Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
She ambushed him at his own door.
Gray had his key halfway to the lock when Lily stepped out of the shadows, arms crossed, hurt and anger radiating from every line of her body.
"You son of a bitch."
Not the greeting he'd expected after a three-hour emergency meeting about hunters, but the anger in her voice made his wolf snap to attention.
"Do you have a specific complaint, or is this just a general observation?" He unlocked his door, not surprised when she followed him inside.
"You know what you did." She slammed the door behind her. "Employee quarters? That's what you called this. Employee. Quarters."
Fuck. She'd figured it out.
"Let me—"
"No." She stalked toward him, and even upset she made his cock stir. Hair escaping her braid, green eyes bright with unshed tears, and that flush of emotion across her pale skin. "You put me in your home. Your private space. And you lied about it."
"I never lied. I am an employee and these are my quarters."
"Bullshit technicality, and you know it." She jabbed a finger into his chest, but her voice wavered. "I've been sleeping twenty feet from you. Showering in your bathroom. Living in your private space without knowing it."
"Would you have stayed if you had known?"
"I deserved the choice!" Her voice cracked. “I trusted you. I actually felt safe here for the first time in weeks, and the whole time it was a lie.
"You deserved safety." The words came out harder than intended. "Those employee quarters you thought you wanted? They don’t exist. You would have had to go live with someone else on the island willing to take you in.
"That's not the point."
"I needed to be the one. You would have been more vulnerable to anyone hunting, and I'd potentially be too far away." He stepped into her space, noting how her breath caught. "My wolf wouldn't let me."
"Your wolf?"
"I could have found you other housing—Shaw had space, Ryker has that cabin, but the thought of you surrounded by another wolf's scent made me half-feral. The idea of you sleeping where their scent would sink into your skin, where they’d hear you breathing at night.
.." He growled. "I would have torn through walls to get to you. "
"Your wolf doesn't get to decide.”
"He decided everything the second you walked in smelling like fear and magic and mine." The admission ripped out of him. "Do you understand what that means? What it's been like having you here, surrounded by your scent, listening to you through the walls?"
Her pulse jumped in her throat. "Gray—"
"I hear you at night." His voice dropped to a low, throaty sound. "When you think you're quiet. When you can’t sleep any more than I can."
Color flooded her cheeks. "You... you heard..."
"Every. Single. Time." He backed her against the wall, hands braced on either side of her head. "Just like you probably heard me in the shower, fucking my fist wishing it was you."
Her breath came in short pants now, anger shifting to something more complicated. "This is insane."
"Yeah? Then leave. I dare you." He leaned closer, close enough to feel her warmth. "Door's right there. Run like you always do." Although if she did, he’d lose his mind for sure.
"Don't do—" Her voice broke. “Don’t act like this is on me. You’re the one who lied.”
"But you’re still here." His nose skimmed her jaw, not quite touching. "Because you feel it too. This pull. This need that gets worse every day."
"I'm angry with you." She pressed her hand against his chest, not quite pushing him away. “You made me feel like an idiot.”
"Good." He pulled back to meet her eyes. "Be angry. But you know why I did it. You know what would have happened in those other quarters. You’d have packed and ran the first night you felt scared."
"You arrogant—"
He kissed her, cutting off her protest. It was desperate and demanding and absolutely feral.
She made a sound between protest and plea before her hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him harder against her. Her mouth opened under his, tongue meeting his stroke for stroke, and the taste of her destroyed what little control he had left.
The air thickened around them, warm and humid, and where her fingers gripped his shirt, faint green light pulsed beneath her skin.
Gray lifted her, spinning to press her against the wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist immediately, the heat of her core pressing against his cock through their clothes.
"Fuck," he groaned, grinding against her. "You drive me insane."
"Shut up and touch me."
He yanked her shirt up, breaking the kiss only long enough to pull it over her head. The sage-green bra underneath looked incredible against her flushed skin, and he took a moment to stare.
"Beautiful," he muttered before his mouth found her throat, his lips brushing reverently across her skin.
She arched against him as he worked his way down, teeth and tongue marking a path across her collarbone. When he pulled the cup of her bra down and closed his mouth over her nipple, she cried out, nails digging into his shoulders.
“You are so damned delicious.“ He flicked his tongue over the hard peak.
"Gray, please—"
He switched to the other breast, sucking hard enough to leave a mark while his hand played with the first. She was grinding against him now, seeking friction, and the scent of her arousal drove him wild.
"Bed," she gasped. "I need more."
"No." He set her down, spinning her to face the wall. "Right here. Where you confronted me." His teeth grazed her ear. “This way, every time you walk down this hallway, you’ll remember what I’m about to do.”
His hands went to her jeans, popping the button and sliding the zipper down. She helped push them down her hips along with her panties, leaving her bare from the waist down, pressed against his hallway wall.
"Spread your legs."
She did, and he dropped to his knees in front of her.
"What are you—oh goddess."
His mouth found her, tongue sliding through her slickness. She was soaked, had probably been wet since their argument started, and she tasted like heaven and sin combined.
The fine hairs on his arms lifted, static charging the air between them. When she grabbed for the wall, a spark jumped from her fingertips to the plaster.
"Gray!" Her hands scrabbled at the wall as he devoured her, alternating between broad strokes of his tongue and focused attention.
He slid two fingers inside her, curling to find that spot that made her whole-body jerk. The tight heat of her made him groan, and he pressed deeper, wanting more.
"Please, I'm going to…"
He increased the pressure, fingers working faster, and she fractured.
Her orgasm hit fast and hard, her body clenching around his fingers as she cried out his name.
Heat poured off her skin, blazing hot against his mouth, and something jolted through him, a current of energy that raced up his arm and made his wolf surge forward with a snarl of recognition.
He worked her through it, drawing out every aftershock until she was shaking.
Before she could recover, he stood and spun her around, lifting her again. This time when she wrapped her legs around him, he carried her to his bedroom, kissing her deep so she could taste herself on his tongue.
He laid her on his bed, finally, and stepped back to look at her. Hair wild, lips swollen, and bare from the waist down with her bra askew. She was the hottest thing he'd ever seen.
"Take it all off," he ordered.
She unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, now completely naked on his bed. His cock throbbed painfully in his jeans.
"Your turn," she said.
He stripped, watching her eyes go wide when his cock sprang free. He was hard, had been since she'd ambushed him at the door.
"Oh wow, you're big."
"I'll fit if that’s what you’re worried about." He crawled over her, caging her in. "You're made for me."
He kissed her again, slower this time but no less intense. His hands mapped every inch of her, the curve of her waist, the softness of her thighs, and the perfect weight of her breasts. She was perfect.
When his fingers slid between her thighs again, she was even wetter than before.
"Please," she whimpered as he circled where she needed him most. "I need you."
"Not yet." He kissed down her body, taking his time. She deserved to be worshipped.
He spent long minutes on her breasts, learning what made her gasp and arch. The spot where shoulder met neck that made her whole-body shiver. The sensitive skin of her inner thighs that had her spreading wider in invitation.
When he lowered his mouth to her again for another taste, she nearly came off the bed.
"You really are sensitive.” He grinned then dragged his tongue up in one long, deliberate stroke.
“You’re evil.”
He chuckled against her, the vibration making her moan. He took his time, building her up slowly, backing off when she got close, until she was cursing him in two languages and pulling his hair.
"Gray, I need to come."
"You can do better than that, sweet witch."
"I'll fucking kill you."
"Still not hearing please." He chuckled against her, making her whole body shudder.
She growled and it was so sexy he nearly came undone. "Please, Gray. Please make me come. I need it. I NEED you,” she keened.
He sucked hard, focusing exactly where she needed it most, while sliding three fingers inside her, and she exploded. This orgasm was even stronger, her whole-body convulsing as she screamed his name.
Sparks erupted between them everywhere their skin touched, her thighs against his shoulders, her hands in his hair, and the air felt thick enough to drink.
While she was still shaking, he moved up her body, the head of his cock nudging at her entrance.
"Yes," she gasped, trying to pull him in. “I want this.”
The head slipped inside, just barely, and they both groaned. She was so tight, so wet, so perfect. One thrust and she'd be his. His wolf roared approval.
Which is exactly why he stopped.
"Gray?" Her eyes flew open. "What—why—"
He pulled out, rolling onto his back beside her, cock aching and hard against his stomach. "We can't."
"Are you kidding me right now?"
"If I take you now, my wolf claims you. I won’t be able to stop it." He stared at the ceiling, fists clenched with the effort of not touching her. "Permanently. Irrevocably. And you're not ready for that."
"Maybe I am."
He turned to look at her, seeing the hurt beneath the frustration.
"Your coven is hunting you. Hunters are sniffing around the island.
You just found out I've been hiding things from you.
" He reached out to cup her face. "When we do this, and we will, I need you to choose me, not just react to the moment. "
She stared at him, then laughed, short and disbelieving. "You're going to be noble now? After making me come twice?"
"I want to fuck you through the mattress until you can't remember any name but mine. But I know you deserve better than that."
She was quiet for a moment, then rolled toward him, hand landing on his chest. "What if I stroked you? Would that make you lose control?"
His cock jumped at the suggestion. "Lily..."
Her hand slid lower, fingers barely grazing his length. "Just this. Let me make you feel good too."
He should say no. Should send her back to her room. Instead, he groaned as her hand wrapped around him, small and perfect and exactly what he needed.
"Fuck, just like that."
She stroked him slow at first, learning what made him groan, what made his hips buck. When she twisted her wrist on the upstroke, his head fell back.
"You're so hard," she murmured, thumb sliding over the head to spread pre-cum. "Does it hurt?"
"Every fucking day since you arrived."
She increased her pace, and he knew he wouldn't last. Days of wanting her, tasting her, and now her hand on his cock, he was done for.
"Lily, I'm going to—"
"Yes. Come for me." She bit his earlobe. "Show me what I do to you."
He came with a roar, spilling over her hand and onto his stomach in hot spurts that seemed endless. She worked him through it until he had to catch her wrist from oversensitivity.
They lay there panting, the room reeking of sex and satisfaction. His wolf was somewhat appeased, though still pushing for more.
The static had faded, but the humidity lingered, fogging the windows. Her skin still held the faintest shimmer of green, like bioluminescence slowly dimming.
"We're a mess," she finally said.
"Worth it."
She laughed, the sound warming places in his chest he'd thought permanently frozen. "I'm still mad about the apartment thing."
"That’s fair."
"But I understand why you did it."
He pulled her against him, ignoring the mess. "Stay tonight."
"I don’t—"
"Please." His voice dropped low. "My wolf and I need you close. Just for tonight." That was a lie, but he’d take one night for now.
She was quiet long enough he thought she'd refuse. Then she pressed a kiss to his chest. "Okay."
"Thank you."
They cleaned up and crawled under the covers, her back to his chest, his arm heavy around her waist. She fit against him as perfectly as he expected.
"Gray?"
"Mmm?"
"Those hunters today. They're not going away, are they?"
"Not likely."
"And my coven will find me, eventually."
"Probably."
She was quiet for a moment. "But not tonight?"
He pressed a kiss on her shoulder. "Not tonight. You’re safe. I’ll make sure of it. "
She relaxed against him, and within minutes her breathing evened out. But Gray stayed awake, holding her close, his wolf finally calm for the first time in days.
They would soon have more bullshit to deal with. But tonight, she was here. Safe. His.
Even if she didn't quite know it yet.