by Fran Lee
When the big human who smiled…Papa…had come with many others, looking to kill them for carrying her off, she hadn’t been a little girl anymore. She had been one of them. And when the men with guns had started shooting the pack and chopping them up with axes and scythes, the big one had grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and run with her in his jaws.
Or the men would have chopped me up too. At least, that was what he’d told her they would do.
Only a handful of them had escaped the purge. It had been so long ago she’d had almost no recollection of it until she’d seen the big leopards—the men—hugging. And Cal had cried. It had started her remembering. It had almost overwhelmed her. All those strange feelings… All those startling memories…
When she sensed him there, sinking down by her side, and heard his voice so close to her ear, felt his hand touching her back, she wanted to just turn to him and hug him tight, as she’d seen him hug his brother. But Gar had warned her not to touch him unless he invited her to. It had been so long since she had been touched like a human. Held in arms as her mama and papa used to hold her. But she wasn’t a little child anymore. And the idea of Cal putting his arms around her made her feel all funny inside. Not like when Papa had hugged her. But as he slid his hand over her back so gently, she wished desperately that he would tell her she could hug him.
Cal frowned at her wet face. “You okay?” He sensed her elation and her fear. Her sudden change of thoughts and feelings. It was pretty obvious now that she hadn’t always been a Lykos. He had heard many old stories about human young being stolen—changed—when packs had a shortage of females or hunting males. They chose very young children so that their memories of once being human would die. And he knew that the forced change was painful and terrifying…if the child survived it.
So my little Lykos was once human.
That would explain many things. He could help her. He could teach her. If she is still here. Maybe she would want to go when she was stronger. He balked at the thought of letting her go away alone, because she sure as hell wasn’t going back to the Lykos. Not to be tortured and possibly killed and treated like garbage. Worthless, she had called herself. He would figure something out.
He felt her trembling as his hand caressed her spine and he realized that he was doing what Gar had warned him not to do. He was touching without being invited to touch. Shit! That went both ways, and he was already screwing up. He had vowed to protect her. He had agreed to behave. And if he touched her, even without lusting after her, she might misunderstand. Or my own traitorous body might misunderstand…
She shivered and leaned in to him and his need became a gnawing, greedy thing. He withdrew his hand from her back and put a few inches between them, feeling as if his guts had just been ripped from his insides. He heard her little whine of disappointment, and swallowed hard to clear his constricted throat.
“Jessie? I guess I should call you Jessie. You need to go up to your room and get some rest. It’s the second door on the left at the top of the stairs.” He inhaled a deep, shaking breath and received the full force of her pheromone track. Sweet gods! His mind almost deserted him as his cock rose to eager attention. When she didn’t move, he nearly snarled, “Go now!”
Without hesitation, the little Lykos darted from her place on the porch to the open front door and was racing up the stairs inside the house. He gave a groan of aching loss as he followed her progress with every sense in his body until her door slammed and he heard the heavy creak of old bedsprings as she flopped onto the mattress…and started sobbing.
It took every atom of strength he possessed to not follow her and comfort her. Not to crash through her door and take her without bothering to think. He stepped into the old house and locked the door. He moved from window to window and checked the sash locks. Then he placed the heavy-gauge wire mesh Gar had purchased over every window and hammered it into place with U-shaped wire brads. It wouldn’t stop a wolf but it would slow it down and would make a lot of noise if torn out.
He closed his mind to the heart-wrenching sobs. She was far safer away from him at the moment. He had sworn to protect her. He would not break that oath. Even if it meant that he had to keep her locked in her room and remain locked in his own. Because his need for her was as dangerous to her as her pack was.
Once the lower floor of the house was secure, he set about preparing a meal of some of the canned goods and some venison that Hallie had sent in the big cooler. It was the remains of a mule deer that he and Gar had taken down last week. And despite his natural preference for raw flesh, Cal had grown to enjoy the wonderful herbal flavors Hallie used to spice the meat.
The lush smell of basil and pepper made his belly growl, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten that morning. He’d been far too agitated to bother with breakfast. And lunch had been forgone in favor of packing the SUV, then unloading the boxes and getting settled in. He was pretty sure Jessie hadn’t eaten either.
He couldn’t hear weeping now. Maybe she had gone to sleep. He would go and wake her in a while, when the food was ready. His thoughts were far too out of control for him to face her yet. He stirred the gravy and set the reheated roast on the top of the old stove, then busied himself opening the cans of vegetables Hallie used when she didn’t have fresh available. That was something that might keep him busy…planting a kitchen garden like Hallie had. New potatoes, onions, carrots and fresh herbs sounded great. But it was late in the year to start a garden.
And he could paint the porch…maybe rescreen it to keep out the flies. The plumbing could use work. The repairmen had checked the main water line and had turned all the utilities on, but there hadn’t been enough time for them to go much beyond the basic necessities. Cal was pretty good with his hands. He could fix things up. In fact, the thought of fixing up the place for Jessie and him left his gut tied in knots. A real home of his own. Not half as grand as the one Gar and he had shared all these years, but with privacy and a mate of his own? It was almost too good to be true.
He was about to go upstairs to tell her supper was ready when her voice murmured softly inside his head, I’ll eat when you’ve had your fill.
She had heard him thinking? He lifted one brow and considered that. He would have to be careful what he thought if she had that talent. He wondered now if she had “heard” all the rest of his heated thoughts.
It doesn’t work that way here, Jessie. Come down and eat. No one expects you to starve while I stuff my face.
Jessie had sensed his thoughts just as he started to come up to fetch her downstairs for supper. She dashed the tears away and sat up on her bed, feeling oddly better after her long cry. There had to be something about dripping eyes that healed humans.
She knew he was upset with her for something. She just couldn’t figure out what. She had expected him to make her remain in her room, so his response to her pleased her oddly. She smoothed her rumpled dress down over her legs and went out the creaky old door and down the stairs to where the delicious smells came from. Her belly growled loudly as she stepped into the room and found her alpha dishing up food onto two plates.
He motioned for her to sit on one of the chairs that flanked the old table and he placed one of the plates on the wood before her. When he sat in the other chair and picked up a fork to spear a piece of succulent venison, she followed suit. She ate hungrily. The food was almost as tasty as that Hallie had given them all. Cal was an odd alpha, fixing food for others. She had only eaten food that was raw, bloody from the kill, almost as far back as memory served. But this food was marvelous…because it was the kind of food her mama had made. She had almost forgotten that.
Sharing meals with Cal’s big happy family had taught her that she needn’t bolt her food down quickly in order to get her share, as she had when trying to snare a morsel from the pack. There had been more than enough for all, and the males did not snap angrily when the cubs reached for “seconds” as Jet called them.
Hallie had even let her help to
fix meals, showing her how to use the big stove. Would that be part of what she would do in this place? Serve her alpha his meals like Hallie served her family? Or would he have her scrubbing the floors like the cubs did at the big house down the road? Would he hug her and touch his mouth to hers like his older brother did when Hallie put food in front of him? That thought made her shiver with odd sensations in funny places.
The food was too delicious to leave even a drop on her dish, so she put the fork down and lifted the empty plate to lick it clean and heard his voice ring out in laughter. She froze and lowered it to the wood, her eyes wide as he tried to hide his face with one large hand.
“Is this wrong?” She thought about the meals with his brother and Hallie. No one had done that in front of her, so maybe it was not right.
He was laughing behind his hand, and when his eyes met hers they were bright with some emotion she hadn’t seen for a long time. Not since…home. An image of the tall smiling man who had laughed like that so long ago flitted into her thoughts, and a deep-buried memory of a woman…Mama…eating the laughter from his mouth.
She licked some of the liquid from her lips and watched as his hand lowered to reveal that mouth with the strong white teeth and beautiful lips, and she felt her nipples begin to tingle for some reason. Then her dress grew wet as something warm slid from her core and its warm, earthy scent filled her nostrils. Her belly fluttered as his eyes darkened, and his smile changed as his breathing grew ragged. He sniffed deeply and she realized that the scent of her wetness was probably disgusting to him.
“I’m sorry…” Her voice felt raw. She started to rise from the chair, but he moved so fast he was almost a blur. He was on his knees on the floor, his eyes closed and his big hands shoving her thin yellow dress slowly up her thighs.
Her insides felt as if fire were licking at them, and she stared down at him as he opened those golden eyes and pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth as if holding his control with care. The sight of the elongated canines should have terrified her, but instead it made her thoughts swirl and her insides tremble.
He stared into her eyes as his hands pressed her legs wide apart and folded her dress gently up against her belly. Her heart felt as if it were about to rip out of her chest. Then he closed his eyes and bent his head and her body jerked with indescribable sensations as he began to lick and suckle at her wet, hot slit, pulling her bottom forward to the very edge of the chair.
She heard a high keening sound and realized it was coming from her own throat. What he was doing to her was as wonderful as the food he’d given her, and when she was certain that he was not going to tear away her flesh and devour her, she caught his head and whimpered.
Her fingers threaded through his silken hair as her head dropped back and a moan of pleasure left her throat. “Oh, what are you doing to me?” she gasped as a devastating, trembling shot of white-hot sensation made her body explode in all directions and she felt his sharp canines gently break the sensitized skin of her sex. Another bolt of amazing excitement filled her. Her scream of pleasure was muffled as she clasped her palms over her mouth and rode out the most mind-boggling, heady feeling of shocking pleasure she’d ever had in her life. More wetness slipped from her slit as her pleasure peaked, and her alpha lapped it up along with the drops of blood that his fangs had drawn.
She heard a growl from deep in his chest as he buried his long tongue deep in her slit, and her body convulsed once again, leaving her shuddering with reaction and breathing as if she’d run for miles. Unable to remain upright in the chair, she slithered to the floor, and he lay between her spread thighs, licking and probing her with his hot, greedy tongue until she came apart a third time. His hands cupped and lifted her rear and brought her quivering opening closer to his devouring mouth.
Never before had she felt such aching, throbbing pleasure. Such thrilling, pleasing caresses. And when he at last drew back to stare down into her perspiring, flushed face, she could barely find her voice.
“Are you still angry?” she whispered shakily.
Chapter Six
Cal stared at her with glazed, heated eyes. Angry? Did she think him angry after he had just given her several orgasms? He rubbed his palm over his cream-wet face and drew a deep breath.
The scent of her pussy wrapped around him once more as he fought to control the need to fuck her. So far all he’d done was give her pleasure with his mouth and tongue. But he had felt her maidenhead with his probing tongue and if he didn’t get his need under control quickly he would soon cause her very real pain.
“I was never angry, Jessie.” His voice was rough. He sank back onto his heels, his fingertips trailing over her sweat-damp skin as he gazed at her trembling body. “I was enthralled.”
The quick little hitch in her breath made him smile slowly. “You are so completely delightful.”
Her eyes widened. “You…liked that?”
“Almost as much as you did.” He drew one long finger through the wet heat of her pussy lips and she closed her eyes and lifted to meet his touch. He slid one long finger slowly into her tight, wet sheath and felt the constricting ring of tissue that made it feel too small even with just one finger. He gently curved his finger up and dragged the tip over the thick spongy mass of nerves of her G-spot, and watched in fascination as she lifted her hips and her hands circled his wrist to hold his finger inside her.
“Why have you never mated, Jessie?” he asked as he slowly inserted a second finger and continued the gentle exploration of her vaginal walls.
The feel of those fingers inside her made it hard for her to get enough breath to speak. He pressed his mouth to the top of her slit once more and his hot tongue teased the little hard nub that brought her such great pleasure. Her eyes fluttered and she panted a little as she fought to speak. “Omegas don’t mate.”
He suckled lightly on the nub and she cried out, lifting her hips to meet his mouth and fingers, aching for more of that marvelous feeling of satiation.
“Have you never wanted to mate?” His voice was deep and rough and his mouth did such amazing things to her. She gave a little cry of delight as she felt another spiral of sheer pleasure rush through every nerve in her body.
“Omegas…are not allowed…to mate…” she repeated on a gasp. Didn’t he know that?
His golden eyes caught her startled stare. He smiled at her reaction to the way his tongue pleasured her. “Would you refuse me if I wished to mate with you?”
The words brought her eyes wide open in shock as she realized what he had just asked her. She stared down at the place where his lips and his large hand glistened with her juices, and she whimpered. “You want…to mate…with me?”
His elongated fangs flashed as he smiled down at her. “I’ve already taken your blood, little one…all that is left is for you to take mine…while I am deep inside this part of your body.”
“Omegas are forbidden to mate…” Her voice trailed off as he bent closer to slurp one breast into his mouth through the thin fabric of her dress and his large hand tightened possessively on her slim waist.
Cal felt the soft nipple go diamond-hard against his tongue and knew that she was thrilling to his caresses. He realized with a numb sense of disgust with himself that his oath not to hurt this female was evaporating with every moment he allowed himself the bliss of her body. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, then slowly lifted away from her, withdrawing his wet fingers and exhaling slowly to calm his rampant body.
Her hands on his wrist pulled him back but he carefully broke her grip and shook his head, pulling her skirt back down to cover her trembling body. “Forgive me, Jessie. I shouldn’t have done that. It was wrong. You didn’t invite me to touch.”
The look in those silver eyes almost made him forget his good intentions. A small hand slid up the front of his chest and her voice was breathless as she spoke. “Gar said there are no omegas among your kind. Is that right?”
His voice was tight. “Yes.”
“Then if you want to mate with me, there will be no shame in it for you?”
“None.”
“Gar said that I must not touch you unless you ask to be touched.” Her pulse was throbbing in the vein at the side of her throat, and he swallowed hard, feeling ready to burst. “But I want your touch.”
He caught her hand and held it to his heart. “Jessie, you are small. If I lose control with you I could hurt you badly…”
Her first spontaneous smile was innocently wicked as she looked at his swollen fly and whispered, “You didn’t hurt Hallie.”
He felt heat rise in his cheeks. “You watched when…?”
She nodded slowly, her lips pressing together as if she thought he might be angry with her. “I wish you would welcome my touch as you did hers.”
He released her hand and stared at her. “It would be better not to touch me.”
Jessie bit her lower lip at the dark glow in his eyes. His body was beautiful to her. The feel of his chest beneath her palm set off little shivers of anticipation inside her belly and she felt hot and tingly. He had not removed her hand from his chest. She dragged her fingers down the hard ripples of his belly to the swelling inside his trousers. His eyes closed and he gave a deep groan as if in pain.
“Am I hurting you?” She withdrew her hand instantly and he opened his eyes and licked his lips. He shook his head.
Heartened by his response, she reached to touch it again, and he placed his hand over hers. “Jessie, if I begin to shift…run. Run like hell.”
She swallowed hard and whispered, “I don’t believe you will hurt me. I want to touch you. I want to feel what Hallie felt when you mated with her.”
His rough bark of laughter brought her eyes to his face. “You mean when I made love to her?”