The Wolf's Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel (9 page)

He chuckled but it sounded forced. At her
prompting, he said, “You really want to be with me, even after
everything I told you about my past?”

She moved closer and hugged him, pressing his
cheek against her shoulder. “I spent 15 months without a home. I
teetered between being pissed off at the length of the journey and
being terrified of leaving a place too soon or staying too long.
There’s nothing easy about my life up to this point. I would have
given anything to know you years ago, but I love the man you are
now. So however you came to be who you are, I’m good with it. The
more time we spend together, the stronger our bond will grow, and
then you’ll lose those doubts. I couldn’t have picked a better man
for myself than you.”

His voice was thick with emotion and he
hugged her tighter, burying his face in her neck. “I’m just afraid
you’re going to be disappointed in me.”

“Not possible.”

She kissed the top of his head and let him
have the few minutes he needed to collect himself. She didn’t mind
hugging him one bit. Ask her about her fantasies and she would say
more often than not that they weren’t sexual, but about finding the
man she was going to be able to love forever.

“You calm my wolf.” He said, kissing her
neck.

He pulled back enough to let her see he was
over all that emotion. “One of my charms.”

He let her go so she could finish packing. “I
didn’t tell anyone in my pack about you. I mean, they knew you were
in the house and that you’re human, but I guess you’re not entirely
human, though. But you’re not wolf and that’s what they’d care
about.”

“No, I’m not entirely human, but other than
being made for you and what our children will become, there isn’t
anything different about me.”

He shook his head with an awed smile. “I
can’t imagine having a son that would be more powerful than me.
It’s amazing to think about.”

“Or you could be like my dad and have three
alpha-powerful sons. And my mother has six brothers that are all
alphas.”

“Are they in the states?”

“Two of them are, out west. My parents wanted
me to go out there right away, because they would trust my uncles
to keep an eye on me, but I wanted a more methodical search. At
least until I was going buggy looking for you. Then it was just me
wandering aimlessly and feeling kinda hopeless.” She shrugged. “My
other uncles are in Europe.”

“Do you think your parents will like me?” He
fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Of course. You’re my mate. You’re perfect
for me. The only reason they wouldn’t like you is if I’d tried to
force a mating before I found my mate.”

He frowned and she groaned inwardly. She
hadn’t meant to insult him. “Linus, I’m sorry.”

He cut her off. “No, don’t be sorry.” He
stood slowly and moved around the bed to her. Taking her hands in
his, he looked down at her for a few moments and then said, “I’d
always worried about telling my future wife about my past, but you
just forgive all of that, don’t you?”

“Your past makes you who you are right now,
and I wouldn’t change anything about you.”

“I can’t believe that you’re in my life,
Karly. I don’t ever want to let you go.”

He hugged her close, pulling her against him
tightly. “You don’t ever have to worry about that,” She said into
his chest and hugged him back.

He carried her box and both of the suitcases
down to his truck, and then he came back for her, carrying her
across the hall so she could tell Mrs. Beckinson that she was
moving out. It was completely unnecessary for him to carry her, but
he insisted and she indulged him. Mrs. B. smiled at Linus as he
held Karly in his arms and said, “So you’re the young man who saved
the best neighbor I ever had?”

“Yes’m.” He grinned and it made his eyes
light up.

“You’ll visit, dear?”

“Of course, Mrs. B.” She promised, squeezing
her hand.

“I’ll make sure of it,” Linus added and they
said goodbye and he carried her all the way out to his truck and
set her in the passenger seat. When he sat down in the driver's
seat and shut his own door, he said, “Say goodbye to your wandering
days, woman; you’re all mine now.” He gave her a wicked grin and
put the truck into gear. What a sweet threat!

Although completely unnecessary, he carried
her into the house and seemed to really enjoy it. While he brought
in her things, she perused the pantry, thinking about breakfast. He
came up behind her, sliding his hands around her waist and growling
softly in her ear. "I think I said you weren’t going to get any
sleep tonight. Did you think I meant you should wait in the
kitchen?”

She laughed and ran her hands on his upper
arms, “I was planning breakfast.”

“Ah. Well, you’ll still be up at dawn, so I
wouldn’t worry about it at the moment.”

She spun in his arms and ran her fingers
across his jaw. “Won’t you be exhausted tomorrow?”

He shrugged, “Karly, there isn’t any place
else I’d rather be than here with you. If I have to be a little
tired for work, then I’m willing to risk it to spend as much time
with you as possible.” He pursed his lips with a frown. “Are you,
do you need space or something? Am I being too clingy?”

She gave him her own version of a growl and
his eyes went wide. She made sure he was looking into her eyes when
she said, “I don’t want space, you’re not too clingy, and I will
throttle whoever put those thoughts in your head. You can’t compare
me to anyone you’ve ever known, Linus, because I’m unique. Not
because I’m awesome or arrogant, but because I’m made just for you.
You feel it, don’t you? That I belong to you?”

“Yes.” His eyes were still wary, but it was
fading fast.

“It’s because I do. Now, are you going to do
something with this, or should we just go to bed?” She slid her
hand down to cup his erection through his pants and dug her
fingertips into the fabric.

“Oh yeah, we’re definitely going to bed.”

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her
quickly to the bed, following her down to the mattress and pressing
his length against her. Grinding his hips into hers he said, “Are
you wearing panties?”

Giving him something of an indignant look she
said, “As if I’m the sort of girl who wouldn’t wear panties to
dinner.”

One hand slid down her side very slowly,
edging towards the hem of the short dress. She wondered if he was
just guessing. “Somehow I don’t believe that innocent look, my
sweet angel.”

“What?” Geez, she sounded breathy.

His fingers moved slowly upwards and between
her legs which were trapped between his. “I’m thinking I’ll just
have to check for myself.”

She let out a breathless laugh as his fingers
edged further up her thighs and he shifted enough to make it easier
to reach the apex of her thighs. His fingers brushed against her
bare body and he grinned. “I love how you think, sweetheart. And
can I just say that anytime you don’t want to wear panties, I’m
totally okay with it.”

He kissed her and moved his fingers against
her, sliding off the lower part of her body as he sat up. He peeled
the dress down slowly, as if they had eternity to make love and not
just a handful of hours that night, and kissed and caressed each
inch of her flesh that was bared.

She had never been touched quite as
thoroughly or intimately as Linus did, and maybe it was supposed to
be that way. Maybe the one man that you spend the rest of your life
with was the one that was meant to unlock all your secrets. Not
just your heart, but your body, too.

Seemingly intent on making her melt from the
inside, he held her down by her thighs and went to town on the
center of her body, until she couldn’t do anything but make small
mewling noises while she waited for the next plateau of pleasure to
sweep over her. Drawing her through a third orgasm, her back bowed
off the bed and it was only his hands on her that kept her in place
as she thrashed and writhed under him, begging, “Linus, please,
please!”

The heat and pressure of his mouth stopped
suddenly, lifted so that air cooled her overheated flesh and then
she felt his lips, slick with her heat, kissing up the center of
her body. His cock nudged her and he dropped his face to the crux
of her neck as he drove himself inside. His groan morphed into a
low, long growl, the sound sliding down her spine like an intimate
caress. The image in her mind flashed to fangs and claws, and the
scent of him deepened, like fall and earth and furred bodies
tangled together for warmth and affection. Linus smelled like home.
She was finally home.

Chapter 7

The next few days passed both very fast and
very slow. Linus marveled at how time was like that. When he was
with Karly, the minute hand on the clock seemed possessed, whirling
past twelve with lightning speed. It would be five o’clock in the
evening and he’d pull her into his arms in the house, and then the
alarm was ringing and it was 6:30 a.m. and he’d have to get ready
to leave. But during work, time nearly stopped dead. All an
illusion, of course, he knew that time was moving the same no
matter what; it was just the feeling of it. As soon as he sat in
his truck in the morning, he wanted to go back to her. One more
kiss. One more touch. One more of her killer smiles.

When he came home from work Tuesday, she’d
unpacked her things and completely reorganized the closet in the
master bedroom. He’d told her to make herself at home, because it
was her home now, and she did. He remembered with a shudder that
one woman he’d dated after Brenda had tried to leave a toothbrush
in his bathroom after their second date, and he’d gotten a little
nuts about that. Probably because he didn’t want Brenda to think
he’d moved on when he was still so hung up on her. But now, he
wanted Karly’s imprint on everything in the house.

Wednesday, he’d been surprised that she
wasn’t in the kitchen when he got home from work and then his
sensitive ears picked up what sounded like sex coming from the
bedroom. He raced back, throwing the door open with a growl lodged
in his throat. Yes, there were sex sounds in the bedroom, but it
was from his porn stash, and Karly was splayed out in all her nude
glory in the center of the bed, a wicked grin on her face and her
fingers between her legs. He recognized the DVD, “Dancing with
Pussy” and he would have blushed and tried to explain his large
collection, except he was frozen to the sight of her touching
herself.

“I decided to get started on my own,” she
purred, her fingers soaked with her sweet juices. He was completely
absorbed by the sight in front of him. Except for porn, he’d never
seen a woman pleasure herself before, and Karly was incredible. Her
body was flushed, her mouth was parted as her teeth grazed the
lower swell of her lip, and one hand held her pussy spread wide for
his viewing pleasure while the other drove fingers into her depths
and swirled the wet heat around her clit.

He smelled the change in her body as she got
closer and closer to climax and he watched her body grow more tense
until she cried out his name when she came. He couldn’t have been
more turned on by the sight and sound of her. His name. She fucking
said his name when she touched herself. He slammed his hand against
the off button on the side of the television mounted on the wall
above the dresser and stalked to her.

He stripped and looked down at her as she lay
sprawled on the bed, breathing hard and shivering. “You’re amazing,
angel,” he said, staring at her pussy that dripped with heat and
beckoned him. But it wasn’t just her body, it was her eyes, the
searing dark brown that seemed bottomless, and the truth he could
see in the depths. She might have put on porn but she’d been
thinking about him the whole time. He could see that.

After they made love and he curled her
against his side, he said, “Tell me how I got so lucky, Karly.”

She kissed his shoulder and sat up, leaning
over him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “I’m not anything special. I
don’t know why you’d pick me as a mate. I don’t know what I did to
deserve you.”

Once more he could see that she didn’t like
his insinuation that he wasn’t worth anything. It was hard to get
over a couple dozen years or so of feeling like shit after a few
days. His unhappy childhood, the brutal treatment from his
father...it was difficult for him to think of himself as a man
deserving of such a wonderful woman like her.

And then she suddenly looked hurt. She looked
like he’d just punched her in the gut or ran over her puppy with
his truck. He sat up and hugged her. “I’m sorry, Karly. I didn’t
mean to hurt your feelings. I know you didn’t pick me out of a
lineup, and I know that your powers aren’t wrong, I just, I can’t
help feeling like you’re a dream and I’m going to wake up and be
even more miserable than I was. Or that you’ll wake up some day and
regret being tied to a small-town mechanic with a high school
education.”

Just as quickly as the hurt had appeared it
dissolved, and she smiled gently and kissed the inside of his palm
and used it to cup her cheek. “One of these days you’re not going
to doubt my affection for you. My power brought me to you. It
didn’t make me fall in love with you. That’s all me.”

She drew him into the circle of her arms and
they held each other until they were both comforted and content,
and after another of her wonderful meals, they made love in front
of the fire on a mound of pillows, and fell asleep tangled together
as the fire died down.

“Grandma, I wanted to get your ring from
you.” He shut himself up in the back empty office at the garage and
used his cell at lunch on Thursday.

“No.”

His heart stopped for a second. “What?”

“I want to meet her first, so you can bring
her over for dinner on Friday.”