“I had big plans for us.” Another small, humorless laugh. “Bryce knew that you and I would get married and I’d have a higher ranking than him. That’s why he wanted to degrade me, humiliate me, show his power over me.”
“Bryce feared you. You got away.”
She shrugged. “Got away, but for six years, I’ve been trying to get my life back.”
“That’s why you didn’t want to have sex the traditional way,” he realized. “It reminded you of that night, what my bastard brother tried to do to you.”
A huge intake of breath. “Yeah. It kind of ruined the mood for making our marriage and our mating permanent.”
He’d deal with that later. Right now he was more focused on justice. “Who were the women? I need to know, need to make them pay for the crime they committed.”
Jordan shuffled her feet. “They sounded like Erica and Shirl, but I couldn’t be certain.”
Nolan growled deep in his throat. “I’ll question them. My way.”
“I honestly can’t be certain. Go easy on them.”
Cracking his knuckles, he nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll be easy as I need to be.”
“Down, big boy.”
He stroked a thumb along her tear-stained cheek. “It makes sense now, why you don’t like Shirl or Erica. I wish you could have confided in me sooner.”
“It’s done. Bryce is gone and so is your father.”
“But I’m here.” He took her into his arms, his insides knotted. “I promise you, pixie, I’ll never let anything like that happen to you again. No matter what. If another man even looks at your cross-eyed or dares to lay a hand on you, I’ll claw him apart.”
“Thanks for going all alpha on me, hon.” Jordan gave a lopsided grin. “Made me get my lady boner back.”
Laughing, he looked down, staring at her mouth. “You willing to put that to the test, pixie? Want me to help you erase those painful memories and make new, better ones?”
Jordan nodded, her expression tightening a little. “Please.”
He kissed her, putting all his feelings into the act. Nolan kept kissing her, backing her toward the wall. Then he tore his mouth away.
“I love you so much it hurts.” He stared into her eyes. “I’ll love you until my last dying day, Jordan. I’ve always loved you. Been no one else but you. The day you left, pieces of my heart shattered like glass. I tucked them away, figuring I’d never love again.”
She tunneled her trembling fingers through his thick hair. “The day I left here, it took everything to not turn around and run back to you. I was so afraid for you. Afraid Bryce would hurt you more than he hurt me. Afraid you would end up killing him if you knew what he did, and then your father would disown you. And you’d be lost, like me. I always dreamed of your love, of us being together. Times at night I’d lie beneath the stars and think of you, sharing the sky with me. It gave me a little comfort, push back the edge of loneliness.”
“We were both lost,” he said solemnly. “But not anymore. We found each other again.”
And then he took her hand, leading her once more to the hayloft, the place where they had made sweet love six years ago.
Nolan flipped the lights on inside the barn and they scampered up the ladder to the hayloft.
They tore each other’s clothing off. Jordan didn’t care if anyone saw them or if it was wild and reckless. When they parted, their breathing ragged, amber flashed in his eyes, signaling the rise of his wolf. Apprehension mingled with arousal. When a male’s eyes flashed amber during sex, he risked going feral and turning savage and rough. Only a strong, experienced female could match that ferocity of lovemaking.
Nolan dragged in a shuddering breath and his eyes returned to normal. She wanted him, this wolf who looked at her as if she were the only female on earth. Anticipation shivered through her as he stroked a hand over the soft flesh of her inner thigh. A low moan escaped her as he cupped her sex. He slid a finger slowly across her wet core in a teasing stroke.
She needed her mate. Now. Jordan took Nolan’s palm, sliding it upward until it covered her breast. She stroked his hand over her warm flesh, the friction making her nipples erect.
A groan fled his lips.
“I need you, Nolan. As a female Lupine desires her mate.”
Eyes widening and darkening, he drew back. Jordan watched his penis lengthen and thicken. She felt her vagina grow moist and ready to take him once more.
“This time, I need you to make our mating permanent.”
Nolan caressed her cheek. “You certain?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
He gave her a long, drugging kiss. Then he snatched a horse blanket and placed it on the floor.
“Kneel and place your palms flat,” he said hoarsely.
Obeying, she flung her long hair aside, and peered over her shoulder. In the dim light, Nolan stood tense, his hot, hungry gaze stroking over her body in a heated caress.
For a moment, fear rippled through her. But there was no mocking laughter, or his damnable brother holding a hunting knife. Only her mate, his expression hot and hungry for her.
His swollen, red penis thickened and lengthened, growing longer than ever. A Lupine reaction.
Trembling, she dropped her head down and waited. She felt his hot, wet tongue part the soft folds of her vagina and delve between them. Nolan began lapping at her soaked core, each stroke creating unbearable pleasure.
All memories of that terrible night fled beneath the tender ministrations of his mouth.
Then his penis replaced his tongue, the angular knob pressing against her soaked folds. With a low grunt, he slid deep inside.
Jordan went still, her swollen vagina eagerly tightening around his thick cock.
Tenderly, he brushed back her hair, and kissed her neck. “You okay?” he whispered. “If you’re scared and can’t take it, tell me and I’ll stop.”
She rotated her hips. “Do it. Fuck me. Make me yours so no one and nothing can ever part us.”
A low, triumphant chuckle rumbled in her ear. Nolan drew back, then pushed his hips forward. His enormous shaft throbbed inside her tight channel, binding them together in the flesh.
Then he began plunging deep inside, stretching her wet, swollen vagina. Eyes closed, her long hair curtaining her face, she pushed back against every delicious surge. Nolan dug his fingers into her hips as he thrust and their flesh slapped together. He bent over her ass, reaching around to cup and knead her breasts. Thick, silky hair on his chest rubbed against her back. With each relentless thrust, she arched her ass upward, eager for more. The position did not bind her to submissiveness, rather it gave her a heady sense of feminine power as her mate took her.
A deep growl rumbled from Nolan’s throat. She felt his engorged penis swell as an odd roundness pressed against her wet, sensitive tissues.
As the protrusion thickened, it rubbed enticingly against nerve endings enriched with blood. Jordan moaned at the exquisite pleasure. Twisting her neck, she watched his fangs descend and sharpen. Nolan gently turned her head. His warm mouth nuzzled her throat, then he sank his fangs into her neck. Sharp pain flashed through her, along with an erotic throbbing in her loins that enhanced their lovemaking.
Then he licked the wound, his tongue dragging slowly over her skin. Nolan gave a final, deep thrust, his knot swelling and tripling the sweet pressure. Orgasm seized her loins, shooting up through her body as Jordan shuddered and screamed. Rearing back, he seized her hips and released a long, low howl as his cock thickened, thick streams of semen spraying hotly against her womb.
No other male would have her, for he branded her with his scent, his touch, his body. His mating mark on her pale skin.
For a few minutes, his big body shuddered behind her. Finally his climax slowed. Nolan buried his face into the curve of her neck.
“I love you, Jordan,” he murmured.
“I love you more,” she told him.
They collapsed to
the mattress, his heavy weight pinning her down.
Hot breath bellowing in her ear, Nolan ran a hand over the curve of her hip. “I’ve dreamt of doing that to you for a long time. Both of us bonded together in flesh.”
His knot securing her clenched vagina loosened and he slid out wetly, then he rolled over and gathered her into his arms.
For a few moments they lay on the blanket, their ragged breaths filling the air. And then he began to make love to her once more in the hayloft.
Where he would have made love to her all night long six years ago had his father not phoned and interrupted him.
This time, he let nothing interrupt them.
14
Oh my sweet Nolan, you make life worth living again.
Humming happily, Jordan worked on the vines the next afternoon. She and her mate had spent a lazy morning in bed making love, and having a brunch delivered to their door.
Now Nolan was with Sam, having the gas can tested for fingerprints and scent. He was determined to prove her innocence, and find out exactly who did attempt arson on their land.
Their land, not his. This morning Nolan had shown her exactly what legal matters he’d handled with Aiden the day of their wedding. The final papers had arrived in this morning’s mail. Nolan had made Jordan co-owner of the business, and all the pack property.
“Because Lupines mate for life, and I will always make sure you are cared for,” he’d told her when she questioned why.
With her mate’s belief in her, she felt she could do anything. The burden she’d carried for the past six years had lifted. Soon, Nolan and Sam would also find out if Erica and Shirl were behind the terrible event that drove Jordan from the pack.
Still, something nagged at her. Shirl and Erica seemed more interested in finding mates outside the pack six years ago, and they had urged her to hook up with Nolan to make change.
“If you mate with Nolan, and rule the pack, you can loosen up the strictness around here,” Erica had suggested.
“We’ll finally be able to find mates on our own, maybe even from the Harlow pack. They have plenty of handsome Lupines,” Shirl had added.
Lowering the shears, she paused in trimming the vine. Jordan frowned as she studied the grapes. They were plump with juice and her mouth watered. But these grapes were in the special vineyard reserved for the Fae. Feathered with magick from the Fae, they should be glistening with glitter, not growing like normal grapes.
Maybe the Fae had yet to infuse them with magick. Huh. Jordan felt a tingle rush down her spine, a signaling of rising power. Lupine power.
Yet this was different. She felt no compulsion to shift, nor did her senses increase as they did when she turned into wolf. Instead she felt attuned to the forest and grass, the vines themselves.
Driven by a compulsion she didn’t understand, she reached out and touched the fruit.
Stunned, she drew back.
The grape glistened, glowing as if lit from within.
Staring at her hand, she tried to make sense of it. Did she accidentally pick up some strange Fae magick simply by being here?
Nonsense. Countless times the pack had tended these vines and no one reported feeling Fae magick. Surely one would have mentioned it.
Jordan flexed her fingers. Was this why she’d always experienced trouble shifting on pack land? Had Fae magick interfered with the process?
Or maybe you’re not a full-blooded Lupine after all. You were adopted.
Something to investigate. Perhaps the records kept in the basement would shed some light on the matter.
Her cell phone chirped. She fished it out of her pocket and her blood pressure soared. Need help. Caught in a trap set out by the Harlows. I’m at the pond. It hurts. Please hurry. Nolan.
Tossing down the shears, she raced off, tearing through the woods. Power surged through her as she passed by the tree homes of the sleeping Fae.
She did not stop until reaching the pond. Where was her mate?
No one was at the water, and the area seemed deserted. Not even the birds sang in the trees ringing the grove.
“Nolan?” she called out.
Maybe he was injured, too weak to cry out.
“Nolan! I’m here!” Jordan pulled out her cell phone. She could try to find him through the GPS signal…
Something sniggered nearby. Her blood froze.
She recognized that cruel giggle. Heard it six years ago on that night when Bryce took a hot knife to her back…
“Shirl,” Jordan whispered. “Come out, you coward, and face me.”
From behind a towering maple tree, Shirl entered the grove. But something was off about her former friend. Instead of her big cow eyes and dull brown hair, Shirl had bright blue eyes and she…
Glowed pink and silver.
“Who are you?” Jordan demanded. “Where’s Nolan?”
“The alpha is at the lodge, where he belongs. And you, bitch, are now ours.”
Slowly the woman’s face dissolved, changed…
Revealing her true nature. Risa, the Fae queen’s attendant.
“You’re all alone, Jordan, just like you were when Bryce caught you in the woods. But this time, he’s not here to stop us. We’re going to finish the job we started six years ago.”
She held up a knife, glinting in the sun. “This time, we’re carving out your heart.”
All her instincts screamed to run. As she turned to flee, a web of glowing pink blocked her path. Jordan tried to sidestep it, but each time she did, the web barricaded her way.
Risa tittered. “You can’t escape us, bitch. Elaine!”
A glowing pink and white ball floated near Risa and with a soft pop, materialized into Risa’s sister. We’ve waited a long time for this. A long time to get rid of your pretty face,” Elaine snapped.
No one would come to her rescue, just as they had not six years ago. Lured into a trap by the powerful Fae sisters, she was on her own.
Eyes centered on the knife, she kept talking. Stalling them.
“You lied to everyone, pretending to be friends with the Mitchell pack and Nolan.” Jordan backed away. No match for their powers, these ancient sisters. Her magick could never compete with the powerful Fae.
Elaine laughed. “We are friends with them. Just not you. Don’t you get it? Everything would have been fine, fine, if Nolan never noticed you. If you’d stayed quiet and in the background, or took interest in a minor Lupine, our queen would have lost interest. But no.”
“He was ours,” Risa snapped. “If you hadn’t have come along, our plan to keep him for ourselves would have worked. But when you and Nolan became involved, Selene started talking about how important you were. How proud she was of you.”
“All those years we showed her utter devotion, slaving for her, and you with your mixed Lupine and Fae blood… you aren’t anything special, but she loved you because you were her daughter and she loved your bastard father.” Elaine flicked a hand and currents of magick spun toward Jordan in rapidfire succession, striking her chest.
It hurt like hell, but she gritted her teeth and held her position. “My father and mother were Lupines who lived in Alaska. I’m an orphan.”
“Your father was Brandon Harlow! After you were born, Selene placed you with a pack of wild Lupines to bring out your wolf side, but they were all slaughtered. So Selene asked the Silver Wizard to bring you to the Mitchell pack for safekeeping. She saw you as a means to finally seal peace with the Harlows. If you mated with Nolan, since you were a Harlow, it would end the blood feud. We cannot have that. The feud fuels our powers, makes the Mitchell pack and Nolan dependent upon us.”
Jordan’s head swam. Daughter of a powerful Lupine and a powerful Fae queen. No wonder her magick was so screwed up on pack land.
No wonder she had secretly wished the feud would end. Her own father!
“When we leave your torn body here, we’ll change into Brandon Harlow and lure Nolan here, so he will blame the Harlows and the feud will continue
.” Risa twirled the knife.
“It was you that night in the forest. Not Erica and Shirl,” she blurted out.
Risa and Elaine exchanged glances. In less time than it took to blink, they both morphed into her former best friends. Fae glamour.
All this time she’d thought her friends had aided Bryce. It was a small relief to know they had not.
“You egged Bryce on to hurt me.”
The two Fae sisters morphed back into their normal selves. Once she thought them beautiful, with their long silver hair, pale skin and blue eyes and their flowing gowns of pink and white.
Now she saw the cruelty and jealousy lurking beneath the beauty.
“It was not hard. He was weak, and weak Lupines are easy to control, and influence. All we had to do was whisper suggestions when he was alone.”
Risa twirled the knife in the air. It spun around slowly. “We figured you would not stick around to see what else he would do to you. And the pack was ours to control. As long as they kept making the wine we need, we left them in peace. But you came back, suggested to Nolan about making changes. Craig was the same and that’s why he had to die.”
Horror filled her. “You killed him.”
“Easy enough to push him down the mountain. Craig talked of giving the vineyard that grew our grapes to his enemy as a peace offering.” Risa sneered. “He said it would be best for the pack. When his son considered making peace as well, we started the fires to distract him, make him think the Harlows were behind it.
“Enough!” Elaine snapped. “Let’s get on with it.”
If she was half-Fae, then she had powers of her own. Jordan focused all her energy and thoughts on being Fae.
I’m not turning into shish kebob because of you two.
She had too much to live for.
Jordan hummed loudly to hide her fear and thought of holding a glowing ball of pure energy. She focused, closed her hand and then opened it.
A baseball-sized glowing globe of energy sat on her palm. Without thinking, she flung it at the knife in Risa’s hand.
Risa yelped in startled surprise as the knife flew out of her hands. A smile curved Jordan’s lips.
WILD WOLF: Werewolves of Montana Book 12 Page 15