“So you came here for revenge?” he asked, and she hated the sound of it. His words made it seem so much more real. They were bad people, stealing anything they could and causing disruption to the poor people of Wolf Valley.
“He made us swear we would come here.”
“And you all did?”
“Yes. My father was like our alpha. We had to do as he asked; we were bound to him even after death.”
Hugo shook his head. “That is messed up. Why? What happened for him to be exiled?”
“I don’t know the full story. Only that he had been promised the role of alpha. He spent his whole life feeling as though he had been robbed of it. He drank himself into an early grave.”
“I understand what’s been happening. But you have to understand it has to stop,” Hugo said firmly. “I don’t want to cause trouble for you and your brothers, but this can’t go on. It’s only a matter of time until someone gets hurt. And there is no way I am going to let you go back to your brothers unless I have some reassurances things will change.”
“I don’t control them.” She knew he wouldn’t understand how hard it was to get her brothers to do anything she asked them to.
“But you control yourself. You can promise me now that you won’t be part of this. Your promise to me is stronger than the promise to your father. We are mates, and that bond is unbreakable. You will always choose me over your alpha. A dead one, at least.”
“It’s not that simple,” she insisted.
“It can be. Come to bed with me now, Bliss. Make our bond complete.”
“I have to leave,” she said, tugging at the rope around the table leg. Then she set about undoing it with her free hand. He wouldn’t stop her leaving; she would make sure he knew this was what she had to do. But when his hand closed around hers, she wasn’t so sure.
“I can’t let you walk out that door and into danger.”
“I can look after myself,” she asserted.
“Sure, that’s why you’re tied to my kitchen table.” He had a point.
Bliss tried a different approach. “If you let me leave, I swear I’ll come back.”
He shook his head. “You belong here with me.”
“Hugo, I have to check on Sol. I can’t just leave him.”
“Then I’ll let you go. But first, you have to spend one night in my bed. Once our relationship is consummated, if you need to leave, then I will not stop you.”
“One night?”
“That’s the deal.”
“And then you’ll let me leave?”
“Yes.”
Butterflies cascaded through her stomach, she was so nervous. Yet so excited too. She had to do this; she had no choice. Her wolf wagged her tail happily, tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth in ecstasy, and Bliss knew that her animal would never let her walk out of here. So why not give in without a fight? Just once.
Chapter Eight – Hugo
What did he hope to achieve? That if she lay in his bed just once, she would be his for eternity, that leaving would never be an option because her place was here with him? He knew he was living in a fantasy, he could see it on her face. She intended to leave no matter what passed between them, because she was torn between him and her brothers. The oath her father made her swear would always pull on her, until he was avenged.
Right now, he couldn’t think about that. He had to live for the moment. He had to make her stay.
“Here, let me,” he said, his strong fingers quickly undoing the knot that held her captive. He winced when he saw the rope burn on her wrist. “I’m sorry.” His fingers stroked the skin around it, feeling her pulse as his thumb smoothed the skin of her wrist.
“It’s OK, I’ve had worse.”
“I’ll bandage it,” he said, moving away from her.
“No,” she replied, grabbing his sweater and pulling him back towards her. “There are other ways you can take the pain away.” Their lips met and she kissed him, pressing her body against his.
Half expecting it to be a trick, he held his breath, but when she pushed her tongue into his mouth, tangling it around his, he gave in, and enjoyed the taste and touch of her. Slipping his hand around her waist, he moved it lower, caressing her bottom, and pulling her tight against him so she could feel the hard press of his cock and know just how much he wanted her.
“Are we going to do it here?” she asked, her hand slipping between them to caress his cock.
He groaned, nipping her neck with his teeth before grounding out, “The bedroom.”
In his haste to mate with her, he picked her up and carried her upstairs to his bed. Here, in the room he had spent so many nights dreaming of what his mate would look like, what she would smell like and how it would feel to be inside her, he was about to find out.
Stepping back, not letting his eyes leave her curvy body, he stripped his clothes off, getting his foot caught up in the leg of his pants in his haste. Nice, romantic, and cool, he thought as he hopped around the floor trying to unhook his foot. On the bed, she giggled, and he liked to see her happy, he wanted to spend the rest of his life keeping her happy.
He also wanted to spend the rest of his life with her here beside him, and when he lay down on the bed next to her, he only hoped he could satisfy her enough to make her want to stay. Although he realised it would take more work than that, he had to try to capture her heart and her trust. And somehow prove to her that he deserved her loyalty too.
Fingertips caressing her soft flesh, he trailed his hands over her body. Bending to kiss her skin, he left an unswerving trail towards her breasts. Capturing her nipple in his mouth, he slipped his hand down to the moist heat between her thighs, wanting to stoke her arousal and let it build. Hugo needed her to be ready for him; the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her again.
However, when her hand encased his cock, and stroked his bare skin, he didn’t know how much longer he could hold himself together. So he moved between her thighs, and guided himself towards the core of her need.
When the tip of his cock entered her, he let out a long breath; she was so warm and wet for him. Pressing forward, he breached her outer walls, and slid deeper inside her. He gripped the sheets in his hands, balling them up as he tried to fight the urge to claim her in one hard lunge. This was her first time, and he had to be patient, but it was so hard. He wanted to impale her on his cock and take her hard. To prove to her what a man he was, his wolf agreed, but he kept control. The most important thing right now was his mate.
Chapter Nine – Bliss
This was the craziest thing she had ever done. Yet it was so right. There were no other words to explain how she felt as he pushed inside her. He was big, stretching her sex as he eased himself inside her, and she nearly panicked, wondering if he would hurt her. Bliss wrapped her arms around him and nestled her face into his collarbone, breathing in his scent to comfort her; then he broke through her innocence, and she bit his skin to stop herself screaming.
Hugo moved, drawing out of her, the friction of his cock against her inner walls chasing away the pain. For a moment she thought he would pull right out of her, and she didn’t want that. She wanted him, needed him to take her, for them to both attain ultimate pleasure, and for them to be mated. She wanted him to come inside her, and to create a wolf pup with him.
When he pushed back into her, she gasped and tears sprang to her eyes. Not just from the sensations overwhelming her body, but the thoughts overwhelming her head and her heart. She wanted to make a family with him, to care for her children, to nurture them to give them what she never had. How would that ever work out when she had her three brothers to keep out of trouble?
However, when Hugo moved inside her, in and out, strong, long lunges, she pushed those thoughts away. They would wait until later. Right now, she wanted to enjoy this moment, enjoy this night, tomorrow would wait.
Her nails dug into his back, urging him on. Hugo took her, strong strokes, in and out, bringing her arousal to fever p
itch. She needed to come, wanted to come around him, and to feel him reach his climax inside her. Kissing his neck, she sucked on his earlobe, feeling him shiver with pleasure, a sensation that travelled through his body and she swore she felt it in the way his cock moved.
Encouraged, she explored his body, her hands running over his chest, touching his nipples, tweaking them gently, and then harder as she felt his response. He lifted his hand, resting his weight on one elbow, and brushed her long auburn hair back from her face, and then he kissed her, fiercely. His tongue took on the rhythm of his cock, in and out of her mouth. She sucked on it, and he groaned, taking her harder.
Moving his hand down, he hooked it around her thigh and lifted her leg, changing the angle of her body. His lunges became harder, his hips circling so that he stretched her wider with each stroke. And each of those strokes stimulated her clit. Lifting her hips, Bliss angled her body for maximum effect and then stars exploded in her head.
She came, her nails digging into him hard. She sucked his tongue, teeth grazing it as he plundered her mouth. Finally, Hugo came, his body jerking as his cock erupted, spilling his seed deep inside her. He tensed and pressed forward, crying out her name.
Bliss clung to him, warm sensations running through her body, her nerve endings tingling as her climax took her. She wanted to call his name, to tell him that she loved him, but these words would sound like obscenities to her own ears. Bliss was not a woman who had heard I love you, and she had never felt the urge to say it. Not until now. And that scared her more than any of the raids she had ever participated in with her brothers.
Mouth clamped shut, her orgasm passed over her and through her, and when it subsided, she was utterly spent. The night’s adventures had not turned out anything like she had thought. But as she lay in Hugo’s arms, knowing she couldn’t stay, that she could not simply give up her old life in the blink of an eye, she forgave herself her weakness towards her mate. And swore to leave as soon as she got the chance.
However, with his arms protectively around her, she fell asleep before she had a chance to move. In his embrace she slept deeply, he chased away her fears and her guilt over her life. The guilt of stealing from other people, and the guilt of wanting to be here with Hugo more than she wanted to be with her brothers. Although in the morning when she woke, she knew she had to take action.
He was still sleeping. She slid out from under him, holding her breath when he moved. When she was certain he was still asleep, Bliss crept from the bedroom and went back to the kitchen. Grabbing the rope, she made her way back upstairs, opening the bedroom door quietly, hoping she hadn’t disturbed him. Hugo’s deep breathing told her he was still asleep. The next part might be more tricky.
Sliding back under the sheets, she first looped the rope around the bed stand and then lifted his arm carefully above his head. He moved, murmuring in his sleep, but not waking. Bliss tied the rope loosely around his wrist, making a slipknot with the free end. Now this might take a little effort. She was sure he was going to wake up, and wanted to catch him off guard.
Bliss took his free arm, lifting it above his head, the knot only inches away from his hand when he stirred, looking up at her and smiling. She smiled back.
“Hey handsome,” she said, kissing him and then sliding her thigh across his body so that she straddled him. At the same time she moved his hand and slipped the rope around it. When he went to put his hands on her hips, he realised she had caught him in her trap and pulled against the rope.
“Sex is much better if I can use my hands to touch those luscious breasts of yours,” he said, still not catching on to the fact that sex was not on the menu. Not at least until she moved off him and stood on the floor next to the bed.
“I have to leave now. So be good; I’m sure you will work out how to release yourself before too long. But this is just my way of making sure you don’t try to stop me.” She turned her back on him, going to the door. She wanted to move fast, retrieve her clothes, and then be out of there before he could free himself.
“Bliss,” he said, pulling against the ropes. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes. I do. I am going back to my brothers and there is nothing you can say to stop me.” She turned one last time to look at him and then slipped out of the door, knowing if she looked too long, her resolve would break and she would go back to him.
“Bliss,” he called. “I swear I will not stop you. At least let me go with you. Make sure you get home safely.”
“I can look after myself,” she reminded him. Although she had to admit, she liked the thought of having him as a protector in her life. Yet the oath she had made to her father still had some control over her, although the pull of Hugo was getting stronger and harder to fight.
“Let me help you, Bliss.” His voice was more distant now. She was down in the kitchen, dressing quickly, struggling for control. It wasn’t just the sound of his voice that pulled her; it was as though they were joined by an invisible thread that stretched through eternity. It didn’t matter where she was in this world, she would know when he was close and her body, particularly her wolf, wanted to go back to him. She only hoped that the further she moved away from him, the easier it would get, Surely the pull would be less. And one day it would break.
At that thought, her wolf went a little crazy. She calmed it down and reminded her that family had to come first.
But he is our family, her wolf howled mournfully as Bliss opened the front door and went outside into the cool damp morning air, with the sound of Hugo shouting, “Bliss. Don’t go,” in her ears.
Across the grass, she ran and then released her wolf. It sprang forward, glad to be free, but it took a lot of persuasion to make it turn away from their true mate and head home to her family.
Chapter Ten – Hugo
Hugo pulled against his restraints, but the rope simply dug into his wrists and he knew he would not get free by force, in the same way he knew he would never tame Bliss by force. He had to get her to trust him and learn to depend on him. The threatened spankings when they first met yesterday probably didn’t do his cause much good. It had been a stupid threat, although the thought of her bent over his kitchen table, her delectable bottom in the air and his handprint on her cheek, made his cock grow hard.
Not the time, he told himself. Scooting up the bed, he loosened the rope as much as he could and then proceeded to untie the knots. She was right; he could get out of them, which was a good job, because he didn’t exactly want one of his neighbours to wander in and find him tied up naked in bed.
Slow progress, but eventually he untied one hand and pulled the rope back through the bed stand. In no time, he had the other hand free and was out of bed. Almost running out of the door naked, he decided that just in case he had to go knocking on his future in-laws’ house to find his mate, that clothes might be beneficial.
Grabbing his pants, he put them on, while hopping around the room to find his shirt. Pulling it over his head as he went downstairs, he grabbed his boots and sat down quickly on the wooden bench on his porch, before getting to his feet and racing off across the grass, following her scent.
He leaped into the air, shifting into his wolf as he went, and then ran across the meadow, casting a critical eye over his herd. They looked healthy, not affected by last night’s wolf attack, and a quick count told him they were all there. At least her brothers hadn’t returned for any cattle when he was in bed with Bliss. That would have broken his heart, to know that she was keeping him busy in bed while they stole his cattle. He wiped that from his mind; she wasn’t like that. They might be raiders, but it wasn’t a thing Bliss liked. More that she had been forced into it through a promise made on her father’s deathbed.
Hugo could understand that. He was also determined to help Bliss get to the bottom of what happened to her father and do something about it. Maybe her family did have some claim to Wolf Valley. If they did and they could somehow work through it, maybe Bliss would have a quiet l
ife with him to look forward and her brothers could set about kicking Wolf Valley into shape. That’s if the population could come to terms with being led by the men who had been stealing from them for the last few months.
Cresting a hill, he looked down across the valley below. No sign of Bliss. Raising his short snout into the air, he took a big breath; her scent came to him on the breeze. Head lowered, he took off down towards the small stream that cut through the valley. Across the other side and onwards, her scent getting stronger, the urge to be with her more compelling.
Hugo knew he was surely going to meet some resistance from her brothers, but he was determined he wasn’t going home without Bliss. Whatever help she needed he would give it; she belonged to him. He simply had to make Bliss and her brothers understand that.
Chapter Eleven – Bliss
Bliss stood outside the front door of the house she shared with her brothers. She had been here for five minutes, trying to summon the courage to go in. The reason she was stalling was complicated. For one thing, she hated the idea of going back to the life she had before. It was the life she was living yesterday, only twenty-four hours ago, but a whole lifetime in some ways.
And then there was the feeling that once she stepped through that door, she would give up any chance of ever being with Hugo. And that was something she couldn’t bear. But she had a choice, right? She could go inside, sort out her brothers, and then leave to be with Hugo; the oath she swore for her father would still bind her, but not as strongly. She could work around it or circumvent it, surely.
But what about her brothers? Well they needed to stop this business of stealing what their father said was rightfully theirs—he was wrong and it was time this came to an end. There were other ways to avenge their father, or at least there were other ways of getting to the bottom of why their father was exiled. They needed to go into Wolf Valley and start asking questions.
To Catch A Wolf: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Wolf Valley Raiders Book 2) Page 4
