“I know.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
She was silent for a few moments before she looked at him wide-eyed. “I have a wolf inside of me.”
He smiled as he pulled her into his arms. “How does it feel?”
“Really right.” When she grinned, it was with tears in her eyes. “You can’t know.
I’ve wanted this my whole life. I could never go live with the humans. Everyone always asked me why I didn’t. I tried it. Oh gods, I just wanted to be around other wolves even knowing I wasn’t really one.”
“You did know.” Michael was sure of it. Standing, he picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed where he set her down gently. “It’s why you knew you needed to be with pack.”
“Why didn’t she come before?”
“I don’t know.” He walked into the bathroom to get a warm washcloth. “Why don’t you ask her?”
“Ask her?”
Turning on the water, he ran the cloth underneath it until it was warm and then shut the faucet off. Ringing the rag out, he walked back into the room. “Yes, ask her. She does talk, right?”
Scarlett narrowed her eyes and sat in silence. He wasn’t offended. He knew just what she was doing, having done it a million times himself. In her mind’s eye she could see her wolf living as a separate being inside of her. Soon, maybe even instantly, they would start to fight for dominance.
It was never clear who won that battle. In his case, they’d come to a pleasant impasse. Sometimes Michael won, sometimes it was the wolf. At his age, he knew when to let the canine have his say. Younger shifters fought tooth and nail for control and in the case of Nero’s pack here in New Orleans they’d apparently been taught to hurt their wolves, to dominate them completely.
Westervelt was different. There were some members of Tristan’s pack who, although they walked around on two feet, were clearly more wolf than man. Lately, Michael worried his brother, Gabriel, was going through a major power change with his wolf.
Normally, it wasn’t a problem but it was highly unusual to have it happen at Gabriel’s age. Michael saw less and less of the human side of his brother.
Scarlett looked up at him. “She’s kind of skittish.”
He’d seen that earlier. He placed the warm cloth on the back of her neck. “I imagine she’s been through a lot, watching you suffer, unable to help.”
“She’s embarrassed that she hid. She was afraid because she wasn’t with her pack.
She was terrified to show herself here.”
“You can tell her from me we’ll be leaving shortly.” Immediately, if he got his way.
“Let’s go put together a suitcase. We can go to your apartment and get your stuff.”
She stood up and crossed to her discarded shirt from earlier. Putting it on, he was treated to a nice view of her ass as she searched for her underwear. Michael decided leaving wasn’t important. Not when Scarlett walked around naked.
His groin got hard at the sight. She turned around with her eyebrow raised. “I think I just recognized a new scent.”
“Oh yeah?” He couldn’t help his grin. “What would that be?”
“Arousal.”
She moved forward with a distinct sway in her step. She bit down on her lower lip and he was surprised he didn’t come right there. Scarlett was having no trouble with eye contact at the moment.
If anything she looked like a sexy, confident vixen.
“Michael?”
His throat went dry and he had trouble speaking. Finally, he managed. “Yes?”
“I was thinking about our sex earlier.”
“Okay.” Hell, he was becoming the king of one-word answers.
“And I was thinking about how you put your mouth on me.”
Her words brought the image back to him. The way her succulent pussy had exploded in his mouth. Gods, he wanted to do it again. His cock jumped in response.
Scarlett looked down, her cheeks red when she regarded him. “You remember it too.”
“Seeing as it was only a little while ago, I’d have to be pretty dense not to remember it.”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “You are pretty old. Maybe you just forget things easily now.”
“Ouch, it hurts.” Stepping forward, he grabbed her. “You’re maligning me. I have the body of a thirty year old guy.”
“Yes.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “It’s your mind I was questioning.”
“Wounded. You have mortally wounded me.”
She bit on her lip again and he groaned. “So anyway…”
“Yes?” Whatever she was going to say he wanted her to say. The way this conversation was going he was sure he would like it.
“I was thinking I might like to put my mouth on you like you did me.”
He had no words to answer her. What should he say? ‘Please, Scarlett, do it.’ Or maybe he should beg. Although that might seem pathetic…
“Would you like that, Michael?”
Managing to nod, he was still shocked when she fell to her knees before him.
Reaching out, her small hand encircled his shaft. Gods, he wasn’t sure he would make it this time. On the bed, earlier, when he’d suggested she fondle him it hadn’t been for purely selfish reasons. No, he’d wanted to instill some kind of confidence in her. To make his member seem less of a threat. It had worked.
Now, however, as her mouth touched the top of his cock, he was feeling like the luckiest guy on earth and happy to indulge in the feeling. “Wow.”
Her mouth was tight and moist as she moved up and down, taking him deep into her throat and then slightly releasing him. Back and forth, in a rhythm that was pure Scarlett.
He caressed the back of her head, massaging her neck, anything to keep physical contact with her outside of what she did to him.
“That’s it, baby, just like that.”
Not that she needed any encouragement. She was amazing. He, by contrast, would be lucky if his knees didn’t buckle and he didn’t fall right on the floor.
Suddenly, it wasn’t enough. He needed to be inside of her. Feeling his balls tighten, he knew he was close.
“Stop,” he begged, and was relieved when she listened.
“Did I do it wrong?”
“No.” He pulled her up to kiss her hard on the mouth. “I need to be inside of you.”
“I bet I could make you come like this.”
He nodded. “That’s a sure bet. You could but I really, really want to feel your sweet pussy around me again.”
Leaning her back on the bed, he crawled on top of her. She was so beautiful with her long, curly dark hair displayed behind her. Promising himself that someday he would lose himself for a while in her dark strands, he reached down to another place where Scarlett’s exquisite hair dominated his attention.
Finding her sweet spot, he pressed on the bundle of nerves until she gasped, her neck arching backward on the bed.
“Like that?”
“Yes, please, more.”
“I’ll give you more.”
He’d give her anything she wanted, always. Moving to where his cock was positioned right on the edge of her pussy, he pushed slowly at first, not wanting to overwhelm her with his pressure.
Michael knew he was right on the edge of losing control. She wrapped her arms around his back, pressing her mouth against his chest.
“I want all of you.”
Already her core welcomed him home. Scarlett’s inner muscles clenched in greeting, nearly making him lose himself. But, no, he wasn’t ready yet. It wasn’t time.
He wanted more. In and out, he moved, trying to stimulate her clit at the same time.
She made the most wonderful noises as her nails dug into his back.
“Michael, it’s so fast this time. It’s happening so fast.”