Authors: Shelly Laurenston
She sighed and he felt the bed dip slightly as she got in next to him. “Okay. Okay. Come here.” She pulled him close, laying his head against her chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He felt her kiss the top of his head as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. “You smell good. You’re in heat.”
She laughed softly. “Christ,
Conall
, get some sleep.” Knowing she was safe, he felt himself relax. She smelled so good and the heat coming off her body was unbelievably soothing. The last thing he remembered was her hands running through his hair.
***
Miki brushed
Conall’s
hair out of his face. He was sleeping again. He kept waking up, worried about whether she was safe or not. It almost overwhelmed her. His constant concern for her. She’d always had the love and protection of women. Her mother and grandmother. Sara and Angelina. But never of men. Most men found her either overwhelming or a little scary. Even Craig and the guys seemed to have a healthy fear of her.
But
Conall
.
Conall
was different. Did he actually care about her or was it just the fever? How the hell was she supposed to know? She knew science. Math. And some history. She knew how to make an amazing Martini and she had a decent roundhouse kick. That was it. Anything to do with people and actual emotions, she was totally at a loss.
Miki kissed
Conall’s
forehead again and settled down next to him. She was so tired. Not surprising with everything that had happened in the past few hours. But she was sure that with a little nap, just a few minutes, she’d be right as rain.
She closed her eyes and let sleep take her.
***
He was having the best dream. One of those hot dreams with Miki that he’d been having since he met her. He was enjoying this dream too because she smelled so good. She was in heat. He was behind her, his arms wrapped tight around her waist. He nuzzled her neck and licked it.
She sighed softly and snuggled back into him. “My wolf.”
“All yours, baby.”
Her hand gripped his thigh. “Make me come, wolf.”
Oh, yeah. This was a
great
dream. He slid his hand down her stomach and under her panties. He eased his fingers between her thighs and over her clit. Her body jerked and she gave a little moan as two of his fingers entered her pussy. She was already wet. Wet and hot. She gripped his hand and pushed his fingers deeper.
He smiled as he slowly finger fucked her. She moaned again, her tight ass writhing against his cock. It had already been hard, now it was on fire. It wanted to be deep inside her. As deep as his fingers were. Deeper. He ran his thumb over her clit and she gasped, her head falling back against his shoulder. “God,
Conall
.” He loved when she said his name with that sexy voice of hers. He
felt
her voice all over his body.
The pad of his thumb circled her clit and her fingers dug into his hand. Her body tightened. He licked the back of her neck again. “Miki?”
She pushed herself back into him, her body beginning to shake. “Do it,
Conall
. Please.”
“You sure, baby?”
“Please.” She asked again. And he knew it was a dream because Miki would have kicked him in the nuts by now. Not begged him.
He extended his fangs and, turning his head to the side, bit the back of her neck. She gave a little cry but he wasn’t sure if it was from the bite or the bone-shaking orgasm she was having. To be honest, he didn’t care. As he licked the blood off, he only knew one thing. She was his now. And nothing would ever change that. At least not here, in his dreams.
***
Miki was having the most
rockin
’ dream ever. A dream that consisted of one of those screaming orgasms that only
Conall
seemed to have the ability to wring out of her. This time with nothing more than his hands and teeth. In this dream she let him mark her. Practically begged him to, in fact. But it felt so right. And it was a dream, so she didn’t have to be scared or worry about getting hurt. Or about being in love.
She could do anything she wanted here. She pulled his hand out of her and turned in his arms. She kissed him, deep and slow. Their tongues connecting, sliding, teasing. She felt his dick against her leg. It was hard and hot and all hers. She reached down and gripped it, her thumb sweeping across the head.
Conall
growled into her mouth. “God, Miki-baby.” His hands gripped her shirt and pulled it over her head. Her bra went next. Then he was kissing her down her body as he dragged the sweat pants and panties off her. He kissed his way back up, lingering on her breasts. Then her neck. Kissing her again. Taking his time to explore her mouth.
His body always felt so good to her. So right next to hers. He moved over her and she felt his dick slide into her. Her back arched almost throwing
Conall
off.
He felt so good inside her. He wasn’t wearing a condom and her muscles gripped him tight, pulling him deep. He growled again and she felt it across her body.
His thrusts were slow and deep and she was completely lost in them. Her body arched against his, loving the feel of his flesh. Nothing had ever felt so right before.
And before she knew it, an orgasm slammed into her and she gripped
Conall
to her tight. Then he was coming inside of her. And another orgasm rocked her just after the last one ended. She gripped
Conall’s
chest with her teeth and bit down. She tasted blood and, before she knew it, she was licking his wound clean. As both their bodies settled down, she unclamped her teeth and released his flesh, but she held on tight to the man.
“I love you, Viking,” she whispered, enjoying her dream moment.
“I love you, Miki-baby.” Then her dream man started snoring.
Chap
ter Fifteen
Conall
woke up when the sun hit his eyes through the window. He felt great. Better than great. That was the cool thing about the fever. If you survived it, you usually felt better than you did before you got hurt.
Miki was in his arms and he relished it. Especially since the last thing he remembered from the night before was having a huge screaming argument with her. But he didn’t want to think about that now. He pulled her closer and she sighed softly in her sleep.
As right as this all felt, he knew something was wrong. He just couldn’t quite figure out what. He looked down at her. She was asleep and beautiful as always. She was also naked and had her limbs around him. It took him a second, but he realized that he was inside her. Inside her without a condom.
Uh-oh.
The pillow behind her head had blood on it. He winced as he gently reached around and touched the back of her neck. Then it was her turn to wince from him touching the wound.
He remembered that the day before she’d been going into heat. He leaned in and sniffed her. Her scent had changed. Which meant only one thing.
He closed his eyes.
She is going to kick my ass
.
She stirred underneath him and he immediately got hard again. Boy, was this bad timing.
Miki stretched, her arms going wide, pushing him off and out of her. She yawned and rubbed her hands over her face. She looked around and then seemed to remember why she was…well, wherever the hell they were.
“
Conall
?” She turned and looked at him. “
Conall
? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,
Mik
. I’m fine.” She leaned over to him and felt his forehead. Her bare breasts rubbed against his arm and he had the sudden urge to have her again.
“Your fever broke. That’s good.” She gave him the oddest expression. Then she suddenly launched herself into his arms. He was so startled, he fell back on the bed. He tightened his arms around her as she hugged him tight. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
He closed his eyes. Nothing ever felt so right as when this woman was in his arms. And knowing that she actually cared about him enough to worry… nothing before had ever made him feel so good.
Miki, clearly not comfortable with showing her emotions, pulled herself out of his arms. She sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m really sorry about yesterday,
ya
know.” She glanced at him, then turned away again. “You took me by surprise. And I just never thought you’d want… I just never had…” She shook her head and he saw her smile. “Forget it. We’ll talk about this later. Really talk. You and me. Okay?”
But before he could answer her. Before he could tell her the decision had already been made for them, she slid out of bed and headed to the bathroom. “When I’m done, I’ll let Van Holtz and the Pack know you’re okay.”
Christ, they were on another Pack’s territory. Well that explained the strange wolf scent that he smelled everywhere.
Conall
lay back on the bed and waited. Waited for her to realize what had happened. She probably thought like he first did. That it had been a dream. But he had marked her. She was his. Would be for life. And there would never be another woman for him. Never.
But he knew Miki almost better than he knew himself now. She wasn’t going to take this well. She’d feel trapped. And she hated feeling trapped. He was having trouble remembering last night but he knew that they’d been caught up in something primal and older than most of the gods. In fact, he was almost positive she’d told him to mark her. Knew what he intended without him actually saying it. The wolf in him wanted her. Knew she was the mate for him. And she was. She could have run yesterday. Taken off with
Conridge
and never looked back. But she’d faced down a vicious clan of hyenas to protect him and his Pack mates. She hadn’t even been worried about herself. Only him. Those were the actions of a mate.
His
mate.
He heard the toilet flush and
Conall
counted. “Five. Four. Three. Two…”
“
Conall
!”
“One.” He sighed and waited.
Miki stormed out of the bathroom, wearing only white sweat socks and a really pissed off look.
“What the fuck is this?” She pointed at the back of her neck.
He didn’t bother to look. Not when she was standing in front of him naked. “My mark.”
She stared at him. He waited for it. The explosion of anger. The rants. All of it. He knew it was coming. But it didn’t come. Miki just stared at him. Then she silently grabbed her clothes off the floor and returned to the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind her. Okay. That was
definitely
not the reaction he was expecting. He expected rage. Rage he knew how to deal with. Whatever she was going through at the moment, they didn’t even have a name for.
He got off the bed and pushed the bathroom door open. She had gotten on her shirt and panties but that was it. Now she sat on the edge of the bathtub holding her sweatpants in her hand and staring down at the floor.
“Miki?”
She looked up at him. Her dark eyes glittered in the well-lit bathroom. “You just couldn’t let me decide for myself, could you?”
This was controlled rage. And this worried him. When she was ranting and raving, he knew she was just being wacky Miki. But this… this was Miki who blew the head off a lion.
“It wasn’t like that
Mik
and you know it.”
She sighed. Calmly. He was getting more and more freaked out by the second.
“I’m going back to Texas,
Conall
.”
He crouched down next to her. He gently laid his hand on her leg. “No.” He spoke softly. He wanted her to know that she was safe. Safe with him. “Not until we talk about…
ow
!” She’d punched him. Right in the nose. “What the hell was that for?”
“Because you’re a lying sack of shit! That’s what that’s for!” Yeah. There was the Miki he knew and loved. “I’m going back to Texas and you can’t fucking stop me!”
Conall
stood up, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and blocked the doorway. “No. You’re not.”
***
She stared at him. Those big, giant arms, crossed in front of that big, giant chest. His big legs braced apart. He was completely blocking the doorway. Hell, he was completely blocking her. And she didn’t like it one damn bit.
“I wasn’t asking you,
Conall
.”
“You’re not running away from this. From us.”
Us?
At what point did the booty call turn into an “us.” She dropped her head in her hands in pure frustration. He was making her nuts. “There is no ‘us’. There will never be an ‘us’.”
“Why?”
Okay. Why did that question throw her? “Because.”
“Because why?”
Christ, it was like talking to a ten year old. “Because I said so.”
He smiled. “That the best you can do, Miki-baby?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“It never bothered you before.”
She stood up and pulled on the sweatpants. “Well, it bothers me now.”
He stepped toward her and she stepped back. “And why is that?” She backed up against the stainless steel sink as he moved in front of her. “Because I usually say that when I’m inside you? When you’re coming and screaming my name?”