Ultimatum: Graham Pack Mates, Book 3

by Annmarie McKenna

  “Sounds intriguing.”

  Derek staggered to a halt. “Don’t say that,” he groaned and resumed walking.

  “Well.” She walked her fingers up the pec opposite her cheek and circled the nipple with her fingernail, pressing just hard enough to leave a white line around the flat disk of brown color. It pebbled with goose bumps. “The ‘hammer your ass’ part kind of has a double meaning, and it’s giving me all kinds of ideas.”

  “Fuck.” His jaw bunched up and his throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he picked up the pace. They would cover this last half mile in record time. Then they still had to get to their cars and drive to his house and then back to hers and…UGH.

  “Hurry,” she pleaded. No, begged. She was woman enough to admit she was begging him to hurry. And if the hard-on prodding her hip meant anything, he needed to hurry also.

  Forty-four long minutes later, they pulled up to her house in Derek’s car, since they’d decided to take his and leave hers for the time being. Thank God Derek lived relatively close and was a man. She would have gone mad if he’d needed any more time to organize his things. The porch light was on, and Paige could see from the car there was another vase with a gigantic display of some kind of yellow flowers pouring from it.

  “That son of a bitch.” Paige had the door pushed open before Derek had the car at a full stop.

  “Paige.” His sharp bark as well as the hard hand on her shoulder yanked her back the second her foot hit the pavement. “I go first.”

  Oh man, oh man, oh man. This whole bodyguard thing—i.e., Derek being her bodyguard instead of her, as the shifter, being his—really stank. It wasn’t in her nature to give up control. She was submissive only to those above her in the pack rank, but never had been with humans. It felt almost abnormal to hand over the reins, even though she knew she needed the help.

  “How the hell could he do this after what just happened? The man must not have anything but half a brain cell.”

  “Maybe he did it before the dinner. Sometime between you getting there and him arriving.” Derek got out of the car cautiously, his gaze taking in everything. “You also have to take into account, maybe it’s not him.”

  “Yeah.” She didn’t want to think about the fact she might have two admirers. The worst thing was, she didn’t have a clue who else might be interested in her. Or why. She led a very boring life, for God’s sake. Early riser, off to work, home for dinner or out with her teammates to relax after a day sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen, and usually early to bed. Partying really wasn’t in her vocabulary.

  So if not Tucker, who the hell else’s eye could she have caught?

  Derek came around the car and helped her out. Paige let him, though the idea made her feel like such a weenie. She hated being scared. Had hated standing in her kitchen naked the other night, unable to move. Yeah, they’d joked about it in the woods, but this whole ordeal did frighten her. Still, it felt silly to have to be protected in front of her own home.

  Then the image of the knife on her kitchen table entered her mind. On second thought, if Derek wanted to go in before her, he was welcome to. Especially since she really hadn’t been home, except to collect a few things before staying at his house, since the knife incident. Who knew what they might find inside there?

  As they got closer, Paige discerned the flowers to be miniature sunflower-looking things. Maybe a dozen of them, with thick stems. There was a card in the middle, but from her position behind Derek, she couldn’t read it. He held her back with one arm and slowly climbed the steps.

  “They’re flowers,” she whispered, “not a bomb.”

  “So says the woman whose stalker has left a knife for her to find in her house and jewelry at her work.”

  Her stomach dropped. Damn it, he was right. Again.

  “I see a knife as a warning, not a housewarming gift,” he added.

  The growl came out before she could stop it. Derek turned and looked at her, one eyebrow raised high. “You’re doing a good job if you’re trying to scare me.”

  “You should be. Whoever this is isn’t playing with a full deck, sweetheart. He’s gotten into your house without you being able to detect him here, or at your job. That’s scary shit.”

  He turned and inspected the vase without touching it. Even in the midst of the current mess, she couldn’t help but admire the view. His scent stirred her libido, puckering her nipples and tying her womb into a knot. A constant state of arousal, it seemed. The jeans he wore showcased his fabulous ass, and she wished he hadn’t thrown on another shirt when they’d gotten to his house. She was still naked beneath his shirt, despite having picked up her discarded clothes from the clearing where they’d fucked against a tree.

  She’d thought it might entice him to touch her, or stop the car and jump her in the backseat. Instead, he’d been all business, gathering his belongings as efficiently as possible until here they were, standing on her porch, ogling flowers instead of spread out on her bed, making love like they hadn’t seen each other for years.

  She cleared her throat, anxious to get inside and strip him of those jeans. “Find anything?”

  “‘The sun sets as you do.’”

  “Huh?” She shoved him aside and peered at the card. “Yuck. Tucker would not write something like that. He’s too dumb.” She shivered. “Sounds a little morbid. What the hell does it mean?”

  “I haven’t got a clue.”

  “So I do have another stalker.”

  “Seems like it.”

  “Perfect.” She wrapped her arms around her middle, warding off the chill invading her body. “Can we just go inside?”

  “After I check around in there.” He extracted her keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door. Paige tucked her hand into the waistband of his jeans and held on like some sort of scared little girl. Derek surprised her by unhooking her fingers and turning toward her. “Wait here.”

  “Excuse me?” No fucking way.

  “I want to check out the house first, Paige.”

  “And leave me standing out here in the dark by myself? That sounds bass ackward. What kind of bodyguard would leave the body they’re guarding alone while they go wandering around looking for the bad guy? That’s how it is in the movies and books. You hero types always go running in to save the day when in reality you’re leaving the victim dangling on a hook like a carrot in front of horse.” Indignant, she put her hands on her hips. “What will you do from inside when the man jumps out of the woods and attacks me on the porch, huh?”

  He bit his lip, and she could tell he was holding back a smile. His hands went to her shoulders. “Breathe.” He kissed her forehead and massaged up and down her arms. “You and I will never have a dull moment, will we? Do you smell someone in the woods, sweetheart?”

  She sniffed once, then stopped herself. Damn him. He was coddling her. “You know I don’t. Doesn’t mean I want to stand out here in the dark while you’re in there getting killed.”

  “Are you scared of the dark?” he mocked, turning her own words back on her.

  She snarled at him. “At this particular moment, yes. Anyway, I do have the ability to help, you know.” She snapped her teeth together with a clack. “I have sharp teeth.”

  The eyebrow rose again. “And so…you’re going to eat the intruder?”

  Paige ignored him and picked up the vase of flowers. She was so sick of this shit, and he’d pissed her off, wanting to leave her outside like some little girl. She used all the energy to heave the vase off the porch. The glass shattered with a satisfying crash and the sunflowers scattered in the yard. She wanted to trample the damn things. When would this end?

  “Whoa. That was a pretty good throw.”

  “For a girl?” she snapped.

  “For anyone.”

  Her shoulders drooped. There was something in his voice—res
pect, maybe—that said he wasn’t teasing her.

  “Sweetheart, I hardly expect to die in there. In fact, I’m not expecting to find anything.

  Still harboring a smidge of anger, she shoved him aside and entered her own house. “It might just be me doing the killing,” she grumbled, “of you.” She heard him chuckle. Paige turned and glared at him, surprising him when she planted her fist in his shoulder. “Don’t laugh.”.

  Derek grabbed her arm and brought her to his side. He rubbed the spot she’d punched. “You pack a pretty good wallop there.”

  “Just showing you how strong I am. I’m not helpless.”

  “Definitely not. Never said you were. Doesn’t mean I want you to walk into a potentially dangerous situation.

  “Oh.” She guessed she could live with his chivalry. Especially when he’d already done a lot for her.

  The door clicked closed behind her, but when she would have walked through to the kitchen, Derek held her back.

  “First things first. Here’s what you can do that I can’t. Do you smell anything?”

  Ah, see, he did need her for something. Leave her out on the porch—who did he think he was dealing with?

  Paige closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Some scents still lingered from the past several days—her friends, breakfast. Someone from the pack had been there, Caelan and Ricky Danzer. She recognized his smell and knew he worked for Caelan and Eli. She guessed Ricky had been there looking for evidence, otherwise the man hadn’t ever been in her home.

  Nothing else. Nothing new. But then, she hadn’t smelled anything different the day she’d found the knife and the open window either.

  “Nope.”

  He nodded. “Good.” Derek held her hand but made her walk behind him, not beside. They methodically searched the house, one room at a time, including the basement, him leading with a wicked-looking gun. All was safe.

  “So…did you want to come in for some coffee?” she quipped.

  His nostrils flared as he slowly crossed the kitchen. Her heart thudded, her nipples hardened and rubbed against Derek’s shirt making her squirm, wanting more. Paige shifted from one foot to the other.

  “Do you really want to take the time to make coffee?”

  Words escaped her. Licking her lips, she looked beyond his shoulder and calculated the distance to her bedroom. Not so far. Surely they could make it?

  The tips of his boots came to rest a scant millimeter from her bare toes, and his lips descended on hers. Soft and sweet and full of promise. Of all the things he would do to her in bed. He cradled her face in his hands and held her steady for the plundering that followed. Lord, but the man could kiss.

  Paige moaned and tilted her head for better access. She’d never been kissed so thoroughly, so mesmerizingly, to the point she didn’t feel him unbutton the shirt covering her from shoulder to her midthigh. The next thing she knew, the fabric fluttered to the floor to pool around her feet.

  He plucked at her nipples. She rose onto her toes. He trailed one hand down to the junction of her thighs. She spread her knees and he caressed the swollen lips of her pussy and circled the bundle of nerves, coaxing it from its hidden depths.

  Paige gasped and clasped her fingers around the countertop edge at her back.

  “I need you,” he murmured against her mouth.

  “Not more than I need you.”

  He slipped a finger inside her opening and she bit her lip. She couldn’t take any more standing in her kitchen. With her hands on his chest, she pushed and walked a very willing Derek backward, down the hall to her bedroom, all while his finger was still embedded in her sheath. The pad of his thumb pressed on her clit and she nearly stumbled. Only his finger inside her and his other arm around her back kept her upright.

  Derek swung her around. The backs of her knees touched the mattress of her bed. She didn’t even remember the trip down the hall.

  He withdrew from her pussy, leaving her feeling empty. “Lie back.”

  She did and was rewarded with an excellent strip show. Her mate crossed his arms over his stomach and lifted the T-shirt he’d put on while at his house. Inch by beautiful inch of his hard abs were revealed to her. She fisted her hands in the comforter to keep from reaching for him. The top button of his jeans slipped through its hole, the second was already gone, dropped to the earth beside the tree they’d christened, and the next few followed quickly.

  He held her gaze as he peeled the denim over his hips, taking his boxers with them, allowing his thick erection to spring free. A whimper filled the air, and it took a second to realize the sound had come from her.

  With his hands on her knees, he spread her open and took his time looking his fill. Paige should have been nervous, should have felt her cheeks heating, would have been embarrassed if he were anyone else. Instead he made her feel like she was the only woman in the world. Which she was, for him. Amazing how things had happened so quickly. If he’d been another wolf, he would have mounted her the second they recognized each other. But with him being human, she would have thought things might progress at a slower pace.

  The breath left her lungs with a whoosh. A moment later he knelt between her spread thighs and she felt the petting of his thumbs on her pussy lips. She was slick, more than ready to take him inside. One thumb circled her opening.

  “Please,” she cried.

  “Not yet.” His gruff answer told her he was affected by her the same way she was by him.

  “Please.”

  “No.” His lips touched her reverently, as if he was taking every care in the world to be gentle with her.

  She didn’t want gentle. She wanted fast and furious. Hot and heavy. Sweaty and dirty. Now. Paige squeezed his head between her thighs. He pried them apart and she heard his soft laugh.

  “Greedy.”

  “Damn right,” Paige rasped.

  His tongue lashed out on her clit, forcing her to arch upward. God, he was good. Derek circled clockwise and counter, flicked up and down and side to side. Then there was some kind of swirling motion that practically lit her up like a roman candle. He sucked on the nub with tight lips; his teeth grazed it.

  Paige lifted her knees and dug her heels into the mattress. Her head thrashed back and forth. She held her breath as the moment of detonation got closer and closer, and then his finger filled her. Or two fingers, she didn’t know, didn’t care. It felt fabulous yet not enough, but the pistoning of those fingers finished her off. She came, screaming his name, her body taut in ecstasy, her wolf howling to be released.

  Minutes later she wondered if she’d passed out, because her now-slack body lay motionless while her mate continued gently lapping at her, bringing her down from the explosive orgasm he’d given her. She questioned whether her climax had been so strong because they were mated or because he was just that good. And to be so good meant you’d had a lot of practice, which she didn’t want to think about, so she left it at that because they were mates. Perfect for each other in every way.

  The warm sensation at her pussy gave way to cool air. She opened one eye to see Derek standing above her, cock erect and waiting for attention. She opened her other eye.

  “My, what big eyes you have.”

  Derek was grinning from ear to ear and felt her face heat. Caught in the act of ogling his equipment. She licked her dry lips and levered herself up on her elbows. “The better to see you with, my dear.”

  Derek put one knee on the bed between her still-parted thighs and one hand on either side of her elbows. His lips crashed down on hers and she tasted herself, not at all revolted as she once thought she might be if ever given an opportunity such as this. His thigh bumped her clit, sending an aftershock through her body.

  He lifted and then scooted her semisated body toward the middle of the bed. He moved with her, not breaking their kiss. When he had her where he wanted her, he draped
himself over her. His cock nestled at the juncture of her thighs and slipped between her drenched folds. A shift of his hips and he glided into her pussy.

  Derek left her mouth and traveled up her jaw to her earlobe, where he whispered, “What big teeth you have.”

  She turned into his shoulder. “The better to eat you with.” Paige closed her teeth on the mark she’d already given him, breaking the skin a fraction and tasting what she already knew to be heaven. Nothing would take him away from her. Ever.

  His cock jerked against her and he grunted. He withdrew, making her pout, but returned, unerringly found her entrance and buried himself to the hilt. Paige gasped at the sudden fullness, and Derek stilled, letting her adjust to his length and size. He nibbled her ear and the skin below and found a nipple with his fingers which he pulled at, adding to the bombardment.

  “I’m all for being eaten, sweetheart,” he murmured, pulling out and thrusting back in slowly. He repeated the action. Paige clawed at his back and wrapped her legs around his waist as the tingling started building back up in her clit. Derek was situated in such a way that he rubbed against the oversensitized nerve endings with every pass. But she needed more. Faster, harder—God, she was becoming an insatiable nympho.

  “Please, Derek.”

  “Mmm…no. I’m having too much fun.”

  Paige lifted her hips and gripped him harder. “Don’t fuck with me, boy.”

  He chuckled in her ear. “Feisty.”

  “Derek,” she groaned.

  “Shhh.”

  She wanted to scream, but then he rotated his hips and all she could do was gasp. Derek pushed up onto his hands and knees, breaking the hold she had around his waist. He hooked her knees in the crooks of his elbows and leaned farther over, folding her legs back. What should have been uncomfortable instead made him sink even farther into her. The head of his cock bumped against something deep inside that made her eyes roll back.