After two knocks, Viveca answered the door with a smile. Her straight, blond hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, and the darkness surrounding her eyes had lessened.
“Hey,” she said, and held the door for me to enter.
“Hi.” I walked to the center of the room.
As I scanned the faces of the women scattered around the small space, I thought they seemed a little more like themselves. Everyone had chosen something to wear. A little bit of food and some fresh clothes went a long way.
“Good morning, ladies,” I said. “A friend to Ellistown has brought building supplies. We need everyone to lend a hand today. First priority is to those that have stayed. We will cover holes with tarps until we can do better.”
“What can we do to help?” Fleur asked.
“I’d like you all to help me gather the people staying here, human and wolf alike. The residents of Ellistown are our greatest resource, and we want to get them back into their homes,” I said.
All eyes were on me; even the younger and more lost of the group showed interest in my words. Then Blake said from behind me, “Let’s do it.”
Chapter Ten
Lance
My breath caught as Trixie stepped out of the inn, her pink lips turned up slightly on one side. The slightest sign of her pleasure warmed my heart. I would give anything to see her smile.
Sunlight sparkled as it caught her loose, cherry curls. Without a hat hiding her face, each tiny freckle was visible. I adored them all. Her petite frame was hidden beneath an oversized coat and jeans. I wondered what she looked like underneath, and if those clothes had fit her before all of this had happened. If she would let me, I would see them fit her well once again.
“Help is on the way,” she said, in the smooth, sensual voice that had won my heart before I had ever laid eyes on her.
She stood beside me, just inches from my skin, and I felt an electricity between us, an overwhelming desire to touch her. There was no question about it for me—Trixie Walker was my mate. Did she feel even a glimmer of the same intensity for me?
“Great,” I replied, willing myself to hold it together.
Liam Blake joined us next, then a flood of others followed—women and elderly, wolves and humans.
When everyone had gathered, Trixie spoke loud enough for all to hear. “Ellistown is our home,” she said. “Together we can make it whole again. It’ll just take time. Lance Tenbrook from Sawtooth Peaks has provided us with supplies. We’ll split into groups. Take what you need to cover the holes in your homes. Let’s make it safe for everyone to sleep in their own beds again.”
A short woman with thick, brown hair and a round face started clapping. Others followed. I smiled down at Trixie, a born leader. She took charge and embodied the strength that her pack needed, inspiring a broken town to rebuild. If only I could manage to find that same strength for my pack. They deserved an alpha.
Two young women with golden hair approached the truck, holding hands. I recognized them as women who had worn the colored dresses that night in the mansion.
“Annora, Sierra, help Mrs. Moore so we can get Billy back in his own bed,” Trixie said.
They nodded, and took a tarp and hammer. Blake watched the two frail women, then followed after them.
The crowd slowly thinned as small groups carried supplies in different directions. Axel went with two she-wolves who had been trapped in the mansion. Trixie stood by my side when everyone else had left.
“Show me your house,” I said.
She took in a deep breath, grabbed some supplies, and started walking without me. I picked up a box of nails and my tool belt and followed after her.
A few quick strides and I returned to her side.
“My house needs electrical work,” she said without looking at me.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I replied.
“You could assist someone else if you prefer,” she said.
I touched her arm and stopped in the street. “Trixie, there is no one I would rather be with.”
Her face flushed when she met my eyes with her deep emerald gaze. Then she started back down the road, and I followed. She felt the electricity between us, but she pulled away. Reading people was usually a strength of mine, but Trixie wasn’t like other people.
We stopped in front of a white, wooden rancher. Wooden boards were scattered across the ground, some scorched by the fire that had destroyed a large portion of the grass. The left side of the front of the house was missing, along with a portion of the roof. Cabinets and appliances were visible through the opening. A stainless-steel refrigerator and stove were dulled with a layer of ash and ice. Countertops and wooden cabinets were encased in ice. Trixie watched me with concern on her face as I looked at her house.
“It looks like we should start with the kitchen,” I said. “Do you have a ladder?”
“Around back,” she answered, and I followed her to a small shed. A ladder was mounted on the side. I carried it to the house and climbed onto the roof.
“We can patch the roof temporarily, and get the electricity back on,” I explained. “But we’ll have to collect more supplies from Greenville. You should come with me tomorrow, and we can bring back more shingles and wood for everyone.” Of course I could go alone, but I wanted any excuse to spend time with this woman that drove me wild. I looked down at Trixie on the ground below me and waited for her response.
“Okay,” she said, smoothing her hair down over one shoulder with her fingers.
I set to work and patched the roof with tarps. Luckily, the home only needed a few wires reattached where the wall was torn out. If it had been more complicated, I would have required the help of an electrician. Trixie helped hold the boards that I nailed to the side of her house, and I enjoyed just being in her company. We carried wood from a pile at the edge of town back to her house, and filled in the hole where her kitchen had been exposed to the elements. By the time the sun began to set, the only entrance to her home was the door.
I cleaned up outside, while Trixie went in to do some laundry. The last thing I put away was the ladder from the shed.
As I was out there, the scent of bear preceded Blake’s approach.
“Your friend went home,” he said when he reached the scorched yard.
“Axel?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Thanks for telling me,” I said.
“Everyone’s calling it a night,” Blake said, and turned back.
“There’s dinner in the cooler. I’d appreciate if you could make sure everyone gets something,” I replied. “Thanks for coming out.”
“Your supplies made it possible,” he said, and walked away.
I wasn’t sure what to make of Blake, always cold and emotionless. He didn’t have to help with the work, but he had done it anyway. There was no need to walk down here and tell me Axel had left or that everyone was turning in, but he had done me the courtesy. If he had smiled even once, I would have thought he liked me, but the bear never smiled.
Ellistown was lucky to have him, even if he was strange.
“I’ll be right back,” I hollered in the door.
“Okay,” Trixie said.
I went back to the inn and grabbed two of the subs I had left in the cooler for everyone’s dinner. Most were taken, but people were still trickling in from around town. When I returned to Trixie’s house, I knocked on the door.
“Welcome back,” she said, opening the door with a smile.
“I brought dinner,” I said.
Trixie looked down at the subs in my hands. “Come in.”
We ate on the sofa in the living room, since there hadn’t been time to clean in the kitchen. The wheat sub rolls were filled with chicken salad, made with grapes and walnuts, the way my mom used to make it. Trixie sat beside me, and I felt the electricity return, the need to touch her, to claim her.
“Lance,” she said. “This is too much.”
I hoped she didn’t mean my presence, this
pull between us.
“It’s just a sandwich,” I replied. “Is there anything that needs to be fixed in your bedroom?” I asked, looking around the room at the piles of clothes and bedding on the floor.
“No,” she answered.
“Okay,” I said. I didn’t want to push. If there wasn’t something to fix, she had to have her reasons not to have her clothes in the bedroom.
“I haven’t been able to sleep in there since it happened.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and placed my hand on hers. Touching her felt right. I wanted to pull her into my chest and hold her, but I didn’t. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Maybe,” she said, lips gently parted. Her skin was warm, and her cheeks heated. Trixie rose from the sofa, lacing her fingers in mine, and I followed her into the bedroom.
Chapter Eleven
Trixie
The room seemed a bit less off-limits with Lance by my side. I wanted to share my personal space with him, to let him get close. I sat down on the edge of the bed, and he sat by me. Every nerve was raw and desperate for his touch. All of this was new and intimidating for me, this enchantment that controlled me.
“Thank you for today,” I said, tilting my head to look up into his gorgeous eyes, deep as an ocean.
He smiled down at me, then bent his neck, and took my mouth with his. His lips were tender, in contrast to the rough stubble covering his square jaw. Flutters tingled inside of me, sensation spreading from his warm, soft lips. My body was on fire, hot with a yearning I had never felt before.
“Anything for you, Trixie,” he growled, revealing the beastly desire that matched my own.
Desperate for more, I pressed my mouth back against his. With slow, gentle movements, he parted my lips with his tongue. So expertly controlled. I wondered how many women he had kissed. Certainly more than the number of men I had. There had never been a kiss like this for me, there’d never been such passion. I followed his lead, and let our tongues dance, licking, circling, exploring.
Every inch of me ached for his touch. The longer I tasted him, the more needy I became. I turned and climbed onto his lap, straddling his legs. Lance’s arousal pressed up against me through his jeans, assuring me that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
After running my fingers through his impossibly silver, short hair, I brought them down, learning his body with my fingertips. The darker stubble on his jaw was rough and sharp to my touch. Inching his tongue deeper inside of me, Lance slid his hands onto my hips.
Touching his hard chest through the thin fabric of his t-shirt, I slid my hands down to his waist, and tickled up under the fabric. His skin was warm, and the muscles beneath were hard. I traced the ridges of each abdominal, and the valleys where they met. So strong and masculine, so perfect. A line of dark silver hair trailed from his bellybutton to beneath the waistband of his jeans. The rough texture of the fur between my fingers was a stark contrast to the smooth skin it decorated. Grasping the hem of the shirt, I pulled it up and over his head. Lance lifted his arms and moved with me, and watched my face with fire in his deep, sapphire eyes.
“Trixie,” he growled. “Tell me if it’s too much.”
“I want you,” I said, admiring the definition of his bare chest, and the desire in his gorgeous blue eyes. It was too good to be true, that this kind and gentle, yet strong and handsome man wanted me as much as I wanted him.
“Promise you’ll stop me if it’s too much,” Lance said, voice lowering to a deep rumble.
“I promise,” I said, wishing he’d touch me and knowing I wouldn’t stop him. I needed this, needed him. I couldn’t stop.
Without a moment’s hesitation, his lips returned to mine, harder, more desperate than before. His cool, huge hands slid up under my sweater, and unhooked my bra with ease. After noting this new indication of his experience, I hoped he wouldn’t find me lacking. He moved his palms beneath the cups of my bra, and gently squeezed my breasts with both hands. Warmth moved through me, connecting the sensations from our kiss, my breasts, and the pressure from beneath me.
A moan escaped my lips as he moved to my nipples, squeezing softly between thumb and forefinger. I pressed my chest forward into his expert embrace.
“Lance,” I moaned.
He slid his hands down my sides, and unclasped my loose jeans. I stood, pulled the bra from beneath my sweater and dropped the jeans and panties off of my hips. They fell to the floor, leaving me wearing only my sweater. I watched Lance’s hungry expression as I moved, growing more nervous as I disrobed.
“Your turn,” I said as I climbed back onto the bed.
Lance stood, turned to me and dropped his jeans and boxers to the floor, leaving his every chiseled inch exposed to me. His entire body was lean and muscular, with lightly tanned skin, and dark silver hair highlighting the trail to his erect manhood. The size was intimidating.
“Wow,” I said, appreciating the perfection before me. “How many women have seen you like this?” I asked, immediately regretting the question.
“No one else that mattered,” he said, and stalked forward, climbing onto the bed over me.
Resting my back on the soft comforter, I looked up into his intense, blue eyes as he knelt above me on all fours.
“I’ve been with women casually,” he said. “But you are the only woman I’ve ever truly wanted. I think about you constantly, Trixie. There is only you.”
I leaned up and kissed him, knowing that he told me the truth, and sharing his sentiment. I’d never desired a man like I desired Lance. I had taken a mate for duty, and I’d had no consensual physical connection with anyone since. Even when I had been with Stratton for the mating, it hadn’t been like this.
Lance kissed me back, then lifted my sweater up over my stomach. I stopped him with my hand. He hadn’t seen the scars, and I wasn’t ready for that.
“Leave it on,” I said. “Please.”
Lance moved down beneath my ribs, and kissed my exposed belly, leaving a warm, moist trail as he traveled downward. I held my breath as he reached my hips, moving down between my legs. Butterflies danced within me as I waited to be touched, and hoped not to be judged. Would Lance like what he saw? His breath teased me before his tongue reached my opening. One hand slid back to my breast, squeezing as he massaged me below with his tongue. Pleasure from the warm, moist movement combined with his hand on my chest met in my middle, making me feel worshipped like never before.
His tongue circled and he pinched my erect nipple gently between thumb and forefinger. Slowly he slid his warm hand up my thigh, and fingered between my folds. One thick finger softly pressed inward, teasing and pleasing me.
Desperate for more, and terrified that it would hurt, I said, “Be gentle.”
He looked up at me with those dreamy, sapphire eyes, and answered, “Always.” He pressed inward, a little deeper each time.
“I’m afraid,” I admitted.
Lance began to pull his hand away, but I caught him and held him inside.
“Of what?” he asked.
“I’ve only mated and done this for duty, and it was painful, not like this. Then there was Dashiell…”
“You’ve never been with a man because you wanted to?” he asked, concern on his face.
“No.”
“We should stop. Trixie, I don’t want to scare you or hurt you.”
“Please don’t,” I said. “Don’t stop; I need this.”
“Trixie,” he growled.
“I want it to be you,” I said. “Show me what it’s supposed to be like. Show me what it feels like to be cherished.”
He smiled up at me, then put his head back down between my legs. With moist circles and rapid flicks, Lance melted me with his expert tongue. His finger moved faster, in and out, curved up toward my belly. I couldn’t help but moan in response. Pressure built and I grasped at the bedding, holding on with both fists. With the tip of a second finger, my body ignited, pleasure coursing over me with reverberating aftershocks. I
screamed with delight.
With every muscle relaxed, I sank into the comforter and stared up at the ceiling.
Lance crawled up beside me and pulled me close, with my back resting against his hard chest. He wrapped his arms around me, and rested his head on my shoulder.
Struggling to catch my ragged breath, I inhaled deeply, and wrapped my fist around his hard cock. “What about this?”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Let me take care of you, the way that you deserve.”
Chapter Twelve
Trixie
I love your spirit, Beatrice. But try to bite me again and I’ll remove your teeth. Try to shift, and I’ll break your leg.
The binding dug into my wrists as I tried to free my hands. The rough, pink fabric was the only barrier between his skin and mine. I wanted to scream, but he liked it when I did, so I clenched my teeth and kept it in. My heart raced as he pressed down on my neck, shoving my face into the hardwood floor beneath.
Scream for me.
My eyes shot open, and my heart raced. Darkness surrounded me. The heavy arm resting over my middle weighed me down, like a restraint tying me in place. My sweater, damp with perspiration, clung to my skin, suffocating me. I climbed out of bed and rushed to the living room. I looked down at my bare legs, then back at the bedroom door to where Lance slept, where I had slept. It was too much, too fast. Dashiell’s words haunted me.
Scream for me.
I ripped the sweater off and threw it to the floor. Goosebumps covered my skin, which was still damp with sweat, but the cold didn’t reach me. My mind raced and my body was numb. What had I been thinking? Getting close to Lance—we were going too fast.
The warm air in the house suffocated me; I needed out. I ran to the kitchen to find it closed off. Backtracking to the door, I paused. It felt unnatural to use the entrance that I always had. I had become accustomed to the hole in the kitchen, and I knew this was right, but it didn’t matter—it was change. My shaking fingers turned the locks and pushed open the door I hadn’t used since Stratton had been alive.
Werewolves & Whiskers: Sawtooth Peaks Wolf Shifter Romance Box Set Page 33