Grace took a hot shower and changed into some sweats and went to check on Dave and Hiroshi. It didn’t surprise her to see Beth there pampering Dave. Dave’s mother was her sister and from what Grace understood, Dave had been like another child to Beth and Henri when his mother had died.
Beth smiled at her, hugging her tight. “I’m glad to see you back. I hear there was trouble?”
“It’s okay now. Honestly.” She blushed, thinking of how embarrassed she’d be if her mother-in-law had wandered into the kitchen for a snack just a few minutes before.
“I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for you. Not just with the Challenge but then, well, being the Supreme Alpha. I’m going to miss you both so much. Just a few years ago all my children were right here and now three of them are going to live in other states. I suppose it means we’ll have to visit Boston more often. I have enjoyed getting to know you, Grace.”
Her mother-in-law was a very warm woman and Grace would miss her.
“One thing at a time. Let’s just get through the Challenge and then we’ll deal with moving. I just want that part over with.”
She took Dave’s vitals and checked in on Hiroshi before heading back to their room. Seeing Cade wasn’t back yet, she shucked out of her sweats and into, well, nothing but some lotion.
Stretching, she reveled in the slight soreness of her muscles. She’d needed to be with him like that, with him letting go of his control and taking her with such ferocity.
When he came into the room a short time later his face was grim although it did lighten some when he saw her naked there in bed.
“Tell me.”
“Your parents, Grace. They helped this assassin, not a very good one, thank God, triangulate you with your cell phone. I can’t believe both Lex and I didn’t even think about how your old cell would be dangerous and have it replaced.”
“My parents?” She got to her knees, feeling sick. “My parents helped someone try to kill me?” She shouldn’t have been so hurt, they’d rejected her when she opted to not join Warren’s Group and even when she’d been back in touch, she supposed in her own way she’d rejected them too.
“I’m sorry.” He sighed and shook his head, holding her without saying anything else. Sometime later, he made love to her slow and gentle. Neither of them spoke but through their hands and mouth on the other. He was her family, the one that mattered.
Chapter Seventeen
“Cade’s on the phone, Grace,” Dave called to her across the lab. She’d started some limited trials on the vaccine and had been putting in long hours over the week following the discovery that her parents had tried to harm her.
She picked up. “Hi there, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to tell you the Challenge has been set for two weeks from tomorrow in Boston.”
She suddenly had trouble finding enough air to breathe. She sat and Dave was there, his hand on her shoulder.
“Okay. I need to get working then. This has to be finished.”
“I want to see you now. I’m going to have Dave drive you to me and you and I are going to sneak off for a night. We can’t afford more than one, too much is going on. But you and I need the time.”
“Yes. Yes. I want that too.”
She handed the phone to Dave who said, “uh huh” a few times and hung up.
“Give me five minutes.”
She dashed off and gave some instructions before grabbing her stuff and heading out. They’d doubled the guards on the lab just in case anyone else knew the location, so plenty of well-armed werewolves nodded at them as they passed before loading into the Hummer.
Dave did all sorts of switchbacks and funky driving before dropping her off at a corner where Cade waited in another SUV.
“I’ve got it from here. See you tomorrow.” Cade nodded to Dave and helped Grace into the car.
“I have you totally all to myself? As in alone? You and me alone?”
“Yep. I packed you a bag of clothes to wear to the lab tomorrow. You won’t need anything once we get where we’re going.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Some minutes later, he pulled up to a gorgeous A-frame-style home nestled in the mountains. “Believe it or not, my parents own this. It’s a vacation home. There are guards everywhere but no one will bother us.”
He pulled into the garage and once the door had closed she sat back and closed her eyes. “Do you hear that?”
“What, honey?”
“Nothing. No chatter from the living room. No television and stereo in another part of the house. Just your heartbeat and mine.”
“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just so used to it all I didn’t realize how much it bothered you. In Boston we’ll live in our own place and you can have your Pack medical practice if you want. Whatever you want.”
She turned to him. “First I want to get out and go inside. And then, I don’t want to talk about the Challenge or the Pack or anything but you and me for the next however many hours I have you. I want to pretend, just for a while, that we’re normal.”
“All right then. Come on, honey.”
Inside, the house had been readied for them with candles everywhere. Grace lit the ones in the dining room and Cade turned on the stereo and Dave Brubeck filled the house. It was normal.
“Steaks for dinner. Let me get the grill started. You get a bath running for yourself. I did bring all your bath stuff. I didn’t know which you’d like so I brought it all. I’ll bring you a glass of wine in a bit.”
She grabbed the bag and headed up the stairs where he’d indicated and into a bathroom the size of Texas with skylights and a sunken jetted tub. “Score.” She turned on the water and lit the candles in there before shedding her clothes and pinning her hair up.
“Oh my favorite sort of wife. Naked and wet.” Cade came in and placed a glass of wine on the ledge. “We’ve got a while before dinner. Any ideas on how to spend it?”
Cade’s breath halted when she got to her knees, water cascading down her body and unzipped his pants.
“I have one or two, yes,” she said before swirling her tongue around the head of his cock, making him nice and wet.
“I’m in complete agreement with this plan.”
She shoved his pants down, one-handed, while gripping the root of him and holding him steady, taking him as deeply as she could.
Such a sight, her soft, smooth skin, beads of water glittering like diamonds in the candlelight as she sucked him into her mouth over and over.
“Damn it, you feel hot and wet. So good, Grace. That’s it, yes.” He groaned as he felt his body tighten. He had no resolve with her. The moment she touched him he neared climax. He’d never had such a powerful connection to anyone before. It might have been scary but instead, it was beautiful. She was beautiful.
She dipped her head down and tongued his balls. His head fell back. Her fist surrounded him, sliding up and down while she licked his sac.
Close. So close. He moaned and she moved up to the head, sucking him into her mouth hard and very wet. He thrust and came as he clenched his jaw and locked his knees.
One sweet kiss on the head, another on his belly. “That was lovely,” she said, looking up at him.
He tossed his clothes and got into the bath, settling her on the edge and spreading her thighs wide. Waving his hand in the water, he used the sensation to slowly drive her up while licking and biting her nipples.
When she was sufficiently squeaky and practically shoved his head down to her pussy, he kissed his way down and buried his face there. Her clit, swollen and hard, bloomed against his tongue.
Her needy sounds buffeted him as he licked and tongued her, fucking into her with his fingers and playing against her ass. He’d take her there that night, when they were alone and relax
ed, he’d be in every part of her before they went back home the next morning.
“Oh!”
He sucked her clit between his teeth, just barely grazing it. She jumped and then writhed. He bit the inside of her thigh and she shivered. The flat of his tongue pressed against her clit, swiping back and forth over her, time and again until the fingers sifting through his hair gripped him tight and held him there.
Her taste burst over his lips and tongue as she climaxed and then slowly slid into the water with a happy sigh.
He kissed her, lazy and slow. His taste mingled with hers and he wanted that moment forever.
Instead, he soaked there with her for a few minutes longer before getting out and putting his boxers on. “Going to go and get the steaks on.”
She smiled. “That was an excellent appetizer. I’ll be down to get some sides started in a minute.”
They worked in tandem. She in the kitchen and he alternated between the kitchen and the deck where the grill was. He knew they were being guarded. Lex had twenty wolves out there with laser sites and silver bullets. It gave him a sense of safety with her, the most precious thing in his universe.
After dinner, they washed up and headed back upstairs.
“So, Grace,” he whispered in her ear as he kneaded her shoulders before pushing his shirt free of her body. He loved that she wore them, loved her scent on his things.
“Mmm?”
“Before you went to Chicago, I said I was going to take you here.” He slid his fingers over the curve of her ass and between. Grace jumped but then gentled again. Her breath was a bit shaky but he didn’t smell fear on her, only curiosity and desire. Good.
“I trust you. I want it. I want it because you do.”
There was simply nothing she could have said that would have turned him on more.
He laid her on the bed on her stomach and began to massage her, taking his time, kneading, caressing, touching. After a while, he put a bolster pillow under her hips, bringing her ass up. He’d already placed the lube nearby and poured some over her rear passage.
One hand worked her ass, slowly working his fingers in and the other found her pussy wet and ready. “Oh that’s it, honey.”
He brought the small vibrator out and turned it on. Putting it in her hand, he moved her so she could use it on her clit and into her gate. “Make yourself feel good. And relax. When I push in, bear down. Fuck yourself with the vibe when I take your ass, Grace.”
His voice shook as he slowly spread her enough to press the head of his cock against her and push inside. Just a bit, in and then out. Her body trembled but she was still with him.
Once he was all the way in, she slid the vibrator into her cunt and the vibrations wrapped around him.
“Not gonna last too long back here. You’re very tight. Hold on and it’s okay to come whenever you want, all right?” He’d leaned down to speak in her ear. He caught her scent, ridiculously ripe and turned on, and he nearly howled.
In and out he fucked, slowly, deeply and when she cried out and came, her entire body clamped down around him as she shoved back against him.
Mindless, he slid into her tight, smooth passage over and over until his orgasm grabbed his balls and didn’t let go.
* * *
Grace woke the next morning wrapped in a man, twisted in blankets. Her body ached but in a good way. He’d taken her so many times in so many ways she’d lost count. She was covered in love bites though, that made her smile even more.
He mumbled as she got out of bed and hit the shower. It was after nine, late for both of them, but it felt good. She’d needed the time with him, when he was all hers and it was just Grace and Cade. No Pack politics, no family stuff, no danger and no Challenge, just the two of them.
It had been the best gift she’d ever received.
He joined her some minutes later. “Coffee is on. We’ll get breakfast and then we have to head back.”
She tried not to frown. “Yum coffee. I’ll make breakfast since you made dinner and midnight snack too.”
“We’ll have more time to ourselves. After.”
“After breakfast you can start talking about it. I still own your ass. Although frankly I’m not up to doing much to it in a sexual nature. I’m a wee bit sore today.”
The look on his face was of pure, masculine pride and she held back a smile.
She made pancakes and bacon while he’d scrambled eggs and they’d eaten as they sat close and held hands on and off.
True to his word, he didn’t speak of anything of any import until they’d finished drying the dishes.
“We leave for Boston in two weeks. The location was chosen by a neutral third party. A Pack in Europe as a matter of fact. It’s sealed, we just know it’s in Boston, which makes sense because that’s where National is headquartered. Bare knuckles, no weapons, to the death. He’s already signed papers that attest that should he lose, all Pellini wolves surrender to National Aligned Packs.”
“And if you lose?”
Her voice shook. She hadn’t meant it to. She didn’t even want to mention it but she had to say it, had to know.
“Well, I won’t. But if I do Pellini will challenge Lex for Cascadia lands. It’s a huge risk, Grace. We could lose everything. But I won’t lose. I don’t even know why he made this Challenge and then poisoned Templeton. He has to know any of the top five Alphas would take him.”
“He’s messed up but he’s not stupid. He has a plan and I don’t like it.”
“What do you mean? You know him well, tell me what you think.”
“He wanted the Challenge to be you and him. And the only way he can beat you without cheating, which will be closely monitored, is to infect you. That’s his biggest weapon. He doesn’t know you have all the stocks from before and he’s got no idea I’m working on a vaccine. It’s a risk, Cade. If he infects you and the vaccine doesn’t work, you die. And then, I’ll kill him. You need to understand that. I will violate the sanctity of that Challenge space and kill him.”
He nodded. “Fair enough. But your vaccine will work. I trust you. The truth is, I think you’re right.”
“Well, here’s the thing, when he infects you, the virus will be active in your system for one minute. I’m trying to cut it down but that’s my margin right now. You’ll have the vaccine to render it inert. But he won’t. Use that, Cade.”
“Oh! Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that. But that’s poetic justice. Infecting him with what he tries to kill me with. And if he fights fair, I’ll defeat him that way too. Good planning. I like how twisted you can be when you need it.”
“I think you got quite a bit of that last night, didn’t you?”
“Smartass. Let’s go. You get working on that margin and I have to work on getting everything transferred over to Lex. Templeton and Carla are going to retire but he’s offered to stay on as an Elder.”
He helped her load her bags into the car and they drove back to the lab.
“Good. That will be useful. I want a house of my own. No one else living there. If you want to have guard houses next door and across the street and behind us, fine. If you want to buy a building and fill it with wolves, fine. But I want to be able to walk about naked and eat potato chips at two a.m. if I so desire.”
“Your wish is my command. I’ll have a real estate agent start looking, is that okay?”
She grinned. “I wish you were this agreeable about everything.”
He laughed. “I am where it counts.”
Chapter Eighteen
“This sucks.” Nina adjusted herself in the seat as they made their way to Boston. Lex piloted the plane and Cade, the coward, left Grace to deal with her cranky sister-in-law.
“Drink some of the hot chocolate and stop whining.”
“You know, that swe
et thing is so just an act. I just want to go on record to say that now. You reel ’em all in with your big brown eyes and that teeny-tiny body and you’re all cute and stuff. But scratch a layer and you’re a bigger bitch than I am.”
“Aww, Nina. I don’t think that’s possible.” Grace fluttered her lashes and Megan burst out laughing.
“Ha. So funny. Now that you’re abandoning me and I won’t have a cool, fun baby doctor anymore and what if I have a puppy instead of a pink, wrinkly thing? Huh? What then?”
“Was that even a complete sentence? The first one about me abandoning you? Because, if you recall, my ridiculous husband is going off to do some sort of cage match with my insane, homicidal brother. I’d rather be back in Seattle watching you eat eight of those tiny chocolate donuts at a time and scaring all the guards.”
“They were already scared before Lex put me in a family way. And those donuts are Satan! I hate them, they leave a film on the roof of my mouth and yet I can’t stop eating them. I blame you for that too. I don’t quite know how it’s your fault, but it is. Cade is just a big dumb wolf who’s swinging his tool around. That’s what they do. But you’re supposed to be all higher brain functioning and stuff. I think his penis has brainwashed you or something.” Nina moved around again, restless.
Grace pulled a pack of cinnamon donuts from her bag and tossed them to Nina. “Here, crybaby, try those. And I now have a vision of Cade’s penis in a tiny lab coat and a white Einstein wig as a mad penis scientist.”
“Oh these look good. Don’t think so, Megan, get your own fetus that may or may not be a puppy and you can have your own donuts. Also, Grace, I will giggle when I see Cade and think of his penis. And that’s your fault too. I hope you’re happy.”
Cade walked into the cabin and froze, blushing. “Um, do I even want to know what you’re discussing?”
Grace waved at him, laughing. “Nothing unusual. Nina is telling us how she’s thinking of your penis. But, as it makes her giggle, I’ll let you, and her, live.”