The Werewolf Bodyguard (Moonbound Book 2) (8 page)

W
hen he was human again
, Marco looked around the room for Aria, every part of his body humming with electricity. He expected to see torn sheets and damaged property and a wolf’s body in shreds. Instead, he saw the silver streak of Aria’s wolf and then the white of her skin.

He was on his hands and knees, in the same place he’d been before he shifted, with his clothes around him, and he was panting. His whole body felt relaxed, like he’d just had the monster orgasm he often dreamt about. The one he’d never had.

“Aria?” he called out.

“I’m here.” Her hand slipped up his arm and she crawled along the floor to sit in front of him. “See? I told you, you could do it.”

Marco shook himself and sat back on his haunches. “I don’t remember much. I never… I never remember any of it.”

Aria’s features softened and a sad smile spread over her lips. “It’s different for every wolf.”

“How long were we…?” He couldn’t make the words come.

“Not long. Maybe two minutes.” She slipped closer and the warmth of her body soothed him. “You didn’t move from this spot. You just stood there, and I could feel your heart beating, but you didn’t move.”

He forced air in and out of his lungs. To have been a wolf for such a short time, and to have willed himself back to human… He hadn’t known that was possible.

“Every time I’ve shifted before, it’s been with the moon. I didn’t even know I could…control it.” Emotion pressed at his chest, almost like heartburn after a good meal.

“That’s why I needed to show you.” Aria rose to her knees and crawled around his body, putting one knee on either side of his legs. “It seems like you don’t even want to be a wolf.”

“I don’t.” He tried to keep the emotion from his voice, but he couldn’t. He could feel the cracking beginning. “God, Aria, I don’t. I never have.”

Her body was so close to his. The softness of her thighs against his knees. He could smell her arousal, and the blood rushed to his cock. Suddenly, her hand was in his lap, touching him, coaxing him. She leaned toward him, her eyes molten.

“You will.” Her lips pressed against his, and Marco met her kiss with such force, he thought he was going to knock her over. His hands went to the sides of her face and he held her still, devouring her like he had devoured her pussy.

Aria met his passion with a force of her own, her tongue finding his and sliding along it in a strident purpose. Her hand was still on his cock, and he would soon be hard enough to drive nails.

He wanted to fuck her. Needed it.

Marco waited for the hesitation that he’d felt earlier that night, and it was still there, hovering in the back of his mind, but it didn’t overtake him. He kissed down the side of her neck, the normal path his lips would always take.

A laugh rumbled in her throat as he kissed across it and down toward her breasts. She grabbed his chin and brought his face up, even with hers. The amusement in her eyes startled him.

“I don’t think so.” She kissed him and pressed him backward until he lay on the ground below her. Her body hovered over him, just a whisper away from sinking down onto his throbbing cock.

“Aria…” He stopped.

“Just let me drive this time, okay?” She kissed his throat and the warmth of her lips made a hot little trail down his body. “I told you.” More kisses. “Begging for it.”

She drew her tongue down his abdomen and he tensed with each lick. His cock twitched in anticipation of the contact, and when she finally did put her lips on him, he sucked a breath in so fast, it made a noise so loud the room echoed with anticipation.

Something about her, this woman. This wolf. She called out the wild in him, and it seemed like the beast inside would never be able to get enough of her.

H
e’d been
able to shift and change back. Not confident yet, but at least she’d gotten him that far. Being a wolf was as much a part of her as the ability to breathe. They were mates and she needed her mate to feel at least a small amount of that same connection to his animal. Certainly not feel trapped and afraid of it.

Aria sucked the tip of his cock into her mouth and moaned with a hum of satisfaction. Finally a taste of him. She’d needed this for too long.

She pulled away and licked the crown a few times just to tease a blissful moan from him. Then took him in her mouth again and bobbed her head, reveling in his tense thigh muscles beneath her hands and the energy flowing between them. Her pussy throbbed, empty and wanting, but he had to ask. Beg. She’d taken so much without explaining or warning him. Aria refused to go further than giving him head unless he asked explicitly for it. She belonged to him, too. He needed to come to that realization before they could finish the bond swirling and growing between them.

“Deeper.”

Ah, a request.
That was more like it. Aria surged down, taking him all the way to the back of her throat. The taste of him had her so aroused she could feel her warm juices dripping down her inner thighs. Not jumping on his dick and riding him until she couldn’t breathe was the hardest temptation she’d ever faced.

Marco groaned beneath her and slid his hands into her hair. He grabbed handfuls of it, taking more control of her movement on his cock. She hummed again, pleased he felt comfortable enough to take control. Aria loosened her jaw and let him fuck her mouth, enjoying every second as much as he was.

“God, you feel so good.”

She smiled around his cock and dragged her fingernails along the tops of his thighs slowly. He jerked and groaned and then thrust himself even deeper, pushing against the back of her throat again.

Pulling away gradually, she let his cock pop from her mouth with a loud smack. He released his hold on her hair reluctantly. When he’d finally relinquished, she rose to her knees, looking down at his naked, sexy body. Then she dropped again, placing one hand beside his shoulder to brace herself, before capturing his mouth with her hungry lips. She skimmed her free hand down his sweat-slicked abdomen and wrapped it around his hard cock.

“Shit, Aria…I can feel…everything,” he murmured against her lips.

She smiled over his mouth. The heady feeling of being able to experience his physical pleasure mixed with hers. Nothing else quite like it on the planet.

“It is amazing,” she whispered.

Marco wrapped his arms around her and rolled them so that she was pinned to the floor beneath his weight.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked up at him. His eyes glowed with fire from his wolf. The hunger her body ached with was reflected in his dark gaze.

“I want all of you,” he growled.

She smiled and clicked her tongue. “Make me believe it. Take me.”

Marco dipped his mouth to her breasts, stroking one nipple with his warm tongue and then the other.

Aria groaned and rocked beneath him, greedy for more of his mouth. Mostly for his dick. Her body rippled with anticipation, ready to erupt and send her careening across wave after wave of pure bliss. He didn’t disappoint. He latched on to a nipple and teased it with his teeth, nipping just hard enough to blend that burn of pain to pleasure.

His cock was there, nudging her slick folds. She fought the urge to arch her hips or claw at his back to pull him closer. This was about him being in control and her giving him what he asked for.

She needed to belong to him, but it needed to go both ways. He had to want her just as hard. Aria needed to feel his desire above and beyond the pull of Fate. To be wanted for her, a woman who’d suddenly found herself alone and disconnected from her pack. Her best friend had moved on and the man she considered a second father ignored her in favor of a nephew he hadn’t seen in over a decade.

Marco accepting –no embracing –this mate bond with her meant everything. Facing his fear of being a wolf was one thing, but truly accepting life as a mated wolf, as a part of a pack—Gods, would he want to stay here or would he go home with her to New Orleans?

“Be with me, Aria,” he ordered, sliding his fingertips between her labia and circling her throbbing clit. “Quit thinking so much.”

Her worries melted away and she smiled up at him. His firm tone of voice made her all warm and gushy inside. She melted into his caresses. The feeling of his fingers twisting and stroking her clit nearly brought her over the edge.

“Please. I need you inside me.”

“I thought I was supposed to beg?” His voice was soft and filled with mirth. The stress and fear of losing control were completely gone. This was how he should be. How he should always be.

Aria reached up and caressed his cheek.

He leaned into her palm, and then turned his face and kissed it.

Dammit.
He’d totally gotten her off track with his mouth and his fingers and, hell. It didn’t matter who begged as long as they both wanted the same thing, right?

“I take it b-back,” she moaned through him teasing her clit again. “Marco, please.” She arched her hips, trying to coax him in a little faster. The damn man was taking his sweet time. Not that she didn’t deserve a little torture…or enjoy it.

“That’s more like it.” He thrust deep with one fluid movement.

Aria gasped for breath. The sudden fullness set off the building orgasm. It crashed through her, tearing apart every shred of control. She screamed and trembled in the same moment. Digging her fingers into his back, Aria rode wave after blissful wave. She tangled her legs around his as his name formed on her lips.

Her pussy tightened around his cock and their shared pleasure drove her even higher. She could feel the tension, the fire of his hunger for her and it filled every cell of her body. Marco’s name slipped out in a half sob along with a scream of release as his next thrust sent yet another orgasm roaring through her body.

Their magick pulsed together, prickling her skin. He followed her over the cliff, coming hard as her pussy milked his cock.

“That was amazing.” Aria shuddered as Marco let his weight sink slowly down on top of her, aftershocks of their shared climax shivered down her spine. He rolled over, reached up the side of the bed and yanked the fluffy comforter down to cover them before tugging her closer, tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder.

Every breath came out in a pant and her body twitched every few seconds, still settling from the power of their mating. They settled into an intimate position, curled against each other on the lush floor rug of the hotel room. The bed was barely a foot away, but she didn’t want to disrupt the blissful moment she’d found in her mate’s arms.

Marco tucked the comforter around her shoulders, warding off the slight chill in the air. Aria moaned, contentment relaxing her body from head to foot. She took one more deep breath before drifting into a peaceful sleep.

M
arco woke
with Aria curled against him, wrapped in the comforter, still on the floor. His back screamed at him, and he had an urge to stretch out. Only he didn’t want to wake Aria.

She was nuzzled into his side, one breast cresting the edge of the soft green comforter, tempting him. He blinked himself awake, unsure of what had woken him, and very uncertain of his surroundings. The room was dark, blackout curtains keeping the day at bay, and he could still smell the musk of their sex. They couldn’t have been asleep long.

He couldn’t believe he was lying on the floor of a hotel room with his
mate
after a night of shifting and sex. Still didn’t feel real.

For a long moment, he just stared at Aria. One of her hands stretched over her head, out of the green comforter, and he could make out the second row of tattoos that matched the ones he’d seen on Elise and Jared.

Fuck. This magick was real. Some bond really did exist between them, and they had the ink to prove it. But what did that mean? Was he…like…married? Fuck. This was weird.

Weird because he didn’t hate it. For the first time, after a night of raucous wolf play or sex or pleasure, he woke at peace. He didn’t want to change anything except the crick in his back.

Marco put his hand under his head and drew himself up on his elbow so he could get a fuller look at his mate.

His mate.

She was fucking gorgeous. And the magick that crackled in the air around them was almost comforting. He’d felt it when he first saw her in
Amare
and it had grown more powerful each moment they were together. So powerful, it almost overwhelmed his senses.

A deep affection crowded his chest and stopped his breathing. She was an amazing woman. She had forced him to face his demons, but she’d been right by his side the whole time, challenging him and touching him and… Loving him.

His cock stirred and Marco laughed at himself. After years of technical celibacy, he was going to enjoy every moment of having Aria around. However long she wanted him.

The growing warmth in his chest was suddenly joined by another, phantom emotion that seemed to try to squeeze inside him. Aria made a satisfied moan, like she was coming out of sleep, and she leaned back against his chest.

This second feeling was not like the occasional elevated thud of her heartbeat, which he’d gotten used to tuning out, or like the feel of tight pain on his skin when he had squeezed her nipple. This was deep inside, unseated, location-less, like it lacked a physical anchor. But it overwhelmed, just the same.

Was he actually feeling something that Aria felt?

She laughed, short and tight, and opened one eye. “This is surreal, Marco.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” He dipped down to kiss the soft flesh on the back of her arm and noticed the comforter had slipped down below her nipple, exposing one breast completely.

Marco threaded his hand under her arm and cupped her breast, pinching her nipple. Not only did he feel the prick of sensation in his own chest, but a sharp, intense desire spread through him and brought his cock to life under the wiggle of her ass.

The combination of her arousal and his spun into a whole new orbit and his whole body throbbed with it. Her sharp breath brought his attention back to the floor of the hotel room and her hand covering his.

“That,” she said, panting. “Fuck, if this is what waking up is going to feel like, I’ll do it more often.”

“Can you feel it, too?” he whispered in her ear, kneading at her nipple with the pads of his fingers.

She gasped. “Oh yes.”

“Like…holding a mirror up to your desire, and then it’s magnified to infinity.” When another sharp sensation caught him by the throat, Marco had to drop his hand and Aria moaned. But he couldn’t stop.

“You’ve never been bonded to a pack,” she said, patting his hand. “So you won’t know this, but you get used to it.”

He rolled onto his back, trying to breathe through the boomerang of emotion that bounced around inside. “I can’t imagine that.”

Aria turned over to face him and slid her hand across his chest. “Just breathe through it. It helps.”

The rhythm of her touch soothed the emotion and secured his senses again. “You’re not gonna be able to read my thoughts or anything, are you?”

She laughed and kissed his stomach, nipping at the skin. A gratified moan buzzed in her throat and she slipped her hand under the comforter to grip the base of his painfully erect cock.

“No, but you might be able to read mine.” A wicked smile crossed her features and she stroked him with a light touch.

Marco echoed her laughter and more of the oppressing cloud of emotion swirled away. It was going to be a learning curve, but one he looked forward to. He could almost imagine every morning beginning this way—Aria in his bed, naked, laughing, aroused.

That would be the dream.

She pulled the comforter away and stood, offering her hand. He got to his feet and she led him toward the back of the hotel room, where it was darker. She flipped on the light in the bathroom and the black granite, glass-enclosed shower practically called his name.

Aria stepped inside and turned on the water. “How hot do you like it?”

“Hot,” he growled, coming up behind her and taking her breasts in his hands. Water cascaded over them and soon, steam surrounded them. Marco pulled the door closed so the steam wouldn’t escape, and Aria reached for the bottles of hotel shampoo.

She lathered up his body, and he lathered hers, enjoying the wet, slick feel of their hands on each other, and the earthy scent of the soap enveloping them. His dick was so hard, he could have bored a hole in her, but she touched him everywhere except the one place that felt like it needed attention.

He kept trying to move his hips so he could feel the wet friction of her skin against the hot skin of his erection, but she kept turning away. The laughter in her throat drove him insane. She was enjoying his torture.

The surge of her glee and his frustration swirled in a confusing haze around him and he breathed so forcefully, the water spurted off the end of his nose as he stood under the stream. Marco pulled Aria around to face him and hooked his hands around her thighs. The shock on her face barely had time to register as he drove her back against the shower wall and her legs curled around his back. His cock slipped inside her in one glorious, long thrust, and he released his breath.

Aria giggled and buried her face in his neck. “Fuck,” she whispered while he plunged into her again. She wiggled against the wall, angling her hips up, and gripped his neck. Marco found a steady footing and put one hand on the wall to get better leverage. He was going to fuck her until she stopped torturing him.

It might be a long time, but he was okay with that.

The loud report of a throat clearing froze Marco, mid-thrust. That wasn’t the sound of Aria’s lust… It was…fuck. Out the corner of his eye, Marco saw a dark shape standing just outside the bathroom door.

Another clear of the throat and Aria looked up as well. Marco wasn’t sure what to do with the sexual momentum they’d gathered, but he stepped back as Aria climbed off his hips. When his cock slid out of her with a pop, Marco realized for the first time how easy it had been for him to just pin her against the wall and fuck her. He hadn’t thought, even once, about whether or not he would shift, or what might happen. He’d just known he needed to be inside her.

“I don’t mean to interrupt…” Francis’ deep voice seemed to fill the entire bathroom. “You left the adjoining door unlocked and I needed to speak with you.”

Aria was about to step around him, but Marco kept her where she was, covering her naked body with his. Francis was a nice dude, and there were a lot of things about the alpha relationship Marco didn’t get yet, but there was no way in hell another man was gonna see Aria naked. Not now, not ever.

“You couldn’t text or call?” Marco growled. Aria smacked his shoulder, but Francis just laughed.

“He’s got a lot to learn, Aria, so cut him a break.” Francis tapped the doorjamb. “But if you could get a towel on, I need to speak with you.”

“Can you wait in the bedroom?” Marco found himself speaking more sternly than he had anticipated, but he didn’t back down. He kept Aria behind his body.

Francis smiled. “I get that, boy, I do. I’ll let you get yourselves together.”

Aria smacked Marco’s chest when her alpha left the doorway. “Don’t talk to him like that.”

“He’s not my alpha.”

She rolled her eyes and scooted past him. “Well, he will be.”

Those words caught Marco off guard. As she opened the glass door of the shower, Marco grabbed her wrist. “What does that mean?”

Aria shrugged. “You’re my mate, you don’t have a pack, so Francis will bond you to ours.”

Marco sucked in a long breath and released her. She wrapped herself in one of the plush white towels and put another around the black tendrils of her hair, swirling it around like a turban to sit on top of her head.

He leaned against the shower wall and let the hot water spill over him, pummeling his skin and building up steam again. Aria fixed him with wide eyes and he felt a release of the tension wash across his skin like a shower of calm.

“You belong with us.” She put a hand on the glass, near him, and raised her eyebrows. “Your mother wants to live her human life, still, and you need to belong to someone. Every wolf needs to belong to a pack.”

He brought his fingertips to match hers on the glass and settled his lips into a line. He’d never belonged to anyone before.

“You go talk to Francis.” Marco stepped back under the stream of the water. “I get the feeling he wants you out there alone.”

The heat of her seemed to seep through the glass, and she held there for a moment longer. There was so much they needed to talk about, so much they needed to learn about each other, but there would be time.

He wasn’t sure how long their bond would last, but there was a big part of him that wanted it to be forever. She was right. His mother wanted to be human, and he had never really belonged in Vegas. Could he move across the country? He didn’t know, but he could at least entertain the idea of belonging to Aria and to a group of wolves in Louisiana.

A
ria closed
the bathroom door and leaned against it. She let her gaze fall on Francis. He’d taken a seat in one of the chairs across from the bed.

“Is everything okay?”

“On top of Reyna’s absence, I know you’ve felt slighted by Rain’s return and my assigning him as head enforcer.” Francis took a slow breath. “I love you like my own daughter, Aria. You know I do. You’ve lived with Reyna and I since we lost your parents, Rain’s parents, and my wife in that tragic accident and I can’t imagine that big house at home without at least one of you in it.”

Aria’s chest tightened. He was talking like he was releasing her from the position of enforcer or sending her somewhere. “I—” What was there to say? She loved him too. He’d been her father and her alpha for a decade. Their closeness was why she’d assumed when Reyna left to be with Allan, that she’d automatically become his second-in-command. But a day after Reyna told her father she was staying in Somewhere, Rainier had appeared, immediately filling the void she left.

“I knew it would be difficult when Reyna went so suddenly. And I know my bond with Marco happened without speaking to you first and—”

“Aria.” Francis raised his hand to quiet her outpour. “I trust you as much as I trust Reyna. You were raised to embrace your wolf and the magick that surrounds us. Neither one of you would ever choose to bond with a man who wasn’t Fated for you. It’s in your blood.”

Relief poured through Aria’s body. She’d been worried he would be angry, or worse—disappointed.

“Thanks to Marco’s mother, we have a lead to follow and the alphas will be discussing plans for sending out a group of enforcers. I wanted to speak with you ahead of time so you knew where my heart was. You would be the obvious choice for me to send.”

Air whooshed from her lungs.
Leave?
She should’ve been excited, but a clammy, sick feeling curled in her belly instead.

“I would like to send Rain in your place. And I would like you to bring Marco back to New Orleans to stay with us. He needs time to learn what it means to be a wolf and who better than his mate to teach him.”

The nausea passed and relief once again unlocked her stalled-out heart.

Francis smiled. “I can tell that scenario appeals to you. I had hoped you would feel that way, but I wanted to be sure. I am willing to send you, if that is what you wish. You are a strong and capable enforcer for the pack, Aria. I value you and your ability, never doubt that.”

Her head was shaking before the words spilled out. “Send Rain.”

Francis nodded. “Have you spoken with Marco about returning with us?”

“Only just.”

The door opened behind Aria and Marco stepped out, a towel wrapped tightly around his waist. The whole nudity-isn’t-a-big-deal would take some getting used to —that and the fact that privacy didn’t really exist. Sure some pairs chose to live in their own homes, separate from extended family, but most members of the New Orleans pack lived in a large renovated hotel. If your mother’s cousin’s brother and his wife weren’t down the hall, they were usually only one floor up or down. She’d lived there her whole life until her parents had died. After that, Francis had moved her in with him, along with Rainier and the rest was history. The enormous St. Charles house had been their home ever since.

Mostly, wolves preferred to live together. At least hers did. And it was safer for everyone. Aria couldn’t imagine living alone how Marco had for all these years. The isolation would’ve driven her mad.

“I want to be with Aria. If that means moving to New Orleans, then so be it.”

“Good. I look forward to getting to know you, son.” Francis stood. “I’ll let you two get dressed. The summit is meeting in half an hour and there are things both of you will want to be present to hear before we dismiss to leave.”