Growl

by Eve Langlais

  Wiping sweat from his face, he’d decided to do what he always did, persevere. He’d gone to the shower, seen that she’d already been in and out. He touched the bottle of body spray, the one called Amber Romance, and replaced the top that had been sitting right beside it. Inhaling slowly, he let the warm scent permeate his senses, knowing that as soon as he was near her he would recall this very moment. When he was in the shower, beneath the hot spray of water, he’d reached for his soap, only to bump the bottle of coconut shampoo. He’d washed and stepped out, going to the bureau to retrieve his clothes for the day. Out of habit he reached for the door, pulling it open expecting to see the neat rows of jeans, shirts, suits, and ties. What he found were dresses and colorful blouses. What he scented was Kira.

  He remembered waking in the middle of the night and moving everything from the room next door to his while she’d slept. It had been an impromptu action, one in the light of day he still could not explain. Closing that door quickly, he’d gone to the next bureau, found his clothes, and hastily chosen an outfit. Next, he was on his way down the steps when he heard the murmur of voices, the female one included. Then he’d heard something that he hadn’t had the pleasure of hearing before, her laughter. He had no idea who had said what; all he knew was that he loved the sound. It was genuine and full of life and flanked him like the warmth of the sun. He’d immediately headed for the kitchen, needing desperately to see her, to see that smile and how it might possibly light her hazel eyes. To see what she’d selected to wear from that bureau, how her curves looked in the clothes, how she moved, and to wonder again, Why now? Why her?

  The sight of her amidst his pack was another sucker punch to his gut. He liked it, way too damned much. Malec had been closest to her, just lifting his cup to his lips, his stance casual. Channing was at the island, leaning over it, flipping through one of his many cookbooks. And Phelan, he was sitting at the table looking over at Kira with a smile. Phelan never smiled.

  Blaez had tried to play it cool, to enter as if this were the easiest thing he’d ever done. Like this scene wasn’t some sort of déjà vu. Now, as they all sat at the table eating, talking about things like hiking up the mountain and possibly camping out for a couple of days, Kira eagerly agreeing with the excursion, he was back to contemplating again. No, it was more like fighting with what he knew he was capable of and what his mother, and now quite possibly the Luna goddess, believed to be true.

  “What do you say, Blaez? Right after the full moon we pack up and head out?” Channing asked while at breakfast. “I’d have to do some massive shopping to stock up to be sure we have everything. What are we talking, a week maybe?”

  “A week away sounds good,” Malec replied, finishing the last of his pancakes and turkey sausage.

  “It depends” had been Blaez’s reply. “We will wait and see how things play out.”

  “You mean you’ll wait to see if my father’s pack makes an appearance on the full moon,” Kira said quietly.

  Blaez wanted to kick himself as the light he’d been so enjoying seeing in her eyes this morning had quickly faded.

  Phelan cleared his throat. “He’s right. We need to get that out of the way first. Things may change and they may not. We should be prepared either way.”

  Malec nodded and Channing frowned, placing a hand over Kira’s. She pulled hers away slowly, standing to take her plate and glass to the sink.

  “I’m gonna go for a run,” Malec said then. “Come with?”

  Blaez knew what would happen next, even without him telling them to do so. Channing nodded, him and Malec taking their plates and putting them in the dishwasher. Phelan gave Blaez a look that said he wasn’t happy, which wasn’t really new. Blaez gave him the “who’s the alpha?” look and Phelan stood. He was just about to follow in the others’ footsteps and take his dishes over, but Kira was there, removing them from the table for him. He gave her another damned smile and Blaez felt his fists clenching. Phelan only frowned at him as he walked out of the kitchen, Channing and Malec following behind him.

  Kira had crossed the room again, closing the dishwasher and grabbing the towel to wipe off the counter, when she said in a level tone, “Did my father not try to stop Dallas from trying to claim me because he knew I was Selected?”

  Blaez rubbed a finger over his chin before letting his hands fall to his lap. “It’s possible.”

  “Channing said that Selected females come into some type of special power on their twenty-first birthday.” She talked while continuing to drag that towel over the counter, even though it was already clean.

  “That’s what the legend says. The Selected’s power combines with the alpha she is matched with to make them some sort of supercouple. It’s the gods interfering once again,” he said with more distaste then he’d meant to.

  “Our lives are possible because of the gods,” she replied neutrally. “I used to think that was all unbelievable. How could we, our species, be here amidst this unknowing human one? Why weren’t we trapped in Arcadia? Why were we allowed to come here?”

  When Blaez didn’t answer right away she continued, turning around to lean against the counter, hands grasping the sides of the marble slab.

  “Humans keep dangerous animals locked in cages at the zoo. They go out and kill the others under the premise of keeping the population down. That’s how they rule,” she told him.

  And because Blaez knew exactly where she was going with this analysis, he added, “Zeus and the gods kill the ones they want out of their way and rule the others with ancient legends and powers instead. We’re not that different from them.”

  She shook her head. “But we’re not the same either.”

  “No. We’re not the same.”

  “I want to know what happened to my mother and why. And if Penn is responsible I want him to pay,” she told Blaez.

  “Because you’ve always thought he knew more than he told you,” Blaez said. The last thing he wanted to do was tell her that he believed Penn had Tora killed as well. Only in the early-morning hours had he thought he figured out why. Now he wondered if he should tell Kira without having any real proof, or wait until he had the truth, then present it to her. Either way she was going to be hurt and would possibly grieve her mother’s death again. Just as Blaez had done all those years ago. He wished he wouldn’t have to watch her go through that but didn’t know that there was a way to avoid it.

  “Why don’t we go out for a run, clear our heads, and stop thinking about this for a while?” he offered, standing from his seat and walking over to her.

  “Is this a test?” she asked, looking up at him skeptically.

  “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “Are you asking me if I want to go outside with you to see if I’ll try to run away?”

  Blaez was quiet for a moment, taking the last step that closed the space between them. He reached up, touching a soft curl of hair that fell over her shoulder. “Channing took you virtual shopping, Malec’s been helping you work out, and Phelan, well, he’s not talking about you betraying us every five minutes anymore, so that’s his contribution. I haven’t given you anything.”

  She looked absolutely flabbergasted at his words, which made two of them, because Blaez had no idea why he’d admitted that.

  “I … I didn’t ask you for anything,” she replied.

  How could he tell her that he felt guilty for everything he’d done to her since that very first moment? That if he could he’d give her the world to make it up to her, for giving her what he knew was false hope, he would.

  “I know,” he said instead.

  “I can’t do this hot and cold act anymore, Blaez. I don’t know for sure if I was Selected to be here or not. Or how I would know if I were. When I left Seattle a week ago I had no idea what I’d find or if I’d ever end up where I was supposed to be, and I certainly never imagined someone like you.” She took in a deep breath, her eyes closing momentarily before she sighed.

  “I don�
�t know what you want me to say” was the only reply he could come up with.

  “Then I guess you shouldn’t say anything.”

  She turned away from him then and Blaez felt like a colossal ass. He was always in control; he knew what to say and what to do at any given moment. He was the fucking alpha! So why was he standing here so helplessly, trying to figure out how to tell this female that he’d messed up, not only for himself but for both of them? There were too many things at play here, too many situations that were bigger than both of them and that prevented the fate of falling in love that his mother had predicted—and quite possibly the selection the Luna goddess had ordained—from coming true.

  He didn’t know how to say it. How to tell Kira something he didn’t completely understand himself. So instead he touched her shoulders.

  “Please do not give me another command,” she whispered. “Don’t make me do something else that will push us further in a direction you obviously do not want to go. Just don’t,” she said, a slight hitch in her voice. “Please.”

  It was her safe word. He knew it and so did she. And she’d said it twice. Blaez inhaled deeply, let that breath out as slowly and as calmly as he could, before deciding to hell with it.

  One arm snaked around her waist, turning her quickly to face him, while the other instantly went to the nape of her neck, tilting her head upward as he pulled her closer. She gasped, her lips parting, eyes staring up at him in question. Blaez didn’t have answers. He didn’t have a sustainable plan. And he didn’t give a damn. His lips crashed down on hers, his tongue plunging deep into her mouth without malice or afterthought, without anything but the pleasure and some other powerful emotion that had been rippling like a steady stream throughout his body. He kissed her with a fervor he’d never experienced, his eyes closing, mind wrapping around a scene he’d only ever dreamed of once before.

  The dream where he was happy. Finally.

  CHAPTER 12

  The full moon

  She was killing him.

  Slowly, but surely, Blaez thought as he lay on his back in the center of his bed, Kira and all that had happened between them in the two weeks since he’d met her were going to be the death of him.

  Of course, said death had come with him walking slowly but assuredly directly along the path set for him. It had led him to her and he’d been led by her ever since. The past five nights, since that heated kiss they’d shared in the kitchen after breakfast, had all ended the same, with moans of ecstasy, each of them being pushed to the brink of their control before diving off the cliff together into memorable climaxes, and then the emotions began. Like a bottomless pool Blaez felt like with each passing night he was swimming, no, treading water, toward an ultimate destination that he was previously convinced he did not want to visit.

  “I want you to ask my permission to come this time,” Kira’s voice sounded through the muddled thoughts of his mind.

  A few moments ago he’d assumed she was asleep, half her naked body draped over half of his, her breathing even against his bare chest. Now, however, she was climbing on top of him, spreading her legs so that she straddled him, looking down at him with heavy-lidded eyes, flecks of gold—he’d only recently learned were there—sparkling in the dark room. Her hair was a wild mass around her face, just the way he’d come to like it. There were so many moments throughout the day, especially yesterday morning when they’d all gone out for a run, when he’d wanted to see her hair this way. Malec, who wanted to test the hour-long workouts he’d been having with Kira each day, had challenged her to a race. Blaez had followed along because he hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight. He watched her break out in a gust of speed, her long legs eating up the ground as if she weren’t really touching it at all. Every part of her body had stretched and flexed and he’d had to slow down his own speed because the instant punch of arousal had taken his breath away. When she’d stopped, Malec beating her by a millisecond, if that much, she’d leaned over, hands on her knees, taking in air, before standing straight. Her signature ponytail had swung back and forth and Blaez’s fingers had itched to rip the band that held it together free, to ruffle his hands through her hair before tossing her to the ground and fucking her right there where she stood.

  It was like that more often than not as they’d slipped into a sort of routine, culminating tonight—the evening of the full moon—when they’d had an early dinner and all retired to their rooms without too much to say. Blaez had thought of going over a strategy but figured he and his pack had been together so long, they’d planned this place specifically for the day it was attacked, so they knew what to do and when to do it. More important, he was the one who needed to adjust his thoughts, because now he had someone else to protect, someone who meant more to him than Blaez ever thought anything or anyone ever would.

  “Oh really,” he finally replied to her statement, his hands going instantly to her hips, where his fingers dug into the soft skin there.

  “Yes, really,” she told him, reaching between them to grasp his hard cock, aiming at her pussy.

  She would already be wet; she always was, a fact he also loved about her. No matter when or where he’d taken her, in the kitchen that day after her pancake breakfast or in the shower once more after yesterday’s run.

  “You know that’s not how it’s done,” he told her, his teeth clenching at the pleasure of feeling the tight, hot walls of her pussy sucking the head of his cock in slowly but surely.

  “Someone once told me that I should take control of my life. I should figure out what I wanted and go after it,” she said, lowering herself down over the last inches of his dick.

  She was settled in so tightly the plump lips of her pussy rubbed along his groin, his balls tapping against the curve of her ass. He wanted to sigh with that pleasure alone. Instead, he moved with quickness, holding her close and flipping her over so that her back fell to the mattress. She frowned up at him as he clasped her legs behind his back.

  “Not fair,” she told him.

  “No,” Blaez said, pulling out of her, then sinking back in slowly, tortuously to them both, he suspected. “Not fair. But good. Pleasure is good.” He was moving in and out of her, taking his time, savoring every single moment.

  The sun had not completely set, but the sky had already begun its transition of colors, the dark orange melding into a purple-like explosion across the horizon over the mountaintops. In just a little while the sky would be full-on dark, alight only by the full moon. And then … Blaez didn’t even want to think about what might happen.

  So for now he was where he wanted to be, doing exactly what he wanted to do. When he leaned back, resting on his knees, his hands going to her thighs, lifting them so her ankles would disengage from behind him, and pushing them back so that her ass was off the bed, her pussy tilted, offering him an even deeper range inside, he growled. The animal within feeling every bit of its power and energy from the upcoming night.

  “I’ll always give you pleasure,” he told her. “Always.”

  She’d been cupping her breasts, squeezing them in her hands so that her nipple was visible through her fingers, the dark circle of her areola a sharp contrast against the much lighter tone of her skin. He loved how she looked touching herself, but he felt jealous at the same time.

  “Feed me, lýkaina,” he told her, leaning forward between her legs, his dick still pumping in and out of her.

  She immediately followed his directive, which made Blaez even hotter for her. As his dick slid in and out, her arousal providing more than enough lubrication for the smooth entrance and descent, he opened his mouth, taking the nipple of the breast she’d groped once more, arching in offering to him. His tongue slid along the tightened nub seconds before his teeth latched on and he bit down. Just enough to hear her gasp; then quickly his tongue licked over the pebbled tip, his mouth opening wider to suck her deep inside. His thrusts continued inside her pussy, her walls hugging his dick so tight at some points he almost felt lik
e he couldn’t breathe. He definitely could not see anything other than her, the sultry tilt of her almond-shaped eyes, the slight parting of her pert lips. That was permanently emblazoned in his mind. As for when he opened his eyes, it was the heavy mounds of her breasts, moving with each thrust inside of her. Leaving one breast for the other, he continued to watch as he quickened his pumps, her breasts moving faster, the growl circling in the center of his chest coming louder. When he was finally able to pull his mouth from hers there was only one word he could say, and he meant it with every fiber of his being. “Mine.”

  Settling her legs on his shoulders, Blaez continued to move inside of her, with quick, deep strokes that had every part of him, from his ankles to his spine, tightening in anticipation of his release.

  “You. Every part of you. Everything you are. It’s all mine. Just mine,” he continued, watching her through half-closed eyes as her head thrashed against the pillows.

  “Blaez,” his name came as she panted, her fingers squeezing her nipples, probably as tight as he’d been biting them in the hopes of re-creating that sensation.

  Kira loved the pleasure/pain stimulus. She loved being pushed to the point of almost no control, before he replaced it with a desire so phenomenal she’d had no choice but to submit. That thought aroused Blaez more than anything. How this feisty, headstrong, and independent lycan—who might be promised to someone else—had completely submitted to him and all the pleasure that he offered her.

  “Say it!” he told her. “Say it or you don’t get to come.”

  She opened her mouth; only sound came out. A low howl that he’d never heard before. She snapped her lips shut, cutting it off, and Blaez wanted it back. He wanted that call that he sensed was going to be specific to him, to this moment of pleasure she was about to experience. He wanted it all.