Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
B illy
I wake with Aubrey’s nutmeg and honey scent curling into my nostrils. I draw it in, finding it deeply soothing, like I’m in the right place.
Wait–where am I? Aubrey and I don’t sleep together. We have sex, and I leave.
I force my eyelids–heavy with grit–open and look around. I’m in Aubrey’s cabana. She’s curled beside me, her myriad of braids sprawled across the pillow. The pink diamond nose ring looks delicate and beautiful in her nostril.
That, along with the sharp pain between my shoulderblades, brings it all back. Someone shooting at her. Getting her to the limo. Then it gets fuzzy. I vaguely remember Aubrey weeping. I licked her face.
Fuck.
I shifted. Of course I did–I was shot. My body repairs much faster in wolf form.
I remember Aubrey insisting on caring for me, so Nickel carried me here to her cabana.
I reach for Aubrey and tug her body up against mine. Her eyes fly open, startled.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I murmur.
“You’re awake!” She pushes up to sit, but I pull her back down. “How do you feel?” She twists and reaches for a bottle of water by the nightstand. “Here, drink some water. You lost a lot of blood.”
I find a smile tugging at the corners of my lips.
I normally hate feeling out of control. I want to be the guy orchestrating everyone and everything around me.
Definitely not someone who wasn’t even aware of where he was sleeping.
But waking up next to Aubrey doesn’t disturb my inner control freak.
And Aubrey taking care of me feels…sweet. Tender.
Which is strange because tenderness isn’t an emotion I normally allow. Not even for my mother or sister. I accept the water bottle from her and drink it down. She was right–I’m thirsty.
“Are you hungry?”
My hand slides to grip her ass. “Ravenous.”
Some of the worry in her expression melts away. “You’re really okay, aren’t you?”
I glance at the clock. “How long was I out?”
“Sixteen hours.” She blinks at me. Gold starbursts decorate her brown irises. “You saved my life.”
Remembering that there’s still someone after her makes me draw a sharp breath. I sit up, wincing a bit at the pain between my shoulder blades. “Did they find the shooter? What’s going on?”
This time it’s Aubrey pulling me back down to the bed. “I don’t know. Jake and Vance went after him, but I haven’t heard if they found him or not.”
I study her, bringing my hand to cradle her cheek. “So now you know our secret.”
She nods. “Wow.”
“You seem pretty unfazed by it.”
“It was sort of eclipsed by the fact that you were dying.” There’s a tremble in her voice that makes my heart squeeze.
The image of her tear-stained face next to mine after I shifted rises in my mind. She was worried about me. This girl who once hated me was devastated when I was hurt.
“I would never let them hurt you, Silver,” I tell her. “I will find who shot at you and rip his spine from his pelvis.”
Her eyes fly open wide. “That’s, um, scary but hot.” I scent the honey of her arousal.
Her body needs me. Just like mine needs her.
My lips twitch again. My dick lengthens for her. I push her onto her back, climbing on top of her. I’m still naked from the shift. “I’m going to fuck you now.”
She rolls her pelvis to meet mine but says, “Are you sure? I mean, are you up for it?”
“I need your pussy, Aubrey. It will help me heal.”
She lets out a breathy laugh. “I’m not sure that’s true, but okay.” She reaches for a box of condoms I left beside the bed when I escorted her here when we arrived. It feels like so long ago.
She wears a matching lavender lace cami and panty set. Now that she knows what I am, I don’t have to hold back. I grasp the hem of her panties with both hands at the top of her thigh and rent the fabric in two.
She gasps then giggles. “Oh my God! You’re super strong. It all makes sense now.”
I rip her cami straight down the front.
“I missed so many clues.”
“Like what?” I ask because I need to know where I was careless. The control freak in me has to log all potential weaknesses.
“Your strength. How you potty trained Pepper with one look. Why Madi never included me anymore.”
I roll a condom over my erection.
“I thought you were a dick, but you’re just protective of your secret.”
“No. I’m a dick,” I assure her. “Nobody would argue with you there.”
She shakes her head. “You’re not.”
I rub the head of my cock between her legs. She’s slick and ready for me. I ease in. My body’s still weak, so I don’t have that urgent drive I’ve had every other time I was with her.
I want to take my time. To just experience the incredible sensation of being inside her without the need to turn myself inside out to pleasure her and get my release.
She’s still synthesizing it all. “Madi said you’re classist. I thought it might be code for racist. But now I understand. You don’t relate to outsiders. Or what do you call people like me?”
Something akin to pain stabs at my chest. I don’t want to be the person she’s describing. I don’t like the way it feels. I usually operate without compassion for others because compassion makes it impossible to make clear decisions.
But Aubrey doesn’t sound hurt or judgmental. It’s more like she sees me–really sees me–and doesn’t flinch.
“Humans.” My voice sounds rusty. I arc in and out of her slowly, relishing the tight squeeze of her channel and the way she arches her full breasts and rocks her pelvis to take me deeper. “I was raised in a small town made up entirely of shifters. My dad was a shifter supremacist.”
Fate, am I telling this story? I never tell this story. I haven’t since I told it to Brick Freshman year at Yale.
I find her hands and pin them beside her head, interlacing my fingers with hers.
“Am I your first?” she asks.
“First what?”
“First human?”
I wince. “Yes,” I admit.
She doesn’t seem offended. “You’re my first, too.” She smiles.
“First wolf?”
“Billionaire. And wolf. I’ve had a white guy before, though.”
I can’t help it. I laugh. Things feel so different with Aubrey right now. Like all our barriers are down. All that sniping at each other, all the power plays are absent. We’re suddenly on the same team.
I lean over and nibble at her neck while I continue to glide in and out of her. “I wanted you the moment I first caught your nutmeg and honey scent at the cafe. You were so fucking sassy. I wanted to bend you over that counter and smack your sweet ass.”
Aubrey gushes fluids, turned on, as always, by any suggestion of dominance. I go with it, caging her throat with my fingers.
“Did I make you break your rule?” Aubrey’s lids droop.
Warning bells go off. I shouldn’t share this with her–shouldn’t give her a reason to hate me, but she doesn’t seem offended.
“Yes,” I admit.
She gives me a satisfied smile. “You made me break mine, too.”
Fate, she’s gorgeous. I like her like this–soft and open to me. I like her feisty, too, but this is something special. She’s letting me in.
“Your no billionaires rule?”
“Yep. I wanted to keep on hating you, but you were too damn sexy. And then you started with the capability porn.”
“The what?”
“Capability porn. The way you solve problems so easily. Like training a puppy and getting security footage erased. Protecting me from snipers. You’re pretty swoon-worthy, Billy.
” A vulnerable look creeps over her face.
“I consider myself a strong, independent woman, but I like how you make me feel taken care of. You see me for who I really am, despite all the fronting I do.”
My wolf revels in hearing that she feels protected with me, as she should.
It occurs to me that I am attracted to Aubrey’s strength, even though my bias said she must be weak because she’s human.
I was wrong–just like I was wrong about Madi.
Aubrey is strong in ways I can’t comprehend.
She’s brave and loyal and has a sense of justice that doesn’t flinch or wither beside self-preservation.
She’s one in a million. I thought she was an itch to scratch, but she’s so much more.
She’s everything.
“Silver, I’m about to make this into capability porn. Me capable of making you come with my fingers around your throat.”
She smiles.
I tighten my fingers–not enough to block any airflow, just enough to make it exciting. I ride her harder, plowing deeper with each thrust. Making it mean something.
She starts moaning, and the sound brings out my feral side. I pick up speed, slamming into her harder now. Her eyes roll back in her head. Her mewls make me harder than stone.
My body finds a new reserve of energy–probably drawn straight from Aubrey–and tension builds. My balls draw up.
“Come, Aubrey,” I command.
“Yes! Yes!” she cries. “I’m right…” Her muscles squeeze around my dick.
I come at almost the same time, thrusting deep and filling the condom. When we finish, I drop to my side and wrap my arms around Aubrey, inhaling her scent into my being.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. This wasn’t part of my master plan. Aubrey shouldn’t know what I am. I shouldn’t be lying here with my arms around a human, forgetting to care about anything but her and her safety.
But no part of me regrets this.
Aubrey is mine. I’m going to hunt down her enemies and end them, one by one.
I will put myself between her and danger every time.
Even if it costs me everything.