Dark Wolf Running (Bloodrunners) (27 page)

She wiggled her hips, taking another inch, and he cursed, his legs parting wider as he braced his bare feet on the floor. “Jesus, El.”

“Sorry this is taking so long.”

Panting, he gasped, “’S’okay. Take your time, baby.”

She lifted her hand and touched his face. “Wyatt, I want you to enjoy this.”

“I am,” he choked out, gripping her hips so hard he knew she would probably be bruised.

“Liar,” she whispered. “You look like you’re in pain.”

“I’m not.” He squeezed his eyes shut, using everything he had to keep it together. “
Christ.
You feel so good, El. I just don’t want to—”

“You won’t,” she murmured, cutting him off. “Wyatt, look at me.
Please.
” She waited until he’d lifted his lashes, then stared deep into his eyes. “If you lose control, I’m not going to freak out on you. Okay?”

A rough, animal-like sound ripped up from his chest, and the next thing he knew he was yanking her down as he thrust up inside her, shoving himself deep. She cried out, her head falling back as he withdrew and then slammed back into her, the feel of her tight little sex clamping around him so hungrily driving him mad with need, instead of slaking it. The more he had of her, damn it, the more he wanted. The more he
craved.

Surging to his feet again, he laid her back on the desk and drove into her even deeper. The air filled with their hitching breaths, serrated moans and the wet, slapping sounds of raw, aggressive sex. He used every muscle in his body to grind into her, his biceps bulging as he gripped her shoulders, holding her in place for the deep thrusts being powered by his ass, abs and thighs.

“Come on me,” he forced out through his gritted teeth. Reaching down, he ran the callused pad of his thumb over the pulsing heat of her clit, working it in firm circles, and his breath hissed through his teeth as her inner muscles tightened and started to convulse, sucking at him like a throat. “Now, baby. I need you to come for me now!”

She arched beneath him, a throaty, breathless cry on her lips as she went over, clenching him hard, drenching him in liquid heat, and he came with her, ejaculating with so much force his eyes turned wet with tears. Squeezing them shut, Wyatt buried his face in the curve of her shoulder, biting back the words he so desperately wanted to say...but couldn’t. And despite the violence of his release, he was still hungry for more. Christ, there was no stopping point with her. He could have stayed hard all damn day, buried deep in her tight little body, and taken her until they were half-dead.

Loving the feel of her hands stroking down the sides of his spine, he pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I always tell myself I’m going to be gentle with you, but it doesn’t happen.”

“Well, you won’t hear me complaining.” Though her reply was playful, there was a quiet undercurrent to the husky words that let him know she was speaking with complete honesty. “I trust you,” she added. “Which means that I can enjoy myself when things get wild between us. Actually, when it comes to you, the wilder the better.”

“Thank God,” he groaned. “Just...please don’t run from me again, El.”

“Wyatt.”

His arms tightened around her. “Promise me.”

“All right, I promise,” she whispered, stroking his hair. “But will you do something for me?”

Lifting his head, he said, “Anything, babe. What is it?”

Elise shivered from the burning intensity in his dark eyes, nearly forgetting what she wanted to ask. “I was, um, hoping you could take me up to Shadow Peak this morning. I need to check on my house and see if there’s anything that can be salvaged.”

With a frown on his lips, he carefully pulled himself from her body, then shook his head. “That’s not gonna happen.”

She blinked up at him. “Wh-what? Why?”

Pulling her up into a sitting position, he placed his hands on her hips as he said, “Because it’s being taken care of. Brody is overseeing the salvage operation today with Max and Elliot. They’re boxing up anything they find worth keeping and then we’ll have it all brought down to the Alley.”

“But I don’t live here in the Alley,” she argued, feeling as if she’d been bulldozed. She didn’t care for the feeling, or for the way he was dictating to her, as if she couldn’t make her own damn decisions. And while she wasn’t particularly sentimental about things, like a lot of women she knew, it broke her heart that the beautiful new furniture he’d picked out for her was gone. She couldn’t help but hope there might be something worth saving that the others would just carelessly throw away.

As if he could sense her growing frustration, he caught her chin in his fingers and lowered his face over hers. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I’m not trying to be a dick, El. But there’s no reason for you to be there. It’s just going to cause you pain to see your home destroyed. I’m not putting you through that.”

“Wyatt, at the very least I need to check on Eddie.”

“Browning’s fine. Trust me, Elise. The best thing you can do is stay here, where we know you’re safe. There’s no need to go and put yourself in danger. And after what happened last time, I’m not going to let you take another risk.”

She exhaled in a huff, conflicted and irritated but touched at the concern she could see on his face. “You’re being unreasonable,” she muttered, but her voice was soft, letting him know she was giving in.

A tight smile twisted the corner of his beautiful mouth. “I know. But it’s only because I want to do what’s right for you.” When she opened her mouth to argue again, he pressed his lips to hers, silencing her with a soft, sweet kiss. “I also know that you’re a smart, amazing, independent woman who can make her own damn decisions,” he said against her lips. “But I just want to keep you safe. I swear to God I’m not trying to control you.”

Hearing the genuine sincerity in his husky words, she gave in with another sigh, flicking her tongue against his lips to let him know she was done with the argument. A low groan vibrated in his chest as his tongue swept into her mouth, taking possession. It was a deep, ravaging kiss that left them both a little breathless, his eyes glittering when he finally lifted his head. Golden beams of sunlight caught the dark sheen of his hair as he gave another slow shake of his head, a crooked grin on his lips. “You’d better go,” he murmured, his tone wry as he stepped back, “or I’m liable to keep you on this desk the entire day.”

She smirked as she hopped back down onto her feet, snatched up her dress and pulled it over her head. Smoothing it into place, Elise was almost afraid of how happy she felt inside as she gave him another quick kiss, then headed to the bathroom for a long, hot shower. She wanted to ask Wyatt to join her but knew she needed a bit of time to herself to get her thoughts sorted. Above all, she had to remember to stay in the moment and not get carried away with thoughts of the future. Had to enjoy what she had and try to find a way not to worry about where it was all heading.

Not the easiest thing she’d ever tried to do, but Elise was determined not to put any pressure on him. He was already putting his life on the line to protect her, not to mention being caught up in the preparations for what looked to be a coming war. If ever there were a time to cut a guy some slack, it was now.

Once she’d cleaned up and gotten dressed again, this time in a pair of khaki shorts and slouchy blue sweater, she left Wyatt working in his office and walked over to Eric and Chelsea’s cabin. After Eric spent a good long while griping at her for leaving the Alley on her own the night before, they talked about Eli, who had yet to respond to any of the messages Eric had left at the last number they had for him. Of course, they also talked about her house. When she’d started to complain about Wyatt’s refusal to take her up to Shadow Peak, Eric had surprised her by taking the Runner’s side. It made her wonder what had been said between the two when she wasn’t around. Heck, she’d have thought Eric would side with her just to cause trouble for Wyatt, since he clearly hadn’t been happy about her staying with him. But that didn’t seem to be the case. Then her brother surprised her even more by inviting Wyatt over for lunch with them.

If she’d been a bit shocked by the way Eric had taken Wyatt’s side in the whole “seeing her house” argument, she was nothing short of amazed by how civil her brother treated the man he had to suspect was sleeping with her. Considering how strong Eric’s Lycan senses were, he could probably scent Wyatt on her skin despite the fact that she’d showered, which made his behavior even more unexpected. But then, she knew Eric had a lot of respect for Wyatt, which helped. And she was sure that Chelsea had been working on her stubborn brother as well, which meant that Elise owed the human a hell of a thank-you the next time they were alone. It would be fun if she could put together some kind of girls’ night out for all the females in the Alley, and she made a mental note to talk to Jillian about it the next time she saw her.

Once she and Wyatt had helped clear up from lunch, they headed back to his cabin, wanting to give Eric and Chelsea some privacy. Wyatt put on a pot of coffee, and as they sat in the kitchen at the table, he finally persuaded her to show him the romance novel she’d been working on. They talked about the story, and she even explained why she was so drawn to romance, telling him how it had started out as a therapeutic experience to write about emotions and feelings that she’d worried she would never again be able to feel on a personal level. She even confessed that she found the biggest challenge to be the happily-ever-after ending that readers wanted, but enjoyed escaping into the fantasy that so few people managed to find in real life. He gave a quiet laugh, pointing out that storybook endings seemed to be pretty prevalent in the Alley, and she blushed as she agreed, hoping he didn’t think she’d been trying to make a roundabout point with him, since she knew damn well that wasn’t going to happen for them. But despite her embarrassment, it was clear that he thought it was wonderful that she was doing something she loved, and she couldn’t help but melt a little inside at how proud he seemed of her.

A little later in the afternoon, they visited with some of the other Runners and their mates, and she even managed to apologize to Cian for taking his Land Rover. But then Torrance left with Michaela, and Jillian had to take Sayre down to Covington for some shopping, so Jeremy went with them, and even Eric and Chelsea decided to tag along. Cian had just gone to check out something on the south border of the pack’s territory, when Carla got an urgent call from Milly, the employee at the alarm company Carla had asked to look into things. They’d known it might take a while for Milly to access the information they wanted, since it required her to sneak into the main computer system. But she was finally calling with what they’d been waiting for. Carla spoke with her for less than a minute, then ended the call and told them what she’d learned. According to Milly, on the night of the wedding, when Elise’s home had been broken into, Glenn Farrow had used his personal computer to hack into her account earlier that day, allowing him to create a secondary code that would bypass her system. Neither of the males who had broken into her house that night had been Farrow, which meant he’d obviously given the bypass code to someone else.

Wyatt was furious, ready to go for Farrow’s blood, which was why Mason insisted he stay behind, while he and his father went up to the mountaintop town to look for the Lycan and bring him in for questioning. Seeing as how Wyatt wasn’t about to leave her alone and Carla couldn’t go on patrol by herself, Mason had called in several of the scouts who worked for the Runners to temporarily patrol the Alley’s borders.

It was obvious that Wyatt wasn’t happy about not getting to go after Farrow himself, but Elise knew he was trying to hide it. Though he hadn’t come out with any stunning declarations about his feelings after their incredible night—and morning—of passion, he was going out of his way to put her at ease and make her smile. And although he hadn’t tried to get her back into bed yet, she knew it wasn’t from a lack of desire. There was a constant, smoldering hunger in his dark eyes every time he looked at her, and he’d kissed her whenever she got within two feet of him, the sexy, greedy thrusts of his tongue telling her exactly how much he wanted back inside her.

“That’s probably Carla,” he said, when someone started knocking on the front door. “She mentioned coming over to talk about Farrow.” But when he pulled the door open, Elise instantly felt the shift in him. Within the blink of an eye, he went from relaxed to on edge, and as she peeked around his shoulder, she saw why. Instead of his Bloodrunning partner, a male she recognized from the photos Wyatt had shown her as Sebastian Claymore stood on the porch.

“How the hell did you get here?” Wyatt demanded in a low, deadly voice.

Speaking in an agitated rush, Sebastian said, “I’m afraid it was easier to slip past the scouts who are patrolling the Alley’s borders at the moment than it was to explain to them why I needed to talk to you.”

While Elise stood off to the side, sick with dread, she listened as the Whiteclaw Lycan claimed to need Wyatt’s help in stopping his brother before he could launch an unsanctioned hit on the Alley, the purpose of which was supposedly Elise’s own kidnapping and torture. Sebastian then claimed that he’d uncovered some shocking facts about his brother’s so-called obsession with her—things he believed could shed some light on events that had happened three years ago. She silently prayed that Wyatt would refuse, but the instant she saw the raw fury on his face when he turned toward her, she knew he’d decided to go.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he told her, heading toward a cabinet that stood against the wall just behind her, after asking Sebastian to wait for him outside. She watched him take out a handgun and check the clip, then tuck the weapon into the back of his jeans. “I’ll stop by Carla’s on my way out and tell her to head over here. She’ll be in charge of your protection while I’m gone.”

“Wyatt,” she murmured, stepping closer and putting her hand on his arm, “I have a bad feeling about this. There’s something about that man that makes me uneasy.
Please,
don’t go.”