Reb's hands weren't idle. Her fingers roamed too, though in the opposite direction. They clung to the muscles above his wing bones, slid to the center, and traced those along his spine down to the waist of his jeans. With the freeing of her breasts, her hands became more insistent. She tugged at his tee, mewling a little when it wouldn't cooperate and made a tiny grunt of satisfaction when it finally came free.
It then became a contest to see whose shirt came off first. River won, but only because she yielded with her arms raised above her head. The bra fell away before she resumed her mission of removing his shirt. Her breast rubbed against him from belly to chest as she rose gracefully on tiptoe to bring the tee shirt up over his head. Damn, but she was hot, and so was he, but in a different way.
Heat coursed through his body, a fever of need not only to feel those silk skinned breasts under his hands, or to taste those tight and puckered nipples with his tongue, but to slide between the silken softness of her thighs to that spot he knew would feel like silk, too. River moved her to the bed and took her down. He did it gently, with one hand at her back and the other at her breast.
She didn't stiffen when he bent her back like other girls sometimes did. Reb withdrew her hands from his body and relaxed against the hand that held her, trusting him to take her where she wanted to go. When her head touched the mattress, she closed her eyes and smiled.
"So this is what it's like," she murmured dreamily.
"What what's like?" he asked before he took a brown and tender nipple between his lips.
"To be wanted just for myself," she said with a little gasp of pleasure. "And I'll have it for days and days and days."
Well, shit. It wasn't going to be days and days and days. It was tonight and maybe tomorrow night and then he would be gone. River stopped his suckling and looked up at the face still smiling with pleasure at her thoughts. He thought about letting her comment go, but knew he couldn't. This wasn't long term. It was two days at most. This was a full moon fling, nothing more. It would be like lying to let her think this was anything else.
"Babe," he said gently, "Five hundred miles isn't that far."
Her eyes opened, questioning. "You're seeing us home, aren't you?"
"Yeah," he nodded, "And once you're there and settled, I'll be moving on."
Reb's smile returned. "I think you might be mistaken," she said slowly. "Five hundred miles isn't that far, but twenty-five hundred miles is. That's how far away our new home is. Twenty five hundred miles northwest of where we are right now."
River pushed away from her, hands to either side of her body, elbows locked. "But the Mate said," he began and then stopped when he realized she hadn't said anything of the kind. Margaret had only said that five hundred miles was too much for the Alpha to travel in one day.
He began to wonder if he'd been conned. While he'd been looking for the angles the others might be playing, was the Mate playing him? Wasn't he the one who used the words 'too good to be true'? A thousand dollars was a lot of money to protect an Alpha who'd be locked up tight in an RV, and a pack that would be on the road for a lot of the time.
He'd been snookered alright, and he'd shaken hands on the deal.
He should have been angry and he would have been if Reb hadn't run those silken fingers down his cheek.
Chapter 16
"Think of it," she whispered, her voice as smooth as her fingers. "Days and days and days."
"Yeah," he agreed, blowing out his breath, "Days and days and days with plenty of time to play." River looked down at the inviting mounds of her breasts just waiting to be devoured. Arms still locked he levered back and with his legs, straddled her thighs in much the same way as he'd straddled her in the woods. "And this time, you don't have a rock."
He curled his torso until he touched her belly button with his lips. It was pierced with a gold encircled gem at the center held in place by a tiny gold ball above. As he touched the fascinating blue stone with his tongue, he wondered vaguely if it was real. Natural fibers, minerals, and metals transformed with the shift. Synthetics didn't.
She shivered. Good. She liked the tickle of his tongue. Using the tip, he slowly drew a trail up the center of her body to the space between her breasts. She arched her back, turning slightly to offer one of the delightful little buds and rewarded him with a tiny gasp of pleasure when he took it in his mouth.
Her skin was as sweet as her mouth. So pale and smooth and delicate, it was almost translucent. It reminded him of the fine china Kat set her table with at Christmas. The first time he saw it, he was afraid to touch the treasured plates and cups, afraid his big, clumsy hands would inadvertently crush the flimsy porcelain.
Leaving her breast to return to her mouth, River knew he'd found a treasure of his own. Just the touch of her fingers running through his hair sent a jolt of desire zinging through his body and as the kiss deepened, her hands began to roam further on their own path of discovery, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.
Her fingers traced the places most female hands avoided, the physical scars of his past. He remembered the pain of every one of them and those memories brought with them the faces of the wolvers who inflicted the wounds. There weren't many, but there were enough that he hated for them to be touched and he usually made that clear to any full moon lover who dared to do more than skim a hand across them on their way to someplace else.
But with Reb, it was different. She was fragile and delicate and this was her first time. He didn't want to frighten her with his snarls and snaps and so, when her fingers lingered on those places of ugliness, he said nothing.
The fire in her hands turned to soothing warmth as she explored those ridges and divots of flesh. The soft pads of her fingers measured the length and depth of each one and as her fingers continued their sensitive dance, she showered his face and neck with kisses. The tenderness in her touch and in those kisses was almost too much to bear. He didn't want her pity.
His wolf felt it, too. Each wound, each indignity had been shared and felt by his wolf. It whimpered softly each time Reb's hand discovered another damaged place to touch, but whether it was in longing or in fear, River couldn't tell.
When he could stand it no longer, he rolled to his back, bringing her with him and encouraged her to straddle him, but when she tried to lean into him again, lips reaching for his, River held her back with his hands at her waist. He used his thumbs to massage the firm muscles above her navel. His fingers played along her ribs, hands moving slowly up her body until he reached her breasts. Small and delicate like the rest of her, they were the perfect fit for his hands. He kneaded them, molded them to the shape of his palms, and felt the buds of her nipples harden in pleasure when his rough thumbs stroked over them. And all the while, he watched her face.
Her eyes were closed, lashes soft against cheeks flushed pink with rising desire. Her lips, plumped and reddened from kisses, were curled into a blissful smile. Her chin lifted and her head fell back, arching her body forward. Putting more pressure against his hands at her breasts, she began to rock against him, finding pleasure in the friction between them.
He reached for the button at her waist, undid it and the zipper to expose the edge of another pretty pair of panties like the ones she had on before. Only this time they were pink and the triangle of fabric he exposed spurred him to expose the rest.
River moved Reb yet again, this time not quite so gently.
~*~
"Oh," Reb squeaked when the pleasurable sensation she was feeling between her legs was suddenly removed and she was turned and tossed onto her back.
She'd barely had time to bounce against the mattress, before River was stripping her slacks down her legs and tossing them across the room.
He stood over her and stared down at her mostly naked body and the look in his eyes sent a flush of feverish pleasure coursing through her body. She'd seen a similar look on other males, usually right before dinner, and that thought sent another shiver through her. River was hungry,
hungry for her.
"Oh," she said again, this time in anticipation.
He licked his lips as he traced the outline of the bikini cut undies she wore. Her skin burned with his touch and she whimpered a little when his finger skipped the place she wanted touched the most. Her stomach muscles clenched and her breath caught as his finger traced a second course around and this time stopped to trace a line up her center between her legs.
"Sweet," he whispered, "Sweet and ready."
And she was, oh dear heaven she was, so it was a bit of a shock when he rose and didn't drop his jeans, but fell to his knees at the edge of the bed. Her undies disappeared down her legs and she watched them follow the arc of her slacks, over his shoulder and across the room.
"Now," she thought, "Now here it comes." But River didn't drop his jeans.
His hands slid between her legs, running roughly from her ankles to her knees, spreading her legs as they went. She was lifted, pulled to the edge of the bed and was about to lift her head to see what was happening, but his head bowed first and when his tongue lapped along the same line as his finger, it wasn't her head that came off the bed. It was her hips.
Darla had never shared what this little tidbit of sex was about. Her own dabbling fingers had never made her feel like this. There, she had control. Here she had none. It was all in River's sucking lips and lapping tongue. Her body quivered with it. Her hips twisted and turned trying to get away from the overwhelming sensations, yet seeking them at the same time. She wanted this, and yet she was afraid; afraid of the spiraling fire that was overtaking her body, afraid of being consumed by all that was River.
She moaned. She whimpered. And then his finger slipped inside her, curled inside her, and her hips matched the rhythm of its thrusts. She could no longer think. She could only feel. Her whole body tightened in anticipation of what was to come. River's thumb touched her clit, and she exploded.
Heart stopped, breath ceased, brain shut down, and her soul was suddenly set free.
The lack of air made her gasp and she opened her eyes to see River staring at her with an odd look on his face. It was soft and gentle, yet a little confused. It made her nervous.
Her heart began pounding and it was still a little hard to breathe. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked and then shut her eyes at the stupidity of the question.
His bark of laughter made her embarrassment worse. He must have seen her hurt, because suddenly, everything went quiet.
"Babe, look at me."
She wouldn't. She couldn't. If she did, she'd cry with shame. How many times had she heard her mother say a Mate must never lose control and Reb had just lost it. Big time. Completely and humiliatingly. She turned her head away.
She felt the bed sag as River crawled up beside her. His fingers touched the side of her chin and gently but firmly made her turn to face him.
"Baby, open your eyes and look at me. Both eyes," he insisted when she only opened one.
"You're too close. If I open them both, they'll cross." She heard him snicker, adding insult to injury, stupid upon stupid.
She felt him back away, but not by much. "Open," he ordered. "I want you looking at me when I say this."
She opened both eyes. "Fine, get it over with."
River held her face in his hands so she couldn't turn away. His thumbs played over her cheeks. He looked directly into her eyes. "If that was wrong, then it was the most beautiful wrong I've ever seen."
Reb blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Watching you come apart like that was beautiful, so beautiful I almost came apart just watching you and that's never happened to me before. You were beautiful before, Babe, but looking at you now, lying naked in my arms, you're more beautiful than ever, and I'm glad it was me that brought that out in you."
"Really?"
"Really."
Reb's world righted, and the sun in that world came out brighter and happier than the silly painted one shining down from the corner of the room. River thought she was beautiful. He thought the emotions and sensations exploding inside her were beautiful and she wanted that beauty again.
She looked up into the face of the best thing that ever happened to her and grinned.
"So, what about you? Don't you want to be beautiful, too?"
He started to laugh. "Just let me get my jeans off, Babe."
Her fingers were already at his belt.
And when the time came, he was beautiful. He brought her body to those frightening heights again, only this time it was better because he was inside of her sharing it with her. She didn't worry when she came first. It gave her a chance to enjoy the beauty of him. His jaw tightened, his face contorted almost as if he was in pain. He pounded into her and she felt his fire build and explode, felt him as his body stiffened, shuddered, and released. Her body absorbed the impact of that release. She curved around him and held him close.
Meeting River had begun a journey of firsts; her first awakening of interest in the opposite sex, beyond mere curiosity; her first date; first kiss; first feelings of sexual arousal and orgasm; and wonder of wonders, the blessed sensation of a male's body entering hers. Reb had heard the talk, knew the mechanics, knew her body would respond to a male's touch the way nature intended, but no one ever told her it would be like this.
This was more than a pleasurable experience for her body. It was more than a release of sexual tension. This opened more than her body to the wolver resting his weight against her.
She'd felt him, not just his body, but River, the man and wolf who dwelt inside. She'd felt the mysteries that she'd seen in his eyes, mysteries he kept shuttered away from the world. She'd felt his pain and his sorrows. She'd felt his loneliness and his fears. But mostly, she'd felt his joy in being with her. In their joining, she shared those things and in sharing, eased the burdens he carried, brought light to his darkness.
It was a heady feeling, this new knowledge of the power she carried inside her. There should be a name for it, a glorious and beautiful name that would encompass everything she felt, but for once, the vocabulary given her by her parents was lacking. There was no word to describe what she shared with River.
A frightening thought occurred to her. Was it always like this? Or was this only part of her gift as a future Mate? There was no one she could ask, no one with whom she wished to share this extraordinary feeling that was, for now, solely hers.
"You okay, Babe?" River rolled from her, leaving cold where there had been warmth.
He remedied that by curling his arm around her and taking her with him so that her front pressed against his side. It was warm. It was comfortable, but it wasn't enough. As if he read her thoughts, he moved again, shifting her upper body onto his. Her head now rested on his shoulder, her nose nestled against his neck. Her small breasts fit perfectly beneath the squared pectoral muscle of his chest. Her hand rested on the other side, over his heart. Knee bent, she curled her leg over him to increase their closeness.
"Better?"
"Yes, River, I'm fine." As fine as she'd ever felt before. As fine as any wolver female could feel. She was where she belonged.
She felt his body relax into sleep and she closed her eyes to share that, too.
It was a journey of firsts that ended with another. For the first time in memory, Reb heard her wolf sing.
"Beautiful," River murmured through the fog of sleep, proving to Reb that he'd heard it, too.
"You're my first and my only," she whispered as she joined him in sleep.
~*~
With the restless movement of his wolf, River awakened to hear Reb's murmur quite clearly. He didn't know why those words should stop his heart, but they did.
Wolver females had no virginity to lose, no barrier to break. Sex was as natural a part of life as eating and drinking and sleep. Only the mating bond was considered special, and only because it allowed the bonded pair to breed and bear young. There was nothing particularly special about being a female's first.
Unless, a female'
s first time was something she would remember. He'd never heard that, but then he'd never paid much attention to women's talk. They tended to gossip about who was fucking who, and who was falling in love, and who was destined to mate, and other crap he had no interest in.
He was Reb's first and he was happy for that, proud that after waiting all this time, she'd chosen him. To most, it probably wouldn't seem like much. First time sex happened every day, but for someone as fine as Reb to choose someone like him seemed more like a gift and he would treasure it. If he was right, and females thought about such things, then maybe Reb would remember and treasure it, too.
Her coming apart like that was another gift he would remember. He'd never seen anything like it on the face of a woman before. She looked like he'd taken her to heaven and she didn't want to come back. He felt terrible for laughing, but it struck him as funny, her thinking something so beautiful had to be wrong.
He was her first, but he wouldn't be her last. There would be others for Reb once he was gone, others until an Alpha was found for her to mate and then she would be that Alpha's forever.
His wolf didn't like that idea. It snarled and snapped, and growled, "Mate."
"Stop it," he ordered. "That's what she is, and there's nothing we can do," River said to both himself and his wolf. "It's what she was born to be."
His wolf snarled again, but River didn't bother telling it to stop. He didn't like the idea any better than his wolf did.
Chapter 17
The pounding on the door startled them both.
"Fuck," River growled.
"Fudge," Reb said in the same tone of voice.
"Roland wants to see you," Darla called.
"Can't it wait?" Reb cried.
"He's the Alpha," Darla called back as if that said it all.
Which, River supposed, it did. He grabbed a pair of jeans from his bag along with his last clean shirt. "Gotta do laundry," he muttered.
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