by Zena Wynn
****
Hours and multiple orgasms later, as Von lay with her head on his chest, their bodies still intimately joined, Sean began to speak.
“We came in by boat and hiked to what Intel told us was Tango’s last known position. Our mission was to slip in quietly, take them out, and ease back out the country with none the wiser. But when we got there, the bastards were ready for us.”
He took a deep breath and grounded himself in the feel of his woman’s arms around him. “Pyro and Brick bought it in the firefight.”
Von sucked in a sharp breath, but didn’t move otherwise.
“They threw us inside of a metal building with no windows. A fucking hellhole in the middle of nowhere that flooded whenever it rained, which was constantly. No food, undrinkable water. It was a nightmare—” He broke off, even now unable to tell his sweet, innocent Von of the torture he’d suffered. “They planned to kill us after they got what they wanted.”
“How did you get free?”
Sean stroked her back, the quiet settling around them while he debated on how to explain this next part. Finally, he decided to tell her straight out. She’d discover the truth of his words soon enough.
“Spook had a secret that turned out to be our salvation. He’s Lycan born and offered to make us Lycan, too.”
Von raised her head to look at him. “Lycan, like in the movies?”
Watching her warily for her reaction, he answered, “Yeah.”
“You’re saying Spook’s a werewolf, and he made you guys werewolves, too?”
She didn’t verbally refute him, but he could tell she didn’t believe him. He firmly pressed the back of her head until she laid it down on his chest again. While gently massaging her scalp, he explained the process of becoming Lycan. “Ferret and Eagle didn’t survive. Only me, Weasel and Monk did. After our first change, those who survived, escaped.”
The change wasn’t fast, nor was it easy. It was loud, slow, and agonizing. He’d screamed, they all had, the pain more excruciating than anything he’d ever experienced, the reshaping of their bones and ligaments sounding like gunshots in the night air. Spook, whose change was quicker and easier, took out the guard that came to see what all the commotion was about. While he was still feasting on the man’s flesh, the rest of them burst out of the building.
Some of events of that night were hazy. Others in full vivid Technicolor, seared on his brain, never to be forgotten. Some of their captors ran screaming, “Los Diablos Lobos,” devil wolves. Others rained a hail of gunfire to no avail. In the end, they accomplished their mission, though in the end it would take DNA testing to tell which bone belonged to which terrorist.
His stomach lurched as he remembered how he’d killed, tearing men apart with his bare, clawed hands, blood running a river down his muzzle and chest as he fed on their remains.
Von placed her hands on his chest and pushed to a seated position, straddling his hips. Then she leaned forward and planted her hand beside his head, getting right in his face. “Whatever you did to survive, no matter how brutal, I’m glad. I’m sure they deserved it.”
She was reading him, feeling his guilt. He shook his head, negating her words.
“Yes.”
“You don’t understand.”
She sat straight and crossed her arms over her chest. “Then explain it to me.”
“The whole thing should have never fucking happened,” he exploded. “I knew something was off. I felt it here.” He punched his chest with his fist. “I should have aborted the mission. Because I didn’t follow my instincts, six good soldiers died. Six men. My men.”
Sean blinked rapidly to combat the sting of tears in his eyes, and when that wasn’t effective enough, threw his forearm over his face.
Von pushed it out the way and gathered his head to her breasts, murmuring comforting words. Sean grabbed her in a bear hug and let it all out with no fear that she’d think him less a man for expressing his grief at what happened. She rained kisses all over his hair and neck, any place her mouth could reach. Then she held him while he cried.
When the storm eased, he rolled them over until he was on top and nudged her legs apart. As he settled his hips in her cradle, he kissed her deeply, his tongue in her mouth. Then he kissed each eyelid, the tip of her nose, each cheek, and her chin before returning to her lips. “Thank you for listening.”
She placed her hand on his cheek, an intense look of love on her face. “Always.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. Then, “A werewolf, huh?”
Sean allowed a smile to escape. “Yeah.”
“You really expect me to believe that?”
“You will, come the first full moon.”
She arched one eyebrow. “You’re saying you only change with the moon?”
“Then, or when in the grip of extreme emotion, then our wolf half comes to the forefront,” he explained.
Von’s gazed searched his face. “You really believe that you’re a werewolf, don’t you?”
He shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but if what you’re saying is true, why doesn’t the military have you locked up in some scientist’s lab, studying you?”
Sean laughed at her suspicious nature. “Because, they already know about Lycans. I’m told they have units full of them. One of which I’ll be joining if I decide to re-enlist.”
Diverted from the topic at hand, Von asked, “You’re thinking of coming out?”
Straight-faced, he told her, “That depends on you.”
“On me? How so?”
He placed his forearms on either side of her head and leaned in close. “I love you, Von, and want you to be my wife. If you won’t leave with me, I’ll stay here with you. Either way, I won’t leave your side.”
“Sean...” Her gaze bounced around the room, looking everywhere but at him.
“Hush, I know you’re not ready to hear this, but I want you to know I’m not playing any games. I’m in this for the long haul. I love you and I believe you love me, too. I know we belong together. I’ll give you the time you need to figure it out,” he promised.
He kissed her mouth closed. “Now it’s late, or early, depending upon your perspective, and we’ve had a long tiring day. Let’s get some rest before I forget you’re totally new at this loving business and take you again.”
She glanced down their bodies to his erection that lay on her mound. “Well, maybe once more wouldn’t hurt.”
Sean groaned and shook his head, then kissed her hard on the lips. “I’ve created a monster.” He shifted to lie on her right and reached for the light.
Von’s hand landed on his stomach and moved lower as the room went dark. “Are you sure?” she asked, her voice temptation itself.
Capturing it, he used her arm to turn her around so he could spoon her body. When she wriggled her ass against his cock, he popped her on the butt. “Behave, woman.”
She giggled but settled down. Soon the sound of her steady, deep even breaths filled the room. Sean pulled her closer, marveling once again at what a fool Hooch was to let someone as precious as this woman get away. Hooch’s loss was his gain, and unlike Hooch, Sean recognized the treasure he held and there was no way he was letting her go.
He vowed it to the heavens as he followed her into sleep.
Chapter Ten
Von woke totally surrounded by a hard male body. Sean’s chin rested on her head. Her head lay on his arm. His body snuggled against her back. His other arm was thrown over her waist and curled between her breasts, holding her close, his muscular leg entangled between hers. There would be no easing out of bed without his knowledge.
The side of her face where Derrick hit her throbbed and she had a mild headache because of it. Her bladder needed to be emptied and she ached in places she didn’t know she had muscles due to the sexual excesses of last night. Yet Von had never been more content or fulfilled than she was at this moment.
The
guilt she expected to feel was missing. Instead she felt a connection with Sean that made the love she’d felt for Derrick seem childish in comparison. Pastor Derrick always warned the women to be careful who they joined their bodies with. He said that sex was more than scratching an itch. That when a man and woman engaged in sexual intercourse, along with a physical joining came a spiritual one as well. That’s where the term soul ties came from.
Is this what she was feeling with Sean, a soul tie? She finally understood what the bible meant when it said, “and the two shall become one.” She could feel Sean in the depths of her soul, as though they were no longer two separate beings but one individual.
Her mind argued what she was feeling was wrong. That going straight from Derrick’s arms to Sean’s was too much like her mother, Nookie, going from man to man with barely a break in between. She’d spent most of her life listening to that voice, making decisions on the basis of not wanting to be like her mother.
For the first time, Von took a good look at her life, not through the eyes of the child she’d been, but through the eyes of the woman she’d become.
She was twenty-four, almost twenty-five years old. She’d finished high school without getting pregnant, graduating in the top five of her class. She’d also finished four years of college with honors, earned her degree and had a job in her field of study making good money. She had her own apartment, her own car, and paid her own bills. Granted she’d had help in the beginning, but now she earned enough to have a nice little cushion in savings. She was well respected by family, friends, and colleagues. The only person in her life expecting Von to mess up and become like her mother was Von herself. It was time to stop.
She was no longer Nookies’ poor, little neglected daughter that everyone had to look out for because her momma was too sorry. With the help of God, family and friends, Von had made something of her life. Risen above her welfare and ’hood beginnings. She’d made it the right way. The legal way, she thought with a smile.
And now that she knew the power of sex, the mind-stealing wonder of having a man completely focused upon her, Von could sympathize. When it came down to it, all Nookie really wanted was to be loved. Unfortunately Nookie didn’t realize that to get love and respect she first had to love and respect herself.
What to do about Sean? He claimed to love her and Von believed him. He also said he wanted to marry her. Von wasn’t sure she was ready to put a label on what she felt for him. Simply being with him like this was enough for now. Yes, having a lover outside the bonds of holy matrimony went against her beliefs, but maybe it was time for a new belief system.
Besides, how did she explain to her friends that in the course of one day she’d gone from being engaged to Derrick to being engaged to Sean without making herself look bad in the process?
At least she didn’t have to break her engagement to Derrick. He’d already done the honors last night. She’d be lucky if he didn’t spit in her face when she returned the engagement ring to him. She’d definitely be looking for another church. She shuddered to think what Pastor Derrick Wilkins Senior would say were she to remain. Did they still put scarlet letters on women?
Then there was the fact that Sean was white. While she didn’t care, there were plenty of other people who would. Several of them members of her own family who used the man to excuse their laziness, making no attempt to do something positive and productive with their lives because the man was holding them down. Family gatherings were bound to be fun until the family got used to him.
Of course, there was another option. She could pack up and leave with Sean when he went back to the military. Other than family, there wasn’t much keeping her here in Georgia. With her profession, she could get a job at any military or civilian hospital in the world.
Her musings were interrupted by the sudden urgency in her bladder. Behind her Sean slept like only the truly exhausted can. She raised her head and instantly his arm across her chest tightened.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom. Go back to sleep.”
“Don’t be gone too long,” he mumbled as his arm loosened.
As soon as she left the bed, he pulled her pillow closer and fell back asleep. A tender smile filled Von’s face.
Von pulled on the floor length caftan she used as a robe and left the bedroom. Sticky, sore and not the least bit sleepy, she decided that a bath was her next priority. The hot water would ease the tenderness and hopefully help with the headache. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she’d skipped dinner last night and what she’d nibbled on for lunch yesterday was long gone. Toilet, tub, and kitchen, in that order.
Forty-five minutes later, Von, cleaned and refreshed, stood in the open door of her refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. She pulled out the egg carton, figuring she’d surprise Sean with breakfast—a glance at the clock on the stove—make that brunch, in bed. Now the question was, did she fix him eggs, bacon and grits, a southern staple? Or French toast, sausage and bacon? Remembering Sean’s size, she decided on the latter.
Three hard knocks sounded at the front door. Must be Marketta returning to check on her. Which reminded Von, she hadn’t checked her phone this morning to see if she had any messages. Nor had she charged it. The thing was probably dead now. Sighing, Von braced herself for another of her cousin’s lectures.
She swung open the door without looking through the peephole. “Derrick!”
“May I come in?”
He stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking as humble as she’d ever seen him.
“Uh, yeah.” After a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure her bedroom door was closed, she stepped back to allow him inside.
“Why aren’t you at church? I thought you had to preach this morning.” Then she caught a good look at Derrick’s face. It appeared worse than hers. She quietly closed the door then turned to face him. He stood in the living room near the couch. “Did Sean do that?” With a finger, she indicated his face.
“Yeah. His is worse.”
No, Sean’s wasn’t but she wasn’t about to dispute Derrick’s claim. He might want to know how she knew. She crossed her hands over her chest, very aware of her nakedness underneath the African print caftan she’d slipped on after her bath and the stilted awkwardness between the two of them.
“Why are you here, Derrick?”
“I wanted to talk.”
“So talk,” she told him.
“Can we sit?”
“I’ll stand.” Von made no effort to leave her position by the door.
Derrick shifted his stance, bringing his right hand out of his pocket to cup the nape of his neck as he looked at the floor. Finally he raised his head and pinned her with a neutral look. “I came to say that I forgive you for what happened. I love you and I still want to marry you, in spite of it.”
“What ‘it’ are you referring to?” Von asked in a carefully measured voice.
A flicker of annoyance crossed his face before it was neutralized. “You know, you and Sean.”
“I see.” And she did, painfully so. “So let me get this straight. You’re not here to apologize for hitting me, giving me this black eye?”
He glanced at the purple, yellow, and red bruising surrounding her eye. He shrugged his shoulders and looked past her. “Maybe I could have handled it better, but really, what did you expect me to do? You came to my house, dressed like a hooker, and then I found you...and him...”
“Fucking in your dining room?” she finished for him, enjoying the way Derrick flinched at her vulgarity.
“Yeah, that,” he bit out.
Von sighed wearily, the little bit of joy she got from her meanness quickly fading. It simply wasn’t in her nature to be nasty. “What happened to us, Derrick?” she asked softly. “Where did we go wrong?”
“What happened to us? You can ask me that after what you did. You didn’t even know the man. How could you throw yourself at Sean like that?” The question seemed to burst out
of him.
Von rested her back against the door. “Actually, I’ve known Cougar for almost as long as you. You see, we’ve been corresponding via emails and letters since you introduced us during basic training. Ironic, isn’t it, that I have you to thank for bringing us together?”
He glared at her. “What’s wrong with you? You’re not acting like yourself.”
“Again I must thank you for knocking sense into me. You say you love me but I’ve finally come to realize that you don’t know the meaning of the word. What you want, Derrick, is to control me. I’ve tried talking to you on numerous occasions about how I feel and you brushed me aside each time. Unless it was about you–your needs, your wants—it wasn’t important. Well, I’m through playing by your rules. I don’t want any part of your idea of love, or your idea of marriage. Sean did us both a favor by coming here. He’s shown me what real love means.”
“What the hell do you mean by that? Is he here?” Derrick glanced at her closed bedroom door.
She shook her head. Typical Derrick. She said all of that and all that concerned him was if Sean was in her bed. That jealous, competitive nature of his coming to the forefront. Von was beginning to wonder what she’d ever seen in Derrick.
“Don’t lie to me. He is, isn’t he? That bastard came over here last night and you welcomed him with open arms.”
“And legs,” Von goaded. “Let’s not forget that part.”
Derrick’s face flushed and he came toward her, hand raised. “You slut!”
“Slow your roll, Bro. You hit me again and I’ll show you Nookie’s daughter, the one that grew up in the ‘hood protecting herself.” Von didn’t flinch, nor did she cower. Instead she balanced on the balls of her feet, prepared to defend herself.
He stopped suddenly and slowly lowered his hand to his side. “I don’t know you like this. A proper wife would—”
“Become your punching bag anytime you disagreed with her? I don’t think so.” She watched him as she would a snake that was coiled and ready to strike.
He took another determined step forward, fist clenched by his side. Von tensed, bringing both hands up in a classic boxing stance. Derrick halted.
