Desired by the Pack: Part Two: A BBW Paranormal Romance (7 page)

“How long are you going to keep me here?”

Beck curved his hand in the dip of January’s waist and drew her against his side. He didn’t answer. She wouldn’t like what he wanted to say.

They approached the Peace River encampment at a steady pace, guided by lights winking in and out of the bare trees. When January didn’t push the issue of her stay, Beck glanced down at her face. Bemusement creased her forehead.

He tried to see the camp through her eyes. The Guardians had built this modern-day settlement up from a rural lot of abandoned single-wides. When Beck had first come to Peace River, rusted trailer skirts had hung from rotted frames and the only light came from battery-powered lanterns. The few shifters who brought their families to build up the site had been sleeping in tents.

Now, neat rows of insulated cabins housed the three packs that guarded the gate. A pair of trailers they’d been able to salvage functioned as clinics, primarily equipped to handle burn injuries, which werewolves couldn’t heal on their own.

January shivered, reminding Beck that she wasn’t dressed for a pre-dawn trek through the forest in the middle of winter.

“Fuck me for an idiot,” he said. January shot him a questioning look. Ignoring it, Beck scooped her up into his arms. She wasn’t a feather, but she was strong and healthy and smart enough to know a better plan when she saw one. Sliding her arm around his neck, she angled into his frame, helping him by not fighting.

Her breath warmed his neck. “If I’d known you could do this, I would have suggested it myself.”

He
huffed a laugh. “Are you trying to insult me?”

“Just saying.”
She rested her cheek against his shoulder.

Beck picked up the pace, eating up the steep, uneven terrain. Even carrying her extra weight, he had the advantage of familiarity. He could and had traveled this path at all hours, in every weather condition, and in more shapes than one. On levels more than physical, he connected with the earth with every sure stride.

Soon the camp’s lights were more than faint glimmers. The morning was dawning overcast, forcing Cleo and her assistants to burn lamps in lieu of natural light.

Once they crossed the invisible boundary Beck thought of as the edge of town, he settled January on her feet and took her hand. “
Mav took care of your car. Cross is getting a cabin ready for you.”

She followed him through a simple system of paths, only balking when Beck led her onto the narrow porch of a two-room log structure the
alpha pack shared in extreme weather. She swallowed, color in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold morning.

He braced for resistance but kept his mouth shut, letting it come.

January pushed her hands through her hair. “I’m not going to be here long enough to need a place of my own.”

Turning, he surveyed the peaceful lines of the village. “This is where I live but it isn’t where I belong. I have shoes to fill right now. Building this up,” he waved his hand at the scene, “has been important work.
Needed. But I’m a warrior in my prime, leading a pack of men who are warriors in
their
prime. Establishing this haven, tending to and defending the Peace River gate--we were needed for these tasks. But we were never meant to stop here. We’re meant to be on the front lines, to do our time until we can’t do it anymore.”

“Beck,” she said softly, and laid her cold hand on his arm.

He shook his head and looked at her, catching and holding her eyes. “You know how this works, winter-wolf. Without a mate bond, we’re stuck here.”

She licked her lips and wrenched her gaze from his.
“So, what? You’ve decided to bring me here because you needed a ticket back to battle?”

Across the way, one of the cabin doors opened. Mira, a heavily pregnant female
,  stepped outside. Her gaze immediately found Beck and January where they stood in the open. Given recent issues with the other female, some of which had resulted in Smoke’s addition to the alpha pack, Beck didn’t want her watchful eyes on January.

“We’ll continue this inside.” He turned January’s touch around, cupping her elbow and urging her into the cabin Cross had prepared by cleaning it out and making it suitable for a woman’s stay. January stiffened but obeyed his unspoken command.

Inside the compact building, January’s fragrance overpowered everything else. She smelled like needy woman, like primal fucking, and his desire for her leapt to the fore. The wild scents of the valley outside had tamed his hunger, but now…

He watched her walk into the middle of the
main room. Her hips swayed, her curvy ass beckoning him in the fitted black pants she wore. Dawn brought relief for Heat, which was why January hadn’t yet melted into a begging puddle at his feet. That suited Beck fine. He wanted the right to tend to her but he had needs of his own. His thickening cock throbbed with that need.

An unexpected presence prowled at the edge of Beck’s awareness, reminding him that he wasn’t the only one with a spirit-attachment to January. Without asking her permission, Beck reached along the communication line and connected with Anders.

Join us.

Anders’ response was a mental shudder of hunger and desire, a want so
powerful, Beck knew his alpha-second would come to the cabin despite Anders’ misgivings about joining with a human-born female.

Misgivings that had resulted in their violent disagreement behind January’s house.
Beck would share her, but he would also protect her right to choose who fucked her and in what form.

“Cross is thorough.” January walked into the
middle of the main room and looked around. “Heat, coffee, and breakfast.”

Beck shrugged. “He’s invested in you.”

She snorted softly. “That’s not very smart of him.”

“The mate bond isn’t smart or logical.
It’s necessity and it’s bigger than one person’s choice.”

January pivoted to stare at him. “So what are you doing here? Go. Find the mate your pack needs. Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you to do?”

“It would be unwise to challenge me right now,” he said, eyeing the vulnerable column of her throat. “You want to know why I brought you here? I did it because this is where you belong. I’ve tried to give you space. I’ve tried waiting for you to get a handle on your doubts. But I can’t always be a man who wants you. I also have to be the alpha who protects the future of his pack.”

Something thumped on the porch. Beck held up a finger and turned to open the door. He glanced down, expecting Anders as the wolf form his alpha-second preferred, and encountered naked, muscular thighs. Behind him, January made a strangled noise. Ignoring her, Beck
stepped aside and waved Anders into the cabin.

“What is this?” She asked in a
thready voice.

Beck secured the door and leaned back against it, keeping both Anders and January in his sights. While January opened and closed her hands, confusion rampant, Anders was becoming visibly aroused. Beck waited for January to notice. When she did, her eyes widened, her lips parted, and the earthy scent of feminine desire mushroomed in the air.

Beck waited until he knew January’s self-awareness caught up to her body’s reactions and then he answered her question. “
You
are the mate my pack needs.”

She jerked as if she’d been hit. Anders reached for her, a gesture of comfort Beck found very interesting, indeed. January glanced down at Anders’ hand. She didn’t pull away when Anders touched her. That was interesting, too. Beck knew she’d fucked some of the others while he was clearing his head, but she’d been in the throes of Heat. Everything happening now came from free will.

She didn’t pull away but she gave a violent shake of her head. “No. I’m not. I can’t shift. Since I can’t shift, I can’t give birth.” She sucked a deep breath and forged ahead, admitting to what she hadn’t before. “And I’m not willing to share you with another female. If it’s me, it’s only me. That goes for the rest of them, too.

Anders spoke before Beck could. “It is only you.”

January stared at Anders. ”How? There are six of you. One, I’ve never even met before tonight. How can you say it’s only me?”

5

Anders frowned at January, trying to work through her rush of words. He wasn’t in the habit of communicating without the silent aid of body language. She needed soothing and he wanted to do it with his body, which reacted to her in unexpected ways.

He decided to say it plainly, using both words and touch. The soft skin of her neck beckoned him. He slid his hand there, cupped the place where her shoulder and neck joined. Her pulse fluttered beneath his thumb. Desire heated him.

“Your wolf wants to run with me. She is mine the way you are his.” Anders jerked his head toward Beck but didn’t take his eyes from January’s. There was power in holding a person’s gaze.
Truth in it.

Her lips parted.
“My wolf?”

“She flashes her flanks at me.” He closed his eyes and inhaled, remembering the feminine scent. If his wolf had the reins, they wouldn’t be talking. January would be on all fours, rubbing back against him, slick and ready and wanting. And he would cover her. Take what belonged to him. Her pulse sped. Anders dragged a breath deep into his lungs. His muscles coiled, ready. Opening his eyes, he looked at his alpha. “I want her. It’s a burning inside.”

Beck held his warrior’s body in rigid lines. Anders didn’t need his superior sense of scent to recognize Beck’s tension or his hunger.

“I don’t understand how this can work.” But her voice was low, throaty.
Wanting.

Anders focused on her. Even he, with his human interactions limited to pack, which was not the same, recognized the desire. This was a
woman who had held herself apart, put herself in unnatural solitude, and she craved what pack offered her.

Holding her gaze, he said, “Don’t understand. Do. Take.”

Her breath hitched. Anders leapt into the weak spot. He bumped his nose against her cheek, her temple, urging her head to the side. January touched him for the first time, soft strong hands flat against his naked chest. She moaned and he felt the vibration on his tongue as he drew his parted lips down the arch of her throat, breathing, tasting her scent.

Sweet.
Aroused.
Pack
.

No more talking. She couldn’t misunderstand the thick jut of his cock against her belly, and still she softened against him. This was acceptance in a language that spoke more truth than words.

He took the tendon in her neck between his teeth, a message for her to be still, and lowered his palm to the tempting curve of her breast. Touching like this was human foreplay. He’d never had use for it in the past but found he was curious now. January would need more from him than a fresh kill for her dinner.

She would need the man he kept buried.

Her nipple peaked as he drew his fingertips across the crest. Even through her clothes, she responded.

Beck approached slowly. Anders knew Beck’s caution was for his benefit and appreciated his alpha’s restraint. With January’s arousal drugging his senses, Anders wasn’t sure how his instincts would react to a sudden approach.
A threat against his claim.  Eventually they would all have to work out a hierarchy of possession when it came to this woman, but until the rules were established, the males of the pack would be volatile.

Watching Beck over January’s shoulder, Anders settled his hands on her hips and brought her closer to him. Her excitement was a damp heat at the juncture of her legs. Too impatient to wait, he spoke first. “How much can I have?”

January pressed her nails against his skin. Fire edged her sharp tone. “Ask me, not him.”

“He sees you as a subordinate, winter-wolf. Baring your throat for him reinforced your
position.” Beck caught her hair and ran his fingers through the dark length, pulling her head back at a deeper angle. He bent to kiss the hollow behind her ear. “I have a suggestion. You want to hear it?”

Anders drew back but not before Beck touched him, igniting a physical awareness that went beyond the casual intimacy of
pack relations. Rousing an interest in something else.

January’s eyes flashed. Heat climbed her throat, a pink flush that tempted Anders’ tongue. She swallowed. “What I want is someone to touch me.”

Beck nosed along her shoulder. “I’ll take care of you. I always will.”

Reaching around, Beck grasped the bottom of her shirt and worked it up. Anders reluctantly let her go. He stepped back to give Beck room. The hunger inside him twisted as Beck bared her rounded stomach. January raised her arms and more tawny skin came into view. Her breasts were full, heavy, and the stiff nipples Anders had felt through her clothes were dark and ripe.

Everything about her looked succulent. His mouth watered.

“I want to lick her.
You.” Anders glanced up, catching January’s eyes after Beck pulled her shirt over her head. She went still, her arms raised and caught in the tangle of fabric.

She didn’t say anything. Pulling free of her shirt, she lowered her hands and cupped her breasts, lifting the mounds up and squeezing them together.

“I think that means she wants you to get on with it.” Beck hooked his thumbs in the waist of her pants and pushed them down. January shivered after stepping out of her pants. Beck wrapped his arms around her. “Bedroom,” he said, jerking his head toward the cabin’s other room.

Anders nodded and went ahead of them. The bedroom was small, neat and utilitarian. It had a big bed, the way all the cabins did, because pack rarely slept alone. It was more unusual to find someone in a bed alone than it was to find three or more bodies tangled together. A small propane heater warmed the room. He drew the thick pile of blankets down the bed, exposing green flannel
sheets. Plain, but well-made. January would be comfortable here. He could be comfortable with her.

Beck pulled January into the room and pushed her onto the bed before he started undressing. “Until she bonds with all of us, you can have her mouth or her ass. Her cunt, if you’re willing to wear a condom.”

”Her mouth?” Unable to contain his confusion, Anders glanced at January, naked and kneeling on the bed. Her brows were drawn together. She looked back and forth between him and Beck, biting her lip. Anders knew when understanding came to her, saw her eyes widen and her lips part on a breath.

“You’ve never…” She trailed off when he tensed, finishing with, “had a blow job, have you?”

”I do not know what that is.”

“Come here.” She patted the space beside her, up near the simple, sturdy headboard.

He nodded and walked around the bed to settle where she indicated. January turned to face him and crawled between his legs. Her dark hair fell in a curtain at either side of her face. It wasn’t long enough to hide the heavy sway of her breasts. Her erect nipples grazed his thighs and the muscles bunched at the contact.

He was fisting the covers even before her warm breath washed over his cock. Excitement hummed through him, intermingling with trepidation. He wanted to bolt from the bed. At the same time, he wanted to work his hands into her thick hair and drive deep into her mouth. Unable to trust his instincts, he did neither of those things.

“Goddess, your ass is fine.” Beck broke the silence. The mattress gave under his weight as he joined them on the bed, fully focused on the flared curve of January’s backside. Hands spanning her waist, he pushed her forward, driving her upper body onto Anders’ thighs.

Her lips whispered across the damp head of his cock. Anders’ breath hissed through his teeth. He tried to show some restraint, tried to prove he could be civilized like a man, but…he couldn’t. Forking his fingers into her hair, he drew her head down to him and uttered a guttural command.
“Now.”

She glanced up at him through her lashes, watching him as she licked out to taste his flesh. Something flexed deep within him, a tight-strung cord of excitement ready to snap.

And she hadn’t even begun.

Beck raised his arm and dropped his palm on her ass. The sound of the sharp slap rang in the room. January jerked and gasped. She tried to whip her head around but Anders held her in place.

“I said now.” He moved, nudging his cock against her bottom lip.

“That was for teasing him, winter-wolf,” Beck said. “Don’t. He’s not for playing with. You won’t like what you get in return, and there’s only so far I can get between you. You need to play games, you save them for me or one of the others.”

Games.
January closed her eyes and breathed deep, memorizing Anders’ musk. Oh, yeah, she wanted to play with him. And she wanted Beck’s hand on her ass again, punishing and driving her crazy. But neither man shared her mood and while she wanted to test the boundaries of this unexpected development, Anders and Beck had other ideas.

Anders dug his thumbs into her jaw, right at the hinge, and she had no choice but to open for him. His thick cock head coasted past her parted lips and lodged up against the roof of her mouth. She flattened her tongue along the broad underside and flexed the tip against a sensitive spot that made Anders’ breath hiss between his teeth.

Beck’s hands spanned her waist before coming together at the small of her back. He spread his fingers and stroked the length of her spine from hip to shoulder and back again. On the down stroke, he gripped her hips and pulled up and back. She lost her balance and fell forward onto her forearms. Anders’ cock slid unexpectedly deep, filling her mouth with his hard length. It was like plunging into a pool head-first, and she was suddenly drowning in his flavor, greedy and hungry for it.

Groaning, Anders wrapped one hand around the back of her neck. Alarm jolted through her as
he pressed her down, forcing her to swallow more of him. She tried to back off but he tightened his hold. A snarl of warning sounded above her, followed by a growl at her back.

“Let her go.” Beck’s voice vibrated with menace.

Below her, Anders stiffened. A choked sound came from his chest and he pulled his hands away so fast, her hair got caught around his fingers.

January raised her head. Anders hissed as his cock slid from her mouth. Silence stretched between the three of them, prickling her skin. Need and panic intertwined in his eyes. This powerful creature
needed
her.

The bed shifted as Beck left the bed. January spared a quick glance for Beck and shook her head. “Don’t,” she said. “This is something we have to work out.”

Beck’s eyes narrowed, possessive, protective and fierce. He was still staring at her when she returned her attention to Anders, whose muscles bunched with tension. She was willing to bet the only thing keeping Anders on the bed was her arms bracketing his hips. If he’d possessed complete freedom of movement, he would have bolted already. Judging by the way his throat worked and he kept looking away from her to scope out the room, he still might run.

Something inside her balked at that idea.

She wanted this--Anders and Beck and her. The other men of the Guardians alpha pack.

Suddenly, she understood why Beck had brought Anders while she was calm, temporarily free of Heat. It had nothing to do with Anders’ connection to her wolf-spirit and everything to do with a need to gentle this wolf-born man.
To tame him.

“The polite thing is to relax and let me have control,” she said softly when she caught his gaze. “If you want it a different way, ask. Give me warning.”

Anders worked his hands against the bed. The motion drew her attention to his fingers, which curved like claws and looked more wolf than not. When she looked back up at him, he rasped, “I’m not polite.”

“Try.” She flashed a smile and a wink before lowering her head and licking the flushed tip of
his cock. Anders jerked like she’d burned him. His entire body strained toward her but he held himself in check as she swirled her tongue around his shaft, tasting him from tip to base and back again.

Anders’ excitement fueled hers. She needed someone’s hands on her but Anders still clawed at the mattress and Beck hadn’t returned to the bed. In a bid to lure him back, she angled her hips and spread her knees, trying to tempt Beck with her slick, needy sex.

Beck’s nails raked her inner thighs as he parted her legs even wider. He climbed onto the bed and settled behind her. January moaned as Beck slicked two fingers into her body. She was still damp but her sensitive tissues weren’t accustomed to so much use in one night. Beck’s touch was a pleasure-pain she wanted to escape. At the same time, she wanted more.

She drew her mouth along Anders’ shaft, lingering at the head with deep, rhythmic suction until he gasped and grabbed her hair again. This time, he pulled her mouth off him instead of fucking deeper.

“Stop. It’s too much.” Anders shifted until he knelt on the bed and pushed her onto her back. His lips covered hers with a hard, hungry kiss. He held her down with the fist in her hair and ran his other hand down between her breasts, lower, until he found her wetness.

Her body sang with a charge of electricity as Anders and Beck combined efforts, Beck twisting a third finger into her passage while Anders explored her folds with inexpert enthusiasm. When his thumb coasted across her clit, too rough, she whimpered and bucked. The touch was too much but not enough. Anders rubbed his tongue over hers, the way she’d taught him, drowning her voice so she couldn’t ask for more.