A Wolf's Duty (20 page)

Tobias groaned, all
thought of tradition having fled his mind with Alex’s proximity.
“Yes I know the tradition; I can’t take her until the claiming
ceremony.”

“Very good your highness,
I’m glad to hear that all the years of learning have not gone to
waste.” Charles grinned, the other members of the council nodding
their agreement. “Let’s go to the Council chamber and complete our
tasks for the day.”

Tobias almost
groaned again, before a thought occurred to him.
Just because I can’t have her completely doesn’t
mean that I can’t enjoy her.

His inner wolf
agreed, flooding his mind with various scenarios to that affect and
Tobias found himself grinning his agreement.
Yes, there are lots of things that can be done without fully
taking her.

*****

The meeting
with the council had taken longer than Tobias had thought possible
and now the day was gone, night swiftly taking its place.
All that time that I could have spent with
Xandria wasted. I swear the council exists just to make my life
difficult. I’m beginning to long for the day when I’m King and they
can finally be disbanded,
he groaned,
walking along the corridor that led to his rooms. The sound of
banging coming from Alex’s room had him turning his head and he
found himself frowning in confusion. Turning, he walked to Alex’s
door and eased it open, allowing his head to slip through the
crack.

Wielding a large shoe,
Alex stood in front of the door that joined their two rooms,
hammering away at the lock and muttering under her breath. “Stupid
lock won’t bloody come off!”

“Xandria?”

The sound of his voice in
the silence of her room had her turning quickly, so quickly that
she slipped and fell, landing on her bottom. Despite the injury she
smiled widely at his arrival. “Tobias.”

Walking into the room, he
closed the door behind him and strode over to her, helping her get
to her feet. “Alexandria, what are you doing?” he questioned,
regarding the shoe in her hand with a puzzled
expression.

“Oh this?” She grinned,
motioning at the shoe and the door. He nodded. Her head dropped as
embarrassment flooded her and she began to fidget, rocking back and
forth on the balls of her feet. “I’m trying to break the lock, I
figured that since I wasn’t mad at you anymore we didn’t really
need it.”

“Not concerned about me
barging in on you?” She shook her head silently, negating the
claim. A finger reached under her chin and forced her head up so
that their gazes met. “You sure about this?”

“Positive.”

He grinned at the
statement before reaching out for the protruding lock and gripping
it within his hand. Pulling at the lock, he easily removed it from
the door, leaving a rather large hole in the wood and throwing the
useless lock in the direction of the bin.

“How did you do that? I’ve
been trying to break it for ages.”

“Super-human strength,
just another perk of having a wolf live in you.”

Her head dropped again and
she murmured, “Tobias, about earlier…”

“Yes, earlier…” His eyes
flashed amber before she found herself pressed against a wall, his
body crowding hers and preventing her from escaping. “We have some
unfinished business to take care of.” He grinned, pressing his hips
against her, causing her to gasp in shock at the feeling of his
hardened shaft pressed against her.

Chapter
Nineteen

His head swiftly descended
and his lips captured hers, stealing her breath and leaving her
gasping. His hands found her hips, gripping them hard enough that
she was sure she would be sore in the morning. But as she gave
herself over to simply enjoying the sensations he produced within
her, she found herself caring less and less about the aches she
would have tomorrow. Her hands rose and found their way into the
thick strands of his hair, holding him in place as she fell into
his kiss.

Mine,
his wolf growled.

Ours,
he agreed, his tongue tracing the seam of her
lips, gaining access to the warmth of her mouth. Her tongue was
tentative as it touched his but he pulled her closer, deepening the
kiss; she groaned at the sensation, meeting him touch for touch.
“Tobias.” He smiled into the kiss before placing his lips against
the sensitive skin of her neck, running his tongue over the warm
skin and causing her to shiver at the sensation. He nipped lightly
at the flesh and she felt herself grow wet in a rush. “Tobias,
please.”

“Please what?” His hands
moved from her hips to the exposed skin of her legs and moved up
beneath her skirt to palm the round cheeks of her buttocks. Thought
fled and she found that it was now impossible to string together a
coherent sentence. His hands abruptly left her and her eyes widened
in surprise.

“Tobias?”

He smiled before turning
her away from him and pulling her back into his chest. “Yes?” His
hands reached for the material of her thin shirt, shredding both
the offending item and the bra that lay beneath. Cupping her now
bare breasts in his hands, he groaned, nestling his head into the
curve of her neck and breathing in deeply as he caressed the soft
skin with gentle strokes of his fingertips.

She shuddered
as the cool air brushed across her nipples, hardening them into
straining peaks. Reaching for them with his fingers, he rolled them
between his thumb and forefinger, kissing the exposed flesh of her
neck. “Tobias,” she moaned in response, her entire body reacting to
his touch and closeness. Nipping the flesh of her neck, he felt her
gasp and grinned to himself.
So
sensitive.
One of his hands left her breast
and began making its way down her body, leaving trails of warmth in
its wake. Reaching beneath her skirt, he made his way up to her sex
and cupped her, groaning at how wet she already was. Removing his
other hand from her breast he fell to his knees, unzipping the
skirt and pulling both it and her underwear down her
legs.

Crossing her hands across
her chest to cover her nakedness, she turned to face him. “Tobias?”
The tone of her voice gave away her nervousness and he found
himself smiling at her, trying to make her relax.

“Don’t worry dearest; I’ll
take care of everything.” He stood, gathering her in his arms and
moving towards the bed. Gently laying her against it, he moved to
lie between her legs, quickly capturing her lips and silencing any
further protests. She moaned against his lips, relaxing against
him. He ran a hand up and down her side, getting her used to his
touch, before laying his large hand directly over the triangle of
dark curls that covered her sex from him.

“Perfect, Xandria. You’re
so perfect.” She blushed at his words before his mouth descended
onto one of her nipples, sucking firmly and causing her to squirm
beneath him. Suckling and licking at the firm nipple, he urged her
legs to open wider for him, kneeling between them. He smiled down
at her before gently rubbing his fingers along the length of her
outer lips, groaning again at how wet they were.

Take her
now,
his wolf urged and Tobias found
himself cursing tradition.

No, we can’t.
This is just for her.

Easing a finger
between her wet lips, he easily found the small bundle of nerves
guaranteed to bring her pleasure and rubbed it lightly. Her back
arched from the bed and she gasped at the sensation. “Tobias.”
Grinning to himself, he continued to lightly circle the small bud
before changing tactics. Easing a finger into her, he found himself
shuddering at the sensation.
So small and
tight.

Untouched,
his wolf grinned.
Ours and only ours.

Gasping at the perceived
invasion, Alex forced herself to relax. His thumb returned to the
bundle of nerves that brought her pleasure, rubbing against it
while his finger moved steadily in and out of her body. Her back
arched again and she felt pleasure begin to build within herself,
her entire body feeling as though it were balanced at the edge of a
precipice. Another finger joined the first and her body stiffened
at the intrusion. Halting his advance, Tobias allowed her to get
used to the sensation, her body beginning to stretch to accommodate
it. As she began to relax beneath him, he moved his thumb to rub
against her more firmly whilst his fingers picked up where they had
left off, soon moving faster within her. His thumb slowed, allowing
her body to calm before it sped up again. He continued with the
tortuous rhythm, taking her to the brink before slowing until she
was writhing beneath him, gasping and desperate for
release.

“Tobias, I, I…” She
panted, her hips moving into his hand as she tried to reach for the
wealth of pleasure she was sure awaited her on the other side of
the precipice.

“Let go sweetheart,” he
urged, moving his fingers faster.

Her eyes widened and her
mouth opened in a silent scream as her body convulsed around his
fingers. Her inner walls clamping down on his fingers while her
body trembled beneath him, coating his fingers in a warm
liquid.

Now!
his wolf demanded, straining against its confines
within Tobias’ mind, desperate to fulfil its instincts.

Shut up. I
told you no.
Watching her, Tobias felt a
measure of satisfaction wash over him. Her face was flushed; her
eyes now closed as she savoured the pleasure that had washed over
her, a small smile adorned her lips. Gently removing his fingers
from her, he began to lick them clean, his inner wolf growling in
satisfaction at her taste. He looked down at his hardened member
before turning to regard her, frowning.

She’s so
small. We’re going to have to do this a lot to prepare her;
otherwise the claiming will be unnecessarily hard on her.
The thought made his frown disappear and a large
smile appeared to take its place.

“Tobias?” She sat up, the
small smile still in place but a look of confusion evident in her
gaze.

“Yes?”

“Aren’t you going to…” She
blushed, her words trailing off as embarrassment infused her
despite what they had just done.

Leaning forward, he placed
a chaste kiss against her lips. “I can’t dearest.” Her eyes lowered
from his face to stare pointedly at the erection straining against
the confines of his trousers. “It’s tradition I can’t take you
until the claiming ceremony. It’s an old tradition, I think it was
to ensure that an heir was legitimate, but it doesn’t make any
sense now and I swear if my father hadn’t told me about it when I
reached maturity, I would think that the council was just making it
up to make my life difficult but they’re not.”

She stared at him for a
moment processing the information he had just imparted. “Is there
anything I can do to help you?” she mumbled, their closeness
allowing Tobias to feel the heat radiating from her
cheeks.

“No dearest, if you
touched me now…” He groaned, the images that flooded his mind
weakening his resolve while his wolf continued to make its protests
known. “I don’t think I’d be able to control myself, my wolf isn’t
very happy with this, so I think it would be best if I just went.”
Placing a fleeting kiss against her forehead he stood and rushed
into his room, desperate to reach the shower and ease the ache
between his legs.

Tearing his clothes from
his body as he went, he quickly entered the shower. Standing
beneath the warm spray he gripped himself, stroking hard and fast,
imagining Alex’s hands instead of his own. In his state of high
arousal he quickly reached his climax, groaning as he released
himself within the shower. Breathing hard he allowed himself to
relax against the cool tiles. His wolf, discontent with his current
course of action, flooded his mind with images of Alex lying naked
on his bed, inviting him to join her; he felt himself hardening
again and groaned. Turning to face the knob that regulated
temperature, he turned the warm water ice cold. Standing beneath
the now freezing spray he growled at his still hard
erection.

You should
have taken her,
the wolf within him
grumbled.

Well I didn’t
and I’m not going to be taking her anytime soon so stop this right
now.
Gripping himself again, he quickly
stroked himself to another climax thankful that his wolf had chosen
to listen to him and his mind remained blissfully clear of all
sexual images. Turning the shower off, he stepped out and began
drying himself with a nearby towel stepping into his bedroom with
it wrapped lightly around his waist. His breath left him at the
sight that awaited him on his return.

Alex sat on the
edge of his bed dressed in what looked like one of his t-shirts,
the exaggerated curl to her hair suggesting that she too had just
taken a shower. He could feel his wolf grin at her appearance and
groaned as he found himself hardening once again beneath his
towel.
Damn healing abilities, why
couldn’t I just be like a normal human male in this.

“What are you doing here
Xandria?”