Down & Dirty (Bundle) (9 page)

“
Oh.” The shorter blonde
woman blushed a little. “I, uh… suppose he would be.”

Hazel’s snarl tore through the room. “Oliver
fucking Russell can go fuck himself, with his fucking hands and his
fucking growling orders and all of his fucking hotness.” And with
that completely incoherent statement out of the way, the girl burst
into hysterical tears.

Chapter Six

Ginny’s bedroom was dark when Jack awoke for
the second time that day. His boots stood beside her bed, but the
neatly folded clothes on the chair belonged to Thomas.

He sat up and took slow, careful inventory
of his aches and pains. He was sore and exhausted, but the wound on
his arm had knit shut. The most persistent discomfort was hunger,
but the smell wafting up from the kitchen would cure that.

Jack rose from the bed and
pulled on the pants. He buttoned them as he moved toward the
stairs, too hungry to bother with a shirt.
And too worried.
He’d half expected
to wake up with Ginny curled around him, and her absence had been
almost as uncomfortable as the rumbling of his stomach.

She was in the sitting room, a book in her
lap. She looked up and marked her place when he stopped in the
doorway. “You must be starving.”

His heart jumped, and he had to fight to
keep his tone casual. “I am.”

“
I made stew,” she
murmured, rising, and she didn’t look at him as she brushed past
and headed for the kitchen.

He followed her to the kitchen, refusing to
acknowledge the dread uncurling in the pit of his stomach. “What
happened after Thomas got here?”

Ginny ladled the hearty-looking stew into a
bowl. “He and Oliver rode out to Dawson’s to make sure things were
settled.” She set the bowl at the end of the table next to a
platter of rolls. “And Lottie’s going to find a mate for
Hazel.”

It almost distracted him from the food.
Almost. He tugged out the chair and dropped into it. “How on earth
did you manage that?”

“
She can’t wait any
longer.” Ginny poured two mugs of coffee and slid one in front of
Jack as she sat down at the table. “I think today’s close call with
Ollie really scared her.”

He tried to quiet his growling stomach with
one of the rolls and washed it down with half of the coffee before
replying. “You never told me what happened.”

“
To Hazel?” She shrugged as
he began to eat. “During the firefight, she was fetching more
ammunition for us, and she didn’t stay down. Ollie lost it a little
bit, and all the protective growling sent her spinning.”

Jack sighed and rubbed at his forehead.
“It’s too much some days, Ginny. It’s too damn much for one man to
handle.”

“
I know, Jack. I wish --”
She broke off and stared down at her hands. “I wish you didn’t have
to do it alone.”

She sounded guilty, and the dread seized
him. “I don’t have to, Ginny.”

“
No. I suppose you don’t.”
Her eyes met his, and the gentle regret in their hazel depths stole
his breath. “But it can’t be me, Jack. I can’t help
you.”

There was only one question
to ask. “
Why
?”

Ginny trembled. “Because I’m selfish and
scared and I can’t handle it.” She stood abruptly, almost knocking
her chair back. “I can’t handle the way you look at me, like you
see something more than what I am. And I’m not good at the alpha
thing. Not like you are, Jack. Not enough to do it all the
time.”

He had to curl his fingers around the table
to keep from rising to his feet. “And if I weren’t the alpha?”

She stopped and stared at him. “What kind of
question is that?”

“
The kind a man asks when
he’s hearing a lot of excuses.”

Her eyes went dark. When
she spoke again, her voice was flat. “You’re right. I don’t
need
excuses. You said
you’d leave me alone if I wanted.”

She didn’t want it. But
even knowing that, even being
sure
…

No, he couldn’t give her
up. So he told her the truth.
All
of it. “I’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you
want. I’ll do anything you want. Anything that makes you happy,
Ginny. Because I love you, and I need you to be happy.”

“
No.” She barely managed
the word before tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her
cheeks. “Jack, you don’t -- You
can’t
. Not me.”

He was on his feet and crossing the distance
between them before he realized he’d moved. He stopped just short
of wrapping his arms around her, telling himself it wouldn’t be
fair. Not to either of them. “You deserved the truth, so I gave it
to you. What you do with it is your call, Ginny. Just… don’t cry.
Jesus, please don’t cry.”

“
I’m not,” she insisted
through her tears, still shaking. “I -- Christ, Jack. I don’t
deserve it. I’m bitter and I don’t deserve it, and I love you,
too.”

She threw her arms around his neck, and he
buried his face in her hair and tried not to clutch at her too
tightly. “If you don’t want to do the alpha shit, you don’t have
to. Even if you just talked to me sometimes about it, it’d be more
than I have now.”

“
I’d do it,” she whispered
in his ear. “For the pack.”

“
And you’d be amazing.” He
pulled back and threaded his fingers through her hair. “You would
make my life so much easier. But I could probably take life being
hard if it meant I had you.”

Ginny sniffled and laughed even as she
kissed him. “I’m going to make it hard enough, so I’d better help
you with everything else.”

Honor demanded he tell her she didn’t have
to decide that night. That he give her time to think. The wolf
demanded he accept what she was offering. Now.

In the end, he settled for a compromise. He
nipped her lower lip. “Be my mate for now. We’ll worry about the
rest later.”

“
Yes.” She laid her hand on
his cheek and kissed him again, slowly, her tongue sneaking out to
touch his. He groaned and pulled her closer, and the kiss was just
getting interesting when his stomach let out an angry
grumble.

He pulled back and kissed her forehead. “I
suppose I should eat before I let you distract me.”

Ginny laughed and bit her lip. “I should go
away, then. I’ll be upstairs… in the bedroom.” She brushed one last
kiss over his cheek and walked out.

Jack polished off the food she’d put on the
table and a second serving from the pot before the edge of his
hunger had eased. In any other circumstance he would have collapsed
again into much needed sleep, but the thought of Ginny waiting for
him in bed made sleep the least appealing prospect ever.

After a brief stop in the bathroom to clean
up, Jack climbed the stairs and stopped in the doorway. Ginny sat
on the bed, propped against a pile of pillows, reading the same
book she’d had downstairs. Now, though, her red hair tumbled in a
wild cloud around her mostly bare shoulders, and she wore a thin
gown of green, lace-edged silk.

“
Wow.” He leaned against
the doorjamb and smiled. “This is a sight I could get used
to.”

“
Not in the least.” She
tossed the book on the floor and rolled to her knees, her
expression playful. A slit in the gown bared her leg to the top of
her thigh. “I mostly sleep naked.”

The things he could do to her… His cock
hardened as he stepped over the threshold and let a slow, wicked
smile curl his lips. “Well, where’s the fun in that?”

“
You seemed to like it well
enough last night.”

“
That?” He was glad he
hadn’t bothered with a shirt. The borrowed pants hit the floor and
he stepped out of them before curling his fingers around his cock.
“Oh, honey, that was just getting to know you.”

Ginny’s gaze dropped to his hand, and she
whimpered and fidgeted on the bed. “You already knew me.”

“
Not as well as I wanted
to.” He fixed his gaze on hers again. “Turn around and brace your
hands against the headboard.”

She didn’t move at first, just twirled a
lock of hair around one finger and licked her lips. Finally, she
turned away and crawled up the bed until she reached the iron
headboard. Her hands curled around it slowly, and she glanced back
at him over her shoulder. “Like this?”

He stepped forward and ran his hand down her
back and over the green silk, rubbing it against her skin. “Just
like that.”

Her back arched, and she hissed in a breath.
“Jack.”

The bed dipped as he set his knee on the
edge, then knelt behind her. He indulged himself with a slow
caress, feeling the curves of her body beneath expensive silk as he
traced over her hips and squeezed her ass. When she whimpered again
and rocked back toward him, he smiled and began to inch the fabric
up. “Don’t move your hands.”

Her knees moved, though, sliding farther
apart. “Not even to help?” she teased.

“
If you
want
me to spank you, just ask,
baby.”

“
No.” She laughed, a husky,
aroused sound. “But maybe you should tie my hands to the bed. Just
to be sure I don’t move them.”

It was an excellent idea,
but he wasn’t in the mood to be distracted. He eased her gown
higher, until her thighs were bare and it was obvious she had
decided to forego underwear. “Maybe I’ll tie you up when I’m done
being amazed by how fucking
gorgeous
you are.”

Even her shoulders blushed. “Nothing
compared to you, honey,” she whispered. “I still remember the first
time I saw you.”

So did he. “You were seventeen,” he murmured
as he leaned over her and curled his hands around the iron on
either side of hers. “You were wild. And I’d just taken over my
father’s place as alpha. I was young and full of myself back
then.”

“
I wanted you.” Ginny
turned her head and her hair slipped away from the curve of her
neck. “And you scared the hell out of me.”

He brushed his lips over her pulse.
“Why?”

“
I wasn’t ready for you,”
she admitted. “Not by a long shot.”

“
And now?”

“
Now?” She arched again and
rubbed her face against his. “I love you. I’m ready.”

He’d planned hours of
teasing foreplay, of tormenting her and making her beg, making
her
his
. Instead he
thrust into her with one powerful stroke, burying himself in the
heat of her body and driving a choked cry from her throat. Teasing
could come later, after he’d made one thing clear. “Now you’re
mine.”

“
I already was.” Ginny’s
head hit his shoulder, and she moaned and bucked. “Just like you
belonged to me.”

“
For longer than you know.”
He slid one hand along her arm, savoring the smooth warmth of her
skin as he trailed his fingers down to her shoulder, then around to
cup her breast. He caught the tight nipple between his thumb and
forefinger. “Five years’ worth of fantasies, Ginny. Imagining the
things I’d do to you. The things you’d do to me.”

Her gasp tickled deliciously along his nerve
endings. “Mmm, me too. Want to hear what I came up with?”

He pinched her nipple harder, just to hear
that noise again. “Tell me.”

“
R-Rainstorm last fall,”
she panted. “You came into Lottie’s wet to the skin. And it was a
cold rain, so you
steamed
when you went and stood next to the heater.” She
tightened around his cock as a shiver ran through her. “I
fantasized about your skin warming up under my tongue.”

The temptation to move was powerful, but he
loved the way she squirmed beneath him. He slid his hand lower,
dipped between her legs and brushed against her clit. “Did you
touch yourself when you thought about it?”

She jerked. “I damn near
did right in front of you. And when I got home… God, Jack, I was so
wound up I couldn’t
think
until I made myself come.”

He rewarded them both with one sharp thrust
before he straightened up. Her nightgown still hung around her
waist, so he dragged it up over her head. It was long enough to
slip easily through and around the ironwork on the headboard until
her wrists were bound. “I’m sure this is plenty expensive, so don’t
go ripping it up.”

“
Lottie gave it to me
months ago and told me to wear it for you.” Her whole body
trembled, and she gripped the headboard tighter.

“
Maybe I’ll thank her.” He
leaned down again and bit the back of her neck. “Later.”

“
Uh-huh.” Her pussy
squeezed tight around him again. “Later. Right now, I need
you.”

“
I know.” He smoothed his
hand down her back and rubbed his thumb over the curve of her ass
before drawing back. He could hear her heart pounding as he
hovered, teasing her with his cock barely inside her. “Say it
again.”

“
Need you.” The silk
strained as she fidgeted and stretched, trying to take him deeper.
“Jack, please --”

He gripped her hips and
surged forward, and the wolf howled satisfaction inside him. She
was his,
finally
his, and by the time he let her out of this bed their scents
would be so entwined no one would ever question it
again.

Ginny shrieked, and the silk binding her
ripped a little. “Fuck!”