Salvadore's Luck

by Odessa Lynne

  Wolf raised his head. His eyes glimmered and his face looked flushed. “We should mate now.”

  “Me rubbing your head makes you want to fuck? That wasn’t what I thought that meant.”

  “Whenever you touch me, I want to fuck. When I smell you, I want to fuck. When I hear your voice, I want to fuck.”

  “That’s your heat talking. I’m still not convinced this is going to last.” Said defiantly, because he was so close to blurting out those feelings that had smacked into him inside that building that he was strangling on them.

  “My heat explains why my cock hardens the instant I smell you, but it can’t explain the way my heart hurts when you hurt, or why I want to keep you with me forever. Those aren’t feelings of lust or of the heat. They’re the feelings of a mate.” Wolf nuzzled Salvadore’s belly. “It’s my heat that urges me to put my claws in your neck and hold you down no matter how hard you struggle so I can take what is mine, but it is my care for you that makes me control myself, because I know you aren’t one of us, that if I give in to my instincts, I’ll hurt you, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Salvadore swallowed, not unaware of the strange conflict twisting through him.

  Wolf’s hand moved to Salvadore’s stomach, slowly rucking up the bottom of Salvadore’s shirt. Wolf’s claws came out and began a careful scrape across Salvadore’s skin and through the hair on his chest.

  Salvadore cleared his throat. “I think I might be falling in love with you.”

  Wolf lifted his head. The skin around Wolf’s eyes crinkled and the sharp points of his teeth came into view. “Good.”

  Fuck. That told him nothing.

  “Do you—I mean, is that something you can feel? Do you fall in love?” Salvadore’s heart beat painfully hard as he asked the question.

  Wolf’s mouth dropped to the exposed flesh of Salvadore’s stomach and he started kissing his way down to the waistband of Salvadore’s jeans. A second later, Salvadore felt the snap and pull of his fly being opened. He tried to reach for Wolf’s hands, but they moved too fast, and then Wolf yanked Salvadore’s jeans right out from under his ass. He flipped Salvadore onto his stomach so fast that Salvadore didn’t have time to react with anything but a gasp. His legs were caught in his jeans at the knees and his shirt had ridden up to mid-chest.

  Salvadore turned his head, smushing his ear into the soft bedding. Wolf leaned over him and whispered into his other ear, “There’s nowhere to fall, only somewhere to be. I’m there.”

  Salvadore grabbed a handful of the blanket under him. “Is that a yes?”

  “You are my life. I don’t know how much clearer I can be.”

  “You can say you love me, goddammit. I mean, we might as well be married already, right?”

  A puff of breath into Salvadore’s ear made his whole body jerk. He tried to look over his shoulder but Wolf’s hand pressed into the side of his face, holding him tight to the bed.

  “I love you,” Wolf growled into his ear.

  Salvadore shivered again and made an embarrassing sound somewhere between a moan and a whimper. “Say it again.”

  “I love you. You are my life.”

  “I was wrong,” Salvadore said, whisper soft, the words almost too scary to let free. “I’m already in love with you and it’s stupid. I’ve only known you for a couple of days.”

  “Then you will enjoy learning more about me in the years to come.” Wolf’s hand moved off Salvadore’s face and a moment later, Salvadore felt a kiss on the back of his thigh.

  Salvadore stifled a giggle and twisted his arm half out of its socket trying to reach around and smack at Wolf’s head. “Stop it! That tickles.”

  “Submit!” A growl followed, and then something wet and warm swiped from the back of Salvadore’s knee all the way up to the crease below his buttock.

  Salvadore tensed. “Did you just fucking lick me?”

  Teeth nipped at Salvadore’s ass cheek. A hot flush suffused his body as he remembered their first time in the woods.

  “You know, there’s somewhere else you could put that tongue.”

  Wolf scraped his teeth along Salvadore’s skin, getting closer to the crease of Salvadore’s ass.

  Salvadore tried to control his overeager breathing. “I don’t care what you say, I think you’ve been reading my mind.”

  He wanted that tongue on his asshole.

  “We don’t read minds,” Wolf said. “We listen to them.”

  “That’s the same damn thing.” Salvadore tried to push up on his arms, but Wolf’s hand landed flat and firm in the center of his back and shoved him back down on the bed.

  “Someone has to be speaking for us to hear. You speak to me often.”

  “I do?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

  “I knew you weren’t being completely truthful when you told me you thought you loved me.”

  “You thought I was lying?” His outrage didn’t quite come through in his breathless question because Wolf had chosen that moment to part the cheeks of Salvadore’s ass. “Oh fuck.”

  Wolf’s tongue was hot and wet and scraped across Salvadore’s tight pucker without a second’s hesitation. Salvadore’s whole body jerked and he whimpered a sound that would have humiliated him under any other circumstances. He tried to crawl up onto his knees and open his ass for Wolf so he would have unimpeded access, but Wolf yanked Salvadore back.

  Wolf’s breathing seemed to hasten as he worked over Salvadore’s tight asshole.

  “Oh fuck,” Salvadore gasped. “That feels so good. I never knew—” But he couldn’t continue. He just gasped and groaned and felt saliva tickling the underside of his balls as Wolf tongue-fucked him with deliberate abandon.

  Salvadore felt like a rag doll when Wolf pulled away, and his cock throbbed with the pulse of his heartbeat. Wolf flipped him over.

  “The lubricant,” Wolf said gruffly. “I cannot wait another moment. It wouldn’t be safe. It’s—” Wolf’s glassy-eyed gaze fixed on Salvadore’s throat.

  Salvadore started kicking off his pants, his cock bobbing with his every move.

  Wolf shook his head as if trying to wake up from a rough sleep. “I shouldn’t have waited so long.”

  Salvadore found the lube an arm’s length away on the blanket and he snatched it up. He didn’t waste time preparing himself, but Wolf made it awkward by dropping forward onto him and rutting against his leg while he was trying to smear lube over his hole.

  He’d just pulled his hand away when Wolf shoved inside.

  Salvadore yelped.

  The pain of the fast entry faded as quickly as it came, but it had been enough to make him realize just how close they’d come to letting things go too far.

  A cold sweat prickled under his skin and he promised himself he wouldn’t make that mistake again. No point making Wolf have to fight so hard to maintain control when Salvadore was perfectly willing to have Wolf fucking him whenever he needed it.

  He wrapped his arms around Wolf’s neck and held on while Wolf fucked himself into oblivion.

  Chapter 27

  Sometime later—a lot later—Salvadore rolled onto his stomach and groaned, trying to hide his head under one of the many pillows crowding the end of the bed where his head was. He wasn’t exactly sure what was supposed to be the top or bottom because of the windows all around and the fact that there was no head board or foot board. Square beds weren’t exactly common.

  For good reason he decided. He was pretty sure his feet were hanging over the edge and the air was too damn cool for that.

  “Ugh.”

  Something tickled the sole of his foot.

  He kicked out, yelling, and flipped over, pillows flying.

  Wolf stared back at him from the edge of the bed beside his foot. He set a tray on the bed and then sat down beside it. He looked well-rested and clear-eyed, wearing clean trousers and another plain black t-shirt.

  Salvadore sat up and rubbed his face. “That was mean.”

  �
�You’ve slept long enough.”

  “Thanks mom.”

  Wolf looked at him oddly.

  Salvadore waved his arm. “A joke.”

  “Another bad joke. I’m your mate, not your mother.”

  “Well, if you’d ever met my mother—step-mom really, you might wonder.”

  Wolf tilted his head. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Hey, is that cocoa? I haven’t had hot cocoa in years.”

  Salvadore had reached for the tray, but Wolf pushed his hands away and picked up the cup himself.

  “Come here,” he said. “Let me show my appreciation for your submission earlier.”

  “Uh. Sure.” Salvadore went to his knees and crossed to where Wolf had sat on the edge of the bed.

  He leaned in and Wolf gently cupped the back of his head and slowly guided the cup to Salvadore’s lips.

  He took one sip and almost gagged at the bitterness coating his tongue.

  He started coughing and shoved the cup away. He looked at Wolf with utter betrayal on his face. “What the hell is this?”

  Wolf looked down at the cup of dark brown liquid and back to Salvadore’s face. “We can’t drink this so I couldn’t taste it for you. Did I make it wrong?”

  Salvadore tried to wipe his tongue off with his fingers but it didn’t really work. “It tastes like—I don’t even know what it tastes like.”

  “It’s goat’s milk and chocolate.”

  Goat’s milk?

  “Did you put any sugar in it at all?”

  Wolf looked at the cup again. “I didn’t realize it was supposed to be sweetened.”

  “No wonder it was bad.”

  Wolf met his gaze and the look in his eyes twisted Salvadore’s stomach. He patted Wolf’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’ll tell you how to make it right if you want to try again sometime.”

  Wolf exhaled softly. “I’ve failed to take care of you properly again.”

  “No, no, you haven’t.” Salvadore gestured toward the small squares of cheese. “I like cheese.”

  A few minutes later, Salvadore gave Wolf a brilliant smile and choked down another bite of the most unpleasant tasting cheese he’d ever eaten.

  Goddamn. Being in love was hard work.

  Wolf gave Salvadore an impatient look and set aside the plate.

  “No, no, I’m not done,” Salvadore said, reaching again.

  Wolf pushed the tray farther away. “You keep eating it, but you don’t like it.”

  Salvadore winced. “It’s—kind of disgusting.”

  One of Wolf’s eyebrows quirked. “Was that so hard to admit?”

  Salvadore frowned. “You wanted me not to like it?”

  “No. I want you to tell me when I’m not meeting your needs. Feeding you food you don’t like doesn’t show my gratitude for your submission. You can’t let me insult you this way.”

  “But you were trying to be nice to me.”

  “We are mates.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “It’s my obligation—my duty—to care for you after we mate. Submission demands respect. I can’t give you the respect you deserve if you don’t tell me what you need.”

  Salvadore took in a few deep breaths, contemplating Wolf and what he thought Wolf was trying to tell him. “You want me to complain if I’m not happy? That’s bullshit. Nobody likes a fucking complainer.”

  Wolf pushed Salvadore backward on the bed, catching Salvadore by surprise. He fell into the soft mattress with a startled “oomph,” bouncing a little on impact.

  Wolf crawled up Salvadore’s body. “I want you to tell me if I’m not fulfilling my obligations. I need you to tell me. We expect it of each other. How can we learn if we don’t know there’s something to learn?”

  “You could always read my mind.”

  “I’ve told you—”

  Salvadore cut Wolf off with a kiss. Wolf reacted with unexpected ferocity, and he sucked Salvadore’s bottom lip between his teeth. Salvadore’s eyes widened and he grabbed the back of Wolf’s head and pulled him in for more.

  Several minutes later, Salvadore broke free, breathing heavily. “I can tell you one thing I need. I want somebody to suck my dick right now.”

  He guided Wolf’s hand down to his cock, already gone completely hard with blood. His last orgasm had come at his own hand, while Wolf was mostly out of it with his heat.

  Wolf’s eyes met his. “You need rest.”

  “I’ll rest better after I come.”

  “If I suck your dick now, breathing in your scent while you’re so excited will probably cause my next heat cycle to come early. You won’t have any time to recover, and there are things we need to talk about—soon.”

  Wolf’s serious tone took Salvadore aback. He scooted back on the bed and sat up and Wolf didn’t try to stop him. “Like what?”

  “Your family.”

  It was as if cold water had been splashed across Salvadore’s face. “What about them? Do you know who those people were that kidnapped us? Or where I can find Chen and El?”

  Wolf was already shaking his head. “We don’t. While you were sleeping, I met with Alpha, and then I talked with—” He named someone in the wolves’ language, a name either Salvadore hadn’t heard before—he’d started to be able to pick out the opening syllables of Egan’s and Reed’s names there at the end of their journey because he’d heard them so many times—or simply one too complicated for him to remember. But in the end it didn’t matter because Wolf paused and then said, “Rae, she calls herself to humans. She’ll gather as much information from you as possible about what happened to you. Anything you tell her might help her narrow down a starting point.”

  “I have no idea where to look,” Salvadore said even as a warmth unfurled inside at the notion that Wolf was making an effort to use the wolves’ human friendly names for him. “I was blindfolded and we drove around for a while. We could have been going in circles or we could have traveled twenty or thirty miles in any direction.”

  Wolf cupped the side of Salvadore’s face. “I meant what I said. We’ll do everything we can to find them once it’s safe. But until heat season ends, there’s not much we can do. It isn’t safe for any of us to be out of the den. Alpha says First Alpha has started enforcing certain rules to help keep our conflict with the renegades under control and to keep our human mates and allies safe. Those bullets make it even more dangerous for all of us.”

  “Bullets? What bullets?”

  “Those that killed—” He said something that was in all probability the names of two more wolves. “—and almost killed Egan and several others.”

  “Wait a minute. Gage had some kind of special wolf-killing bullets?”

  “Yes.”

  A sick dread roiled in Salvadore’s stomach. “That device… the one I gave Gage. What if—”

  “Shh.” Wolf’s finger landed on Salvadore’s lips, firm and warm. “You don’t know what that device is.”

  Salvadore talked around Wolf’s finger. “No, but what if—”

  Wolf shook his head. “We’ll describe it to Rae. She’ll find out. Until then, don’t dwell on it.” Then Wolf lowered his hand.

  “I’ll return it all,” Salvadore said. “All the tech my father stole, everything I’ve got.”

  Wolf nodded and reached for the tray. “I’ll go find better food for you, and after I come back and feed you, I’ll suck your dick before you have your examination.”

  Salvadore was half way to leaning back on his elbows on the bed by the time Wolf came to the word “examination” and he quickly sat back up. “I don’t need any kind of alien probing,” he said with feeling.

  Wolf snorted and started out of the room. “We’ll save the alien probing for my next heat cycle.”

  Despite the seriousness of the conversation they’d just had, Salvadore laughed so hard he thought he was going to crack a rib.

  * * *

  The day had turned dreary and gray as evening appr
oached. Wolf had gone again, this time hurriedly, but he hadn’t explained why. Salvadore had been too tired to complain because Wolf had been right: after he’d sucked Salvadore’s dick, he’d gotten excited and demanding and he’d fucked Salvadore several times before they’d both drifted off to sleep.

  Salvadore hadn’t left the upstairs room yet, but Wolf had told him he could, that the entire place belonged to them until Wolf assumed his new place in Alpha Rick’s pack. He’d finally figured out that Rick was the human friendly name for the golden-eyed alpha that had so scared Salvadore in that cabin just days ago.

  Salvadore had used the bathroom to clean up some but hadn’t showered because Wolf had told him that not showering was actually safer for him. Wolf had said they would still have their own place in the massive complex of houses and other facilities that made up the den but that it was important for them to be closer to their pack.

  Their pack.

  That had been an awkward moment. Apparently Egan had been right about that. Salvadore had a pack—and it didn’t matter that he was human or that he hadn’t asked to be part of the pack. Wolf expected Salvadore to prove his submission to the alpha, and then Salvadore would be another one of the alpha’s beta and he’d have to run around calling the guy Alpha the same way Wolf and Egan and Reed did.

  Salvadore was standing at one of the windows, looking out at the scudding clouds and watching the wind pick up when he caught sight of someone slipping around the side of the house. He leaned into the window but the angle was wrong, so he crossed to the wall on the left and looked down through that window instead. He saw a flash of blue and a head of hair disappear under him and then heard the door downstairs open quietly.

  He ran for the bedroom door. Without waiting to see who it was—if it’d been Wolf, he would have recognized that head, he was sure of it—he pushed his shoulder into the door and held on to the knob tightly. He had no idea how to work the panel beside the door that probably controlled the door’s locking mechanism; it didn’t look anything like a p-lock’s standard lock screen and even if it was, he didn’t know the code he’d have to swipe across it to make it work.

  His heart thudded and his palms got sweaty and his underarms overheated as he stayed in place for a good five minutes, too afraid to release the door.