by Terry Spear
Every stroke of her clit brought her closer to climax. And she could barely breathe as he continued to touch her so intimately. Then he slid a finger into her and moved it in and out and she practically came. But then he was stroking her again, kissing her mouth, tonguing her, his free hand sliding down to cup her buttock and squeeze.
She loved the way he made love to her, slowly, sensually, not with just the purpose of having sex, but making a deeper connection, showing her he truly loved her, a joining that would make them feel as one—complete.
As soon as he slid two fingers between her feminine folds, she shattered and cried out his name, saying she loved him, and sank against him, luxuriating in the feel of the orgasm as it rushed through her.
“Tha gaol agam ort. I love you,” he said, kissing her mouth again. Then he slid his hands under her buttocks and lifted her, pulling her closer and pressing his rigid cock between her legs. Every inch of his thickness filled her to the max. The climax still rippled through her, and now she was embracing his cock deep inside of her. Then he began to rock into her, and she thought she would come again before long with the hot, sexy friction he created between them.
* * *
Enrick was glad Heather hadn’t minded trying something different while he made love to her. Body and soul, they were connected, and he couldn’t have loved her more. He rocked into her, thrusting slowly at first, his hands on her hips, speeding up the action and slowing it down, wanting to keep the momentum going, but wanting to last too. With her, everything she did to him, from kissing to touching, made him hard with want. Smelling her sweet scent—lavender and woman and heather from their time out-of-doors, the forest and the rain—turned him on even more. Not to mention their pheromones were driving him crazy. Even her soft moans, breathless moments, and her cry of passion pushed him toward the precipice. He should have done this long ago, claimed her for his own. Made her his mate. Whatever it took.
But at least now it was done. They were together like they should have always been. Through her, he was complete.
She rubbed her breasts against his chest and kissed his throat and neck, his jaw, moving upward until she could reach his mouth and pressed her tongue between his parted lips. She slid her hands around his arse and squeezed. Hell, he thought he had all the control. Between the friction of her nipples rubbing against his chest, her tongue in his mouth, and her hands on his arse, he couldn’t hold on any longer.
He exploded inside her and said he loved her in Gaelic, and she smiled and kissed his mouth again.
“I love you too.” And then she pushed him back against the bed as he continued to thrust upward into her until he was done.
He wrapped his arms around her and smiled at her smiling face. “You are the most beautiful she-wolf in the world, you know?”
“You are the hottest wolf I know.”
* * *
Heather only wanted to luxuriate in Enrick’s arms until they fell asleep. They were truly mated and this felt so right, but she kept thinking that if they didn’t make sure all the alarms were turned off, she could imagine them scrambling out of bed in the morning to shut all of them off.
Thankfully, Enrick was of the same mind. He made the move first, and she left the bed after that. They made sure only one alarm was set and both cell phone alarms, then put them on the dresser so they would have to get up to turn them off. Then it was time for more snuggling, and she suspected they would be making love all over again after they had both rested for a while.
Chapter 18
Early the next morning, the jangling of the one alarm on the dresser, and the five they missed on the bathroom counter, and the music from their phones, had Enrick and Heather groaning, laughing, and jumping out of bed to turn them all off in a hurry.
Enrick shook his head. So much for remembering to check the ones in the bathroom last night. They would have slept, too, if it hadn’t been for the alarms going off, as tired as they’d both been.
“We’ll have to find time to take a nap,” Enrick said.
“Ha! As if we would sleep.” She hurried to dress and he did the same.
They both were wearing their kilts, Enrick because he had to watch the wolves this morning in the hunt scene, and Heather in case she was needed at the last minute for some part.
They rushed down to the great hall for breakfast. Heather got a text from Lana. “Lana asked if we’re mated yet.”
Enrick smiled at Heather. She sighed. “I texted her back to say we were but she’s the first one who knows it. We need to let our pack leaders—” She stopped speaking abruptly as she saw Ian visiting with his mate, Julia, and Colleen, Grant, and Lachlan. Even her brothers, who usually ate breakfast before they left Argent Castle, were at the table enjoying the meal.
“It looks like there’s no better time than the present, unless you want to wait a bit to tell everyone.” Enrick hoped she didn’t, but he was willing to do whatever she wanted.
“Oh, we’re doing this. I don’t want any other lass thinking you’re still available.” Heather took hold of his hand and headed for the high table.
He smiled down at her. “That was my thought concerning you and the male wolves out there.”
“No problem with me. I’ve got my wolf.”
He laughed.
When they joined the others at the high table, Heather brightly said, “It’s done. No need to guess about it.”
Everyone hooted and hollered at the head table, making everyone else eating breakfast in the great hall turn and clap.
“Yeah, no more even thinking about ogling Heather,” Enrick said to the bachelor male wolves in the great hall as he pulled out Heather’s chair for her.
“Same goes for you ladies where Enrick is concerned.” Heather gave them a bright smile, looking pleased and on top of the world like Enrick was feeling.
“A wedding in the plans?” Julia asked.
“Aye, we just have to figure out where to have it.” Heather bit into her egg sandwich.
“At Argent,” Ian said as if he was in charge of planning Heather’s wedding.
Julia gave her mate a look.
“She’s my cousin, and she’s in my pack. The MacQuarries will have to come to Argent Castle to celebrate the wedding.” Ian sounded adamant, but Enrick knew he would agree to whatever Heather wanted.
She looked up at Enrick. “It’s totally up to you. I don’t care where we do it as long as you’re happy.”
“All right. We’ll do it at Argent Castle.”
“I’m giving you away, as your eldest brother,” Oran said.
She laughed. “Can I have any say in my wedding plans?”
“Yes,” Julia said.
“Only if it matches what we say,” Oran said.
Enrick stifled a laugh. He knew Heather would do whatever she wanted, when she put her mind to it. He would help when she needed him, but otherwise, he was letting her decide.
“When?” Julia asked.
“After the filming is done,” Enrick said. Okay, so he did have something to say about it. He was Guy’s stand-in after all, and if he was needed, he had to be at Farraige Castle. So did Heather.
“Right. He’s the hero of the movie.” Heather smiled at Enrick and patted his thigh.
Enrick shook his head. “Stand-in. And Heather has her roles to play, so after the filming is done.”
“That goes without saying,” Ian said. “Both of you have important jobs to do.”
“We can help you figure it out. Colleen, me, and the others at Argent Castle,” Julia said.
“Aye, as soon as we are finished with all of this,” Heather agreed.
Enrick was glad she had a lot of women who would help her with all the coordinating and such.
Lachlan hurried to finish his breakfast. “Congratulations to the both of you. If you need any advice, Heather, ju
st call on me.”
Enrick smiled at his brother. Knowing Lachlan, his advice would be hilarious. Enrick quickly leaned over and kissed Heather on the cheek. “I’ll see you at lunch down on the field?”
“Aye, I’ll bring the picnic basket.”
Everyone was smiling. No one else was getting that kind of special treatment.
“Okay, good. We need to get going if we’re going to make this shoot.” Enrick kissed her again, and then he and Lachlan hurried off, stopping by one of the rooms where the “wolves” were penned up to let them out.
When Enrick and Lachlan and the wolves reached the ancient forest, a thick fog was rising from the floor filled with ferns, mosses, and liverworts. It was perfect for the scene, making it appear primordial, though he hoped they wouldn’t have trouble with security because of how dense the fog was. It couldn’t have been more mystical, everything verdant and the leaves and grass shimmering with water droplets. The wolves were running alongside the horses ridden by Guy and some of his warriors, all who were main characters. The wizard was with him, too, wearing long robes and a coned hat.
Several MacQuarries were riding behind the main party as part of Guy’s guard/hunting force for the film and Lachlan was also, watching the wolves. The wolves knew their role in the film: run alongside the main party, then stop and listen to something only they could hear and smell, lifting their noses, taking deep breaths of the water-laden air, their ears twitching back and forth, hearing the sounds only wolves could hear. Guy and the wizard would be watching the wolves for their reactions, hoping the animals would help them on the hunt.
Enrick confirmed he wasn’t needed to be Guy’s double, so he was helping Lachlan with the wolves and just watching the woods for trouble.
The seven wolves ran off into the woods and the party of mounted Highlanders halted their horses, all part of the script.
“There must be trouble ahead, milord,” one of Guy’s men said, his voice darkly concerned. “The wolves would have alerted us had they found prey.”
In reality, if the wolves had been on a real hunt, they wouldn’t have made any noise. For the film, they wanted it this way. Silence for the bad guys, barking like darn dogs for prey. Even though Grant had told them it wouldn’t be that way.
“Aye, keep a look out, men,” Guy said in his rich baritone voice.
In the meantime, the wolves were supposed to be searching the area for the enemy and cameras were filming their movements. Lachlan had taken off after the wolves he was supposed to be watching but was staying out of the cameras’ views so he could make sure everything went as planned. On horseback too, Enrick was monitoring the second group of wolves that had split off from the others.
He didn’t think anything would go wrong. The wolves knew just what they were supposed to do. The director had been impressed they could do so many things as if they’d rehearsed the scenes, which they had, but as lupus garous that made all the difference in the world.
Suddenly, out of the primordial mist, Enrick saw three wolves racing to meet his wolves head-on. All three were from the Kilpatrick-McKinley clan. He’d seen them with their pack before, though he didn’t know them in their human form.
Heart pounding, Enrick yanked his cell phone out of his fur-covered sporran and texted Grant: Three of the Kilpatrick-McKinley clan’s wolves are in the process of attacking ours. I’m shifting and fighting them.
Unable to waste precious time waiting for a response—though in a situation like this, it might have been prudent to give Grant the chance to say yay or nay—Enrick dismounted and stripped out of his kilt, shirt, socks, and boots, leaving behind his sword and sgian dubh. He shifted into the wolf, hoping nobody caught him at it, though he’d been listening, smelling the scents in the area, and watching for any signs of humans, but he hadn’t seen any. He raced to fight the attacking wolves, protecting his own men, furious that the clan would resort to even further measures to disrupt the shooting of the film and give the MacQuarries, and all wolves in general, a bad name. Somebody was going to get seriously injured one of these times. Maybe even killed. Their wolves had brought it on themselves, but his wolves? That would be unconscionable.
Enrick knew that when the wolves fought, the cameras would catch the action, and who knew what everyone would think. He hoped they didn’t keep the cameras rolling as he ran into the middle of the fighting wolves and bit one in the neck, holding on until the offending wolf got the message. He would either back off and run away with his tail tucked between his legs or Enrick was going to injure him. The wolf yipped and Enrick released him, hoping the aggressor wolf wasn’t pretending to want to break off the attack. The rogue wolf got the message and took off as fast as he could, tail tucked between his legs, the jackass. He was a McKinley, and so were the other two attacking wolves. Enrick didn’t know them by their given names though.
He immediately targeted the next wolf fighting Edward Playfair, one of Colleen’s cousins. Enrick bit the attacking wolf’s leg, letting him know in no uncertain terms he would break it if the other wolf didn’t turn tail and run. The wolf yipped in fright and ran off with a limp. The other was fighting with Edward’s brother, William, and when the rogue wolf realized his partners in crime had left without him, he whipped around and raced off before Enrick could take him on next.
Enrick’s wolf’s instinct was to chase them down and kill all of them, without the cameras there to capture the scene because a dead lupus garou would shift into his human form. But he needed to make sure his own wolves were okay.
Enrick greeted his wolves. They were panting, chests heaving, the smell of anger and adrenaline rolling off them in waves. Just as much as his scent was giving off the same irritated smell. At least they were not badly wounded, and their healing genetics would help to heal the wounds quickly. A little blood was dribbling on Edward’s ear and William was sporting bloody fur on his shoulder. Enrick had been so focused, so angry when he tore into the wolves that he realized his wolves hadn’t even retaliated against the rogue wolves. The rogues must have been shocked an alpha was suddenly attacking them.
He knew it meant they would have to reshoot the scene, and he hated that. Not to mention, the director would wonder if they’d made a mistake in trusting the MacQuarries’ tame wolves. He was sure they wouldn’t believe another group of wolves had attacked them.
Once Enrick was assured his kinsmen were fine, Grant and Lachlan galloped up on horseback, Lachlan in his Scottish garb, Grant in jeans, boots, and a shirt, both their faces red with rage.
“What the hell happened?” Grant asked Enrick, as if he’d forgotten Enrick couldn’t just shift right there in front of them and the film crew who were in the area and speak. Enrick woofed at him, telling him he would return, then raced off to where he’d tied his horse and removed his clothes. Once he arrived there, he made sure no one was around, shifted into his human form, and hurried to dress.
Then he mounted his horse and headed back to the group of wolves to tell Grant, and everyone else within hearing range, what had happened.
“They were from the Kilpatricks’ wolf pack,” Enrick said, since no one would know that he meant lupus garous. Instead, the film crew would think the Kilpatricks had raised a wolf pack of their own. Enrick was glad the director had used the MacQuarries’ wolf pack and not a real group of trained wolves. He could imagine what a disaster that would have been. The wolves wouldn’t have understood the others were not fully wolves. The Kilpatricks would have had to deal with real wolves, not Grant’s men who would hold back and not kill their men at that point. At least not in front of the cameras. The real wolves might have killed the Kilpatricks for attacking them, if that had been the case.
“Were the wolves from the pack I wouldn’t use because the man had too many conditions and wanted too much money?” the director asked, sounding shocked as he finally made it to the scene of the wolf fight.
“No,
but I know whose wolves they are,” Grant said vaguely. “We’ll take care of it.”
Wolf to wolf if they had to. Enrick believed neither of the clans would want an all-out war with another pack, but it would lead to that if they didn’t rein their men in. It wasn’t like in the old days where the clans—and in their case, wolf packs—would battle to the death and none of it would be reported. The clans would take care of their own dead and dying, and no one would think anything of it. It was just business as usual. Just like it was with the human clans in centuries past.
They had to be a little more careful about how they handled the situation now, particularly when they had a human film crew and others watching what was going on. If Enrick and his wolves could have gotten the McKinley wolves off to an isolated area, they wouldn’t have hesitated to kill them. They had to have peace among them, or war. There seemed to be no in-between.
Wolves had to show they wouldn’t back down or they would lose the battle.
“Your wolves are injured though,” the director said. “We can’t have any animals injured in the making of the film.”
“They will be as good as new in a couple of days. I’ll take full responsibility for them,” Grant said.
Enrick suspected the director wasn’t comfortable with what had happened. If any animal rights’ activist learned of it, they could share that with the world on social media and then what would happen? The wolf packs in Scotland certainly didn’t need the bad publicity, but the Kilpatricks and their cousins were too bent on revenge to see that what they were doing could affect the bigger picture for all their kind.
Enrick suspected the problem was with a few of their clansmen, not all of them. Enrick and his kin had to remember that when dealing with the bastards.
Colleen’s cousins were two of the worst injured. Enrick wondered if they’d held back because of the cameras rolling, being unsure how far they were allowed to go to defend themselves. The two wolves had never been in a wolf fight since they’d lived here. They’d been in wolf fights between lupus garou packs in America, but they were part of a new pack, with new rules and ways of doing things.
