One Second (Seven Series Book 7) (6 page)

He suddenly shot to his feet and twisted away.

“Austin?”

By the time I turned, he was descending the ladder with hurried steps.

“Stay there,” he said tersely.

In a desire-fueled stupor, I looked around, wondering if something had scared him off. When he moved toward the front door, I quickly climbed down the ladder after him. After all, if we had visitors, I had on more clothes than he did.

“Dammit, Lexi! Don’t come down here in your condition.” He leaned over the small table where we liked to drink our morning coffee and peered out the window.

“What’s going on?” I stood on the opposite side of the table and looked out, my breath frosting the glass.

“I heard something.”

“Maybe it’s Reno stopping by.”

In a swift motion, he shifted into a black wolf, moving at a frenetic pace in front of the door. His wolf was a formidable creature, larger than most and incredibly powerful. Because he was an alpha, he didn’t fade when his wolf took form, unlike most Shifters. They shared the same consciousness, and Austin could even take control. If he paid enough attention, he could understand what I was saying.

His wolf barked.

“No,” I said.

He snapped his gaze up to mine, his eyes like glaciers against his black coat.

“Austin, we can’t let our wolves out—not with everything going on. And don’t you growl at me!”

There was no sense in arguing; he would only shift back and open the door himself. And by then, he’d really be pissed by my disobedience to the Packmaster. When I opened the door, he flew out and stopped several feet away from the porch, lifting his nose and taking in scents. The frigid air reminded me how underdressed I was, so I shut the door and returned to the window, then wiped the condensation from the glass.

I gripped the windowsill, rocking slightly as clenching need overtook me—an aching desire that could only be sated one way.

A wolf appeared from the tree line on the left, his dark eyes on Austin. That’s when I realized the wind was in his favor, because Austin hadn’t noticed him at first. The wolf shifted his gaze, staring at the cabin and giving me goose bumps. My scent was lingering in the air outside; the humidity must have made it into a heavy perfume that no Shifter could ignore.

Austin’s wolf snapped his head around and stalked toward the brown wolf, lips peeled back and fangs as sharp as daggers.

I stood breathless, scanning the woods in search of others. So far, it was just the one.

***

When Austin heard the distinct growl from another wolf, he immediately shifted. Lexi reluctantly opened the door, and he rushed down the steps, eyeing the woods to his right. Axel had advised him against shifting, but a Packmaster had the right to protect his mate. Lexi was going into heat, and those special circumstances made this situation dangerous.

Austin lifted his nose, pulling in the heavy smell of wet snow. A lingering trace of Lexi’s scent mingled with the earthy undertones of the forest. When the wind changed direction, the most prominent scent in the air was wafting from behind him. Austin turned and faced a brown wolf standing a few feet away from him. Austin sensed he wasn’t an alpha, but he couldn’t be sure if the Shifter was a local rogue, a pack member who’d wandered out of his territory, or one of the Northerners.

Austin’s paw pads were thick and indifferent to the frigid snow beneath him. He growled a warning sound, peeling his lips back and licking his sharp canines with his long tongue.

The wolf barked at the cabin before turning his attention to Austin, intensity gathering in his eyes.

That single act of defiance made Austin want to tear out his throat. This Shifter had his sights on Lexi and wanted everyone to know it. Austin vibrated with alpha power, stalking forward, a steady growl thrumming in his chest like a motor. Obedient wolves were naturally submissive to alphas so long as the alpha wasn’t behaving erratically. Austin continued with his vocalized threat, and after advancing a few more steps, he realized this wasn’t an obedient wolf.

Probably a local rogue.

Austin quickly changed form and stood naked before the intruder.

“
Shift
,” he said as a harsh command, one dripping with alpha magic.

In a motion too fast to track, the animal morphed into a man with wavy black hair that fell past his shoulders—eyes like midnight and skin as pale as polished ivory.

“Your wolf was in my territory,” Austin bit out.

The stranger’s eyes scanned their surroundings, but his head didn’t move. “You’re not familiar to me.”

“I’m Austin Cole, Packmaster of the Weston pack in Texas. This land belongs to a Shifter named Hector, and I have permission to stay on this territory.”

A biting wind blew from the cabin, and the Shifter’s nostrils flared.

Jesus
. Lexi must have gone into full-blown heat.

Austin glimpsed her head peeking out the door, and his voice snapped like a whip. “Back inside!”

She slammed the door.

The shifter scratched his jaw, not bothering to hide his growing erection. “Is she yours?”

“That’s my mate,” Austin growled. “My packmates are staying in cabins that way and that way,” he said, pointing straight ahead and then right. “I think you need to move on.”

The man sniffed and slowly drew in his bottom lip, scraping his teeth against it. The look in his eyes fluctuated, as a man conflicted.

“Are you local?” Austin asked.

“I own a diner up the road. I belong here more than you do. She’s pretty,” he said, voice faraway as he watched Lexi standing in the window.

In her fucking bustier.
Goddammit.

“I’m only going to warn you once.” Austin kept his voice steady and controlled. “Get off our land. We’ve marked the perimeters, and your wolf should have stayed clear.”

Those black eyes settled on him, pulsing with intent. “Maybe my wolf wandered up here because he thought Northerners were hiding out. The alpha attacked, and I took him down. When I went inside to see if there were more, a bitch in heat threw herself at me. Couldn’t help it.”

“You son of a bitch!”

The man lunged and shifted all at once. Austin gritted his teeth when the wolf’s fangs pierced into the flesh around his neck. Austin pried his jaws open and threw him off.

Once in wolf form, Austin let the savagery of his animal take over. His moves were so raw that the other wolf recoiled. He locked his jaw around the wolf’s shoulder, the metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth and the heavy scent of victory filling his nose.

The rogue yelped and scuttled back, bright blood dripping onto virgin snow. He lifted his head and curled in his lips, eyes wide as a show of intimidation.

Austin’s wolf was stronger and more intelligent than this impulsive asshole. He stalked forward, head low, eyes fixed on his target.

He waited for a beat and then exploded into action. The two wolves stood up on their hind legs, viciously biting and tearing with their canines. Austin felt a puncture on his face and the back of his neck.

Suddenly, a scent caught on the wind—one so powerful it almost knocked him down.

Lexi.

He swung his gaze toward the cabin and saw her emerge from the open door. Lexi was a proud alpha female who wanted to fight by her Packmaster’s side, but she knew she couldn’t intervene. Her scent created a diversion though, and it worked long enough for Austin to lock his jaws around the wolf’s throat, forcing the rogue onto his back.

After Austin had asserted his dominance, the wolf conceded defeat by manner of posture and vocalizations. Bleeding and shamed, he scurried through the woods until Austin lost sight of him.

“Austin?” Lexi called out. A gust of wind blew her long hair like a ribbon of silk.

His wolf trotted toward her. Just before he reached the porch, he shifted into human form and, without breaking stride, climbed the steps.

Lexi walked backward into the cabin, eyes wide as Austin slammed the door behind him and stalked forward with a heavy swing in his step.

“Austin? Are you mad at me?”

Mad? Her scent filled his nose like a luscious dream, and a wave of possession rolled through him. All he could think about was sating his woman and tasting her lips.

She backed up toward the heavy table, and he reached around her, throwing the chair aside. Austin lifted her by the hips and set her on the edge, his fingertips peeling down those lacy panties with the violet trim.

Jesus
, she was beautiful.

Naked and hard as a diamond, Austin wasted no time and buried himself deep inside her. He growled when that rapturous heat enveloped his shaft like a blissful dream, squeezing him tight and promising exquisite pleasure. No other feeling like it existed. That heat coursed through him like a drug, traveling into his bloodstream and filling his entire body with a primal hunger that intensified with every stroke.

When she parted her lips and threw back her head, Austin slammed into her even faster, desire tightening like a coil and radiating to the base of his spine. This was the call of the Shifter, and Austin succumbed to his animal instincts.

Austin marched toward me like a soldier going to battle, the snow melting beneath his bare feet.
He was a man impervious to cold temperatures, and a thin veil of steam encased him as the frigid air met with his hot skin. The closer he drew, the more his nostrils flared. The cabin shook when he slammed the door. I backed up toward the kitchen, certain I’d finally crossed the line. There was never a doubt his wolf could have dominated the rogue, but I was more afraid that Austin could have lost control and killed the intruder. After all, we were in foreign territory, and I didn’t know if our visitor was an important figure in the community.

“Austin? Are you mad at me?”

With a flick of the wrist, he knocked the dining chair out of the way. Quicker than a heartbeat, Austin lifted me onto the table.

The moment he fastened his fingers around the edge of my panties and pulled them down, I became wet. The tingles had become a steady pulse, and I opened my legs to him, locking my knees against his waist.

He licked his lips. “Lie down.”

The tension between us was electric, and I trembled as I slowly leaned back until I was spread before him like a banquet.

“Arch your back,” he commanded.

His enlarged pupils swallowed up the blue in his eyes, and he traced a finger slowly down my body from the base of my throat to my navel.

“Now… close your eyes.”

When I did, Austin slid inside me so fast that I gripped the edge of the table. He filled me completely and, without missing a beat, drove fast and deep.

I opened my eyes to a look on Austin’s face so primal that an ancient heat flooded my veins. The hard joining of our bodies caused my breasts to spill over the top of my bustier. His rhythm was animalistic, and my body quivered with a need unlike any I’d ever known.

His eyes flared with desire, and he buried himself deep, using his elbows to hold himself up, becoming a shield of flesh. I admired his thick torso—muscles contracting with each thrust, a thin sheen of sweat glistening across his skin. His face was red, his dark hair unkempt and too long.

I scored his back with my nails—the friction hot and urgent. A swell of pleasure rolled through me, and just as I reached climax, Austin abruptly pulled out and fell to his knees.

What the hell?

The moment I looked down in confusion, he put his mouth on my sex. I cried out—gripping his hair as he used his tongue to draw out my orgasm.

I might have blacked out for a few seconds. Heck, I might have been speaking Old Norse or some other extinct language. My scream snapped me out of my haze, and I gripped the edge of the table, riding it out. Suddenly there was heat everywhere when Austin fell on top of me and slid back in.

“You taste like heaven,” he whispered in my ear, moving steadily. His weight felt delicious—as if he were claiming me with every inch of his body. “No pulling out this time.”

His whispers caressed my skin and made the tingles start all over again. I wanted this damn bustier off so I could feel his hot skin rubbing against mine.

“You look sexy in this top,” he panted, moving faster. “You don’t know how hard it’s been to keep my distance. I’ve wanted to fuck you on this table since the day you made me homemade banana pudding.”

“I hate bananas.” I moaned, my legs anchoring over his hips.

“You like this?” he asked.

“
Yes
.”

“What else do you like?”

Austin loved dirty talk.

“I like this table,” I said coyly.

He nearly withdrew, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

“
What
do you like on this table?” He cocked his head to the side, eager to hear me speak, keeping his body absolutely still as punishment.

My lips grazed his earlobe, and I sucked on the fleshy tip. “I like you… fucking me on this table and making me come. When I saw you fighting that rogue, I couldn’t control myself.”

Austin moaned, grinding against me in a steady rhythm.

A tremor of anticipation rolled through me. “I didn’t leave the cabin to rescue a Packmaster who doesn’t need rescuing. I wanted you to come inside and take me.”

His thrusts increased. “I’m going to come inside you.”

I leaned around and bit his neck, then whispered in his ear, “You’re my alpha…
Oh, God
… I love you.”

Austin roared, and the heavy table scooted back several inches. The sound of our bodies slapping together and the feel of a powerful oncoming release unraveled me completely.

I shouted—clenching my core so tightly that it drew Austin to climax.

“Baby, keep doing that,” he growled.

Austin muttered all kinds of profanities in my ear, saying dirty things as he sank deep inside and then finally stilled. Pulses of pleasure struck my core, contracting my muscles, and I released a whimpering moan. My body hungered for him like nothing I’d ever felt.

He collapsed on top of me, and I couldn’t be bothered to complain. Austin left me utterly boneless—just a heaping pile of flesh and sex sweat.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to eat on this table again,” I said, half-kidding and half-disgusted.

He raised his head and winked.

I smiled wryly. “Don’t say it.”

“Didn’t plan on it,” he replied in a honeyed voice, lowering his head and circling his tongue around my nipple.

“I have to admit… this is heaven. Not exactly something we can do back at home with Denver always walking in or the kids hanging around.”

He propped up on his elbows, wiping my hair away from my face. “That’s why I like these getaways, Ladybug. There are things I want to do and experience with you that I can’t at home. Not just sexually, but just living life uninterrupted.”

Austin leaned down and delivered the slowest kiss—one that bled into my soul and connected me to him more than ever before. A kiss that made me fall in love with him all over again.

“Let’s spend the rest of the night in bed,” he murmured. “I’ll make some cheeseburgers and bring up a tray of snacks so we won’t have to leave.”

I rocked with laughter. “Sounds good, considering I’m definitely not dining at the table tonight unless it gets a power wash.”

“Oh, but
I
am,” he said, his whiskers scratching against my collarbone as he moved down, teeth nipping the edge of my bustier. His soft lips pressed against my lower belly, trailing in a southerly direction. “I’m ready for my dessert.”

***

“Darling, you sound more relaxed,” Naya remarked over the phone.

I stretched out on a fur blanket, listening to Austin rattle dishes in the kitchen below. “We had an early dinner.”

“Mmm, now
that’s
what I like to hear,” she purred.

“So what’s everyone doing?”

“It’s barely been a week. Miss us already?”

I kind of did. I loved the intimacy of time alone with Austin, but vacations reminded me of why I belonged with Shifters. I craved pack life like I craved air, and the family bond always grew stronger during a separation.

“We might be coming home late,” I said, keeping my voice low. “The snow is crazy, and the roads are treacherous.”

“I thought Austin had the plow and chains?” she asked, suspicion in her tone.

I couldn’t tell her about the attacks. The rogue proved how unstable the locals were and how easy it would be for someone seeking an opportunity to use rumors of war as an excuse to commit crimes.

“He can’t get them over to Lorenzo and Reno’s cabins, and they’re waiting for the owner to come out.” In truth, the owner had supplied each cabin with all the equipment needed to handle the bad weather. “Anything new going on?”

She huffed. “If you keep calling me with a weather report, I’m going to think something’s wrong. There’s nothing exciting to tell. Denver spilled red soda on his pool table, Lynn made a blue flower arrangement for her bedroom, Izzy’s had the hiccups for two hours, and Jericho keeps trying to scare her, only what he’s doing is scaring everyone else with all his dramatic screaming and leaping out of closets.”

“Sounds about right. Gotta go, I hear Austin coming.”

“I certainly hope so.”

I set the phone on the side table. The wood all around me was aglow, dripping with flecks of gold from the lamp beside the bed. The logs on the fire downstairs were popping, and every so often, the wind’s scornful whistle skated across the roof of the cabin.

Earlier, Austin had made cheeseburgers with deep-fried onion rings. Afterward, we made love twice more. Not because I was in heat, but just because.

While dressing up in a bustier was fun, I’d rather swim with sharks than have to wear one of those again. I finally knew what a taquito felt like. After our interlude on the dining table, I had changed into a long vintage T-shirt with quarter-length sleeves.

When he reached the top of the steps with a tray in hand, I didn’t know what looked more scrumptious—him or the snacks. Austin’s black boxer briefs fit him like a second skin. He’d also been taking shaving less seriously, and I had to admit that I liked the sexy casualness of his five-o’clock shadow.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I brought it all.”

“I see.”

Austin had filled the tray with cheese cubes, a bag of potato chips, stalks of celery, a can of bean dip, cookies, and trail mix. I’m not sure why I thought he would have arranged them nicely in bowls and on napkins—men foraged, they didn’t arrange.

“You can leave the bean dip over there,” I suggested, pointing at the wastebasket.

He set it on the ledge of the stairs beside his medallion and placed the tray in the middle of the bed. I sat up and opened the package of cookies with my teeth.

“So what’s the plan when we get back home?” I asked.

Austin sat across from me—one leg bent at the knee—and opened the trail mix. “Axel said it’s not his job to call the out-of-state Councils. He’ll get a nasty backlash for favoritism if he just contacts a few, and there’s no way he could know everyone’s number. He’s protecting his own. This isn’t the kind of thing I can tell our Council over the phone,” he said, eating a handful of the mix. “As soon as we get back, I’m calling an emergency meeting with the Council.”

“What if they want you to keep it a secret?”

“Then they can go to hell. Sorry, Lexi, but this isn’t something I’m going to tiptoe around. I can’t put the law over lives, especially when they’re my friends. They can reprimand me if they want, but I doubt it’ll come to that.”

“Should we leave Texas?”

He chewed his mouthful of nuts and then swallowed. “There’s no point. If you’re on the run, you have nothing. We’re safer where we have allies.” Austin pointed his finger. “But I’m going to tell you something right now. If it gets bad and for some reason we’re separated, I want you to come back here.”

“
Here?
” I exclaimed, tossing my half-eaten cookie on the tray. “Why would I drive all the way back to Colorado?”

“I’m not saying it’ll come to that, but worst-case scenario. You’ll be safer here. There are more Shifters statewide in Colorado, and they’re organized. It’s only a day’s drive. Reno’s my second-in-command, but you’re my partner. I’ll tell him the plan too, but I need you to enforce it. If we’re in over our heads, and you don’t see victory, then you come here. We’re not one of the bigger packs in the territory, and we might be one of the first targeted.”