“Why didn’t you tell me,” he demanded, sounding shocked.
“I…well…”Her words lost to her in her embarrassment. Hot tears rolled from her eyes.
“Anya, did I hurt you?” he asked a little gentler.
“A little.”
“I’m sorry.” He kissed her tears from her eyes.
“It’s okay. I wanted this with you.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he whispered as he moved, pulling free of their union, then slowly moving back again, and it hurt once more.
“Ow,” she whimpered, and he stopped moving.
He just lay on top of her, his body trembling lightly as he filled her entirely. The feeling was strange. It burned and stung more than she’d thought it would. Dante kissed her tenderly as one hand inched over her breast and slowly pinched and pulled on her nipple as she became accustomed to his body having penetrated hers. Little by little, he pulled his hips back and then moved them ahead again. It still hurt, but not as much as it had a few moments ago. Slowly, he continued his retreating out of her and then returned to fill her again. Each movement easing the pain and becoming increasingly pleasurable until the warmth in her belly built once more as he worked her toward another climax.
The spasms that rolled over her caused her body to clamp down on the thick shaft inside her. It made her feel as if she were on fire, and making her feel overly full in the strangest way.
“I’m going to move faster, okay?” he asked, and she nodded. When his rhythm sped up, it again burned, but this time in a more delightful way.
Her body was hot, slick and sweaty as she panted. The need to feel him had her pushing her hips to his as he increased the strength of his thrusting movements, and she gasped and twitched under him. Her world erupted as the waves of her climax flowed over her, consuming her body in their delectable flames. Each hard thrust was nearly bruising as waves of heat washed over her. She shuddered, her legs virtually flailing as she cried out in bliss of the climax stealing over her body.
“Oh god, Anya,” he moaned out in a breathless pant.
His lips sealed over hers as he pushed deeply into her and stopped moving, groaning loudly into her mouth. The heated shaft twitched inside her. He lay on top of her, his breathing rapid and his flesh slick in sweat. She was sore, and as he pulled free of her, it stung again.
Dante rolled off her, pulling her into his arms. He stroked her hair as he kissed her gently. The evening air was chilly on her damp flesh, and she shivered, but she had no desire to get dressed. She just wanted to stay like that forever with him. As she pulled free of him, he smiled.
“I love you,” he told her. “I know it sounds silly, but I do.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, tears again falling from her eyes.
* * * *
While he played with the braid around his wrist he knew they were fated to be together. Dante was almost lost. She’d refused to come back with him, refused to leave Craig. Anya told him she was worried her brother and Craig would come after her, which would start a fight. She was right. Although Dante had gotten Alex’s approval, Mitch had given his to Craig, and as the elder brother, he could overrule Alex’s of Dante. It was something he had not considered. He knew better, but in his desperation to be with Anya, he’d overlooked it. Now that they had mated, it could start another war. It was something neither he nor Anya wanted.
Anya asked him for enough time to get Mitch to warm to the idea of her being mated to Dante and not Craig. How she would accomplish that, however, was something she didn’t share with him. They were to meet again at the fountain in two nights’ time. It would do for now, but he needed her, had to have his mate by his side. To be apart for even two days was more than he thought he could endure.
Dante felt bad. Anya’s first time should have been in a romantic setting with candles and soft music. It should not have been in the openness of a public park in the middle of the night. Why she hadn’t told him she was still a virgin was beyond him. Now he would make it up to her. He had to, he thought. The next time they met he would bring her somewhere private and a little more comfortable then the open grass in a park. Even if it were a motel for the night, it would be romantic. He made plans in his mind as he approached the wharf and met up with his men.
Chapter Twelve
Sneaking back into the house was a little harder than getting out had been. She had to pry a window open in the garage and crawl in. It was a clumsy affair as she tripped on some old paint cans and sent them clanking across the cement floor. She held her breath and rehearsed her excuse for being in there at that hour. Although, she doubted Craig would buy her story of needing to clean at two in the morning.
With bated breath, she waited, but no sounds of him awakening and coming downstairs could be heard. Carefully she picked up the cans and tried to place them back where they’d been. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice, she thought as she made her way to the door, which led into the house.
Thankfully everything was silent, except Craig’s snoring, which drifted downstairs. Being extremely quiet, she ran a shower, letting the strong scented body wash take much of her lover’s scent away. It would linger, but if she wore enough perfume, it would make it next to impossible for Craig to get the scent. Although Anya would miss Dante’s smell, it had to be done.
That night she slept with a smile. Her dreams were pleasant ones of her mate. When she awoke the next day, she was still smiling. While making breakfast, she tried to make sure she stayed away from Craig. Dante’s scent was just faintly about her, and if he caught wind of it, there would be trouble. In the old farm house, it proved easy enough to do. Craig ate and then left to go attend to his farming chores while she tended to the household ones.
After he’d left, she dug the clothes she’d worn last night out from her closet and stuffed them into the washer. The blood and heavy smell of sex were strong on them. She added lots of bleach to the water in hopes to kill the smell. Anya cleaned her room and sprayed it with a fruity air freshener and opened her window to let the fresh air drift through it.
Around noon, Kari and Mitch showed up. Anya made coffee, feeling a little awkward. Her thoughts on how to get her brother to approve of Dante were weak. To come right out and tell him she’d mated with someone else would have him in a fit, she was sure.
“So how do you like it here?” Kari asked, drawing Anya’s attention away from her deep thoughts.
“I hate it,” she said truthfully.
“Anya, you’ve been here one week,” Mitch stated. “How can you hate it?”
“Because I don’t want to be his mate,” she snapped.
The creaking sound from the floor caused her to turn, and she saw Craig standing there. She hadn’t heard him come in. The look in his eyes was cold as he stared at her. A mixed feeling washed over her—one of being stupid for blurting out she didn’t want him and one of fear.
“Don’t worry, Mitch, she’ll come around afterward,” he said to her brother, not taking his gaze from her. Anya didn’t like what she perceived “afterward” to mean.
“I’m sorry. She’s too damn stubborn for her own good,” Mitch said.
“A good sign of an alpha bitch. She’ll learn to like it here, and the wedding is Saturday, so she’ll change her mind soon enough,” Craig said finally, releasing his cold stare and moved to sit at the old wooden kitchen table.
“Well, she needs to settle down. The sooner you two start having babies the sooner she’ll start being more responsible,” Mitch went on, and that was the last straw.
Again they were talking as if she weren’t even in the room. As if she were a child in need of discipline for some bad behavior she’d done.
“I’m right here.” She growled loudly, and even Kari stared at her a little surprised.
“Anya—” Mitch began.
“Don’t…I’m not mating him. I don’t care what any of you say. This is my life, not yours,” she screamed.
That started the argumen
t, and for the next two hours, they ranted and raved at one another, Craig putting his unwanted opinion in as well and Kari looking as if she were in shock. When Mitch said he would drag her to the alter himself, Anya really lost it.
“I already know who I want as a mate, Mitch,” she snapped.
“Really? You don’t have any suitors.” He snarled.
“Yes, I do,” she said, but knew she shouldn’t have.
“You were held captive, so where—” The words died on his lips as his eyes went wide.
“Like hell are you ever mating a Temple wolf,” he barked.
“It should be my choice. It’s my life for, Christ sake.”
“Well, it’s not. I’m your alpha and I’ve made up my mind. Craig is your intended, no one else,” he roared.
“I’d rather be dead then mate Craig,” she hurled at them as she turned and stormed off to her assigned room. She slammed the door, heard a soft thud on the floor and looked down to see the small carved wolves had fallen from the dresser top.
After scooping her beloved carvings up, she tossed herself onto the bed and curled up in a ball around the pillow. Tears came in a torrent, and she felt more trapped now than she ever had on the island. The soft knock at the door was barely heard over her sobs.
“Go away,” she wailed.
The door opened and she heard soft footsteps enter the room. “Anya. Oh, honey, it’s going to be okay,” Kari said as she sat on the edge of the bed.
“It’s never going to be okay.” Anya cried as she turned to look up at her. Kari’s eyes looked softly at her and she stroked her hair.
“You know your brother means well.”
“But it’s not what I want. I don’t love him.” Anya sobbed.
“You’ll learn to love him, Anya.”
“I don’t want to love him. I don’t want to have his babies or be his wife,” she said between sobs.
Kari hugged her, stroking her hair like she used too when Anya was little. If Anya couldn’t be with Dante, then there was no other man she would be with. No one could force her to love another.
“Anya, someday when you’re married and have had your first child you’ll understand that this is the way it’s supposed to be.”
“No, you don’t understand. I love someone else,” she whispered, and Kari stiffened.
“Anya…what have you done?” she asked after she sniffed the air.
“Please, oh god, please, Kari, don’t tell him,” she begged as her sister-in-law stared at her with a knowing look.
Anya held her secret in check, not telling Kari what had happened, or that she was already mated. Although she and Kari were close, Anya knew she also had a duty to Mitch and would tell him of Anya’s indiscretion. That would lead to a confrontation that could turn deadly, and she was not willing to risk either her brother or her lover. In her heart, she knew her brother only wanted her to settle down to be responsible. But he didn’t see it wasn’t fair either. As alpha his duty was to protect his pack, help it grow and also to approve any and all matings.
A match between her and Dante would be a hard sell. Mitch had wanted to kill him for everything that had happened already. If he knew what they’d done, Mitch would lose it and go on the war path. Anya knew in her heart he would never accept them as a mated pair.
* * * *
Dante had been beside himself for the last two days. His eagerness to get there nearly drove him nuts. He prayed with all his heart that she’d been able to sway her brother’s mind into allowing them to be together. Still, he had his doubts that would ever happen. When Alex told him just how stubborn Mitch was, Dante felt the bit of hope he did have fade.
Dante walked into the park and had to fight not to run to the area they’d agreed to meet. When he saw her sitting on the edge of the fountain, a smile danced over his lips at seeing her in the partial light from the moon. Her hair moved about her in the evening breeze, and her eyes almost glowed as she looked at him. His beautiful mate, such a striking creature, he thought as he walked toward her. Anya rushed to him, and he enveloped her into his arms. Just to hold her was the most incredible feeling, and his heart was now more at ease.
The warm embrace was broken as he heard her begin to cry. He pulled her face up to look at him and saw the tears in her eyes. “Anya, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“My brother, he won’t reason with me.” She sobbed.
“We’re mates,” Dante told her. “There’s nothing he can do.”
“He doesn’t know that, though. He is hell bound on me mating Craig.” She trembled.
“That’s not going to happen.” He growled.
“Dante, I don’t know what to do. In a few days I’ll be married to him.”
“Like hell you will. You need to tell Mitch we’ve already mated.”
“I can’t. He’ll go on a war path.”
“You have to or else…” He didn’t want to say the rest.
For Anya to be mated to another was just not something the man or beast would be able to bear. The mere thought had his heart pounding with fear, fear of losing her to another and never being together again.
“Anya, I won’t let him have you. I’ll kill him first.”
Anya’s lips trembled, and he pulled her back into his arms. Tonight he had everything planned out for her, and this was not the best start to those plans. “I have a surprise,” he whispered against her hair. No matter what else happened, he wanted her to know how he felt, to know she was his soul mate. Tonight he would not only tell her that but show her.
* * * *
Dante had taken her for a short drive, texting someone before he’d gotten into the driver’s side. When she’d asked where they were going, he’d simply smiled and said it was a surprise. The curiosity was killing her. Now as they pulled into a motel parking lot, she knew what he had in mind, and she smiled. He jumped out, rushed to her side and opened the door for her, taking her by the hand and leading her to a room.
As he unlocked the door, his smile turned into a mischievous grin, and he covered her eyes with one hand. “Now no peeking,” he said. He helped her to walk inside, and his large hand made it impossible to see what the surprise was. As the door clicked closed behind them, he took it away.
“Oh my,” she whispered. She was indeed surprised.
The room was lit with what seemed like hundreds of different sized candles. Rose petals were cast over the bed, and several bouquets sat in vases around the room. A soft romantic love song playing from a radio filled the room as did the fragrant aroma of the flowers. Never in her life had she seen anything so romantic.
Dante swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bed where he sat her in among the rose petals.
“I love you, Anya,” he said as he sat beside her and pulled her into his arms.
“I love you too,” she said as tears threatened to fall. She did love him. Why, she didn’t know. They hardly knew one another, but he was all she could think of.
“I made you something.” He pulled it from his pocket.
Anya stared at the small carved twin set of hearts that interlocked with one another. One was made of a dark stained wood, and the other was a light-colored piece. Both had small engraved wolves on them. The detail was incredible. They dangled from a gold chain. Tears fell then.
“It’s a symbol of us,” he told her. “How our souls are connected.”
Dante moved her hair and clasped the chain around her neck. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. It meant more to her than anything else she owned because he had made it. Made it just for her as a sign of his love for her, and she would never take it off.
Chapter Thirteen
Her soft, delicate fingers crept up into his hair, and she returned his kiss with a feverish intensity. Their tongues slipped together, sliding along one another in a more intimate dance. With a delicate touch, his traced the outline of her face and trailed down her slender neck, his hands making a slow descent toward her breasts. Anya moan
ed into his mouth as he fondled her with a light touch. He smelled her excitement, and he moaned as her need fed his erection.
Her body stiffened slightly as he pulled his own clothes off. Their mouths not releasing the kiss as her shaky fingers traced the muscles across his chest on their way to his lower stomach.
“Anya, I want to make love to you,” he murmured against her mouth. She gasped lightly as he continued to massage her breast. Dante pulled away from her mouth, kissing his way around her jaw line and down her neck. The taste of her skin sent a rush to his groin, and he wanted to taste all of her.
Dante found a nipple and teased it with his tongue until it stood at attention to his touch, and he blew lightly on the wet tip, causing her to gasp again. Her puckered nipples were very responsive, and he loved how they sat glistening in the candlelight from the wetness of his tongue. His gaze traveled over her as her fingers tickled his short, dark curly hairs before they feathered ever so slightly over his erection.
Anya’s hand gingerly encircled him, her fingertips not able to touch. She blushed and nipped his lip. It had his wolf quivering at its meaning, and he gasped as he opened his mouth to taste her sweet lips once more.
*
Dante kissed his way down from her lips until he found her nipple and licked the sensitive flesh. He nibbled lightly as he slid his fingers into her. Her breathing became very heavy. Anya shook, she’d never felt such pleasure before being with him, and she felt as if she were in a dream.
Dante kissed her slowly all over, and when his mouth found its way to the softness between her thighs, his tongue teased her slowly. As soon as she squirmed, it slid into her. The sensation was incredible.
“Oh, my god,” she breathed and grabbed the sheets with both hands as he worked his tongue slowly past the soft folds of sensitive flesh and then rubbed it along the hard nub of her clit.
An Undying Love Page 10
