Unconditional (26 page)

Cade followed and smiled at Michelle. “There she is, my newest wolf. Welcome, Michelle. And congratulations on the bond with Josh.”

“Thank you.” Michelle cleared her throat. Josh knew how tired she was getting but she’d soldier through. “And I understand you’re the one who turned me to save my life, so thank you for that too.”

“Some years ago, a short while after Grace and I were mated, she was shot and seriously injured. Of course my very stubborn mate refused to change into her wolf before she knew my sister, who had been critically wounded, was all right. I know, first hand, what it feels like, that sick, helpless nausea as you watch the person you love more than life itself on the verge of death. So it was my honor to make sure Josh didn’t have to face the rest of his life without you at his side. And now you’re one of mine too.”

He sat at the foot of the bed in a chair Dave brought in.

“I’m going to ask Kendra and Renee to come in now, all right? Then you can tell us all what you saw at once and after that, get some rest.” Grace posed it like a question, but Michelle heard the steel in her tone. This was a woman used to being obeyed.

And really, sleeping in Josh’s arms was going to be her reward so she’d make it through.

Immediately, when the two witches came into the room, the wolf inside her seemed to press against her insides. Josh took her hand and squeezed it. “Drink some of that soup.”

She did, and the concentration it took to pick up the mug, sip it slowly and put it back helped her focus on something other than the fact that two beautiful women had just entered the space with her mate.

“I don’t even know how you get through every day feeling like this,” she muttered.

“You’ll get used to it. Things are very strong between you and Josh now. Your bond is new and you nearly died. Your wolf is establishing herself, and she and your human will have to find an equilibrium. It’ll come in time and then things will be easier. I promise.” Grace patted her foot.

Both witches smiled at her. “I’m Renee. Jack Meyers is one of my mates. He told me about you. Spoke very highly of you as it happens. He’s hard to impress so you must be pretty awesome.” Renee kept her eyes on Michelle, not quite ignoring Josh, but it was enough to ease her wolf back.

“I’m Kendra. I’m Max de La Vega’s wife and the other Alpha of the de La Vega Jamboree here in Boston. I’m also a witch who took on an animal. So after you’re recovered, we should talk about that. How it works for me and stuff. Also, I don’t know any other witch who is also a shifter so we have so much to talk about.”

“Tell us what you saw.” Cade sat back in his chair.

Chapter Sixteen

She woke up with a start and remembered. Everything. Being shot. Nearly dying. Josh’s voice as she drifted farther and farther away. She was so sure she’d die even as she held on by her fingernails. And then teeth. The fire of the virus as her wolf raced through her veins.

And then telling a room full of shifters about the magic at the murder scene. The way she’d scented wolves in the energy. About the unbearable
wrongness
of the presence she’d felt in that circle.

She’d repeated it over the phone to Lark Jaansen as well. The witch had told her to rest and not worry, that they were on the trail of the mages and Allie’s death would be avenged. She also urged Michelle to consider working for Owen as a hunter in Portland, perhaps as a liaison with the wolves there.

It was worth considering. And it was good to have some options when she wasn’t sure what she’d end up doing since she would no longer be a cop in Roseburg.

Josh stirred, opening his eyes and looking straight into her heart. She drew in a breath but it was full of his scent, and she went hot and hard and wet with such force it had her swallowing and reaching for some control.

So very slowly, he leaned in until he brushed his lips against her jaw. “My beautiful wolf.”

“Hold that thought.” She levered from the bed, thinking her legs would still be weak like they were the last time she managed to stand. But they weren’t. In fact she felt pretty amazing all things considered. So she brushed her teeth, washed her face and took care of her business before she went back out to him, where he was also getting back between the sheets.

“Now, you should rest.” He tried to tuck her into his body but she squirmed to face him, kissing him square on the mouth.

“How long was I out?”

“About ten hours. It’s been two days since we landed in Boston.”

“Did
you
rest?”

“Yes. Not the whole time. Once you’re on the mend you won’t need to sleep more than four hours or so a night. I do like a nap during the day though.” He waggled his brows.

“Then neither of us needs to rest right now. I feel awesome. And really horny. I haven’t had werewolf sex yet. Um, not that I want to as a wolf, cause, well I’m not ready for that. But you know what I mean.”

He laughed, kissing her slow and sweet. “It can all wait. You’ll need to shift at some point. It’s a full moon in two days. The first shift is easiest then. Though with Cade here and being as powerful as he is and your maker, he might be able to—”

She shut Josh up by kissing him again while she struggled out of her pants and panties.

“I don’t want to wait.”

“You nearly died less than two days ago, damn it.”

She rolled over on top of him, moving to straddle his waist to pin him there while she whipped off her shirt. He hissed, his gaze roving over her body.

“I did almost die. I can remember it. Remember what it felt like as my life drained through my fingers like sand. I nearly lost you. Lost this.” She undulated herself against his cock. “I got a second chance. Well, I suppose you were my second chance, being alive? After being shot sixteen times? Well that’s some miracle stuff right there, and I can’t see any reason not to get you inside me right now. I want to live my life to the absolute fullest. One, because you’re my man and you look the way you do and you have some very important and impressive skills in bed, but also? Because Allie didn’t get a second chance. How can I not live every single moment, if for no other reason than I know most people don’t get that extra chance?”

“I don’t want to hurt you. You don’t understand.”

She pulled his shirt off and ran her hands all over the warmth of his skin.

“Don’t understand what?” She bent to lick over a nipple, and he moaned, gripping her shoulders. She pushed back, the thrill of that restraint sliding through her.

“If I hurt you I couldn’t live with myself. I want you so much I’m having trouble not shaking with it.”

She sat up and looked into his eyes. “If I can walk away after being shot, I can handle your cock.”

He rolled his eyes but allowed his hands to slide down her shoulders to her arms and hands. “You sure you’re all right?”

“Not if you won’t satisfy me sexually.” She pouted until he took her breasts into his hands, squeezing her nipples between his fingers.

“Look at me.”

His gaze flicked from her nipples to her face. “No. I mean my body. The gunshot wounds are barely even pink now. My muscles aren’t even sore. I’m better than fine. Better than all right.”

“Are you unsatisfied then?” His gaze went hooded and it sent a thrill through her.

“Huh?” It was hard to think with his hands on her.

“You demanded I satisfy you sexually.”

“Oh that. Well get to it and I won’t be.”

He reached down and got rid of his pants—naturally he wore no underwear—and rolled his hips, sliding his cock through her pussy until she writhed.

“Thing is, I don’t think you’re ready yet.”

Gently, but quickly and with more practiced power than when she’d done it, he reversed their positions, and she was on her back as he loomed over her.

“I’m
totally
ready. I promise.”

He smiled at her with his predator smile, and it sent a shiver of delight through her. “Maybe
I
need to make you even more ready because I like to.”

He kissed her neck and she arched into his touch. “Okay then. That’s all right with me.”

He kissed his way down her throat, giving her the edge of his teeth and it was…different. Hotter. Her breath caught and her skin heated as it slid against his.

“Yes. I can scent you. Your skin warming, your cunt getting wet and soft for me.” He licked over her nipple and then bit the side, which seemed to be his favorite place. Shivers rolled through her and inside her, that other consciousness, her wolf, seemed to arch along with her.

His chuckle was wicked. “Now you know what it does when you bite me. When you mark me and I can see your mark on me the next day.”

Michelle raked her nails down his back and reveled in his hiss of pleasure/pain. She wanted to mark him in a way she couldn’t articulate. It was fun before, but now? Now she was driven to do it.

She reared up and bit his left biceps, high up, the meat of his muscle between her teeth. He snarled, but instead of pulling away, he pressed into her teeth, which hardened her nipples.

This werewolf sex thing was working out pretty well so far, she had to say. “Yes, just like that, beautiful. Goddamn, you’re so fucking sexy.” His hands caressed every part of her he could reach as he licked and bit her nipples until she grabbed his shoulders and shoved him down.

“More!”

His laughter brushed against the skin of her belly and then her thighs. He spread her wide and licked, slow and gentle at first until she began to melt into the bed. Then he hummed, sending the vibrations through her clit, making her arch her back on a gasp.

“There we go.”

“I’m totally ready,” she managed to wheeze out.

“Nope.” He did something with his tongue that made her see little white lights.

“Nope what?” Okay so she might have wailed that last bit.

He laughed, the dog. Or the wolf. Whatever. He was purposely teasing her.

“Are you going to make me beg?”

He looked up, over the line of her body, gaze locked on hers as he licked slow and then fast and then slow again. “Maybe. Are you too proud to beg, Michelle?”

She shook her head. “No. Nope. Nope. I’m begging you. Please, please, please make me come.”

“I like that.” He continued that slow torture, and she pounded the mattress and jerked at how strong she was. He laughed again. “I should have warned you. You’re a lot stronger now.”

“Get back to work!”

He totally did. This time his pressure was harder, his licks faster as he slid one finger and then another up into her, turning his wrist until he found a spot so unbearably sweet inside her that she nearly jumped up off the bed.

And then he sucked her clit between his lips and let go. And again. And one more time until her pleasure burst through her, filling her up so there was nothing but sensation and her orgasm racing through her veins.

“Just so you know, I’m absolutely sexually satisfied,” she mumbled, opening her eyes as he moved to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around him.

“I aim to please.”

“You get a gold star. If I could move I’d do a little cheer.”

He gave her such a grin. “Yeah? Well my birthday is coming up.”

“I can’t possibly get my ass in my old stuff, but as it happens the internet loves a slutty cheerleader costume so I’m sure I can get a replacement. Been a while since I’ve bounced knowing you watched me cheer.”

“Best part of my Friday nights, I gotta say.” Then he did some fancy-pants move and slid into her in one hard thrust.

“Damn, you are all about the sex moves. It’s a good thing I stuck around to benefit from your skills. However, I was going to suck your cock and you got in the way of that.”

“Beautiful, there will always be another opportunity for you to suck my dick. Right now I want to be in you.”

When he was dirty like that it turned her insides all gooey.

Her hands on his back caught the tension in his muscles. “Let go. You’re holding back.”

“I shouldn’t be doing this at all! You nearly died, damn it, woman!”

“But I didn’t die. You saved me. You brought me here and you made the decisions that saved my life and I am here. Here wrapped around you. Here. So when I tell you to let go, it’s not because I’m being a martyr, it’s because I am fine and I want it hard.”

He sighed and kissed her deeply until she melted into his touch. Then he sped up and she didn’t just allow it. She reveled in it. She loved how he looked at her with his wolf shining in his eyes.

He thrust deep and hard like it was the only thing he could do. Like he couldn’t resist and she loved it. Loved that he needed her so much.

“I love you,” he said, leaning his forehead to hers. “Don’t leave me. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “I love you too.”

When he came he pressed inside, his fingertips digging into her hips hard to hold her still.

She drifted off that way, safe in his arms. Loved.

Chapter Seventeen

Ten days later…

Josh watched as she came back, Tracy at her side. His chocolate wolf, he liked to call his mate, approached and stretched as she took her human skin again. He handed her a sweater, which she put on before getting back into her panties, jeans and shoes and socks.