Torment: Reckless Desires (Dark Wolves Book 1) (6 page)

Khet heard the words, but they held no comfort. All somber, his brothers stood, waiting. Since they’d had their emotions restored, the death of any of their pack hit each and every one of them hard. Orrin, hunched over a fallen brother, had his fingers fisted in his hair. Rumbling growls punctuated his haggard breaths, and he wasn’t the only one. Men stood, fists clenched at their sides, guarding their fallen. Waiting for their alpha. Khet’s heart thudded. How many had they lost?

After a moment, Argram threw his head back and howled, not once, not twice, but four times. Four. They had lost four men. His throat tightened, and pain tore through him. After Argram’s last howling roar died down, he and the rest of the pack joined in, mourning their fallen brethren in the way of their people, honoring them the only way they could.

Delana heard the howls from a distant place. The pain in the sound shredded her soul. She wanted to howl right along with the pack, but she was too far gone. The darkness had swallowed her whole, but she fought her way back. Each time she tried, it kept sucking her in deeper until she saw nothing at all.

The only thing anchoring her to life was the heat of the body pressed so close to hers. The rise and fall of his chest as he took a deep breath and howled again, and again. His body shook as he let the pain wash over him—through him, but he didn’t let her go. She snuggled into his heat and stopped struggling against the rest that beckoned her. Khet had her. He would keep her safe.

Delana drifted in and out. She opened her eyes only to squint against the harsh sunlight as they crossed the meadow, but she couldn’t stay awake. Just opening her eyes sapped her strength. When she moaned, Khet shifted her in his arm. “Sleep, Muhurua,” he whispered. And so she did.

When she woke again, she tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs wouldn’t cooperate. Vaguely aware that she was no longer in Khet’s arms, she reached for him. Or at least, she tried, but her arms were as heavy as lead.

Pounding like nothing she’d ever experienced blasted through her mind. Voices she was sure had to be hushed screamed in her ears.

“Like hell, you’re going to lay with her,” she heard Joss say, his whisper exaggerated in anger.

“I will,” Khet replied, just as angrily.

“Get the hell out of my sister’s house,” Joss wasn’t whispering anymore. “We don’t need your help that badly.”

Delana fought to open her eyes, blinking hard to get rid of the blurriness. She was in her house, in her bed. Both men stood at the end of it, both wary, both equally determined. She opened her mouth to speak if only to tell them to shut up before her head exploded, but her throat was so dry she couldn’t do more than wheeze a breath past her lips.

“I’m. Not. Going. Anywhere,” Khet said, bringing his face to an inch of Joss’s.

Delana licked her lips and swallowed what little saliva she had in her mouth. “Stop,” she whispered. She tried to lift her head from the pillow, but it wouldn’t budge.

Joss growled, his lips curling back from his teeth.

“Stop,” she said more firmly, it was still a whisper, but louder than before. “Mate.”

At this, both men turned and looked at her. Khet gasped and came to her side, as did Joss.

Joss looked at her, then at Khet, then back down to her again. “Him?”

All she could do was give him a small nod. She had no energy for anything more.

“She needs water,” Khet said as he sat next to her and pulled her to a seated position.

Joss bounded out of the room, only to return a moment later with a tall glass of water. He held onto it for a moment, glaring at Khet, then finally gave in. No matter how much posturing he had been doing, how protective he had been of her, Joss was no match for Khet, and they both knew it.

Khet tipped the glass up to her lips. And if it weren’t for the vibration on top of the water, she wouldn’t have known he was anything but calm.

“Take small sips,” he told her.

Even with him controlling how much water she took into her mouth, she coughed and spluttered with the first mouthful. Once her throat wasn’t quite so dry, he let her take a bigger sip, and another until she was gulping the liquid down. She didn’t stop until it was all gone, yet she still wanted more.

“Later,” he promised. “Right now, you need sleep.”

She would have argued, except that none of her muscles seemed to want to work. She tried bringing her hand up to smooth away worried lines on his brow, but it stayed right where he’d placed it on her lap. “What’s wrong with me?” she asked him, her heart racing and fear turning her blood cold.

“Nothing more sleep won’t heal.” He set her down with her head on the pillow.

“Don’t go,” she whispered, her eyes becoming blurry again, this time because of the dampness in them.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Lanie,” Joss said from where he was still standing by the bed. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I can stay with you if you don’t want to be alone.”

“I’m sure.” She tried to reassure him, but her eyelids grew heavy, and the sounds around her faded to a dull roar.

“I won’t be far if you need anything,” by the tone of his voice, Joss’s words were more of a warning for Khet than an assurance for her.

When Delana woke again, it was to a heavy arm draped over her waist, and a hard chest pressed against her back. Khet’s scent surrounded her. His heated breath fanned the back of her neck. A full moon shone brightly outside her bedroom window, and for the first time in many months, Delana sighed and drifted back to sleep unafraid.

***

Khet’s heart raced at full speed one moment, pounding so hard he was sure the sound would wake Delana, and the next, it beat in a peaceful rhythm that had him drifting into slumber. He tried his best not to sleep, but every once in a while, he’d wake with a start. He would have shifted to a less comfortable position on the bed, but that would have meant disturbing Delana, and he wasn’t about to do that. The woman needed the rest. And a safe place inside her home. But how safe could she be when she was lying next to him—a creature just as wicked as the ones they’d destroyed in the forest. If she knew, she never would have invited him or his pack to join hers. And she never would have consented to have him in her bed, or have named him mate.

When she’d uttered the word as she had come to, as soft and breathy as it had been, it had blasted through his mind like a cannon. His knees had almost buckled at the sound of her voice, weak as it was, then again, when his mind registered what she’d said. He had suspected that she might be his, and his reaction when he couldn’t find her had confirmed it, but until she had said the word, he had hoped she hadn’t been the wiser. It would have made things a lot easier. For him at least.

Telling a woman he wasn’t interested was one thing. Rejecting his mate was another.
Damn it.
If he left now, he could be at the portal before morning. He could be out of her life, taking the beast inside him with him. At least she’d be safer. Argram would not abandon them. Not now. So even if the Erritrols returned, she would have their protection. The problem was, he didn’t want to go.

Delana stiffened in his arms. “What’s wrong?” She tried to sit up, but she was still too weak, and he held her where she was. From his vantage point behind her, he could see the quick rise and fall of her breasts. Her short little breaths panted on his arm. She grabbed a hold of his forearm and tried to move it.

“Nothing is wrong, Muhurua,” he whispered into her hair.

She ceased her struggle and turned her head toward him, her brows coming down and her eyes flashing. “What did you call me? My name is Delana. You should try to remember it.” She huffed and tried to get away from him again.

For a moment he lay there, stunned, then the realization of what she’d said set in. A bark of laughter erupted from his chest, harsh and rough. It only made her scowl deepen, which in turn made him laugh harder.

“It’s not funny,” she spat as she wiggled against him, trying to get away. Already her movements slowed as the weakness returned.

“Stop, Muhurua. You will hurt yourself. You’re still healing.” He tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him, groaning when the curve of her ass nestled into his crotch.

“Then stop calling me by some other woman’s name.”

“I did no such thing. Muhurua is a word in my family’s native language. It is not another woman’s name,” he assured her, unable to tolerate the pain lacing her words.

“I thought you spoke in grunts and coughs.” She settled, her body melting against him.

He sighed. “We do. The primitive language is well, primitive and simple. Most of our kind understand it. The other is taught in certain packs and tribes. It is not so commonly known. Even in our pack, not all know it. Our Alpha and his brother understand it and speak it, Miga, as well as a few other males understand it, but the rest don’t understand it at all. It is why we use the primitive language to communicate.”

“What does it mean?”

Delana wrapped her small hand around his wrist and pulled it higher on her chest, covering part of her breast, bringing his hand to rest above her heart.

“The coughs and grunts mean different things. How we deliver it is just as important as the cough or the sound.”

“No. Muhurua. What does Muhurua mean?”

His breath caught in his throat. He should never have used the term. “There is no translation for it,” he lied. He couldn’t tell her he’d named her “his heart” then turn around and leave. But that was exactly what he had to do.

Khet’s body was taut as a bow behind her. He was lying. Whatever Muhurua meant, he didn’t want her to know. Disappointment rushed through her. It was silly. Delana barely knew the man, but he was her mate, and he wasn't honest with her. That hurt a little. If it wasn’t a woman’s name, then the way he had said it, it had to be an endearment of sorts, and the fact that he wouldn’t admit it stung.

He hadn’t denied being her mate when she’d woken and named him as such. Nor had he shied away from it. Maybe it was so Joss would leave him with her? But if he cared nothing for her and had no intention of seeing where their mating could lead, then why insist on staying with her at all? Why not go to one of the empty houses to claim one for himself?

She settled deeper into his warmth, needing his closeness even if he didn’t need hers. Her whole body ached as though she had gone through weeks of intense physical activity. Whatever had happened out in the forest, even her accelerated wolf healing was struggling to get past it. When she wiggled closer, he gasped, and then pulled her tighter before exhaling against her shoulder with a moan.

Maybe what Khet needed was a reminder of some of the finer points of being mated. Like intimacy, and pleasure. Pulling his hand from where she’d rested it against her breast, she brought it up to her lips.

“Muhu—Delana, stop,” he said, but his voice lacked the conviction it would have needed to keep her from doing what she intended.

Without uttering a word, she popped one of his fingers into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around it and then sucked.

He groaned again, and thrust his hips forward, pushing his hard length against her rear.

When she released it, she didn’t give him the opportunity to protest. She turned to face him. She still wore his T-shirt. Being so big, it hung off one shoulder, exposing a generous expanse of her breast. And when the hem caught beneath her hip and pulled the fabric tight across her chest, she didn’t try to fix it.

His breaths grew ragged, but he didn’t pull away. “We can’t do this, Delana.”

Her heart sunk at the weariness in his eyes. Why? Why couldn’t they do it? All of it? He was hers. She was his. There was nothing stopping them from making love or even exchanging the mating bite. Nothing but him. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted any male. And the bulge pressing into her thigh didn’t lie. He wanted her too.

“We can. Why not see where this leads us if you’re not certain? I don’t expect a commitment from you right now.” Her wolf would want more, but she would wait. What choice did it have? If Khet didn’t want her as a mate, it was his right to deny her. For her, though, he was it. She wouldn’t have another. And if a night or two of passion were all she’d have with him, she wanted it all.

He groaned and closed his eyes. “It’s not that simple.”

Rather than argue with him, she leaned closer and pressed her lips to his. She didn’t push him, didn’t make demands. She just stroked her lips across his, breathing him in, etching his essence into her soul. After a moment, when he didn’t move, she sighed and pulled back. As much as she wanted him, she wouldn’t make a fool of herself. He looked into her eyes until she thought she might have to look away, but then he groaned and pulled her closer again. Bringing his hand up to the back of her head, he held her in place. He swiped his tongue across her bottom lip, then the top. When she opened up to let him in, he moaned and slipped inside.

He closed his eyes as he pulled her flush against him. Her breasts pressed against his hard chest.

“Delana,” he whispered on a sigh when he pulled his lips away and trailed kisses down her neck. The heat of his mouth on her body had need pulsing through her. Her nipples puckered, and her clit throbbed. She’d had his lips—his mouth—on her back at his camp, but this was different. The madness of the moment wasn’t the same. It wasn’t any less potent, but different. If this is what he did to her before he touched her, she couldn’t imagine how good it would feel when he got to the areas that needed attention most.