Her Wanted Wolf (19 page)

It wasn’t just a kiss. He laid siege to her senses.

Drew’s tongue sparred and tangled with hers. He licked the length of it,
nipped the tip, and suckled on it with a hunger that took her by surprise. She
relished the flavor of him and greedily drank his essence. Addictive and heady,
the taste of him sent a ravenous need streaming through her blood. She burned
for him. There would be no going back after this.

Drew fitted her snugly against him. The hard planes of his body pressed
into her sleek curves. An achy fullness settled in the pulsing cleft between
her thighs.

Gathering her even closer, Drew wrapped his arms tighter around her,
making Sabine even more aware of his erection jutting into her belly. Sabine
writhed against him seeking an elusive thing to ease the ache Drew started
inside her.

Tentatively, Sabine slid her hand over his shoulders. She stroked the
hard, tense muscles, memorizing every hard ridge with her fingertips.

Drew’s hot hands cupped her bottom and lifted her to notch his erection
into the nook of her crotch. Sabine wound her legs around his waist, his hardness
pressed into her mons and she trembled with a sensual expectancy for what was
to come. His hair-roughened skin abraded her sensitized body. He released her
tongue, dipped his head, and covered her nipple with his mouth.

She’d never felt a man’s mouth on her breast before. It was heavenly
sweet and opened a plethora of new sensations. Enclosed in his mouth’s moist
heat, the bud tightened into a painful peak. Drew suckled on the nub and Sabine’s
body grew taut as she quivered in his arms. The tugging suction sent spears of
ecstasy through her body.

Drew tore his mouth away, panting. “Will you come up to my den now, or
will you go see to your father?” he asked raggedly, his chest heaving against
her breasts. “The choice is yours.”

She ached to drown herself into the erotic sensations he offered. On the
verge of acquiescence, she opened her mouth to give him an answer.

“Drew!” The call shattered their absorption with each other. Sabine
pulled back like a guilty child and he released her.

He stood tensely before her, exhaling in harsh pants, his face taut with
need. The desire that had built so rapidly simmered between them as they stared
at each other. “You’ve been granted a reprieve. The third time will be the
charm because I won’t let you go the next time I get you in my arms.”

Sabine looked past Drew to see a red-haired woman waddle toward them as
fast as her enormous belly would allow. “You’re home.” The silky voluminous
material of her dress billowed around her like a sail.

Drew chuckled and loped over to meet the woman with an eagerness, which
had Sabine bristling.

“Look at you, you look ready to pop.” He placed a loving hand on the
woman’s belly as they shared an affectionate grin.

“You’ve been away too long. We’ve missed you.” The woman wrapped her arms
around Drew and hugged him with a fervency Sabine found far too disturbing.

Without hesitation, Drew enfolded the redhead in his arms. Their embrace
spoke of a close relationship, rife with an intimacy bred from shared
experiences.

Sabine watched the two of them and the insidious seeds of envy and
jealousy settled in the middle of her chest like she’d been cut with a rusty
blade. Shocked by her feelings, Sabine took a few steps back, as if some
distance would lessen her chaotic emotions.

She studied the woman in Drew’s arms. Sabine had never seen a were ripe
with a life growing inside her or one who glowed with such fulfillment. Drew
said he didn’t have a mate, but that was not to say he couldn’t have fathered a
cub. The familiar way he touch the gravid she-wolf confused her. Damn him. He
had women coming out of the woodwork. First, Jules and now this woman.

Feeling as superfluous as a sixth finger, she started to walk away.

“Sabine, where are you going?” Drew’s question forced her to stop and
turn to face them. With his arm now draped in casual familiarity across his
companion’s shoulders, he gently urged her over to Sabine.

Doing her very best to appear indifferent, she pasted a cool smile on her
face. “I have to see my father…join my pack.”

Drew stopped before her. “Our pack. You can wait a little longer to check
on your family.”

Sabine desperately wanted to get away. Another confrontation with one of
Drew’s former lovers was something she wanted to avoid.

“Sabine, meet Saffa, my friend and the mate of our supreme alpha. Saffa,
my mate, Sabine.” Sabine blushed hearing the pride and warmth in his voice when
he referred to her as his mate.

Sabine let out a surprised gasp when Saffa dragged her against the bulge
of her belly and kissed her cheek.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear Drew had taken a wife. Maybe you
can get him to stay put for a while.” Saffa eased back to beam up at her.
“Welcome.”

Sabine stared down into Saffa’s clear grey eyes and gave the smaller
woman a stiff nod in response. Drew’s scent was on the woman, and the lingering
spoor wasn’t from their recent embrace. It had been intimate. Very intimate.
She was confused. They seemed more like friends than lovers.

“Ah, thank you,” Sabine responded with stilted politeness.

Saffa grinned up at her. “Not sure what to make of us, are you? We’re not
a bad bunch.”

Saffa’s warm acceptance was puzzling, and it made Sabine more
uncomfortable, especially after her earlier, less than gracious thoughts.

“Well most of us aren’t bad,” Drew muttered as a man stepped from the
shadows. Strands of silver shimmered in the inky black hair concealing the face
of the approaching were. The quiet menace in his deliberate walk caused Sabine
to shrug out of Saffa’s loose hug to position herself by Drew’s side. She stood
one step behind him, to signal she’d come to her mate’s defense.

The stranger shook back his hair to reveal the amusement glimmering in
his golden eyes. “Your mate is prepared to kick my ass if I tried to attack
you, Andy. Does she think you can’t take care of yourself?”

“Kiss my ass, Ambervane, and don’t call me Andy,” Drew shot back.
“Sabine, Justice Ambervane, our leader.” The last words came out in a mocking
sneer. “Pay no attention to him. He’s all bark and no bite. Saffa has defanged
him.”

“Are you calling me pussy-whipped? Even if I am, I can still beat you
down.” A frown creased Justice’s brow. “Shit, you look like a stray.”

Drew cuffed him on the shoulder. “Even at my worst, I can hold my own
against you.”

Justice danced nimbly out of the way when Drew swiped at his belly. “Like
hell, my girls could take you in the condition you’re in.”

Sabine listened to the men exchange insults. There was no heat in their
words or alarm on Saffa’s face so she relaxed her stance.

Saffa let out a
tsk
of impatience. “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, don’t
you two ever stop? Come on Sabine, the doctor will want to examine you.” Saffa
looped her arm through Sabine’s, and they walked in a slow side-to-side gait
set by Saffa. “I know all you are about to experience will take some adjustment.
Of course, the men will just assume the women in your family will take it all
in their stride and leave you all to flounder. If you or any of your pack
sisters have any problems, feel free to contact me. Drew has my number.”

“Sabine,” Drew called out to her and she reluctantly turned to face him.
“Later?”

She knew what he meant, but she wasn’t sure they could recapture the
moment of lustful madness that had taken hold of them earlier. Sabine bit her
lip and looked at her mate, her uncertainties flooding back.

Drew’s jaw clenched, and she knew he wasn’t going to let it go.

Sabine turned to Saffa. “I need to join my sisters. Where were they
taken?” She looked over her shoulder to see the two men talking as they
followed. Their expressions were serious, to the point of grimness.

“Saffa Ambervane, what are you doing on your feet?”

The reprimand came out of the dark before a woman stepped from the
shadows. Her hair was shorn to within an inch of her scalp. Women in Sabine’s world
never cut their tresses so short. In were society, a woman’s hair length was
considered a badge of pride. She was clad in a long

-sleeved shirt, rough trousers, and a pair of the tough-hide shoes.
Sabine had never worn shoes, but given the choice, those were the last pair
she’d have chosen. She’d seen pictures of footwear beautiful as works of art,
brightly hued leather, which curved to fit the arch of the foot. Why would she
choose to dress like a man?

“Crap. Meet our version of Nurse Ratchet,” Saffa said out of the side of
her mouth.

“Who?” Sabine stared at the disgruntled were, fascinated.

“You know, the nurse from the movie
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
?”
Saffa tried to clarify. “I guess you have no idea what I’m talking about, but
as soon as you get settled in, we must have an all-girls movie night. I can’t
wait to introduce you to the joys of Vin Diesel’s buff body, butter-drenched
popcorn, Skittles, nachos with melted cheese, ice cream with hot fudge. Heck,
I’m making myself hungry.” Saffa gave her a slight grimace of apology. “I think
about food fifty minutes out of sixty these days. If I don’t whelp soon, I’m
going to weigh a ton. Sabine, meet Meave, my jailer and midwife.”

“Saffa, you should be lying down with your feet up.” Meave placed her
hands over Saffa’s belly and crooned a soothing melody. To Sabine’s surprise,
the undulating mound under Meave’s palms settled.

“And that is why I haven’t strangled her yet. She stops me from going
into premature labor.” Saffa grinned at Sabine and sighed.

Meave stepped back and planted her fists on her hips. “Wait until Justice
hears about this.”

“I just bet you can’t wait to tell him. Sorry to burst your bubble, but
Justice carried me down here, literally.” Saffa tilted her head in Sabine’s
direction. “Meet Drew’s mate, Sabine.”

Shock flared in Meave’s eyes. “No shit? But Drew swore he’d never…How
come there’s been no scuttlebutt about this? The fur is going to fly when word
gets out.”

“What are you babbling about, Meave?” Saffa leaned forward as if she’d
caught the scent of something delicious. “Don’t hold out on the pregnant lady.”

Meave’s eyes flitted to Sabine. The slight hunching of her shoulders
showed her discomfort. “If you’d pay attention to gossip, you’d know one of the
women from the Devareaux pack has been bragging that she has Drew in the bag.
They uh-uhmm…spent some time together before he left. But you don’t carry
Drew’s scent on you, or his mate’s mark?” Meave’s word trailed off at Sabine’s
haughtily raised brow. “Okay, time to take my foot out of my mouth and shut the
hell up.”

Didn’t these people respect anybody’s privacy?

Saffa laughed. “No big whoop. Our Drew has a rep of being democratic with
his hmmm…loving, but now that he has a mate, all that will stop. Why she
doesn’t carry his mark is nobody’s business. If anyone questions it, tell him
or her to go ask Drew.” She turned and faced Sabine. “Don’t let the gossip
worry you, Sabine. Werekin thrive on it.”

“I’m not worried in the least.” Sabine met the woman’s curious,
speculative gaze coolly.

A grin spread across Saffa’s face. “God, what a poker face.”

Meave nodded in agreement. “Well, I can see she’s no pushover. It’ll be
interesting to see how she handles the wild Lunedares. But, back to the subject
at hand, the doctor wanted to have a look at you. Your blood pressure is a
little high.”

“Come on, Sabine, let’s go get a couple of intrusive medical exams.
Nothing bonds women like sharing a pair of stirrups,” Saffa grumped and dragged
her down the dirt path.

“We are going for a ride? Are you sure you should in your condition.”
Sabine peered dubiously down at Saffa’s belly.

Saffa chuckled and grabbed her hand. “Sweetie, you’re about to be
introduced to one of the horrors of modern medicine…a gynecological
examination. They’re going to check the health of my baby. You’re going to be
poked and prodded to see if you’re fertile.”

Sabine looked at Saffa with horror. Her words were enough to burn off the
remnants of her arousal.

Drew Lunedare had a lot to answer for. One moment he had her so aroused,
her vow to keep him at arm’s length fell like Jericho’s walls. Now, he’d left
her at the mercy of these women who she hardly knew. Damn the man.

Chapter Fifteen

Sabine sniffed the contents of the bottle in her hand, shuddered, and
flipped the cap shut. She stared balefully at the vitamin and mineral
supplements the doctor had shoved into her hands with a curt order to make sure
she took them. The large pellets looked and smelled like animal droppings. At
the first opportunity, she’d toss them behind a convenient bush.

The news she had the capacity to give birth to as many cubs as she wished
didn’t do much to lessen the embarrassing manner the doctor discerned this
intimate fact.

Sabine plucked at the drab grey clothes hanging on her like an
ill-fitting second skin. Heavy and claustrophobic after the freedom of running
au
naturel
all her life, she fidgeted, feeling every thread woven into the
fabric. The clunky shoes were even worse. These were not the shoes of her
dreams; they were a dull muddy brown instead of a robin’s-egg blue or a cardinal
red. A girl needed color. Even to her unsophisticated eye, they lacked style. A
gusty aggrieved sigh slipped from her lips.

There was one bright light at the end of this fiasco. Her father’s
condition was grave, but not hopeless, as they’d believed. Balthazar had fed
for far too long as wolf. He’d deprived himself of the nutrients necessary to
sustain his dual anatomy. The doctor wasn’t making any promises for a full
recovery, but she was hopeful.