She turned and walked out of the office, leaving him standing there more confused than ever.
How far would Chantal go to placate Katya? His sister would never do anything to hurt him that much he knew for certain. Their family was tight and always honest with each other. Brutally honest.
If he took what his sister said as truth, then the game changed considerably. Or maybe it wasn't a game at all, and he had to quit looking like it as some kind of challenge he had to win.
Shaking his head, he went in search of Katya, formulating what he was going to say when he found her. She was nowhere to be found in the castle. Elena told him she'd gone outside to enjoy the day. It was unseasonably warm and she said Katya liked to take a swim in the heated pools. Armed with directions to the water, he headed outside and into the woods.
God, how long had it been since he'd shifted and run wild? It seemed like that was a distant part of his past, never to be repeated again. Would he ever have that kind of freedom again?
The need grew stronger as he forged deeper into the forest. Not paying the slightest bit of attention to the fallen logs and branches, he used his senses to step over anything blocking his path.
The air cooled considerably, the sunlight partially blocked by the heavy branches overhead. Conner stopped and inhaled, closing his eyes when he picked up Katya's scent.
He was amazingly in sync with her, even though they were at odds. Sucking in a brain-clearing whiff of air, he frowned when he realized the air carried the musk of arousal.
Her arousal. Distinct, her sweet perfume entered his senses and shot straight between his legs, readying his cock for mating.
So enticing, he'd follow her scent anywhere.
But wait. Why the hell was she aroused when she wasn't with him? Fury rolled through him and a fierce possessiveness kicked in.
Godammit! Katya was his mate. His woman. No other man was allowed to touch her.
If she was with someone else, he'd kill the guy. Taking more determined steps, he followed her scent, churning branches in his way like a bear on a rampage.
Yeah, he was on a fucking rampage, all right. God help the man who touched her because he wouldn't be able to control himself.
Her scent grew stronger as he spotted a clearing ahead, charging in that direction until he pushed through the thick branches and stopped.
The vision before him wasn't what he'd expected to see at all.
Katya was alone, naked, lying on the banks of a steamy pool of water, her fingers roaming between her legs. Her eyes were shut, feet flat on the ground, knees bent, the position offering him a perfect view of her pussy. Moisture glistened around the swollen lips, seeping down the crack of her ass.
When she moaned he hardened fully, fighting back a desperate urge to dive between her legs and lick up all that cream until she cried out, her screams echoing through the forest.
Would she scramble away if he approached her? God, he hated disturbing the erotic scene in front of him. Maybe he could linger quietly for a while and just watch. Then again, with Katya's lupine senses, she'd figure out soon enough that he was there.
Deciding to meet her on equal ground, he pulled off his jacket and shirt and shed his jeans and boots, then stepped out of the woods and onto the soft grass.
He'd no more cleared the trees than she stopped and opened her eyes, staring directly at him. But rather than jumping to her feet and reaching for her clothes, she shifted up on her elbows and watched him approach, her face devoid of expression. He had no idea whether she was happy or irritated to see him.
His desire was quite evident, hardening further when her gaze focused on his erection. He sat down next to her on the grassy bank.
"Still angry at me?"
"Fiercely."
Shit. Okay, maybe a neutral conversation first, just to break the ice between them a little. "Taking a swim?"
Her lips curled in a sardonic smile. "No, I was masturbating."
He laughed. "So I noticed. Damn, Katya. That's hot."
"Glad you thought so. Then again, I had planned to do it alone."
That was probably his signal to get up and leave. The problem was he didn't want her doing it alone. He didn't want to do it alone. His cock belonged in her pussy. Today, tomorrow, forever. It was time to force thoughts of sex away and talk to Katya about their problems.
"Katya, we need to talk."
She tilted her head to the side, looked him up and down, and shook her head. "I don't think so."
He knew she'd make this difficult. "Look, I know you don't want to talk about us, but we have to."
"You don't understand, Conner. You're right. We do need to talk. About a lot of things. But not right now. You walked in on me when I was close to coming. So like it or not, you need to take care of my immediate problem. The rest of it we'll talk about later. Right now I'm horny as hell, my cunt aches and I need you inside me. I need to come."
Holy shit. Maybe they were closer to a consensus than he thought.
*
Katya chewed her bottom lip and waited for Conner's response.
Suggesting he make love to her hadn't been on the top of her list when she'd seen him walking toward her, naked and aroused. She should have stood and ordered him to leave her alone so she could have her privacy. Her visions while masturbating had been of him doing exactly what he'd done--show up in the forest naked and erect, ready to fuck her like she needed to be fucked.
She realized that now was the time to either move their relationship forward, or end it completely. They may be at odds in many areas, but sex wasn't one of them. And that was a starting point to breach the distance between them.
"Well?" she asked, impatient for his response.
His lips curved upward. "I was at a loss for words."
"Find them yet?" She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. If he said no, she'd be mortified. But then she'd know that Chantal was wrong. That he didn't care for her at all.
He turned and wrapped his palm around the back of her neck, pulling her mouth to his. Before their lips touched, he said, "I want you, Katya. So much that it hurts. I'll always want you."
She sighed her relief into his open mouth, wrapping her arms around his back and pressing her breasts against his chest.
They both moved to their knees, their bodies aligned breasts to chest, belly to belly and sex to sex. His chest hairs tickled her breasts, teasing her nipples to sharp points. She shifted from side to side, creating her own pleasure by rubbing the aroused buds against the hard muscles of his chest.
He groaned and she felt the vibration against her breasts. His cock jutted up between them and she rocked against it, its heat burning her lower belly.
She needed his cock inside her. Right now. Thoughts of making love with him had permeated her every thought the past couple days. Despite her anger and frustration with him, her desire for him hadn't diminished. In fact, it had grown stronger.
Was it possible to love and want someone desperately while still angry as hell at them?
"Fuck me, Conner. And hurry," she urged, moving back to lie on the grass. She spread her legs while he kneeled there and watched, stroking his shaft. Never had she felt so wanton, so free. Maybe it was being outside, their natural element, but she wanted him to see how much she desired him.
Opening her legs, she showed him her need, sliding her hand over her belly to pet her sex.
His gaze flamed hot, burning her, spurring her on to be even more adventurous. She slipped two fingers into her wet pussy, thrusting in and out slowly, then withdrew them and brought her fingers to her mouth to taste her own desire.
"Fuck, Katya. That's so goddamn erotic." His movements increased as he stroked his shaft hard and fast from base to tip. Creamy drops spilled from the tip of his penis, and he swirled his thumb over the liquid.
Her nostrils flared, taking in the musky scent of him, desperate to feel the jetting of that hot seed deep inside her with a need that was bo
rne of primal urges and a frantic sense of urgency.
His scent made her crazy, drove her to dig deep inside herself and find the wild part of her that she'd suppressed for so many years.
"I can smell you," he said. "Hot, musky. You bring out the beast in me, Katya. Make yourself come for me."
At this point it was highly unlikely she could hold back anyway. One or two more strokes and she'd--
A scream tore from her throat, her hips bucking off the soft grass as her climax rushed over her in a tidal wave so powerful it made her lightheaded. She kept her gaze on Conner's face as she sailed into oblivion, somehow finding the eye contact more stimulating than she ever thought possible. She was coming, and he was watching her.
"Oh yeah," Conner growled, moving toward her and dropping down between her legs to bury his head at her sex. The spasms of her orgasm had not yet subsided when he licked her cream in slow, soft laps of his tongue, taking in the juices that poured from her and driving her near mad in the process.
Despite her first rip-roaring orgasm, she was recharged by his devouring mouth, unable to even catch her breath between her self-induced orgasm and the next one that Conner brought her to.
She tangled her fingers in his hair and soared over the edge again, thrusting her sex against his greedy mouth. He held onto her hips and devoured her juices until she collapsed, exhausted and unable to even speak.
"Oh, we haven't even begun, Katya," Conner rumbled, lifting and turning her over to position her on her hands and knees.
"I love taking you like this," he said, his voice tight with need as he probed between her legs and thrust hard and deep inside her cunt.
She whimpered, feeling that now-familiar fullness and shocked to discover that she did, indeed, still have more desire to slake. With Conner it only took seconds for her drive to begin anew, seconds for him to take her the point that she lost her sanity and wanted only to rush over that blissful edge again.
"Fuck me, Katya. Back that sweet ass against me and fuck me hard."
Unable to help the wolf's emergence, she embraced the wildness within her and growled at her mate, thrusting her ass back against his pelvis and squeezing his cock with the muscles of her cunt.
His claws emerged, the stinging sharp pain of them digging into the flesh of her hips. But Katya did not object. She welcomed the savage thrust against her, the beast within him roaring to life. He moved with the wildness that lived within her, his balls slapping her clit and bringing her closer and closer to orgasm.
The heat of the day bore down on their skin, sweat pouring from their bodies and mixing with the wetness of their lust.
Their coupling was primal, urgent, like the wolves that lived inside them. Her skin prickled as the hair thickened on her arms and back, her jaw feeling as if it were splitting open as her face began to change.
That was all she would allow, feeling more vulnerable in her animal state than she ever did as a human. She shouldn't feel that way, since as a wolf she was much stronger, but maintaining her humanity, even in something as raw and primal as sex, was important.
Conner followed her lead and only partially transformed, enough so she could feel his blood boiling with the change from human to lupine. His cock grew hotter, thicker, filling her walls and scraping the sensitive tissues inside her until she cried out from the pleasure.
The fever of the moment added to Katya's excitement, notching up her desire until she whimpered like an animal in heat.
She was like an animal in heat and reveled in her power over lesser beasts.
"Harder," she urged, bucking against Conner's cock, needing him deeper inside her. He obliged by pistoning so deeply she felt his thrusts in her womb.
And then she splintered apart, tilting her head up and howling as her climax tore through her.
Conner went with her, his wolf cry echoing through the empty forest, his hot cum jetting into her cunt. Their feral growls mixed in a song as sweet as any she'd ever heard. They collapsed onto the grassy bank, their bodies returning to human form while they found normal breathing again.
She lay there and stared at him, mesmerized by the beauty and rugged angles of his face. Dark stubble lined his jaw and she reached out to feel its scrape against her palm, not at all surprised to feel the tingle of excitement spark within her.
They were completely untamed together. But as wild as their lovemaking had been, it didn't begin to solve their other problems. Problems that seemed insurmountable.
He had sought her out to talk. It was time to find out what he had come to say.
"You wanted to talk to me?"
He smiled. "I'd rather have sex again."
"But we're not going to. Now talk to me. That is why you came here."
"Yeah, I did come here to talk. That is, until I found this mirage in the clearing. A wild thing with her legs spread as if she was waiting for me."
Katya's lips curled upward. "I was waiting for you. In a way. But I never expected you to show up just as I slid my hand between my legs."
He inhaled deeply and caressed the tip of one nipple. "Just thinking about the way I found you spread-eagled on the grass has my cock getting hard again."
Katya looked at it and shook her head.
"Talk first. Sex later."
He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. "I've always taken charge in business. I'm a leader. An alpha. It's my way or nothing."
She leaned up on her elbows. "So I noticed."
"But I've realized that I'm beating my head against a stone wall trying to do this myself. And I've got enough of my family ganging up on me to open my eyes and realize how much I need help."
Why couldn't he have figured that out without his brother and sister pointing it out to him? Then again, she was rather fond of this hardheaded alpha. Perhaps his stubbornness could be beneficial. He certainly would never back down under a challenge, that much was certain.
"I can help you, Conner, if you'd only let me. Keep in mind that I have run this territory since my parents died. I know what works and what doesn't."
One corner of his mouth lifted. "So what you're saying is I'm probably already doing things you've already done."
"I didn't say it."
"You don't have to. This is never going to be easy for me, Katya. But I'm willing to give it a try. I need your help. I can't, and frankly, I don't want to do this alone."
His admission was all she needed to hear. She sat up, reached for his face and kissed him tenderly, pouring her heart out to him. "You don't have to do it alone."
"I've missed you," he mumbled against her mouth, licking her bottom lip and tugging at it with his teeth.
She laughed at the same time her body flamed to life once again. "I've missed you, too."
He drew circles around her nipples, plucking the buds when they drew into hardened points and making her forget what they were talking about.
"We should get started on business," he suggested, but one look told her that business as the last thing on his mind.
"Later. I need your cock in me again. We'll talk business when we get back to the castle."
*
True to his word, Conner had asked for her help. And she'd given it, realizing that the two of them together were a powerful force. They'd stormed into the ministry and bullied them into placing a temporary halt to all hunting of wolves until the Devlins could set up the foundation.
"We need to get married, and fast," Conner said, glancing over at her while they sat at the huge dining table with Noah, Chantal, Elena and a handful of the Carpathian shifters.
"I know. The ministry will never recognize you until we are married. You and I must be married for three years before you can attain Romanian citizenship."
"But once we're married they will at least recognize me as having a stake in what happens here."
Katya nodded. "True. You can placate them with money and promises of tourism and good public relations for a short period of time, but eventually the hunter
coalitions and the farmers will have their way again, and wolves will be hunted as they always have. Besides, even if our country's ministry defends the rights of the wolves, as soon as the lupines cross the borders into Slovakia or Ukraine they are no longer protected by Romanian law."
"Open hunting season," Elena said, wrinkling her nose. "And we're nearing that time of year. Those of us who are shifters can watch where we roam, but we cannot keep the pure wolves from crossing borders. Even when we change, we operate on primal instinct rather than human sense. If we roam over the borders, we will be subject to being shot by hunters, too."
Conner nodded. "That's what we have to change. The refuge will help. Crews should be arriving any day to erect the walls keeping the wolves within the Romanian borders."
"But that will only do so much good," Katya said. "A wolf that does not want to be contained will not be. And the wild ones, even the ancient shifters, believe that all the land of the Carpathian mountain range is theirs to wander. They don't recognize the borders of countries."
"Then we have to work harder to convince the bordering nations to limit their hunting and protect the wolves."
Conner knew this wasn't going to happen overnight. Change of this magnitude could take years, especially when dealing with something as delicate as foreign policy.
But marrying Katya and merging the Devlins with the Braslieus would bring about more power. And frankly, no matter what the nation's politics, money talked.
But would they be able to offer enough to thwart the hunting lobbies?
"We have a lot to do. Let's get married tomorrow."
Katya's eyes widened, then she nodded. "Okay. I will make arrangements for the mayor to come to the castle and say the vows."
His mother was going to kill him for getting married without her being present, but Conner figured after they had things under control he'd drag Katya to Boston and do the big family wedding his mother had always wanted.
"I am sorry we have to rush through this and your parents cannot be here with us," she said after most of the people had left.
"Me, too. Mom's going to kick my ass for doing this without her. You wouldn't want to call her and break the news to her for me, would you?" he asked, looking to Chantal.
Chantal shook her head. "Are you insane? I don't want to be the one to face Mom's wrath. You know how mothers get about their children getting married. As it is you'll probably be disowned and stricken from the will."