Sworn to the Wolf (17 page)

“That’s a good idea. Call him at the paper though. Don’t risk home or on his cell.”

“Yeah. Bring me my wallet please, his card is in there.”

Laurent dug through her purse and found her wallet, bringing it to her. She riffled through the business cards and pulled one out and dialed the number and his extension.

“Harrison Watts.”

“How are you? Is everything all right?”

“Rain! My god, are you all right?”

“Yes. Laurent and I got married. I’m great.”

He paused enough that she knew he was shocked and probably thought it was way too soon. But he proved to be her friend when he said, “Well, congratulations to you both. But, Rain, a man was here. I think it was your ex. He came to the house three days ago. I told them that I came home from work and you’d skipped but had left me cash to cover rent. I told him your name was Rain Foster and that I had no idea who Julia Margoles was. He seemed to be satisfied with that and told me to call him if you came back around. I told him you’d been seeing some guy who lived in Portland. He had a gun. I could see it through his jacket. Two big guys were his backup. Blond, not too bright. Anyway, he called me yesterday to ask if I’d heard from you. Don’t call the house.”

She
hated
that her old life had bled onto others and that it made them unsafe. Aside from the sheer embarrassment that they knew this part of her life, worry ate at her insides constantly. “Jesus. I’m so sorry. Be safe, all right? Tell him everything if you have to. I don’t want you to risk your safety,” she said and Laurent took the phone.

“Harrison, it’s Laurent. Listen, I’m going to be contacting her father to work something out. Rain’s right, don’t get yourself hurt to protect her, that’s what I’m here for. You still have my cell number, right?”

“Yeah, I memorized it and threw away the paper a long time ago. I’d never betray her to those bastards. I lost someone very dear to me and I’d never take the chance of losing Rain. You can trust me. If anything else happens and you don’t call, I’ll contact you.”

“Okay. Thanks a lot.”

“Do something to deserve her every day,” Harrison said softly before he hung up.

Laurent tossed his phone aside before looking to Rain. “Now rest. You’re transforming tomorrow night. I’ll give you a bit of history and culture 101 when you wake up,” he said, tucking the blankets around her and fluffing her pillows. He kissed her forehead and by the time he got to the door she’d fallen asleep.

Phillip, Andreas, Skye and Ryan waited for him out on the porch when he came out of the bedroom. He noted the tray holding breakfast and a carafe of Anna’s coffee and hightailed it to join them.

After he’d poured himself a cup he grabbed some bacon and toast and sat back, relating the details of Harrison’s call. Andreas told them he’d compiled all Rain’s information and had sent it to several different people across the country and even to their Father Clan back in France. Rain had given them Pietro’s personal business line number and Laurent would call him first thing the morning after her transformation. They wanted her to officially take her place in the Pack and have their protection before they moved.

After they’d spent a few hours brainstorming and planning, business gave way to gossip and trash talking.

“I’m happy to see she came out of the recovery from the bite so strong,” Andreas rumbled. “She’s an excellent mate for you. A strong addition to the pack.”

From the alpha, a compliment like that meant a great deal. Pride brought his shoulders back, spine straight. “Better than a man like me deserves. I can only hope to make her half as happy as she makes me.”

Skye rolled his eyes. “Dumbass, she adores you. Don’t know why. I’m ten times more handsome but for some reason you push her buttons. I thought she’d jump your bones the other night in the office.”

Laurent smiled slowly at the memory of his sweet Rain being so bold. “Yeah.”

“Get that sly smile off your face!” Phillip smacked his arm. “Care to enlighten me?”

“And me too,” Andreas agreed, eager to hear that story.

“The other night in the study Rain came in and was sitting in between Laurent and me, her feet up on Ryan’s lap, and she started moaning and nuzzling into Laurent’s neck. Next thing her hands were up under his shirt and she was sucking on his earlobe and rubbing herself all over him.”

“In
front
of you guys?” Phillip asked.

“Yeah, that sweet heart-shaped ass was actually rubbing into my thigh. If she’d been anyone other than Laurent’s mate he would have had to share her. All of those sexual pheromones she was emitting were pretty hardcore.”

“What happened?”

“Laurent growled and picked her up and carried her out of the room, her legs wrapped around his waist.”

“Sorry I missed that. Who’d have thought? Our sweet shy Rain.” Phillip grinned.

“Oh she was hot,” Ryan murmured and they all sat silent for a moment thinking about her.

“I know you’re all imagining my Mate. Knock it off! She’s been living in a very repressed place for a long time. She’s freeing her sexuality for the first time and there’s a very sensual woman under the surface. I also think there’s a nuclear combustion of chemicals between us. The sex is, well, mind-blowing. Suddenly I understand why Kari and Andreas are always so damned loud.”

Andreas laughed. “It’s all Kari. She’s just loud in bed, what can I say? And suck it up, Laurent. I’ve had to live with you perverts fantasizing about my Mate for years now. It’s your turn.”

“Well, it’s a fortunate thing she’s Mated to a wolf so strong. Anyone lower than Fifth or Sixth would have a sore trial trying to hold on to a female like her,” Skye said.

“What are you all up to?” Rain said, still sleep soft, standing in the doorway in flannel pajama bottoms and a long sleeved shirt. Her hair had been caught in some messy bun thing at the back and exposed the lines of the face he loved so much.

She caught the look on his face and arched a brow at him. “You boys look like trouble.”

No one corrected her as he held a hand her way. “Come on out here, baby. The fresh air’ll do you good. You have socks on, right?”

She laughed as she came out onto the porch and he caught sight of the bright orange socks with flying sushi all over them. “Yes, I have socks on. You know my feet get cold.”

Laurent pulled her down to his lap and into the shelter of his body. “Let me keep you warm then. You look better, did you have a good nap?”

She wriggled to get closer to him and he gritted his teeth as her lush ass rubbed against his cock through his jeans. “I’m fine. I’m hungry though and not for broth either. I can’t remember the last time I felt like I could scarf up an entire cow.” She laughed and kissed the inside of Laurent’s elbow and Laurent saw Skye send an arched brow to Andreas as if to say, “
See what I mean?
”

“Rain, you need to stop that,” Laurent growled into her ear and she laughed. A husky taunting laugh that teased over his skin and straight to his already throbbing cock. “You’re playing with fire.”

“So burn me, Laurent,” she said into the skin of his neck. “Why is it that I just want to eat you up? I want to bite right here,” she said and bit down over his pulse, his tendon between her teeth, and he groaned. “And I have the strangest urge to drag my tongue up your neck and taste you. Like this.” She drew the flat of her tongue from his shoulder to his ear. Gooseflesh broke out in the wake of her warm, soft lick.

“God. Rain, honey... Ohhh, that feels so good,” he murmured as she licked over his ear, dipping the tip of her tongue inside briefly.

Moments later he opened his eyes to see the others staring at them, openmouthed. “I think it’s the reaction of our two pheromone compounds. It’s combustible. It’s why Mates are for life. Sweetheart, we have an audience.”

She undulated into him, the heat of her pussy branding him even through her pajama bottoms and his jeans. He only barely bit back a growl.

“I know. I can’t help it. They need to go and you and I need to go inside,” she said, swaying from side to side, brushing her nipples over his chest until his eyes crossed.

Andreas burst out laughing and it shook her out of her stupor. She sighed. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. But I can’t sit on your lap and not do anything to you. So I should go up to the lodge and hang out or I’ll molest you,” she said as she bit his bottom lip.

“You shouldn’t let us stop you. If you need to ride Laurent like a pony we won’t get in the way.” Skye shrugged and Laurent tossed his mug at his head.

Laughing agreeably, Rain stood. “Maybe later, when I know you better.” She turned to Laurent. “I’m going to change and head up to the lodge. I’m feeling better, not that anyone will let me do anything once I get up there anyway.”

Which was why he agreed to let her go up to the lodge in the first place. Anna and Kari would make sure she’d put her feet up and rest.

They all remained speechless as she went inside and came back a few minutes later, dropping a long kiss on Laurent’s lips before swaying away.

“Good lord!” Ryan gasped out. “I think I may have come in my pants like a fifteen-year-old boy.”

Laurent waggled his brows, grinning. “My Mate is so fucking hot. And from what I’ve observed between Kari and Andreas it doesn’t seem to wear off, which is a bonus.”

“Nope. It’s like the first six months of a relationship every day. My desire for Kari hasn’t waned one bit over the years. Skye’s right, Rain does have a mighty fine ass,” Andreas murmured as they all looked up the hill to watch her climb the stairs and go in to the main house through the French doors.

“So what about the sex?” Rain whispered to Emma when the women had moved into the great room after dinner.

Emma laughed. “Oh I see, it’s hit you hard hasn’t it?”

“What?”

“I don’t know that it has an official name. In my case it’s Sean Lust. I’ve been with him for nearly four years and I still can’t get enough of him. Just smelling his skin drives me nuts. Kari and Andreas have it too. Perri and Devon have it. Good lord, they’ll get down just about anywhere anytime. They were nonexclusive at gatherings for a long time though. I think it’s just a part of the fit between two Mates. That combination of DNA and pheromones, it’s just a sex brew.”

“It won’t lessen with time? I mean, I wasn’t an overly sexual person before I met Laurent and now I crawl all over him at the oddest times. He’s like a drug.” She looked in Laurent’s direction and he sent her a heated glance over the rim of his glass.

Emma laughed. “Well, it hasn’t lessened between Jade and Tomas and they’ve been together for fifty years.” She shrugged. “I’m not complaining. Knowing I’ll have a sizzling hot sex life at eighty makes me a happy girl.”

Kari came over and sat down. “All this whispering must be about sex.”

Emma and Rain burst out laughing and the men turned to eye them suspiciously.

“What are they up to?” Andreas rumbled to Laurent who raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

Sean laughed. “My money says sex.” He sent a lascivious grin and wink at Emma and she blushed, bending her head to talk with Kari and Rain again. “Yeah.”

“Jeez, as if having the four of them wasn’t bad enough. Rain evens things up more,” Jack said, coming to sit with them as Alyssa and Perri went to the circle of whispering women.

Devon agreed as he sat down with a sigh, watching Perri.

“We’re all in big trouble.” Andreas chuckled, watching the group of beautiful women bent in laughing conversation.

“Now I’m seriously worried about what they’re up to,” Devon said. “I’ve been Mated the longest among us and I tell you, they get into a lot of trouble when they get together.”

“Human women. Couldn’t be nice wolf females, raised to understand things. Nooo, had to be human women, raised to be independent,” Andreas groused.

Laurent threw back his head and laughed. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Hey, my woman is natural wolf. She’s just as big a pain in the ass as my sister is,” Jack said.

“No one is as big a pain in the ass as Kari,” Phillip said and they all laughed.

“So you’re talking about the lust?” Perri asked the other women.

“Yes, is that what you call it?” Emma asked.

“Yeah, we call it wolf lust,” Alyssa said.

“I just was saying how it totally shocks me. I’d never felt like this about sex or a man before. Just smelling the skin at the hollow of his throat makes me crazy,” Rain said.

The other women moaned. “Yeah, it seems that certain spots on the body are stronger conductors of the pheromones than others. The neck, the shoulders. For us I think it’s the neck and the curve of the breasts, the back of the knees,” Emma said.

“Oh and the skin on the inside of Laurent’s elbow.” Rain shivered.

“How could I have forgotten?”

“So? Can I or not?” Rain asked.

Emma laughed. “Yeah, I did on my first night after I woke up.”

“Oh thank god!”

“At least he’s not Alpha. Andreas and I couldn’t have sex the night before I transformed because his boys were sacred and he had to save them for some sort of fertility thing. Of course he did go down on me so one of us got off. Oh and wait until you get pregnant, it’s even worse!”

“
Oh yeah
,” the other women agreed loudly.

“Poor Andreas, toward the end he and I were having sex like four times a day and he was getting me off in other ways at least four other times and I still couldn’t get enough. He was actually complaining that he had carpal tunnel.” Kari laughed and they all looked at him over their shoulders.

“When I was pregnant with Drea I would just show up at Sean’s office and make him have sex with me in between his appointments. I’d wake up an hour before he left for work to fit in at least one round of fucking and a blowjob.”

“You guys are scaring me,” Rain said, laughing and blushing at the same time. “But now that I have the go-ahead I’m going to grab my husband and make a run for it. All this talk has only made things worse.” She stood and they all hugged her. “See you tomorrow morning.”

She turned and looked at Laurent, her pupils dilating, lips parting. She sent him a wave of sensual awareness and he looked as though he’d been physically hit. He got to his feet and without even saying goodbye, grabbed Rain and stalked out the doors.