Choices (5 page)

“Olive,” he said, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.

“Olivia,” she corrected, her lip curling.

Though she looked murderous, Alder couldn’t bring himself to feel any ill will towards her. He realized why he hadn’t recognized her before. When he last saw her, she had been a juvenile and somewhat small for her age. He remembered her being shy and timid, always following in her brother’s shadow with her head down.

Her eyes assessed the body of her pack mate, and then settled on Alder. “I’m surprised you didn’t string him up and put him on display for us.”

“Hale wanted to,” he admitted. “He attacked several members of my pack.”

Her equanimity slipped for a second. “Alder?”

Alder merely nodded in reply. He had vague memories of her stealing glances at him as a girl, with a blush that extended all the way down past her neck. She should have hated him for the part he had played in her father’s death, but he distinctly remembered her wavering when Silas and his pack left for Mount Ezra.

“I brought him here so that you could give him a proper burial,” Alder said, adopting an authoritative tone. “And to warn you to stay away from the valley. I want there to be peace between us, but even I won’t be able to ignore another stunt like this.”

Olive’s face hardened.

“Halcyon doesn’t want peace,” she spat. “All you’ve ever wanted is to see Whiteriver fall.”

Alder shook his head. “Is that what you believe, or bullshit that Silas is feeding you?”

Her hands balled into fists. “You’re the ones who broke the treaty. If Hale didn’t want war, he wouldn’t have set foot inside of our den.”

Alder was taken aback. Impulse made him want to question her, to find out exactly what Hale had done. Wisdom made him grit his teeth and will himself to remain calm. If he admitted to her that he didn’t know what had happened, he would be exposing the fact that his brother had played him for a fool. That was not something he wanted to give away to a potential enemy.

Whiteriver needed to believe that Alder and Hale were an indomitable force, though Alder was uncertain if he could ever trust his brother again. He couldn’t conceive of any reason why Hale would trespass in the Whiteriver den other than to intentionally provoke them.

While Alder silently considered the best course of action, Olive raised a hand, signaling something to her pack mates. Alder tensed, his body preparing for an attack. None came.

Two females emerged from the forest, one pulling the other. The female being pulled was bound at the wrists, he noticed, with some sort of rope. He could smell her blood.

“You can take this garbage back to your brother,” Olive said, pointing at the bound female. “And let me be clear that Whiteriver doesn’t want war, but if you attack us, we will be prepared.”

Staring into Olive’s cold eyes, Alder saw no hint of the sweet girl she once was. Briefly, he regretted not advocating for her. He had stood by, remaining aloof while she warred with the decision of whether to follow her brother. Looking back with a more adult perspective, he realized that she had wanted to stay in Halcyon, but she was young and no one had ever told her that following Silas was a choice. In the end, she had done the only thing she’d known how to do.

Alder watched as Olivia and her pack mate gathered up the body of their fallen comrade. They vanished into the forest, leaving behind a displaced scent of decay and the bound female, who sat on the ground, trembling.

He could tell from her scent that she was a wolf, but he knew for certain that he’d never seen her before.

Crouching beside her, Alder took in the extent of her injuries. There was nothing life-threatening, but the multitude of bruises and partially healed lacerations spoke of torture.

There was a piece of cloth wrapped around her head. A gag. He reached out to untie it, but she flinched back.

“It’s all right,” he said, managing to keep the anger from his voice. He reached out again, loosening the matted knot.

He could hear his pack mates emerging from the forest. The female looked up, her eyes moving around fearfully as the curious beta wolves converged around them.

Her wide gaze then centered on Alder. “I promise, I didn’t tell them anything. Please tell Hale that.”

Alder did his best not to look confused. “Who are you?”

“Tulip.”

Hale didn’t take her in through the main entrance, for which Taylor was grateful. Her dress was still full of onions and she knew Lark’s eyes would bulge if she saw Taylor returning with Hale in only her underclothes.

A short way past the main entrance was a small waterfall cascading down the mountainside. Hale headed for it, not slowing his pace. Her hands tightened in his fur, fear taking hold of her as he dashed through the water.

Taylor was so relieved that there was a tunnel on the other side, she didn’t even care that she was soaked. Laughing, she shook the water from her hair.

As she was still coming down from the fear of careening into a wall, Hale shifted without warning. Her onions toppled to the floor and she gasped as the wolf beneath her began to contort and braced herself for the fall. It never came.

Defying physics, Hale grabbed her mid-shift. His arms were humanoid, but still covered in fur when he gripped her thighs. As he held her on his back, she felt his fur recede into his body. It had to be one of the coolest experiences of her life.

She intended on telling him as much, but Hale promptly dropped her. She staggered, gaining her footing just in time for him to push her against the wall.

His arms caged her in. It was too dark for her to see his face, but she could feel the heat emanating from his body and she could smell his masculine scent all around her.

“This is a back entrance to the den,” he told her. “The tunnel forks up ahead. One way leads to the main room and the other leads to my room. It’s up to you where you want to go.”

Taylor began wringing her hands. “I’m surprised you’re giving me the choice.”

More like disappointed. She had expected him to haul her off to his room and have his way with her. By asking her which she preferred, he was making her accountable for her decision. Maybe that was his intention.

“What if I decide I want to go back to the main room?” she questioned.

“Then I’ll take you there.”

She could feel his warm breath on the nape of her neck. Within the cotton confines of her bra, her nipples hardened.

“Really?” she asked, stalling.

His breath was on her ear now. Why did that feel good?

“On my honor.”

His nose brushed against hers and she knew that their lips were only inches apart. If she wanted to, she could close the distance between them. In less than a second, they could be kissing and she knew that he wouldn’t stop there. Maybe Hale wouldn’t even take her back to his room.

Maybe he’d take her right there in the tunnel.

Maybe he’d take her against the wall.

“You don’t strike me as being very honorable.”

He gave a husky chuckle. “I’m not.”

His hands moved to her hips and in one, quick movement, he pulled her panties down past her knees. His strong hands jerked her legs apart. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t what he did next.

Hale’s head went between her legs and without preamble, he was devouring her.

The breath left her and something that sounded not unlike a sob burgeoned up from her chest. Hale had her clitoris in his mouth and he was sucking at it fiercely. She placed her hands on his head, bracing herself as her trembling legs threatened to give out.

There was a pattern to his assault, she quickly realized. He sucked hard, drawing her stiff bud into his mouth. Then he would tease her with his teeth, raking their blunt edges across her clit, biting down just hard enough to scare her—just hard enough to hurt—and then he’d stop and lightly lavish her with his tongue, as if to soothe her.

Then, he began all over again.

During the third time his teeth gripped her, she came, hard. The darkness gave way to starbursts of color as ecstasy washed over her.

The pleasure was cut short as she became intensely uncomfortable. Gathering her wits, she realized Hale hadn’t stopped eating her. Hypersensitive from climax, his ministrations now erred on the side of pain.

She panted his name out and tried to push his head back. Hale didn’t budge, and when she pushed him again, he
growled
. Her knees went completely boneless as his growl reverberated through her nether regions.

As if she hadn’t just climaxed, she was incredibly aroused all over again. The hands that had been pushing him away were now clenched in his hair, pulling him closer. Never taking his mouth from her, Hale pulled her panties all the way down and then maneuvered her useless legs until they were over his shoulder.

She could hardly believe what they were doing. Her back against the wall, she crossed her legs behind him, sitting on his shoulders as he ate her out.

The build-up to her second orgasm was agonizing. The build-up seemed to last forever and even when she finally reached her peak, she could only teeter on the edge. As if he somehow knew she was close, Hale abruptly slowed down, his tongue licking at her ever so gently.

She waited for him to begin sucking again, to start using his teeth again, but he wouldn’t. She bucked her hips against him to no avail.

He spoke, murmuring the words against her flesh. “What do you want?”

Taylor couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “I want to come.”

She felt gentle vibrations against her. Quiet laughter.

“You’re not coming again unless you’re in my bed.”

Her eyes widened. She’d forgotten all about the choice he’d given her. She tried to think straight. There were so many reasons she should say no, but her train of thought was being repeatedly derailed by Hale’s tongue.

“F-fine,” she capitulated. “Take me to your bed.”

Hale lit a candle, bathing his female in warm light. Seeing her body splayed out on his pallet of furs, her skin flushed with color and her breath coming out in pants, Hale felt a rush of masculine pride and a strong sense of possessiveness.

She fidgeted under his gaze.

“Do we need the light?” she asked, pulling one of the furs up to cover herself.

Hale set the candle down beside the pallet. He moved to lean over her, pulling the fur back to expose her body once more.

“I want to see you every time you come.”

She smiled at that. Hale liked her smile.

“Every time?”

He grinned, but didn’t respond. He was through with talking. The potent aroma of her arousal had his cock uncomfortably hard. Climaxing was no longer a desire, but rather a necessity.

Hale enjoyed kissing, something which few of his females knew. He liked how soft a female’s lips were, the interesting things they could do with their tongues, and how they would often moan into his mouth.

Kissing this female was different, he thought, as his mouth captured hers. She didn’t do any of the things he was used to. She allowed him to take complete control and seemed to be trying to keep up with him.

It should have bothered him that she wasn’t asserting herself, as passive females were always a turn-off to him. But she wasn’t being passive. It was as if she was learning what he liked and then giving it right back to him, moving in all the ways that best pleased him.

Hale’s hand gripped his cock as he settled his body between her legs. He ran the crown along the seam of her sex, hoping to tease her, but in the end he was only torturing himself. A groan escaped him as he felt how slick and wet she was. Wet for him.

He pressed the head of his cock against her entrance. Despite how wet she was, he couldn’t slip easily into her tight cleft. Pushing his hips forward, he sank into her slowly, savoring each and every inch.

So fucking tight.

When he was fully inside of her, Hale shuddered. It was better than he’d remembered. She was everything his brother had described to him. A little warmer and a little softer than the females of his own kind, but there was more to it than that. He wanted to remain that way, nestled deep inside her while he puzzled over this, but the urge to thrust quickly became unbearable.

She whimpered as he began to move, and Hale lost whatever composure he’d had left. Growling, he thrust into her hard, again, and then again, drawing more sounds from her.

Hale was aware that his growls had turned to words, but he wasn’t aware of what he was saying. He was consumed by the need to come, to release himself inside of her. So consumed that he hardly registered her own climax begin. He could feel her walls contracting around him, but it wasn’t until she screamed his name—
his fucking name
—that he completely lost it.

He came all at once, hot seed surging up and spurting into her. His climax had been abrupt, with very little build-up. As he came down from the height of his pleasure, Hale was almost disappointed. This sentiment was short-lived, as his cocked suddenly spasmed again, a fresh wave of pleasure rolling over him as he poured more seed into his mate.