Caged Wolf (Wolves of Willow Bend Book 2) (14 page)

“He’s beautiful,” she whispered then pressed a kiss to his lips. “Don’t leash him. I want you both.” The beauty of her sensuality shredded his control utterly. He rolled the condom on, and went to kneel on the bed, but Vivian twisted away from him, and went to her hands and knees.

He froze, but his wolf had no such compunction. She pushed the tumble of her hair away and glanced at him over her shoulder. “This is for you,” she said and the words didn’t register fully past his desire. “I am for you.”

His wolf was done with the dance and A.J. surged forward, holding her hip to keep her steady, he gripped his aching cock and nudged at her entrance. The musk of her femininity perfumed the air and he could still taste the rich decadence of her cream on his tongue. Hard as a stone, he wasn’t prepared for the slick, damp heat of her as he eased inside.

Soft.

Beautiful.

And not once did she look away as he pushed into her body. The animal knew what they wanted and their relentless thrust into the tightness of her gutted him. When he sank balls deep, he threw his head back and let out a roar, one he’d held inside for years. Her sigh drew him like a moth to her incandescent flame.

Slow. He had to go slow, but the sweet delicious friction of pulling back only made the pleasure arcing up his spine more intense. Her moan pierced his worry, and he thrust against her spasming muscles. She met him halfway, hips pushing back to him. Reason ceased.

Catching her hips, he began to thrust and found his rhythm, guiding her into meeting him. Soon her cries filled the air and he didn’t pretend not to be as aroused by her pleasure as he was his own. When his balls drew up tight, he fought the urge to come and reached beneath her. Catching her clit between two fingers, he beckoned her orgasm and she stiffened, then cried out. Her pussy clamped down on him, dragging his release from him.

The world splintered and he came with a ferocity he’d never experienced. His vision flickered, narrowing until all he could see was her—the damp lines of her back, the arch of her neck, how she tilted her head up and the way pleasure suffused her skin.

When she collapsed, he eased her down onto the bed, and followed because his body had gone boneless. Nuzzling at her neck, he experienced true peace and his wolf sighed.

Mine
. His brain whispered into the hush.
Ours.
 

Mate.

Spent, and replete, he stopped fighting what his animal had always known.

Vivian was theirs. She was their mate.

And we’re never letting her go.

Chapter Nine

Vivian rolled onto her back, cushioned her head against A.J.’s arm, and stared at the ceiling. Sunlight dappled the wood. It had to be late afternoon, but they’d barely left the bedroom except to forage for food in the kitchen—
which ended up being the two of us on the floor.
She was no prude, but A.J. had done things to her she didn’t think were entirely legal.

Of course, she’d debauched him twice. The look on his face when she’d taken his cock in her mouth the first time was one she planned to savor forever. His combination of shock, joy, and raw hunger filled her with an almost indefinable decadence. Perhaps the carnality was to be expected, but she’d never experienced anything remotely like being with him, not before her attack and certainly not since.

They’d made three attempts to get out of bed and, each time, they ended up in a tangle of limbs. When he’d run out of condoms, she’d teased him. A mistake because the man had the most gifted mouth and her brain, not always trustworthy as it was, seemed to be permanently short-circuited.

Beneath her, A.J. tensed. He slid her over and rolled off the bed and to his feet so swiftly and silently, she could only gape at him. He put a finger to his lips then murmured one word. “Stay.”

Apprehension gathered in the pit of her stomach. Catching a sheet in her hand, she pulled it around her before standing. Running around the house naked with A.J. didn’t bother her, but she had no idea what drew him from their bed. The thought gave her pause.

Their
bed. Panic swelled inside, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Not right now. Think about
that
part later.
The mental pep talk did little to quell her nerves. A thud slammed through the silence followed by a startled masculine yell. Fisting the sheet, she glanced around the room in search of a weapon. A wood carving sat on the dresser and she made a beeline for it and hefted it.

Straining, she listened for what happened in the other room. Every part of her wanted to be there, with him, but he’d ordered her to stay.
He can order me to do whatever he wants. Of course, I rarely
obey
, because while I may be a damn wolf now, I’m not a dog.

Alexis’ words echoed in the back of her mind, but Vivian still didn’t move toward the door. She wasn’t a wolf and A.J. wouldn’t have told her to stay if the danger wasn’t real. The need to obey warred with her need to protect him. Either way, she remained rooted to the spot.

Another thud, then a shout of…
laughter?
 

Edging toward the door, she peeked into the living room. No sign of A.J. or whatever caused the thud. Gripping the sheet, she ventured further into the living room, statue still in hand. The front door of the cabin stood partially open. A whoop of noise, then another slam. Vivian winced.

“Don’t worry about them, dear. Boys will be boys.” The woman’s voice startled her and she swung around, statue raised and a scream tearing out of her throat before she could swallow it.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen was a stylish, thirty-something year old woman. A dark green blouse and jeans accented her curvy physique. She was in the middle of withdrawing some cartons from a brown paper sack. Her eyebrows raised at Vivian’s scream and then A.J. was there, blocking her view, his brothers only a step behind him.

Concern vibrated off of him. “Are you all right?”

Vivian stared at the three of them, dumbfounded, then past them to the woman in the kitchen who’d begun to laugh.

“I think I startled your human, Andrew.”

Linc whooped with laughter and Ty followed. “Mom, meet Vivian. Vivian, this is our mother.”

The statue fell from her nerveless fingers. A.J. caught it, then slammed it into a still laughing Linc’s chest. The air whooshed out of him. “Leave her alone.” The flat order didn’t carry any of his brothers’ amusement.

“Andrew.” The woman in the kitchen snapped out the purely maternal scolding and Vivian couldn’t help but gape. How could that young woman be A.J.’s mother?

“Did you have them when you were twelve?” The question escaped before she could stop it.

“No, dear. Eighteen. I always said their father was an overachiever.” Then she winked and heat flooded Vivian’s face.

“Really liking the sheet. You pull off the rolled out of bed look well.” Ty complimented her and darted across the room before A.J.’s swing caught him. He hid behind their mother, who paused from her unpacking long enough to slap him in the back of the head.

“Be nice, Tyler. Go get the rest of the groceries from the car. Linc, you help him.”

“He can carry two bags. He’s not that much of a wimp.” But Linc gave up his protest when A.J. growled. Holding up his hands, he retreated. “I’m going, I’m going. Course, Ty is right. Vivian looks great in that sheet.”

For the first time in her life, Vivian wished a fugue would seize her and drown this memory so she could forget her humiliation. A.J. wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face against his chest.  His brothers stomped out, then his mother said, “Andrew, why don’t you let Vivian go get dressed?”

As if spurred by the encouragement, he guided a very embarrassed Vivian back to their bedroom.

“I’m sorry,” he told her as soon as the door was closed. “I didn’t realize they were coming.”

“I met your mom in a sheet.” Vivian sat down on the bed. His mother, the wolf. Wolves knew everything from scents and she and A.J. had been having sex everywhere in the house. Mortification crawled through her and she buried her face in her hands.

“Hey.” The bed dipped as he sat next to her and then she was in his lap. “What’s wrong?”

“I was naked, in a sheet—in front of your
mother
!”

A.J. shrugged. “She didn’t mind and ignore Linc and Ty. They’re just jealous.” A pleased look lit up his face. “Because you’re mine.”

“But I was in a sheet.” How did one live down that humiliation?

“I was buck ass naked, darling. Trust me, she didn’t care. Most wolves won’t. We get used to nudity pretty young, and we ignore it.”

Well, how great for them. “But we had sex out there.”

His grin grew. “I know.”

“Yeah, well, so will your mom.”

His grin faltered a little, and he blinked. “Mom came because she wants to meet you.” For a moment, she thought he would add something more, then thought better of it. “As for the sex, she knows what that is, Vivian. It won’t bother her.”

Biting her lip, she wondered how to tell him it bothered her. “I’m…”

“Shy,” he said, and his expression softened. He cradled her face in his hands, then nuzzled her mouth with the gentlest of kisses. “Beautiful.” Another kiss. “Captivating.” A third kiss. “And mine.” A fourth kiss. “You belong here, with me, with us. That is all you ever need to feel when you see others around you, including my mother.”

“You’re incorrigible,” she whispered, but she had to admit she did feel better.

“I’m totally corrigible,” he said, then kissed her bare shoulder. “Would you like me to corridge?”

She laughed, then slapped at his bare chest. “No, you will not seduce me while they are all here and can hear.”

“Tempting, though, isn’t it?” The playful look on his face warmed her all the way to her toes. Was it just three days ago she’d seen him in the courtroom looking haggard and worn?

“Yes.” Though embarrassed by her need, she had to admit the idea of forgetting the rest of them and crawling back into the cocoon they’d created definitely tempted her. “Would they mind if I took a shower before I get dressed?”

He threaded a hand through her hair and gave her another kiss. “Can I take the shower with you?”

“Will you behave?”

“Absolutely not.”

Desire quivered in her belly. How much could his family hear over the water? “We’re out of condoms.”

“Not anymore. My brothers brought me another box.” He scooped her into his arms and she let the sheet drop to the floor.

“I think I may owe them a kiss.” She held on as he headed for the bathroom. His growl of a response made her laugh all over again.

Forty-five minutes later, she sat in the living room surrounded by A.J.’s family, since his father had arrived. The only one missing from their gathering was the younger sister, though no one explained where she was. Their shower lasted considerably longer than she intended, and no way they didn’t hear her screaming. Thankfully, no one commented when she and A.J. emerged damp haired and freshly dressed.

Virgil and Claudia didn’t appear much older than their sons. Emma, the healer, didn’t seem much older than them either. It had to be a wolf thing, but each time Vivian tried to wrap her mind around the idea, she failed. Claudia had prepared huge plates with sandwiches, chips, fruit, and desserts. All, save Vivian, ate everything on their plates. She’d had nearly half the sandwich, but didn’t pretend that she could eat much more. Hell, she’d eaten more in the last two days than she had in the last two weeks.

Though Linc and Tyler stared at her food, she passed it to A.J. when she finished and he asked her three times before he tucked into the meal. Claudia surveyed it all with a sort of quiet domesticity. Curled up in the corner of the sofa, feet tucked beneath A.J.’s leg, offered Vivian a sense of security and serenity. His family was loud. At any given moment, he and his brothers were in danger of smacking, hitting, or wrestling each other. They toned it down when he was near her, but Linc and Tyler had already toppled one of the chairs in their antics and righted it under the gimlet-eyed stare of their father.

Virgil was harder to read. Though he said little, she could see exactly where the boys earned their looks. Though they’d gotten their hair from their mother and she thought maybe their personalities, but that too proved difficult to ascertain.  Vivian was a carbon copy of her mother in looks, height, and general physicality—but personalities? Interests?
Illnesses?
They couldn’t be further apart.

Dwelling on her mother was a mistake. They hadn’t spoken in years, not since the speculative diagnosis of the glioma. Her mother had stepped into the hospital room, fidgeted nervously, and finally said, “Vivian, you’re a grown woman and you have some difficult decisions to make. Call me when you’ve done that and we’ll see what I can do for you.” Then she’d walked out. Vivian never called her.

Her mother never came looking. Marisol Knox didn’t enjoy difficulty or strife. A disease eating away at her child’s brain must have horrified her. She’d lost her mother and received a death sentence on the same day. They hadn’t been very much a part of each other’s lives before the diagnosis, so it shouldn’t bother her that they were utterly estranged now.

A warm hand settled on her thigh, pulling her from her dark thoughts. A.J. studied her with a singular intensity of focus. He didn’t disguise his concern. “Hey, where did you go?”

Had she gotten up and moved? A quick glance revealed she hadn’t left her spot on the sofa, but every wolf in the room stared at her. She had their attention and, no matter how human they all appeared, she suddenly had the most disconcerting feeling of being sized up as prey.

“Nowhere,” she lied, and folded her arms. “Maybe I should let you and your family spend some time together.” Even though she avoided looking at A.J., she practically sensed the disapproval radiating off him.

“Virgil, take the boys and go check on Ranae,” Claudia said into the quiet. “She and her date have had time to think we don’t know they are meeting.”