Heir To The Pack (The Cursed Pack Book 1) (29 page)

When they entered the
room, Jack broke away from her, shouting, “Vrooooooom!” again as he ran across
the room and clambered onto the bed.

“He’s asleep,” he
announced. “Wake up, Daddy! Wake up!” He commenced bouncing next to Dash’s
silent form. Dash, for his part, didn’t move.

Annie’s heart broke. Jack
looked up at her. “Mama,” he said. “Daddy is so lazy!”

Elaine cleared her throat
from where she stood across the far side of the bed. “Jack,” she said mildly. “Why
don’t you call him? See if you can wake him up.”

Annie snapped her head
toward the old woman, but her face was serene and almost expressionless. Her
eyes told Annie nothing.

“Okay,” Jack agreed,
enthusiastically. He knelt down beside Dash, and opened his mouth. What emerged
was not the word “Daddy” as Annie expected, but an eerie howl.

He’d been loud as a
toddler many times—in the supermarket, the doctor’s office, the car,
endlessly—but his shrieks had never made her ears crack.

The howl was loud, and somehow
high pitched and deep at the same time, as if he howled in chords. How he could
even make those sounds with human vocal cords?

The sound rose and fell,
and rose and fell, flowing over Annie in waves. Suddenly light-headed, she
found her paws rooted to the floor.

Dash’s body convulsed and
thrashed on the bed, his eyes rolling back to show the whites. Jack still knelt
beside him, unmoving and untouched by his father’s violent shaking. He closed
his mouth, cutting off the howling, abruptly.

Was Dash changing? Or
dying?

Annie wanted to go to him,
but she couldn't move. Something pulled at her, twisted hard deep in her belly.
The strength of the sensation floored her. It was not quite like labor. But in
the same overwhelming way, her body no longer quite belonged to her.

The force of the magic roared
out of her bones. Dash’s wolf spirit tore free of her body with a triumphant
howl. She fell to the floor. Alone in her head. Exhausted. Naked.

And human.

On the bed beside Jack lay
the large black wolf. And his pale blue eyes were open.

She cried out, crawled the
last steps to him. Marjie tucked a bathrobe around her shoulders, and helped
her up and to the bed.

Dash wagged his tail and
sat up. To her extended shaking hand he outstretched his nose, and rested his
muzzle there. She began to cry.

“Don’t cry, Mama,” Jack said.
“I woke up Daddy. He’s furry.”

“Oh, Jackie.” She folded
herself on the bed next to them, and put an arm around each of the two, pulling
them close. “I don’t care that he’s furry. I love you,” she said. Her boy. He’d
saved his father. Wolf or no wolf, he was Alpha. She couldn’t have been
prouder.

She squeezed them hard,
close to her. “I love you,” she said again, into Jack’s hair. He wriggled in
her tight embrace, but her gaze was on Dash.

She added, quietly, “I
love you both.”

Perhaps she should have
waited for a more private opportunity to tell him, but there’d been enough
waiting.

“Okay, Mama,” Jack said. “Can
I go play planes now?”

She laughed, and gave him
one last squeeze. He slipped out from her arms and ran from the room, squealing
and zooming as he went. The rest of the family followed behind him, and, with
nary a look, Gaelan closed the door behind him with a snick.

They were alone. Pack
might be nice to have for support, but sometimes, even they could take a hint. She
was surprised they hadn’t stayed around to offer congratulations, ask
questions, and so on. But she was truly grateful to be alone with Dash.

Dash began his change
back, taking much
longer
than usual. At last he was beside her, awake, and in his human body, with his
wolf spirit tucked away deep inside.

“Annie.” His voice sounded
like gravel. She put her arms around him and held him as close as she could,
squeezing him so hard her arms hurt.

“I’m exhausted,” he
admitted, although the shadows under his eyes had already told their tale. “What
time is it?”

“You have a couple of
hours left before dinner. And no duel to fight.” She filled him in on
everything that had happened while he’d been out cold.

“I was in the dark place,”
he said. “The abyss. With the lost wolves.”

Shocked, she pulled away
from him, her hand over her mouth. The pain and terror she’d felt in the abyss
flashed through her mind. Awful that he’d been there, too. Amazing that he’d
done it to save her and Jack. “I’m glad you came back.”

“And Jack called me back.”
He grinned. “Good boy. I’m so happy the curse is broken. He’s going to be okay.
We’re all going to be okay.” Leaning in to her, he softened his voice. “Annie,”
he said. “I need to rest, but I need you more. I need you to remind me I’m
alive.”

Putting one hand at the
back of her neck, he brought her lips to his. He kissed her softly, slowly,
losing himself in her mouth. She murmured against him, words of comfort, of
closeness, sweet things.

She drew back, watching
his pale eyes. Pushing the robe off her shoulders, she said, “Make love to me.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

He must have died and gone
to heaven, after all.

As he looked down at Annie
where she lay next to him, he was still amazed at the desire in her eyes, even
after last night. She wanted him. His woman. She’d saved their son’s life. She’d
saved his own.

She needed to be
worshipped, every inch of her body, with every inch of his.

Getting up on all fours,
he moved to the foot of the bed, knowing she watched him, enjoying her
audience. He prowled toward her, hungry for his prey.

Taking one foot firmly in
his hand, he began with her toes, kissing each one, enjoying the way she
squirmed and giggled.

“Ticklish?” It was a
rhetorical question. When he kissed the arch of her foot, she let out a shriek
that shot straight to his groin.

Positioning himself
between her legs, he kissed his way up each calf at a time, dropping feathery
kisses on the inside of her knees, and trailing his lips up the fronts of her
thighs, very deliberately avoiding their juncture. She'd keep.

He flicked her skin with
his tongue, like lightning, making her wriggle and squirm. A breathy little “oh”
escaped from her lips. Dash wanted nothing more than to hear it again.

And there was the matter
of her belly. Soft enough to rest his head upon, and in the middle, the little
dimple of her belly button. He put his mouth to it and suckled, hard.

Annie bucked like a horse
underneath him. Every time he touched her, he grew harder, and every breath and
sigh and moan arrowed to his cock. Soon, he would take her, but first, he would
worship her.

He continued his
explorations of her stomach, moving gradually higher until he found the peaks
of her small, high breasts. Her nipples, hard now, were pale brown and generous
in size. Taking one between the very tip of his teeth, he bit it, lightly, and
was rewarded with a squeal. Up the side of her neck, he kissed, making his way
to her earlobe. As he closed his mouth on it she pushed him away.

 
“It’s your turn.” Her face flushed, her
mouth swollen and slightly open, she said, “Lie down.”

Gods, she looked amazing. He
could still barely believe she wanted him, but he was grateful. “Whatever your
heart desires.” He stretched out beside her. She bent over his chest, and the
ends of her hair teased his nipples. He closed his eyes, reveling in the
sensation.

Annie moved her body above
his. What was she doing?

Opening his eyes, he saw
that she held herself above him, rubbing her nipples on his chest.

Dash groaned, unable to
hold it in any longer. She trailed the tips of her breasts over his belly,
rubbing them on him, pausing above his groin, her eyes alight.

His pelvis arched up
toward her. He needed her, needed to be inside her to know she was real, alive,
his
.

“I’m coming to that,” she
said, almost scolding. Annie took his cock in her long fingers, stroking. She
lowered her mouth to him, taking him in, drawing every inch of pleasure down
into it.

He pushed up towards her
in little thrusts, the warmth of her mouth on him pulling him towards climax. His
hands clutched at the bed sheets, and at her shoulders, needing to touch her,
to hold her, to take her.

“I need you,” he ground
out, but she merely hummed, working her magic on him. The hum of her mouth sent
ripples through his body. He rocked up, up, and over the edge of oblivion,
gasping for air as she brought him to ecstasy.

As she crawled back up his
body, he thought he’d never seen her look so sexy, or so smug. He feigned
exhaustion, planning his next move.

“Annie,” he murmured.

“Yes?” Her voice was
husky, betraying the innocent tone she put into it.

“You are
mine
.” He flipped her over onto her
belly, lying against her, full length, skin to skin.

*
         
*
         
*

The possession in his
voice made her even hotter, if that was possible. She lay face down, submissive
to him, waiting.

He pulled her hair up and
out of the way, and bit at the back of her neck, little bites, all the way down
between her shoulder blades, each one sending a shock through her nervous
system.

Fingers trailed down her
spine, stopping at the top of her buttocks, disappeared, and were replaced with
his mouth. He licked there, then bit her, harder. She moaned and thrashed,
thrusting up against him.

He put his mouth on one
side of her bottom, kissing and suckling, while his hand ran up the inside of
her thigh, reaching her wet sex.

“You enjoyed sucking my
cock,” he said. “How...interesting.”

Dash pushed one finger
inside her. She gasped and pushed herself down hard, but he withdrew only to
return with two. He thrust them into her hot, liquid center, making her cry her
out. In response, he bit down on her buttock. The slight pain added to her
pleasure, lighting up every nerve center in her pelvis.

In and out, in and out,
every thrust drawing her higher. She ground herself down on the bed, moaning
loudly. God, she wanted him.

All at once he withdrew,
leaving her empty and wanting. His hands gripped her hips, drawing her on to
all fours, pulling her back against him. His cock nudged at her buttocks and
she thrust back eagerly.

Last night had been making
a re-acquaintance, sampling something she’d thought she couldn’t have. Now, it
was time for claiming.

Dash reached around to
position himself at her opening, and buried himself deep inside her. She could
barely breathe. Moving his hand to her clit, he rubbed as he withdrew and then
buried himself to the hilt once more. And again, and again, deeper and harder
with each thrust. She grew wetter, hotter, and higher at the sensation of him
inside her. She was his. He took her body, and her heart, together.

He bent over her, his
mouth at her shoulder.

“Mine,” he growled again,
and bit her there, claiming her for his own. His fingers moved faster as he
spoke, and she tipped over the edge into an uncontrolled, shaking, screaming
orgasm, waves of pleasure ripping through her sex.

With a roar he let go,
too, and emptied himself inside her, a few hard thrusts bringing him to
completion.

They collapsed onto the
bed in each other’s arms, and he squeezed her almost painfully hard. “Mine,” he
whispered in her ear.

“Yours,” she agreed,
reaching up to bring his face down to hers.

When she came up for air,
he put his lips to her ear instead. “I want you to stay in Montana with me.”

Annie’s heart beat
double-time against her ribs and a vein in her eyelid fluttered. Taken by
surprise, she hedged. “I need to think about it.”

Dash rolled back to look
at her, both eyebrows raised. “What is there to think about? We’re together. I
want Jack to grow up here. There’s plenty of room for your mother, too. Do you
want to stay?”

She did. She loved him. Irrationally,
stupidly, and with her whole heart.

But he hadn’t said he
loved her. Hadn’t asked for any kind of commitment. He just wanted her to move
here.

She should ask him. That
would be the rational thing to do. Ask him, flat-out, if he loved her. But
pride made her bite her tongue, and instead, she said, “I don’t know.”

“Why not?” His eyes turned
a flinty blue, and his voice was cold.

“I just…hadn’t thought
about it yet. My career. My house. I don’t know if I’m ready to up and move
across the country.”

“If you don’t move here, when
will I see Jack?” He bit each word out as if biting the head off a rabbit.

Of course, that was what
he really wanted. But he was right, Jack had to see his father. That was
completely fair. “We could come visit in the summers.”

“I see.” He rolled away
from her, stood up, and went over to rummage through his closet, not looking at
her at all any more. “I’d better get ready for dinner. And so had you.”

The dismissal smarted. She’d
hurt him, she knew, but he had to understand. She couldn’t give up everything
that was important to her on a whim. She needed time to think. “Fine.” She
pulled Dash’s bathrobe back around her shoulders, irritated at the cloud of his
scent emanating from it.

She waited for him to say
something else, but when it was plain he didn’t plan to, she left the room,
blinking back tears. Why on earth was she crying?
Irrational.

Stomping through her room
to her own bathroom, she almost missed Daisy sitting in the armchair. Her
mother opened her mouth, smirking, but Annie cut her off. “Don’t say a word.”

“You’re looking flushed,”
Daisy said, undeterred.

“Who does he think he is?”

“Oh.” Her mother pursed
her lips. “A lovers’ quarrel?”

Her control slipped, and
at her mother’s wink, Annie lost it. “I am not moving to some backwoods cow
farm and giving up my career to become some sort of barefoot werewolf
concubine!” She picked up a magazine from a table and threw it across the room.
It smacked against the wall and fluttered pitifully to the floor.

“I like it here,” Daisy
said. “And it’s not like you’re at Harvard, dear.”

“Ugh!” Annie had lost the
ability to respond rationally. She screwed up her face at her mom. “You
wouldn’t understand.”

Daisy sighed. “I might not
have had a career other than raising you, but I don’t think that’s really what
this is about. It’s the twenty-first century. There are academic jobs in
Montana, and online. That has nothing to do with why you’re so cranky.” She got
up, walked over to Annie, and pulled her into her arms. “What did he say? Or
not say?”

Annie couldn’t hold it in
any longer. She burst into tears, huge, heaving, irrational sobs. Damn it. Damn
him. “He...said...I should...”

“What, dear?” Daisy’s tone
was sweetly solicitous.

She ground it out. “Move
to Montana.” It sounded so stupid when she said it out loud. But he hadn’t said
anything about relationships, or feelings, or getting married, for God’s sake. Was
it so awful to wish for a little romance?

What the hell were all
these emotions, and why couldn’t she figure out how she felt, or why she was so
damned angry?

Daisy patted her shoulder.
“Men.”

 
“Men,” she echoed. One man, at least. One
man who’d gotten to her where she lived.

She picked herself up, and
drew back from her mom, straightening the imaginary lapels of the bathrobe. “I
need to get ready for this stupid dinner, because I need to show him what he’d
be missing out on.”

Eyes almost crossing as
she tried to parse that one, Daisy nodded. “All right, dear. I’ll be out there if
you need me.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Now she just had to look
better than she’d ever looked in her life, on a day where she’d nearly died,
turned into a wolf, and had some of the hottest sex, no,
the
hottest sex, without a doubt, of her life. And keep her dignity.

Fat chance. But she’d do
her best.

*
         
*
         
*

They headed to dinner. With
no duel on the cards, Dash was much more relaxed. His son was safe. The witch
was dead. There might be a few loose ends to tie up, conspirators to root out,
but by this time tomorrow, he would be Lycaon.

He snuck a sideways glance
at Annie who marched beside him, hand on his arm in a regal pose. The aunts had
supplied her with another dress for tonight, a white one. Lots of fancy swooshy
things on the skirt. Maybe she was supposed to look virginal, but she still
looked incredibly sexy. The tight bodice showed off her beautiful breasts. His
hands twitched with the memory of their shape.

The side effect of the
white dress was that it matched her facial expression—ice queen.

For the life of him he
couldn’t work it out. What had he done? What had he said? Opening his heart and
asking her to stay with him had required a level of vulnerability that made him
twitchy even to think about. If he hadn’t spent an hour making crazy wild love
to her, he never would have worked up the courage.

And now she was pissed at
him. Women. Gods damn it. Why didn’t she want to stay with him? What was he
supposed to do next? They’d broken the curse, Jack was saved. Dash had given
her everything she needed in bed, as best he could figure it. So what was he
missing?

The guards swung the doors
open before them, and they went into the dining hall. Werewolves stood in lines
at the sides of the long tables, watching them come. The room was silent except
for the sounds of their footfalls.

He escorted Annie to her
place at the dais next to him. The place he wanted her to be at every formal
dinner. All of them. Next year, and the year after.