AshleyTWO YEARS LATERMy cheeks hurt from smiling, from looking at the giant-ass rock on my ring finger. “I can’t believe we’re married.”Jackson drapes his arm around me, placing a kiss on my head. “Better believe it, baby. I signed, sealed, and delivered.”“So when are you two popping out a kid like this fool over here?” Cole asks while pointing to Vance.“Never,” Jackson and I say together.When we got married, I made it clear to him I didn’t want kids. For some, that’s a deal breaker, but I decided early in life that motherhood wasn’t for me. If I have kids, I want to do an older adoption. Kids like Jackson, Cole, and Ford once were. Children who were put into situations they had no control over needed love and guidance as much as a little baby. When I’d told Jackson, he’d lifted me off the ground, kissing me like I’d told him the secret to eternal youth.“What the fuck is taking so long?” Vance asks for the hundredth time as he twirls a blade on the waiting room table. A few of
John London looked at his watch for the seventh time in ten minutes. He hated waiting. Time was money for him, and ten minutes meant he had already lost at least a million dollars. Nobody made him lose money. It annoyed him that this guy thought he could be different. If John didn't need the goods so badly, he would have left already.The only joy in his life came from making money—more than he would ever need. Ever since he was outlawed and forced to leave his pack and never join another, his life has been all about making money.There was no higher purpose for him than making money, especially after losing everything else. Keeping a firm grip on the case beside him, he listened and sniffed for an approaching wolf. He was an alpha wolf, or he would be if he still had his rank. But it was taken from him, along with everything else.He bore the mark of an outlawed wolf. Rubbing his chest, he tried not to think about the pain the silver mark had left. There were nights he woke up scream
Christal—such a sweet name for a sweet woman—stared at him, terrified.They were selling her because of her weight. If he were the alpha of their pack, he’d make sure her parents suffered a fate worse than death. Seeing as he was neither an alpha of a pack nor part of one, their ugliness had given him a woman.Turning her head this way and that, he sensed her fear increasing.“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, hoping his words would ease her. Taking her hand, he led her towards his car.Crap. He had hoped for this night to run smoothly. From the way Christal was acting, he doubted she’d be ready to fuck when he got back home.For many years, Christal had heard the term “runt of the litter” when people talked about her. She hated it but pretended the words no longer affected her. Being told she was fat, ugly, and hated by all of the pack hadn’t prepared her for the final humiliation she’d been dealt this night. The words hurt, but she’d grown used to them.Sitting alone in her room,
John felt the fight go right out of her. Loosening his hold, he waited for her to submit. Her head bowed within seconds of her body relaxing. Releasing his tight grip, he tilted her head back to look at him.Christal’s scent and body didn’t repel him at all. Buying a wolf online had been troublesome, and he had been worried about what she would look like. The only word to describe Christal was beautiful. Her family didn’t see what a prize they possessed. Many wolf males, even alphas, would have taken her off their hands.Their loss was his gain.Tears fell down her cheeks, cutting him up at the sight. “Don’t cry.”“I’m not allowed to feel now, either?” she asked.She looked completely lost.Staring into her eyes, he was struck by the glorious shade of green. Running his thumb across her smooth cheek, he moved towards her lips. She showed no sign of jerking away. Her lips were plump and heart-shaped. He couldn’t wait to see how they felt pressed against his own.“You’re allowed to feel
Christal waited for him to say more. She didn’t know why she asked him about being a wolf. Of course he was a wolf. The smell along with the depth of his voice told her he was an alpha. She didn’t know why there was no pack, and there certainly were no signs of a pack. Dean hadn’t been part of the pack either.“Are you a virgin?” he asked.Glancing down at the floor, Christal stayed quiet. Christal didn’t know why she didn’t tell him the truth. For once, she wanted to keep a little part of herself to herself. She wasn’t going to tell him the truth yet. Being a virgin within a pack wasn’t something to boast about. During the full moon of a female’s eighteenth birthday, many women lost their innocence. The men would surround them, take what they wanted, and come morning they’d be full women in every sense of the word.No man had gone near her on her eighteenth or nineteenth birthday. When all the pack were fucking, she’d scampered away to be alone and mourn what she could never have. So
John left the shirt, but he didn’t leave without looking at her lush body first. He found her naked in the shower with eyes closed looking up at the shower jet. Her body was so full and round, she made him ache with need to possess her. She’d take the fucking he so wanted to give her.He left the bathroom before she scented him close by. The smell from the bath soaps along with the noise of the shower would stop her from hearing him. John closed all the doors so she wouldn’t know he’d been in apart from the nightshirt.Sitting down on the edge of his bed, he ran a hand down his face. His shaft was rock hard and showed no signs of diminishing even though he wanted it to. There was no female close enough apart from Christal to fuck.The game was set. She would fight him at every turn, but he felt the need inside her body. In no time at all she’d be begging him for more, and he intended to give her everything.Removing his clothes, he didn’t bother with a shower. He changed into a robe t
Waking up, Christal groaned against the reality of her situation. The sudden smell of John had her jerking awake, rubbing at her eyes. Glancing around the room, she expected to find him lurking, ready to pounce at any time. Going to her knees, she looked left and right then down at her body.The smell had to have come from the shirt she was wearing. There was no sign of the man in the bedroom she slept in. Climbing off the bed, she looked around, finding no more clothes. Her own were filthy, and she wasn’t wearing them.Heading to the bathroom, she sorted through her morning routine of going to the toilet, washing her hands, then brushing her teeth to combing through her hair. She left the length to fall around her shoulders. Christal usually bound the length up to keep it out of her way.Blowing out a breath, she grabbed a robe and walked downstairs. The sun was shining brightly through the kitchen. The double doors were wide open. She heard John arguing with someone. Stepping closer,
“How do you know I’m a virgin?” Christal asked. Her eyes were wide, and John smiled. She truly was the most adorable female he’d ever known. She didn’t know her own power, which was mightily refreshing. It was sweet yet unsettling. The pack she’d been part of was awful. The pain in her eyes let him know how badly she’d been treated. Each pack behaved differently, but from what he heard this morning, Christal’s pack was an open group.At the full moon, the pack mated with one another, fucking until the sun came up. He had heard they were in human form rather than wolf form. Dick was a vessel of knowledge when it came to pack traditions. Females at their proper mating age of eighteen were allowed to mingle with the pack for men to scent them. Christal on her mating day had been left alone. Not one male in the pack had anything to do with her.Looking beyond her shoulder, he couldn’t stop the anger at their treatment of her. They were fucking awful, and if he ever got chance to cause them
Our kisses continued. It was as if once we started, we couldn’t stop. I managed to unbutton several of the buttons on Lyca’s dress and, when I slipped my hand inside it, I made a delightful discovery. “You…you aren’t wearing a bra!” I whispered between kisses.“I know, I feel so naughty,” Lyca whispered in reply. Her hand slid up my leg and encountered my swollen organ, which was straining uncomfortably against my slacks. A smile formed on Lyca’s lips “What’s this?” she murmured. She gently moved her hand over it.“Uh!” I moaned softly. I knew we had to be careful because we certainly didn’t want the other passengers waking up and seeing what we were doing. “What...what do you think it is?” Delightful sensations were sweeping through me as a result of her gentle caresses and kisses.Lyca kept stroking me, making me even harder. At the same time, I was caressing her breasts and nipples, which had grown erect. I could feel her shudder when I flicked my thumb over one of them. I slipped m
It was a while before either of us had enough strength to move. Finally, Lyca put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder. “You are incredible!” she murmured. “I...I can’t get enough of you. The minute you touch me I want you!”“I feel the same way about you,” I told her.She looked at me and smiled. “You know, we should really get out of the shower before we wind up looking like a couple of pink prunes,” she giggled.We finished washing, then got out and playfully toweled each other dry. While Lyca finished doing what she needed to do in the bathroom, I went back to her bedroom and got dressed.Wearing the purple robe, Lyca walked into the bedroom a few minutes later. “After I get dressed, I’m going to call the travel agent,” she said.“All right,” I said. “I love you.”She smiled at me and said, “I love you, too.” Then she walked across the room and hugged me fiercely. “I didn’t ever think I’d say that to anyone,” she said softly. “You can’t imagine how wonderful it feel
We got up. Lyca began clearing the table while I rinsed off the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. After I put the last of the dishes in the machine I dried my hands on a dish towel, walked over to the table, which Lyca had just finished wiping. I put my arms around her, and kissed her. She returned the kiss avidly.After the kiss ended, I cupped Lyca’s delectable bottom in my hands and pulled her middle against mine. Then I turned her around, backed her to the kitchen table, lifted her up and sat her on it.“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” Lyca asked.My lips again covered hers and I untied the belt that held her robe closed. My hands slid inside the robe, onto her soft, warm skin, and I cupped her breasts and my thumbs tweaked her nipples to full, tingling erection.My penis grew erect and tented the front of my slacks as I worked on Lyca’s glorious breasts. I spread Lyca’s robe even farther apart, moved between her bare, silken legs, cupped her buttocks, and pressed a
Lyca rolled over and was kissing me, hugging me, and babbling excitedly. "I love you! Oh, God, I love you!" she gushed. "That was fantastic! I never knew making love could feel that wonderful! God! I love you! I love you!""I love you, too," I told her, returning her kisses. "What just happened was the best it's ever been for me."Lyca gazed down at me, her eyes wide and filled with adoration. "Was it really?" she asked, looking surprised. "Not even with your wife?""It never came close to that with Natalie," I told her. "I never knew making love could be that wonderful." I kissed her again."I'm glad you came back into my life," she whispered. "You can't imagine how glad." Her hands were traveling over me and her face took on a serious expression when she touched the bandage on my shoulder. "How is your shoulder?" she asked."It's getting better all the time," I replied."It terrifies me to think you could have been killed," she said as her hands continued moving over me."It kinda s
My emotions were in turmoil. From dreading what she was going to say I'd gone to a state of near-euphoria. "I...love you, too," I stammered. I took another sip of my coffee, another deep breath, then said, "I'm in love with you."Lyca gazed at me, her expression unreadable. My heart thudded like a jackhammer. What was her response going to be?She squeezed my arm, smiled, and said, "I'm in love with you, too. I knew it the minute you walked back into my life the other day."I couldn't breathe. Lyca had just told me she was in love with me! I couldn't believe it! My fondest dream had become reality!Then, for some reason, things seemed to get strained between us. For some reason, having admitted our love for each other left us not knowing what to do or say next. We at there on the sofa, looking at each other.It was clear to me nothing was going to happen unless one of us did something, so I slid closer to Lyca. She kept staring at me.When I put my arm around her shoulder, she sighed
“No, and I’m not sure I want to again,” I replied. “I’ve never seen anyone as wild as Gleason was.” My ribs still hurt like mad. I winced when I opened the door of my car.Harkins shook his head. “You ought to get those ribs looked at,” he said. “He coulda broke one, kicking you like that.”“Probably did,” I said. “Maybe I will stop at the hospital and have them checked.”“You take care,” he said. “I’m not sure I’d have done it the way you did, but you got two prime assholes out of our hair this week. I’d say that’s enough for anyone. Take it easy for a while, OK?”“You have my word on it, Lieutenant,” I said.The doctor in the emergency room told me my ribs were seriously bruised, but not broken. “Take it easy for a while and you’ll be just fine,” he said. “And I’d stay away from strenuous exercise for a week or so.”“Doc, I plan to sleep for a week or so,” I told him.I left the hospital and drove home. I wanted to see Lyca, but I needed rest, too, and she probably could stand some
I dropped the binoculars, stood up and, standing in the combat position, aimed my pistol at him. He fired another shot. Before he could work the bolt action on his rifle, I yelled, “Freeze, Gleason! Drop the gun!”He stiffened, turned, and continued working the action on the rifle. I fired at him, aiming for the middle of his body. The rifle flew out of his hands and he went over backward.Moving carefully, I approached him, holding my gun on him. I was pretty sure I’d hit him. I seldom miss what I’m shooting at. He laid there on his back, very still, with his eyes closed. I peered at him, trying to see where the wound was. I couldn’t, so I stepped closer. Too close.Gleason suddenly came to life. His leg came up quickly, too quickly for me to avoid it, and he kicked the gun out of my hand. The next thing I knew, roaring like a wild man, he was on me, his weight carrying me back, taking me off my feet. When we hit the ground, the wind was knocked out of me and, before I could get to m
“Noticed that he checked the brakes,” Moose said. “You’d think he’d trust a couple of trustworthy-looking guys like us.”I handed Moose a hundred dollars.“What’s this?” he asked.“A bonus for doing a good job today,” I said.“What do you think he’s going to do when he hears that tape you put in the car?” Moose asked.The only thing I did to Gleason’s car was put a tape I made up in the tape deck. It was set to run quietly for a while before the message kicked in, so he’d be well away from the building before he heard it. The message said, “We could have gotten you again today, but we didn’t. This is your last warning. Leave Mrs. Wilkins alone or we’ll get serious. We’ve already proved we can get to you any time we want. By the way, have you gotten your place cleaned up yet?”“I hope he cans this shit he’s been pulling on our client, but I don’t think he will,” I said.“So that shit you planned for tonight is still on?” Moose asked as he wheeled the van through traffic.I nodded. “I t
“You want me to call the police, Mr. Gleason?” the security guard asked.Gleason looked at the guard, then at me. I tried to look impatient. Moose shuffled around, looking as if he wanted to go, too.“They’re not going to find anything, any more than they did yesterday, the incompetent fools,” Gleason said finally. He looked at the car, then at me. “You sure you can have it done and back here by three?” he asked.“No problem, Mr. Gleason,” I said. “Me and Moose, we’ll do the job ourselfs, won’t we, Moose. We’ll tell the boss it’s one ‘a them priority jobs, right?”“Yeah, we’ll do that,” Moose said.Gleason looked at the security guard. “File a report on this with the police, but tell them I sent the car to be repaired and they don’t have to come over,” he said. He turned to me. “Go ahead and fix it. If I have the damn lease company fix it, they’ll just charge me extra and they probably wouldn’t get it fixed today.”“Where do you want me to bring it at, what, three?” I asked.“Be out f