Theo shrugged. "She did well by all of us. Whatever she was like when she was young, she loved us and would have walked through fire for us." He paused considering his words carefully. "I don't know that I'm so completely different from my Dad."
Standing up, she walked quickly to him wrapping her arms around his neck. "Really? Would I be doing this to someone I considered evil and disgusting?"
Her lips met his and once again he knew what it was to feel completely at ease. His groin hardened. The woman could distract him, that was for sure.
Chapter Ten
Faith pressed her body up against Theo's and sighed at the feel of his hard length touching her stomach. Funny, she never actually thought about how tall he was unless they were like this. She ached for him. Their small fight had gotten all of her juices going and her wolf was desperate to have them reconnect.
She was pretty desperate for it herself.
Pulling away, he rubbed his cheek on her hair and breathed. Not able to help herself, she smiled. All she could do was hope that she didn't smell as dingy as she felt. The growing bulge in Theo's pants told her that whatever he'd encountered when he sniffed her hadn't bothered him at all. Just the opposite.
"Do we have time for this?" His voice sounded husky and she reveled in the fact that she'd done that to him.
"We're making the time."
Nodding, he smoothed his hands up and down her back, shivers racing throughout her body. The man had great fingers. She closed her eyes, loving the relaxing sensations that ebbed with every stroke and push of his fingers. If she wasn't so completely turned on she could probably close her eyes and fall asleep leaning on him.
"You have knots in your back. I see now where you carry all of your stress."
Faith raised an eyebrow. "And you became a chiropractor when?"
Laughing, he scooped her up in his arms and walked to the bedroom laying her gently on the bed. "You don't live as long as I have without picking up a few things."
"Oh that's right." She nodded, like she agreed with him. "You're an old man. Maybe we should take it easy on you, not force you to handle such rigorous activity."
"I think that might be taking it a bit too far. I just meant I learned some things along the way, not that I couldn't keep up with my young, energetic bride."
"Bride? Did we get married and I missed it?" She wasn't going to let him get away with that one. Some of the wolves did marry and she didn't particularly care if they did or did not, but he didn't just get to start calling her his wife.
Leaning down he pressed his mouth to the edge of her neck and inhaled deeply. "You know for all intents and purposes you are my wife."
Faith shook her head. "Nope. I'm your mate, not your wife."
He lifted his head up, his eyebrows pressed down in a look of concern. "Is this really bothering you? Do you want to get married?"
Nodding, she grinned. "Yes, later. Right now I want to make love." She pulled his head down and devoured his lips, loving the feel of the scruff of his whiskers against her skin. Secretly, she hoped it marked her up a little bit so she could see it in the morning. She knew it was the wolf in her that wanted him to mark his territory and she forced herself to control her desire to mark in return.
I think he would like it.
As usual, her wolf was probably correct. Maybe she'd have to see how he took to a few bites that left marks. She could feel her canines extending at the thought. That was unusual for Faith. While certain members of the pack could partially shift or half-shift, she never had but as with everything involving Theo, it shouldn't surprise her that he brought out her shifter powers. Hell, he'd given her demon powers.
"Take off your shirt." Theo hadn't seemed to mind when she took control during their love play. Clearly an Alpha wolf, she had worried that he would be completely aggressive and not at all interested in sharing the fun, but in reality he seemed to be the polar opposite.
He has your soul. He knows who you are and what you need.
That was true, there were some clear benefits to the soul sharing business and she had to admit she could get used to them.
Theo pulled his shirt over his head and she was gifted with the sight of his sculpted chest. She sighed. If she could work with clay, this would be the image she would create. Hard lines crossed his skin starting below his abdomen and didn't end until they reached the top of his chest. Reaching out a hand, she stroked her hand over the ridge over his stomach and was rewarded by the jump of his skin under her fingers.
In her life, she'd never felt powerful. Not really. Tough maybe, but that was different than power. But here was this man--this shifter--who held tremendous responsibility and ability, the kind of man who had fought on his own to hold off a demon for a year without telling anyone of his plight and she could make him flinch with the mere touch of her fingertips. It was amazing.
She sat up so they faced each other, feeling the coarse hair on his chest under both of her hands now. His breathing increased and she bit her lower lip in excitement. This was the man she would fight side by side with to protect Westervelt; she would age with him and maybe someday have children with him. His breath felt warm on her cheek when he leaned over to press a gentle kiss under her eye.
"Do you mind that now we're both going to start to age?"
He smiled, his eyes glittering as he stared at her. "Are you asking if I mind if your brown and gold hair is going to start, someday, to grey or that you might someday have to wear glasses?"
Shaking her head she ran a hand down the side of his face. "You know what I'm asking you."
"No Faith, I don't mind. I wish we had met when we were babies and aged progressively since then. Time spent without you is wasted time. How about you? Do you mind that now you will grow old?"
"I didn't know I wasn't growing older until a year ago. Before that, I just thought I was really lucky that I never changed since I was thirty."
"Ha." His laughter was infectious and she grinned. "Just good genes, huh?"
"Something like that."
Theo kissed her chin and made his way down her neck. Pulling hard at her shirt, she helped him out by raising her arms so he could do it more efficiently. He stared bewildered at her beige bra.
She looked down to where he gazed. "What?"
"You're wearing a bra?" His mouth twisted into a crooked smile. "I've not seen you in one before."
"And?" She really had no idea where he was going with this.
Do you know what the issue is here?
Her wolf shook her head. No, sorry, this is human stuff.
"I'm not good at bras."
She wanted to crack up laughing but had a feeling his confession had cost him not a small bit of pride and she didn't want to make him even more anxious. Having thought that, however, she couldn't just let it go and remove it. No, that would be too easy and she knew that neither one of them liked anything they didn't have to work towards.
"What do you find difficult about them?"
He ran a hand through his black hair. "I guess it's the, what do you call those things, clasps?"
"Theo, never in a million years would I imagine a man who can see moving, invisible people and who I happen to know can disarm a bomb can't make a small little metal or plastic clasp function."
"How'd you know I can disarm a bomb?"
"Every member of the pack has told me bits and pieces about you since I got here," she replied, smiling.
"Well, I guess I could go practice on other women's bras if you'd like me to get better at it."
"No." She shrieked and he cracked up. Obviously, she'd known he joked but still the very idea was enough to make her blanch. Pushing down on the clasp between her breasts, she quickly pulled the bra off and handed it to him. He held it up to his nose to take a quick whiff and grinned a tooth-filled smile.