Sworn to the Wolf (22 page)

He groaned. “No, not that. Sleep.” He doubted he could resist her though.

Andreas chuckled. “You do remember what Kari, Emma and Alyssa were like when they were pregnant, don’t you? Get all your protein, you’re going to need the stamina to keep her satisfied.”

He really couldn’t wait, the more he thought about it. He wanted this step with her. Wanted to build their family like he’d seen his friends do.

Rain moved off to hug her goodbyes as Andreas said to Laurent, “Come by tomorrow morning, I want to talk about some business issues with you.”

“Of course. I’ll see you in the morning,” Laurent said but his attention was already focused on Rain, who was tossing heated looks his way as she crossed the great room to meet him halfway. The energy between them arced around the room like electricity.

She was
it
. There was nothing else, no one else in the room for either one of them at that moment. He reached her and his lips came down on hers in a heated crush. She made a sound deep in her throat and it drove him crazy. Rolling his hips, grinding his cock against her body, he whispered her name against her lips.

“Get out of here!” Ryan said, tossing a pillow at them. Blindly, lips still on hers, he picked her up and moved toward the opened French doors and out of the lodge.

In their bedroom, he laid Rain down on the bed and she undid the buttons of her robe and parted it, showing him the blood red camisole and panties he’d bought for her.

“Yeah,” he whispered as she got to her knees, helping him off with his clothes. “That’s what I’m talking about. So fucking beautiful. Sexy. I love you so much,” he said, lips against the flesh of her neck.

“On your back,” she ordered and he complied, his hair fanning out on the pillows and over his shoulders and arms as he looked up at her.

“I’m all yours, Rain.” His mouth quirked up in one corner.

“I know. Lucky, lucky me.” She started at the hollow of his neck, swirling her tongue, tasting the salt of his skin there. Her hair trailed down his skin as she kissed lower and lower, loving the way his muscles quivered as she touched him.

Slowly she took him into her mouth. Her movements were tentative at first. She was still learning his body so she listened to the sounds he made, taking cues from the way he responded to the things she did. When his hands tightened in her hair, when he couldn’t help but thrust up into her mouth, when his body seized and he moaned. With each new success she grew more confident. More than anything she loved sucking his cock because it brought him so much pleasure and that made her feel like a goddess. She loved making him feel good.

He hissed her name as she pressed the tip of her tongue into the dip just below the crown. She knew he was close, his muscles were taut and his cock got harder and harder as she moved on him. Taking a deep breath, she took him as far as she could into her mouth and dragged her nails lightly over his balls and he gasped and began to come, his fingers gripping her shoulders tight.

She continued to kiss and lick him for long moments afterward. He picked her up carefully, rolling her to her back, looming above her. He looked into her face, locking gazes with her. She loved him fiercely, this larger-than-life man who showed her nothing but gentleness and care.

“All I could think of at the lodge was kneeling between your thighs and licking your pussy until you screamed.” He caressed her skin, ran the palms of his hands over her ribs and across her nipples. “All those males would be watching, cocks hard as they listened to your soft sounds. Begging. The scent of your pussy rising, the sound of my mouth on you echoing over their harsh breath.”

He’d rendered her speechless at the thought. Exhibitionism had never been a particular fantasy but perhaps she’d never had the right man for it.

He kept his eyes on hers as he latched onto a nipple, teeth grazing it. Warm ripples of pleasure broke over her, spreading outward from his mouth. A gasp came from her when he moved on but she moaned soon after as he left hot, openmouthed kisses down her belly before pulling her knees up to open her to him. He settled between her thighs.

The tip of his tongue traced over inner and outer labia, over and over, just barely flicking over her clit as he reached it. “I love your pussy, Rain. So sweet and soft. So hot and wet. I could eat you for days.”

A sound came from her but she wasn’t sure what she said or where it came from. A sort of low moan of need. Not a whimper, not a whine, but laced with desire.

“What was that, baby?” he teased her, the tip of his tongue moving just above her clit. A whisper of a touch.

“Are you teasing me?” she burst out.

He chuckled and the vibrations jangled her nerves, making her body jerk. “I’m not teasing. I mean to follow up on what I’m doing. But I think you need to tell me what you want.”

“I want you to make me come!”

“How?”

“I want you to lick me, suck on my clit, nibble and fuck me with your fingers,” she said, breathless.

“Fuck. That was so hot.”

Before she could say anything else he obeyed her, stretching her with first one finger and then two, fucking slowly, making sure to hook his fingers to stroke over her sweet spot.

Needing to come desperately, she combed her fingers through his hair, holding him to her pussy.

And then he sucked her clit between his teeth, flicking it relentlessly with the tip of his tongue, and her back bowed off the mattress as her thighs clamped over his ears. Orgasm, sharp, white and intense, sliced through her and his name left her lips in a hoarse cry.

He gentled her for long minutes afterward with small kisses and caresses, finally moving up to kiss her.

The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was the soft play of his fingers up and down her spine and the gentle, reassuring beat of his heart against her ear as her head lay on his chest.

* * *

Rain woke to the smell of freshly squeezed orange juice and the mouthwatering aroma of bacon cooking. Her stomach growled loudly and she slipped out of bed and went to the kitchen where Laurent busily prepared breakfast.

“Morning.”

He came to her and hugged her to him, kissing the top of her head. “You’re going to have to put a robe on. I’ll never finish breakfast if you don’t.”

“Why are you cooking?” she asked, grabbing one of his shirts and coming back out. “Without a doubt Anna has got nine thousand eggs and a three pigs’ worth of bacon up at the lodge.”

“I like having time that’s just you and me. I like taking care of you.” He glanced back and did a double take, his eyes darkening at the sight of her in one of his shirts. She winked at him and he laughed, turning back to the stove to turn the bacon.

“Shall I make toast?” she asked, rooting through the pantry, delighted when she found a loaf of fresh bread.

“You should rest, Rain. Let me do it.”

“Don’t be silly. I’m not digging a trench, I’m putting slices of bread in a toaster.” She snorted and did it and turned back to the pantry where she saw some homemade preserves. “Anna thinks of everything. Hmm, let’s see, strawberry or marionberry?”

“Marionberry. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted Anna’s marionberry preserves.”

“Sounds yummy.” She put the preserves at the table and poured a big glass of orange juice for each of them. She sat right when Laurent came to join her with a platter of eggs and bacon.

“Hey!” she exclaimed as he laid six slices of bacon and at least three eggs on her plate.

“You need to eat more. We’ll talk to Emma about your prenatal care. It’s so much better now that we have a doctor here in town. Before, we had to go to Seattle or Elaine had to come up here.”

She surprised herself by scarfing up the entire plateful of food and another two glasses of juice. “Wow. So am I going to gain like three pounds in about five minutes now or what?”

“Your metabolism has changed. You need to eat at least another fifteen hundred calories a day as a werewolf and now that you’re pregnant it’s even higher. Another thing to ask Emma. Kari, that tiny thing, ate like a pig when she was pregnant and she barely gained anything at all until the end anyway. And nursing, if I remember correctly, she had to keep her calorie intake high too.”

“Score,” Rain said, smiling.

“I need to call your father this morning. Why don’t you let me help you shower and dress and we’ll go and do it from the lodge.”

Rain stood, unbuttoning the shirt and letting it fall as she left the room. At the door she looked back over her shoulder to catch Laurent grinning and heading toward her at top speed.

With his
help
it was another forty-five minutes until they were both dressed and ready to go up to the lodge.

She followed him in and Anna stopped her in the kitchen. “You go on, I’ll be in shortly,” Rain said to Laurent who nodded before strolling into the study, shutting the door behind him.

Andreas was already at work, on the phone with his broker and working on a spreadsheet at the same time. He nodded at Laurent who went to his own terminal and logged on. He’d been away from work for three weeks, taking off the time that Rain wasn’t speaking to him to guard her. He had a lot of work to catch up on.

Andreas hung up and turned to Laurent, tossing an envelope his way. “Here, a bonus for being my right-hand man for sixteen years.”

Laurent opened the envelope. It was a deed to fifty acres of the Star Lake property, five acres right on the lake. “Andreas, you’re giving me your land?”

“No, I’m sharing my land with you. Hell, I own seven hundred and fifty acres, I only gave you fifty. You’re my brother, you’ve saved my life and my family’s lives multiple times. You’re going to have a baby in four months, bringing more life to my Pack. You can’t live in that cabin forever, it’s too small. Build Rain a house. Let her nest and build a nursery for your child. The acreage is on the other side of Sean so the lakefront part is already cleared and ready for building.”

Laurent got up and went to Andreas, hugging him. “Thank you, Andreas. It means so much to me. I don’t have any biological family of my own anymore but I’ve always had you and your parents to help me through.”

“Correction, you will in four months. You and Rain have started your own family but you’ll always be my brother, Laurent.”

Rain knocked on the door and opened it at Andreas’s bid to enter. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No, sweetheart. Andreas has just given us fifty acres of land. I’m going to have a house built for you and the baby.”

Rain looked at Laurent, surprised and happy. Then she walked to Andreas. “I’m so grateful for all you’ve done for us—for me—since I arrived here,” she said and gave Andreas a big hug.

Andreas placed a hand on her still slim stomach. “You’re one of mine now. You’re my sister-in-law and as Alpha of this Clan it brings me joy that you bring new life to us. As Laurent’s best friend it makes me happy that you have brought so much love and life to him.”

Laurent grinned at the three of them and the emotion in the room. “Okay, before we get too mushy let’s make that call. Baby, sit here and don’t say anything unless I motion for you to, okay?”

Rain nodded and sat, drinking from the giant glass of milk that Anna had given her in the kitchen. Phillip breezed in, put her feet up on the coffee table and winked at her before walking back out with a stack of papers.

Laurent went to his desk, dialed a series of numbers and waited for several rings until someone answered.

“Hello?”

Laurent looked at Rain to ask if it was her father answering and she shook her head no.

“I need to speak with Pietro Margoles.”

“And who are you?”

“I’m Laurent Cole. I’m his new son-in-law.”

“What? Are you talking about Julia?”

“Indeed I am.” He growled. “Enough chitchat. I need to speak to Margoles.”

“Is that so? And just who do you think you are?”

Laurent sighed. “I’ve told you who I am.”

Rain handed Laurent a note.
He’s an underling
,
no one of any real importance.
Shall I say something?
If not just dismiss him and demand my father.

Laurent read it and nodded for her to speak.

“James, get my father and do it now, you’re wasting our time,” she ordered and both Laurent and Andreas looked at her with raised eyebrows. Rain smiled demurely and went back to her place on the couch.

“Julia? Okay, hang on.”

A few moments passed until Pietro Margoles got on the line. “Julia? Get your stupid ass back home right now!”

“She is home,” Laurent growled, low and threatening. Andreas growled in the background as well.

“And who the fuck are you?” Pietro spat out.

“I’m your daughter’s husband. I’ve called to announce our marriage to you and to warn you to call off Anthony Vargas. Julia does not want to see or have a relationship with you. She wishes for you to cease attempting to contact her in any fashion.”

“Oh she does? I don’t give a fuck who you say you are. I own Julia and I gave her to Anthony Vargas. She’s useful for a few things, one of them being a bride and sealing a rift between our families. She’s caused enough grief by running away. She needs to get her ass on a plane and come back home before I have to come out there and drag her back myself.”

He kept his voice scarily calm and flat. “Julia isn’t property. No one owns her. She is however my wife, and as such it’s my duty to protect her from scumbag woman beaters like Anthony Vargas and criminal riffraff like you. Now I’d like you to listen and listen very closely.” Laurent took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair.

“You
will
stop attempting to contact my wife. I won’t have her living in fear.”

“Who do you—”

He interrupted, “Ah, ah, ah! Shut the fuck up now, Pietro, I’m doing the talking. Now as I was saying, you’ll call off this ridiculous hunt and you’ll leave my wife alone. I know you think you’re tough, many men do. I’m sure in your own element you’re just that. However I
will
rip your throat out for ever speaking to Julia in a demeaning way again. I will eat your heart for dinner. I will eviscerate you and leave your body ripped open, empty of all internal organs and steaming, next to the road. Animals will be too afraid to pick your bones. Your organization may be old and powerful but it has
nothing
on mine.