Werewolves of Chicago: Xavier

by Faleena Hopkins

  “You’re not nice.”

  “Hello. Have you met me?”

  A knock whips my head up. “There’s someone at the door.”

  My sister pauses. “Why is someone at your home at this hour? Is it him?”

  “No. If you saw his face when he left, you’d know it’s not him.” I place my book next to the now empty tequila glass and walk to the door. “This can’t be good.”

  “Don’t open it.”

  Heart jumping in my chest, I tiptoe to the eyehole, but as I lean to do so I hear him rasp, “Emily,” through the door.

  I peek and jump back, hissing to my sister, “It’s him! He’s here!”

  “OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR,” Marisol yells, then whispers in a voice probably used by Satan, “And don’t you dare hang up on me!”

  Tucking the phone against my hip, I greet Xavier with a coolness I don’t feel. Distant and without emotion, I ask him, “What do you want?”

  His heated glance darts to my hip and stays there. The phone floats up. My middle has warmed under his stare like his eyes are made of fire. I can’t breathe. I want to press my body to his and inhale him.

  “Hang up.”

  Blinking at him, I put the phone to my ear with a look that says he can go to hell. “Marisol, I have a dickhead at my door telling me to hang up the phone.”

  “HANG UP THE PHONE!” she yells. Thank God he can’t hear her. He’s glaring at me like he’s going to tell me I gave him an STD or something. He’s got some nerve coming here like this looking all dark and stormy and sexy as fuck. But what does he want to say?

  “I’m talking to my sister and we haven’t caught up since my husband died so…”

  Xavier winces and blinks twice, nostrils flaring.

  “Emily, What are you doing??!” Marisol groans. “I’m hanging up for you!!!!” The line goes dead but I act like it’s still alive and kicking.

  As he crosses his arms and spreads his legs out more, Xavier takes up the whole doorway, listening to me pretend to talk to my sister.

  “He’s acting like he has a right to be here, but the guy is crazy for thinking that after what he pulled, so I’m asking him to leave. Hang on one minute and I’ll get rid of him.”

  He interrupts me, “She hung up.”

  “No, she didn’t. Marisol, just hang up…I mean, hang on, and I’ll be able to talk again.”

  Amusement is on his face as he again mutters, “She hung up.”

  I extend my chin and inform him, “I am busy.”

  “Busy acting like you’re talking to a sister who wants you to talk to me?”

  “She does not want me to talk to you!” My eyes are wide with fake disbelief at his ego.

  “Yeah right.” He takes the phone from me so quickly I gasp because I didn’t see him do it. Placing the phone at his ear, he asks my absent sibling, “How’re you doing Marisol? What was that? You want me to kiss your sister? I don’t mind if I do.” Handing me back the phone, he smirks.

  Now I’m pissed. Really fucking furious. And charmed, which is annoying as hell. Holding the phone to my ear, I listen for her and raise my eyebrows to him. “Nicely done. You made her hang up!”

  “Yeah, she just hung up when I talked to her. That’s what happened,” he smirks.

  “Apparently!”

  We glare at each other and then he pulls me to him with the same speed he snatched the phone away with. My breasts are pressed against his muscles and I can feel his heart beating, our bodies are so tight. But my heart is not a toy to be played with.

  “Stop it!” I hiss, pushing him from me. His grasp is firm. Then he releases me suddenly, shame all over his face.

  “Fuck. Why am I here?” he mutters to himself.

  I would love to know the answer to that question.

  Xavier

  We searched all fucking afternoon and evening for Alexander and his growing army. Hell, we don’t even know if he has one anymore. I grumbled many times that we might have scared the fuckers off. Shifting to our wolf forms in front of human beings who never knew the myths were real, may have sent them running home.

  After hours of nothing, Draik told me, “X, you’re fucking not even here. Go get her.”

  Surprised, I’d argued, “I’m just distracted because I want this over.”

  Curragh and War finally agreed on something thing, and said in unison, “We all want this over.” Then they looked at the floor like that didn’t happen.

  Emily was all I could think about. There was something definitely wrong. Even as we searched the tunnels as a pack I replayed the last moments with her today with an obsession I’ve never known. I saw her sadness and knew that I’d done that to her. Her eyes told me not to go and what did I do? I bailed like a coward after she’d given me her everything. When I’d held her in my arms she was pure and open. She was all mine.

  All mine.

  And I left. Did I really think I could stay away from her? How much in denial have I been?

  I needed to see her again. I didn’t just want to. I fucking needed to. She was in my blood. Pulsed through my veins. She was mine. I owned her, and I needed to tell her that. I needed to show her. Fuck her. Claim her.

  I had to apologize. And after I did that, I’d tell her it wasn’t going to be just one time.

  “Go,” Draik said. War and Curragh watched to see what I would do. I did the only thing I could. I left.

  And now this beautiful creature is standing before me. I have to muffle a groan as she reaches out and grabs me by the shirt, pulling me inside to shut and lock the door.

  “I don’t want my neighbors seeing you scowling at me like that,” she says, reminding me with her whisper that her kids are sleeping. “Why are you here?” She’s so beautiful. Looking at her I feel like I can breathe again. She throws out a hand. “Well?”

  Pulling Emily to me I wrap her in my arms and kiss her hard. She fights me at first but the effort is half-hearted. Within seconds she is offering me her tongue and slipping lazy arms around my neck, her fingers burrowing into my hair. I back her against a wall to mash our bodies together. I can’t get close enough to this female. I need to be inside her soft and feminine body to see if I can break her in half with my cock. Maybe then I’ll be able to find out why the fuck I can’t hear her heartbeat. Grabbing her thigh, I grind against her sweatpants, wishing we were naked ten minutes ago. We stay quiet in our fevered kisses, making sure we don’t wake Michael and Sofia. Emily pushes off me and silently catches her breath. I’m standing one foot away, chin down, eyes locked on her lips as I pant. She grabs me by the shirt and leads me to the kitchen, opens a door and reveals a walk-in pantry. Perfect. Let’s do this. I have to fuck her.

  Emily

  I am so wet and I cannot keep my eyes off him. Xavier is staring at me like I’m his dinner and he hasn’t eaten in years. It’s such a turn on to feel so wanted. I tried to resist wanting him. I tried to play hard to get, but all I want is for this man to be inside me. The pantry is perfect. I’ve never had sex in here, and I always wanted to.

  Xavier picks me up and hooks my legs around his narrow waist, gripping my ass as he molds my lips with his and seeks out my tongue. He tastes so good, and feels even better. We kiss for a long time or a short while. I can’t tell. Time means nothing. Groaning in my ear, “I’m sorry,” he wrestles off my sweats and doesn’t even bother with my tank top, grabbing my breasts through the cotton and massaging them as he works hot kisses down my neck. “I’m sorry I left like that.”

  “Why did you?” I moan.

  “I didn’t like how much I want you.”

  The words are nectar to me. I inhale deeply and release all of my worry. “You have me, Xavier. I’m yours.”

  He unzips his jeans and unleashes his length, pressing his erection between my legs with one hand as he grabs my chin with the other. “You are mine. And not just one time. Or two,” he smiles at the look in my eyes. “This is going to go on for…”

  I wait for him to say more, b
ut instead he kisses me. For how long? Forever? Was he going to say forever? My legs wrap around him, ankles hooking together over his tight ass. Suddenly my back is against the shelves. Flour, brown sugar, and vanilla extract fall to the ground.

  In his ear, I moan, “I want you. I want you. I want you.” He captures my mouth again and presses all of his girth and length into my slippery pussy. The sensation is out of this world. We are made to fit like this. My body accepts him like I’ve been waiting for his cock my whole life. Clawing into his back, I arch my hips and help him plunge in as deep as he can get. In the darkness, we fuck. There is nothing romantic about it. It’s hard and fast fucking and I love every damn second of it. “Xavier…Xavier…oh, God. I love your cock. You feel so good inside me.” He grunts and groans and almost cuts the soft flesh of my ass with his nails. Man, he has sharp ones.

  “Baby, you’re so good. So wet. Your body, it feels like it was made for me.” He searches out my tongue. Biting my bottom lip, he goes back to murmur in my ear, “You feel like…”

  As we move on each other, he becomes even harder. His cock is now painfully huge and I love it so much. “I feel like what?” I ask, desperately wanting to know what just turned him on so much about me. Did he just realize something? Because I’m beginning to think all his words about my being his aren’t just dirty talk.

  He kisses me deeply and never answers. Thrusting harder and deeper he pushes me to the brink. I’m right there. I feel the orgasm coming closer, begging me to allow him to own me. As he works me almost violently, sensations light me up from the inside. He’s pounding me harder than earlier and it feels so good that I begin to tremble with the first hot burn of ecstasy. He shuts me up with hungry lips and growls into my mouth, sending goosebumps into my skin. With several slamming thrusts we cum together, holding at the end like we cannot move. Pulsing, his arms wrap around me in a vice grip and he bites my lips as he releases the last drops up into me. Panting and gasping for air, we hear a small voice say, “Mommy?”

  “Oh fuck,” he groans, pulling out and tugging on his jeans and zipping them quickly. He tugs my sweats up my legs as I hold onto his shoulders. I feel weak and completely dizzy.

  “Coming, Michael!” I call out, my voice shaky. I touch my finger to my lips and mouth to Xavier, stay here. Stepping out of the pantry my son is not there. Searching, I find him in my room. Where I should be, in his mind. “Hi baby!”

  Michael turns around, a small frown etched into his groggy face. “I thought you were gone!” He raises his arms.

  I swoop down and lift him off the ground, hugging him tightly to my chest. “No, honey. I wasn’t gone. I was in the kitchen. You just didn’t see me.”

  “I looked in the kitchen. You weren’t there!”

  Rocking him back and forth in my arms, I coo to him, “I’m here, honey. I’m right here.” The front door opens and closes and my heart stops. Xavier left? Without saying goodbye? I will personally slap his face if he just did that!

  “Emily?” a deep voice calls. I blink and walk forward, Michael looking ahead with interest.

  “Wolfman!” he cries out and honest to God reaches his arms toward Xavier to be picked up by him. I am stunned and don’t know what to do. But Xavier makes the decision easy and picks my child from me, giving him a big hug.

  “What are you doing here?” Michael asks him.

  “I forgot my wallet today and I need it to buy things.” Xavier looks at me with the closest he can do to a sweet expression. “I hope it’s not too late to show up.”

  “No!” I say, shaking my head and beside-myself charmed. “Michael was sleeping but he just woke up, so, it’s fine.”

  Lifting him high up in the air Xavier asks, “You just woke up, buddy?” If someone else saw them together, they’d think he was Michael’s father. Both of them have the super dark brown hair and sharply intelligent eyes. Seeing them now is opening and breaking my heart at the same time. Why couldn’t I have met Xavier years ago? Do not get attached, Emily. They look so sweet it is killing me, but that does not mean this man is safe to love.

  Taking my son back before I start thinking dangerous thoughts, ones that will only hurt me, I put him on my hip and say to Xavier, “You want to check around for it?”

  “For what?” he asks, his voice distant as he watches us.

  “Your wallet.”

  He snaps to attention. “Yeah, I’ll look around.”

  Well, at least he’s not a good liar.

  Emily

  “But I don’t wanna go back to bed!” Michael grumbles as I carry him back to his room. Sofia is staring at me from the bed. She looks scared.

  “Is Daddy home?” she whispers.

  Confused and instantly wanting to comfort her, I set Michael down and kneel by my daughter’s pillow. “No, honey. Do you miss him?”

  She whispers, “No!” and shakes her head a little. “I heard someone.”

  “You heard Wolfman, Soph!” Michael announces, climbing into his bed with resignation. “He came to visit Mommy.”

  “He didn’t come for me! He forgot his wallet,” I remind my son.

  “Oh yeah. He forgot his wallet.”

  “Wolfman’s here?” Sofia asks with so much more enthusiasm than she ever showed for her own father. “Can I see him,” she whispers, like Xavier is Santa Claus.

  Xavier appears in the doorway, hallway light shining behind him. They light up like a super hero has appeared in their very home.

  “WOLFMAN!” they both cry out at the same time, even though Michael just saw him.

  His manner is light, but firm. “You guys probably shouldn’t call me that in public.”

  “Read us a story!” Sofia says.

  Michael chides her, “He doesn’t want to read us a story.”

  “Why not?” Xavier asks him.

  “Men don’t like reading stories,” Michael informs our guest as though this proclamation is the most obvious thing in the world. And I know exactly where he gets that from.

  Xavier leans with his back against the opposite wall, centered between their two beds. “How about if I tell you a story instead?”

  I sit with Sofia and stroke her hair as she asks him, “Like from your ‘magination?”

  “Yep. From my imagination. Purely fantasy. Would you guys like that?”

  “YEAH!” they yell.

  I cross arms in an effort to distance my heart from this scene. Xavier glances my way. I realize he’s waiting for my permission. Casting a quick look to my kids, I see they’re staring at me with pleading faces.

  I mutter with as much nonchalance as I can manage, “Please, be my guest. I can’t wait to hear this.”

  Michael and Sofia get really quiet as Xavier shoves his hands into his jeans pockets, his jaw ticking with planning. I am dying of curiosity. Maybe more than they are. Why kind of story will it be? Is he making it up on the spur of the moment? I can’t wait to find out, especially as his rugged face goes extremely serious.

  “In the hills of Canada there are forests men have never been to. No roads exist for miles. Only wild animals know the terrain. Only they drink from the rivers. But among them is a type of creature only talked about in storybooks and movies. He – or she – is special. Not like anything you’ve ever seen, or will ever know. They have to hide there because human men would kill these special creatures if they found them.”

  “Are they unicorns?” Sofia asks, wide-eyed.

  Xavier smiles. “No. They aren’t unicorns.”

  “What are they?” Michael whispers.

  Xavier locks eyes with my son. “In due time.”

  Michael nods and clasps his little hands on the comforter over his crossed legs. “Ready.”

  “In the winter time these creatures do not need clothes. Their fur keeps them warm. They live in caves and in empty tree trunks. The largest trees you’ve ever seen. They hunt and help each other survive. But when the spring comes, they shed their fur and walk not on four legs, but on two.” My childr
en’s eyes go wide, but I only smile, knowing where he is going with this now. He’s feeding into their fascination of calling him Wolfman and it’s so endearing I want to kiss him for it. “They have two forms, these creatures, and are equally comfortable in each. Do they prefer one?”

  “Yes!” Michael calls out.

  “They do not. For both are strong and both are good. One such creature ran in these forests during much of his youth. His family would go there so they could be free to be who and what they really were. When he grew up, he wanted to live in a world that accepted him. He told his mother that he couldn’t wait to run free in the streets they called home part of the year. She was horrified and he saw genuine fear in her eyes. He’d never seen her look like that before. He hates it, and he asked why she was scared. She told him he must never reveal his secret identity. She told him he would be killed if he ever showed what he really was. That the world was not ready for magic.”

  “He’s magical?” Sofia asks.

  “In a way. Because unlike you, he has two forms. He is both man and wolf.”

  Michael and Sofia react instantly. “He’s a wolf man!”

  “Not just him. He’s not the only one out there. Many are like him.”

  “Girls, too?” Sofia asks, excited.

  “No, Soph, they don’t have girl wolves!” Michael informs her with authority.

  But Xavier’s voice is kind and calm as he corrects my son. “Yes, there are both girl and boy wolves, Sofia. In this imaginary world.”

  Michael’s eyes go wide. “I thought wolves were boys.”

  “Nope.”

  “Does he ever get to fall in love?” my daughter asks. Now’s my turn to gawk as I glance to her, appalled. Where did she learn about falling in love? Probably the Disney movies. “Because he has to hide, can he find a princess?”

  Oh shit. Xavier glances to me and holds my eyes in a way that makes my skin light up.

  Pulling away to look at Sofia, he says, “Love is not something he ever wanted, Sofia. When his mother told him he could not be who he really was, he shut that part of himself down.”