Lexi let out a keening moan, her climax washing over her. As her pussy started to rhythmically clench around Raed's cock, squeezing his shaft in a tight fist, she felt it pulse deep inside her as he too reached his release.
Raed sat up and cupped her face in his hands. "Open your eyes, Lexi," he said in a husky voice.
She blinked them open and met his intense gaze. Lexi gasped. Lit by the sun streaming through the open window, she could clearly see changes taking place. The blue of his eyes had completely taken over the white. His pupils were round, but they looked more like an animal's than a human's. Raed held one of his hands up to her face—a sharp claw tipped each finger. As she watched, those claws descended beneath his skin with no mark left behind to show they'd ever been there.
Lexi met Raed's gaze once more. His eyes still looked like an animal's. Her heart started to race as she shook her head in disbelief. She would have pushed him away, but his cock was still locked deep inside her as he continued to come. "What . . . what the hell are you?"
Raed tried to hold her close, but she put her hands on his chest to give her what little space she could get.
"I'm a werewolf." Raed's eyes slowly shifted back to normal.
Lexi shook her head. "I don't believe you. Werewolves aren't real." A shiver of unease ran down her spine when she thought about the story her great-grandfather had told on his deathbed about his father turning into a werewolf and killing his mother.
The story couldn't be true.
Raed reached out to touch her hair, but she slapped his hand away. She tried to get off his lap, but he held onto her hips to keep her in place. "Don't. I'm still too swollen. You'll end up hurting yourself."
She started to struggle, but Raed all too easily kept her from pulling away. "Is that why your cock swells? Because you're a werewolf?"
Raed sighed. "Yes, but my cock has only done this with you."
Lexi gave a laugh which sounded this side of hysterical. "Aren't I the lucky one?"
she said sarcastically.
"I don't understand this any more than you do. You're not taking this as well as I thought you would."
He thought she would take the news of his being a werewolf—a creature that didn't even exist—without question? Who was he kidding? "Sorry, but I tend to panic when confronted with the news that the man I just slept with is a creature of nightmares."
"I'm not that type of werewolf."
"What, you don't bay at the full moon and thirst for human flesh?"
"No, only those werewolves sired by Fenris thirst for the flesh of mortals. I and my men were given the duty to protect mortals from their kind by the Anglo-Saxon god, Tiw. He gave us the ability to shift into what we hunt so we would be just as strong as they."
By now, the swelling in Raed's cock had gone down enough that they were no longer quite so locked together. Lexi pushed on his chest and quickly climbed off his lap. She moved away until her back hit the headboard. Her gaze skidded across his face. He didn't look like a killer, but that didn't mean there wasn't one lurking inside him.
"Your men are werewolves too?"
"Yes."
"And you are here to protect mortals from the bad werewolves because you are the good werewolves?"
"Yes." Raed inched closer. He stopped when she held up her hands to ward him off. "You have nothing to fear from me, Lexi."
"So how do you and your men fight these other werewolves? Do you turn into one and fight them to the death?"
"Sometimes. But we mostly exterminate them with our broadswords."
Lexi watched as Raed got off the bed and walked over to his closet. He reached inside and pulled out a large sheathed, sword. He pulled the weapon out of the scabbard and held it out for her to see. The blade gleamed like polished silver.
Raed swung the sword expertly through the air. "There's silver mixed in with the steel. Silver is deadly to all werewolves except for me and my men." As if to prove he spoke the truth, he sliced the blade across his palm. To Lexi's shock, the wound healed in a matter of seconds, leaving behind only the small amount of blood that had spilled from the cut.
Until that moment, she'd feared him insane. Delusional . . . caught up in some morbid fantasy he'd concocted in his warped mind. But she couldn't deny what she'd just witnessed with her own eyes. No one healed like that . . . at least, no human healed like that.
"Is it another werewolf thing, being able to heal like that?" Lexi knew she was asking a lot of questions when, if she really had her wits about her, she should have been running from Raed, screaming. But the questions wouldn't be silenced. A small part of her knew he could have hurt her at any time, but he hadn't. It had to mean something.
Raed sheathed his sword in the scabbard. He sat on the bed and placed the weapon on the mattress between them. "Partly, but mostly because I'm immortal."
Lexi's laugh sounded strained even to her ears. "You're immortal? Next you'll be telling me you're the King Raedwald of East Anglia." When Raed didn't so much as chuckle or deny what she'd said, she furiously started to shake her head. "You can't be.
That would make you well over a thousand years old. King Raedwald died in 627 A.D.
The ship burial at Sutton Hoo is supposedly his."
"It's mine. I faked my death. After my wife died, I wanted to permanently end that chapter of my life, make a new start. I'd already lost a couple of my sons. My body may not have been in that ship, but, for all intents and purposes, I died that day none the less."
Lexi wasn't ready to examine the reasons behind the stab of jealousy that shot through her at Raed mentioning he'd had a wife. Nor did she like the fact he'd had sons with her as well. She had to be losing her mind. Here Raed was telling her he had been a king from the Dark Ages and she was jealous of a woman who had been dead for over a thousand years.
She ran a shaking hand through her hair. "This is too much for me to take in all at once. The story I told you about my great-grandfather seeing his father turn into a werewolf was true, wasn't it? The tale wasn't part of some drug-induced dream?"
"No, he told the truth. I remember your great-grandfather as a teenager. I'm the man who cut down his father with my sword before he could attack him. I'm also the one who gave your great-grandfather the money to start a new life in Florida."
Black spots began to flash before Lexi's eyes as she started to hyperventilate. "I think I'm going to faint."
Raed closed the distance between them and pushed her head between her knees while he rubbed her back in soothing strokes. "Slow your breathing, Lexi. Take deep, even breaths and it will pass."
Once she got herself back under control, Lexi straightened and looked Raed in the eyes. "Can you shift whenever you want?" At his nod, she said, "Then shift. Now."
Raed shook his head. "I don't think my shifting would be a good idea. I think seeing me in my werewolf form, or even my wolf form, may be a bit too much for you right now."
"What's the difference between your type of werewolf and what my great-grandfather's father turned into?"
"I don't hunger for blood like our prey. We don't live to kill and maim. We protect."
"I need to see, Raed. All of this has been a lot for me to take in, but until I see you actually shift, I'll try to convince myself you aren't what you say you are."
He slipped off the bed to stand beside it. "All right. Whatever you do, if seeing me like this does end up being too much for you, don't scream. If you do, you'll have my men in here so fast you won't have time to cover your nakedness. I would rather none of them saw you like that. Only I get to."
"I promise." Luckily for Raed, she wasn't a screamer.
Lexi fisted the sheets in her hands when Raed's body blurred and took on another form. Between one second and the next, a creature that looked half human and half wolf stood where Raed had been. He had the face and ears of a wolf, along with a tail. His body became completely covered in dark blond fur, the same color as his hair.
He also stood taller, h
is body stronger than before. Raed's blue eyes stared back at her.
Then he spoke, and Lexi just about jumped out of her skin. "This is my werewolf form." Raed's voice sounded rougher and a tad deeper.
"You can talk," Lexi said as she gripped the sheets even tighter.
Raed's gaze followed her hands' movements. He then gazed back up at her and gave her a rough chuckle. "Only I'm allowed to rip my sheets." When her grip didn't loosen, he said, "Are you sure you're okay, Lexi."
She nodded. "Yes. Show me your wolf form."
He put his hands on his furred hips and stared at her for a few seconds. "If you insist; I'm not going to be able to speak to you in my wolf form, but I can still understand everything you say."
As before, Raed's body blurred as he made the shift. A large wolf with dark blond fur appeared next to the bed. He jumped up on the mattress in front of Lexi.
Again she looked into Raed's blue eyes. She recognized his wolf. This was the animal that had chased off the grey one that had cornered her. Her hand trembled slightly as she reached out and stroked the top of Raed's wolf's head.
She swallowed. "I can handle this form. You could almost pass for a dog." Raed shook his lupine head and sneezed. Lexi chuckled. "You don't like being referred to as a dog, I see."
Raed shook his head from side to side. He moved closer and lay down at her crossed legs with his head resting on her bent knee. Lexi ran her hand down his back.
His fur felt soft to the touch. She continued to pet him until her anxiety slowly started to pass. There was nothing scary about Raed in his wolf form. Yes, it happened to be way beyond the norm that he could shape-shift, but as she stroked his fur, she started to remember the close feelings she had for the man. How she felt about Raed hadn't changed.
No longer feeling as if she were about to freak out, Lexi bent and kissed the top of Raed's nose. "Thanks for letting me pet you, but I think I'm ready for the man to come back."
Raed's wolf body blurred and shifted. Now in his human form, he pulled her onto his lap. "Maybe I should have shown you my wolf before my werewolf."
"It may or may not have helped. The concept of you being a werewolf, as well as immortal, isn't exactly easy to accept."
"Well, I haven't had much practice at this. I've never told another mortal what I am."
Her gaze met Raed's. "Surely you told your wife and sons?"
"No, I didn't. I kept it a secret. I knew my wife wouldn't have been able to handle what I had become. She wasn't as strong as you."
"But she had to have noticed you didn't age as the years went by."
"To her, I did. You would be amazed how a few well placed streaks of charcoal on your face will make you look older."
Lexi chuckled then placed her forehead against Raed's. "Then why did you tell me your secret?"
Raed cupped her face and pulled back until he could look her right in the eyes. "I told you because I want you as mine. I want you to stay with me, Lexi. I don't want you to go back to the States when your four weeks are up."
"What are you saying, Raed?" Lexi asked quietly.
"I think I'm trying to tell you I've fallen for you. I know it's too soon for declarations of love, and I'm not ready to do that yet, but I don't want to give you up."
"I have feelings for you as well, but you're asking a lot. My parents are back in Florida, and I have my job to go back to."
"Can you at least think it over? You don't have to make your decision right this minute. There's plenty of time before you have to go back. Just promise me you'll consider it."
Lexi sighed. "I promise. Remember, you aren't just asking me to move in with you. I would be moving in with your men as well. They may not like the idea of me insinuating myself into their home."
"They won't have much say in the matter. I am their king, after all."
Lexi laughed. "Now I get why you can be so bossy at times, and why Algar told me old habits are hard to break. King or no king, you won't be ordering me about.
Remember, I come from a country with no monarchy."
Raed kissed the tip of her nose. "I'll try, but I may slip up from time to time."
"That's all I can ask."
"So are we good now? You believe what I am?"
"Yes. I can't refute the proof I saw with my own eyes. It's going to take some getting used to, but I'm over the freaking-out stage."
"Good." Raed grabbed Lexi around the waist and pulled her down on the bed.
"Because right now, all I can think about is having you again. Maybe if I keep you in my bed long enough you'll decide you want to stay after all."
Lexi moaned as Raed bent his head and nuzzled the side of her neck. "Mmm, maybe. I have a feeling it will take a lot of sex to do it, though."
"Then I better get to work."
And get to work, Raed did. By the time he let her up for air, night had fallen.
Chapter Nine
Nathan stood just inside a stand of trees at the back of the large manor's grounds.
The house sat off in the distance, but not so far away he couldn't watch the back of the building. He'd had to move deeper into the trees so as not to be seen a few times when Raed, the warriors' king, had done a quick sweep of the area. Thanks to a mixture of certain flowers, bark and leaves he carried in a cloth bundle tied around his neck, he'd managed to mask his presence. To a mortal, the scent wouldn't be detectable. To a werewolf, the combination of herbs had an acidic smell that camouflaged his true scent.
Having seen Raed out on his patrols, Nathan now knew for sure the werewolf he had sent out to find the warriors' home base hadn't lied about where to find it. Nathan had made a point as soon as he became pack leader to learn the identities of each of the warriors. The task had taken some time, considering they didn't usually hunt together, but he persevered until he knew each of their names and what each man looked like.
He'd only waited until now to find where they went at the end of the night. It had taken him some time to clear the unwanted baggage out of the pack and rebuild it the way he wanted. No longer did they turn mortals indiscriminately. He handpicked the ones he wanted as members, usually mortals who had a reputation for success in the shadier side of life. When it came to kills, he gave the pack free rein.
Nathan cursed under his breath as Raed stepped out the back door of the manor and headed toward the trees for the third time since he'd arrived. Nathan had intended to stay and watch the manor for the entire night with the hope of maybe catching sight of the woman, but Raed's continued patrols weren't going to make it feasible. He found them to be more than a nuisance.
He'd found the woman's flat empty when he had gone there earlier, but he had been able to pick up her scent, and the scent of the warrior she had slept with. The bitch had been spreading her legs for the king himself. It also explained why Raed had stayed behind to patrol his property instead of going out to hunt with the rest of the warriors.
The woman had to be somewhere inside the manor. And if the idiot he had chosen to do reconnaissance hadn't shown himself to the warriors, Nathan knew Raed would have probably felt safe enough to leave her there alone.
Just thinking about what the fool had done made him want to kill him for a second time. He'd worked for too many years to reach this stage to have one fuck-up almost ruin everything. As Raed came closer, Nathan lingered a little longer then stepped deeper into the trees and silently made his way through them. Knowing now the manor was indeed the home base of the warriors, he would have to send one of his werewolves to watch the building. He had plans for the woman. He just needed to get her away from the warriors. Nathan already had a werewolf in mind for the job.
* * *
Raed stopped at the edge of the stand of trees and took a couple of deep breaths.
There it was again, the same acidic odor that had been on the dead werewolf's body.
He'd caught a whiff of the faint scent on his other passes, but this time it smelled a bit stronger. He looked past the tree line a
nd scanned the area around it. Nothing moved.
If Lexi hadn't been inside the manor, he would have investigated further, but he didn't like leaving her alone, even for the small amount of time he needed to run his patrols.
Raed looked from side to side as he left the trees and resumed his circuit. Lexi had not taken the news of his being a werewolf well; in fact, the telling had come pretty close to being a disaster. He counted himself lucky she had been able to accept what he was in the end. He had no idea what he would have done if she hadn't. The connection between them each time they made love seemed to be growing stronger, to the point where now he couldn't picture his life without her. Somehow he would have to convince her not to go back to Florida.
Raed headed for the back of the manor. At least his men hadn't balked at the idea when he had told them there could be a chance Lexi would be moving in with them. Of course Garrick turned out to be the only one to make a crack about it. He'd told Raed to start thinking with his head and not his dick, which earned Garrick a hard slap to the back of the head by Dolf.
He hadn't been too sure how Lexi would act around the others now that she knew what they all were, but having accepted him, she seemed to have accepted them as well. She'd told them if they could trust her with their secret, then she could do no less than accept them for what they were—a bunch of ancient werewolf warriors. The ancient part had caused more than a few grumbles with quick reassurances that they were far from old and decrepit.
Stepping into the manor's kitchen, Raed decided he would run a couple more patrols later then call it a night. The others would be returning from the hunt soon anyway. Lexi had fallen asleep before he had left to do this last one. The idea of her in his bed, warm in slumber, made his cock harden. No matter how many times he made love to her, his body craved more. One touch of her hand, and he hardened almost to the point of pain. Now he didn't have to hide his eyes or claws when they came to the surface while making love, their joining was so much better.
He pulled a bottle of beer out of the fridge, took a big swig before he left the kitchen and headed for the living room. Time seemed to be dragging by. Instead of doing patrols while Lexi blissfully slept upstairs, he wanted to be up there with her, making love to her again. But he couldn't leave the place unmanned before the others returned. He collapsed on one of the couches and turned on the television. He needed the distraction, because if he didn't stop thinking about Lexi he knew he would throw caution to the wind and race upstairs to be with her. After warning his men they needed to be more vigilant than usual, that would make him a hypocrite. Raed sighed.
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