by Celia Kyle
Drew finally assuaged her fears with an understanding smile. He gently stroked her cheek, his thumb tracing the curve of her upper lip as he smiled down at her. That fierce fire in his eyes had softened to a gentle smolder. His demeanor shifted from unrestrained desire to natural tenderness. She could practically read his mind. He would be cautious with her heart—that much she could tell immediately—and it calmed her to know she’d be safe with him.
He leaned in, a gentle meeting of their lips when he brushed a soft kiss across her mouth. “Don’t worry,” he murmured. “I have no intention of claiming you as my mate tonight. We can go at whatever pace makes you comfortable. I will never force you, Chloe. I promised to wait until after we’ve treated your mother. I give you my word, and I do not break my word.” His lips curled in a teasing grin. “Not even if you beg.”
She rolled her eyes, a giggle escaping her lips as relief washed over her. “I have some doubts about the begging, but thank you.”
He grinned back at her warmly. “However, I would like to give you a preview of what I have to offer. I’d love the chance to show you how much I care about you and your happiness. I want you to know, to feel, what love can be. Will you let me show you how much I care, Chloe?”
She swallowed hard, heart now pounding out a rapid beat. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Do you trust me?” Drew’s gray eyes remained on her, unblinking.
Chloe answered him without hesitation. “Yes. Yes, I trust you.” She licked her lips, a quick flick of her tongue. “As crazy as it sounds, I’ve never trusted anyone more.”
“Good,” he growled and pushed the sheets down the bed as he slid down and settled between her legs.
The robe still covered her—barely—but she knew that wouldn’t last much longer. Not if the desperate craving in his expression was any indication. He stared at the juncture of her thighs and leaned forward, resting his cheek on her hip as he breathed deeply.
Then he nudged her legs further apart, just shy of exposing her fully.
Staying slightly crouched, he reached for the tie of her robe and she let him release the knot, brushing the two halves of her covering aside.
Chloe froze in place, knowing what he’d see, and waited for the questions to come. The questions that would have her mind going back to then and ruining what they’d begun. Except… except Drew didn’t do what she’d expected. He merely nuzzled her lower belly, rough cheek rubbing gently across the scars that dominated the flesh between her hip bones.
Then came those kisses. Soft. Sweet. Gentle. Caring. Kisses so delicate they nearly brought tears to her eyes.
“Drew…” she rasped.
“Hmmm?” Drew gave her another kiss and then another before pausing and lifting his gaze to hers, mouth hovering so close to her pussy. She couldn’t help the shiver of need that raced through her or the clench of her center and the aching heaviness that surrounded her pussy.
“I…”
“I’m going to taste you now, sweetheart. You good with that?”
No mention of her scars. No hurried questions or violent outbreaks because she’d been hurt. She was more thankful for that than he’d ever know.
“Yes,” she sighed and cleared her throat. “Yes.”
That earned her a cocky grin. “Good.”
Then he didn’t have to say anything else. His tongue, hands, did all the talking for him.
Drew licked his lips, gave her one last glance, and then focused fully on her center. He settled on his stomach between her thighs, the broad width of his shoulders forcing her to part her legs further, and then those callused hands came into play. He teased her slit, fingertips teasing her outer sex lips. They brushed against the closely cropped curls shielding her from view and each pass had the coil in her center tightening further and further.
He brought his hands into play, thumbs carefully separating her labia and exposing her wetness to the room’s cool air. She was fully exposed, but only for a moment. Because then he was there, that tongue she’d worshiped now worshipping her.
He lapped at her from center to clit, tapping out a rapid rhythm against the bundle of nerves before easing away and then giving it to her once again. He rubbed soft, light circles around the top tight bundle of nerves. Drew knew what he was doing, taunting her with the pleasure to come. Giving it to her just before snatching it away once more.
Her breathing now coming in rapid pants—heaving billows of her lungs as she fought for air—she rolled her hips and sought to chase more of the sensations he caused. The pleasure rose higher and higher with every breath, stealing her control and catapulting her toward the edge of release whether she was ready or not. He laved up and down her slick folds, lapping up her cream with a deep groan and rolling rumble.
“Oh my…” she breathed with a gasping whimper. “Oh my goodness,” she mumbled, her hands trailing down her body to tangle in his hair as he devoured her pussy. “Feels s’good.”
“You taste amazing.” He rumbled against her cunt. He suckled her sensitive clit for a moment before returning to the rhythmic up and down motion that sent overwhelming trembles racing through her. He carefully, softly worked a finger into her tense opening, tormenting her core with his careful exploration.
“Drew… I feel…”
“Good,” he hissed. “Let it consume you. Let it take you.”
Chloe closed her eyes and tilted her head back, giving in to the shockwaves of pleasure that rocked through her frame. He licked and suckled her clit, fingering her pussy, taking her higher and higher with every touch. She rocked and rolled her hips, meeting every movement he made. She eased nearer and nearer to the precipice, dancing toward the edge. It was within reach, that pinnacle of release that would make her scream.
And she would soon. The sensations he caused… The overwhelming, breath-stealing torment pushing her toward orgasm. Her muscles coiled, tightening more and more as the utter bliss gathered strength. The ecstasy gathered strength, forming a bubble around her. One that was near to bursting. It would take one more nudge, one more…
Drew scraped a fang across her clit, a pinch of pain, and that was what she needed. It was enough to pop that collection of pleasure and pour the overwhelming bliss into her veins. She screamed her mate’s name, shouting out her release as her body trembled and muscles clenched. The scorching fire of that pinnacle consumed her, took over her body and overwhelmed her with ongoing trembles.
He brought her back down to Earth, his attentions slowing and easing while her heartbeat slowed and breath evened out. That all-consuming pleasure gave way to a delicious languid relaxation of her body.
One she wanted to share with Drew—but as a giver this time around.
“Drew…” She tightened her abs and rose from the bed, arms outstretched, fingers already tingling in anticipation. She wanted to kiss and caress him just as he’d explored her. “Let me… I want to…”
Drew smiled softly and rubbed his cheek across her mound. He paused and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her slit, tongue darting out to gather another taste. That simple touch sent a new shudder down her spine and she moaned aloud. So good. So delicious. So… not enough.
“Drew,” she whined and he simply chuckled in return.
“Giving to you was enough, baby.” Another kiss to her mound, another brief taste. “You taste so fucking good. Could fucking taste you for hours.”
He gave one last, lingering lap at her swollen pussy and then crawled up the bed, not stopping until he was at her side. Rolling to his back, he reached for her, tugging her close until their bodies were aligned, not an inch between them.
“But I could…”
“Tonight was for you, Chloe.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “We have the rest of our lives to explore each other. For now, let’s catch some shut eye. Tomorrow will be a big day.”
Exhaustion pulled at her, luring her toward sleep, and she wanted nothing more than to give in to the desire. Drew already had, his he
art slow, rhythmic breaths evening out and regular. As for her… her heart was alight with bright, shining joy. She’d never been filled with such happiness, a feeling of completion, in her whole life.
And yet, just before she closed her eyes and let sleep claim her, her father’s words rushed at her from the dark. They reminded her that this was beautiful, for now, but also temporary. It wouldn’t last. Once Drew discovered her secret, all her beautiful hopes and dreams would evaporate.
Forever.
Chapter Nine
The next morning, Drew flipped through Deidre Soren’s chart with the Soren pack healer. “Hey, Trina, did you make these notes?”
Zeke had personally escorted him to the “lab” he’d set up on the pack lands. It was just a repurposed shed—spotlessly clean, yet a shed nonetheless—but the quality of the equipment Zeke managed to scrounge up was impressive. Of course, asking questions about where he’d found it all didn’t seem wise. The alpha was a steal first, ask later kind of wolf.
How the alpha had known which pieces to acquire was made clear when he introduced Drew to the pack healer. Trina Edgecomb—sister to Warren, the pack beta. She was whip smart and had cared for Zeke and Chloe’s comatose mother for years. Drew couldn’t think of a better person to assist him with the case.
Trina glanced over at the notes he held up and shook her head. “No, that healer died not long after Deidre fell ill.”
Drew perched on a stool and studied Deidre’s file. It read like a great-grandmother’s journal of folk remedies, alternating between homeopathic cures and modern medicine. Nothing like a little light reading over morning coffee.
As he caught up on Deidre’s case, Trina bustled around him, organizing things in a way that pleased her. That seemed only natural, since it was her pack, her lands, and her lab, but Drew couldn’t shake the sense her attention remained on him at all times. Zeke had probably ordered her to keep watch.
None of that mattered to Drew. He was just happy Trina was there to shine some light on the situation. She was young for a healer—mid-twenties at the most—and quite beautiful. She stood almost as tall as her brother, probably close to six-feet. Couple that with her long blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and Marilyn Monroe figure and she could have easily made it big in the movies. Even with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, she had a natural beauty she carried easily. Males in her pack must have panted over her for her entire life, but she didn’t affect Drew in the slightest. He already had the most beautiful woman in the world—or at least he would very soon.
“There are a lot of random notes in here.” He shuffled through them to find the pivotal moment. “A little help?”
She leaned across their shared work table and thumbed through until she found a page with a sticky note attached. Her fingers froze, and she gave him a sharp look before turning away.
What was that about?
He’d figure it out later. Right then, his eyes fell onto a passage outlining how the crazy mess started—with good intentions gone bad. The stickied page was dated not long after the car accident. The treatments the healer prescribed seemed normal enough for the time, nothing unusual. It took quite a bit of reading, but he finally found what he sought.
“Was this guy for real?” He frowned at the page and then at Trina. “He administered Serenity X-15 by mixing it with tea? Why didn’t he just use Kool-Aid?”
Trina pressed her lips together. “I don’t think he was intentionally trying to poison Deidre. Tea made from Flowering Dogwood bark is commonly used to treat migraines, among other ailments. It contains cornic acid, which behaves a lot like aspirin. One of her symptoms was headaches.”
“I just don’t understand how he got his hands on X-15 in the first place. It was developed to break prisoners, not treat the sick.”
Trina shrugged and got back to her organizing. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but we’re kind of isolated. The latest and greatest medical miracles didn’t exactly catch on quickly at the time. He probably heard it was good at calming wolves and thought mixing it with Dogwood tea would kill two birds with one stone.”
She winced at her own words, but Drew ignored her and continued reading. “Looks as if her migraines were accompanied by big mood swings,” he muttered. “I guess it makes some kind of sense he’d mix them.”
Something didn’t feel right about the notes, but he couldn’t identify what niggled at him. He crossed the small space to the brand-new whiteboard screwed to the wall, picked up a dry erase pen, and just stood there, staring at the blank canvas.
“What’s up?” Trina edged a hair too close for his comfort.
He took a big step to the side and looked down at her, almost through her. “I’m not sure…it’s just…”
The whiteboard taunted him with its blankness. Just to get started, he drew a horizontal line halfway across the board and pointed at it.
“We know that X-15 affects the brain. That’s its purpose, right?”
“Right,” Trina answered, brow furrowed.
“We also know that cornic acid acts as an analgesic, yes?” Trina nodded as he drew another line parallel to the first. “The question I keep coming back to is what happens when the two are mixed? Do the tracks continue on straight and parallel, working together as they would on their own? Or does something else happen?” He veered the bottom line upward and the top line downward. “Does the train derail because the tracks got crossed?”
Trina stared at the board for a long time. Then without a word she crossed the room and dug around in a box. She pulled out four hefty tomes on organic compounds and carried them to the work table. “Sounds like we need to find out how cornic acid interacts with some of X-15’s principal compounds.”
Drew chuckled. “I guess we’ve got some reading to do.”
Lunchtime came and went without either of them noticing. They spent hours poring over the books and scouring the academic databases on the web. Other than her proclivity for standing just a little too close to him, Drew enjoyed working with the female wolf. He’d almost forgotten the rush of performing research with someone who knew what they were doing.
“I think I found another odd interaction.” She turned her laptop to show him a complicated graph.
Anyone else would have thought it looked like gibberish, but it triggered a germ of an idea in Drew’s brain. Not a fully formed one, just a thread. If he pulled too hard, it might break, losing the connection his brain tried to make. Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes and relaxed, allowing his mind to work its magic. It took less than a minute.
“Wait!” he cried, staring wild-eyed at Trina. “Where’s the antidote? You have some, right?”
“Of course. It’s in the fridge. We’ve been giving it to her monthly for years, but it’s never had any effect.”
“How do you administer it?”
“Orally. With a syringe.”
Though the shed only had one small window, the space grew ten degrees warmer. Or Drew did. Either way, he was excited and couldn’t wait to test his theory. “So, she can swallow?”
Trina nodded. “She eats too, but only if she’s spoon-fed.”
Hope. He’d had none when the day started. Now…
“What about the tea? Has anyone given her the tea since she… went off the tracks?”
“No, she gets most of her hydration through an IV. I want to minimize the risk of aspiration. Why?”
“We’d need to run some experiments to make sure it’s safe, but if we mixed the antidote with the same tea that delivered the X-15…”
Trina excitedly picked up the line of thought. “We’d be delivering the antidote the same way as the poison and it might counteract the effects. So simple, and the clue was in her file the whole time. Dr. Cooper, you’re a genius!” She ran around the table and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
Drew laughed and patted her back, expecting her to release him. When she didn’t, he tried pulling away, but she held on for dear life and sniffled. Poo
r thing must have been overcome with joy at their discovery. Except…she wasn’t sniffling, she was sniffing. Him. His shoulder, neck, arm, hair, anywhere her nose could reach. What the hell?
He grabbed her upper arms and forcefully pushed her back, an angry growl shuddering up from deep inside him. Either Trina was hot for him or she’d caught Chloe’s scent on him. Either way, his only concern was for his mate. He’d promised not to reveal their status as mates, and he wasn’t about to accidentally blow it because the pack healer got a little handsy.
Trina resembled the blank whiteboard when she finally met his eyes. Her face was expressionless, but her blue eyes sparkled.
“Sorry, I just got a little overexcited.” Her cool tone contradicted her words. “I should call Zeke and tell him the news. Excuse me.”
The moment the shed door closed behind her, Drew eased up close to it. It was thin, but not thin enough to hear everything she said into her phone, just snippets.
The first word he made out clearly was “cure.” That set his mind at ease. Maybe she hadn’t smelled Chloe after all. But then her tone changed, and he heard “scent” and “very strong.”
Shit! Trina had just tattled on him to Zeke. Heaving a resigned sigh, Drew turned back to the lab and worked on setting up the equipment he’d need to test his theory. He didn’t want to give Deidre anything that could harm her further—and not just because Zeke would probably execute him on the spot for hurting his mother.
Trina never came back inside, and Drew had already tested his solution three times when the door to the shed slammed open.
“You!”
Drew turned slowly, expecting to find Zeke seething in the doorway, and was surprised to find Warren instead. The beta snorted with rage, very much like a rampaging bull, and stepped inside, finger pointed at him.
“You!” he shouted again. “You think you can waltz onto our pack lands and take advantage of her like that?”