Sworn to the Wolf (25 page)

He looked into her face and the weight of his terror, grief and relief bore down on him until he collapsed against her body, sobbing.

Emma knocked softly on the door several minutes later and when she walked in, Laurent was lying with his head on Rain’s lap, Rain’s hands slowly stroking up and down his back. The sobs had stopped and they both felt a little better.

“Hi, honey. We brought you some clothes. Let’s get you changed and into the car, all right? It’ll be a long trip so I want you warm and comfortable.” Emma put a bundle on the bed.

Rain nodded numbly and Andreas took Laurent off to the side and held him, arm around his shoulder. He refused to let her out of his sight. Emma, Kari and Perri helped Rain change and Laurent gasped when he saw that she was still bleeding.

Elaine saw it and moved to him. “She’ll be bleeding for a while longer. Not as long as if we hadn’t done a D&C and as a werewolf she’ll already have begun healing but still, it’ll be at least another day or two,” Elaine said to Laurent softly.

When they started to help Rain down Laurent came over and picked her up himself. “I’ll do it,” he said and Rain put her face in the hollow of his neck, sighing softly.

Elaine signed her out and they loaded Rain gently into the car, Laurent settling in beside her. Elaine kissed Laurent’s cheek and Rain’s forehead. “Call me if you need anything. I had a miscarriage three years ago, I know where you are right now,” she said quietly and Rain gave her a small nod.

The ride back to the lodge was quiet. When at last they pulled into the drive Kari turned around and looked at them both. “Why don’t you stay in the lodge for a few days? You’ll be closer so that we can help more. I had Anna make up a room downstairs.”

Rain looked dully out the window. Laurent looked at her and then back to Kari. “Thank you,
reine
, but I think we’ll stay in the cabin for now. The time to ourselves will be good,” he said before picking Rain up and walking with her down to the path that led to the cabins.

When Laurent walked through the door he saw that Anna had brought them food and fresh flowers and had opened the windows a bit to let the place air out. “Baby, why don’t I put you in bed so you can rest?”

“Because I’ve rested enough. I can’t rest this away,” she said. “I need to work, Laurent. I’m going to sit here on this couch, facing the lake, and I’m going to sketch.”

He brought her an afghan to put over her legs, her sketch book and charcoal. “Can I stay here?” he asked, kneeling beside her.

She turned to him and lunged into his arms. “Don’t leave me, Laurent. Please,” she whispered into the warm skin of his neck. “I thought that I was going to die, either that or he’d get away with it and drag me back to New York and I’d never see you again.”

He sighed. “Oh Rain, you have to know that I’d brave the fires of hell for you. When I opened that door and saw the blood, saw you lying on the floor, pale, lips blue, I thought that I was going to lose you and I knew that I couldn’t have survived it. I knew right then that there would have been no life for me if you weren’t in the world.” He kissed her softly, their grief keeping them silent.

Even then he couldn’t get enough of the way she smelled, the way she tasted. She was there. Alive. His and he couldn’t stop himself. He kissed her eyelids, her ears, her temples, her forehead, he kissed each lip, her chin and her jawline. Each one a kiss of devotion and possession.

He broke off and sank down onto the floor next to the couch, his head resting against her thigh, eyes closed. He stayed there against her as she sketched until the sun sank low.

“Laurent?” Rain whispered, touching him gently and he awoke. “I need to take a shower. Can you help me please?”

He stood up and helped her to her feet. “Of course. Come on, let me get the water running and some towels. How about your flannel pajamas, the purple ones?”

“Oh that would be lovely,” she said as he sat her down in the bathroom and bustled around, turning on the water and going to grab towels and her clothes. The floors of the cabin were heated and a pleasant warmth stole over Rain as she watched Laurent at work.

At last he helped her out of her clothes and undressed himself, easing her into the shower. She stood under the nearly scalding-hot spray and let the water wash over her skin. There were no tears left as Laurent tenderly shampooed her hair and used a washcloth to get rid of the blood and grime that the cursory sponge bath at the hospital hadn’t gotten. She refused to leave when it was his turn to wash off, instead she leaned against the wall and held onto his arm while he showered.

After they returned to the living room he turned on the television. “I’m going to see if someone can’t bring us down some dinner. I know that Anna will have made us something special.”

Before he could grab the phone though, Jade knocked on the door, carrying a large basket and an ice chest. “I brought you down some dinner. Anna...we didn’t want to intrude but we wanted to make sure you ate,” she said, holding out the things she’d brought for Laurent to take. “Anna made a beef stew. There’s homemade bread, a salad, some strawberry shortcake. Oh and she told me to remind you she’d put milk in your fridge.”

“Thank you, Jade. It’s very thoughtful. I was just about to call up there to see if we could scrounge some dinner.”

Jade hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I love you both so much.” She kissed his cheeks and turned to Rain. “Sweetheart, I know you don’t have your
maman
near but I want to tell you that I’m here for you. Please think of me as your substitute
maman
, yes? There isn’t a thing I can say to make this hurt less so I won’t even try. Just know that each and every one of us loves you both and is here for you.”

“Thank you, Jade. That means so much to me,” Rain said, her voice cracking.

“Oh sweetie. Come here.” Jade sat and enveloped her into a hug.

Chapter Twelve

Two weeks later Rain finally began to feel again. Not just the numbness and emptiness of her womb, not just aching loss, but small moments of happiness. She’d finished three paintings in that time, all very dark and haunting.

She and Emma, who’d come by to visit, drank tea out on the deck, watching her house being built across the lake. The builder told Laurent that morning that if everything went according to plan it’d be done in just under three weeks.

“Emma?”

“Hmm?”

“Um, when can I—can Laurent and I—that is, uh, when can we have sex again? I haven’t asked until now because I haven’t felt the slightest bit sexual. But this morning I was watching Laurent get dressed in our room. The sun glowed off his skin and he looked so handsome, so beautiful and strong. He saw me watching him in the mirror and turned back, our gazes connected. And, um, yeah.” Rain smiled as a shiver worked through her at the memory of it. That old surge of lust, of total sexual heat, had returned and singed them both. Laurent’s lips had parted slightly, his pupils had dilated and his breathing shallowed.

Emma smiled, taking Rain’s hand and squeezing it tightly. “This is good news. I examined you last week, you’re fine. Healed up and ready to go. It was all about your hearts at this point anyway.”

“Um, about birth control. I can’t wrap my head around being pregnant again just now. I need some time. You said there was birth control made for us?”

Emma looked at Rain seriously. “Listen to your inner voice on this. I’m glad you’re waiting until you feel ready. I have a month’s supply of the pills at home, let me call Sean and have him bring them over. Obviously you can’t run down to the pharmacy and get them, we have them specially made. I’ll get you several months’ more supply in a few days.” She went inside and called Sean, who was home with the kids and agreed to bring the pills over.

“Another thing, Rain,” Emma told her as she hung up. “We’ve got a very highly developed sense of smell. An ovulating wolf smells a certain way. The only way I can describe it is we smell like maple syrup.”

Rain burst out laughing. “No way!”

“Way,” Emma replied, grinning. “So you can do a bit of backup. Just either smell yourself or have Laurent smell you.”

“And when I smell like a pancake breakfast use a barrier method?”

“Precisely. The pills won’t be effective for two weeks so be careful.” She leaned in and took a deep sniff. “You aren’t ovulating now but it may happen any time so be vigilant. Even if you wanted to get pregnant again right away I’d caution you to let at least two months pass. You may be a werewolf with healing ability far greater than humans’ but your body needs to build strength back up. And your heart needs to recover too.”

“I think I’ll pop up to the lodge to say hello.”

Emma grinned. “It’s been so long. Everyone will be happy to see you.” She put her hand through Rain’s arm and they walked slowly up the path toward the big house, meeting up with Sean on the way.

Sean gave the pills to her, kissing her cheek. “The instructions are on a card in the bag.”

“Thanks.”

He hugged her. “It’s really good to see you. It’s been a while since you’ve been up here.”

“Yeah, well, it was time,” she said with a shrug. “I’m going to pop in and see if Laurent is around. I’ll see you at dinner?”

“If you’re going to be here, you bet,” Emma said.

Rain walked to the office and knocked on the door. “Yeah,” Andreas grunted distractedly.

She poked her head inside. “Am I interrupting?”

Andreas looked up and smiled when he saw it was her. Getting up quickly, he moved around the desk and gave her a hug and a stroke over her jawline. “You interrupt? Never! Now if it were anyone else it’d be interrupting.” He winked, indicating the couch near the desks. “Sit down. You know Anna will be here any minute with iced tea and something to eat. I’m sure news that you’re visiting has spread to the kitchen by now. Laurent had to run into town to the post office, he’ll be back shortly.”

Anna indeed did come in with a tray of iced tea and what looked to be turnovers a few moments later.

“Hey there, honey. It’s so good to see you up here. It hasn’t been the same without you. You should eat though, you look a bit peaky. Here, try one, they’re empanadas. I saw the recipe in a magazine. Beef with green olives, garlic and onion. Try one and tell me what you think.”

Rain took a bite. “Heaven. Anna, these are really scrumptious. They’re my new favorite food.”

Andreas nodded in agreement and Anna beamed at the compliment.

“I’m glad you like them. I made them to entice you up to the house for dinner tonight but you beat me to it. We’ve missed you. I hope you two will stay.”

“Anna, you’re the best. Yes, Laurent and I will be at dinner tonight.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Skye drawled, flopping down onto the couch beside her and perching his head on her shoulder. “I’ve missed you, Snow White.”

“I’ve missed you too but it’s not like you haven’t all made ten thousand excuses to come by the cabin four times a day,” she said, arching an eyebrow at the chief offender of drop-in visits.

“That’s different. And anyway, god knows you needed to look at a truly handsome face to help you through your day. Laurent’s ugly mug just can’t cut the mustard,” Skye said, looking very earnest and Rain burst out laughing.

“What’s this? Skye, get your paws off my wife.” Laurent growled in jest as he came into the room. His heart lightened to see Rain laughing and teasing with Skye, to see her back and visiting the rest of the Pack at the lodge. She’d been at the cabin since she’d gotten back from the hospital.

Shoving Skye out of the way, he sat down next to her, burying his face in her hair and breathing her in deeply. She sighed in contentment, relaxing back into him.

“I told Anna we’d be here for dinner. Is that all right?”

“Of course.”

“Are you finished for the day or do you still have work to do?” she asked, her voice going down an octave. Her hand had worked its way under his shirt and stroked up and down his spine.

He looked at her and time stopped for a moment. He’d been waiting for this to happen between them again. That morning he’d seen her watching him and they’d shared the first heated moment since she’d lost the baby. He reached down and traced her bottom lip with his thumb. A sound of pleasure so raw it shot straight to his cock broke from her lips.

“Um, you two need to get home,” Andreas said, his voice a bit shaky.

Laurent leaned in and touched Rain’s lips with his own, his body lying across half of hers. Her back rested against the arm of the couch as she reached up to stroke her palms over his shoulders and up his neck, stopping when she’d gotten wrist-deep in his hair. She sighed into his mouth and he swallowed the sound eagerly, his body tightening in response.

The lights flickered. “Jesus,” Skye whispered.

The flickering lights shook Rain back to awareness. “Let’s go home for a while or we might end up sharing more of our personal life with these boys than they’d prefer. We’ll come back for dinner.” She pushed him back a bit and blinked slowly and he nodded, helping her to her feet.

“Don’t leave on our account. We like to know all about you. Every detail.”

Snorting, Andreas smacked Skye as they watched Laurent and Rain leave the room.

They walked slowly back to the cabin and Rain felt as if she were wading through warm honey. He traced circles with his thumb on the hand he held in his. The sensation spread outward, echoing through her like ripples in a pond.

He opened the door for her. “Are you sure?”

Tears sprang from her eyes and she nodded, drawing him to the bedroom. “I am. I need you so much, Laurent. Make it better.”

He pulled her hair loose of its clip and slowly unbuttoned her shirt. Drawn to him as always, she gazed up into his face as she pulled the tie holding his hair loose, threading her fingers through the dark softness. His scent filled her nostrils and she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. His body heated as his desire for her rose, his pheromones working overtime, melting her from the inside out.

He growled low and sexy as he pushed the shirt off her arms. Without pausing he popped the front closure on her bra, freeing her breasts. “So beautiful,” he whispered and reverently bent to kiss each nipple. His large hands skimmed over them and she arched into his touch as his lips traveled down over each rib and the flesh of her belly.

On his knees, he yanked her skirt down before standing and picking her up and carefully laying her on their bed. She shivered at the feel of his hands sliding up her calves, up the insides of her thighs, fingertips skimming over her pussy through the panties she still wore until he pulled those off too.

The sight of him there above her, fully clothed as she lay naked before him, brought a rush of honey to her pussy. “You look very much in charge up there, Laurent Cole. I like that a lot. Still, you have entirely too many clothes on.”

A wicked grin of promise lit his face and in moments he’d stripped, his clothes tossed behind him as he crept over the bed toward her.

“Hey! I like a slow unveiling!” she protested and he shook his head, moving to crouch above her.

“Next time,” he said as he leaned his mouth to hers. “I don’t have the control for slow just now.”

Their combined heat flared into an inferno. Hot flames of desire and reconnection licked at their flesh as Laurent slid his body along hers, trailing scorching kisses down her throat, swirling his tongue at the hollow, feasting on her pulse. His hair felt like a living thing, caressing her as it trailed behind his wicked lips and tongue.

She attempted to reach him but he shook his head. “No. If you touch me, I’ll lose it. Let me do this. Let me feast on your body. I’ve missed your fire.”

He nibbled just this side of painfully on her nipples, flicking his tongue over them again and again, moving from one breast to the other over and over until she thought she’d die from it. Continuing to kiss down her body, he paused to draw his lips over the curves beneath each breast. She could manage little more than to lie beneath him, writhing from the pleasure of his touch.

He paused to dip his tongue in the well of her navel, bringing a ripple of shivers and a gasp from her. He settled himself between her thighs, put his hands under her ass and brought her pussy to his mouth, serving himself of her body as he nudged her labia open with his tongue.

“Laurent,” Rain whispered. It was an entreaty, one that he was happy to answer. Her taste slid into his senses like triumph. She roared through him as her scent wrapped around his cock and squeezed. Long slow licks, pausing to dip into her gate and gather her honey, brought his mouth over the entire map of her cunt over and over. He wanted to roll in her, coat himself with her scent, feed on her desire for hours and hours until she was utterly spent.

But he couldn’t because he had to have her. It had been two long weeks since he’d been inside her body. Two weeks that he’d wanted to connect with her in this way, watching her grieve and ache at their loss. And now he was where he wanted to be most in the world.

He relearned every bump, every fold of flesh, every dip and ridge of her. Her clit bloomed under his ministrations until her thighs trembled and her head thrashed on the pillow. Her fingers tunneled through his hair, clutching strongly enough to bring tears to his eyes. When she came it was with a cry from deep within, a cry of love and pleasure but also the residual of anguish and sadness.

He licked her slowly, gently as she relaxed, still panting, muscles jumping from the aftershocks of his loving.

Sitting up with a languid movement, Rain pushed him on his back, smiling down at him all the while. After kissing his lips and tasting herself there she moved the kisses down the warm column of his neck, stopping at the place where it met his shoulder and breathing in deep. A growl trickled from her lips and his hands on her hips convulsed and tightened in response.

She ran her tongue over and over his pebbled nipples and he arched into her mouth. “I’ve missed you, I’ve missed this,” he whispered.

A smile curved her mouth before she continued kissing him, licking over each rib and each band of muscle in his belly. Her fingernails traced the path of dark, silky hair from his navel to his cock and down to his balls. She lowered her head and took him into her mouth and he groaned.

There was nothing else in the universe except for the warm wet cavern of her lips and mouth over him, the cool tickle of her hair trailing along his stomach and thighs, the fingers she stroked up and down the inside of his thighs and over his stomach.

“Rain,” he said with clenched teeth as he pulled her gently away. “I need to be inside you. Shall I get a condom?” He knew she wasn’t ready to be pregnant again. Neither one of them was ready yet.

“No. Emma says I’m not ovulating right now. We can talk more about that later. Right now I have an itch that you need to scratch,” she said as she pulled her knees up, feet flat on the mattress, looking up at him with carnal invitation as the glistening flesh of her pussy opened to his view.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said, settling himself between her thighs. She reached down between them and helped guide his cock to her as he leaned forward, bracing his weight on his elbow.

He nearly lost his mind as he pressed into her. He wanted to be gentle but it was a challenge as her warm wet body enfolded him, rippling around his cock. He felt an unbelievable sense of rightness in that moment. Rain must have felt it too because she sighed long and low as he slid home.

His gaze never left hers as he slowly slid in and out of her. They shared so much more than physical lovemaking in those moments. Yes, they were bound by the ceremony and shared a connected link but as he looked down into her eyes just at that moment it was as if tiny filaments had come from her body and wrapped around his heart and soul. It was the most intimate moment he’d ever shared with her and he knew that it would be all right. They’d make it past this low point and move on to much happier times.