by Lauren Dane
After several long moments of silence, Kari broke in with orders. “Okay, if there is nothing more, I’m going to send everyone home. And I mean everyone. Take the flowers to the nurses’ station and have them donated to people who need them. Take the plants and the food home, we still have guests, I imagine. Please write on the cards what they sent so I can send thank-yous.”
Andreas turned around and stared at her, openmouthed. “Kari, how can you think about that right now?”
She sat up straighter and pulled the sheet around herself. “Listen here, buster. It’s been a tough week all around, filled with outrageous and outlandish things. This is just another of them. It’s not in my nature to fall apart.” She paused to calm herself. “What should I do, Andreas? Should I wail and scream and cry about the unfairness of the world? The way I see it, I’ve got you and the Pack, minus one person who hates me. It’s more than I’ve ever had so I’m really doing pretty damned well in the long run.”
His gut clenched but he knew she didn’t want his pity. “Of course not. I’m sorry for assuming you couldn’t handle this. You’re entirely capable of dealing with this. But I’m not going anywhere and neither is Phillip. You’ll have a guard on you twenty-four hours a day, no matter where you are. And you don’t eat or drink anything that someone else hasn’t tasted first.”
Elaine nodded her agreement. “Good idea. I’ll be getting you released tomorrow, Kari. You’re almost completely healed and that’ll be hard to explain. I’ve had to take care of your blood tests myself. Your liver and kidneys are just fine. A transformation will help when you get home. A run will speed the regenerative effects of your system.”
“You need to go back to Seattle, Elaine. You’ve been here since Thursday and I know you have work,” Andreas said. “Let’s get her released and home so you can get home too.”
“You want her released today? Tonight?”
“Yes, if possible. You say she’s well enough and despite what happened earlier today, we can protect her better at home than here. Frankly, I believe Alex is responsible for this. I can’t believe it of anyone else.”
“I don’t know, Andreas. I tend to agree on motive but he wasn’t one of the people seen near the shed,” Laurent explained.
“Really?”
“Really. It was Ryan, Skye, Pierre, Luna, Michael, Tomas, Gregory, Devon, Peter and Sean. Of those, Sean was with you on the way here. Everyone else is a possibility.”
“There is no way my father or brother would hurt Kari. Nor would Skye. Ryan could have killed Kari quite easily when he found her after she’d run away.”
“Michael? He’s been awfully upset since he made Kari,” Sean said.
“Upset because he failed. He could have killed her that first night. And he’s an awfully submissive wolf.” Pity had come back for his cousin. He could have been so much more than a low-ranked wolf, but he didn’t have the power. Stupid and sad, but not vicious.
“Except that he went against orders and made Kari without permission. That’s pretty aggressive,” Elaine said.
Andreas had to admit that point, but he chalked that up to lack of control rather than outright aggression.
“I don’t know. He seemed sincere when he asked for my forgiveness. He’s been very kind to me,” Kari said. “I hate this. I don’t want to accuse anyone.”
Sean patted her hand. “I know, peaches. It’s very difficult but it’s necessary. We have to find out who did this. It’s not only for you but for the Pack as a whole. We can’t have people around who would betray us like this. None of us are safe this way.”
“But has anything like this happened before?”
“Not in the eight years that Andreas has been Alpha. But this kind of political machination is sadly typical in many Packs. Our structure of governance is not democratic. Leadership usually goes from Alpha male to oldest son. There can be challenges, but you’ve got to beat biology, which usually works to make the Alpha the strongest wolf. Usually killings are done in outright challenges amongst the Pack.”
“What happens when we find out who did it?”
“We take care of it. Everyone out. Kari needs her rest,” Andreas ordered, ushering people from the room.
“I’m going to go talk with the lead physician on duty tonight to see if we can’t get you released. Why don’t you all wait here until I get back?”
“Good idea,” Andreas said as Elaine swept out of the room. “Hey, what happened to that platter of cookies?” Andreas looked around.
“Uh, Kari ate them,” Sean said innocently.
“Hey!” Kari said, throwing a pillow at him. “Just for that, take these flowers out to the nurses’ station.”
“They looked good too,” Andreas growled and sat next to her on the bed. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so scared I was going to lose you.”
“I’m not that easy to kill. Plus, you owe me a ring and some clothes.”
He laughed softly.
“Laugh while you can, wolf boy, I’ve got expensive taste.”
* * *
The lights were still burning when they pulled onto the drive leading to the lodge.
Andreas insisted on carrying Kari inside and made everyone stand back while he carried her upstairs to their bedroom. He laid her on the bed gently and she held on to his neck. “I need a shower. I feel grungy. Wanna keep me company?”
He laughed suggestively. “No, little wolf. Let me send Anna up. If I come in there with you, I’ll do things I’m not supposed to. You need to rest.”
She pouted. “I don’t want Anna. I want you. My back needs washing. Surely you’d rather do it?”
He sighed dramatically. “Okay, if you insist.” He followed her into the bathroom, turning on the water for her, getting it hot while she got out of her clothes and laid out some towels.
“You too.” She motioned at him. “Can’t take a shower with clothes on.” Without waiting for an answer, she stepped into the tub and backed into the spray, moaning.
Andreas stood there for a moment as he fought with himself. She’d just been through a terrible trauma and he should leave her alone. On the other hand, she seemed well enough and was inviting him in with her in a clearly suggestive manner.
He wanted to be with her. No, he needed to make love with her to reassure himself that she was alive. She connected him to the world in a way that made it impossible to resist her, even if his cock hadn’t been so hard it felt like it weighed three hundred pounds.
Making up his mind, he quickly stripped and stepped in after her. She smirked a moment and he bent to kiss her quickly as he grabbed the soap and her sponge. Bubbles, fragrant with vanilla, lathered on the sponge and his hands when he began to scrub her back while she washed her hair. He shouldn’t have been so damned turned on by the simple act of taking a shower with his Mate but he was. The intimacy of bending down and bringing the sponge over her skin, of ministering to her and taking care of her, shot straight from his heart to his cock.
She turned to rinse off and he soaped up her arms and torso, trying to stay detached as he came to her breasts but failing miserably as he watched the soapy bubbles slowly running down and over her puckered nipples.
Seeing his intense interest, she smiled archly and walked the last step to him, bringing their bodies together. Like a cat, she rubbed her soap-slicked body against his.
“Kari,” he warned. “You just got home from the hospital.” No one on the planet would have been convinced by his words. Or his hands, which were running down the curve of her back toward her ass.
“I’m a werewolf. I heal quickly. I’ll let you do all the work. Come on, I can see you want to,” she said, eyeing his considerable erection.
Chuckling in defeat, he cupped her ass, squeezing. He kissed her hungrily. A kiss filled with love and passion but with an edge of desperation and fear. She answered his need for her, opening her lips to let his tongue inside, moaning. Her taste shot through him with intense sweetness. His arms tightened a
round her as the water cascaded over them both.
She grabbed his cock between soapy palms and he groaned, arching into her. He thrust into her grasp, building himself up as he continued to feast on her lips.
“Wait, let’s get out,” he gasped.
She shook her head. “No. Let me finish this.” She continued to slide her soapy fist over his cock. “Lean back.”
He started to argue but couldn’t resist the feeling of her hands on him. Leaning back, he put his back against the tile and looked down at her.
Hand over hand, she took him through her fists over and over. “Andreas, I love the way your cock feels. So big and hard, like you. When I see how much I affect you, it makes me feel faint.”
A hand job never felt so good. Andreas moaned as climax approached. “Kari, goddamn, how do you do this? Make even the simplest touch so incredibly erotic? I want your hands on me, your mouth. I want to be inside you. I want to touch every part of you.” He reached out, drawing a fingertip down the valley between her breasts. “I want to put my cock here and fuck you slow while you hold your breasts together for me.”
She increased the speed and he put his hands over hers, grasping tighter. “That’s it, little wolf, oh fuck, yes.”
He came as his eyes locked with hers, hands over hers, the heat of his semen on his belly. Her lip caught between her teeth as her breathing sped up, water cleaning them both.
Finally he reached behind her, turned off the taps and brought her to him, kissing her soundly.
Lips still on hers, one arm banded about her waist, holding her against him, he carefully got out of the tub. Quickly he grabbed a towel, throwing it over her back. He pulled away from her to begin to dry her off. Her disappointed cry at his absence tightened low in his stomach and he quickened his pace. She grabbed the other towel then and dried him off at the same time, tossed it into the hamper when he picked her up. He carried her to their bed, laying her on fresh sheets.
He looked down at her naked body, flushed with the heat of the water and wanting him, her eyes gazing back, bright and wide, a sensual smile curving her lips. She was his and there, alive and vibrant. Joy surged through him, twinned with desire and love.
Leaning down, he started at her toes, slowly licking and kissing a path up her body. Swirling his tongue around her ankle bone, over the luscious muscles of her calves. Over the sensitive and delicious skin at the backs of her knees. Her scent, the scent of her want of him, drew him upward over the velvety flesh of her inner thighs. Carefully he skirted her pussy and kissed up her belly, up the underside of the curve of each breast and the valley in between, along her ribs and arms, over her collarbone, licking through the hollow of her throat, around her neck and the shell of her ear. With soft sighs and moans, she writhed beneath him.
“God, the noises you make are going to make me lose it again before I can even get inside you.” He took a nipple into his mouth. It was hard against his tongue as he sucked and she arched into him with a cry of his name.
“I do love a man with such a short recovery time.”
Her hands roamed across his shoulders and down his spine. She squeezed his ass and then moved around his body to grasp his cock in one hand and his balls in the other. He groaned and shifted higher so she could reach him more easily. Her hands on him like that, giving him pleasure with such abandon, made him crazy.
He moved back, disentangling himself from her grasp, and locked gazes with her as he settled between her thighs. “I love the way you taste, Kari.” Looking down then, he spread her open with his thumbs and looked his fill at her.
“Damn, so beautiful. Pink and glistening. Your clit is swollen up for me.” He leaned down and flicked it several quick times with the tip of his tongue. “Looking so damned sweet I can’t help but want to lick it.”
“Oh...” Kari breathed faintly.
He chuckled. “I think I’ve made you speechless. Hmm, do you like dirty talk, little wolf? Shall I tell you how I’m going to eat your sweet pussy until you rain your honey all over my face? And then I’m going to fuck you long and hard and watch your breasts as they bounce while I do it.”
A flush moved up her body and he moved back to her pussy to get to work. Dipping two fingers into her and hooking them, he knew he’d found her sweet spot when she gasped and arched off the bed. “Yes. That’s the ticket. I know you like being heard too. Night before last you were so loud, I felt you get even wetter when I made that comment about everyone hearing you. Would you like that? Knowing that you made some of them touch their cocks after hearing you? Imagining me fucking you? Part of me likes that. The idea that I have something they all want.”
He tasted every fold of her pussy then. Every dip and bump. He teased the underside of the hood of her clit and sucked it into his mouth, just slightly abrading it with his teeth.
He knew she was just on the edge, her thighs trembled and her moaning and begging had increased in intensity. She was slick and swollen and he’d never been more turned on in his life. Her taste, the sounds she made and the thought of how his sweet wolf was not so sweet in the bedroom ramped him up even as he drew her ever closer to orgasm.
Drawing the flat of his tongue up and over her clit again and again, he stroked her G-spot with his fingertips until she came, her entire body seizing up, thighs clamped around his head.
Backing off, her pussy still spasming around his fingers, he laid his head on her thigh and watched her, licking his lips, enjoying the way her eyes widened and then went half-lidded.
Kari watched him as he lay there wearing that arrogant smile. Of course, he deserved to wear it. The man’s mouth was a miracle. Aside from the way he’d gone down on her like she was the best thing he’d ever tasted and he couldn’t get enough, the dirty talk really rang her bell. Did she like the idea that Laurent or Phillip heard her coming and it made them hard? Deep inside she guessed she did.
“Inside. Andreas, I want you inside me,” she breathed out as he dipped two fingers inside of her, drawing his thumb up to her clitoris, drawing slow circles with it. “Stop. Please. I need you.” Reaching down, she tugged gently on his cock to underline her point.
He moved over her on all fours and sat up, back against the headboard, legs straight, spread out on the bed and pulled her to him. “I’ll do the work, just sit on me,” he growled and it sent shivers cascading down her spine.
Straddling his body, she reached back and grabbed his cock, guiding him true. She loved that moment where she felt both how ready and hard he was but also the wet heat of her own body crying out for his. The anticipation of those seconds before she began to slowly sink onto his cock, taking him deep into her body. And so she did. Her pussy’s muscles stretched to accommodate him as she moved, delicious pleasure shooting up her body. She bit her bottom lip at the pleasure of the sensation. At how full he made her feel.
Bracing herself, she placed her hands on the wall of his chest before leaning in to run her tongue along his nipples, garnering a hiss of pleasure in return. She hadn’t really given much thought to male nipples before but Andreas’s cinnamon-colored ones beckoned her mouth and fingers. She loved the way he reacted as she ran the edge of her teeth over them. Loved being able to make him react as wildly as he made her.
Keeping her from exerting herself in any way, he used the muscles in his arms to slowly raise and lower her over his cock. Giving him such control over her movements was incredibly erotic.
She moaned and he smiled at her. “Even in pleasure you like to chatter,” he teased.
“Are you saying I’m a moaner?” she gasped as he sped up her movements over him. His cock sliced through her over and over, dizzying her.
“No, little wolf, you’re a screamer, a gasper, a talker, a moaner. I enjoy it greatly.” He grasped her bottom lip between his teeth gently and ran his tongue over it.
She added a grinding swivel as he lowered her for each thrust and he made his own gasp.
“You like that?”
He res
ponded by intensifying his thrusts and speed, bringing her down hard but not too hard onto him, until she thought she was going to explode with pleasure.
“Omigod. You feel so good,” she whispered in awe.
She felt the muscles of his stomach tighten, watched the sweat run down his face. Her own climax was approaching. “Come with me, Kari,” he groaned and moved his hand so his thumb came down and flicked over her sensitized clit, sending her over the edge with a crash.
He followed, the spasming of her internal muscles around him coupled with her breathy moans and squeals finally proving too much to endure. He arched his back, holding her tight against his body as he thrust up into her deeply, biting his lip until he tasted the metallic spice of his blood to keep from screaming her name. Instead a hoarse cry issued from his lips.
She fell forward over his chest, boneless, chest heaving.
“Andreas? Kari? Is everything all right?” Jade asked, knocking on the locked door. She sounded puzzled. Probably the very idea of a locked door in the house was unusual to her.
“Fine, Maman,” Andreas answered hoarsely and Kari tried to stifle a giggle.
“Andreas, are you having sex with that poor girl? She just got home from the hospital. Leave her alone!”
Kari couldn’t help it then, her giggles erupted and caught Andreas, as well.
“It was her idea,” he protested through laughter and Kari hit him with a pillow.
“Some protector of my reputation you are!” Laughing, she got off his lap and grabbed her robe, putting it on quickly. Tossing Andreas’s at him, she went to the door and opened it.
Jade rushed in, pulling her into a hug. “Are you okay, dove?” she asked, feeling Kari’s forehead.
“I’m fine, really. I feel much better. In fact, I’m starved. I wonder if Elaine would let me eat?”
“You don’t hate us?” Jade asked.
