by Paige Tyler
“Then I guess we’ll just have to be quiet,” she said softly.
Mac leaned forward and nibbled at the lines of his pecs. A low rumbling growl slipped out of him.
She pulled away to give him a reproving look. “What part of quiet didn’t you understand?”
He slipped his fingers in her hair, urging her to go back to what she’d been doing. “Quiet, right. Got it.”
When she kissed, nibbled, and licked her way down his chest and stomach, Gage did a better job of holding his tongue—but just barely. Still, she had to smile a little as she unbuckled his belt. If he’d had a problem staying silent for the first part, this part was really going to be tough on him.
Once she had his belt undone, she struggled to work his jeans and underwear together down over his hips. He helped some, but let her work for it, which she appreciated. Anticipation always made things better.
When Mac had everything down around his thighs, she nudged him back so he was perched on the edge of his desk. She wanted him to be able to lean back and relax because she was going to make sure he never forgot what he meant to her.
His cock was already hard and jutting out eagerly before her. She ran her hands up his thighs until she reached the base of his cock. Then she carefully curled one hand around his shaft and tilted her head up to look at him.
“Quiet, remember?”
He gazed down at her with heated eyes. “I’ll try.”
That was good enough for Mac. She dipped her head and wrapped her lips around him. Gage didn’t exactly remain silent, but the groan he let out wasn’t much more than a deep sigh. She doubted even a werewolf would be able to hear it unless he was standing right outside the door.
She worked her mouth up and down his shaft, moving her hand in smooth counterpoint to the rhythm of her tongue. Gage tasted so damn good it was difficult not to cut loose with a few moans of her own. She could do this all night, letting him come in her mouth, then getting him hard so she could do it all over again. The thought alone made heat pool between her thighs.
Gage slipped his fingers into her hair, guiding her movement, urging her to go faster…deeper. But just when liftoff seemed imminent, he used that hand in her hair to bring her to a slow halt, then tug her mouth off his cock.
She started to complain, but he’d already tugged her to her feet and urged her back against his desk before she had the chance. He had her shoes off before she even found her voice.
“Um, I was still working down there.”
He gave her a sly look as he yanked open the buttons on her jeans and pulled them off. She had to grab hold of the edge of his desk to keep from being dragged off with them.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But it’s my turn now.”
Gage tossed her pants and panties over to the couch that lined one wall, leaving her leaning back on his desk wearing nothing but her top. He reached around her and shoved stuff aside, then urged her back. When he dropped to his knees between her spread legs, his eyes were once again gold. Was he flipping them back and forth to freak her out?
Maybe, but that wasn’t the effect it was having. In fact, it was just plain turning her on.
“Remember,” he said in that low, rumbling growl she was already coming to love. “No screaming.”
He lowered his head and nibbled his way down her inner thigh, and for one crazy moment, Mac wondered if Gage’s teeth were sharper when his eyes were gold like they were now. If he nipped her hard enough, would she turn into a werewolf, too?
But those thoughts disappeared the second his warm mouth came into contact with her pussy. If his teeth were any sharper or longer than normal, she didn’t notice it when his tongue slipped into her folds.
She tried hard to keep her head up so she could watch him go down on her, but as tantalizing as the view was, she couldn’t do it for very long. As Gage’s tongue glided up and down her folds over and over, then finally focusing on her clit, she got so dizzy she had no choice but to drop her head back and give herself over to the pleasure.
Right then, she was far beyond worrying about whether Gage’s pack heard her, but she bit down on her knuckle anyway, hoping it would muffle her moans.
Mac gripped the edge of the desk with her other hand and lifted her head. The sight of Gage lapping at her pussy—his glowing eyes locked with hers—was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen. She forced herself to keep watching him as he made love to her with his mouth, drawing her orgasm out longer and longer until she was sure she would scream.
Only when her whole body was shaking and spasming like she was holding a bolt of lightning did Gage finally let up and move his mouth off her clit. Even then, he continued to slowly lave his tongue across her folds, making little sparks dance in her vision.
She dropped her head back to the desk and gasped for air as Gage went back to nibbling on her inner thighs. At some point he stopped that, too, but she didn’t know what he was up to until she heard his jeans hit the floor.
She looked up to find him grinning at her.
“I love watching you come, did you know that?”
Mac returned his smile. “No, I didn’t.”
She licked her lips, waiting for him to climb up on the desk with her, but he simply stood there gazing at her.
“Thank you for coming back to me,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I don’t like to think what my life would have been like without you.”
The words made her heart squeeze in her chest. What did a woman say to something like that? You’re welcome just didn’t seem to cut it.
She beckoned him closer. “Care to show me your appreciation in a gratuitously physical manner?”
He hesitated. “Yeah, about that. I don’t have a condom. One of the other guys might, but…”
She grimaced. “Let’s not. Fortunately, one of us was planning ahead. I started taking birth control pills Wednesday morning.”
“Wednesday?” He frowned. “The morning after I took you to dinner at Chambre Francaise? How did you know we’d sleep together?”
“I didn’t,” she said softly. “But I’d hoped.”
Mac motioned him closer again, spreading her legs wider in open invitation. Gage stripped off the rest of his clothes and moved between her legs. He ran a hand up the outside of one thigh, making her quiver all over.
“And you’ve been taking the pill long enough for it to work, right?” he asked.
She nodded. “Most experts recommend seven days, but I think six days is okay. Unless you’re not planning to stay with me if I get pregnant? Now that we’re mentioning it, can you get me pregnant?”
Gage trailed his hand down her thigh and across her stomach. He left it there, caressing her lightly. “Yes, I could get you pregnant. And before you ask—no, the kid wouldn’t come out growling and howling at the moon. That’s not the way it works. And no, if I got you pregnant, I wouldn’t leave you.”
He leaned over and she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer and preparing herself for the rush that came whenever he slid inside her. He didn’t enter her, though. Instead he gazed down at her so intently she started to worry he wouldn’t make love to her without protection. But then he licked his lips and she knew he was trying to figure out how to say something…big.
“Mackenzie, there’s something you need to know. Something important.”
O-kay. “Is now the best time for this?”
“Now is the perfect time for this,” he said. “Werewolves have an urban legend that’s been around as long as there have been werewolves. Whether they’ll admit it or not, they all believe there’s one special person out there for them. As in The One—capital T, capital O. Unfortunately, while the legend is so common as to be cliché, I’ve never met a werewolf who found The One.”
Gage leaned closer, so his lips were only millimeters from hers. “But I’ve found mine. You can’t understand the significance of that until I tell you that none of the werewolves in my pack have ever been in a serious relations
hip—not one. Sure, they sleep with women, maybe even live with them for a while, but it never lasts. Hell, I’ve never been involved with a woman that I even wanted to be around for more than maybe two weeks at the longest, until I met you.”
His mouth traced along her jawline and settled next to her ear, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I knew from the moment you stepped into the operations vehicle that first day that there was something different about you. I didn’t know at first that you were The One—I never believed in that kind of stuff—but some of the guys knew. Cooper. Xander.”
“Xander?” she repeated. “He didn’t even like me.”
“Regardless of what he tells people, Xander believes the legend more than any werewolf I’ve ever met. But he figured you’d use the irresistible attraction I felt for you against me to get your story.”
She winced. “Which is basically what I did. No wonder he looked like he wanted to bite my head off when I showed up tonight.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Gage whispered. “We’re together, and I’m never going anywhere. I never could have.”
She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him more tightly against her, burying her face in his neck. “But you were leaving when I got here.”
He lifted his head so he could gaze down at her. “I was, but only long enough to make sure my pack got out of town and someplace safe. I was coming back to make sure Hardy was no longer a threat to you. Then I intended to watch over you from a distance for the rest of my life.”
The look in his eyes told her he wasn’t kidding. She didn’t let herself dwell on the part about making sure Hardy was no longer a threat. She was just comforted by the thought that Gage would have willingly lived on the street outside her apartment just to be near her. It was insane, but romantic at the same time.
She threaded her fingers in his hair, pulling him down for a kiss. He growled, kissing her back with an urgency that left her gasping for breath by the time he lifted his head.
Straightening, he grabbed her ankles and spread her legs wide. Mac did her best to be quiet, but she couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped her lips when he pushed inside her. Right then she didn’t want to be quiet. She wanted to shout her pleasure to the world—and if his pack heard, oh well.
Gage took her slowly, sliding his thickness deep with steady, even strokes that made her whole body tremble. He moved in and out of her over and over, and the whole time, he gazed down at her with those vivid gold eyes.
She was so in love with him that it hurt, and right there in the middle of their lovemaking, she thanked God for helping her repair the damage she’d done and for making this moment possible.
Her orgasm built higher and higher, but it wouldn’t crest, even though Mac was sure she was about to explode at any minute.
“Harder,” she begged softly.
“You sure you won’t scream?”
She nodded.
It was possible that a little cry slipped out when she orgasmed, but she was too busy coming to care. And when Gage stiffened and came inside her? It was like heaven. The closeness she felt with him at that moment was the only thing that could ever rival the pleasure she’d felt from the orgasm he’d given her.
Then Gage was leaning over her, kissing her hotly on the mouth while his cock still pulsed inside her. It was impossible not to whimper a little with the aftershocks of her orgasm vibrating through her.
Mac felt wetness on her face and realized that she was crying. Gage gently kissed away her tears.
“That was amazing,” she said softly.
“Yeah, it was.” He gave her another kiss, then gently pulled her into a sitting position. “We should probably get back out there.”
But he made no move to get dressed. Instead he stood there between her legs, gazing down at her.
Mac traced her fingers over the tattoo of the wolf on his chest. The design certainly held a lot more meaning than it had the first time she’d seen it.
“So, what’s up with this tattoo?” she asked softly.
Gage chuckled. “It’s the ultimate inside joke. For us, SWAT stands for Special Wolf Alpha Team, since we’re all werewolves and alpha-male types. Get it?”
She poked him hard in the ribs. “Yeah, I get it. I’m sex-addled, not slow.”
Gage laughed again.
Mac went back to playing with his tattoo. She’d never get tired of seeing the way the wolf image moved over his well-muscled skin. Who was she kidding? She’d love playing with his chest if there was a hippo tattooed on it.
She thought back to what Gage had said about her being The One. Maybe he and the werewolf legend were onto something. How else could she explain why she’d tossed aside a once-in-a-lifetime story for a man she’d met less than a week ago? Or that the thought of not having him in her life made her hyperventilate? They were truly made for each other. And if that meant there was some mythical force at work here, she was more than ready to believe it. If werewolves could be real, why not a cosmic love connection?
Mac lifted her head to look at him. “So, what I saw tonight—is that as werewolfy as you get?”
His mouth twitched. “Not exactly. I get a little bit more werewolfy.”
“How much more?”
“Think four paws and a tail.”
Her eyes went wide. “Like a real wolf. Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Can I see?”
He chuckled. “Not right now. Let’s take baby steps with this, okay?”
She made a face. “Okay. But you have to promise to show me.”
A few hours ago, she was freaked out about him being a werewolf, and now she couldn’t wait to see him turn again. Love could do that to a woman.
Mac went back to playing with his tattoo again. “Did you bite all the guys in your pack to turn them into werewolves?”
He snorted. “Hell, no.”
“Then how did you do it?”
“I didn’t. You can’t turn someone into a werewolf by biting them like in the movies. We’re born like this.” When she jerked up to look at him, he laughed. “I don’t mean we’re born with claws and fangs. That might be a little hard to hide.”
“What then?”
“From what we’ve been able to figure out, there’s something in our DNA that triggers our change into werewolves when the right set of circumstances come along.”
“What kind of circumstances?”
“A person carrying the werewolf gene, or whatever you call it, has to be exposed to a high-stress, life-threatening situation. If the person makes it through the situation, they come out the other side a werewolf.”
She chewed on her lips as she considered that. “That’s what happened to you in Iraq, wasn’t it? When all the other members of your squad were killed?”
He nodded. “That’s why I had to get out of the Army. I didn’t have a clue what was happening to me, and I needed time to figure it out.”
As if seeing all his friends killed wasn’t enough, he then had to figure out what it meant to be a werewolf, too.
“Is that how it happened to your pack, too? Combat?”
“Some of them,” he said. “Cooper got blown through a building in Iraq. McCall’s convoy got hit in Afghanistan. That’s where Duncan, our senior medic, was turned, too. He got trapped in a small, forward-operating base that was completely overrun. Most of the others changed while they were on the job, after getting shot.”
“And you just found them and recruited them?”
“Pretty much.” Gage ran his hand up and down her arm. “I didn’t understand the significance of the Pack thing until I had about a half dozen of them together. That’s when I realized we all work better—and are happier—in an environment like this.”
Mac smiled. Gage just couldn’t help it. He was the kind of man who worried about others. “But how did you find all of them? I assume there isn’t a website you can look on.”
“I wish.” He let out a short laugh. “Over the years, I’v
e gotten good at knowing what to look for. I read a lot of news articles about cops and stuff, looking for the right clues.”
Clever, she thought. “How do you think your pack’s going to handle it when you tell them that we’re back together again?”
He chuckled. “They already know. It was sort of hard to miss.”
“I was quiet!”
“Not to a werewolf. Even if they couldn’t hear your sexy little moans—which they did, by the way—they wouldn’t have been able to miss that scrumptious smell you put off when you’re aroused.”
Mac groaned, her face hot. “I’ll never be able to look any of them in the eye again.”
Gage cupped her cheek. “There aren’t any secrets in the Pack, babe. You’re just going have to learn to accept it. These guys are going to know every time we have sex because they’ll smell my scent on you, and yours on me.”
“Will that—you and me together, I mean—cause problems?”
She didn’t know much about wolf packs in the wild, but she thought she remembered reading something about how female wolves in heat caused all the males to go crazy.
But Gage shook his head. “They won’t have a problem with it. You give them hope.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“They look at you and know the legend is true, that there really is someone special out there for every one of them.” He grinned. “And if they tease you now and then, it’s just because you’re part of our pack now.”
Part of the Pack. She liked the sound of that.
He gave her a kiss. “Come on. Let’s go see what they’re up to out there.”
Remembering what Gage had said about werewolves and their keen sense of hearing, Mac would rather have put off facing the Pack as long as possible, but she got dressed and let Gage lead her out of his office and into the main room anyway.
She’d hoped the guys wouldn’t be there, but the entire Pack was sitting around casually in their chairs, holding up cards with Olympic-style scores on them. She had more than enough imagination to figure out what they were grading them on. Her face turned bright red. Embarrassed didn’t even begin to cover it.