Wounded Wolf

by Moxie North

  The man stood up and Prudence realized he wasn’t as young as she thought. He was tall and muscular, but his muscles were intimidating. Nothing like Maverick’s, which made her feel safe.

  Prudence sucked in a breath as he strode over to her. He stopped way too close and reached a hand up to brush a hair away from her face, or at least that was the move he was trying to make. Pru was about to slap his hand away, because no man touched her without permission. She never got the chance. A loud animal growl sounded from behind her that sent a shiver up her spine.

  There was a flash and the man with a smarmy smirk that had been raising his hand to her face was flat on his back in the dirt. Maverick Hale was on top of him and he was punching the ever-loving shit out him.

  “Maverick!” Prudence shouted it not out of fear for the other man, but just because the shock of seeing him punching this man was so violent. Her mind wanted it to stop. The scene was getting gory. The man on the ground had blood spurting from his nose and his mouth was bloody, coating his teeth as he smiled up at Maverick.

  This seemed to enrage him even more and he continued to hit him, shouting, “Mine!” in a rough growling voice.

  “Maverick, please, stop! He didn’t touch me!” She was more worried about Maverick hurting his hand since the other man seemed to be enjoying his beating.

  “Enough!” One word echoed so loudly through the area that Prudence felt the need to cover her ears. It was a rolling timbre that she could feel in her bones.

  Both men flew apart from each other. Maverick stood, panting from exertion, his hands bloody and still fisted.

  The man on the ground was rolling to his side and spitting blood out as he tried to pull himself up to a sitting position.

  Deacon shot a glare at both of the men. “What the fuck? You know I don’t get involved, but we have company in case you didn’t notice.”

  “I noticed, Alpha,” the man said with a bloody grin.

  The big man who had come into view after breaking them up growled again. Prudence could have sworn she saw the man flinch.

  “Sorry, Pres,” he said, changing the title he gave him.

  Prudence had no idea what was going on, but there was some serious guilt building since she seemed to be the catalyst for the fight.

  “Maverick?” The man now designated as Pres said.

  “She’s mine. He tried to touch her,” Maverick ground out.

  “How the flying fuck was I supposed to know that? I thought she was a lost girl.”

  The comment caused Maverick’s eyes to flash back at the man and he growled again. Prudence couldn’t remember ever hearing a person make that sound that wasn’t trying to imitate zoo animals. But this wasn’t just some sad attempt. It sounded just like a memory she had of being cornered by a neighbor’s dog that had gotten out. It was a sound that was primal and made you well aware of the danger that you were in.

  “She’s no fucking lost girl and you know it. You touch her again, attempt to touch her again, or even fucking smell her, I will kill you. That isn’t an idle threat.”

  Prudence was trying to get her breathing under control. She was sucking in oxygen, attempting to stay upright. The adrenaline of the last few minutes was not something she normally experienced in her sedate life. The blood, the dirt, and pure masculine testosterone was coating the air and turning her stomach.

  Her eyes were locked onto Maverick, who only looked at her once, then turned his attention back to the large man that was in charge as well as the one on the ground.

  “Stitch, do you understand what Maverick is saying?”

  “Fuck, how the hell was I supposed to know? He didn’t have to sucker punch me.”

  “You know good and well you can smell him on her. You were trying to get him to react. He’s warned you and if you think I’m going to step in again, you’re wrong. This is non-negotiable. He’s staked his claim and the girl is his.”

  Prudence let that register for a split second before she said, “Excuse me?”

  Three sets of eyes—four including the guy still on the table—turned to her.

  “Who is claiming whom? I just came here to talk to Maverick. I didn’t mean to get in the middle of whatever this is. I think I made a mistake and will just be on my way.”

  Prudence barely made it two steps before a warm hand wrapped around her upper arm and started pulling her in the other direction.

  “What…?” She looked up to see Maverick, his jaw clenched and not looking at her.

  “You aren’t leaving,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “No, it’s okay. I can just leave. I didn’t want to cause trouble.” Prudence was trying to keep pace with Maverick as he was taking huge strides toward a line of cabins behind the building she’d parked next to.

  “You didn’t cause any trouble. Stitch doesn’t know how to not touch things that don’t belong to him.”

  Prudence really didn’t think that was accurate. “I only belong to myself.” She tried to inject as much confidence into that statement as she could. It came out rather weak anyway.

  Maverick grunted and kept walking. They came to the largest of the cabins that was near the lake. He walked straight up to the door and opened it, pulling her inside.

  “Is this yours?”

  He didn’t answer, just closed the door behind her.

  Prudence figured this was a quiet place they could maybe talk. Although her plans were to set up a date later, maybe they first needed to talk about him trying to beat a man unconscious for touching her.

  She didn’t get that chance. Prudence found herself pushed back against the closed door and Maverick’s mouth sealed over hers before she could say anything.

  Her first instinct at being caught unawares was to make a squeaking sound. Maverick took full advantage of that and dipped his tongue into her mouth, sweeping in deep to tangle with her own. Prudence was no prude and kissed him back. She could have pushed him away, bit his tongue, something. Pru knew that she either participated or she stopped this intrusion into her space. She chose to participate.

  She kissed him back, reaching up to grab handfuls of his long hair to pull him closer. She was already on her tiptoes, and felt his hands wrap around her waist and pull her up against his body. His beard scraped across her lips and she decided that kissing a man with a beard was hands down the best thing in the world. It was soft and his lips and tongue were tasting her so thoroughly she was pretty sure it was more intimate than some of her sexual encounters in the past. The roughness of his beard had her mind splintering at the opposing sensation. It was fan-freaking-tastic.

  Prudence soaked up the smell, the pressure, the way he made her body flex against him. No one had ever managed to turn her on as quickly as this man did. It was like he was his own aphrodisiac and he was drawing her in. Prudence wanted to think of a reason to stop kissing him, but came up with nothing. So she stayed the course, kissing him back as good as he gave.

  The kiss ended abruptly with Maverick pulling away. His blue eyes had darkened and Pru could swear that the shape of them was bigger than she remembered. He was breathing just as hard as she was, his lips wet from their kiss. When he finally opened his mouth, Prudence was not prepared for what he was going to say.

  “Fucking hell, I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Chapter 14

  The cracking sound of her hand connecting with his face echoed through the quiet cabin.

  “What the hell?”

  “If you didn’t want to kiss me, Maverick Hale, then maybe you should have taken a fucking step away from me!” Prudence shouted at him.

  He had been so angry when he’d seen her in the lot outside the mess hall. No, that wasn’t true; at first he was happy. Giddy happy, and that was not something he was comfortable admitting out loud. She stood there wearing a pair of pink stretchy pants and a long, crocheted black sweater-type top that looked more like a doily that an old lady would put on her couch. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. He rea
lized he’d never seen it down.

  Those were his first thoughts that took all of three seconds. Then he saw Stitch stand up and walk towards her. After that all he saw was red. He was already running towards them when he saw Stitch raise his hand to her face. After that it was a blur of rage and protective instinct to pound him into the ground. He had almost put his hands on Maverick’s mate. He was lucky he was still breathing.

  If Deacon hadn’t shown up, he wasn’t sure that he would have stopped. The thought of Prudence seeing him kill a man was horrifying to both man and wolf. Yet she didn’t seem to be afraid of him, and he thanked the universe for that. Then again, it might help him to keep her at arm’s length if she was afraid.

  Instead, the second he got her into Deacon’s cabin, all he could smell was her sweet scent and his wolf took over. It wasn’t a conscious decision to kiss her; it was his need to connect, to make sure she was okay and taste that sweetness.

  Fuck him if she didn’t kiss him back. His wolf knew she hesitated, but it was for the briefest of moments. Then she was tangling her tongue with his. Her hands in his hair made him want to growl. Worse, it made him want to rip her clothes off and fuck her on the floor.

  Now he was sporting a stinging cheek and a mate that had nothing but fury in her eyes.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Maverick did take the step back he should have taken earlier. He decided it wasn’t far enough, because he still had his hands on her waist. He let her go and took another step back. Pausing to run his hands through his own tousled hair, he watched her eyes shoot to his head. Her hands had just been pulling on his hair. They both were remembering that detail.

  Prudence folded her arms across her chest, but kept her back to the door. “Funny, but it sounded that way.”

  “I’m trying very hard to stay away from you, not because I don’t like you, but because—fuck it all, Prudence—I like you a helluva lot. So don’t get that uppity schoolyard attitude with me. I’m trying to keep you away from me, not the other way around. I’m not good enough for you.” He said the words, but even to his own ears they sounded hollow.

  “I’m not an uppity schoolgirl and I don’t have an attitude,” she shot back.

  Maverick’s eyes scanned down to her folded arms, then back up to her eyes. Prudence glared at him and flipped him the bird before uncrossing her arms.

  “You sure do swear a lot for somebody that burst into tears when I called you out for calling me an asshole.”

  “That’s different. Swearing is expressive, name-calling is mean. I don’t do mean.”

  Maverick wanted to chuckle. That was exactly the kind of girl he would want. One that could curse a blue streak but didn’t like name-calling.

  “No, I don’t suppose you do,” he said with a shake of his head.

  He saw her eyes drop to the floor and her lower lip slip in between her teeth.

  He tried a softer approach. “What are you doing here, Pru?”

  Those eyes came back up off the floor. “I came to see you.”

  That was the wrong thing to say. Maverick was back on her, his tongue deep in her mouth and hands wrapped around her neck, pulling her closer to him. His wolf was trying to soak in her scent, bury it deep inside so he could have her with him always.

  Maverick knew he should stop. There were so many reasons why. But he didn’t want to. It was as simple as that. His brain was telling him to let her go, tell her to leave, scare her if necessary. His heart and his wolf were telling him that they deserved this—they very much needed it. For a man and wolf that had been homesick for the better part of six years, the touch and taste of a woman that was your mate was just like being home again.

  This time it wasn’t him that stopped. It was her pushing against his chest with her tiny hands.

  “Mav, stop.”

  Hearing her call him Mav was like a knife to the gut—if a bleeding wound could be a good thing. He stopped kissing her, but didn’t move his mouth away from hers right away. He left his lips touching hers—the barest of contact, their breaths mingling together. He left his eyes closed and breathed her in, a lungful of heaven that he would be able to recall for days, months, or years in the future.

  “I thought you didn’t want me here?”

  Maverick opened his eyes and pulled back a fraction of an inch to see her big pale gray eyes looking up at him. Her mouth was swollen from his kisses and it made his dick even harder at the sight. Not that it hadn’t been pressing against his zipper from the moment he saw her in the parking lot.

  “I don’t. You just taste fucking amazing. And baby, I don’t say that lightly. You shouldn’t kiss a man like you do.”

  He watched her frown, her forehead wrinkling. “How do I kiss?”

  Mav moved his face back to where he was almost nose to nose with her again. “Like you desperately need him to strip off your clothes and fuck you on the floor until you come screaming with your nails dragging down his back leaving a bloody trail.”

  He watched her shudder as the image played through her head. Yeah, sweet Pru was a closet tiger. All claws and teeth in the sack. Again, fucking perfect for him. He liked to play who’s on top, sometimes literally. The universe knew he needed a challenge in bed, and here was the perfect storm of sweet and feminine on the outside with a screaming banshee on the inside. Maverick could see it all in her big wide eyes, the pupils stretching over and covering the gray. He would bet money that they would look just like that as she came.

  “I kissed you because you kissed me first. I like kissing and I wasn’t about to pass up a good one.”

  Maverick felt his lips twitch. “You go around getting kissed a lot?”

  “No, but only a fool would pass up an opportunity to kiss a handsome man,” she said primly.

  “You think I’m handsome?”

  Prudence gave a shrug.

  “Pru…”

  “Maybe, but you’re a jerky handsome.”

  “I thought you didn’t name-call?”

  “That’s not name-calling, it’s an adjective. Gray area.”

  “Hmm, you may have to write the rules down for me. They seem complicated.”

  “I thought you wanted me to leave?”

  “No, I don’t fuckin’ want you to leave. I want you to stay here and let me fuck you. But I shouldn’t do that. If I do, I won’t ever let you leave again and I’m not fucking kidding about that. I fuck you—you’re mine. So you’d best make a fast decision because I’m losing the ability to do the right thing.”

  “Why do you get to decide what the right thing is? Maybe I’m looking for you to fuck me. Did you ever think of that?” Prudence knew at that moment she had lit a fuse on something she couldn’t put out.

  It was a bold move and one she probably should have thought more about. The look in Maverick’s eyes told her in a flash that she just gave the green light and she couldn’t regret it.

  Her pussy was drenched and all she wanted was this man inside her. She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, but in truth was a split second. Two souls deciding, two bodies reaching towards each other, an unspoken agreement reached.

  Maverick’s mouth met Pru’s as she lifted her head toward his. They crashed together. Hands moved swiftly, pulling at clothing. She shoved his vest off, but Mav caught it before it could hit the floor. He reached over and hung it on a hook by the door. Pru was tugging on his shirt next and he pulled it over his head. Her hands roamed over him and his wolf howled in his head.

  Pru had shifted from needing to talk to needing a release, and she wasn’t going to say no to this man. He smelled amazing. His scent made her dizzy if that was even possible. Her nipples puckered and her clit swelled just being near him. That had to mean something.

  Prudence tried to push down her leggings with her hands. Maverick helped, and she managed to get one leg out of her pants and underwear. That seemed to be enough as Mav’s hand cupped between her legs, and his middle finger dipped inside. She ga
sped, her hands clutching his shoulders. It was fast and her pussy was tight from days of need and longing. Just his finger felt amazing and she wanted more. She wanted two fingers, then three, then his cock deep inside her so she could feel him later.

  His finger swirled inside her as her pussy tried to grip and hold onto it. She moaned and tilted her hips toward his hand. She was silently begging for more and she got it. A second finger slid into her, stretching her open. His fingers worked her, pumping in and out, her body drenching his fingers like it was begging for more.

  “Open your eyes, Pru,” came the soft order.

  She hadn’t realized she’d closed them and flicked them open to see his eyes on her. His hand left the heated space between her legs and he brought his hand up to his mouth. He sucked his fingers into his mouth and she heard a growl. His eyes caught a strange light from the room that made his eyes look like they were glowing.

  Prudence panted as she watched him taste her. It was sexy and erotic in a way she couldn’t have imagined.

  “You taste like you smell,” he said roughly, like it was an accusation instead of a compliment.

  “Thanks?” she offered.

  Maverick dropped his head to hers and said in a low voice, “Tell me to stop. Do it now.”

  Prudence didn’t see that as a possibility. She was standing half-dressed and he’d just tasted her pussy. Their path was set; of that she was certain.

  “No, don’t stop,” she said.

  That growling sound came out of him again as he lifted her shirt and dropped to his knee, his one leg still resting his foot on the floor. He was so tall it put him at chest height to her. His big hand covered the lace cup of her bra before tugging it down. He replaced his hand with his mouth and sucked her nipple into his mouth.

  Prudence moaned and let her head drop back to the door with a thud. She loved having her nipples sucked. It was a direct connection to her clit and she didn’t mind when a guy spent his time there.

  Maverick switched over to her other nipple, giving it the same treatment, sucking and rolling it between his tongue and lips. She quickly realized that the more noise she made, the more suction and teeth he gave her. Words weren’t needed. He already had her figured out.