Married to the Mountain Wolf, page 8
part #4 of Mountain Wolf Protectors Series
“What…” she trailed off, glancing around as if she couldn’t find the right words to finish her question.
Nova only shook his head, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Babe, for once, I have no idea.”
Chapter 12
Despite the dilapidated state of the Valley compound, the guest quarters weren’t as bad as Amara expected. “I don’t know why, but I thought the Valley territory would look similar to yours. I guess because they’re so close together?” she said as she set her travel bags on the bed of their guest room. It was small, only a single room and bathroom in a house shared by several other wolves, but it was clean. She could work with that.
“At one time, it kinda did,” Nova replied. “This place has kind of decayed since the last time I’ve been here.”
“Really? How long has it been?”
“I was twelve the last time a Summit was held on the Valley compound. So… nearly fifteen years,” Nova said, mild surprise evident on his face. “How, has it really been that long?”
Amara shrugged. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. From what you’ve told me about him, Callahan Vann doesn’t really seem like the type to be interested in decorating or landscaping.”
“Yeah, but still. The state of this place… it’s bad. Things must have really went off the rails when Callahan became Alpha.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind, hugging her close to his chest.
“Is that why you’ve been so worried?” Amara asked. “You haven’t lost that look in your eye since we got here, you know?”
He nuzzled the top of her hair. “I’m always going to be worried when you’re in danger, Amara.”
She bent into the warmth of his hug, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. “I’ll be fine. You all trained me well. Plus,” she broke the embrace to pull up her pant leg, revealing the knife sheath that lay strapped beneath, “I’m never unarmed. They won’t even see me coming,” she finished confidently.
Nova stared down at her with a look of confusion on his face. “You’re certainly sure of yourself these days.” The words stung Amara, and before she had time to hide the hurt, Nova was already holding out his hands in apology. “Not that you shouldn’t be. You trained your ass off, and I’m seriously impressed. It’s just that… before… you were—”
“A coward,” Amara finished. “I was too caught up in what Kal had done to my family over the years, in what he could still do every moment that he runs free. I wasn’t thinking straight, too swept up in the fear of Kal Vann.” She shook her head, as if to shame herself for showing weakness.
“But then Strathford happened. For just a moment, I saw a small glimpse of what my home would be like if the Valley Wolf Clan was no longer an issue. So happy and buzzing with life. Peaceful.” She turned a resolute glare towards her mate, his own eyes widening slightly. “And, Nova I’ve never wanted to make something a reality more than I did in that moment. They deserve this. My family, Becca, Zoe, Mac, all of Strathford, they deserve peace.”
The heat in her eyes melted to something milder and she took Nova’s hands in her own. “Kal will always be Kal, and my fear of him won’t change that. Right now, instead of running away from Kal Vann, I need to be running toward a solution. Doing everything in my power to stop the pack that plagues my home is that solution.”
She smiled, rising on tiptoe to give Nova a small kiss. “We all need something worth fighting for, right? So you focus on protecting the land. I’ll focus on protecting the people.”
“Amara,” Nova sighed, pulling her against him into a deeper kiss. It was long, full, and she was breathless when he pulled away. He whispered against her lips, “I want to protect so much more than the land. I’d leave the land behind in a heartbeat if it meant I could keep you safe for the rest of eternity. For more than ten years, you have always been my first priority.
“I denied it at first, but from the moment I held your broken body in my arms as a seventeen year old wolf, you became my life. My pack will always be family, and our territory will always be my home, but you’re more than all of it combined.
“I’d do… anything for you. And it frustrates me that I’ll never be able to fully prove that fact.” He brushed a stray lock of dark hair from Amara’s face, and the trail of his fingers left goosebumps in their wake. “You’ve had a lost look in your eyes for as long as I can remember, so long that I’d stopped noticing. Until now.
“Now, your eyes are shining with a clarity that I’ve never had the pleasure of knowing before tonight. Never have I been more excited to see where my life would take me until I dedicated it to following you.” He wiped away tears from Amara’s cheeks that she hadn’t noticed she was shedding. “Amara Lowery, I cannot wait to see where this new shine takes us.”
Amara sniffled, and Nova kissed the tip of her reddened nose with a smile. “You can focus on protecting your people. Me? I’ll focus on protecting us.” The way he said ‘us’ sounded far more intimate than simply addressing the pack. The word sent shivers down Amara’s spine.
“I could really use a kiss right now,” she whispered, voice wavering with unshed tears.
Nova beamed down at her. “I can help with that.” He tilted her chin upward, kissing her lightly. Her lips tingled at his touch, and when they met his again, the tingles grew to shocks of pleasure as they coursed through her body. The second kiss grew to something more, something hungrier and needier.
They were on the bed before they could take off their clothes, Nova kissing and nibbling on Amara’s lips, coaxing eager noises from deep in her throat. She broke the kiss shortly to pull her shirt and bra off, grabbing them both and tossing them to the floor in one easy motion. Nova growled his ecstasy, biting down her neck and collar bone to finally settle on one hard nipple. She gasped, throwing her head back in euphoria as Nova bit and teased her breasts. The walls were thin, so she had to stifle her moans in case any of their housemates were nearby.
He moved quickly to her jeans, licking sensuously along the waistband. “No, no!” she gasped. “Not yet.”
Nova looked up at her, expression confused. “Not yet?” His voice was husky with desire, and she had to suppress a violent shiver. “Why not yet?”
She sat up, leaning in to give him a soft kiss. “Get naked and lay down, Nova,” she whispered, nipping his lip as she pulled away.
His breath hitched, and without a word, he complied. By the time Amara had kicked off her boots and unstrapped her sheaths, Nova was completely naked, his erection hard and ready for whatever she had planned.
She undid the button on her jeans and slowly slid them over her hips. She loved the hungry look in his eyes as she turned around and shimmied the pants down her legs to meet the rest of her clothing on the floor. She turned back around, stepping out of her jeans. Teasingly, she hooked her thumbs under the silky fabric of her lace panties, but didn’t pull them down. “You want me to take these off?” she asked.
“Amara,” Nova growled, licking his lips in anticipation. That look from earlier when his pack mates were howling had returned, and Amara decided that she liked it a great deal more in the bedroom where she could experience the wilder side to her lover in private.
When she dropped the panties to the floor, his eyes followed their descent. Slowly, they traveled back up Amara’s body, and she felt little hot shivers erupt over her skin as he took in the sight of her. Only when their eyes met once more did she finally go to him.
She started at his chest and worked her way down. She kissed, licked, and bit every scar along the way, savoring the way his hands clenched the bed covers in rapture. When she finally made it down to his abdomen, she gripped his erection firmly in her hand and ran kisses up and down his shaft.
He watched her tease him the entire time, never once averting his gaze. He panted and gasped as her lips and tongue made contact with the length of him, and only when Amara was sure that he couldn’t take anymore torture did she finally slide the tip of him into her mouth.
His body shuddered in pleasure, his breath sighing outward in a shaky moan. She sucked the tip of him like a lollipop, sliding her tongue over and around the head before dipping to take more of him into her mouth. She relished in the way his body quaked at her command and how he bit down on the tip of his tongue to keep from crying out. She kept the tease going until she could only see hungry pleading in his eyes, knowing then that he could take no more.
A growl rumbled deep in Nova’s throat, his knuckles white from gripping the bed so tightly. “Babe,” was all he groaned, and Amara could tell he reached his limit.
Without further preamble, she pulled the length of him out of her mouth and crawled on top of him. She poised herself just above his hard body, playfully rubbing the edge of him with the edge of her. His frantic breath tickled her cheeks as she caressed him with her womanhood. Their eyes met one final time as she slowly slid down around him.
The cried out in unison. It wasn’t quiet by any means, but at that point neither of them cared. All that mattered in that moment was each other. Amara sat sheathed around him, her nails digging into the meat of his shoulders. Before she could catch he breath, Nova’s strong hands were vised around her hips. Slowly, he rocked against her once, then twice. The sensation of him inside of her drove her wild. She leaned forward, gripping the pillow under Nova’s head as she moaned her bliss into his mouth with ravenous kiss and ravenous kiss. They moved in perfect sync with one another, riding waves of desire until Amara couldn’t take it any longer.
As her breathing grew ragged and rough with the promise of climax, Nova suddenly flipped her down onto the bed. She let out a little,”Eep!” of surprise before he slammed himself back into her.
Amara bit down on Nova’s shoulder, her fingers running deep red marks down his back as she stifled her cries. She heard the wood of the headboard groan as Nova gripped it, finding leverage to thrust harder and faster and deeper into her than before. Her fingers tore into the hard muscle of his back as they climaxed. It hit her like a tsunami, washing over and around her, toppling her very sense of self end over end until she couldn’t tell which way was up. As Nova cried out on top of her, she finally allowed the wave of orgasm to overtake her, drowning her in pleasure as it pulled her out to sea.
Nova flopped down beside her, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. His eyes fluttered open, and a smile played along his lips when he saw her grinning up at him. “What did I do right to deserve you, Amara Lowery?” he murmured as he leaned down for a kiss.
“You loved me, Nova Lowery,” she replied, the taste of his lips still delicious on hers.
“Well, then I deeply regret not loving you sooner. I can’t believe I lived twenty-seven years without this,” he said, lovingly caressing her bottom lip with his thumb.
She kissed his thumb tip. “We have the rest of our lives to make up for it.”
“I love you more than you’ll ever know,” he whispered.
Intertwining her legs with his, Amara snuggled into his chest. “I love you even more than that,” she responded, and the deep rumble of his chuckle made her feel at home.
It wasn’t long before Nova fell off into slumber. The soft sure beat of his heart was like a lullaby composed precisely for Amara, but still she couldn’t bring herself to sleep.
‘We have the rest of our lives,’ she’d told him, but yet they lay in another Alpha’s territory and prepared for war. War was cruel, unfair. It didn’t take sides. And it certainly wasn’t without its casualties.
Tomorrow was fast approaching. If the worst came to pass, Amara had to ask herself, would she die tomorrow? Would Nova have to go back to her mother and Sadie and tell them that they’d never see her again? Would this be the last day that she laughed and joked and trained with her newfound pack mates? Would this be her last night to hold her lover and mate close to her and hear his heart beat strongly in her ear? She was only human, after all.
And even if she were lucky enough to survive, she couldn’t help but wonder, who had she seen for the last time tonight? Who would she see for the last time in the morning? Could it be Nate? Ian? Iso?
Nova?
Her heart skipped a beat at the very thought of losing him and she fought to hold in her terrified gasp. Nova rustled above her, agitated by the bond they now shared, and she gently pet his chest in an attempt to soothe him back to sleep. When his taut muscles finally relaxed once more, she let out her held breath.
She couldn’t think about this right now. She’d just learned to cope with her fear of Kal not too long ago; replacing it with yet another fear seemed counter-productive. Plus, now her emotions affected Nova if they were too strong—at least, that’s how Ivanah and Neveah explained it to her in-between training sessions. She couldn’t interrupt his sleep the night before the pack’s most important meeting in a very long time.
With effort, she slowed her breathing to normal. She curled herself tightly around Nova’s strong torso and closed her eyes.
But try as she might, the sweet embrace of slumber just wouldn’t come.
Chapter 13
Morning came earlier for Nova than most of the rest of the pack. A light tap on his room door woke him from his sleep. With a yawn, he stretched slightly, feeling Amara’s slender arms coiled tightly around him. He kissed her lightly on the top of her head before gingerly sliding out of her grasp. She rustled a bit, but sleepily tucked a pillow under her arm and drifted back off.
Nova padded silently to the room door and pulled it open just a sliver. “Time for my watch rotation?”
“Yep,” Nate said from the other side. “Last three hours are all yours.” He halted to sniff the air. “Oh, man, but go ahead and take a shower first. You smell like really good sex.” A few chuckles from the rest of the previous watch rotation sounded from a little ways off, telling Nova that they weren’t alone.
He flashed a grin at his protégé. “Well, you aren’t wrong. It was pretty amazing sex. I’ll be out in a minute.” He closed the door to more disembodied laughter. He showered quickly, washing Amara’s scent off of him as best he could. The last thing he needed was the added distraction of a small army of youngish wolves ribbing him about his sex life.
When he slipped out the bedroom door, fully clothed and smelling like Amara’s cinnamon lotion, Nate was waiting just outside with a steaming mug of coffee. “I figured you could use this, sir,” Nate greeted, a happy glint to his eye.
“You figured correctly.” With a stretch, Nova accepted the mug gratefully. He savored the very first sip; it was strong and pungent, just the way he liked it. He let out a contented sigh before speaking again. “Anything happen while I was out cold last night?”
Nate shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. Some of the wolves are saying they’ve seen Kal, but I doubt it. If he’s romping somewhere around the compound, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it anywhere near us. There were no scent tracks to follow to corroborate their claims, either.
“Worst bit of news I’ve heard was that the guesthouse Iso’s unit is in lost water and heat for a while and Valley wolves may have been complicit in turning it off.” He shrugged. “Harmless pranks at best.”
Nova nodded. “That’s a good sign. We might just be able to make it through this without things going south.”
Nate raised a mug filled with tea in cheers to that. “Let’s hope. Oh, and Nemoy’s down in the kitchen if you wanna see him on your way out. Not sure how long he’s been up. He wasn’t there when my shift started.” Nova nodded his thanks before Nate departed around the corner to his own guestroom.
Nemoy was waiting just where Nate had said, nursing a cup of coffee in his hands as he studied the Callahan’s crumpled letter on the island in front of him. He didn’t acknowledge Nova as he entered the kitchen, only taking a small sip from his mug as he read that note for what was probably the hundredth time.
“How long have you been awake, Nemoy?” Nova asked.
Nemoy’s eyes finally rose from the paper, but instead of looking exhausted like Nova expected, his brother’s face was stony and cold, the picture of complete Alpha determination. “Not too long. About half way through Nate’s rotation.”
“Not too long? That’s nearly five hours early,” Nova joked.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Nemoy replied, shrugging. “Figured it’d be as good a time as any to think up some last minute strategies.” He looked down at the page. “You know I still don’t trust this, right?”
“With good reason,” Nova agreed. “Those wolves… The way they reacted when we showed up, it was like they were either scared, angry, or plotting something. Either way, they didn’t respond like I had expected them to.”
“More like, they didn’t respond like they expected us,” Nemoy retorted with a sneer.
“What do you mean?” Nova asked, instantly alert.
“I mean, if I wrote a letter admitting a rival pack into our territory at their earliest convenience, would I not tell my followers about it before I sent the letter off?”
Nova nodded, mind already putting together the pieces of the puzzle that his brother had laid out. “Right, but what makes you think Callahan didn’t?”
“Because yes, the Valley wolves that greeted us last night were angry, scared, and maybe even plotting something that we don’t know about yet, but there was something else there, too. It wasn’t strong, but I could smell it hanging in the air as they made themselves known. Think back, brother,” Nemoy said, eying Nova. “What do you think that faint scent was?”
Nova recalled the events that unfolded last night. How disheveled the valley compound had become. How the shadowed faces popped up one by one in the trees and foliage surrounding them. How there was a moment at the gates when he wasn’t sure Vann’s pack was going to let them through... If Callahan had told them about Nemoy and his arrival beforehand, then why would they even toy with the idea of possibly denying entry and risk disobeying their Alpha? The Alpha’s word is law, no room for dispute. Nemoy shouldn’t have had to provide further proof with a letter… unless…
