by Kimber White
“Neve,” Tucker said as he gripped my arm. “It’s time I introduced you to the rest of the pack.”
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Book Two
Sweet Submission
Chapter Eleven
Four large wolves lowered their heads and stalked toward me. Their fangs dripped and their eyes glowered. I should have been scared. Terrified, even, except I knew that as dangerous as these wolves were, the wolf standing next to me was even more so. And he had just sworn to lay down his life to protect me.
Tucker kept his body between me and the other wolves, his hand splayed wide on my hip. He didn’t say anything to the pack, but his meaning was clear. He hissed and bared his teeth. He was magnificent. Though he was in human form now, I could still see the wolf within. It was always part of him.
The largest of the four had fur black as the night, and golden eyes. He snapped his powerful jaw once, but then fell back. The other three fell in line beside him.
A week ago... an hour ago... I didn’t know shifters existed, until the man I loved turned from wolf to man right before my eyes. Now, his pack, these four beautiful, and yet deadly wolves, bent low to the ground and shifted before me too.
Since Tucker had marked me, as I began to understand what it meant, so many puzzle pieces seemed to come together in my head without Tucker even needing to speak them. As his pack shifted and turned, their beautiful coats changing from fur to flesh, I knew what an act of trust this was, to shift in front of me. It was when they were the most vulnerable. So, as Tucker protected me from them, they had to trust that he would protect them from me.
The fierce, dark one stepped forward. I hadn’t seen him before. Now, he stood before me, tall and naked. His skin was deeply tanned, and covered with a dusting of dark hair across his rippled chest, which led a trail down to his thick cock. Where Tucker’s eyes were steel gray, this man’s were amber, and just as mesmerizing.
A slow blush warmed my cheeks as I looked at him. As I looked at all of them. There was Jake. Deputy Jake. He had saved me from another wolf pack out on the road just two days ago. He was the smallest of this group, but still impressive in height and stature, with sinewy muscles and golden hair. He alone was a little bashful to stand naked in front of me. I had also met the other two in passing at the ranger station. They looked similar enough to be brothers, with the same dark complexion and chestnut hair.
“Hello, Jake,” I said. His smile melted me.
He stood shoulder to shoulder with the other three men. They were all powerful and beautiful, standing naked and glorious before me. Something stirred inside me. I felt my sex pulse, and I didn’t understand it. I was Tucker’s. He had claimed me just last night, and I belonged to him completely, even if I was still learning all that meant.
Still, these men exuded raw, animal power. Any woman would have a hard time not feeling the pull of attraction. Plus, their presence had interrupted Tucker and me in an intimate moment. A moment I was eager to return to.
“Neve,” Tucker said beside me. “You’ve met Jake. This is Reed, Barrett, and Malcolm.”
He paused for a fraction of a second before he said Malcolm’s name. Malcolm with the midnight black hair, who in wolf form looked like he’d meant to tear me limb from limb. In human form, he seemed to have a similar expression. When Reed and Barrett smiled at me, it reached their eyes and put me instantly at ease.
“Go inside and get dressed,” Tucker commanded them. They fell in line at once. Tucker kept a firm hand on me as they walked by. I found myself inhaling their scents as they got close. Their body heat came off them in waves and warmed me, just as Tucker’s did.
“Let’s go inside,” Tucker said to me. “We have a lot to talk about.”
I nodded and followed him.
As the others got dressed, Tucker set the room to rights. We’d done a number on the furniture last night during our first coupling. Just the thought of it made me breathless. The growing heat between my legs was becoming almost unbearable. I wanted to meet the rest of the pack, but I wanted to be alone with Tucker at the same time.
As Tucker straightened the room, he looked at me and smiled. He knew just what I was thinking, of course. I wore nothing but a long cotton t-shirt that he’d given me. It fell almost to my knees, but my lack of underwear made me hyper-aware of my growing need.
Tucker came to me and drew me into his arms. “I know,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “We need to spend more time together. You shouldn’t go this long without having me inside you so soon after I’ve marked you. I’m sorry. Can you just hang on for a little while longer? We really need to discuss some things with the others.”
I gave Tucker a playful swat on the ass. “Don’t stand there and act like you don’t feel the same thing.” To prove my point, I put my hand between his legs. He groaned as I felt the outline of his turgid cock beneath his pants. He was huge, hard and throbbing.
God. How the hell was I going to make it through the next few minutes without fucking him right in front of four new strangers? The moment I thought it, I felt a fresh wave of heat course through me, taking my breath away. It was like I wanted him to take me in front of all of them.
Before I had a chance to process what was going on in my mind, the rest of the pack came into the room. They were fully dressed now, and I became even more conscious of my near nakedness.
Malcolm looked at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking. His eyes flashed with lust, and I felt an answering heat that I didn’t understand.
Tucker sat on the stone hearth, and motioned for me to join him. He gathered me against him as he began to address the others. If I expected some preamble or speech from him, explaining what he’d done, I was about to get my first lesson in pack rules.
Tucker was the alpha. This was not a democracy.
“Neve is mine,” he said. A thrill ran through me at the command in his voice. I expected him to say more, but that seemed to cover it.
Jake smiled wide. He was the first to cross the room and come to me. “I knew it,” he said. “I knew the minute I met you in the road. I knew you’d be the one.”
The one?
Jake hugged me and twirled me so fast it made me dizzy. He set me back on the ground and planted a kiss on my cheek. I took an awkward step back and extended my hand to shake his. He smiled again and took my hand. His skin was hot. I ran my thumb over the back of his wrist and felt the steady pulse beat there. This too, left me with new, strange sensations. It was as if my whole body was tuned to these men. Their excitement seemed to fuel mine.
But not everyone in the room seemed as happy as Jake. Reed and Barrett stepped forward. They were more cautious than Jake, but not unpleasant. The more I looked at them, I could see their resemblance was only on the surface. Reed had cool, brown eyes. He had a charming, lopsided grin and a cowlick near his forehead that made his hair flip up in front. Absently, I reached up to smooth it down.
When my fingers made contact with Reed’s brow, something akin to an electric shock ran through me. My breath caught. Reed circled my wrist with his fingers and held my hand. I could feel his pulse beating a steady rhythm and it calmed me, at the same time a fresh wave of heat coursed through me and settled between my thighs.
What the hell was happening to me? Being in close proximity to these men seemed to put my libido in overdrive. I needed to be alone with Tucker, and fast.
Barrett followed Reed. He was a little bolder, though. He took my hand, and brushed my knuckles with a kiss that sent shivers through me. “I’m glad to meet you,” he said in a smooth tenor. “Though it’s going to take some getting used to.”
Reed, Barrett, and Jake sat around the coffee table in the center of the room. Malcolm hung back. He rested his arm across the fireplace mantle, refusing to even look at me.
“Mal.” Tucker’s voice was strong and clipped. My spine tingled at the sound of it. I had the strongest urge to kneel before him, and I knew instantly that tone was meant to get the others to heel.
I looked to Tucker to Malcolm and back again.
“She is my mate now Mal. Her name is Neve. Do I need to remind you what that means for all of us?”
“I know what it means,” I said. Tucker gave me a sharp look but somehow, I knew it was important that I tried to bridge whatever rift Tucker’s decision had made in the group. “Or at least, I chose this. Tucker told me I could leave. I want to stay. I hope you’ll let me.”
“It’s not Mal’s choice.” This from Jake. “Tucker has marked you. We all knew it the minute it happened.”
This shocked me. I flushed to the roots of my hair. Tucker had marked me during the most erotic moment of my life. The idea that these four men knew it was going on made me both bashful and bold all at once.
Mal narrowed his eyes at me. This earned him a warning look from Tucker. He simmered with barely contained rage, and I wondered if this meeting would come to blows before it was finished.
“When Ash finds out you’ve claimed her for the pack, he could take it as a sign of open warfare. Did you tell her what that means, Tucker?”
“Yes.” I was the one to answer. Again, I sensed it was important Mal knew I wouldn’t be intimidated by him. On instinct, I knew to be a worthy mate to Tucker—whatever that meant—I needed to show my own strength. “Tucker told me that Magda was mated to Ash. I killed her. But it was an accident. And I tried to save her. And there’s something else. Something I don’t think I’ve even told you, Tucker.”
Tucker looked at me, his eyes flashing a warning. “I think maybe Magda wanted to die. What happened wasn’t instant. She stood in the middle of the road and didn’t move, even when she saw me bearing down on her with my car. I honked and honked. At the time I thought maybe she was paralyzed by the headlights or something. But that’s not possible is it? You don’t lose your ability to think and reason when you’re in wolf form, do you? She understood what was about to happen, and she did nothing to take herself out of the path of my car. I’ve seen how fast you can move when you’re wolf. There’s just no way she didn’t have time to get out of the way.”
Tucker came to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Are you sure about this? There’s no doubt in your mind?”
I shook my head. “I thought I was crazy at the time. But, I swear, I looked straight into her eyes, and she looked into mine, the moment before my car struck her. She knew what was coming, and chose not to get out of the way. And then later, I held her as she lay dying. Tucker, she seemed so peaceful. Happy, almost. Like she knew she was finished, somehow, and it’s what she wanted.”
Tucker’s eyes widened and filled with anguish. “I’m sorry,” I whispered against his chest as he pulled me close.
I pulled away and addressed the group again. “And I’m sorry if my being here puts any of you in more danger. I don’t want that. Tucker, I don’t want that.”
Searing pain shot through my heart. My knees went weak at even the thought of what I was about to say. “I’ll go. God, I don’t want to. I don’t understand everything that’s happening to me. But if you think my being here could hurt the pack, I don’t think I can live with that.”
The air seemed to leave my lungs. In that moment before Tucker spoke again, as I contemplated what it would feel like to walk away from him, I felt physical agony. I could do it, though. The pain of putting him, or any of the others, in danger might hurt worse. And I had a life I was supposed to get back to, didn’t I? The thought of going to U. of M. now seemed like a different lifetime ago.
“No,” Tucker said. He didn’t shout it. He wasn’t angry. But, his tone was low and definite. The word came out almost as a growl. “Neve stays. Do you understand that?”
All four wolves turned to face him. They fell in line again shoulder to shoulder. They kept their eyes locked with Tucker’s. Then, one by one, they dipped their heads and spoke.
“Neve is pack,” said Jake.
“Neve is pack,” said Reed.
“Neve is pack,” said Barrett.
Only Malcolm’s eyes flicked from Tucker’s to mine. It was just a fraction of a second but when he set those clear, amber eyes on me, a flair of heat zinged through me, and I gasped.
“I understand, Neve is pack,” said Malcolm.
Chapter Twelve
Satisfied that the rest of the pack had accepted the new order of things, Tucker had them take their leave. Jake, Reed, and Barrett came to me again and hugged me. Their smiles and affection were genuine, and it warmed my heart. I wanted to get to know them better. I wanted to prove to them that I was worthy of being with them.
Tucker and Mal walked outside and spoke in hushed tones. Tuned as I was now to Tucker’s moods, my pulse raced with the tension I knew coiled within him. There was a different kind of tension coiled within me, as well.
I needed Tucker. Badly. My sex throbbed and my skin became flushed. Every cell in my body seemed to cry out and ache for him. As I waited in the living room for him to finish with Mal, I ran a hand over my stomach and slid it down between my legs. I was soaked, dripping. I gasped and shuddered as I dipped a finger into the slippery cleft between my thighs. My lips were swollen and gaping, hungry to be filled again. It nearly drove out rational thought.
I couldn’t help myself. I began to stroke my swollen clit with my fingers. I threw my head back and put a hand on the couch to steady myself. I was carnal and raw, my need to fuck overpowering me.
I heard Tucker’s low voice just outside and I quivered. I heard Mal’s voice and a fresh gush of juices flowed freely out of me. What was happening to me? I was some wanton, shameless thing ready to rut with whoever came through that door.
The new scar at the back of my neck began to burn and throb right along with my pussy. My knees buckled and I sank to the floor. I went to my hands and knees and kept right on stroking myself. My carnal need took over. Everything I was became centered on the heat between my legs.
I threw off the t-shirt Tucker gave me, leaving myself naked and writhing on the floor. If Tucker didn’t come back soon, I felt like I might die of frustration and unquenched desire. My legs shook, my chest heaved.
“Tucker!” My voice didn’t sound like my own. It was raw and raspy, barely more than a whisper. “Tucker, please.”
I didn’t care who heard me. I didn’t care if Mal and the others stood right outside the door and watched me. I could no longer control what I’d become. It was agony and ecstasy all rolled into one.
Then, the air shifted in the room. My vision blurred. A figure stood before me. What must I have looked like? There I was in the middle of the room, naked, on all fours, and working myself into a lather with one hand.
“Neve.” Tucker’s voice sounded like liquid velvet. I wanted to cry out to him, but had lost the strength to do anything other than hold myself up on my hands and knees.
Strong arms lifted me. Tucker spoke my name again, but this time, it wasn’t with words. He growled low. He turned me, laying me flat on my black, and he spread my legs wide. His eyes glinted silver as the wolf stirred within him.
“Please,” I begged. Tucker showered me with soft kisses as he fumbled with his jeans. I lay before him open and ready. As he shed them, his huge cock sprang free. It looked even longer and thicker than it had the first time he took me. Oh, I wanted it. I wanted him to split me in two with it. Anything to quench the unbearable need I had to fuck.
He took two fingers and ran them along my poor, swollen lips between my legs. I throbbed and quivered for him, begging for release with my words and body.
Then, Tucker was merciful. He held me down with a hand on my shoulder, with his other hand, he guided himself inside me. Oh. Oh! He was thick and huge, and I felt myself stretch impossibly wide to take him all in. But I did take him all in. I felt his full balls against me and knew he was rooted deep.
Weakened by desire, once Tucker gave my body what it craved, I felt renewed strength. I arched my back and grabbed his firm, round buttocks in each of my hands, driving him even further inside me. Tucker reared his head back. His eyes flashed and shimmered as he struggled to keep the wolf at bay.
I thrust myself upward, spurring him on. I wanted all of him. I wanted him to be rough. I didn’t want him to stop. And he didn’t. Tucker fucked me hard and deep. I dug my hands into the firm flesh of his ass, marking him in my own way. I wrapped my legs around his solid hips.
He fucked me fast and hard, making my teeth rattle, my breasts jiggle. I hissed and cried out for him to go even faster, harder. I kept up with him thrust for thrust, my body already changing, adapting and growing stronger to fit his.
I came once, twice, a third time as he drove himself into me again and again. Every nerve ending in my body seemed to come alive as he pushed himself deeper and deeper.
Finally, I felt his muscles twitch. His balls seized up against me. Tucker reared his head back and let out a howl loud enough to rattle the windows. And then Tucker spilled his hot seed inside of me as I cried out from the pleasure of receiving it. He warmed me from the inside out as jets of his semen poured inside of me. I needed it, craved it. I drew strength from it.
And when he finished, when we were both spent past the point of reason, Tucker gathered me in his arms and carried me in to his bed. He folded me against him and pulled the covers around us.
It had grown late in the day. Or was it early? I’d lost all sense of time. Our coupling had seemed fast and furious, but I saw the moon rising out of the window and knew it had actually been hours.
Tucker feathered soft kisses along my temple, over my cheek, and down the column of my throat. When I felt like I’d come back to myself again, I turned and placed a light hand on his cheek.
“Is it always going to be that way?”
He smiled. The wolf inside of him seemed to be sleeping. Tucker’s eyes were soft and bright.
“It’s always going to be something like that,” he said. “It should be easier for you to control from now on. The first few hours after the marking are the most intense.”
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