by Zena Wynn
“No more,” she told him in a strong, commanding voice. “No more telling me what to do, or when and how to do it. I’m a grown woman. I make my own decisions. If I want to wear makeup, I will. If I want sugar-loaded drinks late at night, I’ll have them. I’ll continue to work the job I love, no matter how you feel about it because it’s my job, my life. And if I want to have sex with Sean, a man who loves and desires me, I will and I won’t feel guilty about it because I’ve discovered that I love him, too.”
“While I’m glad to hear you finally admit that you love me, I wish you’d have told me first, and not him.”
Both Von and Derrick swung toward the bedroom door where Sean stood leaning against the door jab, looking rumpled and sexy wearing only his pants with the top button undone. Despite his relaxed pose, Von could feel the angry tension in him. One wrong move on Derrick’s part and Sean would spring.
“I can’t believe you betrayed me like this after I saved your life,” Derrick muttered angrily.
Sean arched an eyebrow. “Well, now, I reckon we’re even—or am I ahead?—since I didn’t kill you yesterday when you hit my woman, and you’re still breathing now after threatening her again.”
“Your woman?” Derrick snarled.
“Yeah, mine. Thank you for giving her to me. I would have taken her from you anyway, after seeing the way you treated her, but your stupidity made it easy,” Sean drawled.
Von held her breath. The tension was so great, she was afraid any movement would cause it to explode and the two would be at each other’s throats—again.
Derrick glanced angrily back and forth between the two of them. “You two deserve each other. Backstabbers. I hope you both burn in hell. Give me my ring back,” he demanded of Von.
“Here, catch,” Sean told him. When Derrick glanced in his direction, he tossed the engagement ring. “We don’t need yours. I plan on buying Von a better one today. Now that you have what you came for, feel free to leave.”
As Derrick fumbled with and scrambled to retrieve his ring from the floor, Von opened the door and moved out of the way. She wouldn’t put it past Derrick to try something.
Derrick took one last look at the two of them and then stormed out of the apartment. Von closed and locked the door behind him, then sank onto the carpet, still clutching the doorknob, her knees too weak to support her.
“Hey, are you all right?” In seconds, Sean was by her side, cupping her face. “You’re trembling.”
She leaned into his hand. “Just shaken. I’ve never stood up to him like that before.”
“Well, it’s about damn time you did.”
“I’m not weak, you know. I just hate confrontations,” she defended herself.
“Hey!” He lifted her chin and stared into her eyes. “I never said or thought for one moment that you were weak. You are a pleaser by nature, and when you love, you love with your whole heart. There’s nothing wrong with that. Derrick simply took advantage of your generous nature.”
Von closed her eyes and nodded, not sure she agreed with his assessment but willing to give herself the benefit of the doubt. God knows she’d beat up on herself enough lately. Maybe it was time to give herself a break.
“I thought you were asleep. How much did you hear?”
“I’ve been awake since you left the room. I thought I told you not to be gone long?”
His disgruntled tone made her smile. “I got distracted.”
“Well, I was horny,” he complained.
“Poor baby. You didn’t get enough last night?” She reached out and cupped the bulge in his pants. “How about we take care of your little problem now?”
“It’s not little and I’m no longer in the mood,” he huffed in a snooty voice, turning his head away. Then he slanted his eyes, looking at her from out their corner. “Of course, I could be with a little effort on your part.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Goofball.” Von shoved at his shoulders and rose to her feet. “I’m going into the kitchen to cook breakfast.”
Sean caught her by the hips and buried his face in her mound, his breath hot on her clit through the thin material. “I know what I want to eat.”
“Sean...” she said warningly.
“I’m hungry. Feed me, woman.” He gripped the caftan and began raising the hem.
Von slapped at his hands. “Quit, you crazy man! I need sustenance. A body can’t live on love alone,” she told him in her grandmother’s voice.
“Really? Let’s see.” He rose and tossed her over his shoulder, carrying her rapidly back to the bedroom.
Von laughed, needing this light-hearted moment after the stress of her confrontation with Derrick. Sean flipped her onto the mattress and came down on top of her.
She circled his neck with her arms. “You know, if I don’t eat I’ll waste away.”
“Mmm, can’t have that.” He gazed at her cunningly. “Tell you what. You satisfy my hunger,” he glanced meaningfully at her prone body and rubbed his now erect cock against her mound, “and afterwards, I’ll take you to any restaurant of your choosing and feed yours. Deal?”
She smiled. “Deal.”
“Good. Now let’s get rid of this.” As he struggled to get the caftan off her, he grumbled, “Woman, what is it with you and night clothes that swallow you whole?”
Von was laughing too hard to answer.
Chapter Eleven
Much later, Von stood naked before the mirror, arms raised, brushing her long hair. An equally naked Sean stood behind her, his rampant cock riding the small of her back as he nibbled one of the many passion marks on her neck. The stroke of his tongue on the small bruise sent fire streaking through her formerly sated body and she shuddered.
“Stop that! Haven’t you had enough?”
“Of you?” He palmed her breasts and toyed with the nipples. “Never.”
Insatiable. That’s Sean, and all that male potency was focused on her. The thought was enough to make her lightheaded. To take her mind off her reaction to him, which would land her right back in bed, she studied their images in the mirror.
Sean, with his tan, wasn’t too much lighter than her caramel colored complexion. The skin on his hands was almost darker than her pale breasts. While Von wasn’t racist, as a black woman raised in the deep south she never dreamed she’d end up with a white lover.
Suddenly, Von lowered her arms and leaned closer to the glass, noting all the small discolorations on her body. Bite marks, every single last one of them. Some were mere pricks. Others, like the ones on her shoulder tendon, were deeper and darker. She could see the clear imprint of teeth.
Von had a vague memory of Sean clamping down on her shoulder and the resulting orgasm that had rocked through her system with his action. She planted her hands on the dresser and tilted her head to the side, her face mere inches from the mirror.
“What’s wrong?”
“I look like a chew toy.” Her gaze traveled from her neck to her shoulders. There were small puncture wounds around her areoles and one love mark on the side of her right breast. Her left arm had a small bruise on the bicep and so did her right forearm. Although, now that she thought about it, Von did that one herself when she’d bitten it to keep from screaming.
She realized Sean had gone still as a statue behind her, his gaze locked on her body, his expression unreadable. Von wagged her behind until Sean’s erection was snuggled between her butt cheeks. “Hey!”
He raised his eyes to meet hers in the mirror.
“I like it that you went all primal on me.”
A slow smile crept across his face until it reached his eyes. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“In that case...” While he resumed plucking her left nipple with his right hand, he sent his left creeping down her stomach.
Von caught it at her navel. “No.”
Sean arched his left eyebrow. “No?”
“That’s right. You promised me breakfast hours ago and now it’s time for lunch.” S
he glanced around him at the clock. “Past time.”
He sighed and stopped trying to free his hand from her grip. “Get dressed and I’ll take you out.”
Von shook her head. “Not with this face you’re not. We both look like poster children for domes...” she trailed off. “What happened to your face?”
The skin between his eyebrows scrunched. “What?”
She turned, sure her eyes were deceiving her. Von grabbed Sean’s chin to hold his head still and went up on tiptoe. “It’s gone,” she said, eyes wide, shaking her head. “Last night your nose was swollen and you had the makings of a shiner over your left eye. Today it’s gone.”
She looked up to find him watching her closely. “I told you, Lycans heal fast.”
Von shook her head again, denying his words, but her gaze didn’t leave his features. “It’s not possible. Your face should look like mine. Worse.”
Sean held her by the waist. “Every word I spoke was the truth.”
“There has to be some other explanation,” she murmured, almost to herself. “Men can’t turn into wolves.” That, Von simply couldn’t allow herself to believe.
“Okay,” Sean said with a shrug. “What?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was in a lot of pain and my eyesight wasn’t the best.” But she sounded doubtful, even to her own ears.
“There’s a full moon in three weeks. You’ll believe me then.”
He sounded so sure, Von found her confidence shaken. Could Lycans be real?
He cupped her jaw. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I know how tough it is. If I hadn’t seen it myself, had it happen to me, I wouldn’t believe either. We have plenty of time for you to get used to the idea.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Get dressed and I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” Sean crossed over to the bed, scooped up his pants, and left the room.
Von walked on trembling legs and sank onto the mattress. She knew full well how battered Sean’s face had been last night after spending most of the night viewing it from one angle or another. Before they finally fell asleep, they had darkened, the way bruises do. This morning when Sean confronted Derrick, had the discoloration been there?
Von didn’t know. She’d been more aware of his bare chest and barely leashed anger than anything else.
Coming from the kitchen she could hear sounds of cabinets snapping closed as Sean hunted the items he needed. What if he wasn’t suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome as she’d believed? What if everything he told her turned out to be true?
Troubled, Von pulled out an old pair of jeans and a well-washed, faded t-shirt, her usual lazy day attire. When had the bruises faded? During the night while they slept? In the morning while making love? Or minutes ago when they shared a shower and Sean introduced her to the perilous joys of making love on a semi-slippery surface?
She pulled on a satin thong and bra set in a ruby color, then tugged on her pants, which were so loose at the waist, she debated on putting on a belt. In the end, she decided against wearing anything that would slow down her ability to get naked in seconds. Sean’s lovemaking was addictive and though her stomach was currently running the show, as soon as her appetite was appeased, another, more unquenchable one would rear its head.
As her t-shirt settled into place around her hips, she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and joined Sean in the kitchen. He’d found her pancake mix and had bacon sizzling in one pan and flapjacks browning in a skillet. On the counter sat a bowl containing raw eggs, seasoned and ready to be scrambled.
“You need any help?”
Sean’s glance encompassed her from head-to-toe. “You could have left off the bra.”
Von felt her face flushing and awkwardly crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe next time I will.”
“In answer to your question, I have it. Stay here and keep me company.”
Von leaned against the countertop and rubbed her pointed toe along the seams in the tile.
“Something on your mind?”
She looked up from the floor to find Sean’s attention focused on the food. “Yes, no, sort of.” Way to sound decisive, Von. She sighed to herself.
“You can talk to me.”
Grabbing her courage with both hands, she said, “Tell me, again, about what happened to you? You know, the part about being a...”
“Lycan?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
This time Von listened, really listened, without any preconceived notions getting in the way. When he finished, she asked, “So you’re saying it’s a virus? One that only infects men?”
“That’s the way it was explained to me.”
“And because you survived the process, you turn into a werewolf when the moon is full?”
Sean took the time to put the bacon on a plate and toss the excess grease from the pan before answering. “According to Spook, the full change comes during a full moon, and in varying degrees at other times like when my life is threatened, I seriously lose my temper, or...” he glanced up from scrambling the eggs to pin her with a look, “...when making love to my mate.”
Von felt her heart rate increase. “Mate?” She’d read enough paranormal romances to know what a werewolf meant when he said the word mate.
“Yes.” He turned his attention back to the stove and poured the mixture into the pan where it instantly sizzled and bubbled.
To clarify she asked, “As in life-mate, forever and ever, the only woman for you?”
Sean finished cooking the eggs and set the pan to the side, then came to her and framed her face with his hands. “As in ‘till death do we part,” forever and always, just me and you,” he confirmed.
“Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“By Lycan standards, we’re already married.” He ran his finger along the mark on her shoulder as he stared into her eyes.
Von swallowed hard.
“I know this is a lot to adjust to, but I love you and you love me. Everything else is just semantics.”
She nodded.
“I’m not going anywhere. I have two months of leave coming to me and I’m staying right here with you. We’ll take our time, let you get used to the idea of you and me together. Okay?” He looked and sounded so sure, so serious, but in his eyes Von could see a hint of nervousness.
Von took a deep breath, held it and let it out. “In that case, maybe you should stay here with me.”
Sean’s eyes widened and he sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you sure? What about your church, your beliefs?”
She shrugged one shoulder, trying to appear unconcerned. “You said we were already married.”
He closed the gap between them and kissed her hard. “Let’s eat before the food gets cold. Go to the table and have a seat. I’ll serve you.”
Was that a yes? Did she really want him living with her for the next two months?
As she went to the dining table and sat, Von wasn’t sure, but she’d made the offer and she wouldn’t retract it.
Sean set the plate with pancakes, another with bacon, and a bowl of scrambled eggs on the table and went back into the kitchen. When he returned he had two plates, two glasses, and silverware. Another trip produced a bottle of chilled apple juice.
He sat and waited while she said grace before they both dug in. They were halfway through before he spoke again. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. How about I bring a few of my things here and we take it day by day. Neither one of us have ever had a live-in lover. I don’t want to lose you by pushing too hard, by asking for more than you’re ready to give.”
“You didn’t ask. I offered.”
“Un-huh, and you’re already regretting it, aren’t you?”
She tried to hold his gaze but couldn’t. Sighing, she admitted, “Yeah, maybe. I want to be that woman who wouldn’t think twice about having the man she loves stay with her, but...”
“You’re not, and I love t
hat about you. That you’re not casual about any of this.” He reached across the table and captured her free hand in his. “You love me. We’re together. For now, that’s enough. It’s more than I hoped for when I arrived. Dreamed of? Yes, but expected to happen, no. Not really.”
Perversely, even as Von acknowledged that Sean was right and his moving in would be more than her battered conscience could handle, she was still disappointed. Was it love that made her want to see his face first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and every second in between? If so, why had she never felt this way about Derrick?
Maybe it was the sex component. The newness of it, the overwhelming desire to have her body joined to Sean’s every time he looked at her, or smiled in a certain way. Maybe it was the sound of his voice or the way he made her feel that everything she said or did was his top priority. That he was happy only when she was.
“Thank you.”
He gave her a crooked grin. “For what?”
“For knowing me better than I know myself. For accepting me the way that I am.”
Sean brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingertips. “The way you accept me?”
Von didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes.”
His gaze swept down her body. “Even if I’m sometimes more animal than human?”
At that she tugged her hand loose and rose, crossing around to his side of the table to straddled his lap. Sean pushed his chair back to give her more room. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she got in his face. “You listen to me. You are still you. I don’t care what happened...I take that back. I do care, but only because it allowed you to get out of that hellhole alive and in one piece. Losing you would have killed something in me.”
She leaned her forehead against his. “I was so scared. It killed me not being able to ask Derrick if he knew or had heard anything. I should have known my feelings were more than those of a friend.”
Sean pulled the band out of her hair and ran his fingers through the strands, then cradled her scalp with both hands. “I know, or at least I hoped. If the worst happened, you would have known. I have you listed as the one to notify, and everything I own—”
