It was a different story now, but I’d be able to hold back. I wasn’t on any sort of birth control, so unless these wolves had a whole stock of condoms—which I highly doubted due to their thinning numbers and the whole multiple mates thing—my legs would be staying closed. No baby pups for me right now.
The need for a cold shower to wash away certain thoughts had never been greater.
I pushed past them, aware that the two could probably read my thoughts just from the heat that had crept up my cheeks, declaring, “I’m going to shower.” I rounded in the hall, stepping directly into the bathroom, which was right next door. I was about to close the door when a foot caught it, and my gaze rose to Maze, a mischievous glimmer in his chocolate stare.
“I think, you know, after everything, one of us should be with you at all times,” Maze spoke, dimples deepening. He was confident as he pushed inside the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. “I volunteer myself first.”
I rose my eyebrows.
“What? You suggested it—I’m only doing what you said.” He offered up his arms in a mock surrender, though he still wore his lopsided grin.
“You’re doing this to protect me, right? Not…” How could I phrase it without sounding like a complete and total horny dork? “…to get lucky?” Getting lucky was a thing guys said, right? I didn’t have enough experience with them to say one way or another.
“Now how would I get lucky? Give me a few options, and I’ll pick one.”
“That’s not what I—”
“I know,” he said quickly, stepping closer to me. His hands found their way to my sides, holding me gently, as if he were afraid I’d break if he held on any harder. “And I know I might be pushing it—and if that’s the case, I’ll get out—but you can’t blame a guy for trying, yeah?” Maze’s face inched closer to mine.
I laughed and pushed him off. “Maze, I have blood on my face. And what about that whole thing about how I smell like I was left out in the sun?”
“I’m a wolf. You think I care about blood and body odor? You clearly know nothing about us. I’m here, more than willing to teach you, if you ever need a tutor.” He winked. Ah, that blasted wink I both hated and kind of adored. “I’m ready for your first lesson if you are.”
I shook my head. “No lessons,” I said, moving toward the tub. I watched as Maze’s shoulders slumped, obviously disappointed, and he said nothing as he turned to reach for the doorknob.
God, I was about to do something I might regret.
“I didn’t say you had to go,” I whispered, my voice halting him instantly.
Maze turned, a huge grin on his face, dimples and all.
I gave him my back and started to shed my clothes, piece by piece until there was nothing but air touching me, and the swish of my long, pink hair—though it was kind of more brown than pink right now, after everything.
I heard him exhale as I stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain. It was a sheer white, only see-through a little. My hands went to turn on the water and put on the showerhead, adjusting the temperature to a nice, cozy warmth.
After a moment, I peeked my head out. “Well?” I asked, my heart thumping in my chest. “Are you going to lock the door and come in? As long as you keep your hands to yourself, that is.” A condition I wasn’t sure either of us would be able to follow, but I’d try. Inside, I felt my horny wolf rearing up, raring to go.
Now was not the time to distract myself, and it was definitely not the time to throw away my virginity and get pregnant. That aside, I wanted to be close to him, wanted, as stupid as it was, to have his arms around me while the warm water pelted my back. I needed a moment of peace after everything I’d been through, to breathe him in without having to worry about anyone’s skin sliding off like melting ice cream on a cone.
I stood under the water, my hair and body already drenched. I wiped off my face, scrubbing the dried blood off my upper lip and nose. Regardless of what Maze had said, it was not attractive to see blood when passionate embraces might be had.
Not that I wanted anything to happen in this shower, because like I said, he had to keep it to himself. No baby pups.
A few seconds passed as I heard the fumbling of clothes, fabric dropping to the floor, and seconds later Maze peeked in, grinning as he stepped inside. He was as giddy as a schoolboy…although his body was definitely not that of a schoolboy.
He was a man.
It was not the first time I’d seen him naked—I had that honor the first day I met him, when I thought he was nothing more than Henry’s pet wolf—but it was the first time I let myself stare. Maybe not so much stare as ogled.
I could go on and on about the muscles on him, about his chest and his arms and his abdomen, but one thing in particular caught my eye: the thin layer of blonde hair traveling from his belly button, down to his dick. Here’s a hint: it wasn’t hanging there so limply anymore, not at all how it had hung when I’d first seen him naked all that time ago. Maze was excited to be in the shower with me; that much was obvious.
It was definitely not a place I should be staring at, especially not if I wanted him to keep it to himself, but I found I couldn’t help it.
This wasn’t a dream, not a nightmare. This was real, and my stomach churned in the best of ways.
“So…” Maze’s voice was soft, husky in a way that told me what was on his mind, as if it wasn’t on my mind as well. Plus, there was the, uh, growing situation between his legs that kind of demanded both of our attention.
Before I threw myself at him, I turned and grabbed the body wash from the stand in the corner. Handing it to him, I managed to say, “Wash me.” I whirled when he rose a single brow, biting my bottom lip as I gave him my back again.
If I kept looking at him, I’d only get ideas about what else we could do in this shower.
“I thought,” he said, stepping toward me, “I had to keep my hands to myself?” He practically growled out the words, his chest rumbling in a way that was like music to my ears. My wolf wanted to be claimed, which couldn’t happen until I fully shifted, but this was the next best thing.
Well, the next next best, since sex was off the table…or, in our case, out of the shower.
Maze cornered me against the wall, right underneath the showerhead. Maze now stood beneath the water, his blonde hair dripping on his face as he leaned his free hand on the wall beside me. Not a single part of him touched me, yet he was only inches away. So close, and yet so far. His brown eyes ate up my appearance, lingering just below my collarbone before locking gazes with me.
My breath caught in my throat, and all exhaustion, all weariness faded fast. As I lost myself in his sultry, chocolate stare, I felt my body shiver.
Never had I bore witness to an expression like that. Not in real life. In my nightmares, before limbs started being sawn off and skin began to fall, yes. But this was not a dream, not a drill. This was one hundred percent real, and my willpower to not go at it like rabbits with him crumbled in moments
“I thought I wasn’t allowed to touch you?” Maze questioned again, head tilting, leaning in toward me. His other hand fiddled with the body wash’s cap.
“Maybe I changed my mind,” I offered with a shrug, sounding quite lame, considering.
He squinted at me, dimples deepening, as if he could read my thoughts. “All right,” he said, grabbing my hand and backing us both up. I was lifted away from the wall, once again standing under the water. “But I plan on milking this for as long as I can.” Maze squirted some of the body wash onto his palm, setting the bottle aside as he lathered his palms up. He grabbed my left arm, running his sudsy hands along me, and my eyelids fluttered shut.
I kind of wanted to watch, because the look in his eyes was one of pure lust and it filled me with a certain kind of excitement I never had before, but I couldn’t. His strong hands rubbing along me, taking the other arm after the first, felt too good. Both relaxing and exciting at the same time.
Maze forced me to turn arou
nd, and I heard him grab the bottle again. This time, he poured the soap directly onto my back, and then his hands went back to work, kneading every knot, giving me the full-body massage I never knew I needed. He knew how to work his hands, how to work me. It was when his hands went lower, cupping my ass, a cheek in each hand, that I let out a soft moan.
I liked that a lot.
His hands didn’t remain there for long, sadly. I heard him shifting his weight behind me, kneeling before he went for my right foot, sluggishly drawing his hands up, past my ankles, even further up to my knees…and past that, too. His hands ended up so close to the apex between my legs that I found myself spreading them unconsciously, as much as I could, given the constrictions of the tub.
I wanted him to touch me there, wanted it more than anything.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Maze said, dropping his hands. “We’re moving slow.” He took to my other leg, running along me, doing much the same thing, teasing me in a way that made me squirm while standing. The bastard.
I had to get my mind off sex, but how? A gargantuan feat, one I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do, not with his hands devouring me, tempting me.
I was about to beg him to do something, but my voice caught in my throat when he slowly got up behind me. His hands moved to my stomach, holding me against his chest. Every breath he took I could feel on my back, not to mention the pressing of his hardness against my backside. I wasn’t exactly used to the feeling, but it was definitely something I could get behind.
His heat flooded me, igniting a fire deep within my belly I knew his hands would only stoke, never put out. There was only one thing that could put it out, and it was that hardness poking my lower back.
Leaning my head on his shoulder, I inhaled sharply when his palms grazed my chest, rubbing the bottoms of my breasts before his fingers found my nipples. A strange new sensation shot through me, pleasure shooting down my belly, heat not from the water hitting my front, but from the man behind me, touching me, giving rise to so many wanton feelings inside of me.
“You,” Maze spoke, kissing my neck, “are everything to us, you know.” Another kiss as his fingers continued to toy with the two hard nubs on my chest. “Promise you won’t ever do anything like that again.”
The last thing I wanted to do was tear myself away from his pleasing hands, but it’s exactly what I did when I turned to face him. He adapted quickly, his grip moving to my back, holding me against him, our chests, naked wet skin, melding against each other’s.
“I promise not to risk my life again,” I spoke, a sly smile creeping on my face, “unless you guys are beside me. My mates.” I bit my lower lip, feeling the urge, the desperate desire to kiss him, to drown him in everything I felt, everything I could give.
He grinned. “Yeah, no more risking your life on your own.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, parting my lips ever so slightly, and Maze took it for the invitation it was meant to be, bringing his mouth down on mine. I could taste the passion on his lips, the hunger he had for me. It made me want him even more, made it extremely hard to stick to the no sex rule, but I had to remain firm. No baby pups for me. Not until things settled down.
And not until I was a lot older.
For the pups. Not the sex. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to wait too long for the sex.
To my surprise, Maze didn’t push me for anything more. He seemed content to hold me and drown me in kisses—though his…hardness would tell a different story—and I was grateful. If he’d asked, if he’d pushed me just a bit, well…I seriously doubted my conviction to remain a virgin would last the encounter.
No, we exited the shower in much the same manner as we got in, though both of our faces were flushed, my chin and cheeks burning from his stubble. Maze watched me dry myself, and if I was honest, I spent a little more time than I normally would patting my chest dry. Once I was clothed, he dried himself using the same towel, having to adjust himself before and after getting into his pants. Still erect.
He gave me a loving but exasperated look as he zipped up his jeans. “You,” Maze spoke slowly, “are killing me.”
The only thing I could do was smile.
Chapter Nine – Addie
I slipped out of the bathroom first, peeking in the hall to make sure no one stood there waiting—namely, my mom. Voices drifted up the stairwell, and I recognized Sarah’s and Dylan’s voices. I smiled.
Knowing Dylan, he was distracting her from what he thought was going on up here, which I could definitely appreciate. The last thing I needed was for Sarah to see both Maze and I come out of the bathroom at the same time. I’d be filled with wrong ideas, and it’d been so frigging hard to keep myself from going a step too far.
I ran my hands through my wet hair, working to untangle some of the knots. What I wouldn’t give for some conditioner. It was a beauty product these shifters knew nothing about, which I found odd because their wolves’ fur always seemed so luscious and shiny. My hair needed a pick-me-up, or another dye job.
Maybe purple this time?
As Maze followed me out of the bathroom, a third presence entered the hall, coming out of the bedroom across from us. A smirk grew on Landon’s face when he glanced at the both of them. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Are we taking turns now?”
I was close enough to slap his arm, so I did. How could he insinuate that I would be permanently open for business when it came to that sort of thing? I wasn’t a merry-go-round. They wouldn’t ride me all the time, and definitely not all at once. Having them all with me at the same time…yeah, I’d definitely lose my no-sex rule then.
Landon barely reacted to my playful hit, though the smirk did fall off his face when he said, “He’s awake. He wants to see you.”
Something in my chest tightened, and I glanced to my bare feet before picking myself up by my metaphorical bootstraps and heading into Forest’s bedroom. I wasn’t sure what I’d find, what I’d see.
Was he completely healed? Everything is okay could mean a lot of different things at this point. Once I was in the room, Landon reached for the door, swinging it shut behind me, closing me inside with Forest.
Landon and Maze bickered quietly in the hall for a moment, arguing about which one of them was going to stand guard outside the door to make sure my mom didn’t barge in. A stupid argument, because it wouldn’t matter if Sarah stormed in with her motherly fury behind her. Nothing was going to happen here. Not with Forest.
I was sluggish in lifting my gaze to the man leaning on the bed’s headboard. Light shone through the window, the glass lifted open a few inches to allow a gentle breeze room to blow in. A sheet draped over his legs, revealing his chest. No shirt, but a new bandage covered the wound in his lower gut, the bloodied arrow sitting on the nightstand, still in pristine condition. His skin was less pale, and his eyes held their familiar deepness, a blue bluer than the deepest tropical oceans.
Seeing him sitting up, seeing him watching me just as I did him, I did something I probably shouldn’t have: I ran to the bed, jumped on it, and hugged him. A bit too overenthusiastically apparently, for he immediately winced.
“Sorry,” I whispered, starting to pull back. I shouldn’t be hugging him anyway.
But his arms grabbed me, hands spreading across my back as he pulled me back toward him, pressing my face just below his against his chest. “I can take the pain for you,” he said.
My head was right beneath his chin, tucked under it neatly. Breathing him in was like breathing in nature, musky and earthy, kind of like sandalwood. It was one of the best smells I’d ever reveled in, a favorite, rivaled by nothing other than fresh chocolate chip cookies. Nothing could beat that.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Still tired, but better. It’s odd…I have the vaguest memory of seeing you,” Forest said, one of his hands moving from my back to my arm, his thumb drawing along my shoulder, tracing circles as he spoke. “Not just me, though. My wolf too. What did you do, Addi
e? You know I didn’t find you just so you could risk your life to save me.”
Was he…was he scolding me?
It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure he was. I pulled myself out of the embrace, sitting beside him, glaring. Just because he was a good-smelling, ridiculously attractive, mature wolf with all the authority a wolf could have over me, my alpha, I would not sit back and let him scold me like a parent.
“That’s funny, because I strictly remember telling you I was doing this so you wouldn’t have to. You have a pack to look out for. I don’t.” I narrowed my eyes, not liking the glimmer of amusement I saw flashing behind his blue depths.
“You,” he whispered, “are impossible.” Funny, because I could’ve sworn I said the same thing to him before, right across the hall, after helping him with his back. Before he had me cornered. Before he had me pinned against that doorframe, nearly losing my mind. He reached a hand toward me, fingertips drawing along my jaw. “You are one of my pack. I would never leave anyone behind, never let anyone sacrifice themselves for me.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to let his words sink in too deep and not lose myself in the way my skin tingled after he touched me.
“I tried to stop you, you know,” he continued, thumb running over my cheekbone, as light as a feather. “Before you went, before that thing grabbed you, I was going to take you back to the house, even if I had to drag you kicking and screaming.” There was a pause before he added, “My momentary weakness caused you to fall into the death priest’s clutches.” As I opened my eyes, finding he watched me, Forest’s mouth thinned. “What did he do to you?”
“Took my blood, went inside my head and gave me nightmares for days. You know, the normal stuff.” I knew this wasn’t a time for lightheartedness, but I had the feeling I knew where this conversation was going, and I wasn’t going to like it.
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