Chapter Eleven
Ash had never experienced anything like that. She’d often wondered what it would feel like to orgasm. She’d wanted to bring herself to pleasure so many times but stopped for fear that Clarissa or the others would smell her arousal and she’d be shamed if they knew what she’d done by herself.
Her legs shook in his grasp as he lowered her feet to the floor.
What now?
Her breaths came out as heavy pants. Should she thank him for his time and ask for a ride to Dark Wolf Enterprises?
She inwardly groaned. What is the protocol for this type of thing? Living with Vampires and not having any close friends had left her naïve.
“Are you okay?”
Embarrassment washed over her in waves. She didn’t want to open her eyes to look at him.
“Ash? Honey? What’s the matter?”
“I…um…” She tried to press her legs closed, but he stayed wedged between her thighs.
“I’m not done with you, sweetheart.”
She stilled. “No?”
She opened one eye to find him pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side. He stood and unfastened his belt. The outline of his cock was apparent in his jeans.
Oh, crap. Did he expect her to…to do that? She licked her lips. Even though she thought she was opposed to the idea, her mouth watered.
“I want you so bad, Ash.”
He pulled down his pants. His cock sprang free and aimed at her.
“Oh, my,” she said, not able to stop the words from leaving her mouth. She quickly snapped her lips shut and bit the inside of her cheek. She sounded so green, so stupid.
He stepped out of his jeans and helped her to stand.
“We should probably…” she began.
He reached to grip her ass, lifting her off her feet. “We should move this to the bedroom.”
Should we?
While she thought about whether she should or shouldn’t do what he intended, he walked her down a narrow hallway. Why hadn’t he waited for her answer? Or maybe he’d thought he’d gotten it when she’d wrapped her legs around his waist and arms around his neck?
Yes, she was a more than willing partner.
He laid her on the bed, scooting her to the middle and positioning himself between her spread legs. The tip of his cock pressed against her.
“Ash, I want to hold back. I want to ease into you so gently, but I don’t know if I can.”
He felt so good laying on top of her, so right. She let her hands roam up and down his arms then along his hips to feel the hard muscles in his butt.
He pressed a little more and, along with the pleasure, there was a hint of pain. “Hunter, I should tell you—”
“Asha,” he said, his voice straining.
Without warning, he thrust into her. Pain blinded her. Whiteness flashed behind her eyes, clouding her vision.
“Hunter!” she called out. She dug her nails into his skin.
Hunter froze mid-stroke. He lifted his head to level a surprised gaze on her.
A tear fell down the side of her face.
“Ash, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that you were a virgin.” He placed kiss after kiss over both cheeks.
“I-it’s okay,” she cried softly.
He cursed under his breath. “No, it’s not. I never meant to hurt you.”
“It’s supposed to hurt the first time, right?”
“If I had known, I would’ve taken my time.” He adjusted himself on her. “Brace yourself. I’m going to pull out. It may hurt some.”
She nodded. He began to move and the pain was replaced with pleasure.
“Ah,” she moaned.
“Honey, don’t move like that,” he whispered.
Had she been moving? She couldn’t think straight anymore. He felt so good inside her, stretching her, filling her up.
When he was almost completely out of her, she lifted her hips to take him again.
“Ash, I’m trying to stop,” he croaked.
“But I don’t want you to.”
“Good gracious,” he said before thrusting into her again, this time deeper.
She arched against him. Her sensitive nipples brushed the hairs on his chest, igniting a fire that worked its way down her spine and across to her stomach.
Hunter sucked in a hiss as he dug his hands into her butt and lifted her to meet him. He penetrated her with deep strokes. Each one harder than the previous. He rocked into her, lifting her ass off the bed. He latched on to a nipple, sucking and tugging.
She ran her fingernails along his skin, feeling his muscles as he worked over her. Every nerve in her body thrummed with pleasure.
“Hunter,” she whispered.
With a roar, he plunged into her. His hips pressed flush on her thighs. He spasmed and jerked. “Asha!”
Ash lay cradled next to him, using his arm as a pillow. He ran his fingers up and down her hip. “Tell me, why do you want to become a Vampire anyway? Why can’t you just stay human?”
She tensed. “Because as a human I’m too vulnerable.”
He kissed her neck. “Everyone has vulnerabilities. Even Vampires.”
“Yeah, but…never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Then make me.”
“I don’t have anything to prove to you, Hunter.”
“I know. I just want to understand you better.”
She sighed softly. “When I was younger, I had it bad. My mom, she was killed by her pimp and I was put in the foster system.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry to hear that.”
She lifted a shoulder. “My last foster dad.” She shook her head. “I won’t say his name. I refuse to say it. He…he started touching me and I knew I had to get away.”
He balled his hand into a fist. “What happened to him? Was he punished?”
“I don’t know what happened to him. But, really, it doesn’t matter. I got lucky. I ran away and Clarissa found me.”
He let out a snort. “Is that what you call it? Luck?”
“Think what you will, but she saved me. She sent me to a private high school and paid for me to go to college. Because of her, I have a first-rate education. I have a dual master’s degree in Information Technology and accounting and, since she took me in, I’ve had a roof over my head and I’ve never wondered where or when my next meal was going to be. She doesn’t know how to behave like you and me, but she’s done all right by me.”
He wanted to argue with her but how could he? He didn’t like the Vampires and definitely didn’t like Clarissa, but Ash didn’t sound as if she would’ve been better on her own.
“When Clarissa turns me, I won’t have to worry about anyone taking advantage of me ever again. After that…after that I’m going to go back to all those foster homes and I’m going to show them that I didn’t turn out like my mom and that I’ve made something of myself. I’m going to prove them all wrong.”
She spoke in such soft, child-like tones that his heart fractured a little with each word she said. “Baby, you’re not a little, helpless girl anymore. You don’t have to turn yourself into a Vampire to prove anything to anybody. Plus, even if you had something to prove to them—which you don’t—there are other ways to go about it.”
“I know, but this is what I want and I’ll do as Clarissa asks to get it.”
“Hanging out with Vampires comes with a price.”
She snorted. “You’re preaching to the choir,” she said under her breath.
He glanced down at her finger. She still wore the splint that he’d put on her. “What else do they do to you as punishment?”
“Nothing that I don’t deserve.”
“Or have coming to you,” he said dryly.
She looked up at him, a frown on her face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What? You were going to say that anyway.” He picked up her injured hand and showed it to her. “It’s what all people who’re being abused say, isn’t it? ‘It’s all my fault.’ ‘I deserved it.’ ‘Next time I’ll learn to shut my mouth.’”
She glared at him. “No. Next time I’ll just ask that you shut your mouth.” She shook her hand from his grasp.
“My mouth? What does my mouth have to do with anything?”
“It was your mouth that got me in trouble with Clarissa the last time. If you hadn’t challenged her, she wouldn’t have gotten mad and hung me from the shower rod.”
He lifted off the bed and she spilled from his arms. “She what?” Ash scooted away from him to get off the bed. He pulled her back. “Wait. Don’t leave.”
“You think that you need to save me from them, but I don’t need any saving at all. That’s not why I hooked up with you. I don’t need a savior, Hunter.”
She did need a savior, but she was too stubborn to realize it. He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
She huffed. “No more talk about Vampires.”
“Okay, no more talk about Vampires. What do you want to talk about?”
“Tell me about Wolf-Shifters. I don’t know much about them.”
“Well, we are the best paranormal species that ever existed.”
She pinched his nipple.
He wiggled under her. “Ow.”
“I’m being for real. All I know is what Clarissa told me, and, well…”
He chuckled. “Say no more. I can only imagine what she said about us. We’re not like the Vampires at all. For us Pack—family—is everything. We live for it. The comradery, closeness, bonds. We’re a unit. There is no individual.”
“I don’t understand.”
He ran his fingers along her braid. “In my mother’s womb, I was aware of her and my father. At my birth, the Pack bond was formed, connecting me to my then Alpha and the rest of my mates.”
“You’ve never been alone? Felt alone?”
“Never.”
“So what you were saying before about Erzsebet?”
He reached out and felt for his sister. The feeling he got from her was happiness and excitement. “If I’m not able to find out who is setting her up and Andras banned her, she’ll become an Omega. A lone wolf. No one will take her in. She won’t survive on her own.”
“Then you have to figure out a way to talk to her. Get her to cooperate. No one should ever have to live alone. Believe me.”
He squeezed her arm. “I’ve tried. She’s even ignoring our telepathic communication now.”
Ash lifted her head. “Wait, you guys are telepathic?”
He frowned. “Clarissa really didn’t tell you anything about us?”
“Look them directly in the eyes and give them direct commands if you have to,” she said in a sing-song voice. “They’re just like dogs. When speaking to them be firm and direct.”
Hunter choked. “Clarissa definitely was trying to get you killed. Making direct eye contact is seen as a challenge. Especially to Andras.”
“But that first night, I—”
“Was almost shredded to pieces.”
Her face fell. “Oh, God.”
He kissed her. How could Clarissa want to hurt her? Ash was so vulnerable. She’d immersed herself in a world that she didn’t completely understand.
She groaned and dropped to lay on his chest again. “She tried to get me killed.”
“Andras is smarter than your Vamp friends. He pushed you along to make sure that you didn’t make any more mistakes.”
“What do you mean? He didn’t give me any pointers or anything.” She snorted. “I’ve been kind of flailing with you guys since I arrived.”
“Oh, he helped you all right. We have the ability push our thoughts on you.”
She inhaled sharply and froze. “You can manipulate my mind like the Vampires?”
He hugged her. He could only imagine what sorts of things they’d been doing to her. “No, it’s not the same. Think of what we can do as a suggestion. Andras suggested that you look down when speaking to him and he suggested that you introduce him to your leader. Now, his suggestions are strong and you’ll think that whatever he’s telling you to do is your idea, but you’re always fully aware of what’s going on.”
“So, Andras or you couldn’t make me do something?”
“No. If you really didn’t want to do what a Shifter was pushing onto you, you could fight it. For us, it’s more of making up stories. It’s easier for the suggestion to take root.”
“I remember that I really didn’t want to be the spokesperson. Clarissa never let me before and I was so nervous. Then, this voice in my head told me that everything was going to be okay. I realized that I didn’t have to speak for the Vampires. Why should I when Clarissa is the head of the family? It felt right to introduce her and to step back and let her handle everything. I was so relieved.”
“And if you had really wanted to be the spokesperson you would have fought against the urge to step down.”
“I gave in easily.” She curled against him. “Once Clarissa made me believe that I was back in the junk yard,” she whispered. “It felt so real. One second, I was in our room, and the next, I was there again. Cold, hungry, scared. It was so dark. I even heard my dogs barking.” Her body shook. Goosebumps erupts along her arm. “I just knew…I knew they were coming to get me. I was going back to his house again.”
He wanted to kill Clarissa. The lot of them. “They have the ability to change your reality. We can’t do anything like that.”
She wiped her face. Tears that he couldn’t see falling. “Enough of that. Let’s change the subject.”
“To what now?”
“The subject is still on you.”
“Why me?”
“Unless you want to hear about forensic audits…?”
“Me it is.”
She giggled. “First question. Why are you still single?” She pushed away from him again. “Oh, my God. I never asked if you were taken or not. Are you?”
He grabbed her close to him again. “No, I’m not taken.”
“And how do I know that you aren’t lying to me?”
“Because I wouldn’t be able to lie about that. Wolf-Shifters mate for life. If I had a life-mate, I would only have eyes for her.” He wrapped her in his arms.
She settled onto his chest, where she belonged.
“Really? So, you just haven’t found the right girl yet?” She played with the hairs around his nipple.
“I guess not.”
“What does that mean? You either have or you haven’t.”
He ran his hand up and down her back. “It doesn’t work like that. When my wolf wants a mate, he’ll imprint on someone and then I’ll know.”
“Wait. Your wolf will tell you when you’ve met a life-mate?”
“Yup.”
“Well, that sucks.”
He chuckled. “No, it doesn’t. It’s actually wonderful, or so I’ve heard. When I finally meet my mate, we’ll spend the rest of our lives together. There is no divorce, only death will separate us.”
“And if your mate dies, then what? You’ll find another?”
“No. If my mate dies before me, I won’t last much longer. I’ll eventually die of a broken heart. Like I said, mating is for life.”
“Dang. That’s deep.”
They both lay without saying anything else. He enjoyed the warm and comfortable feel of her in his arms.
“Hunter?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Why do you hate Vampires so much?”
“They killed my mom and dad.”
“I-I thought there were alliances in place to prevent things like that. Are you sure they were killed by Vampires?”
“I’m sure. They drained my parents dry while Erzsebet and I watched.”