Page 8 of Caligo

He grinned back at me. “Don’t you ever be sorry for that, baby girl. I like a girl with some spunk.” Beau winked, leaving Jasper and myself alone. Jasper finally turned to face me, his face a controlled mask. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the fire escape at the other end of the bar.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“I need some air,” he responded, pushing the door open. We stood in a small driveway behind the bar. A few dumpsters lined the brick walls, and the wind whistled through the trees in the forest opposite us.

“Jasper, are you all right?” I gripped his hands, forcing him to look at me. I leaned against the brick wall, Jasper towering over me.

“You shouldn’t have to ask me that. I’m fine. But if anything had happened to you it would have been my fault.” He averted his gaze. “I should have trained you in reading the situation better. I should have made sure you were better prepared. I should have stopped him the moment he touched you, but I didn’t hear him. I was grabbing my phone from the car. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you’re in this world where your instinct is to head bash my best friend instead of saying hello.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. Really. About all of it.” I didn’t want him to worry about me, to have doubts about my abilities. I would get better.

He smiled grimly. “That’s not what I’m most sorry for though.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What then?”

He smashed his lips into mine, and I tasted beer. He slipped his tongue between my lips, and I felt his desire, his protectiveness, and his need. I gasped into his mouth and returned his commanding kiss. Jasper pulled away, looking at me with a thousand emotions in his steady gaze. “I’m sorry because I know how you feel. And I’m sorry because all I could think about when I was standing over him was he touched you, and you aren’t his to touch. You’re mine.” These last words were said with a force I couldn’t argue with.

He tangled his fingers in my hair, whispering, “I don’t want to scare you off, having you thinking I’m being possessive, because that’s not what this is.” Jasper dropped his lips to my neck, and then along my collarbone as he spoke. He slid his hands under my skirt, inching up my thighs. “If you’re mine, then it’s only right I’m yours in return.”

I had no words, so I leaned in to kiss him again. I could feel wet heat between my legs, and a tremor of excitement ripple down my spine. When I looked at him, his gaze was black with lust and I knew he was still barely controlling his wolf instincts. He inched my skirt higher over my thighs, his thumb softly grazing over my clit. I stilled his hands. “Really? Here? Someone might see.”

“Weren’t you the same girl who had me fuck her in the apartment stairwell? No one is going to see. If you want me to stop, I will. Or you can let me show you.”

I released his hands, and moved to the buttons on his jeans. “Show me what?”

He kissed me deeply. “Show you how we belong to each other.” Jasper undid the button to my skirt, pushing the fabric down my hips, and I released his erection from his pants. “Let me show you how you complete me.” He hooked a finger into the side of my underwear, sliding through the wetness already there. He groaned, and nudged his thick length against me. “Say yes, baby.”

I needed him inside me, almost more than I was beginning to realize I needed him in my life. The only logical answer was, “Yes.”

He plunged into me in one swift stroke, commanding me entirely. With every full stroke he brought me closer and closer to release. I moaned loudly, as he began to rub quick circles around my clit. He put a finger on my lips. “You’re gonna have to be quiet for me, baby, there’s a whole bar of wolves on the other side of that door.” I nodded, biting my lip to keep from crying out. I lost myself as Jasper sighed against my neck.

“Come with me.” Jasper’s voice shook me out of my reverie, and I looked at him to find his intense gaze on me. “Keep your eyes on me. I want to watch you.”

I kept my eyes open and on him as Jasper continued to thrust into me. When I felt myself shatter around him, he didn’t lose eye contact as he came inside me. After, he rested his head against mine. “Do you see now? We belong to each other, simple as that.”

I considered his statement as we cleaned ourselves up and straightened our clothes. I wasn’t sure if fate was as simple as he was making it out to be, but I was certain of a few things. One, Jasper was an irrevocable fixture in my life, and two, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could deny the pull of the mate bond.

Chapter 3

We said our goodbyes to Jasper’s friends, and started the drive back to my apartment. Both of us were lost in our own thoughts. Jasper held my hand tightly, and when we hit the main road I finally spoke up. “Your friends…”

At the same time Jasper started to speak. “I don’t know what…”

We smiled at each other, and he tipped his head towards me. “Go ahead.”

I shrugged. “I was going to say your friends seem like really great guys.” I looked out the window. “You’re lucky to have them.”

“I’ve known them since we were teenagers. They’re my brothers. I wouldn’t know my life any other way. I was going to say I don’t know what you were worried about. They loved you.”

I sighed. “Are you sure? Duke didn’t seem too thrilled about me.”

Jasper squeezed my hand. “Duke is cautious. But believe me, you won him over.”

I watched his handsome profile as he drove, wondering what he meant. At my silence, he turned to me with a question in his caramel eyes, so I asked, “What is he cautious about?”

Jasper pulled to a stop at a red light, and furrowed his brow. “Remember what I told you about your parents not liking humans being with wolves?”

I nodded, and he continued. “The same biases happen the other way. There aren’t too many human and wolf mates, and sometimes wolves can be hesitant about the bond. They question if a human can truly understand our ways, respect our culture.”

---