Pretty Poison (9 page)

“All right?” Wade whispered, but Noah couldn’t unglue his tongue from the roof of his mouth to answer him. Noah drifted back to sleep, his vague alarm calmed by Wade’s embrace once they settled into the blankets.

Wade still held him when he woke again. Senses swimming, Noah didn’t want to open his eyes. The alpha’s musky scent surrounded him. Wade’s heat warmed him. Even the brush of Wade’s skin against his chest couldn’t tempt him to wake fully. The shrieking pain had gone. His stomach had steadied and the horrific ache in his knee and hips had dulled. Noah wanted to wallow in this foreign contentment forever.

“Feeling better?” Wade murmured, threading his fingers in Noah’s hair.

Noah angled his head to meet the caress. “Mm-hmm.”

At some point in the night, they’d shifted position. Noah lay flat on his back, with Wade beside him. Wade’s chest hair tickled Noah’s ribs as Wade leaned over him. Wade’s chuckle vibrated against Noah’s skin. Arousal unfurled in Noah’s stomach at the unsubtle push of Wade’s hard dick at his hip.

“Now you know,” Wade said. “Our medicines may seem medieval to you, but we understand what humans cannot: what is best for shifters and how to take care of our own.”

Noah didn’t want to think and the muzzy edges fraying his thoughts discouraged that, anyway. After the migraine’s misery, all he wanted was to bask in this gentle peace. Lazy desire bloomed inside him at the press of his mate so close. He slowly lifted his lashes, taking in the dark shadows highlighting the planes and angles of Wade’s face in the feeble glow of the moon filtering through the windows.

He shouldn’t have been able to see much of anything. Darkness should have forbidden that and a month ago, perhaps as little as days ago, the night would have blinded him. The world hadn’t changed, though. Noah had. He couldn’t walk without his forearm crutches to steady him and his last migraine’s agony was too fresh in his memory to persuade him those attacks would ever fade. Not for him. But he could be stronger, better...more. If he allowed that. If he let Wade and his strange shifter ideas in.

He and his family had trusted his medical team without reservation.

Maybe that had been wrong.

But he couldn’t think of that either, not with Wade strong and sexy beside him. “Make love to me,” Noah said.

“Your eyes are glinting shifter red.” Lips curving to a predatory bow, Wade lowered his head. The kiss was a taunting brush, different from how Wade had claimed him every time before. Noah parted his lips, inviting the stab of Wade’s tongue. He craved the erotic dance of their mouths eating each other, the hot slick taste of Wade, and the tremble that shook him when the alpha took and took and took. Wade denied him that. Instead, Wade skimmed his lips over Noah’s, the kiss courting rather than demanding Noah yield.

Noah couldn’t surrender fast enough.

He spread his thighs, creating the cradle into which Wade’s hips could rest. Noah lifted his arms and circled them around Wade’s neck. He tugged, trying to urge the alpha atop him, and then stilled when Wade growled in warning. The husky sound stirred the hair at Noah’s nape and stiffened his already lengthening dick. Adrenaline flooded through him, his pulse rocketing with nervous desire, but the burst of energy brought clarity, unwelcome right now at least. He didn’t want to think. He wanted to
feel
. Excited and restless, he wriggled in the twisted sheets, skipping his fingertips across the silk of Wade’s shoulders.

Wade nuzzled Noah’s throat. “Tomorrow morning Trudy and a guard of betas will accompany you to the medical complex of your human doctors.”

Noah’s eyes bugged. He wondered if they’d pop free of his skull and roll across the bedroom floor. “W-what?”

“Trudy asked permission to consult with Dr. Phares.” Chuckling, the alpha nipped at Noah’s throat. “I granted it.”

Breath catching at the sting of sharp teeth, Noah froze. “Trudy?”

“Pack healer.” The alpha didn’t seem to notice Noah’s astonishment or if he did, Wade didn’t appear to care. He simply licked, agile tongue dipping into the hollow of Noah’s throat. “You met her by the pool while you were sick. You may not remember.”

“Nasty medicine.” He vaguely recalled a blonde. “And tea.”

“Get used to it. Trudy ordered you to be dosed with feverfew daily. Works faster and better than human pills. You’ve experienced that yourself.”

“But I’m going to see Dr. Phares?” He shuddered, and when Wade’s hand lowered to fondle Noah’s dick, Noah batted away his seducing fingers before his brain melted completely. “Stop it.”

Wade laughed, clasping Noah’s cock in his firm, stubborn grip. “No.”

Noah shivered as Wade began a slow tantalizing pump that sizzled Noah’s nerve endings. Feral lust concentrated at his groin and robbed the oxygen from his lungs. He groaned. “I can’t think when you touch me.”

“You
will
think,” Wade said, his breath fanning Noah as Wade’s skillful mouth drifted down, to Noah’s pec. Noah rocked his hips in time to Wade’s dizzying strokes. “And you will heed me, because if you don’t,” the alpha said, thumb sweeping the drop of moisture that had gathered in the slit on the head of Noah’s cock, “I won’t make you come.”

Shaking, Noah moaned.

“You want to come, don’t you?”

Noah glared at him but couldn’t halt the thrust of his hips into Wade’s grasp.

“Answer me, little wolf.”

“You are such a jerk.”

Snorting, Wade sped the pace of his magical caress. “Get used to that, too.” The tingle of need at the base of Noah’s dick intensified. “Are you listening?”

“Not really.” The flex of muscle under Noah’s fingertips distracted him, inviting him to explore Wade’s broad shoulders. Such power. That all of it had focused on him dazzled Noah and he suspected always would.

Wade squeezed Noah’s cock. Tenderly—the alpha didn’t hurt him. His grip tightened just enough to win Noah’s attention.

“In the morning, Trudy will take you to the medical complex, but Dr. Phares is no longer your primary physician. She is.” Wade pumped Noah’s dick. “That means no human medicines.”

Noah frowned at that, but as long as Wade continued stroking Noah’s dick, Noah would agree to any damn thing Wade commanded of him. Besides, once the pack healer talked to his human doctors, once Dr. Phares made them understand how vital Noah’s treatments were...Well, maybe not
all
of his old medicines, but some of them worked, damn it. “Okay.”

“Humans agreed to open their files to us and in exchange, we will allow them to run tests if
Trudy is given equal access to diagnostic equipment and technicians. I’m told you had a thorough examination two months ago that will establish a baseline for your recovery while under human care. Tomorrow will be a starting point for assessing how you respond to shifter therapies. Trudy will repeat the exam after the full moon to compare results and possibly adapt treatment then. But tomorrow, no human drugs. None of their medicines.” Wade’s tongue traced Noah’s nipple, tearing a moan from Noah’s chest. “Understand?”

Already, his orgasm gathered in his balls. Noah bucked his hips, trying to urge Wade to tug harder. Faster. But even with need to come eating his spine, Noah grasped that Wade’s plan was Noah’s best and probably only chance to convince shifters to resume his human medical treatments. Wade and the pack would see then. Know. The exams and tests would prove Noah needed the humans’ help and intervention. Wade would be forced to recognize and accept that. “Yes.”

Wade fastened on Noah’s nipple, sucking him. Pleasure streaked from the nub to his dick and Noah gasped as Wade pulled off with a loud pop. “Your cooperation is vital. The importance of doing nothing to skew the test results can’t be understated. Your loyalty lies with the pack. You’ll remember where your home is and who you belong to.”

He didn’t have a home anymore, but arguing was impossible while need clawed at him and his world had narrowed only to Wade and what the man did to him. “Whatever you want.” The tests would show that he needed his pills, anyway.

The slow strokes at his groin halted.

Noah whined in protest.

Wade blew on his wet nipple, the chill puff of air nearly bringing Noah off. Almost. But not enough. The muscles of his stomach twitched, the unmoving warmth of the alpha’s hand encompassing his cock, exquisitely. Sweat beaded Noah’s brow.

“You’ll show the humans who your mate is, won’t you?”

Heart thrashing, Noah whimpered.

“You’ll be the pride of this pack and your alpha.”

Irritation battled urgent desire. His annoyance won. “Damn it, Wade!”

“You’ll defer to Trudy and Fletcher in all things, as if they were me.” Wade squeezed his fist in rhythmic pulses, driving Noah out of his mind. “You’ll be docile. Submissive. Sweet, shy, and—”

Patience at an end, Noah arched his spine. Grabbing Wade by those sinfully broad shoulders, he flipped the alpha, pushing him down to the mattress. He over-powered Wade easily, too easily, but Noah couldn’t ponder that now. Wade released Noah’s cock and grunted when Noah climbed above him, knees flanking Wade’s hips. Noah splayed his palms, bracing his weight on Wade’s chest, too enthralled with his victory to mind neither Wade’s satisfied chuckle nor the guidance of the alpha’s grip on Noah’s waist.

“Lube,” Wade reminded him when Noah, desperate, would have simply lifted his hips and shoved the alpha’s cock inside him.

Noah dove for the night table, groping for the bottle resting on it. He fumbled and the lid opened with a
snick
. Then he froze and gaped at the lube, not quite sure how it had gotten into his hand and equally baffled by what he was supposed to do with it.

Wade’s abdomen shook with quiet laughter under his thighs. “Don’t stop.”

“Shut up,” he said through clenched teeth and bent to drizzle lube on Wade’s rigid length. Instead of a few drops, it streamed from the bottle, wet and slippery. He jerked the opening away too late. He hadn’t slicked Wade’s dick. He’d drowned it. “Shit.”

“Better too much than not enough,” Wade murmured, lowering his hand to spread the lube over his drenched dick. “Wet your fingers.”

“Not on your life.” Sitting back on Wade’s thighs, Noah scowled. He closed the lid and tossed the bottle aside. “I am
not
putting my fingers into my ass.”

“Why not?”

Noah gawped.

“You’re too new to sex to take me without stretching.”

He stared at Wade and despised the wicked twinkle in the alpha’s eyes. He nodded to Wade’s slicked fist wrapped around the cock Noah craved inside him. “You’re already messy.”

In the darkness, Wade’s eyebrow quirked up. “You’ll have to learn how to prepare your hole to take my dick eventually.”

Resisting the urge to squirm, Noah leaned down. He nuzzled the alpha’s sternum, Noah’s stubble scraping deliciously in Wade’s chest hair. The musky scent of sweat and arousal intoxicated Noah. Rather than dutifully bracing his weight, Noah’s hands caressed. Springy hair. Soft skin. Dense muscle that gathered and bunched, first beneath Noah’s fingertips and then under his lips. He flexed his hips to tip his hole up and Wade, gratifyingly, released his dick to sweep the curve of one ass cheek.

“Don’t you want me?” Noah asked, burying his nose in the decadent pelt covering Wade’s chest.

“I want you to become what you were born to be.” A wet finger probed Noah’s crack. “You’ll grow more confident when you aren’t as scared.” Wade rubbed Noah’s hole. “More assertive. Aggressive.”

Breath quickening, Noah shifted his knees to spread them wider and arched his spine in invitation, but Wade only massaged his rim. Taunting him. Frustrated, Noah bit Wade’s nipple and grinned at Wade’s flinch. “In.”

“Look at me.” Noah obeyed, tipping his chin up. “Damn, the red in your eyes is sexy,” Wade said.

Noah pushed his ass back, the pressure from the finger against his hole increasing. “And still, you’re talking.”

“Platters of meat aren’t the only things that feed the wolf.” Finally, the alpha slipped his finger inside.

Noah’s senses snapped and buzzed, the invasion into his body electrifying. He tilted his ass to welcome the gentle fucking. “C’mon,” he muttered, biting again at Wade’s flesh. “No more teasing.” Wade crooked his finger and Noah jolted at the pleasure that zapped through him. “Yeah,” he said on a protracted hiss. “Right there.”

The alpha wasn’t through toying with him, though. The pleasure intensified, winding Noah up, but Wade only gave him that one slow finger. Clenching his jaw, Noah swore that he wouldn’t beg, that he’d wear the alpha down, but as hunger lashed through his body, he broke. “More,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m ready. Give me more.”

“Demanding,” Wade said in rumbling approval. He eased a second finger into Noah’s hole.

The sensations were phenomenal. Perfect. Noah may not understand much about his new life, but he could hold onto one core truth. Their mating was beautiful. So what if they hadn’t bonded? Wade didn’t care that Noah’s wolf couldn’t walk or hunt, not in the dark, not in this bed. His life was a mess. He missed his family and his work. Noah didn’t know his own body anymore. But he knew what Wade’s cock felt like inside him. Their sex would leave him drained, but sated. Would sap and pleasure his alpha, too. Noah could rely on that, if nothing else. “Fuck me.”

Surprisingly, Wade withdrew the fingers that had stretched Noah’s ass, shifting instead to Noah’s waist to nudge and lower Noah onto Wade’s cock. Slippery from excess lube, the tip glided in Noah’s crack, skimming past Noah’s hole once. Twice. Need crawling in his belly, Noah reached between his legs to wrap his fist around the base of that rigid dick, holding Wade in place. He wriggled his ass, positioning Wade’s cock at his hole and grunted in giddy relief when the tip pushing into him rewarded his frantic writhing.

“That’s it,” Wade said, voice hoarse.

Noah lowered his hips, taking Wade inside him as quickly as he could. The burn of the entry flitted to the back of Noah’s mind and away, unimportant. The wonderful fullness of Wade sliding into his ass replaced the discomfort. Inch after blissful inch stretched him, anchoring Noah to the alpha, to this moment. Noah lifted up, needing Wade’s kiss more than his next breath.