WeresDigest (7 page)

Lifting her gaze to his hair she gasped and one hand
covered her mouth in surprise.

He scowled and rose from the chair. “What’s wrong?”

She backed away from him and pointed at his head.
“Your hair, why, it seems to have grown in the last few minutes!”

* * * *

Max groaned inwardly as he realized something was
happening to him. Slowly, he turned to face the mirror hanging over the hearth
and groaned aloud this time when he saw his hair had indeed grown inches
longer, touching his shoulders now. While he’d had the slight shadow of a
beard, it had thickened. Lifting his hands, he noted more hair on them as well,
and his fingernails had grown longer with sharp, pointed tips. Then he knew the
legends he’d heard from his grandfather were true; that once he met his true
mate he would begin to shift a bit into his wolf form until they completed
their first mating, though he wouldn’t completely shift.

He heard a rustling of clothes and swiftly turned to
see his lovely woman donning her skirts. “Stop,” he said, noticing for the
first time how his voice had deepened.

She paused, fright in her eyes. “I want to go home
now.”

“Let me explain what’s happening to me.”

Carrie went to the bureau, dropping her skirt, giving
Max for the first time, a view of her buttocks. My God, his manhood thickened
and hardened within seconds as he gazed upon the most perfect bottom he’d ever
viewed. Plump cheeks, meant to cushion a man’s hard body as he lay spooned
against her during the night. Hips meant to birth children. She was everything
he’d ever dreamed of in a woman, and she was his. But he must reassure her for
she was frightened of him now.

He watched her as she slid on her spectacles then
looked at him over her shoulder. His gaze travelled down to her perfect
buttocks again and she noticed. Immediately she turned to face him then
snatched the bedclothes to her as she settled down on the bed.

“I’m listening,” she whispered.

Moving closer to her, he was relieved she didn’t
scramble away from him. He paused though some distance from her, not wanting to
frighten her more.

“You’ve heard stories, I’m certain, over the years
about the wolves who keep London and the surrounding villages safe, haven’t
you?”

She nodded, looking at him in confusion.

Here it comes, he mused, as he said, “I’m one of
them.”

After a long pause, she replied, “I see.”

Max scowled. That was it? That’s all she could say? No
screams, no fright, just an ‘I see’?

She nodded again. “Well, then, that explains the
sudden growth of hair on your body and the longer hair, I suppose. And it also
explains how, on the evening we first met, why I thought you looked like a
wolf. It’s because you are one!” She had lifted a hand and gestured at his
body.

Feeling a bit self-conscious and utterly chagrinned,
he raised his brow and asked, “Is that all you have to say on the matter?”

“Yes, I believe so, except for one other thing.”

Dread filled his heart, believing she would tell him
she wanted nothing further to do with him when she stunned him. Again.

“Is this all the further you will change? I’ve no
desire to make love with a wolf, but a big, lovely human-made man such as you,
yes, definitely.”

The air left his lungs and he jammed his hands on his
hips. “Are you saying you’re not frightened? And you’re not surprised?”

She laughed. “No to both.”

“Why in the hell not?”

Chapter
Six

She patted the bed and, feeling like a complete fool,
and somewhat like a little boy, he sat down beside her. “There are many strange
things in life, and in this world in which we live, Max. I’ve always believed
that what we see isn’t all there is in life.”

“For example?” he asked, unable to believe her
calmness.

“Well,” she said turning sideways to face him. His
gaze couldn’t help but settle on her breasts again. She’d released the
bedclothes and apparently hadn’t realized, or she had done so purposely. “I
believe in ghosts. And in witches. So why would it be so unusual for me to
believe you can change into a wolf?”

The crazy thing about this conversation was the fact
they were calmly having it, and she wasn’t afraid. She accepted him for what he
truly was. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have her in his life.

“So, you see, nothing has really changed between us,”
she said with a finality in her voice Max appreciated.

Max reached up and raked his fingers through her
golden-streaked brown hair. “I want you, and I don’t believe I’ll change any
more than I already have.”

With the smile of a siren, Carrie lay back on his bed
on her side, offering him a delectable view of her backside, rounded hips and
breasts. “Then come, Max, and make me yours.”

Max was stunned to feel tears forming in his eyes. My
God, how had he ever found her, his mate, this one woman ever meant for him?
She rolled to her back. He hovered over her, brushing his chest and groin
against her lush curves, bracing himself on his arms on either side of her.

“You want me,” he murmured. Dipping his head, he
nipped again at her neck, harder this time than the first.

“Yes,” she said.

Her body quivered and her arms came up around him,
clutching him to her. God, but he was in agony at the feel of her against him.
It seemed he’d waited a lifetime to feel these exquisite sensations and he
never wanted the feeling to end.

“Take me now, Max. I’ve been ready all evening. And
it’s late. I’m beginning to tire,” she said petulantly.

Rich laughter erupted from Max as he rose and settled
back onto his knees, lifted her limbs, and draped them high over his shoulders.
“I’ve been ready and waiting my whole life for you, sweetheart. But I want this
night of ecstasy to last, so I will take my time with you, and you will enjoy
every moment,” he promised.

He dipped his head and with the firelight at his back,
her legs spread over his wide shoulders, he had an erotic view of her pink petals
surrounding the pearly center of her womanhood. Lovely, he mused as he nuzzled
her with his lips.

“Max! What in heaven’s name are you doing to me? Why,
I never…”

“I should hope not,” he purred against her center,
“You’re a virgin, I know.”

“You can’t do this…why…it’s not…appropriate.”

He laughed again. “To hell with appropriate. You’re in
for a treat.”

* * * *

“Ohmygodmygodmygod,” Carrie whispered a litany as he
lapped at her pearl, then nibbled on it carefully with his teeth.

She felt her body shaking and clutching the bedclothes
when he stopped. She opened her eyes and saw him grinning down at her. “Oh,
don’t stop, Max!” Then she slammed her hand over her mouth.

“Good idea, sweetheart, don’t want to wake up the
entire castle, do we?”

“You devil!” she gasped as he continued working his
lips and tongue over her with his tongue and his teeth…heavens his teeth were
murderous, wondrous, and she felt like putty, unable to do anything but feel.
It was the most heavenly feeling! Then she purred aloud when he slid one thick
finger inside her and her body’s shaking resumed. What was this strange
feeling? He reamed her then, his finger sliding easily in and out of her. She
was consumed by wondrous sensations, between his finger inside her and his lips
on her clitoris, she knew she felt ready to break apart at any moment. Tighter
and tighter, the sensation grew, seemingly leading to something bigger, she
guessed.

She remembered once long ago stumbling upon her eldest
brother in the hayloft in the barn tumbling a village girl. Carrie hadn’t seen
them but she’d heard the girl’s pleading with her brother to end her agony and
to finish her off was how she’d put it. Now, suddenly, Carrie guessed what
they’d been doing, and what the girl’s words meant.

“Finish, Max,” she begged. “Please!”

Immediately, Max lowered her limbs from his shoulders
and again settled his body over hers. He was being so gentle when she wanted
him to be more forceful. She felt this heat tearing through her, every nerve
ending seemingly exposed, ready to end the agony of heat in her loins. She knew
what she wanted; him inside her, pumping into her as she’d viewed the stallion
horses on neighboring farms mating with a mare. Mating! Yes, and hadn’t that
been what he’d said all along?

Carrie had never seen humans make love, so she
imagined the horses’ way was the way of things. She shoved at Max, her hands
against his shoulders until he moved back with a frown, confusion on his face.
She flipped over to her stomach and raised her haunches.

She breathed a relieved sigh when he made a sound that
was eager and exultant and he took her hips in his hands. Then he pressed
against her and she felt his big member jutting and start to slide inside her.
She cringed and gasped at a twinge of pain and he eased back, then eased in a
bit further. Again, the pain came, but somehow she ignored it, all the while
believing and trusting Max to end her agony, and give her the ultimate pleasure
in his arms.

“Just a few more times, Carrie,” he said
encouragingly. “You are some woman, you know that? And you’re mine, mine,” he
extolled over and over again. His thrusting grew less shallow, sliding further
and further into her. His fingers started moving over her pearly center again
and he murmured, “You are so hot, wet and slick, and all for me. All mine,” he
said firmly.

His thrusts grew fiercer as he pressed deeper into her
body.

We’ve mated, for life. No longer will you feel any
pain, only pleasure.”

Carrie heard possession and love in his voice and she
nodded, unable to speak.

Max released the arm he’d clasped around her waist,
grasped her firmly by the hips, and began his fierce thrusting again. So
powerful were they Carrie couldn’t hold herself on her forearms for long and
she fell to the bed. Her face smashed into the pillow and her shoulders were on
the bed. She planted her hands, ready to rise when Max gave her a sharp,
warning slap on her right buttock.

“Stay there,” he ordered. “Don’t rise for you’ll only
go down again.”

She wiggled her bottom as he took her, savoring the tingling
sensation from his firm smack. Never, ever had anyone spanked her before, not
even her parents. But in this circumstance, with Max, she wanted him to do it
again so she wiggled her hips from side. “Again,” she begged.

Max paused. “What again?”

“Spank me?”

A low devious-sounding laughter rose from Max. “As my
lady wishes, I am yours to command.”

His big hand cracked against her buttocks again as he
thrust forward, then retreated. On the forward thrust, he slapped her, harder,
and she groaned.

He paused and stroked her back. “Too hard?”

Carrie heard the worry in his voice and reassured him.
“Not enough.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

She rose up a bit and turned to stare at him. If the
man didn’t look like some handsome Viking god, she didn’t know who did. His
body was covered in a sheen of sweat, his hair had grown even longer, his thigh
muscles bulged behind her and his arms were threaded with muscles and tendons,
and more hair-fur, she decided and smiled to herself. My God, he was an
incredible man-beast.

“It feels good.”

Leaning over her, he kissed the nape of her neck then
rose up again and proceeded taking her, occasionally smacking her buttocks o
until the sharp slaps of his hand against her skin and the sound of his groin
smacking into her body filled the room.

Carrie groaned when he reached beneath her and found
the center of her quivering desire, all the while keeping up his steady
thrusting. Close, she felt so close, and he was too, she noticed, for his cock
had grown even harder and bigger inside of her.

“My God, you are so tight, Carrie. Tell me I’m not
hurting you,” he begged.

“Just finish me!” she snapped, twitching her hips
faster from side to side. His taking grew fiercer and Carrie’s knees lifted off
the bed each time he pushed into her. She screamed then when something in her
center burst, and she felt her muscles contracting around his cock. Ecstasy.
She now fully understood the meaning of the word as she throbbed around him,
until it eased.

“Bloody hell!” he shouted as he released inside her,
pressing hard into her, his hands still holding her hips, her knees off the
bed. After several seconds, he eased her gently down on the bed and slid out of
her body, collapsing beside her onto his back.

They were silent, except for their labored breathing.
After he recovered, Max turned his head and smiled. Carrie lay on her stomach,
her eyes closed, breathing soft. Turning to her, he lifted her easily with one
arm and pulled the covers down, then over her. She never roused from her deep
slumber.

He spooned behind her, closed his eyes to rest himself
when he heard a gentle knocking on the door. Rising swiftly, he went to an
armoire in the corner of the room, pulled out a robe, and put it on as he
headed for the door. Max opened it with a scowl on his face. Simon stood there
with a determined, serious expression. “Is she…yours now?”

Max nodded, wondering why Simon would ask.

“Excellent.” We need to have a family talk, right
now.”

“What about?”

“Grandfather. He’s taken a turn for the worst. And I
saw something earlier this evening in his room that I’m not sure about. Meet
Jake and me in the library.”

“I’ve had this uneasy feeling,” Max said. “I’ll be
there shortly.”

While Max hated to leave Carrie, he knew that Simon
wouldn’t interrupt him if it wasn’t something important.

* * * *

The brothers conferred in the castle library. They
sat, Simon behind the desk, Max and Jake in chairs across from him.

“Black smoke, you say?” Jake asked Simon.

Simon nodded. “And within that cloud of smoke I could
swear I saw the outline of a human.”

Max frowned. “Someone has cursed grandfather. That’s
why he cannot move or speak.” He looked at his brothers. “Who would do that?
Good God, the man’s been at death’s door for years, so when would he have had a
chance to provoke someone?”

“This isn’t a new enemy, but an old one,” Simon
decided. “No idea who, though. I wish we knew more about our mother, and what
happened to her—more about our father and his family, too.”

A light knocking on the door came. Simon called,
“Enter.”

Dora hesitantly entered the library, her hands clasped
nervously in front of her.

“Dora, I’d left you with grandfather. I don’t want him
alone right now,” Simon said.

“Yer lordship, I left him with cook until I return.
I’ve something of great importance to tell you.”

Cook was a big, burly woman even Simon wouldn’t want
to tangle with and he breathed a relieved sigh. “All right, so say it, Dora.”

“I know the man who was in yer grandfather’s room,”
she whispered, shaking her head, eyes wide.

“Who!” Max gasped, coming to Dora’s side. He took her
hands in his and looked down at the old woman. “You can tell us.”

“He’ll come back and murder me in me bed, if I tell,”
she squawked.

“He won’t dare,” Max snarled. “Tell us.”

“Canton Mason,” she said, her voice filled with dread.

“And who in bloody hell is that?” Max said.

“Yer mother’s betrothed. She left him when she went
off with yer father. She spurned him and he’s an evil man. He didn’t take it
all so well.”

“Was he a wizard then, do you know? After all, if this
is Mason, and he disappeared right before my eyes, then he has to be,” Simon
said.

Dora nodded. “We all knew he was evil, but no one
dared say a word. Even the duke knew he was…different, guess you could say.”

“Thank you, Dora. Return to grandfather. And count on
us to protect you.”

Dora nodded and rushed from the library.

The three sat in thoughtful silence for a while until
Jake spoke.

“Perhaps a trip to Scotland is in order,” Jake said.
His brothers glared at him and he added, “What? We’ve talked about doing so for
years, and never have. I think we should seek out our father’s ancestors.
Something tells me this enemy, Canton Mason, had something to do with our
mother and father.”