by Lexie Davis
He rolled her to her back, with him on top of her body. “The only reason I went after him was for you. Quinn didn’t like that too much, but I think he realised the seriousness of our relationship.”
“So you really do care.” She smiled.
“Of course I care. I was worried about you all fucking night long, after you bumped into me at the bar.” He brushed her hair back with his muddy finger. “You’re not a stray. No matter how much you think you don’t belong, you do. You belong right here with me.”
“You keep saying that.” She clenched a handful of mud and smeared it across his cheek and down his neck. “Keep right on saying that.”
She moved away from him as he slung the first handful at her, catching her thigh. It hurt but she laughed anyway. She flung a handful of mud at him, hitting his stomach before he came at her, scooping her into his arms.
The rain made the backyard muddy so everywhere they walked they splashed it around. Diego carried her inside, stopping in the mud room for old towels. He wrapped one around her and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m going to be mated to a meanie.” He kissed her forehead.
She laughed. “You’re complaining already?”
“No.” He kissed her again. “Never.”
“The needing phase is almost over. What do you say we take a shower and fool around some before we get some sleep?”
“Sure, but I need to talk to Max first. Go get the shower started and I’ll meet you. It’ll probably take forever to get all that mud out of your hair anyway so you won’t miss me that much.”
She kissed him. He was definitely everything she wanted.
Chapter Nine
Diego knocked on Max’s bedroom door and waited for him to answer. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Max glanced at Diego’s mud-covered body and arched an eyebrow. “I don’t even want to know.” He stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. “What’s up?”
He glanced toward Sasha’s room. “I want to be Sasha’s mate.”
Max met his eyes and stared for awhile, unspeaking. Diego didn’t know how to read the other male, nor did he know anything about him in general. He didn’t suspect they would be too welcoming. He was a male from another pack—their enemies—who’d become a stray. He was once a Black Wolf. Everything had been against him from the moment he’d met Sasha, yet somehow he really didn’t care.
“Quinn told me you were the one that attacked Deacon in the woods.” Max crossed his arms over his chest. “He also told me you did it for Sasha, and no one else.”
Diego couldn’t deny it. “I said it and meant it. Sasha is the only reason I agreed to help find Roni, and when I found out Deacon killed her, I wanted to see him pay.”
“And you want to be part of our pack?”
“Only because I want to be Sasha’s mate. I’m pretty sure you guys don’t want her to leave so the only other option is for me to join the Grey Wolves.” Diego propped his hands on his hips.
“Fine. I’ll talk to Quinn. He’s …” Max glanced toward the stairs. “He’s dealing with the death of his mate. I have Hopper and Thunder roaming with him. He refuses to change back into human form.”
Diego nodded.
“How’s Sasha?”
He glanced down at the mud covering his legs and feet. “She’s good. She misses her sister and regrets the last words spoken between them, but she’ll be okay.”
Max nodded. “We’ll have a proper burial for Roni tomorrow. With all the needing and fighting tonight, I think it’s best we wait until morning.”
Diego agreed. “Okay, I’ll see you then. Have a good night.”
Diego headed to the bathroom and knocked on the door before entering. Just as he suspected Sasha stood in the shower working the clots of mud out of her hair. He tossed the towel and pushed the sliding glass door aside, stepping in.
“You’re going to have to help me with this, or I’m going to have to cut my hair.”She huffed a breath and dropped her hands. “It’s your fault anyway.”
He kissed her. She opened her mouth and his tongue slipped inside to taste her sweetness. She kissed him back, reminding him exactly why he loved her. Of how much he truly loved her.
“I talked to Max. He’s going to speak with Quinn about me joining your pack.”
She smiled. “Can you give up your bachelor lifestyle?” She pulled him closer and laid her cheek against his chest.
“You’re joking right?” He pushed her away gently and reached for the shampoo. He lathered her hair and gently massaged her scalp. He leaned down and kissed her. “After I begged and pleaded, I practically had to kiss his ass, and you’re asking me if I can give it up?”
She laughed. “You didn’t kiss anyone’s ass.”
He backed her into the warm stream of water. “You sure about that?”
“Very.” She wrapped her fingers around his cock. “You’re not an ass kisser.”
“True. Max is a decent guy. He just wants you to be happy.” He leaned down to kiss her lips. “Is the needing over?”
“It’ll never be over.” She gave him a saucy little smile.
Diego shook his head. He continued washing her hair while she stroked him. Sasha dropped her head back and he took advantage of her exposed neck, kissing her in the one spot he knew made her melt. She shivered at the contact of his lips. He loved the feel of her in his arms, whether they were rolling around in the mud or making out in the shower. He loved her naked body sliding against his, and the slight little moan that left her lips when he brushed his lips to the pulse point in her neck.
“I want you beneath me in a bed.” His teeth scraped down her neck.
Sasha grabbed the soap and lathered her hands. Returning them to his cock, she pressed her lips against his chest and said, “Then I guess we’d better finish bathing.”
He let her wash him, using her hands to wipe away the mud and suds. His cock was rock hard and Sasha took advantage. She kissed along his chest while her hand pumped him. “I could get used to this.”
“Bed. Now.” Diego kissed her and reached around to turn off the faucet. “You’re trouble.”
“Only the best kind.”
He wrapped a towel around her, then himself before lifting her in his arms and carrying her to the bedroom. He could see her body’s fatigue but desire burned bright in her eyes. Pheromones scented the air around them, both his and hers. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. He wanted her happy; it was the least she deserved.
Her fingers scraped through his hair. “I like your hair longer.” She smiled at him. “It gives me something to hold on to when you make me come.”
He shook his head and dropped her on the bed. “I thought you said it didn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t.” She lay back against the pillows as he crawled towards her and settled between her legs. “But the whole teeth-grinding, hair-pulling thing goes hand in hand with longer hair.”
He kissed her neck. “We’ll improvise until it grows out.”
His hand slipped between their bodies and tugged her towel open. Her skin was warm, despite the cooler air around them and the wetness from the shower. He pushed the ends of the towel open and bent to take a nipple into his mouth. He couldn’t get enough of her.
“Diego.” Her breathless sigh drew his attention to her. “Make love to me.”
“I am.”
He lifted his hips enough to remove the towel and positioned himself at her entrance, pushing forward. The heat from her pussy surrounded him, hot and wet. His fingers dug into her hips, holding still for a moment, feeling and enjoying what it felt like to simply be surrounded by her. She liked hard and fast and demanded most of the time that he take her that way. And he would. He’d give her anything she wanted.
He pulled out and thrust in, starting a slow rhythm. Her back arched off the mattress and she cupped his ass to take him deeper. He moaned, feeling her pussy pulse around him. He nearly came from that
alone. He closed his eyes in an effort to prolong their pleasure.
Thunder clapped nearby and shook the room. He felt the slight bite of her nails in his skin. Each thrust was slow and deep, no matter how much she urged him to move faster. The moonlight shined in the window, highlighting her beautiful face. He couldn’t help but to lean down and steal a kiss from her rosy lips.
“Come for me,” he whispered against her lips.
She closed her eyes. “Harder.”
He knew exactly what she needed. His lips surrounded her nipple while his hips thrust. He changed the angle of each long stroke so that his cock bumped every nerve within her tight pussy. She gasped. He found that one spot inside her and rubbed it with the tip of his cock, pushing her over into bliss.
She screamed his name, clutching at his short hair. The notion sent him spiralling into his own euphoria.
* * * *
Blood and dirt covered Roni’s face and body. The Black Wolves had taken her away from her home, from her family. Sasha stood on the front lawn and stared at her sister. They came into the world together, shared everything with each other. Roni’s limp frame didn’t move an inch. Her chest didn’t rise. They’d used her for their own twisted perversions and brought her back dead.
Sasha stared, wondering what she should have done different. She’d had the power to prevent it. It should have been her lying there, lifeless, instead of her innocent sister. She watched as Roni’s eyes opened, her lips moving to say the words Sasha couldn’t voice. “You killed me. It’s your fault I’m died.”
Sasha woke in a panic, screaming into the night. Blankets twisted around her body and legs as she tried to move away from the bed. Her chest wouldn’t expand to take in oxygen and she couldn’t stop screaming until she landed with a thump on the floor.
Diego flipped on a light and peered over the edge of the bed. “Sasha?”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried to move away from him. “Don’t,” she screamed when he reached for her.
She laid there, crying in a ball on the floor, until Diego came around the bed and covered her with her robe. She clutched at the carpet, closing her eyes as her emotions overtook her.
“Shh.” He rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.
The tears came harder. I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have been so selfish. Diego tried to pull her closer to his body but she pulled away. Her stomach tightened into a knot. She pulled the robe on and settled in front of the window, legs against her chest. Nothing she ever did turned out right.
Diego scooted the chair beside her bed closer to the window. “It was just a nightmare, baby. You’re okay now. Let me hold you.”
She didn’t respond, instead laying her forehead against her knees. She cried openly, shaking with her sobs. If she had just stayed put, if she’d just listened instead of rebelled. Quinn must hate me.
Fingers brushed against her leg. He tried again. “Tell me what I can do to help you, baby.”
“Just leave me alone.”
He sat there a moment, debating she supposed. She wasn’t mad at him. She was mad at the world. He removed his hand from her leg, and to her surprise, Diego stood and left the room. She didn’t feel any better without his presence. Roni was still dead. Deacon was responsible, and even though Diego killed him for her, it didn’t take away the pain.
“Sasha?” At the sound of Max’s voice, Sasha raised her head. “Oh, honey.”
He came to her and wrapped his arms around her. For a moment, he simply held her while she cried. Max knew her the best and knew how much she and Roni loved each other. He simply sat there while she leaned against him, using his strength to keep her up.
Diego stepped closer, taking the seat he’d once occupied while Chloe stood across the room, near the door.
“I’m sorry.” Sasha wiped her eyes and tried to pull away from Max’s arms.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Max kissed her forehead. “You have every right to cry.”
“Yeah,” she said. Her eyes locked with Diego’s. “I didn’t mean to get you guys out of bed.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Chloe smiled. “Max and I were up. I’m making us breakfast. Would you like some?”
“No, thanks.” Sasha glanced down at her toes. Chloe took that opportunity to excuse herself, to finish making their breakfast, Sasha supposed.
“It’s not your fault,” Max said, rubbing her back. He always had a talent for reading her mind. Too bad he hadn’t understood her feelings when she’d thought she was in love with him. “Roni died because Deacon took her from the woods when she was picking berries. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Deacon wanted me and instead got Roni. How is that not my fault?” Crying sucked. Her eyes ached, her nose ran, and she couldn’t breathe well.
“Sasha, look at me.” He tilted her chin up. “Deacon is to blame for this and he’s dead because of it. I know it doesn’t bring Roni back but you blaming yourself isn’t going to help matters any.”
“You told me not to go…”
He sighed. “Yes, but I knew you’d go anyway. Your sister loved you, and your pack loves you. We knew you’d go back to Diego and we knew, if needed, we’d be there to rescue you when things went wrong. She’s not dead because you didn’t listen to me or Quinn. She’s dead because Deacon is a sadistic bastard and that has nothing to do with you.”
Max wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Besides, if you hadn’t have left, you wouldn’t have found Diego. I hear you like him enough to mate.”
Diego smiled at her. How did he know she needed Max’s comfort? She was fairly certain her rejection hurt him. The fact that he sucked up his own feelings and pride and went to find Max spoke volumes.
She grabbed Max’s wrist. She’d be fine. “I don’t think I’ve told you and Chloe congratulations yet.”
“Congratulations for what?” Diego asked.
“They’re going to have a baby.” Sasha pushed Max’s hand off her shoulder. “He’s going to be a daddy.”
Max sighed.
Sasha laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. “You’ll be a great father.”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “Chloe found out two weeks ago. She’s going to get human treatment for prenatal care.”
“You can do that?” Diego asked. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Sure. We’re not that different. The baby is born human. However, there is a higher mortality rate for shifters while giving birth, which is a bit scary. I don’t know.” He swiped a hand over his face. “It’s all new to me.”
Sasha rubbed his back. “You’ll both be fine.”
“Yeah.” He leaned over to kiss Sasha’s cheek. “So will you, Aunty Sasha. You and Diego get to babysit. ”
Somehow, that made her feel better. She truly was happy for them.
“Diego gets diaper duty.”
Max chuckled and stood. “That I would pay good money to see.”
After he left, Diego came to her, taking the other wolf’s spot. “I’m not even sure of how to put a diaper on.”
Sasha caressed his bare thigh. “You’ll get the hang of it.”
“You okay?”
She met his eyes before wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. She probably scared him to death. “Now I am. Thank you.”
* * * *
Diego held Sasha during Roni’s funeral. It was a simple service that only lasted a few minutes before they buried her on the edge of the property, in a cemetery marked specifically for their pack. Diego read the only other tombstone, finding it was that of a woman named Janie. He made a mental note to ask Chloe who that was, later.
“Quinn hates me,” Sasha said once they were in the kitchen of the Grey Wolf mansion.
“Quinn is grieving the loss of his mate.” Diego reached for a bowl of fruit out of the fridge and set it on the counter before her. “You need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” She plopped down on the bar stool beside her. �
��I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
Diego stared at her for a moment. Fatigue was evident but it didn’t outshine her pain. “We could eat in bed. Maybe have food sex. What do you say?”
“I just want some sleep.” She scooted off the stool and headed for the stairs.
He sighed and grabbed two bottles of water and the bowl of fruit. If he was starved, he knew she was too. He headed up the stairs and found Sasha digging through her chest of drawers.
“We need to go to your house to move your stuff into the mansion.” She laid her pyjamas out on the bed. “I like my room, but if we need more space, Hopper’s room is bigger. I could probably talk him into switching.”
Diego sat on the edge of the bed. “I love this room.”
She stopped and met his eyes. “It’ll get better, right? The pain, the anger, the hurt. It’ll all go away eventually, right?”
He paused, trying to follow her shift in conversation. “When you understand it wasn’t your fault and you couldn’t do anything different to change the outcome, yes, it will eventually get better.”
She pulled her dress over her head. “You don’t think if I had stayed here and not gone back to your place, he would have left us alone?”
“There are no guarantees. He may have for a while but something else would have drawn him to you. The Grey Wolves are the closest pack with in a fifty-mile radius that actually have female wolves. Deacon was jealous and something else would have brought him here if you hadn’t gone to my house that night. Something else would have made him get Roni or you or Chloe. It’s the way he operated. And he didn’t need an excuse.”
Diego sat the water and the bowl of fruit on the bed. “There’s no way Deacon could have picked Roni over you. I didn’t have a chance to cover up your scent on my skin when he came into my house. He smelt you. I saw his nostrils flare and he punched me because I lied about it. And I know without a doubt when he found Roni, that he knew she wasn’t the wolf he was after. He was much smarter than he looked.”
She stood before him in a black lace panty set and propped her hands on her hips. “There was no mix-up?”
