Chapter Four

Ashley slept like it was the first time she’d actually done it in days. It probably was, if the mating fever had been tormenting her as badly as it seemed.

It had eased for the time being, and he felt smug about that. Smug and possessive and a whole lot less eager to get her back to the pack house. This morning, she’d been a mission, and then a concern.

Watching her come, screaming, on his cock had changed a lot of things.

His phone rang, forcing him to tear his gaze from her sleeping form. He leaned over to snag the phone from the side table before settling back against the headboard. "Yeah?"

"Connor and I are an hour outside of town," Mac’s deep, clear voice answered. "You want to tell us where you are?"

"The cheap motel just off the interstate. Second exit." He looked back to Ashley, unable to help himself. "Tell Connor to find a steakhouse on the way. She needs food."

"Not a cheap date, is she?"

Temper prickled over his skin. "Fuck you."

Mac snorted. "It’s not a bad thing. Just a thing."

Blake slid his hand over her shoulder, stroking back her disheveled hair. Her skin was still warm, still flushed, and so, so soft. "You wouldn’t think it was funny if you’d found her the way I did."

The dry humor in Mac’s voice vanished. "What’s that mean?"

"They starved her," he growled. "And not just of food."

"Motherfucker." Then Mac swore again, even more viciously. "Is she—I don’t know, is she okay?"

"She’s confused, but she’s strong." She murmured something, shifting under his fingers, and he bit back a smile. "She’s going to drive Lucas crazy. She’s about as obedient as Connor is."

"Yeah? What about you?"

"What, is she driving me crazy? She’s in heat. What in hell do you think she’s doing to me?"

"Obviously not soothing the savage beast," Ashley muttered, opening one eye to peer up at him.

Fuck. "Don’t forget to stop for food," he muttered to Mac, then hung up and tossed the phone away. "Sorry."

She shook her head as she rolled over, clutching the thin sheet to her bare chest. "Who was that?"

"Mac. One of my pack brothers." He stroked his thumb over her cheek. "He and Connor are coming down in his van so you won’t have to ride on my bike. And so we can pick up anything you need on the way back. Clothes or books…" He’d seen a lot of books in her sad little room in the basement.

Maybe he could buy himself another few hours alone with her by sending Mac to her house now.

It was reckless and stupid and no doubt Lucas had already overruled the idea. The fact that he was still tempted was the real problem. He had to stop thinking about her like she was already his.

"I see." She studied him with wide eyes. "Do they know that we…?" She gestured to the bed.

There was probably a gentle way to break it to her, but shit. She deserved to know what she was walking into. "Fucked? They know you’re in heat, sweetheart. They’ll probably be surprised we only did it once. We’re not real private about that shit."

Her cheeks reddened. "So they know that we’re...mated?"

She didn’t know.

Of course she didn’t. Her bastard parents had locked her in a basement, trying to crush the wolf out of her. She didn’t know about her other nature, about her magic, and what it all meant. No one had taught her any of it, and now he had to.

Unless he didn’t.

The temptation was stronger this time. He could agree with her, pretend they were mated and whisk her away before Mac or Connor or any of the other men came within sniffing distance. She had mistaken her body’s reaction to a strong male of her species for a reaction to him…

Maybe it could be, in time. Or maybe Mac would walk through that door—feral, brutal Mac, with his own distinct brand of violence and power—and she’d come even harder for him than she had for Blake.

If he didn’t let her find out, he’d be as bad as her family.

"We’re not mated," he said gently, rubbing his thumb lower, along her jawline. "What you felt with me... That was good. It soothed you, for now. But you’ll feel that way with other males, too."

"Oh. Oh." She sat up straighter and covered her face with both hands. "I’m sorry."

"Hey." He tugged at her wrist, but she didn’t budge, so he scooped her up and hauled her into his lap. Just putting his hands on her was enough to make him hard again, but having that sweet, beautiful ass rub against his dick was close to torture. "Look at me, Ashley."

"My mother always said the fevers didn’t stop until you were mated," she said, her words muffled. Then she finally dropped her hands with a groan. "I’m an idiot."

Gentle hadn’t worked well with her, so he went for what seemed to work better—the bite of authority. He wound his fingers in her hair and dragged her head back. "No," he said firmly. "You are not. You’re a wolf who has been lied to her whole life."

She stared at him, her expression solemn. "So what happens now?"

"I take you home to the pack," he said, keeping any trace of regret from his voice. "You’re the first, Ashley. The first female wolf we’ve found who still can mate. The bloodlines are too weak. Our magic is dying out."

She frowned, and he could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. "You’re not taking me home to your pack. You’re taking me home to your alpha."

Lucas was the strongest. The oldest. The most powerful. When her wolf accepted a mate, why wouldn’t she pick the best available? But her frown compelled him to argue. "Only if you choose him. That’s why we’re not mated, sweetheart. Because your wolf didn’t choose me."

Her jaw clenched. "Then why am I in your lap?"

"Because I want you to choose me." He leaned closer—but not close enough to let her bite him. She looked like she might be considering it, and that made him harder. "Mac will want you to choose him. So will Connor and Jud. We’ll give you anything you want. Anything you need."

Her breath caught in a hitch. "I don’t want the pack to fight over me."

She still didn’t understand. "Oh, we won’t fight. Not any more than we usually do. You can have us all. However you want." And because he heard the way her pulse sped at the words, he drove it home with a rough whisper. "If you want us putting our hands and mouths all over you and inside you at the same time, we’ll do it."

Her skin heated beneath his hands, and she lifted a trembling hand to his mouth. "Will you show me?"

"How?" He licked her fingertips. "How should I show you?"

Ashley’s throat worked as she swallowed hard. "Help me understand what it means."

She was being shy again. Curling back into herself, watching her words and only letting the proper ones out. So he caught her wrist and guided it down her body to her pussy. "Where’s the fierce girl who told me to fill her up with my cock and my come? Tell me what you want, Ashley."

"Fine." Her eyes flashed, and she rocked her hips against her hand. "I want to know what a pack of horny wolves can do to a woman who’s dying to fuck them."

What wouldn’t they do to her? He jerked the sheet away and cupped the full weight of her breasts. "Mac will lose his damn mind when he sees your tits. He’ll fuck them, if you let him. Hold them snug around his cock while he pinches your nipples just like…"

He closed his thumbs and forefingers together hard enough to make her arch her back sharply. "But Connor would be with him. Connor’s always with him. They fuck together, however a woman will let them."

Her breathing was shallow, quick, her breasts heaving in his hands. "Who else?"

"Judson," he whispered, pinching harder. "He likes ropes. He’ll tie you up, tie you open. Your legs spread wide, that beautiful pussy exposed."

She tilted her hips and curled two of her fingers, pushing them inside her cunt.

Fucking hell. "You like that, greedy girl?" He caught her hair again, tilting her head back at a sharp angle as he slid his other hand down. She was so wet his fingers slipped over hers. "You like thinking about being bound and helpless while the whole pack fucks you? One big, hard cock after the next?"

"What about you?" she panted, shivering, her gaze fixed on his mouth.

That was easy. He wanted to fuck her again. He wanted to feed her. He wanted to drag her across his lap the next time she called herself stupid and spank that glorious damn ass until she was so pissed and horny that she climbed up his body to fuck him.

"I like you," he rasped, urging her fingers deeper. "A true mating cycle can last two weeks. Even longer. You’ll be so hungry for relief, and I’m going to make sure you get it. From everyone."

She pulled against his grip on her hair and leaned closer, until her mouth was only inches from his. "Because you’re going to take care of me." Then she kissed him, her lips soft and open.

A first kiss. It was sweet, too sweet for this moment, with his fingers shoving hers deep into her pussy. With the space between them filled with tales of all the debauchery he would conjure for her.

She was fierce. Anyone with magic as strong as hers would have to be. But the darker part of his nature had anticipated her shyness, her fear. Anything that kept her clinging to him and only him.

And she was, in her own way. With this sweet kiss, her tongue so tentative. With her trust. She believed that he’d take care of her, so that was what he’d do. He would guide her down the path into her own most desperate desires. He would orchestrate her pleasure, her surrender, her total submission, if that was what she wanted.

And when he knew every need, every fantasy, every dark hunger that made her heart race—he’d give them to her.

Himself.

She belonged to the pack for now. But some day, fierce little Ashley Todd would belong to him.