by T. S. Joyce
Grey slid a glance to Dean, whose eyes had lightened to an inhuman color. He grinned unapologetically. “I could probably take you right now.”
“Dick,” Grey murmured.
Morgan stretched bare toes onto the arm of the dark leather couch. “I think it will be the same in ten years, don’t you, Rachel? A decade from now, I bet their wolves will still be competing and their humans will still be struggling to be friends in spite of them.”
“Agreed. I don’t think it will get better. I haven’t seen any improvement so far.”
“No faith,” Dean said shaking his head as he put his arm around Rachel.
Grey squinted at Morgan’s neck for the tenth time in an hour. “Where did you get your necklace?”
She frowned. “From you.”
“It’s not from me. I’ve never seen it before.”
The necklace suddenly became terribly cold against the warmth of her skin. She fumbled with the clasp as chills raised the fine hairs on her arms. She dropped the bauble onto the coffee table and tried to steady the uncomfortable dread that had snaked its way inside of her.
Dean picked it up and studied the jeweled Silver Wolf Clan emblem. “Delivery guy brought it by. Said it was important Morgan get it,” Dean said. “I brought it straight to you when I came to apologize.”
“Where’s the packaging?” Grey asked. His eyes blazed, making him look downright predatory.
“I left it in the bedroom we got ready in.”
The room was as silent as the dead when he returned with the box and a letter on old parchment, written in elaborate calligraphy. His eyes were wide with shock when he handed the note to Dean.
The alpha cursed and handed her the letter. The frail paper made a crackling sound as it passed to her hands. She read it twice to try and understand the words.
In honor of your special union.
-Aelred
“Who’s Aelred?” she asked, handing the letter to Marissa.
“Trouble.” Grey sniffed the necklace with a frown of concentration. “What did the delivery guy look like?”
“Well, I didn’t really get a good look at him,” Dean said. “He wore a beige uniform and had his hat pulled down to cover most of his face. He looked down the whole time so I couldn’t tell you what he looked like, but I did smell him twice. He wasn’t wolf but he smelled…cold. Different for a human.”
Grey sighed. “Because he wasn’t human.”
“Vampire?” Marissa murmured softly.
That word dropped the temperature of the room. Gooseflesh rippled up Morgan’s arms, and she rubbed warmth into them with her hands.
“Okay,” Dean said decisively. “This means trouble, no doubt, but there’s nothing you can do about it right now. Focus on the special occasion, and Wade and I will look into it. Get through the next couple of days and relax with your new mate. We’ll hit this hard when you get back to pack property. Let us worry about this until you get your new wolves under you. Take advantage of our alliance.” Dean looked her square in the eyes. “Everything is all right.”
She didn’t understand. Vampires? She wanted to demand answers, and why some guy named Aelred sent her a very expensive and extravagant gift in the shape of the pack emblem from a legendary clan only werewolves were supposed to care about. She opened her mouth to beg answers, but one look at Grey silenced her questions. He was staring at her with such an intense gaze, the air seemed to thicken around them. He would tell her, but it needed to be when he had more control. The crackle of power hit her like wind, and the other wolves winced, and dropped their gazes.
It was Marissa who cut the tension. “Rachel, I think I’m going to go to your place for a while. I’ll come back here tonight in time for the hunt, but I do believe I need to give these two some alone time.” With the last two words, Marissa winked at Rachel, then turned off the television and stood.
Morgan recovered enough to rip her gaze from Grey. “Nice and subtle.”
“Why thank you. I’ve been practicing.”
“Obviously.”
“All right,” Rachel said. “We’ll go ahead and load up the chairs and get out of here. Congratulations again, you guys, and good luck tonight with the pack initiation. The next time we see you, it will be official. There will be two Dallas packs.”
“Congrats, you two,” Dean said with a wink before he closed the door behind them.
Grey let out a pained sigh and shifted uncomfortably. The faraway look in his eyes only intensified with the absence of the others, and she wanted to cling desperately to the happiness he’d found in the hours of their wedding. The day was theirs, and she would be damned if some Aelred asshole was going to maim it.
She touched his leg lightly. “Come on. Let’s go up to our room. I’ll get you pain medicine and we can get some sleep before tonight.”
He looked at her for a long moment, as if he didn’t really see her, then nodded. The blue in his eyes said he was beginning to come back to her. Wolf’s golden eyes usually shone through, but the ocean blue color was all Grey. There he was. With a relieved sigh, she turned and headed for the stairs but paused when his footsteps didn’t follow. She spun as the full force of his body bore down on hers. She barely had time to react before his mouth was on hers, his strong hands gripping her waist as he pushed her back up against the wall. Pulling herself closer to the crushing weight of his body, she clutched his back and opened her mouth.
“Don’t want to go to sleep. Want you,” Grey growled as he nipped the uninjured side of her neck.
He turned her around until she faced the wall and yanked the ribbon that held her dress in place. She stepped out of the dress that had pooled at her feet. Morgan spun and pulled herself up to wrap her legs around him. Pulling his hair until his neck arched back, she brushed her teeth against his throat and held them there for a moment. “My mate.”
He splayed his hands against the wall on either side of her head, groaning deeply in his throat. If she was hurting his injuries, he didn’t show it.
Lowering her feet slowly to the floor, she ran her palms over the starched fabric of his dress shirt, tracing the contours of hard muscle over his chest. Grey’s black silk tie was soft against her palm as she pulled and led him up the first two stairs. She paused and turned. The buttons of his shirt made popping sounds as she ripped it open to expose the hard planes of his torso. Rigid muscle, flexing under his ragged breath, called to her fingertips. His gaze was hungry as she trailed her touch down to the buckle of his belt. Leaning forward, he gripped the railing on both sides of her as she pulled him free of the soft leather. Dark, smooth skin contrasted with the white of his dress shirt. Standing to his full, imposing height, he rolled his shoulders to shrug out of the crisp material. Warm tendrils of desire stretched through her, filling her until it settled between her legs.
A slow smile crooked his lips and his nostrils flared slightly. “I love how you smell when you want me,” he murmured in a husky voice that made her knees go weak.
He leaned in slow, and hesitated just before his lips touched hers. Whatever he was waiting for, she couldn’t take it. Snaking her arms around his neck, she closed the space between them. His hands were everywhere that mattered, touching, caressing, drawing her inner goddess from her. She felt beautiful with his long, strong fingers brushing her waist, her breasts. His jaw worked as he kissed her, becoming harder and more urgent as he cupped her ass and pulled her against his hard cock.
With a helpless sound, she pulled at the snap of his pants and rushed to release him from the constraint that separated their skin. His thick shaft fell free, as he shucked the remainder of his clothes. Holy hell, she couldn’t shimmy out of her panties fast enough.
Grey stopped her fumbling fingers. “Let me,” he rumbled against her lips.
Hell. Yes. Right now, he could do anything in the world and she would be on board with it.
Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he pulled her to him and pressed the palm of his hand under t
he elastic of her panties. Down and down he went until the tips of his fingers pressed against her wet sex. Her breath caught as he pressed a long finger inside of her. As he withdrew it, she knew her knees wouldn’t hold. Not like this. When she rested shaky arms on his shoulders, he chuckled. Hooded eyes, cocked head, sexy smile—he was annihilating any ability to think straight.
He cupped the back of her head and kissed her, biting her bottom lip as he plunged his finger into her again. “So wet,” he murmured, then withdrew and folded her into his arms.
His chest was hard against her cheek, his body rigid as he carried her up the stairs and down the hall, his gate slightly hitched. Kicking the door closed behind them, he set her down, spun her, and pressed against her.
The lacy, white lingerie still clung stubbornly to her body, but from the frantic way Grey nipped at her neck, it wouldn’t be on for much longer. She trailed hungry hands over the musculature of his chest as he lowered her to the bed. He was breathtaking as he stood over her in the waning evening light that filtered through the windows. Golden eyes blazing, swollen cock twitching as he raked his gaze down her body.
His triceps flexed as he lowered himself to the bed. Leaning forward, he took one taut nipple into his mouth and gently sucked until she groaned and spread her legs wider in invitation. Her stomach clenched with every movement of his tongue. Light fingertips slid down her waist and hooked into the thin elastic of her panties. Slowly, he pulled them down until they tickled her ankles and fell to the floor.
Sucking, biting kisses dotted her stomach, traveling lower and lower until she wondered if she could come on anticipation alone. Biting the tender skin at the inside of her thigh, Grey brought her knees up and spread them wide. Just the feel of his lips so close to the warmth he’d created between her legs made her roll her hips toward him.
“Good,” he murmured. “Tell me what you like.”
Everything. She liked every freaking thing he was doing. He apparently didn’t need any help because the man touched her in all the right places. And oh! He plunged his tongue into her, drawing a cry of ecstasy from her lips. Gripping his hair, she arched toward him as he lapped at her again and again.
Grey grabbed her ass, and pulled her to him, and from the frantic way his fingers dug into her skin, he was enjoying this almost as much as she was. Too soon, the pressure built to blinding and she threw her head back and cried out his name as she came.
“I want to feel it,” he rasped. His eyes were entirely gold now and his voice had taken on a gravelly tone.
Pulling on the backs of her knees, he slid her to the edge of the bed and pressed the head of his shaft into her by inches. Her body clenched around him in an aftershock, and he sank a little deeper inside.
He closed his eyes, like he was savoring the feel of her orgasm around him, and eased out of her again.
“Please, Grey,” she panted. She couldn’t think anymore. Couldn’t put coherent thoughts or words together. All she knew is if he didn’t bury himself inside of her, she would go crazy.
He opened his eyes slowly and pressed his hips forward, sinking his thick shaft deep inside her. As he withdrew and pressed in again, he lowered his lips to hers and drank her in.
The pace he set was too slow, too punishing, so she writhed and begged for him to take her like she knew Wolf wanted. Intertwining their fingers, he squeezed her hands and rumbled, “It feels so good being inside of you.”
His weight covered her, and his lips crashed against hers with astonishing force. He plunged deeply, then eased back, only to buck into her again. A growl took his throat as he shoved her toward the headboard with the power of his thrusts. She gripped his taut shoulders as pressure began to build in her again. She loved him like this. Raw, dominant…intoxicating. This was the Grey she wanted in her bed, in her body. The Grey who didn’t hold back what he was.
Where his earlier strokes had been slow, they now turned frantic, and he rolled to pull her onto his lap. Straddling him, she rocked against him as the muscles in his arms bunched and tensed where he gripped her waist. He lifted his gaze to hers, and for a moment, she could see him. The blue-eyed man in the woods who’d given everything to save a stranger—to save her. She loved him, body and soul, and now he was giving her all of him again. He growled as he clenched her, his pulsing jets of warmth filling her just as her own climax crashed through her. He clamped his teeth onto her shoulder, and she cried out and clawed his back.
The moment was blinding, burning her from the inside. She closed her eyes against every nerve being set on fire as he tensed again and released another burst of warmth into her.
“Fuck,” he yelled, shaking under the same tortured ecstasy that wracked her body.
Wide-eyed, she melted into him as the pain seeped from her veins, leaving a humming pleasure where they still sat connected in its wake.
“What was that?” she breathed.
“I think that,” he said, chest heaving, “was our bond.” He stared at her throat. A slow smile took his sensual lips as he lifted his gaze to hers. “Can you feel it?”
Something thrummed in the space between them, and she searched his chest for some hint of the tether she felt. She leaned closer, and the motion offered relief.
And in this moment, right here, staring into Grey’s adoring eyes while an unexplainable power strummed between them, she began to believe in magic.
Chapter Ten
By the time Morgan woke up from their nap, the evening sun cast shadows across the dark wooden floor. Grey’s legs had tangled with hers under the sheets. His face was relaxed, and she hesitated to wake him. He’d never looked so untroubled before. He probably hadn’t slept this well since the night before he saved her and Lana. Maybe claiming her had lifted the pressure from him. The weight he had been carrying on his shoulders must have been terrible. She would be here for him now to try to make it easier, and shoulder some of that weight, because no matter how easy he made things look, the amount of responsibility he managed could be crushing. He would officially be an alpha tonight. She inhaled happily as pride hummed through her body.
Grey stretched his legs and pulled her closer. “Your thoughts are so loud, I can almost hear them.”
“Okay, then what am I thinking, mind reader?”
Opening his eyes, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “How happy and proud you are.”
Morgan offered him a tiny frown. So their bond meant he could read her mind? That was disturbing. She thought lots of perverted things about him. “Huh, good guess.” She squinted and tried to expel any embarrassing inappropriate thoughts about how good it felt to wake up to Grey’s erection pressed against her belly every morning.
“I can’t read your mind, but I can get a sense of what you are feeling.”
Perhaps that is what she’d been doing right before he woke up—sensing his emotions. Certainly, she had felt something emanating from him…relief perhaps.
“I think I can, too. Is that normal? I mean, does that happen to other pairs?”
His chuckle reverberated against her cheek. “Dean told me about it happening to certain couples. It depends on the intensity of the bond.”
They lay there for a while in contented silence as she traced the smooth planes of his shoulder. He would be branded tonight and this was the last time she would see his upper arm without burn scars on it.
“Being with you is amazing.”
He kissed her softly. “For me, too.”
Her stomach, apparently unimpressed with the tender moment, growled loudly. “All right, smarty-pants, what am I thinking now?”
“I bet I can take a guess. I think the caterer put the leftovers in the fridge.”
“Okay, dinner would be nice, but first I want to get all of these pins out of my hair and take off all this makeup.”
“How about we take a bath first and then get food?”
She hesitated. “I know it’s silly, but will a bath wash any of your smell off me?”
&nb
sp; He shook his head slowly. “Not even a little. And even if it did, I could put my scent right back on you.”
She nodded, satisfied. “A bath and then food.”
****
Morgan wore pink flannel shorts with a gray tank top and bright pink bunny slippers that dangled lazily from where she sat on the kitchen countertop. Grey smirked thoughtfully at her house shoes. She was so damn cute, it was ridiculous.
“Whatever happened to Bucky?” he asked, taking another forkful of tenderloin from the plastic storage container.
“Oh, Lana’s pet bunny? The one that I brought you to show my love for you? My love bunny? Logan ate him. I didn’t tell Lana that, though. I told her he was running free in the forest somewhere. He offered to buy her another one, but I don’t want to put another pet store bunny through that. I think we’ll hold off on pets for a while because they are too appetizing for the company we keep. Is it going to hurt?”
“What, the branding ceremony? Yeah. I haven’t ever been branded, but I know how a silver knife felt in my back when I fought the Montana pack. It’s not like a normal cut. It burns, but I’ll do it quick. Dean showed me a few tricks to get a good scar out of it without damaging the muscle. When he brings Marissa over, he is going to do mine first.”
“What kind of knife are you supposed to use?”
“A traditional ceremonial knife coated in silver. They are thinner, like a letter opener to carve a smaller line. A challenger made us miss the first meeting with the silversmith, so Dean picked ours up after the wedding. It will be the knife I use on all of our pack members from here on.”
He slid off the counter and closed the gap between them. He pulled her legs apart so he could stand in between them and took a long drag of the air around her neck. “You smell so good. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. Your scent has changed so much over the last couple of months.”
“I like it, too. Smelling like you means I’m yours and you’re mine and anyone who argues it can sniff me and fuck off.”