by Wilde, Kati
On a shuddering breath, she bows her head and pinches the bridge of her nose as if to stop herself from crying again. “I’m not afraid of your fangs,” she whispers.
“I know, baby,” I say softly. “You’re afraid of yours.”
Sam couldn’t have heard her, but after my response, she must have realized Alicia said something to me. “Okay, and now I feel gross for airing your private shit, so I won’t say any more. Except this, Ranger Ranger. Kids are fucking cruel. And they pulled some Carrie shit on her—”
“Oh god.” While her sister’s still talking, a laugh shakes through Alicia and she tilts her head back again. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“—and all she ever wanted was for someone to look at her as if she was amazing. As if there was nothing in the world they wanted more than her. So the only reason I’m telling you this is because you look at her like that. Like she finally deserves. But, yeah. It might take a while for her to trust it.”
All right, then. I glance at Brandon. “You got this covered?” That’s the only downside to jumping naked off a balcony—a wallet doesn’t come along with you. “I’m taking my woman upstairs again. You might not see us again for a couple of days.”
“I’ll keep myself busy. Maybe I’ll try to find out what’s at the other end of that email address.” He glances hopefully to Samantha as I slide out of the booth. “If they answer, are you gonna tag along with me, make sure they don’t steal my pelt?”
“I’ve got work.”
“We’ll wait for your day off. Until then, check out this cute shit.”
As I head outside, Brandon’s got her looking at some chunky puppies—and Alicia’s waiting for me about two steps past the door. Her hurt’s eased up some, though it’s not gone. But now arousal and anticipation filter through her scent, too.
She bites her lip, the green of her eyes glowing like an aurora. “So you’re taking your woman upstairs?”
In a minute. First I catch her beautiful face in my hands, kiss her until she’s clinging to me, her body soft and hot against mine. But I wasn’t lying to her beast last night. I need more from Alicia than just heat and hunger. And she needs more than that from me—but I’m guessing sex is easier for Alicia to deal with right now than everything else I laid on her.
And, shit. I want sex, too. We get upstairs, I’m going to start fucking that sweet little pussy and it’ll be a hell of a long time before I stop. I don’t want her thinking for a second that’s all I’m here for, though. I’m here for her. The woman who’s knotted me up for a year. And I’ve been waiting my whole goddamn life for a woman who’ll be everything to me that Alicia is.
And now that I’ve found her, I’m never letting her go.
I lift my head, rubbing my thumb over her full bottom lip, feeling her hot breath shudder over my skin. “Let me tell you, Alicia—it’s not just a new job that I showed up with. I also came with every intention of putting my ring on your finger by the end of this summer.” Her eyes widen, then she goes utterly still as I press my thumb between her lips, teasing the edge of her teeth. “And those fangs you’ve got don’t change a damn thing. All they do is make it easier to explain what I am. You think I wasn’t terrified you’d run away as fast as you could when I confessed to being a werewolf?”
Her expression softens. “I still would have wanted you. No matter what.”
“You think it’s any different for me?” My gaze falls to her lips. “You saw me with a muzzle and fangs and still kissed me again. Do you think I won’t kiss you now? Do you think that seeing you sprout fur and claws is going to keep me from touching you? Do you think having a beast is going to stop me from getting inside you?”
Her eyes squeeze shut. “It’s not how I look. Not just that. It’s what I am.”
“You’re not a monster, baby. And after you tame your beast, you’ll see it doesn’t matter, anyway. When that chain appears around my neck, all it needs is me accepting you and loving you—and I already do,” I tell her gruffly and watch her eyes fly open again, watch them fill with wonder. “So you’ve just got to fall for me.”
Her gaze brightens with tears. A rasp thickens her voice. “But…that’s how I know taming can’t really be as simple as you say. Because I already have fallen for you.”
In love with me. Sheer joy grips my throat and I don’t know how my heart doesn’t swell out of my chest. Maybe because of those tears.
Gently I brush my mouth over hers. “Have you?”
Her breath shudders and she nods, her lips trembling. “I didn’t mean to. I told myself that I wouldn’t. But that was probably wishful thinking on my part. If I didn’t love you before you showed up here, then I was right on the edge of it. And you sealed the deal simply by being you.”
I’m not sorry for that. But there’s no golden chain around my neck. So she might love me, but Alicia and her beast must not be completely sure of me. She’s still wary, still holding back.
All right, then. She has doubts. So I’ll start tearing them down.
Alicia lets out a shriek when I abruptly haul her up, tossing her over my shoulder with her pretty little butt in the air and her head hanging down my back. Then a laugh shakes through her and she slaps my ass. “I can walk!”
“I know you can.” I start off down the block.
“Hey, wait. The hotel’s entrance is that way.”
“I know it.” And my cock’s aching for me to take her upstairs but this is more important.
“Then where are we going?”
“Not far.”
It’s only just after seven on a Sunday morning, in a small town with no private residences on this section of the main street. There’s not a car in sight on the road, no one on the sidewalks. Just me, carrying my entire future.
So I’ll give her a look at that future. The ranger station sits only a block down from the hotel, across the street from the city library. Behind the station, a small woodland park with walking trails for the public stretches south for about two hundred yards. While killing time yesterday, I made my way over here, took a look around.
I strike down one of the trails and the scent of Alicia’s arousal blooms into the air, as if an erotic fantasy just rolled through her head. Or maybe she’s just reacting to the way I’m carrying her and holding her, because fuck knows that I don’t have to fantasize about her before getting hard. Just a touch does it. A single look. And Christ, her pussy smells so damn sweet. So hot and wet. But although my dick’s as stiff as a railroad spike, I also notice she’s not acting on whatever fantasy she had. Not grabbing my ass, not teasing me with her saucy little tongue. Maybe because we’re outside.
But I didn’t bring her out here to fuck. Instead I carry her to the center of the park, where a picnic table sits beside a pond. A wooden bridge arches over a narrow stream feeding into the pond and offers a view through the trees of the district ranger’s residence.
In the middle of the bridge, I set her down. I kiss her briefly before turning her to face the house, pulling her back against my chest.
“So you like it—and wouldn’t mind living there?”
She laughs. “Sam wasn’t subtle, was she?”
No. But I’m not subtle, either. “I don’t care where we live,” I tell her bluntly. “All that matters is that you’re with me.”
Alicia gives a shuddering sigh and leans her head back against my shoulder, her fingertips absently caressing the forearm I’ve wrapped around her waist. “Is Ranger Farley still living there now?”
One day, when she’s more used to being a werewolf, she won’t need to ask. “Until the end of the month. I told him if he wanted to stay, I’d find another place. But he’s moving back to California to be close to his kids. You should be able hear him.”
Turning her head slightly, she holds her breath. After a moment she whispers, “He’s humming…and it sounds like he’s making breakfast?”
“He is.” I hold her tighter. “It won’t be long until you hear me humming in that ki
tchen, instead.”
A smile fills her voice. “Do you hum while you cook?”
“When I’m married to you, I’ll wake up singing every day.”
Her laugh is a delicate little snort. “Sure you will.”
“Yeah, probably not. I’ll wake you up by eating your pussy until you’re soft and wet, then make you come on my cock.” And she likes that idea as much as I do, because her body tenses and her weight shifts as if she’s squeezing her thighs together to ease the needy ache between them. Fuck, I need to get back to that hotel, need to get into her. But not yet. “And that would be enough for me, baby. Just waking up with you every morning, making a life with you in this town, then falling asleep with you in my arms. If you want kids, that sounds damn good, too. We’d play with them in that yard there, read a bedtime story to them every night, teach them to be as fucking wonderful as you are.”
She goes utterly still against me. “I can’t have kids,” she says raggedly.
“No problem. If you want them, there’s always adoption—”
“That’s not what I mean.” There’s so much pain in her voice it’s making my chest hurt. “I could. Physically. But…how could I even risk it?”
“You worried about them being cursed? Because they wouldn’t be. They’d be born, like me.”
“But I am cursed. What if I hurt them? What if the beast takes over and…” She trails off as if she can’t even say it aloud, just shakes her head in denial of whatever she’s imagining.
“You won’t. And after your beast is tamed—”
“What if it never is?”
“It will be.” Because I’m going to fight every doubt she has until she’s sure of me. Until she’s sure of us. “But even if not, it won’t matter. You don’t go around hurting people—and you’d sure as hell never hurt anyone you love. Your beast would protect them, instead.”
Violently she shakes her head. “No—”
“Yes. You’d never hurt our children—or any other child. Just like you’d never hurt me.”
“But I did hurt you!” she cries out. “I attacked you and bit you! Your blood was all over the place!”
“Is that what’s worrying you?” It was hardly any blood. But to her, maybe it seemed like a lot. And the real issue is that she doesn’t remember what happened at all. “You didn’t attack me, baby.”
“I bit you.”
“You did. But it was more like…a love bite.”
She stiffens. “A what?”
Is that jealousy I’m hearing? Grinning, I catch her hair in my hand and gently tilt her head, exposing the side of her neck. Bending my mouth to her ear, I tell her in a low voice, “You made sure I knew who I belong to. You sank your fangs into me like I sank my cock into you.”
She shivers when I kiss the tender skin just below her jawline, her arousal perfuming the air. “But it must have hurt.”
“It did.” Not going to lie to her. “Though I was feeling too good to notice. Kind of like this.”
I set my teeth against the side of her throat, letting her feel my fangs. Not piercing skin, just teasing.
The sexiest little sound escapes her and she squirms back against me, breathlessly saying my name. “Ranger.”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Let me see.”
Me. With fangs and claws. I ease up on my hold and she turns within the circle of my arm, my hard cock pressing into her belly. Her eyes are alight—not glowing, just bright—with curiosity as she touches the corner of my mouth.
Her full lips curve with amusement. “Like a vampire.”
Hell no. “Don’t even start.”
She giggles, then her gaze rises to mine. “Your eyes have sparks in them.”
“Sometimes, yeah. When I’m on the edge.” On the edge of transforming—or simply at the edge of my control.
“When you let your beast come through?”
I shake my head. “I don’t have a beast. I’m just me, no matter what form I’m wearing. But I’m not human, either. More like something in between.”
Her eyebrows knit into a frown. “I don’t really know what that means.”
And I don’t know how to explain it. “You’ll understand soon enough.”
A sad smile tilts her mouth. “When my beast is tamed?”
“Yeah.”
Her gaze searches mine for another moment, then her fingertips slide down over my beard to the side of my neck—the spot where she bit me. “You heal quickly, at least. I can’t even see a mark now.”
“It’s still there. Because you put your mark on me a long time ago, Alicia Simmons. Long before you got your teeth into me.”
A pleased blush tinges her cheeks. “And it really felt good?”
“Yeah, baby. It did.”
Arousal and curiosity return to her gaze, and her eyes are brighter now, truly glowing green as she focuses on my neck. “Lift me up,” she says huskily.
Oh fuck. I’ve got a damn good idea of what this is—she’s still thinking that she and her beast are separate, and Alicia wants her mark there, instead. And it’s about the hottest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen.
But Alicia doesn’t need me to raise her up. And I don’t think she understands yet how strong she is. “You want to claim me, you lift yourself up here.”
Her brow furrows slightly. Then determination lights her eyes and she smooths her hands up over my chest and shoulders, before linking her fingers behind my neck.
Ah, shit. The look on her face when she realizes how easy it is to pull herself up. Sheer wonder. Sheer delight. And I love her so damn much.
When we’re face to face, she seems to forget all about biting me. Laughing with her lips against mine, she kisses me, her happiness bubbling through every taste of my mouth that she takes. Now that she’s up here, I keep her close, bracing my arm under her ass and filling myself with the flavor of her, the scent of her.
Then she pulls back slightly, her hungry gaze holding mine, her fingertips tracing down my throat. “Are we heading back to the hotel next?”
“Yeah.” Because I can’t control this need much longer. I’ve shown her our future. Now we’ll start it. “So you like the house?”
Silently she nods. Then she just fucking turns me inside out when she whispers, “But I don’t care where we live. As long as I’m with you.”
The same thing I said to her. So she’ll try to believe in what I’m telling her about me and our kids being safe, and about her being different from the monster who attacked her. She’ll try to believe in me loving her and that being enough to tame her beast.
She’ll give me the chance. And that’s all I need.
I lean in to kiss her again but she angles her head to get at my throat, and I feel a gentle nip. Truly a love bite. Not hurting, not breaking skin, not even hard enough to bruise. Just my woman, staking a sweet claim—and ripping my soul apart. Shredding me open to unleash the ravenous need I’ve been holding back. Because I haven’t staked my claim yet. I had her on my cock. But she didn’t know I was staying. She didn’t know I was more than a man. She didn’t know she was mine.
Now I won’t leave any fucking doubt.
A second after she swipes her tongue over my neck, as if soothing that tiny nip, I’ve got her facedown over the end of the picnic table. With a yank, I drag her shorts and panties down to her ankles. She gives a strangled gasp when I take a long lick through her pussy on the way back up, groaning at the sweet taste, at how wet she is, at the evidence of how much she needs me, too.
“Biting me soaked you up good, didn’t it?” I growl, slicking the head of my erection through those drenched folds until the blunt tip lodges right into the quivering well of her entrance. “And pushed me right over that fucking edge.”
With a hard thrust, I shove into her—the few inches that I can get in easy. Fuck. She’s so tight. So goddamn hot. Alicia cries out, arching her back, pushing her hips up. Begging for more. Grunting with each rough stroke, I work deeper into that scalding wet
ness, gripping the nape of her neck and keeping her pinned to the tabletop when she tries to rise up onto her elbows.
“Ranger! Oh my god.” Her eyes roll back, her soft mouth going slack as I bottom out, her slick passage sucking and pulling the length of my shaft. “It’s so good,” she chants. “So good, so good.”
Too fucking good. Lust knots up everything inside me, holds me in a grip as tight as her cunt. Her pleasured cry echoes through the trees when I pump my thick inches deep into her again.
“You’d best stay quiet.” Every word is snarled as I brace my hand beside her shoulder and buck into her, hard and fast, her moans rising with every slap of my hips against her round ass. “Unless you want someone to come looking to see what all this noise is. Unless you want them to know that you got me so fucking hot, I couldn’t wait one goddamn minute to get you back to our room and had to mount you right here.”
“Oh god, Ranger.” Her cunt clenches around my cock and she writhes back against me, so wet that each smack of our flesh is getting louder and sharper, each hard fuck into her slippery channel smoother and faster. “Please.”
“‘Please’ what? You want me to start bellowing so someone comes to see how the good little Miss Simmons drives me so goddamn wild that I had to bend her over right fucking here. Had to stretch her pussy with my dick right fucking here.” Fisting my hand in her hair, I pull her head back, rasp into her ear, “Had to fill her with my cum, right fucking here. Is that what you want, baby? You want people to see how I’ve got no choice but to fuck you until your cunt sucks me dry and I’ve emptied all this need up inside you?”
Her inner muscles tighten up on me again. She’s making gasping little sobs now, eyes blind with pleasure. Growling with every thrust, I lean in harder.
“But I’d tear out their eyes before letting anyone see. Just like I almost fucking did last night. You walked into the restaurant in that little dress and every man in the place got hard, looking at you. I could smell it. Walking to your side was like walking through a filthy swamp filled with horny bastards dreaming of spreading your thighs and getting a taste of you. Did you like that, too? Knowing I’d have torn apart anyone who tried to touch you? Anyone who tried to get in the way of my having you?”