Her mother gushed over Fenris’ flattery. Her father rolled his eyes and changed the subject. They talked about her father’s enemies, namely her Uncle Mikhail, while they finished dessert. She understood the importance of ridding the curse from her family. Rudra tried to decide if she felt relief or annoyance that she’d be stuck with Fenris for another few weeks. More time for sex, which her libido clearly welcomed. But she sensed danger in the male. She didn’t understand him, and she didn’t know why she wanted to know him.
Thoughts about using him to infiltrate the Silver Clan confused her. Rudra had always been one to exploit an opportunity to bring her clan back into the
Great
Forest
. But using Fenris felt oddly wrong. As if he mattered more than the clan. And look at her parents, hanging on his every word. They saw him as some kind of saviour. To her father, Fenris would stop an ancient wrong. To her mother, Fenris became the son she’d never had and the father of her future grandchildren.
Rudra’s womb clenched, wanting to make those grandchildren right now.
Shit.
Calling on her discipline, she willed her arousal, if not away, at least to the back of her mind.
Rurik stood and shook his hand. “Well, then, Fenris. We’ll see you tomorrow. I can’t tell you how much your help means. I know I acted like I’m not giving you much of a choice, but…” His voice trailed off as he stared at her mother then Rudra.
“I understand.” Fenris nodded. “Actually, I’m in no rush to return home. I don’t mind staying.”
Home. The
Great
Forest
, where the Silver Clan gathered. The familiar rage flamed to life once more. As they left the cottage, Rudra tempered the need to keep him safe with her desire to make things right for her clan. Not only would Fenris help her father, she’d make sure he helped the wolves his kind had been only to happy to push away. An ironic justice, if she thought about it. If she could think about anything. Her body didn’t much care who the hell Fenris was at the moment, hungry for the golden wolf that she couldn’t stop wanting.
Fenris inhaled and stopped in his tracks. “By the Wolf, you’re dangerous.” He backed her against a tree and leaned close to kiss her.
She stopped him with a hand to his chest, pleased to feel his heart beating like crazy. “Not here. You’ll come home with me. Then
I’ll
do whatever I feel like doing to you.”
Rudra tested him and herself. Did he have the ability to take orders? Did she have the wherewithal to resist him for the short trip to her home? He smelled so damn good.
“You’re in charge,” he rasped, his canines glinting in the moonlight.
Just what she wanted to hear. Before she could move, he stopped her.
“Wait.” He turned suddenly and tensed, keeping her pinned to the tree behind his broad back.
She smelled
Jericho
before she saw him. He ambled out of the woods, looking bored. “Alpha. Wolf.” He nodded to each of them. “Everything okay with the folks, Rudra?”
Her beta had no problem letting them know he’d followed them, taking care of her the way he normally did. Fenris didn’t seem to like it. Though smaller than
Jericho
in his human form, he bristled with rage and took a step in the lumbering bear’s direction.
“She’s fine. She’s with me.”
“I see that.”
Jericho
leaned back against a tree and rubbed his back, sighing with pleasure. “You have a good night. I’ll be close by, in case you need me.”
“She doesn’t need--”
“Thanks, Jer. See you tomorrow.” Rudra tugged Fenris after her, not sure how she felt about
Jericho
’s approval. She loved the big bear like a brother. They’d grown up together, and in all the time she’d known him, he’d never given an interested male his support. Then along came a golden wolf with Silver Clan ties. And
Jericho
might as well have handed him the keys to the castle by stepping back without interfering.
For his part, Fenris had twice now followed her orders, giving no one any reason to believe he might be stronger than her and doubt her leadership. Which, in her status as alpha, meant everything.
Though she could do much with sorcery, she could only use it as a human, not as a wolf. Fenris, in werewolf form, could resist her magic and tear her body—human or wolf—in two, and he had to know it. Yet he’d deferred to her in front of her parents and now
Jericho
. Thoughts of using him to further the clan’s agenda faded from her mind as they neared her front door.
She pushed past it and dragged Fenris inside, excited at what she had planned.
“Take off your clothes,” she ordered. The door banged shut behind them.
In the dark, his eyes glowed. As her sight adapted to the lack of light around her, she absorbed his masculine strength, thinking she’d never seen a man so well put together. She hurriedly stripped and stepped back from him, thrilled at the large erection waiting for her.
“Now what?” he asked, breathless, like her.
Rudra shoved him hard into the wall behind him. He narrowed his eyes, but before he could protest, she waved a hand, paralyzing him with her magic. “Now, you listen to me. I’m the alpha here. You do what I tell you to.”
“Look, honey, I’m eager to please, but let’s face it. You just think you’re in charge—” He stopped when she dropped to her knees in front of him. His whole body tensed, and his cock bobbed, the head slick with moisture.
She licked his shaft, and he growled her name. Rudra took him into her mouth and played with his balls. Running her hands along the hard globes, she squeezed and teased as she laved his cock with her tongue and nipped with her teeth. Fenris moaned and tried to move, but helpless under her spell, he could only stand there and endure.
She tasted his need, his cock wet with her saliva and his arousal. And his excitement increased her own.
“Oh, fuck. Give it to me.” His low growl sounded desperate.
She sucked hard, and he shuddered. His shaft as hard as iron, his balls tight against his body, Fenris teetered on the edge. She scraped his thighs with her nails, and he swore.
“Who’s in charge?” she whispered and cradled his balls in her palm.
“
Shit.
You are. Please, Red. Suck it. Make me come.”
She trembled, incredibly aroused by the taste of him, but more, by his capitulation. She put her mouth around him again and sucked, gratified by his howl and the rush of seed that filled her mouth.
After swallowing his offering, she slowly stood, kissing her way up his body. With a wave of her hand, she released the spell holding him still. Expecting him to slide into her arms, she cried out in surprise when he reversed their position, pinning her against the wall.
“You little witch,” he panted and nuzzled her neck. “And I mean that in the nicest way. You have a mouth made for sucking cock, Red. By the Wolf, you’re perfect. And wet,” he added, shoving his knee between her legs. “Hmm, ride my leg, baby. Let me smell your cream. So sweet.”
He kissed her, wrapping his hand around her neck to hold her still. Having just dominated him, she wouldn’t have thought she’d enjoy being handled this way. Yet Fenris’ touch felt right. His large palm spanned her throat as his fingers wrapped around the slim column. The hunger in his kiss and brush of an erection against her belly stunned her.
“I know,” he groaned. “This isn’t normal for me. It’s you. I need to come again. But not standing up. I want a bed, dammit.”
He pulled her with him in search of her bedroom and stopped at the spare room. “Good enough,” he growled and tossed her onto the mattress. He followed her down and spread her legs wide. In seconds, he feasted on her, licking and sucking her clit until she couldn’t think. While he teased her with his mouth, his fingers pinched and tugged her nipples, shooting sparks of pleasure throughout her body. He played her like an instrument, until she hummed with mind-blowing desire.
He groaned and flicked his tongue deeper into her channel. The pressure over her nipples increased, becoming almost painful. A rush of feeling swam through her body. Heated pleasure, a steady build towards promised bliss. When he touched her, Fenris made her feel a part of something else. A part of him. Except as her orgasm crashed over her, it echoed, strangely empty. And she knew it wasn’t enough.
“I need you inside me,” she said when she could catch her breath. “Come in me, Fenris.”
He growled something she couldn’t understand. He slid off her and rolled her onto her belly. After he propped her up on her hands and knees, he slammed inside her.
“Fuck, yes,” he hissed as he took her hard. His fingers dug into her hips as he thrust in and out. Sharp nails tore her flesh, and he bit her over the spot he’d already left. When he leaned up from her, he felt even thicker inside her, pushing her into another realm of bliss.
She shuddered and clenched him tight.
“Oh, yeah, that’s it,” he crooned and tightened his grip. “I’m coming
now
.” He tensed and yelled out. He remained inside her for several moments before he withdrew and
continued
to spend all over her back.
His explosive climax gave her a sense of wonder, that she’d made him lose all control.
When he finished, he rubbed his cum into her skin.
She arched beneath him like a damn cat. “That’s it. Rub it all over me.”
“Mine. My marker,” he growled and yanked her head back by her hair. “You’re mine. Say it.”
By the Wolf, he’s strong.
“I’m yours.” The words automatically poured from her. A sense of peace, acceptance so close… Until the import of her words registered.
Rudra blinked, startled out of the sensual lull she’d been riding. She couldn’t have said why, but admitting to his claim seemed a bit too real, too much. This was just sex. Nothing more. Not with a wolf who was the enemy, a werewolf and a fucking future
alpha
.
He flopped down on the bed beside her and pulled her on top of him. Her tension dissipated like mist.
“Such a sexy alpha,” he murmured, his gaze half closed, drugged with satisfaction. “
My
sexy alpha.”
“I bet Mike Barton would disagree with you there.” She rested her cheek down on his chest and exhaled softly.
“Mike Barton can kiss my ass. No, make that,
you
should kiss my ass. Who knows, I might like it.” Fenris rubbed her back, his touch both possessive and tender. “You feel like silk. As cool as the Wolf’s own spring and as soothing as the sun’s warmth over winter fur.”
She smiled, amused at this poetic side of her lover.
God, I have a lover.
“You’re cute when you’re satisfied. So lyrical.”
He chuckled, and his heart began to slow under her ear. “You’re a mate worth keeping. A bossy female with a great ass.” He cupped her butt in his hands and slid a finger around the rim of her anus then pulled back. “Wait until I take you here. When my second wolf claims you for his own.”
Second wolf—werewolf.
Mate?
“Fenris?”
She wanted to ask about the werewolf, about his casual disdain for his alpha, about anything that made sense concerning this strange lust that continued to morph into something more. But her lover had fallen asleep. For once willing to follow someone else, she closed her eyes, inhaled his scent, and joined him for a nap. Just a little one, until she found the energy to join the clan again.
Chapter Four
“So tell me again about this living box thing?”
Jericho
asked two weeks later.
The bear sat up to his hairy chest in a spacious hot spring deep in the forest. Fenris, Brett and Brody Nash—the annoying red wolf brothers—and Gibson, a brown fox, basked in the soothing water after a day spent hunting.
To his surprise, Fenris actually liked the group. He’d spent his first week under Red’s watchful eye, not surprised when she sent him to
Jericho
. Though the sex between Fenris and the alpha grew more and more explosive each night, the days were filled with tension. Red didn’t trust him, that he knew. She also expected him to turn on his clan, which he’d never do. He didn’t agree with Uncle Mike on most clan matters, but he’d never go against his own. Not when Red had every intention of ripping out the Silver alpha’s throat.
“Spill it, Goldie. What’s the deal with a mating ceremony? Anything we should know, if and when Rudra’s mom tries that on us?” Brody asked. “I wouldn’t put it past her. Woman’s always trying to match lone wolves.”
Fenris sighed. “It’s Fenris, not Goldie. I think your alpha’s a bad influence.”
“Damn straight.” Brett laughed. “But she can kick our collective asses, and she’s pretty pleasant when she’s not dealing with the Silver Clan. So we do what she says—”
“—when she says it,” Brody finished for him. “Now, this box?”
Fenris explained why he’d been running in the forest the day they’d found him. “My uncle had this notion that my brother and I need to mate. By the Wolf, we’re—” No need to tell them he was still considered a pup by many.
Jericho
and the others treated him like an equal, and he had no intention of changing their minds. “It’s too soon for us to be tied down to one lone female. And the Silver Clan females are too bitchy for my peace of mind. Not one of them has ever held my attention for more than a night.”
Not like Red.