After consulting his wife, Jack had said that Scarlet and I needed to find something in common and spend time together. The idea had made me skeptical, but from Scarlet’s expression, she seemed interested.
“You can transfer your business credits from the university in New York,” I said. “I’ve already talked to the college, and they agreed.”
As if I’d flipped a switch, Scarlet’s expression fell. “Oh, I get it. You mean that I should go back to school.” She crossed her arms, annoyance flickering in her expression. “And you talked to my university in New York?”
What the fuck had I said wrong? Clearly, I’d said something that pissed her off. “You don’t like that I reached out to your university?”
“No, it’s fine.” She waved a hand in the air. “Fantastic. Thanks.”
Nope. She fucking hated that I’d talked to her university.
I cleared my throat. “Well, the deadline is next Monday, if you wanted to transfer. I’ll take care of the enrollment process. You’ll just have to release your records into my care.”
“Um, that would be a no, Lance. I don’t know if you noticed, but I kind of have my hands full with, you know, a job. Just like you.” She gestured toward the door. “And you might not have noticed at dinner, but my pack needs me right now.”
“School doesn’t start for another couple weeks.” I stared into her eyes, seeing her wolf just barely under the surface. “What if you found a replacement at Meadows Apartments? You’re so much better than this extremely demanding and stressful job that gains you nothing. You’re already alpha.”
“Really? Fuck you, Lance Knight,” she said. “For the record, I love this job that gains me nothing. It’s mine. I earned it, and I’m good at it. Also, Darrel only went to trade school—are you questioning his ability to lead his pack?”
“The fuck?” I asked, having no idea how we even got here.
“You’re telling me to quit my job and go back to school, and you already made calls without even talking to me. Where do you get off? Seriously? Do you really think this is what I need to hear after a day like today?” She stormed for the door.
“Scarlet—wait.” I lifted my hands in surrender. “Let me explain. I said this all wrong. What I meant was that I thought I might teach a class or two in the business department.”
She drew back, narrowing her eyes at me. “You want to teach me?”
Oh, that question brought up all sorts of extremely inappropriate ideas.
“Not necessarily teach you, but maybe be there while you’re there. Part-time.”
Her brow furrowed, but she was no longer marching for the door, so I took that as a good sign.
“You have a few days to think about it,” I said, leaning in a little. Her honeysuckle scent invaded my nostrils, and a shiver went straight through me. “I promise you, Scarlet, I wasn’t trying to insult you.”
She searched my eyes for a second and then leaned toward me, her lips parting. “Why are you so infuriating, Lance Knight. Half of the time, I want to kill you.”
I lifted my hand, skimming it over her shoulder and circling the back of her neck. “And the other half of the time?”
Her eyes glowed with her wolf, and I could feel mine pushing forward. Not waiting another moment, I pulled her in, pressing firmly against her warm lips.
She gasped, pressing her body against mine, the scent of our arousal filling the room. A tingling sensation pulsed low in my cock, and I felt it hardening against my jeans.
Shit.
I pulled back abruptly, realizing what a fucking asshole I was being. I shouldn’t be kissing her, not tonight, not when Scarlet and Darrel had plans. Breaking away, I crossed over to the door and opened it. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Seriously?” Scarlet’s eyes widened. “Just like that, I want to kill you again.” She stormed out and down the hall.
Chapter Seven
Scarlet
I cuddled up to Darrel’s side late in the night, unable to sleep. After I’d returned from Lance’s room, I’d found Darrel lying in bed, hands behind his head and eyes closed. I’d dressed as quietly as I could, turned out the lights, and curled up next to him, inhaling his masculine scent.
“You tired?” he’d asked, voice a half-asleep rumble.
“Mm-hmm.” I’d thrown a leg over his wide frame, pillowed my head on his chest, and tried to sleep. But exhausted as I was, sleep didn’t come.
One thought haunted my mind like an obsessive poltergeist. Zane was lying about how he’d found out about the party and who he’d gone with. In all the time I’d known Zane, he’d never lost control of his wolf. There was someone in Zane’s life who lost control of their wolf all the time, though. Someone I’d always feared would end up killing in a rage. Someone who went to sex parties.
And it was someone Zane would protect.
Zeezee.
It fit too well, and I wanted to be wrong with all my heart.
If I was right, I would either have to knowingly kill an innocent man or kill my own sister with my bare hands.
There had to be another explanation. I’d sent off several texts to Zeezee, and she’d only said that she was working and upset, and she could probably meet up tomorrow. I had a gut aversion to demanding the meeting. What if she confessed?
No. I needed to look into this, find evidence. This could all just be my imagination running wild with me.
“Can’t sleep?” Darrel’s voice was a low rumble.
I looked up, just able to make out his bold features in the dim room. “Shit, I’m sorry, Darrel. I can go sleep in Aaron’s room.”
His hand rubbed down my back. “I can’t sleep either. I keep thinking about that ghoul that wasn’t a ghoul.”
It took me a moment to remember, and then I was hit with a pulse of guilt. Darrel had killed tonight. Yeah, he’d killed a creature that attacked us first and launched itself at Darrel instead of backing down, but no matter how berserk it seemed, it could have a family. Darrel didn’t strike me as someone who killed lightly under any circumstance.
Reaching up to his cheek, I rubbed my thumb over his dark stubble. “What should we do?”
“Nights like this, the only things that calm my wolf are a ride, a run, or...” He glanced down, his midnight blue gaze hitting mine in the dark.
“What?”
A smile quirked up the corner of his lips. “Sex.”
Oh damn, that sounded like exactly the distraction I needed. Leaning into him, I asked, “Do I have to pick just one?”
Twenty minutes later, we were riding up the coast as the moon stared down above us. I hugged Darrel’s waist as his bike hummed. The sky had cleared, leaving a crisp January night at around fifty degrees Fahrenheit, perfect weather for a run. The highway north cut between the ocean and forest. Parts had fallen off into the sea during the decade of storms, and small, warped bridges crossed over two-hundred-foot drops. Darrel took the bridges slowly and turned off the road about forty miles north into thick forest.
This was one of the most isolated areas on the coast, impassable from the north and dangerous to reach from the south. The small towns we’d passed on our way up here had been dilapidated and dark. The human population was probably so astronomically low the area wouldn’t even draw trolls.
All this passed through my head as Darrel pulled off to the side of the road near a path. Butterflies took flight in my stomach as I dismounted his bike. The bike had given a gentle hum of vibration just between my thighs, and as I turned to Darrel now, looking at his towering moonlit silhouette, I was ready to switch up the order of events to ride, sex, and then run.
As if he read my mind, Darrel nodded into the forest. “I have a spot in mind.”
“Can I at least undress you before the run?”
When he nodded, I grabbed the hem of Darrel’s shirt, pulling it up and over his head when he raised his arms. I ran my hands over his warm skin, exploring the ridges of muscle of his chest and abs, and my tension melt
ed away. Darrel had that effect on me. As I undid his jeans, he smiled and whispered, “See, no damage.”
When I met his gaze, he was grinning in a self-satisfied way, and I decided not to reiterate my point that I cared about damage to all parts of him equally.
I slid his jeans down with his underwear still inside and ran my fingers down his naked body. “Not an acid burn in sight.”
“I should probably recheck you,” Darrel rumbled as he helped me slip off his leather jacket. He folded it over his bike before helping me with my shirt, pants, and shoes.
His eyes glowed with his wolf, and his voice filled with a growl as he said, “I want to show you something.”
The forest exploded in sights and smells as I changed into a wolf. She rejoiced in the musk of the trees and passing wood life. An owl cooed from deep in the forest. A rat skittered through the underbrush. Scent trails led on in all directions, and we pressed our nose to the soil, inhaling the chalky musk of a pregnant deer.
As Darrel’s massive form pressed up against my side, we reveled in his presence. Alpha. Of the three Knight brothers, Darrel’s wolf was the most dominant. My wolf might be as vicious as a wolverine, dominant as they come, but even she knew that if push came to shove, Darrel’s wolf was more dominant.
His presence drew us in, and we rubbed our muzzle along his face. It had been so long since I let my wolf have free reign when our lives weren’t in danger.
Had I ever?
We ran as a pack when I was a young teenager, but my parents had always hemmed me in, urging me away from the others. I realized now that they’d known what I was and wanted to keep me far away from our megalomaniac alpha. When Darrel tossed his head toward the forest and huffed, clearly asking if we wanted to run, my spirit soared within me, and I took off.
Moments later, he was beside me. We flew through the thick underbrush, leaping over logs and dodging thick redwood trunks. The heavy, moist air of the forest tickled my muzzle as our speed created its own wind. My wolf oriented herself to my mate, keeping track of him by instinct. We didn’t slow until we reached a ridge in the forest slope, getting an unimpeded view of massive redwoods stretching out to all sides. Darrel slowed in a patch of soft clover, but instead of braking my speed, I pounced. We rolled over one another, our bodies tangling until he had me pinned.
I licked his teeth while his weight pressed down on me. He rolled over, and I pounced on him again. This time, he let me pin him. It’s clear he was letting me, because a moment later, I was under his weight again. We continued to roll, but my wolf and I found ourselves very satisfied pinned under him. It felt like safety. I didn’t realize how much I wanted that until I felt it. I had to be so many other people’s safety. For these few moments, Darrel was mine.
It wasn’t complete submission, not the kind that would have given Darrel my pack alphahood, but it was a personal submission of a kind—a mating submission, my wolf telling his that we wanted him to protect us. After a time, we came to a stop and lay curled at his side, watching the forest gently sway around us. Clouds gathered overhead, making me think that the night had only given us a short reprieve. A cold drop of water plunked onto my muzzle, and I shook my head in shock.
Darrel turned and threw his head toward the forest. He was asking if I wanted to leave before the rain came, but I didn’t want to go anywhere.
Instead of leaving, I started my change, feeling my bones shift and stretch. My skin itched and ached as fur pulled in through my pores. Darrel changed beside me until he was stretched out naked at my side. Another drop of cold water hit me, this time on my chest and sliding down over my peaked nipple.
“You said there were three parts to stress relief,” I told him.
He grinned. “Did I?”
I ran my fingers over the hard muscles of his chest, reaching up to his neck and shoulders before working my way down. By the time I touched his cock, it was as ready for me as I was for it. I grasped his rigid length, marveling at the size of him as I always did.
I crawled my way down, my knees sinking into the mud. Darrel let out a low groan as I took the head of his cock in my mouth. I rolled my tongue over the soft skin, and he sucked in a breath. I’d never done this before, but some part of me instinctively knew how to draw him deeper into my throat, having his length fill me in a very different way.
“Scarlet,” he growled as fingers threaded through my hair. The sound of his pleasure and feel of his warm, thick length inside me sent heat licking up my core. My folds slickened, and my legs shook with desire as my mouth moved, taking him deeper.
He moaned again as I picked up my pace. “Come here,” he whispered through harsh breaths. “Come up here.”
My wolf preened, begging me to submit to his call. Pulling him out of my mouth, I looked up the length of his body, taking in his half-lidded eyes. “Do you want me to stop? I love this.”
He blew out a breath, his eyes shining with his wolf. “You love it?”
Leaning in, I licked the tip of his cock, making him suck in a sharp breath.
“How did I get you in my life?” he growled, and then he was pulling me onto him. His lips found mine, tugging me into a gentle kiss as his hands slid down my back with raindrops pattering over us. His hands moved lower, cupping my bottom and pressing my throbbing clit against his rigid length. His tongue slipped between my lips and caressed mine as his hands moved still lower, supporting my weight and spreading me open. My walls clenched in anticipation as cool water sluiced down my back and between my spread cheeks.
I gave a little moan of encouragement, but his fingers stayed where they were instead of filling me. I squirmed against him, needing relief for the craving building inside me. Slowly, Darrel pulled away, a tiny smile tugging the corners of his lips. “I’m going to roll you over, baby.”
My wolf urged me to obey, urged me to obey anything he wanted from us, but she didn’t need to. I was already turning over, lying on top of him with his cock pressed between my ass cheeks. Cool rain washed over my face, into my open lips, and down my body. The cold water contrasted with the hot body below me and the heat pulsing between my legs.
Darrel’s hands slid around my hips, one of them dipping over my mound and between my thighs. I gasped, parting my legs as his fingers opened me, slicking through my wet folds. He sank one finger deep into me, and I arched my back and pushed my head against his shoulder. My ass ground against his rigid cock, and he growled low in his throat, plunging another finger into my opening.
“You did love having your mouth around me, didn’t you?” he moaned into my ear.
He moved faster, pulsing his fingers inside me while I gyrated against his shaft. My wetness coated his length, making his cock slick, and he groaned as he slid his cock up and down my crevice.
“Scar,” he murmured, “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I panted, arching back against him.
He spread my sex open, and I grasped his cock, guiding the head to my entrance. “Now.”
He pressed forward, gliding his hugeness into me. With a gasp, I arched my back, giving him deeper access. When he was buried to the hilt inside me, he grasped my hips, guiding me up and down while he thrust into me from behind, filling me to the brim with each pass. He moved faster and faster, driving his thick length into me until I was gasping for breath. I murmured words of encouragement, moving my hips in rhythm with his. Waves of pleasure spiraled through me as he plunged into me.
“Oh, oh, I’m going to—” I gasped, not able to hold on another moment. He thrust into me harder still, and I let myself go, my walls clenching around him as an orgasm gripped my body, exploding through me. Darrel’s hips locked against my ass, and a flood of liquid warmth filled me as he came. Tremors shivered through me as I caught my breath, cold water trickling down my face.
We lay there for a few minutes until he pulled out and I rolled over on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me.
“Aren’t you cold?” I asked.
He’d bee
n lying in the mud this whole time, shielding me from it. But he shook his head. “Are you?”
“No,” I said, nestling against his muscular chest. “Can we never leave?”
“We can’t really head home until the rain lets up,” he said before kissing my forehead. “If we stay any later than that, though, Lance will have the National Guard looking for us.”
He was right, damn it. But I also wasn’t exaggerating. I never wanted to leave this spot with Darrel. At least, that was how I felt at this moment. For these few precious seconds that we stole together, the world was perfect, and he was perfect. My wolf was content and feeling both protected and cherished for the first time in a very long time.
“I’m so crazy about you, Darrel,” I whispered. “You know that, right?”
His hands combed through my hair. “I know that.”
He didn’t need to say that he was crazy about me or even that he was falling for me the way I was for him. Both my wolf and I knew that without needing a single word of confirmation. His actions showed us how he felt in a thousand little ways. I fell into a deep sleep, content and sated.
Chapter Eight
Scarlet
The sound of angry voices woke me after way too few hours of sleep. I rolled over, expecting to find Darrel still snoozing on his pillow, but his side of the bed was empty.
I pressed my face into his pillow and let my wolf shamelessly inhale his scent. Darrel and I had driven back after snoozing a couple of hours in the meadow. We’d showered like zombies, and I’d fallen asleep cradled in his arms. Even though I knew today had a long and ever-growing to-do list, I was in no hurry to climb out from under the cozy, plush comforter. I was halfway back asleep when the door creaked open.
Filthy Fae: A Dirty Alphas Novel (Heartland Forest Book 2) Page 6
