Their Wild One

by Lacey Thorn

  “Adrian,” she moaned, desire riding her hard.

  “Shh,” he crooned as he scraped his teeth along the bottom of her right buttock. “Let me enjoy you.”

  She was writhing with the need to feel him inside her by the time he slid atop her, his legs falling between hers and shifting her legs wider apart. She started to rise to her hands and knees, but his hand at the small of her back kept her in place.

  “Not yet,” he murmured.

  He scooped a palm under her belly, pressing until her hips lifted just enough for his cock to slide between her folds. His girth pressed her labia wide, allowing his tip to gently kiss the edge of her clitoris with each glide. He continued fanning the flames, teasing them both with the promise of what came next. With any luck, her.

  On his next backward glide, she shifted her body, and when he thrust forward again, he lodged at her opening. Thrusting her hips back into him, she worked him deeper, forcing his first few inches inside. Adrian groaned, his fingers flexing on her stomach. He pressed fully inside her, and they both sighed at how right it felt.

  He drove her wild with how slow he took things. The man was methodical. He missed nothing, left no part of her untouched. No matter how she squirmed or begged and pleaded, he stayed in control. He’d work her up toward orgasm only to hold her shy of it, refusing to give her that final touch that would send her screaming into bliss.

  “Adrian! Please!”

  And every time it was the same answer.

  “Not yet, honey.”

  It was official. He would kill her.

  He chuckled behind her. “You won’t die, Jess. Unless it’s from pleasure. I swear I’ll wring every bit of satisfaction out of you when you come.” His voice was low and deep. A seductive rasp at her ear. “When I let you come and you take me with you, we’ll both drown.”

  “Yes,” she moaned in agreement.

  He worked her up again, using his touch to keep her teetering on the edge. She needed just a little harder, a little rougher or deeper or faster or anything. She needed that tiny bit extra that would hurl her into orgasm. She needed it desperately.

  “Now,” he ordered and jerked her up onto her knees.

  She lowered her upper body so her nipples rubbed over the covers while he gripped her hips and fucked her exactly as she’d been begging him to. She came around him with a scream, burying her face in the bedding, and still, he rode her. Now, he kept her in the throes of orgasm. She’d never come so hard that her vison began to blur and she feared passing out.

  Then Adrian came completely over her, his big body blanketing hers. He pushed her hair aside, exposing her neck and urging her to turn so their gazes locked. He dropped a kiss to her mouth. Then gripping her hair so her head stayed tilted, he scraped his teeth over her where he’d left the hickey. He licked, sucked, then struck, piercing her skin and gripping her tight between his teeth. She screamed and bucked, lodging him impossibly deeper. She felt his cock swell, the heated rush of his semen spilling inside her.

  Jess collapsed beneath him, completely boneless and barely breathing. She was fairly certain she’d pass out soon. Her heart was beating too fast.

  They’d gone back to lying flat on the bed again. This time, he lay over her, licking lazily at the bite he’d given her.

  “Now, we’ll need to shower before we dress and meet the others for dinner.”

  If she’d had any breath, she might have laughed. She couldn’t feel her bones much less use them to do things like move. She’d just stay where she was for a bit longer. A day. A week. Who knew?

  He murmured something, then with a rub to her hip, he rolled off her. She heard water running. He padded in and said something else. She didn’t hear him. Maybe, she’d lost her hearing as well as her ability to move. She wasn’t sure. All she knew was the bed was comfy, and she wasn’t moving anytime soon. Giving a long, contented sigh, she snuggled in and once again found sleep wrapping around her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  They settled into a nice routine over the next few days. Jess split her days between working with Cody in the lab and working with one of the others on improving her fighting skills. Derrick was determined she’d know, not just how to defend herself, but how to strike fear into anyone who tried to mess with her.

  Derrick and Adrian had gone out earlier to pick up her phone and some supplies from town. Cody was working in the lab, and Michael had disappeared somewhere with his laptop to continue dealing with the pack business he’d been unable to attend to while he’d been under the influence of the dart. She was debating what to do with her alone time when Michael’s phone rang. She’d pretty much confiscated it until hers was replaced. Luckily, Michael was okay with it. Recognizing the number, she answered immediately.

  “Hey, Dad. What’s going on?”

  “I had an interesting visitor yesterday,” he began.

  “Really. Who was it?”

  “Dr. Driven, who seemed especially interested in my very talented daughter and where she might be vacationing as he’s been unable to get in touch with her. Do you know he tried to tell me you weren’t allowed to take a sabbatical?”

  She snickered at that. Her father was the king of sabbaticals. She could imagine how that conversation had gone. Then his words hit her.

  “Wait? Visitor? He showed up on campus?”

  “Showed up at my office door. Introduced himself, making sure I understood he was a doctor and not merely a professor. Very pompous man.”

  She snickered again. Her father preferred the title professor. Hell, most of his students had taken to referring to him simply as the Professor. He could easily be Dr. Mueller, but he’d always said he was leaving that to her. He’d nailed Driven, though. Her former boss was extremely pompous. She wasn’t sure how she hadn’t caught on to that when she’d first met him. Probably, because she’d been interested in the research they were doing.

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I explained the definition of sabbatical.”

  Oh, to have been privy to that conversation.

  “I also told him that, if you wanted to speak with him, you’d get in touch. That was when he told me you’d handed in your resignation.”

  “I forgot to tell you that, Dad. Sorry.”

  “Of course, you resigned. You can’t do your job now. There are more important things that require your attention. Speaking of. How’s our young man doing?”

  Her father had talked to all four of her mates now, though to him, they were her friends. A telephone conversation didn’t seem the right way to tell him. Oh, by the way, Dad, I’m actually sleeping with all four of them, and we’ve mated. So, yeah, there’s that. That was a conversation best held until they were face-to-face. Still, she knew which one of her men he was asking about.

  “Michael’s fine, Dad. No relapse and levels are still showing signs of decreasing.”

  “But it hasn’t left his system entirely.”

  She practically heard his mind at work.

  “Not yet,” she admitted.

  “I’ll take a closer look at that when we see each other.”

  “Dad, I told you, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back to see you. Things are a bit…complicated here.”

  Complicated as in how she was going to explain to her dad that she’d mated four wolves. Four. She was still wrapping her head around it.

  “Well, then,” her dad continued. “How soon can you get to the cabin?”

  “What?”

  “The cabin. I’m just leaving town and should be there in the next twenty minutes.”

  “You’re here? In Oregon?”

  “Did you really think I wouldn’t come as soon as I could make arrangements, Jess? You know me better than that.”

  He was right. She did. How quickly could she get to the cabin? She wasn’t sure how much longer Derrick and Adrian would be. She had no idea where Michael was. She’d go grab Cody out of the lab and make him go with her.

  “I’ll be t
here as soon as I can, Dad. I need to make a few arrangements first.”

  “By the way, I saw your Jeep in town. You didn’t tell me you were in a wreck. It’s totaled, Jess. You’re lucky you weren’t seriously injured.”

  She paused for a moment. Her Jeep was in town? She didn’t remember any of the guys mentioning that to her, and she’d been a bit too busy to ask.

  “I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. It’s quite the story.”

  “I’m sure it is. I’ll be waiting for you.” His phone beeped, interrupting their conversation. “Shoot! My battery’s dying. I knew I should have dug out that cord. I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

  “Love you, Dad. See you soon.” She wasn’t sure he heard her as the line went dead somewhere in the middle of her reply.

  She dropped the phone on the dresser and immediately headed downstairs to the lab and Cody.

  “My dad’s here,” she announced as she walked in.

  “Hmm?” Cody glanced up, a sheathe of papers in his hand. “Who’s here?”

  “My dad.”

  He dropped the papers on the counter and glanced around. “Here here or here nearby?”

  “In town, heading toward the cabin. He wants me to meet him there in twenty minutes. Will you go with me?”

  “No.”

  Her expression must have shown him how shocked she was by his answer.

  “I mean not yet. We need to wait until Derrick and Adrian get back. Then we’ll take you to meet your dad.”

  “Why do we need to wait? There’s been no movement on any of the cameras that shouldn’t be there. Plus, I heard you and Derrick talking about Alisha. She hasn’t been seen since I crossed your path.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’s gone. It just means we don’t know where she is. She could be anywhere, Jess. Biding her time and waiting to get to you or us.”

  “Then my dad could be in danger.”

  “Call him and have him go back to town. Derrick and Adrian can meet him there.”

  “I can’t. His phone died while we were talking, and knowing my dad, his charging cord is buried somewhere in his haphazardly packed suitcase. We have to get to him at the cabin. Please, Cody. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to him.”

  “Where’s Michael?” he asked as he grabbed his phone and thumbed it open. She knew he was calling Derrick though he didn’t say a word.

  “I don’t know. He took his laptop and went to deal with pack stuff. I haven’t seen him since.” She paced the room while listening to Cody’s side of the conversation.

  “Yeah, we got an issue here. No. No. No. She’s fine. Swear to god, Derrick.” Cody sighed and held his phone out to her. “Would you let him know that I haven’t lost or broken you while he was away.”

  She almost laughed, would have laughed, if she wasn’t worried about her dad.

  “Derrick, my dad is here!” she practically yelled it into the phone and was greeted with silence.

  Cody took the phone back from her and put it on speaker.

  “Derrick?” she questioned.

  “How did your dad know where to find us?” Derrick asked softly.

  “Considering I don’t even know where we are, you should know the answer to that. He’s heading to the cabin—the cabin where Cody isn’t sure he’ll be safe.”

  “Fuck,” Derrick muttered.

  “See! You don’t, either. I need to get to him. He’ll be expecting me.”

  “You’re going to hang tight with Cody and Michael. Adrian and I will go find your dad and get him settled.”

  “Settled? What does that mean? You’ll bring him here, Derrick. He’s my dad.”

  “Jess.”

  “No.” She cut him off. “You’ll bring him here, or Cody will have to knock me out again to keep me here.”

  “Damnit, Jess!” Derrick thundered over the phone.

  “Are you ever going to let that go, woman?” Cody questioned at the same time.

  “I didn’t ask him to come here. I told him to stay away, that he could help me more by staying home. You have no idea what that did to me. What it cost me to say that. If I’m a part of this pack, then my father has to be accepted, as well. Don’t ask me to keep pushing him away. I don’t think any of us will like that outcome.”

  She loved them. All four of them. In such a short time, they’d become her whole world. Their battles were hers. She could walk away from everything else in her life, put them first in all things, but not at the expense of pushing out her father. For the longest time it had been the two of them against the world. He’d always been there for her, always put her first, loving her without expectation. Heart completely open. For too much of her life, he’d been all she’d had.

  “We’ll head to the cabin and get your father,” Adrian said. “As long as it’s safe, we’ll bring him back with us. If it’s not, we’ll get him set up elsewhere and bring you to him. It’s not about keeping you apart. It’s about keeping you both safe. That’s all any of us is trying to do.”

  “Thank you, Adrian.”

  “Make no mistake. This isn’t me overriding Derrick. This is me putting into words what we’re all thinking. We love you. You will always be our priority. You may not always like the choices we’re forced to make. Hell, we don’t like them half the time. But they will always be made with you in mind. Always. And you’ll have to trust us. Even if we can’t explain in the moment. You have to trust us.”

  She understood, and she felt horrible for jumping to the wrong conclusion when Derrick had said he’d get her dad settled. She’d cut him off and not let him finish speaking.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” She stopped. She had meant it, and she wasn’t going to lie. “I want him to know you. I want you to know him. I need him to know I haven’t replaced him. That he’s not losing me. He can’t lose me.” For the rest of her life, she’d remember his broken cries when her mother had died. He’d fallen to his knees, held Jess close, and grieved openly. She wouldn’t make him grieve her that way. Not while there was still breath in her body. “He needs to know he’s gaining four amazing sons. He needs that.” She caught her bottom lip as a tear slipped past her defenses. “I need that.”

  Cody reached out and swiped away her tear before catching her chin and lifting her face until she met his gaze.

  “Call me when you’re headed this way,” Cody ordered, without looking away from her.

  “We’ll call you when we get there.” Derrick this time, and she swore she felt the hurt she’d inflicted even over the phone. She owed him more than an apology.

  Cody thumbed off the phone, tucked it in his back pocket, and pulled her into his arms. He held her tight, rocking her a bit from side to side.

  “It’s all going to be okay,” he promised. “We haven’t had any issues since we brought you here.”

  She nodded, her head buried against his chest. She hoped so. She didn’t want any of the men in her life getting hurt.

  Chapter Twenty

  Derrick and Adrian pulled into the dirt drive that would lead them to the cabin Jess had stayed in before their paths had crossed. They’d taken longer than planned, but there had been supplies to pick up and a myriad other little things that needed to be done while they were in town. They always tried to batch tasks so they could limit time away from the den. Then he and Adrian had debated whether or not to drive the SUV or sneak in by foot. They’d opted for the vehicle as it would offer a faster get away with Jess’ father if one was required. There was definitely something in the air.

  Derrick didn’t know what to expect from Jess’ father. Jess had shared the pictures of her father she’d had with her. Some from her childhood and some taken more recently.

  He was short with a thick cap of dark hair sprinkled liberally with bits of salt. He was trim so Derrick knew he was in shape. He remembered Jess mentioning her dad had gone on archeology digs. That would require a certain level of fitness he assumed.

  Adrian had found Professo
r Mueller on the website for the university where he worked and pulled up different pictures. One showed a group of mostly female students all staring at him as if he hung the moon. It would be interesting to meet him in the flesh. Listening to Jess, Derrick expected a man with a large personality and an even bigger heart.

  A Jeep was parked in front of the cabin, and the door cracked open as they drove up. The man who stepped out was a close copy of the photos they’d seen, but definitely not Jess’ father. The build was wrong, the hair too smooth and perfectly in place. The man positioned himself in the doorway, blocking their view of the cabin’s interior, Derrick’s unease grew.

  “What’s that smell?” Adrian asked, nose twitching as Derrick’s was.

  “Keep your guard up,” he warned Adrian as they parked. Self-preservation urged him to back out and get the hell away from here. Though the man on the porch wasn’t Jess’ father, he was in danger because of them. And no matter the danger, they wouldn’t leave him there. As long as there was a chance they could get to him, they’d fight. Derrick glanced at Adrian as he debated how to approach.

  “I’m not staying in the truck, so quit thinking about it.” He put his phone down. “I texted Michael. He’ll keep watch on the cameras in case this is a diversion allowing a strike at the den. If he doesn’t hear from us in thirty, he’ll put a call into Mitch and his group. Then he and Cody will head this way.”

  Mitch was a friend they’d met years ago. Former military, his sister had married a wolf shifter from Derrick’s pack. They’d been attacked during a trip to visit her family. She’d been murdered instantly, merely a tool for the hunters who’d taken them. Her mate had been captured and taken to a facility. He’d been discarded into the refuge after they’d done all they wanted. Hunters had made an enemy for life in Mitch, and he’d formed a group to turn the tables. He and his men hunted the hunters. Derrick and the other alphas respected Mitch and his group. Even more, they trusted him, something that didn’t come easy for any of them.

  “We should have called Mitch when Michael got shot,” Derrick admitted. “We could have used the extra sets of eyes and ears.”