by Lauren Dane
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 managed to get out of 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. Still, she managed to brush her teeth and wash her face and take 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 it’s 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 wel
l 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, shoes and socks.
Tracy and Pam had been teaching Michelle to track as a wolf and she’d been using her unique talent with magick to attempt to locate the mages. They’d hit many dead-ends but something very bad had appeared on the horizon.
The witches were keeping it close to the vest, but something they called the Magister was responsible for the disappearances. Only they didn’t know how to stop it yet. Or even what it truly was aside from a whispered nightmare from legends older than recorded history.
The wolves had upped their patrols, and everyone in a pack, jamboree or pride checked in at least twice a day with their leadership. Michelle had been working with the witches and Pacific to liaise between and keep everyone in Portland prepared.
Back in Boston, they spoke to Akio nearly daily about what was happening as the wolves at National worked with the cats and one of the very few witch clans on the Eastern seaboard.
Big, bad things hung over them, and there was a weight in the air as they did what they could to prepare, but knew it would be bad when it finally came down.
Michelle had clicked with the pack when she’d come back newly turned. Tracy had taken her under her wing as she now shared Josh’s rank.
Even better was just how adept she was at the job. Her training as a police officer had prepared her and she had a natural gift for investigation and most definitely protection.
Plus it enabled them to work together, which meant he got to keep an eye on her. And that they could sneak off here and there to run home and get down.
As if she knew what he was thinking about, she looked up from where she’d been poring over a map with Pam and caught his gaze with a smile.
He’d nearly lost her. It was so close he still woke up in a cold sweat some nights just remembering it. But she was stronger now that she had a wolf. Faster. Better able to protect and defend herself.
It had brought them closer, even as he still had trouble letting her out of his sight for very long. She got that and did what she could to stay in sight or close by. She hadn’t been home, though she and her mother had spoken—briefly—on the phone. They’d had a wake for Allie just a few days earlier, and he’d gone with her to Roseburg where they’d packed up her apartment and moved all the rest of her belongings up to Portland.
She checked in on Kathy daily, but she was forging a new life, one with him at her side. It wasn’t always safe, but she was loved and she filled his life in a way he’d never thought possible.
So when the shit finally hit the proverbial fan, when this Magister thing everyone spoke about in hushed voices finally made its move, he’d protect her with everything he had and they’d survive because there was no other choice.
* * * * *
If you loved the Cascadia Wolves, you’ll love the de la Vega Cats
Read on for a sneak peek of book one, TRINITY, of this spin-off series from Lauren Dane
Chapter One
Renee wiped the counter down, smiling as she swayed her ass to ABBA as they told the story of Fernando. The warmth pressing against the windows and outer walls of the building brought a languid fluidity to her muscles. She envied Sam, the fat feline sprawled in his high perch, furry belly flopped to the side. It would have been an excellent day to simply lie in the sun and nap the hours away.
Wisps of light from the high casement windows played through the air, swirling down over her little juice and coffee bar, catching the crystals and other such stuff her stepmother had hung up all over the place. Dust motes danced to the hum of energy in the shop. More despite Susan tha
n because of her.
The shop was a metaphysical bookstore and magic shop. Owned by a woman who did not believe in magic. The irony of that wasn’t lost on Renee, but since she did believe in magic, the shop seemed to be fine with the current state of affairs. Each day she entered the shop she felt embraced by it, which made those not so welcome feelings from her stepmother slightly easier to bear.
Renee had chosen the space in a sunny archway inside The Willow Broom when she’d signed the lease. At first she’d decided to set up shop there because it would keep her in her father’s life somehow. She’d at least have a regular opportunity to see him. Their relationship hadn’t been strained, but it wasn’t close either and she craved that.
But from the moment she’d walked in, the space had called to her. That alcove fed her energy each day. It kept her warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The light through the stained glass created colorful dances across the walls and over the floors and shelves. The shop was located on a busy street near the T stop so there’d been a steady stream of customers all day. No one bothered her about what to serve and when. She kept her own hours, loved the space and her customers. Best of all, the bar enabled her to pay her half of the mortgage and it kept her in shoes so what did she have to frown over?
She didn’t even need to glance toward a clock to know it was time to leave for the day. Time to head home to Galen. She smiled as she pictured him changing out of his suit and into jeans and a threadbare T-shirt. Mmmm. All that gorgeous, lean, hard muscle lying flat against his body. He moved like the predator he was, quiet and purposeful, big brown/black eyes never failing to take in everything around him. But wrapped in a most charming and stylish package. Sexy and totally focused on her. To be cherished and adored by a man like Galen was one of life’s greatest gifts. She had no idea how she’d lucked out, but she planned to keep him forever.
“I’m out of here,” she called out after she’d put away her cleaning supplies. The pale green scarf Galen had given Renee for her birthday was soft and cool against her neck as she wrapped it a few times before pulling her cardigan on. The air outside wasn’t cold yet, but it had a bite and the sun would be going down soon.
