Shadow Wars (The Stoneridge Pack Book 2)

by CJ Cooke

  Dropping to my knees, I wrapped my arms around her waist, leaning my forehead against her stomach. “Seeing the hurt in your eyes and knowing I was the one who put it there, it nearly killed me Calli. I only ever want to see your smiles, hear your laughs and your moans.”

  My fingers slipped into the waistband of her leggings and I started to slowly pull them down, exposing all that creamy skin underneath. Pressing my lips softly against her stomach, I couldn’t resist darting my tongue out and taking a taste. Even her skin tasted sweet.

  Calli’s fingers threaded through my hair and then gripped tight as she tilted my head back so I was looking her in the eyes. My wolf growled low and softly. Not because he was on his knees in the grip of his mate, but because he wanted her just as much as I did and the wait before we got to taste her was excruciating.

  “I told you not to apologise to me,” she grinned, “but if you’re looking for a way to make it up to me…”

  With one swift tug I had her leggings and underwear down to her ankles and she stepped out.

  “I…” I told her as I lifted one of her legs to drape over my shoulder, “will spend the rest of my life…” tugging her close I wrapped my arms around her to hold her steady, “on my knees doing whatever I need to make it up to you.”

  Bringing her core to my face I tasted her sweet nectar. I felt her grow unsteady as my tongue circled her clit, teasing the bud and pulling the first of my mate’s sweet moans.

  I may have been the one on my knees but with my arms looped around her, there was nowhere for Calli to go and she was completely at my mercy.

  I ate away at her core like a man possessed, there was nothing in this world that could compete with the taste of my sweet mate. When the knee of the leg she was standing on finally gave way, I lowered her to the ground, not once removing my tongue from her clit. Besides, I needed my hands free for other things.

  As soon as I laid her down, Calli’s back arched and a long moan escaped her. Piercing her pussy with two fingers, I could feel how wet she was. I wanted it to be my cock inside of her, more than I wanted to breathe, but right now was all about her. Right now was about worshipping Calli like she deserved. I wanted to hear her scream my name, to coax that climax out of her so she’d never forget just how much I loved her.

  “Grey,” she panted, thrashing her head from side to side.

  She was so close, I could feel her pussy clenching around my fingers and I knew she was going to come.

  “That’s right baby, just let go. I want you to come all over my tongue. Let me hear you scream my name.”

  Sucking her clit into my mouth, I pumped my fingers faster inside her. Reaching up with my other hand, I slipped it under her shirt and pinched one of her nipples between my fingers.

  The sound of her climax made me painfully hard, but the sound of her moaning my name as she writhed on the ground was what made me nearly come in my pants like a teenage kid.

  As she laid there panting on the floor, I slowly crawled up her body before pressing my lips to hers. She kissed me back with such a fierceness that I almost gave in and fucked her there on the spot. Instead, I laid at her side and pulled her against me so her head was on my chest.

  “I think it’s only right that here is the place we made up,” I told her. “This is probably going to be where your bed will go,” I pointed out.

  She lifted her head and looked around the empty space. “I can’t believe you would do this for me,” she whispered.

  “Don’t you get it yet?” I asked, turning her face so she was looking at me. “I would do anything for you, Calli. I’d tear through a thousand demons, I’d single-handedly take out the Council and any coven that came against us. You aren’t mine, Calli, I’m yours, and I will spend my life trying to prove that to you,” I growled, my wolf pushing through into my voice.

  31

  Maverick

  I’d been hiding in my room for hours. I was trying to convince myself what had happened last night wasn’t real. That it was just a dream and the wolf inside of it was just my imagination. Not because it was a weakness, like my father had always told me, but because it was foreign and uncomfortable. I was starting to realise everything he’d told me in my childhood, in fact, my whole fucking life, was nothing but a lie.

  Sitting bolt upright in bed with a huff of annoyance, I came to a conclusion. It was time to find out what life was really about. God, that sounded so fucking pathetic even to me. This wasn’t a fairytale. I wasn’t going to prance around the room singing a song about wanting to be a real boy.

  Hauling my sorry ass out of bed, I stumbled into the adjoining bathroom, stripping my boxers off as I went and stepped into the shower. The scalding hot water that poured from the showerhead was usually enough to wipe the thoughts from my mind as I prepared to endure the day. Except, I didn’t have to endure the day here. My father may have sent me here with the intention of me doing his dirty work for him, but in reality, all he’d done was set me free.

  I could take the pack bond, and I’d never have to return to his pack again. I could finally be free. I could have a life, a life with a mate and a brother by my side.

  The first problem with that was the pack and the alpha hated me, and secondly, there was no way my father would let me go that easily. As soon as he realised I wasn’t going to do what he asked, he’d be coming for me—he’d be coming for Calli. I may have only just got here, but even I wasn’t so stupid that I couldn’t see how much of a good person she was. She didn’t deserve what he wanted to do to her. But what the fuck was I going to do about it?

  Stepping out of the worst shower of my life, I quickly dried off and pulled the last clean outfit out of my bag. I should’ve brought more of my stuff with me. I needed to figure out how to clean what I had, and I needed some way of setting myself up with a life here. That meant getting a job, and becoming the fucking receptionist at the fucking garage because I had zero life skills. Fuck my life! In fact, no! Fuck my father! Fuck him for ruining my life with his incessant need to control everyone and everything around him.

  Once I was dressed, I jogged down the stairs to the kitchen only to find it empty and none of the pack in sight. It wasn’t so early that they’d all still be in bed, and I didn’t think they’d have gone to work yet, although I had no idea when people did things like that. It was becoming more and more obvious that life in my father’s pack was not what happened in normal people’s lives.

  Opening the fridge, I stared inside like it held the answer to all of life’s problems. In reality, it was virtually empty, and the metaphor wasn’t lost on me. Slamming it closed, I looked around me for something to eat. I couldn’t cook, yet another life skill I’d never developed, but we didn’t seem to have anything for me to even attempt it with. There was a questionable looking apple sitting alone in a bowl on the side, so with a shrug, I grabbed it and set off wandering through the house in search of something to do.

  It didn’t take me long to find Calli sitting in an armchair in what looked like a half-finished library. It was an impressive room. My father was not one for sharing knowledge, and books weren’t something he left lying around, let alone dedicating an entire room to.

  A fire was blazing in the fireplace, and the chair beside her sat empty. I lingered uncomfortably in the doorway for a moment. Ordinary people would say something then go and sit in that chair, right? That was probably what I should do, hell it was what I wanted to do, but something was holding me back.

  “I’m trying to think of some humorous quip that will make you come and sit down, but I’m coming up short,” Calli said, turning to look at me with the most beautiful smile on her face.

  Words fled me, and I felt myself freeze to the spot. I’d heard her defend me last night. I’d heard her stand up against their alpha and refuse to tell him what I’d told her. Just knowing she cared for me on some level, enough to keep my confidence, was so foreign to me, I had no idea what I was supposed to do now.

  “But yo
u don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she added, looking a little unsure of herself.

  “I’m sorry, I just didn’t know...” I didn’t finish because I had no idea what the end of that sentence was. I didn’t know how to be normal? That sounded about right, but I couldn’t exactly admit it out loud without sounding like a pathetic fool.

  The look of sympathy that crossed her face made me want to vomit. That was what I was going to turn into now. If I stepped away from my father, I’d be the simpering fool that everyone felt sorry for.

  “If you want to come sit down, we could talk about it,” she suggested, closing her book and setting it on the table beside her, waiting for me to come to her. She didn’t insist, she didn’t threaten, and that more than anything was what made my feet move.

  I cautiously sat down in the armchair, intending to perch on the edge. I’d learned early on in life that you needed to be able to move quickly. Escape routes were always there at the front of my mind growing up, and it had lingered with me into adulthood. As the soft chair gave way underneath me, Calli pulled her feet up and turned towards me, wrapped her arms around her legs. Her show of comfort seemed to relax something in me. For the first time in my life, I sank comfortably back into the chair, the tension and stress melting from my body.

  Calli didn’t speak. She sat peacefully waiting for me. It felt like I was about to have a therapy session, not that I’d ever experienced one of those, even if it was probably what I needed right now.

  “I… I think I need to take the pack bond,” I stammered out.

  She looked surprised, and I was right there with her. That wasn’t what I’d expected myself to say, even if it was right.

  “I heard you last night when you stood up for me. I don’t think anyone’s ever done that before.” How did she always seem to get me to tell her the truth, even when I didn’t know what it was in the first place?

  “You told me something privately, and that stays between us unless you tell me otherwise,” she reassured me.

  “They’re right not to trust me.” I gazed into the flames, not wanting to look at her but also needing something to lock my eyes onto while I tried to sort through my thoughts. “He won’t stop. He wants you, Calli, and when he realises I’m not going to give you to him, he’ll come for you, and me as well. There’ll be consequences.”

  The dread of what I knew would happen when he had me back, filled me, chilling me to my core. I felt the stirring of my wolf as if he almost seemed to try and reassure me, but I just wasn’t ready to even deal with that right now, so I ignored him like I usually did. But with the dread came a fierceness. Something rose up inside me that burned bright and seemed to chase that cold away. I couldn’t let him have her. I wouldn’t let him have her.

  “Let him.” Her uncharacteristically cold voice had my head snapping around to look at her. “Let him come. We will make ourselves strong, and then when he comes for you, when he tries to take you from me, I will crush him.”

  Her eyes glinted with the silver of her wolf, and her flowery scent filled the room. She seemed like the fairy tale image of what every she wolf should be—fiercely protective of those she cared about. Somehow, impossibly, I seemed to have ended up in that category.

  “Why?” I asked in surprise. “Why would you do that for me?”

  “Because you’re mine, Maverick. You’re my mate. We might not know each other yet, and we might not be ready to take that step, but that doesn’t mean I won’t protect you.”

  “But… why would you even trust me?” The shame of what I’d originally planned to do when I arrived at the pack overwhelmed me. These people had brought me into their home, where their pups lived. Some of them might be suspicious and untrusting of me, but they’d been nothing but supportive. They could've left me to sleep outside in the cold if they’d really wanted to.

  “Because I choose to. I know life for you has been hard, even if it looks like you have everything from the outside, the reality of what happens behind closed doors can be very different. I’m not naive enough to think that didn’t happen to you. But I’m choosing to trust you. I think deep down, you’re a good person Maverick. Fate wouldn’t have paired us if you weren’t a match for me. I think you need this place, this pack. You might not realise it yet, but this place is going to be your home.”

  It was like she was able to read my mind, but the doubts were still strong. I didn’t feel like I deserved this place or the people here. I didn’t trust myself to be able to be a good person. Yeah, I might not want to go along with my father’s plans, and I might dream of having a life for myself, but that didn’t mean when it came down to it, and he was standing in front of me, that I’d be strong enough to say no. I was weak. That was what he’d always told me, and even if it hadn’t been true in the beginning, he’d made sure it was now.

  “I… I don’t know what to say.”

  “I think you should talk to Tanner,” she said quietly. “Out of all of us, he’s the one that will understand what life has been like for you. He may have gotten away when he was younger, but he knows what it would have been like in that house. It might help you to talk to someone.”

  She was right, I knew she was, but the thought of seeking out my brother and admitting my weakness to him was nearly unbearable. I was so fucked up. It was like my heart was trying to point me in the right direction, but my head was too broken to be able to follow through. I nodded in agreement with her. I needed to make an effort. I just didn’t know how.

  “Shall we change the subject?” she asked, a friendly smile on her face, and I smiled back in relief. “Do you want to help me research?”

  “Actually, I was… well… I was thinking of finding Grey to tell him I’d like to try out the job he offered me.” And if that wasn’t a bitter pill to swallow, I didn’t know what was.

  “What’s made you change your mind?” she asked. I could see the amusement twinkling in her eyes, but at least she wasn’t laughing. I suppose she was reliving the ridiculous way I’d exploded at even the mere suggestion of it yesterday.

  “It occurred to me this morning if I was going to start a new life, I was probably going to need the funds to do it. That, unfortunately, means I need a job, and I have absolutely no skills or prospects to speak of. Beggars, choosers and all that,” I shrugged.

  “It sounds like you’ve been doing a lot of thinking this morning,” she commented as she picked her book back up.

  “It’s time to grow up. I finally have a chance to have a life where I can be free from my father. He might have broken me, but even I can see I’d be stupid to give up the opportunity.”

  “Grey is going to insist you take the pack bond,” she pointed out.

  I nodded slowly. I knew he would. It was a show of trust for him, and I could see it from his point of view now. The problem was shifting. I hadn’t even thought before about the fact that I’d have to change into an animal to be able to take the bond. My father was probably pissing himself laughing with the knowledge I’d have to shift. In fact, he was probably sitting at a window waiting to see me walking up to the house with Calli in tow, because there was no way he’d ever believe I’d be capable of shifting and taking the bond. I wonder if that had been his plan all along.

  “Are you worried about shifting?” Calli asked when I didn’t say anything, so lost in my own thoughts I’d forgotten to respond.

  “I suppose. I know it sounds stupid, but it’s been drummed into my head for so long that to shift is to be weak. I don’t even know if I can.” It sounded so pathetic but sitting here in this room with Calli listening to my confessions was easier than I’d ever have thought it would be.

  “Hmmm, can you still feel your wolf?”

  “Every so often, it’s like I can feel him reach out to me, but I always push it aside. He’s never constantly present in my mind. Do you… do you think I’ve hurt him? Keeping him caged away inside me like I do.” I didn’t even realise it was something I was worried about until I�
�d said it. What if I actually couldn’t shift? What if I’d suppressed it for so long that my wolf wasn’t strong enough? If that had been him last night then there had to be some hope, but I couldn’t afford to hope, hope was a luxury I’d given up on a long time ago.

  “I honestly don’t know. I suppose the only way to find out is to try,” she shrugged, but then she looked thoughtful for a second. “Actually, maybe there is another way. I’m not entirely sure if you’re going to like it, though.”

  She almost seemed to wince as she suggested it, and the fact she was even concerned about my comfort a fraction seemed to embolden me.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked cautiously.

  “I think maybe I could try and reach your wolf, similar to how I do when I heal someone,” she explained.

  “Why would you think I wouldn’t want you to do that?” I asked, surprised.

  “Because I’d be using my magic on you. I kind of assumed you wouldn’t want me to do that.”

  I thought about it for a second. I knew she was half witch. I’d heard my father ranting about how it could be the key to all his problems. It was why he was obsessed with her—a female who possessed magic and could shift. I didn’t really have any feelings about the fact she was a witch, though, even if she was just half of one.

  “I don’t think I’m bothered by it,” I finally said, which only caused her to burst out laughing.

  “I’m so glad,” she quipped sarcastically.

  “Sorry, that was a bit tactless, wasn’t it,” I agreed with a grin, realising how it had sounded.

  “Maybe a little. It’s refreshing, though. I’m always so worried about how people are going to react. I think I see my magic as the reason why people will hate me. Even though for some people, it will be my wolf side that makes them want me dead. Perhaps it’s because I never really used my magic until recently.”