Sleeping With the Wolf (13 page)

But let’s save some of that for later, okay? Take off your pants and—”

“No, no, sweetheart. It’s not time for me to let my warrior of love conquer your tunnel yet.”

“Your
what
?”

“My penis. He will have to wait a while yet. We’re not ready for that step yet.”

“No! I mean, yes, we are!”

“Your tunnel is wet, sweetheart. Slick. Is it always like this?”

Carla lifted her head to see his face peering at her with wonder. “No. I get like that only when you’re kissing me or touching me.”

Taye pressed a gentle kiss to the inside of her thigh. “You are precious, a better mate than I had even hoped for.”

“Taye, quit dragging this out. I want you now!”

But Taye paid no attention to her protest. His teeth and tongue and fingers were busy with her castle walls and pearl of delight and exploring her tunnel. She clenched her teeth against a moan and tried to not writhe against him. “Stop torturing me, Taye! Please!”

He lifted his head, and his eyes were unfocused. “I think we’ll skip a few more steps tonight,” he muttered in a rough voice.

“Thank God,” she began to say, but he picked her up and carried her to the bed with long strides.

His plan with the multiple painstaking steps seemed to dissolve as soon as he pushed down his sweatpants and flung himself into the bed with her. His hand took hold of one of her thighs to open her wide while the other held her hands together over her head. His cock pushed against her opening, parting her in the most delicious way as he slid forcefully in. It had been so long since she had been with a guy. Was that why Taye felt so wonderful? Or was it just Taye? She didn’t know and she didn’t care.

Someone was panting hoarsely, almost growling, and she wasn’t sure which of them it was. Opening her eyes to look up at him, she saw his face clenched and his teeth bared.

He didn’t look nearly as in control as he had earlier when he had been going from one step of his seduction to the next. His dark brown eyes glowed almost wolf-golden, sightless when he growled and panted and bit the pillow beside her head. He sawed back and forth inside her, sliding easily in their juices. Each time he pushed so deeply within her she felt her tremors intensify. Her orgasm seemed to explode inside her like a nuclear bomb. He continued to move forcefully inside her while she shook and trembled like a leaf dancing in the wind until he reared up on his knees and let out a howl that could have woke the dead. Held by thigh and wrists, she came up with him, almost howling herself.

He let her go, and flopped down beside her, panting. She was panting herself, body still humming with climax.

“Sweetheart, did he hurt you?” Taye was up on one elbow again, running his hand frantically over her throat and shoulders. “Did he mark you?”

“Who?”

“My wolf. I lost control.” He sounded like he was confessing to mass murder. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m
really
fine.” Carla tried to smother a giggle, but it burst out. “That was wonderful, Taye.”

“He didn’t bite you? I felt him biting.”

Carla reached up and laid her hand on his cheek. So it
had
been the wolf she’d seen watching her. Should that repulse her? She wanted to brush away the guilt and worry she heard in his voice. “No, Taye, you didn’t hurt me. You—he bit the pillow. Don’t you know?”

He hid his face against her shoulder. “My wolf broke out. That hasn’t happened since I was a boy. I couldn’t stop him. He could have mauled you!”

Carla put her arm tight around his back. “Taye, he didn’t hurt me at all. When your father—your father’s wolf bit your mother she was running away, right? I wasn’t running away. In fact, I was doing my best to get as close to you as I possibly could. Didn’t you say that a wolf wouldn’t hurt his mate?”

“Normally, no. But he was so strong tonight…”

She put her fingers through the sweat damp hair at his nape. “Did you know what was happening? It was your body, right?”

He lifted his head from her shoulder and lifted up on his elbow to meet her eyes with shame in his own. “I knew what was happening, but I wasn’t in charge of it. I wanted our first time to be perfect. My plan for our wedding night didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I wanted you to find pleasure before I did.”

“Taye, I went before you did, believe me. Any more pleasure than that and I might have had a heart attack. You came after me.” She searched his dark eyes. “Are you okay?

Didn’t you feel anything?”

“I felt everything.” Remembered pleasure warmed his eyes. “It was…”

“Wow,” she supplied.

“Wow,” he agreed. He lay down beside her and lifted her head to his shoulder. “But I want to be in control next time we make love. I don’t know if my wolf will let me, though. What if next time he breaks out again?”

Carla stroked his chest. “Then I’ll tell him to go back because I want to be with you this time. Unless you plan to torture me again by dragging things out forever.”

“It’s fun to watch you squirm.” He sounded innocent.

“Maybe I should be the one to torture you,” she threatened. “You never even let me touch you tonight.”

Taye’s voice went from teasing to serious. “I’m Alpha. I have to be in control. I don’t know how to not be.”

“Taye…” Carla sighed. “That’s not fair. Marriage is a two-way street. I can see how you’d need to be in control in other areas. But here in our bedroom? We’re private. It’s just us. I won’t tell anyone if you let me be on top once in a while.”

Taye thought about it. “The time after this next one you can be in charge,” he offered generously.

“Oh, good. That will give me some time to plan my One Hundred Steps To Torture Taye With.”

*

They teased back and forth for a while longer, until Carla dropped off to sleep. Taye continued to hold her, deeply thankful that his wolf hadn’t harmed her. In his mind he sought out his wolf. They couldn’t really speak to each other, but they communicated with feelings and some mental images. Taye made it clear to his wolf that Carla was precious, and when it came lovemaking, he, the human partner, would be in charge. The wolf made it clear that Taye had been hurting their mate by making her wait for his body, so he had taken over. Taye wondered if the wolf was right. Carla had protested more than once. She had wanted to touch him. He didn’t want to lose control. Maybe she was right.

In private he could pretend to submit to her. He told the wolf that from now on he would let Carla take control of their lovemaking at least some of the time, and he should butt out.

With that issue resolved, Taye curled up around Carla’s wonderfully bare body and went to sleep.

Chapter Eight

There was daylight coming through the curtains when Carla woke, and it took her a minute to remember what had happened last night. She reached for Taye, but the bed was empty, and she didn’t hear him in the bathroom. She stretched, curling her toes against the mattress. What a night! Taye was a forceful lover. She was going to have to teach him that lovemaking didn’t have to be a fight for dominance. It was give and take equally.

She had as much right to touch him and make him tremble as he did to touch her. It was a shame he was gone. She’d like to start the lessons now.

The air outside the cozy bedclothes was warm. Taye must have put wood in the stove before he left. Just a few days ago she had been terrified by the idea of being his mate.

But everything he did was for her comfort. He showed how much he cared not by saying it but by doing it. Maybe it wasn’t true love. Her mother had told her once years ago that love was a verb, not just a noun. She said true love was built over years of standing together and working together even when things were hard. She and Taye had known each other only a few days. But what they had could grow into true love. She was sure of it.

Carla folded back the covers and got up, stretching. One thing she was going to need pretty soon was a robe. All she had was Taye’s T-shirt. She saw a note on the table and went to pick it up. The paper was thick, probably homemade. The writing was carefully formed. She wondered, as she unfolded the paper how much time a werewolf spent reading and writing. Had Taye gone to school? There was still so much she didn’t know about him. She read the note.

Sweetheart, I have gone hunting. I’ll be back before supper. There is hot water for a
bath. Love, Taye.

Hot water! A week ago she hadn’t valued hot water the way she should have. She went into the bathroom and luxuriated in a hot shower. Then she combed her wet hair and braided it and put on her same clothes. The blood stains hadn’t come out. Shopping was going to be a priority. She would talk to Taye about it when he got home. Meanwhile, she would eat, then work on her music for the concert on Sunday.

The den was almost deserted. Apparently most of the wolves were gone hunting.

There were two men in the rec room, and she was pretty sure they were human, not wolf born. How she knew that she wasn’t sure. One was blond and the other had light brown hair, but both were wearing the wolves’ usual dress of nothing at all. She nodded at them as she went into the kitchen and scooped herself some lukewarm oatmeal and grabbed an apple. She ate the oatmeal quickly and took the apple and her guitar back to her room.

As always, Carla lost herself in her music. She was able to write the song for Mr.

Gray. It talked about sweet Kylie and the young Mr. Gray who loved her. She used the guitar as a symbol of their love, how they took turns carrying it on their journey to a new home and how its songs had strengthened them on the long weary evenings of the journey. With only the guitar for an instrument it was a simple sweet melody. It was, Carla thought, possibly the best song she had ever written, and she wished she could record it. She thought only an hour had passed, but when she came back to herself she found the sun was low, and noises in the hallway indicated that the wolves were back from hunting. And she was starving.

She laid aside her guitar and went out to see about supper and if Taye was back yet.

He was right outside their door, holding a large cloth-wrapped parcel. It was almost as large as she was. He dropped it on the floor and leaned into her. His weight rested solidly against her chest and pushed her back into the closed door of their room. He smiled into her eyes and kissed her. The kiss started out as an almost chaste peck and immediately grew into something hot. Just about the time she was going to open the door and pull him in for privacy, he let go of her. His white teeth gleamed in a grin.

“I have a present for you, sweetheart,” he announced, hoisting up the bundle.

“Another one? Taye, you shouldn’t have.” The words were automatic, the product of a childhood with a mother who drilled good manners into all four of her sons and her only daughter. “What is it?”

“Come with me,” he invited. “This isn’t just from me. It’s from the whole Pack.”

Every member of the Pack must have been in the rec room, smiling at her like eager children. Taye led her through them and out to the yard and around the back to where the stable was. The entire Pack followed along behind her. There was a mare there, a solid bay with a white blaze that ran over her nose to a point between her eyes and white stockings on both front legs.

“This is Wind in the Grass,” Taye murmured. “She’s got endurance and speed enough to carry you away from danger. She is yours. A gift from the Pack. Go, make her acquaintance.”

Carla wanted to run to the horse, but she controlled herself and approached gently.

By the looks of her neck and head she had some Arabian in her, but her body was strong and blocky, her legs sturdy. The mare seemed calm, and let Carla look in her mouth, but watched everything carefully. Carla guessed she was three or four years old.

The man with the sweet smile, Quill, came out of the stable with a saddle and a pad.

“This saddle is for you, Lupa,” he said through his hair. Carla’s hand itched to pull that mass of golden brown curls back so she could see his face. “It will be in the tack room when you’re ready to ride.”

Taye caught her sleeve. “Not tonight, sweetheart.” He bent to murmur in her ear, “If you want to ride tonight, I’m at your service.”

It took Carla a second to catch his innuendo. She blushed and gave him a wild look before noticing the members of the Pack were smiling wickedly. She blushed harder and gave Taye a glare. Taye smiled angelically.

Taye and the Pack took her back to the rec room to the table near the fireplace and swept an arm at a chair set beside the fireplace. Carla hadn’t seen that chair before. It was deeply padded and upholstered in leather.

“This is your chair,” Taye told her. “Mikey and Alec made it for you.”

Two men stepped forward, both with Native American features, but with their dark hair cut short like Taye’s They were shy, but clearly proud of their creation as they showed off how the padded arms could be lowered so they wouldn’t be in the way while she played her guitar. Carla was touched and thanked them sincerely for the gift. Then Taye unwrapped the big bundle he had been carrying earlier.

“Here are a few things for you until we can go shopping for new clothes for you.”

First he held up a pair of loose pants with a drawstring waist, then a dark blue button-up shirt. Then, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat he unfolded and held up a full-length leather coat lined with dark fur. “I promised I would dress you in fur like a Russian princess.”

The wolves all howled when Taye helped her put it on. It was double-breasted, fastening with buttons carved from bone. The hem hit her just below the knee. Taye put his arms around her from behind and breathed deeply against her neck. “When I’m not near to keep you warm, this will,” he murmured into her ear.

The light brush of his lips made her shiver. “It’s beautiful.”

“You are beautiful,” he corrected.

Though they had spoken softly, the Pack heard and howled agreement. “You’re our Lupa!” said one man. “Only the best for our Lupa!” shouted another. “Kiss!” called Sky.