Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8) (7 page)

Finally I broke the kiss. Her eyes opened, and we stared into each other from inches apart.

Her lips were moist from our activity. I stared at her mouth for a moment then lifted my eyes back to hers.

"Wasn't that better than a tickle fight?" she asked.

I rolled off of her, bringing her with me so she was lying partially atop me. I bent one arm to provide myself a pillow, and Zoe laid her head against my chest.

"The moon is rising," I said.

"Does that have significance for you?" she asked. "The full moon?"

"Beyond making for a lovely evening?" I clarified. "We're a very outdoorsy family. At home, Lara and Michaela are probably out for a run right about now. The moonlit forest is beautiful, after all." I smiled.

Her hands began roaming across my body, finally slipping under my shirt. She laid her hand flat on my stomach.

"I can feel your muscles. Are you flexing for me?"

"Not particularly," I said with a smirk. "Did you want me to?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she withdrew her hand but she began exploring my body -- not even the intimate places. She set her hand on my arm.

"Flex," she ordered.

I chuckled but did.

"Oh my god!" she said. "You're like a rock. Do you know what I want to do?"

"I have a few ideas."

"Do your ideas involve you posing for my camera?"

I laughed. "I'm no body builder, Zoe. I'm just blessed with genetics."

"Is it genetics?" she asked. "Is Lara built like this, too?"

"Yes."

Just then, there was a buzz, and a moment later, Zoe slapped herself. "See? I kill mosquitoes."

"We should go," I replied. "But you asked about howling at the moon."

"Is that why we're out here?"

"Partly. And I thought a picnic would be lovely. Go ahead. You first."

"Me? You're the one who admits she howls."

"Ah, but it was your idea."

She looked at me for a moment then sat up. She lifted her nose to the sky and offered a wolf howl. For a human voice, it wasn't that bad, and better than Michaela would have done.

Then she lowered her nose and turned to me. "Your turn."

I sat up next to her and lifted my own nose. It pained me, but I intentionally offered a human version of a howl, cringing inwardly as I did so. If the pack heard me, I'd never hear the end of it.

"Oh please," she said when I was done. "You can do better than that."

I nudged her with a shoulder. "We have land near Bayfield. When we're up there, sometimes we sing to the wolves. Sometimes they answer."

She shook her head.

"What?"

"Everything about you is the opposite from me. You're so close to your family, and it sounds like there are a lot of you."

"It's a clan, not just a family," I explained. "We're pretty tightly knit."

"Kissing cousins?" she asked. "Are Angel and Scarlett second cousins twice removed or something?"

I laughed. "No. They may share a little blood, but if so, it's pretty distant and would only be on Scarlett's mother's side. Scarlett's father, Nick, is new to our clan. Well, he was new when they married, anyway."

"Like Michaela?"

"Michaela is even more distant. You may have noticed the utter lack of similarity."

Zoe laughed. "Yeah, in a one of these doesn't belong sort of way."

"Michaela took our clan by storm," I said. "She's had her detractors, but she is nearly universally loved."

"She seemed very intense."

I nodded. "Okay, let's hear another how
l, then it's time to escape the mosquitoes."

Together, we lifted our no
ses and added our feeble voices to the night sky. And I tried very hard not to cringe.

We held hands during the car ride back to her apartment, sitting quietly most of the time. When we arrived, I grabbed her keys before she could pick them up.

"Inviting yourself in?"

I grinned. "Yep."

"Good."

Outside, I took her hand again. We arrived at the front door, and I avoided sneering, barely. The building was in violation of local and state ordinances regarding, well, almost everything. No, we wouldn't have any trouble getting Zoe out of her lease. We wouldn't have any trouble at all.

There was a lock on the front exterior door. It was broken and looked like it had been for some time. It was a cheap door, besides, and I was hopelessly unimpressed. We stepped right in, and a minute later, I was unlocking her apartment door.

Zoe was surprised when I didn't hold the door for her. Instead, I stepped into her apartment and quickly searched the place, including the bathroom and the closets. When I turned to her, she offered a puzzled expression.

"Professional habit," I said. "Anyone could have been here while we were gone."

She closed the apartment door and flipped the deadbolt. I moved to her, setting her keys down, and then took her hands in mine. She smiled at me, a little shyly.

"You're home, safe and sound, Zoe," I said.

"So I am," she replied. "Are you staying a while?"

I nodded slowly then, walking backwards, I began drawing her further into her apartment. I turned towards the bathroom and backed into it, stepping all the way to the shower with Zoe following me, her puzzled expression renewed.

"What are you doing?"

I released one hand but maintained possession of the other then reached in and turned on the water to the shower. I let it run but pulled her to me. I began caressing her face with my now wet hand.

"What are you doing?"

I tipped her head back and lowered mine, kissing her deeply. Her hands clutched at my arms, hanging on tightly, and it took a moment before she moaned lightly.

While still kissing her, I backed her against the wall, sliding a leg between hers to trap her there. Then I slipped my hands down her sides and under her shirt. I began lifting, then broke the kiss as I pulled her shirt from her.

"Oh, you think so, do you?" she asked. She squirmed lightly, but it didn't even register as an attempt to escape, and she lifted her arms above her head so I could remove the shirt.

Her bra quickly followed it.

I pressed my body against hers, still pinning her to the wall, and lifted a hand to her small breast. I cupped it and thumbed the nipple. Zoe gasped, and her eyes were lidded.

"Yes or no?" I whispered.

"Yes," she said.

I captured her mouth again, then my hands were at the button of her jeans. She squirmed as I lowered them from her hips, and she kicked her shoes off. I knelt down to drop the jeans down her legs, dragging her undies with them, and she cooperated as I slipped them off her ankles.

My mouth was at just the right height, and I took a breast into my mouth. She gasped and clutched her fingers in my hair. I used my tongue, lips and teeth to tease her nipple and was rewarded as it engorged and grew stiff. She moaned and squirmed against the wall, and her fingers clutched and released in my hair.

I used my fingers to tease the other nipple at the same time.

She tasted a complicated mix of flavors: leftover fear from earlier, sweat, arousal, and her own natural flavor. I didn't care for the remains of her fear, which is what the shower was for.

Then I released her breast and stood up. She opened her eyes. "Your turn."

I let her undress me. She caressed my skin as she did so, running her hands over my body and expressing appreciation. "I've never been with someone with a body like this."

"What's your normal type?"

"Gangly environmentalists," she replied. "I get a few volunteers who join GreEN just for a shot at me."

I smiled. "And do they get you?"

"If I like them, they do for a while, but they tend to grow bored and move on. Tell me,
Elisabeth; are you here because you want a shot at the environmental activist? Are you going to grow bored and move on?"

"I'm here because you're a mystery, and I love a good mystery," I said. "I intend to read you, page by delightful page."

And a moment later, I spun her around and began backing her towards the shower.

"Oh, you think so, do you?" She tried to resist, lightly at first, then more forcefully.

"You might want to check the water," I said. "I wouldn't want to scald you."

"You couldn't scald me if it was on full hot," she replied. But she turned around and tested the water, then made adjustments. I let her finish, then when she turned back to me, I slipped my hands around her and picked her up, stepping into the shower.

She shrieked in surprise, but then we were both under the water. I pulled the curtain closed and captured her mouth again.

Her shrieks turned into moans, especially when my hand found her breast again.

When finally I released her mouth, she whispered, "You're very naughty."

"I know," I replied. I found the soap and began bathing her.

I was thorough, running my hands up and down her body, washing nearly everywhere. I saved the best for last.

"You are such a tease," she accused.

"Did you want me to stop?"

"No." She eyed me up and down. "My god, you're
sensational."

I couldn't help but smile. She said it so earnestly, and those weren't words I heard very often. I'd heard Michaela treating Lara that way, and I'd been jealous.

Hey, I couldn't help it. I have my vanity and my own desires, even if I keep them in check most of the time. It felt really good to be on the receiving end of the sort of attention Michaela had been giving Lara.

I found the shampoo and slowly washed her hair, then let my soapy hands explore h
er body, especially teasing her breasts. Then, slowly, I moved down her body, finally sliding soapy hands between her legs.

My fingers found the prize.

Gasping, She spread her legs a little further. I cupped her, washing and teasing her at the same time.

Her head was still full of shampoo, and her eyes were clamped shut. She was panting through her mouth, so she
couldn't see my self-satisfied smile as I parted her lower lips and allowed two fingers to slowly enter her.

"Oh my god," she said. She squirmed against my hand, and I slid in
further, curling my fingers.

Then I began moving slowly, using the base of my hand to tease and torment her clitoris
while pressing my fingers deep inside of her.

"Oh yes," she whispered. "Yes."

I took my time, getting her fully worked up, but then slowly I withdrew.

"No! What are you doing?"

I chuckled and moved her directly under the showerhead, then carefully, thoroughly rinsed all the soap from her head and body. She opened her eyes. "Tell me you're not done."

"Oh, I'm definitely not done," I said. I smiled then went down to one knee, kissing and licking my way down her body. I spent a little time teasing her nipples, and when I looked up, Zoe's eyes were closed again.

Then I bent lower and slipped an arm between her legs, using the leverage to pull one of her legs over my shoulder. I used my hands to support her, and she leaned heavily against the shower wall.

"What are you doing?"

"You ask that a lot," I observed. "You could just accept that you're going to like it and go along for the ride."

"Y
eah, that's my style," she said, laughing lightly.

I shifted slightly, kissing her stomach and then, bending my neck,
I licked her pelvis.

"You're doing to do that in here?" she asked.

"Uh huh," I said.

Then I surprised her. I shifted around a little more and slid my other arm behind her standing leg. I hooked her leg and pulled it over my other shoulder. She shrieked, but I had her where I wanted her, both her legs thrown over my shoulders.

"Don't squirm now," I said. "You'll fall."

"Elisabeth!"

Slowly I stood up, making sure my footing was secure as I did so.

"Elisabeth!"

"Don't bump your head."

It turned out what I had done wasn't quite sufficient for what I wanted. I couldn't quite reach the prize. So I turned, and I knew she thought she was going to fall, but she found herself leaning backwards, clutching desperately at the slick wall of the shower, but the end effect was she raised her pelvis, and I found myself staring right at the glistening prize.

I slipped my jaw forward and began to lick.

"Elisabeth!" she screamed. "You're going to drop me!"

I moaned into her but made sure my hands were in the small of her back, just above her center of balance. With my footing secure, I shifted her a little further away from the wall of the shower, and she slumped backwards, shrieking, but I held her easily as she arched over further, giving me even better access to her salty, musky center.

I lipped at her clitoris, and she thrashed around. I pulled my mouth away. "I won't drop you, but if you squirm around, you could fall. Hook your heels under my arms and keep your back arched."

Then I moved my mouth back into position.

She gave a shriek as I entered with my tongue.

She tasted fabulous, and I felt myself growing increasingly aroused as I buried my tongue deep into her.

She grew
ever more vocal as I brought her closer and closer to the cusp, and then she screamed wordlessly as I pushed her over. She filled my mouth with fresh wetness, and I lapped at her a moment longer as she offered another small series of shudders, then grew limp.

I shifted my hands higher on her back, then lifted her until she slumped against me, her legs still over my shoulders but her arms wrapping around my head. She held to me, panting heavily.

"Slide your legs down," I told her. "I've got you."

So, slowly, she slipped
towards the shower floor until she was standing weakly on her feet, still slumped against me, her arms around my neck now. I had to support her as she clung to me.

"I can't believe you did that to me," she panted. "I have never in my life felt so vulnerable as that."

I preened. I'd just gotten a taste of what Lara had been getting with Michaela for years. I felt strong and virile.

I realized it was a feeling I could grow to enjoy.

"I should return the favor," she said, "but I'm too weak to move."

I laughed lightly and continued to hold her for a while, moving us around under the water. With Zoe still pressed against me, I bathed myself then rinsed us again carefully before shutting off the water.

There was a towel waiting for us, but only one. I realized I hadn't planned ahead properly, and I would do better next time. I grabbed the available towel and wrapped it around Zoe, then moved her until she was seated on the toilet, the lid closed. She looked small and vulnerable.

Inside, Wolf asked, "Mine?"

I didn't have an answer for that.

"Mine!" Wolf insisted.

"We'll see," I said to myself.

"Do her
again," Wolf said. "After that, she won't care that we are Wolf."

I ignored Wolf.

"Towels?" I asked. Zoe pointed, and I followed the gesture, finding just one more bath towel. I used the cloth to dry myself as best I could, and then I helped her to her feet and fluffed her dry. I set her back onto the toilet and found her hair dryer and a brush. She sat there dully, her eyes closed as I brushed and dried her hair.

Mine only took a few moments, and I also used the hair dryer to make up for the lack of sufficient
linens.

"What do you sleep in?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, blinking.

"Are you staying?"

"Not this time. I'm tucking you into bed."

"Undies. Long tee shirt on a hook in my closet."

I stepped into the main room. The undies were in the third drawer I checked. I pawed through them for a moment, finally choosing a pair that felt like they might be comfortable. I collected the aforementioned tee shirt and turned towards the bathroom.

Zoe was standing in the doorway, watching me. So I moved to her and knelt down. She stepped into the undies, and I pulled them into place, then I slipped the tee shirt over her head and tugged it down.

"Thanks, Mom," she said with half a grin. She moved into my arms, and we kissed. Then she leaned away. "You taste funny."

"I taste like you," I said. "It's a perfectly natural taste." I looked around. "Where's the bedroom?"

"This is it," she said. "Studio apartment. Main room." She pointed. "Bathroom." She pointed. "That's it."

"Um. Where's the bed."