Chapter 14 Nico
NICO
Maddy ran down the hall, turned the corner, and sprinted up the stairs. The thudding of her feet only stopped when the bedroom door slammed.
I closed my eyes and took two deep breaths, trying to release the anger I felt toward my mother for interrupting us. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. Once I finally opened my eyes, my mother stood in front of me, her arms crossed, an eyebrow raised.
She stepped closer, glancing over her shoulder to be sure everyone was still outside. “What are you doing, Nico?”
I huffed out an exasperated laugh. “I think that stopped being your business when I turned eighteen, Mom.”
“Oh, stop it. You know exactly what I mean. All this?” She gestured to the bathroom, where I’d only moments before been engaged in one of the most erotic moments of my life.
It made my skin crawl thinking about my mom seeing any of it.
“You need to be careful. This is dangerous. I’m in agreement that the girl needs to be protected, but that’s only so we can get to Javi.
You need to remember that. You shouldn’t get too attached to this woman. ”
I sighed and gritted my teeth. “Well, maybe things have changed.”
Mom frowned and looked at me suspiciously. “What is that supposed to mean, Nico? What’s changed? You can’t possibly be thinking about mating with a human. If you want to sow your wild oats or whatever, you’re an adult, and I can’t stop that. Anything more? That’s just crazy.”
I glared at her. I’d never been so angry with my mother. “What if that’s exactly what I do want? It’s my choice who I mate with.”
Mom gasped and again checked to make sure no one was around to hear. “Nico,” she hissed. “That’s taboo. It’s not done.”
I groaned and waved a hand at her. “Christ, Mom. You sound like those bigots who say interracial marriage is sacrilege, or that same-sex marriage is a one-way ticket to hell. Are we really having this conversation?”
I knew where this was coming from. Edemas.
All the legends and stories shifters had been told for hundreds of years about the dangers of a hybrid human-shifter child.
The very idea had turned into an almost religious terror, especially for the older generations. Mom had been raised on that ideology.
“We absolutely are having this conversation. If my son is about to do something this stupid, then I—”
“Enough, Mom. I’m not mating with a human. I just didn’t like your insinuation.”
Mom put a hand to her chest and let out a relieved breath. “Thank God. Maddy is a nice girl, really. Beautiful, but she isn’t right for you. You deserve better.”
I didn’t like that. Not one bit. The anger spiked again, making me clamp my jaws together. All I’d wanted was for her to calm down and drop it, then she had to say something like that. My wolf was even more angry and a low growl escaped my throat. Mom’s eyes went wide, and she took a step back.
“Mom, this is your one warning,” I said through gritted teeth. “You will not speak about Maddy like that in my presence. In fact, you won’t speak about her like that in anyone’s presence. Is that understood?”
“Nico? What’s gotten into you? Why—”
“I am the alpha of the Lorenzo pack,” I said, barely managing to keep my voice below a shout. “Do you understand me?”
Mom nodded ever so faintly, a movement so slight, it was almost invisible. “What is going on here?”
“I’ll tell you everything once you stop behaving like a superstitious child,” I said as I pushed past her and headed toward the back door.
I burst out into the humid night air, everyone falling silent.
My friends and brothers could all see I was in a pissy mood and left me alone as I stalked toward the scrub-pine forest behind my house.
I needed to shift, needed it badly. It might be the only thing that would get rid of the tension inside me.
My mind slipped back to those few moments with Maddy in the bathroom.
There was something else that would help my tension, but that wouldn’t happen now, thanks to my mother.
Dad was standing by the firepit with a beer in his hand. I walked over to him and nodded back at the house. “Can you keep an ear out for Maddy? She might need something while I’m gone.”
He chewed at his lip and leaned in close. “Your mother?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said as I stride toward the forest.
Behind me, he cursed under his breath and tossed his beer into the fire.
I kicked off my shoes and stripped my shirt, tossing it to the side, shifting as I jogged into the woods.
As soon as I changed, the anger and tension inside me dissipated.
The freedom of shifting released all the pent-up frustrations and irritation.
I heard crackling twigs and leaves behind me.
A glance over my shaggy shoulder showed me that the guys had joined me, the three of them in their wolf forms running after me into the woods.
We ran for what felt like hours. The rush of the wind across my fur, the sounds of the night, the feel of the earth beneath my paws always calmed me.
Shifting always brought out the true feeling of life.
We crested a hill and sat in a circle, howling at the moon for several minutes.
We weren’t drawn to it, but we got a hilarious kick out of it.
I felt a thousand times better when I got back home. We must not have been gone as long as I thought because most of the crowd was still there. My father walked up to me as we stepped out of the woods and shifted back to our human forms. “Maddy?” I asked.
“Seems fine. Hasn’t come out of her room, from what I can tell. Your mother went home. She told me what happened.”
“Shit. I thought she would.”
Dad put a hand on my shoulder. “It’ll be okay. She’ll come around when she hears the whole truth. I know she will.”
“That’s fine, but I don’t want her treating Maddy poorly until then. I won’t have it, Dad, you know I won’t.”
“I know that, but do you really think your mother would be disrespectful to Maddy? That she’s that kind of person?”
He was right. Mom would push the issue with me, and in private. She was too kind to ever say or do anything that would make Maddy feel less than. She might not think Maddy was the right person for me, but she’d never say something like that to Maddy. I nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“Good. Let me help you clean up a bit, I think everyone is starting to leave.”
He was right. The party was winding down, and people were beginning to make their way to the door. Dad, my brothers, and my friends all cleaned up the backyard and the living and dining rooms. By the time everyone but me had left, the house was pretty much back in shape.
I made my way up to my room and turned on the shower. Once I’d piled my clothes into the hamper, I stepped into the steaming heat of the shower spray. I sighed in relief as the water ran over my body.
As I washed myself, the last of the tension left my body.
My mind drifted back to the furtive moments with Maddy in the downstairs bathroom.
My cock stiffened, so I shut the water off and got out of the shower, not wanting to get wound up.
After drying off and brushing my teeth, I wrapped a towel around my waist and went out into the bedroom.
I yelped when I saw Maddy standing in my doorway.
She smiled shyly. “Sorry. I just came to see if I got you in trouble with your mom.”
I tightened my grip on the towel and chuckled. “I’m a grown man.”
Maddy rolled her eyes and took a couple steps over toward my bed. “Yeah. I’m a grown-ass woman, and I still get told off by my mom sometimes.”
She sat down on the foot of the bed and fidgeted with her hands, looking nervous.
I stepped over and closed my bedroom door.
No one else was in the house, and the doors were all locked, but it felt right to close the bedroom.
There was tension in the air, so thick and tight that I could barely breathe.
I could feel Maddy’s eyes on me as I walked back from the door.
Anticipation and nervousness flooded through me. My cock was hard again. Her eyes were almost like hands fluttering across my body. Licking my lips, I gazed at her. “Um…can I get dressed?”
Her gaze slid up my form, then her eyes locked onto mine. “Yeah. That’s fine.”
I took a breath and decided to do something aggressive.
Instead of retreating to the bathroom to change, I grabbed a pair of pajama pants out of my dresser, and dropped my towel.
An almost imperceptible gasp left Maddy’s lips.
I knew the entire right side of my body was visible to her, including my rapidly thickening cock.
I’d never done anything this forward in my life, but when I was around her, I couldn’t seem to help myself.
I slipped the pants up and glanced over, seeing her gaze flicking between my legs until my cock was obscured beneath the waistband.
I took a breath to calm myself before walking over to the bed.
Maddy leaned across it and looked at me in a way no one had ever looked at me before.
All thoughts and ideas of staying calm jumped out the window.
I gestured toward the bed. “Are you comfortable?” I asked, my voice gruff and heavy with desire.
Maddy nodded, her eyes filled with a deep-seated hunger—hungrier than I’d ever seen. I could read her body, could hear her breaths coming in small pants, and I could smell the nervous sweat on her skin. She wanted me. She wanted me as much as I wanted her.
“I promised I wouldn’t force anything. I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have—”
“Shut up, Nico. I wanted that. I wanted that…I wanted more. I’ve always been super-guarded with men, but with you?
It’s like I don’t need to be that way. Or that I don’t want to be that way.
I have no idea what’s happening with us, but I don’t want to fight it.
It feels too good to fight. I’m not ready to be claimed yet, but I know I want you. ”
I knelt on the bed and hovered over her, looking down into her eyes, my body almost vibrating in anticipation. “Is that the truth? Or is it just the booze talking?”
Maddy grinned and shook her head. “I sobered up pretty fast after I was caught humping your leg and hand.”
I chuckled and leaned in, kissing her deeply. Our tongues twined and flicked against each other. I pulled away after a few seconds. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
Her only answer was to slide her hand down under my waistband and wrap her hand around my cock.
I let out a sigh as Maddy smiled at me, sliding her hand up and down the length of my shaft.
I dug my fingers under her shirt and slid it up until her breasts were free.
I looked at the enticing flesh, and my heart started hammering in my chest. I leaned forward and took her left breast in my mouth, licking and sucking at the nipple.
Maddy’s back arched, and she sucked in a deep breath.
Her hand moved more insistently between my legs.
I tugged my pants off, tossing them across the room. Grabbing the waistband of her shorts, I tugged them off her in one swift movement. Maddy giggled and sat up slightly, wrapping her hand around my cock before slipping her lips over the head and taking my length into her mouth.
“Oh God,” I whispered, looking down to see her bobbing her head up and down on me. The heat of her tongue on me was ecstasy. Nothing had ever felt so good, nothing had ever made me feel like this.
I leaned forward and slid my hand over her hips, staying away from her bandages.
My finger trailed across her thighs, then between her legs, my finger slipping into the moist cleft of her pussy.
Maddy moaned, my cock still in her mouth, and the vibration of her mouth almost made my eyes roll back in my head.
I rubbed a finger across her clit. The faster I moved, the quicker she bounced her head on my cock.
I had to have her, I was desperate for her, but I wanted to take things as slow as she wanted.
We teased each other for what felt like an eternity, until finally she pulled her mouth free and looked up at me while still stroking me. “Fuck me, Nico. Now.”
I took two quick breaths and watched her hand working at my shaft. “Are you sure?”
She reached down with her free hand and clutched my hand, pushing my fingers deeper into her pussy. “Now.”
The wolf growled, and I rolled her onto her back.
I leaned over her and kissed her breasts gently, letting my lips drift across her nipples.
Maddy reached between my legs and guided me inside her.
We locked eyes as I entered her. The warmth, the slick wetness of her sent shivers of pleasure through me.
Inch by inch, I slipped inside her. Maddy’s mouth dropped open as I filled her.
Finally buried inside her, I started thrusting, losing myself in the feel of her.
Maddy groaned and pressed her face into the hollow of my shoulder.
Everything about her pushed me closer to the edge.
Her smell, the sound of her moans, the feel of her pussy as it clenched around my cock…
I was drifting closer to the point of no return.
Slipping a hand between us, I started rubbing her clit in time with my thrusts.
Maddy threw her head back. “God…I’m gonna come.” Her breathing became erratic as she dug her nails into my back.
My own orgasm started to build, a heavy pressure at the base of my cock.
I moved quicker, slamming into her. Maddy whimpered with each thrust. She tensed, clutching at my shoulders, veins bulging at her neck, her face going red as her orgasm tore through her.
I came an instant later, my body shaking and shivering as I pounded my hips into her, releasing everything I had, feeling more pleasure than I’d ever experienced in my life.
It was the single greatest orgasm I’d ever had.
My wolf howled in my head, a sound of triumph and happiness.
We collapsed together, wrapped in each other’s arms.