Chapter 6
Lily
I’m sitting at the kitchen island, opposite Vaughn, and I’ve never focused so hard on my breakfast in my life. I can’t bring myself to look him in the eye. My cheeks are warm, my heart is fluttering, and my pussy is throbbing from my first ever orgasm.
His pussy. He said it belongs to him now.
I feel all tingly and breathless at the thought.
Is it wrong that I like it so much?
That I want to be owned by this big, sexy Alpha?
This fierce older man who touched me like he knew my body so well, and made me come so hard? I love that he’s so much more experienced than me, and knew exactly what I needed. Licking me and licking me until I exploded right under his tongue.
I also loved that he acted like he was enjoying it, too, those sexy growls of pleasure escaping his throat, as if he couldn’t get enough of me.
I shuffle around in my seat. I can feel how wet I am, and I sure hope it doesn’t soak through my jeans.
I love that he’s going slow with me, caring for me.
I don’t know if I’m ready to be claimed yet.
But a little part of me wished he’d brush my nerves aside and take me.
There’s a deep ache inside of me, and I’ve got a feeling it can only be fixed by his cock.
“Best scrambled eggs I had in my life,” Vaughn says. It’s the first time he’s spoken in a few minutes, and I get the impression he’s been turning things over as well.
Hope they’re positive things, my little self-doubting inner voice pipes up.
Of course they are. I tell her firmly. He was so sweet after he made you come—the way he held you in his arms, told you how beautiful you are.
“Bet they’re not as good as your chef’s.” When I raise my head, our eyes lock onto each other’s and my stomach tingles with butterflies.
“They’re much better,” he replies. “Partly because they’re darn good eggs. But mostly because they were made by you.”
Shivers run through me. I’m not used to being treated well by men, at all. And here’s this guy, a zillion times better than any other man I’ve known, treating me like a princess. Like someone special. I don’t pretend to understand it, but I’m going to bask in it, as long as I can.
“I had to take your car away,” he says abruptly.
I frown, trying to figure out the logistics. “You drove it someplace?”
He shrugs. “Had some of my guys do it for me.”
Of course, he did. He’s an Alpha of his own pack. I’m sure he commands a whole bunch of guys. My gaze strays to his massive biceps again. He could snap my father’s neck with one hand. The thought is a comforting one.
“I’m sorry about the car,” he continues. “But it had to be done. I was worried he might be able to track you here.”
I sigh. “I’m worried about that, too,” I say. “My mom promised me he doesn’t know about the house. But my dad’s got a lot of connections—”
His phone rings.
He jabs at it irritably, presses it to his ear.
“Jed,” he grunts. “No, I’m not coming back today.
No. You’re gonna have to deal with it yourselves.
” He jerks himself out of his seat and strides over to the window, stares out of it.
“What? That’s bullshit.… Put him on.” He holds the phone away from his ear and turns back to me.
“Sorry, honey, excuse me a moment.” He strides out of the kitchen.
A few minutes later, he’s back. “My pack,” he says shortly, dumping his phone on the island. “They can’t deal with anything without me around.” He sounds weary, irritable.
“Aren’t you going back there today?” I ask.
His gaze fixates on me. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got you to look after.”
My heart leaps. He really meant it when he said he was going to take care of me.
Protect me.
“I’ll be okay here by myself,” I say nonchalantly, although even the thought of being apart from him makes my stomach hurt.
Already.
It seems crazy. We’ve only just met, but I feel like I need to be around him.
Always.
Like our souls are tethered together.
“No way am I leaving you alone, Lily. That’s not up for discussion,” he growls. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. He’s scary, but I love it. I love his possessiveness.
“But you need to take care of your pack. Maybe… maybe I can come with you?” I offer.
“No.” He shakes his head hard. “You don’t understand my pack. If I bring an unmarked female to the territory, all hell will break loose.”
Unmarked.
The word sears through my brain, lit up like a neon sign.
He gave me my first orgasm. And told me my pussy is his. And that one day very soon, he’s going to take my virginity with his big, thick cock. But he hasn’t marked me. Guess that means I’m not his. Yet.
He sits down again and reaches for my hand. When he envelops it in his own, warmth and need pour through me in waves.
A smile tugs at the corners of his firm lips. “Also, you only just got here. I want you to get to know your new home. I was planning to show you around Perdue today.”
My heart gives another little jump. “Really?”
“Yup. Go change out of those wet panties and let’s go.”
His smile turns cocky now and my cheeks burn. Does he know I’ve been getting wet all over again, while I’ve been sitting here facing him? Probably. He can probably smell every drop of my arousal. So awkward.
But arousing. Way too arousing.
Upstairs, I pull on a dry pair of panties, and the pressure against my swollen labia makes me think they’re not going to stay dry for much longer.
But hey, the thought of spending the day being driven mad by my attraction to this Alpha wolf, who seems to be into me, doesn’t sound so bad.
The driveway looks empty without my car. But I’m so glad it’s gone. I don’t want any reminders of my dad hanging around.
“I’ll get you another one,” Vaughn tells me.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I’m already on it. A couple of guys in the pack are into cars. They’ll find you something real safe. And pretty, too.”
I open my mouth and close it again. He’d do that for me?
“It’s the least I can do,” he says, like he read my thoughts.
My heart skitters. He makes me feel nervous and edgy and safe and cared for, all in the same dizzying, overwhelming moment. I don’t pretend to understand it. All I know is I never want it to end.
I slide a glance at his huge motorcycle as we pass it. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to ride on the back of the bike, clinging tight to a leather-clad bad boy while he tears up the highway.
“We can walk to downtown,” he tells me, as if he’s read my thoughts. “But I’ll take you out for a ride real soon, don’t you worry.” He flashes that sexy, cocky grin again as he unlocks the padlock on the gates and relocks it behind us.
He pauses at the house next door—number 36. “That’s where I was raised,” he says, a note of wistfulness in his voice.
“You miss it?”
“Yeah, kinda. My parents sold it a few years back, and I think a big family lives there now. Nice bunch of people.” He points to a window at the side of the house, on the second story. “That one used to be my bedroom. It’s where I saw your mom for the last time.”
My breath catches. “What happened?”
He sighs, and there’s so much pain in the sound that my heart clenches.
“I knew something was going on with her family, and I was worried. But I had no idea what to do. Then one day, Elizabeth snuck up to my bedroom in the middle of the night—climbed up a drainpipe, because she was ballsy like that—and told me her family was leaving. She gave me a key and I promised to watch the place for her. I still remember her standing in a patch of moonlight, tears streaming down her face. Then she hugged me so tight and told me she’d never forget me. ”
I see his Adam’s apple bob. Then he shakes his head angrily and gives a sardonic snort. “Things would be so different now. There’s no way I would’ve let her father take her.”
I round on him. I hate that he’s been carrying so much guilt around all these years. “You were a kid, Vaughn. There was nothing you could’ve done. And you have watched the place for her. That’s how you saved me yesterday.”
He blinks several times. Then a light comes into his eyes, and his big chest heaves.
He takes my hand and kisses it. “And you are wise beyond your years, little one.”
I fight back a smile, glad that I’ve helped him in some small way. “I have my moments.”
He turns back to the house and points out some things around the house and garden—the old treehouse where he and my mom used to hang out all the time. The swing, where she once pushed him too hard and he fell off and bust his nose. The pond where they used to catch frogs.
A feeling is growing and growing inside me—a weird mix of tenderness and jealousy.
“Do you only like me because I remind you of my mom?” I burst out.
He stills, his face raw with shock. “Of course not, Lily. Are you kidding me? You and your mom are two different people.” He fingers a lock of my hair, which has come down from my ponytail.
“You’re both feisty and brave, yes. But you don’t look a whole lot alike.
And you’re very different personalities. ”
“We butted heads sometimes,” I mutter.
He nods. “Yup, I can sure imagine that. And I always knew your mom was not my mate. Even when I was bursting with hormones. I sensed fate had other plans for me.” As his eyes fixate on me, they get more and more intense.
Then his irises literally change color. They turn from dark to amber, and they glow.
Too bright. Like the sun suddenly appearing from behind a cloud. But I can’t look away.
Me. He means me. Even though I didn’t even exist then. He’s saying fate picked me out for him.
“You’re different from anyone I’ve met in my life before,” he says, his tone getting fiercer. “You’re special. Didn’t you feel it when we met?”
That moment bursts into my mind again—the literal lightning strike, followed by that hot, confusing wet tumble on the ground where I wound up in the arms of a big, sexy Alpha wolf.
One of the most shocking moments of my life.