The Lawyer's Mate (4 page)

He pressed a kiss to her right knee, slowly making his way up to the juncture at her thighs, his hands holding her hips in place and helping her keep her balance on the table.

She stared transfixed as he slowly closed her mouth over her, lapping at her clit. Wren moaned and now it was her turn to grip that table's edge. She wrapped her legs tightly around his shoulders, clutching him to her without her hands. Andy took it as encouragement, dipping that tiny bit lower and sinking his tongue into her, pushing in and out, in and out.

She urged him on, faster, giving mewls of pleasure and groaning with every thrust of his tongue.

She shuddered around him, the smallest tremor and a precursor of everything to come. Inspired by the pleasure he gave her, Andy pressed forward, moving his tongue all around her, getting into just the perfect rhythm until with a cry and a shudder she came all around him.

He pulled her down to the floor and Wren followed with no complaint, boneless from the pleasure.

Though the sight of his cock enervated her, and she found that the climax had only increased her hunger, increased her energy. She lay on the ground and he knelt between her splayed thighs, guiding himself right to the edge of her.

She could feel the tip tease the lips of her entrance. He met her eyes and asked, "Yes?"

Her hips bucked and she said, "Oh, God, yes."

He thrust in and they sat rooted for one eternal moment. Wren could feel something shift within her, some recognition that this was right, that it had always been what she was waiting for. And from the look in his eyes, bright yellow and full of wonder, Andy felt it too.

Overcome with abandon Andy thrust into her and Wren met him in a challenge. Every sound they made magnified a thousand fold to Wren's ears and each little thrust, each slick squish of their bodies pressing together catapulted her upward and upward, pussy drenched and straining to reach that peak.

She dug her fingers into Andy's back, holding him close but marking him with her nails. In this moment, for now, he was hers and he needed to know that.

As if waiting for the claim, her body exploded, and in response he thrust into her, emptying himself.

It was a long time before either of them could be bothered to move among the scattered papers and office supplies dotting her desk and the floor.

~-~

Andy went home that afternoon half-satisfied and half-confused. Everything had felt so perfect, so right with Wren back in her office. If he could change one thing it would only be to move them to a bed and give them a week alone together. But after they laid there for a few moments, completely spent, she sat up and started putting herself back to rights.

And what had she said to him? "We'll talk about the case later."

No mention of the mind blowing sex. No talk of the future, not even a thank you or a you're welcome. He had no idea where he stood with her now, was even more confused than he had been before. But now he knew exactly how good it could be. And he wasn't letting her go.

Ever.

Maybe it was about time to tell her about the mate thing. For all his want, if she didn't feel it too, and he was pretty sure that she did, he couldn't force it on her. Though he was somewhat iffy on what "it" entailed.

Once he sat safely in his small house in a residential neighborhood in the city, Andy called Max to request a meeting. Unfortunately, Max had set his voice mail to indicate that he would be out of town for the next several days and would only return calls when he got back. Andy left a message, giving Max the general details of the situation and asked him to call back as soon as possible.

Great, just great.

Andy paced the length of the central hallway of his house for several minutes, pent up excited energy bursting through him. This day had just offered surprise after surprise. There might actually be something to their case, Wren had sex with him, Wren might even like him. He should have been exhausted, instead he could not stand still.

He should shift. Andy hadn't done so in far too long and a good run as a wolf would serve to clear his head. Unfortunately he didn't have the convenience of the wilderness outside Max's house. If Andy were to run from his back yard, he would be lucky if one of his kindly neighbors didn't shoot him.

He headed off for a forest preserve about twenty miles away and parked his car in one of the visitor lots. Another car sat in the lot, but he didn't give it much concern. Hiking trails weaved in and out of the preserve and he knew to stay clear of them.

He took the trail into the woods and after checking to make sure no one stood within sight stepped off of it. While it would be easier to shift right there beside the trail, he padded deeper into the forest on two feet, breaking twigs and startling small animals as he clumsily made his way as a human.

After walking for nearly a mile he stopped. The trail remained far behind him and for many miles in each other direction he would be free of human contact. He closed his eyes and cleared out all of the thoughts from his head. This process took longer than usual, Wren's face appearing each time he thought he had a grasp on his new shape. He could not get himself to a clear shift and took a new tack. He focused on Wren's wolf, what she had looked like the few times he'd seen her shifted. She wore her golden fur proudly and padded through the forest as if she owned it. Some of his packmates feared her wrath, but he could she the playfulness she tried to hide.

Andy felt the shift take hold and landed on four paws, now his normal gray wolf. He took off on one of his familiar paths, testing the scents in the air and on the ground looking for something to give him chase. Anything to help him burn off this fire roiling within him.

He sped up, sprinting and hopping of felled logs, chasing one terrified squirrel and ambling about until he froze, a disarmingly familiar scent trickling by on the wind.

He followed it, ignoring a deer sprinting away in the distance and a rabbit that hopped right in front of his path. This was not a chase, no, he did not want his quarry to run. Instead he stalked, keeping his scent hidden and his paws quiet. But no matter how he moved, he couldn't see her.

Ready to give up, he turned around. And that was when he tumbled over, hit from the side by the force of another wolf. A beautiful golden wolf who nipped at him and urged him back up.

The human part of Andy grinned at her appearance, and he huffed out a breath of approval at her hunting skill. Few wolves could get the drop on him.

Once he stood again she took off down the path he had beaten following her trail. He ran after her, quickly losing sight as she darted away under a tree and down some track he could not see.

But now he knew she was there, he weeded her out after some time, running around, leaving false trails and doubling back when she tried to cover her scent and trick him once more.

They would have kept running all night if it were not for the bear markings they spotted on some of the trees. Andy and Wren ran together back to the edge of the forest, shifting back to their human forms before walking to their cars. The car that had been there when Andy arrived was long gone leaving only Andy and Wren's cars in the lot.

Wren took a step towards her car, but Andy grabbed her arm and pulled her close, burying his face in her neck, breathing in the now human scent of her. He hadn't realized how scared he was when they saw those bears markings. Emotions felt less complex as a wolf. As a human he knew they could have run into trouble at any moment and he may have never gotten to hold her like this again.

After a moment, Wren wrapped her arms around him as well, her body relaxing in his grip.

He placed a small kiss on her neck, smiling into her when she didn't stiffen or shy away from his touch. "Do you feel it too?" He asked, hoping she understood what was so difficult to explain.

"I feel something." She ran a hand up and down the length of his spine, her fingers trailing over each vertebra. "Every time I look at you, or hear you, or think of you, I feel something."

"We're mates." He didn't mean to declare it like that, especially not so soon. But standing all wrapped up like this, the rightness of the moment settled over him. Wren was his mate, and she had to know that.

But at his statement, Wren pulled back, a look of confusion, fear, and maybe something like hope dancing on her face. "I don't--It's not...I need to think." She pulled out of his grip and strode to her car. As silly as it was, Andy felt a thrill of hope.

She looked back at him before she drove away.

~-~

Wren tried to process what Andy told her on her drive home from the forest preserve. She had plenty of time to think. She had heard the term mate bandied about within the pack. Max and Kelly were mates, had just mated in fact. A few other couples used the term. At first she had thought it just meant that they were in a committed relationship. But it obviously meant more.

And Andy said she was his.

It should have scared her, this primal call. Instead excitement thrilled through her. But on the tails of that excitement hung tired and cautious logic. Why should Andy want her, was this all just chemical? Would they grow tired of each other once it all faded away? Was it even worth it to try?

Why did he have to throw this mate crap on her when she was only just starting to handle the attraction? She thought they could go slow, maybe, work up to the emotions that came with relationships. That's how she had always done it at home, and it had always worked that way. She could list a dozen guys who wouldn't complain.

Though maybe a relationship resume should not be judged by variety.

She pushed that thought aside. She knew how to do relationships, she just didn't know how to dive into the middle of one before it had even begun.

Wren pulled into the driveway in front of her house and walked up to her door. She could see that the light in her kitchen burned brightly. She couldn't remember leaving it on before leaving the house this morning, but she had been so out of sorts with everything that it was completely possible she had.

She unlocked the door and immediately knew something was wrong.

Her mother sat primly on her couch, typing away at something on her tablet computer.

Wren wanted to rear back, slam the door, and run away. Back to Andy, back to work, straight to Canada, anything would be better that being in the same room with Marion Longwood. But running away would not solve this problem. Or any other problem she had, some recess of her mind whispered.

Wren set her bag down on the kitchen counter and slid her suit jacket off, placing it on the back of one of the chairs. Marion watched her and sniffed in disapproval when Wren did not hang the coat. Wren found she didn't care.

"What are you doing here, mother?" It was no use to ask her how she had gotten inside the apartment, she would only smile enigmatically and say that she had her ways.

Marion Longwood was a beautiful woman of sixty and scrupulously did not look a day over forty-seven. Her long dark brown hair was tied loosely at the name of her neck, contrasting with her pale skin. Anyone who saw the two women in the room together would instantly know they shared blood. Marion wore expertly applied makeup that accentuated all of her best features and hid her worst. Though she would never admit to anyone but a trained professional that any of her features were less than perfect.

She ruled over the Longwood family with an iron fist and until a few months ago Wren had both feared and respected her as a mother and a god. Now she just saw someone clearly not worth her time.

"It is time for you to come home," Marion declared. She never did anything so simple as state things.

So whatever waited at home must be serious if she warranted both a call from her brother and an in the flesh visit from Mother. And while Wren missed New York, she found she couldn't quite remember why she had been desperate to go home not that long ago. But thirty-three years of conditioning did not disappear in a few months. She sat down as her mother motioned her to do so and was barely able to pop out, "Why?"

Marion sighed and rolled her eyes, Wren's question tantamount to a tantrum. "The family has come to a decision about your...condition." She made it sound like Wren had leprosy, or something much worse. "After some careful research it has been determined that you will not be nearly as harmful as we feared, and we have found a way to manage your monthly outbursts. I have arranged a place with you at headquarters."

Wren could have let out an outburst of laughter then. What did they want to do? Sedate her during the full moon and lock her in some closet. She didn't ask, concerned she was far closer to the truth than she wanted to be. "I hate corporate law," Wren said, she didn't know what else to argue.

But her mother shook her head, "No, you won't be working with our legal department. We have some research where you will be incredibly helpful."

Her own mother wanted to use her as a lab rat. Wren sprang from her seat and pointed at the door. "I'm not going to New York, stop calling, and never come here again."

Marion remained sitting and just
looked
at Wren. Wren wanted to shrivel where she stood, but stayed still. "If you do not come home now, you will never be invited back."