by Honor James
Resting his forehead against the uninjured part of her back he shook his head slowly. “No, I’ll do it,” he said softly even though the thought of causing her more pain cut him deeper than a knife ever could. Shifting he dug out the bottle and passed her a towel. “You may want to bite into that,” he said as he uncapped the bottle. Putting a light hand to the back of her neck he let out a breath. “Ready?” he asked and held it poised to pour. At her nod he slowly let it dribble down her back to the towels on the floor under her.
She hissed and then gulped. “More, faster, Miklos, don’t do it slow. It’s more painful.” Like a Band-Aid, you had to do it fast and that was all there was to it. Tears were falling down her face but she didn’t bite on the towel, just trusted him to do it quickly.
Grinding his teeth he poured it over her as quickly as he could and still control where it went. Once her whole wound had been drenched he stopped and, capping the bottle again, set it aside. Shifting he moved to her side to lay his forehead against her leg. “I’m sorry, Harker.”
She placed her hands on his hair and stroked it. “Don’t be sorry, Miklos, you did what I asked you to do. I promise, love, it really is all right.” She moved slightly. “I’m sorry I made you do that, Mik. I should have taken care of it, I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault,” he said, lifting his head to look at her. “I just hate the thought of you in pain and I know from experience that it’s not all that enjoyable.” Stroking his fingers up and down her shin he sighed. “We should put on the salve and then cover it up, no reason to test the fates on you getting an infection.”
“Thank you for doing it, and believe me, I knew it would hurt before I had you do that. I have done that to myself more than once and it hurts like crazy, but it does make it feel better sooner.” He would know that if he had done it before as well. “But yes, salve and bandage please.”
Kissing her leg gently he shifted once more and carefully put on the salve before applying the bandage and tape. “All done,” he said a while later, stroking her good shoulder, his fingers moving over the bite he’d given her gently. “We should clean this up, too, love,” he told her. “Cotton swab with some of the peroxide would probably be best though.”
As his fingers stroked her she practically purred. “All right.” Looking back at him she continued. “I love that you bit me, Miklos, that I am going to be marked as yours but I have to ask.” Her hand reached up and touched his. “How will you ever change me if you get ill making me hurt?” She had thought he was going to hurl at just putting peroxide on her injury. She had no idea what it would do to him to change her fully.
“I’m going to get as intoxicated as possible and we can both lay about moaning and groaning about it,” he told her, and he was perfectly serious. “I’ve always hated others’ pain. I can’t stand to see someone hurting. Probably why I went into police work and not into medicine. I’d have been constantly nauseous and you can’t really take your doctor serious if he’s in the can throwing up.”
“This is very true.” She grinned and shook her head. “Honey, I am so sorry.” She sighed and leaned in to kiss him. “We will both get as drunk as we can, love, just so that we can get through you making me like you are, love.” She wanted forever, she really did, but she was nervous and afraid.
Chapter 18
“You don’t have to, Harker,” he told her again. “I’m not going to force you into something that you aren’t ready for. And you’re not,” he said, stroking his fingers over her arm. “I get that, you’re afraid and I understand it, I really do. I just want you to be happy and if you’re happier staying human so be it, the choice is clear.”
“I’m afraid, Miklos, yes.” She wasn’t going to deny that fact. “I’m terrified but I’m more afraid of something else.” When he looked up at her she cupped his cheeks. “I’m more afraid of not having you in my life any longer, I’m terrified of putting you in a place where you could be hurt defending your human mate, and I’m afraid that this one lifetime just won’t be enough for me. I need more than the limits of my human body, I know that, but I’m scared.”
“I wish I could make it easier, Harker, but I honestly don’t know what to expect. I’ve only been around one other change and it was from a distance.” And the screams, when he thought of them, still sent chills down his spine. He honestly didn’t know if it was from the change or something else. “I’m going to try and find another Wolf that has changed a human to Wolf, then we will both have the answers we need. Until then, let’s just enjoy each other, you heal, and I’ll try to toughen up my reactions to pain. But, know this now, you stub your toe and I’m likely to pass out. Just saying.” He smiled faintly at her.
“I will keep that in mind. However, do not have a heart attack when it is time for me to go back to work, Miklos. I have a very dangerous job and I do sometimes get hurt, love. You will simply have to believe that I can survive this, I can handle this, and I will do this. However, you can’t wrap me in bubble wrap and keep me in there.” It was the world they lived in, simple.
“I know, I’m not happy about it, but I’m working on getting to an accepting place. Thankfully I’ll have a few days to work on it.” Glancing away a moment later he took her hands, kissed both palms, and then pushed to his feet. “Let me clean the bite and then we’ll get you dressed,” he said softly. Picking up the bottle of peroxide he took out a cotton puff and, drenching it, moved to her back. “Ready?” he asked.
She moved her hair to the side and nodded. “I’m ready.” As she looked back at him she grinned. “And by the way, you have more than a few days. I won’t be going back to work until the back is completely and totally healed. So I have been put off for a minimum of six months, so you have me, love.”
Gently he began wiping at her wound. “Sorry,” he said as she flinched. “You really are off for six months?” he asked. At her nod he let out a breath and tossed the cotton puff out. “Done,” he told her. “While I’m glad you’re going to be around for so much time, I’m just sorry I’m going to be working so much of it.”
“It’s all right, I’m a big girl and I’m perfectly fine alone. However, the house seems to have a pissy attitude with someone coming back to work after major surgery and coma.” She shrugged. “Don’t know why, I feel wonderful.” She felt better than wonderful. She felt something she never had before and it was a feeling she wanted to keep. “Just don’t be surprised to come home and find me cooking up a storm or inviting your brothers over. I’ve become used to having people around me all the time so you will come home to a houseful every night.”
Lifting his brows up at that he shook his head. “Good luck on that,” he told her. “Janos will be a no-show pretty much continuously. Ben might show up depending what night it is of the week. Kris could show up or completely forget. He’s a little flighty but he’s a genius so we let it slide. And then there’s Laz.” He stopped with that and just shook his head. “But I think you should at least try. Who knows, maybe they’ll give in just to come and meet you,” he told her with a smile.
“I will ask Janos’s mate to come over and that will bring him. Along the way I will force Ben and Kris, even if I have to call them nonstop to get them to come.” She shrugged. “As for your big brother, he will come if only to keep me in line.” She snickered. “That or I will take the party to his house.”
Miklos stared at her and shook his head. “I wouldn’t, love,” he told her softly. “Laz is extremely protective of his space and the peace he gets from it. He only lets us in at Christmas and that’s a battle for him. Don’t intrude there unless you’re invited, please,” he asked her gently. “He’s earned his right to be alone when he chooses. He’s done so much for us all that we abide by his choice.”
“And he deserves his family close to him, too.” But she wouldn’t push. She knew that and hoped that Miklos would see that in her as well. “I won’t push, but I will ask, constantly.” She grinned and shook her head. “I will send Demon to
issue him an invitation. She has as much bite as any Wolf would, that I’m sure of.”
Smiling he nodded. “She may end up with bite marks in places she’ll never want to admit to so tell her to go in body armor.” Miklos might not ‘like’ Desmonda, but he wouldn’t wish his brother in a mood on even his worst enemy. “Dessie Do Right is an interesting choice to sic on the big bad Wolf though.”
Harker shrugged and grinned. “You’re right, I likely shouldn’t do that because knowing Demon she would shoot him rather than ask him for dinner.” She chewed her lip. “She really isn’t as bad as you are thinking she is, Mik. She was hurt really badly about fifteen years ago.” Harker and Demon went way back. “She was engaged. Yep I know, hard to believe.” She saw the look on his face and shook her head.
“I think I need to hear this one,” Miklos said as he watched her doubtfully. He’d believe it when he heard it. Until then Dessie was the Devil herself come to Earth to make his life a living hell.
“She really thought she had loved him, I mean really thought he was ‘the one’ and then one day she came home early. She had just gotten a promotion in the store we worked in.” She sighed and toyed with his fingers. “He had just finished telling her how much he loved her and how he couldn’t wait to start a family with her, but later when they were both established in their careers.” Harker had a hard time telling this story, because it had jaded even Harker against men. “When she got home she was quiet because he had told her he didn’t feel well.” She licked her lips and stroked her hands over his before linking them.
“So she let herself into their home, and heard voices. Thinking that it was him needing help she walked into the hall and just outside of their bedroom she saw him in the bed naked with her sister, and telling her that he was only with Demon because of the money.” Now to tell him the rest. “See, Demon’s real father left her a lot, and I do mean a lot, of money. However, she never really wanted it. It sat in a bank because she was very much of the mind that she had to work for what she got.” She smiled a sad smile. “And then when her sister, stepsister by the way, told him that she was pregnant he was happy.” She sighed. “Demon had wanted a child so badly, was desperate for a child. However, three months earlier when she had come to him and told him she was pregnant he made her get an abortion, he had told her time and again that they were too young.” She didn’t know exactly everything that happened after that. “After that she closed herself off from everything, she was hurt on a level you will never understand, Miklos, and because of that hurt she will never let herself care for anyone again. She hates herself because she did have an abortion, she got rid of a child that she had wanted because she had believed in him, in their ‘love.’”
Staring at her Miklos didn’t know what to say to that. It just didn’t fit the person he knew or rather, the person Desmonda portrayed to the world. “Holy shit,” he breathed out softly. It explained a lot, but good god. He shook his head as his mind spun madly. “I’m not going to stop bugging her,” he said. “No matter what happened in her past. But I feel for her. For a Wolf a child is a blessing. It’s a tie to the future, to what might be, to something better than we could ever dream of or hope for. To do what he’d demanded”—he shook his head—“that’s cruelty beyond anything I could ever dream up.”
Harker nodded. “She loves kids. She has set up a private trust at the Children’s Hospital so that they can treat any child, regardless of cost. I wasn’t kidding when I said a lot of money. He made Rockefeller look poor.” She shrugged. “They built a new hospital but she refused to allow her name on it, which is why it is simply called ‘Children’s Hospital’ because she doesn’t want anyone to know that she really is a softy under all that.” Looking up at him she added, “And I don’t expect you to stop bugging her. It works for the two of you but I just wanted you to know that she isn’t the person she wants everyone to believe. I wanted you to know why I love her like a sister and would do anything I could for her.”
Cupping her face gently in his hands he nodded. “I get it, I really do, love,” he said softly. “And if she was ever in need I’d help her out without even a thought or concern. But if you ever tell her that, I will disavow all knowledge in regards to you and deny it until my dying day. I’ll try to be nicer to her, but she bugs the hell out of me,” he said with a peeved look. “I swear she thinks I’m going to beat you or something.”
“Likely she does.” She shrugged. “She loved him, but he had beaten her as well. He was not a nice man at all.” And if she ever found him Harker would likely scoop his balls out with a spoon. “And you can bug her all you want to, love. I won’t argue or stand in the way.”
But now he felt bad about it. Miklos wasn’t a mean guy. He tried to be nice to everyone, but Des got under his skin, especially with the way she acted when she looked at him. “You know his name?” he asked curiously, his mind already thinking about turning the ass in to one of the packs, they’d make sure he was never found again.
“Oh yeah but I’m not telling because I’m looking for him, Miklos. I get first shot at his punk-ass self.” She was fierce where her family and friends were concerned and Desmonda was both. She was family and friend. “Now, I think that you and I need to do something other than think of Desi, with both of us being all nice and naked still.” Yeah her back still smarted, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could be.
“You should be getting dressed, as should I,” he pointed out even as he backed her toward the vanity. Lifting her up he sat her on the edge and stepped between her legs. “But then again, the best laid plans do occasionally go awry when two people that are hot for one another are naked. This would not be the first time.”
She scooted forward on the vanity and wrapped her legs around his waist. “I need you.” Her head bent close to him, allowing her mouth to move over his chest, teeth to scrape along the soft flesh under his chin, and she shivered when she felt the head of his cock pressing against her weeping pussy. “Please,” she begged softly, needy in her words.
Stepping closer he slid his hands up her legs to spread her for him as he eased into her heat. “God,” he bit out, “you’re so damned wet.” He moaned, amazed at her need nearly matching his own. Pushing into her slick pussy he shuddered as her body pulled his cock deeper, inviting him all the way into her body.
“Only for you.” She didn’t think anything or anyone could have ever given her this pleasure, this intense happiness and joy. “God you’re so big,” She panted and then gasped as she moved slightly to take him deeper into her body. “And feel so right.” He was perfect. He was everything she had ever needed, everything she hadn’t known she had needed.
“Hold on to me, love. I don’t want to add a second concussion to your list of injuries,” he warned her as he bit her ear gently. Sliding almost all the way out of her grasping pussy he pushed his cock back in hard and fast, his grip on her legs the only thing keeping her from smacking into the mirror behind her.
She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist. Holding onto him she placed her hands on the vanity and lifted herself slightly, screaming as she did so and letting her head fall back in amazement and wonder. “Yes!” she cried out and did it again, lifting herself to take his cock harder, deeper.
Smiling at her enthusiasm Miklos took her harder, carefully keeping her from hurting herself on anything. Leaning over her he took her nipple into his mouth, his tongue flicking over her flesh and his teeth gently pulling and scraping over her.
She loved the way it felt, to not only be a part of him but also to be watching him, facing him. “I love the way you look, I love the way you look as we make love.” She breathed as she watched everything, watched all he did and then felt her body clenching him, felt her body tense in reaction and her breath leave her body in the stirrings of her orgasm.
“I love you,” he breathed out softly as he moved even faster, flesh smacking flesh the only sounds beyond their heavy breathing. “I love you,” he whispered again
right before he let out a deep-throated growl. Bucking into her body again he came, hard and fast, shaking as he pulled her closer to him.
She hugged him closer, too, and sobbed. “I love you, too, Miklos, I love you, I love you.” She breathed and felt her answering orgasm. She felt her body tense, felt his cock swell, and cried out in the midst of her orgasm, the intensity of the moment making her eyes blur as she held onto him for dear life.
Carefully cradling her close to him he lifted her up into his arms and moved toward the bedroom slowly. Sitting on the bed slowly he rubbed at her back gently, enjoying the softness of her skin as she was draped over him. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” he asked softly.
She nodded, her head on his chest and limp in his arms. “I am more than all right.” She breathed. “Perfect, I don’t think anything could be more perfect than this, these moments like this.” She yawned and sighed. “Sleepy again though.” But she wouldn’t go to sleep. She had slept too much already and needed to be awake so they could do more, so they could eat and go out possibly. “We will go and pack up my house today, okay?”
Nodding he lifted a hand and lightly ran his open palm over her hair, being careful not to pull at it. But he needed to stroke her, like he hoped she’d do to him in both his forms. Wolves were sensory beasts and loved to be touched, something else he’d need to teach her and enjoy as well. “We’ll go once we eat,” he promised her.
She leaned into his hand. “I like that, Miklos. I like having you touching my hair.” And that in and of itself was something telling there. “Will you keep doing that please?” Never stop touching me, her mind begged even as her body melted against him.
Slowly he kept doing as she asked. His hand nice and light, he wasn’t willing to cause any pain given the trust she was giving him. “I’ll touch you as much as you want,” he told her with a smile. “When you go back to work I may just have to find an excuse to come around the house and see you. Think the guys will be shocked to find out you’re into me and not Des?” he asked her in a teasing tone.
