Page 38 of The Werewolf Cowboy
Katy balked, sensing a greater intent with him. “I’m not from your pack. Why won’t they resent me intruding on their world?”
He gave her a steady look. “Because you’re with me, and I will tell them exactly what you are to me, Katy. You’re going to be my mate.”
Katy blinked, startled at the new possessive tone of his voice. Grayson had always been friendly, but never this…primitive. “Oh? And do I get a say in that?”
“Reckon you do.”
And then he fisted a hand in her hair and gave her no time to think, act or even breathe before his mouth was on hers. Hot, demanding, possessive. His tongue swept into her mouth, staking a claim. This wasn’t a sweet kiss, or a reassuring one. It was passion and fire, a male’s need firing her own sexual arousal. Katy clung to him like a life raft in a storm, weakened with desire. Her nipples saluted the inside of the soft dress and the space between her legs ached for him to fill it. Grayson slid his left hand over her breast, gently squeezing and kneading until she moaned beneath his mouth.
When he released her, his eyes glittering amber with the rise of his wolf, she almost collapsed.
“Tell me you don’t want me,” he murmured.
Unable to think straight, let alone speak a coherent thought, she backed off. Grayson’s kiss made her female parts howl with need, and she could not deny the powerful attraction between them. Sex wasn’t a luxury now—it had turned into a necessity to ease the ache of her body.
But she couldn’t let her own lust turn her into a mindless robot, eager to spread her legs and surrender her will to this powerful male.
She pressed a hand to her head, finally gathered her scrambled thoughts. “There’s more to being someone’s mate than sex, Grayson.”
He slid a hand over her cheek, caressing her skin with the edge of one thumb, making her tremble with fresh need. “I know, sweetheart. But for the purposes of meeting my pack, I have to state my intentions. You’re young, ripe and ready for the taking, and I won’t have another male sniffing around you. There are fewer females here in the Dark Kingdom, and few in my pack.”
Gone was the laconic Grayson who was amicable and friendly. This male was savage and nearly feral in his sexual need.
“What about Aiden? I belong to his pack. You can’t take me away.”
“Already worked it out with him. He gave me permission.”
Outraged, she glared at him. Maybe she was grateful for his protection, and she wanted him deep inside her, every inch of that hardness that had pressed against her soft belly, but being mated was another matter. “What makes you so certain I’ll agree to this? What if I decide to march back out there without you?”
“You can’t. Too dangerous.” Grayson clasped her hand. “Come on.”
He was right. Trying to navigate through that dark forest alone gave her a sickening feeling. And that cave…
For now, Katy had no choice but to follow his lead.
The air outside his cabin seemed warm, but the stares of the Lupines sanding quietly in the green expanse of grass in the back chilled her blood. They looked like normal Lupines in Skin. There were males in jeans, with polo shirts, some males wearing cargo shorts and one in hunting gear. One even wore neatly pressed trousers and a blue silk shirt. The females wore long dresses of blue or green, their hair pinned up or loose. All the pack members were different, but she sensed their power like a humming electrical line.
They were not normal Lupines. There was something “Other” about them, just as there was with Grayson.
Grayson put a hand on her shoulder. “This is Katy. She was kidnapped by someone in her pack in the Skin world and brought to Gerner’s brothel. Someone in Wolf Haven organized this. I scented the Belcher pack alpha near my cottage, and I suspect that alpha’s the one who ordered Katy’s kidnapping.”
Stunned, she turned her head to look at him. “Who is this person and why didn’t you tell me about him?”
Gently, he squeezed her shoulder. “I needed my pack here first, to protect you, sweetheart. The Belcher pack is larger than ours, and I can’t protect you by myself if we face war from a rival pack.”
A pack war, over her? She shuddered, hating the thought. “Why me? I’m no one special. There are females here.”
Grayson’s gaze became heavy-lidded. “None as special as you.”
Murmurs rippled through the pack like wind. One Lupine detached himself from the crowd and nodded at Grayson. “Welcome back, man.”
“I’m no man,” Grayson deadpanned. And then he laughed, went to the Lupine and clasped his forearm. “Chase. Reckon you’re pissed off because I took my time returning.”
Chase put a hand over his heart. “You never called. I waited and waited.”
Grayson laughed, a deep, reassuring sound.
“I missed you,” the other Lupine said.
