn’t even sound human. “Killing. Me. Skye.”

  He couldn’t see her mouth with the way she’d lowered her head again—but he could have sworn she was smirking as she said, “If you don’t want me drooling over it, then maybe you should put it somewhere.”

  “Yeah?” he croaked, sucking in a deep pull of her mouthwatering scent. “Got any ideas?”

  Elliot almost swallowed his tongue when she suddenly knelt in front of him, her lush mouth hovering so close he could feel the heat of her breath. “Oh, God,” he groaned, unable to believe he was actually there. That this was actually happening.

  A hot, slick pulse of moisture wet his tip, and she quickly licked it away with her soft, pink tongue, nearly bringing him to his knees.

  “Oh!” she gasped, sounding surprised.

  “Oh?” he repeated with a gritty laugh, lifting one of his brows as she glanced up at him.

  Cheeks flushed and looking like a goddamn dream, with the shower spray falling down behind her like a watery veil, she murmured, “Never mind.”

  With one hand still braced against the wall, he shoved the other into her wet hair. “Uh-uh,” he breathed. “You don’t get to say ‘oh’ like that and not tell me why.”

  “You just, um, taste really good,” she said softly, shooting him a shy smile before she opened her mouth and took him in.

  Elliot tried to hold out and make it last, the way she licked and stroked and sucked on him driving him wild. And then there were the tiny, hungry moans she gave, the husky sounds vibrating around his throbbing flesh, her mouthwatering scent growing richer...sweeter...as if what she was doing was as much for her pleasure as it was for his. He wanted to enjoy every perfect moment of it, and make it last forever, but he couldn’t hold back. He muttered some kind of warning that he was close, expecting her to pull back, but she only gripped his hips in her soft hands and gave an excited moan, and he lost it, coming so hard he nearly blacked out.

  “Christ, Skye...so damn good,” he rambled, slumping against the side of the shower as he rested his chin against his chest and struggled to catch his breath. She nuzzled her nose against his hip, then pressed a trail of delicious kisses up his torso, the feel of her beautiful mouth and feminine hands and the way her gorgeous breasts were pressed against him sending his blood rushing south again so quickly, his recovery time was a shock even to him. With a raw sound of need, he curled his hands around her upper arms and pulled her up onto her toes, his head already lowering so he could kiss her ripe, swollen lips. She opened for him with a sweet sigh of surrender, and he slipped his tongue between those soft lips, tasting himself there, the moment so blisteringly erotic he was surprised they hadn’t burst into flames.

  Feeding his throaty growl into her open mouth, Elliot reached between them and pushed two fingers inside her warm, slick sex, loving the way her back arched and she gasped, her long lashes lifting to reveal beautiful green eyes that were heavy with desire.

  “Do these fingers feel good?” he rasped, nipping her succulent bottom lip with his teeth.

  “Y-yes,” she breathed. “So g-good.”

  “Good,” he repeated, smiling against her quivering mouth before he licked the place where he’d nipped her. “Because my tongue is going to feel even better.”

  Her nails dug into his hard shoulders, every inch of her exquisite body shivering against him as she moaned, “Oh... God.”

  With a low, gritty rumble of laughter, Elliot picked her up in his arms and carried her out to the king-size bed. They were both dripping wet as he laid her down in the middle of the mattress, but he didn’t care. All that mattered now was getting her under his hands and mouth and making her feel good. Making her feel fucking incredible.

  Unable to wait a second more, he pushed her thighs wide and buried his face against her, slicking his tongue over her soft, sea-salty flesh, undone by how insanely perfect she tasted. He lashed her tight, thrumming little clit until she cried out, licked his way down to the tiny, tender opening nestled within the slippery folds, and thrust his tongue into her deliciously soft, snug core. And, God, it felt good.

  It might have been his first time doing this to a woman, but Elliot didn’t have time to worry or second-guess if he was doing it right. He was completely lost in the lush, intoxicating feel and taste of her. Already addicted to it. Already craving his next hit. Then she shocked the hell out of him by shoving at his shoulders and pushing him onto his side. She flashed one smoldering, searing look at his wet lips and chin, and then she crawled down the bed, pressing against him, and took his hard, thick flesh back into her mouth. He gasped, swelling hugely against her tongue, a deep, guttural sound tearing up from his chest as he shoved his face back between her thighs, tonguing her drenched sex like he was starved for her taste. And fuck if that wasn’t true.

  Their heat-glazed bodies slid against each other, limbs tangled as their hips pumped, mouths hungry and desperate as they feasted and gasped for breath, their lungs burning as the pressure built—and then they were both crashing over that violent, shattering edge together, the sounds they made so raw and visceral anyone listening would have thought they were in pain. But as he struggled for air and yanked her pliant body up into his arms, crushing her against his chest, Elliot knew that he’d never been closer to the sweetness of heaven.

  Seconds ticked into minutes that slowly edged their way toward an hour, as he and Skye lay there in the tangled bedding, cuddling like lovers who’d only just discovered the rush of being intimate with someone they not only craved, but needed. And, Christ, he hoped she needed him, because he was in so deep with this beautiful girl, he knew he’d never find his way back out. He didn’t even want to try.

  He just...he just had to figure out how to keep from losing her. And not because of Chiswick or his asshole thugs.

  But because of him.

  His goddamn past and failures and mistakes.

  And his own unforgivable sins.

  Chapter 10

  Elliot woke to the feel of Skye stirring in his arms, her soft breaths pelting his chest, one of her lush thighs nestled between his. The sun was only just rising in the sky, which meant they had hours to wait before the mercs showed around noon. On the one hand, he was frustrated it would take that long, since he wanted her in the Alley now, where he knew she’d be safe.

  But on the other... Well, he’d have been lying if he’d said it wasn’t sweet as hell, having this time for just the two of them, her womanly body warm in his arms. And she was there—nestled against him like she wanted to hold on to him forever—even after learning what he was. That meant the fucking world to him, even if there was so much she still didn’t know.

  So much he would need to make sure she never learned.

  He’d held her so friggin’ tightly through the night, as if she could be ripped away from him at any moment. But he wouldn’t let tha
t happen. So long as he was still breathing, he would safeguard this woman with everything he had. Even his life, if that’s what it took.

  “Hey,” she said softly, tilting her head back so that she could see his face. Her long, silky hair was draped across the pillow and his arm, more golden in the morning light than at night, her green eyes drowsy beneath the thick fringe of her lashes. And there was a small smile on those lips that were so perfect and pink, he couldn’t think of a more delicious way to start his day than by kissing the hell out of her.

  “Hey,” he echoed, running his hand down the delicate slope of her spine. Her skin was so soft to the touch, it made him think of priceless satins and silks. Of sensuous, decadent things that were meant to be lingered over...savored...worshipped.

  Things he damn well couldn’t live without, now that he’d found them.

  And yet, as badly as he wanted her, he couldn’t be the one who brought up sex, because when all was said and done, he didn’t deserve it. Not when he was the one holding back—still keeping secrets—being less than honest with her. And while he did plan to tell her about the life-mate connection, as soon as the time felt right, there wasn’t a chance in hell he would ever tell her the others.

  But did that mean he would be forced to go through life with this constant itching under his skin? A persistent sense of dread cloaking him like a shadow, as he waited for the hammer to fall, shattering everything they managed to build together in a single blow?

  Dramatic much? his wolf muttered with disgust, chuffing at him.

  Oh, without a doubt. But then, shit just didn’t get more dramatic than this, so he didn’t give a damn what he sounded like. He just wanted to figure out a way to make everything right, when he didn’t have a clue how to do it.