Pouty? What the fuck did she mean, pouty? Brice wasn’t pouty. He was the very opposite of fucking pouty.
“It is safer—”
She took a step toward him, standing less than a foot in front of him, as if she was unaware of what her nearness did to him. “You will not tell me what to do, Brice. I’m an adult who can make my own damn decisions. You being a shifter doesn’t scare me,” she said, bold and defiant. “Not one bit.”
Did this woman not realize how tough it was for Brice not to push her against the wall and take her again? No, she wouldn’t know, because she wasn’t a shifter. She couldn’t sense these things. If she was a shifter, her wolf would feel it; her wolf would feel a connection.
Because there was something there, at least on his side, and he fucking hated it. He hated how much he wanted her, despised how easily he’d fallen into Fletcher’s trap, even if the wolf was dead. Brice didn’t want to want her…but he did. He really fucking did. She might’ve smelled like his brother, but he didn’t care. Past that, he could smell her. Her scent, her lure, her attraction.
Despite how strong he wanted to be, he was weak.
When he remained silent, Violet cocked her head. “Is this about what Fletcher made us do?” Her question hit him hard, and he took a step back, his eyes widening as he wondered why on earth she’d bring it up—why she’d say it aloud.
She saw through him too easily.
“It is, isn’t it? Listen, Brice, I don’t hate you for it, even though I probably should. I don’t blame you. The shifter I blame is dead, so you don’t have to feel awkward around me. We can just forget about it, if you want.”
If he wanted.
If he wanted? How the hell was he ever supposed to argue with her when she was so damn logical? When she was so level-headed it was ridiculous? When she was so fucking wrong about it all?
His blue stare dropped to her feet, which were bare. She’d changed into the jeans he’d bought, but she refused to put on the socks. Such tiny little feet on such a tiny little human body. A body he really wanted to toss over his shoulder and take into the bedroom. A body he wanted to apologize to…
A body he wanted to treat right this time.
“That’s the problem,” he whispered, slowly dragging his gaze up her body. “I don’t want to forget about it.”
Violet’s mouth opened, but whatever she was about to say caught in her throat as she looked at him. She blinked a hell of a lot, and it seemed as if she had trouble catching her breath. She was, in a word, speechless.
So was he.
It was a minute before she finally asked, “Then what do you want?”
Could he tell her the truth? Could he tell her what he really wanted—her? What would she do? Brice wondered. Most human females were content dating around, but they hardly ever settled on more than one mate. Polyamory was not common among their kind.
Brice stretched out his fingers, itching to touch her, to hold her. He’d held back when they’d found them, but now he wanted to close the distance between them and sweep her off her feet.
“If you don’t want to forget it, I assume you want to remember it, which would imply that you…” Violet let herself trail off, her lips curling into a smile.
“Enjoyed it?” Brice spoke, taking a step closer to her. “Want to do it again?” Another step. He had her leaning against the bedroom door frame, and she wasn’t sidestepping him or trying to run. “Can’t get it off my mind?” he breathed out, sluggishly reaching out, touching her hip, where her shirt rode up a bit, revealing a few inches of bare skin.
So soft. So tender. Hard to picture someone with skin as soft as hers as a fiery, feisty firecracker with a penchant for saying whatever flitted into her mind. Violet was a sharp one, confident in ways most humans these days weren’t. She knew what she wanted, what she felt, and she wasn’t afraid to say it. She wore her heart and her feelings on her sleeve better than Brice ever could.
His fingers spread out until his entire palm was touching her side, holding onto her with a firm, unyielding grip. “Does that make me a bad person?” Brice whispered, knowing the truth, knowing it did. It had to. Violet didn’t choose to have him; Fletcher forced her to.
There was no way Violet would ever want him after what he did. Brice shouldn’t get his hopes up. He shouldn’t be here right now, with her. Most definitely shouldn’t be touching her and gazing steadily into her eyes, hoping to find something that wasn’t there. It was a waste of both of their time and it would only end up hurting him.
“I think that’s subjective,” Violet said, her luminous eyes falling to his chest. She did not pull away from the hand on her hip. “If I say I kind of enjoyed it in spite of myself, does that make me a bad person?”
Brice wanted to say something smart, but all he could do was shake his head no like an obedient puppy. This would be so much easier if he didn’t have to guess what Violet was feeling, if he could simply know. With another shifter, he wouldn’t have to guess. Their wolves would connect and instincts would take over. Right now, all he had to go on was his own instincts, and currently his head and his body were at war.
One wanted to ignore the pull he felt towards her, while the other desperately craved her like a drug.
Her gaze met with his once more, and it was at that moment Brice knew which part of him he had to follow. He was done listening to his head. His head was what had gotten them into this mess; his head was the reason they’d followed the path they’d taken the last few years while Fletcher had Ivy.
Now it was time for his instincts, his wolf, and his body to shine.
Before thinking better of it—which he surely would, if he'd have given himself the chance—Brice closed what little distance there was between them, the hand on her hip snaking around to her back, tugging her against him while his other tilted her neck. So damn short; it was difficult for him to reach her face, to push his lips against hers in a display he hoped was hungry and passionate but not overly desperate. He had to tilt his torso, bend his back, but it was worth it.
Violet didn’t push him away, like he thought she would. She wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes as she kissed him back, nipping at his lip and egging him on. Wordlessly asking him to do more.
More he would most definitely do.
With a sweep of his arm, he broke their kiss and hoisted her in the air, cradling her to his chest. Brice moved them inside the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them. The others would still hear, but it at least gave them a sense of privacy, even if it wasn’t as private as it looked.
He practically threw her on the bed, and she giggled. As he crawled over her, Violet muttered, “I don’t know what it is about you guys, but you make me so…” She trailed off, rolling her eyes to herself.
Brice stared down into her eyes, anticipating something heartfelt, something deep.
But all she said was “Horny.”
He found himself laughing, for that was not what he’d thought she’d say. Not at all.
Violet puffed out her lips, forcing out a frown. “It’s because you’re all too good-looking. Too cute. Too handsome.” She dragged her fingertips up his neck, cupping his cheeks, which were covered in a thin layer of white stubble.
“Ah, just my looks then?”
She smiled, and he felt something heat up in his lower gut. He liked her smile. It was simple and pretty, and it drew him in like he never thought a human’s smile ever could. “Well, between you and me, you are a bit of a dick.”
Brice cocked his head, feeling himself smile. “Is this how you want to play it?” Leaning down, he whispered into her ear, “I can be a bigger dick, you know.” She shivered under him, and he felt his dick harden even more in his pants. He needed to shed every piece of clothing and touch her, feel her against every inch of him, treat her how she should’ve been treated before.
There was a time and a place for the wildness. This was not one of those times. This was an apology for what he’d
done.
He drew his hands to her sides, palms flat against her skin, watching her eyelids flutter shut at his touch. Brice couldn’t help but remember how she’d felt, how tight she was, and how wet she’d gotten. He’d make her wet again, but this time, he would need no help.
Within a minute, her pants and underwear were off, sitting in a heap on the floor, but Violet didn’t seem to mind, for she spread her legs without hesitation. Brice positioned himself right where he could see every intimate part of her. It looked like she was already slick and wet, but he’d get her even wetter.
Hands on her inner thighs, he lowered his mouth to the soft pink mound of flesh he knew was the center of her pleasure. His tongue flicked out and around, and he gave this woman his everything.
Violet tried to stifle her moans, but Brice didn’t want her to. He broke away from her apex to say, “No, I want to hear you.” He needed to hear her. The sounds she’d made in the compound while he was inside of her and Iris was below her—he wanted to blow those sounds away and drown himself in new ones. He wanted her writhing in pleasure.
So from then on, Violet did not let herself stay quiet. She moaned nearly constantly, and it was music to his ears. Her noises made his dick ache and his balls tremble. He was dying to get inside of her, but he would take his time. This was an apology, after all. He had to work for it. Plus, the wetter she was, the more amazing she’d feel.
He moved to stick a finger inside of her as he focused all of his attention on her apex. The moan she let out when his finger went in was…like nothing he’d ever heard before. And fuck, she was wet. His finger slid in so easily, he immediately inserted another before he started pumping them while licking her.
Brice must’ve been doing something right, for in a few minutes, Violet started to move her hips along with him, her lower back arching on the bed. Her fingers moved to grasp the sheets around her, and she cried out in a haze of sensual bliss.
Slowly removing his fingers from her, he rose his head, staring at her. Violet’s eyes were closed, her face flushed. Every bit of her skin was pink, actually, and it was—God fucking help him—kind of adorable.
Adorable. Brice didn’t use that word. Ever.
He helped her out of her shirt, rolling her to her stomach to unhook her bra before shedding his own clothing and turning her to face him again. Brice moved on top of her, meeting her emerald gaze. As he positioned himself, he watched her. When he pushed inside, breathing raggedly as he felt how wet she was for him, he still watched her. This wasn’t what he expected to happen.
His hips started to thrust, his body moving of its own accord. It felt right to be with her, as if her body was made for him. She was so small, but she was one hundred percent woman, and her sex dripped for him.
Violet ran her nails down his back, up his sides, her chest rising and falling with each heavy breath she took and with every thrust of his dick inside of her. Her legs wrapped around him, almost as if she was trying to push him deeper, get him inside her further. She took everything he was willing to give her and more.
This woman…he couldn’t take her back. Saying he would had been foolish, idiotic. Violet couldn’t go back to her old life—unless Brice and his siblings went with her. He couldn’t lose her.
Chapter Twenty-Three - Violet
Violet couldn’t believe it. Mostly, she couldn’t believe herself. She never thought of herself as weak-willed when it came to certain things, yet these damned shifters were proving her wrong. She felt more than weak-willed when it came to them. She felt…hell, as stupid as it was, she felt like she would give them anything they asked. In fact, they didn’t even need to ask. She’d just do it.
And of course she couldn’t believe she’d slept with Brice again. That was not something she ever thought she’d do again, mostly because she didn’t like him. He was kind of an asshole and a very big dick, the actual size of his dick aside.
But apparently she’d been wrong about that too, because when he had her against the door frame, all Violet could think about was tearing off their clothes and getting straight to business like she was some horny freak.
Around these shifters, she was.
Turned out, Brice was a very eager man when given the go-ahead, and for the next hour, Violet was caught in the bed, drowned in pleasure and plentiful orgasms. She wasn’t going to argue. The man was skilled, and the longer his dick was inside of her, the better it felt.
And it got her mind off of everything else, which was a definite plus.
Night eventually fell, and Violet showered again. Turned out, having loads of sex made her feel a bit dirty, and extremely sweaty. When she went out into the living room, she found the siblings in the small kitchen area, huddled around a few boxes of pizza. The smell was orgasm-inducing on its own, for it felt like ages since Violet had eaten pizza.
“Hope you like cheese,” Everett said with a grin. It was a boyish grin that made him look younger, but Violet thought it was cute all the same.
God, she was in deep, wasn’t she?
Ivy moved beside her, bumping her hip and catching her eye. She undid the braid her hair was in, and now her white locks were wavy as they tumbled down her back. “I’m surprised you’re even up and walking around, considering all that went on behind that closed door.” As she spoke, she shot a look at Brice, who was busy glowering at his little sister.
“You know,” Violet said, ignoring the sister-brother staring match going on beside her, “there is such a thing as ear plugs. I’m sure they work on you shifters, too.”
Once they all had plates and a few slices each, they wandered into the living room. Everett had the TV on, for all the good the staticky channels did. Violet sat between Ivy and Everett, while Brice sat hunched over the coffee table on the floor. They talked about stupid shit, made equally stupid comments, and laughed half the time.
It was all…normal. Ridiculously normal. Violet knew there were things they had to deal with, like Iris and the other women, but right now, she was content to just let things be. She felt at home around these siblings, shifters or not—and she may have liked them all more than she should as friends.
It was weird, right? Being involved with siblings. Violet should steer clear, but she found she couldn’t stop thinking about them. Everett was kind and gentle, even though he was the one who’d knocked her out and kidnapped her. Brice, while he had a dickish side, was actually not that bad, when he wasn’t posturing and trying to be some misguided badass. And as for Ivy…Violet still wasn’t quite sure what to think of her, but she liked her.
Hard not to like a woman who was as drop-dead gorgeous as she was.
Violet liked being around them, and no matter what happened in the future, she wouldn’t regret being here, with them. Getting way ahead of herself, she couldn’t even picture going home without them.
Okay, that was probably not going to happen. Even though their pack was decimated by Fletcher and his gang, surely they had someplace they could go? They didn’t need to stay here. Why the hell would they when this place was tiny, only had one bedroom, and smelled old and dingy? If Violet could smell it, she knew they could smell it ten times as much.
It was almost midnight when everyone started getting tired. Well, the guys, at least. Violet felt wide awake, probably because she knew the shitshow wasn’t over quite yet. It was easy for her to get ahead of herself and think about the future now that she was out of Fletcher’s house, but for those other women? She wasn’t certain if Iris would take good care of them or not. What if she wanted to be the lord of the house and would continue to run the place just as Fletcher did?
Yeah, Violet would probably get no sleep tonight, but that was fine. She used to have all-nighters in high school all the time. Granted, she was high on energy drinks and usually with Maria, so she had other things to occupy her time with, but still. How hard could it be today?
Brice and Everett let Violet and Ivy take the bedroom, even though Violet could totally tell neither ma
n wanted to be away from them. One would take the couch while the other took the floor. She would have suggested taking the floor in the bedroom, or even that she was more than okay with sleeping on the floor herself, but neither man would have it, nor would Ivy. She said if she had to share a bed with anyone, it was going to be Violet and not one of her brothers.
Made sense, and as they got ready for bed, Violet swore she would keep her hands to herself. No cuddling, no touching, no kissing. Ivy was beautiful, but off-limits, whether she got a vibe from her or not.
Both Violet and Ivy had changed into some of her brothers’ clothes again—the same pair of athletics shorts they’d each worn earlier, because sleeping in jeans was not comfortable for anyone. They took opposite sides of the bed, curling on their sides, each facing a different wall.
The room was eerily quiet and almost pitch-black. Violet couldn’t even hear Ivy breathing. It was like she was alone…except if she was alone, she’d be back at her little shack, exhausted from a full day’s work at the diner. The exhaustion creeping into her bones right now was a different type of tiredness. Her body was sorer than anything after her escapades with Brice and Everett; her mind, though, her mind was tired. Turned out being locked up in a shifter sex ring was unnerving and mentally exhausting.
She was beyond glad she was out, but especially in the silence and stillness of the night, Violet couldn’t stop wondering about the others. Between two dozen and three dozen women still remained with Iris. She’d get no real peace until she knew they were all out or at least where they wanted to be.
The silence of the night was almost stifling. The last thing Violet wanted to do was sleep, but at least if she slept, it would temporarily get her mind off things. Shut her brain off for a little bit.
Hours might’ve passed. Or maybe just minutes. There was no clock in the bedroom, Violet noticed, and her phone was long gone at this point. She had nothing to do but lie in the darkness and wish for sleep that wouldn’t come. She felt the other person on the bed turn over.
Her Wolves: A Reverse Harem Romance Page 15
