Enforcer (Cascadia Wolves) (9 page)

He leaned down and dipped the tip of his tongue in the small dimple to the left of her mouth and he felt it get deeper as she smiled in response.

“Come into me, Lex. Come inside of me,” she said softly, almost shyly. It was the last straw after the tightness of her pussy, the sinuous drag of her sweat-slicked body beneath his own, the soft moans and sighs of pleasure she made each time he pressed back into her body. He was going to complete the claiming, make her his own by marking her.

The primal nature of this pulled his wolf closer to the surface and he arched back and gave a silent roar of her name as he came hard and deep within her. Within his woman. Over and over, his cock pulsed as he poured his life into her.

Long moments later he collapsed to the side, careful not to fall on her. He reached out and pulled her to his body and she sighed happily and snuggled into his side.

Seconds later though, she opened her eyes, pushed back and sat up, looking down into his face. “What the hell did you just do?”

Chapter Three

She said this as she fell back to the mattress and gut-wrenching shudders broke over her. Her teeth began to chatter.

He sat up, concerned, and leaned over her. “Nina? Baby, are you all right?”

“Does it look like I’m all right to you?” she demanded through teeth clenched to keep them from chattering. “What is going on?”

“I uh, I think it’s the claiming,” he said as he got up and went into the adjoining bathroom, coming back quickly with a wet washcloth that he put on her face, mopping up the sweat that had gathered there. “It shouldn’t be like this. Only, well, I’ve only known wolves who did it to other wolves. But I know there are humans who mate with wolves and they seem fine…”

Before he could continue to babble she whacked him upside the head with the pillow to shut him up. “What the fuck are you talking about? Claiming? Mates?”

“I’ve told you before, you’re
my
mate! I’m
your
mate! I just completed the claiming. It’s my seed inside of you that does it. If you were just some random woman, it wouldn’t be a big deal but because you’re my mate, the woman who is my biological match, my DNA is now twining with yours in a sense.”

Despite his fear for her, he smiled softly and his voice gentled. “I can feel it too. Only it doesn’t hurt, really. I just feel incredibly connected to you. And wow, you’re not happy with me at all are you?”

“You’re
altering
my DNA?” Despite her shivering, which was lessening, she sat up. “Oh my god! Without asking me? You’ve done something to alter my fucking humanity without asking me?”

He put out a hand and touched that luxuriant brown hair and despite herself she leaned into his hand. She didn’t just want that touch, she realized with a start—she
needed
it.

“No way! Nina, I
told
you up front about the bond, about you being my woman. I asked if you gave yourself willingly to me and you said yes.”

“You didn’t say you were changing my DNA! I thought you were trying to get into my pants.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “If all I wanted was a quick fuck, I’d have had it weeks ago. This is more than that and you know it. This is forever. You and me, Nina. We belong together. I didn’t trick you into this. I told you up front and you agreed. Furthermore, you
know
I’m telling you the truth.” He was not going to allow her to get him mad. No, he felt great, damn it, she was his woman and she was bound to him and he to her.

Grrr! She hated it when he was right. He had asked her, but how could she have known his semen was some kind of wonder-jelly-magic-DNA-changing stuff? She was silent as she thought it through. She examined her feelings, and beneath her anger she realized she felt connected to him in a really deep way. She felt a part of something, of someone, in a way she’d never allowed herself to imagine. Did she want to have some mystical hoodoo with this man? Ack! With this werewolf? “Well, it’s too late now. What’s happening? What does this mean?”

“Nina, baby, look at me,” he said and gently tipped her chin so that she was looking up into his face where she couldn’t ignore the truth of the situation.

He saw the panic in her eyes and his heart ached. “Do you really think I’d do anything to hurt you?”

She shook her head, afraid if she tried to speak she’d cry. Now that the shaking was over she was drowning in emotion. She’d never felt anything like what she was feeling at that moment. It was as if the warmth of him was seeping into every pore. She felt his presence, his confidence and courage, his strength, his desire, his lust and his fear. His love. God, he loved her. How in the hell could he love her? Worse, she felt the same. Oh god, she was doomed, she was in love with the giant tool. She actually
liked
this feeling of connection. Gah!

“What is this?” she managed to croak out. “What’s happening?”

“I feel it too. It’s the bond forming. We don’t have detailed explanations for it. All we know is that when a male releases his seed into his mate, the bond forms. An emotional and physical connection is made.”

He leaned down and kissed her gently and his own fear ebbed when she responded.

“Great. Magical cum, lucky me.” She sighed and quirked up a smile at him. “So am I a werewolf now?”

He chuckled. “No. You’d have to have the virus put into your bloodstream through a bite. We can talk about that later but we have a lot to deal with right now just figuring out who killed Tommie and Rey. I want to focus on keeping you alive through this ridiculous plan of yours. Then we can talk about whether or not you want to be a wolf.”

“We should start planning. How are you going to arrange this meet-up?” She sat up and he pushed her back to the mattress.

“We are not talking about any of this until tomorrow. Tonight you are going to rest. We’ll get dinner and I’ll get you moved into our room while you take a long hot bath. Cade will call the family together to accept you into the Pack as my mate, and my mother will be thrilled of course. She’s always on me to give her grandchildren. Heh, Cade is next! The pressure is off me now…”

She put her hands over his mouth. “God, you seemed so stoic before you got your super semen into me. Let’s back up, shall we? First of all, moving in together?”

“Nina, where else would you be?”

“Shouldn’t we date for a while or something?”

He sighed and rolled on top of her. His weight anchored her as she smoothed her hands up the muscles of his back.

“Beautiful, you are my mate. Where else would you be but with me? Human mates live together, why wouldn’t we?”

“Well, people date and then they sometimes live together and then they get married. They don’t set up house after having sex once.”

“I think we are having some basic problems with definition here. You are my mate. I am your mate. In human terms then—you are my wife. In werewolf culture, once a mate is claimed that’s a declaration, a marriage. You carry my scent, Nina. A wolf will be able to tell that you’re my mate by scent. I carry yours as well. There’s no courtship, although you’ve certainly been a pain in my ass over the last weeks as I watched you, that’s probably close to a courtship for a prickly woman like you.” He said this last with that naughty grin.

“Married?” she asked faintly as she thought it over, giving his ear a halfhearted twist for the prickly comment. “Well, I’ll agree to the moving in to the same room part, after all we’re sleeping together and I don’t have a house anymore, so my being in here is silly. But it’s going to take me some time to deal with the marriage idea. Plus, uh, this mate thingy is fine for you in your culture and all, but humans don’t recognize it, do they?”

He frowned. She was so contrary. “I don’t care what others recognize. It is. You are mine, period.”

“Yeah, okay, He-Man. So now you want me to meet your mother? ‘Cause you see, I’m not exceptionally good with mothers. They never seem to be very excited when they meet me.”

“Well of course! Nina, do you need to go to the doctor? Are you having hearing problems? You. Are. My. Mate. My mother and father and sisters are all going to want to meet you. And they’ll love you. In fact, they have to meet you before anyone else in the Pack does or my mother will never let me hear the end of it.” He rolled off her and reached for the phone and she grabbed his arm with a squeak.

“You’re calling them now?”

He laughed. “No, Cade, as the Alpha, will call them. I have to call one of the Pack who is a jeweler, have him design rings for us.”

She groaned, fell back to the mattress and pulled the sheet up over her face. “You know, Rushy McRushter, you don’t have to go all wild right now. We can, oh I don’t know, take things slowly!”

He leaned over and pulled the sheet back and peeked into her face. “Rushy McRushter?”

She gave a wave. “It was off the cuff, I’m better if I have time and I’m not being pushed into marriage by a fuck-drunk werewolf.”

He laughed. “Fuck-drunk? Good one. But there’s no point in not moving forward. It’s a done deal.” He shrugged. He dialed the numbers and she groaned and rolled out of bed in search of her panties. With a growl he pulled her back to the bed with an arm around her waist. “I have plans for you, don’t rush off.”

He held her there while he spoke to the jeweler and had him start on some design ideas for rings but swore the man to absolute secrecy under pain of death. He sounded so serious about the last part that Nina shivered. He was so big and bad and scary but she didn’t feel threatened in any way by him. That was really sexy.

When he hung up he turned back to her and his lips moved toward hers. She gave a soft sigh until she heard Cade bellow up the stairs that dinner was ready.

Lex cursed under his breath and sighed.

“Let’s ignore him,” Nina murmured and pulled him back toward her.

He extricated himself from her. “As much as I’d like that, he’ll never quit. He’s an alpha, used to being obeyed. It’s damned annoying sometimes but that’s the way things go. He’s mellow, but when he’s spent hours cooking he’ll be pouty if we don’t go down there and ooh and aah over everything.”

“God, you two are girls,” she mumbled and got up. Failing to find her panties she put her jeans back on without them.

“You’re awfully mouthy for such a beautiful woman,” he said, catching her at the door and pulling her into an embrace.

“Yeah? Too late to complain, you bought the cow, even though I’d have let you milk me at least five more times.”

He laughed and swatted her bottom as they walked out into the hallway. “You’re going to keep my life interesting, I think.”

* * * * *

Cade was putting the opened bottle of wine on the table when they walked into the room. He spun, nostrils flaring, and rushed over and pulled them both into an embrace. “Congratulations!” He kissed Nina’s cheek. Lex growled at him and Cade gave him a raised brow and a smirk as he whisked Nina to the table.

“I’d better call them before we get started. If mom finds out we had dinner before I told her you’d claimed your mate she’ll never let any of us hear the end of it,” Cade said and grabbed the phone.

Nina snorted and grabbed a piece of garlic bread. Lex poured her a glass of wine and then one for himself and Cade.

The conversation was short and he returned to the table.

“Well?” Lex asked, a fork at the ready to spear a steak.

“They’re on their way over. Let’s go ahead and eat, it’ll take them a while to get here.”

“You know, maybe I’ll just shower and change,” Nina said, getting up.

“No. Nina, you need to eat. You’ve had a really rough few days,” Lex said, putting his hand on her arm to stay her.

“Lex, I am not meeting your family in jeans and no makeup. God. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” She narrowed her eyes at his hand and he removed it with a sigh. She caught Cade’s pout and snorted. “Look, blossom, I’ll be back in a few minutes, don’t cry.”

Lex gave a surprised bark of laughter and Cade sputtered as she jogged out of the room and headed upstairs.

Rifling through the clothes she’d bought earlier, she decided on a pale peach-colored pair of clam diggers and the cream tank that went with them. She took a quick shower, put her hair back in a long braid and dashed on some makeup. She examined the results in the mirror and shrugged, that was as good as she could get on short notice. She shook her head. She was meeting her boyfriend’s, no,
husband’s
family in a bit and she had no idea what they’d think of her. In the past, parents had never been overly thrilled with her. The class thing had been an issue and the race thing too. Sometimes blonde mothers were not happy to see their sons bring home a Latina. And when Gabriel got into trouble all the time, that was another factor.

She hadn’t met anyone’s parents in at least seven years though, so maybe it would be different. She was a business owner and used to be a homeowner. Respectable. She snorted at herself in the mirror and headed downstairs.

“Finally,” Cade mumbled and went into the kitchen, bringing back a tray of food he’d been keeping warm for her in the oven.

“You look beautiful, Nina. But it’s not necessary to dress up. My family is going to love you.” Lex kissed her hand.

She snorted and began to eat, despite her nervous stomach. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was starving. The last thing she wanted to do was faint when she met his parents.

“This is delicious, Cade,” she said, meaning every word.