“She’s… she’s really gone, and never coming back,” he said quietly. “Lena’s never coming back.” He shuddered again, covering his face in his hands and beginning to sob softly. Caleb turned his attention away from Jack, crouching on the ground next to where Mia was confined.
“I have to apologize,” Caleb said, his bright eyes holding hers firmly. “For so many things.” He half-smiled ruefully, and Mia watched as he grabbed for a knife from his abandoned jeans. Her heart beat harder for a moment in instinctive fear, but Caleb carefully—and quickly—used the knife to sever the ropes on her wrists and ankles, freeing her. He picked her up off of the grave and settled her next to it.
“Thank you,” Mia said, running her hands along the rope-burns that lined her wrists and looking down at the scrape on her knee with faint annoyance. She didn’t quite meet Caleb’s gaze, not sure how she felt about being rescued by him.
“Do me a favor?” Caleb said, and Mia glanced up at his face. “Let me explain, and apologize, and if you’re still angry at me, you can kick me as many times as you like.” Mia snorted, smiling in spite of herself.
“Okay, I agree to those terms.” Caleb smiled back at her, settling on the ground and keeping a watchful eye on Jack—just in case the other werewolf became irrational again.
“I was an idiot. I’ve been an idiot all this time. When I told Jack about you, he became convinced that you were the one that the prophecy was talking about, and he made me bring you to him.” Caleb shook his head. “Jack warned me off of you, insisting that I keep my distance and not interfere with his plans, and I backed down instead of doing what I should have done.” Mia chewed on her bottom lip, uncertain. “I never stopped caring about you, loving you. I swear to you, Mia, I will never, ever, let you down again.” Mia smiled slightly.
Jack was still crying, but the violent sobs began to abate, and Mia and Caleb turned their attention to him as he lurched onto his feet. Jack took a shuddering breath and brought his hands away from his face, looking at the two of them. “I’ve been a terrible Alpha,” he said. “I deserved to be called out. I let my own personal grief interfere with what was right—Caleb, you deserve the position. Mia, I’m so sorry—for everything. Lena really is gone, and I have to come to terms with that, instead of chasing her ghost.” Jack came closer and Mia felt a surge of fear; but he dropped to his knees before them. “Please forgive me, both of you.” Mia looked at Caleb, who was watching Jack carefully for any sign of treachery. But all Mia could see was a broken man who had finally come to terms with his wife’s demise.
“I forgive you,” she said. “It was devastating, I can tell.” Caleb hesitated a moment longer but then, sighing, forgave Jack.
“Thank you. I think—now that I’m free of the position of Alpha, and all my responsibilities—I’m going to travel, and learn how to live life again… for Lena, and for myself.” Caleb and Mia nodded, and watched as Jack collected himself before leaving, wandering out of the cemetery slowly and in a kind of shock.
Caleb looked at Mia, smiling slightly. “So how many times do you want to kick me?” he asked her. Mia chuckled.
“I don’t have the energy to kick anyone. I don’t even know how I’m going to get back to town.” Caleb grinned slowly.
“I could give you a lift,” he suggested playfully. Mia raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not into the idea of riding a motorcycle right now.”
“How about riding a wolf?” Mia stared at Caleb for a long moment before chuckling and nodding.
“Okay. That I could get into.”
Caleb transformed once more, and Mia took a moment to appreciate the subtle, wild beauty of him as an enormous wolf before she climbed onto his back, leaning over to get a good hold of his chest before he started off at a rapid pace, galloping through the cemetery and into the woods.
Chapter Thirteen
With only a couple of breaks to rest, Caleb managed to get them to where the pack was having their feast, the woods where they had their hangout. Everyone was shocked to see Mia and Caleb appearing—without Jack. Mia felt slightly afraid at the sudden tension, the disquiet among so many supernatural beings; she was sharply aware of the fact that unlike Caleb, she couldn’t transform into a wolf and defend herself. Before things could become more restless, however, Caleb let her down off of his back gently and transformed back into a man, standing before the assembled pack naked but without a single bit of his confidence compromised. “Jack is no longer the Alpha of the pack,” Caleb began, speaking with a kind of firm confidence that Mia had never seen him use among the pack. “He was going to potentially put Mia to death on the strength of a prophecy made by the elder Samarra. I challenged him, and defeated him.” Caleb explained the whole situation as Mia stood behind him, afraid but forcing herself to remain calm. She saw the pack begin to calm, with nods around the group, some smiles of relief.
“Jack hadn’t been the same since Lena died,” Lila commented, turning her attention to the women of the pack, who nodded their agreement. “As long as everything was done properly, we accept you as the new Alpha.” There was a buzz of conversation about the prophecy and the fact that nothing had happened to Mia; everyone decided that it must have been one of the odd times when Samarra’s vision abilities failed or misled the recipient of the vision. Caleb and Mia were both invited to partake in the feast, but Mia wanted to be alone with her former lover, and Caleb seemed to have similar ideas; he took her back to his townhouse apartment.
“I understand if you can’t forgive me,” Caleb said quietly, bringing her a beer. Mia drank it, smiling at Caleb, whose bright eyes were full of worry and hope.
“You big dummy, if I didn’t forgive you, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be with the pack eating venison.” Caleb’s worried expression broke into a broad grin.
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you all this time. How much I’ve missed you.” Mia, recovering from the shocks of the day, set down her beer and gave Caleb a challenging look.
“Show me, then.” Caleb stood up, grinning broadly as he closed the distance between them.
“Oh, I’ll show you,” he said, his voice taking on the tone of a low growl as he wrapped his arms around her. Mia’s heart was pounding in excitement and lust. She was surprised at the fact that she was more attracted than ever to Caleb—his dominant way of putting Jack down, his air of command in front of the pack, had done something to her that his earnest apologies had started. Caleb reached down and lifted her up by the hips, into his arms, and Mia laughed, thinking that she never wanted to get used to the way that Caleb was able to pick her up as if she weighed nothing at all.
He carried her quickly up the stairs and into his bedroom, holding her tightly and securely against him as he made the rapid trek. Caleb threw Mia onto his bed and launched himself after her, carefully landing on top of her with only part of his weight. His hands went to work immediately, caressing and teasing her, and for a moment, Mia’s mind turned to the way that Jack had been—how much rougher he was, how he had demanded her submission. There was something about that that Mia had liked, but at the same time she was glad to be in Caleb’s care once more, with his rough but not quite domineering ways. He kissed her hungrily, his hands dancing along her curves, taking them in as if he intended to commit them to memory, or as if he was confirming the memory that he already had.
Mia ran her hands all over his body in her own turn, across his broad, strong shoulders and down his back, reaching for the hem of his t-shirt. He had managed to dress at the pack gathering, getting decent enough to take Mia back to his home. Mia pulled at his shirt, tugging it up along his strong body, parting from his lips only long enough to get it over his head. Caleb moaned as their lips reconnected, his hands pawing at her blouse, fumbling slightly as he unbuttoned it slowly. He guided the fabric away from her body gently, casting it aside without a second glance and burying his face against her bra-covered breasts as if he had been waiting for that moment the entire time they had
been apart. He growled lowly, the sound sending reverberations through Mia’s body as he kissed every inch of her breasts, tugging the cups of her bra down to expose her skin more fully to his lips and tongue. She gasped when he latched onto one of her nipples, licking and sucking on it as thoroughly as if he were a hungry infant, using his fingers to tease the other one into a firm nub before he switched his mouth over to it.
Mia ran her fingers through his hair and her fingernails against his back and shoulders as they began to move together, their hips fitting against each other, the friction building up between their bodies gradually. Jack lifted her up slightly and unhooked the clasp of her bra, pulling it away from her skin and throwing it away from him as he concentrated more fully on her breasts. Mia was writhing underneath him, rubbing herself against the ridge that had formed in his pants, the evidence of his erection pressing against her as her hunger for him increased by every moment. She felt her body burning up, her nerves tingling and everything inside of her absolutely in need of the most contact she could get with Caleb’s skin. She wanted to feel every inch of his body pressed against hers, wanted to memorize every feature, every nuance of him, while she had the chance once more. “God,” Caleb said, breaking away from her breasts to kiss her briefly but hungrily. “I’m going to have to get you off a couple of times before I can trust myself,” he told her, giving her a playful grin. Mia laughed.
“Trust yourself?” Caleb gave her an arch glance.
“Woman, you turn me on so much that if I were inside of you right now I’d come right away. I don’t want to throw away my first orgasm before you’re even there.” His voice was low, intense in her ears, and Mia smiled at him, throwing her arms wide and giving him a look of pure invitation. Caleb returned her grin and started to work on her skirt, finding the zipper and pulling it down along her skin slowly. Mia felt her tension mounting, her body tightening and her pussy becoming wetter and wetter with anticipation of the pleasure that Caleb had always given her in the past. She twisted and shifted underneath him, struggling to help him get her naked, even as she reached down to find the waistband of his jeans. She wanted him just as naked as she was, wanted to feel him against her.
Caleb nipped playfully along her throat and down to her breasts once more as his hands pulled and tugged her skirt down over her hips, exposing her to the cooler air of the room and the satisfying heat of his body. He cupped her pussy in his hand, the heel of his palm rubbing against her bare skin while Mia writhed, for a moment lost in the sensations he was giving her. She stirred herself out of it in the next instant and lavished attention on him in return, kissing everywhere her lips could reach, caressing everywhere her hands could find on his body. She raked his back with her fingernails as his fingers found her clit and began to stroke her slowly but steadily, the contact sending hot and cold tingles of deep pleasure through her, shooting out from her pussy and making her tremble with need. She tugged ineffectually at Caleb’s pants, wanting them off of him, wanting him naked, the words on the edge of her tongue.
Caleb read her desires and climbed off of her quickly, chuckling with pride and pleasure as he slipped out of both his jeans and his boxer-briefs before climbing back into his bed with her. He touched her everywhere, teasing her nipples, stroking her clit, and then slipping his fingers down to the well of her pussy and slowly—tantalizingly slowly—pushing them deep inside of her. Mia moaned out at the sensation of his fingers penetrating her, working their way past the defensive tightening of her body to brush along her inner walls as he moved them in and out. “I’ve missed how hot you are when you’re turned on,” Caleb murmured, shifting onto his side and looking down at her. He kissed her briefly on the lips. “I’ve missed how wonderfully wet you get when I touch you,” he kissed her again, and Mia’s lips tingled at the contact, her body heating up with every movement of his fingers inside of her. “And I’ve really missed the sound of you moaning, the sight of you writhing like you can’t stand how good it feels.” Mia twisted against his fingers, trying to take them deeper, trying to get the tips of them where she needed them the most. Caleb’s thumb pressed against her clit, rubbing it firmly as his fingers worked inside of her, curling and brushing along her tight inner walls as he sought her g-spot by touch.
He found it in moments, and Mia cried out in pleasure and relief, pushing her hips down mindlessly as he came into contact with the secret pleasure center again and again. He was rubbing her from inside and outside, sending hot and cold rushes of sensation running along every nerve of her body, and Mia knew that from the mixture of excitement, fear and arousal she had experienced throughout the night, she wasn’t going to last very long. She moved in counterpoint to his touches, pulling and pushing her hips, writhing and twisting and squirming under the impetus of his caresses, the rough yet gentle attentions of his mouth all over her face, neck and breasts driving her steadily closer to orgasm by the second. She was moaning his name, and it felt so right to hear it coming from her lips as Caleb lavished all his attention on her, seeming to pull her orgasm out of her from deep within her body slowly but surely.
Mia suddenly, abruptly, couldn’t stand any more pleasure; the tension snapped inside of her, the knot deep between her hips unraveling in an instant. Spasms of pleasure lifted her off of the bed and made her pitch and move, an animal with no conscious thought other than the sensations that were burning their way through her, wracking her as intensely as pain, but so right that she couldn’t think of fighting them. Caleb held her as she came; pressing his body against hers, stroking and teasing her right up until the spasms began to abate. His fingers withdrew abruptly as Mia sagged, panting for breath, trembling all over. It was so intense that it was almost pain instead of pleasure, and she gasped, fighting to keep her sense of equilibrium as orgasmic waves continued to crash through her long after the initial release wore off. “Oh, Caleb… oh—oh—oh…” She reached out for him and Caleb held her tightly, his grip easing some of the tremors that shook her body, the leftovers of her intense pleasure.
She gradually regained consciousness after her blackout—not sure of exactly when her mind had gone so utterly blank, or how long she had been out of it, but so thankful for Caleb’s presence, his murmured praises and reassurances, that she finally came back to herself. “That was the most amazing thing ever,” she said, giggling irrepressibly. The deep pleasure in her body was too intense; she felt giddy, completely out of her mind with the relief that Caleb had given her. She found herself laughing at nothing at all until she was breathless once more, and sagged against Caleb as he held her again, stroking her body slowly and lovingly as she struggled to gain control of herself.
“That good, was it?” he asked her, his low voice pleased. Mia laughed—less hysterically this time—and climbed on top of him, straddling his hips.
“It was more than good,” she told him. “I don’t know how much of that I could actually take without losing my mind.” Caleb grinned up at her.
“Maybe one or two more times?” he asked, his voice faintly plaintive, and Mia could feel his rock-hard cock pressing against her. She shifted her hips against his, rubbing against him playfully.
“Maybe,” she conceded teasingly. “But you have to promise to take it easy on me this time.” Caleb chuckled lowly, his hands dancing over her breasts for a moment before trailing down to her hips.
“I’ll let you call the shots this time,” he told her, reaching up to cup the back of her head. He pulled her down for a quick, thorough kiss before letting go of her. Mia pulled herself up on arms that were nerveless, settling her weight on legs that still felt like jelly underneath her. She settled herself above Caleb’s cock and ran her hands over his chest slowly, tracing the few odd scars she found by touch. She had been with him so many times before he had turned her over to Jack, but her hunger for his body, for the feel and taste and smell of him, had never been more intense. She leaned in and breathed in the scent of his pheromones, finding them sharp and less musky than Jack’s
, but overall much more pleasing to her sensibilities.
“Mmm, you smell good; I’d forgotten that.” Caleb pulled her face up and kissed her again.
“Not as good as you smell, and stop stalling, wench.” Mia began rocking her hips against Caleb’s, rubbing her slick folds against his hard cock, and they both filled the air with their moans, shivering slightly against each other in anticipation. When Mia felt her desire cresting once more, her body almost on fire with need, she reached down and guided the tip of Caleb’s cock against the entrance of her pussy, pushing her hips down onto his slowly and steadily. She remembered all at once as she took him in how much thicker, how much longer Caleb was than any other man she had ever been with. Mia blushed as she remembered how difficult it had been for her to learn how to pleasure him with her mouth—though he had never complained, and he had seemed to enjoy her passion for learning how to do it properly.
“Oh—Caleb,” she gasped as he finally filled her up completely; she kept her hips still for a long moment, savoring the feeling of him inside of her. “God, you feel good. Remind me…” she began to move slowly, rocking and pivoting her hips in an absentminded way, enjoying the tingles of sensation that his hard cock sent cascading through her body. “Remind me later to go down on you. I need to keep my skills up.” Caleb laughed, reaching up to cup her full breasts in his hands.
“Not a problem, babe,” he said, thrusting up into her sharply. Caleb’s hands squeezed and massaged, his fingers finding her nipples in the darkness and rolling and twisting them as Mia began to move harder and faster on top of him. Her thighs tightened as she took him deeper, pushing her hips down and pulling herself up, balancing on her knees as she rode him. Caleb’s hands wandered over her body at will, adding to the tension and pleasure that was mounting in Mia’s body as she remembered how good it had always been, as she thought—with the part of her mind still capable of thinking—how right it felt to be in Caleb’s arms, on top of him, filled up by his cock.
Half-Blooded: The Alpha's Mate (BBW Shifter Romance) Page 14