Built for Lust (5 page)

Even when it ended -- when he’d given her everything he had and her shouts turned to whimpers -- her muscles still fluttered around him. Aftershocks that testified to their reality. They’d just made magic, created something greater than two people. Or wolves. They’d truly joined and would never be apart again.

Chapter Three

Gray’s mate hardly sat throughout the entire pack meeting. He watched her perch on a chair at the end of the table and then flit here and there. The matriarch, the older alpha female with graying hair and a body softened by time and childbearing, sat quietly as the others talked, but her eyes followed her daughter’s movements. She was worried. About Cara. Cara had a mate now, and he’d take care of things.

“So, Gray, where do you come from,” the mother, Bess, asked. “Who’s your pack?”

“He doesn’t have a pack,” Joe said. As the largest male, this brother had loaned Gray a robe like the others wore. “Cara made him in her lab.”

Bess looked toward his mate, who stood by a window staring out. “Is this true?”

Cara didn’t answer but continued to look outside. Silence fell over the room, even as it was filled with all of Cara’s sibs and their mates. Of the mates, only Ilse’s had spoken since the discussion had started. It was his house, after all.

“Well?” Bess prompted.

“She was making some kind of bionic mate in her lab when I visited,” Ilse said. “It looked like Gray.”

Bess trained her attention on him. “What do you say, young man?”

“I don’t remember anything before the lab,” he answered. “Maybe they’re right.”

Joe gestured toward Gray. “He’s a damned machine.”

“He’s not a machine.” Cara finally turned from the window. “Ilse took care of that.”

“What is she talking about?” Bess demanded.

“She has some crazy idea that I changed Gray from robot to real,” Ilse answered.

“It’s not crazy.” Cara walked to the table and rested her fists on the top, bending toward her sister. “I don’t know how you did it, but you did.”

“I don’t have that kind of power,” Ilse shot back.

“Yeah, sure,” Cara said. “Then, how did you get that headache?”

Bess gasped. “You fought with your sister when she was weak?”

“She deserved it,” Cara answered.

“I got the headache helping the police find a lost boy,” Ilse said. “The creep who had him was evil. It took a lot out of me.”

“Like I believe that,” Cara shouted. “Joe put you up to it. The three of you had it all planned.”

“Sit, Cara,” Gray ordered. “Over here, next to me.”

She stiffened, and her eyes widened. She obviously hadn’t expected him to talk to her that way. Maybe no one else ever had.

Joe’s wife got up from the chair next to Gray, and he stared at his mate, letting her know in no uncertain terms that he’d shift and enforce his will if he had to. He wasn’t just throwing his weight around. For the good of the clan… all of them… she needed to fit in. Everyone had to work to protect their social bonds. Their kind couldn’t survive alone, and the sooner she realized that, the better. He hadn’t been flesh and blood for long, but the pack instinct already ran strong in his blood. Being a lone wolf was no kind of existence for him or Cara.

When no one spoke up to take her side, she took her seat next to him and curled her hands into fists in her lap.

“Thank you, Gray,” Bess said. At that, the muscle jumped in Cara’s jaw again.

“Do you have any insight into how you… well… came to be as you are?” Peter asked.

“For the love of God, you’re not going to accept this abomination into the pack, are you?” Joe shouted.

“If Cara’s mated with him, we have no choice,” Peter answered.

“Have the two of you mated?” Bess asked.

“Judging from the noises from upstairs a few minutes ago, I’d say they have,” Sam answered.

“Damn it.” Joe pounded his fist on the table and shot out of his chair. “Damn it all to hell.”

“He was still robotic when we mated as wolves,” Cara said softly. “At least, I think he was.”

Bess rested her palms on the table and appeared to be lost in thought. The rest of them kept quiet. Even Joe sat when his wife caught his hand and urged him into the chair next to her. For long moments, no one spoke, although Cara appeared ready to burst with anger.

“All right, Gray,” Bess said finally. “Tell us everything you know about where you came from and how you ended up with Cara.”

He took his mate’s hand and eased her fingers between his. “I first came to consciousness in Cara’s lab.”

It hadn’t been the same consciousness he had now or even as a wolf. More like buzzing confusion as his parts -- his body -- acted automatically in response to the environment. He’d had an awareness of Cara, though. She’d seemed a god. She still did, even though she didn’t have his size and strength and he could command her, if only a little.

“I’m not sure when I…” How to find the right word? “…changed. I don’t think it was anything Ilse did. I might have done it myself.”

“Well then, that makes us doubly your pack as you have none of your own,” Bess said.

“Mom, you can’t mean that,” Joe shouted.

“What would you like me to do?” Bess demanded. “Separate them now that they’re mated?”

“Find his off switch or something.”

Cara barked a laugh. “I already tried that.”

“You will show your mate the respect he deserves, young lady,” Bess scolded. “The rest of you… you all wanted her to mate. She has. End of discussion.”

“Thank you,” Gray said.

“Cara, you and Gray will live in your cottage. It’ll be cramped until we can enlarge it for you,” Bess ordered.

“I didn’t agree to that,” Cara said.

“You don’t have to. I’ve decided.” Bess rose from her chair. “Now, I’m going to go play with my grandchildren.”

* * *

In the chaos of her life in the outside world, Cara had forgotten the sense of peace that could settle over her on a warm evening as she sat on her cottage’s small porch and stared out into the redwoods. The serenity wasn’t complete this evening, though, despite the glass of cabernet in her hand. Tonight, she shared the space with Gray, and later, she’d share the smallish bed she used to occupy alone.

He sat in the chair next to hers, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He took to her clan’s traditional clothing as if born to it, although her brother’s robes didn’t quite reach to his ankles as they did on Joe. Imagine that. His size overpowered even that of her big brother. She could hardly have imagined a more magnificent male if she’d tried.

He inhaled deeply and then let the breath out on a sigh. “I don’t know how you could leave this place.”

“You haven’t been here long enough.”

“These woods are stunning. Your family’s welcoming, under the circumstances.” He reached over and covered her hand with his. “We will need to make the cabin bigger, though.”

“We’re not staying here.”

“That’s wrong, and you know it,” he said. “We belong with your… our pack.”

She took a sip of her wine and let it sit on her tongue for a while. In the normal course of things, Gray would be right. Sometimes, she longed for this place and these people/wolves so much she dreamed about running with them. But, every time she visited in hopes she’d fit in, the more her inadequacies became obvious. At first, it had only been her mother’s and sister’s power. Then, Ruth had married Joe, and an outsider fit in better than she did. Then, the grandchildren had come.

“I’ve only just been born or whatever it is I’ve done,” Gray went on. “But, I can feel it. The need to belong. To be part of something bigger.”

“You’re different,” she said.

“How?” he asked. “Talk to me, Cara. I’m your mate.”

That feeling washed over her again -- the one dangerously close to self-pity. Revolting emotion, really. Why should she feel sorry for herself? She had the perfect family and the perfect job. Now, she’d manufactured the perfect mate. “You have to understand my pack. The females all have gifts. Even the ones who marry into the family have to have a special ability.”

“Ilse’s sight?” he said.

“Ruth, Joe’s wife, is a healer. Mom can start fires with her mind.” Cara snapped her fingers. “Poof. Flame.”

“What about the men?”

“All dominant. Prime males,” she answered. “You fit in here better than I do.”

“They all love you. You can see it in their eyes.”

“Even Joe?”

“Especially Joe,” he said. “That’s why he disapproves of me so much.”

“Maybe you’re right, but that doesn’t help.” She set her glass aside, got up, and walked to the railing, gripping it in both fists. The long shadows had turned darker now, creating an early night under the redwoods. It was always cool under the huge trees, and now the breeze raised goose bumps on her skin as the rich scents of the forest floated to her.

Gray came up behind her and rested his hands on her upper arms. The warmth of his body seeped into her back. Tempting, oh so tempting. She could turn and rest against the expanse of his chest. Let him make love to her until she forgot even her own name. In fact, she would later, but her reality would be waiting to confront her in the morning. She couldn’t stay here without knowing every day that, among her pack, she was a charity case.

“You made me,” he said. “Maybe that’s your gift.”

“Engineering. I learned it in college.”

“Has anyone else in your lab ever created something close to my mechanical self?” he asked.

“I’m really good at my job.”

“I’m more than your job,” he said softly.

She turned and stepped away from him. “Fine, then. Maybe you brought yourself to life.”

“Maybe you did it.”

“Oh, no.” She had to laugh at that. “Not me.”

“Why not?”

“Ilse’s the most gifted of us all,” she said. “If she didn’t do it, I sure as hell didn’t.”

“I have more faith in you than that.”

“Look, Gray…”

“Never mind for now. We have better things to do than talk.”

He reached for her, and she went to him, hugging his ribs while she rested her face against his chest and listened to the beat of his heart.

Rubbing her back with the palms of his big hands, he rested his cheek on top of her head. “I love you, Cara.”

Of course, he did. She hadn’t given him any choice in the matter.

“I don’t care what anyone else thinks of you or even what you think of yourself,” he said. “You’re a miracle to me.”

She pulled back and stared up into his face, into those amazing eyes that had haunted her imagination when he’d been nothing more than a picture in a magazine. “I programmed you. You can’t help but think of me that way.”

“It’s more than that.” He spread his palms on either side of her face and tipped her chin up with his thumbs. “I’ve watched you. You can outrun me… almost.”

“I was going as fast as I can, and you hardly broke a sweat.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Wolves don’t sweat.”

“You know what I mean.”

He kissed her then, no more than a gentle sampling of her mouth with his own. As eagerly as he’d devoured her pussy earlier, he’d never kissed her before, and although she couldn’t have known what to expect, she could never have imagined… well… this. As solid and firm as he was everywhere else, his lips felt soft against hers. Urging and seeking rather than demanding. If she’d had an ounce of resistance against this male, this caress would have melted it in the heartbeats it took him to taste her top lip and then brush his tongue over the bottom one. Enchantment. No other word penetrated the fog his kiss had thrown up around her brain. The rustle of the leaves in the forest somehow combined with the sound of her sighs as she answered him back with her own mouth. Surely, no one could withstand this sweetness without surrendering a bit of her soul.

He pulled away after a moment and rested his forehead against hers. “You see? A miracle.”

“Of your own creation.”

“Nope.” He pressed his lips against her jaw and then trailed them up to her temple. “I’m nothing without you.”

His breath in her ear sent such a jolt through her that her knees almost buckled. She let out a gasp of surprise that melted into a sigh of pleasure.

“Do that again,” he murmured.

“What?” Her voice came out as soft as the breeze.

“That little noise.” He breathed hotly into her ear again, and this time, she couldn’t hold back a moan.

“Damn, that makes me hot.” This time, he claimed her mouth with more urgency, parting her lips as he pulled her hard against him. His erect cock pressed against her belly through their robes. So long and thick, it had worked her pussy into a pleasant soreness that afternoon, but that didn’t stop her poor sex from demanding more. Now and most likely later on, too.

His hands went to her buttocks and cupped them as he ground his hips against her. “I can’t seem to stop.”

“Did I ask you to?”

“No matter how much I get of you, I need more.” At that, he pushed her against a post at the corner of the porch and thrust his pelvis up against her. The force of his movements almost forced her feet from the planks, but she clung to his shoulders, digging her fingers into the muscles there to hang on.