Chapter Seven
Ethan lay on the snow, fire lancing his shoulder from the burn of the bullet. He whined and nuzzled Addison, grateful that her presence eased the suffering and calmed his wolf. Her friends came closer and she growled.
The redhead held out a hand. “Hey, Addison, it’s okay. We’re going to help him.”
“Are you sure, Trish?” Addison’s eyes flared golden rings inside the brown. “Can’t you smell it on him.” Her next growl was a little louder. Suddenly he wasn’t sure if it was for him, or her friends. “He smells of rogue.”
Shame washed over him. The men who had attacked the girls were his buddies, the guys he lived with, hung out with. He had to tell her, he wasn’t like that. Sure, he’d done some very wrong things to survive, but he’d never attack innocent women. He whined, and nuzzled her.
“I’m heading for help.” Trish stripped off her jacket and tossed it to Addison who laid it over his pelt. Then she took off the rest of her clothes and gestured to the other two women. “Stay with them.” She shifted to a cinnamon wolf and loped off into the forest.
He knew he was in bad shape because he should have reacted to the sight of the petite redhead’s full curves before she shifted, but it hadn’t even made a dent in the misery.
Addison stroked his head. “Shh. Help is coming.”
“Here.” From a cautious distance the blonde tossed over Trish’s shirt. “Put that on his wound, it will help with the bleeding.”
“I’m sorry. It’s going to hurt.” Addison pressed the fabric to his shoulder. Agony lanced through him and his vision went fuzzy around the edges. The last thing he remembered was the precious sight of his true-mate’s face crinkled up in concern. And then he passed out.
When he came to he was in the cleanest room he’d ever seen. The king-size bed was huge and covered in a bright white down comforter with white sheets. The tall wooden headboard was easily twice the size of any he’d ever seen before, given his life of scrounging for sleeping space in ratty apartments and run-down campers. Large framed landscapes hung on the walls and, through an adjoining door, he could see a bathroom. It too was clean and huge and bright, like something out of a TV reality show.
Addison sat in a chair upholstered in some kind of lush fabric. Her neck was bent at a funny angle, and her face was soft with sleep. He tried to reach for her, but the torment in his shoulder spiked and he moaned.
“You’re awake.” She got up and came over, sitting next to him on the bed and linking her fingers with his. Instantly, the ache in his shoulder eased. “Thank goodness.” The tension in her face relaxed. “The medic said you’d be okay, but I’ve never seen anyone shot before.”
He experimentally moved his arm, flexing the sore muscles and skin, pushing against the pain. “Where am I?”
The wound was red and puckered, but healing fast. Thank God he was a shifter and not some slow-healing human.
“We brought you back to the lodge. You’re in my hotel room.” Her skin turned bright red and she looked away. “Your shirt was trashed, we got you a new one. But they managed to get your jacket clean. It’s over there.” She nodded to a neat pile of clothes on a chair.
“I’m in Hunter’s lodge?” Panic rushed through him and he struggled to sit up. “I have to get out of here. They’ll kill me if they find out. They’ll kill you.”
“Easy.” She put her arm around him and helped him to sit up. “You saved Lincoln Hunter’s sister and her best friend. You’re cool.”
At her touch, desire sang through him. He leaned in, resting his head on the soft swell of her breasts. He couldn’t be that badly injured if he wanted her this bad.
“You must be thirsty. They told me to make sure you drank water.” She moved away, reaching for a glass on the bedside table.
Immediately he felt the loss.
He reached for her. “Please stay.”
“Drink first.” She held the glass up to his mouth and he obediently swallowed half the water. Anything for Addison.
Her eyes wary, she moved back and sat on the bed next to him. “Look, I know we’ve got this thing between us, but I’m not sure it’s the smartest choice.”
Hurt stabbed deep into his chest. “This isn’t a choice for me, Addison. You’re my mate. How can you deny that?”
“We have a choice, we always have a choice who we accept as mate. We haven’t taken any steps that we can’t go back.”
“Is that what you want?” He stared at her in disbelief, the pain in his shoulder receding as the pain from her rejection grew. “I thought you could see past who I was—who I am.”
Her face softened. “It’s not that.” She reached out and touched his arm.
“If it isn’t because I’m a rogue, then what is it?” He couldn’t keep the tinge of bitterness from his voice.
“If you could see what I’ve seen, you’d know.” Her brown eyes were soft, the hint of gold inside them telling him that her wolf understood what was between them. “Being mates isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
“You want me to touch you, to kiss you, to fuck you. I know it. You know it.”
The scent of sexual arousal rose in the air between them.
Her chest began to heave and the blacks of her pupils expanded. “Oh God. Ethan.” Addison’s mouth half opened. He could see her teeth and the small gap between them as she panted his name.
It was all he could do to not move. The wolf in him wanted to grab her, to roll over her, to dominate her until she knew he was her mate. He shook with the need to take hold of her, to strip off her clothes and lay her down on the bed and take from her everything he knew she wanted to give—but was refusing.
He could barely get the words out through the tightness in his chest. “Just give me a chance.” He wanted her so badly, he didn’t know how long he could hold back.
***
Addison didn’t know what to do. Her wolf insisted—this man was their mate. He was strong, he was a protector, and he smelled so good. She was literally panting with the need to be skin to skin with him, the electricity between them making her so hot she wasn’t sure she could keep up the fight.
Or if she should.
“Addison, please.” Ethan’s blue eyes burned at her with a need so bright, it melted all her resistance.
“Yes,” she breathed, and leaned closer. She brushed her lips across his and the burning coals between them leapt into flame.
Their tongues tangled together and she lost all sense of thought. His arms rose up around her, crushing her to him as his mouth devoured hers. All of the reasons why this was wrong faded away because he felt so right. He tasted of sex, of heat, of everything that she’d ever wanted and she swore he melted the clothes right off of her.
He sniffed along her naked body and with every sniff her arousal grew, until finally he was at the junction of her thighs, inhaling deeply of her sex. Instinctively she rolled off the bed and dropped to all fours. He came down to the floor with her. She pressed her face to his thighs, inhaling deeply of the smell of wolf and Ethan. It rocked through her, an irresistible combination of man and mate.
She knew what they were doing, knew it was the first step on the road to no return, but she didn’t care. Inside her wolf was going crazy. He smelled exactly right. And, as he too dropped on all fours and sniffed her from behind, all she could do was lower her head in submission to the mating call.
The shift rolled through her. As wolves they sniffed each other, the call of the mate becoming harder and harder to resist.
She backed away and shifted back to human, and so did he. For a long minute she stared into Ethan’s eyes and as he stared back into hers, the moment hanging in forever, she knew—this was her mate. She wanted to take that next step with him. Needed to take it.
The mark.
She broke first, unable to stay away from him a moment longer. She rose and pulled him to her. They were body to body, skin to skin. The heat of him pressed against her, the push of his cock firm against her belly. She moaned into his mouth, the kissing never stopping. They fell together to the bed with her underneath, her legs spreading. She ran her hands along his back, felt the muscles move under her palms as he rubbed his cock against her clit, stimulating her until her juices flowed.
She’d never been this easy before, never been this close to coming this fast. With Ethan, she didn’t need any more foreplay. Just the feel of him had her so close that all it took was the taste of his tongue in her mouth, and the feel of his cock rubbing against her clit, to have her body rising and falling and rocking to his beat.
The first orgasm rolled through her, small but intense. It left her wanting more as she panted and moaned and writhed against his big, heavy cock. She pulled away and buried her face in his shoulder taking in his scent. But it wasn’t enough.
“More, I need more.”
He grinned, the glow in his eyes fierce with the rise of his wolf. “Anything,” he said, and moved down kissing and nipping at her jaw, each small bite pulling her toward what she really wanted—the sink of his teeth into her skin.
She arched up, her body rising toward his. But instead of the sweet intensity of the mark, he continued moving his seduction down her body, tracing the hollow of her neck with his teeth. She whimpered and closed her eyes, simply feeling the rush.
She could tell, by the rough slide of his palms along her skin, and the heavy panting as he worked his way along the full curve of her breast down to her nipple, that he felt the same. This was more than sex. It was something they’d remember for the rest of their lives.
He grazed the sensitive skin of her areola and she gasped, her body arching under his mouth, pushing the nipple into the warm wet space. Ethan sucked it in, rolling it along his tongue and between his teeth.
Sinking in his teeth as he sucked and pulling more from her until she writhed.
She couldn’t take it, she needed more against her pussy. She rocked her pelvis against his hip and he glanced up at her, a question in his eyes. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t tell him what she wanted because the animal in her was too near to the surface. All she could do was pant, the short fast breaths coming between her lips, and stare at him, and hope he understood her need. She was way past words and when he slipped his fingers inside, his own gasp was too much. She came hard as he pushed them in deep, the gush of pleasure taking her deeper and deeper into the mating frenzy.
“I can’t wait anymore, Addison.” He groaned against her breast. “I want to take my time with you, but I can’t.”
Bringing her mind back from the brink all she could say was, “Now.”
It was all he needed. He flipped her over and spread her thighs, exposing her wet pussy to him. She waited on her hands and knees, the few seconds killing her with anticipation. He slid his cock in, penetrating deep, and then deeper. She moaned and ground her ass up against him and pressed her face into the mattress, her fingers tangled in the sheets. Ethan wrapped an arm around her, and under, finding her clit again with his finger, and flicking hard. She shuddered against him, this orgasm slamming through her, an avalanche of arousal.
And then he let loose, rocking in and out. And then it all came together. He arched hard into her and his teeth sank into her back.
The world opened a little wider. The colors burgeoning against her closed eyelids were brighter. The smell of sex was stronger. Everything became instinctual as Ethan bit her and she took his mark.