So, Darian held her until her breathing slowed and her heartbeat returned to its steady pace. Her smile and the sated look in her eyes warmed his heart.
“You should go and meet with Jules, and Rafi,” Darian said.
Cara nodded and climbed from his lap.
Darian gripped the bench so hard it began to crack as he watched her bend to retrieve her clothing. He closed his eyes knowing he was still in danger of losing control.
Don’t ruin this. Let her walk away remembering only how good I made her feel.
“Darian?”
“Yes?” he asked.
“What’s wrong?”
He opened his eyes. Thankfully Cara was dressed. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“I apologize for not believing you.”
Darian shook his head. “I know you must have had your reasons. I’m pleased you allowed me to show you.”
Cara’s cheeks blushed a lovely shade of pink. “I am too,” She said cradling the snow globe he’d given her in her arms. She bent forward and kissed his cheek. She dashed away back through the bedroom and out into the courtyard.
Darian stalked through the house and to his bedroom. If he didn’t do something about the steel rod between his legs he was going to get mean, and his wolf was only going to become so obsessed with claiming Cara that he’d be fighting Darian for control every second of every day until he claimed Cara.
In his bedroom where it still carried Cara’s scent from sleeping in his bed he remembered the sweet taste of her, the feel of her slippery heat, and imagined how it would feel when he would thrust inside her. How she would gasp and look at him with the desire she’d shown him only moments ago.
Claim her. His wolf demanded. She’s ours.
He pumped his hand up and down his cock. Replaying the way she’d watched him kissing and sucking on her breasts. The surprise of every sensation that he stirred within her. Then he thought of the way she’d rolled her hips pressing her pussy against his mouth as she came.
At last the surge release found him. His hand holding still as he pumped his cock through his grip imagining he was inside of Cara and she was begging for him not to stop. He finished with a groan of relief.
He cleaned up and then took a shower. The edge of his need was at least taken down several notches but the relief he felt was short lived.
Claim her. His wolf demanded. Claim her before it’s too late.
****
“You have to block those,” Jules said as Cara pushed up off the stone floor of the courtyard. Her lungs were still struggling to fill with air after the powerful kick Jules delivered to her sternum. It’d knocked the wind right out of her.
Rafi stepped between Cara and Jules. “Ease up, Jules.” His gaze hard on the other woman.
“We can take a break if you think she needs it. I was only trying to help. Aldrich isn’t going to be gentle with her if Darian ever let’s her go near Aldrich town again.”
Cara sucked in a full breath at last and the dizziness began to pass.
“He isn’t going to let her,” Rafi said.
“Why are we training her then? I thought that was the whole point of what we’re doing here.”
Cara nodded still trying to find her voice. “Darian said I could stay. I could train.” She gasped for another breath. “He said I can help stop Aldrich.”
Jules laughed a mean sound. A taunting sound that reminded Cara of Aldrich. “He said you can help. That’s not the same as letting you come with us. If you pack Darian a lunch it’ll be helping. Don’t you see?”
Cara shook her head. “Darian doesn’t play games like that with me. He doesn’t think like you do.”
Rafi smiled at Cara and laughed at the angry expression that sharpened Jules features. “She can help but see the best in him. So soon after such an experience, anyway.”
Cara scowled at Rafi.
“Don’t be mad,” he said still smiling. “I wasn’t spying on you or anything.”
“Then how-”
Jules cut in. “We can smell it. We’re wolves. Remember?”
Cara lowered her eyes hating the way Rafi was looking at her and the way her face was burning. She felt humiliated and exposed. “What happened between Darian and me does not factor into what I’ve said. I know Darian will keep his word to me and I don’t appreciate either of you commenting on matters that are private.”
Rafi’s smile shrank to a straight line, his dark eyes avoiding Cara’s.
Good.
“I bet you are thirsty. I’ll get you something to drink,” Rafi said leaving Jules and Cara alone in the courtyard.
Jules exhaled as she rotated her pointed shoulders. “I’m sorry that I embarrassed you. I know exactly how you feel.”
“You do?”
“Yes. When Darian and I were messing around together I knew the whole pack could practically taste how wet Darian got me. His mouth feels so good. Doesn’t it?”
What a bitch.
Cara latched onto Darian’s assurances that Jules was jealous of Cara’s position as his destined mate and held on tight. She knew that if she was in Aldrich Town, her escort would not allow her to fight back or say anything to anyone who was unkind or trying to upset her.
But she wasn’t in Aldrich Town. Not anymore.
Remind her where she stands. She stands beneath us.
Cara felt stronger, brave with her wolf spirit stand with her. She looked Jules dead in the eye taking four steps to cross through the distance that stood between them.
Jules cocked her head to the side staring back at Cara. “I just kicked your ass. Do you really want to try and face me down?”
“Absolutely.”
Jules’ lips pinched together as her green eyes widened. “I can’t help it that Darian and I have a past together.”
“You are lying.”
“You’re angry because you know that I’m not lying. You’re not special to him. You’re his job.”
Silence her lies.
Her arms pushed out before she could think and sent Jules sliding across the stone floor. Cara looked down at her hands in surprise.
How did I do that?
“Great progress, Cara,” Rafi cheered as he returned to the courtyard. He handed Cara the water. “You missed it,” he called out as Darian entered the courtyard from the opposite side. “She’s coming along well. We can go after him in a matter of days.”
“Go after him?” Darian asked drawing closer to Cara and Rafi.
Cara nodded. “Yes, like you promised. You said I can stay and help stop Aldrich.”
“You can,” Darian said his words coming out chopped and tight. “Not in a few days. You can help after you shift.”
“Right,” Jules said as she picked herself up. “She can lead the pack with you. With two alphas Aldrich won’t be able to escape us.”
Cara caught the way his mouth tightened as he listened to what Jules said. “Cara will still need to learn how to work with her spirit wolf.”
“Are you saying I won’t get to fight him?” Cara asked. There was too much he wasn’t saying. It was like he was avoiding answering the question.
“Cara… I promised you I would never let him hurt you. I can’t allow you to be anywhere near him.”
You lied to me.
The burn of betrayal fueled her temper. “You said I could help stop him.”
“And you will.” He reached for her but Cara slapped his hands away.
“How?”
“You’re going to tell us his schedule, his movements in the town. You can tell us if there are any weak points in the wall, or if there are any allies on the inside we can contact to help us.”
The burn lessened as he spoke. It was more than Jules described but still less than what Cara wanted. “I can do more than that.”
“As much as you like,” Darian agreed this time taking hold of her and dragging her close to him. “As long as you are nowhere near, Aldrich.”
Cara glared at him. �
�Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Darian.”
“Don’t make me break my promise and forbid you, Cara. I know he’s hurt you. I know you want justice but I also know that the man himself is poison. He isn’t done trying to hurt you and I’ll be damned if I give him the chance.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cara continued training with Rafi and Jules. After Darian walked away. She didn’t argue with Darian because she didn’t want him to use his alpha authority to command her to stay but she had no intention of standing on the sidelines again and hoping someone else would step up and stop Aldrich.
When training was finished, Cara was dripping with sweat but she was still angry with Darian.
“I just wish we could get her to Aldrich before she shifted.”
“Why?” Cara asked butting into Jules and Rafi’s conversation.
Jules grunted. “It doesn’t matter. We can’t do that.”
“Why do you wish we could go before I shift?” Cara asked again.
“You’re still immune to the poison. You won’t be after you shift,” Jules said. “Getting Aldrich has been impossible because he doesn’t leave. Getting him means getting inside.”
Cara rolled the statement around in her mind. She didn’t trust either of them to just believe what they said but this statement it fit with the things Darian said about the poison and about Aldrich.
“I’ll have to change his mind,” Cara decided aloud.
“He’s not going to change his mind. He’s stubborn,” Jules said.
Cara nodded. “Yeah, but I’m ten times worse.”
With her plan forming in her mind Cara left Rafi and Jules staring after her. She went to the wardrobe room and took her time finding items she hoped would aid her plan.
After bathing she dressed in the stretchy, form fitting, lavender dress. Then she brushed out her short hair and looked herself over in the mirror. “Not bad.”
We look good.
Cara smiled. Kate was right about growing to love her spirit wolf. Cara liked her more and more with each passing day.
She found Darian helping to set the table.
Tonight, was a formal night. Not every dinner with the pack was eaten at the table. Sometimes, they took the food outside and ate either on blankets or on the grass. Cara loved it most when they got to eat outside but tonight, eating inside suited her plan best.
“You look beautiful,” Darian said when he saw her. “Are you still angry with me?”
“Yes,” Cara said. “But not terribly furious. Do you know why?”
He smiled drawing closer to her. “Why?”
“Because I know how I’m going to change your mind.”
His smile seemed to flip over as he frowned. “You won’t change my mind.”
“I didn’t learn a lot of useful information in Aldrich Town but there is one thing that I know to be true.”
“What’s that?”
Cara leaned on the bravery of her spirit wolf and took a step toward him. She reached up and put her hands on the back of his neck guiding him toward her.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she recognized that heated gold hue in his gaze. Avoiding his kiss, she whispered in his ear, “Men are driven by sex. They need it. They crave it and when they want it most is when they can’t have it at all.”
“Cara,” her name sprang from his lips in a warning tone.
“I refuse to mate with you until you agree that I can fight Aldrich.”
Darian growled a deadly sound but Cara wasn’t afraid of him. She released her hold on him and kissed his cheek as she began pulling back.
Darian reached out and caught her hand before she could dash away. “You want to kiss me Cara? Kiss me.” He took her mouth with his. His lips heated like his gaze. Her body seemed to melt against his with the heat. His hand cupped her breast through the thin material of the dress.
Cara arched her back pressing into his hand as her nipples hardened with anticipation.
Then he let go of her hand and her breast pulling abruptly away from her lips. “Two can play at this game, Cara.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“She’s killing me,” Darian admitted to Killian.
“Why not claim her?” Killian asked. “It’s clear she loves you.”
Darian barked out a laugh. “She loves me? The woman wants me to die of an aneurism.”
Killian shook his head. “I don’t see how-”
“Last week she reached under the table and stroked my dick until I was so hard, I could have drilled a hole through our table.”
Killian’s dark brows rose. “And you just let her?”
“I returned the favor, but… The more I touched her…”
“I’m actually surprised you didn’t give in that night,” Killian admitted. “Is that the last time she tried to get you to fold?”
I wish.
“I’ve been sleeping in the office. It’s the only way I can be sure I won’t give in during a weak moment.”
Killian exhaled shaking his head with a smile on his face that pissed Darian off.
“Are you going to help me or not?”
“You are the alpha. You don’t need my help.”
Darian growled with his wolf. “I look forward to the day you fall in love Killian. I’m going to laugh in your face, you know that?”
“I’m not the mate for life type. Sorry.”
“I cannot command her to submit. You can’t be that stupid when it comes to women, Killian.”
Killian laughed. “I probably am but that isn’t what I meant.”
“Well? What did you mean?”
“She’s in love with you. Tell her how you feel and let her love for you make up her mind for her.”
Darian rubbed his eyes. He was so tired. Sleep was impossible to find because his body was in a constant state of arousal and need. “I hope you’re right.”
“We all do. You two are a permeating aphrodisiac walking around. It’s putting me in a really shitty mood, Darian. Like I said, I’m not the mate for life kind.”
Darian left Killian’s office and found Cara training with Rafi, and Jules. Cara was working hard. That look of solid determination on her face was the same as the one she’d worn when she made that leap, climbing the mountain.
“Leave us,” Darian roared as he stalked to the center of the courtyard where Cara stood.
She was breathing hard as he approached. Her pupils dilating as she looked up at him. “Had enough?”
“Have you?”
“You have to let me fight him. You have to let me face him. Don’t you understand that I can’t live with what I’ve already done? I stood by and did nothing. I have to do something. It has to stop.”
Darian reached for her ignoring her hands as she swatted against his hands and pulled her into an embrace. “None of that has anything to do with the fact that we’re denying ourselves each other. I want to marry you Cara. I want to protect you and keep you safe.”
“And you want-”
“Yes,” he growled. “I want to make love to you, Cara. I want to belong to you as I feel you do to me. We are predestined. Fated. I know you feel it.”
Cara pushed away from him. Tears slid down her face. “It’s all I have to make you listen to me. I want you like I was never supposed to want anyone. If you love me even half as much as I love you then you’ll let me go after Aldrich.”
Darian’s forehead creased as he studied her. “You mean to go after him yourself? By yourself?”
“Yes,” Cara said the sweet vulnerability she’d given him a glimpse of disappearing as her determination pushed to the front. “He won’t expect that I would kill him. He’s wrong.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Cara woke in Darian’s bed once again finding herself alone. Two weeks of pleading with him, begging him, touching him, trying to tempt him and Darian had the same answer for her.
Today will be different. She told herself as she climbed out of the bed. Cara was sore from training
and she was sad because she thought that by now Darian would understand.
She didn’t see him at breakfast.
He’s avoiding me again.
Cara met Jules and Rafi for a run. It was supposed to build up her endurance but today they didn’t push too hard. It wasn’t a day to overdo.
They didn’t talk much. Cara was nervous. Her window of opportunity to get into Aldrich town was closing. Soon she would shift and the chance to end the terror he inflicted would be gone.
After lunch, they worked on training again. Cara thought she would not see him at all and hated that her insides ached and hurt with how much she missed him.
It wasn’t until she was eating dinner that she felt his gaze on her. She turned around finding him standing on the second floor. Cara could see him through the window of his bedroom.
I love you.
She swallowed the ache in her throat as she remembered what he’d said to her when he’d pleaded with her to stop the standoff. He looked as alone as she felt.
Darian, I love you. Why can’t you trust me to be brave enough to stand against Aldrich?
As if he could hear her thoughts, Darian turned away from the window, leaving his bedroom.
He’d go back to his office, where he’d have tea and arrange for more supplies to be delivered from their allies in Sacramento. He clung to pack business waiting her out.
The pack began to shift to go for their evening run. Tonight, they were combing the mountainside behind the Rizer Fortress.
Cara returned to the community with Jules and Rafi. Her hands were sweating as she tugged at the skirt of the thin pink dress she loved so much.
“Here you go,” Jules said handing Cara the teacup and saucer.
She took it from Jules and went to his office before she lost her nerve. Turning the handle, Cara pushed the door open and walked entered without knocking.
“Your tea,” Cara bit out setting the cup in front of him on his desk.
Darian’s jaw clenched as he gave a sharp nod. “Thank you.”
The Alien Surrogate (The Klaskians Series Book 1) Page 23
