The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne (12 page)

He folded his arms across his chest, and his arms bulged with the motion.  She was unable to maintain eye contact with him, as her whole body heated and her heart began to beat faster.  He tipped her chin up with one finger.  "You want me to tell you the truth?"

"I want..." she managed to get out but was entirely unable to concentrate while he was touching her.

He seized her in his arms, the air whooshing out of her lungs, and she gasped a deep breath in surprise.  His mouth landed on hers, and his tongue demanded entrance.  She opened willingly, burying her fingers in his soft hair.  "Tell me you're mine," he growled against her mouth, his voice deeper than normal, the sound of pure pleasure.

"Yes, Michael," she moaned as he lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to the bed.  Her back met the sheets, and he followed her down, standing on the floor as he leaned over her, still holding her body tight to his.

His lush mouth nipped across her jaw and down her neck, and he sucked her flesh into his mouth and bit down on her pulse, hard enough to bruise and make her nerve endings go haywire.  She arched up against him, grinding the apex of her thighs against the zipper of his jeans.

She ripped the shirt up his body and nicked his back with her nails as she went.  He shuddered and released her flesh, licking across the bruise and nuzzling under her ear.  Her hands suddenly were pressed against the bed, and she looked up at him, her eyes half closed with desire.  "I like this game," she cooed, and he groaned.

"No game, love.  We should stop before we go too far."

Her legs tightened around his waist, and she tugged him closer, her body riding against his and sending pleasurable jolts through her.  He fisted both wrists with one hand and gently pushed her legs away from him.  In a blink, he had pulled her up the bed and climbed up next to her.  Her brow furrowed in confusion.  "You really want to stop?"

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as if he were having an internal battle with himself, and when his eyes opened again she realized that they'd not been blue earlier, but amber.  "That was, uh, a little jealous wolf thing there.  I mean, I do very much want to make love to you, Shyne, but not tonight.  Not borne out of some baser need for me to make you mine in truth.  And you don't know anything about my kind, and that involves some pretty serious conversations."

"Just how long will these conversations take?"  She turned on her side and rested her head on her bent arm.

He chuckled, but the sound was forced.  Second thoughts?  She could only hope.  "Not a long time, but right now, baby, you're stressed out and freaked out, and there are other more important things to deal with at the moment."  He leaned in closely and kissed her gently on the mouth.  "Besides," he murmured in her ear, "when we make love for the first time, I want you wide awake so you remember every little thing that we do."

She
was
tired, but she still would have liked to at least see him naked.  "Okay, Michael.  If you're going to get all noble on me, then I guess I can deal with it."  She blinked innocently at him and then leaned up and kissed his ear.  "I am awfully horny, though."

He groaned lightly, and it shifted to a growl.  She wondered how smart it was to tease a werewolf, but she knew in her heart that Michael wouldn't ever hurt her.  "I need a cold shower."  She laughed at his remark and thought that probably wasn't a bad idea.

"Tell me the truth, about my bosses," she said with a yawn as he lifted the covers from the bottom of the bed and covered her.

"They came into our territory and attacked me.  I'm second in rank of the pack, I can't let that go without addressing it.  I haven't decided what to do yet, but I'm meeting tomorrow with my brother and a few other high-ranked wolves to discuss the situation."  He tipped her chin up again and waited until she met his eyes.  "Besides that, they broke into your car and then tried to mark your home as their territory.  I want them to steer clear of you except at work, and then only professionally."

It was pretty clear that he didn't want her to go back to work there, and right at that moment, she would have been content to quit and stay right there with him.  But he wasn't exactly asking.

"I have classes tomorrow night."

"Can you cancel them?"

She chewed on her lower lip.  People depended on her to be there.  More than just her students, the boys expected her to live up to her commitments.

"I can't, Michael.  I wouldn't feel right about it."

"Then I'll drive you and pick you up."

She could live with that. "Fine, you slave driver."

He smiled, but it disappeared quickly.  "I just want you to be safe.  The worst thing for me was seeing you afraid.  I could taste your fear, and I never want you to be afraid like that again."

She nodded, and he kissed her again and got up, saying he was going to clean up and join her for bed.  When the shower turned on, she found her phone where it had dropped on the floor and responded to Mason's text.

I'm okay.  See you for work tomorrow.

The light was off in the room when Michael came out of the bathroom, and the light from the bathroom showed him to be wearing boxer briefs and nothing else.  Nice.  He flicked the light off and moved to the bed, pulling the covers back.  He offered to sleep on the couch, but she patted the bed with a yawn and said she didn't mind if he didn't.

"You have to keep your hands to yourself, you know," he teased.

"Afraid I'll take your virtue?"  She laughed as he pulled her against him and rested his arm across her back.  She laid her cheek on his chest and snuggled against him, finding him warm and comfortable to lie against.

"Yes, I'm quite the innocent maiden."  His chuckle rumbled in his chest, and she smiled and peeked up at him.

"There isn't anything innocent about you," she said, and he just grinned.

She fell asleep quickly, the soothing sound of his heartbeat was comforting, and he rubbed her back in gentle circles until every muscle in her body relaxed and everything went dark.

In the morning, she woke up with Michael's arms tightly around her.  It was the most comforted she'd felt in, perhaps, forever.  He was like a balm to her soul, slowly healing the old wounds caused by loss and grief.  She could lie in his arms forever, she realized, and be perfectly content.  Nothing mattered at that exact moment in time save for the steady beating of his heart under her ear.

Michael stirred under her, shifting and turning to hug her close to him with a yawn and sigh combined.  "Morning, love," he murmured, pressing his mouth to the top of her head.

She couldn't resist snuggling closer and enjoying his warmth, "Morning."

"How about I go fix us breakfast while you get dressed, and then we'll talk for a bit?"

Tilting her face up so she could look at him, she said, "Sounds good to me."  Although she didn't want to get out of his bed, she did want to talk.  A very large part of her was hopeful that the talking might be about what it meant to be the girlfriend of a werewolf.

He eased from under her, and she rolled to her back and stretched.  Although the evening had started out kind of crappy, it had ended so well, and she'd slept wonderfully in his arms.  In the light of day, she watched as he walked purposely through the bedroom.  His lean, muscular body moved with animal grace as he stopped to grab clothes from the dresser before heading to the bathroom.  And that ass.  Yummy.  She had a thing for a great ass, and he sure had one.  The events of last night played through her mind, and her body warmed considerably.  He really was a sweet guy.  Concerned, caring.  She'd never had a guy stop from having sex so they could have a conversation.  That was damn cool.

When he emerged several minutes later, he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  "You drink coffee, baby?" he asked.

"Sure."

He winked and headed out of the bedroom.  She got up, rummaged in her bag and pulled out some clothes, and went into the bathroom to clean up.  While she brushed her teeth, she touched the dark bruise on the side of her throat where he'd given her one hell of a hickey.  It had felt incredible at the time.  She liked the mark.  She hoped it would last for a while.

After dressing in shorts and a fitted purple tank, she went out into the kitchen.  Michael was just divvying up scrambled eggs onto two plates on the coffee table, where coffee mugs sat waiting.  He gestured for her to sit down on the couch, and she did, sinking down into the soft, cool leather.

He joined her a few moments later with a pot of coffee on a towel, a small plate stacked with buttered toast, and another with sausage links.  Her stomach rumbled at the sight.  She fixed her coffee with sugar and milk and took a sip before digging into the eggs.

He dropped his fork and said, "I feel like a total dick."

"Excuse me?" she said in surprise, her fork poised just inches from her mouth.

"I don't even have a kitchen table.  I'm a complete asshole.  You're probably totally miserable here."

"I'm not."

"Bullshit.  I'm a dick, and you're just being polite."  He looked very unhappy, and she put her fork down and turned to face him.

"Michael, I promise, I'm not miserable at all.  You're a single guy.  This," she waved her hand around absently, "is what a single guy's house looks like.  It's pretty clean, too, except for the bathroom."

He looked sheepish.  "One of the pack females has a cleaning company.  She's due today."

She smiled and then began to laugh, trying to hide her amusement at his discomfort while he narrowed his eyes at her.  Before she could apologize, he knocked her backwards gently, trapping her hands above her head and growling softly.

She laughed again and tried to wiggle free but couldn't.  "You can't just tackle me because you don't like what I'm doing or saying."

"Yes, I can."  He nuzzled her cheek with his own and took a slow breath in, causing her skin to goosebump and her body to shiver.  The scruff of his unshaven jaw scraped against her skin as he moved down her neck, stopping at the crux of her shoulder.  His tongue stroked there, and it was as if every nerve ending in her body reacted to him by lighting up.  Pushing up against his hands, she struggled to free herself and then groaned when she felt him smile against her skin.

As he lifted his head slowly, the smile touching the corner of his mouth, along with his heated gaze, told her he knew exactly what he was doing to her.  She raised a brow, "Do you really want to get into a contest to see which of us can last the longest through sexual torture?"

He shook his head with a laugh and released her hands, pulling her gently up and into his arms.  With a light kiss, he chuckled, "Maybe later, love.  Right now, we have breakfast and a long discussion ahead of us."

They turned back to their plates, and he asked her what she knew about werewolves and their mates.  She had to admit that she knew relatively nothing about them, her only interaction being Trav's boyfriend who had turned out to be a player and a jerk.  And, of course, she also knew the things that the boys in the gym had told her, but she was pretty certain she couldn't trust anything they said when she now knew what their motives had been.

Finished with their meal, they turned to face each other on the couch, and he took her hand in his.  "I'd like to say that being a werewolf and choosing a mate is a simple thing, and it is in some ways, but it can also be very complicated.  For a wolf, there are only two things that are important — his mate and the pack.  There are wolves that will say the pack comes above all else, and sometimes that's the case.  Karly was kidnapped by her psycho ex, and when Linus called for help, everyone in the pack dropped what they were doing for him.  The pack is like our extended family, and Jason and Cadence are the leaders.  I'm second in rank of the males, and that means that I'm not only accountable to Jason as one of his wolves, but I'm also responsible for the welfare of the lesser wolves in the pack.  It carries a lot of responsibility with it, and that's what makes being with a werewolf complicated.

"You're not a wolf, so you couldn't join us for our full moon hunts or pack meetings, but that doesn't mean you'd be excluded entirely.  You could be with me during the day and then wait for me to come back after the hunt, if you'd like."  He reached to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.  "Cades doesn't shift, but she does join us for a while as female alpha, and Karly doesn't hunt either, so you wouldn't be alone."  He paused for a few moments.  "Shyne, I'm in love with you.  I'm absolutely crazy about you, and I want you to be my mate and my wife."

Stunned, she felt her eyes go wide, and she stared at him in shock for long enough that he frowned and started fidgeting.  Snapping out of her reverie, she threw herself into his arms and mashed her mouth to his.  He pulled her tight as he opened his mouth to her questing tongue, pressing their bodies together.  Heart bursting with joy, she pulled away from him only long enough to whisper that she loved him, too, before diving back onto his mouth.

His hand slid through her hair, and he fisted it gently and pulled her away.  It took a moment for her eyes to focus as she panted for breath and tried to rein in her out-of-control libido.  What was it about him that made her feel all squishy inside?

Surprising her, he nuzzled under her chin with a low growl that made her body tingle further and then released her and pulled her into his lap to hold her close.  She felt like he was trying to calm her down, maybe calm both of them down.  Relaxing into him, she hugged her arms around him and sighed.