Liana had wasted no time in calling Ellie and Elsie back. Since the triplet's car was still here, David had given them a ride but stopped in to talk to Beta Mark, probably to get the full story about what had happened. Eric, who had been tasked with protecting them, had dashed off on his own as soon as their father was out of ear shot. The three girls had decided to hang out in Liana’s room. She knew it was a mistake as soon as they arrived on the top floor. Her head started to pound again and the humming noise was nearly deafening.
“Maybe the library would be better,” she suggested quietly, “Jake is here.”“You can tell where he is already?” Ellie asked.“She can smell him you dolt.” said Elsie.“You’ve been reading historical fiction again Elsie, you’re cursing like an old man.” The girls bickered good-naturedly, completely forgetting about Lia’s preference for the library as they walked through the sitting room towards the bedrooms. Lia followed slowly behind, watching her feet and shuffling slowly along behind them, not liking how the hum got louder with every step. Would she be able to visit with her friends at all? She was so unaware of her surroundings that she bumped into Ellie and Elsie, knocking them to the floor.“SHHHH!” The girls hissed up at her, as though she were the one who had just crashed to the ground. They were frantically pointing ahead of them, so Lia looked up. There was Jake. Face down and butt naked. Literally. He was lying on the bed with his naked butt in the air for all to see. The humm seemed to vibrate faster and Lia felt her mouth run dry. The noise had to be her wolf purring. She definitely wanted to crawl up naked on that bed with him. Lia licked her lips and wrapped her arms around herself. Was this how if felt to be attracted to a mate? She really wasn’t sure she wanted to feel this way for life. It was horrible, achy, and nauseated with just a touch of tingling excitement. If her wolf would just shut up she might actually be able to enjoy Jake. He seemed kind and everyone in his pack spoke very highly of him. Sure, he was used to people doing exactly what he said, but if someone disagreed he was usually open to debate.“Geeze Lia, he’s hot,” Ellie whispered. Lia nodded. He really was well-built. His body was completely relaxed, but still, the shape of the muscles in his arms and back were visible.“You’re right, Lia, we should go to the library,” Elsie whispered, taking both Lia and Ellie by the elbow, “we don’t want to wake him. He has to be so tired to sleep through our crashing in on him as we did.”Back in the library, Lia sat on the floor with her head tipped back against the plush sofa. Here the hum was just enough to be annoying. If it would go away, she might be able to get rid of her headache.“You don’t look to be doing much better than he is Lia,” Elsie said, “Maybe you should go lie down too,”“I’m not sleepy at all, just tired,” Lai said, “it’s probably just stress. I’m sure I’d feel better if Gran would wake up, but right now I’m worried about her and can’t concentrate on anything. Plus, there have been some pretty big changes thrust into my life, which is quite a distraction. I can’t seem to study or get my assignments done properly, and if my grades fall I’ll lose the scholarships, which just adds to the worry and distraction. I need a way out of the vicious circle, and sleep doesn’t do anything for it.”Just then Mark came in. “Oh, you’re here,” he said, looking at Lia with the same scowl that he usually had when she was around. The brief moment on the lawn earlier was the only time he’d ever said anything remotely nice to her. Apparently, the moment was past. “Do you know where Jake is?”“Sleeping,” Ellie answered for her, “that’s why we’re down here, so we could talk without waking him.” Mark crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. Ellie looked away, nibbling her lip. “We all know sleep won’t fix what’s wrong with him,” Mark growled, “why pretend that it will?”“Well, then what is wrong with him?” Lia asked, her exasperation obvious.“His wolf is unhappy,” David answered quickly, “It can be very hard on a werewolf when their wolf is hurting.”“What’s wrong with his wolf?”“Nothing.”She crossed her arms and scowled up at him.“His wolf knows you’re rejecting them,” Elsie said in her whispery voice. “You’re here, near him all the time, but your not, you know?”“She means you aren’t really spending time with him or getting to know him. Actually mostly you make a point of avoiding him. Jake told you you could take your time, and you are, which is fine with Jake but not with his wolf. He’s giving you the space you want, so he and his wolf are at odds and it’s a bit draining on them.”“I….I don’t understand.”“Jake wants the decision to be yours, but his wolf -”“Elsie, that’s enough!” David barked angrily at his daughter. “Jake said to leave it be.”“Well really dad, it isn’t like she’d know. All of us would just know, she wasn’t taught about werewolf relationships so she can’t know what’s going on unless someone tells her.”“It isn’t our place to tell her.”“Well somebody has to! She’s too worried and distracted to be reading about it right now and it isn’t fair to either of them to keep her in the dark.”Suddenly, Lia found herself lifted off the ground and swung around, then flung upside down over someone’s shoulder.“Mark!” David yelled.“She can heal him, David,” Mark shot back as he began walking across the room to the door. “He healed her from that poison, the least she can do is keep him strong until she’s made her choice. You know how this works. She doesn't have to make any sort of commitment, she just has to have contact and let their wolves mingle a bit. If she wants to refuse him after she’s scented him, the goddess with heal him, until then it’s up to her. I had no idea that nobody had told her what she was doing to him. I thought she was just being an asshole because she was raised human and that’s how they are.”Lia’s stomach bounced painfully on Mark’s shoulders as he took the stairs two at a time. She had so many questions, but couldn’t catch a breath to voice a single one of them. The buzzing in her head was growing louder too, which was only making her feel even more nauseous. By the time Mark flipped her upright and deposited her on her feet in Jake’s living room she couldn’t stand. The room swirled before her eyes and her vision grew dark around the edges. Mark cursed and reached out to catch her, but completely missed and she crumpled into a heap on the floor, one arm pressed to her middle, the other covering her ear in a vain attempt to silence the noise coming from within.Jake surged up up out of his armchair and lunged at Mark, deciding at the last minute to drop to the floor beside Lia. Or maybe he hadn’t had a choice. He had woken up, got dressed, walked the short distance to the sitting room and dropped into his favourite armchair. Since then he hadn’t had the energy to move. Even the knowledge that he needed to find the Highlander Beta or risk offending the pack hadn’t been enough motivation to get him to his feet! But the anger that surged through time at the sight of his mate in agony on the floor had given him more strength than he’d had all week. He’d intended to pummel his Beta and was somewhat surprised to find himself on his knees less than a foot from Lia. He wasn’t sure if it had been a subconscious decision, something his wolf had chosen, or his energy starved muscles had simply given out beneath him. “What the devil did you do to her!”“No idea.” Mark said. Jake scowled up at him. “I don’t know Jake! She was fine a moment ago. Elsie poin
Jake woke slowly, the inside of his eyelids bright red with the heat of the sun on his face. Turning away from the sunlight that was streaming through the window, he cracked his eyes open to look around. His mind was groggy for a moment and he couldn’t quite remember why he was sleeping on the floor. The smell of mint and fresh roses had a contented smile spreading on his face before he even registered the weight of Liana’s head on his shoulder. She sighed sleepily and snuggled in close to his side. Jake brought his arms up to hold her to him more securely just as he heard the door to the Alpha level crack open. A picture of a breakfast tray flashed into his mind through the link and he replied accepting it. Zinna walked in shyly, her eyes down, her bare feet making little noise as she walked the tray over to the table, put it down softly, and turned to leave without even glancing at the pair.“Thank you Zinnia,” he said softly. He loathed to wake Liana and lose this contact, but hot
Lia looked cautiously up. She let her eyes travel over the floor until she saw his feet. How was every part of him so beautiful? Even his feet! She licked her lips subconsciously as her eyes traveled up his legs, feeling oddly disappointed that he’d left so much of himself covered. Goodness. She really wanted to be in a room alone with a naked man that she barely knew? A flush of heat washed over her and she knew she was as red and warm as a freshly washed r****h. Lia swallowed hard and kept her eyes moving past the mass of denim on his lap, up his abs, and the soft smattering of red and brown hair on his muscular chest. When her eyes finally met his she could see so much passion in their brown depths! Heat pooled between her legs and she noticed his nostrils flare a bit. Somehow she knew that he was aware of how seeing his body had affected her. “how…?”“Your pulse sped up and your body heated, which makes your scent stronger.”“oh.”“and you got damper between your legs, that has a v
The door closed and Jake lay still on top of her, resting his muzzle against her neck, his chest panting. Slowly she felt the shape of him changing. The soft, silky feel of his fur was replaced by warm skin as his bare chest met hers for the first time. He kissed her neck and then spoke softly with his lips brushing her ear lobe. “My wolf can mind link with yours. You heard him speak, even though he was really only speaking to me. Then he warned your wolf we were going to bark, and she got you to cover your ears. Soon you and I will be able to communicate that way anytime we want to.” He sat, pulling her onto his lap. The size of his erection against her hip made Lia tense. “You’ve never had a human boyfriend either.” It was a statement, not really a question, but Lia answered anyways.“Well, yes I have. But he knew I wasn’t going to be intimate with him unless our relationship got more serious, which it never did. We were just friends who liked hanging out together and we started hol
A mental image of three very large wolves standing in the entrance hall was the first alert Jake had of strangers on his land. He was not impressed. There would be consequences to whoever had neglected their post. The snarl hadn’t even left his throat before Mark, Dylan and a few other men leaped from the table, shifting to wolf as they went, their clothes torn to shreds before their paws hit the floor. The next mental message was sent to every werewolf in the pack but was not a pack link. The wolves all lay down on the floor, their necks bent in submission. The werewolves who were still in human form all knelt down facing the door and bowed their heads. Jake caught Lia’s hand and gave her a small tug and she knelt down too. He tried to share the idea of a Lycan royal family visit with her and hoped her wolf could get the message across. They really had to find a way to get more free-flowing communication. No sooner had Lia copied the others than the three large wolves and a tall-ro
The few remaining days before the Wolf moon had flown by. Selene was still unconscious, but the silver was removed from her blood. She had fully shifted to her wolf in the middle of her first night sleeping in the moonlight. Seeing a scruffy white wolf on the cot made everyone much more confident that she would heal well as soon as she got enough hours with the goddess. Every morning her coat seemed to have filled in some, which was a good sign. The lycan appeared to have left, but the guest houses still smelled recently used, so nobody in the pack was quite as comfortable as they would normally be. Jake had fallen back on his traditional pack party plans, omitting most of the birthday and mate announcement plans he’d been making. He really wanted to count on both Lia’s shift and their mating, but he understood Lia not wanting attention from a bunch of werewolves who were still mostly strangers to her, so he’d agreed to keep those things just between them for tonight. Knowing most of
Lia dove onto her bed and spun around, her knees bent up to hide her chest and her hands over her burning red cheeks. Had she really just done that? Had she really felt him up like that and then stripped naked? What had come over her? She heard Jake following her and buried her face behind her knees.A large hand wrapped around her ankle and tugged her leg out, hauling her to the end of the bed. She squealed, then burst out laughing as Jake ran his tongue up her leg. His shoulders stiffened and he stilled for a moment, cursing softly. “Come here Lia, our wolves need to have a chat before we do anything else.”“Why?”“’Cause yours is sending out messages when you have strong emotions or sensations. David doesn’t want any more glimpses of me licking your bare legs and apparently, he heard a couple of giggles from Ellie and Elsie’s room a few minutes ago so they’re probably seeing or feeling something too. Dylan also says that Zinnia just asked him some interesting questions about tingly
After sleeping most of the morning, Lia and Jake snacked, snuggled, and made love in their rooms. The activities on the lawn and in the house grew louder as everyone’s anticipation of the wolf moon grew. The new coupe hardly noticed the festivities, except once, mid afternoon, when the howling and cat calling from below the balcony had Jake reluctantly pulling Lia up from the bed.“Put on...something.” He grumbled as he waved around her room. “They’ve scented our pheromones now so they won’t leave us alone until I take you out and introduce you as my mate and Luna.”“Oh.” Lia’s face burned with embarrassment.“Yeah. Then I guess we better leave the doors open and put a fan on for a bit to push the scent out as much as possible, otherwise the little Rogues will be asking questions and the big ones will be distracted all through dinner.” A smile curved Jake’s lips as the heat of her blush made the scent of their lovemaking even stronger. She was definitely more easily embarrassed than an