by J. K Harper
With a sharp breath, Kieran hustled her away from the wall. They somehow made it down the hallway, up another flight of stairs, and through the door of a room that smelled like him. As he kicked the door shut behind them, Lily reached for a light switch. Kieran caught her hand.
“We don't need that.”
The fog in her lust-filled brain lifted a centimeter. They could see one another just fine in the dark with their aroused wolf senses heightening their human vision.
Kieran's hand palmed her cheek, his fingers trailing down her neck. “Slowly, beautiful Lily. My beautiful, amazing wolf.” His voice was only a rumble in the darkened space, its register so low usual human hearing would have had trouble distinguishing the words. “I want to savor every moment of this. Although if you keep touching me like that, it won't last very long.”
Lily looked down to find her hand on his chest, stroking him, her fingers lightly skimming his hard nipples through the long-sleeved button down he wore. It was actually a snap-down, the pearly buttons against the black material gleaming softly from the street lights outside. The perfect cowboy garb. That she couldn't wait to pull off him.
“Hmm...” she murmured, and an echoing sigh drifted from Kieran's lips. Slowly. Okay. She could do slowly. Even though her wolf demanded immediate satiation. Slowly was good. Right?
With forced patience, still trembling from need, she hooked a pearl snap with two fingers. Though it seemed impossible, Kieran's eyes darkened even more. Gently, Lily pulled at it, listening with thrilled satisfaction when it snicked open. One by one, she unsnapped the rest of them, all the way down to the shirttails. Kieran remained silent throughout, his eyes watchful, something leaping behind them. It reminded Lily of a smoldering wildfire about to combust. Another purely physical shiver flew down her spine. Her entire body shuddered in response and her hands trembled.
“More.” Kieran's abruptly soft voice sounded unnaturally loud in the room. The effort of his holding back sounded in the tightly leashed tone.
Lily had stilled at the sight of his half-naked chest before her. So chiseled abs really do exist, she thought in a haze. Right. Her wolf whined beneath the surface, quivering as much as Lily.
“More.” His voice became commanding under the thrall of his need. “Take off the rest of my clothes, Lily.”
Mate, her wolf whispered. She was as close to the surface as she could be without Lily actually shifting. This was the tipping point: the fine line between woman and wolf, human and four-legged animal, so-called rationality and pure, driving instinct. Lily teetered for a moment, feeling herself fall toward wolf, primal desire suffusing her senses and drowning out cold logic. Wild heat danced at the corners of her mind, demanding permission to blaze uncontrolled.
Could she do this?
Sara's words drifted through her head again. Kieran already was Pack. Lily couldn't hurt him.
Kieran gently rubbed his fingers along her cheek, just grazing her skin.
“I want this, Lily. So do you. Let her go. They'll play together. We'll play together.”
Her wolf rubbed against the corners of Lily's mind, agreeing with Kieran. She wanted to play with his wolf indeed.
“Do you trust me?”
Lily stared at Kieran, drawn into the shaded depths of his inky eyes. Everything in the room seemed hushed with anticipation. Did she trust him? She'd just met him. She barely knew him. Logic argued strongly against it. Pure instinct, however, knew the answer without a doubt. Her wolf was never wrong about trust.
Did she trust him? Yes.
“No more hiding,” she whispered, more to herself than Kieran. “Yes,” she said firmly, meeting his gaze straight on with hers.
6
Kieran growled a fierce, “Mm. Come here,” just before scooping her up in his arms and striding the few steps to the bed. Carefully, he placed her down, rolled himself onto her and propped himself up with his elbows. But he held his body away from hers, and she whimpered from frustration.
“Come closer.” Her voice sounded breathless, tilting ever closer to loss of control. Her wolf murmured an extremely pleased acceptance of that fact at the same moment Kieran did.
“Your expression is demanding,” he said. “What exactly is it you'd like me to do?” The tightness in his voice belied his nonchalant words, and Lily curved her lips up. The knowledge that he wanted her as much as she wanted him made her entire body pulse with heady desire. She could do this.
“I want you to be naked with me in this bed.” She carefully enunciated each word as she spoke, gaining more assurance with every word. “I want to feel you, every inch of you, touching me everywhere. Inside me. On my skin. I want to taste all of you, I want your scent on me so everyone knows—”
Without warning, Kieran cut her off with a relentless yet tender kiss. His mouth met hers in a single intent, and she welcomed it and him. Only raw, aching need propelled him, and she knew he'd been pushed over the edge into mating frenzy.
Arching her back so she could finally press fully against him, Lily took his kiss as hard as he gave it. Now, her wolf whispered, and Lily relinquished the last of her control, the last of her fear, and let herself spiral up into the purely sensuous grip of the mating frenzy she had denied herself—and her wolf—for far too long.
“Lily,” Kieran pulled back long enough to gasp. His eyes met hers again and took her in with a promise that left her completely wet. Then he reared back even more, and in one move ripped her shirt open, ignoring her brief protest. Her favorite apple red bra was treated in equal fashion, although he did award it an appreciative smile before it, too, was destroyed.
Lily couldn't figure out if she was more melted puddle or lit firecracker about to explode when he dipped his head down again and tasted her nipples with expert strokes of his tongue. Firecracker won out as he swirled his tongue against the hypersensitive skin, his teeth firmly grazing first one nipple, then the other, then back again until Lily wordlessly cried out. Her entire body shuddered with inarticulate need, the power of the physical sensations rendering her a vibrating mass of greedy hunger that threatened to shatter before he even got down to the heated ache between her legs.
“Take them off.” She reached down to her jeans. “Now.”
“With pleasure.” With practiced moves he tugged off her favorite going-out boots, peeled off her socks and dropped them to the carpet, then had her jeans unsnapped and pushed off her legs so fast her head spun. The very air in the room seemed steamy, redolent with their mutual longing, each of their wolves barely contained from outright shifting, their wildness urging on the humans.
Exceedingly glad she had shaved earlier, Lily giggled inanely when he licked his way up her legs. Her smooth skin offered no resistance to Kieran's lips and tongue as he nuzzled her. First one leg, then back down to the other and up it in turn. Lily writhed on the bed and stretched out her hands to grab for a nonexistent headboard. Instead, she let her fingers grasp the silky bed cover, bunching it up and almost forgetting to breath when Kieran paused just at her thighs.
“Please,” she panted. She felt her wolf controlling her desire, her movements, and allowed it with a groan of abandon.
“Please what, my pretty wolf? What is it you want me to do?” Kieran's voice was muffled, his lips still toying at her hip. His tongue flicked out, just inches away from where she wanted it, and she thrust herself toward him. She sensed the barest whisper of control still in him. She knew his wolf only allowed it because it prolonged both their pleasure.
“God, Kieran. Taste me, lick me, please! Make me come, please, I want that so badly. Kieran, please.” She heard herself begging in a senseless babble and didn't care. She was past caring about appearances.
Another playful flick of his tongue, another frustrated gasp from her. Then Kieran firmly grasped her hips and slid her a little closer. He let his hands roam up her sides to find her breasts and her stiff nipples, then let a hot charge of breath exhale right over her already superheated center.
> * * *
Lily's voice rang through the small room. Kieran grinned like a satisfied wolf against her soft folds, tasting and licking her sweet essence. He loved the fact that the silky, neatly trimmed hair just below his teasing lips was coppery red like the hair that flamed around her face. As he probed into her with his tongue, her salty-sweet tang filled his mouth. He already felt half drunk off her taste. She was his. The thought sent both Kieran and his still restrained wolf tumbling over an edge of rawest need.
Lily's hands suddenly ranged over his head, her fingers skimming over his hair, rubbing into his skull. Firmly, she pressed down.
“More,” she ordered in a ragged whisper, the feral tones of her wolf clear.
Kieran responded by pushing his face more deeply against her, allowing his lips to glide against her lush juices and satiny soft pussy. His tongue flicked against her sweet clit again and again, bumping it with a featherlight, steady rhythm that had her driving her hips into him and her hands pushing hard on the back of his head. Soft mewls escaped her throat, little exclamations that were more breath than pure sound. His body tightened even more in response, his cock almost painfully so. God, he wanted to thrust into her, lose himself in the mindless thrill of it all. He wanted to claim this beautiful she-wolf as his own and brand her in ways that would make her breathless every time he gave her a certain look.
“Kieran,” she managed. She was so close. He could hear it in her voice.
Pushed on by his own fierce thirst for her, he nibbled gently at her wet folds and honeyed crevices. She jumped and then bucked under him, urging him on with her body. He lapped at her juices, getting the rich taste of her all over his mouth and luxuriating in it.
With his tongue he reached out and again flicked at the swollen clit nestled between her folds. He tongued her again again until she suddenly screamed, not bothering to muffle it. Her shriek echoed in the room and descended into a long, achingly sensual moan of pleasure that almost had Kieran coming himself. Her scent and taste altered subtly in his mouth, becoming more plush and cinnamon-spicy as her orgasm played out against his tongue and lips.
Mine, his wolf thought. The primal surety enveloped wolf and man. Kieran waited until Lily's tremors became slight aftershocks before lifting his head away.
“Now,” he said, his voice edged with need. Pushing up on his hands, he drew his body along hers in one sinuous move until his face was above hers. Her arms fell limply to her sides, her eyes wide open and looking at him. Pupils huge and lids heavy, her chest heaved as the sensations ebbed. Leaning down, he nipped at her nose, drawing a whisper of laughter from her.
Then, without warning, he thrust completely into her.
7
Lily's body instinctively met Kieran's sudden plunge into her by lifting and taking him fully inside. His cock felt lusciously huge as it filled her, stretching her inner muscles and eliciting a groaning gasp from her. Bringing her fingertips to his shoulders, she let them dance across his sweat-slicked skin for a moment, marveling at the strength beneath. Then she angled her hands behind his neck and pulled down, urging him into her again and again. She let her wolf's needy, chuffing cry fill her throat and spill out in another whimper of bliss.
“Lily,” he said, his tone a warning gasp. “I'll come quickly if you keep doing that.”
She looked into his eyes, only centimeters from her own. “I know,” she whispered, her voice torn between gasping pleasure and wicked insinuation.
A delighted half-howl leapt from him. Kieran placed his palms flat on the bed, balancing on his flexing arms as he thrust into her with a joyous abandon. She had forgotten what it could be like...what it should be like. This was what she and her wolf had wanted. This was what it meant to live!
Lily wrapped her legs around Kieran's back. Reaching down with her hands, she grasped her feet and held on. Slowly, she met his thrust with a rhythm that first stumbled, then found a euphoric simplicity. Kieran's face changed so much from one breath to another as her actions transformed his own sensations she almost giggled. But heady awe at the power she held over him in this moment stayed the sound. Pure ecstasy played over his face, his eyes lidded, his brow lightly furrowed as he concentrated.
“Lily.” Her name was a muttered prayer, a fierce longing. His next inarticulate sounds washed over her as she rode with him in a tight, timeless, playful yet wild dance.
Then, “Lily!” he shouted. She watched with hungry satisfaction as Kieran's orgasm spilled across his face, tightening every muscle there into ecstasy. He pushed into her so deeply it seemed he wanted to mingle their skin cells together, trade fingerprints, sink into one another with all the strength of their wolves. The power of it took Lily's breath, and sent another, smaller yet even sweeter, climax leaping from her clit where Kieran pressed against it with his still shuddering body. Lily inhaled sharply as it swept through her like a tide, carrying her again to a state of pliant serenity.
Long, hazy moments later, she moved out of the delicious trance. Her seemingly boneless legs loosened from their grip across his back and thighs and fell to the sides. Kieran sprawled over her, as limp as she. She still sensed his wolf just beneath, as pleased as the man. Her own wolf stretched and rolled through her mind, utter contentment pouring through.
Mate, her wolf thought in a lazy murmur.
He is, isn't he, Lily thought with utter contentment. Her wolf rolled and rolled, pleasure and satisfaction seeping from her to Lily and back again, two selves forever joyfully connected as one.
Sleep crept over Lily and lulled her into dreams where her wolf ran with Kieran's, romping and tussling and loving their way through a wild desert landscape of tall sandstone spires and deep, sinuous canyons, all theirs.
8
Lily roused before dawn as she always did, no matter how late she'd gotten to bed the night before. The presence of that man, that dark-eyed cowboy with the sexy drawl and the prowling, protective wolf in him, immediately flowed over her. Smiling at the mere thought of him, she turned her head to nuzzle his shoulder and breathe in his musky male scent. Light just barely hinted through the windows as the sun rose over the hillside to the old hotel's east.
With gentle fingers, she explored Kieran's sturdy back, the ridiculously strong muscles that held him together, the hard planes dipping to the smooth skin of his tight rear. An unintelligible deep rumble of a sleepy response from him echoed through her body. Smiling, she held on with her arms, continuing to stroke him and trace random patterns over his skin to his occasional sounds of encouragement.
“Kieran,” she said again. Her voice sounded rusty. With a quick blush, she realized it was from calling out his name in abandon the previous night. Quite a few times, since they'd woken up to repeat their gratifyingly hot nocturnal exercise more than once.
“Mm-hmm.”
Lily let the deep tones wash over her. She imagined them soothing her to sleep every night, waking her up in the morning, urging her to frenzied heights each day. A delighted shiver tip-toed over her. Could this wolf really be hers?
Oh, yes.
“Kieran,” she tried again. Her voice smoothed out a bit, coming out in a more normal register. “We need to get up.”
“Why?” His voice came languid, satisfied and heavy. He nipped at the lobe. She felt the tingling rush down her legs and through her spine. Then she was lost in sensation as Kieran moved his mouth over hers in a manner designed to quiet her, to claim her, to be claimed by her. Their movements together felt liquid and perfect and searingly hot and perfectly normal.
“Yours,” he said against her lips.
“Hmm?”
“I'm yours, beautiful wolf. What do you plan to do with me?”
Lily giggled, sheer delight suffusing her entire being.
“Anything I want,” she said. She captured his mouth this time, a fierce desire sweeping through her at the motion. She claimed him, she captured him, he was hers.
Her wolf growled in utter approval as the kiss deepened,
roughened, became firm and controlling yet wild and filled with abandon.
Then Kieran pulled back, slightly yet enough for his lips to form words.
“Pack Guardian.”
“What?” But she heard him perfectly well. His words spoke a title. Her title.
“Pack Guardian,” he said again. Patient, yet ardent. “You, Lily. You're a Black Mesa Pack Guardian again. Can't you feel it? Because I sure can.”
Lily let his words flow over her and felt them in her bones. He was right, utterly. Yes, her wolf whispered. Pack Guardian. The power of it, the responsibility. The mantle of protection that she wore again. Yes. It was there, all of it. She was Pack Guardian again, and it filled every inch of her being.
Never would she forget the human she had turned. Remembering him was the right thing to do, not to mention that forgetting past mistakes was a sure way to make them rise again someday. But...she was no longer ruled by that awful memory. Instead, it dropped into her soul as something that had shaped her, made her even stronger today.
Now, she was a Pack Guardian to reckon with.
“Wow,” was all she managed after another few moments of taking stock. “I am, aren't I? I can actually feel it again.”
Kieran laughed, a rich and full sound. Every morning, she could hear this. Not just one night, one morning. For a lifetime of mornings, this man was hers.
Energized, Lily rolled away from Kieran and threw back the soft sheet tangled about them. Her wolf leapt inside, eager and alert at Lily's sudden focus.
“Let's go kick some rogue ass, Kieran. We need to find out what they were doing here. This is our Pack's territory. Not theirs. They are not welcome here.” Her voice rang out with formidable intent, and she almost shivered at the power sizzling through it. She was back.
“Ours, hmm? Ah, my strong, beautiful wolf.” Kieran reached out and caught her waist before she could swing her feet to the ground. “You are ready, aren't you?”
