by R. E. Butler
She turned from her inspection of the pull-out couch, which was made up neatly with pillows and a thick blanket, and looked at him. He stood near the door, his body tense and his face filled with worry.
“What’s wrong?”
His eyes met hers, and she could see that he was upset. “I’m sorry.”
Blinking in confusion, she said, “About what?”
“I’ve never killed anyone before. I don’t want you to be afraid of me, but you saw what I did. What I became.”
“Why do you think I’m afraid? Because you saved both our lives? Because you can shift into a kickass-looking wolf?”
He looked surprised, but still not convinced.
She could probably tell him until she was blue in the face that she wasn’t afraid of him, but physical proof would go further.
Walking toward the bathroom, she smiled as she noticed two towels folded neatly on top of the toilet. She turned on the shower and looked out of the bathroom to see Jeremiah still standing immobile near the door. Tugging the knot in her shirt apart, she shrugged out of it, and dropped the scraps into the trashcan. The sweats were filthy and torn in places. She pushed them to the floor and stepped out of them, too.
“Jer,” she said.
He still hadn’t moved, but his body had tensed further.
“Jer? Come here,” she said, holding her arms out. He hesitated for long enough that she wondered if he would actually come to her, but he did. Slowly. Each step brought him closer and ratcheted up her desire. Her mate was sexy, and he was a strong male in every sense of the word. He hadn’t just protected her, he’d killed for her. The odds had been stacked against him, but he’d prevailed.
He stopped in the doorway, staring down at her. He still wore his tattered pants, but she could see the outline of his hard cock and it made her stomach clench in anticipation.
“How’d I get so lucky?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, and when she stopped staring at his waist and looked into his eyes, she saw fear and wariness. Grabbing the waistband of his pants, she tugged until he stepped into the bathroom. The water had heated enough that steam was filling up the room.
“I’m not afraid of you, Jeremiah. Not now, not ever. You saved my life and yours tonight.”
He still seemed to be holding back.
“What is it? What’s troubling you?”
His mouth opened and a soft sigh escaped his lips. He closed his eyes and his head tipped back. “I know what I shifted into, Honey. I was a freak of nature before, but now I’m an actual freak. A monster. How long until the pack decides that I’m too strange to stay? They could demand that Acksel banish me.”
His head dropped down and she saw pain in his eyes.
She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. He stiffened for only a moment, and then melted against her.
“I could care less about what your pack thinks of your shifting abilities, because you’re mine. I don’t think Acksel will kick us out, but if he does, so the fuck what? If we have to leave, we will, but together.” She rested her cheek on his chest and rubbed her hands up and down his back. She felt him slowly relax. After a while, he growled softly.
“You’re naked.”
She giggled. “You’re not.”
She moved away, pushed the shower curtain open and stepped under the spray. “Help me get clean, Jer.”
She clearly didn’t have to ask him twice. He shoved his pants off and joined her in the shower. She wasn’t kidding about getting clean; she felt grimy and disgusting, like she could spend an hour under hot water with a scrub brush and still be dirty.
Jeremiah cupped her face, and she met his gaze. “I can still see their hands on you as you screamed.”
She felt tears sting her eyes, and she blinked them away. “I just want your hands on me.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up as he lowered his head and kissed her. Everything inside her heated and twisted as the simple press of lips became something more. Their mouths opened and their tongues met, sliding and dancing, as he pulled her closer. She could feel the press of his hard cock against her stomach, and she had to force herself to stop kissing him so they could clean up.
A bottle of body wash and a new bar of soap sat in a basket on the floor of the shower. She knelt and picked them up, straightening as she handed him the body wash and began to lather the soap in her hands.
“It feels like a lot more time has passed than two days,” she said as she dropped the soap back into the basket and began to rub her lathered hands over his shoulders and chest.
“Yeah. In a weird way I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. I guess it’s the connection between our wolves that does that. I feel like I’m complete when we’re together.”
“Me too.” His soapy hands caressed her shoulders, his thumbs stroking her throat gently.
She realized that he wasn’t injured. “You’re healed.”
“What?”
“You have blood on your face and body, but you’re not bleeding or bruised.”
“I was in my shift the first time for several hours while we waited for Acksel to get us, and then I shifted again so he could see.”
“I’m glad you’re not injured anymore. And you know what else is cool? You can talk in your shift. I’ve always wanted to do that.”
His brow furrowed, and he stopped rubbing his soapy hands on her stomach. “If you’re afraid of my shift, it’s okay. I mean, I would understand.”
“Jer, what’s it going to take for you to see that I’m your mate and I’m not going anywhere? You could have shifted into a green monkey tonight and I would still be just as proud of you for what you did.”
“Green monkey?” His mouth quirked.
She rolled her eyes. “Would you listen to me? I’m serious. I think you look awesome in your shift. I’m not afraid of you and I never will be, got it?”
He exhaled slowly. She could see doubt in the depths of his eyes. She couldn’t really imagine what he’d dealt with over the years in the pack, anticipating his shift but never realizing it, when it came so easily to everyone else. Now, he hadn’t shifted into a traditional wolf, which would have been amazing, considering he’d never done it before, but he’d shifted into something new entirely. It would screw with anyone’s mind.
She pushed his hand slowly down her stomach to the apex of her thighs. His fingers brushed the lips of her pussy, and she shivered. He growled as his fingers slipped down, grazing her clit with a slow stroke.
“Wet,” he growled.
She gripped his wrist. “You do that to me. Your scent, your strength, your sexy growl.”
He growled again, a smile curving his lips. His fingers rubbed her clit in a slow circle, and her hips followed. She reached for his cock, grasping his hard length with one hand and stroking him slowly. He gently pushed her hand away.
“If you touch me, I’m going to forget all about making you come.”
“I’d hate that,” she smiled. Leaning back through the shower spray, she rested her shoulders on the cold tile and spread her legs as far as she could. The water pounded down as he gripped her hip with one big hand and played with her clit. He wiggled the bud back and forth, up and down, until her head banged back against the tile as pleasure swamped her. “Right there, oh fuck, right there.”
She felt his fingers dig into her hips, but she didn’t care. Her body heated and tightened, pleasure coiling hot and hard inside her as he moved his finger over her bud. He stopped and her eyes flew open. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed them.
“Just making sure you’re with me,” he chuckled.
“I’ll get you back,” she promised.
“I’m looking forward to it.” He chuckled and moved his finger on her clit again, pushing her right back to the point of climax, where she’d been just moments before. He was so good at touching her, it was like they’d been together forever. Her stomach clenched tightly and heat flooded her as her
back bowed and she cried out his name.
Still trembling from her orgasm, she wanted to say something amazing, but her brain was fizzling out as the wolf inside her demanded they mate with their male. She gasped as he lifted and turned her so she was pressed against the other wall, the water splashing on his back instead of on her.
He lowered her onto his cock, burying his face in her neck and groaning deeply as he slid all the way inside her. She wrapped her still-tingling arms and legs around him and moaned his name.
“You feel like heaven,” he murmured. He kissed up her neck and bit gently on her ear as he shifted his hips and slid partway out of her throbbing pussy.
Damn, that was sweet.
He began to move in and out of her, the sound of their bodies coming together overshadowing the noise of the shower. He held her so tightly she couldn’t do anything but hold on as he increased the pace until he was pounding into her. She let her head fall back and moaned loudly. He kissed her throat, nipping at the tender flesh there, and she squeezed her thighs tighter around his waist.
His teeth gripped her shoulder as he cradled her ass with one arm and planted his other hand on the tile. His arm flexed, and she was vaguely aware of the sound of the tile cracking, but she was too lost to the feeling of him pushing inside her. Taking her. Loving her.
She reached for him, gripping his hair with both hands and fisting the short strands. His teeth breached the skin on her shoulder and everything inside her went white-hot as sparks flashed before her eyes. She couldn’t hear anything over the rush of blood in her ears. Her whole body jolted as she came, and he lifted from her shoulder and howled as he joined her.
They were both panting for breath. She sagged against him, loosening her tight grip on his waist.
He slowly lowered her and held her until he was certain she wasn’t going to fall, and then he turned and gave her a gentle push under the spray. “The water’s almost ice cold. You first, and then I’ll finish.”
At the moment he said “ice cold,” the water hit her back and it felt like little icicles peppering her skin. She was determined to get clean as fast as possible, to rid herself of any trace of the people who had touched her. He squeezed shampoo into her hand and she washed her hair while he efficiently lathered her skin.
When she was rinsed off, she said, “I can wash you.”
He pulled the curtain back and said, “If you touch me, we’re going to freeze to death in here. I’ll just be a minute.”
He winked at her as she stepped out of the shower. She grabbed a towel and rubbed at her skin with jerky motions. She was shivering, her teeth chattering from the cold water. She couldn’t remember when she’d ever been so cold; she was chilled to the bone. Jeremiah turned the water off as she was rubbing her hair with the towel.
He reached for his towel as he got out and smiled. “I’m officially cold.”
“Me, too.”
“Go climb under the covers, I’ll be right in,” he encouraged her as he rubbed his skin briskly.
She picked up a hair elastic from the counter, wound her hair into a loose knot on her head, and secured it. She would love to have a hair dryer, but at least it wasn’t sitting wet on her neck. She pulled the covers back and slipped into bed. The sheets weren’t as soft as Jeremiah’s had been, and the pillows were lumpy, but when he walked into the room and joined her, it was suddenly the most comfortable bed she’d ever been in.
She could already feel herself warming up, thanks to her higher body temperature, and her shivers eased even further when Jeremiah pulled her against his body and covered them with the blankets. They lay in silence for a long moment, and then he kissed her forehead.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” His voice was low. Not pushy, just sweet.
She rested her cheek on his bicep and looked at him. “He wasn’t my biological father. If Stacy knew, I don’t know why she wouldn’t have told me.”
“Maybe she was threatened.”
“He killed my mom, and he killed Stacy, who turns out wasn’t even my biological grandma. Her death hurt worse than his, though. I don’t even feel like mourning him. He would’ve killed you. He tried to trade me away for a virgin he could screw. I… can’t even tell you how disillusioned I feel right now.”
Jeremiah’s hand began to stroke up and down her back, and she closed her eyes and relaxed into his touch.
“He was a bastard. I don’t know what his motives were for keeping you when you weren’t his real child, and we’ll never know, but I’m not sorry he’s gone. I’m not sorry that I took care of the threat against you.”
“I’m not sorry he’s gone, either.”
In the darkness, she told him about her childhood. It was easier now to see that he’d kept her at arm’s length her entire life because he really wasn’t her father. He’d kept her around until it benefited him to use her. He most likely wouldn’t have cared if the male he’d given her to hurt her. It was hard to feel grief for his death, or the deaths of any other males who’d been part of the kidnapping.
“I’m so glad I wandered into your yard on the full moon,” she said, stroking her fingers through the soft hair at the side of his head.
“Me too, Honey.”
They kissed gently, and he continued to stroke her back, seeming to know she needed to be comforted so she could relax. She hadn’t thought it would stress her out to talk about her past, but as he slowly worked the tension from her, she knew it had. That was just one more thing that made Jeremiah unique. They’d only been together a few days, but he was already in tune with her needs. Her feelings for him were deepening by the hour. Being mates didn’t come with instant love, but she knew it would only be a matter of time before she was head over heels for him. He was an honorable male. At first he’d tried to keep her away because he didn’t want to burden her with his non status, but once they mated, he wasn’t going to let her go, that much was clear. And she felt the same way. It didn’t matter to her that he could shift now. She liked him for the male he was inside, not what he could or couldn’t shift into.
Following his scent on the full moon was the smartest thing she’d ever done. She snuggled a little closer to Jeremiah and drifted off to sleep, safe in her mate’s arms.
Chapter 12
Friday evening, Jeremiah drove Honey to the alphas’ home. Aside from leaving that morning to shop for clothes, they hadn’t left the apartment. It was small and noisy during the day when the mechanics that Ren employed were working below, but as long as Honey was in his arms, he didn’t care where they were.
“Tomorrow we can go see the house. Acksel thought there were things that could be salvaged, but none of the furniture is going to be any good,” he said as she reached for his hand and squeezed it.
“What’s going to happen to the house?”
“We have two options after it’s demolished; we can sell the lot to the pack or we can rebuild.”
“Why would the pack want the lot?”
“It’s close to the alphas’ home and borders our hunting territory. Acksel wouldn’t want anyone outside of the pack to build a home there, so they would most likely plant trees on the lot and eventually it would become part of the woods.”
She hummed in her throat and said nothing for a few moments. “What do you want to do?”
“I just want you to be happy, Honey,” he said. It was the truth. He didn’t care about the house or the land; he only cared that she was sleeping next to him every night.
“I’m happy,” she said.
“I know, but I mean I want you to be happy with where we spend the rest of our lives. We’ll have to live in a rental home regardless of whether we sell or build, since they can’t begin construction on the home until the ground thaws in the spring.”
“Is there a construction company in town?”
“Yes. Acksel’s sister, Eveny, works in the office there, and several pack members work there as well.”
She was quiet again. Jeremiah d
idn’t know what she was thinking about, but it made his wolf tense that she wasn’t talking. He stopped his truck in front of Acksel’s home, thankful that Ren had arranged for it to be delivered to the garage on Thursday afternoon so he and Honey could come and go as they wished.
He turned in his seat to face her, and she looked at him. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know about what?”
“Where we should live. That was your home, and now it’s gone. Part of me wants to rebuild it, but part of me doesn’t ever want to see a house standing on it again. Does that make sense?”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Yeah. I don’t know what’s best either. In the end, though, it’s just a building. Wherever you are is home for me.”
She smiled. “You say the sweetest things.”
Grinning, he said, “It’s easy to say sweet things when I have such an amazing mate.”
“Stop it. You’re going to make me want to take my clothes off.”
He kissed her and chuckled. “I’m not sure the alphas would appreciate me making you scream my name in front of their house.”
“Let’s table the house talk for later and go see what’s up.”
He agreed. He got out of the truck and moved to her side, opening the door and helping her out. The sidewalk had been recently salted, so it wasn’t icy, but he still worried she might fall, so he held her elbow tightly and they moved slowly up the sidewalk to the porch.
Brynn opened the door before they got to the top step. “I’m so glad to see you guys alive and in one piece!”
Jeremiah pulled the door closed as they stepped inside and helped Honey off with her coat. Brynn hugged her and gave Jeremiah a friendly smile.
“Come sit down. Dinner’s ready.”
Jeremiah sat next to Honey at the kitchen table, with Acksel and Brynn across from them. They ate a simple meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn bread. While they ate, Brynn and Honey talked about the wedding and the upcoming full moon.
“You can join the pack officially and declare each other as mates, it’ll be a two-fer,” Brynn said.