Authors: Nikki Winter
Finally Ransom shifted and sat back, leaning on his elbows as his gaze raked over her. She kept her eyes on his face and his face only because if she allowed them to venture any lower, she’d be lost.
Control.
“You’ve been hiding from me.” He accused.
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I don’t hide from anybody at any time.”
His head cocked a bit. “And yet, you’ve been scurrying off every day, away from me and everyone else, like a hare that knows it’s being watched by a fox.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “And I take it you’re the fox?”
Ransom’s smile was...feral. It sent a shudder down her spine that had nothing to do with fear or revulsion. The walls of her sex clenched and she barely stopped herself from letting out a startled yip when he suddenly stood and her eyes caught sight of the effortless beauty his body held. There were so many scars along with what looked to be tattooed paw marks that stretched from his left hip all the way up his hard bricked torso and across his chest just to stop at his right pec. Every part of him was tan and strong.
He wasn’t bulky but he wasn’t slim either. She couldn’t even describe him as having a linebacker’s body. There was muscle stacked on top of muscle but so proportionate that it didn’t look unnaturally formed.
His shoulders were incredibly wide, as was his chest, leading to a defined stomach, cut pelvis, lean hips and huge thighs that ended in well-developed calves and long feet. The man was...perfection. And the tree trunk that lazily hung between his legs? Well that was just...it was unfair. For a brief moment she asked herself who would be brave enough to attempt placing that in
any
orifice on their body.
Me. I’d do it. I’d go where no sane she-predator has gone before. I’d break him
and
his giving tree.
Apparently he was more than a little comfortable with his body because he made no attempt to cover it, just came down the stairs and stood before her in all his naked glory.
So should I just bend over now or...? No! No you will not! Get your eyes off his cock! Now! Right now goddammit!
Fallon swallowed, looking away from Ransom’s clear lack of modesty towards the sky. “Nothing even adjacent to a fuck is being given by you right now.”
He snorted. “Do I have something to be ashamed of?”
She tucked her lips in, refusing to answer that.
Ransom stepped closer and moved his head over her own until she looked at him. “Why are you hiding from me?”
“I’m not—”
“Don’t bullshit me.” He cut in before she could finish. “You’ve been on ninja stealth mode for the last three days.”
“Which is your business how?”
His brow quirked just the tiniest bit.
Fallon threw up her hands. “Maybe I haven’t been around because I don’t like you and I’m counting down the days until you’re off my territory.”
He nodded. “Maybe...or maybe you like me too much and you’re trying to bypass the attraction the both of us feel when we’re near one another.”
That
hit too close to home. “I don’t even
know
you.”
Ransom shrugged. “You know enough.”
Taking a step backwards as he took one forward and the scent of tea tree hit her squarely in the face, she gritted out, “What is it that you want from me?”
He stared at her for the longest time. “Do you really want the answer to that question?”
“
Yes.”
The look he gave her made her incredibly uncomfortable, like
my pussy requests permission to borrow your face for a moment
uncomfortable. Then he answered, quite simply, “You, Fallon. I want
you.”
With one hand he reached out and ran his thumb over her bottom lip and that simple touch alone caused her lids to slide close. “From the moment I saw this mouth all I wanted was you.”
She shook her head, trying to get the haze of lust to fade as her logic began to fog. “You want me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His silence made her open her eyes. “Because it would be fun to fuck the frigid bitch?” She snarled.
His brows drew downwards as she moved out of reach. “Because you think I’m so desperate for a cock that I’ll bounce on yours then be grateful enough that you looked my way to hand you the one thing that means the world to me?” Fallon’s heart sped up as her anger—the anger that she’d learned to control over the years—came roaring up inside of her; her wolf moving restlessly just beneath the surface of her skin. “Do I look desperate to you, Ransom?” He was the one backing up now. “Do I seem so pathetic that I’d take whatever you throw my way? You think a few gifts and a compliment is going to make me heel like a fucking whelp?”
When the grizzly remained silent, Fallon roared, “Well?!”
He smirked at her.
Smirked!
Like she wasn’t a few seconds away from ripping out his intestines and playing jump rope with them! “Oh, are you done now?”
Her fists clenched at her sides and when her claws dug into her palms she realized how much control she’d lost. “Am I
done?”
Ransom gave her an indulgent smile. “Sometimes you have to let a pup chase their tail before they realize how stupid what they’re doing is.”
“You motherfu—”
When he caught her by the t-shirt and jerked her towards his body, leaning over her until she bent backwards a bit, Fallon brought up her left hand, intent on giving him a few more paw marks...on his face but he caught it and simply pinned it behind her back.
“Oh woe is me,” Ransom mocked in a high-pitched voice that sounded absolutely nothing like her! “Allow me to sing you a tune to the wailing sounds of my violin about how cold hearted I am and how no one is attracted to me because I scowl. A sad, sad tune about my clear trust issues and my inability to see that I am fucking desirable. A song about how I can’t see what’s staring me right in the face.”
She tried to pull away from him then but he just held tighter.
“Listen to how miserable I am because I won’t open my mouth and say what I really want—which is a nice
long, pleasant
fuck.”
“You son of a bitch!” Fallon fought to get out of his grasp.
“I am Fallon,” He continued. “Hear me roar my obvious discomfort about not being able to control something for once—my desire to have a man who won’t try to make me submit but will show me how goddamn wonderful it can be if I so choose.”
“Stop it, Ransom.”
“Watch me get good and pissed off when I realize my pussy is
soaked
just from standing next to a man who not only challenges my ideas on the male and female dynamic but challenges me
period.
Without fear, without hesitation and without giving a fuck about what rationality truly is.” He let her shirt and arm go just to grab her by the shoulders and press his forehead to her own, ignoring the fact that she was panting now. “Listen to me and realize that I can’t express how I really feel without being vulnerable so instead I’m going to project and lash out until you do something no one else has done before.” One huge hand came up and ran through her hair before pulling her head back with a firm hold. “Until you take control...”
Then his mouth was there, on hers, causing her breath to seize in her lungs as his lips roughly demanded that she yield to him. And there was nothing that she could do
but
that very thing. His tongue speared into her mouth and touched her own, rubbing up against it in such a way that her legs began to shake. It wasn’t soft, it wasn’t sweet, it demanded complete and total acquiescence and that’s what she gave.
Fallon melted against him as his coarse palms found their way beneath the back of her t-shirt, sliding up her spine until she growled. He growled back and her nipples hardened painfully, her pussy now clenching on air, begging to be filled as Ransom pulled her closer, his erection pressing into her belly. He locked his arms around her and stood fully, bringing Fallon off the ground by at least a foot then he began to walk them up the stairs of her cabin. Everything inside her pleaded for this man’s hands, his tongue, his dick. Every inch of her skin simply wanted the opportunity to find itself enveloped in his scent.
She wanted Ransom. She wanted him so bad that tears pricked the backs of her eyes and her wolf began to whimper. So when he placed her on her feet outside of her door and separated his body from her own, Fallon really did yip.
He backed away slowly, until his feet touched the grass and kept his now shifted gaze on hers. “I don’t want you desperate for
a
cock, Fallon.” Ransom panted. “I want you desperate for
mine.”
Without another word, the bastard shifted and took off, leaving her to stand and stare blankly at where he’d just been; wondering if she’d respect herself in the morning should she breakdown and cry right then and there.
***
Ransom ran. And he kept running until the urge to roar faded; until the need to run back to Fallon and fuck her through the floor slowly began to ease. He could still taste her, feel her lips on his. He could still hear those little whimpers that came from the back of her throat with every stroke of his tongue against hers.
He could still feel the way her hands had clenched his shoulders. He could still recall the way her eyes had locked on him the moment he let her go, as if he were prey. Ransom shook his head and let his paws dig into the soft dirt surrounding Hanging Lake before he took off in a full on haul towards the water, allowing his bulk to crash through the surface before coming up human.
Lazily, he floated on his back, staring at the stars hanging over his head and trying to ignore the pulsing in his cock. He had no doubt that he could’ve had Fallon right there on her porch but he knew that tomorrow would’ve started off with him waking up alone and he had no desire to be pushed away.
His simple intent had been to talk to her, get her to tell him why she was fighting something so natural. Ransom had given her another full day before he hunted her down; the need to see her, be near her too great to be ignored anymore. And now he knew. He knew why no other female would do it for him. He knew why he didn’t feel the restless need to be anywhere else in the world while she was around. He knew why the scent of wildflowers and Summer berries made lust surge through him without the slightest provocation. And he finally understood why one picture, one simple smile had led him here.
Fallon Wilder was his mate. And God help anyone who tried to stop him from claiming what was his.
Chapter 9
“I heard the bitch has been out and about lately.”
Brody cringed at the sound of his brother’s voice, tamping down on the urge to get up and leave the house, the pack, completely. He didn’t hate his sibling. But he didn’t exactly have warm and fuzzy feelings about him either. There was something about Mason that had always set his back teeth on edge. As a child he hadn’t trusted his brother and as an adult those instincts hadn’t changed. Why? Because he was well aware that if Mason got the slightest chance to use Brody to get what he wanted—even if it meant killing him in the process—he wouldn’t hesitate.
Only someone stupid would close their eyes to that. And despite popular belief Brody wasn’t stupid. Nor was he weak but if it kept his pack balanced and his silent rivalry with his brother from crossing a line that couldn’t be uncrossed, he’d continue to pretend he was. He had no desire to be Alpha and even less desire to spend his days trying to prove himself with bullshit shows of strength. For what? He was content with what he had. The problem was Mason would
never
be content. Like a parasite, he just had to keep moving from host to host, taking everything he could until there was nothing left. The biggest problem was that their youngest brother, Aaron, was following in those same footsteps and that meant dealing with
two
Masons...Brody didn’t like that possibility
at all.
At twenty, his sibling should’ve been worried about school and girls, not planning a takeover. Brody wondered if it would still be this way had their father been alive. He doubted it. The old man would have a better leash on his brothers than he did at the moment.
It wasn’t just that Aaron was being manipulated and couldn’t seem to see it; it was the fact that the kid would do nothing but get himself killed if he kept up with Mason. Brody was worried, and he didn’t worry about much.
He was well aware of why Aaron had a fucked up face and Mason had a limp. They weren’t giving up the fight for their neighboring pack’s land. In Brody’s mind, they’d gotten exactly what they deserved for their constant bullshit.
Wilder land was just that
Wilder land.
It no longer belonged to the Jericho bloodline and if Mason was smart, he’d let it go. Unfortunately, intelligence had never been the younger wolf’s strong suit. Fallon was a strong she-wolf and an even stronger alpha. Point. Blank. Days of contemplation on those simple facts had left him tired of his brother’s constant scheming. Surprisingly, he wasn’t alone in his opinion. Several of their pack members had expressed that Mason’s constant quest for more was beginning to get out of hand and they had begun to turn to Brody to stop it. But if Brody stopped it, he’d do something that he couldn’t take back, something that could possibly haunt him forever. So instead, he’d pull his head out of the lion’s mouth slowly.
“Really?” Brody finally answered, getting up from the kitchen table and walking towards a window, watching pups play in the backyard. Hearing playful yips and barks kept his anxiety to a minimum. An anxious Brody was a bad Brody.