by Honor James
“Maybe a smidge,” he said holding up a hand his forefinger and thumb a little ways apart and then he widened the gap to about an inch. “Give or take.” He grinned. “Come on, love, they won’t eat you. At least not today,” he teased moving toward the door.
Sputtering as she stood and moved with him. “At least not today?” she practically screeched. “Oh god oh god oh god,” she mumbled and followed him, like a fool. “Please tell me that you’re pulling my leg, Ben?” Oh god, they were going to make a meal out of her, she just knew it. They were going to judge her as not worthy of him and eat her up so that he could find the real mate he was supposed to be with.
Snickering softly so she wouldn’t hear, he looked over his shoulder at her with a calm expression. “Of course I’m pulling your leg,” he said and then took off running. If that had been her reaction she was likely going to beat him to death and he wasn’t giving her the chance. Laughing aloud now he pulled open the door, hit the lights, and padded to the edge of the deck to wait for her.
She watched him and had a very real desire to go back to that big bed and close the curtains after locking the door and waiting him out, but she didn’t. She moved through the house and stepped cautiously out onto the deck, the bright light of day there and illuminating each blade of grass on the back yard. “All right.” She moved to his side and slipped her hand into his. “I think I’m ready to meet your kids, Benedek.” She hoped.
“Our kids, darling,” he teased, squeezing her hand, and led her down the steps to the treeline about forty feet from the house. Pushing her gently to sit on the bench there, he joined her and, wrapping his arms around her, gave a low pitched whistle. A moment later a pair of eyes could be seen glowing under the brush followed by another and then another. Whistling again, he told them to come and meet her. “Just breathe, love, if you hyperventilate they won’t come and meet you.”
She watched the shadows and the eyes that seemed to glow there. “Our kids.” She licked her lips and nodded. “All right.” She leaned into him, taking on as much of Benedek’s heat as she could. “I’m trying here, Ben, I really, really am.” And then one separated from the shadows and she was fervently glad she was sitting. “Holy shit,” she breathed. The animal was massive. It was like a small pony approaching her.
Rubbing his hands up and down her arms he kissed her neck lightly. “Be still, love, he won’t hurt you,” he promised as the Alpha approached. “Hold your hand out, palm down and keep your eyes lowered until he sniffs at you,” he said softly against her ear, sliding his arms around her to show what she meant to him to the wolves. Nuzzling her skin gently, he felt her tension as the large wolf approached slowly, cautious in his own right and for his own reasons.
“You don’t want me to look at it?” She almost squeaked but nodded. Slowly she let her shaky hand out and cast her eyes to the forest floor. “I couldn’t do this without you, Ben,” she whispered even as she leaned into him and closed her eyes, hoping for the best.
“You’d better not be going out and meeting strange wolves in the woods, darling,” he teased nipping at her throat lightly as the Alpha got closer. “Red Riding Hood all over again, I can see it now.” He chuckled softly. The Alpha sniffed at her even as his eyes moved over the two of them. Sitting down he dropped his head and pushed it up and under her hand demanding she pet him.
The softness of the fur stunned her. Her fingers curled into the silken pieces and she sighed. “He feels wonderful.” She leaned forward, staying close to Benedek even as she moved closer to the wolf to get a better feel of him, to pet him more and scratch under his chin. “He’s not going to bite me, is he?”
“No,” Ben said in a dry tone even as he rolled his eyes. “He’s sucking up to you and hoping that he won’t have to let the others near you. Alphas are a little on the dominant side of things so don’t keep letting him get away with it too long or you’ll have him as your bed warmer instead as he’d kick me out pretty quick I’m thinking.”
She pulled back quickly and looked at Ben. “I seriously don’t think so,” she grumbled. “You, I need in my bed and while he is super soft and cuddly, he isn’t my mate.” She looked around and sighed. “What do I do next?” She was out of her element, but she wanted to learn, needed to learn.
Chuckling, Ben signalled the Alpha aside and gave him a dirty look when he hesitated. What the hell was it with the Alphas all being beguiled by the Farkas’ mates? Whistling softly he called the others out to meet her. “Now you meet the rest of the pack,” he told her simply.
She watched as the other wolves came from the woods and was shocked. “I didn’t realize that you had this many.” She watched as the alpha plopped down just beside her and leaned heavily on her leg, as if marking her as his. “Does he do that a lot?” she asked as she watched the Alpha choosing who got to meet her first. There was no other description for what the Alpha was doing with his short barked commands as the wolves approached.
“Don’t know, never had a mate before,” Ben told her honestly even as he grinned slightly. “But I’ve heard that tone from him before, usually when they are hunting or when they bring down prey and he decides who gets what when.”
“I really feel uncomfortable being referred to like that.” Like she was a piece of meat, prey that they had felled, it made her shiver. “I think that’s why he’s as he is now. You have waited too long to find a mate. Yes, that’s what it is.” She grinned and nodded. “Has to be.”
“Don’t be blaming me for his bad attitude,” he said with a grin. “He’s just that way, hell even Janos’s, Mik’s and Laz’s packs acted pretty much the same way to their mates. I think it’s just their way,” he murmured as the others came forward for a sniff and to receive a scratch from her.
She grinned and shook her head, watching as the Alpha all but limited each wolf’s time with her and some got shorter time. “Why is it that he—” And then realization hit. “The males that aren’t mated are the ones who he is shuffling off after just the smallest of pets, aren’t they?” Silly men, all sticking together like glue.
“Why are you growling at me?” Ben asked with a laugh. “He’s the one doing it, but yeah, he’s keeping them moving so that they don’t get attached to you. They all smell me on you and know that you’re mine, but since I haven’t marked you yet he’s likely worried that they’ll try something stupid.”
She frowned and cocked her head to the side. “That really makes a difference, doesn’t it?” She hadn’t realized it, but it did, and not just to the wolves either. “It matters deeply to you, it…” She paused. “You want to do that now, don’t you?” And she most certainly wasn’t going to argue with him, no way in hell. “I want that, too, Ben. I want to wear your mark, be yours, if you will have me?”
“You are already mine, darling,” he told her with a smile. “But yeah, I want to mark you as mine, later. We’ll do it when we want to later, indoors, away from all these prying eyes.” Kissing her cheek he nibbled over her skin to her shoulder and nipped at her lightly. “It’ll hurt, darling, that’s the main reason I’ve been putting it off. You’ll be in a position you won’t be able to move in and I’ll be holding you down as I bite you. I want you to be okay with that, to know I’m not doing it to hurt you but to make you mine, to claim you fully,” he murmured softly.
“I won’t lie and tell you that I will be completely okay,” she admitted. “I’ve been hurt during sex before and it will”—she sighed—“I will have to keep myself together and know that the hurt you cause will be once and only because you do love me, and I you.” Smiling she leaned into him. “I love you. Benedek, and yes, most definitely inside and away from the voyeurs that you have for wolves.”
Chuckling, he hugged her to him and sighed. “I should probably mention that, if you decide to go through the change, it won’t be a walk in the park.” Rubbing his cheek over hers he hugged her closer. “I think you should talk to the others first, Angel, learn just what the change entails before I mar
k you. If I don’t you have the option to leave.” Which he was pretty sure would happen if she found out the pain involved in the change.
“I don’t think that you realize the truth of the matter.” She turned to face him. “I don’t think you realize that no matter the pain, you are more than worth it. You are everything to me. If I have to hurt for a while to have forever with you, so be it.”
“Angel, it’s more than just a little bit of pain. To quote Des, it was the fiery pits of eternal damnation,” he said softly. “I’m not saying it to scare you, but I don’t want you getting into something without all the information. It hurts, a lot,” he told her. “One thing that it’s been related to is a blow torch being used over your every nerve. I love you, Evangeline, but you deserve not to suffer, you’ve had enough pain in your life.”
“And I deserve a very long life with you. I deserve children with you, Ben, and with the age I’m getting the only way we will have both is with me changing to a wolf.” It was the simple truth. “I will talk to them of course, but I still know that my choice will be the same. It will be to be with you for hundreds of years.”
Nodding slowly, he let out a slow breath. “Just talk to them, I want you to have every piece of information before we do this. It’ll make me feel better,” he said softly. “It’ll make me feel less like a monster when I agree to hurt you like that.”
“If it makes you feel better I will demand that you wait on me hand and foot afterwards for a while.” She grinned. “I love you, Benedek, I will talk to them and get all of the information possible but I don’t think it will change my mind, at all.”
Making a noise that could have been agreement or not he kissed her nose gently. “I love you, Angel,” he murmured softly. “Now, what would you like to do? Do you want to play with the wolves for a while or should we go in and test the bed out?”
“I would like to go out and play with the wolves for just a small time and then go in and eat before we test out the bed.” She grinned, putting off the inevitable for just a small time. “I want to have a little time with you for now, if that’s all right?”
“That’s always all right, darling,” he assured her lifting her to sit in his lap as he shifted position. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her to him and relaxed even more as her scent wrapped around him. Nibbling on her neck gently, he watched the wolves as they lounged or played with each other, the small barking sounds or low growls little teasing sounds for their opponent.
She grinned as she watched the wolves. “They really are like a bunch of kids, aren’t they?” The Alpha, the oldest brother, watched over everything and everyone, ensuring that all of the others were well. “Is he mated? Your Alpha wolf?”
Nodding Ben looked around and then pointed. “See the females,” he said indicating them. “The one that’s grey with the white snout is his mate,” he told her before dropping his hand. “He’s very protective of her which is why she and the other females are sitting off to the side looking annoyed at him.”
She grinned and nodded. “Sounds like someone that I know.” She turned and gave Benedek a look. “I haven’t known you long, but I can really see you doing something like that, moving me off to the side slightly where you can watch me and those you perceive as a possible threat to me, sizing them up before you let me come out of the safety of my sisters.” She sighed. “Or am I wrong?”
Pretending innocence he lifted his hands. “You make it all sound like a bad thing,” he said in horror right before he started to laugh. “Yeah, I’m likely to do the same, so are all my brothers. It’s not a bad thing, love. We’re only looking out for the women that are our shining lights, our hope, our hearts.” He smiled gently kissing her cheek.
“I know it’s not,” she said grinning and accepting the kiss. “I know that you wouldn’t put me into that place to make me feel bad, or as if I didn’t belong, or whatever else that others might think. I would know you were only doing it to keep me safe.”
“Damned straight, woman,” he told her. “You’re safety is my top priority, always will be. I love you, Angel, I will always love you and I will always keep you safe. I intend on having a nice, long, and very pleasurable life with you.”
“That’s very good because I fully intend on the same thing with you, Ben. I want every second of time that I can have with you, so its a good thing that we are able to get along and you are lucky that I am so easygoing, that I won’t mind you being all overprotective.” She had never had that before, so it was going to be nice to have someone watching out for her.
Growling at her lightly, he nipped her jaw carefully. “I’m not overprotective, I’m protective,” he clarified for her with a chuckle. “You are everything to me, love, I need you safe so that I don’t go crazy. Without you I’m nothing,” he murmured softly kissing her cheek.
“And without you I’m nothing,” she admitted. “I love you, Benedek, and if you want to keep me safe, I won’t argue with you at all. I want to be safe, darling, I want to be yours, too, sweetheart, so tell me, am I yours forever?”
“Forever and ever,” he told her honestly. “If you’ll have me I’ll keep you, but only after you talk to the others,” he said with a grin knowing she was trying to get him to agree to something before he knew it. “I love you, Angel, but you’re not cornering me into a promise without you also having full knowledge.”
Sticking her tongue out at him she agreed. “I promise you I will talk to the others. I will talk to Harker and Desi and learn all that I can from them before I commit myself fully to you.” Nodding she added, “And when I decide that I want this forever, you will mark me as yours and then take me and make me.”
“Oh hell yeah,” he said with a grin leaning in closer to kiss her. “Be careful sticking that tongue out, darling, it’s a temptation I can’t refuse.” Stroking his hand over her arm he licked at her lips. “I happen to like your tongue, a lot,” he murmured.
She grinned and shivered as he moved closer to her. “I happen to love your tongue, too.” She bit her lip and moved closer to him. “Now, we need to get up and move a little. I have a couple of women that I need to meet and talk to and you have some work to do, right?”
Making a noise in his throat he shrugged. “I suppose so,” he murmured softly. Sighing he lifted her up to her feet and stood. “We should probably get moving then, otherwise I’m never going to have any time with my woman in our bed.”
“You will appreciate the time that we have in that bed more and more if we wait, if we tease and touch often but don’t use the bed quite yet.” She grinned. “I love you, Benedek.” She leaned in and brushed her lips over his cheek once more.
Growling softly he turned his head to capture her lips and kissed her hard. “I love you, too. Just remember when teasing a Wolf, love, we only take so much before we turn the tables.” Kissing her again he sucked on her lower lip gently and then let her go with a sigh. “Come on, let’s do what needs doing.”
“I hope that’s the truth, Benedek, because I so want to see the claws my wolf has to offer. I need to see and feel all of you.” She nodded, pulled back slightly, and smiled. “But yes, you’re right, we need to get going, darling, or we never will.”
Smiling, he winked. “Remind me later and I’ll change for you and you can see all of me in my natural beast form,” he promised softly as he moved toward the house.
“Really? You would do that?” He would expose the animal he was to her? She didn’t believe it. He was willing to share all sides of his life with her. She hugged him close, her arm tightening around his waist as they walked. “I would love that, Ben. I want to see just how beautiful you are as a wolf.” She did however pause. “You won’t eat me while you’re wolfy, will you?”
He managed to keep his mouth shut for about two seconds and then some dormant, previously recessive part of the male genetics kicked in and something came out that Ben normally would never have ever in a million years said. “Not unless you want to let me nibble on y
ou,” he told her honestly already imagining licking over every inch of her lush body.
She looked at him for several long moments before nodding. “I want that, too, Ben, need it,” she whispered. “God am I crazy that I want that?” she asked softly and squeezed his hand. “I want and I need you, Benedek, my god, I can’t believe how much I have need of you.” She had never needed like this, ever. He brought her back to life, gave her love once more.
Shrugging, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You are not crazy, you are a highly sexual female with a male that will gladly do anything for you, darling. Besides, I’d be very careful of you, but you should experience everything that you can, darling, and since this is in my power to grant, why not?” he asked with a half smile.
She smiled and nodded. “I was never highly sexual until you, Benedek. You have given me what it is to feel so much love for another that the sharing of bodies is natural, needed, wonderfully perfect. I am a woman blessed.” She nodded and then she asked, “Now, the question is, do we go with having another bout of love making or what is next?”
“Next is the tour of the house, a small snack, we’ll get you settled, maybe have a bath, and then we will have another bout of loving.” He smiled down at her. Kissing her nose lightly he hugged her. “Let’s go, darling, we have things to do.”
She hugged him back and smiled. “Sounds like a plan.” Looking up she wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him close, kissing him with the same passion she had been giving him since meeting him. “Now, show me around our new home, sweetheart?”
Nipping at her lips he led her toward the kitchen and, pausing, pointed to the building near the back. “That’s the garage as well as a games room,” he told her with a smile. “Off the kitchen is the laundry room as well as a little storage closet,” he pointed out letting her through the door and showing her to a little hall at the one end. Pointing to the opposite side near the refrigerator he grinned. “Walk-in pantry of course,” he teased taking her jacket and hanging it up along with his.