by Lynn Graeme
Her heart twisted in knots. It was an instinctive move, she knew. Isobel silently vowed to do everything she could until Liam no longer felt self-conscious or ashamed. It would take time, but she would help him wrestle his demons into submission. She refused to let him make this journey alone.
He quickly finished what he was doing and stepped out to fully face her as she neared. She lifted the plate of sandwiches in her hand.
“If Naley has her way, you’ll be the cutest pudgy wolf that ever did live,” she teased.
Liam said nothing. He didn’t look at the plate. He kept his eyes on her, and the heat Isobel found there sent her heart hammering.
She licked her lips. “Liam?”
He took the plate from her, still without breaking their connected gaze. He set it down on the workbench behind him without looking. Then he cupped the back of her head and kissed her.
Sensation exploded within Isobel, a bolt of heat arrowing straight from the point of contact between their lips down to her lower belly. The smell of hot sun and cedar and man surrounded her. His broad chest was warm and deliciously hard under her touch. His tongue teased hers into entering his own mouth, and Isobel felt herself pulse in response.
She’d never felt a hunger this powerful before. The sheer force of it rocked her to the core.
Needing more of the taste of him, she wrapped her arm around his neck and yanked his much taller form down. A muffled laugh escaped him as he quickly regained his balance.
Without releasing her mouth, he lifted her by the waist and turned around. Seating her on the workbench, he settled in for a long, slow burn. His mouth dipped and claimed, sipped and pulled, licked and nibbled. Isobel shivered as she wrapped her legs around his hips, giving in to him completely.
Then he palmed her backside and lifted her off the workbench. Their lips didn’t stop tasting each other as he carried her inside his cabin.
Liam remained silent as he divested Isobel of her clothing. He didn’t speak as he laid her out on his bed, caressing her breasts and licking the tips. He said nothing at all when she splintered apart with his mouth between her legs.
This wolf, she thought between fleeting moments of lucidity, spoke far more with actions than he did with words.
She gasped and pulled at his hair when she began to crest again. “Keep that up and I’ll be too tired to return the favor.”
A smile curved his lips before he took her over that edge.
Isobel was still panting, her vision blurred and her limbs hopelessly languid, when Liam repositioned her on the bed. She lay on her stomach, listening to him strip off his jeans. She felt the dip of the mattress as he knelt between her thighs.
“You’re on your own,” she muttered drowsily. “I’m done. Not getting any help from me.”
A soundless cry escaped her as the blunt head of his cock pushed in.
Liam’s voice was rough, a low brush of air on the back of her neck. “I like you this way. Hot and swollen, too sensitive to take me in.” He bit into the top cusp of her ear before sucking it into his mouth. “But you will, won’t you? You’ll take it all.”
Isobel writhed. His thrusts were slow and measured. Thorough. Her nails dug into the sheets as he slowly forced his way in, her inner muscles clenching desperately around his length.
Liam sawed back and forth, a carnal rhythm that was relentless in its demands. He nipped at her jawline, sucked her bare nape. He bit the flesh over her left shoulder blade, and then mirrored it on her right side.
When he bit into her bicep and then the crook of her neck, Isobel understood. He was marking her all over.
A roll of his hips and she scrabbled on the bed, trying to seek reprieve, however brief. Liam closed his hands over hers and held them down, thrusting into her. Demanding his due.
She thought he might have murmured something, his deep tone an erotic cadence in her ears. Isobel couldn’t tell. She couldn’t hear, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. All she could do was let Liam ride her to completion, his deep thrusts quickening as sparks ignited in her womb, a wave of sensation that consumed her whole.
Isobel’s climax crashed into her like a tidal wave. Her muscles spasmed helplessly as she grappled for control. She struggled wildly, seeking any sort of safehold to bear her through this attack of the senses. Liam’s hot, heavy weight surrounded her as he found his own release, the deep groan in her ear making Isobel quiver.
He held her close, his words a gentle, soothing croon as she drifted down from that peak, catching her as she fell.
*
“Next time, we’re doing this on my bed.”
Liam smiled and tucked Isobel’s head under his chin. Her soft, luscious body was curled on top of him, warm and pleasantly drowsy. He kept his arm around her to keep her from straying to the edge of the bed. Also so that she wouldn’t be tempted to run, the way she had their first time. His hand moved back and forth over the curve of her hip.
“My bed’s not that small,” he said mildly.
“Even you can’t say that with a straight face.” She released a contented sigh and snuggled a little closer. Any closer and she’d slip underneath his skin.
No, Liam thought, she already has.
Slipped underneath his skin and snaked her way into his heart. He loved this woman. When she smiled at him, his heart twisted with a need to make sure she always had cause to smile. Her trust in him was a gift beyond measure. When she touched him, his scars—external and internal—all of them faded away. There was only her.
Her hair had escaped her braid as a result of their exertions. A wayward strand rested on her lower lip, and Liam smoothed it away with his free hand.
“Going somewhere?” he asked. Isobel typically wore a braid when going to work, and she’d said she was on leave for the next two weeks.
“To see Jamal. The one who… .” She hesitated, then lifted her hand. She hadn’t used her colleague’s name around him before, but Liam understood who she meant. “Someone’s looking in on him tomorrow to assess him for prosthetics. Thought I’d give him a head’s up in case he gives in to another bedpan-throwing mood. By the way, your sandwiches are still out there waiting for you.”
“Mm. Too comfortable here.” He dipped his hand briefly to squeeze her ass, then dropped a kiss on her lips.
“Naley’s going to scent the hell out of you on me when I get back to the house. For all her blessings, I should at least pretend some level of decorum.”
“She feeling better today?”
“Yeah. We worked things out.” Isobel paused. “I spoke to my sister about becoming Naley’s legal guardian. There are paperwork and arrangements to take care of, but I’ll make sure everything’s expedited.”
Liam pressed his mouth to her temple. “That’s wonderful.”
“Cub certainly thinks so.”
“And you?”
She nestled her head lower on his chest, directly over his heart. She skimmed a pensive finger across a line of scars, and strangely Liam didn’t feel the need to flinch away and hide. When that finger circled his flat nipple, he felt his desire stirring once more.
“It’s a big responsibility,” she said quietly.
“It is. You don’t take that sort of thing lightly.”
“I love her, you know. I want her to have the best life.”
“She will. You’ll make sure of it.”
“I’m also terrified to the bone.”
The confession, Liam knew, couldn’t have come easily. Isobel wasn’t used to admitting fears and vulnerabilities. She didn’t let down her mask for anyone, yet she’d chosen to do so with him. He felt as if the sliver of warmth deep inside his chest had unfurled completely, expanding to encompass his entire body.
He also sensed her real worry. “You won’t hurt her.”
She shook her head firmly against his chest. “I can’t afford to be so confident, or complacent. All it takes is one mistake, letting my guard down just once.”
“Sometimes it’s
not about always keeping your guard up. Sometimes it’s about trusting yourself.”
“I’m not sure I do.”
He kissed her forehead. “You’ve taken steps. You’ve sought … help,” he stumbled, feeling as he did about the subject, “you keep seeking help, and there hasn’t been a repeat incident since. At some point, you have to trust yourself again. You won’t hurt her.”
Isobel said nothing for a long time. Then she lifted herself up and leaned over to kiss him full on the mouth.
By the time she let him go, Liam was panting and hard all over again.
She stared down at him, her eyes solemn. “I’m not soft.”
“Yes, you are,” he said at once, giving her ass a squeeze. “In all the right places.”
“I’m not soft, Liam. I’m not the sort of sweet, gentle, lovable woman who’s easy to play the white knight for.”
He recognized the warning—and the plea—implicit in her words. He brushed his knuckle along her cheekbone. “I’m not asking you to be gentle, or to be pliable or in need of rescue. That’s not the woman I fell for.”
She stilled, staring at him. Her eyes darkened.
“You can’t just say something like that,” she whispered.
He slipped his hand through her hair. “I love you, Isobel Saba.”
She buried her face in his neck. To his astonishment, he felt her shudder, the display of emotion deep and visceral. “Break my heart and I’ll hurt you. I’ll hunt you down and break your legs. Cut you open. Then I’ll drag your sorry ass back and never let you go again.”
He stroked her gently, soothing her cat. “My place is with you. It’s only ever with you.”
“I love you.”
“Ah, Isobel. You’ve already slain me wide open.”
She trembled again, then lifted her head. He could see her visibly try to compose herself. “I’ve already told Naley this, but there’ll be times when I won’t be able to tell you a word about what happened during my day. There’ll be times I have to go underground, disappear for days. There’ll be many, many times when I’ll throw myself into danger because that’s the only choice I have left.”
“I know that.” He framed her face with his hands. “I know your job is dangerous, that it has to be in order to keep other people safe. I wouldn’t ask you to stop, not like I’d ask a police officer or a firefighter to stop. All I ask… . All I ask is that at the end of the day, you do your damn best to come home safely to me. To me and Naley.”
Her gaze softened. “I can do that.”
He cleared his throat. “There’ll be times when I’ll be short with you, or need to go on a run without you. That doesn’t mean I want you in my life any less.”
She kissed him then, long and slow, a tender mingling of lips and tongue.
The woman didn’t tell the truth, Liam thought. She could be very, very gentle when she wanted to be.
She loved him.
His heart swelled. He wanted to stay in this moment forever.
He was very sorry when she finally lifted her mouth from his. She patted his chest and began to push herself off. “I need a shower, then I have to go visit Jamal. Naley also wants to go to her mother’s apartment so that she can pick up some stuff. She’s eager to start moving in.”
“Mmm.” Liam stroked her spine, not wanting to let her go yet. “Want me to come along? I’m not bad at carrying boxes.”
“Wow, you’re actually volunteering to subject yourself to the general populace? This must be serious.”
His thumb brushed the corner of her mouth. “It is.”
Her teasing smile faded. Isobel swallowed, saying nothing, but Liam didn’t need the words. Her heart was in her eyes.
He gently urged her mouth back to his. The taste of her was heady, designed to drive him mad with longing and need. They were both breathing hard by the time they came up for air.
“Yes,” she murmured. “Please come.”
“With you? Always.”
A soft chuckle. “I mean to the city, with Naley and me.” Her hand drifted down to his erection, now thick and long, begging for attention. “Though now that you mentioned it, there is that favor I ought to return.”
One long stroke elicited a low groan from his throat. “You know, I’ve been dreaming about your mouth for over a year.”
An all-too-feminine smile as she sucked on his lower lip. “That’s a lot of pressure for a girl to live up to.”
He fisted his hand through her hair, holding her head in place as he suddenly glowered at her.
“You’re getting rid of that list,” he snarled.
Another stroke, a light squeeze, and a swirl of her thumb over the head of his already-leaking cock. Liam bucked and hissed.
“Possession goes both ways, wolf,” she said silkily.
“Then we’re in agreement.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She wasn’t afraid to grip him hard. Liam’s hips jerked impatiently, already beginning to pump in her hold. He was out of control, as eager as a schoolboy, out of rhythm with her strokes. Isobel slid down his chest, nipping muscles and licking raised skin. He felt her breathing over his straining flesh, her wet mouth so close and taunting.
Just as her tongue darted out to taste his throbbing shaft, a sharp staccato medley pierced the air.
Isobel was off him at once. Liam cursed, the loudest and most vicious stream of profanities he’d ever uttered in recent memory escaping him as he jolted up. He saw Isobel snatch her phone from her pants on the floor and glance at the screen.
The look on her face told Liam all he needed to know. He swiftly shoved into his jeans while Isobel donned her clothes using one hand, her other hand swiping its thumb across the phone screen.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Intruders.” She strode to the entrance of the cabin and looked to her left. “Two heat signatures.” She tapped twice on her phone before silencing it.
Liam stayed by her side as they glided across the grounds, entering the northeast side of the surrounding woods. He glared around the groves of trees they passed. He was frustrated, on edge, and pissed at the interruption to a very promising interlude, but also because he had a dark suspicion he knew who the two heat signatures belonged to.
They’d found him, then. Only this time, he felt no chill of trepidation at the thought. No, he felt his muscles tensing in anticipation. It was time he came face to face with his packmates. It was time to confront his past.
He wasn’t running this time. This time, he’d have everything out once and for all.
Chapter Eleven
He scented them before Isobel did, but that wasn’t unusual, given his heightened senses that aided in his tracking skills. He caught her attention and indicated to his right with a nod of his head. Without a word, Isobel changed direction. They silently moved through the bushes, moving in tandem as they slipped in between the stippled shadows cast by the forest canopy.
“I told you to go home,” she announced without preamble when they were several feet away.
The leaves betrayed only the smallest of whispers before Connell and Braden stepped out.
The years had not looked kindly on his cousins, Liam noted with dispassion. Connell, the older of the two, appeared weatherworn with his unsmiling craggy face. Gray had invaded his ever-present stubble, and he was thicker around the waist and haunches. Braden still retained his good looks, as well as his arrogance, if the challenge in his upturned chin was anything to go by. Deep furrows formed between his brows, though, and Liam guessed it wouldn’t be too long before he’d follow the way of Connell.
Braden bared teeth on sighting Isobel. Liam noticed his cousin had a slight limp. Fresh, too, by the grimace of pain he made on stepping forward.
Connell stared at Liam, a mixture of awe, relief, and burgeoning ire in his gaze. “M’boy.”
Connell was significantly older than Liam, had always regarded him as a pup to be guided in the right direction. Lia
m felt a stab of guilt then, for never having sent word over the years to at least let him know he was all right. That he was alive.
“Connell,” Liam acknowledged roughly. He glanced at Isobel, realized he should perform introductions, though of course they’d already met under what had been less than auspicious circumstances. “Isobel, my cousins Connell and Braden Whalen.”
He thought he heard her mutter something about “righty lefty,” but he wasn’t certain.
Connell’s regard turned sharp. His eyes darted back and forth between Liam and Isobel. Liam knew his cousin couldn’t possibly miss the marks he’d put on Isobel’s skin, or the musk of sex that still hovered potently around them.
“A cat, lad?” Connell’s words sizzled with disapproval.
“Couldn’t do any better?” Braden sneered.
Liam growled in warning. Isobel merely bestowed a razor-thin smile.
“How’s the knee?” she asked casually.
The sneer vanished, replaced by unholy fury.
“You know,” she continued placidly, “if you’ve wrapped it in a Med-band without letting a doctor set it first, it’s never going to work the same no matter how many times you shift.”
“I’ll skin you alive,” Braden snarled. “Hang it up to dry and spit on!”
Liam’s growl ratcheted up several notches. “Back off, Braden.”
“This why you left us, Liam? For a piece of tail?”
“I mean it, Braden.” Liam stepped up to his cousin, hands fisting in challenge, crowding the other man. No one spoke about his mate that way. He was far taller than Braden, something that had never ceased to irritate the hell out of his cousin. By the angry flash in the younger man’s eyes, some things never changed.
Braden stepped aside. He turned his glare to Isobel. “So you like a canine between your legs, eh?”
Liam struck him.
Braden reeled back, his hand raised to his astonished face. Connell stared slack-jawed as well, but Liam didn’t care. Old memories and frustrations lurched to the forefront.
