Chapter Four

Telling her to let go was hard enough. Finding the willpower to let go of her, on the other hand...

If it had been anyone other than Connor, Blake might not have been able to do it. Jud and Mac scraped his nerves raw with their grasping hands and dark hungers, but Connor was bright eagerness and ready obedience. Not a threat. Never a threat.

Ashley shuddered through another peak, gasping and writhing, already fighting Blake's grip in her hair, trying to slide her lips around his cock again.

He couldn't let her, because he couldn't think when she got her tongue on him. He couldn't focus when she moaned around him and dug her nails into his hips, all but commanding him to thrust harder, deeper. And what she wanted, he would give—especially tonight, with the moon running hot and potent in his blood.

She wanted to be overwhelmed, claimed and adored and devoured. To protect her, he needed a clear head. So he tightened his fingers in her hair and turned her until she could see Connor hanging back, naked longing on his face. "He won't take unless you tell him to."

Her answer was unintelligible, a trembling, needy noise he could understand all too well when she reached out, toward Connor.

It took everything in Blake to open his hand and release her hair.

Connor took over, his hand trembling, his expression ecstatic. Adoration shone from his eyes as he rocked his hips, thrusting into Ashley's eager hands. And then her mouth was on his cock and his head fell back, and Blake understood the other wolf's helplessness all too well.

Connor worshiped Ashley. They all did, even Lucas, who was watching from halfway across the room now, as if being any closer would snap his self-control. But the physical distance didn't matter, because his gaze was rapt, ravenous. Utterly focused on her.

Jealousy and satisfaction wove through Blake's arousal, twisting it into something darker and stronger. The parts of him that were still human reveled in her pleasure, in her muffled cries and desperate moans. In the shivering release that Jud coaxed out of her when he reared up and took over stroking her clit.

She wanted this, so he wanted her to have it. He wanted it to be good.

Good...but not enough.

Mac slid one hand around the generous curve of her hip, over Jud's, pressing the man's fingers harder against Ashley's clit. She shrieked, thrashing between them as another orgasm swept through her on the heels of the last one.

It was too much for Jud. He snarled, his self-control no doubt shattered by the tight clasp of her body. Two rough, unsteady thrusts and he was gone. Ashley moaned, long and low, and even Mac groaned as she melted back against him.

Relief radiated from every line of her face and body, a blissful ecstasy that seemed to roll off of her in waves. The fever, alleviated for the moment, rewarding her for giving in to the most primal drive they had.

But that was all it was, and another icy shard of jealousy melted away. There was still hope. Until her wolf accepted someone else, Blake still had a chance.

Jud dragged her hand to his mouth, pressing a sated, reverent kiss to her palm before easing from her body. Connor trembled, clearly more than eager to take Jud's place but unwilling to overstep.

Blake glanced at Lucas.

For one frozen moment, the alpha looked like he was going to lunge across the room, step in and take what could have been his. Maybe what should have been his. But he only nodded once, sharp and certain.

"Ashley." Her head lolled on Mac's shoulder, so Blake strengthened his voice. "Look at me, sweetheart."

She obeyed with his name on her lips, a sigh and a whisper. "Blake."

The trust in her gaze smoothed away all his sharpest edges. Jealousy didn't exist, not even with Mac—dominant, dangerous Mac—flexing beneath her. He wasn't competition, not the way Jud wanted to be, and Lucas had stepped aside again.

The only thing left was Ashley and the hunger still lurking in her big eyes. Blake smoothed her hair back from her temple and cupped her cheek. "Mac's going to tell Connor just how to fuck you. Are you ready?"

"Ready?" Her soft, lazy laugh slid up his spine like a caress. "Always ready."

It was almost a challenge, one Blake tried to stop himself from answering. She wanted more, faster, harder, rougher—

Maybe the rest of them were right. Maybe he was too damn easy when it came to indulging her darkest hungers. Or maybe he just knew she could take it. More than that, she needed it.

Ashley had suffered a lifetime of denial. Blake would indulge her eight fucking days a week.

Twisting his wrist, he curled his fingers around her throat. "Don't go so damn easy on her this time, Mac. She can come harder than this."

"Hell yeah, she can." Mac cupped the heavy weight of her breasts, pinching her nipples between his fingers. "Fuck her hard and fast, Con. You don't need to bring her up, just keep her there."

Connor, obedient to Mac as always, rolled to his knees and grinned. "What do you think, honey? Should we make Mac lose it?"

There was that laugh again, as her fingers brushed Connor's cheek. "If anyone can, it's us."

He nipped at her fingers with a teasing growl, already gripping his cock. Needing desperately to be touching more of her, Blake hooked his arm under one of her knees and lifted, letting Connor sink deep with his first thrust.

She sucked in a sharp breath and arched. "Oh God."

Mac leaned up and scraped his teeth over the back of her shoulder. "Hard. Don't let her catch her breath."

Connor was already pulling back, as if he was so attuned to Mac that he barely needed the verbal commands. Maybe he didn't at all, and the words were for Ashley's sake. An effective tactic, as Blake well knew, and it worked now.

Her body quivered in anticipation, but only for a few heartbeats. Connor slammed into her, and she muffled another cry by sinking her teeth into her swollen lower lip.

Her whole body swayed as Connor thrust again, even with Mac's hands on her breasts, his arms holding her steady. Blake fought a groan and reached with his free hand to cup her face. Her teeth dug brutally into her savaged lip as she choked on an even louder noise.

Still too restrained. Blake freed her lip and urged her mouth open. "Don't hold it in. Let them hear it, sweetheart."

Ashley bit him, then moaned around his thumb, sharp and sudden. "Don't stop," she pleaded. "Don't—"

"No one's stopping," he promised, gripping her leg more tightly to brace her against Connor's advances. "Connor, give me your hand."

Connor obeyed him as easily as he did Mac, thrusting one hand forward without breaking his rhythm. Blake waited until Ashley was staring up at him, then slicked his tongue over the other wolf's thumb. "Quick and firm," he commanded, pushing Connor's hand back down. "Right on her clit. Now."

Blake knew he'd started when Ashley cried his name—his name—her voice hoarse and tight and quaking.

Mac slammed his head back against the furs beneath him. "Fuck. Fuck."

They wouldn't be able to last for long. The full moon made everything hotter and faster, pushed every desire closer to the surface. Even Mac's steel will had to succumb to the seductive demand of Ashley's needs, all of them so eager to please, all of them giving everything...

As long as they weren't enough. Blake wouldn't even chide himself for that. Guilt over victory was a peculiar human compulsion, one he'd never learned and didn't care to. Connor and Mac could come for her when she came on them...

And when she crawled away, still wanting, still needing, she'd crawl to him.

Mac clutched her closer, and Connor followed, pressing her body closely between theirs. Trapping her. It should have limited their movements to a fierce grind, but they fucked her faster than ever, moving in a smooth concert that faltered when Mac bit her again. Hard, this time, but not hard enough to quiet his tortured groan of release.

Connor followed swiftly behind him, burying his face in Ashley's throat as his movements turned jerky, unsteady. He ground into her one final time, his satisfied noise transcended by her own. Her eyes fluttered, and her hands flexed rhythmically on Connor's shoulders as she fell silent, with only her hitching breaths to betray the pleasure pulsing through her. She stayed that way forever—shuddering, engrossed, totally focused on riding the sensations.

Then she opened her eyes.

Fire. Danger. Challenge. Oh, he'd been wrong. Ashley would never crawl. She'd prowl, stalk. Hunt.

Claim.

Moving slowly, Blake edged back from the tangle of bodies, giving her the space to come for him.

Connor melted away, collapsing to the cushions at Ashley's feet. Mac rolled to his side—still holding her, still inside her—and growled against her ear. "You're just getting started, aren't you, honey. You're not even close to done."

"No." Her hair clung damply to her temples, even to her shoulders, but she looked as hungry as she had out under the moonlight, before any of them had touched her. "Not done."

Mac pressed an open kiss to the side of her neck and grinned before easing away. "Then go."

Ashley moved with every bit of that fire and challenge, stalking across the floor on her hands and knees. Blake's arousal took on a painful edge, and so did the temptation to pounce. He could roll her beneath him before she had a chance to wiggle free, drive into her and revel in her slick heat.

Another night. Tonight, he issued a taunting challenge by curling his fingers around his aching dick and stroking lazily. "Come get me."

She stopped just close enough to dip her head and draw her tongue up the length of his cock, grazing his fingers, as well. Pleasure spiked, and he started to move his hand. But then she climbed into his lap, pressed all those soft, hot curves to his body, and kissed him.

The pack was watching them. Blake knew it on some level, loved it on some level. The rest of him didn't give a shit. She was sweet under his hands, warm against his skin, and wet where she ground against his cock.

He gripped her ass with both hands and dragged her closer, crushing her breasts to his chest. Her kiss turned savage as she ground her teeth against his lips and nipped at his tongue.

A growl rumbled up behind her—Lucas.

Blake's fingers flexed without his permission, his muscles already tensing to spin her away, to pin her to the floor and use his body as a shield to keep everyone else away. Even the alpha. His alpha.

Lucas slid his hands over Ashley's shoulders, threading his fingers through her disheveled hair. "Show him, love," he whispered, dark and fierce. "Show him exactly what you want."

She threw her head back with another snarl, then reached back and wrapped her hand around Lucas's dick. She moved at the same time, shifting her hips over Blake's until the head of his cock brushed between her pussy lips.

"Ashley." Her gaze snapped to his, and Blake bared his teeth in a snarl that was nine parts challenge with just a whisper of heat. "Claim me."

"Yes." She slammed down against him, taking him effortlessly into her tight, clasping heat.

Yes.

Blake tilted his head, seizing control of the kiss. It was the only thing he could control, with her riding him like it was the only thing she ever wanted to do. His blood pounded, his hands shook. He tightened his fingers on her rolling hips and deepened his kiss, licking past her lips, past her teeth, needing to be in her in every fucking way possible.

"He belongs to you." Lucas leaned closer, keeping his mouth close to Ashley's ear as she swayed above Blake. "We all do, sweetheart."

It was the truth. Raw and real, undeniable in this moment. Lucas might be the alpha, but Ashley was their queen.

Blake broke their kiss and pressed his mouth to her racing pulse. "Let me feel it," he groaned. "Let me feel you come."

"No, not—" Her brow furrowed, and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Not yet."

Her sudden uncertainty didn't fit, and neither did the tremor of nervousness. Blake released her hips and cupped her face instead, tugging gently until her forehead rested against his. "It's okay."

"I want you so much," she said thickly. "You can't want something this much and not have it, Blake. You just can't."

But you could—when your life was ruled by instinct and destiny. You could want something you couldn't have. Want something you didn't need. There was no honesty in empty reassurances, even if he ached to soothe her fears.

He could still make a promise, one that slipped through the cracks in honesty. "That won't happen," he whispered, smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks. "I'm yours, for as long as you want me."

She buried her face against his shoulder even as her body picked up a faster, more desperate rhythm, and she scraped her teeth over the pulse pounding in the hollow of his throat.

"That's it." He helped her, only vaguely aware that Lucas was doing the same. Their hands clashed—on her back, on her hips. Guiding, stroking, supporting as she rose toward a final peak. "I'm not going anywhere. As long as you want me." Until you want someone else.

She made a single, stifled noise that almost sounded like his name and clenched around him, her pussy squeezing so tight pleasure almost swallowed him whole. Every one of her muscles was taut and strained, straining, until her quivering melted into shudders that shook him, too.

He had intended to wait, to drive her up one last time, but he couldn't hold anything back. Letting his head fall back, he thrust up into her, driving as deep as he could before release swept him away.

He felt it this time. Something bright and sparking, intangible but undeniably real. Like the whisper of the moon in his blood, like the moment just before he shifted, when his body ached with unfulfilled promise.

She wanted him. Fuck, did she want him. All of the human parts of her, and maybe the wolf, too. But the wolf wasn't sure she needed him, and mating was forever. Wanting would never be enough.

So she slipped from his grasp, leaving him clutching at empty air, shaking at the loss.