by A. J. Downey
Aside from a few minor scrapes that were already well on their way to healing, she was physically fine so I pulled her to her feet.
“You got water on your jacket,” she mumbled and I stifled a laugh.
“I think the jacket will survive. Let’s get you cleaned up, Love.”
“Mm-hm,” she hummed, nodding and I led her under the spray. She gasped quietly as the strong jets of water pounded against her skin and I grabbed her body wash and squeezed out a generous portion onto my hand. I pulled her out of the spray and rubbed my hands together before I started to cleanse her. I started at her throat, gently rubbing the wash into her skin and let my hands glide down over her shoulders and down the length of her arms, back up to her upper chest. She moaned quietly as I rubbed the soap into her breasts and trembled as I worked my way down her body.
I tried not to frown, I didn’t want her to worry or be concerned with anything other than relaxing. I could see each rib clearly and her arms and legs felt thinner than they had been the morning before Rom bit her. I didn’t like it. She seemed so frail beneath my hands and I trembled, fighting back the urge to curse Romulus with every breath. I’d already killed him. There wasn’t much else I could do.
I was kneeling at her feet, working the soap into her calves when her hands landed on my shoulders and I looked up at her. She said nothing and neither did I, she simply combed her fingers through my hair, slicking it back from my face, a thoughtful look on her own. I smiled at her, turning my attention back to her legs.
From her calves I moved up to the back of her thighs as she sighed quietly above me, the tension slowly leaking out of her. I smoothed my hands over her ass, spreading the soap across every inch of her skin until I stood and worked my way up her back to her shoulders.
I reached up and pulled down the shower head, using it to rinse the soap from her body. Somewhere in cleaning her off she had closed her eyes and simply stood there, her arms at her sides and her head tilted back, whimpering in pleasure and maybe a little impatience every few moments.
“Almost done,” I told her and put the shower head back before I reached for the shampoo and squeezed some out on top of her head. With one arm I reached around her waist, pulling her close to me until our bodies were pressed together. Her arms went around my waist, and with her head still tilted back I used both hands to massage the shampoo into her hair, running my fingers through the length of it, massaging her scalp, taking my time until she was practically limp in my arms.
I rinsed the shampoo from her hair and simply held her for a while, breathing in the scent of her. Peaches and sunshine, once again the scent of the Chloe I had fallen in love with. I couldn’t imagine my mate without the scent of peaches clinging to her skin…
I didn’t know how she felt about me now. I mean, I knew she loved me, but I didn’t know what she needed from me, so I simply held her. Ignoring the erection she must have felt pressing against her belly for the time being. God, I ached to love her right now. Wanted to kiss her, caress her; bury myself deep inside her. But I waited. Waited to see what she would do, what she wanted, for her to tell me what she needed…
“I love you, William,” she murmured against my chest and a shiver ran through me as her lips brushed lightly across my skin.
“I love you too, Chloe. I can’t lose you like that again. I fell apart for a minute there,” I admitted, and her arms came up and wrapped around me tightly. I grunted slightly, doing my best to ignore the stab of pain that ran through my chest. It was nothing compared to the pain I had felt when Romulus took her from me. Nothing like the kick to the gut I felt when I realized, fully, that I was in love with her, and that she was gone.
I don’t know when it happened. I don’t know how. Next thing I consciously remember was our lips pressed together, tongues dueling in our mouths and she moaned quietly into me as one of my hands slid up her body to squeeze her breast. I ran my thumb over a rapidly hardening nipple and her breath caught in her throat.
“I love that,” I said, grinning against her lips before I let my mouth trail down her throat.
“W-what?” she stammered.
“How responsive you are. For example, if I do this…” I leaned down and ran my tongue across her left nipple, flicking the hard nub with the tip and she jerked against me.
“Or this,” I sucked her nipple into my mouth, pinching it gently between my teeth as my other hand slipped between her legs.
I slowly slid two fingers inside her and her finger nails dug hard into my shoulders, a loud moan escaping her. I rolled my eyes up the length of her body where she stared down at me where I knelt at her feet.
“Don’t you fucking dare tease me, William,” she growled breathlessly. “It’s been two weeks since I’ve had you inside me. I need you, I need you now…”
“Your wish,” I groaned, “My command.” I reached around her and lifted her into the air, getting to my feet, my hands gripping her ass tightly. Leaning back she braced her shoulders against the shower wall. Eagerly, she reached down and positioned the head of my cock at her entrance.
I thrust up into her slowly, sliding all the way in and then just held her for a moment, reveling in the feeling of her body against mine, letting us both enjoy the sensation of being so close to each other after our time apart.
Her body felt even hotter than before in my arms, heat practically radiating off of her and I groaned as I felt her muscles clamping down on me in a rhythmic pattern as a small orgasm slid through her.
I wanted her in my bed, I wanted to wrap myself in her completely, for hours. But the idea of interrupting what we had just started to get us to the bed struck me as unthinkable. Chloe rocked her hips against me, her breasts heaving with every breath and I moved to meet her. Every thrust into her ground her clit against the base of my cock and it took only a handful of minutes before she stiffened in my arms, coming even as I emptied myself inside her with a quiet groan.
I withdrew from her hot, grasping cunt, moaning quietly and set her back on her feet. We said nothing as we rinsed off again and stepped out of the cooling shower. We dried each other with the decorative towels I kept hanging on a wall rack in comfortable silence and when we were done, Chloe tied her hair back loosely out of her face with a spare hair tie of mine that’d been left on the vanity. She took me by the hand and led me to my bed where she pushed me down onto my back, now more than capable of physically challenging me if she so chose.
I heaved myself completely onto the bed and settled, just looking at her. Yes, she was thinner, the effects of not eating properly while she was stuck with Rom, but beneath that, I could see a new and even greater strength. The muscle hidden just beneath her incredibly soft skin was taught and powerful, her entire body now lean and lithe with controlled strength.
She crawled across the mattress, slinking toward me until she took my cock in her mouth, stroking me quickly back to life with her lips and tongue and as soon as I was completely hard she finished crawling up my body, dragging her breasts across my leg and groin and up my stomach until she was straddling me before she slowly lowered herself down onto my dick.
I pulled her close to me as she started slowly sliding her body up and down my length. When I started to move to meet her though, she pushed down on my stomach and sat up, pressing me into the bed shaking her head. Sweat already dewed her face and her breasts and throat were bright with that flush that I found so attractive on her.
“Nuh-uh,” she moaned and ground herself onto me. “You don’t move. Just lay there and let me do this, let me love you.” What could I do? I smiled and nodded and she started to move again, her hands planted on my chest for balance. She bit her lip, so goddamned alluring, before throwing her head back with a throaty gasp. She was just so beautiful.
I ran my hands up her back until I reached her hair and found the hair tie she used to hold it back. A quick, gentle tug and her damp, fiery locks were falling around her face, just brushing the tops of her breasts as she moved.
I promised I wouldn’t move, as difficult as that was becoming. However, I never promised I wouldn’t touch her. With every movement of her hips I felt a greater and greater desire to thrust up into her, to meet her descending body with upward momentum on each stroke. To distract myself I let my hands explore her smooth skin. Up her thighs, feeling the muscles bunching and lengthening as she moved, across the swell of her ass and up her sides to cup her breasts in my hands.
I could hardly stand not to move. I threw my head back, squeezing her breasts tightly and we both moaned loudly as she started moving faster above me. I gave up holding still and grabbed her hips, thrusting up to meet her with every motion and in moments I was seeing stars with how hard I came.
“Oh God, I love you Chloe,” I groaned as I emptied myself into her again and her body suddenly clamped down on me, her breath catching in her throat, body shaking erratically as she came apart above me. She suddenly threw herself down on my chest and bit me.
The shock that ran through me then was nearly as strong as the orgasm that had shaken me mere seconds before. She bit my chest, just to the left of center, her teeth breaking the skin and gripping the muscle beneath, but instead of the sharp pain I would normally have associated with such an attack, I felt a wave of indescribable pleasure run through my body.
And an equally powerful sense of relief. Yes, Chloe loved me. She loved me as a human, but now it was obvious that her wolf loved mine, that she accepted me wholly as her mate.
Moments later, calmed, and with the sweat drying on our skins she pulled her teeth from my flesh, licking my blood from her lips. She looked down at me with a wide eyed expression etched across her face, her hair a wild and messy tangle, framing her face.
“Was that?” she asked and I nodded.
“Your wolf seems to think I’d make a good mate for you,” I said amused, no, joyful. “You just marked me like I marked you.”
“I don’t even know what happened… I was…” she stopped a moment and flushed again. “I was coming and I just suddenly had this overwhelming urge and I just bit you. It was like it wasn’t even me.”
She slid off of me and curled up against my right side with her head on my shoulder, our legs tangled together. She gently placed her hand on my chest over the rapidly healing imprint of her teeth in my flesh.
“I know why you did it,” I murmured against her hair. She tilted her head and looked questioningly up at me.
“I already marked you. Your body holds a print of my teeth, telling everyone that you belong to me. And since your change, your wolf didn’t like that you hadn’t marked me, knowing that you felt the same for me too. There was nothing to tell other wolf-kind that I’m spoken for. It was only natural for you to mark me in return.” She considered that for a moment before I cupped her cheek in my hand, bringing her attention back to me.
“I belong to you, Chloe Young, mind, body, and soul. And you belong to me.”
That got a smile from her and before I knew it her lips were pressed to mine again and she was pulling me on top of her.
“Come show me what that body can do,” she whispered huskily in my ear. I smiled and I took my time and showed her.
Chapter 22
Chloe
William chuckled and I gasped as the sound vibrated through my body. I opened my mouth to say something glib and his head darted down, his mouth capturing mine in a deep, soul lifting kiss. I sighed out around that kiss in pure contentment and felt William’s fingers twine with mine. He raised both my arms above my head and pressed them into the pillows and sheets.
His hips rocked against mine, his cock growing stiff between us, the friction a pleasurable thing that stoked the fires of my desire for him even higher. He pulled his mouth from mine and I tried to follow it with a cry that sounded petulant.
“You know we’re going to have to sleep at some point,” he said softly, teasing. I opened my mouth to retort, but the smart-assed remark I had primed disappeared into a gasp and throaty moan as he sank his cock deep into my body. He felt so good.
We stared each other in the eye from inches away, and while the last two times we’d made love tonight had been almost frenzied, desperate, and primal. This was something else. This was something softer, gentler. This was the meeting of two souls that were so madly in love with the other they wanted to become one being and stay that way for as long as possible.
William’s eyes slipped shut and he brought his forehead to mine. My body glowed, hummed with a gentle pleasure as he slipped in and out of me in a slow and even rhythm that felt like we could go on this way forever.
His hands left mine, stroking down my arms, as he held himself aloft so as not to crush me or cause discomfort. I cupped his face between my hands and brought his mouth to mine, twining my arms around his shoulders holding him to me as we made love for who knows how long.
When we came, it was a kinder, gentler thing than the orgasms previous. The pleasure radiating out from my center, gently lapping at my edges before washing back in. William smiled down at me, his eyes closing and his head turning to the side as if my gentle cry of release was the sweetest music he’d ever heard. Several deep strokes more and he bowed his head and took his own pleasure.
My body throbbed and pulsed with soft afterglow and I swore it was in time with my beloved’s heartbeat. He carefully vaulted my leg and drew me into his side as we panted and gasped and lay completely spent and satiated in the circle of each other’s arms.
“I love you Chloe Young,” he murmured again and it struck me…
“Reese,” I told him and felt his head jerk as he looked down at me, I didn’t have the energy to look back though.
“What?” he asked.
“Reese,” I panted, “You love me, Chloe Reese.”
William said nothing, simply squeezing me tighter against himself, a deep and contented sigh escaping from him. I smiled.
“I still want a wedding, a human one. It’s every little girl’s dream to get married one day. Our wolves may be cool with a couple of bites and there you have it, but it’s important to me…” I confessed and swallowed hard, nervous; afraid he would dismiss the idea as silly or that he would patronize me like my father would whenever I told him something was important to me. I waited to be… discounted, marginalized, but it didn’t happen. Instead, William squeezed me again, gentler this time and kissed the top of my head with love and tenderness.
“Whatever you want, Sugar. I’d do anything to make you happy.” I snuggled closer, relieved and we were silent for a time.
“I’m glad he did it,” I said somberly. William was silent, and very still beneath me. “I’m glad he did it so we didn’t have to choose, so you didn’t have to…”
“I wouldn’t have, not if you didn’t want it. We are extremely long lived, Sugar. It’s not all sunshine then moonlight runs either but you know that. I am so sorry that this was your introduction to this life. Nothing but pain and blood.” He sounded so unhappy and it made my heart ache for him.
I huffed a small laugh, “It was a rough start, but we’re together now. I know the truth,” I sighed out and reveled in the sensation of his fingers sliding up and down my spine in their gentle caress.
“There are so many things I should have, could have done better.”
“I love you, William Reese. That is what your choices; good, bad, or indifferent have led us to. Something beautiful and something real. I need to hold on to that.” He gave me a gentle squeeze and kissed my hair again.
“Sleep, Chloe,” he murmured and I could hear the weariness in his voice.
“Promise not to let me go,” I said and I knew it sounded weak but I didn’t care.
“Never again, Sugar. Never again,” he solemnly vowed and with a final contented sigh, I slept. We both did, and we slept hard.
I opened my eyes to a murmur of voices. I was still safe and secure in William’s arms, both of us covered by the bed’s crimson sheet, but we had a visitor. Markus leane
d against the metal railing that acted as a safety measure at the top of the spiral stair leading down into the Library. I was really going to have to look through there sometime soon. I wondered what gems were hidden on those shelves…
“Welcome back, Girly.” Markus grated, chewing on a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. I wrinkled my nose a bit at the slight hint of mint I caught from all the way across the room.
“What time is it?” I asked sleepily.
“‘round two o’clock.” I sat up sharply clutching the sheet to my chest. William let me go.
“The meeting! I have so much to learn, I have so many questions!”
“Calm your tits, Princess,” William said laughing and I whirled, frowning and punched him lightly in the arm. “Owe! Hey! You know that hurts a lot more with your new strength,” he chided but I just glared at him.
“It’s not funny! I’m responsible for something like two-hundred people and I don’t even know what we are!” I said forlornly.
Markus laughed, “You picked a fine mate, Boy. I like her. Get dressed you two and meet me in the kitchen. I’ll make breakfast. I figured you’d need a minute so I set the meeting for tomorrow night to give you time to recover. Junior there always tries to do too much at once.” Markus gave a gusty sigh and left the room waving over his shoulder. I felt my shoulders drop and chewed my bottom lip thoughtfully.
“We have a lot to do, don’t we?” I asked and William sat up beside me.
“Yeah, but we’ll do it together. Come on, let’s get dressed. Markus will set us straight. It’s the Arbiter’s job to keep the Pack’s Alpha appraised. We’ll be getting a crash course in politics today I expect.”
“Your father was the Alpha, don’t you know a lot of it already?”
William smiled, “Some but not everything. Father tended to play his cards close to the vest.”
I slipped out of bed and stretched, expecting that delicious sort of soreness from a night of great sex. The kind that left you begging off anymore the next day lest you really hurt yourself and trashed your ability to walk. There wasn’t any. Like not at all. None. Huh, there might be some advantages to this whole wolf-kind thing.
