Fearless (The Willowdale Village Collection #2)

7. Lena Graves

CHAPTER 7

LENA GRAVES

I shouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. I knew that.

But my nerves got the better of me as I finished up a quick shower and quietly got dressed. Ari’s apartment was a one-bedroom, a cozy, clean space that I hadn’t been to very often, and he was currently splayed out on the bed, sleeping peacefully. The only way I’d gotten out of his arms was by telling him I had to go pee.

My heart tightened as I ran a hand over my mating mark. Last night had fundamentally changed a lot. It had felt so natural between us, confirming the intensity of feelings that had grown for him over the past few years.

After bringing me to his apartment, he showered me with affection while we cuddled and watched movies—apologizing for taking me so hard in a quiet, rough voice against my neck. I had a feeling he hadn’t realized I was a virgin because he alluded to Macon and I from that morning, but Ari had still taken me without holding back…and I loved that. I loved him.

It had been the perfect night, but in the light of day I found myself nervous to face reality.

So I quietly got ready, brushing my teeth with a spare toothbrush he had in packaging before leaving through the front door. I would send him a text about how much last night meant to me when I got home—that was a good idea, right? Had I always been this flighty?

I felt like a chicken-shit; I wouldn’t lie.

Walking through the streets of Willowdale, I watched many of the shop owners opening up for the day. I felt almost high—on cloud nine—from the previous night. But when I saw my bakery, I frowned. There was no cop car out front. Were the three of them still over by the pack lands? Maybe I would grab Colette and stop by—she probably wanted to see her mates anyway.

As I entered the back entrance to my apartment, humming under my breath, I paused when I found Liam waiting for me on the stairs.

My body heated under his gaze, his eyes taking in the mating mark on my throat. Worry and guilt pooled in my stomach as he stood and walked toward me. Instantly, I was backing up against the wall, my breath catching.

“You never came home last night,” he growled, his lips skating over mine while leaning into me.

“I didn’t,” I admitted breathlessly. “I was with Ari.”

A dangerous, almost lethal noise left Liam as he captured my jaw, his other hand running over my waist before tightening to bruising. “And what were you doing with Ari, Graves?”

His use of my last name made my body explode with need, which frustrated me to no end. It was like I couldn’t control my own body. The fire that was rushing through me could be temporarily put out but not extinguished. It was so volatile and intense, feeding off of my emotions and affection for these men, trying to force my hand.

Trying to force me to be fearless, to take what I wanted.

“I think you know,” I whimpered as his gaze ran over my neck once more and a snarl left his lips. “Liam?—”

In a fast movement, he had me in his arms and was stalking up the stairs to my apartment. I frantically searched for Colette, but a quick look told me she wasn’t there. I had to guess she had gone out to explore, which I was thankful for. Liam and I obviously needed a moment alone right now.

“We need to talk,” I said, defeated. He obviously didn’t approve of my actions, and now my fears were coming true. I’d chosen one of them—I’d chosen Ari—and now I was losing Liam.

“Oh no.” He chuckled, although he was far from amused. “The time for talking is over. You let Ari mark you.”

I opened my mouth to explain but was stopped in my tracks when he suddenly dropped me on my bed, tugging off each of my shoes. I moved back, wondering what he was doing as he left me to close the door. Then he turned and stalked toward me, causing my heart to surge.

I let out a small screech when he tugged my ankle forward and I fell back, my body spread out for him. My leggings and oversized shirt weren’t enough to cover the way my nipples hardened at his gaze, and I wondered if he could scent how turned on I was since I wasn’t wearing any panties.

“What do you mean?” I demanded of him, breathlessly. “That the time for talking is over?”

I still had a million and ten questions.

“I mean that you’ve let Connery, Macon, and Ari taste you in more ways than one. You let them make you come. You’ve let them mark you and come inside of you. You’ve made your decision, Lena,” he said knowingly, his gaze moving down to my throat.

“I…I didn’t plan any of this. I don’t regret it, but my mating heat is going on?—”

Liam slammed his lips against mine and I moaned against them, his kiss deep and slow as if he were savoring the taste. I allowed myself to sink into it, enjoying a kiss that I’d wanted for so damn long, and when he suddenly pulled back I felt disappointed.

“I can look past the fact that you’ve allowed every single one of them to touch you before me, but what I can’t look past is not telling me where the hell you’re going to be. You can’t just not come home.”

Understanding dawned within me. Liam wasn’t mad at me being with the others…he was mad about not knowing where I’d been. Shit. I should have at least texted. After all, this was the man who’d forcibly installed a security system on my business and home. All he had ever asked of me was to be safe, and then I hadn’t messaged him, and Ari clearly hadn’t either. Shit .

Liam’s voice was rough as he let out a deep rumble from his chest. “For that, you’ll be punished.”

In a second flat, I was flipped onto my stomach and his hands tore down my leggings to expose my bare ass. I whimpered as he caught one of my legs and pulled so that I was flat, Liam moving between my legs. I knew he could see how wet I was, his fingers moving over my ass and then barely brushing my pussy, a tremble working its way through me.

“Liam!”

“You like the idea of me punishing you?” he asked, the answer seemingly important to him.

“I don’t think I should be punished,” I growled.

“That doesn’t answer the question.” He chuckled, the sound soft and dangerous. “Grip your headboard and do not let fucking go.”

Whimpering, I eagerly followed his instructions as he ran his fingers over my skin in a caress?—

Smack.

The sound was clear and sharp as a sting went across my ass. I cried out, gripping the headboard harder, as I tried to move away. Liam’s hand tightened on my leg. “Do not fucking move.”

“That hurt.”

“What hurt was when you didn’t let me know where the hell you were. I was left wondering all fucking night where you were while I was stuck in the pack lands. No calls, no notifications from your security system, not one text,” he said. “ That’s what hurt.”

Another smack came across my ass and I moaned in distress, putting my head down against the sheets and rocking my ass up. As much as the sting hurt, that wasn’t what bothered me. No, it was the very obvious fact that I was getting turned on by it. Something Liam noticed after the third smack .

“You do like this,” he said in satisfaction and approval, lightly running his fingers over my center. I could feel Liam move so that he was over me, his fingers moving more solidly against my center while gathering my wet heat. When I looked back at him, I watched as he popped his fingers into his mouth and let out a groan.

“You taste like fucking heaven,” he groaned, the vibration running through my body. Smack. I cried out in frustration this time as I shot him a dirty look.

“Liam, I get being upset?—”

“Concerned. Worried. Upset.” He growled as I moaned, two fingers sinking inside of me. “All good fucking words for how I felt, Lena. Creator, you are so tight and hot.”

I scowled. “Stop teasing me.”

I may have been confused mentally and emotionally, but there was absolutely nothing that confused my body about this situation. These men had awakened something in me, and there was no ignoring it.

“Like you tease me? Every single fucking day since I met you?” he demanded.

“You tried to arrest me when I met you!” I bit out, another smack on my ass causing an embarrassing moan to leave me.

“Damn right I did, but that was only to stop me from bending your sweet ass over the front of my patrol car and fucking you so hard you saw stars,” he said sharply, adding another finger. “Are you sore?”

The last question was asked with concern and gave me whiplash so that I felt momentarily dazed. “No…I mean, not really.” My mating heat wouldn’t allow for that.

“Good,” he growled, continuing to pump in and out of me. “I want you so worked up that you come around my fingers, Lena, and then I’m going to lick up every single drop of it. Especially knowing it’s because you’re getting off on me spanking you.”

“Who says it’s that?” I whimpered. “Maybe it’s just because I think you’re hot.”

Another smack , and he chuckled knowingly as I tightened around his fingers. Before I could stop myself, I was pushing further back against his hand and fucking myself with his thick fingers. I tossed my head back and allowed myself to enjoy it fully, even the smack against my ass. I knew Liam was mad, but the man was bringing me so much pleasure that it was hard to view it as anything but a means to that end.

My skin flushed with heat, and I suddenly came around his fingers— hard —a moan of his name slipping from my lips.

I melted into the mattress, ass up, when I suddenly felt his cock run over my slit. I tried to adjust myself, but the man stopped me with a hand on my neck. “No, you stay right there, Lena. You’re going to take my cock, just like I want. You understand?”

“Yes.” I shivered in excitement. “I want that.”

Liam impaled me in one hard stroke, a loud moan leaving me as I shuddered around him in relief.

“Fuck,” he rumbled, tightening his hand on me. “You like that?”

All I could do was moan again, desperately needing him to move. His voice was rough and almost pained as he continued, “Of course you fucking do. You walk around teasing the four of us every damn day. I bet this entire time you’ve just been wanting to get fucked. For one of us to take away the choice and instead take what we want.”

Liam wasn’t wrong, and I whimpered as he began to stroke in and out of me. His physical dominance over me made every prey instinct inside of me come alive. I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to, though. His hold on me was completely unyielding, and the way he was taking me was wild and primal.

“You’re a fucking tease,” he said sharply. “You’ve been a tease since the start, a complete brat, and I’m done not taking what I want.”

“Liam, you feel so good. Please keep going,” I moaned, spreading my legs further so he could move deeper.

“I bet I fucking do. And you’re taking me so fucking well,” he growled, tightening his hands in my hair. “You’re just so fucking needy for it. You walk around with this perfect fucking body, asking to be bent over. I can smell that you’re in heat, that you want to be fucked. That you want to be bred. You can’t help but put your ass up and ask for it.”

Oh shit. His pace grew more demanding and harder as I tightened around him, my clit pulsing at him using me like this. “You’re going to take all of my cum, aren’t you? I want to hear you beg for it like a good girl. If they get to fill you up with come, you better believe I will.”

“Please!” My voice was almost raw from screaming at the hard pace he was setting, his erotic words making the experience that much more surreal.

The bed thumped against the wall, and I found myself almost dizzy from the intensity of it. From the pure need rolling over me. Liam was something completely uncontrollable, like a damn storm. His pace was so intense, so deep, and I could only take it, his weight making it impossible for me to do anything else.

“Beg. More.” Each word was punctuated as I cried out his name.

“Please—” I gasped. “Please, Liam, come inside of me.”

He groaned. “Of course I will. Can’t leave you empty, need to fill you up—fuck, Lena.”

My body detonated around him as I cried out, his teeth slicing through my skin on the opposite side of my throat as he bottomed out, hard—white hot pleasure and pain rolling over me. My legs split further apart, and I groaned in relief at the feeling of him filling me with his cum.

I melted against the bed as he released my neck, pulling out and turning me on my back before sliding back in. He let out a low rumble, examining my expression with so much affection and dark possession that it leveled me.

“Beautiful. You are so fucking beautiful,” he breathed out, eyes lingering on my neck. “Come on.”

When he slid out of me, picking me up and carrying me to the shower, I simply stared at him in dazed astonishment. After everything that had happened between us just now and the way he had talked to me…I just hadn’t expected such a drastic difference. Yet for the next thirty minutes, he slowly washed every inch of my body.

“You need to make a decision, Lena,” he said softly after giving me a sweet kiss.

My body tensed. “I thought you said you were done waiting for me to?—”

Liam’s eyes darkened as he interrupted, “Your body is different than your heart.”

With that, he turned off the water and helped me into a towel. My brows dipped as I considered his words.

I already knew where my heart stood with all of them. The only question was—was I fearless enough to tell them?