Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

T he heavy panting breaths were gaining on her. Charlie threw off her shoes and ran into a thicket, not sure where she was headed, a blinding fear grabbing her senses, her breath catching in her throat on little gasps and whimpers.

She hid behind a tree, hearing the big beast’s heavy paws prowling closer. Suddenly a wet snout touched her foot, then came the lick of a rasping tongue along the back of her calf. It sent tingles of fear up her spine, and a slug of heat to her core.

With a scream, Charlie took off again, running deeper into the trees.

All the time a part of her kept saying, “What if it’s not him, what if it’s not Max?”

Which only put the fear of all the gods into her as she sped along a winding path that seemed to be leading nowhere.

She stopped, disoriented, and glanced around, biting her lip. And then she heard a howl to her left, and she dashed off to the right, sensing the beast was gaining on her as heavy footprints thudded on the hard earth, snapping twigs and crackling dry leaves behind her.

Veering off the path completely, she zigzagged through bushes, catching her dress on briars and twigs. The cold air burned in her throat, and she stopped to try and regain her breath. Glancing behind her, she suddenly caught sight of two yellow eyes, barely a few feet away, a snarling mouth drawn tight to display sharp fangs.

Charlie screamed again, and in her haste to escape, tripped over a twisted root and fell headfirst into a pile of damp leaves. The next thing she knew, the beast was upon her, its breath hot on the back her neck. It pinned her to the earth, and then, with one swipe of its paw, it flipped her face-up, and she found herself staring into the visage of pure, unadulterated wolf.

This time, the scream didn’t make it to her lips. Charlie just stared in open-mouthed terror.

The strength of the creature that straddled her was mind-blowing. She could see the muscles in its forelegs braced under its thick silver pelt, feel the heat of its body, the oil from its skin musky scented. Its eyes glowed bright red, like burning coals. Its incisors were huge, curved and sharp-tipped, its tongue lolling and its mouth salivating, a drop falling hot onto her neck, then cooling in the night air.

Oh goddess, this couldn’t be Max.

This wolf looked bigger, stronger than the one who had rescued her that night.

“Max…” she whimpered.

The wolf stared at her, and try as she might, she couldn’t get a sense of the man within. Her man.

This beast was truly the wildest thing she had ever encountered.

Charlie stared at the wolf. The wolf stared at Charlie.

What now?

Charlie had no idea. Her thoughts chattered wildly inside her skull. If this was Max, would he remain in his wolf form? Would he, would they… do it … like this? Could they even? Gods, she had no idea what happened in a primal chase.

She flinched as the animal lowered its head, then screwed her eyes tight shut, waiting for the worst. She felt its wet snout at her neck, sniffing her, and another horrible fear torched through her.

What if… what if Max stayed wolfen? What if he never came back to her as Max, the man she loved?

Had she been too confident with this whole stupid plan to attend the rut? Without knowing what had gone on up there in the mountains with his pack this past week, how could she trust this would be okay? How could she be so na?ve?

Maybe pitying her terrified state, or maybe just because… the wolf backed off a little. Charlie scrambled away until her butt nudged a tree stump. The wolf cocked its head and advanced. It sniffed down her body, its muzzle hovering just below her waist. She clamped her legs shut and it backed off with a sharp whine.

Charlie pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged her knees.

It advanced again, and this time grabbed the hem of her skirt in its powerful jaws. Charlie bit her lip, too terrified to move. She felt its huge fangs tugging at her dress and prepared herself for something too awful to imagine. The wolf whined again. She opened her eyes and realized it was trying to pull her to her feet. Trembling, after a moment of it staring at her, she stood up. To her amazement, the wolf let go of her skirt, then started to nudge her down the path with its snout in the small of her back.

Suddenly, she remembered wolf Max in his bedroom the night he’d rescued her from the ferals. He'd done something very similar. Nudged her with his snout onto the bed.

A little burst of hope filled her chest.

“You want m-me to run?” she asked over her shoulder, her teeth still chattering. “You w-want me to keep running. I-is that it?”

Its head low to the ground as if ready to pounce, the wolf’s eyes burned into her. But in their depths, she imagined she saw the light of something—someone—else. The guy she loved. It was a faint presence of Max, but it was just enough to ease her fear.

“I should keep running, then?” she queried again, firming her voice. She pointed along the path to where some lights twinkled in the distance. “That way?”

The wolf growled deep in its chest. She saw its tail swish behind it.

She guessed that was an affirmative.

So Charlie ran, the blood pumping through her veins. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, through the woods toward those lights. Until she saw a cottage, with a sign that read “Love Shack 3” strung up above the door. Heck, she couldn’t even remember if this was the one she’d booked, but going on instinct, she sped up the steps and pushed open the door. Inside, a fire burned in the grate, candles flickered on a table next to a huge bed, but otherwise, the place was dark.

As soon as she closed the door, her fear dissipated, replaced almost instantaneously by a powerful sensuality. She was aware of her own skin, hot and a little sweaty from running, her hair curling soft against the pulse in her neck, her breasts full, straining against the confines of her dress.

Charlie stood very still, letting the primal energy wash through her.

And suddenly, she knew why. She was being watched. She sensed it with every cell in her body.

But not by a wild animal this time.

By a man. A man who wanted her.

Her eyes sprang wide, searching the interior, In the dim light she couldn’t detect anyone. But somewhere in the shadows of this room, Max was here. She was sure of it.

Her body thrummed for him.

Well, she would just have to tempt him out of hiding, wouldn’t she?

She braced her legs and moved her hands down her body, touching her neck, her breasts, her belly until her fingers found the needy place between her legs. She lifted her skirt and clutched her hand there to ease the throbbing pulse. And then she started to move her hips in a mating dance.

After a moment, she sensed movement behind her, the creak of a floorboard.

When a hot mouth touched the back of her neck, Charlie shivered. Oh, she knew that mouth, loved that mouth.

“Take your dress off.” It was a deep, guttural command close to her ear.

Obediently, she wriggled out of the tattered garment, letting it pool onto the floor.

“Now your bra.”

She reached for the clasp and let that go too.

“Remove your panties.”

Charlie shimmied her g-string down her legs and stepped out of it.

She heard a deep grunt of pleasure. She could feel the heat of his body close now, the familiar male smell of him intoxicating.

Max. But not Max—not quite.

“Touch your pussy,” the voice ordered.

Her hand slid between her legs once more.

“Move your fingers along your seam. That’s it, my little rut slut. Stroke your clit for me,” the voice purred huskily.

Those dirty words made a starburst of lust unfurl inside her. She felt the hot flow of her arousal spreading between her legs and started to rub at the slippery bud, her lips parting on a moan, her head kicking back as pleasure coiled tight in her belly.

“Good girl,” growled the voice. “Are you wet for me?”

“Yes.”

“Show me.”

She raised a finger, glistening with her juices. A hand curled around hers and guided her finger into the warm cavern of his mouth, rolling it around his tongue. Her pussy clenched—gods, she could surely orgasm from this alone.

“Do you want your alpha to pleasure you?” the voice growled, now stirring her curls.

“Oh yes,” she moaned.

“Beg.”

“Please, Alpha, pleasure me,” she panted.

“Crawl onto the bed, face down.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Her body thrilling to the rough commands, she moved across to the bed, lay down on her face and crawled up the mattress. With the silken coverlet sliding under her naked skin, her face buried in the pillow, Charlie waited, every nerve on fire.

She sensed the bulk of his shadow behind her as he moved over her. “Are you mine?”

“I’m yours.”

“Alpha.”

“I’m yours—Alpha.”

With a grunt, two big hands yanked her butt up. Now her ass was pinned against powerful muscled thighs. She felt the jut of his cock against his bare ass, hot and hard. She squirmed and moaned, trying to chase it, her pussy hungry and desperate, her juices already damp on her thighs.

“Ah, not yet, little one,” he growled. “Hands on the headboard.” Charlie reached forward and gripped it hard with both hands, her body stretched out, her butt in the air.

Now those big hands reached around and fondled her breasts, tweaked her nipples into ravenous peaks. She gasped and pushed back harder into his cock, but still he held off, although she could hear his breathing growing ragged.

One hand roamed around her hip bone, slid down her belly and moved between her thighs.

“Max—” she gasped.

“Address me as Alpha,” the voice gritted close to her ear.

“Alpha,” she mewled.

He parted her, his fingers running a path along her soaking cleft, while his other hand curled around her hip, pinning her in place.

“I’m going to make your cunt beg for my cock.”

“Yes, please, Alpha.”

His harsh words were so erotic, the lewd sound as one thick digit moved in and out of her, the fact that all of this was sensed, not seen, that she knew him as Max only by the familiar male scent of him, the feel of his lips, his hands, his finger thrusting into her. It all served to drive her pleasure higher.

“You want me to stretch you more?”

She gasped her assent, and another finger joined the first. “I need you ready to take my knot, little one.”

She whimpered and squirmed as he finger fucked her in earnest now, hooking into her, stroking that magic spot inside her, his palm pressing on her clit all the while and notching up the pleasure until she was close to losing it.

The air smelled of their arousal, the salty whiff of his precum, his filthy words spurring her on… it was all too good… Charlie’s hips canted wildly, the headboard banging, her curls flying around her face in a hot sweaty mess. She felt his bunched quads on the back of her thighs, the hard prod of his cock on her butt cheeks, the silken drops of his pre-cum.

And she gave herself over to all of it.

His fingers worked her fiercely, urgently. “Oh you’re so fucking tight, so wet…” he groaned in her ear.

A rainbow of colors went off behind Charlie’s eyes and she whimpered.

“Good girl, that’s it. Very soon you’ll take my knot right up to the hilt.”

Charlie quivered and pushed back into his thrusting fingers. Max was so commanding. And she was his wild she wolf, ready to take her mate. The pressure inside her coiled tight like a spring. She thrust back harder, forcing his fingers in up to the hilt, growling out her pleasure, her hips snapping wildly, head thrown back, teeth bared. And then, oh gods, yes, the pleasure peaked, the dam broke and on a howl, Charlie fell apart as Max gritted out words of praise and wonder.

When she’d finally stopped shuddering around his hand, Max removed his fingers from inside her with a slurp that made them both laugh, his breath tickling the hair around her neck as he kissed her just below her earlobe.

But it was only a brief respite of tenderness before she felt his cock nudging at her core. “I’ve gotta have you,” he muttered, thick against her ear. “Are you ready to take me?”

“Oh goddess, yes?—”

He anchored her hips and she widened her knees, her hands braced on the headboard. And then he was easing his cock inside her pussy, the place his fingers had made malleable and wet and needy for him.

As he nudged into her, she gasped at the stretch, the blessed fullness.

“You want this… you want to take all of me?” he husked into her neck. Charlie mewled out a garbled assent. Max thrust deeper into her, his cock massaging her greedy clit as she opened to accommodate him.

The pleasure blew her mind.

And now, finally, he was buried in her to the hilt, his knot deep inside her. Charlie hung on tight to the headboard. When she cried out for more, he gripped her hips, growling, and impaled her with his cock, his knot, filling her up completely.

Charlie’s eyes rolled back, her second orgasm rolling in like thunder, as she wheezed and panted with pleasure.

“Mine,” Max gritted out. “Say it.”

“Yours.”

“This cock, this knot, it’s only ever been yours.”

Charlie moaned. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Then come for me,” he commanded as he pounded into her until the whole bed shook, his face buried in her neck as he thrust deeper, bound her closer. She felt his lips on the pulse at the base of her neck, felt a sudden arrow of pain as his teeth sank into her skin.

On a howl, Charlie’s orgasm ripped through her.

For a moment while she pulsed around his cock, Max went still above her, all his muscles braced. And then, with a triumphant shout, he spilled his everything into her.