****
Aiza opened her eyes to the bright morning light feeling more rested and secure than she’d felt in years. She yawned and kicked the blanket away, the sunshine warming her naked skin and fueling the sense of energy and optimism already flooding her veins. She absently took note of her surroundings, not particularly alarmed to find herself in Noah’s apartment, though she had no memory of why she was there.
She was, however, surprised to discover that the man himself was asleep beside her in the bed. Not just next to her, but curled around her, his arm over her stomach, his head resting on her shoulder. She yelped and reached for the sheet, pulling it back over her chest. His slumber wasn’t disturbed by her sudden noise, and she had a moment to take stock of the situation.
Had they done more than just sleep in that bed? She doubted it. Despite her nudity, he was fully dressed. Closing her eyes, she worked her way back to the first thing she could remember, which was volunteering to help Stephanie track down the Brotherhood wolves. She assumed everything went as planned, and that Noah then brought her here and fell asleep.
Aiza relaxed against the pillow and looked down at Noah’s softened features. Strange, now that she was over her confusion, it felt perfectly natural to see him sleeping next to her. She reached out, tentatively brushing his hair away from his temple, letting her fingers move through the strands. Most of the time, she didn’t even remember the age difference between them, but seeing him sleeping so tenderly reminded her that there must have been at least a decade separating them.
The second she pulled away, his eyes opened and his face creased into a completely unfettered smile. It was so sincere and spontaneous that Aiza caught her breath, overwhelmed to be on the receiving end of what appeared to be pure joy. Even his eyes wrinkled, and if she had any notion of leaving that bed, it completely fled her mind.
“Good morning.”
“Um.” Her tongue was frozen and it took a few beats before she could say, “Good morning.”
“How did you sleep? Do you feel okay?” His voice was still gruff with sleep, and the smile hadn’t left his eyes.
“Great and great.” Now would be the perfect time to pull her arm away and try to stand up, she thought, but if she moved, she would lose the wonderful heat of his body. “I don’t remember anything that happened last night, though.”
“You helped Stephanie take down some bad wolves, and then I took them into custody. I brought you back here to rest.” He pushed himself up, propping his head on his hand and studying her. “Seemed like you wanted to be a wolf for a while.”
“I...yeah, I guess so. I hope I didn’t go too far.”
“No, not at all. You were perfect.”
She felt herself blushing at the direct praise, so simply stated, but like his smile, too sincere to discount. Their faces were so close, and it made her blush harder to think that he was noticing her pleasure at his words. He leaned forward slightly, and she felt his breath fan over her skin. His gaze dropped to her mouth and she unconsciously parted her lips, but she didn’t put any space between them. In fact, instead of leaning away, she felt herself drawn closer, as though the inches separating them were too many instead of too few.
A voice inside warned her to stay out of his reach and begged her to pull away, but it was Dwight’s voice. A voice she was learning to ignore. The first touch of his lips to hers were as shocking as a bucket of ice water on a hot, summer day. She froze, and he pulled back immediately, his brow furrowed into a question.
“I’m sorry. I thought…” He shook his head and pushed the sheet away, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, sitting on the edge with his back to her. “That was not appropriate. I apologize.”
“Wait.” She placed her hand on his arm, a thrill running through her at the way his hard muscles felt beneath his smooth skin. “I didn’t mean...you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Actually, I did.”
“Is there a rule against kissing your star witness?”
He threw a wry smile over his shoulder. “Yes, there is.”
“Oh. Is it a very big rule?”
“There are no such things as little rules when it comes to working for the government.”
“I see. So, is another kiss too big of a risk?”
“Well, that depends.”
“On what?”
He looked over his shoulder again. “On who kisses who. I mean, I probably shouldn’t kiss you. But if you kiss me, technically you didn’t break any rules.”
“I do love a good technicality,” she murmured as she rose to her knees, holding the sheet to her chest. She leaned against his back, tilting her head so that her long hair flowed around them, creating a curtain as she sought his mouth with hers.
Now that she had a chance to process how good his lips felt, how good his skin smelled, and how much she wanted to touch him, she could kiss him with a bit more aplomb. It began as a closed-lip inquiry; she was the first one to change, parting her lips in a subtle invitation. An invitation he seemed all too happy to accept. His tongue slid over her bottom lip before probing further, brushing into her mouth. She leaned back against the pillow, opening further to his kiss, pulling him with her.
At that point in Aiza’s life, long, slow kisses were nothing but distant memories. She kept expecting him to grow bored and press for more, but one hand lingered on her shoulder, the other cupping the side of her face. She wasn’t in any rush to change. His mouth felt amazing against hers, and it was clear that not only did the man enjoy kissing, he was very good at it. Dominant without being demanding, sensual, passionate and yet calmly deliberate.
Heat flooded her, tightening her inner muscles, making her flesh throb. A surprising ache flared deep inside her core, and that only fanned the flames. She slid her fingers through his hair and over his shoulders, sighing in frustration at the feel of cotton instead of skin. She felt his lips curl upward slightly, and then he pulled back and yanked the T-shirt over his head, allowing her access to the texture and warmth of his skin.
The first thing she found was a scar. Then there was another. And another. It didn’t take long to realize that his body was a topographical map of bad memories. Throughout her explorations, their kisses remained slow and steady, but her hips were starting to move, her body seeking more. He gripped her hips, pulling her against him, and she gasped as his erection pushed against her thigh, straining against the material of his boxers.
She reached for his length without hesitation, earning a sigh from him as she pulled him free of the shorts. Once she had him in hand, she wasn’t quite sure what to do. She didn’t want the kisses to end, but her flesh was throbbing in time with his, and he was already so close. All she would have to do is guide him to the juncture of her thighs, let the tip drag over her swollen clit and then deep inside.
The thought was enough to make her hips shift, her breath coming quicker and quicker. He broke away from her mouth, his lips swollen, his eyes heavy-lidded. She stared back, her tongue suddenly feeling too big for her mouth, blocking whatever words she might think to utter.
“I have a condom,” he said thickly.
Now was the time to pull herself together, to gather her wits and tell him they should stop. But it was so hard to think of a single reason not to take everything he had to offer. She nodded, her pulse hammering at the base of her throat. He rolled away from her and losing the heat of his body was almost the cold slap to the face she needed to wake up from her hormone-drenched daze. She shivered, her nipples becoming taut as the chill chased through her. Absently, she ran her fingertips over her nipples and shivered again, this time with anticipation. He must have caught her movement from the corner of his eye, because he was back on her in a flash, his fingers closing around her wrists, his lips covering her nipple.
Aiza gasped and arched her back, eyes rolling backwards as his teeth teased the sensitive flesh. Her nipples were already hard as rocks, but somehow her skin grew tighter, the sensation almost unbearable, and yet so sweet that she couldn’t even try to pull away from him. He shifted his attention to her other nipple, his hands disappearing while his tongue swirled around the pebbled flesh in slow circles. Her hips began to move in time with his languid caresses, her clit throbbing with each sweep of his tongue.
Her hands moved over his shoulders and down his back, finding new scars, sliding over bunched muscles and smooth skin. She felt magnetized everywhere their bodies touched, completely unable to pull away from him or allow even a centimeter of space between them. Her mouth watered for him, her lips tingling for more kisses, her tongue yearning for the taste of salt on his skin.
His hands returned to her body, palms gliding over her hips and up her ribs to cup her breasts. He left a hot trail of kisses over her chest and up her neck, pausing to suck on the sensitive skin below her jaw until she yelped and bucked her hips, bringing her back into direct contact with his erection. It felt like being touched with a live-wire, and the fine hair on her arms and the back of her neck stood on end. Her thighs were slick with excitement, and she realized it’d had been a very long time since she felt so ready for a man.
“Noah...Noah...God honey, I’m ready.”
He moaned and reached between them, gripping his length and sliding the tip over her lips. She caught her breath, her flesh already so sensitive that just a whisper of contact was almost too much to stand. She lifted her hips, hooking her legs around his hips, and guided him forward as the tip of his engorged dick easily entered her.
He met no resistance as he sheathed himself, and Aiza had to press her lips together to keep from shouting. He fit perfectly inside of her and her mouth instantly ran dry, her body clenching down around his shaft. He moaned, his forehead touching hers, his mouth just an inch away from hers. The sound came from deep in his throat and it almost sounded like a growl. Like a wolf calling for his mate.
Aiza already felt like she was on the edge of some madness, but that low sound woke something primal inside of her. She clawed at his back, not realizing her nails had started to grow, and suddenly, she was reminded of her enhanced sense of smell. The scent of his body fed her hunger, and the scent of their coupling was like a fog settling over her mind.
He rotated his hips in a slow, maddening, perfect circle after each snapping thrust. She moaned, nipping at his lips, biting at his throat and neck, shaking every time he made a sound of pleasure; of encouragement. He made her heady, like she was drunk on a fine wine, her senses both sharpened and dulled, her body uncoordinated, powerless, and yet, she moved with him in perfect tandem. Maybe she was following, maybe she was leading, but she couldn’t be sure where her body ended and the lines of his began.
He stopped without warning and she barely had the chance to see the look of concentration on his face before he flipped her over onto her knees. She barely had a chance to brace herself before he was plunging inside of her again. This time she couldn’t stop her shout of pleasure, the sound tearing from her throat and echoing in her ears. The friction was too much against her aching flesh, and the new angle brought the head of his cock directly against her G-spot with each sharp thrust. She dropped her head, her long hair shielding her face but doing nothing to muffle her cries of ecstasy. She was too far gone to care if the whole world heard her, though.
She could feel her orgasm building and sense the imminence of her breaking point. She used to go sledding every winter, and she felt that same sense of recklessness, of careening out of control and abandoning herself to the forces hurling through her body through space.
Noah buried his hand in her hair, holding her close to the scalp, pulling her back against his chest and seeking out her mouth. His lips had been so sweet before, but now they were hard and demanding, as though he meant to mark her with the heat of his mouth. The demanding pressure of his lips and the flick of his tongue against hers completely undid her. He flexed his fingers, sending a cascade of chills from her scalp down her spine and thrust forward with each force to make her see stars.
The world spun out around her, her entire body throbbing, the pulse of her heart matching the relentless rhythm of his body. Her pussy locked down around him, twitching and flexing until she felt him falter and thrust forward with a final moan of completion. They collapsed to the mattress together, and it was so easy to fold against his body, to rest in his arms and try to catch her breath.
“Aiza, I—”
She never learned what he wanted to say. The sudden ringing of his phone pulled his attention from her and the moment between them was completely shattered. “I have to answer that.”
She took advantage of distraction to flee the bed for the bathroom, suddenly in need of space and a splash of cold water to the face. Aiza didn’t quite recognize the woman in the mirror with tousled hair and the look of glutted satisfaction in her eyes.
It wasn’t just the heat of the moment. She wanted to sleep with him again. She wanted to be with him again. More than she’d wanted anything else in a long, long time.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know what to do with this knowledge. He clearly wanted her, too, but that didn’t mean they should make this a regular thing—especially given the extenuating circumstances. Now was hardly the time to start a relationship, and she had little interest in a one-night stand.
A soft knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. “Aiza?”
She opened the door. “Is everything okay?”
He shook his head, his mouth set in a frown. She didn’t know what she expected, but it definitely wasn’t this. “The baby has been...kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped? From the hospital? Somebody took the baby from the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“It was the Brotherhood, wasn’t it?”
“There are no leads yet.”
“No leads?” Aiza stared at him, waiting for him to answer, to say anything that made sense. “What are you talking about?”
“Aiza, there’s no evidence.”
“We know exactly who did it!”
“I know that. You know that. But as of yet, there’s no evidence. As soon as I have a piece of evidence, we can take it before a judge and—”
“Isn’t Seth sitting in a jail cell right now because there’s no judge around to set bail? How long are you going to have to wait—how long is my nephew going to have to wait before you do something?”
“I’ve got to go.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Aiza, please, I don’t need this right now.”
“You don’t need what right now?” She folded her arms. “Am I under arrest?”
“Is that what it will take to keep you here?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes. I’m placing you under arrest, Aiza Simpson.”
“What’s the charge?”
“Seriously, Aiza? I just…” He took a deep breath. “Aiza, my alpha is under arrest and in extreme distress and I can’t do anything about it. His son is missing and until I can find one single scrap of evidence, my hands are tied. I don’t know what I would do if you were hurt, too. I need you to be safe.”
“Because I’m a witness?”
“No. Because—” Noah’s phone erupted again and he growled with frustration, bringing it to his ear. “Yes? I’ll be there in—I’ll be there.” She knew from the tone of his voice that he was speaking with Stephanie. “I’ve got to go. Please, stay here. I’ll call you.” She didn’t want to delay him for another moment, so she only nodded.