Thinking about being so close to the edge, he started humming Lady Gaga in his head, trying to remember all of the lyrics to "The Edge of Glory." Nah, nothing. Except closer to that edge.
To those teeth.
Yeah, that would do it.
Her teeth that close to his dick... her teeth on his di--
Goddamn it.
He hit culmination way before he was ready, but it obviously pleased Belle. She grinned up at him and licked her lips.
"See how nice I am?"
"You're a filthy woman." He shook his head slowly. At least, that's what he thought he'd said. It might've been gibberish, for all he knew. He'd come so hard, he was sure he'd lost some brain cells, too.
"Filthy? No, I cleaned it all up. I thought you wolves were in to tongue baths."
His cock twitched again and he wasn't sure if it was agony or bliss. Whatever it was, he didn't care. He'd take as much of it as he could get.
"You're going to get your own tongue bath when I can think straight."
"Oh yeah? You think so?"
A devilish gleam had come into her eyes.
"You don't want a tongue bath?"
"I think I want you to work for it."
"I didn't already?"
She laughed. "No, not nearly enough. I think you should chase me."
And just like that, she jumped over the balcony and continued laughing when she hit the ground. "What are you waiting for, wolf? Catch me. If you can."
She knew exactly which buttons to push and exactly how hard. He didn't even try to hold back. He Changed into his warrior form and followed suit. She headed for the line of trees toward the back of the property and he ran hard, gaining on her.
Her scent never changed. It was chocolate and lust, perhaps tinged with adrenaline. But there was no fear, even though she pushed herself to her limits running from him.
As he gained on her, he salivated at the thought of having her throat between his jaws again, his tongue on all of her pink parts. Best of all, she'd be thrashing beneath him while he wrought all the things in her she'd wrought in him.
He ran her down hard, and when she was within reach, he pounced and they crashed to the ground.
Parker didn't hold back, he let her see him as he was, in his full glory, but he Changed back to his human form once he'd caught her. He didn't want to take the chance that his venom would hurt her while he was in warrior form. It was one thing to bite her during sex, it was quite another to bite her while his adrenaline was high with the thrill of the chase.
She spread her legs for him and he saw something that caused his beast to rumble with approval. The mark he'd put on her throat hadn't stayed, but the one on her inner thigh had.
He was torn between rushing her straight back to David to make sure it hadn't damaged her, and reveling in the part where she was well and truly marked.
He knew that there was a chance it could still heal, evidence of his mark wiped away, but damn if he didn't love seeing it there.
"Are you going to stare at it or eat it?" she teased.
"Eat it. Stare at it. Eat it some more."
"Well, a girl can't argue with that. Or if she does, she's stupid."
He dipped his head, loving that she tasted just like she smelled. Like chocolate and lust. He'd be content to lick her forever. Especially when she gasped and jumped like that. When she grabbed hold of his hair and pulled, demanded he increase the pressure and the pace. Parker kept doing exactly as he had been. This was where he held the keys to heaven, this was where he had the power, and he'd use it to take her higher than she'd ever been.
"Parker, please!"
He took his time, using all of his senses to drink her down. Not only the way she tasted, the way she smelled, the texture of her skin, the velvet heat... yeah. When she was gasping and begging, that was when he increased the speed and pressure of his tongue against her clit. It wasn't until she was crying out in a language unknown to him that he was even close to satisfied with a job well done.
Because even after she hit her peak, he wanted to give her more. Wanted to keep that flush in her cheeks, that taste on his tongue. Parker eased back, but didn't stop working the engorged bud. She squirmed away, but he held her fast, and before long he had her growling at him.
Fucking growling.
His beast growled back.
And she came again.
He sprawled down next to her on the forest floor. "So that's what happens when you tease a werewolf."
"Is that supposed to be a deterrent?" she gasped. "I'm going to tease you every day until..." She went quiet.
He knew what she was going to say. She was going to tease him every day until this was over. Until she wasn't his anymore. Except she'd always be his.
And he'd always be hers.
That was the way of things with wolves.
But not so with vampires, he knew. Parker realized that for the good of the pack, he'd need to speak with Blake about the plans he'd had to make when he realized Randi was his mate and she didn't want him.
Parker wasn't as close to his wolf as his brothers were. He didn't despise it, or hate that part of himself, but he'd never much had to rely on it. He found it easier to navigate the world as a man. Some wolves would die without their mates and they were content to do so.
That wasn't how Parker was wired. He didn't want to stop existing, stop living just because his mate didn't want him.
He liked living. He liked all that the world still had to offer him, even if that part of him would be empty and dark.
Maybe he'd change his mind when the sickness set in. Or maybe, like his uncle, he'd survive.
Of course, he didn't want to be a bitter old grumpy fuck like Warner, but...
"Sorry I ruined the mood," she said as the silent chasm between them grew.
"Don't be sorry for the truth. We both knew this was temporary. It's not your fault my wolf doesn't understand that."
"I meant what I said. I don't want you or your wolf to suffer because of me. How do we make it understand?" she asked.
"We don't. I'll talk to Blake and to Westwood. I'll figure it out. I'm a man grown. I'll handle my shit."
"Remember what you said about being alone? About how I didn't have to face everything alone? You don't either."
"But I do." He touched her face softly. "You can't help because you're the problem." Parker pressed his lips to her forehead.
"I knew this was a bad idea," she began.
"No, this was the only way. It still is. Don't worry about me, Belle. This thing between us, it is what it is. It'll only be whatever it was meant to be and neither of us can make it anything else."
"It's going to hurt," she whispered, looking up at him.
He flashed her a forced smile. "Yeah, sometimes the best things do."
Chapter 8
A vampire getting married on national television.
She’d lost her mind.
It was crazy, right?
It was even crazier she was talking to herself.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Yeah, that girl right there in the mirror was about to marry a billionaire werewolf in the Caramel Room at Bissinger’s.
The plus side was all the chocolate.
And Parker, a little voice in the back of her head whispered.
She didn't want to hear anything that voice had to say. It spun tales of pretty castles in the clouds, princesses, and fables like forever.
Nothing was forever.
Except maybe her existence. That was close to forever.
Bloody tears welled in her eyes and she swore to herself softly as they started to fall. That's all she needed was a blood-stained wedding dress.
It really was a beautiful dress.
"Are you crying?" A soft voice asked from the door.
She looked up to see Blake's mate, Randi, standing there, her dress unzipped on the side.
"Maybe." She sniffed. "A little."
"What's wrong, honey?" R
andi approached her with a tissue. "And you have to stop because if you cry, I'm going to cry. All I do is cry and pee and I haven't even gotten into the hard part of being pregnant." She rolled her eyes.
"What's with the zipper?" She dabbed the blood away from her eyes. Belle hated that about crying. She didn't cry tears, she cried blood. Messy. Ugly. And harder to hide.
"The thirty-four chocolates I ate from the truffle tower this morning." She sighed. "They were just really so good. Can you eat chocolate?"
"I can eat most anything. Chocolate actually helps clean my system if I eat too much that doesn't agree with me. I prefer to stick with the beef liver and bloody marys, though."
"If there is any chocolate left over from that tower, I expect you to jump on that grenade. My ass can't take any more and I'm really having a problem with impulse control. Apparently, it's a wolf thing. I don't know." She shrugged. "I'm new to all of this."
"You're doing fine, Randi. Here, let me help."
"God, I don't know if that's the best idea. I feel like two Holsteins have been shoved in a lace tube and they're fighting for freedom."
Belle laughed. "Oh my god, you do not look like that at all. You look beautiful. I feel terrible I'm crashing your day."
Randi waved a hand and popped one of the wedding chocolates that had been left on the dressing table in her mouth. "Look, I can't stop myself." Her eyes rolled in the back of her head. "Oh, so good. Take those away from me. Please?"
"Not a chance. You'd bite me," Belle cackled.
"You're right." She ate another one. "Fuck the dress. Fuck this whole stupid mess." She ate two more. "I just get everything shoveled in where it needs to go and then I have to pee and start all over again. " She finished chewing. "And don't worry about 'my day." She snorted. "I didn't want to do this dog and pony show to start with, but you know, it's good for the bottom line."
"Is it really?" Belle asked. "It seems like all of this expense would be counter intuitive to the bottom line."
"Woolven Industries stock has not only evened out, but it's climbing. It was up another five points this morning. It's exactly what we needed. So thank you."
"Be careful," she blurted. "I know everyone has said now that I'm Parker's wife, I'm pack. And please don't be insulted." She did know that wolves were easy to offend if you impugned their strength or their loyalty.
Randi's head cocked to the side in a very canine manner, as if she were scenting the air. Randi had seemed very much human when Belle had first met her, but now, all of her primal instincts had started to surface. "Why would I be offended?"
"I'm not impugning your ability to defend yourself, I just know my father. You've all been so... honest and straightforward. Wolves are like that. Vampires are not."
"Wolves are cunning, too. We use our honesty as a weapon."
"Honesty will do nothing to save that babe in your belly." She swallowed hard and those tears welled again. The bastards. "If someone who was after me hurt you..." She couldn't bring herself to speak the rest of the words.
"You've said this before, Belle." Randi nodded slowly. "And we appreciate where you're coming from, but you've said yourself you haven't spent much time with other supes."
"Not since my father Turned Evgeni Kumarin."
"It wasn't only the government SWAT team that dealt with Kumarin. I fought his pet berserker wolves to rescue my father. I came through that just fine, with this babe still intact." Her hand went to her belly. "I fought Kumarin's best. They lost."
"Just promise me you'll be careful."
Randi took her hands. "Only if you promise me the same. Blake tells me he's never seen Parker like this. If something happened to you, he'd never forgive himself." She gave Belle's cool hands a squeeze. "I don't think he'd survive it, if we're being honest."
Something tightened around her heart. She didn't know emotions could feel like a fist. No, that was a lie, she knew it, she'd just chosen to forget.
"This isn't a real marriage, Randi," she said, gently.
"Maybe not to you, but it is to him."
"That's not what we agreed."
"When does the heart ever go along with the plan? I'd planned to bring down Woolven Industries. I considered killing Blake. Now, here I am marrying him and pregnant with his child. And I'm a fucking werewolf. Where was that in the plan? Nowhere, I'll tell you."
She ate another piece of chocolate and growled low in her throat, her eyes amber.
It looked good on her. Randi still glowed with health and life.
"When I was a young girl in Ur, the women said if you were hungry all the time, it would be a girl."
"Oh really? Why is that?"
"You were feeding her to face a world where she would have to give and give, so you make her strong before she has to face it."
"Sugar and spice and everything nice?" Randi picked up another piece of chocolate, inspected it, and put it down. "Okay, if I eat any more I'm going to hurl."
"We'd be a pair, wouldn't we? Me with blood on my dress and you with vomit. Just another day in the Wonderful World of Woolven."
"You know, don't even joke about that. That would happen to me." Randi nodded. "I just know I'm going to trip going up the aisle. Stupid investors. Stupid board. Stupid stock," she growled.
"Randi, you look beautiful. You're not going to trip. You're not going to puke." She narrowed her eyes. "Well, if you stop now."
"You don't understand. You were probably born graceful. Me? I trip up stairs."
"I think everyone's done that at least once. The first time was on the temple steps when my father sent me to greet our supplicants." She sighed. "He ripped out all of their throats so none could report back I was anything less than a goddess on earth. But it wasn't the last time. I'm sure It'll happen to me again before this life is done with me."
"Seriously? I wonder if that's a thing I can do. Can I legit kill everyone who has seen me make an ass out of myself?" Randi looked thoughtful.
"I guess you can, I mean, there's no one to stop you. But is it worth it?"
Randi grinned. "Maybe."
"This is all going to be okay, you know."
Randi's expression softened. "Yeah, it will."
"Are you ready for me to zip you up? It's almost time for us to walk down the aisle."
"I guess you better strap me in." She stood up.
Belle made sure her hands were clean, no blood, and she zipped her up.
"Can't breathe..." Randi wheezed.
"You're fine. Just wait until you see what you look like."
She took another gulpful of air. "So can you vampires do that look into my eyes thing?"
"Sometimes?" She answered as if asking a question herself. "It depends on the person."
"Do you think you could just hypnotize me to...."
"Not a chance."
"Why not?" Randi pouted.
"Because you're going to remember this day for the rest of your life. I wouldn't take that from you."
"Okay, you see the problem? If I bomb this... I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life. My humiliation in Dolby Surround Sound."
"It's going to be fine. Really." Belle hoped she wasn't making promises she couldn't keep. "What did you expect? You're marrying a billionaire. Everyone wants to be you today. You're a princess."
"Nah, I'm not the princess. Princesses wait to be saved. I'm the dragon." Randi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"Are you really? Parker was telling me about the Drago Knights and--"
Randi cackled. "No, not really. But you'll get to see them. They'll be accompanying the cars to our rendezvous point."
"That's cool. I guess marrying Parker is worth it for the dragons."
"Totally," Randi agreed easily. "That's why I'm doing it, too. The dragons."
Eleanor Westwood suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke that smelled like hydrangeas, of all things. She too was eating wedding truffles. "Okay, my lovelies. What do you need from me to get this show on the road?"
When neither of them responded, she spoke again. "This is a wedding. I know there is a last minute fire to put out somewhere."
"No fires, yet." Belle was tentative. She was sure she was forgetting something and by the expression on Eleanor Westwood's face, she was sure of it, too.
"Oh, I know." She nodded. "After the ceremony, before we go to the reception, we've set up a greeting line for the press. There will be a lot of pictures. I'm going to give you both a charm so that the flashes from the cameras don't blind you." Addressing Belle in particular she added, "You did say they already know you were with Parker, right?" Your family, I mean."
She pressed her lips together and nodded, once again doubting the sanity of this plan.
"Good. Are you two ready?"
Randi nodded.
Westwood whispered a few words and blew some powder from her outstretched palm into their faces.
"It smells like lemonade." Randi blinked.
"I've warded this place out the ass, but I couldn't ward it with the same parameters as I do Aphelion. People who mean you harm may enter, but if they move to act upon that harm, they'll be forcibly ejected."
"Why not?" Randi asked. "I really prefer the idea of them exploding."
"Yes, because we want random self-immolation caught on camera at your wedding. That's supposed to be a fairy tale happy ever after." She quirked a brow.
Belle said, "Well, in the real versions of fairy tales, not those watered down kid's stories, bad things happen to bad people."
"Not helping," Eleanor answered.
Belle sighed. "You're right. I just like to be contrary."
"You're going to fit in so well here." Eleanor put an arm around her shoulder. "Okay, one last check." She eyed them both up and down. "You both look perfect. Are you ready?"
"No, it's dumb. But I think I'm going to cry again," Belle sniffed.
Both women hugged her and that made it worse.
"Well, we can't have that. A bloody-eyed Woolven bride." She snapped her fingers. "There. All fixed. It'll wear off in about six hours though. You should be in private with the family by then."
The Mate Mistake (The Woolven Secret Book 3) Page 7
