Wedding the Wolf: A wolf shifter paranormal romance

by Steffanie Holmes

  He moved to the other nipple, giving it the same attention. While he licked, his fingers danced over my chest, lingering over the fly of my trousers. The first button popped open. Another flicker of nerves made me gasp, and Irvine removed his hand, continuing his attentions.

  A few moments later it was back again, and the next button popped off. I sucked in a breath, and a flare of phantom pain shot through my leg.

  Don’t panic. People have sex every single day. It’s a perfectly normal, totally not-scary thing, and most people don’t even get to do it with a hot guy like Irvine. You managed to get this far, so don’t chicken out now.

  I tried to fight through the fear as Irvine got all the buttons undone, flipping the corners of my trousers. I reached down with trembling hands to push them off my hips, but Irvine grabbed my wrist again.

  “But I have to remove my—”

  “Goddammit, woman, you are impossible. I’m trying to be the gentleman here. Let me unwrap you like a Christmas present and savour every part of you before we get down to business, aye?”

  “No, I mean, my prosthesis—”

  Irvine leaned back, tearing his warm presence from me. “Oh, shite. I’m sorry.”

  “No, no, don’t be … I just … I don’t want …” I reached down, tugging up the hem of my trousers, revealing the ankle pivot of my prosthesis sticking out of the top of my shoe.

  “Is it uncomfortable?” Irvine looked on as I rolled up the rest of my trouser leg, revealing the vacuum seal that attached the socket to my stump. “I should have asked.”

  “No … I mean, yes, it is uncomfortable sometimes. Not right now … I just thought—” I just thought we should get it out of the way now, so you could change your mind once you see my stump and I could get out of here with at least some of my dignity intact.

  “If you’re trying to scare me off, it’s nae gonnae work.” Irvine took my hand from my leg and brought it to his lips. His fingers grazed my knuckles, and an arc of fire shot down my arm. He placed my hand between his legs, right against his hardness. A deep flush crept across my cheeks.

  “You feel that?” he growled. “That is how I feel looking at you. Your leg is nae going to change that. Now, will you relax and let me work my magic? You don’t have to rush to the finish line. There’s so much I still want to do to your body, if you’ll let me.”

  “I—I—”

  “Lie back, lassie.” He placed his fingers on my stomach, right against the stem of the rose, and pushed me gently back against the bed. “Relax. I got this.”

  “Okay, but I …”

  I couldn’t think of any other words. Irvine hooked his fingers under the edges of my panties, and pulled them and the seat of my trousers over my hips. My stomach tied in a knot as Irvine bent down, and lightly kissed the top of my mound. The touch lit every cell in my body.

  Irvine’s tongue slid along my length, parting me and searching out deep places I never knew existed. He danced across me, playing me like a fiddle, and boy did my whole body dance.

  I lay back against the pillow, letting the waves of pleasure wash over me, relishing the energy coursing through me. I didn’t exist. I was no longer a person, only a puddle of firing synapses and aching need.

  Irvine’s tongue searched deeper, pounding against me. The ache inside me exploded, breaking me apart in a great supernova of light and heat. Something like pain that wasn’t pain at all tore me open, and out spilled every fear and doubt. All that was left was pure, untamed joy.

  Maybe I cried out, maybe I clawed the sheets, maybe I spoke in tongues, but I didn’t know because I’d left my body behind. I sailed across the galaxy, carried on stardust, riding the wake of pleasure out to the edges of the universe.

  When I surfaced, and the room came into focus, Irvine’s face peered down at me, his steel eyes catching the moonlight. “So ye liked that, then?” he grinned.

  I nodded, unable to speak.

  Irvine kissed me. “Plenty more where that came from.”

  “Mmmmmm.” I couldn’t wait.

  Irvine reached down and rolled my trousers off my legs. Now, I was completely naked, with my prosthesis on full display. With the stardust still in my veins, I barely cared, until Irvine said, “At this point, I’m a bit out of my league.”

  My leg. The last taboo. The last piece of my armour that had to be cast aside if I was going to rid myself of my virginity.

  “Here, let me.” I leaned forward and reached for the top of the socket. Irvine watched in interest as I pulled the sock away from the silicone sleeve I wore around my stump. My hands only trembled a little. I felt as though I was standing outside my body, looking over my own shoulder, detached from the action. I broke the vacuum seal, and the leg popped free. I dropped it over the end of the bed, rolled off the sleeve, and tossed that after it.

  My stump rested on the bed between us. Just below my right knee, my leg narrowed to a rounded tip of skin and nerves – the place where my leg had been surgically removed after the werewolf bite had gone septic. I’d been three years old when it happened, and I barely remembered the attack or the surgery – just flashes of teeth and fur and pain, and worried doctors and Mum sobbing and looking down at it in the hospital in horror and begging them to put my foot back.

  I studied Irvine’s face as he studied the stump. The nerve endings tingled with anticipation. His face shifted, but not with disgust. I could tell he’d never seen an amputation before, not up close like this. “Does it hurt?” he asked, his hands hovering above my leg. “Will I hurt you if I touch you?”

  I shook my head. “There are some nerve endings close to the skin, so it’s very sensitive, and sometimes it hurts if I hit it or jolt it, but you don’t have to touch it. I know it’s creepy.”

  “Nothing about you is ‘creepy.’ I want this to be amazing for you, Willow.” He looked up, and his eyes burned into mine, deep grey pools where I drowned in his kindness and his desire. “You must tell me if it’s good for you.”

  “I will.”

  Irvine bent down, and kissed my stump, his lips light on my skin. The nerves collected around his lips, dancing and jolting with delight. He walked his fingers up the inside of my thigh, brushing over my most sensitive skin.

  He lay his body over top of me, lowering himself slowly down, letting the warmth of his skin envelop mine. His lips found mine, tender and searching. While he kissed me, Irvine’s hands stroked my folds, drawing out the ache once more. The threads of fire that drew me to him wrapped around us, cocooning me in protective heat.

  Irvine’s hard cock against my leg drove the ache deeper. I pushed my hips wider, and his tip rubbed against me. A flutter of fear danced in my stomach, but it was quickly captured by Irvine’s searching lips. He grabbed my hand, resting it by my shoulder and knitting his fingers in mine. He slid inside me. Only a little.

  “You okay?”

  I nodded.

  He pushed in a little deeper. I expected pain, but all I felt was the pressing urgency of the ache, begging him to give me everything.

  “How about now?”

  “Just get in there, wolf.” I grinned. “I can take it.”

  Grinning back at me, Irvine pushed himself all the way inside me in one solid stroke. I cried out as a sharp pain coursed through me, but in moments, the ache inside me had taken away the pain. His length felt glorious, like it was perfectly sculpted for me. Irvine held still, allowing me a few precious moments to savour the fullness of him. Our lips met, and I devoured him.

  Irvine moved against me, slowly at first, squeezing my hand as he thrust right up inside me. He drew himself back, his whole body moving against mine. His fingers squeezed mine. With my free hand, I drew circles over his back and stroked his ass, enjoying the way his muscles tensed and relaxed as we moved together.

  My body lit up as the stardust in my veins stirred to life. Every muscle and sinew shimmered with newly awoken feeling. Irvine moved faster, grunting as he thrust deep inside me. I lifted my thighs to mee
t him, relishing every thrust.

  As Irvine rose up to thrust again, his foot brushed my stump, sending a shock through the nerves that still remained there. I expected it to jolt me from the moment, but instead, it drew me deeper into the sensations. I ground my hips against Irvine, begging for more, deeper, faster, harder.

  The ache inside me spread out from my stomach, racing down my arms, exploding as it reached my core. I came again, the waves crashing through my body as Irvine drove himself deeper still.

  My nails dug into Irvine’s back. In response, his mouth claimed mine, the strength of his kiss forcing my head back. I drank in every sensation – his scent deepening, his cock stiffening inside me, his own fingers digging into my skin.

  With a groan, Irvine came too, his whole body stiffening as he drove himself deep. He collapsed against me, his body shuddering as his own pleasure rolled through him. His warm skin grew hot against mine. I wrapped my arms around him, clinging to him like he would float away at any moment if I didn’t.

  “Willow Summers,” he murmured against my lips. “I cannae feel my legs.”

  I laughed, giddy with the high of my orgasm. Irvine rolled off me, wrapping me in his arms and pressing me back against his chest. His breath brushed against my ear.

  One thing was for sure. My mother was wrong. Sleeping with a werewolf wasn’t a deadly mistake. It was the most glorious thing I’d ever done.

  I want more.

  16

  Irvine

  Willow fell asleep against my shoulder. I watched her chest rise and fall, marvelling that such a simple, biological motion could be so beautiful. At the end of my bed, the prosthetic limb leaned against the kitchen cabinet.

  Well, that was unexpected.

  Willow Summers, the mate I thought I’d never be able to have, was right here in my bed, her supple body pressed against mine. She was so timid, and yet to come here and ask what she asked of me … there was a fire in her belly yet. I wanted to see more of that fire.

  To think, no man nor woman had ever before wanted her … except for Bianca, of course, not that it counted. Bianca wanted everyone and everything when she was drunk. Before I met Willow Summers, I hadnae thought there were any virgins left in Jolly Old England.

  She’s not a virgin anymore.

  Willow snorted, and leaned deeper into my shoulder, sending a spasm of pain through my already throbbing muscles. As lovely as it was to have her warm body against mine, it was hell on the shoulder after a while. With a bit of wriggling, I managed to slide my arm out from beneath her, and rolled off the bed without waking her up. I glanced out the window – the sun was high in the sky, sending golden shafts of light down through the very tops of the ancient trees.

  We’d fucked at least three more times last night, before finally collapsing against each other, too exhausted to even talk about what had happened between us. Not surprisingly, my stomach rumbled. It must be well past lunchtime. I went to the kitchen to cook us something to eat.

  When I had a pot of spaghetti bolognese on the stove, I sat down at the table, my eyes wandering over Willow’s body. Her skinny frame stretched across the bed. Her hair hung in dark waves over her shoulders, falling over her tiny, perfect breasts. Her stump was hidden beneath the edge of the sheet. I ken the sheet hadn’t been there when we’d gone to sleep. I suspected she’d woken up at some point and pulled it over herself. Even after everything that had passed between us, she didn’t want me to see her leg.

  The prosthesis stood at the end of the bed, where she had dropped it. Curiosity piqued at me. I picked it up and turned it over in my hands. Strange, how light it was. I tapped the pylon. Carbon fibre, of course. Fascinating how the vacuum seal kept the socket worked, and how the—

  “Hey, don’t touch that.”

  I whipped my head up, guilt surging through my body. Willow sat upright in bed, glaring at me with narrowed eyes. I set the prosthesis down.

  “If you want to know something about my leg, just ask me.” She turned away, hunting on the floor for her bra and shirt. She started to pull them on.

  “I didnae mean to offend.”

  She still wouldn’t look at me. “I know. I just … this is all very new to me. You might find out something that will make you detest me.”

  “That’s nae going to happen.” I held out a plate as a peace offering. “I made you lunch, if you’re hungry.”

  Finally, Willow looked up. I was relieved to see there were no tears in her eyes, but the expression on her face was pensive. “You want me to stay for lunch?”

  “Aye, of course.” I ladled out some pasta and bolognese for myself, and sat down on at the small table under the window. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I didn’t know food was part of the deal with one-night-stands … or three-in-a-night-stands.”

  “Aye, this may come as a shock, but there’s a whole range of degrees between ‘in a committed relationship’ and ‘fucking and fleeing.’ Sometimes they can include food, or other crazy stuff like talking and going on dates in public.”

  “Really?”

  “Aye, yes.” I took a big bite of pasta. I’d added some jalapeños, so it had a real kick. As I ate, I studied Willow. Her left foot peeked out of the side of the bed, her toes small and the arch of her foot impossibly delicate. She still kept her stump hidden under the blankets. Her hair fell over her face as she ate, and she didn’t bother to tuck it behind her ears. I realised she kept it long and thick precisely so she could hide behind it.

  I still ken next to nothing about Willow, except that she was a wedding planner, she’d come to Crookshollow from London, her amputation had been caused by her father, who was a werewolf, she’d been a virgin, and she was intoxicatingly, devastatingly beautiful. I desperately wanted to tell her that she was my mate, and that the attraction she felt that had compelled her to my door had to do with the fact that we were destined to be together. But I had a feeling that wouldn’t go down well.

  Even now, the bond sizzled between us. My body ached to hold her again. Willow must’ve felt it too. She darted glances at me in between bites of scran. Neither of us spoke for a time. I didn’t trust my tongue to speak without breaking the fragile connection we had made.

  Willow set down her spoon. She bit her lip again. “Can we … “ she started. Through her hair, I could make out a flush across her cheeks. “No, it’s dumb.”

  “Do you always second-guess everything you say?”

  She looked away, fixing her gaze on the wall behind the bed. “Pretty much.”

  “You dinnae have to do that around me. Go on. Spit it out.”

  Willow kept staring at the wall. Even the back of her neck had turned red. “Can we do this again …”

  “You liked my scran that much, aye?”

  The flush on her neck deepened. “I just … I know we’re still casual, but I … would like more bolognese.”

  “Willow—”

  “I’m sorry. I knew it, I knew I was hopeless.” Her voice cracked.

  I crossed the room and sat down beside Willow, grabbing her under her chin and turning her head around. Tears streamed down her face.

  I didn’t ask her why she was crying. I suspected I knew the answer. It was the same reason someone as gorgeous and fun and interesting as her was still a virgin at 23. She was terrified of rejection. She thought no one could ever want her just because she didn’t have a leg.

  If I ever met that bastard ex of hers, I’d tear his throat out. Her father’s, too.

  Well, I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the reason she cried. There was no way Willow was getting any rejection from me.

  “You present an interesting proposal, Willow Summers. Let me get this straight. What you’re saying is that you’d like to sleep together some more, whenever either of us want to, but you dinnae want to have a relationship? And you’re somehow worried I’d think this was a shite idea?”

  She nodded, looking miserable.

  “There’s only one appropriate resp
onse when a beautiful woman makes this proposal, and that is, ‘Yaaahoo!'”

  Willow smiled, her whole face lighting up. I loved seeing her smile almost as much as I loved her biting her lip or screwing her face up in ecstasy. And it looked as if I’d get to experience all those things a lot more from now on.

  “You can’t shift around me, ever, or it’s over.”

  “Aye. I agree. So, we have an accord.” I put out my hand, and Willow shook it firmly.

  “You’re on, Irvine Baird.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

  “When do you want to do this again?”

  “Um … as soon as possible?” Her eyes widened.

  “You’re in charge here. If you want to have another go, just say so. It’s nae a question.”

  “Then, yes, I’d like to do this again tonight.”

  I kissed her, drawing the scent of her deep inside me, wanting to commit every part of her to memory. “Alas, but I’ll be outae commission for a few days. The full moon is upon us, and I made a promise to a beautiful woman that she wouldnae see me shift.”

  Her face fell slightly, but she didn’t shrink away. “Then as soon as you shift back. You know how to find me.”

  “As soon as I’m back, aye? The very second? From novice to enthusiast in a single night, Willow Summers, you do amaze me.”

  Willow’s tongue wound around mine, exploring my mouth. She sank against me, deepening the kiss, but then pulled back, as though something had startled her. “Are you going to tell any of your friends about me … and us?” she asked.

  “I hadnae intended to. Why, do you want me to tell them we’re having wild casual sex out of wedlock?”

  “No!” she yelled, then clamped her hand over her mouth.

  Something prickled against the back of my throat. “Is something the matter?”

  She shook her head. ”I didn’t mean to insult your friends. I like them a lot. I just … I’d like to get to know them a bit more before I spill more of my secrets, especially if my mother’s spy is skulking around. I’d like to tell them myself, if that’s okay?”