Chapter Fourteen

Clay

The adrenalin was still rushing in Clay’s veins when they returned to the cabin. Clay paced like a caged beast, finally going outside to saw the firewood into shorter lengths. He needed to exert himself to burn off the fear. Mostly he needed to hide his dread from the children and Victoria.

The memory of the massive beast crouched over Victoria made him break into a cold sweat. He lifted the log to the work table, set it down and tried to push the images from his mind. Leaning over the table, he dropped his head and brought his fist down beside the log. That had been too fucking close and it was all his fault.

He’d stopped paying attention for one moment. The attack happened because he was alone with Victoria. Flirting with her. Kissing her. Thinking with his cock and not his head. There could be no more of that. He should sleep in his own bed, keep his hands off her and wait. To keep her safe, to keep all of them safe, he needed to revert to the elite soldier he’d been once before. Serious. Disciplined. And not imagining getting laid twenty-four hours a day.

Inside the cabin there was peace, and safety, but outside, anything could happen. There were things that could kill them. The elements. Predators. Ice that could give way beneath one of them. Probably a lot of other things he hadn’t thought about yet. The mother polar bear that had passed by just that morning could kill him with a swipe of her paw. And she was half the size of a male bear.

He went to the tool closet, built into the side of the cabin, and took out the wood saw. Examining the serrated teeth of the tool, he imagined telling them they couldn’t go outside anymore. Or at least not venture far from the cabin. Sydney wouldn’t care, but Victoria and Ross loved working with him.

For the next hour, he cut the logs and stacked them high. The growing pile satisfied a need inside him, a need to provide for Victoria and the two children. He shed his coat and tossed it over the railing. The sun dropped to the west and a chill hung in the air, but his work made him hot. The heavy coat made his work more difficult.

Sydney came to the window and gaped when she saw him working without a coat. She shook her head and twirled her finger next to her temple and then shot him a wide grin before disappearing. Back to read a book, probably. Curled up on the couch in front of the fire, probably with Charlie curled up at her feet.

Neither he nor Victoria told the children about the wolf attack. He hadn’t decided how he would explain the story to them, never sure if it was a good idea to scare the hell out of them so they’d be extra-cautious. Part of him wanted to do just that, and another part wanted to treat them like young but competent adults. He didn’t know the first thing about parenting, but the two children were his to watch over and he needed to get it right.

After it got dark, he went inside and ate the dinner Victoria had prepared. He ate without tasting the food. Victoria and Sydney both wanted to bathe after dinner, so he carried the big water kettles to the wash room and filled the small tub for them. Laundry hung from lines strung across the room and he tried to ignore Victoria’s lacy things as he went back and forth.

When they were finished, and the others retreated to their rooms, he went to the washroom at the back of the cabin. He stepped inside, and drew the bolt. Two hours of cutting firewood had given him a workout, and while the work hadn’t lessened his anxiety, and his lust, he still needed to get cleaned up.

He bathed without going through the trouble of heating water, dousing himself in the icy water directly from the hand pump. He gritted his teeth as he washed, but it was what he needed. The freezing water offered both penance for his mistake and a way to cool his fevered need.

With a towel around his hips, he moved quietly through the cabin back to the bedroom, praying she was asleep. The children hadn’t asked for a candle to read and the cabin was still. Even Charlie dozed without snoring. Another storm had blown in. Wind blew around the house, making the rafters creak.

When he opened their bedroom door, his gaze was drawn to Victoria, lying in the bed. The blankets draped across her hips. She lay on her side, with her bare back to him. His breath caught. The sight of her lying in their bed, the candlelight burnishing her skin, ignited raw desire.

In a flash, he abandoned the idea of keeping away from Victoria. An avalanche of need swept over him as he let his gaze sweep over the bare expanse of her back. His blood heated. His cock, already hard, turned to steel. He wanted her with a force and hunger that he’d never known.

“Fuck,” he growled.

He tossed the towel aside, crawled across the bed and lowered beside her. Was she asleep? He didn’t care. He kissed her shoulder, coaxed her over so she lay on her stomach and brushed his lips to the curve of her neck. She moaned softly. He nipped her, harder than he had in the past and she drew a sharp breath.

“That will leave a mark,” he whispered gruffly.

She wriggled her ass. “That I’m yours?”

Her tone was sassy and with the little shake of her ass he wondered how he managed any self-control at all. Did she think she needed to entice him? He cupped her ass and dug his fingers into her tender flesh. “All mine.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m yours.”

Kissing a line down her back, he drew a deep breath, inhaling her scent. She squirmed beneath him. He slid his leg over hers, pinning her to the bed.

“Be still.”

“Your beard is scratchy.”

He laughed softly. “I shaved before we got on the plane. This is not a beard.”

She twisted and grumbled, and her protests made him almost smile. Some of the day’s tension eased from his mind. Worry and regret faded and all he could think of was making her his. Of not fucking stopping until he’d made her wild, screaming his name, and pleading for release.

Today, he’d seen the woman who was his entire world almost torn apart by a giant alpha wolf and something had shifted inside him. All the civility and restraint he’d battled for weeks to keep in place was ripped away. What was left was as brutal as the huge alpha wolf he’d flung off Victoria in the forest.

He scattered kisses across the small of her back. “Up on your hands and knees.”

She responded immediately, but gave him a questioning look. He rolled down to the bed, grasped her waist and lifted her over him so she straddled his face.

“Holy shit, Clay,” she hissed.

He smacked her ass and gripped her hips, drawing her down to him. He wanted her, all of her, and he wanted to make her dirty and his and have her exactly the way he pleased. Her scent drew a possessive growl from him. Her pussy was sweet. He was going to take his time and savor every moment as he made her lose her mind. At first, she resisted, stiffening in his hold, but the moment he traced his tongue along her sensitive flesh she whimpered.

Her small sounds drove him wild. Her arousal grew with each passing second. Writhing above him, she trembled with need, whispered his name. Tonight, it wouldn’t matter if she screamed. The wind blasted the small cabin and drowned out any noise either of them made. He sucked her clit and when she begged for release, he relented and took her over the edge, growling with primitive satisfaction when she cried out his name. She collapsed beside him, weak from her shattering orgasm.

He rolled over, clasped her chin and kissed her. She lay beneath him, her eyes closed. “I should wait, but I won’t. I don’t care if this is your first time or you’re not on the pill or if the fucking bed squeaks. I want you. Tonight. Now.”

Her lids fluttered and she gazed at him for a moment before smiling.