The Wolf’s Whisper: The Complete Series

14. Emily

H ey, you called?

I blinked blearily and looked down at my phone, realizing that somehow I’d gotten carried away with my research, and it was already well past two in the morning. Wow, when did that happen?

It was Jessica, finally getting back to me after several hours. Oh, well. I supposed I couldn’t be all that upset with her, considering she had her own life and plenty on her plate. I picked up my phone and typed a reply.

Yeah, I’m fine now. Got stranded.

You okay?

Yeah, all good.

kk. see ya later

That was that. Groaning, I closed my laptop and set it to the side. My knees were not happy with me for sitting cross-legged for so long.

But as I stretched them out, I checked to see if Gavin had messaged me.

No, there was nothing there.

Was I surprised? No, not really. He’d looked really steamed. But I was still sad about it. Maybe after a good night’s sleep for both of us, we’d be able to talk and I could explain myself. Find the magic words to make every stupid thing I’d done just vanish.

But unfortunately, real life didn’t work like that. Much to my chagrin. I was going to have to deal with the consequences of my own actions.

Not today, though. Tomorrow.

When enough blood flow had finally returned to my legs, I headed for the bathroom and went through the rest of my nightly routine. It was a little bit of normalcy during what’d been a very strange day, and it helped settle me down a little.

Still, my mind was full of all the truly crazy things I’d read about werewolves for the past several hours: men being taken over by a demonic spirit that had the form of a wolf, only breakable by a loved one saying their Christian name. That it was a disease, like leprosy, and even sounded like it : lycanthropy. I was sure, however, that it wouldn’t be appearing in any of my medical books.

The list went on and on. Silver bullets could kill them, which certainly seemed plausible given how violent of a reaction I’d had to a simple bracelet. They were cursed, and only the witch who’d bespelled them could break it. The full moon forced shifts and turned them into mindless animals.

It was a lot , and honestly, it mostly seemed like bullshit. But at least some of it had to be true, if Caleb was to be believed. Perhaps it was my own desire to excuse myself for kissing him, but what he’d said made so much sense, even if it shouldn’t.

Sighing to myself—an interesting thing to do with toothpaste in my mouth—I finished up and headed to bed. As I slipped under the covers, I set my alarm for the morning class that was going to come all too soon and let myself slip into slumber.

I was hungry.

So. Fucking. Hungry.

It wasn’t for food, though. No, the ravenous, unending pit inside of me wanted something else. Something visceral.

But what?

As if to answer me, I felt a touch on my shoulder. Normally, that would be something that would freak me out. But this touch was gentle. Welcome. Everything I wanted and a promise of so much more.

I melted into it, feeling goosebumps rise along my skin and spread out in a wave. Then that hunger exploded exponentially, threatening to consume me if I didn’t feed it with what it wanted.

What it wanted was more.

It was gentle at first, then he applied more pressure as it trailed down my arm, blazing a path that I swore glowed gold in the…

Where was I? I supposed that mattered, but my whole mind was occupied with whoever was breathing hot air against the back of my neck. It should have been unpleasant, but it wasn’t at all. No, it was a delicious promise of sin and desire.

Fuck, I was so turned on, which was new to me. I’d been tempted and felt sexual attraction before, or at least I thought I had, but at the moment, all of that seemed to pale in comparison.

Because I was on fire, and there was nothing I wanted more than to be completely consumed by it, lit up across every cell until there was nothing left but pleasure and unrepentant ash.

“Emily.”

Oh, that voice, low yet layered with honey, rumbling through my mind like the filthiest promise. I shivered and pressed harder into the rough, callused hand trailing my collarbone.

Technically, there wasn’t a single sexual thing about the glancing caress. It was just on my shoulders and decolletage, after all, but it still felt like the purest sin.

“Look at me.”

At that, I was gently turned and found myself staring into the deep, umber eyes of none other than…

Caleb?!

There was a side of my mind that scoffed. Of course it was Caleb! That voice, that scent, that rumble could never come from Gavin. He was still so clearly a young man finding himself, while Caleb was all rough edges and experience.

“What are you ? —”

His finger rested over my lips ever so gently, halting my half-hearted protests. “No questions right now. Just trust yourself and feel.”

Oh, I could do that.

I reached out and touched him, too, and a funny thing happened as I did. When I looked at him, only his face stood out, those strong cheekbones of his, the intense stare that so often left me feeling both intimidated and interested. But as my hand cupped his chin, his incredibly warm jaw, his stubble rasping against my soft skin, his neck slowly rolled into existence, like a painting being rendered in real time.

I followed the trail of flesh being created right in front of me, marveling at the way his muscles jumped under his skin. He was just so... powerful, so masculine. I’d never really cared for such things before, but it quickly seemed like the most important factor in my entire life.

From his neck to his broad, chiseled shoulders, my fingers traipsed along those firm lines, and I breathed in deep to drench myself in his scent. Somehow, it was even better than before: thick, heady, and entirely unique to him.

“I want you,” he murmured.

A small voice in the back of my head said that he couldn’t have me, that I was already taken. However, that voice was quickly drowned out by the deluge of unchecked arousal flooding me.

“I want you, too,” I said, none of my fear and none of my anxiety able to even touch me. I was well aware that everything that was happening didn’t make sense, but I was so caught up in it that I didn’t care. I had better things to worry about.

Like the way his firm pectorals felt against my palms, or the way his fingers could span my entire hand. I wasn’t exactly a petite woman, yet his palm and fingers were so broad that I felt smaller.

Just... touch. Something so simple, so intrinsic to the human experience, yet I was already drunk off it. My thoughts were slow and hazy, and all I was aware of was that I felt good. So fucking good.

Caleb leaned in, his arms sneaking around as he pulled me flush against him. I didn’t even bother to stop the gasp that escaped my mouth. Was I in heaven? It felt like it, but at the same time, I was so overtaken by the deliciously wicked need growing between my legs. That didn’t seem angelic at all.

“I’m going to take you,” Caleb rumbled one more time, his voice so low that it was barely audible to my ears. Still, I heard every single word as if they were coming from my own mouth, and perhaps they were.

Was this what I’d wanted the whole time? To be taken and ravished?

I couldn’t bring myself to care about the moral propriety of this situation. The only thing I was concerned with was just being in the moment, letting the instincts I’d suppressed for so long finally do their thing.

This time, it was Caleb who kissed me. His lips were just as soft as I remembered, but it was much less hurried, a slow and steady press of meticulous domination that I didn’t feel belittled by or threatened over. No, I let myself succumb to it, sliding easily into a complete and total trust.

God, was it amazing.

It was nothing like anything else I’d felt in my life. Even kissing Caleb in the alley hadn’t compared; that’d been born out of overwhelmed panic and inexplicable attraction. This kiss only had one reason for existing, and it was that we both wanted it.

Our lips moved against each other, tongue sliding, teeth nipping. Everything went all hazy again, the details getting lost in the sheer rush of passion consuming every part of my brain. I’d never known it was possible to feel so good from just making out.

As Caleb drew me closer to him, his strong arms like the most welcoming iron bars, I realized we were both naked. Any other time, I’d have flushed pink. I’d worked hard on loving and accepting myself, but I still had plenty of insecurities about my body. It was one of the reasons I was so reluctant to take that final leap with Gavin. The idea of him seeing me completely bare and jiggling around always seemed to push me towards relapsing on my eating disorder.

But I didn’t feel anything like that with Caleb in front of me. I wasn’t scared. I felt natural, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and whenever Caleb’s dark eyes looked at me, I felt utterly worshipped.

So I didn’t hide myself. Instead, I just pressed myself more firmly to him, my hands gripping him like a lifeline, because I knew I could trust him. He’d scared me plenty, and I was certain that he was a criminal, but for some strange reason, in this moment, that didn’t matter.

Nor did it matter when he picked me up, and a surprised laugh escaped my mouth as my legs wrapped around his waist. Already, I could feel how wet I was. Self-consciousness flared up inside.

As if he could read my mind, Caleb pressed several kisses all over my face. “No, no, none of that,” he murmured, voice honey and camphor, sweet and smoky, all blended together in the ultimate soothing panacea. “You’re beautiful. You’re perfect.”

Hardly, but I was in no position to argue as he’d set me down on a bed so carefully that I hadn’t even noticed until he was kneeling between my legs.

Despite the confidence I felt just moments earlier, I flushed now. I felt it starting at my face and quickly working down my body, no doubt making my pale skin turn bright pink. Normally, I didn’t mind that I was an easy blusher, but it was hard not to feel embarrassed in front of a chiseled god like Caleb, especially since he was face-level with my stomach.

Still, he didn’t look at it as something to be disgusted by or even something to hide. No, the way his amber gaze roved over me made me feel like the most beautiful woman on earth, like I was Aphrodite herself, born of the ocean. Beauty wasn’t my defining trait or the decider of my worth to the world, but holy shit, it was nice to feel so exquisite.

“I’m hungry,” Caleb said, and the expression on his face told me he wasn’t lying. He looked like he wanted to devour me whole, just gobble me up until nothing was left. As if to prove his point, those large, calloused hands of his rested on my knees, his warm thumbs rubbing in tender circles.

I had absolutely no idea where I got the gall, the gumption, but I spread my legs and gave him the most coquettish look I could muster.

“Then eat.”

Oh. My. God.

I’d never been so brave, so ballsy in my entire life. I expected the shame and the guilt to flood in, but they never did. There was only the most excruciating anticipation as I waited to see just what kind of hungry man Caleb was.

Apparently, he was ravenous. From the moment he lowered his head between my legs, his tongue moving against me, it was like I was catapulted into an entirely different hemisphere. Up, down, right, left: all of that ceased to exist as I rode out the pleasure he was so easily able to pull out of me. Fuck, no wonder my friends bragged whenever their partner knew how to eat a girl out right.

Truly, there was nothing else like it. It wasn’t like my fingers. It wasn’t even like the little vibrator I’d ordered for myself online. It was just so... intimate in a way I’d never imagined.

I looked down, wanting to watch what he was doing to me, because there was no way I could describe it. But when I did, it was like the entire area was blurred out.

Wait, what the fuck?

I rubbed my eyes and looked again, only for black censor bars to appear like we were in a racy movie cut for TV.

Once more, my world had gone back to making absolutely no sense.

“C-c-Caleb?” I hardly dared to speak. The pleasure was gone, and I was left with just utter confusion.

But then the man between my legs looked up, and he wasn’t Caleb at all. Instead, I was looking into the blue eyes and slender face of my boyfriend.

“That’s not my name,” he said.

“Gavin!” I cried, scurrying up and away from him. “I ? —”

I never finished what I was going to say, because I toppled right out of the bed, slamming into the ground. It hurt—oh boy, did it hurt—and dreams weren’t supposed to be painful, but then I blinked again and realized I was awake. I’d fallen off my real bed in my real dorm, still staring up at the annoying popcorn ceiling.

“No…” I groaned to myself because that was about all my brain could come up with. My lower half was desperately eager to go back to the dream, to finish what I’d never been able to experience before, but my upper half was mostly interested in getting up off the floor, especially given the uncomfortable, shoulder-first position I’d gotten into.

With a huff, a puff, and a curse or two, I managed to pull myself away from the bed enough to roll on my side, push myself onto my knees, then begrudgingly clamber up onto my bed, where I flopped back down with some additional, angry huffs.

But as I lay there, I couldn’t avoid thinking about what’d happened. I’d just had a sex dream about someone who was decidedly not my boyfriend, and I’d been very, very enthusiastic about it.

I knew that technically, I couldn’t help what my subconscious did while I was asleep, and that it wasn’t unusual to have erotic dreams about people who’d recently played a significant role in stressful, happy, or awful situations in someone’s life. It just didn’t make me feel any better.

Then again, kissing Caleb wasn’t a mere dream.

Groaning to myself, I dropped my head into my hands only to realize that my face was so incredibly sweaty. Geez, was the fever back? I was having a rough enough time of it as it was. I really didn’t need to be unbearably hot on top of everything else.

It was what I deserved for being such a shit girlfriend. What kind of partner made their boyfriend wait for over a year and then start having sex dreams about a stranger? A possibly dangerous stranger?

I wasn’t going to get anywhere chasing myself in circles, so with a sigh, I got myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a cool shower. If I was going to be a clammy, overheated mess, I at least wanted to smell nice.