“You,” she whispered. “Always you, Cade.”
“I love it when you look at me like this. Like you want to eat me up and lick your lips afterward.”
His hands roamed all over her body and she closed her eyes, luxuriating in his touch. “I love it when you touch me like that. Like I’m so precious you’re afraid I’ll break but you can’t help yourself.”
She opened her eyes to find his just inches away as he bent down to kiss the tip of her nose. “I can’t help myself, Grace. But you’re so small, so important and such a miracle to me I’m afraid you’ll disappear like smoke in the night.”
“I’m wearing three-inch heels,” she said, losing a bit of breath as he kissed the spot just below her ear.
“And you’re still small. But I like that. You make me calm just by thinking of you. Well, you make me want to fuck you every time I think of you too. But my point is, you’re regal and cool and petite but you take up every part of me. Your wolf is amazing, just like you are. I’m this big lumbering fool and you’re this pixie and yet, you’re mine.” He shrugged and she smiled, reaching up to run her hands through his hair. Loving the way he felt.
“I am. And you’re mine. Don’t you let that hussy from Siskiyou flirt while I’m not here. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how she bats her eyelashes at you.” Heifer.
He chuckled and suddenly her blouse was open, his hands on her breasts. “God, I love that you’re bare under your blouses. Drives me nuts to see you walking around. Does it feel good, Grace? The cool fabric against your nipples?”
“Anyone could walk in here,” she said, not convincingly.
“They could. And you didn’t answer my question. Sometimes I see you move and your nipples press against the fabric and my response is Pavlovian. My mouth waters, my tongue wants to swirl around your nipple until you make that squeak. The honey will make your pussy all slick and ready for me.”
“Yes,” she whispered as she blushed. He made her bold.
“Yes your cunt gets wet when my mouth is on your nipple? Yes your nipples feel good against your shirt?”
“Yes to both.” Little zings of pleasure rebounded through her system as his lips skated down her neck, all the while his fingers plucked at her nipples.
He dropped to his knees and his mouth went to one nipple and then the other, over and over. People were still there, downstairs and outside. She was torn between the thrill of possibly being discovered and the possible embarrassment.
His hands slid up her bare legs, up beneath the hem of her skirt. She squirmed and he pressed against her with his upper body, holding her in place. The blunt pads of his fingers brushed over the lace of her panties and he hummed his pleasure.
“Wet. Soaking wet for me. I’m going to make you come right here, Grace. Right here when anyone could walk in and catch me licking your succulent nipples and fingering your pussy. And you’re going to love it. You do love it. The scent of your cunt drives me insane. I can smell you now, smell how much you want me.”
He pushed aside the crotch of her underwear and slid his fingers into the wet folds of her pussy. She widened her legs as she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out. His tongue flicked over her nipple, his fingers, two of them, slid into her gate while his thumb pressed insistently over her clit.
She locked her knees to keep standing, gripped the counter behind her. Her head fell back as she breathed through her nose, struggled to not scream her pleasure as he played her body expertly. He moved his mouth to the other nipple as his other hand slid through her pussy and back. Slick with her honey, his middle finger stroked over her rear passage, sending taboo arcs of electric sensation through her.
“I’m going to put my cock here, Grace. When you get off that plane tomorrow night, we’re coming back here and I’m going to fuck your ass.” The finger he’d been sliding back and forth penetrated just a bit and she gasped. “Mmm, no one’s been back there, have they?”
“No,” she managed to say. “Good.”
He bit down, taking in as much of her breast as he could and worked his magic with his fingers. Ribbons of color streaked her vision until orgasm hit and her entire body tightened with the pressure to keep quiet.
She dimly felt him put her panties and skirt in place. He picked her up and walked her toward their part of the house.
Cade’s entire body vibrated with need. The way she’d responded as he’d spoken of taking her ass had nearly broken him. Her cunt had heated even more than usual, spilling that ultra-hot juice on his hands. Fuck she was hot and she didn’t even realize her power. God help him if she ever did. She’d own him.
“Undress, Grace. I need to be inside you. I need to mark you before you take off on this insane trip to Chicago.” He ripped off his shirt, the buttons flying, never taking his eyes from her.
Sex tousled, that’s what she was. Her movements were fluid, but slower than normal, her eyes half lidded. He could scent her, knew she was in a state of satiation but also need. Knew she needed this physical connection as much as he did.
Pride. Satisfaction that he made this woman feel so good, feel such need to be with him, roared through his system.
Bit by bit, her pretty skin was revealed to his eyes until she lay there, totally naked, watching his body as he undressed as well.
“You’re amazing. I’ve seen beefcake pictures in the magazines and they’ve got nothing on you.”
He grinned, loving the way she looked at him. He felt eight feet tall and centerfold handsome when her attention was on him.
“Looking at beefcake in magazines, huh?” He got on the bed and crawled over her body. “Should I be jealous?”
His skin tingled where she skimmed her palms up the muscles of his back.
“No. There’s no room for anything or anyone else now that you’re mine.” Such a simple statement and yet it knocked him out.
“I need you, Grace.”
“Then take me. I’m yours.” Those amber eyes looked up into his face, trusting him with her body and soul, humbling him.
With their difference in height, it wasn’t easy to take her from above unless he was on his knees so he arranged himself and she automatically wrapped her thighs around his waist, scooting close.
“You already know me so well.” She laughed, he loved the sound.
“Well, it’s not like it’s a mystery. The parts go where they go.”
“Oh like, here?” he asked as he slid deep into her pussy.
Her intake of breath seemed to draw the walls of her cunt in tighter around him, even as the creamy flesh parted for him, making room, welcoming him home.
“Christ. Each time I tell myself I’m going to go slow. That I’ll take my time and draw out the experience but once my cock slices into your pussy, that all falls away and I want to rut on you, in you.”
She blushed, blinking quickly. “I...when you say that sort of thing, it makes me breathless. I’ve never thought of being that sort of woman to any man. I’m wildly flattered. It makes me very happy.”
He petted down her flanks and then back over her belly and across the closely trimmed curls at the base of her mound. With a growl, he changed his tempo, speeding up, fucking into her body in short, feral digs.
Her scent changed subtly, heated, sweetened. Her nipples drew tight and darkened against the surrounding lighter pink. He wanted that moment to freeze, wanted to never forget the beauty of her response to him, the way she opened up her normally reserved personality and luxuriated in the sensuality that lay just beyond—just for him. Only for him.
“Will you touch yourself for me? Make yourself come, Grace.”
Her breath caught but the flood of moisture around his cock told him she wasn’t bothered by the idea at all. Fuck. He tried to think of the table of elements to keep from coming but he was close.
“I
want to see you.”
She nodded, her hand sliding down her belly. Her fingers brushed against his cock, down where their bodies joined, gathering moisture and taking it back to her clit. He sat back straighter so he could watch.
The pale skin of her hand stood in stark contrast to the darkened flesh of her pussy, glistening with her lube. His cock thrust into her and pulled back out, her body loath to let him go.
Her eyelids sank as her lips parted.
“Jesus you’re so hot. So sexy. Look at me, I want to look into your eyes when you come, when I come inside you.”
Slowly, she dragged her eyes open and continued to finger her clit, her body tightening around his. She hissed and arched as her pussy clamped down around his cock. It was all he could take and with a long groan he thrust deep and came.
Their eyes never left each other. He felt her within him, where she’d been lodged since the first time he got a good whiff of her two weeks prior.
Without a word, he carried her into their bathroom and ran the water. He needed to minister to her, the way she had him countless times since he’d claimed her.
Chapter Eleven
He’d been so good to her the night before after making love. He’d taken her to their shower and washed her hair, soaped up her body as she stood under the warm spray and let him do all the work.
She’d marveled out loud to him of his sweetness as she’d sighed, leaning back into his body as he soaped up her hair. His hands on her scalp had been strong but gentle.
He’d looked at her like she was the most precious thing he’d ever seen and said, “I’m in love with you. I want to take care of you. You’ve been working so hard, I just want to send you off to Chicago with my hands on you in your memory.”
And they’d been. The way he’d kneaded her neck as they’d rejoined the rest of the family for wine out on the deck. The way he’d looked at her in the moonlight as if no one and nothing else existed.
All her life, despite being the smart one, the overachiever, the successful one, she’d never actually felt cherished and adored. He did that.
So she could get on that plane before the sun rose and head to Chicago to do her best because he made her want to be the best person she could.
“You’re good for him,” Dave said from his seat across from her. “For a long time all that existed for Cade was the Pack. He became more and more obsessed with details and control and less warm. Less human and more wolf I suppose. The difference is amazing. The Cade I grew up with is back.”
“I feel like I’m in a fairy tale, you know? He takes care of me, he worries about me. He makes me eat my vegetables and counts my calories to be sure I eat enough.” She shrugged with a smile. Cade made her want to cry sometimes and it wasn’t something she normally did.
Dave moved next to her and put his arm around her, smoothing a hand over her hair. The strength of Pack, the love of Pack. He knew her, knew she needed the touch and gave it. No judgment, just love.
They landed and true to his word, Jack met her right at the stairs of the plane with a big hug and a kiss on the top of her head.
“Hey there, shortstuff.” He handed her a cup of coffee and a brown paper bag. “Coffee and a bagel, cheese, meat thing.”
She grinned. “Thank you.”
All the while, he’d been hustling her to the car where Tegan waited inside. Dave sat up front with the driver and Ben sat just behind them with Benoit.
Tegan rubbed her face along Grace’s jaw. “Morning, Grace.”
Grace greeted them all, took a sip of coffee and called the house to let Cade know she’d arrived safely. He insisted on talking to Jack, who humored him and promised to keep her safe before hanging up.
“Okay, head out to the area around the lab you found Tegan at. I’ve been thinking about it for a bit and wondering. When we were kids, my parents had this restaurant we used to go to. It’s not there anymore. I can’t remember exactly where it was but I looked around online and I think it may be around there.”
They headed out and she sat back in the seat and tried to think. She hadn’t met Warren at Pellini Group headquarters. She’d met him again after arranging it through their parents. She’d tried to contact them since she’d left Chicago but they’d changed their number and Ben told her they’d cleared out of their house leaving nothing behind. Both of them worked for her brother in some capacity so there wasn’t a job she could trace them to.
There had to be a key, something she was overlooking.
“You looked at my condo?” she asked absently, leaning into Jack.
“We did. They’d been there. Kicked your door in. I’m sorry to say your stuff had been totally wrecked. We got a scent trail but lost it a few blocks away. They’d been to your old job as well but since you left and cut off contact with everyone so long ago, no one knew anything.” Ben had leaned forward to answer her and she reached back to touch him. She realized the way they were Pack and it warmed her.
Tegan smiled when she caught her eye, a knowing smile. Grace knew her sister-in-law had had her own share of heartache but had found something special with Ben. Still, even as she’d been hurting, she’d been surrounded by Wardens. Not such a bad thing.
“So how’s it going? How are the wolves in the Pack accepting you?” Tegan asked.
“It’s getting better slowly I think. At first no one trusted me. Now it’s just most of the Pack who don’t trust me.” It hurt but she knew why. Her brother had harmed so many.
“They suck. You want me to kill anyone for you, shortstuff?” Jack’s voice rumbled in her ear.
She laughed. “I think I’ll be all right. They just have to get to know me. I know why they feel the way they do. Warren has sent them all into upheaval. He nearly killed Tegan, he brought war to their lives.”
“You’re not him.”
She felt Jack’s fierce anger and realized they had a link too. Not as strong as what she felt with Cade, but it was there.
“I hate that you’re being punished when you’re so damned brave. You did the right thing. Hell you did something most people would never have the guts to do. How dare they judge you.”
She turned and looked at Jack. “They’re afraid.”
“Of you?”
“Of everything. My brother has turned their lives upside down. He’s taken the very thing that makes them what they are and is using that against them. I understand why they don’t like me. I understand why they don’t trust me. Obviously I hope they’ll change their minds when they get to know me. But they have a lot at risk just now.”
“You have more at risk, damn it.” Jack frowned and she reached up to smooth away the lines on his forehead, realizing now a bit of how Nina must have felt for Cade.
“Life isn’t fair, Jack. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”
He laughed. “Yeah. All the time. She still tells me.”
They rolled up into the neighborhood where the old lab had been and got out. Jack growled and kept her in his shadow the whole time while Dave got her other side and Hiroshi stood just behind them. Ben had two other wolves with him as well as Tegan and Agent Benoit just stood back and let them work.
“You don’t have to stand on top of me. None of you are going to be able to scent anything with everyone so close.” Grace sighed. “And I can’t scent anything either. For that matter, I can’t see anything because as everyone loves to remind me, I’m short and you’re all huge.”
Jack and Dave still stayed close but everyone else backed off a bit as they walked through the surrounding neighborhoods. She just sort of turned off her brain and wandered. Her link to her family still existed somewhere within her. She just needed to find it and try to keep it one way. She often did mindless tasks when she worked through a problem. She’d come up with some of her best ideas when ironing and
folding laundry. Just walking, letting the sounds around her lull her brain seemed to help guide her.
She turned left and walked for several blocks and turned again. On and on it went. They’d been walking for several hours and had entered residential neighborhoods and commercial zones and back again but kept going, giving Grace the lead.
Ben had long since transformed into a wolf and when he growled softly, everyone halted, noses in the air.
“I want you off the street, Grace. Now.” Jack pulled her toward the SUV that’d been following a few blocks behind.
“What? Why? I...this may be somewhere important. It feels...”
He literally picked her up and put her in the car and the breath whooshed out of her. Dave gave him a look but said nothing as he slid in beside them.
“It feels dangerous for a group of werewolves to be walking around sniffing the air. You’re royalty, Grace, don’t you forget. We can’t take a chance at being made and by having us all out there like that, we endangered everyone including you. Especially you. Your brother demanded your return. Did you know that?”
Dave put his face in his hands. “What? No. How long ago?”
“Wait. Something is happening.” Jack looked past her.
They all looked out the windows to see the group circling back.
“Go back to the lab. Ben and Hiroshi will meet us there.” Tegan got into the car and belted in.
“Now you can tell me what the hell you meant about Warren demanding I be returned to him. Like a pair of shoes or something?”
“Cade didn’t tell you? Shit. Well, he deserves the ass kicking then. I told him to tell you. Yes. When you went to Seattle with Cade, Warren called us first. His people had gone to your condo, saw some of your things gone and scented Great Lakes wolves had been there. Maxwell told him you’d mated with Cade and had joined Cascadia. Warren flipped. Demanded your return and then threatened to send his people to grab you back, said you’d been taken illegally. Maxwell said, even if you had been, Warren was a lawbreaker and in no position to demand satisfaction because he was marked for death anyway. He said you were marked for death and Maxwell told him if he even so much as breathed in your direction every wolf in the National Pack Alliance would come down on his head and rip him to pieces.” Tegan looked out the window and Grace realized she was worried about Ben.