Winter's Bite (The Crimson Winter Reverse Harem Series Book 2)

by Lindsey R. Loucks

  "Okay, so it works on vultures," Shay said. "Will it work on wolves?"

  "Only one way to find out." As Grady took the cages outside, I stoppered the poison jar. "We find Faust, and we make him eat a thousand poisoned arrows."

  The jar vanished from my hands, plucked free before I could process it was gone.

  “I want your honest word, Aika,” Shay said, her voice a low warning. “You have to swear you and your wolves won’t hurt my husband at all. I know how to make the poison, too, now. If anything happens to him that looks like you’re doing… Where I grew up, it was eye for an eye, blood for blood. You can take that exactly as it’s meant to be.”

  A threat against my life. She had every right, but Lager had shot Baba and burned down my home. Didn’t I have every right too? If he found me again, he would end me, and I couldn’t let that happen. Yet she had a point. I couldn’t have made the poison more powerful without her. I had to be smart about this, not just follow my rage blindly. Besides, the idea I’d had when we arrived had just bloomed.

  “Fine.” I held out my hand to make it official, and to get the poison back. “You have my honest word.”

  Most of us crashed hard after our full night, but not me. I stayed in the kitchen to pace and to run my fingers over the poison jar on the table. We still didn’t know if it worked on wolves, but we knew it was powerful. Now we just needed a wolf to experiment on, and I was sure some worth killing were coming, and soon.

  “I suppose you’re happy,” Grady said from behind me.

  I turned. “I am. Aren’t you?”

  “You weren’t serious about not killing Lager,” he whispered, coming closer, “were you?”

  “I gave Shay my word.”

  “You can’t be serious. After everything he did.” He grabbed my elbow and gave it a shake. “He burned down your home, sold Jade and Lee.”

  I wrenched away from him with a snarl. “I know exactly what he did, Grady. No need to remind me.”

  “You’re not being smart about this.”

  Fury lit my unseen world in red. “Fuck you.”

  I stormed out of there, needing to unleash on him, but not wanting to shout and wake everyone. But the bastard followed me, straight into my room and shut the door behind him.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  “I was about to ask the same thing. Are you going to make a deal with someone else and spare Faust too?”

  My jaw dropped to my knees. “How could you say that? How could you think that? What’s between Lager and me is exactly that—between Lager and me. I don’t remember asking your opinion.”

  “And what’s between Faust,” he fumed, “is between him and us. Not you.”

  “I know, I know,” I spat, tears rising. “Because you don’t need me.”

  How could he say this? Why was he like this?

  “Please go,” I choked out.

  With a snarl, he turned and slammed the door shut behind him.

  "You do need me,” I called after him, my heart fracturing. "And I need you too. You, Grady. I need you."

  The door crashed inward, and I yelped as I leaped back.

  “What the hel—”

  “Humans don’t have wolf harems.” He breathed hard, and I realized I was too. “Is that what you want, Aika? To be fucked by multiple wolf shifters?”

  “It’s more complicated than just fucking, but…” I jerked my head in a nod.

  He closed the door behind him, and the energy radiating off of him scrambled my senses. He was a mess, the buzz of his thoughts utter chaos, and I guessed this little discussion of ours had nothing to do with Faust or Lager.

  Now more than ever, he was an animal wrapped in hard muscle and skin. And he was hungry. He stalked toward me, and the closer he drew, the more my heart beat itself into a frenzy. It pounded to every corner of my body and struck like lightning underneath my skin. The second he touched my hip, I moaned, my whole body anticipating him. He swept his lips over mine roughly as he shoved me toward the bed, pressing with his hips against mine.

  I could feel him, so hard and rigid like he'd been in the barn loft on top of me, and he ground up against me so, so nice. With a hungry groan, he spread me out on the bed beneath him. Almost his full weight lay atop me, but I welcomed it, needing more of him and his heat. As he kissed down the column of my neck, he growled low when my sweater wouldn't give more access, and with a yank, he ripped it. I gasped. Buttons rolled across the floor. My breasts popped free of the fabric and met the chilly air, my nipples hardening instantly. He lowered his head, took one into his mouth, and sucked on it. I moaned and squirmed beneath him, my hips riding his thrusts.

  "God, you feel…" Breathing hard, he squeezed one nipple between his knuckles while his other hand tugged at my pants. “Fucking amazing.”

  He pulled back some, his gaze roaming over my almost naked body and coiling the tension between us even tighter. It burned me to cinders like his touch. It triggered a wild hum in my blood I never wanted to tame.

  His uneven breaths feathered my chest as he trailed upward to my lips. "I heard you with Archer. Thin walls, remember? I heard you come. That's the only thing I was focused on."

  "Did you picture me?" I asked breathlessly.

  "What do you think?" He lowered his hand to my slamming heartbeat and brushed his lips against my cheek. "It was right that he was your first since you loved him first."

  "And what about now?” I asked, stroking his jaw. “What's right now?"

  "Right now,”—he kissed me again, teasing my mouth open with his tongue with deep, sensuous strokes—"I need to taste you."

  That hadn't been what I was asking, and he knew it. Did he think this was right? Did he know I'd loved him second even though I'd tried not to? Even though he'd made it impossible?

  Nodding, I shuddered, the pulsing ache between my legs so hard to ignore. He climbed down my body, pressing kisses to my stomach, and slid his wide shoulders between my thighs. Still kissing, still licking down, down…

  My whole body jerked at the first swipe of his tongue where I needed him the most, and then I melted into him with an unsteady moan.

  I quivered against him, panted into his next kiss and his next, but all I could think was more. My hips rolled up to meet his mouth. My hands twined at the back of his head, and everything else faded to the background while he brought me closer, closer to flying yet again.

  And when I did, I cried out his name, forgetting for a moment about thin walls and everything beyond them. Grady kissed me through it, and then kept going, never slowing. His tongue flicked and danced, pushing me higher when I still hadn't come all the way down.

  "Grady…"

  He growled inside of me, and the vibration spiraled me out of control. I gripped his hair tighter to try to anchor myself, but I was too far gone, lost somewhere with my head in the clouds.

  No, not lost. Grady would never let me be lost. He’d push me and push me beyond my limits but always catch me.

  Slowly, I came back to myself, just as he was kissing his way up my chest.

  When he brushed his lips against mine again, he drove himself deep inside of me with one thrust. I gasped, loving how full he made me feel. Like Archer, but at a different pace as he began to grind against me slowly as if we had all the time in the world. With him, I felt like I did. It seemed like all he wanted to do was kiss and touch every inch of me. No complaints here.

  His tongue swept open my mouth, and I tasted myself on him, sweet and a little tangy. He kissed me deeper, and I drank him in, opened myself wider to him with a moan. I'd had no idea how good sex could feel with two different men. Both had captured my heart and my body, and I craved more. My lower stomach fluttered as I smoothed my hands down his back and squeezed to pull him closer, closer. He growled and tucked his hand under my ass, forcing my hips up at a slightly different angle.

  My eyes popped open wide, and I sucked in a breath. "Oh." This new angle… My whole body tingled as pleasure rip
pled up my thighs, down my stomach, building, climbing higher than the clouds.

  He chuckled huskily. "Hang on."

  I thought he meant to him, but no. In a blink, he had me flipped around and on my knees, and then he entered me from the back. Like a wolf. Like the wild he was. I gripped the blankets tightly as his hands dug into my hips, his pace now relentless. The force of him made me think he felt like a wild too. Like with Archer, I’d definitely be marked afterward.

  The new angle worked from this position, too, even better than before, and soon, my nerves began to quake. Then with a loud, shuddery cry, I went into freefall, and like always, Grady caught me. He wrapped his arms around my middle as I came apart and followed me over with one final thrust.

  A guttural, raspy growl vibrated from his chest into my back as he spilled inside of me, his hard muscles twitching. For a moment, we stayed like that, his heart slamming into my back and mine punching his hand splayed on my chest. Then he rolled flat and crushed me to him while we caught our breaths.

  After several minutes of comfortable silence, he brushed the hair off my face. "That was a lie when I told you I didn't need you."

  "I gathered that when you barged back in here and kissed me senseless," I murmured, lazily tracing his carved chest.

  "No, not just physically.” He pulled the blankets up around my shoulders. “For two years, it's just been Archer, Sasha, and me. That would've continued if it wasn’t for you."

  "You would've found Thomas eventually."

  "That's not what I'm saying. We all needed you, Aika. You challenged us, made us see things the way you do, and you know what I mean by that." He tipped my chin up and kissed me, his tongue skimming my lips and jolting a fresh wave of need through my bruised, joyously sore body. "No joke."

  I’d have to remember that after-sex Grady spoke exactly what he was feeling with no grunts or snarls. Good to know.

  I adjusted my head back against his chest and sighed into his neck. "We're on the same side now. We just have to play it smart. Your enemies are my enemies, I promise."

  "Because you're one of us."

  My chest swelled and warmed. I'd never been a part of anything before, let alone a wolf pack I'd fallen head over heels for. It hardly seemed possible—a blind human among wolves—but I didn't know any other way to exist now. It would be like trying to find another way to breathe.

  He sighed, and my head dipped with him. "I… I resisted at first because I didn't think you could handle all our problems, and then I resisted because I wasn't so sure I could keep resisting you."

  "Why did you think you had to?"

  "You'd already fallen in love with Archer. Humans don't typically have harems, and…I guess I was afraid you'd reject the idea."

  "Reject you, you mean?"

  "I'm angry." Without unwrapping his arms from me, he waved toward his leg. "I'm broken."

  "And I'm not?" I shook my head and burrowed into him farther. "Why did you rescue me that day in the Crimson Forest after Hellbreath bucked me off? You didn't know me. You could've left me."

  "You were…surrounded, alone, but you refused to give up."

  “I'm stubborn."

  "Painfully so.” He chuckled. “I couldn't let you die, and I'm glad I didn't."

  "I'm glad you didn’t too. Now,” I whispered into his neck, “would you like to hear about how I’m going to get rid of Lager?”

  Chapter 12

  Carved into the three tree trunks that stood as sentinels in front of Shay's cabin were three words each: DEATH TO AIKA.

  I knew exactly who'd carved it there.

  Because I'd told him to do it. Grady. And now, I’d have to lie to lie to Shay and sell it while still keeping my promise to her.

  “They’re coming, Shay,” I said, sweeping into the kitchen with Sasha in my arms so I’d know for sure she believed me.

  She whirled, her striking blue eyes wide. “Who’s coming?”

  “Faust and his men. He knows we’re here. Grab what you can, and we’ll take the covered wagon out.”

  “This is my home.” She shook her head and thinned her lips, determination hardening her pretty face. “I can’t leave here in winter.”

  “Listen to me.” I took her arm and squeezed. “He burns everything to the ground and won’t hesitate even if you’re here. I thought we had more time, but we don’t. I’m sorry, but we have to go. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

  She looked at me then as if seeing me for the first time. I’d ruined her life here. I’d tried to turn her against her husband. Really, I was no better than Lager except for one vital difference—I would do everything in my power to keep her, Gibby, and Ribbons alive.

  “We can go to the neighbors’ half a mile away. Let me pack up a few things.” Tears leaked down her pretty face as she gripped my hand still on her arm.

  If anything, she should hate me, hate that I’d brought my enemies to her home, but she didn’t. I didn’t need Sasha’s eyes to see that.

  While I packed her up some things from the kitchen, Archer entertained Gibby in the living room.

  “How did you do that?” she squealed.

  He laughed. “Magic.”

  “No way. Was there a string tied to the coin or what?”

  “A magician never reveals his secrets,” he said, “but if you wanted to do a similar trick for your mom, all you’d have to do is distract her, just a little, with a huuuuge snap of your fingers on one hand. She’ll be so impressed with that while your other hand is doing something else.”

  “Ohhhhh,” Gibby exclaimed.

  Genius, that Archer. Pure and simple.

  I packed a few extra items, and shortly after, we were off. Bundled in layers and layers of clothing, we followed the rope that led from the cabin to the barn, opposite the direction of the trees and their message so Shay wouldn’t see. Even though the threat wasn't real, it still ran a shiver through my coat deeper than the cold.

  Archer and Grady weren’t with us just yet. Their roles in my plan weren’t finished.

  Before I could climb into the back of the wagon after Shay, Gibby, and Ribbons, Thomas stepped in front of me. “You sure this will work,” he muttered.

  “Not even a little bit,” I admitted through chattering teeth.

  Somehow, he found that acceptable and let me pass.

  The plan was this: Archer would put the dead girl who looked like me from the forest in Shay’s cabin. Grady would set the cabin on fire. With the girl’s body and the message on the trees, Lager, when he finally came home, would think Faust started the fire and ran off with his family. Lager was sure to confront Faust, and when he did, Lager wouldn't be able to explain why I was there at his cabin. Faust would deny burning the cabin, obviously since he didn't do it, and begin to suspect Lager's loyalty if Lager tells him about my “dead body.”

  Thus, I would pit them against each other.

  And make Lager think I was dead, which would make pulling the poison market out from underneath him even easier.

  And make his eventual death completely out of my hands. Lager would be furious about his missing family, and Faust didn’t take kindly to false accusations. Knowing Faust, I could just tell.

  It was either a smart plan or a really dumb plan. Time would tell. It seemed wrong to do this to the dead girl in the woods though. She hadn’t asked to be a part of this war. Shay and Gibby and Ribbons too.

  When this was all over, I wanted Shay to have something better. Whatever she wanted.

  Archer and Grady joined us then, and before we could smell Lager's family's cabin going up in smoke behind us, the eight of us set off. Grady sat in front of the wagon to steer the two horses while the rest of us, and the sleigh, crowded the back. Sturdy wood made up the lower half of the extra-large wagon, and thick animal hides and furs covered the inside and formed an archway of walls and a ceiling. It was a tight squeeze with two large wolf shifters pressed into my sides. Shay peered out a crack between the hides, her mouth pinched, her mitt
ened hands worrying with the folds of her thick coat. Sasha, Gibby, and Ribbons played with a ball that the wagon tossed this way and that. I screwed my eyes shut since Sasha went too wild for the game, and since every bump tossed my stomach into my throat.

  Other than the rough ride, my nerves were fairly calm. I wished I could see Lager's reaction when he saw what was left of his cabin, the message on the tress, and my so-called dead body strategically placed so he wouldn't miss it. He'd be shocked, outraged, confused, and scared to death at what it all meant—a threat on his life or anyone else who associated with me.

  We slowed as we made our way up another large hill, and the wagon creaked and groaned with the effort. Sasha rolled with the ball to my boots, and I picked her up, chuckling softly into her fur.

  "Will it break, Mommy?" Gibby asked, staring at her mom from underneath a large wool cap.

  "No, honey.” Shay smiled. “Your father helped make it. You can trust that it's safe. He'd never let anything bad happen to you."

  I forced a swallow. Shay's Lager and the one I'd met were two different men. I had to remind myself of this again and again, because if I didn't trick him into thinking I was dead, he would kill me. No question. I believed his threats as surely as Gibby believed he'd never harm her.

  The wagon ground to a halt, stopping at a slant so we had to brace our backs against the walls to keep from falling over on each other.

  Through Sasha's eyes, I found the same question on everyone's faces.

  "Why are we stopping?" Shay demanded. "The neighbor's cabin isn't for another quarter mile."

  Archer rapped on the wall that separated us from Grady. "Grady?"

  "Wait here." Thomas opened the back of the wagon, but Grady blocked him from outside and muttered something I couldn’t hear.

  Both their gazes locked on something none of us could see. The silence deafened me.

  "Thomas," I said, borrowing his alpha tone.

  He gazed inside then, his gaze falling on all of us, but Sasha for half a beat longer. It was the first time I’d ever seen him look at her.