by Zoe Chant
“What kind of book?”
“Mysteries, action thrillers, that kind of thing. I used to read fantasy epics, too. I think I've read a couple of the books on your shelf – the JD Robb ones, and that Tony Hillerman novel.”
“Just don't spoil the endings on the last couple JD Robb books,” she said. “I brought those with me to read this summer. The Hillerman's an old favorite, though. Most of my books are back at my apartment at school. I'm subletting it while I'm here.”
“I'm glad we like the same books,” he said into her hair. “I had to get rid of most of my collection.”
“Hopefully you can check out mine soon.” She closed her eyes. His hand moved to her hip. His breath tickled the back of her neck, stirring her curls. “I've been a total book worm since I was a little kid. The kids on the playground would make fun of me for being fat, so I'd go hide on the bench next to the teacher and read at recess.”
“That's horrible,” Joshua said, startled. “How old were you?”
“Oh, it was just kid stuff.” She'd cried a lot of tears over it at the time, but it was silly to be worked up over it years later. “You know how cruel they are to ugly girls.”
“You're beautiful,” he said. He hugged her against him. “Anna, don't repeat those things to yourself.”
“Is that you talking or the metaphysical wolf bond?” she asked with a self-deprecating laugh. “It's over now, Joshua.”
“Fine. But I really do think you're beautiful,” he said. “And it's not just that you're my mate. I want to pick you up out of this bed, put you against the wall, and show you how beautiful I think you are. And soon, I will.”
She beamed into the darkness and shivered a little. Maybe she'd found a good one after all. “Okay, I'm going to hold you to that.”
“Deal.” He drew back for a moment, and then kissed her hair at the top of her head.
“Deal,” she agreed, snuggling into his chest again.
When she went back to sleep, she didn't have nightmares. Instead, she dreamed of walking through the forest and picking flowers to stuff them into her backpack and pockets. She sang the songs her mother taught her when she was a little girl. She knew she was being followed. Eyes trailed her through the forest and she sometimes heard a canine bark or whine. Still, she didn't feel uneasy or nervous. She knew the wolf was watching out for her in the forest. She was safe.
Anna woke up cradled in Joshua's arms. She had twisted in her sleep to face him. Her head was resting against his shoulder and his breathing blew her hair into her face.
She moved her head away with a smile. The movement must have disturbed him; he mumbled and shifted to tangle his legs with hers.
Even closer to his body, she noticed something else. He was definitely, well, excited to be there.
Probably just morning wood. Still, she decided to tease him about it when he woke up. She remembered what he'd said last night with a flush, and wondered whether he would really follow through on that promise.
Did she want him to? Or should she get up in the morning, give him one of her spare backpacks and supplies, and bid him goodbye? There was danger. That danger might be made worse if he stayed and attached her permanently to his world.
She could never just abandon someone in that kind of danger, could she? Or was she just making excuses because she wanted him?
Did she want the permanence of that decision?
She searched herself and found that all doubt had gone in the night, while she slept in his arms. She wanted him, and she wanted him to stay. He was perfect, and in the little ways she'd wondered about too. Here was a man who was attracted to her instead of looking past her body, a man who loved her cooking, a man who liked the same books as her. She hoped he would even get along with her little brother.
She didn't want to reject him for his past. She wouldn't have pushed away her family members for the things they'd seen and done. He was family already, her mate. As good as a spouse.
“Anna?” Joshua asked, snuggling closer into her.
“Hey.” She turned back to look at him. “Morning.”
“Morning.” His eyes fluttered open and he smiled back lazily. The gold in his eyes flashed and reflected the sunlight. “What are you thinking?”
“I'm thinking that I want you to stay,” Anna said.
His hand came up and cupped her hip, stroking her skin. She settled her own on top of it. She felt the fine bones of his hand, and as she tangled her fingers in his, the calluses on his skin.
“Good,” he said firmly. “Because I want to stay.”
Then he kissed her.
She closed her eyes and pressed deeply into his body as she opened her mouth to him. He swept into her passionately. His hand tight on her hip made a steady counterpoint to the kiss.
They separated finally. Anna was breathing hard.
Joshua grinned. “So do I have your answer?” he asked.
“I think so. Why am I so sure? I feel like you're already family, like I already know you'll be here forever.”
“The bond.” Joshua propped himself up on his elbows and frowned. “I think it might be starting to connect already.”
“That fast?” Anna asked, wide eyed.
Joshua shook his head. “I really don't know much about this. I've heard it usually takes longer. I guess Stephen might have wanted us to think it was impossible to mate before he noticed us together.”
“So they're already going to know, if they see me?” Anna asked.
“Looks like it,” Joshua said.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“I don't think so.”
She knew the terror would be back when she stopped to think about this, but she didn't have to stop and think yet. She wanted to hold it back as long as she could. “Then there's nothing we can do. For now, do you still want to put me up against the wall?” she asked.
Joshua leaned forward to kiss her again, hard. She sunk into the kiss. “I think I'd rather stay in bed,” he growled into her ear, and moved on top of her.
She stared up at him, happy but a little intimidated by his looks. He had slept in his boxers and nothing else. She loved the way the light played across the tight muscles in his chest and stomach. She brought her eyes up to his face. He was staring back at her with an intense hunger she almost couldn't believe.
“What do you see when you look at me?” Anna asked.
“I see you.” He reached down to push up her night dress.
“What do I look like?”
“You look like a beautiful, incredibly fucking sexy woman lying in bed, in almost nothing. And she's staring at me like she wants me to tear her panties off. It's a real turn on.” He pushed the dress up to her breasts, then pulled one thumb under her panties. “Can I tear them off?”
There was a compliment. She was sure her face was completely flushed right now. “Can you do it without pinching me?”
“Yeah.” Joshua stroked his fingers over the thin cloth between her legs, making her shiver. He found the seam in the center, grabbed, and pulled.
She tensed at the sound of the ripping fabric. The cloth came away cleanly. Joshua stroked a finger between her lower lips. Anna clenched her hands on the sheets. She wasn't sure when she had grabbed them.
“Good?” He petted up to her clit and circled it. She shivered and moaned, unable to answer for a moment, before nodding hard.
“Good,” he repeated, in a tone so pleased with himself she wasn't sure whether she wanted to yell “Fuck me!” or burst out laughing.
She settled with the hopefully more dignified, “You haven't finished tearing my panties off.”
“Oh, haven't I?” he asked. With two short rips, Anna's panties were reduced to two thin triangles of fabric, which he dropped off the bed. “Sit up so I can take your dress off?”
“Just don't rip that up, too.” She shifted up and started to take it off herself.
He stopped her with his hands on her arms. Then he lifted it up, tossing it o
ver the bed as well. “I wanted to do that,” he said happily, and pushed her back down.
His lips were at her mouth, then her neck, then her breasts. Anna lay back and let him elicit moans and whimpers. One of his hands gripped at her hair while the other found the place between her legs again.
It was hard to think with his fingers pushing inside her, stroking her so deep that she cried out and pressed her heels hard into his back. Eventually she got the words to say, “Don't you want anything for yourself?”
“Do you have condoms?” he asked.
She closed her eyes to concentrate. “Second drawer on the bedside table.”
“Then I'll get them when I think you're good and wet,” he said, and did something with his hand that cleared all coherent thought from Anna's mind. She bucked her hips and whined, content to let him lead.
She came, grinding against his hand, eyes shut furiously hard. When she was done shaking she lay flat on the bed, feeling limp and languid. Her eyes opened to watch Joshua wipe his hand off on the sheets, then go to retrieve the condom.
He took his boxers off then and kicked them aside on the floor. He was big. She bit her lip, but curled her toes in anticipation. She wanted to feel all of that girth inside of her. Would it feel as good as it looked, or would it hurt? She was glad he took the time to make sure she was ready.
“Ready?” he asked after rolling the condom on, sitting back down on the bed.
“What position do you want me in?” she asked, then flushed at her own forwardness.
“Well. I could fulfill that promise,” he said, leaning down to cradle in her arms.
“Let me get up,” she said, then started when instead he lifted her with one arm around her shoulders and one against her thighs.
He grinned at her. “I told you I'd pick you up from the bed, didn't I?”
Joshua set her on her feet by the wall. He didn't give her a chance to reply, instead kissing her hard again as he lifted her hips to brace her against it.
It felt amazing to be supported by his strength. Anna grabbed his upper arms and rolled her hips back to give him room to thrust, finally, inside her.
Oh, god, that felt good. She ground against him until he shifted closer. One of his hands pulled at her thigh. She let him lift it, then pulled up the other to wrap them around his waist, delighting in his ability to hold her up despite her size. Maybe she really wasn't too big for him.
She squirmed and whimpered. He stretched her as he mouthed and nipped at her neck. She felt a flash of wonderful adrenaline at his teeth so close to her throat, then confusion – it wasn't a very human thought, was it?
The whole line of thought washed away when he kissed her again, thrusting into her with a new vigor. She brought her hands up to grip at the back of his head and let all conscious thought go.
They finished there, against the wall. Joshua came first, but stayed inside her, rocking his hand against her clit, until she came a second time. Finally, with them both sated, they collapsed back into the bed.
Her mind had gone slow and hazy with the sex. As she woke again, she became aware of something new. The sense that he would always be there had solidified to a sense that he was there now. There was a presence tight against the back of her mind.
She felt at it and sensed an answering awareness.
Hi, Joshua said.
Anna giggled, suddenly giddy. Hi, yourself, she said, turning to grin at him.
“Did you just talk to me in my head?” she asked.
“Did you just answer?” he replied.
Chapter Six
Joshua never really understood what the mating bond was like from the outside, but now –
He could feel Anna with him, no matter where he went. Not just her presence, but her emotions, what she was doing, even a vague sense of what direction she was in.
After they ate, Anna showered to get as much of his scent off her as possible at his suggestion. The bond might be detectable, but everything he'd heard suggested you had to be pretty close to notice that. There was no point in being risky.
Then she went out of the cabin so they could test distance. The sense of direction and presence stayed there as far as she could go on foot in a reasonable amount of time, up to a few miles away. The speech faded out around one mile.
The strategic uses were obvious to Joshua – and why it was so important to Stephen to avoid mates working together. It would be almost effortless to plot against him with a private line of communication like that. Stephen had searched all of their belongings regularly, and didn't allow unsupervised use of the phone or any internet.
A few of Joshua's packmates used pay phones on jobs, where it was by necessity harder to keep track of them at all times. As time went on, though, it was getting harder and harder to find somewhere with a payphone.
He pushed those thoughts back. He wasn't going back to the pack, so it wouldn't matter. He was out of there, and he just might survive the trip, too.
He sat back in his chair to watch Anna. She was sorting through the notebooks on her desk. Her dark hair gleamed in the light. He watched her curvy body moving under her T-shirt and jeans with appreciation.
Joshua waited until she finished filing paper and stacking her notebooks, then got up to join her at the desk. “Hey,” he murmured into her ear. He caught her waist with both hands and buried his nose in her hair.
“Hey, yourself,” she said with a laugh. He could feel her surprised pleasure. In his mind, she was glowing with happiness. He kissed the back of her neck in appreciation. Then he kissed lower, near the edge of her T-shirt, and bit lightly.
Anna shivered under him. He felt the way his touch made her cheeks flush and her body tighten. It was very flattering to see how she reacted to him – and it doubled his pleasure. He wondered what it would be like to bury himself inside her and feel both their orgasms through the bond.
“Are you done?” he asked.
“Mm, no, but I could take a break,” she said.
“Good.” He nosed her hair aside so he could kiss her jawline from behind. She straightened, pushing her back into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her happily. His hands found their way under her shirt. He stroked over her bra with his thumb and found a nipple in the plentiful flesh.
She tensed and laughed with pleasure. It was a beautiful, rich sound.
“You are so gorgeous, Anna,” he breathed. She laughed again. He frowned, feeling her disbelief. “You really are,” he said firmly, and resolved to show her. It might take a while to make her believe it. He would have to show her a lot of times.
He pulled Anna's shirt up and then unfastened her bra. It was a pretty thing, made of purple silk with flowers embroidered on it. Not anywhere near as pretty as its owner, though. He kissed her back beneath where the strap had been, then nuzzled the red marks it had left. She shivered. Joshua felt how tender the flesh was where the straps cut into her skin. He licked across the marks on her back, then up over her shoulder. Joshua heard the bra hit the floor after she slipped her arms out of the straps.
“You could go naked,” he teased. “No more red marks on my beautiful mate.” He loved the way embarrassed pleasure flooded her mind when he called her beautiful.
“Oh!” she groaned. “No, I don’t think so. Not with breasts this size. They jiggle too much.”
He grinned at the corresponding mental images. “Doesn’t sound so bad.”
Anna swatted at his arm with a laugh. “You only think that because you don’t know what it feels like.”
“You could show me?” he said brightly.
She turned in his arms and smiled. “Maybe later. Now it’s your turn to show off. Shirt on the floor. I want to see you.”
He could feel her anticipation. He took his shirt off quickly, then let his jeans hit the floor. The admiration he felt from her made him want to preen, or maybe go find an excuse to lift something heavy over his head. But there were better uses for his time.
“And way better use
s for your body,” Anna said. She kissed him on the lips.
Joshua groaned against her. I'm glad you think so, he thought.
Hey, we can talk while we kiss. Great use for the bond, she answered him.
They took a moment to explore that pleasure, but eventually they had to break off for a moment to breathe.
He wondered again what sex would feel like now that they were bonded. Anna laughed under him, and he realized she was wondering the same thing.
He backed off slightly to see her blush. “Let's find out,” she said.
They half fell across the couch in a tangle of limbs. Joshua kissed down Anna's collar bone and unfastened her pants. Unfortunately, then he had to get up so she could kick them off.
She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back down. “Hurry up,” she said.
“Impatient?” he asked, grinning.
His arousal doubled in a flood of emotion from the bond. He bent over her, panting. “Good reason to be,” he said, and kissed her again.
“Good, you felt that,” Anna said.
She gasped when Joshua's hand found its way between her legs. She pulled her knees up to give him better access. They rearranged themselves on the couch, with Anna leaning against the cushions, legs spread wide. Joshua knelt between her legs. He put one hand on her head, half to support her and half for an excuse to feel her lush hair.
He played his fingers across her labia and rubbed at her clit. Then he pressed harder when Anna's hips bucked up. He tried to remember what sent the strongest pulses across his mind. If everything went well – and God, he hoped everything would go well – he would have a long time to learn what she liked.
For now, her urgency infected him. She was very wet, and he didn't need to spend more time getting ready. “Let me get a condom,” he said, reluctantly getting up.