Sworn to the Wolf (14 page)

“You don’t need to marry me to get me into bed,” she said, teasing. Hearing him say he wanted to be married to her made her thrill to the tips of her toes.

He laughed. “I know. As much as I like fucking you, I want it all. I want you to be my wife. We’ll do a human ceremony as well, any kind you like. Perhaps we can do a quick justice of the peace ceremony first. I’d like your family to know we’re married according to human law, to add a layer of protection for you.”

During their time apart she’d given a lot of thought to changing. She hadn’t liked his assumptions. Not one bit. It wasn’t a decision like what color blouse to wear with a black skirt or where to go on vacation and she wouldn’t want him assuming her choices about those things either.

This would change everything and as such, she had to face it head on.

Being stronger and having more safety against the threat of her father and his people was appealing. No matter what happened, she’d have the strength and ability to defend herself. And she’d have an entire pack at her back as well.

It was the last bit that really made changing something she wanted to do more than she feared it. A real community. Family. Belonging.

She turned to him and kissed the dimple on his chin. “Yes.”

He looked down at her. “Truly?”

“Yes. Let’s do it.”

“Okay. We can do it tomorrow. I want you to rest for tonight. In fact we know the local justice of the peace in Star Lake. We’ll call him and get married in a human ceremony tomorrow first thing, then we’ll come back and I’ll start the change.”

“It’ll hurt, huh?” That part sucked.

“Yes. I’m sorry to say it will. I have to bite you in wolf form. The bite has to be deep enough to cause a certain level of trauma and reaction in your body. Kari and Andreas will be there with you in human form, to hold your hand and soothe you. I wish we could have you knocked out when we do it but the adrenaline is a big factor in the change for some reason.”

She trembled a bit. “Okay. I trust you, Laurent, with my life.”

He kissed her deeply then, his soft lips covering hers like they were made just for kissing her. He pulled her onto his lap, angling himself to grind his cock into her pussy. Moaning, she stretched at the pleasure of it.

Taking advantage of her stretch, he slid a hand up and under the hem of her shirt, questing up to cup a heavy, braless breast. “Mmm.” She arched into his hand and bright threads of pleasure shot through her when he pinched a nipple between thumb and forefinger.

Her hands went to the waistband of his jeans and moisture pooled at the sound of his zipper descending. She felt like Pavlov’s dog and she stifled a giggle at the pun. Instead she tucked her hand into the open gap of his jeans, grabbing his cock, squeezing lightly.

“Rain.” Laurent gasped and arched into her hand.

“Laurent! Darling boy!” A woman’s voice broke the moment as it drifted in through the door.

Laurent groaned and let his head fall back against the back of the couch. “Jade.” He still had a hand up her shirt. Annoyed, Rain slapped it away, leaving him to zip his own fly, not wanting to cause physical damage.

“You must be Rain! I’m so happy to meet you.” Rain turned, struggling to get off Laurent’s lap, but he held her there fast with an iron grip. Rain saw the tall blonde woman who looked to be about fifty and smiled.

“Yes, I’m Rain.”

“Jade Phinney, this is Rain Foster. Rain, this is Jade, Andreas’s mother and, up until this moment, a woman I thought of as mine too. She has a history of just barging in on people without knocking.” He said the last bit rather pointedly and Rain slapped him on the arm for being so rude.

Still struggling to get free of his grip, Rain pinched his side until he let her go with a yelp. She stood quickly before he could recover and Jade immediately enveloped her in a hug.

“Welcome to the Cherchez Pack. My goodness, you two will make gorgeous babies!” Jade clapped her hands together in delight, sending an armful of bracelets clanging against each other. “I’ve been blessed to have raised Laurent since he was eleven. I’ve known him since he was born. I’ve never seen him look so dreamy. You’re good for him. His mother would have liked you. She looked a bit like you, only her eyes were blue instead of brown and her hair was short and curly.”

Rain smiled and nodded, not able to get a word in edgewise. Laurent cleared his throat. “Well, Jade, does she pass inspection?”

“Oh my yes! Gorgeous and talented. I saw some of her artwork earlier. My grandchildren adore her and she’s tamed you. Looks like I have another fabulous daughter-in-law.” She looked back to Rain. “Please, think of me as your mother-in-law, we most certainly view Laurent as our son. I’ll let you two get back to having sex. We’re waiting up at the lodge for drinks. Dinner in two hours. Come when you’re ready.” She giggled. “No pun intended.” She left with a flourish of bracelets.

“Wow,” Rain breathed out once they were alone once more.

“She’s something else. The women in this Pack are all pretty unique, headstrong. A lot of humans who came over. Perri, Kari and Emma, all three wives to the Alpha family males, were humans. Human women are different, more, um, feisty. Although a bigger pain in the behind at times. You should have seen Kari when she first came here.” He laughed at the memory. “Then again, Andreas swore to me that I’d get my own back when I laughed at him then. He was right.” He scowled playfully. “Now where were we?”

Rain stood up and went toward the door. “I can’t now! Sheesh, it’s like they’re all waiting up there with a scorecard or something.”

“Well, one thing you should know is that werewolves are very casual about sex and nudity. Especially around the time of a Gathering. That’s when the Clan comes together, we do it at least once a quarter. Anyway, you’ll see naked and very scantily clad people lounging around. As I said, you need to be naked when you transform. Plus, well, sexual mores are more relaxed. Some mated couples will share at Gatherings. And in the interest of full disclosure, many Pack members seek comfort through sex, in human form and wolf form.”

“Um, okay. I suppose the comfort part makes sense. I imagine werewolves share some characteristics with wolves, right? So pack animals would naturally seek comfort from each other. But back to the whole sharing thing. What do you mean,
share
?”

“Um, yes, as in have sex with other members of the Pack. Both unmated males and females and members of mated couples.”

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, bringing those beautiful breasts even higher. He groaned at the sight. “You mean that redhead is going to think she can just sample you any old time she likes?”

He shook his head vehemently. “No, no, no! Not all couples do it. I must make it clear I have no intention of sharing, especially at a Gathering. Andreas and Kari don’t, although I do know they’ve been with Phillip a few times. I can’t say what the extent of the experience was. Others do from time to time. If we ever decided to do that it would be something I’d want to discuss in detail.”

“Well, I’m glad you feel kind enough to inform me that you don’t plan to pass me around like a party favor.” She smirked and he cringed. Human women were a trial.

“You are the main course, Rain, and only for me. As I am only for you.”

“So wait.” He winced. He knew what was coming just like he knew he had to tell her up front. Witnessing the disaster when Andreas didn’t tell Kari and she found out by accident and it almost broke up their marriage had been lesson enough. “Obviously it was more than just red. Who else have you slept with in the Pack, Clan, family, whatever?”

He hated this question. Especially now that it was
his
to answer.

“Not all the females of course, but several of them. Mainly in wolf form but some in human form. I’ve dated some of the unmated females and I’ve been with, in a limited sense, Ryan and Phillip.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “So I’m expected to hang out with your prior sex partners? Oh and after that, I want to hear
all
about Ryan and Phillip.”

He relaxed at the last statement and the glitter of desire in her eyes. “Yes and it’s not a big deal. Because, like I said, we’ve a relaxed view of such things. And because once a wolf Mates, things change. We’re raised to know the difference between the casual sex we have before we find our Mates and what we have after. Raised to respect that.”

She snorted, he recognized that snort from Kari and fought not to roll his eyes.

“Tell me who, now. I don’t want to be sitting next to some woman who you’ve had sex with and not know it.”

He sighed. “Well, you know about Paloma. There’s Meg, she’s also an unmated female in the Pack. Ellen, who’s mated to James, and Luna, who is mated to Shane. She used to get around a bit but is now quite monogamous.” He left out Perri, whom he had slept with before she Mated with Devon and joined the Clan. He wanted Rain to like the females in the inner circle and he had a feeling that it would be hard for her if she knew about Perri.

“And all of these women are here now?”

“Just Paloma. The others will come at your first transformation. Andreas will call a Gathering and the entire Clan will come to welcome you to our ranks and to seal the Mating ceremony.”

“Mating ceremony?”

“Yes. You and I will run, transform into our wolf forms. We run for several miles to a lake. I’ll mount you and the Pack will witness and seal it. You will be mine and I will be yours.”

“Mount? As in sex? In front of people?”

“In front of the Pack. Your wolf will not have a problem, trust me. It’s natural, Rain.”

“And will you be mounting anyone else or will anyone else be mounting me?”

“If anyone else tries to mount you my wolf would kill them.” He actually had the gall to harrumph at her and she stifled a laugh. “And I have no interest in mounting another. It’s all you, Rain.” He kissed her lips softly.

“Cripes. This is all a bit much. The mob looking for me. Crazy ex-fiancé, new fiancé who’s a werewolf. All in a day’s work. All in a day’s work.”

He snorted. “I know, baby. But after the initial stuff it calms down a lot. And I’ll deal with the mob and ex part. Now since you’ve burned up all of our sex time with chatter...” he winked at her teasingly, “...let’s go to the lodge. Perri and Devon are here and I know she’s dying to meet you. Perri, Kari, Emma and Alyssa are pretty tight. I imagine that they’re all too anxious to bring you into their evil quartet.”

She sighed. “Lead on.”

He threaded his fingers through hers and they walked up to the lodge together. When they walked in Hellie attached herself to Rain’s side, sitting up against her when she settled in next to Laurent on a couch in the main room.

A tiny flame-haired woman who looked like a fairy approached, grabbing her into a hug, squeezing Hellie too. “Hi! I’m Perri, Devon’s wife. You must be Rain. I’m so happy to finally meet you.” She tried to sit next to Rain but Hellie and Laurent weren’t budging. “Fine! Hellie, won’t you share with Auntie Perri?”

Hellie snuggled tighter into Rain’s side, burying her face into her long hair, and Laurent chuckled. “As you can see, Perri, she’s won over the most important woman in the Clan.”

Skye came over and sat at Rain’s feet, leaning back against her legs. “Hey there. I’m glad you’re back.” He stroked along her leg and she raised an eyebrow but Laurent seemed calm enough.

“Oh and I forgot to tell you, in case you hadn’t noticed, werewolves are a touchy-feely lot. Some touching is offensive, you’ll know it when you see it. The way Skye is stroking your leg now, Hellie burying her face in your hair, nuzzling and cuddling, that’s all normal comfort behavior. As the Mate of the Third, most in the Pack are subordinate to you, which involves another level of touching. Many will seek reassuring touching from you,” Laurent said and closed his eyes, enjoying the way she stroked a hand languidly through his hair.

“What if I don’t want certain others to seek comfort from you that way?”

“That, my love, is an example of the difference between appropriate touching and offensive touching. Touching of a sexual nature with another’s Mate without permission is offensive. You’d be entirely within your rights to knock the shit out of any female who touched me in a sexual manner,” Laurent said, eyes still closed. “But Kari touches me all the time, as do Emma and Perri. Emma and Kari are higher in rank than you and I. You take on my rank when we mate. That’s another thing you’ll learn. Werewolves are a very rule-bound, hierarchical culture. We sit at the dining table according to rank, we eat according to rank. Our relations with each other are bound by rank.”

She sighed. “And I thought organized crime families were complicated.”

Laurent and Skye laughed and Kari came over, plucked Hellie up and sat in her spot. “Hey, Momma, I was sitting there.”

Kari kissed Hellie’s head. “And now I am. You can’t share?”

“No!”

Rain patted her lap and Hellie scrambled onto it and snuggled into her, bringing Rain’s hair around her shoulder and wrapping it around a small fist, smiling.

“You and Laurent will spoil her!” Kari laughed and Ryan joined them.

“Laurent was giving me werewolf etiquette 101. You’re all so complicated,” Rain moaned.

“You don’t know the half of it. I’ve been Alpha for over four years now and I still don’t know it all. If you need help or have a question, just ask. Any of us will be happy to help.”

“I’m going to bite Rain tomorrow. After we go to Judge Fortensky’s chambers and get married,” Laurent said, eyes still closed, his full weight against her, totally relaxed.

“Really! Well, uh, thanks for just sort of slipping it into the conversation like you’d relate a new pair of shoes. Jeez, Laurent. We’d like to plan something, a party. At least let Andreas and I be witnesses. We’ll have a reception and any kind of ceremony you want after your first transformation.” Kari looked at Rain, smiling. “Drew is a genius by the way. He designed my wedding dress and my maternity clothes too. I’m so happy you’re here! We can get into so much trouble together!”

Perri laughed, nodding enthusiastically. “Every two months we all make a weekend in Portland.”