Her Wanted Wolf (22 page)

He wanted her. The hunger she saw in his gaze couldn’t be feigned.
Streaks of gold revealed the feral lusty were within, and it was all for her.
Here they were together, two healthy animals in their prime, very much alive
and aroused.

Drew pulled himself up beside her, took her hands in his, and wrapped
them around his cock.

“Feel me, know me.” His request was delivered in a low growl of demand.

Sabine inhaled sharply as his fangs descended, the darkening shadow of
his whiskers became more apparent, his eyes feral and all were.

Drew flung back his head, teeth gritted. A body-racking shudder took hold
of him. He shook his head and his eyes cleared. The man was back in control.

Curious, she obeyed his command, slid her hands up and down the hard
sleekness, exploring him. Satiny smooth and rigid, she marveled at the evidence
of his desire for her. Drew shuddered under her touch.

None of the anatomy diagrams she’d studied had prepared her for the warm,
throbbing appendage she held. She caressed him, captivated by the network of
ridges the blood-filled veins created over the shaft.

Sabine dipped her fingertip into the indentation. His cock pulsed against
her palm. Startled, she tried to release him, but he clamped his hands over
hers.

He guided her hand over the glistening knob to gather the translucent
fluid seeping from the tiny slit carved in the bulbous crown.

Drew grunted and showed her how to use the slick viscous sap to ease his
cock through the circle of her palms in a slow easy motion. Until she caught
the rhythm, he pumped his hips in a smooth motion. Sabine stroked and squeezed
his shaft hoping to give Drew a fraction of the pleasure he’d given her.

Holding the proof of her mate’s virility in her hands, the sated
languorousness of her body dissipated. She wanted his rigid shaft inside her.

“Mount me now.”

Drew shuddered. “I can’t. I’ll hurt you.” His words were barely
decipherable.

The satiny shaft hardened and grew, under her petting.

The muscles in Drew’s jaw bunched and his expression turned savage.
“Yes,” he gritted out.

Drew let out a guttural grunt and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

“Sabine!” Drew’s shout rang out in her ears.

Liquid spurted through her fingers and over her belly and torso.

He clasped her behind the head and dragged her mouth to his. Hot and
ravenous, she met him, fully accepting.

“We didn’t…?” The question hung in the air.

“No we didn’t, but I think we pleasured each other enough for tonight.”
He slid off the bed and padded to the bathroom.

“I’m ready,” she protested. She’d lain splayed out in front of him, open
for his taking. Why didn’t he consummate their union? The man was an enigma.

“Are we going to argue about this too?” He turned to face her. To her
surprise, he was stiffly erect again, his eyes blazing down at her with lust.

She squirmed under his heated scrutiny. The man had turned into a bag of
annoying contradictions. He obviously desired her, so why didn’t he take her?

“I’m not an animal, and as much as I want to sink my cock inside you, I
was barely able to fit two fingers into you. It’s been a little while since
I’ve been with a woman. If I’d taken you now, I’d do some damage to you.” He
shot her a grin. “Now that we’ve taken the edge off my hunger for you, we can
rest a bit. Later, I’ll have the patience to enter you at a pace, which will
give you the least pain. If that’s all right with you?” He quirked a
questioning brow at her.

She gave him a jerky nod. What choice did she have?

For Heaven’s sake, she practically begged the man to fuck her. If this
was an example of how she’d lose herself with him, she was in big trouble.
Maybe once she really mated with him, he wouldn’t affect her so much.
Familiarity would take care of this awkward heated neediness, she told herself.
The pragmatist in her didn’t believe that one bit.

Chapter Sixteen

Aimee woke up rampantly aroused. She needed Micah to relieve the
heaviness in her pelvis and the painful fullness in her cleft. She was twitchy
with a desire that was deeper than mere lust. Her drive to procreate was as
crucial as taking her next breath. Micah’s timing was perfect. Her breeding
cycle was upon her, and not a moment too soon.

Prioritize, girl. She had to get in touch with Drew to let him know she
was safe. She slid her legs off the narrow bunk, and set her feet on the floor.
The gentle rocking motion of the boat made her stumble. Aimee braced her legs
apart and walked gingerly toward the door. It swung open and Micah stepped
through it, carrying a plate in one hand and a mug in the other. His eyes lit
up when they met hers.

Micah’s nose flared, and his body tensed with arousal. “Oh, hell.” He
dropped the plate and cup down on the small table bolted to the floor. He
fished out a phone from the pocket of his jeans. “Here, we need to make
arrangements for your brother to come and get you.”

Aimee’s stomach heaved. She felt like she’d driven over a bump in the
road much too fast. “Get me? I’m not leaving you.”

He reached to take hold of her shoulders, but dropped his hands and took
a step back from her. Oh, crap. Was this going to be one of those ‘It was great,
babe. I’ll call you soon’ situations?

He shut his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “Do you think I want to send
you away? I had no right to touch you, taint you with what I am.”

Perplexed, she had to ask, “What are you talking about?”

Micah shrugged off her question. “Never mind—it’s not important.”

“Not important! You can’t say something like that and not explain what
you mean.”

He pressed his fingers to her lips. “Forget it, please. Listen, if
anything happens to me you’ll be up for grabs again. I have two death sentences
hanging over my head. You need to get as far away from me as possible.”

Her eyes and her nose pricked, but she blinked back her tears. “Justice’s
mate is my best friend, so he’ll listen to me.”

Micah shook his head. “Ambervane can’t facilitate a reprieve for the
Redmavens as long as Bardo is our alpha. The odds are stacked against them even
listening to me because I belong to the banished pack that stole you.”

“If you challenge Bardo, you automatically become the Redmavens’ alpha.
He’ll hear you out, and we can be together.”

Micah stepped away. It felt like he’d erected an impregnable barrier
between them. “It’s not that simple. You’ve never seen me shift, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.” Aimee didn’t comprehend the sudden change in demeanor.
His eyes were devoid of expression, his voice cold, distant.

“But you have seen Rifkin in were form?”

She shuddered and nodded. The image wasn’t something she wanted to dwell
on. “Ahh…yes.” Chilly foreboding skittered down her spine.

“I don’t shift unless it’s absolutely necessary because I am just as much
a monster as Rifkin is, as a were.”

Relieved, her apprehension leached out of Aimee. “Is that all? I figured
as much, since he never challenged you openly. He only preys on those who are
weaker than he is.”

He let out a shaky laugh. “You’re not appalled by what I am? You can
accept what they’ve made me?” He crossed the short space between them and
brushed his fingers over her cheek. When she didn’t cringe, he cupped her face
with a hand trembling with his emotions.

Aimee put her hand over his. “I’ve seen you step up to shield the members
of your pack time and time again from Rifkin. You are not a monster.” She
turned her head and pressed her lips to his callused palm.

He pulled her into his arms, buried his face into her hair, and
whispered, “I have to know you’re safe to do what I must. Christ, you smell
good. I want you so badly.”

“Yet you’d send me away.”

“My family is a mess, Aimee.” His voice lowered to a gruff rumble. “We
have very few resources available to us. Bardo is the only one who has access
to the pack’s wealth, and he’s used very little of it for our benefit. The
majority of my family is barely literate. You see how downtrodden they are.
They’ve had the spirit ripped out of them by a long succession of negligent
alphas.” He rested his forehead on hers and sighed. He looked weary and
troubled.

“Tell me what weighs you down and puts that look of despair in your eyes.

“I have nothing to offer you. I’ve given Bardo a reason to put a price on
my head for taking you and removing the bulk of the family from his influence.”
Micah laughed bitterly. “Rifkin must be grinning with glee. He’ll work with
Bardo to skin me, and then he’ll turn on him when I’m out of the way. His goal
is to claim the pack, and if he does, things will get much worse for all werekin,
because he’ll have Milo in his clutches.”

She looked at him, perplexed. “I don’t understand.”

“I recently found out Bardo has Milo working to replicate a chemical
compound to mask our spoor. I believe he is close to perfecting it. Now I
understand why Bardo moved us, he didn’t want Rifkin or me there.”

“Then you should stop Milo.”

“I tried. I left a couple of men behind to pick up Milo. The thing is,
they didn’t show up at the rendezvous point with him. Rifkin might have gotten
to him first.” The plea in his eyes asked for understanding. “There is
something you need to know, Bardo has someone feeding him info about the
Lunedares. That’s how he knew how, when and where to take you. We can’t be
together right now. There is no guarantee I will come out of this alive. Call
your brother, now please. Speak directly to him, no voicemail message. I don’t
know who we can trust in your clan.”

Could you really feel your heart breaking? You could, because the pain in
her chest couldn’t be anything less.

Sniffling, Aimee tapped out Drew’s number. A monotone message informed
her that the customer wasn’t taking calls.

“He’s not answering. Let me call Saffa Ambervane.” Her voice choked with
tears, her lips trembled. She knew her nose was going to start running in a
second. Not a pretty sight.

“No, we’ll keep trying until we get your brother.” He took the phone from
her and tossed it on the table. “Don’t cry. Don’t squander the little time we
have together shedding tears.”

Micah peppered her face with light kisses. “I want to love you, hold
you.”

“You’re right, let’s make every second count.” She pushed him back until
he sat down on their unmade bunk. “But I want your cub.”

“No.” He recoiled and took several steps back, but she followed.

“Yes, leave something of yourself with me.” Aimee cupped his face between
her hands. “If you can’t come back to me, I’ll have our child.”

“You’re offering me a priceless gift, one I should refuse.”

“Are you going to?” She hoped to God he didn’t. She was in heat, she had
a one hundred percent chance of conceiving, and she wasn’t going to let it
pass.

He shook his head. “No, I’m not. I can’t.”

Aimee grinned, leapt into his arms, pulling his T-shirt up and off his
body. She placed her mouth on the pulse point at the base of his neck. It
thumped at the same tempo as hers. Two hearts beating as one, sharing common
hopes and sorrow. But she wouldn’t grieve, she’d celebrate.

Aimee swiped her tongue over Micah’s straining neck and pressed her
breasts into his massive chest. She wrapped her arms around his torso and held
him as close as she could manage. Aimee imprinted every ridge and indentation
on his body and committed it to memory. His smell she already knew.

Micah let out a low growl, lifted her, and set her across his
jeans-covered groin. Oh boy. The rough denim pressed into her clit and caressed
it like a callused finger.

Micah buried his face in the crook of her neck, sniffed her skin, and ran
the broad surface of his tongue over the spot he would place his mate’s mark.

She shuddered in his arms, smelling the fragrance of her arousal and
fertility filling the small cabin.

Aimee looked up into his face and tilted her head to bare her neck. “Mark
me.”

“Are you sure? It will bind us forever.” He rubbed his face over her skin
with a manic fervor.

“I want forever with you, but as you say we might not have a future
together,” she whispered. The knowledge that their time might be cut short was
as painful as having a knife twisted in her gut. “If you mark me, it’d make our
loving better than anything we’ve ever experienced. I want that with you, for
you.”

“Ahh, Aimee, your generosity humbles me.” He pressed his lips to her eyes
and mouth with such a poignant gentleness it pulled out a sob from deep within
her.

“I claim you as my one true mate.” She said her vows with fervent
conviction.

The green in Micah’s eyes darkened. Emotions played over his face, love,
need, fear, and some regret. If she wasn’t mistaken, there was inexplicable
gratitude.

“Don’t, don’t you be sorry for what we have. It is more that most people
will ever experience. I give myself freely to you accepting all your burdens.
Take this moment for yourself, Micah, and for us.”

“Aimee.” Micah’s husky mumble was thick with his feelings. “I claim you
as my one true mate, you persistent she-wolf.”

Her eyes stung with unshed tears, but she blinked them back. “And so you
should, you stubborn were.”

A ring of black circled the green of his irises melding the were with the
man before he moved to clamp his teeth on the spot where her neck met her
shoulder. He let out a fervent sigh. His claiming was rife with a feral
possessiveness.

The prick of his teeth allowed the binding properties in his saliva to
seep into her blood stream evoking her base animal. Her were surfaced, and she
ripped at the denim preventing her mate from sinking his cock into her.

Micah reared up onto his feet, spun Aimee around, and bent her over the
bunk. He spread her legs with his knees. She braced her arms on the bed, hiking
up her hips in invitation and acceptance. The scent of their combined fluids
clung to the rumpled linen, evidence from their night together which wafted up
to her nose.