Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

M ax would be lying if he said he hadn’t been waiting for Charlie’s little blue hatchback to pull up outside the house.

He’d be lying if he pretended he didn’t hold his breath as he watched her get out and grab her laptop.

And he would absolutely be lying if he denied there was a pack of Black Wolf condoms in the pocket of his pants.

He’d never been so calculated before. Sex happened in bed. Condoms were kept in the second drawer of his bedside cabinet. Always.

He didn’t have them in his pocket, ready, just in case…

But then, everything between him and Charlie was like nothing he’d experienced before.

Everything inside him was wild and wanting. And too desperate to wait to get her into bed.

His gaze drank her in as she walked up the garden path. She was wearing a big puffy ski jacket and jeans. That striped woolly hat was pulled down on her head, and her corkscrew curls stuck out round the rim. Hardly the sexiest outfit.

But she looked freakin’ adorable.

Mine.

He let the word roll around inside his skull, feeling more comfortable with it now, even though it was possessive and politically incorrect.

He’d just blame it on his wolf.

He tried to walk nonchalantly to the front door, but his feet nearly fell over themselves, and his hands were shaking as he unlatched it. For someone who prided himself on the grace of his movements, this was unsettling.

But when she stood on the doorstep, he was swept away by her smile.

He wanted to take her in his arms. Kiss her. Tell her he felt this deep rightness around her, that he didn’t understand it, but that he just wanted to follow it and see where it led them both.

But still, those entrenched sigma habits held him back.

He bowed his head with a little smile hitching his lips. “So, you’re back.”

“I’m back.” She smiled, her dimples twinkling at him.

Max turned and led the way into the study, aware of her soft feet padding on the carpet behind him. Her scent tickled his nostrils, warm and fresh and a little bit musky with that hint of arousal he’d noticed the very first time they’d met.

More than a hint now.

She was ripe for him.

Max closed the door, and when she went over to the desk and put her laptop down, he could only gaze at her, speechless.

She cocked her head. “Is anything the matter?”

He smirked like a schoolboy experiencing his first crush. “No. Nope. Nothing. Just, having you here is… rather pleasant.”

“It’s pleasant to be back.” She was teasing him, of course, and he probably deserved it.

She took off her boots, her jacket and her hat, and then then shook out her curls. And now he understood why she was so rugged up. Underneath her jacket, she was wearing a soft see- through pink blouse and no bra. Her luscious dark nipples were clearly visible underneath.

Max let out a low groan.

He went and stood close, just gazing down at her, not touching. Not yet.

“Did you get much work done?” she asked softly.

“Not work, no, but a lot of other important stuff.”

“Really, what?”

“Charlie,” he croaked hoarsely. “Can we not talk right now?” She stilled, her breasts rising and falling sharply with her breath, lips parted. The chemistry between them was like lighting the fuse on a stick of dynamite and waiting for it to ignite.

Max lifted his hand and gently pushed her curls aside, then bent his head, placing feather-light kisses down the column of her neck. With a ragged sigh, she stretched into his caress and purred as her body swayed into him.

He pressed his lips to the pulse just above her clavicle, let his teeth graze a light path, felt her skin goosebump as she shivered.

She pressed her body into him, her arms gliding around his neck, and murmured his name. And gods, already he was rock hard against her yielding belly. He hadn’t come since that time under the shower, wanting to save his pleasure for her, but now, as he turned almost dizzy with desire, he wondered whether that had been a good idea.

What if he lost control? The sudden memory of his Felcin roots made him tense up.

Clearly, she felt it. She put her hand up to his cheek, her eyes searching his face.

“I want you, Max.”

It was all the permission he needed.

He nodded, and then her lips raised to his and for the first time, he kissed her.

Kissing Charlie was like floating into heaven. Her lips were pillowy soft, her tongue meeting his boldly as he dipped it into her mouth. She tasted like nectar, like everything he’d yearned for his whole life without ever knowing. Like coming home.

His wolf panted to be free, he felt it in the swelling of his knot, but he wasn’t going to let it loose. He kept that beast firmly leashed as he kissed her slowly, deliberately, his tongue finding every sweet nook and cranny of her mouth, drawing out her moans until finally, breathless, she pulled back, took one of his hands and placed it on her blouse.

She looked up at him through eyes burning with longing and said, “Undress me.”

How could he refuse?

Slowly, he undid each button of her blouse, peeling back the material and exposing the soft mounds of her breasts, the beautiful swollen blossoms of her nipples.

Max stared with reverence.

His wolf threw back its head and howled. But still, he held it in check.

Gently, he slipped off her blouse and let it slide to the floor. Freed her breasts. Weighed them in his hands, then spent long moments exploring them with his mouth until she squirmed and panted.

Next, he stroked his hands down her ribs, and slowly unzipped her jeans and rolled them off her. The jut of her hip bones, the skin of her belly, smooth as silk to his touch—he kissed every tiny detail.

Finally, she stood naked, deliciously erotic in nothing but her white socks.

Max dropped to his knees. Gently he stroked along her thighs, and she widened her stance, offering him her core. Max gazed at the little patch of dark hair, glistening with her arousal. So wet for him, so deliciously scented.

And finally, on a low growl, he buried his head between her legs.

He ran his nose along her seam, felt her quiver, heard her sighs, then came back and sucked her clit into his mouth, until she squirmed and moaned and begged for release.

It took just a few firm strokes of his tongue on her clit before she fell apart, keening his name softly, her fingers in his hair, her thighs braced.

Max drew back. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, her face and breasts flushed from her orgasm, her lips swollen, her thighs still quivering from the intensity of her release.

“Max, I need you inside me,” she begged.

“Oh yes, babe, that was just for starters,” Max husked. Standing, he pulled the condoms out of his pocket and threw them on the desk next to her. With one big swipe of his hand, he swept aside his books and papers and, picking her up, placed her butt on the edge of the desk.

Her mouth formed a ripe little O of delight. “Max, so masterful.” She giggled.

“That’s my intention,” he growled.

Then he ripped off his pants, his shirt, his shoes and socks, threw them gods only knew where. She leaned back on her splayed hands and gazed up at him with orgasm-drunk eyes, her head to one side, her curls like an ebony halo around her head. “You look like a god…” she breathed.

Right now, for Charlie, he sure felt like one.

His knot ached, his balls ached, the tip of his cock was leaking like a fucking fountain, standing proud in front of him, worshiping her. This first time was going to be over very quickly. But he’d make it up to her.

He took hold of her legs and spread her gently, so she was wide open like the feast he’d dreamed of for so long.

And then he advanced into the apex of her thighs, his cock nudging at her seam, and reached for the condoms. Licking her lips, she took them from him, ripped open the foil and proceeded to roll it over his length, pausing to cup his knot in her palm. Max had to grit his teeth not to come just at her touch.

He dragged her closer.

She gave a yelp of pleasure and locked her thighs around his butt.

Her hand on his shaft, she positioned him at her entrance and they both watched. Max heard his own rasping breath as his cock head met her soft, wet core.

“Oh Max,” she sighed. “Oh goddess, yes…”

She sucked him in, her inner muscles fluttering around his cock as she pulled him deeper... deeper.

“Knot me,” she begged.

“No, Charlie,” he gritted out.

He held her back from his swollen aching knot as her hips bucked and she reached for him again.

“Please, Max.”

“No, Charlie,” he ground out even more harshly.

“Please, Professor, sir,” she whined softly.

Max panted harshly, pleasure arcing through him, drawing up his balls. Gods, those sweetly submissive words were such a turn-on. She was staring up at him, chewing on her full lip, eyes hazy with desire.

Gods in heaven, was she daring him?

Some last morsel of restraint reined in his wolf. He could hurt her with that huge swelling of his flesh. However much he wanted it, he couldn’t risk the idea of their first time being painful, of hurting Charlie… he couldn’t bear that. With his free hand, he held his swollen knot at bay.

Looking down, grimacing with the need for control, he thrust into her, and she welcomed him, her sweet wet pussy sucking him deeper and deeper…

He made sure his cock massaged her G-spot, felt her tightening around him with each thrust.

“Oh M-ax,” she cried out, grinding her swollen bud against the slide of his cock. “Oh my gods…” And then, with the clenching of her sweet cunt as her second orgasm ignited around him, he couldn’t hold out any longer.

Just. Could. Not.

His hips canted wildly as he pounded into her, and she clung to his shoulders and hollered his name. But even in the wild ecstatic moment of release, somehow, Max managed to stop going all the way and held his knot at bay.

Panting hard, he buried his head in her neck as he came.

He’d managed to stop himself from knotting her.

But now it took everything he had not to bite her.

Afterward, they cuddled up on the sofa in the snug, Charlie’s head on his shoulder and a rug slung over them. In the grate, the fire snapped and crackled happily.

Max felt blissfully contented, a feeling he realized he’d never experienced before. And certainly never with a woman.

It was a feeling he wanted more of. With Charlie.

As she lay there, stroking his chest and recounting her week, telling him how much she’d disliked being back in Tween, he tried to work out how to tell her his own news.

Soon, she gave him an opening. “So, you said you didn’t get much work done on your book?”

“Not on my book, there was something more important I had to focus on.”

Her eyes popped. “What’s more important than your book?”

“You being here, for starters.” He kissed her upturned mouth, then sighed. “While you were gone, I found out some things about my own past that are, well, pretty confronting I guess.”

“Tell me,” she said softly.

“When you left, I went to see my cousin Benjy…”

“And?”

“He told me that my mom had lied to me about my father.”

Charlie frowned. “You told me you didn’t know your father.”

“I didn’t. But Mom did.”

“Oh!” She sat up straight now. “Max, that’s huge.”

“Yep, I guess. Hearing it wasn’t something I was overjoyed about, but it did help me to make sense of what’s been happening lately.”

Charlie listened while Max told her the full story. About Alec Felcin, his mom’s lover.

“Oh goddess, you’re a Felcin!” she said in awe. “How amazing.”

He grimaced. “I’m not at all sure I share that sentiment.”

“Why not?”

He laughed, holding her tight. “I’ve always held myself up as this paragon of virtue, immune to all that stuff. Never affected by full moons, able to control my wolf nature. And now I find out I have the worst alpha blood running through my veins.”

“That’s probably what attracted me, that wicked Felcin blood.”

“Yes, well, maybe you sensed it before I did. And Charlie, it’s your presence that’s brought it out in me. As soon as you walked into my life, I was smitten. There’s this wild beauty in your soul, apart from the wild beauty of your body, of course. And your passion for history, and research.” He glanced at her shyly. “Wildness and rationality. It’s a fairly irresistible combination.”

“Well, I guess I get my wildness from my Aunt Eloise.”

He frowned slightly. “That first day you were here, you started to tell me something about her. Is she your mom’s sister, or your dad’s?”

“Eloise is Dad’s younger sister.” She said raising her head off his chest, her eyes wide with excitement. “Just wait til I tell you this. It’s amazing. Twenty four years ago, she joined in one of your family’s ruts and it cured her depression, helped her to start living fully again. And now she works as a cabaret artist on a cruise ship, traveling the world. My mom has always made out that Eloise was coerced to take part, but you know, I never quite believed it. But I’ve never met her, so I couldn’t verify that until I bailed Dad up last week, and made him tell me the truth.”

“That’s incredible. Are you saying that taking part in the rut helped her?”

“Absolutely, it cured her.”

Max was silent for a moment. “That’s not something I’d ever considered—that being chased in a rut could liberate someone.”

She gave his arm a playful little thump. “Max Hunt, read my master’s dissertation, would you? Sexual relations with monsters liberated many women through history.”

Max smirked sheepishly. “Okay, I’ll allow myself to be educated.”

“To me it came as absolutely no surprise,” Charlie said. “I’ve always had a hunch I’m like Eloise, even though she left Tween before I was born, and now, it makes total sense that I’ve fallen for a wolf.”

Max curled a lock of her hair around his fingers. “So you’ve fallen for me?”

“What do you think, Professor?” She arched her brows at him.

Max grinned. “Despite my veneer of sophistication, I am not, actually, as confident around women as I may appear.”

“I know.” She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.

“You know?” Now he was slightly offended. He’d always thought he hid his shyness quite well. But then, he’d not been able to hide much from Charlie.

Charlie snickered. “You blush a lot. And often won’t look me in the eye. I guess you’ve trying to hide that red gleam.”

“Oh Charlie.” He sighed. “I admire you. Envy you too, if I’m honest.”

“Envy me?”

“Yes. You’re so sure of who you are. It shines out of you. And fuck, I’m not who I thought I was at all. I have a photo, or two. That’s my proof. That’s it. My mother’s dead, and she never uttered a word to me about any of this… Worse, she lied to my face about my father’s identity. Snuck off to see him behind my back, all through my childhood.”

“That must be so hard, Max, finding out that she deceived you.”

He sighed. “Yes, it has been. But I guess, I am not totally surprised. My mother was a deeply conflicted woman with a brilliant mind. I loved her despite her faults. In some ways knowing that her mate rejected her helps me make sense of the bitterness I always sensed in her. But my father, the fact he’s dead, and I have no way to verify the truth of him siring me, or ever get to know him, that’s hit me hard, to be honest.”

Charlie stared at him. “You’re not planning to leave it at that, are you?”

‘What do you mean?”

“The Professor Max Hunt, who unearths the stories of the past, is not prepared to seek out the story of his own past? Seriously, that’s it? You’re not planning to investigate this further?”

“I… hadn’t got that far in my thinking,” Max muttered.

“Max, you have to seek out the truth.”

He was silent, digesting her words.

“Why not go to the mountains?” Charlie said. “Visit the Felcin pack. Verify the truth of this story.”

“I don’t even know for sure if the Felcin pack are still out there.”

“Well, you won’t know if you don’t try, will you? Get your wolf butt up that mountain.”

He huffed a laugh, dismissing Charlie’s comment as her usual exuberant way of teasing him. Then he glanced at her. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Yep, sure am.”

“That’s a crazy idea.”

She leaned forward, her eyes flaring with passion. “You and me. We’re researchers, Max. We unearth the truth. That’s what we do. We need to find out the true story about your father. Find out why he rejected your mom, why his family never came to find you.”

He nodded. “Maybe after Christmas.”

“Maybe before.”

“Hey, what’s this about, babe? Why the rush?” He took her hand and gentled it against his cheek.

“I want you to be comfortable with your wolf. To feel free to be yourself.”

“I am, Charlie. I’ve never felt so fulfilled, or happy as since you came into my life.”

“But you’re still holding back.”

He frowned. “Is this because I wouldn’t knot you?”

“Maybe, a teeny tiny bit.”

“What? Because I want to take care of you, to not harm you?”

“How can I convince you that you won’t ever harm me, Max?”

He stared into her eyes, so full of love and trust, and longed to believe her. He wondered what it would be like to be free of the fear of his wolf. What it would be like to embrace his wild self, unfettered by guilt and shame.

“I have a book to finish,” he said lamely.

“And a life to live…” she pointed out, then kissed him on the mouth. “And if you have to stay longer in Motham to get your research finished after that, would that be such a bad thing?”

Max knew that of course it wouldn’t be. He’d already relaxed his timeline, choosing not to fly back to Selig for a few more weeks. The thought of having longer with Charlie filled him with joy. But even so… this was a daft idea. “It’s the middle of winter, babe, the area will be impassable.”

“We’ll check the weather first, of course.” She beamed at him.

He opened his mouth, ready to say no. But the absolute confidence, the certainty glowing out of her radiant face, gave him pause. If Charlie thought it was the right thing to do, heck, why not? She’d already brought more facets out of him in the short time he’d known her than in his whole thirty-three years before that.

“Only if you’ll come with me,” he said.

Her face burst into a huge smile. “Yes, Max, of course I will.”

He put his arms around her. “Okay, then,” he murmured into her neck. “Let’s do this thing.”