Ashes To Ashes (Wolf Guard Book 2) (14 page)

I was unimpressed with his demands. It's not like I was particularly sold on the brothel myself but being ordered not to go just quickly rubbed me the wrong way. "I don't answer to you."

His eyes flashed a brighter light, nearly gold burning through that warm, honeyed resin."Don't test...the wolf, little witch. Want's to show you...you're his."

I rumbled my own little annoyance back at him, I'd spent too long on my own to ever fall beneath another wolf. "Don't push me, I'm not yours yet." I warned him before he went too far to pull back from.

The man never reacted how I thought he would. I'd dug my feet beneath me, waiting for the him to spring forward with his animal’s aggressive nature, fully prepared to fling myself out of the way and escape to the kitchen. I did not expect the sound of his buckle dropping to the floor or the trousers that fell in a heap at his feet. I worked my way up tanned, muscled calves to equally tanned and hugely proportioned thighs. Tiny silver scars dotted the skin in intricate patterns and only made the muscle that clenched, as he took a step forward, even more carved in perfection. A small black hand print wrapped around one thigh, swirled around the skin in delicate lines that sunk deeply into marble flesh. I shot my eyes to his face, flushing at the glimpse of completely exposed manhood - this wolf did not wear boxers. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Lane's hand pointed to the black print, a little remaining gift from the empath inside that had apparently decided to rebel against me. I flicked my eyes to his and a large feral grin spread across his face.

"Showing you. This claim says...You're already mine."

Chapter 19

It took him a margin too long to pull those trousers back up. I think he took his sweet time about it on purpose, like he was truly enjoying my uncomfortable frown as I tried to avoid looking at him. He certainly had nothing to be ashamed of.

It was mildly annoying that I became so awkward in his presence. Perhaps it was just the bodies own natural forewarning - that flush that almost guaranteed a stuttering fool in place of normal, easy conversation. Natures way of cautioning just how perilous this man would be to my stead fast control, a flashing red light to an angry beast - it was a warning to ignore at my own jeopardy.

"Get dressed...come with me."

I huffed rather loudly at that command. "I think you're assuming a little too much too soon."

Lane rolled his eyes to the heavens,"I'm not the one...who marked without asking."

Well, that's slightly embarrassing. I flushed a deeper red then even his nakedness caused."It wasn't intentional."

"Just couldn't help...yourself?"

It's like he was trying to make me stab him. "After the whole strangling thing? I'll pass, thanks." I sounded pleasantly truthful, even to my own ears.

Lie
. Impressions that called bullshit from the wolf inside my head.

Lane caught my stare with his own amused gaze. "Says the witch...who planned to kill her mate."

I didn't quite cover my wince before he caught the guilty action. I was certainly less proud then I'd thought I'd be about ending this bond."How?"

He grunted, apparently that passed for some sort of conversation to him."Enough people have attempted...to kill me to recognize...that look when I see it." If anything, he looked rather happy about my murderous tendencies. "I wonder if...your wolf would allow it." He pondered his own question for some time while I watched. "I wonder if...my wolf would let you."

It was actually quite insightful of him. Though I'm pretty sure we both already knew the answers. We were animals beneath the skin, undomesticated and savage, wild wrapped in a lie of refinement. He was my wolf's perfect counterpart and she would not allow him to die. Even now she ran her eyes over his figure, thumped her heavy tail against my side, those sensitive ears twitching against my skin attempting to pick up every nuance of his rough voice that held her absolute attention. He was already her secret obsession and her feelings swam in murky waters with my own.

"I'd apologize for...killing them, but I'm not entirely...sorry about it."

I turned narrowed eyes on him, tried very hard to hate the grey storm that raged quietly behind such boundless slate.

He frowned at me, "I needed to...kill them. They earned their...end."

Yes, I suppose they did. They were not only shitty parents but they fed like they lived - without morals and a need for painful pleasure - the kind you only get from gleefully inflicting torture on others and reaping the rewards. Still, I hadn't built my life on easy forgiveness and am I just supposed to ignore the fact he sentenced me to a barren childhood? Am I supposed to forgive that, only on the basis that fate made him mine? That seemed rather weak to me and so I tried honesty. "I'm finding it difficult to put aside the need to make you suffer as much as I did. I was a child and your actions forced me into destitution. I don't deny that they weren't good people, Lane. I just don't believe I'd done anything at the age of eight to warrant that."

He nodded in acceptance and his eyes wandered around the room as his thoughts spun intricate patterns and displayed curious twitches in his facial muscles. I felt the need to see inside his head, figure out what caused those expressions and follow his unique trail. He was a puzzle in a gleaming box, something I could spend quite some time figuring out.

"Get dressed...come downstairs. I'll tell you a story." He smiled rather blankly as if it was a forced expression, something he only did to make those around him feel more comfortable. "Perhaps you'll understand...my position."

I nodded and stood from the bed, limping slightly with the pull to wounds still in the healing process. I really needed to feed soon, the tingle in my stomach was a familiar sensation, one that pre-warns for future clawing. I'd expended a lot of energy that needed to be replaced and I'd prefer to do that before it became some deeper hollowed abyss.

A rumble trembled around the room, echoing through my chest and answering the steady beat the empath already played in my gut. I looked up and saw Lane with his eyes on my thigh, little flashes of the wolf's amber breaking through grey and forcing his jawline to stand out in sharp angles, deepening the hollows of his cheekbones. Shadows that dipped over the lines of his face, paling the tan skin to an unnatural tone and coercing an animalistic structure. A beast that fought it's human for rights to the body they shared.

I found a pair of jeans on the chair near the door, kept the t-shirt that someone had already dressed me in. As soon as I covered the bite marks in my leg the rumbles came to an abrupt halt.

"It bothers me...that another wolf bit you."

That was both weirdly obsessive and oddly intriguing. "It tried to tear my leg off - I don't think it was flirting."

He grunted again and shrugged those big shoulders."Still don't like...its teeth in you."

I hummed back at him and dropped the conversation, I'd learned early on that male wolves were exasperating creatures. "Whose clothes are these?"

"One of the females...don't know which one."

I raised an eyebrow, "do you know any of their names?"

He peered at me at confusion. "No. They are unimportant."

I probably should have taken the high road and said that he should make an effort to get to know the pack he was in charge of. I found myself smiling at him though - it seems I'm bitter like that. I passed him as he held the door open for me, a gesture I was surprised he made. I walked ahead of him towards the stairs, already scenting a strong, heady aroma of some kind of Cuban coffee bean - it seemed the new female liked decent coffee. His soft treads behind me gave me an unexpected twinge of safety, like a chained and muzzled tiger guarding your back - something that could never quite be a domesticated pet.

He sighed a little and I started at the sudden sound breaking the silence. "I don't like that...I hurt you. Wolf doesn't...like it."

I turned a curious gaze on him,"you seemed pretty happy about it at the time."

He frowned at me, "I am never sure...if you are serious or not."

I grinned widely.

He sighed again,"would you like to...hurt me?"

"What?" His cloak of sanity was quite obviously dropping again.

He lifted his shirt - still covered in splattered remains of the slaughter, it made me wonder for a moment, why he'd taken the time to dress when he shifted from his wolf, only to bathe once more in the sodden, stained mud. I quickly became distracted by an art piece of genetic engineering - the parts that synced together to make this wolf and his human form. It was someone's most perfect accomplishment, granite like muscle that carved and clenched at each tiny movement, dips and raises of heated skin that wrapped tightly around his solid stomach. He was not lean - I don't think that word did him justice. There was no excess fat - a hard thing to accomplish as wolf anyway but, it was more than that. He wasn't just born this way, it was taking what he'd been given and torturing his body into submission. Starting with a single building block and constructing a towering masterpiece.

He coughed quietly and raised his eyebrows as I forced my eyes back to his. "Stab me."

"What?!"

"I would feel better...if you stabbed me."

The man was clearly on crack. "I'd rather not right now."

He narrowed his eyes again and let his shirt fall back to cover his stomach."The offer is open...if you feel the need."

How sweet.

I turned back around and hurried down the stairs, perhaps Arya would be more on my level and I wasn't sure how much more of Lane I could take. I put a hand on the heavy, oak kitchen door and paused before entering. "You can't just flash your abs every time you fuck up, you know?"

I almost felt the nod of his head behind me. "Yes. There are...other body parts though."

He made a joke?

That was a joke right?

The kitchen was clear of females as we entered. The coffee brewed slowly in a pot on the side counter, a trickle that wavered in thick accents to fill the large room. Perhaps the rest of the pack were feeling their losses privately - away from the empath intruders. I stood at the window and peered out at a lowering sun, burnt orange that promised a clear start tomorrow, low enough in the sky to cast it's last golden rays on the evenings encroaching first frost. Daylight's final stand against the dark's frigid, black invasion.

A group of trees wavered in the chilling wind, bowing to the sun’s lost seat, trailing the floor with budding green leaves. Arya sat beneath the solid trunk of the largest one, it's falling branches almost covering her from view.

"She likes those...trees." Lane stepped up behind me, his arms on either side of the counter as he boxed me in against the sink. "Coffee will be done...soon. She won't want...to miss it."

His breath puffed against my hair, his head low enough to whisper words against my ear. Shivers worked their way along my forearm, traveled a daunting path all the way to my neck. I found it harder to catch my breath and harder to fight the urge to lean back into that solid chest.

I snapped my eyes open and blew out a lungful of air. "I'll get her."

Less than graceful, I ducked under his arm and skipped to the doorway, eager to breathe free and clearly under the falling mist. Such suffocating summer showers and rolling thunder in that house, like I couldn't take a single taste without drowning in his essence.

I walked quickly to Arya's relaxed form, lent back against the tree, eyes closed to the muted light around her. "Coffee’s nearly done."

She smiled slightly,"smells good doesn't it?"

I nodded and waited for her eyes to focus on me. It took a good minute before she opened up back to the world around her.

"You should have tried the sludge I used to drink. Awful.” She sighed a little, “although sometimes I kind of wish I could taste it again.”

I cocked my head to the side in question but she only closed her eyes again and shook her head in response. "Charlie will be here soon. You'll like him." Green eyes flashed wide once more and I waited patiently for her to continue. "He's like you."