Wolf's Ascension (5 page)

Kari looked at Andreas as he gazed up at her. “Well for goodness’ sake, of course! He’s a freaking studmuffin. He could be a model. So?”

Skye was laughing again and Andreas sent him an annoyed look, though the cant of his mouth made Kari figure he was secretly pleased.

Elaine smiled. “Well, it’s more than that, isn’t it? Will you try something? It won’t hurt you.”

Kari sighed resignedly. “Okay.”

Elaine held out her hand to Andreas, who stood and approached Kari. “I want you to lean into Andreas’s neck. Put your face against his skin there and take a deep breath. Inhale his scent. Trust me, please.”

He was so big there as he stood before her. Imposing and so male. Taking a steadying breath, Kari leaned in. Andreas pulled back the collar of the flannel shirt he was wearing and the heat of his skin blanketed her face. She touched the flesh of his neck with her lips and breathed him in.

The reaction rolled through her with shocking force. A soft cry broke from her lips. Her body tightened, his smell imprinted on her system. It was as if his very cellular makeup was twining around her own. He smelled
right
. Like he was hers. It was like nothing she’d ever smelled before—like the yummiest dessert, the spiciest food. It was sex and comfort rolled into one.

The pull of it made her want to put her teeth in the flesh of his neck and bite down and she knew that he wanted that too. A low growl came from her throat and an answering tremor ran through his body. His hands came up and slid over the skin of her ribs. At that touch, the scalding heat of his hands against the sensitive flesh of her sides, her body tightened. Nipples hardened, pussy softened, clenched to be filled by him. Her spine arched as she pressed her body into his, wished she could crawl into him forever. If at that moment he’d pushed her back onto the couch and pulled her jeans down to fuck her, she’d have held on and enjoyed the ride. Hell, she’d have begged for more.

Instead, Elaine pulled her back. Dazed with desire, Kari looked up and saw that Andreas’s eyes were glazed over, breath shallow and lips parted. She had to blink a few times to come back to herself. “Wow,” she murmured.

Elaine beamed. “Wow, indeed. What you just felt was your biology calling out to Andreas’s, as your Mate. The two of you are
meant
to be together. You could feel that, couldn’t you?”

“I don’t know what I felt. Lust, sure, but other than that I don’t know. I know I didn’t get all,
hey, turn me into a werewolf so I can have your freaking babies
.”

Andreas caught her hand in his, kissing her knuckles. The heat of his mouth sent gooseflesh racing up her arms. “Kari, love, you felt it, though. Even if you can’t describe or define it just yet, you admit that you felt it? The depth of connection between us?”

Reluctantly she nodded. She had no freaking idea what the hell she was doing and it scared her. Worse, it felt so
right
that she knew she couldn’t just walk away from it either. Didn’t
want
to walk away.

His eyes glittered with emotion. “Thank you.”

She allowed herself a small smile, unable not to be flattered by the intensity of his attention.

“More females will arrive later today. There’re eight in our pack, Elaine being one. They generally stay with their Mates. You can count on all of them to help you through this. My mother, Jade, is the second oldest among us. She can’t wait to meet you and I know she’ll be thrilled to help you in any way she can.”

“What makes you think I’m just going to stay here? And if I do, you think I’m just going to stay at home barefoot and pregnant? That I’m just going to quit my job and drop a litter for you?”

Skye snorted a laugh.

She watched Andreas’s jaw clench and then unclench with some effort. “Running a Pack is a big job. I want and need your advice. Generally the Alpha pair run the Pack together. It’d be hard to live in Seattle and keep your old job. Our home is here. But if you wanted to, we could find a way to make it work. And I’d never force you to bear our children. I hope you want to.”

“You say you don’t force anything but you did. You made me into one of you without my permission, that’s force. You drugged me and brought me here, against my will. You kept me a prisoner. That’s force. You’re asking for my trust but you haven’t done much to deserve it.”

Andreas hung his head but not before slanting a furious glare at Michael, who kept his gaze averted. “You’re right and I’m sorry. As I’ve said, it wasn’t supposed to be that way. I wanted to woo you as a human and then bring you over myself after we’d gotten to know each other. As for keeping you here, we had no choice. The first transformation is difficult. You’ll need us all to help you. It’s not only confusing but dangerous. You’ll find the presence of the Pack to be comforting as well as joyous. If we’d left you to change alone, imagine how frightened you’d have been. We’re doing the best we can with the choices that have been made and I’m sorry.” He looked so sincere that she found her heart softening. He added with a small smile, “I’m not sorry I found you, though.”

The force of his energy, his charisma, his being, sucked her under. She fought it. If she was going to change her entire life, she wanted to do it without these damn hormones clouding her mind. Hell, simply the fact that she was standing there considering it was astounding.

“Food’s on,” a voice called out from the dining room.

“How about we have some breakfast now? We can talk more later. I promise to answer whatever questions you have. We can go for a walk, just you and I. Get to know each other?” Andreas’s face was hopeful but he kept a respectful distance from her.

Exhaling slowly, she gathered her thoughts. “Here’s the deal. I don’t know why, but I’m willing to listen. I won’t try to escape. For now. But if I want to leave after this transformation, you have to promise to let me go.”

“How about we start the negotiations after we’ve eaten?” he countered.

“Other things are negotiable. My being free to leave is not. I won’t be a prisoner.”

He inclined his head to her. “As you wish. Now, shall we have breakfast so that you can start getting to know me?”

“Fine.” She allowed him to guide her into the dining room, where a long buffet table positively groaned under piles of food. The hand he had at the small of her back burned into her. “Why is everyone standing around waiting?” she asked Andreas, only barely suppressing the desire to lean back into him. His touch drove her insane. She wanted more, wanted him to stroke those large hands over her bare skin, wanted the brush of lips, the flick of tongues and the gnash of teeth. The mere thought of it made her feel dizzy.

He paused, pupils widening, nostrils flaring. A faint smile possessed his lips. “They’re waiting for us to eat first. Pack order. You and I always get first bite.”

“There is no you and I, Andreas.”

He chuckled and raised an eyebrow at her. “Ah, but there is,
ma belle jeune mariée
. You just won’t admit it to yourself.” He lowered his voice and put his lips to her ear. As he spoke, the luscious flesh of his lips stroked over her earlobe. “But I can smell how much you want me. Honey, sticky-sweet between your thighs.”

Her eyes slid closed for a moment and she gulped like a cartoon character. Shivers of desire broke over her. “You wish,” she whispered. Then louder, “Translation please,” she said as she picked up a plate and Andreas began to fill it for her, filling one for himself too.

“My beautiful bride.” The amusement in his eyes remained and she couldn’t help but smile back at him. She’d been busted.

Still, as he filled her plate, she rolled her eyes. The whole big-guy-helping-the-small-woman thing wore on her nerves. She was used to doing things for herself.
Liked
doing things for herself. “I don’t even know you. I’m not married to you—nor, I might add, have you even bothered to ask. By the way, I’m perfectly capable of filling my own plate.”

“Of course you are. I just want to help you. Is that an evil thing?”

“No, just patronizing.”

“Ah, the little wolf is a feminist.”

“So what of it? Is that an evil thing?” she asked, turning his words back on him and gaining a smile in return.

“Oh, you’re a lot of things, I wager. But not evil. So will you? Marry me? Be my Mate? Rule the Cherchez Clan at my side?” As the words came from his mouth, he wanted to kick himself for rushing her after she’d agreed to stay and get to know him. He was usually way more suave than this. But she did things to his head. Still, he didn’t want to scare her away. He wanted to bend her over and fuck her until neither of them could walk, but he certainly didn’t want her any more spooked than she already was.

“You don’t know me well enough to know if I’m evil or not. Cherchez? What does that mean?”

“Well, I told you we’re French in origin. The Clan left France to come here several generations ago.
Cherchez
means ‘searcher.’ We’re voyagers, searchers.”

“Interesting. That’s actually quite lovely. And maybe.”

“Maybe? Maybe you’ll be my Mate?”

“Yes, maybe. I’ll consider it.”

He smiled and pulled back her chair for her. “‘Maybe’ is a good thing. I could always get my mother from ‘maybe’ to ‘yes.’”

She sat down and smiled up at him. “I bet you could. But Andreas, I’m not your mother. Let’s get that straight.”

He threw his head back and roared with laughter. “I should hope not! You do have a fire similar to hers, though.”

Sean sat down across from her. “Maman
will be very pleased to meet you.”

Kari grunted noncommittally and took a bite of the eggs. “Who cooks for this crowd?”

“The oldest of our Clan are a couple who take care of the lodge. Anna cooks and helps with the cleaning and shopping and Gregory, her Mate, is the groundskeeper. We have fifteen cabins as well as the main house. It’s a big job and one they’ve performed well for my entire life. Bigger when the entire Clan gathers. By nightfall tomorrow there’ll be twenty-eight of us here. Well, twenty-nine counting you. A full house.”

“Twenty-eight is the whole Pack?”

“Yes. That includes my mother and father, who live in Olympia now.”

“So what do you do for a living anyway? Living out here in the middle of nowhere still costs money.”

“We own a few businesses. We have real estate holdings. I just bought a small software company. For you. It can easily be run from here. Ryan is also an engineer and has experience with software and tech work. Right now he’s working as a naturalist for the Parks Department.” He nodded toward the man who’d brought her back that morning.

“You
bought
a company? You didn’t even know me until yesterday.” Each time she began to get a little comfortable, he’d spring something else like that on her. A girl could only take so much at a time.

“I knew you from the moment I saw you at the convention center two months ago. I want you to be happy. Here with me. With us.”

She blew out a breath. “This is all just way too much. What the hell am I going to tell Jack? What about my job?”

Laurent leaned over and squeezed her hand briefly. “Andreas has been a leader his whole life. He’s not used to having his will or his actions questioned. He doesn’t mean to be a steamroller, Kari. He just wants to make life easier for you. Hell, for all of us. It’s his way. I know you’re overwhelmed but it comes from a good place.”

Looking down the table at the people sitting there, seeing them all laughing and talking like family, gave her a pang of regret. She’d never had any family she felt close to other than Jack. Even before her parents died, they had been too busy to be around much for their children. Skye gave her a little wave and an encouraging smile and she couldn’t help but return the gesture his way.

“It’s hard not to be charmed by all of this. We’re all happy you’re here. We can be your family too.” Sean looked at her, head cocked to one side.

“How did you know?”

“Well, I wish I could tell you I was a wolfen sort of mystic but I’m not. I’m a psychiatrist by training. I practice in Shaw, a town about half an hour south of here. But I’ve seen the information about you. You didn’t have a whole lot of closeness and family life as a kid. This has got to be a bit overwhelming. It’s not just how we are as humans, although we’re all in each other’s business. It’s how we are as a Clan, a Pack. Touch, laughter, togetherness, it’s all part of who we are as a unit. I was born a werewolf. I don’t know any other way personally, but I know that humans don’t usually grow up with such constant physical closeness to others. That’ll take some getting used to. Probably the biggest adjustment. Well, that and the fact that no matter how independent you are and how much Andreas respects that, he’s not human and he’s simply biologically driven to want to take care of you.”

“You were in on the investigation too?” Kari still felt uncomfortable about all that.

“Well, not in the sense you think. Andreas wanted to know you, to get a feel for you so he could bring you over in the best way. It really was an accident the way Michael lost control and bit you. Michael is...well, he’s our cousin and we love him. But he’s low in the Pack because he doesn’t have a whole lot of intelligence. Or self-control, for that matter. There’s been some internal tension in the Clan for a long time between Michael’s father, who was my uncle, and my father. Andreas thought that if he let Michael watch you—protect you—that he’d gain some confidence. Feel included. Phillip was there that night too, you know. To be sure something stupid didn’t happen. But of course, when Phillip decided to run to the bathroom, you left the club and Michael followed. Not in human form, where he’d be safest, no, in wolf form.”

Sean sighed, leaning across the table. Flicking a tendril of hair out of Kari’s face, he tucked it behind her ear.

“Michael’s a good wolf, he’s just dim. He doesn’t have anyone to lead him other than Andreas. Andreas wanted to help but only made it worse, I’m afraid. In any case, I hold Phillip and Andreas more at fault than I do Michael.”

Kari finished her food and thought over everything that had happened to her in the last several days. As soon as she finished the last of her coffee, Andreas leaned over to fill her juice glass. He also got her another cup of coffee to replace the empty one. It felt odd but not necessarily uncomfortable.