Her Chosen Wolf: The Were Chronicles, Book 1 Read online

  Prettily pink and dewy as a rosebud, her flesh glistened succulently under his scrutiny. Justice dipped his tongue into the pursed core of her, and Saffa’s snug sheath gave way to his inquisitive tongue. Delving deeper, he swirled and lapped greedily at her juices.

  Justice closed his mouth over the wings of her labia and the hard bud of her clit. She jerked and mewled, but he slid his forearms around her thighs to keep her in place. He loved her with his tongue, the taste of her to be banked in his memories.

  With the sounds of the soft cries coming from deep in her throat vibrating his eager rod, he took his time in pleasuring her. Drawing out their loving, filling his mind with her scent, taste and reactions.

  He slipped a finger, and then a second into her channel, where he palpated the moist tissues. Latching onto her with his mouth, he feasted.

  Saffa’s body became a quivering mass in his arms. She screamed out her release.

  Freed from her mouth, his staff arced in the air, wet from her mouth, aching with need. All he could think of was being inside her.

  Flipping her onto her back, he slipped a pillow under her hips, fitted the dripping head of his cock to her moist entrance and slipped into her.

  Slowly, inch by each sweetly excruciating inch, he slid through the hotly contracting flesh of her vagina.

  “Just, oh Just, yes, like that.” She heaved her hips up to meet his.

  Fully buried inside her, he lay there enjoying every twitch and involuntary pulsation around his cock.

  Then he couldn’t wait any longer. He withdrew and impaled her mindlessly, gloriously, pounding into her receptive pussy. In perfect harmony, they moved against each other. The center of her, swollen and full on the brink of coming, gripped him as he slid in and out of her.

  Arms and legs wrapped around him, Saffa hung onto him for all she was worth and came again in jerky spasms.

  Justice buried his face in the hollow of her neck and spilled his seed in a singular moment of shattering, total incoherence.

  Something was wrong. Saffa couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she had a niggling feeling Justice was hiding something from her. Her doubts had resurfaced, big time. Was he with her because they were trapped by circumstances?

  She’d caught him watching her with an odd, sad yearning. It had cleared away as soon as their gazes had met. She’d seen the love in Justice’s eyes, in the way he anticipated her needs, and felt it in the tenderness of his touch. But he never said the words, and though she told herself she didn’t need them, it troubled her he neglected to voice them. His reticence made her hold back a declaration of her own.

  How could she have everything she ever wanted and still feel incomplete?

  Saffa shifted restlessly and Justice tightened his arms around her in the depths of sleep. She blew out a sigh, untangled her legs from his and began to ease out of his arms.

  “Where are you going? We still have a couple of hours.” Leisurely, he pressed a soft kiss on the nape of her neck. It was a tender, unconscious expression of his love, and it made his secretiveness even more perplexing because he couldn’t or wouldn’t voice his feelings.

  Turning to face him, she cupped his face in her hands. “Is everything fine between us?”

  On his face, a frown formed and disappeared in the blink of an eye. “What could possibly be wrong between us? It’s all the crap going on around mucking up the works.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed the crown of her head.

  His words reassured her, but the feeling that something wasn’t quite right persisted. “I know you’re worried about something. You seem unusually troubled.”

  “We’re ass-deep in Redmavens and you don’t think we have something to lose sleep over?”

  “You were snoring a moment ago. You’re hardly losing any sleep. You know I’m not going to stop until I get it out of you. Why don’t you spill it now and save yourself the pain of me worming it out of you?” She eased back to look up into his face.

  His lips parted in a slow smile. The glint in his eyes was warm and interested. “Just how were you planning to get this information out of me?”

  “I have my ways, and they aren’t pretty.”

  “Oh, when you say not pretty, what exactly do you mean? Sexual favors of the kinky kind?” He rolled her over onto her back.

  “Don’t think you can distract me with sex.”

  “No? You can’t issue a challenge to your mate and not expect him to take up the gauntlet.” He slid down her body, dipped the tip of his tongue into her navel and made a damp line down to her plump, suddenly pulsing mound.

  Would she ever get enough of him?

  “All I’m looking for is a simple answer to a simple question,” she declared disjointedly.

  If a pair of shoulders were keeping your thighs apart and callused palms holding your hips at an angle for availability didn’t distract you, she didn’t know what the hell would.

  “Too late for us to retreat. I have to prove to myself I can distract you with my loving.” He proceeded to drive her to distraction.

  Chapter Nine

  Justice took a much needed sip of coffee. His body responded a few beats slower to his brain’s commands. Maybe the rich brew would give him a kick-start. He peered down on the city waking up to another frigid morning. He grinned when a pedestrian skipped nimbly back to dodge a spray of slush sent by a passing car.

  He had to get out of the city. The perfume of Saffa’s fertility kept him torturously aroused. The small apartment was permeated with the fragrance of her. It was as maddening as it was sublime. He couldn’t afford to be distracted right now.

  There was nothing to keep them in the city any longer. The harvest moon was only days away. The packs had come in from their outlying homes and would remain in their fortified central compounds until the night of the meeting to keep a close eye on their women. The Redmavens were being treated like pariahs until the punishment was decided by the new supreme alpha, once he was chosen. Since news of the unsanctioned den had spread to the packs it was all but certain the new supreme alpha wouldn’t be Bardo. It would be another bitter pill for Maxime to swallow. It could mean the destruction of his pack as well.

  The Redmavens were curiously quiet, but not for one moment did he believe they weren’t plotting something. Until Maxime was neutered, literally, they were all at risk.

  Sighing, he looked past the cityscape to the mountains. He couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer. He’d tell Saffa before they left. She could reaffirm or dissolve their union the night of his induction.

  “Why the grim face?” She slid arms her around him and rested her cheek on his back. “I’m all packed and ready to head out for your beloved mountain.”

  He glanced at the pile of boxes and suitcases by the open apartment door. “You talk about it like it’s my mistress.”

  “Well, that pile of rocks is my biggest rival for your affections,” she teased and released him to look around the room. “I’m going to miss this.”

  “We’ll keep a place here. When things settle down a bit, we’ll choose something with a little more space and a lot more privacy.” If we’re still together, he added silently.

  “What? I love this place. Everything is wide open. No walls to close us in, the perfect floor plan for a were.” Saffa spread her arms wide gesturing to the room.

  “A bedroom needs a door with a lock on it. No reason for someone standing in the kitchen to be able to stare directly into the sleeping area.” He motioned to the stripped bed across the expanse of hardwood flooring.

  “Saves on cleaning time,” she pointed out. “I can whip this place into shape in forty minutes.”

  “Clean as you go and it won’t be problem.”

  “I’m going to remind you of your words when our cubs are littering the cabin with their stuff.” Saffa tilted her head to one side, the grin on her face a happy threat. It held her hopes for the children she imagined they’d one day have. His stomach churned, burning with a
cidic fluids.

  Now was as good a time as any to drop his bomb on her. “Saffa, I need to ta—”

  “Coffee, I need coffee.” Drew stumbled into the apartment, shambling like his entire body ached.

  Drew’s arrival had given him a short reprieve. He wasn’t sure if he was grateful or annoyed at the interruption. “What the hell happened to you?”

  Drew winced. “Dude, throttle back on the decibels. I’ve been celebrating the birth of Royal’s pack member with eighty-proof Jamaican rum.” Each mumbled word seemed to take a lot of effort.

  “Again? It’s been a week. You need to stop drinking,” Saffa scolded, walking over to the coffee pot to pour him a mug of the strong brew.

  With a grateful grunt, he took it from her and closed his eyes. “I’m done.”

  Saffa gave him a spontaneous hug.

  Justice saw Drew’s eyes fly open. His dazed expression cleared to a brilliant, alert blue. His nostrils flared and his body tensed as his gaze fixed on Saffa with sexual interest.

  Justice couldn’t quite stifle the resentful irritation spreading bitterly through him. Drew would be able to give Saffa the children she’d want.

  “When are the Sinclairs heading south?” he asked brusquely to draw Drew’s attention back to him.

  Drew shook his head and gave him a sheepish grin. “I’ve invited them up to my place for a couple of days, hunting and…” he flicked his eyes to Saffa and grinned, “…sight-seeing.”

  “Yeah, right.” She smiled at him and picked up her coat and large traveling bag. “I’m going next door to say goodbye to Aimee. Call me when the chopper gets here.”

  Justice watched Saffa leave the room, enjoying the sight of her butt in the snug jeans enhanced by the sweater resting just above it.

  “Got it bad, don’t you pal? You might want to wipe the slobber off your chin.” Drew smirked at him over the rim of his cup. “I crashed at Rick’s last night. He said to tell you your phone is off, again. There’s been a flurry of calls from the Redmaven compound to some of their former allies but they haven’t been answered. Maxime must be spitting bullets. He’ll be primed for a little blood letting just about now.”

  Justice set his cup in the sink. “They’re going to make their move soon.”

  “Duh, do bears shit in the woods?”

  “Their resources are almost depleted. Is your pack secure?”

  “Hell yeah. My uncle called everyone in a week ago. He’s praying Maxime will make a move on us. Nothing the old coot likes more than kicking ass and taking names.” Drew drained his cup. “What’s next?”

  “Help me carry the rest of this stuff down to the U-Haul. Once it’s loaded, Ben will drive it and we’ll head on home by air.” He hesitated. “Drew…”

  “What, ready to finally tell me what’s got a burr up your butt?” Justice wanted to come clean with Drew but he couldn’t spit out the words. He had to tell Saffa first. He owed her that much.

  “Let’s just say you’ll have your answers soon, and thanks in advance.” Justice piled a box on top of another and lifted them.

  Drew shook his head. “Something tells me you’re going to need a steel-plated cup, friend.” Drew tucked two bags under his arms, picked up two more and left Justice with a pair of boxes in his arms.

  Squashed between Justice and Drew, Saffa cringed when another gust of wind buffeted the helicopter. Her hand tightened nervously over the tensed muscles in Justice’s thigh. The wind’s velocity had increased to a dangerous speed. It howled down the mountain like a runaway freight train, catching them an hour away from home.

  “Now you know why I don’t like to fly,” he muttered in her ear, wrapping his arm protectively around her. The fragile aircraft shuddered like a vibrating bed in a cheap hotel.

  “Sorry folks, I have to put her down,” the pilot shouted. “The controls are sluggish. It feels like someone cut the fluid coupling to the rotor.”

  There was nothing but a snow-laden blanket of trees. Their descent was rapid as the pilot desperately fought to steady the control stick in front of him.

  Drew shouted over the whine of the struggling engine. “I said I wanted a diversion, but this is one wild ride, Justice!”

  They took a hard landing, but the vessel continued to move, siding down the steep incline. Then the chopper flipped over and kept rolling. The occupants tumbled head over heels in the confined space.

  The shriek of metal ripping and shattering Plexiglas was the worse part for Saffa. The terrifying sound seemed to go on forever.

  When they came to a bone-rattling stop, she lay dazed. It took a while for it register she was still alive and actually breathing.

  Crap, every joint in her body ached.

  “Saffa!”

  She saw a blurry Justice hovering over her for a moment. She blinked until her vision cleared.

  “We have to get out of here fast. The fuel this thing uses is extremely flammable.” He wiggled out through a hole in the fuselage and pulled her from the wreckage.

  Justice hobbled as he dragged her away from the pile of twisted metal. He bent over her and began to check her for broken bones.

  “I’m good.” Saffa stared in horror at their former mode of transportation. It was a mangled mess.

  Drew limped up to them, his face a little battered but he seemed fine. “The pilot didn’t make it.” The wind whipped his hair around his face. “Where the hell are we?”

  Justice looked up. “By my calculations, we’re on Redmaven turf.”

  Saffa gulped. “Are we near their central den?”

  “No, we’re kind of at the tail end of their holding. The good news is my father’s hunting lodge is about twenty miles due west of us.” Justice patted the blood-soaked denim on his shin and winced.

  Drew studied him. “Great, now tell us the bad news.”

  What little color was in Justice’s face bled from it, and his breath was becoming labored. “My left leg is broken.”

  Saffa’s breath caught in her throat. “Shift and the wound will heal,” she suggested.

  “It’s a compound fracture. It’s going to take a couple of hours to heal even if I do shift. We have about an hour before it’s completely dark.”

  Worried, Saffa turned to run her eyes over Justice to check for injuries. An odd protuberance tented the leg of his jeans. “We’ll splint it and Doc will patch it up later.”

  “We can’t spare the time. Saffa can’t fly to safety in this windstorm. I want you two to make your way to the lodge.” Grim-faced, the men stared at each other.

  She didn’t have time to decipher their silent man talk. “I’m not leaving you here to freeze. You stand a better chance if we stay together,” Saffa protested. “We need splints, Drew.”

  “Justice is right, Saffa. You can’t be endangered.”

  Did they think her spine was made of Jell-O? “I’m not leaving him.” She ripped Justice’s pant leg up the side seam.

  His leg was a mess. A bone stuck out grotesquely, but didn’t pierce the bruised, mottled skin around it.

  “I’ve had worse.” Justice gave her a shaky smile of reassurance.

  “You have to change now. We’ll get you to the lodge.” She didn’t quite stifle the sob crawling up from inside her.

  He took her by the shoulders, his expression implacable. “Listen to me. I don’t have to remind you what could happen if Maxime catches up with us. Do I? If Maxime had anything to do with the chopper going down, he’ll be here soon.” He didn’t sound like he had any doubt Maxime was responsible.

  Saffa pulled away from him and stood up, so angry she couldn’t string the words together to tell him what he could do with his suggestion.

  Drew coughed. “Hmm, I’ll go tend to the pilot’s body while you two thrash this out.” He slowly strode away, leaving her with Justice.

  “I’ll help.” If she stayed, she might add to Justice’s injuries, so she marched after Drew.

  “Saffa, come back here,” Justices ordered, but s
he ignored him and kept going.

  Drew was rolling the dead man into a tarp when she reached him.

  “How can a perfectly rational man be so unbending at times?” She groused, dropping to her knees to help him secure the body.

  “He’s your mate, Saffa. If anything happens to you, he’ll go a little berserk,” Drew said quietly.

  Drew’s tone diluted her anger. “I won’t leave him behind.”

  “I never thought you would.”

  In silence, they dug a shallow ditch, placed the body in and packed it with snow. Drew heaved several dead tree trunks over the temporary grave. “I’ll come back in a couple of days and take him home to his family.”

  They walked quickly back to where Justice sat in the snow. He opened his mouth to reiterate his wish for her to leave him, but she wasn’t about to waste time arguing. Saffa stripped off her coat and quickly shed the rest of her clothes. Shivering, she dropped onto all fours.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Justice asked angrily.

  Staring directly into his eyes, she let go of the form she was in and willed her chest to broaden. Her breasts sunk into its width, deep and powerful with musculature of the physique she’d chosen. Lengthening her legs and arms into dainty limbs, her hands and feet hardened into hooves. Densely packed hair sprouted out on her body, protecting her from the frigid air.

  Snorting, she shook out her mane and stamped the ground, sending a clump of snow in Justice’s direction.

  Drew laughed. “I believe she just told you to shut the F up and let’s get going.”

  “I’m going to paddle her backside for this.” Justice gritted his teeth, started to shed his own clothing and slid effortlessly into his lupine shape.

  Drew bent down, lifted his injured friend carefully, doing his best not to jostle Justice’s leg, and leapt fluidly onto her back. She staggered under their combined weight.

  Cripes, she had to refrain from going for the fancy and be more practical. Saffa put will into thought and thought became reality. Her body thickened and bulked out from an Arabian’s delicate build into a massive Friesian’s. Thank God they were in the middle of nowhere. She was sure her ass was a mile wide.