Claimed by the Wolf (BWWM Erotic Paranormal Romance) (6 page)

I glanced at the floor.

“But my job is to ensure his safety, and right now, that includes yours.”

I dared to raise my head just long enough to see Caro’s incredulous expression. She was clearly about to explode with questions, but she wisely kept them to herself and let Mike lead us up the stairs.

I had already forgotten just how immense this house was. Like a palace. So many rooms for just one man. It was kind of sexy in a way.

Mike went into the bedroom suite first and checked it for intruders before waving us in. “We cleared it earlier, but it never hurts to be sure,” he said.

Caro walked in first. As I followed, Mike mouthed, “Do not tell her.” Then he jabbed a finger at his belly.

“Got it,” I mouthed back.
Whatever.
Who was he to tell me what to do? He hadn’t even told me about the marriage ritual.

“I’ll stand guard outside,” he said loudly, shutting the door behind us.

As soon as it clicked shut, I looked at Caro. “What did they mean about humans? Aren’t you one?”

She laughed bitterly. “Not as such.”

“But your eyes!”

She looked directly at me. “Yes, my eyes. Apparently they’re what happens when a werewolf and a human have a child and that child can’t shift.”

“You mean—” I tried to make sense of this. “You’re half werewolf, but you can’t change?”

“That’s what I said.”

“So doesn’t that make you human?”

“No. I’m still faster, stronger, and need to eat more meat than you do. I just don’t change at the full moon.” She sounded resigned.

My head spun. “That’s . . . that’s got to be hard.”

“And then Grant just goes around and sleeps with anyone. . . .” She whirled on me. “Do you have any idea what it feels like not to be able to run with the pack? To be the lame duck who feels the call of the moon in her bones and
can’t respond
?”

Tears ran down her face. I just watched, not sure what to do. My heart hurt for the girl. This in-between state was clearly not a good place to be.

“And I can’t even date normal humans, because I’m not allowed to tell them what I am! No one’s supposed to find out about the packs. They were almost hunted to extinction a few hundred years ago. We can’t let that happen again.”

I dropped my purse, kicked off my shoes, and went over to her. “Listen,” I said firmly. “There’s nothing wrong with you. I don’t know why you were born that way, but maybe you’re supposed to be a bridge between worlds or something.” I shrugged. “How do I know? I just know the world is filled with mysteries, and only God or the universe knows the answers.”

I’d meant that to be comforting, but her head snapped up. The look on her face cut as fiercely as a knife point. “He knocked you up, didn’t he.”

My eyes flew wide open. “Wh-what?”

Caro advanced on me. “Please do me the courtesy of not treating me like I’m stupid. It’s not much to ask. Admit it: there is no other reason Grant would endanger our entire pack for a mere human unless she were carrying his child.”

If Caro could put the pieces together, so could the other werewolves. Maybe I really was in more trouble than I could even imagine.

But I couldn’t let her see how scared I was. I stuck my face in hers. “I didn’t ask for this, you know. I’d take back that whole night if I could.”

She shook her head, and I saw she was still crying. “What if—what if your child turned out like this? Surely even you are not that cruel.”

I didn’t know what to say. “Then . . . then I’d take them and raise them as a human. What else?”

Caro burst out laughing. “Don’t you understand? Surely you are not that simple. The packs would never leave you alone! You carry the heir to the Golden Stripes throne, as it were. They wouldn’t be satisfied until the child was dead. You’ll never escape now. You should never have slept with Mr. Beal.”

Without waiting for me to answer, she turned on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

I couldn’t think any longer. My head throbbed, my heart ached, and my stomach felt like someone had left something to rot in it. My poor child. I hadn’t thought that far at all, but Caro was right. We were stuck, both of us.

I threw myself into the huge bed. This time, the silken sheets were no comfort.

One last thought circled in my head before I fell asleep. I had my last nursing exam in the morning! What would happen when I never turned up?

* * *

I
woke to the feel of strong arms encircling me and warm lips on my neck. Grant!

My whole body came alive, like someone had shot electricity through it. My own hands reached out, eager to touch his skin, to draw him as close as possible.

Our mouths met, hungry, and tongues swirled, his aggressive, searching out mine. From that hot, wet contact alone, I moaned. I couldn’t help but imagine that muscular tongue working its magic all over my body.

Grant rolled me onto my back and gazed down at me. In the moonlight pouring through the window, his eyes were dark as emeralds.

“You’re going to have my child,” he murmured, “my heir. The mother of my child.” His voice, deep as it was, grew even lower with wonder. I smiled as he slowly undressed me. “Whatever happens,” he promised, “I’ll take care of you. We’ll all take care of you.”

I nibbled on his earlobe and blew into his ear, making him start with pleasure. “But what about telling the others?”

He pulled back. “What do you mean?”

I fumbled for the lamp and pulled the chain, blinding us both with instant brightness. I blinked a few times, then said, “Your assistant already knows. Mike already knows. You really think the rest of them won’t put it together?”

I braced myself, expecting him to argue or even get mad. Instead, he grinned and let a questing finger find its way below the waistband of my panties. It slipped over my clit, making me hiss and arch my back, and then dipped inside me. I couldn’t see it, of course, not until he yanked off my panties, but the imagined color contrast between our skin was so, so hot. “I intend for them to figure it out. Just as soon as you agree to go through the ritual with me and become my mate.”

My eyes closed in delight, and my whole body begged me to stop talking and surrender, but I forced out the words. “What? You want me to do
what
?”

He lowered his mouth to my breast and began teasing the nipple with his teeth. “Oh, God,” I muttered, feeling my pussy throb and grow damp.

He slipped another finger inside. “If you were my mate, I could do this all this time.”

“You—you could . . . you could do it, anyway,” I whispered. “We . . . don’t have to . . . mate for that.” I fumbled for his hand, grabbed hold of it, and pushed a second finger inside me, then took his free hand and made it rub my clit. “Oh, God,” I cried. “Oh, fuck!”

He laughed and easily removed his hands from my grip. I heard his weight shift and the sound of zipper teeth as he pulled down his pants. His thick, pulsing erection pressed into my stomach, wetting it with precum. My entire vagina grew tight with anticipation. The silver lining of this whole mess: we didn’t even have to worry about protection this time.

Grant rolled me onto my side and spooned me from behind, pushing his cock into my hungry pussy, and diddling my clit with his free hand. I had never felt anything so good. He nibbled on my neck and my ear and whispered how he was going to make me come so hard, I’d explode.

“Zenobia,” he breathed, “you feel so fucking
good
. So hot and wet and tight. I could fuck you forever.”

And as he thrust harder and harder, I believed him. “Don’t stop! Don’t ever stop!”

I felt his balls slapping against me and how amazing his cock felt inside my sensitive pussy. His finger knew just what to do with my clit, making me cry out again and again. It felt like someone had flipped on every single nerve ending. I was so wet, so hot. I thought I would die, but instead, I crested and came, hard, again and again, like the sea crashing.

I could drown right then, and I wouldn’t care.

He groaned as my pussy clenched around him. He bit down into my shoulder and thrust even harder, harder, harder, until at last his thighs contracted, and he shot his load into me. I moaned and reached behind me for him.

We lay like that, panting, drenched in sweat, our heartbeats slowing. Right then, all the cares of the world seemed far away. “I don’t love you,” I told him finally, “but I could be talked into this . . .”

“Oh, I know,” he said easily, and tapped my butt. “I always get what I want.”

“That’s pretty arrogant,” I said, twisting to face him.

He reached up to turn off the light. “Not really. Just honest. Anyway, I don’t believe in love. Love’s for suckers.”

“Seriously?” Hearing Mike’s words on his tongue was more than a little jarring, especially since I was a total romantic. I frowned.
But then
, I thought,
look at my history.
Maybe Mike and Grant were onto something.

Even so, I couldn’t give up the idea of love completely. That was too depressing.

“Yeah, seriously,” Grant said. “Why do you think so many cultures had arranged marriages for so long? Marriage is good for two things: allying families and producing heirs. That’s it.”

He sounded full of conviction, like he really believed it. Why, though? Had Grant been burned in the past, or had he just never fallen in love?

But I kept the questions to myself. There was time enough to solve some puzzles.

I was on the edge of drifting off again when a different thought hit me. “What about my stuff? It’s all at my apartment. I have my nursing exam tomorrow, you know.”

“Mike will get your things for you. As for your exam, you can always take it later. Right now, you need to learn everything about being mate to an alpha werewolf.”

It still sounded so ridiculous to me, so impossible. But then, so was the fact that I was pregnant. With a werewolf baby, no less. I laughed. I’d figure out everything in the morning. “Sure,” I said, “whatever,” and snuggled in to sleep.

* * *

G
rant’s phone trilled in his pants pocket. He pulled it out. Despite having been asleep, his words were clear. “Beal here.”

His golden face paled. “Here? But he didn’t bother to show up earlier!” He paused to listen. “I see.” Then he got up and stepped into his pants.

“What’s going on?” I asked sleepily.

“Get dressed,” he said brusquely.

“But—”

“Just get dressed, please.” He didn’t raise his voice, but it had grown cold. Dominating. I shivered and got up.

It didn’t take me long to pull on my clothes, and once I’d finished and gargled with mouthwash, Grant led me downstairs. I was too bleary to really wonder what was going on beyond asking myself why in the world we had gotten out of bed in the middle of an icy night. My pussy was sore, my heart had been through the wringer in the last day, and I was still processing being pregnant. Oh, and that werewolves existed. I didn’t have any room left for anything else.

But in the next moment, I woke right up.

The door opened, and my heart plummeted into my shoes. This could not be happening. But it was.

The soldiers guarding the door stepped aside, and in walked Avon.

––––––––

T
hanks so much for reading! “Leading the Pack,” the second installment of The White Wolf Billionaire series, is available now. It’s just as hot, with even more twists and delicious sex to make you gasp.

(Parts three and four coming soon!)

C
andi Jackson loves romance. She loves reading it, she loves writing about it, she loves dreaming about it. So writing down the hot stories spinning in her imagination for all her beloved fans is a dream come true. Sign up for her newsletter
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