by Fiona Starr
He nods, but doesn’t say anything, as if he knows I need to talk it out, process everything so I know that I’m not going crazy.
“You were covered in fur. And so big…” I shake my head, battling between disbelief and what I know to be true. Nobody would ever believe it if I told them. “But your eyes were the same. I guess you know that. I think I would have known it was you because of your eyes, even if I hadn’t seen you shift.”
I undo his jeans and slide them over his hips, then I slip my hands into his boxers and wrap my fingers around his cock. His skin is hot in my hands, and the groan he gives me tells me all I need to know. I lean in and inhale his scent, letting him fill my lungs. My god the way he makes me feel…
“You smell like the outdoors,” I whisper.
He smiles and his eyes crinkle at the corners. “That’s funny, because I keep telling myself that you smell like wildflowers in the summer.”
“Really?” The thought makes me feel giddy.
“Guess we’re a perfect match.” Angus draws my mouth to his, devouring me as his tongue moves with mine. He takes my hand and leads me to the bath, steps inside, and helps me in after him. We sink into the blessedly hot water and inch by inch my body lets the aches melt away.
Angus sits facing me and lifts my foot into his lap. He squeezes gently and I moan with pleasure as he gives me a foot rub under the cover of the bubbles. Then he slides up to rub my calves, and then massage my thighs, sliding up, up, ever so gently toward my center.
I spread my legs and pull him toward me, enjoying the way our slick skin glides together in the water. He cups his hands over my ass and lifts me into his lap. He’s so hard, and when I grind against him, my clit pulses under the pressure. I guide him to my entrance and sink down onto him, exhaling the sweet relief as he finally fills me.
Sweat beads on our skin as our bodies join under the water. I run my tongue up under his neck and over his chin, then back along his jawline to his ear. Angus holds my hips and moves me over him. I feel myself rise and fall, gliding over his cock without any effort at all. He pulls me against him, holding me as he arches to reach even deeper inside me. Every nerve in my skin sings under his touch. It’s like I am his to command, my obedient body waiting for his direction.
Angus has a large cock, but moving slow like this, feeling every bit of his length as he moves inside me, he feels twice as long, twice as thick, stretching me as he moves through me.
“My god,” I whisper between breaths. “I can’t take it.” I grip his shoulders and press myself down, trying to pump faster, but he won’t let me.
Angus holds me still, pressing us together, inch by aching inch. “Don’t want to make waves,” he whispers. “Van will kick my ass if water starts leaking downstairs.” He looks into my eyes and we hold each other’s gaze, and I swear it’s like my soul is bared before him.
“Wouldn’t want that,” I whisper, barely able to keep my voice steady.
He wraps his arms around me, holding me still, pressing me against him as he thrusts.
“Angus,” I moan into his ear and I don’t care how desperate I sound. “More.”
He growls into my hair and then with one hand around my bottom and the other on the rim of the tub, he pulls us out of the water and carries me, dripping wet, back to his bed. He lays me down on my back and climbs over me, spreading me wide so he can fill me again.
“You’re so amazing, Joely.” His kisses dot my forehead, my cheeks, my mouth, my chin, and then move down to my chest and kisses my raven mark.
I reach up and grab hold of his face, making him look at me. “Angus, we’re no longer in the bath. It’s okay to make waves now.”
He smiles and I swear I can see a little bit of his wolf in him. “Oh yeah?”
I nod. “Please.”
“As you wish.” He gets up on his knees and lifts my ass, angling my body up toward him. Then he plunges into me so hard that I gasp. I’m wedged into the mattress, with nowhere to move, so I grab onto his biceps and hold on, feeling his rock hard muscles quiver as he balances over me, and pushes me up and up toward release.
My orgasm ripples through me, sending waves of pleasure out to the tips of my fingers and toes. Angus follows right behind me, his brow furrowed as he lets go with a final flurry of rapid thrusts.
We’re breathing heavy as we settle next to each other.
“My god. That was…” He exhales with a smile.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to catch my breath.
Angus flips onto his side and leans on his arm. I turn to face him and we just stare into each other’s eyes for a long moment.
He brushes a lock of hair off my face. “I’m glad you could come with us today. Something about having you there… it’s different when I am the wolf. There’s a level of awareness that we can get to when we shift that doesn’t exist in human form. I feel like I’m even closer to you now that we shared that time today. That you rode on my back.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head as if trying to find the words. “I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. I don’t expect you to understand.”
I bite my lip to keep my emotions from spilling over. Shit, I don’t want to cry. I look down so he won’t see my tears, but there’s no place for me to hide.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Angus lifts my chin. “Did I say something that upset you?”
I blink and feel the tears fall. “No. It’s… I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you this.”
“What?” His eyes go wide and I realize he’s bracing for the worst. “Is everything all right? I know today was kind of a lot. We can talk about it if you need to. I thought you would enjoy being there. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“No. That’s not it. I…” I press my hand to his chest. His heartbeat is steady and strong, his skin still warm from the bath. “You were magnificent today. The three of you. You all were. It’s just… I don’t…”
“Joely, what is it?” He gets up onto his elbow, his brow creasing with concern.
“I have to get this out. Can I talk and you just listen? I don’t know how to say what I need to say, but I really need you to hear it, even if it’s a jumble, all right?”
The concern is still on his face. “Yeah. Of course, Joely… anything.”
I take a deep breath. “When I got on your back this morning, it was like I belonged there. Like it wasn’t my first time riding with you, but instead like we were doing it for the thousandth time. As you ran, I felt my body join with your energy. I knew when you were going to turn or pivot around a tree, I didn’t have to think, I just responded real-time… because I knew. And I could also feel how happy you were while you were running. The emotions coming off you landed in my soul, in here.” I place my hand over my heart. “I have never felt so connected to anyone in my entire life the way I felt with you, today.”
Angus can tell I am unsure, but I can see the relief on his face. He grabs my hand and kisses my fingers. “But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? I mean, we’re good together, right?”
I nod. “We’re great together.”
“Then why do you seem so upset?”
“Because everything that I felt. Everything that you felt with me, today?”
“Yeah?” he says, urging me on.
“I felt the exact same thing when I was riding Marco.” I am afraid to look at him. I have no idea what he’s going to say to that bomb I just dropped between us, and maybe if I don’t make eye contact, I won’t have to face it. I close my eyes and count to three, and decide right then that I have to face him. I have no choice but to just take whatever comes. I was honest, and I’m scared, but I can’t carry this one alone.
When I open my eyes, I look right at Angus. I brace myself, trying to make myself ready for whatever he says next. But when he meets my gaze, I don’t know what to make of his face.
“Wait. Why are you smiling?”
Chapter Five
ANGUS
So this is totally unexpected, but
I guess it really shouldn’t be. I knew something was going on when Joely got on Marco’s back. I felt it in the way we feel things when we’re out as wolves. The collective mind is so strong between us, especially when we take off our chains. It’s like we’re one being in three bodies.
I think back over the hours when Joely was with me, trying to recall anything I was getting from Marco or Van, but I realize now that I was so engaged with the woman riding me that I pretty much blocked them out. There were only a few times when Marco spoke directly to me that seem to have cut through, and even then, I had to concentrate to hear him.
But when Joely got on Marco, it was like a double feeling of that happiness again, she was part of us again, but at the same time my heart squeezed in anguish for her absence. She wasn’t riding on my back any longer and the lack of her was like a physical pain. Van felt it too, I am sure of it. Was that how they felt the whole time she was with me?
It makes sense… and as for what Joely was feeling…
She opens her eyes. “Wait, why are you smiling?” Her face is so lovely and open.
I wonder if she’s prepared to hear what I am about to say. I can tell she’s confused, and she’s definitely worried about how I’m going to react, and really, who could blame her? “So, what you’re saying is that you felt connected to Marco today when you were riding him back to the bikes?”
She nods, and I can tell she feels guilty. “Yes. But it was more than that. When I first climbed on you, I was overcome with this sense of you. I could feel your heart beating under me. I felt your breathing with my whole body. But I also felt you. The whole time. And I could feel that you were larger than yourself. I got the sense at the time that maybe I was sensing your connection to your brothers. I don’t know, but when I got on Marco, I realized that I could feel you even though we weren’t even touching anymore. But, since I already knew what you felt like, it was so obvious once we were apart.
“Joely, that’s…”
“No, don’t. Let me get this out,” she says.
“All right.”
“Riding Marco back to the bikes… it was the same. I felt like we connected. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can still feel him. He’s asleep right now in his room, somewhere on the other side of the house.”
Her tears spill over and she starts crying in earnest. I wipe her tears and kiss her cheeks, trying to reassure her.
“Joely, it’s all right. I’m relieved, actually.”
I can see the emotions warring on her face. She’s confused. “How can me telling you that I feel connected to your brother be a relief, Angus? You understand what I’m saying, right? I don’t mean that I felt something while I was with him. I mean that I feel something. Present tense. Right now.”
“I understand,” he says.
“But, you aren’t upset? It isn’t right that I feel this way.”
Honestly, I don’t feel bad about it at all, and that is kind of unexpected. I mean, I don’t want to think about her with someone else… but we’re talking about Marco here. “What if I told you that it isn’t wrong, either?”
“What? What do you mean?”
How the hell do I explain this to her? “Well, I mean, think about it like this. We’re brothers, and we’re also wolves. We don’t follow pack rules anymore. But we can’t turn off the wolf stuff. It’s instinct and animal—in the purest sense. And, well…”
“Well what?” She’s no longer crying, so that’s good.
“Well, it isn’t unheard of for wolves in a pack to, uh… to share.”
It takes a second for my words to sink in and when they do, Joely’s eyes go wide. Her face flushes pink and she seems embarrassed and relieved. “Angus!”
“What? I’m serious. It’s not like I want you to start seeing other people. It’s Marco we’re talking about. I understand where it’s coming from and it doesn’t upset me that you’re feeling something for him, especially after today. It isn’t a surprise at all.”
“So you’ve done that before? Shared a girl with your brothers?” She asks it deadpan, her face giving nothing away.
“What? No! Never. We’ve never. That isn’t a thing for us. Not at all. I just mean that it’s not unheard of… for wolves. And honestly, with all that’s been going on with us… with you. With us finding you, and your vision, the prophecy, and everything. I mean, you’ve already got a connection with Tobias, is it so hard to imagine having a connection to all of us?”
“Wait. I didn’t say it was all of you,” she whispers.
I know that’s she’s trying to say that she doesn’t feel anything for Van, but I know now that there’s something there, too. I felt it, even if Joely might not have registered anything at the time. But it was obvious in how Van reacted when Joely touched Marco and me. He wanted her to touch him, ached for her the same way I had. It was killing him that she was so far away from him. He gave off that signal like a fucking billboard.
Shit.
How the hell are we going to deal with this? It isn’t fair to keep bringing Joely around if having her here is torture for my brothers. But hell. I am not willing to let her go. And what about Joely? What if her being the Nightbird is more than just being part of our team in this mission we’ve been on? What if there’s more to her being here with us than any of us know?
“Hey,” Joely says, lifting my chin and making me look at her. “I need you to tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I think we should talk to my brothers about it.”
“Oh my god. And say what, exactly? Hey Marco, I know you’re my brother but my girlfriend was hoping to get some time with you? Are you joking?”
I can’t help but laugh at the horrified look on her face. “Joely, I think the wolf thing is messing with your head. No, I don’t think… I know it is… look.” I reach behind my neck for the clasp on my chain and take it off, but still hold it in my hand.
She picks up the end of it and lets the chain move through her fingers. “Your brothers wear one just like this,” she says. “I noticed them today.”
“It’s to help us. Protect us,” I say.
“What could you possibly need protection from? Have you seen yourselves? You’re enormous.”
“These chains were a gift from Salma,” I say.
She nods. “The witch you watched over you for all those years?”
I love that Joely knows about Salma, that we’ve been able to share this part of our past with her. I picture the old woman who taught us what it meant to be what we are. “She cast a spell over our chains so they would help quiet our wolves. While we wear them, it prevents us from shifting, or falling into our shared mind.”
“Oh wow, that makes me sad. Why would you want to do that?” Joely loops her fingers through mine.
“We don’t want to—we need to. Because after years on the run, never able to settle down and live a life, we realized that Damon Underwood can only track us when we’re wolves. We found Salma outside of London when… while we were still trying to stay ahead of Damon. Underwood was always right on us. Van was going through some stuff and he retreated into his wolf for a while. We couldn’t get him to come out for weeks. We didn’t really fight him on it, we understood. Underwood almost killed Van that time, but he also revealed that it was our wolves he could track, not us as men. So, we figured that out at least. That’s when we found Salma…”
“Sounds like Van was really struggling,” she whispers.
I nod and stop myself. This isn’t my story to tell.
“And you couldn’t just attack Underwood back?” I love that Joely doesn’t ask any more about Van, as if she knows I’d be breaking a confidence in a way. He’s never sworn us to silence over everything that happened, but if Joely’s going to hear about this part of the past, it’s going to have to come from Van.
“We were desperate for a way to defeat him, but there was no way we could risk it.”
Joely’s hand weaves through mine, her fingers playing along the top of my h
and. “Is Underwood really that strong?”
I nod. “Yeah. All vampires have incredible strength. They also heal faster than we do. And the older they are, the stronger they are. The only reason we were able to kill his sons was because they were young and stupid and drunk. They got careless with us, let their guards down. And even then, it took all four of us to do it.”
“That makes sense then why everyone was so excited that Master Damon went to Moscow.”
“Yeah. If he’s that far away, we’ll have some time to be free. I don’t know if he can still sense us from five-thousand miles away… he seemed to be able to track us all over the world, but he still has to use airplanes and whatever to travel over the ocean, so we’re safe for now.”
She pulls the chain, trying to take it from me. “Put it back on,” she says. “I don’t like the idea of him knowing you’re here.”
“It’s all right. I want to show you something. Can you still feel Marco?” I ask.
Joely closes her eyes and smiles. “Yeah, I can. He’s asleep.”
“That’s because even with his chain on, Marco can still tap into his wolf side. He has to work to silence it for all our sakes, but it slips through sometimes. Does he feel the same way he did when you were riding him?”
“The sense of him is the same, but the pull of him is weaker, if that makes sense.”
“Right. And what about now?” I say, letting my chain fall to the bed between us. Her reaction when I am no longer touching the enchanted metal is immediate.
“Oh my god.” Joely gasps and her pupils dilate so wide, the green of her irises become just the thinnest of rings. She closes her eyes and swallows hard, as if trying to acclimate to the sensations coursing through her.
Without my chain on, I can feel her even more, too. The pull of her is almost magnetic. She’s inches away from me and it’s too far. I want her in my arms. I need our bodies touching. She reaches for me, wrapping her hand around my neck and pulling me toward her and kissing me with an intensity she hasn’t shown before.
My cock stiffens and the scent of her fills my head. I’m drunk on her and I have to fight to control myself.
