Midnight Moon: A Paranormal Werewolf Romance (Roadside Angels Motorcycle Club Book 2) (11 page)

“Are you all right?”

She looked up then, and nodded.  “I’m fine, thank you.”  Her voice was cool, distant, but her eyes were questioning, curious.  “I’d be better if you sat down, though,” she added when he remained standing. 

He sat next to her on the floor, replacing Wolf, and both dogs lay at his side.  He waited again, wondering what she was thinking.  She didn’t seem to be afraid of him anymore, at least not as much as she had been earlier.  But she was still confused, perhaps worried.  He wanted to help her, but he couldn’t if she wouldn’t speak.

“Talk to me, Tamara.  Please.”  He didn’t want to seem to be begging, even if he was, so he kept his voice even, cool, like she had done.

She looked up at him again, before replying.  “I honestly don’t know where to begin, Lex.”  She clasped her hands together in her lap and just stared at him.

“I’m sorry about all this, Tamara,” he said.  “I didn’t mean to deceive you.  Things just happened so quickly…”

“How do you know I’m your mate?  Why do you think I am?”  The questions burst from her lips, and Lex watched as she struggled with the rest of what she wanted to know.  “Am I a werewolf, too?  And if I’m not, how can we be mates?”

Always the reporter, he noted, always questioning, always wanting to understand, to explore, to find the truth. 

“First of all, no, you’re not a werewolf.  I would have recognized your scent if you were.  Shifters don’t have to mate with their own kind.  Bear’s mate was also human.”

She looked at him again.  “What do you mean ‘was’?  Is she dead?”

“Yeah...a very long time ago.”  Bear’s story was not his to tell, so he went back to answering her questions.  “Why do I think you’re my mate?  I don’t just think so, honey, I know it.  It is imprinted in our DNA.  The only reason I didn’t recognize you immediately is that I’ve not been around mated wolf shifters for a long time, and when I left home I was an adolescent, by shifter standards.”

Again, he could almost see her interest rise.  If she were a dog, her ears would have perked up.  “How old is a shifter adolescent?  You left home when you were a teenager?”

Lex sighed.  He had never imagined, when he first decided to tell her what he was, that there would be so much to reveal about himself and his kind.  And now that the question of age had come up, he wondered if she would think he was too old for her.  In shifter years, he was still a relatively young man, though no longer an adolescent or early adult.

“I guess you could think of it that way, if it helps.  But adolescent wolves aren’t teenagers.”

“Lex, how old are you?”  There it was...the question he hadn’t thought he would have to answer only hours after telling this brave woman he wasn’t like she was.

“I’m two hundred years old, Tamara.  Shifters live a long time.  Bear is older than me.”

He itched to reach out and touch her, to feel the warmth of her skin under his palm, to forge an unbreakable connection with her.  But he had to wait for her to invite him to touch her.  Anything he did with her from now until she accepted him for who he was, and who she was to him, had to be her call.  He was at her mercy, and she didn’t even know it.

A soft chuckle made him glance over at her, and he was astonished to see the first signs of warmth in her eyes, as amusement curved her lips upwards.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, bewildered.

“Nothing, really,” she said, her smile widening, and a faint blush beginning to stain her cheeks.  “I was just thinking.”

“A penny for them?”  He gave in to the urge to reach for her, but he didn’t touch her.  Instead, he turned his hand palm up and waited.

“I thought
you
were supposed to give
me
the penny,” she quipped, deliberately misunderstanding his gesture. 

He chuckled with her, but kept his hand where it was, and when she placed hers palm down in his, he closed his fingers gently around it and placed their joined hands on his thigh.

“So, what were you thinking, Tamara?”  He went back to his question.

The blush returned, but she answered him.  “I just wondered how such an old guy could still get it up.”

Lex threw back his head and laughed long and hard.  This was the Tamara he had come to know and admire, the one he had come to care for, the one he was learning to love.

“I’m not old by shifter standards, honey.  I am a man in my prime.”

“And how long does shifter prime last?” she asked, the blush deepening.

“A very, very long time,” he answered, squeezing her hand gently.  When she looked up at him again, he continued.  “You asked me how I know you’re my mate.  This is how.  Aside from the recognition of our compatibility, because of the way you respond to my pheromones, and not to any other shifter’s, I know you are mine.  And because when we made love, I had to struggle not to shift.”

He cleared his throat, not sure how she would take what he was going to say next.  Women were funny creatures, and he didn’t want to upset the beginnings of real understanding between them by being crass.  But in order to explain, he had to be honest.

“I’ve lived a long time, Tamara, and I haven’t been celibate.  But I have never had the urge to shift...until you.  That’s how I know.  You are the reason my wolf rises.  He knows you, too, and he wants to share in the joy of the union.”  He paused, waiting to see if she had a question, waiting to hear how she would react.

“So even though you’re experienced with women, when it comes to mates, you’re a virgin, like I was?”  The question was quiet, embarrassed...determined.

“That’s one way of looking at it, yes.”  He smiled.  “A rather nice way.”

“And you get to give that gift to me, the way I gave my innocence to you?”

“Yes.  If that is what you choose.”  He made sure that he was clear on that point.  He didn’t want her to think she was being forced to do anything against her will.

Finally, after a long pause, she turned to him.  “I don’t understand a lot of this, Lex, but I do know that what you make me feel when I’m with you is like nothing I have ever felt before.  I like it.  I like you...a lot.  And I don’t want to lose what we started.”  She paused, and placed her other hand over his.  “Just please be patient with me?  I have to get used to the idea.”

Lex raised their joined hands to his lips.  “I’ll wait as long as you need me to.  I promise.”

She smiled into his eyes then, the first smile with warmth that was meant for him since his revelations earlier. 

“So, what does a girl have to do to get a hug around here, then?” she sassed him.  “I’m good enough to be your mate, but not good enough for a hug?”

That was all the invitation that he needed.  Lex drew her into the shelter of his arms, spreading his legs and pulling her between them so he could hug her completely.

“This feels good,” he said, kissing the top of her head.  “
You
feel good.”

She snuggled close, and he said a silent “thank you” to whoever was looking out for his sorry ass.  He had his mate in his arms again.  Now all he needed to do was claim her.

Chapter 7

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”
~ Mark Twain

“Have you eaten?” Lex asked, when it seemed she was going to fall asleep in his arms.

“No.  I told Patrick I wasn’t hungry.”  She looked up sheepishly, and he understood at once why she had lied. 

“Bear wouldn’t hurt a hair on your head, Tamara.  Trust me.”

“I believe you.  But I was fresh off being told my life is in danger from werewolves, of whom you are one.  And to be told that Patrick was a bear -- a Kodiak bear, at that -- was definitely frightening.  Do you know how big they are?”

Lex grinned.  “Yeah, I know.”  He pulled her up with him when he stood up, waking the dogs, which had fallen asleep next to him, and walked with her to the kitchen.  The leftovers from dinner were in the fridge, but Lex suspected she wouldn’t want anything as heavy as steak at this hour of night. 

“What would you like?” he asked.  “I’m no chef, like Bear, but I can whip up easy stuff, like a sandwich, or eggs.”

“A sandwich would be nice, thanks.  But you don’t have to do it.  I can help myself.”  She came around the counter to the fridge, but he stopped her at the door with a hand on her arm.

“It’s okay.  I want to.”  He led her back to the counter and lifted her onto the stool, then turned back to look into the big fridge.  “We have cheese, we have eggs, we have ham, we have turkey, we have salami, we have…”

When he heard her soft tinkle of laughter, he turned his head, smiling.  “What?’

“Just make me a small something.  I don’t usually eat this late at night, and I get heartburn when I do.”

“Okay...how about some creamy chicken soup and toast?  Bear makes the best soups.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed, and Lex happily prepared the simple meal for her.  He wondered what his pals in the club would say if they saw him now, puttering around in the kitchen catering to a woman.  He imagined he would be the butt of a lot of jokes, and he would never be able to live down the ribbing, but he didn’t care.  He wanted to show Tamara that he cared for her and would protect her.  He wanted her to trust him to see to her safety.  He wanted her to fall totally in love with him because he suspected that he was already well on the way to being totally in love with her himself.

He watched her eat while he drank a beer, and knew he was making her uncomfortable with his attention, but he enjoyed teasing her and watching her blush.  She roused all sorts of contradictory instincts in him, and the one he was currently fighting wanted to mount her in a show of dominance that would please his wolf.  But he was also a man, and he knew his little mate would not appreciate him going all macho Dom on her ass, nor would she accept any excuses for such behavior.  So he finished his beer, and waited for her to rinse the things she has used, because she refused to let him do it.  Then she said she was ready for bed. 

“Did you finish your story?” he asked as they walked back to her room.

“Yes, but I haven’t sent it to my boss as yet.  I’ll do that tomorrow.”

They stopped before her door, and he raised his hands to her shoulders.  “I’ll have to go back to the Prime lands soon, Tamara.  That was part of why I had to make those calls earlier today.  And you have to go back home.”

He raised her chin when she lowered her head, and saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes. 

“Why, honey?” he asked.  He knew she understood he was asking why the tears.

“I’m not ready yet,” she answered. 

“Ready for…?”

“Parting.”  A single word, and it broke his heart.  He wasn’t ready, either.  They had hardly settled their differences, and he had yet to claim her, but already there was the necessary talk of parting.  “I don’t want to go so soon.”

She reached up to cup his hard jaw in her hand, seeking both to comfort him and to be comforted by him.  He leaned in, his eyes on her lips, and she parted them, giving him silent permission to take what he had been wanting since she had walked away from him that afternoon.  He descended on her mouth like a conquering hero, sweeping past her teeth to steal her tongue and suckle.  She tasted like heaven, like desire, like every waking dream he’d had since the first moment he had seen her in the diner.  He loved the way she kissed him back, nipping his lips, stroking his tongue with hers.  She was raising their body temperature simply by the way she moaned when he cupped her ass in his big hands, and by the way she cried out when he pressed his hard-on against her mound.  He could feel his wolf gathering steam, waiting for a chance to claim her.  His eyes grew warm, and he pulled away, his head lowered.  He did not want to risk frightening her now, and he knew his eyes had gone feral. 

But Tamara was having none of it.  “Why are you stopping?” she asked.  “I want this.  I want you.  Please, Lex!”

He could barely speak for the growls that he had been swallowing the more aroused he became.  And as he refused to look her in the eye, he knew it wouldn’t be long before she wondered why.  He had to leave.  It was too soon after their tentative reconciliation, and she didn’t want the beast.  She wanted the man.

“Look at me, Lex!  What’s wrong?”  She stroked his arms as she spoke, and then slid her hands up the sides of his neck to his face. 

“Nothing’s wrong, Tamara,” he growled. 

“Then why won’t you look at me?”  She pulled his head down, and when he closed his eyes, she reached up and kissed his mouth, sucking his bottom lip into her own.  He groaned and pressed against her again, reaching between them to take her hand and place it on his straining cock.  Putting his lips next to her ear, he asked hoarsely,

“Are you ready for this?  You asked me to be patient, but you’re pushing me past all patience,
chérie
.”

“I want to know what it’s like to make love to an alpha wolf.  I want to know what that shimmering you do means.”

Lex’s voice was rough as he answered, finally letting her see his eyes.  “It means I’m not letting you see this.”

“They’re gold and red,” she whispered in awe, watching the colors swirl in his eyes as he fought to control his wolf.  “But your eyes are blue.”

“Not when I’m ready to mate, honey.  Never then.”  He kissed her again, a hungry, hard kiss that ate her where she stood.  He pushed her against the wall so he could slide his hands down to the snap of her jeans.  Undoing it, he slipped his hand inside the unzipped front and touched her soaking panties. 

“Mine!” he hissed, pushing his finger up against her clit hard.  “All mine!”

She mewled like a kitten and arched her back, spreading her legs so he could touch her more, stroke her better.

“Be sure this time, Tamara.  You know everything there is to know about me.  Be sure this is what you want, because I won’t be able to stop the next time.  I will mark you, and claim you.  So be sure you’re giving me consent.”  His voice was still growly with the effort to hold off his wolf.

For answer, she raised one leg and curled it around the back of his, sliding herself against his hard thigh.  Lex picked her up and took her into her room, shutting the door behind him with his heel.  He strode to the bed, and placed her on it, stripping her as she lay before him, her eyes full of the desire she could not hide.  When she was bared to his gaze, he leaned over her and began to kiss her, from her forehead, down the round slopes of her cheeks to her mouth. He lingered long enough to suckle each lip before proceeding down the column of her neck to the full breasts which were straining to feel his tongue on them. 

She reached up to stoke his cheeks as he suckled her full, hard nipples, arching into his mouth when he nipped each one, and then licked it, swirling his tongue around the aroused point before sucking each one into his mouth and releasing it with a satisfying pop.  Then he continued his downward journey, and had her hissing when he slid the tip of his tongue into her belly button, before he swirled it around the little circle and continued down to the top of her sweet womanhood.  Settling on his knees before her, he licked her from left to right, across the whole width of her flesh slowly, and then slid his tongue between the lips that hid her clitoris from view.  She groaned when he laved her little button, and he kept tormenting her aching flesh even as he slid two fingers into her wet center.

“Lex!” she whispered.  His name on her lips was music to his ears.  He wanted to mount her now, but he held the beast in him, knowing he needed to take her as all man first before claiming her completely as the hybrid shifter he was.

“Tell me what you want from me, honey,” he whispered against her mound.  He kept slicing into her control with the two fingers inside her, while he ate her flesh ravenously.

“Make love to me, please, Lex.  I need you!” 

Her body was a tight bow string of pleasure, and one touch could send her rocketing.  He gave it to her, sending a third finger up inside to join its brethren, and hooking them into the tissue that marked her center of pleasure. 

“Ohhhhhh!”  Her cry burst from her lips as she tumbled into her first orgasm.  Lex didn’t wait till she was calm.  He couldn’t.  He reared up, shucking his sweats, and plunged into her, feeling the still contracting walls of her vagina squeezing him.  He thrust deep, hard, picking up the pace, pounding into her, raising her legs and helping her place them around his waist.  He growled when she used her heels to help him grind into her, the tight muscles of his buttocks giving him added power to take her over and over.  She thrust up to meet him, each forgetting there had ever been any distance between them, as they took and gave each other pleasure.  Lex twisted his hips just so, and she cried out again, her second orgasm making her shake as she collapsed beneath him on the bed.  He kept pumping into her as she came, prolonging the joy for both of them. 

He was still hard as stone when she finally stopped quaking, and his wolf reared up, wrenching control from the man.  Lex pulled her up, looking her in the eye as he said,

“You wanted to be claimed by the alpha wolf.  It’s time.” 

Her eyes widened, but not in fear, as he had expected.  He kissed her, his eyes completely changed, his muscles tightening, the power building in him.  This kiss was savage, holding back nothing.  He ravaged her mouth, and when they were both panting, he growled out an order.

“Get on your hands and knees, Tamara.” 

He watched impatiently as she complied, her body readying itself again to take him, despite how hard he had taken her before.   He reached under her to slide their combined juices from her pussy to the little pucker of her anus, lubricating it, readying it for the first in a series of possessions.  And as he lubricated her there, he continued to play with her clitoris, gentle touches, followed by deep plunges into her pussy.  She rocked back against his marauding hand, and when he penetrated her little rosette with one finger, he thrust two more into her now weeping sex.  She came again, shuddering with pleasure.  

Again without giving her time to recover, he raised himself and set his cock to the waiting warmth of her pussy.  She rocked back against him, clearly enjoying the fullness of his flesh inside her.  He gripped her hips, his hands hard and bruising on her flesh, and let the partial change come.  His canines descended, long and wickedly sharp.  He was glad she couldn’t see them, because he knew they were a fearsome sight.  He let his wolf set the pace, which was fast and furious, with hard, deep plunges into the very core of her body.  He was wild for her, and he helped her to rock back onto his cock, growling with the pleasure she gave him.  And while his cock took her pussy, two fingers took her ass, pushing in, in tandem with his cock’s thrusts into her vagina.  He sank his teeth into her shoulder, just above her collarbone, and roared at the taste of her blood.  His vampire half shimmered in ecstasy, and his wolf roared, the sound escaping him even as he felt his cock swell and fill her, too tight to be removed till its engorged length was satiated. 

This was the claiming.  They were locked together, and he felt her begin to orgasm as the knot of flesh on his penis swelled out and gripped her in the soft padding of her g-spot.  He could not contain his roar as his orgasm tore through his body, and his seed pumped from his cock into her womb.  Jet after jet of fluid soaked her channel, each jet so hard she jerked with it and set off another shockwave.  His semen was hot, and the spice of it wafted around them in the air.  Now that he could give full rein to his scent markings, he let the flavor of his loving soak into her.  He could not move, once they were locked together, and her hungry vagina knew how to milk him of every last drop of cum.