Growl

by Vivian Wood

  DIE, BITCH.

  One sniff told Pax that the words were written in some kind of paint and ketchup mixture and not actual blood, but that didn’t matter in the face of Brooke’s obvious terror.

  “Come here,” Pax said, drawing her into his arms.

  “What the fuck is happening?” came Chase’s voice. He appeared at the top of the stairs only a moment later, which made Pax think that Chase might have been snooping, making sure Pax and Brooke didn’t get into some kind of drunken fight.

  Standing here staring at the threatening message, holding Brooke’s shivering form in his arms, Pax had never felt more stone-cold sober.

  “We need to sweep the whole lodge,” Pax told Chase, who nodded.

  “Stay right here, B,” Pax said, pulling out his phone. “I’m calling Harlan and Penny to give them a heads up, but no one else should be coming. Okay? It’ll take us five minutes to check the whole place over.”

  “Don’t move,” Chase cautioned. Brooke just nodded, looking dazed.

  Following the familiar pattern set in their military days, Chase and Pax swept each room quickly and thoroughly. After making sure there was no one in the building, they sussed out the subtle forced entry on the front door. Pax also noticed a second-floor window that someone, likely the villain, had left propped open.

  Once Chase and Pax were sure that the whole place was completely secure, they agreed that Pax would bolt the front door from the inside, locking even Chase out. Pax also knew he was going to make Brooke stay in his room from here on out, but he figured Chase didn’t need to know that much.

  When he’d locked Chase out, Pax took the stairs two at a time until he reached Brooke. True to her word, she hadn’t moved an inch. Instead of looking shocked and frightened, though, now she looked mad.

  Despite the circumstances, Pax almost grinned. Can’t keep that woman down, no matter what.

  “Hey,” she said, staring at the door.

  “Listen, B… we took care of everything for tonight,” Pax told her. “Looks like Travis got in the front door somehow, but I don’t want you to worry. Chase and I got the place locked down.”

  Brooke gave him a faint smile.

  “I know you do,” she said. “I’m just… I’m so pissed right now. That fucking asshole can’t stand to lose. I knew he’d lash out, but this is low. Even for a Marchand.”

  Pax hesitated, glancing at the door.

  “I’m sorry to say, but he ripped up some of your stuff. Slashed your brand new mattress, poured blood on some of your clothes.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to keep his temper from rising again. “We’ll get everything replaced, so don’t stress about it.”

  Brooke snorted, an indelicate but endearing sound.

  “Nah,” she said, shaking her head. “I was going to get rid of a lot of that stuff anyway. I was dressing the part, playing along with what Lynne and Travis wanted. None of it means anything to me.”

  “Alright,” Pax said, releasing a relieved breath. “You’re taking this like a rock star, by the way. Hang here for a sec, let me grab what’s salvageable, and we’ll go downstairs.”

  “Oh yeah?” Brooke said, canting her head. She narrowed her gaze, but Pax could tell that she was amused rather than annoyed by his statement.

  “Yeah. You’re in my bed now, every night,” he said, giving her whole body an up-and-down glance. “Permanently.”

  Brooke’s lips twitched, but she just shooed him toward her ravaged bedroom. Pax made quick work of his task, saving a bag of her pajamas and intimates, a few clothes that hadn’t been ruined, and her pillow, which was undamaged.

  The rest could wait. Unlike his wolf, who was desperate to have Brooke nestled in his arms, safe in his bed. Her mouth under his, skin to skin…

  “Take it down a notch, chief,” Pax mumbled to himself.

  Tucking all the stuff he’d salvaged under his arm, Pax went back out to Brooke, who stood in the hall way fidgeting.

  “My pillow!” she said, brightening when Pax handed it over.

  “It escaped unscathed,” he said, nodding toward the stairs. “Shall we?”

  Pax led Brooke downstairs to his suite, nearly sighing when he remembered the sultry music and dimmed lights he’d set up prior to his shower. They were a nice enough touch, but no longer appropriate for the mood.

  “I’m going to put your clothes in this drawer,” he told her, clearing out the topmost dresser drawer for her things.

  “Thanks,” she said, sinking onto the bed.

  Pax turned and eyed her.

  “I got just the thing,” he told her. Opening the second drawer of the dresser, he produced one of his biggest, softest USMC t-shirts and tossed it over to Brooke. The soft smile of gratitude she shot him sent a ripple of pleasure through his chest.

  Brooke pulled the shirt on over her head and did some girl magic, hopping around until she pulled that sexy red dress down underneath and stepped out of it, leaving her in just Pax’s shirt. It was much too big on her, draping over her small frame to fall almost at her knee, but something about it stirred Pax’s wolf. His woman, in his clothing, standing in his bedroom.

  Brooke tossed her dress onto a chair and sat on Pax’s king-sized bed with a sigh.

  “Finishing touch?” he asked, holding up a pair of thick, warm socks. “Sorry there’s not more fanfare. I always thought that when I got you back into my bedroom, it’d be a little more romantic than this.”

  Brooke laughed and caught the socks he lobbed at her, shaking her head.

  “No one could have expected Travis to go this far,” she said.

  “Get under the covers,” Pax ordered. “You look like you’re about to freeze.”

  “I’m a little shaken up,” she admitted, leaning down to pull on the socks.

  Despite the fact that she’d just ditched her sexy red dress for a simple cotton shirt, watching Brooke crawl into his bed was stimulating Pax in all the right ways. Maybe he was too hard up, having foregone too many potential dates in favor of staying at his Winter Pass cabin and jerking off to thoughts of Brooke. Maybe it was how she’d teased him earlier, grinding against him on the dance floor, reminding him of how amazing her tight little body was.

  Or maybe it was just Brooke, the sheer closeness of her, the way her scent filled the air around him, drawing him in. That sexy head tilt she was doing, watching him with her big eyes, all that strawberry blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders as she assessed him with a piercing gaze.

  Maybe it was the thickening tension in the air, surrounding them and pulling them together, the flicker of interest that flared in Brooke’s eyes as Pax strolled over to the bed. Those big gray eyes were all over Pax’s bare chest and torso, those eyes that couldn’t hide a thing. Worry, satisfaction, desire… it was all there for Pax to see, laid bare.

  “Pax…” Brooke said. Reaching out and taking his hand, she tugged him down to sit on the bed.

  “God, this isn’t the moment when you tell me you just want to be friends, is it?” Pax said, a moment of panic hitting him.

  “What?” Brooke said, looking astonished. Her pure surprise warmed Pax inside. “No, the opposite! Chase gave me a stern lecture about treating you nicely.”

  A startled laugh tripped off Pax’s lips.

  “Did he now?” he asked, a hint of insecurity leaking back into his thoughts.

  “Well, yeah. And fuck him, he needs to mind his own business. Only…” Brooke wrinkled her nose. “He was right, kind of. I was trying to be cautious, not jump into things with you when I was still sorting out my issues after breaking up with Travis. The thing is… I don’t need to be cautious. Not with you. I’m me, you’re you. Brooke and Pax. That part never changes.”

  Pax arched a brow, a little surprised at her words.

  “So that’s it?” he asked, trying to find the words. “You’re just…”

  “All in,” Brooke said softly. She moved to kneel beside him, throwing her arms around his neck, pressing a ki
ss against his bare shoulder. “I’m all in, Pax. I want everything.”

  Pax stilled, taken aback. He wrapped an arm around Brooke’s waist, knowing that no matter her response, he wasn’t about to let her go. Brooke wouldn’t slip away from him, not ever again.

  “Everything like… what, exactly?” he asked.

  Brooke pulled back and glanced up at him.

  “I want you to change me,” she said, dead serious. “I want you to marry me. I want a baby, when it’s time. When I said I’m all in, I meant it.”

  Pax pulled Brooke closer, branding her lips with his. The kiss was hard and demanding, filled with all the longing he’d felt for the last six years, a demand for the desires he needed fulfilled. Brooke pulled back after a moment, breathless.

  “Can I take that as a yes, me too?” she asked, looking amused.

  “Fuck, Brooke, of course I love you,” Paxton swore, laying back and dragging her body over his so she straddled his hips. She was so hot against him that his hands went straight to cup her ass. “You’re not wearing panties!”

  “Well, yeah,” Brooke said, her giggle cut off when Pax pulled her head down, lips possessing hers once more.

  Groaning at the taste of her, Pax struggled to be gentle as he explored her mouth with his tongue. Brooke’s weight atop his erection, even with his thin cotton pants between them, was driving him fucking wild. When she rolled her hips, her warmth caressing him root to tip, Pax nearly came like an untried boy.

  Ripping at the shirt she’d only just put on, Pax stripped her, freeing her perfect, full tits and showcasing miles of creamy freckled skin. Her hair poured down her shoulders like a river of molten copper, her eyes blazed the perfect bright gray of the sky just before a storm. She was killing him, and he wasn’t even inside her yet.

  Soon.

  Pax sat up, keeping Brooke in his lap. Cupping one perfect breast, he lifted it to his lips, sucking and nibbling her sensitive pink nipple until she squirmed, rocking her hips over his. He slipped his other hand between their bodies, teasing her hip bones and inner thighs, working his way inward until he ran a fingertip over her slick, heated lower lips.

  “Mmmmm,” Brooke uttered, rocking into his touch.

  Circling her clit with the lightest touch, he teased her until she was breathless, until small mews of pleasure escaped her lips, until her eyes flew open and she said his name.

  “Pax, please!” she said, brow furrowing with frustration.

  “Please what, B?” he asked, dropping a kiss to her lips, enjoying the flush on her cheeks. “You want more?”

  “Yes,” Brooke breathed.

  “You want me to fuck you?” he asked, teasing her tight core with a single fingertip. “Like this?”

  He sunk two fingers deep into Brooke’s body, glorying in the way she moaned and threw her head back, her breasts thrusting up as she arched her back, seeking more of his touch.

  “You like this, Brooke?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over her clit, then slowly pumping his fingers in and out. She was so ready for him, soaking his hand, making him ache so bad for her he barely knew what to do. Still, he needed her to want him the same way, needed her desperate for his cock.

  Brooke’s nails dug into his shoulders, and all he could think about was getting inside her, about her riding him just like this, making him come with her perfect body…

  But no, the first time he had her again, Pax was going to dominate her, remind her of what she’d been missing. When he claimed her, marked her forever, he’d be so deep inside her that she barely knew her name.

  “Pax,” Brooke murmured, drawing him back to the present. Her body was tightening against his fingers, and he could tell that she was close to the edge.

  “You are not going to come yet,” Pax informed her, pulling his fingers away. Still, he teased her clit with the gentlest touch, savoring the flare of anger in her eyes.

  “But—”

  He cut her protest off with another kiss, grabbing her by the waist and flipping her over roughly. Ass up in the air, Brooke made a surprised noise, then groaned when Pax landed a hard slap on one perfect, juicy cheek. He knelt behind her and pushed her knees apart, biting his lip as he examined all that she presented to him.

  “Damn, Brooke,” he said, pressing two fingers into her core again, enjoying the way she pressed back into his touch. “You have the tightest pussy. And this ass…”

  Without removing his fingers from her core, he pressed the tip of his thumb against the balloon knot higher up, penetrating her just enough to make her shiver, her body tightening convulsively against the intrusion.

  “Mmm,” he said. His mouth was actually watering at the thought of taking her there, pounding her tightness until she screamed his name, coming against him so hard that it almost hurt him. Again, something that wasn’t going to happen her first time back in his bed, but yeah… he was going to pop that cherry, hard… and soon.

  “Pax,” Brooke said, glancing back at him with a mixture of uncertainty and hunger.

  “Another time,” he promised, withdrawing his fingers. He reached down and stroked his cock, already so sensitive that his body was begging for release. “Fuck, what you do to me…”

  He moved closer, pressing the thick tip of his cock against her waiting entrance, a wave of lust hitting him when he felt the damp heat of her body against his flesh.

  “Touch your clit, baby,” Pax instructed, needing to push her as far as he could, as hard as he could. As soon as Brooke’s hand drifted down her stomach, he filled her in a single, deep thrust that made them both cry out.

  Pax lost himself then. For long stretches, he could only think of Brooke’s cries of pleasure, of the feeling of stretching her tight core, of the way her heat seeped into his body and spread like wildfire, burning him up from the inside out. He lost some of himself, lost time, lost everything but Brooke as he thrust against her, taking them both higher and higher until he was sure he would die.

  When Brooke shuddered and clenched and shouted his name, her orgasm making her grip him so tight it felt impossible, unreal, Pax let himself go. Wrapping one arm around Brooke’s chest, he pulled her upright to sit on his lap and bounced her up and down, engrossed in the feel of her. Nuzzling her neck, he let his instinct take over completely. he was barely aware of sinking his teeth deep into her neck until the tang of her blood filled his senses, driving him past all comprehension.

  He plunged over the highest cliff, freefalling endlessly, fingers marking her flesh as he pounded his seed deep within Brooke’s body, pouring out everything he’d held back for so long.

  It was so good, it hurt. Like being turned inside out, emptied so completely that there was nothing left of himself. And yet… Brooke anchored him, warm and soft under his hands. He collapsed, managing to roll off her and pull her close. Stroking her back with light touches, listening to her ragged breathing, he drifted, awash in the sense of completion.

  Finally… was his last thought, burying his face in her hair, wrapping an arm around her, and pulling his mate close. Finally.

  Chapter Eight

  “Are there any more boxes?” Brooke asked Penny, who was standing in Harlan’s cabin, taping a cardboard box shut.

  “Uhhh…. not in here, but I’m like 99% sure that Chase still has a bunch of stuff in his cabin that hasn’t even been packed. You’d think, since it was his decision to move everyone to the big house, that he’d be more on top of his own packing…”

  “Uh, no. I wouldn’t think that. It’s classic Chase,” Brooke said. “He orders everyone around and worries what they’re doing, without considering himself. Left to his own devices, he’d happily be packing and moving alone at midnight, once everyone else is squared away.”

  “He has been pretty helpful today… like a knight in shining armor, but with cardboard…” Penny sighed. “It would be easier if the guys weren’t trading off doing patrols.”

  “Yeah, but if Harlan thought he saw a Humvee of unfriendly humans…” Broo
ke sighed. “I guess the odds are stacking up against us. I just hope it wasn’t Travis that called in the calvary…”

  “It’s been three weeks since your breakup,” Penny said with a shrug. “If it was him, he waited a long time to call the hunters. You said he doesn’t like to lose, like maybe he thinks you’ll come back to him. It doesn’t make sense for him to call in someone to try to hurt you if he plans to get you back. Besides, he’s a shifter too. Why would he draw attention from people who’d kill him, too?”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Brooke said. “I’m just nervous, I guess. Creepy humans, creepy exes…”

  “And we’re coming up to your first full moon,” Penny said, guessing the true source of Brooke’s anxiety. Or one of them, at any rate.

  “Yep.”

  “Worried?”

  ‘Terrified,” Brooke said, hoisting a box.

  “Don’t worry so much. It’s pretty fun, actually,” Penny assured her.

  Brooke chuckled.

  “You’re irrepressible, you know that?” she asked Penny.

  “That’s me!” Penny said with a grin. “Here, take this box too, it’s light. Then I’ll meet you at Chase’s cabin and we can tackle that next.”

  “You got it,” Brooke said, waiting for Penny to stack the box on top of the one Brooke already held. “Then we can continue our conversation from last night about you and Harlan starting a family. I want all the details!”

  Penny blushed and laughed, holding the door open for Brooke as they both left the cabin.

  “You got it,” Penny promised, tossing Brooke a last look before walking toward Chase’s cabin.

  Brooke hitched the boxes higher on her hip and headed for the main lodge, thinking about her own plans for the future. She certainly wasn’t ready to start her own family just yet, but the idea of having a baby with Pax called to her heart. He’d be an amazing dad. She could imagine him crawling around on all floors, showing a little version of himself how to get into mischief.

  If two werewolves had a baby, would it be born a wolf? Brooke had zero idea how that worked, so she should probably do some research—