Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (28 page)

Vaile groaned,
clutching at her shoulders to bring her back up to his face. Reluctantly, she
climbed back up his body. He kissed her deeply, his tongue probing further and
further into her mouth. As he worked her mouth with his tongue, his fingers
slid between their bodies, finding her core. Her body was already slick and
ready. He worked her with a steady rhythm that brought her to the edge of
orgasm so quickly she barely had time to prepare for it. Wave after wave of
pleasure rocked her body, sending a flurry of fireworks shooting around her
body; pinging in different directions until her insides felt like they’d
melted.

Vaile was
suddenly above her, his weight being held on his arms as he hovered over her.
‘Are you really sure you want this?’ he asked again. She thought that it
sounded as if he was trying to psych himself up to make love to her. He must
have seen her frowning. ‘Now is the time to tell me if you’ve changed your
mind. I can’t guarantee that I’ll stop once we’ve started this.’

‘I want you,’
she moaned, writhing beneath him, trying to position her core so he could just
slide into her. Vaile growled low into her ear, and the next thing she knew, he
was inside her, stretching her. She screamed out as he pushed her over the edge
just by entering her, breathing hard through the orgasm that just wouldn’t
stop. She clutched at his arms, riding through the pleasure, her body bucking
beneath him. When she could open her eyes again, she found Vaile staring down
at her with a satisfied grin on his face.

It was then that
she realised they weren’t using protection. ‘Vaile, did you put a … condom on?’

‘Don’t worry
about that. Just enjoy yourself,’ he murmured back, stroking her hair and
dropping kisses onto her skin. ‘Are you ready?’ She managed a nod. Vaile kissed
her—long and deep—and began moving inside her. Every delicious inch of him felt
like heaven against her skin, creating a friction that found her flirting with
the edge of yet another orgasm. She bit the inside of her cheek to distract
herself. She could wait for him. She was being a selfish lover, but it had just
been so long.

‘Don’t hold back
with me. I want you to come again,’ he whispered down into her ear. His voice
was what set her off on yet another orgasm. She barely held back the scream
this time, chewing the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood, her nails
digging in until she was sure she’d drawn Vaile’s blood. Her legs scissored
against the mattress as Vaile plunged into her. A bead of sweat had formed on
his brow, rolling down his face and landing on her neck. Faster and faster, he
pounded into her body, trying to reach that release that she seemed to get so
easily with him.

His rhythm
faltered for a second before he found it again, still driving himself further
and further into her body. His arms were slick with sweat where she held onto
him. Wrapping her legs around his ass, she tilted her hips to find a better
angle for him. She felt his chest vibrate with a groan, making her smile. He
stared down at her; his eyes blue then grey again when he blinked. Reaching up,
she touched his face gently.

 ‘Fuck,’ he
hissed. His body jerked on top of her. He bit back another curse as his own
orgasm roared through his body. His hands were buried into the pillow under her
head; a sharp ripping sound resulting in an explosion of feathers. They rained
down over them, getting stuck to Vaile’s arms where sweat had beaded and in her
hair. His body shuddered uncontrollably as he spilled himself inside her before
he was finally still above her.

The atmosphere instantly
changed like a storm approaching. He rolled off her straight after, sitting on
the edge of the bed. His back was to her and she couldn’t resist. Experimentally,
she moved her legs, finding they worked just fine. She crawled to him, but as
she reached for him, he shied away from her hand.

‘Please don’t
touch me, Grey.’

Grey?
‘Vaile?’ she could feel the tears welling. ‘Vaile, what’s wrong?’ she choked
out.

He turned to
her. There was a coldness in those eyes she only saw when they were working a
case. It was detachment—cold, clinical detachment. She clutched the sheet to
her body, feeling the tears fall.

‘Don’t cry,
Grey.’ He reached for her, but took his hand back before he touched her. ‘I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have come around here. I shouldn’t have led you on. I’m
sorry about … what just happened. You should get reassigned. I don’t think it’s
very professional for us to be working together anymore.’ And with that, he
stood, scooped up his clothes, and left her apartment.

*

Vaile left Grey’s apartment feeling
like a piece of shit for what he’d done. Her sobs had followed him out of the
room and out of her apartment until he slammed the door shut behind him—cutting
them off dead. That had been the best sex of his life, and he was ready to
march back in there and make love to her again, but he couldn’t. What he’d just
done would guarantee she would never let him back into her bed. And damn it if
he didn’t feel like a cocksucker for making her cry.

He bit back a
curse, slamming his fist into one of the cement brick walls. His knuckles
instantly swelled from his broken hand, but he didn’t care. Grey was in more
pain than he was. At least his was self-inflicted. That was the last thing that
he’d wanted. He didn’t want to hurt her, but that’s all he seemed to be able to
do. When he reached the lift, he punched the button—the doors springing open
immediately. Down in the lobby, he gave the doorman a caustic look. 

Throwing himself
into the driver’s seat, he nearly broke the key off in the ignition he was so
damn angry at himself. He started the car, speeding back to the farmhouse and
not giving a fuck if he got pulled over. He showered and changed his clothes as
soon as he got home, but he could still smell her all over him. It was a
reminder of what an asshole he was. Angry at what he’d done—at what he’d
said—he paced the length of his bedroom. He didn’t want her reassigned, but she
would probably ask to be taken off his service after what he’d done. Restless.
He was so fucking restless. When the length of his bedroom wasn’t enough space,
he paced the length of the hallway.

He stopped at
Rhett’s door, listening for murmuring voices or—worse—moaning like he’d made
Larissa do. But all he could hear was light snoring. Cracking the door open a
little, he peered into the blackened room. His eyes adjusted quickly. He saw
Rhett on the bed with Indi curled up next to him. On Rhett’s paw, the wound
he’d received while looking for Eaton was almost done healing. He was suddenly
jealous of what they had. At least they could just sleep next to each other
without having to worry about sex. Vaile withdrew from the room.

Fuck. He’d
wanted Grey so bad it ached. But he shouldn’t have touched her. He knew that he
wouldn’t have been able to stop once he started. He’d warned her, but she’d
said that she wanted him. With a growl, he went down the stairs and into the
kitchen, not stopping until he reached the basement door. Flicking on the
lights, he took the steps three at a time. Not bothering to slide on a pair of
gloves, Vaile stopped in front of the punching bag suspended from the ceiling.

He punched the
fucking thing so hard the chain it was attached to on the rafters moved a
couple of inches. The bag swayed, Vaile following it with his eyes. He struck
at the bag again, and again, stopping only when sweat burned his eyes and he
had to wipe it away. His shirt was drenched with sweat, his bare feet slapping
against the mat under foot. When he checked the clock on the far wall, he found
he’d been in there about three hours beating the living shit out of the bag,
thinking it was himself.

Wiping the back
of his hand across his forehead, he walked back up the stairs and into the
kitchen. He fixed himself a sandwich, eating it in complete darkness and
silence. He dropped his plate into the sink and stripped off his sweat-drenched
clothing. He needed to run. He needed to not be able to feel for a while. He
needed to escape his skin for a few hours.

Leaving clothes
on the back porch, Vaile walked to the edge of the forest and shifted. His
breath fogged up the air in front of him as he stretched out the new muscles
and bones of his wolf’s body. He wanted to get lost in it, to let it just take
over completely. Vaile shuddered and blinked—his vision changing from colour to
shades of black, white and grey. He hadn’t let his wolf take over mind, body
and spirit in such a long time.

And that was the
last conscious thought Vaile had had as a man. When he came to, he was curled
up naked under a fir tree close to the farmhouse. There was blood on his face,
neck and chest, and the flash of memory from his wolf told him he’d caught a
deer, torn it apart and devoured it. His legs were stiff from the cold when he
stood up. Collecting his clothes from where he’d left them, he went back into
the house and to his room.

Vaile staggered
to the bathroom, not bothering to flick the lights on to shower. He stood under
the spray, letting the water wash away the blood. He also wanted it to wash
away the guilt, but that still hung around. He closed his eyes, bracing one arm
out in front of him. Water barrelled over his head, down his shoulders and
back.

I want you.

Larissa—naked
and stretched out on her bed—flashed into his skull; his cock jerked. He cursed,
taking it into his hand and pumping his hand along the length of it until he
came, hard and fast. He was disgusted with himself for using Larissa to jack
off to, but the very thought of her naked and writhing beneath him seemed too
strong to ignore. He shut off the water; snagging a towel from the rack and
drying his fever-hot skin.

He collapsed
onto his bed, feeling like he could finally sleep.

Rhett groaned and rolled over,
wincing when he put too much pressure on his arm. His eyes cracked open and
looked down at the healed, slick scar tissue.

‘Fucking silver
buckshot,’ he grumbled, scrubbing a hand down his face. Something cold lay
beside him on the bed; his eyes ratcheting to the side to find Indi. His
memories came back a little scrambled. He couldn’t really remember much after B
had got them both back to the farmhouse. With a steady hand, he reached out to
brush some of the dark hair back from Indi’s forehead. She moaned through
partially parted lips.

‘Indi? Are you
awake?’

She made a
little noise that sounded like “Hmmmm”.

‘How are you
feeling?’ he asked, pulling the sheet across his lap. The only downside to
waking up after a shift was the unavoidable nudity.

‘Like I’ve been
run over by a bus,’ she murmured without opening her eyes. Placing a hand on
her forehead, he felt her skin, trying to gauge her temperature. She was
cold—too cold. ‘I had a dream about you,’ she added, her eyes opening just a
little so violet peeked out.

He smiled. ‘A
good dream?’

She smiled
silkily. ‘Yeah, it was a good dream.’

‘What was it
about?’

‘This,’ she
replied, looping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer to her. Her
cool lips met his tentatively, testing his resolve, he thought. But his resolve
crumbled whenever she was around, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. She
broke off the kiss, leaning back to look at him.

Rhett’s control
was suddenly lost. A surge of wanting to mark her as his own roared through
him. He pulled her to him again, rolling her over so she was on top of him,
straddling his body. His body reacted to her like it always did, hardening
against her, pushing into her core which was now stretched across his hips. She
leant down and kissed him hard, passionately. She wanted more of him, her
fingers tracing the planes of his chest and stomach as his mouth worked against
hers.

He couldn’t
believe this was finally happening. This was what he had wanted for so long,
but the demons tucked away in the back of his head came roaring to the fore.
You
can’t have her. You can’t even take care of her properly. You let her die. You
and your defective genes shouldn’t be allowed to procreate.
The voices of a
thousand people bombarded him. He couldn’t escape the taunts, the stinging
barbs.

He pushed Indi
off him suddenly, sending her tumbling back onto the mattress beside him. Anger
blistered in her eyes, the colour changing from indigo to black in half a
second. A growl vibrated through the room.

‘Why do you keep
doing that?’ she snapped, her eyes still deep, dark black pools that seemed to
absorb the light. ‘Why do you keep pulling away from me?’

Rhett ground his
teeth together until he could hear enamel crack. ‘Because I’m your Guardian. We
can’t do this Indi.’ He refused to look at her—didn’t want to look at her and
see her disappointment, her hurt.

‘Who says we
can’t? I want it, Rhett. I want you. You are the
only
guy I’ve ever
wanted, and you know how hard that is for me to say. Why don’t you want me
too?’

He turned to
her; her candour startling him. ‘I do want you Indi. I do.’

‘So why don’t
you just let this happen?’

‘I’m supposed to
protect you, not hurt you.’

‘You aren’t
going to hurt me, Rhett. Look, we’re two consenting adults. I don’t see what
the issue is.’

Rhett gritted
his teeth. His head was filled with those voices again—the ones that told him
he was no good, that he was worthless. ‘I don’t deserve you, alright? You
deserve someone strong, someone who can protect you, someone who
isn’t
defective!’ he finished, his voice getting louder and louder as his agitation
grew. He was breathing heavily, letting the words settle around them to see if
she’d pick them up and give them back, or keep them for herself.