Marked (BDSM bondage, Howl) (2 page)

“Why did you run?” He whispered, the brush of his lips a
butterfly sipping at her shoulder.

She snuggled her pillow and pretended she hadn’t heard him.
His sigh changed tone and became a low growl. He bit on the crease where neck
met shoulder. Goosebumps erupted on her arms and back.

“I know you’re awake. I can hear it in the way your heart
beats.” His chest expanded against her back and she heard him take a deep
inhalation. He caressed the curve of her hip, then back up again until his
thumb skimmed her breast. “I can smell it on your skin.”

She whimpered and repositioned to encourage him to enter
her, but he denied her penetration.

“If you want this, you have to tell me.” Air fanned her ear,
followed by the graze of teeth on her earlobe. His fingers traversed the slight
roundness of her stomach and flicked her clit. When she reacted to the tease,
he stopped, and drew a pattern of slow circles on her leg. A single, deliberate
thrust stroked his shaft between her pussy lips. “And you do want me. You’re
wet, and hot. Are you aching, like I am?”

She groped for his thick cock but he pinned her hand with
his instead, capturing her wrist with damnable ease. Spare, careful, elegant movements
provided sharp relief to his inhuman muscular power. Even though she was a
mature werewolf, much stronger than a human male, his physical strength far
outstripped her own.

“Answer me, Kayla.” He scooted away until a few inches of
air were cushioned between them.

Emotions zinged around and swallowed her. It took two tries
to clear her throat of the lump threatening to choke her. The power he
exhibited by confining her wrist scared her until she regained control of her
thoughts. This was not the past. Jack was nothing like her father.

“What are you thinking about?” His hot breath fanned her
neck, his voice a low rumble of vibration.

“I’m afraid . . . afraid I will lose myself in you.” Like
her mother did with her father. “I know you aren’t him. Aren’t like him at all.
But what he did . . .”

He kissed the top of her spine.
“Your
father.”

Any werewolf living in North America knew the story of her
parents. But she needed to say it anyway, give voice to the memories that had
driven her to leave him. “My father crossed the line. He was . . . too old or
something.
Crazy.
He had no limits.
Abused
my mother.”

She swallowed and snuggled into Jack. When as much of their
bare skin touched as possible, she began again. “That’s why I ran, Jack. You’re
my mate; my wolf knew it in minutes . . . the only thing remaining was a
Marking. And you never pushed it . . . and I started thinking about the things
he did to her . . . how he hurt her, forced her. And she is bound to him not
only in this life, but in the next as well.”

“If your mother and father were true mates, he’d never be
able to hurt her.”

“I know. But I started thinking, doubting . . .
I mean, she made that choice
.
That
mistake.
What if I did too?” She traced the fine hairs on his forearm.
“I’ve always been at odds with my wolf. I think it’s because a part of me
believed my mother’s wolf lead her into that relationship. Logic tells me it
can’t be true. But fear is hard to override, especially when you’ve seen the
things I’ve seen.”

“The wolf is a creature of instinct. Your mother ignored her
wolf when she mated with your father.” He nuzzled her hair. “For the very old
among us, like your father, sometimes the wiring between human and wolf gets
messy.”

Hearing him give voice to the ideas she’d pondered for years
helped settle some of the turmoil swirling in her head.
“The
night you saved me from those males in the woods.
Did you know then?”

He’d brought her to his home after saving her from an attack
by two male werewolves who had stalked and then beat her to near-unconsciousness.
Ditching the guards her father had assigned her left her fair bait for any
males outside her father’s pack. At the time she didn’t care. Any fate seemed
preferable to witnessing even one more moment of her mother’s pain. Jack’s
blood spattered feet were the last thing she remembered seeing as he approached
the place she’d collapsed in the leaf litter.

“My wolf knew you were coming.” The scratchy hairs on his
upper thighs tickled her. “Then I saw you, and I knew for sure.”

“Just like that?
Even
though I’d been tenderized?”

“Yes. I’ll admit to being a little disappointed by the hair,
but you can’t—”

Her heel connected with his shin and he barked out a laugh.
When they’d been together he’d spent hours playing with her curls.

The day they met, she’d woken up in the spare bedroom down
the hall several hours after passing out. Her track pants and the old T-shirt
she’d shucked in the bushes before her run were folded neatly on the floor next
to the bed. A single piece of paper rested on the pillow with two lines
scrawled in hurried cursive.

“You can leave or you can stay. I mean you no harm,” she
whispered.

The arm circling her waist tightened. He rolled over and
flipped her with him. Their legs tangled, she hooked her insteps around his
calves. Chest to chest, her hair cascaded down and puddled on his shoulders.
Hard pectoral muscles, smooth except for the gunshot scar on his right
shoulder, provided a great place to stare. He nudged her chin, an unspoken
request. She resisted, unwilling to lift her head and meet his eyes. A growl
emanated from his throat. She growled back and fought him while she ruminated
and muddled around in the mess of her emotions.

“You are the most determined, independent, strong-willed
person I have ever met. If you think I want to smother that in you, that I want
a docile pet instead of the woman lying on my body and driving me to insanity
with wanting her, you are sorely mistaken.”

She acknowledged her problems belonged to her human half,
not her wolf. Her wolf craved him, had clashed with her human half the entire
time she’d been gone to gain control and return home. The woman vacillated,
pulled in the other direction out of anxiety and childhood anger.

He swiped moisture from her cheek, kissed her forehead, and
tugged one curl to his nose.

During their time together, even in their worst arguments,
she’d never felt like she was in danger. He’d given her kindness and love,
seduced her with cheeseburgers and bad sci-fi movies, runs in the woods without
fear of assault. Why had she let her parent’s disaster of a relationship shadow
her life and her decisions? More importantly, why hadn’t she talked to Jack
about it? So damn stupid.

Ignoring her wolf and spending the last five years miserable
instead of with Jack. Instinct told her, this was home. Her wolf surfaced long
enough to give her an exasperated huff before quieting again.

He moved into a sitting position, arranging her legs so she
straddled his waist. The mantle of a werewolf’s long life sat well on him. The
faint lines on his face and few scars on his body told the story of a survivor.
She smoothed the wrinkle bisecting his forehead with her forefinger.

At that moment she understood how he had managed to live
without pack protection for fifty years. A hunted lone wolf, how he had
remained independent and alive, succeeding where so many had failed. He had an
iron-clad focused will without room for self-doubt. Not only had he thrived
alone, but he’d outlived the Alpha who banished him and become something of a
legend among their kind. Instead of the ferocious, monstrous hunter he could
have become, he’d taken a path of vigilant isolation. If no aggression was
offered him, he ignored other wolves moving through his territory. And she’d
thrown it away, probably hurt him more with her fear than even that long ago
betrayal by his Alpha.

“Jack, did you . . . while I was gone, I never had trouble
with any of the packs. Did you follow me? Protect me?”

“What do you think?” Tiny wrinkles crinkled around his eyes
and lines bracketed his mouth. “You’re my mate, with or without a Mark. I
wouldn’t let you be harmed.”

“Were there a lot of them?
A lot of other
wolves?”
She scraped her nails over his back.

He blinked. “Enough.”

“Enough.” She pursed her lips and shook her head.
“Unbelievable. All I do is cause trouble for you. Did you have to kill them?”

“A few.”
He smoothed his thumbs
over her waist. “A message had to be sent.”

The flippant words didn’t hide the weight of those deaths on
his conscience. He only killed when necessary. Pain tightened into a rock in
her chest.

“I’m sorry Jack.” She leaned in and kissed him. The soft
fullness of his lips curved into a small smile.

“It’s okay. They needed killing.” Hardness sheeted his
demeanor. “Those who harm weaker wolves and humans need to be disposed of.”

“I’m still sorry it was you. I’m sorry for everything.” The
thick muscles of his thighs twitched. She nibbled her lower lip. “So this whole
time, you knew where I was? Why didn’t you come after me?”

“I’m patient. Hey, look at me.” When she gave him her
attention, he continued. “If I’d come and dragged you back before you were
ready, you’d have run again. It had to be your decision.”

A deep frown dragged the corners of her mouth down. She
looked away, tried to sort out the confusion and joy the revelation caused.
What he said made sense. If he’d caught up with her and taken her home before
she was ready, she would have viewed it as being captured.
Might
have hated him.
All the trust he’d built gone and shattered. He’d done
the most loving thing he could.

She met his stare, mesmerized by his penetrating gaze. Her
eyes burned at the warmth and gentle understanding shining there. The
white-blue of his irises glowed from the power of his magic, and his wolf.

“You’ll never let me be
harmed,
you
took care of me when I didn’t even know I needed help. I don’t know why I
deserve you.” A tiny scoot forward until their torsos touched. His shaft
twitched.  “I don’t want to leave. Not ever again.”

A breathtaking smile spread his lips, brought out the
dimples hidden in his cheeks. “No?”

“No. I won’t lie and say I won’t ever have doubts . . . but
we aren’t my parents. You spent five years watching over me, keeping me safe,
because you knew it’s what I needed to be whole.”

He tucked a curl behind her ear. “Sure you want to be stuck
with an old lone wolf like me?”

“You’re seventy five.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s not old
for a werewolf.”

Work roughened palms encased her cheeks and he swept his
tongue into her mouth. Her heart pounded with dizzying exhilaration. The stiff
points of her nipples collided with his as the kiss
deepened,
the hot line of his dick trapped and pulsing.

He broke away and stared into her eyes. “We won’t have a
pack.”

“We’ll be each other’s pack. You’re all the safety net I
need.” Acceptance, love, protection, and belonging would be their currency.
Leaving him had been the worst decision possible.

His strong arms created a barrier of protective flesh,
approval blazed in his expression and the set of his body. If she needed to run
alone, he would follow until she came home. He understood and accepted her, all
of her.

“I need to feel you inside me, now. Tie me down, Mark me as
yours. Give yourself to me, now, while I know what’s real. My heart knows how
much I need you, but my head is stupid. Mark me.”

He settled back, took a deep breath, and shut his eyes.
Creases appeared in his forehead as he analyzed the scents of the room. Her
insides turned into a quivering mass. The corded muscles of his forearms and
thighs quivered. He rested his temple on hers, held his body still and alert.

Their hammering hearts matched each other beat for beat. He
gripped her and kept her still, until they both calmed. She swallowed past the
panic threatening to overtake her. He was going to reject her; he was going to
change his mind. He didn’t want to have a soul-deep bond with her. They’d go
back to living like before, as un-Marked mates.

“Jack?”

“Shh, love. Relax.” This time he used his magic to help her
calm down and she was happy for it.

The tension in her back eased, and he loosened his hold.
Tentative brushes with her lips coaxed him into deepening the kiss, and he
towed her in by the elbows. Their tongues met, slow, sinuous. A low rumble of
desire rose and wormed its way through her.

She shifted and as the head of his cock penetrated, he
repositioned to pin her to the bed, capturing her wrists above her head.

“No. Kayla, I don’t want you to do this because you’re
afraid. You reek of fear. I would never force you to leave.”

“Yes, I’m afraid.
That you’ll leave me.
That you don’t really want me.
But I finally saw
through my memories and realized how much I love you. How empty my life is
without you.” She nipped his lower jaw and growled. “I want you to Mark me
because I want you for myself. I want everyone to know you’re mine. I don’t
want old hurts to resurface and destroy us.”

“I’ve been yours since the moment you walked into my
territory.” He turned from her questing mouth and nipped on her earlobe. “And
you’ve been mine. There is no going back. Are you sure you’re ready? That this
is what you want?”

“Yes.” She’d never been
more sure
of anything.

He captured her nipple with his teeth and sucked it hard
into his mouth. One hand contained her wrists; he caressed the valley of her
breasts, and skirted the crease of her thigh and torso. He hooked his fingers
behind her knee and bent her leg. Frantic to ease the ache growing in her
pussy, she bucked her groin off the bed. He growled in warning and the
compulsion to obey was so strong she stilled. If she desired, she could use her
wolf to fight it, but she didn’t move, breathless and desperate to please him.
She and her wolf welcomed being topped by him.