Hunted Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Eight (12 page)

O
wen Collins opened
the door to the small clapboard-sided house, and smelled the stale air. A ghost house.

Viper cleared his throat behind them, and Clara bumped into Owen’s back, pushing through.

“There.” Viper reached over and flipped on the light, but it didn’t do much to illuminate the low-ceilinged front room.

Owen was used to the open space, even if the cage walls had been close. They were open.

This would be an adjustment.

“What do you think?” Hannah asked, coming through and closing the door.

Owen thrust his hands into the pockets of the hospital scrubs he was still wearing. “It’s good. I appreciate it.”

“We had to flub the paperwork a little, about the two of you being married. They typically don’t allow standalone base housing for recruits unless they’re married.” Viper smacked the back of the recliner and the chair rocked back and forth in the silence. “But this has been a special circumstance. Command pushed it through.”

“When does he start?” Clara asked, slipping her arms around Owen’s waist and drawing her mouth up. She hadn’t said much since he’d agreed to it, and he had a feeling that a
talk
was in order.

He wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Not until after the next full moon.” Hannah took Viper’s hand and pulled him toward the door.

“The company’s going to run, all together.” A knot of emotion stopped Viper’s voice. “For Brown, and for Niko. We have a ritual for the first full moon after we lose someone. You and Gabriel will come. It’ll be like initiation.” A smile spread across the big Ranger’s face, like he’d realized the emotion taking over. “Only without the embarrassing shit.”

Being offered a place in the Army was strange enough, but the presence of fellow wolves was enough to Owen nodded and offered his hand. When Viper shook it, he felt the other wolf cringe a little.

“You’re going to have to learn how to control that,” he said with a shiver.

Owen retreated his hand and looked around the room. “What?”

“Did you feel that, too?” He traded a glance with Hannah, and she nodded.

“What?”

“Your alpha power.” The big Ranger wiped his hand on his pants. “You can…push…on other people.”

“I’m an alpha?” He glanced down at his hand. It was the same one he’d always had. Strong, yes, but not Superman strong. Owen turned it over. Same palm as always.

How could he suddenly have strength to push on someone when he didn’t even intend to?

“Every time the spell is cast, a new alpha is created. A new pack, a new family,” Hannah said. “I’ve never seen the spell performed by someone who isn’t a mate, so I don’t know all the specifics. But we do know that you and Vadik and Luther are now alphas.”

“We’ve never had alphas in the squad before,” Viper said, hugging Hannah into his side. He pursed his lips and considered something for a moment. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t work. We’ll need to work with you and Clara, since you didn’t grow up in a pack.”

“I don’t mean to push anything.” Owen walked to the small window and pulled the shades.

Outside, several small houses lined the street, some with lights on and some without. The forest wasn’t far—only two rows of lights before the total dark. A part of him longed for the complete openness of those woods.

Was there a fence between him and the trees? Could he wander out there anytime he wanted? Would Clara come with him?

He turned back to the room. “Well, thanks for bringing us here.”

Viper and Hannah nodded in unison and she opened the door. The night air was cool, and brought relief to Owen’s senses. He took in a deep mouthful.

“There’s food in the fridge and Cap’s wife brought some clothes for both of you. Not sure what kind or anything, but it’ll be enough until we can go to the PX in the morning.” Viper waved with one hand and Hannah pulled him onto the front porch.

When the door closed, Clara turned to him and pulled her arms around her body. “So, this will be our house now?”

He nodded and looked back out the window. “It seems like a good place to start a new life.”

“It doesn’t sound like you believe that.” She walked up behind him and her hands skimmed his hips and clasped around his stomach.

Owen leaned back against her. “I might as well start saying it.”

They stood still until their breathing synced. It was something he’d taught her to do through the wires, in the cage. Breathe together, be together. Clara had done it like it was second nature.

Maybe it was.

“I still don’t understand why we didn’t go to Iowa.” Her voice was low, whispery, like the wind. “Not that I mind. I just…you talked about it like you needed to go home, and now, we’re free, but we’re not going back.”

Owen’s heart sped a little, knocking at his throat and taking his voice. When Rain had suggested joining the Rangers, he’d jumped at the chance before he even talked to Clara, forgetting that they were bonded in the way they were. Once they were on the plane, he knew it had been a hard choice. But he couldn’t explain why he needed to come to North Carolina. It’d just been a draw.

He wasn’t sure how to explain it to Clara any other way. Maybe, after days or weeks, he’d find the words. But at the moment, there were none.

“I do want to take you to Iowa.” He rested his hands on hers.

A light came on across the street, and he watched Viper and Hannah’s curtains close. He wasn’t friends with any of these people. But he could be.

Owen turned around and settled Clara against his chest, stroking long strands of her red hair between his fingers. “I’m not ready to go right now. But someday, I’ll take you there.”

“But you think you…will like the Army?”

He smiled and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her head back so he could kiss her. Her lips were warm, her breath hot. She moaned against him.

Owen smiled his way out of the kiss. “I like
you
.” The laugh that whispered through him eased some of his tension. “Being here, with other wolves, I think it will be good for us. The only thing that matters to me is that we’re together.”

Her eyes practically glowed when she looked at him, and he felt the energy growing between them. His body responded to her nearness, and he got hard as quickly as his breath raced.

“I’ll never get enough of you,” he whispered, lowering his lips to her neck. She squealed and wiggled against him, which made him harder.

He pressed his body over hers until she lay on the hardwood floor, spreading herself below him and smiling.

If this was how their life together was going to start, then he would take this house, and the life the Army offered. His home wasn’t in Iowa, and hers wasn’t in Mexico.

Their home was each other, and it would be for a hundred years.

V
iper closed
the curtains in his new house and blew out a long breath. The Ranger unit worked fast. The guys must’ve been working around the clock since the morning to get his new house and Owen’s and Gabriel’s all ready for occupancy in twelve hours.

This was the benefit of the secret unit. They had more leeway than the other units. They all lived together, in a corner of the base near the edge of the forest, and no one bothered them. It generally meant more people in his business, which was never a good thing. But he stayed away from the nosy ones, as much as he could.

Until now.

Hannah had changed everything.

Cap’s wife would want to meet her, and Nora would want to spend time with her. Everyone would be interested in Hannah.

But he just wanted to lock her in this house for days and never leave his bedroom. He hadn’t even seen her naked yet, and all he could think about was sex. He’d been imagining having her thirteen ways from Sunday, ever since they’d fallen asleep in that tent on the beach.

Maybe that was moving too fast for her, though. Maybe that was why she’d disappeared into the back of the house. She was hiding from him.

“Hannah?” Viper called, but his voice just echoed back on him. He thought he heard water turn on somewhere.

Was she going to take a shower?

Dammit, how long was he going to have to wait to seduce his own mate? He’d been ignoring magick for long enough.

He needed to be inside her.

“Hannah?” he kept calling as he walked through the house. The lights were off everywhere except the back, so he followed the glow.

“In here,” she finally called back.

He pushed the door open and found a barely lit bedroom. The carpet was a light tan, but the bedspread was dark, so the middle of the room seemed to disappear into the dark.

Except that on the bed, gold skin provided a sharp contrast to the darkness. Hannah’s body was gloriously naked, and the only dark patches were below her abdomen and on her head. Otherwise, everything shone like a beacon.

Viper walked across the room, his blood racing faster with each step. He’d felt her body before, had kissed her before, but he’d never
seen
her like this. He’d never seen anyone like this. Someone who belonged to him the way Hannah did. Every inch of her skin was his. And every inch of his belonged to her.

Some inches more than others.

She rolled over onto her side and her smile spread slowly as her eyes traveled up his body. “I know you’ve been waiting for this.” She lifted her top leg, just enough to remind him of what was between them. “So patient,” she cooed.

He knelt on the bed at her feet and touched her soft ankle, rubbing his hand up to her calf. “You’re a fast mover, Hannah Lee.”

“When I know what I want, I go for it.” Her eyes blinked lazily. “How do you think I got through med school?”

“Hopefully not like this.” Viper smiled and when his fingers brushed across her knee, she smiled.

“No, not like this.”

“Good.” He moved closer, his fingers grazing her thigh. “Let’s make a deal.”

She moaned and her legs spread the tiniest bit, as his fingers slipped to the inside of her thigh, still inches away from her sex, but close enough that he was within reach. He stopped and gripped the skin, massaging the sensitive flesh inside her thigh.

“I can’t stand the idea of other guys having seen you like this, and we don’t know each other well enough to have expectations about our pasts yet, so let’s make this deal.” Viper’s fingers slipped a little higher.

Hannah’s eyes closed and her mouth dropped open with a little sigh. “What deal?”

He moved a finger across the seam of her sex and her sigh turned into a moan. Her legs spread open and she rolled onto her back.

“No history.” His fingers slipped inside her hot wetness and Hannah arched her back. He smiled and moved his finger pads until he felt the little, sensitive nub that would make her call his name.

“No history,” she panted, grabbing for the bedspread.

“I don’t want to know about any other man, and I won’t tell you about any other woman.” He stroked her clitoris, and she squirmed, biting her lip hard. His jaw dropped open, and he felt his breath coming faster. He was getting harder and harder, straining against his pants, but he wasn’t ready yet.

She wasn’t ready yet.

Hannah had been torturing him since they met. It was his turn.

“No history,” she repeated, bucking her hips for more contact.

“I mean, as far as we are concerned, there’s been no one else.” Viper lowered his head and delved his tongue into her pussy, while she writhed beneath him. He spread her lips with his fingers and found the sensitive flesh that sent her to pieces under his tongue.

Hannah cried some unintelligible words and wound her legs around his back, jerking her hips forward, harder. She wanted more.

Viper slipped two fingers inside her and stroked her from inside, enveloped by the sweet scent of her arousal.

Her breath hitched and she fisted the bedding hard. Just as he heard her breath reaching a crescendo, he pulled back.

“Aaaahhhhh,” she moaned. “Don’t stop, Josh. Please.”

“Promise me,” he growled against her thigh, kissing the skin he’d grabbed only moments before. “No men before me.”

“No men before you,” Hannah moaned, looking down across the flat plane of her stomach and meeting his eyes.

“And no men after me.”

“No men after you.” Her chest heaved with each long breath.

“Promise me.” He kissed the other thigh, so close to her sex that he could almost touch it with his tongue.

She groaned. “I promise. No one but you.”

Something hot and hard rose in his chest, driving him past her throbbing core and up her body, to take her mouth. She belonged to him. She would always belong to him.

Hannah reached for the front of his pants and fumbled with the zipper as he kissed her. The brush of her fingertips on his erection almost sent him through the roof.

Viper growled and turned her hard on her back, pressing her into the bed, crushing her, owning her.

He freed his cock and guided himself to her entrance, pausing to look in her eyes. “No one but you,” he whispered, and drove into her.

The wet heat of Hannah was a balm, as much as a driver. He couldn’t stop the momentum, needing to be inside her over and over, more and more. But it soothed some kind of burning just under his skin.