His breaths came in gasps and sharp little growls joined in time with his thrusts until he arched his back and drove himself as deep as he could go. The heat of his seed filled her, and she cried out with him as the pressure exploded, replaced with ecstasy.
Eric lay in their bed with Spice cradled in his arms and pressed against his body. In the dead of night, he couldn’t sleep. How could he? A self-satisfied grin spread across his face. He really made her scream on their second round. She’d even left a few scratches on his back. Too bad they’d be healed by morning.
He never told her his secret. Guilt threaded itself around his heart. First thing tomorrow, he’d confess. She did say nothing would drive her away from him. God, he hoped she really meant those words.
He pulled her closer and buried his nose in her hair.
The scent soothed him and his beast. She smelled like his. No other way to describe it. So much for keeping his beast under wraps, it liked Spice as much as he did. For once, they agreed on something.
His cellphone went off. In the silence of the house, it made him jump as if struck by a cow prod.
Spice murmured in her sleep while he untangled himself from her body.
Scrambling in the dark, he found his trousers and answered before it woke her. “What!” He tried to whisper.
“Get dressed, we have a problem.” With that, Daedalus hung up on him.
Chapter 6
“Have you told her about your being an Alpha of a werewolf pack yet? Lovers should know these kinds of things.” Daedalus shifted his black Jaguar XJ into second gear while Eric attached his seatbelt. The vehicle fit the vampire’s personality, big, sleek, and fast. Every time Eric rode in it, he realized how little he owned.
No car and no house; his job paid well, but he didn’t have the time to make a home. If Spice stayed maybe some of it could change. He sighed. “You know I slept with Spice?”
“Subtle is not your middle name, Alpha. You still carry her smell.” Daedalus stopped at a red light.
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.” He fiddled with the belt across his chest. Maybe if he started calling Daedalus “Prime,” then he’d get the point on how annoying it was to hear his title repeatedly. “I guess the other Omegas must suspect since they deserted the house. What does Sugar think?” He should stop considering his friends as the only Omegas. They needed to be one pack.
“You haven’t spoken to her about shagging her sister?” The light turned green, and he continued toward the abandoned warehouses.
“No, she knows I carry a torch for her twin. It feels odd confiding in her while Spice might be doing the same.”
Daedalus laughed out loud. “So you’re going to use me instead.”
Eric crossed his arms over his chest, the muscles made it more difficult, he still wasn’t used to them. Twenty-five years as a skin-and-bones weakling was hard to forget. “Why not? I’m worried she might be using me.”
“For what? Sex?” His voice rose with incredulity. “Oh, wait a minute. You want her to fall in love with you?”
“Is that so unbelievable? I know you’re not crazy about her, but she’s a great person. Someone just needs to give her a chance. She’s vulnerable right now, and she might think she loves me but really I’ll turn out to be a crutch.”
Even though Sugar and Spice grew up in the same horrid home, it was Spice who took the brunt of the abuse to protect her little sister. The others didn’t know this, but he and Sugar did. He remembered finding Spice hiding in the apartment building’s shed one afternoon. She had a black eye and split lip. When he barged in she threatened him. Don’t you go running off and telling Sugar, you little dweeb, or I’ll pound your ass. Most would have been insulted, but he’d heard her parents yelling through the thin walls of the building and knew she’d pretended to be her twin. She’s taken that beating and others for Sugar. In an odd way, he thought of her as a hero.
Daedalus took the corner at a sharp angle, making Eric’s seatbelt strain. “You’re a dumbass, worrying about love when we’re on our way to break up a room full of women who are competing to be your pack mate. You need to man-up and take care of your pack. Not moan about a human girl.”
“I’m here, aren’t I? We’ll stop this nonsense tonight. I’m going to it make illegal to challenge without my permission.”
“You can’t do that, Eric. Haven’t you read the copy of the Accords I gave you?” Silence filled the car as Daedalus sped to the on-ramp of the interstate. “Look, challenges are pertinent to werewolf packs. It sets the hierarchy. The strongest female should lead the pack at your side.”
Eric looked out the window at the other cars as they passed them. No one would convince him to take a stranger as his mate. He needed to find a way out this mess. “You’re telling me to back off from Spice.”
“I’m telling you if you fall in love, it will only end with heartbreak. Arranged marriages still exist and they work…mostly. This is almost the same thing. You can agree to have lovers if you insist on keeping the girl.”
He shook his head before facing Daedalus. “It’s too late. She smells like mine. I can’t touch another woman.”
“Damn it, you being a romantic drives me nuts.” Daedalus hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. They came up to their exit and cut across two lanes to catch it.
“Holy crap, you’re going to have a wreck and kill me.”
“It wouldn’t be any worse of a disaster than what you’re doing to your own life.” He made a right turn and screeched into an industrial park, then slammed on his brake and popped the shift stick into neutral. At this time of the night the place was deserted. “You inherited a sick pack, and you need to nurse them back to health.”
Anger boiled in Eric’s gut. He undid his seatbelt so he could face the vampire-turned-asshole. “I didn’t ask for this responsibility.” Then he grabbed Daedalus by the shirt and shoved him against the car door. “I don’t care about these Ayumu mongrels.”
“They’re Omegas now.” Daedalus’s cool, calm voice reached the reasoning part of Eric’s brain. “If she means so much to you, then make her wolf. Take her as your mate.”
The suggestion slapped him across the face. “I’d never turn anyone on purpose.” He let go of his friend and sat back in his seat.
Daedalus straightened his shirt. “Why not? Ask her first, I’m not telling you to do it against her will.”
“I-I…” Eric stared out the windshield at the buildings. “How do you tell someone you’re a werewolf?” Sure, the law considered them legal citizens, just like vampires, but people didn’t accept them. Where was the romance in turning into a hairy monster? He quirked an eyebrow at his companion. Or a bloodsucker. “This isn’t about me, is it? You must have asked Sugar to become a vampire.”
For a moment, Eric didn’t think Daedalus would answer him but it made sense. The vampire sat still, like stone, as only the dead could.
“I did.”
“And?” He couldn’t guess Sugar’s decision. A year ago she’d run from all of them, too freaked out by their differences. Now, they lived happily under one roof. She’d even joined them a few times on full moon celebrations in the forest to watch them change. Maybe Spice could accept him.
“She’s thinking about it. To be honest, I thought she’d turn me down, so I’m happy she’s at least giving the idea a chance.” He shrugged. “If she says ‘no’ I’ll be forced to watch her age and die, and I don’t want to. Is it selfish of me?”
“Is it selfish of me to want to be with the woman I love and not take some stranger as a mate?” He gave a silent prayer of thanks for getting this opportunity to make his point to his thickheaded mentor. Daedalus was a true friend and had a lot of experience for them to fall back on, but he thought and lived like a warrior.