E.A. Price - Valentine's Wolf (Grey Wolf Pack #11)

by E A Price

  “If we’re going to talk about this, let’s at least get comfortable.”

  He pulled her into his arms as he stood up; he took a few steps over to the narrow cot and sat down, still cradling her and rearranging the blanket so it covered her. Not that it really mattered; she just noticed that the station was eerily quiet. Nobody else seemed to be around. Last time she was in the cell, she could hear chatting, laughter and computers whirring… Now, it was just dead silence. Maybe everyone had been scared off by her kitty cat. That really shouldn’t have made her quite so cheerful or pleased. Seriously, it was like a few steps away from tenting her fingers and laughing maniacally at one of her evil schemes.

  “I didn’t grow up in this pack – or any pack,” he told her matter-of-factly. “I grew up in a small town. My mom and dad were never really together. She was passing through, and my dad was a bartender; they got together one night and then nine months later I arrived. My mom stuck around long enough to give birth to me, but after that she was gone.”

  “She just left you?” Her heart clenched for her wolf, and she surprised herself as she accepted the growl of sympathy coming from Venus. Where Jake was concerned, maybe they could play nice.

  Jake rolled his shoulders like it was no big deal, but his mouth was tight. He wouldn’t admit it bothered him, but it did.

  “She was a rogue wolf; she didn’t want to be weighed down with a family. So my dad raised me, and when I was 10, he got married and had some more kids. My dad was a decent guy, but he was human, and he didn’t really know how to deal with a hormonal, teenage wolf shifter. No one in my town did; I was the only shifter. Sometimes my mom’s sister came to visit, and once or twice my mom herself actually turned up to say hi – but mostly I was on my own. My stepmother didn’t really like me – still doesn’t. I don’t think she wanted me around her kids just in case I did something to them.”

  Val snuggled into his chest. His unease was obvious. It was clear that he wasn’t used to sharing this much; he was doing it to try and help her.

  He rested his head on hers. “I left for college when I was 18. I managed to get a partial scholarship and worked my way through. I decided to go to a University in Alexandria. My aunt lived in Rose – still does – and I decided to go there to be near to her.”

  “Then what?”

  Jake smirked. “You know what they said about curiosity and the cat, right?”

  “Hmmm, no, do you know what they said about keeping ferocious leopards waiting?”

  “No.”

  “Well, you’re about to find out, so spill, Sheriff,” she teased lightly.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he crooned ignoring her groan. “After I graduated college, I joined Alexandria PD. Then, I was recruited by the SEA and then…” He hesitated.

  “Then the long story happened?” He nodded. “You know, we never did talk about that.”

  “Yeah, you seduced me and distracted me.” He clucked his tongue in disapproval.

  “I seduced you?” she scoffed.

  “Well, as long as you admit it.” He pressed a kiss into her hair.

  “I’m sorry you were alone when you were a kid, Jake.”

  It was his turn to groan. “Don’t be. I’m the one who’s sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t tell you all that to make you feel sorry for me, or to try and diminish what you’re going through. I just want you to know that I kind of understand and I’m here to help you through this. I’ll be with you until you tell me to go.”

  “Don’t go,” she whispered. No, never go.

  He hugged her tighter. “Okay.”

  They sat like that for a while, just enjoying the comfort of being together until Val gave in and admitted to herself that they couldn’t hide in a cell all day. Even if enacting some of her raunchier dreams was tempting.

  “So now what?”

  Jake spun her round so she was straddling him, and they could see each other’s faces. “Maybe, if you’re not too tired, we should practice shifting.”

  Val sucked in a breath. The first time had been a little traumatic…

  “Last time I thought my arms and legs were on fire…”

  He winced. “The first few times it will feel like that, but when you get used to it, it will actually start to feel quite pleasurable.”

  That got her attention. “Oh? How pleasurable?” She wiggled her butt over his lap eliciting a moan from him.

  “Not quite that pleasurable, but pleasurable.”

  “I’m not sure I can,” she muttered sulkily. Her seduction distraction apparently wasn’t going to work.

  “It’s easy,” he said reassuringly, “you just need to think of Venus, connect with her, let her know that you want to shift, and then just relax and let her take over.”

  She picked at an imaginary piece of lint on his shirt, not wanting to admit that the thought of changing again terrified her. “And what about when I want to change back?”

  “The same; let her know you want to be in control again.”

  “What if she won’t let me?” she breathed. That was the ultimate fear, shifting and being stuck as a leopard for the rest of her life. She had thirty years to be a human; what if Venus demanded she have thirty years too?

  “You’re the dominant creature. Unless she’s really angry or worried about your safety, she’ll let you. It’s only when shifters are really full of rage or upset that they can’t control their shifts.”

  “What will I do when I become her? Can I change right back?”

  Jake furrowed his brows. “You can, but it takes a lot of energy to change. It’s probably best if you keep her form for a couple of hours. But you won’t be alone; I’ll shift too and maybe we could try going for a run.”

  “What if I look silly trying to run on four legs?” She wasn’t fantastically coordinated on two legs.

  “Venus will know what to do. Do you trust me?”

  She let out a suffering sigh. “Yes.”

  Jake gave her a lopsided grin. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  *

  The day went better than he could have imagined. For all her whining, worrying and downright obstinacy, when the time came to shift, he could barely keep up with her. Being subdued for so long, she was a very frisky leopard.

  Adam and Alec put the word out to the pack to steer clear of the woods for the day. Just in case the frolicsome leopard became over-frolicky and accidentally ripped someone’s throat out. Not that Jake thought she would.

  After the initial pains of the shift, which was much easier than the first time, there was no stopping her. Jake shifted to his wolf and followed her, thinking that he would have to encourage her to hunt. Ha, there was no stopping her! Once that leopard caught the scent of a bunny, she wiggled her butt, and she pounced. She wasn’t exactly a successful hunter, she was far too excitable actually to catch anything, but she sure loved trying. It was an awesome thing watching a leopard batting away at a butterfly.

  They ran and hunted for hours. She was thrilled when Jake caught a bunny for her to eat; she purred and rubbed herself against him, which led to some playful tussling. He was amazed at how strong she was. He figured that was to do with the fact that she had magic. She was far more powerful than an ordinary leopard shifter. He was truly in awe of her.

  When the time came, she didn’t want to leave the woods; she wanted to play all night. Jake practically had to chase her all the way to his house. Now that was something they both enjoyed.

  He worried that she might struggle to shift back, but he needn’t have. He directed her to the porch of his house and as shifted and turned to open his door, as he spun back she was already in her skin form. Her naked body was flushed from the exercise, and her eyes shone with flecks of yellow.

  Jake opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make a sound she pounced on him, crushing her mouth to his and molding her body against him. He staggered a little at the force of her lunge and pulled her backward into the house, flapping his arm to shut the door behind him. N
o way did he want anyone to see this!

  Valentine stroked, scratched and rubbed herself all over him as she devoured his mouth. His wolf was in heaven, and Jake wasn’t far behind. He ran his hands over her smooth curves, grinding her against his erection.

  Yes, this was perfect, except… a niggle of guilt picket at him. He tried to drown it out but… Ugh. He groaned and disengaged himself from her tentacle like arms. Panting, he drew his mouth back. He held her away at arms length as she persistently tried to seek his mouth.

  “Valentine… please, you’ve no idea how hard this is for me.”

  She licked her lips as she eyes flashed. “Oh, I have a good idea just how hard it is.”

  Jake gulped. “Let’s just take it easy.”

  Valentine frowned and pouted. “Don’t you want me?”

  “More than you know…”

  “Good!”

  Nimbly, she slipped out of his hands and plastered herself against his chest. He almost lost it as she swiped her tongue over his chest and teased a nipple with her teeth.

  His wolf howled into the sky. “Fuck Valentine…”

  “Yes please,” she cooed.

  Lord, the minx wasn’t making it easy to do the right thing, and he had precious little incentive in the first place.

  “You’ve been through a lot… I don’t want to take advantage of you…”

  “Don’t, I’ll take advantage of you.”

  With a wicked smile, she dropped to the floor and grasped his thick length, flicking her tongue over the tip, tasting the drop of pre-cum.

  “Valentine…” he rumbled. “What are you doing?”

  She looked up through her eyelashes, giving him an innocent look. “Can’t you tell? Maybe I’m not doing it right.”

  She sucked the head into her mouth, never breaking eye contact.

  Jake let out a guttural groan. “Oh sweetheart, you’re definitely doing it right.”

  She swirled her tongue around him before sucking wildly. His body shuddered, and his release started gathering steam. Any thoughts of stopping her, of feeling guilty, melted away. He couldn’t stop what was happening even if he wanted to.

  He was close to the edge but he didn’t it to be this way. No, not yet. He wanted to enjoy her mouth, but not at that moment. They had the rest of their lives and he needed to be inside his mate.

  He reached down and pulled her up; his manhood popped out of her mouth, and she mewled in displeasure, wriggling in his arms. He swatted her ass playfully.

  “None of that sweetheart,” he told her sternly

  Valentine sidled out of his arms. “Maybe you should punish me,” she suggested saucily tracing a finger around her nipple.

  “Minx!” he growled.

  “No, leopard,” she corrected him and spun on her heel, preparing to flee.

  She didn’t get very far. With a roar, Jake caught her and pushed her over the couch. She braced her arms and pressed back against him. He rubbed his hands down her back until they rested on her generous hips.

  “You want this?” he demanded throatily.

  “Yessss…” she hissed.

  Jake rubbed his hands over her buttocks, gently squeezing and caressing her flesh. “You want me?”

  “Yes!” she whimpered. “Please, Jake.”

  He slid his fingers through her slit, brushing over her clit and dipping into her core.

  “Because I’m your mate.”

  “Yes!” she squealed arching her back, trying to take more of his fingers.

  He spanked her buttock making her cry out and her channel ripple around his fingers.

  “Say it!” He spanked her again and again, making her shriek.

  “I want you. You’re my mate! Please Jake, I love you!”

  His wolf yowled in triumph, and the declaration sent him wild. He ripped his fingers from her and plunged his cock straight into her needy entrance. His delicious teasing had set her on edge, and the sudden invasion pushed her right over. She screamed lustily and clutched at the couch cushions until her knuckles whitened. It took all his self-control, but he held still inside her as she rode out the waves of orgasm.

  The mixed pleasure and pain at feeling her tightening and clutching at him was too much. With a snarl, roughly, he began driving in and out of her. She moaned and thrust her hips against him with a passion matched only by his own.

  He could feel his long-awaited release storming through him, and he could hold back no longer. Violently, he pushed himself inside her and roared as he exploded. Valentine let out her own roar as her own climax quickly followed.

  Sweaty and trembling from the intensity of their lovemaking, Jake leaned over her, resting his forehead on her quivering back.

  “I love you, too.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  4th March

  The birds were singing. Val stretched out her aching limbs and smiled happily. Yep, she could actually hear them twittering outside Jake’s bedroom window. Not even his loud, rhythmic snoring could drown them out. Not that she minded; she could handle a little snoring. It was the only flaw she could find in him, and it actually made her feel a little better about her less-than-perfect self.

  But no, she wasn’t going to dwell on that because the birds were singing, and everything was right with the world. Yep, she felt so good that was almost fairly certain that she could get them to come over and sing a song with her. She felt good - Disney princess good.

  She wasn’t going to pretend that everything was a hundred percent perfect; although at that moment in time it felt pretty darn close. Her leopard purred inside her and, with a little more ease than the previous day, she accepted it.

  She and Venus were getting along, but they were hardly finishing each other’s… each other’s… oh never mind. They still had a way to go before having an animal inside her just seemed normal but she couldn’t deny that she felt like an invisible weight had lifted. Her body, her mind – everything felt freer than it ever had before. And no more aches or pains, she felt amazingly healthy. She guessed all the burning and cold sweats really were Venus just trying to escape. No wonder she’d felt awful.

  Jake’s alarm clock started beeping, irritatingly, and Val quickly stuck out a hand to shut it off, lest it wake her hunky sleeping beauty. Of course, she may have been a bit overzealous. She yelped as a flash darted out of her hand and short-circuited the clock. Whoops. Her witchy powers might need a bit of fine-tuning.

  Jake stirred next to her. “You okay?”

  Val rubbed her hand. That was going to take some getting used to.

  “Yeah, but, I, uh, sort of killed your alarm clock.”

  “I know, I saw. It’s replaceable.”

  He pulled her back down into bed, and they cuddled.

  “I really need to get a handle on this witch thing,” she sighed. “Alarm clocks are one thing, but what if I go nuts and send a bolt at you.”

  Jake rubbed his hand up and down her spine. “I’m made of sturdy stuff.”

  “Yes, that hadn’t escaped my notice.”

  She giggled and pressed her thigh up against his erection. “Rock hard, sturdy stuff,” she murmured.

  He chuckled but then quickly sobered. “Look, what happened last night… I don’t usually… spank…”

  “It was wonderful,” she gushed, quickly cutting him off. No way did she want to think she hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed that. It was the freest, hottest sex she ever had. He wasn’t wiggling out of doing that again.

  “Yeah?” He sounded pleasantly surprised. “I thought I might have gotten a little carried away.”

  She leaned up and nipped his chin, something her leopard thoroughly approved of. “You don’t have to apologize for doing that to me. I might even let you do it again.”

  Heck, she might even beg him to do that again.

  “Yeah?” Now he sounded very excited, and if the urgency with which his hands were stroking her was anything to go by, he wanted it to happen again sooner rather than later.

&n
bsp; “Yeah,” she confirmed trying not to roll her eyes. “So, this is your house?”

  Jake groaned and let his grip on her ease. “Yeah,” he said with a little less enthusiasm. “Do you like it?”

  Val frowned as she looked round at the faded pink, flowery wallpaper and the old-fashioned furniture. It reminded her of her grandmother’s house. It definitely wasn’t the kind of place she expected Jake to live.

  “It’s nice,” she replied cautiously.

  “But?”

  “Why do you think there’s a but?”

  He inhaled her scent and breathed out slowly. “I can just sense it with you.”

  “No, it’s a nice house.”

  From what she could remember of her sexual tour of the house last night, it was a nice house. Good size, big open rooms – it put her dingy, little apartment to shame.

  “But, not your style?”

  She hunched her shoulders. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings but… “Well, the interior isn’t, no, I’m sorry.”

  He chuckled heartily. “Don’t be. What would you change?”

  “Well, if it were my house, I might change the wallpaper, and the furniture, and the paintwork. I’d probably replace all the fittings in the kitchen – that counter top is painful.” Admittedly it probably wasn’t built to be used the way they were using it last night. “But, other than that, I love it.”

  Jake didn’t say anything, and she worried he was annoyed at her. Hell, maybe an ex-girlfriend had been the interior decorator, or worse, his favorite aunt.

  Val flicked her eyes to him, but he didn’t seem mad or upset – he was ponderous.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Hmm? Oh, you’re right. The place needs redecorating. I haven’t done anything to it since I bought it. I got it from Ford’s parents when they retired to live in Florida. They were in their sixties. I guess the place suited them.”

  “You never changed anything?

  “Nah, I never spent much time here before, I was usually working. Writing speeding tickets and chasing cats out of trees was better than being in an empty house.”

  “You like cats?” she asked with interest.