by Bonnie Vanak
Running my tongue over the tip of his penis, I flicked it lightly. Dante uttered a small groan and I felt some gathering force inside him.
But he pushed me away before he came, and pulled me onto his lap.
“More,” he whispered. “Are you ready for this?”
I nodded.
Still, he slid his fingers beneath my dress, past the crotch of my panties and into my slit. Dante rubbed me gently, and then inserted two fingers into my vagina. I hissed with pleasure.
“Tight, but if you’re ready.”
In answer, I stood up, discarded my panties and hitched up my dress.
I climbed atop him, taking him fully into my body, sliding down slowly. I grimaced a little because he was so big and I was raw and swollen. And then he helped, rubbing me and making the friction delightful.
Legs spread on either side of his muscled thighs, I began to ride him. Up, down. Bracing my hands on his shoulders for leverage, I bit my lip because he was so large.
So very alpha.
So very good.
With a low, rough sound, he unbuttoned my dress, pulled my bra down and cupped my breasts. Dante thumbed my cresting nipples and gently kneaded.
Face to face. Skin rubbing against skin. Nearby, Alex and Gabriel slept on, unaware of what transpired. Our breaths grew harsher as we moved, Dante gritting his teeth in an obvious effort to remain quiet.
Not because he didn’t want to awaken his betas and have them see us. But rather, he simply wanted to allow them to rest.
Dante bent his head and whispered into my ear. “I need you Peyton. I need you, damn, I need you.”
Caught up in the passion, I didn’t ask what he meant. We moved together as one, my heart tangled in knots as he lifted me into his arms, his sighs almost like a cry of the soul.
We came together, shuddering, me in his arms burying my cry into his shoulder, Dante gritting his teeth.
So very good.
And yet, more than the sex was that feeling of connection and belonging.
Something I did not want, but could no longer deny.
I don’t remember falling asleep in the limo, or being carried into the lodge, upstairs into a private guest room. When I woke up, sunlight streamed past the lace curtains, pooling on the white carpet. I saw up, rubbing my eyes. The room was sweet, with blue-sprigged floral wallpaper, a coverlet matching the wallpaper, and a four-poster Cherrywood bed.
Satiny sheets rubbed against my naked skin. Blushing, I searched around the room for covering. I guess the guys had put me in here last night and let me sleep nude. After what we’d shared, it was a logical conclusion I’d wish to sleep naked.
But not in a strange lodge with shifters I’d never met before roaming around.
Thankfully, I found a white terrycloth robe at the bed’s foot. I shrugged into it, wondering where my clothing was.
The bedroom had a pretty Cherrywood dresser. I opened a drawer and found new satin panties, just my size, with the tags still attached. Another drawer held an assortment of bras, all my size as well
After exploring the closet, I found several dresses, blouses, T-shirts in various colors, pants and jeans. All in my size.
It was as if someone had intimately measured me and went shopping to get me whatever clothing suited my fancy. I fingered a pretty yellow and red floral sundress that still had the price tag attached.
The dress was designer, more than my biweekly paycheck.
After showering and dressing, I wondered what came next. I had no idea of the time or protocol.
A soft knock came at the door.
“Come in,” I called out, unsure if one of the boys would enter, or someone else. Hopefully a friendly someone else who didn’t mind a human in the guest room.
A woman in a black uniform and starched white apron entered, bearing a silver tray on her outstretched palms. She set the tray down on a table for two beneath the windows.
“I’m Gert,” she told me, extending her palm.
I shook it. “Peyton.”
“Dante told me. He said you were asleep when you arrived last night and thought you’d like to sleep in.”
Glancing at the window, I wondered what time it was. “Where’s my stuff?”
Gert went to a wood chest at the bed’s foot and opened it, withdrawing my purse and personal belongings.
At least now I didn’t feel quite so….stripped. My cell phone still had a charge, but was running low. I plugged it in at the desk outlet.
It was well after nine, and from what I knew of ranch life, very late as most got up long before dawn to work.
“He thought you’d enjoy a tray in your room alone. Breakfast here is usually on our own and since you don’t know your way around, he didn’t want you to be hungry.”
Coffee, sugar, a small pitcher of cream, scrambled eggs and bacon, a toasted, buttered English muffin, a bowl of fresh fruit, oatmeal with blueberries and a container of yogurt. This was more than I usually ate all day, let alone for breakfast.
“Thanks. Are you a live-in or just work here?” I asked.
Gert’s brown gaze widened. “This is my pack.”
“Okay.” I didn’t get it, but didn’t want to be impolite.
She saw me stare at the apron and laughed. “Oh, the outfit. Here at the ranch, we take turns fulfilling various roles we’re good at. I like serving people, so on weekends when the others want to be outdoors, I wait on others and help clean up.”
Fulfilling various roles. “Sounds good. Like a werewolf co-op.”
Gert smiled. “That’s cute. Dante said you were cute, and clever.”
Then she headed out, pausing to turn at the door. “If you need anything, dial zero on the phone by the bed. That will connect you to the downstairs kitchen.”
Cute and clever. Yeah, that was me. I sat at the table and dug into the food, suddenly ravenous. It was all hot, and delicious. I tasted everything, but didn’t finish. Too anxious to find out what Dante had planned, I left the tray on the table and went downstairs.
I had no idea of the inner workings of a pack.
Guess I was about to find out.
I knew Dante and the others meant well in whisking me away from the Browns and driving me to the ranch. Yet part of me wished I had been stronger, and better able to defend myself instead of standing there staring at Earl Brown. Maybe I would have been able to leave on my own.
No use whining about it. Dante had promised he’d return me to my house late Monday, and I’d keep him to it. In the meantime, why not enjoy myself? Gabriel, Alex and Dante seemed determine to pamper me.
Might as well let them. I deserved it.
The stairs led to a wide, open living area with a river rock fireplace, a few brown leather sofas and chairs arranged around it. An area rug with a growling grizzly bear sat before the sofa and chairs. There were a few tables near the floor to ceiling windows, and a chandelier made of elk antlers.
It looked normal, like an upscale vacation lodge. I headed down the hallway, glancing at a few rooms along the way. Closed doors. Bedrooms, maybe, or offices.
At the hallway’s end was the kitchen. A chef’s delight, it was huge and yet inviting, with a built-in booth set beneath a window, and a round wood table for six near French doors that led to the outdoors. Plenty of light streamed in through the windows.
Impressed, I looked around the gleaming stainless steel and marble kitchen. Mine was older, with a refrigerator that had seen better days. Better days? Better decades.
“Peyton, you’re awake.” Gabriel strode into the kitchen. Bare-foot, wearing jeans and a powder blue T-shirt, he looked happy and relaxed.
He lifted me into his arms, swung me around and then kissed me deeply.
When I came up for air, he beamed.
“What was that for?” I asked.
His smile dropped. “I’m happy you’re here. And in one piece. Hell, I’m just happy to see you.”
I squeezed his bicep. “Same here, big guy.”
/> For all his rough and tumble ways, and his intensity, Gabriel seemed like a little lost boy at times. It endeared him to me, seeing this big wolf who could crush cars having a vulnerability.
“Thanks for the tray in my room. I was starved.”
He beamed again. “Dante said to leave you alone this morning when you woke up. He said you wouldn’t be interested in anything other than rest.”
Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. “But in case you aren’t, here I am, ready to serve you. I have ropes in my bedroom.”
I laughed. “I had a nice rest, thanks. I crashed last night.”
“You didn’t even wake up when he brought you inside last night. Dante instructed us to let you sleep.”
“Who put me to bed?”
“We all did.”
Warmth filled me as I imagined them undressing me, taking care to tuck me in and kiss me good-night. Too bad I didn’t remember a thing. Then again, if I had been awake, I would not have gotten any rest last night.
Dante was quite considerate.
“Where’s Dante? And Alex?”
“Dante is out on the range, inspecting some fence posts that needed mending. Alex is upstairs in his office, catching up on work. He’s always on that computer.”
He gestured to the kitchen. “I’m giving you the tour this morning. Ah, this is the kitchen.”
“Thanks, big guy. I never would have known that.”
Gabriel leaned in and gave me a hard, quick kiss. “I love your snark.”
Then he cupped and squeezed my bottom. “Just as much as I love this.”
“The tour?” I reminded him. “I’m not ready for sex on the counter. Yet.”
“Too bad.” He sighed. “Okay, the kitchen. We cook the main meals here, and the pack eats together once a week, on Sundays. That’s a requirement. There’s usually picnics and barbecues on Saturdays, but everyone’s schedules on the ranch are different, so it’s hard to assemble all of us. Sunday nights are the best.”
I glanced around, trying to see dozens of werewolves milling about the kitchen. “Where does everyone live? Here?”
He shook his head. “Most of the pack have cabins or cottages nearby, some in the woods, some in the open meadow. But not far from here, so they can be at the lodge quickly if needed. Single males sleep at the bunk house near the barn. They’re the cowboys needed for round-ups, herding the cattle, tending the horses.”
It sounded normal, like a working ranch, except for shifters. “What do you like to eat here for dinner?”
He shrugged. “The usual. Steak, chicken, lots of meat, because we’re shifters.”
I wondered about the scent of fresh cookies. A blue ceramic jar sat on the counter. I went for a closer look and my stomach muscles tightened.
Human remains, read the chalk label.
Gabriel grabbed it, his face turning red. “Uh, it’s a joke, Peyton. A joke someone played when they wrote on the label.”
He opened it. Inside were chocolate chip cookies. “See?”
Funny. Ha, ha.
“Want one?” Sweat popped out on his forehead. Interesting. I didn’t know werewolves sweated.
“No, thanks. Lost my appetite.” I took a long sniff. Smelled like chocolate chip, freshly baked.
The baker had an odd sense of humor. “Does everyone in your pack label have the same sense of humor?”
Gabriel wiped his forehead with a paper towel and pitched it into the trash. “No, it’s Felicia. She baked this morning. She’s… different.”
Footsteps sounded outside the kitchen, staccato and brisk. “And speak of the little demon,” he muttered.
Gabriel nodded as the girl scampered into the kitchen. She looked all of fifteen and had a restless, nervous energy.
“Hey Felicia. You know what Dante said about writing on the jars. Be accurate.”
She pouted. “I was having fun.”
“Be accurate. No jokes like that,” he warned. “Felicia this is Peyton. Peyton, Felicia.”
Felicia had short, bouncy dark brown hair, gray eyes and a round face. She ground to a halt, neared me and sniffed my clothing. Not certain what to do, I stayed still.
“Felicia, don’t get too close,” Gabriel chastised. “She’s a human psi. Not used to us.
The girl gave another long sniff. “Interesting.”
I’d never been sniffed by a girl before. But I guessed this was her way of making introductions.
“You’re different.” She sniffed my arm. “Not like the others.”
Felicia crossed around to my back.
“You’re not going to sniff my butt, are you?” I asked.
A high-pitch giggle sounded. Felicia bounced in front of me. “No, silly. I was checking out the back of the dress. It fits perfectly.”
She beamed. “I did good!”
“You’re the one who selected all the clothes in my closet?” I made the question casual, but I heard Gabriel’s sharp intake of breath.
At her nod, I continued. “How did you get them to fit so well?”
Felicia’s look was guileless. “Dante told me he borrowed some of your old clothing and I used it to estimate your size.”
I turned to Gabriel with scowl. “Borrowed? My guess is he took the clothing I brought into the club to donate for the charity drive two months ago. Well?”
Gabriel expressed a sudden interest in rummaging through the cabinets.
Unease filled me. Dante had not only planned my visit, he had planned for months. It put a new spin on my being here. What did he want?
I turned back to Felicia. Later, I’d have a little chat with the alpha about “borrowing” my things and his plans for me. “Thanks for selecting the clothes. You have good taste.”
A modest shrug. “I do all the set and costume design for our summer plays, and our winter theater as well.”
“You have a theater here?”
“We’re rehearsing a play I wrote this afternoon. Wanna watch?”
“I’d love it, if it wouldn’t bother your actors. I was in the drama club in high school. Good times.”
“Two o’clock, in the white barn with the horse weathervane on top.”She came around to my front, looked at Gabriel and beamed. “I like her. She’s not snobby as the other women Dante’s brought home. She’s friendly.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Other women?” Jealousy pinched me. “How many other women?”
Her gray eyes twinkled. “A few. But they’ve never lasted. They got bored or they didn’t like it here. And they didn’t smell as nice as you do.”
Digging a cookie out of the jar, she bounced off.
“Smell nice? Smell nice as in let’s have dinner and you’re the main course? Or smell nice in ‘I like your perfume?’” I muttered.
Gabriel relaxed, leaning against the counter. “Smell nice as in you’re okay with her. Felicia’s got a sharp sense of smell. She can tell in a minute if a skin is untrustworthy.”
Something warned me Felicia’s acceptance was important in the pack.
“Is everyone in this place going to sniff me like laundry fresh from the clothesline?”
Gabriel fished a cookie out of the jar and bit. “Not everyone. Dante gave instructions to leave you alone. Be polite and say hello, but nothing more. Felicia’s special.”
“Special how?” My nose twitched at the smell of warm chocolate. Tempting. Still…that label…
A shadow crossed his face. “I’ll let Dante tell you.”
He finished the cookie and opened a pantry door, rooting through it. “If you don’t want cookies, we have other stuff if you’re hungry.”
Thinking of all the breakfast I’d consumed, I shook my head. “Didn’t you have breakfast?”
I watched him tear open a package of beef jerky and select a piece. “Yeah, but I’m really hungry. Good sex does that to me.”
At his wink, I rolled my eyes.
“Try it.” He waved a piece of jerky at me. “We make our own here.”
I
took a piece of jerky and bit into it. It was surprisingly good, not tough as the kind I’ve bought in stores.
Munching on our jerky, we toured the rest of the lodge. Again, it looked like an ordinary lodge, with bedrooms, offices, and a rec room downstairs that served as a makeshift meeting room for the entire pack.
Outside, we took a golf cart to explore the grounds. Gabriel pointed out the white barn where Felicia would hold her play rehearsal, a stable where they kept the horses, and a red barn used for storage.
The bunk house sheltering the cowboys was a low, long building that resembled a 1960’s Florida motel.
Opposite, he pointed out another building with a large red cross on it. “Infirmary. We have a physician’s assistant and an experienced nurse in the pack.”
“No vet?” I teased.
Gabriel bared his teeth in a mock growl. “We visit the vet in Cheyenne once a month to get our fangs cleaned.”
“Good to know they’ll be sharp if someone makes a snack out of me.”
“I’m joking, sweet eyes.” He had that wounded look again.
“So am I, big guy.” I patted his arm. “I thought werewolves were almost immune to injury.”
“The usual cuts and scrapes heal on their own. Once in a while, someone had need of stitching like when Zane almost tore off his hand on that barbed wire…”
I made a gagging sound. “Spare me the details.”
“Mostly they’re here for visitors, skins who might get injured. Or to deliver babies.”
His expression warmed. “We like babies. Lots of them. Dante is hoping three of the mated females will get pregnant this summer. He’s encouraging them.”
“In what way? Maternity leave?”
Gabriel laughed. “No, they’ll get plenty of leave, if they want, after the babies are born. If they want to return to their jobs or duties on the ranch after three months, they can. Or they can stay home with the babies. Up to them. Dante’s incentive is to offer them vacation time alone with the mate who wants to impregnate them. He even built a few cabins by the river exclusively for baby-making. The couple can run wild in the woods, and come back to make love by the fireplace.”
The way Gabriel looked at me, as if he wanted to get me pregnant, made my insides tingle. My womb actually clenched with anticipation, and I swear my ovaries were crying out, “Let’s go!”
