by R. E. Butler
He ran both hands through his hair as if it were a nervous habit, and then peeked up at her through the veil of his thick lashes, those baby blues imploring her to be kind. Whoever had hurt him was going to pay if she ever saw them again.
“I knew you were a wolf when I woke up.”
Confusion reigned. “You did?”
She took a moment to decide if she should tell him exactly what she was, but he probably wouldn’t know the history of her people; it wasn’t a story that got told around the campfire much anymore. In fact, a lot of the wolf packs she ran into thought it was just legend. “My father is second of his wolf pack.”
He straightened. “Your mother is human, though, right? Because you don’t smell like a wolf to me.”
“Yes,” she smiled, “she’s human.” Sort of. “What do I smell like to you?”
“Vanilla.” He blushed again and she felt warm from head to foot. When he met her eyes again, the heat banked in the depths told her that he was feeling the connection to her as strongly as she was. With some difficulty, he picked up his fork again, “Please tell me about yourself, Karly.”
“Well, I’m 22, I’ll be 23 in the fall, and I have three brothers, and a fine arts degree, and I like to paint and take photos and be creative. And I just moved to North Paddock less than two weeks ago.”
“Why did you come here, for a job?”
I came to find you. “I’ve been doing a bit of traveling, trying to find my place in the world. There was a guy in my father’s pack that kind of flipped out and got a little possessive of me, and I knew he wasn’t the right man for me, so I decided to head out on my own.”
He looked surprised. “How long have you been traveling?”
“15 months, give or take.”
“Because he couldn’t take a hint?”
“Not just because of him, because there wasn’t anyone in my father’s pack that I wanted to be with and I didn’t want to stay when there were other places for me to explore.”
He hummed in his throat, looking disappointed. “So you won’t be sticking around, then?”
Aw. Where was his self-esteem? “Actually, I plan to stay.” He brightened considerably and then she used his own questions on him. Age 27, he was fourth ranked in the pack that was led by his close friend and his mate who was close to her age. They were mated from childhood but had some problems getting to the place they were now, but he didn’t seem to want to dwell on them, and that was okay with her. He skipped his childhood and went right to the meat of his romantic history which was apparently very short: married for less than a year to a wolf groupie and that ended three years ago.
“Do you miss her?”
He shook his head. “No, I miss the time I lost pining for her and I hate that I, that I will have to tell the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with that she’s not the only wife, you know? I feel like I’ve already betrayed her.” He looked away, leaning back in his chair.
What do you say to that declaration? He clearly had spent a lot of time beating himself up over his choices. Everyone had laundry lists of regrets. Since they were both done eating, she skipped saying anything to what he’d said because nothing she could say would change how he felt about himself at the moment. She knew all about feeling dirty and used because of a former lover, but he didn’t need her empathy right now and he wouldn’t necessarily understand her willingness to ignore his past. All she cared about was their present right now and the future.
She stood and picked up her plate. “Thanks for breakfast. Let me do the dishes for you.”
He stood up and made a grab for her plate. “You don’t need to do the dishes; it was my pleasure to cook for you.”
He seemed insistent that she sit back down and relax, but she followed him anyway. He flipped on the faucet and she stood next to him, leaning against the counter with her hip against the cabinet. He was concentrating very hard on the water from the faucet, as if it were pure gold flowing from the silver hardware.
She turned off the water. He turned and she looked up into his pretty eyes. She undid the button of his jeans and said, “Dishes can wait, Linus.”
His eyes went wide and he paused long enough that she had a mini panic attack. “Oh crap, was it, was it not good? You don’t want to?” Her mouth went completely dry and she thought she might curl into a ball. She’d never had complaints before, but then she hadn’t ever really asked.
He jerked like she had hit him and growled, putting both hands on her shoulders. “It was incredible, Karly, I’m just, I feel like I can’t get enough of you and I don’t want to scare you.”
“Not scared. Want you.” She breathed in deeply and the very male scent of him washed over her and her body warmed. She hadn’t realized she closed her eyes until she heard him take a deep breath and growl very softly in the back of his throat. She opened them slowly and his eyes were hooded, his mouth parted slightly, and the expression on his face was pure bliss.
His hands slid slowly across her shoulders to her neck, his fingers playing on either side. His mouth lowered in slow motion to hers until their lips met and their tongues slid together, deep and searching. One of his hands slid around to her waist and he lifted her off the ground as if she weighed nothing and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She tried to climb inside him through his mouth while he moved them through the house and rolled her underneath him on the bed.
He spread her legs with his knees and straightened his arms so that his fists were buried in the mattress on either side of her head. She didn’t expect the frown. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t have any condoms. I’m not exactly that guy, but I damn sure wish I was right now.”
“I’m on the shot.”
His frown disappeared in a heartbeat with a sweet smile that morphed into a look so full of lust that she thought her insides were going to melt. “You look damn sexy in my clothes, Karly. Better out of them, though.”
“Must be something you can do about that, my sweet wolf.”
Their clothes disappeared in a flurry and she got an excellent look at his magnificent body before he slipped down hers and spread her thighs apart with two very large, warm hands. He swirled his tongue around her clit and she grabbed onto the wooden slats of the headboard while he feasted on her as if she were the most exquisite thing he’d ever tasted in his life.
Linus played her like an instrument, searching for all her spots and finding them, driving her to climax again and again.
She writhed under his hands while he tongued her core, lapping at her juices with throaty growls, “Linus, please!” She cried out when the shiver of the last fingers of the climax had worked through her, fairly sure she couldn’t have another orgasm if her life depended on it.
He licked his lips, swiping his finger across his mouth and sucking her wetness from it. With liquid grace, he slid up her body and she grabbed his waist with her legs. He may have planned to enter her slowly, but she dropped her hands from the headboard and dug her nails into his butt and pulled him inside at the same time as she thrust her hips up to meet his.
“Holy fuck,” he ground out, a shudder weaving through him. She breathed out a laugh, only because she was pretty sure that his cock was big enough he was poking her lungs and she couldn’t form any words. He kissed her for a long time while he moved slowly in and out of her, cradling her against him and caressing every inch of skin he could get his hands on. And then by slow degrees, he lost hold of his control and pounded into her more than willing body until he drove her to another plateau of pleasure that she had never reached before. Stars winked behind her eyes and her body tried to rip in two, and her cry of pleasure was so loud it hurt her ears. She felt him spasm inside her, and he said her name when he came, and it was the sweetest sound she had ever heard.
They made love several more times over the course of the night, on the bed, on the couch, in the shower. And every time they were together, it strengthened the connection between them until it wa
s like they’d known each other forever. And somehow, she thought that was really how it was between angels and their wolves. Because it was ancient, and powerful, and sweet. To realize that someone was made for you, waiting for you. It was a wonderful thing.
She passed out across him like a blanket well after first light, numb from her eyebrows down to her toes and deliciously aching. She’d never been happier in her life.
Chapter 3
He held his little sweetheart on his chest while she dozed off after their sex marathon that started Friday night. Now, it was late Sunday morning, and he’d never been so incredibly worn out or felt so amazingly connected to a woman in his life. She was his mate. He’d never been so sure of anything else in his life. Already he could see how different it felt when it was a true match, and not forced the way he’d done things in the past. Because he was lonely and didn’t want to wait, so he’d rushed forward and ended up hurting everyone.
Karly. Karolyn Angel Nylock. Gorgeous. Sweet. Funny. Perfect. His. Oh yeah. His wolf was not about to let him let her get away. His fangs had elongated so many times while they’d fucked around the house that his gums ached. No, that’s not right. Not fucked. It hadn’t been fucking with her, it was love. He’d actually made love with her. It might be new love, but he knew himself well enough to know that in no time he was going to be head over heels for her and he’d give his eye teeth to park his mouth between her thighs for the rest of his life.
Everything was different. She didn’t lie there passively while he did all the work; she gave as good as she got, passion in every action. She’d spent a great deal of time after the second time they were together, tracing every muscle in his body with her fingers and then her tongue and he’d had no choice but to do it back to her. Because it had felt amazing to have someone pay such careful attention to him. He knew he wasn’t bad looking, he’d turned heads over the years and his chest and abs were hard won from the gym. The girls in the bar would swoon over his muscular upper body but it wasn’t like this. It was like she was trying to memorize each line, to touch every part of him.
And he’d damned well enjoyed doing it back to her. Ex-fucking-squisite. She had great tits and the most sensitive nipples he’d ever encountered. She had ticklish spots on her hip bones and the back of her knees, and her feet were sensitive enough that when he bit gently on her instep she just about came. And he loved her red painted toenails. So sexy.
As he drifted off to sleep with her curled into his chest the way he wanted to go to sleep the rest of his life, he couldn’t have been happier. He’d finally found the woman of his dreams and he wasn’t going to let anyone get between them. His wolf in agreement, he hugged her slightly tighter, closer, and fell asleep, a humming growl of contentment the last thing he heard.
“Yo, dude! Where are you?”
Shit! Linus lurched from the bed as his brain tried to register the voice coming down the hallway. It wasn’t Michael, no it couldn’t be. No, no, no! He slammed the bedroom door shut and met Michael and Bo, second and third in the pack, coming down the hallway. Michael put his hand up to cover his eyes.
“Fuck, man, put some clothes on.”
He growled and put his hands over his cock. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”
Bo quirked his brow at him. “Better question is why you didn’t answer your cell. Jason’s been trying to get hold of you for a few hours.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“Oh?” Michael peered over his shoulder like he could see through the door. Linus bristled and his wolf stood at attention. No. No fucking way was Karly going to be around them. She. Belonged. To. Him.
“Guys,” he ground out, “is there something that Jason needs or did you just come here to bust my chops?”
Michael seemed to sense something was going on and he wasn’t exactly the kind of guy that walked away from causing trouble. Bo was, though, and he stepped in. “It’s nothing we can’t handle. Plows are due to come out today, and Jason wanted you to drive for a shift, but we can handle it. Since you’re busy.”
“Yeah, I am. But thanks for taking my turn.”
“You can owe us.” Michael quipped. He knew he would. He corralled them back to the front room and away from his sweetheart and watched them shift on the back porch and take off with pants between their jaws. He locked the sliding door. If he’d left it locked they wouldn’t have gotten in, wouldn’t have been on their way back to the bedroom where his mate was laying naked. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if they’d come into the room, but he was feeling out of sorts and possessive suddenly. Angry.
And then just as quickly as it came over him, it seeped away and he felt more in control and calm. Karly had put her arm around his waist, coming to stand next to him at the back door. And she was wearing his shirt again, which he loved. “You need to go?”
“Nah. You hungry sweetheart?”
“Sure. But let me give it a try this time.”
He followed her into the kitchen. “I like cooking for you, Karly.” Truth. He liked it a great deal. Maybe because she appreciated it. Maybe because she didn’t expect it or act like it was his job.
“Well, I’m not helpless in the kitchen. I do have some skills.”
He gave her a teasing smile. “So you’re not just another pretty face?”
“Gosh, I hope not.”
“Alright.” He put his hands up in a jest of defeat. “If you want to cook so badly, have at it. But I’m very picky,” he teased and her brown eyes danced. Turning her sweet face up for a kiss, he gave her one and then another, and would have kept going except she gave him a gentle shove and reminded him he was naked.
It was just after lunchtime, so they hadn’t gotten more than a few hours of sleep. Not that he cared. He liked being exhausted like this. He hated the knowledge that with the plows starting the roads would most likely be cleared by morning, which meant he’d have to take her home and then go to work and the bliss that he’d known since 1:30 a.m. Friday morning was going to stop.
Donning a pair of track pants and nothing else, he wandered back into the kitchen and watched her drop a sandwich carefully into a bowl, turn it and then put it on the stove on a hot pan. She peered up at him. “Monte Cristo.”
“Never had one before.” He joined her at the stove where four sandwiches were now frying. It was amazing that she knew how much he could eat. Wolves put food away like there was no tomorrow and a chance of a food shortage. He’d dated women over the years that complained about it, or thought it was funny, but she took it all in stride.
“So your dad’s pack?” He brushed a lock of hair from her shoulder. “Are they like old-school with traditions and stuff or more modern?”
“Definitely old-school. The pack alpha has been in power for, well, longer than I’ve been alive, and he runs things pretty strictly. Pack’s on the small side, all family groups, and they don’t let newcomers in unless it’s through a mating.”
Her father was second of the pack. Her mother was something called a caretaker, which was an older term for someone that handled the cooking for the pack. It was a position of honor in some packs, and Karly’s pack had four of them.
They didn’t have a caretaker in their pack; it wasn’t something that they’d ever had. Granted, he never really paid much attention to the traditions when he was a kid, because he didn’t think it would matter. When Jason’s father Peter was alpha, he was powerful but kind, and let the wolves have more freedom than a lot of packs that ran them like monarchies, and some of them even sequestered themselves in towns with no humans at all. As long as the pack members didn’t cause trouble for each other or the humans, showed up on the full moon and for meetings, then Peter never really cared what else they did. Work where you wanted. Live where you wanted. Jason was much the same way. Maybe even more lenient because of his youth. But from past experience, he was also very serious about the job and would not shy away from leading and delivering pack justice or punishment if the situatio
n warranted it.
“So in your pack, then, everyone eats together?” He found the whole thing very cool.
“Something like that. On the weekends, definitely. The alpha’s house is like a big gathering place, and there’s always food to eat in the kitchen, and a meal on the table at 6 like clockwork every night, but it’s not mandatory. The weekend meals, he uses them for his top ranked and their families. It doesn’t sound like your pack at all.”
She helped her mother cook for the pack for years. She went to public school until 8th grade and then home schooled online for high school, graduating early and starting right away with college courses.
He set the table for her and by the time she joined him, he had a feast on his table that he couldn’t believe actually came from his own kitchen. Besides the sandwiches, she had made a pot of potato chowder, a loaf of bread with melted cheese on it, and a pitcher of iced tea. He was in complete awe.
“I would have done something for dessert, but I wasn’t sure what kind of stuff you like. I’ll make something later. Is this okay?” She looked at him with those big brown eyes. He could see that she really wanted him to be happy with what she had done.
“Holy hell, Karly, this is amazing. You didn’t have to do so much for me.”
She raised her brow. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Indeed. He tucked into the food and was unprepared for how amazing everything was. The girl could cook, that’s for damn sure. Immediately he thought about the empty restaurant in town. Lonestar. At one time it had belonged to the father of their alpha female, Cadence, a horrible human that hated wolves because his wife had been killed while pregnant with Cadence, by a rival pack female. Somehow, the attack made Cadence into the odd hybrid that she was but had put a permanent chip on his shoulder about their kind. When all the shit went down in October over Cadence and the pack that had shared their town for many decades, the Garra Pack, they’d pulled up stakes and hit the road, leaving the bar and restaurant in town without anyone to run them. Just recently, they had tentatively taken on a DJ to play weekends at the bar known as Jake’s. Jake had been the alpha of the other pack. They were all hopeful that the DJ might want to run the bar for them, too, but he seemed reluctant at the moment to do anything except play music.