City Wolf 3 Read online

  Stacy blinked. “Are you serious?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve made a similar vow for other reasons. Love is overrated. Unfortunately, for my people it’s different. I won’t love my mate before I bond with her, but I will need her like I need my next breath after we are mated. The good thing about that is that she will have the same radical change in her emotions toward me.” He rubbed his chin. “Then again, I could simply marry like regular men and never actually bond. That’s an option. Never been done though.”

  Stacy turned to face him. “What? You’re crazy. Your people are unique and interesting. To know someone couldn’t ever hurt you or they’d be screwing with themselves is way more than enough to mate. We don’t have that luxury. And you’re out of your mind if you think a regular marriage will work. What about when she meets another guy and jumps him. What about when this guy gets her pregnant, but she claims it’s your baby, and you have to foot the bill for a kid that looks nothing like you, and everybody knows it.”

  Nash burst out laughing. “Wow, you are cynical. More so than I could ever be.” He shook his head. “All of that, huh?”

  “Boy, please. That kind of drama and more happens in this world. You just don’t know it.” She slipped her shoes off and put her feet up on the dash. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the annoyance in Nash’s expression, but ignored it. She could so rile him whenever she wanted. It was sad...and funny. Then she sobered. “You know what the scariest part is, Nash?”

  “What’s that, baby?”

  She stiffened. The pleasure that rippled through her at the endearment shouldn’t have even happened, and she didn’t think he realized what he said, so she didn’t make a big deal about it.

  “The scary thing is that I’ve punched guys before, when they pushed me too far. I did it to you. I did it to the guy I work with. I mean he had it coming since he thought he could just grab my ass, but...”

  “But you’re scared you’re following in your father’s footsteps?”

  “Yeah.” She dropped her head on her knees. “If I were a man, I would have really hurt a woman by now, just like him. How sad is that?”

  “Stacy.”

  “What?” She didn’t look up.

  “Look at me, baby.”

  She hesitated and then twisted her head to the left to peek at him over her arm.

  “You’re not him. You’ll never be like him because I can see no matter how hard you try to hide it, you have a lot of heart. If you feel like you need to talk to someone about it, you should, to work through it. And if you need a sparring partner”—he winked—“I’ve been known to hold my own with kick boxing.”

  “Kick boxing? Ah, man, I’ve wanted to try that. You know how? You could teach me.” She grabbed hold of his arm and bounced. His gaze dropped to her breasts.

  His usual grin spread over his full lips. “I might. But for now, let’s scratch a small itch, shall we?”

  Chapter Nine

  What had he been thinking? He knew. When she had started telling him about her past, the pain in her eyes had made him want to pull over and take her into his arms. She had kept her voice low, steel running through the pitch, but he had sensed the betrayal there as well. Stacy had expected her mother to provide a safe environment, and when she didn’t, and then admitted that Stacy’s life meant nothing, Stacy had crumbled inside. Only her tough exterior, what she showed to the outside world kept her going, he guessed. Maybe they weren’t so different.

  He knew what heartache was, and he knew he didn’t want to experience that level of torment again. Besides love, Nash had never denied the rest of his needs, and that had included sexual needs. He could admit now that he wanted Stacy. And knowing how she guarded her heart, he figured they could have a small affair, not lasting too long where emotions would creep in, but just long enough to enjoy each other’s bodies a few times.

  So he had suggested the motel. He should wait a few days, let her get Alphons out of her system, but he didn’t want to. Ever since he’d tasted her, he craved more, much more. He needed to have himself stuffed inside of her with her legs wrapped around him and her crying out his name as he pounded their pleasure home.

  “Stacy!” he growled.

  She scrambled out of the car and around it to take his offered hand. He drew her to his side and allowed his palm to skim her round ass. He was used to smacking his lover’s ass when the mood struck him, but he hesitated with Stacy. Even though plenty of people engaged in spankings that could take the sexual experience to new heights, he wasn’t sure if it would upset her, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her afraid. So he settled on stroking her instead. While they strolled over to the motel office to check in, he traced the crack of her ass and then lower to her entrance there. His shaft tightened. He was going to get some of that as well.

  Once they were inside the room, he kicked the door closed and nodded toward the bathroom. “Strip down and go get in the shower. I’ll join you there in a minute.”

  She gave him a look that said who did he think he was bossing her around. He responded with a raised eyebrow, daring her to disobey. After a few moments, she rolled her eyes and followed his order. He chuckled under his breath. Stacy was fiery all right, and he enjoyed teasing her, getting her worked up, whether it was pissing her off or getting her hot. Both gave him added excitement in his life that he hadn’t experienced in a while.

  While he was removing his clothes, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Laila. She had programmed it into his phone before all the craziness began. Letting the call go to voicemail, he waited and watched to see if she left a message. She did. He retrieved it and listened to her smooth recorded voice.

  “Nash, call me. We need to talk. I’m...I’m already having symptoms from your bite.” After a few beats of silence, she left him several numbers where he could reach her, along with a brief outlining of her schedule over the next week. Then she hung up.

  He sighed and powered off his phone before sitting it on the nightstand. Truth be told, he was feeling the changes as well. A pull toward Laila. He wanted to see her. A connection had begun between them because of his bite, and Laila would be experiencing it as well. But there was no fucking way he was going to tempt himself or her that way. She wasn’t going to be his mate. Not now, and not ever. If he maintained miles between them for the next fifty years since he didn’t intend to break the connection by taking another mate, then that’s what he would have to do. Laila would just have to accept that fact. After all, she knew the risk she was taking.

  Right now, Nash was going to focus all on Stacy. He checked the doorknob to the bathroom half expecting it to be locked, but Stacy wanted him as much as he wanted her. He hadn’t missed her suggestive words earlier in the car, about him being careful where he put his mouth. He had smelled her arousal. She had been wet, and it had driven him nearly out of his mind. The years of hiding his true emotions had been well worth it.

  The moment he spotted her long, curvy body, glistening wet and golden brown, he lost any thought that had been tumbling around in his head. All he could focus on was stepping in the shower with her and taking what he wanted, what he craved.

  * * * *

  Stacy had seen guys lusting over her before. Hell, that dumb ass Kevin had it in his eyes every time he laid eyes on her, but the emotion in Nash’s eyes made her weak with want and scared her at the same time. When he opened his mouth, she expected to find sharp teeth that would tear her to pieces, but his teeth were normal. The tips of his fingers grazed her nipples, and she couldn’t imagine what his mate would feel because this sensation had her wanting to let him boss her whenever he wanted to.

  He plucked and tugged her nipples until she whined, trying to get closer to him. That was impossible because she’d already lined her body with his huge, muscular one. The man’s form was made for her pleasure. She actually titled her head up to take a lick at the water beading on his shoulder. She shuddered.

  �
��Stacy, what have you done?” His voice was ragged, like he had been running miles without stopping, and all moisture had left it.

  “What do you mean?”

  He gripped her arms, staring down at her. “How can you...? How can I...?” He seemed unable to complete a sentence. The next thing she knew his tongue was down her throat, and he had lifted her up in his arms. Stacy encircled his waist with her legs almost crying when the tip of his shaft pressed her soaking wet entrance.

  Nash broke the kiss. “I need to be in you. Say yes, Stacy. I’ve got to have it now. I can’t wait for foreplay. I promise I will please you.”

  “Yes, yes, please, yes!”

  He was in her. Oh man, it hurt so good. He was too big and more than enough. She spread her legs wider and tried to get them higher. He bumped her against the shower wall, and with the lukewarm water streaming over them, he pounded deep inside her. His rhythm was fast and hard. Stacy screamed his name, dug her nails into his shoulders and tried her best to angle her body so she could take more of him. Let him not stop. Let him never stop!

  Nash held her beneath her ass with one hand and grasped one of her ankles so he could lift her leg higher. Her head lulled to the side, her mouth dropped open, and her eyelids drooped closed.

  “You’re so strong, Nash,” she muttered. “What a turn-on. Make me come, please.”

  “As often as you want, baby. Hold on.” He drove harder and faster. The friction, the tension, and Nash calling out encouragement to her made her inner muscles begin to bunch, pushing her closer to an orgasm. Nash released her leg and moved both hands behind her, forcing her body forward so that his would brush her small engorged bud. She fell against him but he never stopped pushing into her. “Come on, my sexy little, goddess, give me your sweetness,” he grumbled. “I know you like what I’m doing to you, don’t you?”

  He ran his teeth over her neck. She couldn’t think straight. He licked her wet skin, and she shivered. All the strength left her body. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t finish it. But Nash kept guiding her up and down his thick, long shaft, pushing her to ride him, demanding her climax to obey him.

  And then it came, it came with power to take over her mind. She wanted to cry out, but the words didn’t move past her throat. A soft gasp was all she could manage when an orgasm slammed through her core, powerful enough to take control of her body. While it pulsated over her, Nash used his middle finger to massage her ass. He pierced the tight hole just a bit, and she came again, this time screaming his name.

  Gasping for breath, she collapsed on his shoulder, and Nash jerked himself out of her. She whined. “What are you doing? You didn’t come.”

  He turned her so her back was to him. “Tell me you’ve had it here.” He rested his hand on her ass.”

  She nodded and didn’t have to say another word before he soaped her rear with gentle fingers. In the next instant, like he could not contain himself, he entered her from behind. Stacy went up on her toes, shocked at how she ached but amazed that Nash still made her body sing after she’d come twice.

  He crushed her body to him with one hand and rested the other on the wall ahead of her. He panted, and the noises in his throat made her shiver. “Please,” he rasped out, “keep very still and stay quiet. I-I have to make sure I don’t hurt you, and it’s hard because I need to come bad. I should have brought a condom in here. You’re squeezing me so tightly, Stacy. You ass is so good, baby.”

  His slow, agonizing strokes didn’t make it easy on her to keep still. She chewed on her lip, kept herself on her toes with her hips arched. Nash’s huge body was curved over hers, plastered them skin to skin. He nuzzled her neck and again ran his teeth over her flesh before he followed it with his tongue. Stacy could not figure out what he was thinking beyond his physical desires, but she had never felt so wanted, so cherished in the same instant that a man was getting his pleasure from her body.

  Nash glided his palm down lower until he rested it between her legs. Gently, he tugged at her bud, massaged it with the pad of his thumb and then threaded fingers inside her. The moment Stacy slammed into a third orgasm, Nash let go of his own. His hot seed filled her ass, and he picked up his pace until he pounded her from behind. His curses of pleasure filled her ears while he worked her body over. By the time, he was done, she didn’t have the energy to wash herself, let alone climb out of the shower.

  With gentle touches, Nash washed them both, and after drying her body at the side of the tub, he carried her into the bedroom to tuck her into the queen size bed. Stacy yawned, watching Nash through half closed eyes as he prepared to join her. By the time, he had turned all the lights off and slid beneath the thin sheet which was all she had allowed him to cover her with, her body was coming alive again.

  Chapter Ten

  It took three days for Nash to crawl out of bed with Stacy. By then, she was so sore, she stumbled when she stood up, and he’d hurried to catch her before she hit the floor. He should feel guilty for working her over so much, but he didn’t. She’d come way more than he did, and he had thoroughly enjoyed himself, exploring her delectable body. Even while he knew he needed to get back to the pack, he didn’t want to leave her. The emotion was so strong, earlier he had searched her small body for evidence that he had bitten her, but he found none. That had made him sigh with relief.

  The two of them were just sex starved. That was all. And they were a perfect fit for intimacy. Not that it took much for him to enjoy sex, but with Stacy, it was hard for him to think past her luscious breasts, her sweet lips, and the curve of her hips.

  “Stop it,” he growled at himself. If they didn’t get back on the road now, they never would, and he’d be ousted from his position as Alpha. For a moment he considered if that’s what Stacy was working toward all along, but then he dismissed the thought. She had nothing to gain from it.

  He stretched his aching muscles and grabbed his cell to power it up. Fifteen messages waited for him. “Damn.”

  Ten were from Laila, and one was from Lucas telling him that one of the elders had phoned him about a small crisis that needed to be resolved back in the city. He sighed as he listened to the three from the elder. Teenage pups having run-ins with humans. Yeah, he had to get back, now.

  By three that afternoon, he was in his apartment, relieved to be home and out of Stacy’s presence. Already his mind was clearing of her intoxicating scent, and he could think straight about making a decision not to see her again. The last few days had been perfect. He wouldn’t deny that, but shirking his responsibilities was not something he could allow in his life. Stacy was a rare breed of woman, no matter how he looked at it. She was too much for him.

  He ran a hand over his chin while he stared unseeing at the junk mail he had brought in with him. “That’s a hard pill to swallow. That a woman is too much for me.” Ah, well, it couldn’t be helped. She’d understand. He would call her in a few days and tell her it had been fun, but that was it.

  Nash showered, changed clothes, and jumped back into his car to head over to Brant’s mother’s house. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why their favorite meeting place was the bar beneath her house. The place was in the heart of the city, not the best part of town either. Elders, he supposed. Brant and Lucas’ father was the first generation of shifters to come into money. Good investments and so forth had set him up, and those under him had followed. Nash had money himself, but he didn’t splurge on anything other than his car. His apartment was modest. He had always told himself he would get something bigger, something outside of the city when he found a mate. Thoughts of both Stacy and Laila passed through his mind, but he suppressed them.

  He pulled up to the curb, parked, and hopped out of the car before clicking a button to activate his alarm system. After one of the younger ones let him in, he headed straight for the lower level. A scent of alcohol tickled his nose. He had no idea why they drank so much. The stuff didn’t affect them long. Then again, maybe that was why. Everyone wanted the buz
z to last, but the body nipped it quickly. So they drank more.

  The elder who had contacted him stood up from a small table in the corner when Nash entered the bar area. Nash nodded his head in respect. “Sir.”

  Sabelli snapped his fingers to the woman at the bar. “Gloria, a drink for Nash, please. What will it be, Nash?”

  His eyes widened, and he turned to spot Gloria stomping over with a napkin and a small bowl of nuts in her hand. Her wide beautiful eyes dared him to make fun of her, and he pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. Gloria had been the woman to almost destroy Lucas a few years ago when she had broken his heart. How low had she come in the world to be working here?

  “Don’t even start with your smart ass remarks, Nash. I own this place now. I bought it off Brant’s mother a couple days ago. I’m settling down.” She held up her left hand, displaying a plain gold band with a small diamond ring alongside it. “I’m mated and married now.”

  Nash tapped a finger on the table top. “Shouldn’t I have known this since I am Alpha? What happened to me blessing your union?”

  She remained silent. Nash turned to Sabelli, and the old man had the nerve to look guilty. Suspicion rose in Nash, but he forced a grin on his face and rose to hug Gloria. “Congratulations, I’m sure the guy considers himself very lucky. If you don’t mind, I’ll have a light beer.”

  Gloria nodded and spun away to get his order. Nash sat and waited in silence for an explanation.

  Sabelli scratched at the scraggly beard on his chin and didn’t meet Nash’s eyes. “Look, Nash, Gloria’s husband happens to be my grandson. I approved and blessed the marriage in your absence. You know how she can be once she gets something in her mind. She doesn’t like to wait, and at first I wondered if she’d be too much for Shep, but well...” He indicated the man with eyes clouded over as he watched Gloria work. “He loves her, and surprisingly enough she loves him.”