“My brothers?” she asked fearfully. They’d been Zachary’s enforcers, had he killed them too?
“Are fine, here drink this.” He held up a glass of milk but she shook her head.
“No thanks. My brothers are truly all right? Are they here? Where exactly am I?”
“Yes, your brothers are fine. I believe they’re meeting with my other enforcers at the moment. This is my place. I moved into this cabin while my new house is being built.”
She frowned. “You didn’t move into the Alpha’s house?”
“I believe it’s better to start over, a clean slate. I didn’t want my mate being uncomfortable in her new house.”
It was a jab to her stomach. “You have a mate?” Only sheer determination enabled her to keep a hurt cry from escaping. She could imagine his mate, strong, sleek and beautiful—she’d be everything Laney was not.
“Yes, I do,” he answered calmly.
“Won’t she be angry about you being here with me?” She blushed, covering her breasts again as memories of their earlier kiss raced through her brain. Frowning, she wondered what game he was playing. No mated werewolf would ever kiss her like he just had. Werewolves as a whole were a touchy-feely lot, but they knew what a precious gift a mate was, and cheating on one’s mate was basically unheard of. If they touched another, it would always be purely platonic.
“No, I don’t believe she’ll be angry at all.” A jolt hit her as he stared down at her intently.
“W-wait, y-you don’t think I’m your m-mate do you?” she asked incredulously. It was ridiculous. His mate? What was he thinking? Men like Cooper simply weren’t interested in women like Laney. A misfit, she was always on the edge of the crowd looking in. She’d tried to entice men, tried to flirt, to make herself more attractive to the opposite sex with makeup and revealing clothes. Eventually she’d realized that it didn’t matter what she did, there was just something about her that repulsed others, men and women. Women didn’t want to be her friend and that was all men wanted to be.
When Cooper had shown he was interested in her, had followed her home and fucked her brains out, she’d felt sexually attractive for the first time in her life. She’d felt wanted, hot, desirable. And then he’d left her. Logically, she knew that she’d forced him to go, forced him to leave. But the wolf didn’t like logic. The wolf had pined for him, for his touch, his scent, his possession. The wolf didn’t understand why he didn’t come back for them, and if Laney was truthful, the woman was more than a little upset by that too. She’d lost interest in everything around her as she’d waited for his return. She’d been unable to eat, to sleep. If she was his mate, then why did he leave her?
“Who used to starve you? Hit you?” he snapped at her.
“W-what?” How could he talk about that now?
“You answer my questions, I’ll answer yours.”
“Well, that seems rather childish.” Laney folded her arms over her chest, hissing in frustration. But he merely continued to stare at her, his face stubborn, his stance inflexible. “Fine, I’ll tell you, like someone hasn’t told you anyway.”
“They haven’t,” he said seriously.
“My brothers?”
He shook his head.
“I only found out that you were living out in the human world three days ago. Everyone thought that you’d moved to another pack and your brothers never said differently. When they weren’t able to get hold of you, Rye became worried. I managed to figure out that their sister was the same little wolf I’d spent the night with three months ago. I sent Rye to get you, except when he got there, you were so weak you were dying.”
“D-dying? I-I don’t remember any of this.”
He nodded. “You were unconscious when he got there. We took you in the chopper out to the forest and I forced your wolf on you. Do you remember running with me? Hunting for prey?” She shook her head even as memories surfaced of racing through the dark forest, the clean sent of dew and prey tantalizing her, a large, dark wolf racing beside her, protecting her, chasing out prey for her to chase, to eat.
“I never hunt. I’m too weak.”
“You are not weak!” She jolted in shock as he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “I will not allow such foolish talk.”
Laney looked up at him in amazement before a snort of laughter escaped her. Whoops, probably not a good idea to laugh at your Alpha when he’s trying to be all serious, but honestly!
“Oh, come on, Cooper. Look at me. I’m tiny. I’m the runt of the litter. All my life I’ve been weaker, slower and smaller than everyone else.”
“Have you? Or was that just the way Zachary wanted you to be? I know Zachary used to abuse you, Delaney, so you might as well tell me about it. Talk to me, Laney.” His command hit her, Alpha to packmate, dominant to submissive, only this time her own power rose up, meeting his, knocking it back. She stopped, shocked, waiting for his retaliation.
Instead, he just grinned at her. “And you call yourself weak.”
She relaxed slightly, amazed by the pride in his voice, his eyes.
His face hardened again. “Talk to me.”
She licked her lips nervously. “All right, it was Zachary. H-he used to like to punish me, it didn’t really matter what I did. I remember once I was really hungry when I got home from school and I went to the fridge. I had just made myself a sandwich when he entered the room. He went ballistic, throwing my sandwich across the room and screaming at me that I had no right to eat, that I hadn’t asked his permission. Th-that I was just a little scab. Then he grabbed me by my hair and dragged me down to the b-basement.” She looked down at her hands, shaking in her lap. One of his large, dark hands covered hers, warming her, lending her the strength to continue.
“He had this special punishment container built down there. It was made of steel with strips of silver on the lid. Not enough to kill me, just keep me weak. It was small. I could barely lie flat in it. It…it felt like…like being in a coffin.”
“He put you in it?” She kept her gaze down, aware of the tightly controlled anger in his voice, hoping that her submissive stance would help calm him.
“Yes.”
“How long?” When she didn’t answer, his hand firmly tilted her face up so she was looking into his gentle, unwavering gaze. “How long, sweet?”
She shrugged. “A few hours, sometimes a whole day. Once, three days.”
“Three days?” he asked incredulously. “How old were you?”
“I think that time I was eight.” She jumped in fright as he abruptly stood and paced. Fury swirled around him, so intense it was almost tangible, and Laney held her breath, waiting for him to explode. But his voice was surprisingly calm when he spoke.
“You lived with him?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“R-Rye didn’t tell you?” Fear hit her hard.
“No, but you’re going to tell me, aren’t you?” he whispered softly, coming to sit beside her again. But his soft voice didn’t fool her. His jaw was tensed, the muscles in his neck straining as he tried to keep his anger under control.
“Delaney? Tell me.” This time it was a command. Laney sighed, tired of living with the ever-present fear and worry.
“I lived with him because he was my father. It was my father who locked me in that box at least once a month for as long as I can remember. It was my father who starved me for days as a punishment, who hit me, ridiculed me, who forced me to run because…” She paused and took a shuddering breath. “B-because I…because we thought he would kill me.”
Laney closed her eyes against the old memories, the old pain. She barely felt Cooper pulling her into his arms to rock her tightly against his firm chest.
Cooper looked down at his mate shivering in his arms, her fear so ripe he could practically taste it. Anger rode him like a tidal wave until he couldn’t tell where her shivers of fear met his shudders of rage. His wolf snarled, a vicious sound of fury and rage. That someone had hurt their mate
was bad enough. That it was her father, someone charged with her protection and care, sent them over the edge of rage into blinding, white-hot fury.
Cooper now regretted that he’d killed Zachary so quickly. He should have tortured him slowly over years as he’d done his daughter, his precious, beautiful little girl. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he fought for control, fought to keep a leash on his fury. The last thing she needed was for him to lose it, and what she needed came first for him. He could release his own pain and fury later.
“He should have protected you, cherished you.”
“He was ashamed of me—not only was I a female, but I was weak and small, an outcast. Imagine being the Alpha and having the weakest member of your pack as your daughter.”
“You listen to me, Delaney. I will love all of my children, no matter how weak, strong, tall, short, fat or thin. Do you hear me? None of our children will ever be anything but loved and protected.”
She pushed away from him, or at least she tried to push away from him. He held her easily in his arms, waiting patiently until she gave up and rested against him once again.
“We are not having any children.”
He leaned down and kissed her, a soft kiss, one that cajoled and cherished. Waiting patiently until she opened her lips, he slipped his way inside to soothe her hurt.
He’d meant it as comfort, but as he continued to kiss her, his arousal rose, reminding him of how good it felt to be inside her, loving her. One hand slipped down to a small breast as he directed his fingers toward a perfect red nipple. He teased, plucking and rubbing in turns until she shifted restlessly on his lap, her ass rubbing sensually over his hard cock.
Cooper drew in a sharp breath as she mimicked his actions, one small hand moving to his chest, rubbing against him, swirling her thumb around his nipple as she whimpered softly. Cooper lifted his lips from hers, gazing down at her dazed face.
“Hush, sweet. Just relax for me. Relax and let me pleasure you.”
He moved her until she rested between his spread legs, her back to his chest as he sat against the headboard. He laid her smooth, creamy legs over his before spreading them slowly.
Using both hands now, he cupped her small breasts, rubbing and flicking the nipples simultaneously as she cried aloud.
“It’s too much,” she cried.
He chuckled. “No, it’s not, you can take it, sweet, ride through the sensitivity.” She moved restlessly.
“No!” she cried out, trying to turn around and reach him.
“Uh-uh.” He slapped her exposed butt cheek before pulling her back to her original position.
“Stay still, sweet.” His hands went back to the small red berries, once again plucking the highly sensitive nubs. He bit down gently on her neck, sharp little nips that were a show of possession, letting her know exactly who she belonged to.
“But I want to touch you,” she sobbed, thrashing her head back and forth on his chest.
“Tough, I want to touch you, and if you touch me it will all be over. I’ll be inside you so fast the world will spin.”
“I want it to spin. I want you inside me.”
“And I will be, after I touch you.” One hand crept down her stomach as he drew her feet up toward her ass, raising her legs, opening her up farther. His thumb hit her clit, tapping it softly as she cried aloud. Then he thrust two fingers inside her, easily entering her, her pussy so moist and warm his fingers slid inside her like a warm knife through butter.
“Please, Cooper, please, I need…I need…”
“What do you need, sweet?” he asked softly as she whimpered, shaking her head. “Tell me what you need. I can do this as long as I need to, until you tell me.”
“Y-you pain in the ass!”
He chuckled as she growled.
“I can be a pain in your ass,” he murmured, pulling his hand back from her open pussy to massage the top of her mound while nibbling at her neck.
“No!” she squealed, trying to grab his hand, to force it back to her slick lips. “P-please,” she begged.
“Please what, sweet?” he asked between nibbles.
“Please make me come, I need to come so badly,” she cried out.
Jealousy suddenly rose up like a black wave inside him, mixing with his arousal until he was practically drowning. “Has there been anyone else?”
“W-what?” she asked, and he could hear the arousal in her voice, clouding her ability to think.
“Has anyone else touched this pussy since me? Have they licked up your sweet juices, plucked these sweet berries?” His hands moved back to her nipples in demonstration. “Have they fucked you, taken your mouth, your pussy, your ass?”
“No,” she screamed out.
“Why not?”
“What?” she screeched, obviously at the end of her endurance.
“Why has no one else touched this delectable body?” His hands moved up and down her body, slowly, sensuously. “They wanted to, every man in that bar wanted to fuck you. Why haven’t they?” Soft, creamy, perfect, and she was his. All his.
“You’re delusional.” Disbelief had her shaking her head. “No one wanted to fuck me.”
“Oh yes they did.” He twisted her nipples, making her scream. “So would you have let them fuck you, Laney?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t want them to.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want anyone but you.”
Satisfaction filled him, rode through his body like a pleasurable drug until he felt as if he were king of the world. No feeling had ever rivaled this, not even becoming Alpha.
“Why didn’t you want anyone but me?” he asked, determined to get it all.
“Fuck you, Cooper. Damn it!”
He chuckled.
“Don’t you mean, ‘fuck me, Cooper’? Why didn’t you want anyone but me touching you, Laney?”
“Because I’m yours! Happy now?”
“Oh yes.”
He quickly flipped her until she knelt on the bed, her knees on either side of his head as he lay on his back. Her pussy was in perfect alignment with his hungry mouth.
“Cooper?” He heard her need for assurance, could hear the worry, the embarrassment in her voice
“Just hold on to the headboard, baby. Let me do all the work.” He reached up and pulled the outer lips of her pussy open, revealing the glistening lips inside. A drop of dew fell onto his lips and he licked it up, humming in pleasure.
“You’re beautiful, so pink and wet. I want to savor this, savor the way you look, your smell, your taste.”
She made a small sound of protest, attempting to thrust her hips backward, out of his reach. But he clasped her around the hips, easily holding her in place.
“Laney?” he asked.
“N-nothing.”
“Not nothing, tell me. I won’t accept secrets between us.”
“It’s not a secret,” she said, and he smiled at the exasperation in her voice.
“It’s just, well, no one’s ever, and what if you don’t like it, what if I can’t—”
He interrupted her nervous chatter the best way he knew how, by pulling her down to his mouth and licking the glistening cream from her pussy. He slid his tongue up and down her slit. Exploring her folds thoroughly, he chased every drop of dew she produced. Her taste was sweet, her cream thick and luscious.
Avoiding her clit for the moment, his tongue circled her opening before flicking across it. Lapping at her gently, he pushed just the tip of his tongue inside her, reveling in her cries of ecstasy.
Holding her still when she began to thrust her hips back and forth, he slowly drove his tongue inside her. Using just one hand to hold her, he circled her clit with his thumb while he slid his tongue in and out of her passage.
Cooper felt her thighs quiver, her breath quicken, and knew she was close. Letting go of her with his right hand, he wet a finger in her juices before moving it to her back
passage. Feeling her stiffen, he thought she would protest, but she remained silent and he slid his finger into the tight, warm passage of her ass, being careful to move slowly so as not to frighten her.
He used the thumb of his left hand to flick at the underside of her clit, slid his tongue like a tiny cock in and out of her pussy in time with the finger in her ass. Impossibly, she seemed to moisten further, her sweet taste and earthy smell surrounding him, drawing him into her web as he marveled at how responsive she was.
Wanting to push her, to see how adventurous she was willing to be, he pulled his tongue from her passage at the same time as he withdrew the finger from her ass.
Ignoring her wails of protest with a chuckle, he pushed her hips forward until his tongue could reach her back passage. His hands held her butt cheeks apart as he rimmed her back hole, licking at it delicately, teasingly, as she gasped in shock.
“No, Cooper, you can’t.” But it wasn’t fear or disgust he heard in her voice, rather a deep pleasure tinged with embarrassment. He tightened his hold on her ass as he pushed his tongue into her back passage. Sweet heaven, she was simply to die for. Certain now that she wouldn’t try to move away, he returned one hand to her clit, flicking it firmly until she screamed her release.
Laney was shocked by the depth of her orgasm. It overwhelmed her, drawing her into a vortex where she was robbed of all her senses and all that was left was complete and total pleasure.
Coming back to earth, she found herself lying on her back upon the bed, her breath coming in sharp pants, her skin so sensitized that it hurt to move. The mattress suddenly dipped and she opened her eyes to find Cooper kneeling naked between her legs. Dear Lord, she didn’t even remember him stripping. He looked magnificent kneeling there, bronzed skin glistening in the sunlight, his body long and lean, without an inch of fat to mar the perfection. It was enough to make her drool.
Her gaze traveled over his broad shoulders, down his long chest to where his cock stood at attention, full and throbbing, a tiny drop of precum at its slit.
“Jesus,” she whispered. “Cooper, you’ve killed me, I can’t move. But I want…” She licked her lips. She remembered the taste of him, craved it with a sinful intensity.
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