by Lola Gabriel
“A ride home would be great, thanks,” she said.
Rocco smiled, hoping it looked like a normal smile rather than one that would give away the excitement swirling inside of him. They walked the couple of meters to the car and Rocco pulled open the passenger side door for Marin. She thanked him and got in. He shut the door behind her and walked around the front of the car, slipping into the driver’s seat.
“Where to?” he asked as he started the engine.
Marin gave him her address, her cheeks flushing slightly as he laughed.
“That’s like two minutes away,” he said, pulling away from the curb and heading toward the address Marin had given him.
“I know,” she agreed. “I guess I just wanted…no, nothing, it’s stupid.”
Rocco thought he knew what she meant even though she didn’t finish her sentence. She had wanted to spend a few minutes with him, just like he had wanted to spend some time with her. He knew he was taking a risk by admitting he felt the same way, just in case he was wrong and that wasn’t what Marin was going to say, but he wanted to put her at ease, and he wanted her to know that her feelings—if he was right and she had feelings for him—weren’t one-sided; if she wanted him, she could have him.
“I don’t have a friend that works anywhere near here,” Rocco said.
He risked a glance at Marin when she gasped in a breath. She started to smile and before he knew it, she was giggling and he was laughing with her.
“I guess we’re both as bad at this as each other,” Marin said as their laughter faded.
“It sure looks that way,” Rocco agreed.
He pulled up by the curb outside of Marin’s place and turned and smiled at her.
“Let’s do something to change that,” Marin said. Her head was down as she spoke and then she looked up at Rocco through her long, dark eyelashes. “Would you like to come inside?”
Rocco nodded, not trusting his voice to come out sounding normal. He cut the engine and jumped out of the car. He had planned to go around and open Marin’s door for her, but she was already out of the car and heading for her gate when he got out. He locked the car and followed her. He couldn’t help but watch the way her ass moved under her skirt.
She unlocked the door and stepped inside. She kept walking without looking back and Rocco stepped inside and pushed the door shut behind him with his foot, not wanting to turn away from Marin for even a second. His eyes widened slightly when she walked down the hallway, passing the doors on either side of her, and started up the stairs. He followed her up them, his heart pounding in his chest. She led him to her bedroom, still not turning around or saying anything.
As soon as Rocco stepped into the room and kicked that door closed behind him too, Marin turned to face him. She looked him in the eye as she pulled her blouse out of her skirt and lifted it. She broke the eye contact for a second as she pulled the still-fastened blouse over her head. She looked back at him again and bit her bottom lip as she reached behind herself and opened her bra. She dropped it to the ground and then her hands started moving to the back of her skirt, but Rocco couldn’t wait any longer.
He moved closer to Marin and reached out, tucking his fingers into the front of her skirt and pulling her toward him. He found her mouth with his and kissed her like he had never kissed anyone before. Their hands moved over each other, groping and caressing, and Marin unbuttoned Rocco’s shirt and pushed it off his arms. She moaned into his mouth as she ran her fingers over his toned stomach.
Rocco moved his hands to the front of Marin’s body and ran his thumbs over her nipples. They were already hard, but beneath his touch, they hardened further, making Marin gasp in a breath. Rocco kept kissing her and working her nipples as he started to walk her toward her bed. When her legs hit the bed, he moved his hands from her breasts and gently pushed her backwards. She landed on the mattress and Rocco grinned down at her. She reached up for him, but he smiled again and shook his head. She frowned and dropped her arms back down to her sides.
Marin’s frown faded, a look of greedy understanding crossing her face as Rocco knelt on the ground between her knees. He ran his hands up her calves and over her knees. He took hold of the hem of her skirt and pushed it upwards. Marin lifted herself and Rocco pushed the skirt right up around her waist. He grabbed her panties as his hands moved back down, peeling them down her legs and off her feet. He ran his hands up her smooth calves again, and this time, he kept going, running them over the soft skin of her thighs.
Marin moaned gently as Rocco’s fingers traced over her inner thighs. He could feel the goosebumps rising on her skin as he moved. He reached the top of her thighs and he pushed on her legs, opening them further. He looked down at Marin’s glistening wet pussy, his cock going wild at the sight of it, his wolf howling inside of him.
He leaned forward and found Marin’s clit with his tongue. He began to lick her roughly, moving her clit from left to right, enjoying the feel of her writhing beneath his tongue and the sound of her breath catching in her throat as he worked her with no reprieve.
Rocco kept licking Marin and at the same time, he slipped two fingers inside of her pussy, moving them in and out of her, making her cry out with pleasure as her wet pussy clenched around his fingers. He could feel her body clenching; she was to coming. When she made a strangled screaming noise, he knew he had pushed her over the edge. Rocco felt Marin’s clit pulsing as her orgasm surged through her body and liquid flooded her pussy once more. His wolf howled again, moving closer to the surface, and Rocco pushed it back down, not wanting anything to interfere with this moment.
He sat back on his feet as Marin gasped and panted and then he stood up. He removed his jeans and boxer shorts, then peeled away his socks. He stood over Marin and he saw her eyes light up when her gaze settled for a moment on his large erection. She smiled and reached up for him again, and this time, he made no move to stop her. He went with her willingly, falling down on top of her, taking his weight on his elbows to avoid crushing her.
He slipped inside of Marin, his breathing growing ragged as he felt how tight she was. He moved through her warm and wet flesh, claiming her pussy as his own, his wolf claiming her wolf as his mate. This time, when his wolf started to emerge and he began to push it back down, he noticed that Marin’s eyes were no longer her emerald green ones. Instead, they were the golden yellow eyes of her wolf. Rocco stopped holding himself back and he let his own wolf start to emerge. He felt his own eyes changing, becoming the eyes of his wolf, and he felt fur spring out over his body. He howled out loud this time as he slammed into Marin and she joined him, their howls becoming one long sound full of lust and desire and longing. They howled again, a synchronized sound of belonging, of two entities coming together as one, merging from two halves into one whole being.
As Rocco thrust into Marin’s warm depths, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep his orgasm at bay for much longer unless he got control of himself, so reluctantly, he pulled his wolf back, the fur going back into his body and his eyes becoming human again. The feeling of belonging together, although not as all-consuming now, didn’t fade away.
Rocco moaned as he felt Marin’s body clenching around his length as she succumbed to her own orgasm. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut as she came, her face twisted in agonizing pleasure, but Rocco knew she was still half in her wolf form when he felt her sharp claws scratching down his back. The sharp scratch made him gasp in a breath and intensified the pleasure in him and before he could stop it, his climax slammed through him and he found himself coming with Marin, screaming her name even as she howled and whimpered her pleasure.
Heat flooded Rocco’s body, pleasure consuming every part of him as his cock twitched and spasmed, his orgasm exploding from him and into Marin, cementing their union as one. He could barely breathe, barely think. The pleasure eventually began to fade and Rocco gasped in a huge breath, rolling off Marin and slipping out of her. As he lay beside her trying to get his breath back, he knew
this was far from over between them. Whether it was going to be easy or not no longer mattered to him.
He knew in that moment that this thing between him and Marin was definitely about more than just lust. He wanted her even more now that he had had her again, and there was no mistaking what had happened during their lovemaking. Their wolves had bonded, and as their bodies had become one, so had their inner wolves. Rocco knew that whatever happened in the future, he had to be with Marin, no matter what that meant for his place as the future alpha of the wolf pack. None of that mattered anymore. Nothing mattered except Marin and his feelings for her.
Rocco had never been in love, or even close to it, but he was pretty sure that love was what he was feeling now as he lay basking in his post-orgasmic glow beside the woman of his dreams, a contented smile playing over his face.
5
Marin stayed lying in place beside Rocco after her orgasm had finally released her. She had just about gotten her breath back, but she was far from getting her composure back. She was starting to wonder if she would ever get her composure back at all or if she would always be this flushed, sweaty mess that was only ever a second or two away from grabbing Rocco and kissing him hard on the mouth. Now that she thought about it, that didn’t actually sound like such a bad fate. Except it couldn’t happen. It didn’t matter that Marin had felt herself connecting with Rocco on more than just a physical level; the two of them as mates could never be and she knew it.
“So, I guess that’s what they mean by making the same mistake twice,” Marin said, trying to keep her tone of voice light.
She felt the mattress shift slightly as Rocco rolled onto his side and faced her. She turned her head so she could look at him, but she stayed lying on her back, afraid that if she rolled toward him, they’d end up in each other’s arms again, and if that happened, she knew she wouldn’t be strong enough to not let it go further once more.
“You call that a mistake?” Rocco said with a raised eyebrow. Marin could hear the incredulous tone of his voice as he went on. “If you were faking it and not really enjoying it, then damn, girl, you need a fucking Oscar.”
Marin choked out a laugh and shook her head.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said. “I did enjoy it. God, of course I enjoyed it.”
“Oh good. Because that would have been a serious bruise to my ego,” Rocco said with a grin.
Marin flashed him a grin back and then it faded from her face as she reminded herself once more that this had to stop now, no matter how much she didn’t want it to end. It wasn’t even just physical. She loved that Rocco could make her laugh so easily too. She was fast starting to love everything about him.
“I just meant that I know nothing can happen between us. Nothing permanent, I mean. My family are hardly fitting of someone of your status and I dread to think how your parents would react if they knew you were even doing this with me, let alone anything else,” Marin said.
Rocco sighed beside her and she felt the mattress dip again as he rolled over onto his back once more. Marin kept watching him as he ran a hand over his face and then he began to answer her.
“You know, Marin, the first time I saw you that day I came to speak to the twins, I felt something inside of me when I looked at you. And I knew I had to at least try to see you again. I’ll be honest, though; at that point, I felt the same as you, that we could never happen because my parents would never allow it. But then we were together and nothing else mattered but that,” Rocco said.
“What are you saying?” Marin asked. “You can’t seriously think your parents will be okay with this.”
“I don’t know. It’s possible,” Rocco said with a one-shouldered shrug that told Marin he didn’t believe it was possible even for a second. “I mean you felt that, right? You know it’s not just a passing attraction between us. I think if I explained that to my parents, maybe they would come around to the idea of us being together.”
“I think we both know there’s not much chance of that,” Marin said, not wanting to raise her hopes only to have them cruelly dashed once Rocco talked to his parents about them.
Rocco shrugged again, a more convincing two-shouldered shrug this time.
“Maybe not. Maybe I am just clutching at straws. But the point is, Marin, the way I feel when I’m with you—I don’t want that feeling to ever end. I feel like you and I are meant to be together. And if my parents can’t see that, then they’ll lose me, not you,” Rocco said. He rolled back onto his side and pushed himself up onto one elbow. He smiled down at Marin and gently ran his fingers over her bare stomach, sending goosebumps rushing over her. “What I mean is, whatever happens, I choose you, Marin. I would rather be with you than be the pack alpha.”
Marin took a moment to let Rocco’s words settle in. She could hardly believe her ears and she felt her heart swelling as he spoke. She wanted nothing more than to just be with him, but now more than ever, she knew it could never be. The fact that Rocco had put enough thought into this to know that he was willing to walk away from his destiny told Marin that deep down, he didn’t think for a second his parents would ever be okay with this. And Marin knew she couldn’t let Rocco walk away from the pack because of her.
She had no doubt in her mind that he was genuine and that he would walk away from the pack, from his family, from it all, if it came to it. And for a while, she knew she could make him happy. But she also knew there would come a day when Rocco woke up and fully realized everything he had left behind, everything he had had to sacrifice to be with her. And when that day came, he would start to resent her. The thought of that almost broke Marin’s heart, but she knew it would happen. And she also knew that if she mentioned it to Rocco now, he would tell her it wouldn’t happen that way. And he wouldn’t be lying as such; he would genuinely believe that it would never happen. But it would. Unless Marin was strong enough to stop it.
She reached down and covered Rocco’s hand with hers, stopping him from tracing circles on her skin. She left her hand there for a moment, wishing things between them could be different, and then she gently took his hand from her stomach, putting it on the mattress between them. She squeezed it once and then she withdrew her own hand before she could change her mind.
“I can’t ask you to do that…” Marin said.
“You’re not asking me to do it,” Rocco interrupted her.
Marin sat up and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.
“No, I’m not,” she said quietly. “But I am asking you not to do that.”
“But…” Rocco started, but this time, Marin didn’t let him interrupt her for long.
“There aren’t any buts, Rocco. I like you, I’m not denying that, but I don’t think that’s enough to throw your whole life away for. For me, this was just a bit of fun, and now you’re talking about walking away from everything and it’s way too heavy,” Marin said.
“It was nothing more than a bit of fun for you? Are you kidding me?” Rocco snapped.
Marin shook her head, biting her bottom lip to keep it from quivering.
“No. That’s all it was, Rocco. We agreed on that,” she said. “And this time, we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Right. Yeah. I guess we did agree that the first time shouldn’t have happened,” Rocco said. Marin felt him moving beside her and then the mattress sprang up when he stood. “And don’t worry. It definitely won’t happen again. I can take a hint.”
Marin sat in silence while Rocco dressed. She didn’t dare to watch him because she knew if she let herself do that, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from getting up from the bed and going to him. Instead, she sat gazing out of the window, but she was still hyperaware of Rocco’s presence.
“See you around, then,” he said when he was done dressing.
Marin could hear the pain in his voice although he tried to disguise it. It was the same pain she felt deep inside of herself. She already regretted hurting Rocco, but she
knew it was for the best. It was better for them to go their separate ways now than for them to end up in a situation where he resented her for taking away his future somewhere down the line.
“Bye,” Marin replied, all she could manage to squeeze out through her too-tight throat.
Rocco moved to the bedroom door. He paused for a moment and, glancing back at Marin, he opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but he seemed to change his mind at the last minute and he shook his head quickly and left without a word. Marin waited until she heard her front door open and then slam closed before she moved to the window. She watched as Rocco got into his car and pulled away from the curb, keeping her eyes on the car as it moved down the road.
When his car was out of sight, she slipped the skirt down off her hips where it still sat and then she moved back to the bed and slipped beneath the duvet. She curled up into a tight little ball and she finally let herself cry.
6
Rocco found himself thinking once more about Marin. She was all he had thought about for days, since she had told him that they couldn’t be together. The more Rocco thought about Marin’s words, the more they hurt him, but at the same time, the more he sensed that they weren’t true.
He knew deep down that he hadn’t imagined the connection between him and Marin, both their human and their animal sides becoming one with each other. He had felt them becoming one as surely as he had ever felt anything before, and he knew that Marin had felt it too. No matter which way he thought of it, he was certain he and Marin were meant to be mates. She was his one true love; he could feel it deep down in his soul. And he knew she felt it too. He just knew it.
When he had walked away from her after they had made love at her place, he had seen the pain in her eyes. He had known then that on some level, she didn’t really want him to go, and he had come so close to asking her what was really going on, but in the end, he had bottled it, too afraid of being wrong about the pain he saw in her eyes, too afraid to extinguish the one tiny flicker of hope he had left.