by Honor James
Nipping at her lips lightly, he slid free from her body and then lifted her into his arms. Holding her close to him, he kept his pants up with a hand as he walked to the house. Nuzzling her throat he breathed her in and then paused at the door. “Keys are in my pocket. You need to unlock the door, my half-naked nymph,” he said with a smile.
She reached into his pocket and grinned as he began to growl. “Now, now, puppy, I think that you need to calm down, sweetheart,” she said with a grin but allowed her hand to caress him anyway as she brought the keys out and unlocked the door. “I think I rather like being your half-naked nymph, but I would rather be your fully naked Wolf mate, Benedek.”
“I know, love,” he said and set her down inside the door, letting her slide down his body. “And we will if you still want it, but first, I want to play with my half-naked nymph for a moment longer. Later we will play as Wolves, love,” he murmured, kissing her cheek.
A full-body shiver raced down her spine as she gasped for air. “Oh yeah, I’m so totally fine with that I can’t even begin to tell you how fine I am with it.” She was practically panting as she said it. “Do that again?” She offered him her neck to move his lips down and kiss. “I really like it when you do that right below and slightly behind my ear.”
Chuckling softly at her demands, he did as she asked sliding his lips over the spot and then slowly nibbling up before laving his tongue against her skin. “You taste like the best treat in the world, sweet, with a bit of bite and a hint of pure mystery,” he whispered against her damp flesh.
She was ready to melt with his words and then the action as well had her more than a little ready. “Please, Ben,” she begged softly. “No torture, you’re killing me.” She whimpered.
“No torture, Angel mine, unless you are telling me my loving is torturous,” he murmured softly as he nibbled at her soft skin again. Locking the door he began to back her up the hall, reaching the stairs he picked her up. “Wrap your legs around me, love,” he told her as he squeezed her bottom. When she did he started up the stairs. “Do you want me to stop loving you slow? Would you rather I love you hard and fast?”
“No, I want all of it, Benedek. I want hard and fast and I want slow, but mostly”—she brushed her hair out of her face and looked up at him with a grin—“mostly I want you to love me, Benedek. I want and need you to change me to be your wolf mate. Tonight. No more waiting, please?”
“No more waiting, love,” he promised softly to her. “But later, we’ll do it after we get you all relaxed and pliant,” he teased gently, knowing the looser she was the faster and easier the change would be. “We’ll need a bit of time to gather some things and we’ll settle by the fire downstairs when we do it, all right?”
“That sounds nice. All of it but the pain part, but that I can live with if it means that we will have a forever of lying by the fire and making love inside and out.”
“We will,” he said as he went into their bedroom and let her down at the end of the bed. “We will have forever with one another, here and any where else we choose to live in our lives. Together through our lives, through our children”—he grinned at her—“and their children.”
“I love how that sounds, Benedek,” she said with a smile. Her hands cupped his cheeks as she got up on her knees to come close to him. “You’re so amazing, Benedek. This is our time. After this, after we are as one I want to go on a cruise, just you and I.”
“A cruise?” he asked confused at the sudden departure from where he’d thought the conversation was going. “Why do you want to do a cruise, love?” His curiosity piqued now as he pulled his clothing off before joining her on the bed.
“Remember you promised we would get a ship of our own so that you and I could go on our own little cruise?” She sighed. “I want to be able to have time where it is just you and I, no one else.”
“I did, didn’t I?” he asked as he remembered with a sheepish grin. “Sorry, love, you are such a lovely distraction that I just completely forgot all about that.”
“It’s okay. I will forgive you, Benedek.” Because in all honesty she had forgotten, too. She had forgotten the pleasure that she had from him wanting to just be with her and no one else.
He still felt bad, though. He hated that he’d forgotten a promise to her. Moving to her, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her mating mark softly. “I feel horrible that I forgot, Evangeline,” he admitted to her. “I made you a promise and I forgot.” It hit him where it hurt the most.
“Honey, it’s okay.” She shivered in his arms and sagged against him slightly. “I kinda of melted your mind a little or you never would have forgotten and I know that, Ben. It’s all right, I promise.” She was trying to soothe him. Even though she had only just gotten her mating mark, she had felt the tie to him for some time and she could feel his upset. It ate at her but not nearly as much as it ate at him she knew.
“You did that for sure,” he said, giving her that at the least not wanting her to worry about his inner turmoil. It wasn’t for her to worry. He would just need to be on the ball more. Burying his nose in her throat, he breathed her in, the Wolf making a happy sound as her scent toyed with all their senses.
“So how do we do this, Ben?” she asked as she ran her hands up and down his shoulders and back. “Should I shower first, or do we just go and make our way before the fire in the den so that we can make me fully into your life?”
“Go and shower, make it a hot one so that you are relaxed. I’ll go and build the fire and collect everything else we’ll need. When you’re done, pull on a robe but don’t get dressed, you’re going to have to be naked for this,” he told her stroking his fingers over her silky smooth flesh.
She bit her lip and leaned into him, “I am always fine being naked with you, Benedek.” Closing her eyes, she leaned into his touch and sighed. “I will see you soon, my love.” With that she turned and headed off to their bathroom to do just as he had asked.
Watching her go, he let out a breath and began to collect all he needed. It didn’t take him long. He was a very methodical man and he wasn’t taking any chances of forgetting the smallest of things. This had to go perfectly. He would not lose his mate to the Wolf. He needed her too much.
She finally came down the stairs with a towel around her head and the heat from the shower still so close to her skin that it practically was giving off a fog. She wore his robe, belted loosely around her and smiled. “It smells like you, Ben. I wanted it to be what I wore because I love the way you smell.”
Smiling at her, he shook his head. “You won’t be wearing it for long, love,” he told her. “Come on, darling, off with the robe and settle on the pallet closest to the fire.” Moving with her he watched her. “Are you absolutely sure about this, Angel?” he asked. At her look he smiled. “I just want you to help settle the butterflies in my gut.”
She took off the robe and moved to him instead of the pallet. Her hands cupped his cheeks and pulled him down to her. “Yes, Benedek, I’m so very sure of this that if you don’t change me, I will ask one of the brothers to because I want this. I need this. I need to be a part of your life, Ben, all parts of your life. Take me and keep me forever, my love.”
The Wolf let out a growl that was pure threat at the thought of his brothers seeing her like this to bring her through the change. Kissing her hard, he nipped at her lips. “Always mine,” he promised and nudged her to the pallet. “Lay down, love, on your back,” he told her softly.
She moved from him and as she lay down her hand came up to him, offering for him to join her. Her hair spread out under her like a halo and she lay with a leg raised at the knee and the other flat, waiting on her mate, her love, to join her.
Shifting, he laid at her side and, for a few minutes just stared down at her. “I love you, Evangeline, my Angel,” he murmured. Leaning in he kissed her softly, gently brushing his lips back and forth over hers. “I need you to know, this is going to hurt, more than what the women have like
ly told you. This is a test, to see if you are truly my mate. The Wolf will put you through hell and then throw you out the other side. I’m right here for you, Angel. Just remember that and know I will still be here when you come through the other side.”
“I will survive it, Ben, because I am the one for you. I love you and we will be together when this is over.” She tilted her head. “At the mating mark, Ben, that’s where I want you to bite me, please?” she asked as she stroked her fingers along his strong thigh that was over her leg. “Bring me over, Benedek, make me yours.”
“I love you,” he whispered as he bent his head. Normally the Wolf would be fighting for control but, strangely enough, he was very calm if even a bit concerned. Both man and beast were in sync in their worry over what this might do to their mate. Gently he teased her skin, his tongue and mouth moving over her mating mark until she was squirming in need and hot against his flesh. “Be safe,” he breathed out and then sank his teeth into her flesh…hard.
She wanted to reassure him but she couldn’t. The bite was more than it was in the bathroom at the dealership. Instead it was burning hot. It flamed through her body like lightening and made her scream as she arched. She found herself crying but wrapped her arms around him to hold him close. “Love you, too, Benedek” And then she began to feel it, she felt the liquid heat inside of her as she cried out again.
When he knew the change had started he carefully drew back, sliding his tongue over the wound so she wouldn’t lose any blood that she couldn’t afford. Holding her tightly to him, he rocked them back and forth. “I have you, love, just let it happen,” he whispered softly even as his fear grew with each cry she gave.
Evan lay in his arms moaning, screaming, and crying as her change moved through and over her. She knew that it affected him as much as it affected her and she tried to hide it from him, for all of ten seconds, but then found the pain of hiding it was far more than anything else.
Holding her close, Ben rocked her in his arms, tears in his eyes at the pain she was feeling. He knew it was all a natural part of the change, but he hadn’t had a clue as to the effect it would have on him. Kissing her shoulder and neck repeatedly, he murmured to her gently, telling her how much he loved her and that he had her and was never letting her go.
She felt her body shifting then. She felt the fur growing on her body and her bones popping and lengthening. She screamed in pain as her body began to shift and her mind automatically began to fight it and it was only with his words she calmed herself down and tried to go with the flow with what was happening and soon her screams turned into a howl.
Rolling away he came up on his feet, crouched down on his haunches and waited for her to orient herself. This was the most dangerous part. Either her mind accepted the change or it wouldn’t and she’d be trapped as a Wolf for all time. “That’s it, love.” He continued to talk to her. “Nice and slow, Angel mine, just take it slow.”
Front paws moved, back paws stayed, stumble and fall. Back paws raised and up, front paws slid apart, stumble and fall. Over and over again until she was able to make it to him and, sniffing at his thighs she looked up, tail wagging, and began to whine. She wanted to be human again. She was too tired for this body, hurting too much and wanted to be human to be held by her mate.
Sliding a hand through her fur, Benedek leaned in to press his nose to her furry head, breathing her in deeply. “You are so beautiful, my love.” Wrapping his arms around her as he sat, he pulled her closer to just hold her for a moment longer. “When you’re ready I want you to start focusing on attributes of yourself, you body, your arms, your legs, eyes, nose, work through a list of parts of yourself to find your trigger. It will always be the same so remember it, Angel mine,” he murmured rubbing his cheek over her very soft fur.
Closing her eyes and rubbing her long muzzle against his shoulder, Evan began to think about parts of her so that she could become human once more. It was finally her hair, the way that Benedek would run his fingers through it, caressing the silky straight locks and breathing her scent in when he thought she was sleeping. That was what brought her back to him and before long she was sitting naked in his lap with her arms weakly around his waist.
Smiling, he hugged her close to him. “Hello, my love,” he said softly stroking back her hair as he kissed her nose lightly. “How are you feeling?” he asked gently as he held her to him.
“Weak, but happy,” she said with a smile as she looked up at him. “I love you, Benedek, and I’m so very happy but I feel as weak as a kitten to be completely honest.”
“It’s to be expected, love,” he told her softly. “You should lie down and rest for a while. The change will still continue for another few days. You’ll start to notice all your senses heightening a little at a time. It will allow you time to gradually become used to the extra punch they’ll have. So lay down, we’ll have a nap here and, when you wake next, we can get a snack and then a shower and then more sleep.”
“I think that I will just sleep here, Ben, because to be perfectly honest I don’t think that I would be able to move if I had to.” She was completely and totally wiped out. Just talking was taking much from her but he was right about one thing, she was certainly feeling the effects of the wolf. Scents were stronger, sounds louder, and her sight was sharper.
Pulling up the blankets as he shifted them he tucked her up nice and warm so that she didn’t get a chill as her body continued to keep changing. “Sleep, baby. Later we’ll have a hot bath and some hot food.”
There was nothing more she could say and just on the edges of sleep, her body in complete relaxation and her eyes closed, she whispered the last words, “I love you, Benedek Farkas.” With that, she was sound asleep.
Chapter 5
Looking over his shoulder he chuckled softly again as he watched her looking at herself in the mirror again. She was fascinated by the fact she looked younger. He’d told her she would, that the Wolf would take care to get her back to her prime and now she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away. While it dented his ego that he wasn’t the focus of her intense attention, he could live with it…for a time.
Shaking his head he turned back to the grill and the meal he was making them knowing she’d be feeling intensely hungry. Steaks and all the fixings were the meal of the night. He wanted her getting in all the calories she’d need to help her through the next few days as the Wolf continued to finish what he’d started.
She moved back to his side and leaned against him as she inhaled the scent of food deeply. Looking up she grinned. “I don’t have the lines at my eyes anymore, Ben, and look at my hands.” She held them out. Before they had been a mass of scars and calluses and now, now they were smooth as a baby’s bottom.
Snagging one of her hands, he lifted it to kiss her knuckles. “Even more beautiful than before,” he told her, again. “I told you that you’d look marvelous, Angel mine, and the changes aren’t all done yet either you have to remember. This is just the beginning,” he promised, again.
“But do you want to know what I love best about all of this?” she asked as she grinned and moved even closer, her arm wrapping around his middle and looking up at him with adoring fascination. “The sex drive.” Her hand moved up and down on his chest now. “I feel insatiable, and then you come along and you make it all better.”
Smiling even wider he shook his head leaning down to kiss her lightly. “You were insatiable before, love,” he murmured quietly. “But I do like that you still want me.” That was another worry when the change was given to a human. Sometimes the mating link no longer existed on the female’s part and they went looking for their other half, the male left behind to slowly wither and die.
She snorted. “Baby, if I wanted you any more you would be hurting right now.” She reached up and stroked her fingers over his cheek, assuring him as best she could. “Benedek, I love you, sweetheart. There is nothing and no one else for me in this world or any other.”
Growling at her softl
y he nipped her lips lightly. “Go and sit down, this is just about finished,” he murmured giving her a light bump toward the table.
Moving to the table she ran her fingers along the smooth wood and shook her head in amazement. “I can’t believe how wonderful this feels. It’s so strange because even this, just feeling it is different and amazing. Everything is now so very much more.”
Starting to plate everything he shrugged. “Wouldn’t know, darling, I’ve always been this way but I’ll believe you. Shouldn’t worry though, it’ll settle down in time and just be the norm for you.”
“I hope not,” she said honestly as she looked up at him. “I really like having everything be so…” She struggled for the right words and finally said, “I feel as though I’m learning something fresh and new. The sensations of doing something brand new are just what I need. I can’t explain it but I love it. I love being with you, Ben, and the gift that you alone have given me, the lifetime of love and joy…” She trailed off smiling. “Makes the beginning of my life seem to disappear,” she admitted honestly.
“This is your new life, Evangeline,” he told her as he slid a plate before her and sat with his own in hand. “This is the beginning of Evangeline Farkas, or it will be once you marry me and can claim the name of fame,” he pointed out.
She twisted her plate and inhaled all the scents with a sigh. “This smells so…” She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him. “When do you want to marry me, Benedek? How soon can you marry me?”
“Tomorrow works for me,” he said with a casual shrug before sneaking a peek at her. “But, as I’ve heard often from the other females in the family, a woman should not be rushed through her wedding preparations. So”—he heaved a mock put upon sigh—“if you want to go all out we can take all the time in the world.”