APPETITE
Page 29
"I'm glad. You'll probably be good as new by tomorrow."
"Thanks," Charlie said, briefly able to look at her again.
"We should be going, dolcezza," Damien said, smiling a bit at Charlie's blush in spite of himself. He slid his hand down her back and took her hand again, turning back towards the door.
"One sec," Charlie said, dropping Damien's hand and stepping over to Anna.
"What's going on?" Anna asked, surprised.
"I was wondering of you might have a minute later to see me?"
"Are you not feeling well?" Anna asked as Damien walked up behind Charlie.
"No. No, I'm fine," Charlie said, giving her a smile. "I just have a few questions that I was hoping you might be able to answer for me?"
"Of course." Anna glanced at Damien. "Do you want to come by the medical center this afternoon?"
"That would be great. Do I need an appointment or...?"
"No," Anna said with a soft chuckle. "Whenever you have time is fine. I'm usually there until seven or so."
"Ok. Great. Thanks so much." Charlie beamed at her as she turned to go and ran right into Damien. She bounced back and would have tripped if he hadn't caught her shoulders and steadied her. "Oof! Damien!" she said, putting her hand to her chest.
"Sorry, love." He smiled and released her shoulders before taking her hand, leading her towards the door.
"You can be freakishly quiet when you want to be, you know that?"
"Freakishly quiet, huh?"
"Mmmhmmm." She smiled at him as they stepped outside. "I might think you enjoyed scaring me."
"I don't." He stopped abruptly and pulled her to him -- hard -- pushing the air out of her in a gentle sigh. "But I do like making you jump," he whispered, his lips to her ear. He pushed his right leg between hers, pressing up and flexing his thigh against her mound. He moved his hands to her hips and pulled her more firmly against him, leaning back to watch her face.
"Oh god," she said, her voice shivery as her hips twitched. She had her hands on his biceps, and they looked -- for all intents and purposes -- like two long lost friends running in to each other unexpectedly.
"I can feel how hot you are, my love." He flexed his leg again, pulling on her hips, and her hands clenched at his arms. He bent down to whisper to her. "And I can smell your sweet, juicy pussy, Charlie." She heard him take a deep breath. "You smell delicious." He pushed and pulled on her hips, subtly making her grind herself on his thigh.
"Damien," she moaned, her voice barely audible. She pushed her hips forward, wanting more contact, whining in frustration when he pulled his leg away and started towards the garage.
"The sooner we are done, the sooner we can pick up where we left off," he said, giving her a wicked smile.
"You are a cruel, cruel tease," she huffed, catching up to him and taking his outstretched hand.
"Yes, I suppose I am," he said, giving her a wicked smile as he held open the passenger door to his truck for her. He quickly moved around the truck and climbed in to the driver's side. "But you have to realize, every moment I am with you and have to refrain from throwing you down and making love to you until you beg me to stop to save your sanity is a torture beyond reason."
"Every moment?" she asked as he backed out and turned the truck towards the highway.
"Every moment."
"So this is a misery loves company kind of thing, then?" She smiled at him, shifting in her seat. "And you feel I deserve retribution for circumstances beyond my control, huh?"
"Yes and yes." He flashed her a smile.
"Interesting." She cocked her head and looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "So what would happen if I did something to deliberately tease you?"
"You'll have to just try it and see, dolcezza," he said, his voice husky. "I guarantee you'll like it."
"I'll have to remember that." She looked down at her lap, her cheeks slightly pink, as they rode along in silence for a few minutes. "Hey Damien -- back at the ranch, when we were leaving just now, it looked like people were kind of bowing to you a bit and then sniffing us as we went past. What was that?"
"Us, Charlie. They were bowing to show deference to us."
"Why?"
"I am the lead Beta, you are my mate. It is a form of respect."
"About that..." she glanced at him, unsure.
"Hmmm?"
"Does the pack ever have a boxing day for the lower ranked members?"
"A boxing day?"
"Yeah. You know, like the British custom?"
"I'm not sure what that is?"
"It's swapping places. So the...um...omegas..." she said hesitantly, smiling when he nodded, "...so the omegas can have a day to relax and have fun and have the rest of the pack take care of everything. You know? Like have a cookout or something, and they don't have to cook or clean or anything?"
He was quiet for a minute, thinking. "No. I don't think that's ever been done."
"Really?"
"The omegas have always just done what they do." He glanced at her to find her brow furrowed a bit. "They're not mistreated or unhappy."
"No. I know that." She smiled at him. "I didn't mean to imply anything. I was just, you know, wondering."
"That's all?" he asked, smiling back at her.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I know they're not abused or anything. I was just thinking it would be a nice treat, you know?"
"It's an interesting idea." He reached over and grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together as he gave a her a rather condescending look. Charlie was going to give chase -- she thought it was a fantastic idea and would be a lot of fun for everyone -- but decided against it. She had far more urgent issues on her mind.
"Why did everyone seem to sniff us as we passed them?" she asked, changing the subject.
"They were catching our combined scent."
"Our combined scent?" She thought about that for a moment before understanding hit her, making her blush. "I thought they did that as part of the ceremony."
"Well, yes, they do. But until then, the pack will scent you -- scent us -- as they did today."
She thought on this for a moment. "So is that why Lewis said that I didn't smell like you when I met him?" she asked as they pulled in to Tony's. Her little blue car was sitting out front.
"Yes."
"And why Tony sniffed my wrist when I met him?"
"Ah...no, actually." He smiled at her. "He was trying to get a reaction out of me."
"Trying?" Charlie teased as they got out of the truck.
"He might have succeeded a little bit."
"Right, just a bit," she said, taking his hand again with a laugh as they walked into the office.
"Just a bit of what?" Tony asked, coming in from the service bay.
"Nothing important," Damien said, giving Charlie a pointed look as she opened her mouth.
"Uh huh," Tony said, looking at Charlie as she rolled her eyes. "Why don't I believe you?"
"Because he's not tell-" Charlie was stopped by Damien's finger on her lips. He crossed his eyes at her, making her laugh.
"We've come to pick up her car, my friend," Damien said, turning to Tony.
"She's good to go." He moved behind the desk and opened the drawer, fishing out her keys and tossing them to her. "Gave her an oil change and a tune-up, too, so you should be set for the next 3,500 miles or so."
"Great," Charlie said, stepping around Damien to approach the desk. "What do I owe you?" she asked, fishing her wallet out of her purse.
"Nothing," Tony said, giving her a funny look.
"What do you mean, nothing?"
"Well...we don't charge the pack. Never have." Tony glanced at Damien before continuing. "This business has my name, but it's owned by the pack."
"But I'm not part of the pack."
Tony looked surprised at that. "Yes you are. At least, you soon will be. Right?"
She looked at him closely, assessing the sincerity in his expression, and nodded. She looked back at Damien, who
was tensed up and watching her, as if he was afraid she would run away or something, and smiled. She turned and put her arms around his waist, wanting to reassure him. "Breathe, cowboy."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he said, stroking her cheek with his.
"It's alright." She squeezed him and went up on her toes to brush her lips across his. "As far as recent surprises go, this one was relatively mundane." He barked a laugh at that and she beamed at him as she stepped out of his arms. "So is there anything else you need from me, Tony?" she asked.
"Nope. You're good here."
"Thanks." She surprised both men when she took Tony into her arms and gave him a hug. "Thanks for everything," she said as she heard Damien growl low behind her. "Really?" she said, releasing Tony and turning back towards Damien, her hands on her hips. "After everything we've been through and everything we've discussed over the past couple days...really?"
"You're mine," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her head against his chest.
"Yours? Why don't you just hit me over the head and drag me back to your cave by my hair?"
"He can't help it, Charlie," Tony laughed behind her. "I mean, who wouldn't be afraid someone as handsome and charismatic as me would come and steal their girl away?"
"You're not helping, Tony," Charlie laughed as Damien's growl deepened. His arms tightened around her a bit and she leaned back to catch his eye. "You know, the sooner we get back and unload my car, the sooner I can give you a really good reason to growl." She cocked a brow at him and gave him what she hoped was a seductive smile. His eyes widened at her tone and a smile spread slowly across his face.
"Why are we still here?" he said, pressing his groin against her.
"We're leaving," she said, breaking out of his arms and rushing towards the door. "See you back at your place," she teased as she ducked Damien's reach and ran out the door.
"Our place," he ground out, chasing her as Tony sat and watched them, a big smile on his face.
"Whatever," she said, running across the lot to her car. "Race you!" She hopped in and started up her little car, throwing it in reverse and backing out before Damien was able to close the door of his truck behind him. She bent her head to look out the passenger window at Damien, buckling her seat belt with her right hand and tapping her horn with her left. She waved at him when he looked and put her car in drive, laughing as she tore out of Tony's and turned towards the highway.
She was about half way to the turn off for the ranch when she glanced in her rear-view mirror and saw Damien's truck coming up fast. She laughed, flooring the gas pedal, knowing she could never outrun his truck with her little four cylinder car. She glanced down to see her speedometer hovering between 85 and 90 and let off the gas, letting out an exhilarated squeal as she thought she heard a howl from behind her.
Damien easily caught up to her and paced her, staying on her tail. He could see her throw her head back and laugh, surprising him into laughing right along with her. His wolf pushed to the forefront of his consciousness, loving the chase even if he couldn't run, and Damien let out a wild sounding howl before he could push it back. They swung on to the ranch road, Charlie's little car hugging the corner far better than the truck did -- Damien fishtailed, leaving a plume of dust and grit hanging in the still air behind him like a contrail -- forcing him to speed up to catch up to her again.
Charlie glanced in her rear-view again, smiling at Damien through the mirror as she drove onto the ranch and slowed down. She pulled up in front of the garage and stopped as Damien drove in and parked. He hopped out of his truck and pointed her to the spot next to his, standing aside as she parked her car and got out. She gave a breathless shriek when she found herself suddenly pressed against her car and felt Damien behind her.
"I warned you about running from an agitated wolf," he growled into her ear before giving her lobe a hard bite. "Half of me wants to make you run again, the other half just wants to rip your pants off right here and fuck you into submission," he said, grinding his pelvis into her. Charlie could feel his hard cock against her ass and she gave a slight moan, pressing herself back against him.
"Is that what you want, my Charlotte?" Damien asked, rubbing the bulge of his cock against the cleft of her ass. "You want me to rip off your jeans and fuck you right here?"
"No," she lied, rubbing herself against him. The thought of him doing that to her where anyone could walk by and see them was a surprising turn on to her, but she didn't want to admit that to him.
"No? So that isn't your arousal I smell?" he laughed softly. "If I touched your pussy right now it wouldn't be wet?"
"No." She shook her head, smiling, knowing he wouldn't believe her.
"I think you are a liar, and I am aching to prove you one" he said, nipping at her neck as she gave a breathless moan. He stilled behind her, keeping her immobile against her car as he slid his left hand across her hip to her sex, squeezing it hard through her jeans and smiling at her gasping moan. He gave her earlobe another fierce nip before stepping away from her and turning her to face him. "However, that will have to wait a bit. We should go see Anna while the car is unloaded, then we can unpack before we meet with Darian and Eva." He gave her a wicked looking leer. "But don't worry, I'll have you naked and sated soon enough."
Her impending pout at his getting her turned on and not following through again evaporated. "You're going to have someone unload my car for me?"
"Of course," he said, taking her hand and giving her a funny look.
"Why?" she asked as he led her out of the garage and toward the medical center. "I can do it myself."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"It's just how it works here, my love. Everyone has a job to do, a responsibility to the pack to uphold."
"I see," she said, squinting up at him as he was silhouetted against the afternoon sun. "And one of those jobs happens to be unloading the car of the lead Beta's intended mate?"
"Not exactly," he laughed. "But general custodial duties, yes."
"I see. I appreciate it, Damien. I really do. But I would much rather do for myself -- for us -- than be waited on."
"It's not like that, my love."
"So you do your own laundry?"
"Well, no, but-"
"You scrub your own floors?"
"No. Of course not. But-"
"You wash your own dishes?"
"No."
"So how is that not being waited on?" she asked, tugging his hand until he stopped to look at her.
"It's the way of the pack, Charlie. It is what they were meant to do. Just as Darian does what he was meant to do, and Anna does what she was meant to do. And once we mate, you will be given a responsibility, a job, too."
She was quiet for a bit, chewing on what he said. "I hadn't thought of it like that," she said, cocking her head. "What will I do?"
"I don't know. We will have to see where you best fit in." They started walking towards the medical center again.
"Cooking? Can I still cook?" she asked, not seeing the funny look he gave her.
"We'll see, my love." He held open the door to the small lobby and followed her inside, putting his hand on the small of her back and leading her past the reception area.
"Don't we need to check in?" she asked as they made their way down the hall.
"She knows we're here," he said, opening a door to an exam room. Anna was there waiting for them along with a tall and skinny woman with short brown hair.
"Hello again," Anna said as they came into the room.
"Anna. Meredith," Damien said, nodding to the woman in the room with them.
"Hello Damien," she said, a bit coldly. She turned towards Charlie and gave her a smile that seemed warm at first glance, but never quite reached her eyes. "This must be your intended."
"Charlie Bell," she said, extending her hand. She was a bit surprised to see she looked so much older than anyone else she had met thus far.
"Yes, I know," she said with a slightly derisive laugh, ignoring Charlie's hand. "I will leave you now, Anna, so you may attend to the hu- Charlie." She turned at that and left, walking briskly out of the room.
"Another ex-girlfriend?" she asked, turning to Damien. Making him and Anna laugh.
"Hardly," he said. "That was Mirabelle's mother." Charlie looked at him confused for a moment before realization dawned.
"Oooohhh. Well that makes a bit more sense then, doesn't it."