Claw Mark

by Lily Harlem

  “Yet all the time I was quite safe.”

  “Thank goodness.” He weaved his fingers into my hair and his gentle touch sent a shimmer of delight skirting over my scalp. “But, my darling, Beatrice.” He paused and wrinkled his nose. “You really do reek of wolf. Do you mind having your tea in the bath while I wash that smell from your hair?”

  I pressed my forearm to my nose and sniffed. I smelled the same as I always did, well, a little of male soap but certainly not revolting. “Do I really?”

  “Yes. To us you smell like a dog that’s been sleeping out in the rain for weeks.”

  “Yuck.”

  “Yuck indeed.” He pulled a face.

  “I think a bath is a great idea, Aimery,” Ryle said, appearing at the door with a tray holding a teapot that was steaming from the spout and a cup and saucer that rattled as he walked. “The sooner their stink is washed off our wife the better as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Caleb and Isaac don’t stink. They’re just normal. They shower every day, twice a day sometimes, wear clean clothes, not many that’s true, but they’re not animals, you know.”

  “They’re animals in our minds,” Ryle said, setting the tray down and moving to a huge white roll-top bath that was set by an enormous, curtain-less window.

  “But not in mine,” I said. “They’re good, kind men who helped me at great cost to themselves. That’s hardly wild animal behavior.”

  “We’ll have to agree to disagree.” Ryle turned the taps and the noise of the water gushing on the porcelain base stopped me replying.

  I looked back at Aimery.

  “It’s okay, he’ll come ’round.” He undid my coat and slipped it from my arms. “It’s hard to think of you with them, that’s all.”

  “But where else could I go?”

  “I get that, really I do. And I’ll be eternally grateful that they saved you and cared for you.” He nodded at Ryle who was tipping an entire bottle of bubble bath in to the steaming flow of water. “It’s just harder for him. He’s got more history with the Carlton Pack. More reasons to hate them.”

  “Oh, yes, of course, his father.” How could I have forgotten that?

  “Yes, his father, and now…” He peeled off my top, the one I’d fashioned from Caleb’s shirt. “And now they’ve touched his wife.” He undid my bra and let it fall to my lap. “You can’t blame him for holding a grudge.”

  I glanced at Ryle who was stiff-shoulderedly swirling the bathwater. “Not they,” I said quietly. “Only one.”

  Aimery tilted his chin and beneath the surface of his skin a muscle jumped in his jaw. “Which one?”

  “Caleb, the gray one.” I paused. “B…but I thought you were dead, he took me to his bed and offered me warmth and comfort. I wasn’t in a position to say no to consolation, was I?” A sliver of terror went through me that I might not be forgiven for my unfaithfulness. “I thought you were dead, Aimery, that I no longer had husbands…I—”

  “Shh…” he touched his lips to mine. “I told you, I understand, it’s okay.”

  I looked into his eyes and saw love and pain but also comprehension. He knew I’d never choose anyone over him and Ryle, but the circumstances had been exceptional. As far as I was concerned I’d been widowed.

  “I didn’t love him,” I said. “I cared for him, and Isaac, but it wasn’t love, not like this.”

  He smiled and kissed me again. “Our type of love is special and it’s here to stay,” he whispered. “Forever.”

  “Yes. Forever.”

  “This is ready now,” Ryle said, turning off the taps and flicking bubbles from his fingertips.

  “Come,” Aimery said, “let’s get you in there.”

  I stood and stepped out of my tatty sweats and kicked them aside. “I hope there are some clothes in these cupboards,” I said, pointing at a huge set of wardrobes. “Because I have nothing. Like really, nothing.”

  “There’s a few clothes,” Ryle said, pouring tea. “And they’ve been waiting a long time for you to wear them.” He turned, glanced down my body and licked his lips. “Damn I’ve missed that sight.” He grinned suddenly and I saw the cheeky, bad-boy who’d stolen my heart.

  “Me too,” Aimery said, fingering the waistband of my knickers. “But why do I recognize these?”

  I took the tea Ryle offered, sipped and then touched Aimery’s cheek. “Because, last time you saw me I was wearing these and having a wonderful time with Ryle.”

  Ryle twitched his eyebrows. “Those memories are pretty intense.”

  “For me too,” I said. “And these knickers were part of the sexy outfit you’d bought me. I had to modify it somehow so that I owned one set of underwear.”

  “You did a good job,” Aimery said. “But it is time to lose them.”

  I took another sip of tea, knowing that the sooner I drank it, the sooner my strength and energy would return. “Here,” I passed Ryle the cup. “I’ll finish it in the bath.”

  Aimery stooped and drew my knickers down my legs.

  I held his shoulder for support, lifting first one foot and then the other as he removed them.

  He kissed my stomach, just below my navel, then looked up at me. “Bath time,” he said, wrinkling his nose again. “Now.”

  He swooped me up, strode to the bath and lowered me into it.

  I sighed, the heat enveloping my aching limbs and the fruity-scented bubbles stroking over my skin were divine.

  “I’m going online to order provisions,” Aimery said, turning to Ryle. “And extra clothes for Beatrice as all her luggage went in the crash.”

  “Good idea and yes, the fridge needs clearing out and restocking,” Ryle said. “We’re considerably later arriving than we’d first thought we would be.”

  “New clothes are good,” I said, resting back in the water. “Nice warm ones, please, and underwear, new underwear is a must.”

  “Picking out sexy new underwear for you is a dirty job but I guess someone’s got to do it,” Aimery said with a smile. He then picked up a bottle of shampoo with a picture of a strawberry on the label and handed it to Ryle. “Can you do the honors?”

  “With pleasure.” Ryle took it, along with a plastic jug Aimery passed him and walked to the head-end of the bath.

  “Sit up a bit,” he said to me.

  I did as he’d asked and watched Aimery walk from the room. Damn I’d missed ogling his cute arse. It was one hot sight for sore eyes and I couldn’t wait to get reacquainted with it in the flesh.

  “Argh…what the…?” I gasped and spluttered as Ryle tipped a jug of water over my head. It ran over my face, splashed off my shoulders and sloshed into the water that came up to my chest.

  “Hair wash, baby. I took all I could handle of Eau De Wolf in the car and now it’s time to have you smelling like ours again.”

  Another splash of water tumbled down on my head, completely soaking my hair. I tried to move away.

  “Hold still,” he said, slotting his fingers into the wet strands.

  I was about to protest when he set up a firm, circular massage and the scent of sweet berries swirled around me. He was working up a lather, filling my hair with suds and at the same time paying all of my scalp the type of attention that sent tingles down my spine and drew a moan from my throat.

  I closed my eyes and wriggled my toes in the water. “That’s nice.”

  “Mmm, smells much better.”

  We were silent for a moment—Ryle industrious and me enjoying his touch.

  “I am sorry, you know,” I said quietly.

  “For what?”

  “That I smell of wolf.”

  “You can’t help it. You were living with them.”

  “Yes, thank goodness. I’d never have survived without Caleb and Isaac and their hospitality. Their cabin was basic but perfectly functional.”

  He huffed. “Yeah. I’m sure it was.”

  I nibbled on my bottom lip and tipped my head as he ran his fingers around first my right and the
n my left ear. He was being very thorough.

  I felt the same way about being thorough except I was thinking more about the conversation we needed to hash out. “And, Ryle, I really am sorry that Caleb touched me…intimately.”

  Ryle stopped what he was doing, but only for a second, because then he tipped water on my head again and flooded my face and hair.

  I ducked out of the way but he pulled me back. “I’m rinsing, hold still.”

  “Ryle,” I said, water running into my mouth and down my throat. “Stop it.”

  “I’ve got to rinse your hair.” He tipped more on. This time is went over the side of the bath and landed on the floor.

  “Stop.” I scooted forward and turned to face him, my breasts coming out of the water as I dashed drips from my eyes. “Instead of drowning me why don’t we talk about this.”

  His eyes flashed. “What is there to talk about? I just don’t want you smelling of them anymore.”

  “And I’m pretty sure I don’t now that I’ve been attacked by Niagara Falls.”

  He frowned and the tension in his angular features made him all the more devastatingly handsome despite his obvious displeasure.

  “Give me the jug,” I said, holding out my hand.

  He did as I’d asked and I quickly tipped a few more, controlled slugs of water over my hair for a final rinse.

  He watched me then stood, walked to the counter and retrieved my mug of tea.

  “Drink,” he said, passing it to me.

  I took it and returned to my slumped position with my head resting on the back of the bath. “Talk to me,” I said quietly and sipping the hot liquid. “About how you feel.”

  He kneeled on the floor, so his face was nearly level with mine, and curled his fingers over the edge of the tub. “I just find it hard to cope with, that’s all.”

  “What?”

  “You know what.” He frowned.

  “No, no I don’t.” I did, but I needed him to say it.

  “Them, those two wolves, holding you, kissing you, fucking you. The way Aimery and I do. You’re our wife, not theirs.” He pressed his lips together until they were a flat line.

  “Oh, Ryle.” I touched his hand. “My time with them was nothing like what we have.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ryle shrugged as though not believing me.

  “Really it wasn’t. Shall I tell you why?” I asked.

  “If you want to.” He lifted his gaze and set it out toward the window, at the hills in the distance and the dark, starry night.

  I held in a sigh. “Okay, first off I thought you were both dead. That’s what I truly believed and I grieved for you both, my heart was in two, it still was until only a few hours ago when I found you again.” I shook my head. “It was one of the worst things I’ve ever gone through, even worse than when I truly believed Elfrida was about to kill me. Losing you tore my soul to shreds and I didn’t know how to even get up in the morning let alone look at the future.”

  He blinked, long and slow. “I’m so sorry about what happened with Elfrida. That you went through all of that.”

  “Me too.” Again I took a sip of my tea. “But you should know that Caleb and Isaac only offered me friendship. They’re a couple, in love with each other, not me.”

  He raised his eyebrows at that. “Gay wolves.”

  “Gay wolves, gay men, yes.”

  “Go on.”

  “Isaac only had eyes for Caleb, he’s his world, and he spent most of his time out, prowling, looking for Elfrida so that he could kill her and I could return to my old life, and I guess give them their peace back.”

  “So you were left alone with Caleb?”

  “Yes, it was only ever Caleb, and he was gentle and patient with me. He could see the pain I was in, so when affection turned to more…”

  “Go on,” he said, returning his gaze to me and brushing a wet lock of hair from my cheek.

  “You have to understand that I not only craved physical contact but I also believed myself to be free to have sex with someone else.” I looked into his eyes, shards of blue, like ice, sliced through his irises. “I never would have been with someone else if I thought for a second you were out there, looking for me.”

  “I understand that,” he said, nodding. “I think.”

  “Good, because that’s all it was, sex, not love.”

  “But you did care for him, I could tell, and the other one.”

  “Yes, of course, what kind of woman would I be if I hadn’t? But what I’m trying to say is it wasn’t like with you, or Aimery. I wasn’t with two men I was in love with and they weren’t in love with me. What we have is more special than I could ever have dreamed of having in my life and it could never be replicated, with anyone.”

  He sighed, his shoulders sagging. “So you don’t wish you were there now.”

  “God no.” I reached out and pressed my wet hand to his cheek, drips from my fingers ran to his chin and onto his sweater. “How could you even think that? I’m so happy to be here, with you. More than happy, I thought I’d lost you both, yet here you are. I keep wanting to pinch my arm to make sure I’m not dreaming.”

  He glanced at my arm, at the scratch mark Isaac had made. It was red and slightly raised. He nodded at it. “But this Caleb, he claimed you as his, there, and you have another claw mark on your back.”

  “I don’t think he was—”

  “Of course he was, that’s his mark on you.” His voice was sharper again.

  “Well if he did see me as his, he was damn quick to bring me back to you, wasn’t he? How long had you been captured by the Carlton Pack?”

  “I don’t know. I was pretty out of it.”

  “If they brought you in at the same time as Elfrida, it was only a few hours.”

  “Yes, it was the same time, we chased her scent, thought we could smell you too, and then we ran headlong into a trap. Damn wolves with their silver. Bastards.”

  I released his chin and reached for a bar of soap that was balancing on the side of the bath. “So Caleb brought me straight to you, the minute you were captured and then helped me set you free. That’s hardly staking a claim on me. That’s hardly the actions of a man full of hate, is it?”

  “I suppose not.”

  “Of course it isn’t.” I sighed. “He’ll be back in the cabin now, with Isaac. No doubt glad to have their privacy restored, to have things returned to normal without me moping about grieving for my vampires.”

  Ryle took the soap from me, dipped his hands in the water with it, and then began to gently rub it over the outlines of my collarbones. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For being jealous. I just want you for us, for our hands and eyes only.”

  I paused. “And for your fangs?” I asked, studying his mouth.

  He snapped his gaze to mine. “Just so we’re clear, Bea, and I speak for Aimery too, if we never fed from you again it wouldn’t change our feelings towards you. We love you. It’s as simple as that. Your blood and your willingness to feed us is a bonus. It’s you we searched desperately for day and night for months. It’s you we cried blood for when we thought we’d never see you again. You, Bea, you.”

  His earnest words were soothing and kicked Isaac’s cruel assumptions into the abyss. My own eyes filled. How could I have ever thought anything else? “I know. I’ve always known that. And I love you too.”

  He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my damp cheek. “Remember it always.” He paused. “Have you finished your tea?”

  “Yes.”

  He took it from me and set it aside

  I slipped my hands beneath the water and watched Ryle’s big fingers gathering the white suds the bar of soap had created on my chest. He dipped his hand beneath the waterline and brushed his palm over my breasts.

  His longed for touch sent fiery darts of arousal to my clit.

  “You’ve lost weight,” he said, cupping the underside of my right breast.

&nbs
p; “I was so sad. I didn’t feel like eating for months.”

  “We’ll soon fix that. I’ve missed cooking for you.”

  “I’ve missed you cooking for me, you became pretty good at it on the island.”

  He smiled, flashing his teeth. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, amazing.” I thought back to the sun and the sea, the flavors and how we’d all indulged in our every fantasy and desire. “And on the train,” I said, my stomach fluttering as he inched his way toward my navel. “That was good for you? The flogger?”

  “Do you even have to ask?”

  “Yes, actually, I never got any feedback, we went off the rails straight after you came.”

  He shifted slightly and appeared to use his free hand to adjust himself through his jeans. “I came long and hard and for what felt like forever. And then it all went black and I whacked my head and I thought you really had blown my mind.”

  I smiled. “The flogger worked then?”

  “With you in control of the silver and not a pack of damn wolves, yeah, it worked.” He ran his finger down to my slit and eased through the first folds of my labia.

  “Ryle.” I juddered in a breath as he swept over my clit.

  “Seeing you in that outfit,” he said, his voice a low hum. “Was off the charts sexy, those heels, and your face. You were so damn determined to make it good for me but at the same time you weren’t going to take any nonsense. I’ve relived that moment a million times over the winter, both tortured by the beauty of our last few minutes together and also comforted by the extreme pleasure you gave me as my Domme.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it, but…”

  “What?”

  “If I hadn’t tied you up, perhaps Elfrida wouldn’t have managed to snatch me.”

  He shook his head. “Nah, she had a plan. We were out of the train within seconds, but even by then you were gone. She’d stolen you from under our noses and disguised her trail.”

  I shuddered.

  “Shh, don’t think of it. Close your eyes, think of me, touching you.”

  “I want to look at you. I’ve missed your face.”

  He deepened his journey over my pussy and smiled. “I’ve missed seeing you come, Bea. Will you come for me now?”