by Terry Spear
Vaughn folded his arms. “You know, this is something that needs to be done in private.”
“Afraid of rejection?” Douglas arched a brow.
Vaughn smiled. Jillian sat next to Douglas again. “You’re putting him on the spot.”
Douglas let out his breath in a tired sigh and closed his eyes.
“Jillian, I love you. I could never find anyone else who rocks my world like you do. Will you be my one and only? My mate for life?”
She laughed. Then she glanced at Douglas to see if he would open his eyes and rejoin the party. Maybe he’d gone back to sleep. She knew how to shake that up, if he was just trying to manipulate them into agreeing to a mating.
“He’s gone to sleep. I’ll give you my answer in a couple of weeks,” she said to Vaughn.
Vaughn frowned, and at the same time he said, “Why?” Douglas echoed his question.
She smiled. “Oh, all right.” She turned to Vaughn. “My parents always said they mated in record time. Four days from the time she came on base and he met her to when he asked her and she said yes. He was always proud of the fact he could convince her he loved her in that short a time and that they were truly the ones for each other, as their happy mating attests.”
“We’d beat them by a day. Think your dad will mind?”
“Probably. He’ll say we acted rashly, or were just trying to beat his record, knowing my dad.”
“That’s a yes,” Douglas said.
Jillian and Vaughn laughed as he pulled her from her chair to wait for her real response. She really liked Douglas and could see why her brother and Vaughn did too.
“To be on the safe side…” she said, looking up into Vaughn’s warm, brown eyes, eager to hear her say yes.
“You should agree,” Vaughn said, finishing her statement.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I never knew shooting a potential partner would result in a mating, but you are one hot wolf. Vaughn Greystoke, I love you, and I would never give you up for anything.”
They kissed to seal the deal, their bodies pressed tight together, their tongues teasing and the kiss deepening.
Two people clapped from the doorway, and Jillian and Vaughn broke free of the kiss to see Sally and Dr. Wilders standing there, smiling.
And Douglas was smiling too.
“Go,” Douglas said to Vaughn and Jillian. “We’ll talk later.”
“We’ll see to him and make sure someone stays with him,” the doc said.
“Sure.” Jillian was certain her cheeks were flushed, as hot as she felt getting caught. She wondered how long the doctor and nurse had been there. She returned to the bed and kissed Douglas on the forehead, squeezing his hand. “Get better. We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Take time. Important business.”
The mating. The doctor and nurse were all smiles. Vaughn patted Douglas’s shoulder. “Be back in a bit, old man.”
Then he took hold of Jillian’s hand and escorted her out of the clinic. “How is your head feeling?”
“Good as new. What about your shoulder?”
“Like I can do a hundred push-ups.” Vaughn could do anything and everything now that Jillian had agreed to be his mate. When they reached the parking lot, he opened the car door for her. “You didn’t feel pressured into making this happen too quickly, did you?”
“Would it matter?”
“Hell yeah. But you once told me when you make up your mind about something—”
“I don’t hesitate. You’re right.” She pulled him in for another kiss, and he loved her. Really, truly, and deeply loved her.
“Back to the guest house, right?” His voice was already husky with desire.
“Unless you had something else in mind.”
“My cabin or yours, but I’d rather just go someplace a lot closer.”
She climbed into the car. “Let’s go before you change your mind.”
He laughed. “No way am I changing my mind. Douglas would never let me hear the end of it.”
“That’s the only reason?”
“Hell, no.” Vaughn sped off to the guest house.
“You’re not in any rush, are you?”
“Yeah, if you must know, I am.”
* * *
Vaughn wanted to do something more. Dinner or something before they were mated so that he didn’t seem desperate. But he was. Desperate.
He fully intended to carry Jillian over the threshold as soon as they reached the house, but she tugged him inside and closed the door. When they were certain they were alone, she hurried him down the hall to her bedroom.
Then, as if she couldn’t wait that long, she turned and began tugging off his jacket while she continued to slowly back down the hall. As soon as she had the sleeves down to his elbows, he was pulling her jacket down her arms too. In the middle of the hallway, her hands on his arms and his on hers, they began to kiss. Tongues, lips, their breaths mingling, their heartbeats escalating, eyes darkening with desire.
“I feel like a cave woman who clubbed her mate and dragged him into her cave, claiming him,” she said between kisses.
“Oh yeah?” His voice was drenched with lust. He dragged her jacket off the rest of the way and ditched his on the hallway floor, then scooped her, hands under her buttocks, and settled her over his good shoulder before stalking toward his bedroom.
She laughed. “I love you.”
He patted her behind. “The feeling I have for you is mutual.”
She half expected him to toss her on the bed, caveman style, but he was careful with her, cognizant of her recent head injury, and she loved him all the more for it, even though she felt fine now.
He gently swept her off his shoulder and onto the bed. “Are you okay? I probably shouldn’t have tossed you over my shoulder like that.”
“I’m fine, but what about your injured shoulder?” She sat up as he straddled her lap, and she lifted the bottom edge of his shirt, pulling it upward, her hands sliding underneath against his glorious hard muscles and soft skin.
He quickly yanked his shirt off the rest of the way. “I’m good.” He began kissing her again while she ran her fingers through his silky hair, kissing him back with just as much fervor.
With finesse, he massaged her breasts through the denim fabric first, but then seemed eager to bare her breasts to him. Stopping to unbutton her shirt, he pulled it off her shoulders, forgetting about the buttons on the sleeves. She laughed and he smiled in a wicked way, pushing her gently back against the mattress. He peeled back her purple polka-dot bra until she was exposed to him, the cool air and his touches making her nipples erect and sensitive.
Smiling, she watched him as he found the snap in front and unfastened it, pushing the bra aside. He kissed her mouth again as her hands skimmed over his warm, smooth skin. When he kissed a path down to a breast and suckled a taut nipple, her breath suspended. She nearly came undone when he suckled the sensitive tip, then licked and suckled again.
So wet and ready for him, she ran her hands over his bare back and tried to slide her fingers under his belt.
“Too many clothes,” he breathed out against her breast, and helped her sit up so he could unbutton her shirtsleeves. Then he pulled off her shirt and her bra.
She tackled his belt, but he slipped his hand between her legs and rubbed her jeans-covered mound in a sensual caress, making her arch against his touch.
Loving his fondling, she caressed his steel erection, making him groan out loud. Exquisite torture? She smiled.
He unbuttoned her jeans and slid the zipper down slowly. Then he ran his hand down between her panties and jeans and rubbed. She was so wet, eager for fulfillment. Wolf and human need was all mixed into one rampant craving. She unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his jeans, and unzipped his pants in the same slow way. Then she tugged his pants down his hips, and instead of caressing his cock like he’d caressed her clit, she pulled his boxer briefs down and set his cock free.
Vaughn’s ey
es darkened with need, and he looked as though he would burst if they didn’t get on with this. “Hell, shoes.”
She laughed.
He quickly moved down to tug off her boots, then untied his own and kicked them off. He yanked off his socks, but after he pulled hers off, he massaged one of her feet. Which had her moaning in pure, unadulterated ecstasy. This was how she wanted to end every day.
He did the same with her other foot, before reaching up and removing her jeans.
His jeans hit the floor, and then he pulled her purple-and-white polka-dot panties off. She slid his boxer briefs down and tossed them.
Nudging her legs apart, he settled on top of her, grinding his cock against her mound as they kissed and touched and licked and rubbed.
This felt so right, the physical mating between two wolves, the emotional bonding. She breathed in his masculine, wild wolf scent and fell under his spell as he began to stroke her, still rubbing his erection against her thigh. Hot, hot wolf. She’d known from the first moment she’d seen him standing naked—all growly, muscular, and beautiful—that he’d make one hell of a lover. If she’d been in the market.
Boy, had she ever been.
He slid a finger inside her, prodding and circling her deep. She was so close to coming that she could barely hold on.
His kisses bordered on desperate, and hers matched his desperation as she clung to him, and she felt her body elevating to that higher plane of existence. The climax hit, taking her over the precipice. She cried out in exaltation, her world exploding in a million brilliant pieces. Right before he asked her if she was ready.
All her life, she’d been preparing for this. The mating with her wolf. So yes. She was beyond ready.
“Do it.”
Vaughn kissed her deeply again and settled between her legs, then nudged into the center of her being, pushing until he was all the way into her slick, wet heat, just where he’d wanted to be all along.
He began to thrust, thinking of how good this felt, how lucky he was despite the way they had first met. Yet he remembered what his brother had once said to him. It would take one extraordinary wolf to make his world stand still. Jillian was that wolf.
She wrapped her legs high around his hips and he paused, pulling one of her legs over his shoulder and then the other, penetrating her to the max. He kissed her neck, her throat, and thrust between her legs, unable to slow the pace. Unable to stop the inevitable even if he’d wanted to. He moved his hips while she lifted her pelvis to match him. Deeper, surging inside her, gathering her heat, sharing his own with her. The friction made her come as she cried out with pleasure again. He felt the end coming, yet reminded himself it was only the beginning.
With a deep, guttural growl, he let loose, enjoying the intimacy only he could share with his mate from now on.
In the afterglow, he settled beside her and pulled her into his arms. “I love you.” He meant it with all his heart. “From the moment I saw you on my front deck with that kitchen towel imprinted with a wine bottle, the furious look on your face, the smell of you—all she-wolf—and then your announcement that you were the one who had shot me, well, hell, I knew I was hooked.”
She laughed. “I love you right back. I needed to make it up to you. I never imagined in a million years that shooting a wolf who had intended to make mincemeat of my brother would lead to this.”
“Which goes to prove you really only meant to get my attention.”
She smiled. “I got it, didn’t I?”
“Hell yeah. Now and forever. Let’s take a nap before everyone arrives so we can dance the night away at the club.”
“That sounds nice.”
He pulled the covers over them, turned off the light, and they snuggled together, glad for this and for Douglas finally coming to. Which reminded Vaughn that they needed to let the rest of the team know. Before he could get out of bed and retrieve his phone, Jillian began to climb off him.
“We have to let everyone on the team know Douglas is awake.” She switched on the light, grabbed her phone, and climbed in bed as Vaughn pulled her back into his arms and nuzzled her neck.
“Hey, putting this on three-way call,” she said. “Douglas came out of his coma. We’ll update you on his condition and what he has to say when you get in.”
“And not to take away from that good news, but we’re mated wolves.”
The cheers blasted through the phone, and all Demetria’s questions began. When were they getting married? Where were they honeymooning?
Vaughn pulled Jillian snug against his body as the ladies hashed it out.
Until they heard the front door open.
“We’ve got company we hadn’t planned on,” Jillian said softly. “Got to go.”
Chapter 18
Vaughn quickly left the bed and threw on his boxer briefs. He grabbed his gun, ready to shoot whoever was sneaking into the guest house.
Naked, Jillian ran to the window and slid it open. She whispered, “Going around to the front door as a wolf.”
Vaughn didn’t like it. Not because he didn’t believe she could handle herself, but he wanted them to stay together, safety in numbers. Yet he realized her plan had viability. She could close in on the intruder, if that’s what the person was, without him knowing while Vaughn made a frontal assault.
Jillian moved a chair over to the window and climbed out, then shifted into her wolf and raced around the house. When Vaughn thought she was in place, he turned out the bedroom light and carefully moved into the dark hallway.
He had the advantage. He knew the floor plan of the house. Though the intruder would have seen the light on in the bedroom. Maybe heard the window open. Then Jillian would be more at risk. Vaughn moved faster down the hall now, determined to distract the person.
He was glad they’d called Demetria and the others and knew for sure it wasn’t them.
A woman cried out in the living room, but it wasn’t Jillian’s voice. Jillian growled and snarled in her wolf form. His heart pounding, Vaughn flipped on the hall light and saw Kira with a dive knife in her fisted hand, but Jillian’s wolf teeth had captured her wrist. She was growling to get the woman to release the knife. If Jillian had wanted to, she could have bitten down hard and crushed the bones in Kira’s wrist.
“Drop the knife, Kira,” Vaughn ordered, his gun readied.
“I thought Miles was here with his sister, and he wanted to see me. That he was looking for me,” Kira said, her eyes tearing up. “Isn’t Miles here?”
“No, he isn’t here.” Vaughn didn’t believe her words for an instant. “Did you ever think of knocking?” He realized in their haste to mate, he and Jillian might have left the door unlocked. Not that they would have worried about it much. They were on a red wolf pack’s ranch. It should have been safe.
“The door was unlocked. I heard Brutus was arrested, and Wayne was shooting at everyone. After everything that’s happened, I was afraid something bad had happened inside. To Miles. I wanted to help him.”
Vaughn knew she was lying.
“I had my dive knife out just in case.”
“Drop the knife.”
She released her hold on the knife, and it dropped to the floor with a clatter, but Jillian didn’t release her hold on Kira.
“Tell her to let me go. I’m Miles and Douglas’s good friend.”
“Explain to us why you shot Miles.” Vaughn had no idea who really had shot Miles, but he figured he could bluff his way through and maybe get the answers they needed. He had no intention of telling Jillian what to do. As far as he was concerned, it was her call. Until he saw blood on the floor. Was it Jillian’s or Kira’s?
He got on his phone to Leidolf. “Got an emergency. Kira Wells, the woman your men have been trying to track down, just broke into the guest house, wielding a dive knife.”
“Sending men over now. I’ll be over in a minute. Is she confined?”
“Jillian’s got her in hand, but someone’s bleeding.”
“
Me, damn it. She bit into the skin,” Kira said, scowling.
“Better be you and not her,” Vaughn growled.
“On my way,” Leidolf said. “Be there soon.”
“Tell me why you shot Miles,” Vaughn said again.
“I didn’t shoot anyone. I have a knife. Or had one. Hey, I gave up the knife. Quit biting!”
Vaughn realized Jillian had to be biting down on Kira’s wrist with enough pressure to make her talk. “We know all about your plan to befriend Douglas and Miles so you could learn about where they’re diving for treasure.”
“You don’t know a damn thing. Brutus didn’t do anything. He’s innocent.”
“Innocent of killing your former husbands?”
Kira closed her gaping mouth.
“Yeah, we know all about them.”
“They were accidents.”
“Right. Okay, who shot Miles?”
“I didn’t! I was seeing him. Intimately. Why would I shoot him?”
“He was shot before you were seeing him this time. You wanted to offer your diving services to Douglas, and when killing Miles didn’t work, you figured you’d become Miles’s lover instead and still work with Douglas on finding the treasure. So what went wrong? Why nearly kill Douglas?” Vaughn asked.
Suddenly, cars rolled up, and doors opened and shut.
“It’s me,” Leidolf called out. “And my two police officers.”
“She’s getting ready to confess to shooting Miles,” Vaughn said, whether she was or not.
“No, I’m not. I didn’t even know he’d been shot!”
“Brutus did it then. Did your lover get mad about playing the brother when you’re screwing around with all these other men?” Vaughn asked.
“Of course not. You’re right. I was supposed to be Miles’s girlfriend. It was hard for me to pretend to really care for him because I usually like the guy I’m with. Miles was such a drifter, didn’t care anything about money, and it irritated me. And I think he knew that. But that was the game plan whether I liked it or not. We didn’t try to shoot him. We wanted to work with him and Douglas. Sure we would have had a four-way split between us, but that would still mean a lot of money, and we could get to the treasure quicker that way if at least three of us were diving.”