by Kimber White
I circled my fingers around the base of him and slowly drew the tip of my tongue along his shaft, feeling his soft skin and every bulging vein. He let me explore him. I relished the way his cock jumped with pleasure with each stroke of my tongue. He grew longer and thicker in my mouth, and I fastened my lips around him and sucked him.
“Tamryn,” he said my name over and over again. “Holy fuck!”
I smiled up at him, as I continued to service him, loving the way he drew my head up and down. If it was torture for him, my own desires crested as well. The more I worked him, the wetter I grew. My sex throbbed and my legs began to ache. I slid a finger down between my legs and dipped it into the well of juices that pooled there. I was positively soaked. When I didn’t think either of us could take it another second, I drew my mouth off Luke and looked up at him.
“Now,” he whispered.
I squealed with delight as he flipped me onto my back with his wolfish speed. He hovered over me as he pressed my knees flat against the ground. I writhed beneath him, no longer able to control myself.
“Now,” I answered back.
Luke smiled and guided himself to my slick entrance. I tried to close my eyes, but Luke wouldn’t have it. He put a gentle hand on my chin and tilted my head, coaxing me to look at him. Then, he pressed the bulbous head of his cock inside me, and I felt him begin to stretch me wide. I clawed at the rug to brace myself. He was so big, so wide I thought sure he’d split me apart. But, I was made for Luke. I should have known it all along. There was pain, yes, as he pushed past that tiny band of resistance. But it gave way to warmth and pleasure that spread through me as Luke sheathed himself to the root.
I brought my legs up and wrapped them around his hips. Luke slid a hand beneath me to draw me down even further on him. He filled me so deep, so completely. He pumped his hips slowly, bringing me to his rhythm. I knew he didn’t want to hurt me. He held back, and it maddened me. I dug my nails into the flesh of his back, running them almost along the same lines of the scars he bore. His eyes snapped open.
“More,” I gasped. “Please. Harder.”
It was all Luke needed. His eyes flashed green, and I saw the wolf flare to life inside him. It was always there. Always part of him. I wanted him as much as the man. Why did he struggle so much to suppress it? Luke redoubled his efforts and heat and light seemed to shoot through me as I matched my thrusts to his. He worried so much about hurting me. Breaking me. But, I began to understand the truth. He made me stronger. I wanted him in me, not just his body, but his mind. All of him. I craved it.
“More,” I gasped again. I bucked and arched, trying to bring him into me even more. Pain, desire, pleasure became one thing as Luke pumped inside me. I should be cautious, responsible. We had no protection. Oh, God, I didn’t care. Some primal thing rose within me, and I knew I wanted that part of him too. No words. No thoughts. Just urges.
Fuck me. Claim me. Own me. Over and over and over.
And then Luke flipped me. He brought me down until I bent low on my hands and knees. Oh, God, yes. This! He gripped my hips and pulled me back, angling me so he could penetrate me the deepest. The world became the wet sounds of his thrusts and my body’s rise to meet it.
More. Yes. This!
He was wild. He made me wilder. I dug my fingers into the wood to keep myself in position as Luke worked me from behind. I never wanted it to end. He slid his fingers along my inner thigh and worked them between my legs until he found that tender, swollen bud once again. I cried out from the pleasure of it as he stroked me there while he fucked me from behind.
And I was done for. Too much. Too good. My hair flew around me as I arched my back and finally gave in to the sensation. Luke thrust himself deep and held still while he made slow circles around my clit. He drew my climax from me. Swirling lights and stars clouded my vision as my orgasm pulsed through me. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore. I collapsed on my side. Luke stayed inside me, kept up the relentless stroke of his finger as I went rigid beneath him and let wave after wave wash over me.
When I finally crested down, I had no strength left. I turned toward Luke and saw the rising passion in his eyes. He was far from finished with me. An answering flare of desire rose within me. Yes. I would rise for him. Again and again, no matter how spent I was. He had no pack. But, I understood on an elemental level that he was my Alpha. His to claim. And I would claim him right back. I went to my back and spread my legs wide as he hovered over me.
Luke stroked his cock as he positioned himself between my legs. Lust made his eyes glow. “Please,” I whispered. I wanted him. All of him. Luke tilted his head to the side as if he were still deciding something. Instinctively, I understood.
“I want it,” I said. “I want you. You won’t hurt me.”
His eyes went wide, then darkened. Had I said something wrong? But, his lust and primal need won out. Luke drove himself inside me again. I cried out from the pleasure. I knew I’d never be the same. Now that he’d taken me, I would crave this. Crave him.
“Don’t stop,” I said as he wrapped my legs around him again.
“Tamryn,” he said. He whispered my name over and over again. It anchored him somehow. He was holding something back. I squeezed my legs around his hips. If he wouldn’t listen to my words, let him feel my body.
“I want this,” I said. “Take me, Luke. Please.”
He threw his head back and growled. The man didn’t want to let go. The wolf had other ideas.
“I want you both!” I cried out. “Please!”
When Luke looked down at me, his wolf eyes flared. He drew the hair away from my neck and leaned down. He pressed his lips against the soft skin just beneath my earlobe. Then he licked me and scraped his teeth against my flesh.
A new desire flared to life inside me, darker, even more urgent than before. I can’t explain it, but I wanted him to bite me. I needed it. I gathered my hair and turned my head far to the right, exposing the flesh to him.
“No,” Luke gasped. He trembled inside me. I felt his balls seize up. He tried to hold back. I wouldn’t let him. I reached down and stroked him there, aching to have him let go and fill me. His body went rigid. I tried to pull him in even more. I felt his need, his hunger in each corded muscle of his body and in every pulse. His hot breath kissed my ear and I felt his teeth sharpen. I craned my neck far to the side, exposing the flesh to him. He wanted to taste me. I sensed his need building like a tidal wave. And yet, he wouldn’t. He jerked and shuddered as he tried to stop himself. Even now, I knew he was afraid he would hurt me.
“Please,” I begged him again. I didn’t know what had come over me. I just knew that I needed so much from him and he needed to give it.
Then Luke finally let go. He threw his head back and let out a growl loud and deep enough that it vibrated the window glass. But, even as he gave in to his release, he still held back. I could feel his pulse inside me, and now I felt his heart seize up. At the last second, he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t let himself fully give in to the release his body so desperately craved and that I’d begged him to give me. He pulled himself out of me as he spilled his seed. I tried to pull him closer to me, wrap my arms around him so I could hold him as he spent himself. But, Luke tore himself away from me. He staggered forward and went down on all fours, his body still trembling with need.
“What is it?” Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. I felt Luke’s erratic heartbeat inside me.
He’d stopped himself from doing something. Turning? Biting me? I couldn’t be sure. But, whatever it was, he seemed to be losing himself. A gust of wind blew the door open, and frigid snow and air swirled around the cabin. Luke dug his fingers into the floorboards, and I saw his knuckles twist and bulge as he tried to hold back the shift.
“Luke?” Slowly, I crawled toward him. I reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder.
He turned on me, his eyes blazing fiercely. “Go,” he said, his voice hoarse, barely human. “I can’t sto
p.”
“Yes, you can. I can help you.” I rose to my feet and stood before him. Luke’s spine cracked and curved upward. He screamed in agony.
“Luke, look at me!” I went to my knees in front of him and gripped his chin in my hand. “It’s okay.”
He tore himself out of my grasp and tumbled into the corner of the room. I shivered from the cold. I grabbed Luke’s heavy Carhartt jacket off the hook by the door and wrapped myself into it before trying to go to him again.
I wanted to touch him. Bring him back to me. Or even to tell him I didn’t mind. The wolf was part of him, and I could handle it too. But, something was different when Luke turned back to look at me. Mid-shift, his face was half-man, half-beast with silver-gray hair sprouting near his brow, his nose stretching long.
Though his body still looked like Luke, something went out of his eyes, and all I saw was the beast. The next thing he said turned my blood to ice.
“Run.”
Chapter Fourteen
This time, I did run. I knew his heart. Now I knew his body. Whatever Luke had been trying to hold back came flaring to life. He pushed out at me with his mind. That’s the closest I can come to describing it. The force of his will seemed to bleed through my whole body. As much as I wanted to stay there, to bring him back from whatever this was, I couldn’t suppress the urge to run.
I stumbled out into the cold. Pulling the keys from the side pocket of his coat, I ran toward the snowmobile. Luke stood in the doorway of the cabin. His wolf had taken hold. I wish I could say I still saw the man in his eyes. This time, though, he was buried so far beneath the beast I couldn’t sense him. What I felt instead was savage, madness, and a hunger so deep it ripped through me, threatening to drive me to my knees if I let it. Frozen shards of panic sliced through my heart as I fumbled with the keys and climbed on the snowmobile.
Luke’s command filled my head and every cell in my body. “Run. Leave!” Whatever was left of him, he used it to push me as far away as he could. Adrenalin coursed through me. Though my mind knew what he was, my body sensed nothing more than a predator.
I revved the engine and tore off down the back trail. Hot tears stung my eyes as I went. I chanced a look back and saw Luke’s wolf silhouetted on the hill behind me. He howled at the moon; his soulful wail cut through the air and my soul. It didn’t get any better the more distance I put between us. An ache filled me as I warred with myself to go back to him.
The first rays of sunlight cracked through the winter gray. Dawn. A whole night had passed. I didn’t want to go home. I felt like I had no home. As if the only thing I had that was real was Luke. Just like he’d said to me. With each second that passed, I sped further and further away from him. It felt like the life leached out of me. I belonged with him. Whatever he was going through, he needed me. But, he’d put up some invisible barrier that even I couldn’t reach.
So, I went home. He’d given me no choice. I slowed the snowmobile as soon as I reached the edge of Grandpa’s property. I came up through the back woods and parked it behind the shed. Zipping Luke’s coat around me, I smoothed my hair back and wiped my face on the sleeves. I could go back to him.
God, I hoped Grandpa was asleep. Seeing me like this might give him a shock. Luke’s coat covered me and hung nearly to my knees, but I was barefoot and naked underneath it. My face was swollen from crying. My lips were still swollen from his kisses. I needed a hot shower and a few minutes to collect myself. Then, I could deal with the fallout from what happened at Founder’s Day and figure out what to do about Luke.
I tucked my wild hair behind my ears and walked up the back porch. There were lights on in the kitchen, but Grandpa didn’t come to the door. I took it as a good sign. Closing my fingers around the doorknob, I took a deep breath before I went in. Just like the last time I’d disappeared across the creek, Beau and Gerard Karrow greeted me with stern faces as I walked into the kitchen.
“Oh, hell no,” I said holding a hand up. Their eyes widened then turned to scorn as they took in the sight of me. “I need you to get out of here. I’m not in the mood for either one of you. I give zero fucks about your bank note or what you think of me or whatever the hell else you think I’m doing wrong. As long as there’s breath in my grandpa’s body, this is his house and I get to live here. You don’t.”
Beau crossed his arms and stared at me with a smug expression. Gerard squeezed his eyes shut tight and dropped his chin to his chest. Dread filled my veins as the words I’d thrown out came back to haunt me.
As long as there’s breath in my grandpa’s body . . .
“He’s not dead,” Beau said, his voice thick with contempt. “No thanks to you.”
“Not now, Beau,” Gerard barked at his son and put a hand on his shoulder. Then, Gerard came to me. He held his arms out as if he wanted to pull me into an embrace. I took a halting step backward.
“What’s going on?”
“Wyatt’s in bad shape. They think his heart finally gave out. He’s alive. But it’s grave, Tamryn. The doctors don’t think he’ll make it through the day. We came here to find you. This is the second time you’ve taken off like this. When are you going to realize you can’t? Wyatt needs round the clock care.”
Gerard’s words filtered through my brain in pieces. Heart. Alive. Dead. He said other things, but his voice came to me as if I were under water. Just like the last time, this was my fault. Gerard was right about that. Grandpa needed me all the time. What was I thinking staying away a whole night again? Finally, I put my palm out and held it before my face. I couldn’t hear another word.
It was too much. All of it. I couldn’t stop seeing Grandpa’s face when I left with Luke back at the town square. His anger and loss. Maybe he thought I’d betrayed him. He didn’t understand, couldn’t see who Beau really was. And now, maybe it was too late.
“Thank you,” I said when the buzzing in my brain started to subside. “I’ll handle things from here.”
“Let us drive you to the hospital,” Gerard said. He put a gentle hand on my arm. I knew he meant well; Grandpa was his friend. But, I didn’t want to look at either one of them for another second. I blamed myself, but they weren’t innocent either. If he and Beau hadn’t pulled that ridiculous stunt back at the theater, none of this would have escalated. Maybe Grandpa would be safe and warm in his own bed right now.
“I said I’ll handle things from here. Please leave.”
Gerard let out a resigned sigh and nodded. Beau wasn’t as easily placated. His father left us alone for a moment and Beau got in my personal space. He put his hand at the small of my back and my nerve endings seemed to catch fire. I took slow, measured breaths to keep from losing my shit.
“You’re upset. I understand. I’ll give you some space if that’s what you need. But, I’ll come out tomorrow to check on you.”
I glared at him. “Please don’t. Everything I told you yesterday is still true today. I don’t want you in my life, Beau. Especially now.”
His eyes went cold and he curled his fingers into me, pulling me close to him. His hot breath blew in my face when he spoke. “What I told you yesterday is also still true today. Now, your situation is even worse than you realize. The second your old man dies, you’ve got nothing. I’m going to be the only thing standing between you and disaster. You remember that. Otherwise, I might stop feeling so generous when the time comes.”
“Get. Out.”
Gerard stood by the front door holding Beau’s coat out for him. He didn’t seem to have heard our exchange. It was in me to slap the smirk right off Beau’s face, but I didn’t think he was worth the trouble. A second later, I regretted my restraint. With his eyes on his father, Beau leaned down and kissed my forehead, making my flesh burn hot. Before I could kill him for it, he deftly stepped around me and headed for the door. A blast of cold air hit me in the face as Gerard opened the door and the two of them finally left me alone.
“Motherfucker!”
I didn’t have the luxury
of standing around seething. As soon as I saw Gerard’s Buick back down the driveway, I raced upstairs to throw on clean clothes. I shoved my feet into a pair of snow boots and headed for the garage. I went to grab my down parka from the hook and stopped myself. Luke’s heavy coat hung over the banister where I’d tossed it. I let out a breath and squeezed my eyes shut tight. I didn’t know what was going to happen with Luke, but wearing his coat at least made me feel close to him. As soon as I got to the hospital, I figured I’d need all the strength I could find. I slid my arms back into Luke’s coat. His scent filled my nose, making me feel warm and protected, if just for a fleeting second. Then, steeling myself for whatever the next few hours might bring, I headed out the door.
Chapter Fifteen
The doctors explained everything to me in cold, clinical terms. They answered my questions with quiet patience. But, Gerard hadn’t exaggerated. Grandpa had suffered a massive heart attack right there in the middle of town square about thirty seconds after I ran off with Luke. He’d watched me go. He knew what Luke was and feared for my safety. Though he couldn’t have known Luke was the one saving me in the first place. The threat was Beau Karrow. I just prayed I’d get the chance to make him understand.
For now, all I could do was wait. When they led me to his bedside in the I.C.U., it felt like my own heart had stopped beating. Grandpa was stable for now; they’d managed to fix the blockage to his arteries with a stent. But, the damage was done. The doctors weren’t sure if he’d be able to recover. The next twenty-four hours would mean everything. If he survived that long, he might need bypass surgery. So, I did the only thing I could for now. I waited with him. He drifted in and out of consciousness, but never really seemed to know I was there. I held his hand, adjusted his pillows. Answered what questions I could when the nurse’s shift changed.