The hand holding her tightened in response. “If you’re a shifter, it would explain the rages you used to have.” She didn’t have the energy to ask what he meant; fortunately, he continued. “Shifter children often become uncontrollable if they don’t have a strong alpha presence.”
“My father is pretty strong,” she said feebly.
“But you didn’t recognise him as your leader.”
Rafe’s words were said in calm confidence, but Charly had to wonder if a small girl could have made a character judgement that was self-evident to her as a grownup. “Of course you could,” Rafe assured her when she voiced her thought. “I told you, we’re very much creatures of instinct. It wasn’t an intellectual judgement, but emotional.”
All she knew was that she had been a wilful and difficult child, much more troublesome than her brother. Her parents had dragged her from one therapist to another until one of them had been able to help her. She couldn’t remember what he had done, but after only one session she had calmed down. She had still been strong-willed, but at least the uncontrollable rages had subsided.
“Do you think they knew?”
“Most likely,” Jamie’s voice said somewhere above her. “It’s not that rare for humans to have shifter children, but not all of them can accept it, though they usually bring the child to a clan to be brought up with their own kind. Better parents follow their child there too.”
Her parents were so bigoted that they wouldn’t even let her go to a mixed school. The shame of having a shifter child would have been unbearable to them.
“Can the block be removed?” Rafe asked, sounding both angry and hopeful.
“Absolutely,” Foley answered with arrogant certainty. “But does she want it?”
“Why wouldn’t she?” the wolves asked almost in unison, but Charly was with Foley on this. Yes, it would make life with Rafe possible, but she would lose her identity as human. It was an enormous change and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Foley listed the reasons for them, the wolves unwilling to entertain a possibility someone wouldn’t want to be a shifter. “She’s believed herself human for over thirty years, and so might not adjust to being a two-natured. Her body might not adjust to shifting at such an old age, and her wolf might not react well either when it’s released after being held captive for so long. She might not be able to shift back to human.”
Rafe began to massage her shoulders lightly, easing their tension and helping the dizziness to subside. “You know I will help you with this,” he pleaded with her and although she believed him, she still had to shake her head.
“I have to think about it,” she said. She felt his hand halt for a moment, making her heart stop. But then, as if wanting to prove her he wouldn’t abandon her with this, he resumed the steady kneading.
“I can help you make the decision,” Foley said, kneeling before her. If his sore leg bothered him, he didn’t let it show. She lifted her head to face him, but since Rafe’s hand was still resting on her back, she didn’t straighten up. “I can release your aura. You won’t be able to shift, but it will allow you to study your second nature. Then, if you want to, you can return at any full moon when the Might is strong enough for greater magic and I’ll remove the block.” He scrutinised her. “Would you like me to do that?”
She didn’t know what the aura meant, but she didn’t hesitate. “Do it.”
He placed long-fingered, cool hands on both sides of her face and looked her straight in the eyes. His black irises began to bleed out until no white was showing, and she stared at them, mesmerised, feeling like she was drowning in them. The pressure of magic increased around her, squeezing her body and making her fear it would crush her bones. Just when she thought she wouldn’t be able to endure it anymore, the magic suddenly invaded her and she screamed in agony. Foley’s magic searched inside her until it found what it was looking for and she felt something give under its pressure. There was no pain, only an overwhelming rush of sensations. That was the last thing she felt before blackness swallowed her.
Chapter Twenty
Raphael held the limp body of his woman in his arms, struggling with the need to attack Foley. Only his need to protect Charly prevented him from abandoning all reason. That, and Jamie’s heavy hand on his shoulder, holding him fast. Shrugging off his brother’s restraint, he pulled Charly onto his lap and wrapped his arms protectively around her, using her scent to calm him. When Foley tried to come closer, he growled.
Alexander was unfazed by his mood, even though a shifter protecting his mate was a formidable adversary for him, even in human form. “The aura should appear when she wakes up. It’s the sudden onslaught of Might that caused her to pass out.” Then he shook his head almost admiringly. “It’s an ingenious piece of magic that blocks her second nature. It uses up all her natural Might reservoirs to keep it going so that the stronger she becomes, the stronger the block gets. I wonder who would be able to do such magic….” Frowning to himself, he abruptly turned around and headed out of the parlour, leaving Rafe and Jamie to deal with the unconscious woman by themselves.
It was small work to carry Charly outside where Gabe was waiting for them by his car. Soon enough they were back at Jamie’s car and Rafe settled into the backseat with his precious charge. He could detect a faint scent of wolf in her now and it threatened to drive both man and wolf mad.
Back home, Rafe left Jamie to explain the turn of events to clan members who gathered around the moment they stepped out of the car. He headed indoors and carried Charly to his bedroom where he laid her carefully down on his large bed. She hadn’t stirred once the whole time and he was beginning to worry.
What if Foley was right? What if this was too much for her body to take? In addition to their naturally greater strength, shifters’ bodies were put through a lot from an early age to ensure that once it was time for the cubs to shift for the first time, their bodies could take the strain. Charly’s body was, for all intentions, human. What if she died when she tried to shift for the first time?
His entire being went cold. He could not lose her before they had even begun anything. He sat abruptly down on the bed, his legs no longer holding him, struggling with himself and with his wolf, staring at his beautiful woman as she slept. In the end, the decision wasn’t difficult. He wouldn’t force her to break the magic blocking her wolf. If they only had a few years together because she remained human, so be it. It was better than no time together at all, he understood that now.
After what seemed like an agonising eternity, she began to stir and he leaned closer to brush wisps of hair off her face. She opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times before they came to focus. Recognising him, she smiled, and his heart stopped beating for a moment before resuming a faster pace. Gods, but she was beautiful.
“Did I fall asleep?” she asked drowsily, stretching her hands languidly above her head. He wanted to tell her everything, the decision he had made, but she looked so adorably sexy that he simply had to kiss her. Her lips felt soft from sleep, and she answered eagerly, and their kiss soon got serious.
“Something like that,” he answered when he finally came up for breath. There was no sign of her aura yet, but he didn’t let that trouble him. He had wanted her from the beginning and he couldn’t wait any longer to have her. “How are you feeling?”
She gave it some thought and then she smiled. “I feel great.”
“Good.” It was the only warning he gave before kissing her again, with serious intent this time. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her up, pressing her close. She put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, all drowsiness gone from her actions. Arousal shot so fast from her delicious mouth to his, and down through him, he almost lost himself to the sensation. But this time they didn’t have to fear interruption.
Breaking the kiss, he moved his mouth down her jawline to her slender throat, kissing it softly, firmly, arousing her in turn. With a sigh, she leaned her head sideways, giving him free
access to do whatever he willed with that most vulnerable spot of her body. His wolf revelled in her unconsciously submissive gesture, but the man was in charge and he resisted the urge to sink his teeth into the fast-beating pulse at the base of her throat to mark her as his own. There would be time for that later.
She lifted her arms up and he pulled her sweater over her head, tossing it on the floor. The bra underneath was black lace, against which the white swell of her breasts stood in beautiful contrast. Unable to resist the temptation this time, he grazed the soft mounds with his teeth, and when she shivered in anticipation, he bit them lightly, first one and then the other.
She reached behind her to open the clasp and pulled the bra off, releasing her breasts for his proper admiration. He cupped them with his hands, marvelling at their fullness and weight on his palms, but she wouldn’t let him hold them for long. Instead, she took his sweater by its waist and began to pull it up. “Off,” she said impatiently when the garment got stuck in his belt buckle, and with a throaty laugh he pulled the sweater over his head for her.
She drew in a sharp breath at the sight of his bare chest. He wanted to keep touching her, but he let her run light fingers over his chest and the hair there, exploring his pectorals. His nipples hardened when she brushed over them and his tight abdominals stood out in sharp relief in his effort to control himself.
A satisfied smile spread on her lips as she studied his torso and he concentrated on watching her delight as her fingers wandered ever lower. They reached the waistline of his jeans, already stretching with his erection. She hesitated only briefly before pressing her hand firmly on him and it was his turn to inhale sharply.
She would have opened his trousers, but he halted her. “You first, baby.” He pressed her back onto the bed, and although she made a little mewl in protest, she followed his urging easily enough. For a woman who claimed never to lose control, she was perfectly pliable, even eager to follow his lead.
He opened her jeans with slightly shaky fingers and pulled them off. He wanted to peel off the black lace panties too, but already the scent of her arousal was pushing him to conclusion too fast. He let them be and leaned over her instead. Cupping one breast with his large hand, he took the already taut nipple into his mouth and sucked deeply, causing her to arch towards his mouth with a moan. He kept sucking her breasts, first one and then the other, until her breathing grew ragged.
He was having trouble controlling his own breathing now. Her hands had resumed their wandering up and down his torso, occasionally grazing over his taut cock, still confined by his jeans. When she began to fumble them open, he let her, groaning in pleasure when his erection sprang free.
She made a small, delighted sound, and wrapped her fingers around him tightly, making his brain short-circuit. “Baby, if you want me to finish this properly, you’ll have to let go.” He found it difficult to breathe, his pleasure so intense, as she stroked him firmly.
A slow smile spread on her face, but she released him, contenting herself with looking at him as he shook off his jeans. Her admiring expression was enough to make him grow even bigger and he knew he didn’t have much time left.
He pulled off her panties and then glided his hands back up along her beautiful legs, marvelling at their silky feel. She parted them for him and he brushed lightly over her curls, making her shiver. He cupped her properly and began to gently massage the soft folds between her legs with his fingers. Slowly, but with ever increasing pressure, he stroked her, wanting to bring her to the edge. Only when he sensed that she was near did he stop long enough to pull on a condom he’d hastily dug out from the drawer of his nightstand. Even that short delay threatened to bring him to his ruin.
Moving over her, he settled between her legs and placed his cock at her entrance. She pulled him closer, wrapping her long legs around him. He kissed her, enjoying the ability to take her mouth even as he sank deep into her with one slow thrust.
She felt so good, like a tight glove around his hardness, and he was immediately lost to anything but pleasure. He wanted to take her fast and hard, but managed to slow down and keep a steady rhythm for long enough to feel her orgasm build again. Then he let all restraint go. He wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her tight, thrusting into her with abandon. Release flooded from him almost immediately, the satisfaction so powerful it nearly blinded him. Charly arched against him with a deep, satisfied moan, convulsing around him as pleasure shook her.
Utterly spent, he collapsed on her, unable to hold himself up anymore, but she didn’t seem to mind his weight. She just wrapped her arms around him and held tight. They breathed heavily for a long time until he felt steady enough to roll off her on his side. He turned to smile at her and saw her smile the happy smile of a sated woman.
And then her wolf surfaced.
Chapter Twenty-one
Charly’s freak-out was instant and complete. “Get it off me, get it off,” she shrieked, ineffectually swatting at the translucent wolf that had suddenly surged out of her chest. She tried to back away from it but the thing kept coming with her. Her back hit the headboard of the bed and she couldn’t go further. Panic hit her and she began to sweat. She was trapped.
“Calm down,” Rafe said, but she heard his voice as if through a metal tube, distant and thin. She began to thrash, trying to get the bedspread that was tangled around her legs off so that she could flee, but it was stuck. She started to hyperventilate.
“Calm down.”
This time Rafe’s command had a physical effect on her. It was as if he was able to influence her with his mere voice; she had no choice but to obey. He wrapped strong arms around her, pulling her against his warm chest, holding her so tightly she couldn’t move. Unlike only a moment ago, it didn’t make her feel trapped, it made her feel safe. She held her eyes closed tightly, not wanting to see the invader, fearing that the sight would cause her panic again.
He held her a long time, long after her breathing had steadied and her heart rate had returned to normal. He only eased his hold a bit so that she could lean more comfortably against him. He stroked her back slowly, murmuring calming words to her ear as if to a child – or an animal.
Tears started to fall down her face at the thought. First, only one or two, but soon she was crying in earnest, every pent-up emotion draining from her in big convulsive sobs. Still, he held her.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had cried like this. Had she ever cried? Always in control of all her emotions, that’s what she had to be. She had forgotten her rule and here she was, sobbing her heart out against the bare chest of the most wonderful man she had ever met.
Forcing her crying to cease, she took a deep breath and pulled away from Rafe’s embrace. She felt cold without his arms around her, but she needed to make sure she was back in control, for him and for herself. There was a box of tissues on his nightstand and she reached for a wad of them and dried her eyes and blew her nose. She didn’t want to look at Rafe. What must he think of her?
“You fared better than I expected,” Rafe said calmly when she wouldn’t speak.
That wasn’t anything she had expected him to say. “What?”
“You gave me to understand that there would be severe consequences if you lost control,” he said, almost admonishing, “but you came to heel pretty easily.”
She risked a glance at him and saw him smile smugly for having managed to make her look. “What are you talking about? Surely a man doesn’t want a woman to have a meltdown right after making love to her….”
His smiled deepened and got more self-satisfied, but he had earned it. He had been amazing. “You surrendered your rigid control just fine in bed and nothing bad happened.” She definitely had, with absolutely no fear, and she had been rewarded with the most incredible orgasm of her life – the first proper one with a man, thanks to her inability to let herself go before. “And when you did lose it, you obeyed your alpha perfectly and calmed down.”
“My what?” she
shrieked appalled.
He leaned towards her, a teasing glint in his blue eyes. “That’s right, lady. You recognise me as your superior.”
The hell she did. Her face probably betrayed her indignant anger, because he started laughing. “Welcome to the world of shifters.”
She sighed and dropped onto her back on the bed, pulling the bedspread over her to cover her nakedness. He settled next to her, lying on his side, his head propped against his hand. He didn’t mind being naked. Yet another way in which shifters differed from humans. He had shed his clothes back at the field easily too before shifting. Was she expected to manage the same? And was she expected to submit to some wolf hierarchy, bowing to every man simply because he was physically stronger? She wouldn’t scrape to her father or her boss, and she most definitely wouldn’t scrape to anyone who didn’t deserve it.
“I’m no one’s inferior.”
“No, you’re not,” Rafe stated with such assurance that she felt instantly better. “You’re a very dominant female. That’s what attracted me to you in the first place.” His words made her heart skip a beat. “But your wolf has to prove it to others too, should you choose to free it.”
“So women have a prominent place in your hierarchy?” She preferred the idea of equality, but obviously shifters depended on someone stronger controlling them when needed. She herself had just now.
“Absolutely, although dominant women with an alpha streak like you are rare. Only my niece is that strong around here.”
She nodded, assuming that any child of Jamie’s would be strong. Then she noticed something. “Where did the wolf go?” Could she hope?
“I forced it back inside you. It was freaking you out. But you should let it out so that you can get to know it.”
“What is it then?”
“The aura is a smaller replica of a shifter’s beast, an expression of our second nature, an independent yet integral part of him or her. We all have one.”
The Wolf's Call (Two-Natured London) Page 11