Bayou Wolf (13 page)

“Not at all, Linc—here we are Sera and Linc. No formality. No protocol.”

Gaze locked on hers, he smiled. “Impossible.”

“Hmm, you like that word.”

“Sera, you will always be Alpha. You can’t not be what you are.” Stubborn certainty occupied the spaces between the words.

“True, but I am still Sera. Sera is Alpha. But the Alpha is not always Sera.” Raising a foot, she braced it to the dashboard. “Being Alpha…it is who I am, but it is not all of me no matter how much of me it consumes. Linc—I
like
you.”
Liar, you more than like.
Yet, she held the depth of her interest in reserve. She didn’t suspect the male sitting next to her of startling easy, but he was as set in his ways as she in hers. Coaxing him would be better—for both of them.

His lips quirked into a smile. “I like you, too. Maybe too much.”

“No such thing.” Flicking a look out the window, she studied the snow falling. “Will you tell me why you’re so worried about doing something wrong? And by wrong, I mean whatever it is you happen to think it is.”

Bumping his fist lightly on the steering wheel, he exhaled a harsh breath. “I’ve got a bad temper. I’ve always had one.” She hadn’t as yet seen the temper, even when she pushed him so hard the night before.

Accepting him at his word, however, answered some of his aggravation. “All right.”

“No it’s not all right,” he growled, then clenched his fists.

“Yes, it is. You have a temper. We’re wolves. We’re allowed to be pissy sometimes.” Who had taught him otherwise?

“No. Not when temper can cost us—several years ago, my brothers and I went out for a roam. We were graduated high school, we wanted to celebrate and just—boys being boys.” He stared straight ahead. “It was us getting away from Willow Bend, partying, hanging out—no responsibilities. Ty had taken some hits and we wanted to distract him. No parents to chastise. We’re just guys being guys.”

Don’t push
. She didn’t need the insight to know he needed her patience.

“It was fine until…A.J. heard something, then we all scented the blood. A woman was hurt and fighting. He took off like a shot, with Ty and I right behind him. We found Vivian…bloody, badly injured and the human who tried to hurt her just as she killed him.”

Fierce control locked down her reactions, Sera maintained her façade of calm. Every word he spoke rode a punctuation of snarls.

“I’ve never seen A.J. angry, he’s always been the most level-headed of the three of us, but he attacked the body. Something in him said protect her, so I was right there with him. We helped her, but made too much noise or something. The next thing I know, the cops are there and A.J.’s arrested. He ordered Ty and me to stay out of it. I was pissed. I wanted to help my brother, but I had to protect Vivian. She was a mess. When Toman heard about it, he made us come home.” Darkness crowded his voice, his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.

Brushing her fingers across the backs of his hands, she offered him the comfort of touch, a reminder he wasn’t alone.

“Toman forbid us from doing anything to help A.J. He got sent to prison, and we weren’t allowed to visit him. ‘Better to forget,’ Toman told us. ‘Better to leave him there.’ Better for the pack. A.J. killed a human, he’d violated our laws, so better the human prison, right?” Linc shook his head. “It fucking killed me to say nothing. A.J. told us we had to do nothing about it. Keep his secret was all I had left. Toman watched us, though, watched our parents.”

Separation could be brutal on paired wolves and siblings—how would it affect those as tight as triplets? Understanding the twin bond Jerome and Trish shared gave her some insights, but she’d heard Linc on the phone with A.J. Slowly the tension in his hands eased under her touch.

“I went for Hunter training a year later. I had to do
something
. I was too angry…and I nearly killed my trainer.”

Surprise unfurled within her. “Trainers are typically highly skilled.”

“I know that—and so does he. But only three people know what happened the night I lost it. Ty and A.J. both do—Ty because he helped me after and A.J. because I told him the truth.”

“The third is your trainer.”

He nodded. “He’s a good man—more forgiving than I would be. He wanted to push me because he felt like I was holding back, said I had all the right skills. I could track. I could fight. I knew when people were lying, but…I wouldn’t commit to the task. A Hunter…”

“They have to be committed because you will be asked to discipline, to police, and to protect the pack. You have to give everything so the pack knows they come first and their safety is before your own.” Her Hounds gave everything of themselves, understanding their years on the front lines would be one hundred percent pack all the time, and they could be asked to do anything, go anywhere—even die for the pack if necessary.

“Exactly, so he pushed me…pushed me to commit. He used psychology,” he said the last with a twist of his mouth. “Accused me of failing the pack when I let the humans take A.J. I don’t really remember what he said after, I snapped. I went for him. If Ty hadn’t been on his way to see me that night…I left Hunter training a month later. My trainer didn’t want me, too. He thought I should continue to try, thought I had great potential. But I talked to our Healer and her mate. They thought until I could confront what made me angry, I needed to step back. I couldn’t confront what I was angry about…”

“Because your brother was still in prison and your Alpha cut you off even further.” Anger swelled in her breast. She’d never thought much of Toman before, even experienced some notes of pleasure when she’d heard Mason claimed Alpha challenge and killed him.
Too bad the bastard isn’t still alive. I’d kill him for this.
What Alpha isolated sibs? Caged them as effectively as their brother?

“I’d worked with wood before, so I went back to it afterward. Building is better than tearing down. I avoided other wolves if I could help it. Well, except for Ty. But Ty was hurting too. A few months ago, his mate came home…it’s a long a story and not mine, except I was pissed she’d come and tried to hurt him again. I all but picked her ass up and threw her out of our house.”

Oh.
Sera grimaced. “Ty saw you?” Only one way for that story to end.

“I couldn’t see past the fact she’d hurt him. Of course, he attacked me for touching her and…I beat the hell out of my brother and he beat the hell out of me.” He touched two fingers to his shiner. “This is a love tap compared to what we did. Again, caused by my damn temper. When I care, I care too much. I’m not reasonable about it.”

Nodding slowly, she ran her fingers over his scalp. “You’re worried you care too much about me?”

Slanting her a sideways look, the corner of his mouth curved upward. “Woman, don’t be coy. I’m fucking crazy about you. You’re everything I never imagined wanting and now I can’t get you out of my head. It killed me to stay in the truck earlier when Cassius wanted to talk to you. Now you want me to go with you into a town full of wolves who might very well try to kill you…and peace or no peace, if they try anything? I’ll rip their damn arms off.”

He would, too. All that power and ferocity so wholly focused on protecting her—she really wanted to redirect some of his energy to more pleasurable pursuits. “You say it like the desire is a bad one.”

“It has nothing to do with solving a problem or fixing anything. Hell, it’s not even about pack.”

“So?” Skating her touch from his hairline to his jaw, she traced the bruise still darkening his cheek. “We’re
wolves
Linc. Part of being a wolf is the capacity for incredible violence in the defense of pack—of family—of…”
Not yet. He’s not ready yet.
“…friends. When Diesel came to the house last night, you were fully prepared to engage him, weren’t you?”

“Yes.” Zero hesitation. “Mason charged your safety to me.”

“So, for Mason, you’d have thrown yourself on that live grenade, understanding Alphas don’t take challenge well.” Amused, she enjoyed the rough heat of his skin beneath her fingertips.

“I said Mason charged me with your safety. I didn’t say I’d have done for him.” Warmth flooded his skin. If it were brighter in the SUV, she’d bet he blushed. The dichotomy between his open physicality and rampant emotions aroused her more than any display of strength or pigheadedness.

Time to push
. “Then why would you have done it?”

“You really want to make me say it.” He shook his head slowly, disbelief warring with amusement in his expression.

Now.
“Maybe,” she said, abandoning her relaxed pose and leaning over to nuzzle his bruised jaw. Feathering simple kisses to the injury soothed the agitation she’d had to ignore since the moment she noticed them. “Maybe I want to hear what you keep so carefully leashed. You do not frighten me Linc, nor does your temper. You were angry when you offered to fuck me on the porch, remember?”

“It’s not the same thing,” he said, groaning as she found a spot closer to his throat. He almost tipped his jaw to allow her greater access and she smiled, choosing to trace his earlobe with her tongue rather than nip his throat. “You’re changing the subject.”

“Oh no,” she promised. “The subject is you and what you’re upset about and why you keep holding back. It’s not your temper. It’s not even Mason.” Sliding her hand to his chest, she nipped his earlobe. “Though something Mason said to you between the campground where we met and the house started it, he isn’t holding you back.”

Covering her hand with his, Linc said, “If you were anyone else, I’d already be your lover.”

Anyone else…

“You’re Alpha, Sera. I’m not a fool. Being your lover would be a gift, but it wouldn’t be enough.”

Her stomach bottomed out at the admission.

“I want a lot more, and to have more…” He tugged his earlobe from her touch, and faced her. Brushing his nose lightly to hers, he met and held her gaze. His nostrils flared, drinking in her scent even as she wanted to drown in his.

Careful.
“Would life with me be so bad?”

The seat jerked backward. One snap and her seatbelt was gone. He’d hauled her into his lap. The tight fit pressed her ass snug against his very aroused cock and the steering wheel dug into her back. She embraced the former and ignored the latter.

“No,” he said. “I imagine life with you would be a lot of fun until you told me to
go away
and I had to fight the urge to stay where you were to protect you and obeying you because as Alpha, obedience is necessary, understanding isn’t. When you got bored with me?”

Raising her eyebrows, she nipped his lower lip and drew blood. Linc hissed at the contact.

“The hell?” His glare scorched her, but beneath the temper she courted remained the very real desire for her. Desire which warmed her from head to toe.

“My Hounds obey me because they are my Hounds. My wolves obey me, because I am
their
Alpha.”
It’s time, Linc. Time to acknowledge what you’re dancing around.
“You would be neither Hound nor my wolf and those rules would not apply.”

The bruise around his eye gave him a rakish appearance. He flexed his hands against her hips, the touch aggressive and gentle in equal measure. “I’d be your lover and you could discard…”

Covering his mouth with her palm was the only way to silence him before he finished the sentence. Releasing all pretense, she kept her voice low and controlled. “Never insult what I want to make mine again. You would never be
only
my lover…a lover is easily discarded, easily forgotten, a fond memory of a bygone day. Mason was once my lover. You are not him. I never wanted to keep him. I want to keep you. You would be my mate and I would beat senseless anyone who suggested I would be so careless as to discard a mate. Do I make myself clear?”

The wolf vanished from his eyes in a blink. He stroked his tongue across her palm. Shivers racing through her blood, she adjusted her grip to press her fingers against his collarbone, then leaned her weight into him, breasts crushing to his chest.

“Mate?” His voice dropped an octave. He leaned in and pressed his face to her throat, burying his nose to the point just above her pulse. Grasping his hair, she held him there. The position was dangerous, but not more so than the vulnerability he’d awoken in her simply by his presence. Heat pooled between her thighs as he took in her scent. “Sera?”

The need in his voice sent a haze across her vision. “Yes,” she whispered, rolling her hips to grind against his erection.
Yes.
Tell him all.
If he rejected her…she needed to know before they took another step. Once she had him, she would never let him go. “I want to chase you. I want to bite you. I want to feel every ounce of you filling me…and I want to feel your teeth at my throat, to have your bite and take me as yours. I want a mate, Linc. More—I want
you.
”

F
ace buried against her throat
, Linc drank in her scent like a junkie desperate for his next hit. Every inhale sent a pulse of lust straight to his cock. He flexed his grip on her hips, uncertain whether he wanted to halt the grinding motion of her ass riding him or increase the pressure. Stroking his tongue against her rapid pulse, he savored the salt and sweet taste of her skin.

Encapsulated in the SUV, surrounded by night and snow, all he could think about was they needed more room. The back seats laid down but they’d hardly be comfortable—or appropriate for the woman in his arms. No mistake, she was all woman and wolf.
Fierce. Proud. Beautiful.

Perfect
.

Covering the spot he’d licked with his lips, he drew on the skin gently and sucked it to his teeth. Her nails raked across his scalp and the ferocious grip she had on his hair intensified. Full, luscious breasts pressed against his chest and he wanted to rip aside the cloth so he could see them for himself, taste them and tease them.

He groaned. Maybe it was her. Or both. After releasing the skin he’d sucked, he lapped at the spot. So easy to take a bite, once, to sink his teeth in and make it permanent.

Mate.
She’d said.
I
want
you.
The words collided in his mind, already light-headed from her nearness, he fought a losing battle against the wildness she provoked. The singular goal of escort, protect and return crumbled under the demand to be closer to her. “Sera,” he kept his face pressed to her throat, craving the contact with her skin. “You barely know me.”

Her chuckle vibrated against him, and he closed his eyes. The sensation of her amusement tangled with lust and crashed against his senses, battering away at his reservations. “Everything I know about you appeals to me, Linc.” She tugged and he lifted his face, reluctant to meet her gaze and lose himself again. “Getting to know you will be a joy, even when you keep fighting being yourself around me.”

Unwilling to deny her, he let her push his head back. With gentle fingers, he explored the line of her cheek then down to her beautiful mouth. The contrast of his skin to hers fascinated him, but nothing more than the wolf steadily gazing at him from behind her eyes. The power in the animal, the sheer depth of her…she was so much more than he.

“I’m really not good enough for you.” No wolf would be. The very idea of another even attempting—his teeth clicked together. Diesel came to her because he wanted to know if she could mate him. Cassius wanted her for his own reasons. Hell—Linc growled. “We’re in a damn SUV in the middle of a snowstorm. Even if I wanted to strip you naked and explore all the ways I shouldn’t be touching you…your timing sucks.”

Laughter exploded from her and filled the confines of the vehicle. With more care than he possessed, she adjusted herself until she straddled him, her knees tucking down on either side of his thighs. Hands on his shoulders and her body leaned into him, she had him utterly pinned against the driver’s seat and his body surged at the idea.

“As hard as you kept trying to avoid this Linc? Yes, I think we’re in exactly the right place.” A nip to his injured lip. “In life, there is no such thing as the right time.” A kiss to his swollen eye. “Or the right place.” A nuzzle to the corner of his mouth. “Only the right wolf.”

Opening his mouth to her, he thrust his hand into her hair and dragged her close. Her tongue stroked his as he sought entrance. Fire and rain sparked inside him at the drugging taste of her on his tongue. He licked, exploring the flavor of her arousal as liquid heat rushed along his spine. The scent of her desire filled the vehicle. Tightening his grip on her hair, he pulled her head away, studying her expression and the way her eyelashes dipped over those golden eyes.

She didn’t hide from him, her lips pulled over her teeth as he slid a hand down to her spine to where her shirt tucked into her jeans, tugging the offending fabric up, he eased his fingers beneath to the flesh beneath. The dilation of her pupils encouraged him, and he worked between the denim cover her ass to find the lace panties, which tormented him hours before when she stood in the window.

The confined space of the car and the steering wheel didn’t afford him much room, but she arched forward, rising enough to allow him to work his hand in and he cupped her ass. The muscle beneath his palm went taut and his cock protested the equally tight confines of his jeans.

“I want you,” he told her, the pain of his cock against the zipper helping him leash the primitive drive to thrust into her whole and fuck the consequences. No—fuck her, and revel in the consequences.

Dazzling joy shone in her wide grin. “You can have me.”

Torment became his best friend. “Here?”

“Yes.”

God help him. “Now?”

With a move he hadn’t seen or anticipated, she snaked a hand between them and ripped the button from his fly, and tore the denim constricting his cock. Then her hand wrapped around him and he moaned at the fisted grip.

“Yes.” More an order than a plea, a growl sharpened the single syllable. Joy rolled through his chest. Her control slipped, though the hard stroke she gave him had him seeing stars. Digging his fingers against her ass, he squeezed.

“You need to strip,” he warned her. “Because if I do it, I’ll rip them off and I don’t know if you brought any others.” Outside the snow coated the windshield, and frosted it pressing him deeper into the forbidden world he created with Sera.

With her.
His heart squeezed.

She snapped her teeth so close to his face, the click resonated in his soul threatening the ties binding his sanity. “Dammit,” she whispered. No, she hadn’t brought a change of clothes. Neither had he—but she already had her hand on him and, fuck if he cared about the jeans. He’d go to the meeting in wolf form. It would make it all the easier to tear them apart, if necessary.

A flex of her hand around the base of his cock, then she stroked him to the tip. “No growling, my beautiful wolf. No one will bother us, and I will keep you safe.”

“And I you,” he promised. Something unlatched inside of him, loosening the chains he kept on his temper. She wanted him as he was, then take all of him. “I will kill anyone who touches you without your permission.”

“Ditto,” she whispered, then kissed him and the hypnotic slowness of her tongue gliding against his extinguished the raw fury and left only the possessiveness in its wake.

When she raised her head, he said, “On three, let me go and I will lay down the back. I expect you to be naked by the time it’s ready.”

Insane.

“Yes, sir,” she grinned. “One.”

They were on a road in the middle of nowhere, only a few miles from where they’d left the Hunter. If he came along…

Another stroke of her hand derailed the thought and he nipped her lip this time, careful to only graze the already swollen from his kisses lip with his teeth. No true harm could he ever inflict on her. His wolf agreed. Powerful perfection existed because she did.

“Two,” he warned, dragging his hand from beneath her jeans and aching at the loss of contact immediately. Her snarl pleased him enormously, but not the loss of her hand as she released him. His hips lifted almost involuntarily trying to follow her and she laughed.

Cruel and loving in equal measure, she whispered, “Three.”

Galvanized, he lifted as she scrambled and he set her back in the passenger seat. Nearly ripping the driver’s side door off, he pushed it open then stepped out into the rapidly descending blizzard. The bracing wind slapped at him, and gave him some clarity from the drunk on Sera feeling. After closing the door, he hurried to the back.

Outfitted for Hunters who spent their time traveling, the SUV should have everything he needed. Raising the rear door, he reached in and released the latches on the back seat. It flattened perfectly. An air mattress lay inside the bag closet to the door, flipping it open, he hit the battery powered inflator and stripped off his jacket, and shirt. Then tugged off his shoes. The snow flurried around him and he hurried. A second bag had two blankets and he snapped the first out, then stripped his jeans and tossed his clothes into the bag and began to crawl inside when she slid from between the driver and passenger seats, perfect breasts full and tipped with crowns of dark cocoa.

He forgot how to think or that the cold lashed at him. An economy of muscle and grace, she crawled toward him and paused once on the air mattress fully, then curled her finger. “Come here,” she ordered. “Now.”

Scrambling to obey, he slid into the confined space, then jerked the hatch closed. Darkness plunged around them, but Sera’s arms slid over him and she tugged him back until his head lay against her shoulder. One moment she was behind him, then she had him flat on his back and straddled his waist. With no room to rise above, she crouched, the promise of liquid heat teasing the tip of his cock and her tawny golden eyes burning down at him.

“Mine,” she informed him, her carnal possession branding him. Her hands flattened against his shoulders, even as he caught her breasts in his grip. They filled his hands, so warm and curved. With his thumbs, he traced the hardened nipples and the urge to take them in his mouth and tease her until she screamed filled him. Her nails dug into his skin, and his gaze jerked back to her eyes. He wanted to see her, to explore, to play and tease.

Pleasure her until they were both blind from it.

“Mine,” she repeated, the single syllable demanding all of his attention.
Sera. Alpha. Wolf. Beautiful.

“Yours,” he promised, sliding his hand to her nape. She’d let him at her throat twice, could he do any less? “Yours.”
Mate.
His wolf howled and Linc arched his head, baring his throat to the wolf above and she rubbed against him, then his cock nudged her entrance briefly before she slid down his length, thrusting him inside of her. Balls deep in velvet heaven, his mind went blank and then her teeth slammed down on the juncture of his throat and shoulder.

Pain and bliss intertwined as he sank home and she took him. The ties to Willow Bend frayed, unraveling and slipping away. He couldn’t breathe. A gaping hole wrenched open as though everything went sideways. The world went dark, blackness suffocating him as the finer strands tying him to his brothers went taut, and their hold on each other too fierce to be shredded.

The goddess above him moved, rising and then sinking her hips to his again. The friction pulled him back to earth, to Sera. The burn in his chest expanded as a new bond sizzled to life. Sliding his arms around her, he held fast, one hand on her back and the other in her hair.

The bite ended, then she struck again as he thrust into her. They found their rhythm and the night filled with tawny stars. His soul rushed forward as eager to drive into her as his body. Dizzy from the speed of the world tipping, he found new bonds exploding around them, a giddying force from thousands of different directions all pulsing toward a single force, the same woman he tumbled toward.

All paths led to Serafina. Her wolf seemed to wrap around him and the wild ride gentled. She laved at the mark on his throat, then rose to kiss him. The fusion of her mouth to his beckoned his tongue and he thrust it against hers with the same force as he flattened his feet to the air mattress and thrust his cock into the velvet grip of her sex.

She trembled and flexed around him. Every press of her breasts to his chest sent electricity along his raw nerves, all he could see, feel or taste was her and it wasn’t enough. With care he wrenched sideways then tumbled her beneath him. Her laughter powered him on. The position gave him greater access and he angled his thrusts, wanting to press her pleasure far before his world erupted.

The dig of her nails into his back encouraged and her gasp rewarded him. Every glide, he found a way to bump her higher and when he felt her tighten against him, he struck the gorgeous length of her throat. The taste of silk and spice flooded him as he marked her.

Mine.
His wolf roared inside him and the last piece snapped into place.
His wolf. His mate. His Sera.

Her climax struck, and she screamed. The sound rose as a howl, pulling his orgasm from him in one hot, fiery rush. Muscles trembling, he collapsed against her and licked the wound he’d created. Enfolded in her arms, he slowly became aware of her soothing sounds and the gentle stroke of her hands as she petted him all over.

Trapped between agony and ecstasy, he clung to her. He’d found his mate, his perfection…and lost Willow Bend in the same moment.

Happiness flooded his chest, but so did sadness.

“I have you.” Dark promise licked every word. “I’ll always have you.”

Yes. He was where he belonged. Sometimes life had to be shaken, changed and rearranged to relocate them where they needed to be. His brothers had both learned the lesson, but he’d never imagined where he belonged would be so far from them.

“I love you,” he told her when he could find his voice. “I will always have you.”

At her touch on his cheek, he raised his head and saw the tears glistening in her eyes. Tears for him, for his loss. Pressing a kiss to each one, he fought to find a smile and didn’t have to struggle long. The beautiful, powerful woman in his arms was his and he hers. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. “If I could have you kept you together…”

Touching his finger to her lips, he silenced the apology. “My brothers are always with me, Sera…and I’m where I belong.”

Finally.

“I’m with you.”

C
laiming
him as she took him into her body hadn’t been the plan, but the wolf wanted and the woman longed for him in equal measure. When he’d given her his surrender, they’d lunged to grasp the happiness he offered. Taking him, mating him required his will. Stroking the damp hair from his face, she smiled against his lips and the soft nuzzling kiss he bestowed upon her.

The beast who powered into her, driving all reason from her thoughts, gentled. Cradled against her, he quieted under her stroking hands and offered soothing comfort of his own. Each beat of her heart seemed to echo his in an answering pulse. The connection wound through her and she’d felt the ripple singe every nerve ending, then roam from her to the pack and back.