Claimed by the Wolf (2 page)

The man released Calan’s arms and molded his chest to Calan’s back. Heavy gasps racked his body. His lips feathered across Calan’s sweat-dampened flesh. Words were never spoken, nor was there coupling after copulation. Calan didn’t want tenderness, didn’t want emotion to spoil the moment. Sex—feeding the needs of the beast that dwelled within him. That’s all there could be.

More tender kisses whispered over his shoulder. Calan shivered.

“Are you cold?” The man’s large warm palm trailed over Calan’s arm.

Calan froze, the words a dark seductive whisper. This was the black wolf’s first attempt at conversation…the first words spoken that weren’t one word grunts…and by a familiar voice. His heartbeat became a rampant tattoo, telling him to flee, to run.

“No,” he said on a breath. Calan didn’t want this. Didn’t want to know him. Their encounters were only to meet each other’s needs. Calan didn’t want to know the black wolf, didn’t want to care for him. But he knew the voice, knew the man, and he already cared too much. Wade Channing. Only one wolf was trespassing this night. The other was defending his territory.

Calan flattened out on the ground and the black wolf stretched out beside him. Calan turned away, not wanting to see Wade’s face, afraid of wanting more than sex from him. Knowing deep inside, he needed more than sex.

“How long are we going to keep meeting like this?” Wade’s palm roamed over his back, along the ladder of his spine and onto the curve of his buttocks.

Calan melted with Wade’s touch, his heart pounding and his mid numbing. Only Wade could affect him so deeply, but he wasn’t ready, would never be ready. When instinct reigned and Wade took a mate, Calan wouldn’t be around to lick his emotional wounds. It was why he drifted, working ranch to ranch. And his time on Channing land was at an end. Now that Calan knew the identity of the black wolf. This would be his last encounter with the Alpha.

Calan scrambled away. “I have to go.” Wade tried to grab him, but he was desperate to flea. Calan avoided his touch.

“Wait,” Wade said. “You don’t understand.”

Calan shook his head. “I know the ways of the wolf as well as you do. But I’m not the same. I’m not looking for a mate and never will.” At least not a female and he’d never met a male who didn’t succumb to his instinct to procreate. It was the way of their species. “I’ll be gone by first light.” He didn’t have to say that this would be their last mating. Within three steps, Calan shifted back into wolf form and tore off toward the trees.

“Calan, you don’t understand.”

Calan stumbled and turned. His breath caught. His wolf gaze locked with Wade’s. Eyes that had haunted Calan’s dreams. Dark lashes and heavy brows framed arctic blue eyes. Wade stared with an intensity that weakened Calan’s legs and made his body warm. The black wolf, with piercing eyes had been big and intimidating. Now Wade stared at Calan and Calan could see the wolf lurking within. Why hadn’t he seen the connection before? He’d worked for Wade as long as he’d been fucking him. Calan had drifted into town, found work on Channing land, and fallen for his boss.

Wade was a strong, hardworking rancher, and Calan hadn’t imagined the gentleness he’d show to a lover. Muscles carved a broad powerful chest. Strong shoulders tapered to a trim waist and rippled abdominals directed Calan’s gaze lower to the V of Wade’s groin and his flaccid cock resting against his taut flesh. Heavy balls hung between thick, muscular thighs, cut with defined sinew and strength. Calan swallowed hard, taking in the minute details, committing his powerful stance to memory…because he’d never see Wade again.

* * *

Wade watched Calan run. Lean muscle, strength and beauty. He’d known what Calan was the moment he’d walked onto Channing land. Wade owned and operated the ranch, but every male living on the property was lycan. Men who refused to accept the order of the wolf. Like Calan, Wade couldn’t see himself settling down with a female. He didn’t want for offspring. The men on the ranch were the only family he needed. They were a pack by choice. And Calan was one of them. He had been accepted from the beginning, but like all wolves living alone, settling into a comfortable existence would take time. Wade had thought Calan was ready. Obviously he’d been wrong.

Wade projected outward calm, but inside he wanted to give chase, pin Calan beneath him once again and shove his cock deep into Calan’s ass…or his mouth. He wanted the taste of Calan’s cum on his lips. He’d made it clear to the other lycan males from the moment he’d scented Calan, that the young gray wolf was his. Eyes as black as night, fast and sleek. Wade sensed the same longings in Calan that he still ached to fill. Wade wanted a mate to love and protect. The instincts of an Alpha wolf were strong in him. All but the want of a woman. Wade wanted Calan. And damn it, he wasn’t about to let Calan go now that he’d finally found him.

Calan was marked by Wade’s scent. He’d claimed Calan. Now he just needed to convince Calan that he belonged, not just to Wade, but to the pack.

Rolling his shoulders, Wade released the tension building in his muscles. He fought the instinctual need to give chase and force his mate beneath him again. But before first light, before Calan had the chance to run again, he’d accept what they both knew. Calan was mated.

Wade dropped to his hands and knees, feeling his blood heat and rage through his veins. His wolf emerged, skin and limbs morphing into primal animal. Thick black fur covered his body. The scent of sex—of Calan—intensified with Wade’s heightened senses.

Following in Calan’s wake, Wade easily tracked him across Channing land. As a wolf, Calan was stunning. The six weeks of chase revealed Calan’s swift mind. He was always several moves ahead. His agile body navigated the forest. Catching him had not been easy. It had been exhilarating. Calan had made Wade hunt, fight and control his submission. Wade’s body responded with just the memory of Calan beneath him.

Wade tracked Calan to the outbuildings. Most of the men had their own small cabin. They weren’t ranch hands. This was their home. They worked, played and lived as a family. But wolves needed their own space, especially males. Wade was dominant in his role on the ranch. He was Channing land. The blood and sweat he shed was for the ranch and his pack. He worried, and yet he ached for more. No, he wasn’t alone. But he wasn’t complete. Not without Calan.

Wade approached Calan’s cabin. His wolf eyes easily saw in the night. The darkened windows belied the activity within. Calan was there. Waiting. Wade prowled the perimeter. They were alone. But Calan wasn’t going to make it easy on him. Good.

Would Calan expect the wolf or the man? He cautiously approached the door, using every sense to discern his prey’s location. Oh yes, the chase was still on. Calan was no more able to resist than Wade. They were meant for each other.

A low growl sounded from within the cabin. Wade shifted, willing his body from wolf to man. The fleeting pain was nearly an aphrodisiac. To want to shift was to want to fuck. He stood, the glow of the moon cutting through the trees and bathing the log cabin in a cool glow.

“Calan, will you talk to me?”

Another growl emanated from behind the door.

“I won’t fight you, won’t chase.” Not until Wade convinced Calan to stay. Wade leaned his forehead against the door, the first shivers of fear rippling through him. What if he couldn’t convince Calan he belonged on the ranch with the pack? What if Calan’s feelings weren’t as strong? Wade knew he’d never long for a female, but maybe Calan wasn’t like him and the others. Maybe the call of the lycan to breed would strengthen in Calan.

“The door is open.”

Wade slowly exhaled, gripped the handle and turned the knob. Calan stood in the middle of the room, zipping up his jeans. Wade took him in, dragging his gaze from Calan’s bare feet, up his jean-clad legs, and pausing on the worn denim cradling the soft mound of his cock. The jeans rode low on his narrow hips. A trail of brown feathering hair bisected his grooved stomach.

“I have to go.”

Wade’s gaze snapped to Calan’s piercing whiskey-colored eyes. Dark hair curled in sexy disarray, the fringe brushing his bare sculpted shoulders. Calan was lean strength. “Don’t leave.”

“I wouldn’t have stayed if I’d known you were lycan.” He shoved his arms into a long sleeve shirt. “I’ve been here before and it doesn’t work.” He stomped his feet into boots.

Wade knew what Calan meant. Before opening the ranch to other wolves, like himself, he had also been a loner. “A wolf without a pack is a solitary life.”

“You don’t think I know that.” Calan draped his bag over his shoulder and paused. His gaze roamed over Wade’s nude body.

Blood rushed from Wade’s head and into his dick. His cock twitched and slowly became erect. “I never believed I’d be mated until you came here. There was a time when I was just like you, believing there was only one way of life for a lycan.” He was begging for a chance, knowing together was the only way they’d ever be complete. “Stay,” he pleaded.

“Thanks for the work. I appreciate it.” Calan glanced around the small cabin. “But I don’t belong here.” He turned his gaze to Wade then quickly looked away.

“Yes, you do. The ranch could be your home.” He took a hesitant step closer to Calan. “With me.”

Calan shook his head, his face a mask of pain. His eyes glistened. “I don’t belong with you.” He strode through the door and into the night. “I don’t belong with anyone.”

Wade followed. “Do you think you’re the only one who feels alone? I’ve claimed you, Calan.”

Calan spun on his heels. “Until you come across a bitch in heat and can’t resist the call of the wolf. Hell yes, I want to stay. You’ve claimed me? I know! I felt the pull, the power. Even when I didn’t know you were the wolf in the woods, I wanted you. I’m so fucking attracted to you that I can barely breathe when you’re near me. I have a constant boner. And in the forest…” He let the words fade away. “I can’t stay.” His jaw clenched. “Regardless of what I feel.”

“We won’t let you leave.” Calan had already become part of their pack.

“Who?”

“Who do you think? Cole, Shiloh, Lance, and Gavin. Everyone.”

“They know? You told them?” Calan’s brows furrowed.

“Stay and let me explain.” Or maybe it would just make more sense to Calan if Wade showed him. Wade stretched his neck to the moon and howled. His call would bring the pack, just as they would be there for Calan from this night on.

A moment later, Calan turned to a rustle in the woods. A silver wolf leapt from the trees. Moonlight reflected off his shimmering pelt. Another wolf raced into the clearing, crouching with bared teeth.

Calan dropped his bag and turned in a circle as he was surrounded by wolves.

Wade came up behind him, pressed in tight, reached around and banded an arm across Calan’s clavicle. “Did you think you were the only one who felt they didn’t belong?” He rained kisses along Calan’s neck. “We’ve all been there.”

Calan trembled in his arms. The wolves shifted into men, men who had taken their friend and made him their brother. “A pack? Of males?”

Wade nodded. “Channing land is our territory.”

“Forgive us for not being honest.” Cole wrapped an arm around Gavin. “Like you, we don’t trust easily.” Gavin opened his mouth over Cole’s and kissed him deeply but quickly. “We had to cover our scent until we were sure you belonged here.”

“Wade never doubted,” Shiloh said. “And we trust him completely.” Shiloh smiled, his white teeth gleaming. “Like you, he’s saved all of us.”

“But he never claimed us the way he’s claimed you,” Lance said.

Wade tightened his hold on Calan. “You belong here, with us.” He breathed deeply of Calan’s scent. His mate. “You belong with me.” Wade opened his mouth over Calan’s neck, kissing, nibbling. “I love you,” he whispered. “Stay with me.”

Calan nodded and turned in Wade’s arms. Tonight, Calan was claimed by the wolf.

The End

De
man
ding

Ro
man
ce