by Chloe Cole
“I heard about your troubles last night and wanted to come by and see if all was well,” Etienne said as he brushed past and into the great room.
“You heard from who?” Drake asked, thoughts churning. Had it really gotten out so quickly?
“One of my girls has a contact in the wolf-shifter community. Apparently, you stirred up some serious shit by taking that little wolf, my friend.”
“I didn’t take her, god dammit. She was given to me by her parents,” he ground out before moving toward the bar at the back of the room. “It was an arranged marriage, same as their kind has done for centuries,” he said, defending his position, more to assuage his own guilt than for Etienne’s sake.
“Well, that’s not what their alpha is saying. He’s calling it a kidnapping and has them all riled up about it. He’s gunning for you, and hard. He’s gathering an extraction team even as we speak.”
“Let him come,” Drake said, pouring them each a drink before gesturing for Etienne to sit.
“I don’t know if you’re in touch with the scope of this, Drake. There are a lot of them. Not just her pack. Other packs are getting involved. This could be trickier than you think.” Etienne took his snifter with a nod of thanks before pinning Drake with a questioning stare. “So I’ve got to ask…is she worth it?”
Drake tossed back two fingers of scotch and swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, relishing the slow burn in his belly.
“It’s not about her. It’s about solidifying my position and making sure they know—”
“Bullshit,” Etienne cut in, before pausing to take a sip of his preferred cognac. “She’s beautiful, I’ll give you that. And the fire in her eyes is enough to make any man want her, Drake. But, if you don’t care about her one way or another, I’m happy to take her—and this pesky lynch mob—off your hands if you like.”
It took everything he had not to bound across the room and pop the other man’s golden head off like a dandelion, and his hands shook with the effort.
“No, thanks,” he snapped.
“What is this game you’re playing, my friend?” Etienne asked softly, swirling his glass and holding the amber liquid high in the air to examine it by the light of the fire. “I can almost taste your bloodlust at the thought of me touching her, but you say you don’t care for her anymore. Help me understand.”
Drake thought about trying to keep up the ruse, but in the end, he couldn’t fight nature. And his nature was such that the thought of Etienne even fantasizing about Willa made him want to commit a murder.
“There should be no confusion on your part, Etienne. Suffice it to say that, care or not, she is now marked, and well and truly mine. What I told you the last time we spoke still holds true. If you touch her, you will wish you were dead. I don’t need to explain my reasons why.”
Etienne’s knowing smile irritated him, but Drake stayed silent to let his words sink in.
“Let’s say you could make good on the threat—and I’m not saying you can, naturally,” Etienne’s eyes fixed on Drake’s own, and there was no mistaking the challenge there, “but that means you still want her. And I know you too well to think you would rape her, so she came to you willingly. Which means she wants you. So I don’t understand why there is all this strife. Her people are coming here to ‘save’ her, but it seems clear that she doesn’t want to be saved, no?”
“No. She wants to leave.” He nearly choked on the words, hating to admit the truth, but needing to say it out loud, if only to remind himself of that fact and stop himself from getting sucked down the rabbit hole Etienne was digging.
“How do you know? The two times I’ve seen her she didn’t come across to me like a woman who makes a habit of doing things she doesn’t want to do,” Etienne said with a low chuckle.
“She already tried to escape.”
“Ah, yes. Sad day for me, no? I was this close and then you had to come along and pluck her back up again.” He shrugged, flashing another smile that made Drake want to knock it off his pretty-boy face. “But you brought her back here and she gave herself to you.”
“And then she tried to escape again. I don’t know what you heard, but the reason the wolves are coming for me is because she contacted a former packmate to come rescue her.” The admission only served to get his blood boiling again and he started to pace the stone floor in restless circles. “I caught them running down the god damned mountain together.”
Etienne cocked his head to the side, brows caving into a frown. “Ah. So you are angry. I understand that. But, a woman like that…a woman of worth? Not the same as my harem girls who have traded their mundane lives for leisure, wealth and good sex. This little wolf deserves love. Maybe if she knew—”
“Please,” he cut in with a snort. “What do you know about love?”
“I’m French. It’s a curse that I can never completely escape.” His lips twisted into a wry smile that hinted at a sadness Drake hadn’t even thought him capable of. How strange to know someone for nearly a century and not really know them at all. Maybe charming, happy-go-lucky Etienne wasn’t so happy after all.
“My advice to you, old friend? You think you want her this way, but you don’t. Let her go and make her own choices or you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of pain and resentment between you. Let her go and avoid this fight.”
“Not going to happen,” Drake responded flatly before draining his glass and setting it on the table beside him.
“So what’s your plan, then?”
“I’m going to wait for that son of a bitch to come and try to take her from me. Then, I’m going to kill him and every wolf who has the misfortune of being in his company.”
Etienne’s eyes lit with interest and he flexed his muscles with a crooked grin. “Well, if I can’t be Cupid, maybe I can at least still sling some arrows. You know I love a good battle.”
Drake crossed his arms over his chest as he contemplated his long time frenemy. “You offering?”
The Frenchman shrugged. “Do I get to kick some wolf ass?”
“You do,” Drake answered emphatically.
“Then I’m in.”
Drake wanted to take that at face value, and, without knowing what kind of army Greyson West would be running with, he certainly wouldn’t mind a second, but he couldn’t help but ask. “Can I trust you in this, Etienne? From beginning to end?”
He’d made no secret that he was attracted to Willa, and Drake had to make sure this wasn’t a play to stage some sort of coup later down the line.
“I give you my word, Drake. In this, I’m on your side. You are one of only two dragons in the area and wolves number in the hundreds. If we don’t let them see us standing together under attack, who knows what they might do to make sure we don’t encroach on the territory or their women. As a collector of women—especially ones who can handle our…exuberance in bed—you can see why this might not sit well with me.” His golden eyes went fierce with pride. “They need to know who runs things, here and everywhere.”
Drake dipped his head in a curt nod of thanks. “In that case, I accept. Thank you.”
“Fair warning, though,” Etienne added, rising to stand. “In this, we are brothers. Once it’s over and we’ve solidified our dominance, it’s back to business as usual. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Drake replied, satisfied with that. Anything else would’ve been all too strange. Dragons weren’t pack creatures and the friendships they forged were always like this. The males were far too territorial and protective to ever completely set aside the rivalry that was their nature. As twisted as it was, with all the bullshit in his life right now, it was nice to have one constant.
He followed Etienne to the door and took a quick glance at his watch. “If your sources are right, they’re still planning. We can expect that the attack won’t come tonight, but stay close to the mountain just in case. I’ll send up a flare if I need you.”
“Got it. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything e
lse. And, as for you?” Etienne gave him a tense look. “If you were a smart man, you’d be upstairs taking advantage of the little time you have left with your Willa before you murder her brethren. Those memories will have to hold you over for a lifetime because she’ll never forgive you.”
With that, the other man broke into a loping jog before exploding into his dragon form and gliding off the side of the mountain with the grace of an eagle.
Drake watched until he was out of sight, pissed off and appreciative all at once. He was glad for the extra hands on deck, but he didn’t recall asking the bastard’s opinion on Willa.
Damned if he could shake it, though. For the next half hour, he set up the tripwires he’d bought around the perimeter of the keep to alert him of intruders, but Etienne’s words were never far from his mind. The Frenchman had it right. Whatever happened in the coming days, there was no happy ending for he and his unwilling bride. Her cavalry was coming and he would either kill them all and make her hate his guts for it, or the wolves would pull off the upset of the century and find a way to take him down.
In both cases, there was no Drake and Willa at the end of this.
If Etienne’s sources were right—and his instincts told him they were—tomorrow would be the perfect night. The weather called for fog and, with the new moon and the whipping winds, it would be as stealth of a mission as they could hope to pull off in light of their enemy.
Which meant this night would be his last alone with Willa. A Willa who might not like him, and who wanted to escape him, but who very definitely desired him.
He clenched his jaw hard as he recalled every inch of her, naked and willing. Just as quickly, his cock swelled and thickened and every cell in his body lit up like the night sky.
Fuck it.
Once more, then. Just one more time before she was lost to him forever.
He plowed through the front door and took the stairs two at a time, cursing himself for an idiot even as adrenaline coursed through him. He unlocked her bedroom door and threw it open, sending it squealing on its iron hinges before clattering against the wall hard enough to crack the stone behind it.
Willa clutched the bath towel she’d been drying her hair with in front of the bathroom mirror and jerked her head toward him with a yelp as she stared at him through wide eyes.
“All right, little wolf,” he muttered, stalking over to her, stripping off his t-shirt and pants as he went. His whole body shook with need. “You win.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Lord, he looked fierce. Green eyes flashing fire, jaw flexed, the muscles in his stomach standing out in stark relief as he prowled toward her. One second, he was across the room, and the next, he was on her, his fingers clenching her hips, his mouth slanted over hers.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she dropped the towel she’d been holding to curl her arms around his neck. She didn’t know what changed his mind, but at that moment, she didn’t care. He was here now, and that was all that mattered.
He wrenched his lips from hers, bending to drop sucking kisses from the column of her throat before tearing away the second damp towel wrapped around her and tossing it to the tile floor to join the first. Pressing her back, he pinned her to the cold porcelain of the sink and drifted down to her belly button before licking his way back up to her mouth again, consuming her.
Even in the steamy heat of the bathroom, his tongue was molten hot against her skin, scorching her flesh and making her squirm. She wanted this more than anything she’d wanted in her whole life. Wanted to be touched and teased by him. Wanted to be taken and commanded. Wanted to be anything he wanted her to be right now, so long as he didn’t stop.
He traced her breasts with his fingertips, circling her nipples before he let out a low groan. “Christ, you’re beautiful.”
His words fanned over her skin, and she arched her back, desperate for him to close the distance between them. To have his teeth on those aching peaks. To suck until she panted and twisted.
One of his hands rested on the inside of her thigh and then slid slowly upward. Inch by inch, until he cupped her core.
She gasped, as affected by the intense expression on his face as she was by the sensations racing through her.
"I love—" she broke off as his gaze flew to hers, and she bit her lip before starting again. "I love the feel of your skin. I love the way you look at my body.”
And I love you, she added silently.
She was filled with it. The unshakable knowledge that he was the singularly perfect man for her. Her true mate. The man she was meant to spend eternity with. And maybe after tonight, he would be ready to hear it. But for now, she wasn’t going to risk having him walk away again. Tomorrow there would be time for talking.
She strained toward him as he let out a low groan and closed his lips over one, aching nipple. He flicked it with his tongue and she gasped. The shudder ran through her as she slid her hands into his hair, urging him wordlessly not to stop. He pulled back, but only to move to the other breast, licking and sucking until her hands tightened in his hair and her legs began to tremble.
His fingers worked in tandem with his mouth, sliding over slick flesh, pressing inward. She threw her head back and swallowed a plea. It was good, all of it so good, but she wanted him inside her. Wanted to watch his eyes flash and his jaw go tight when he was close to coming. Wanted to bury her face in his neck and breathe him in. Wanted to mark this moment on his heart, the way he’d so surely tattooed his name on hers.
When he pulled back with a pained groan, she’d almost wondered if he’d managed to read her mind, but rather than stepping between her legs to oblige her, he knelt between her thighs, nudging her knees wide, spreading her open to his rapt gaze.
“Perfect,” he murmured, his warm breath washing over her as velvety liquid trickled down her thighs. He bit her there and she jerked again, in the agony of anticipation.
She fought to remain still but her body quaked as she waited, on the razor’s edge, for him to finish it and give her what she needed so badly. Just when she was about to beg, he let out a muffled growl, bent his dark head low and closed his lips unerringly over her swollen clit, sending a sizzle straight down her spine. She gripped at the sides of the sink trying to anchor herself before she spun off the earth altogether.
Ecstasy shimmered through her like a rising tide and she lost all semblance of control, pulsing her hips, reaching for it, riding his mouth in a mad dash toward the finish line. For a single, panicked moment, she wondered if this was another game. If he was going to stop her right at the last second, but then his hands crept up to grip her hips, urging her on even as low groans of approval rumbled in his throat.
Her eyes drifted shut and time stopped as he closed his lips tight over that swollen bundle of nerves and sucked, hard.
“Drake!”
Her whole body clenched and then exploded into a thousand points of light as the orgasm ripped through her. She clawed at the sink, bucking and jerking as she ground against his face, wanting it to go on and on, but knowing if it did, it would likely kill her. Through the blood rushing in her ears, she could hear his low growls of approval, and they only took her higher.
By the time the last of the tremors shuddered through her, she was left weak and gasping, but before she could catch a breath, he was standing and scooping her into his strong arms like she weighed no more than a kitten.
She took the opportunity to soak him in. His delicious, musky smell that only seemed to get stronger in passion. The sureness of his gait. The feel of his hard chest against her soft one.
This was home.
Surely, he felt it too. That this was more than sex. Surely, he realized now that they were meant to be together, and this craziness with Grey was nothing more than a terrible misunderstanding.
Once they were in bed, sated and lying next to each other, she would try again. Tell him she loved him. This time, she wouldn’t hold back, and surely everything would be all right…
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Just sex, he reminded himself grimly.
That’s all this could be, but he was going to take Etienne’s advice and make the most of it.
He squeezed his eyes closed and focused on his breathing. In and out. Long, slow intakes of air to get some oxygen to his lust-addled brain as he lowered her onto the edge of the bed.
She peered up at him through glassy eyes before dropping her gaze to his cock.
Jesus, this woman was going to be the death of him.
“You want it?” he asked, his voice so guttural, he barely recognized it as his own. “Take it. Take it in your mouth, Willa.”
He sank his fingers into her hair as she bent toward him, drawing his swollen head between her lips, lapping at him with the tip of her scorching tongue.
“Fuck,” he growled, using her hair to tug her lower, urging her to take him deeper. The sensation of her swallowing him whole, the soft, tender flesh of her cheeks closing over him even as her tongue laved him, would’ve been enough to drive a weaker man insane. But it was the low humming at the back of her throat—like she loved having him in her mouth…like she wanted this and so much more—that broke his iron control.
“Take it deep, little wolf. Take it all,” he muttered through gritted teeth.
And she did. His eyes nearly crossed as the need to come barreled down on him like an oncoming monsoon.
Don’t do it, he willed himself, calling on every shred of self-discipline he could muster. Don’t fucking do it. Not yet.
“Ah, fuck!” His fingers flexed helplessly in her hair and his vision blurred as she drew him so deep that her cheeks went concave and the head of his cock battered the tender flesh of her sweet, soft throat.
She had him good now, eating him alive, and suddenly, thoughts of battles and vengeance became nothing but a memory. All he could think of was Willa. Her hands. Her lips. Her tongue as she worked him harder…faster, sucking him off like it was her sole purpose in life.
