four
His beast had been angry and in need of a run, so immediately after returning to his room he undressed and shifted. If he couldn’t be with his mate, he at least needed to be free for a while. The animal had immediately back-tracked to Norah’s little cabin. He sat under a pine tree and watched her window with unblinking patience until she finally turned out the light. Then it gave one long, sad howl before it took off at a frantic pace through the woods.
Somewhere between Norah’s cabin and the edge of the resort snow started to fall. The wolf didn’t notice, he was too caught up in his frenzied race. But now the beast was paying attention. The heavy snow that had been promised for the following day had come early, falling in big wet flakes on his fur and muzzle.
Lukyan’s wolf climbed the hill to the lodge. Lukyan had left his porch light on so the wolf could easily find his way back to the room. He would have preferred to stay in a cabin like Norah’s, but the logistics of guarding Dimitris’ mate were impossible. Cate was believed to be the Wolf Queen, the female mate sent by the Goddess to end the terrible curse. If the prophecy was true, Cate would eventually give birth to a female wolf shifter, the first of her kind in over a thousand years. Soon after her first transition, word that the Queen had been found spread across the world. One alpha was arrogant enough to try to steal her from Dimitris. He lost his life for the effort. No other attempts to harm Cate had been made since that day, but Dimitris was taking no chances.
Going forward, all vacations would be family affairs. Dimitris insisted that his best friends help keep Cate safe. Six people had accompanied the couple on their makeshift honeymoon. There was no cabin on the resort large enough to hold the couple, their friends, and the three security members that were brought along. At least there was nothing large enough that could have afforded any of them privacy.
Dimitris and Cate had taken a large, sweeping suite on an upper floor of the lodge, but Lukyan had requested a simple room on the first floor. There was more freedom in being close to the ground. He could easily walk out from his room, shift into wolf form, and leave without anyone’s notice. It also made getting back inside much easier. If he stayed on a higher floor, he would have been forced to leave a pile of clothes somewhere, or walk back to his room naked.
The wolf looked around to check that he was still alone. Quickly, he leaped up to the porch and shifted back to his human form. Sliding the door open, he walked over to the clothes he left at the foot of the bed. He caught sight of himself in the mirror. His face looked tense, worried. Was this what Dimitris felt when he was apart from Cate? He remembered his friend’s agitation during the days that followed their first meeting. She had made him wait four days before agreeing to see him again. Dimitris had been so irritable and grouchy that Lukyan told him to work from home out of fear that he would scare off all the human employees. He raised his eyes to the ceiling and said a prayer to the Goddess. “Please, if you have any care at all, do no let my mate push me away any longer than she already has.”
He looked back to his reflection in the mirror. He was naked, still. He wondered what Norah would think of his body. He had loved her lush curves and soft skin. Would she find his hard angles as appealing? He ran his hands down his abs and imagined her hands there, soft where his were rough. His hands moved lower, lightly stroking his cock. He was hard now, thinking of her touching him. He moved to the bed and sat down, never slowing the movements of his hand.
Suddenly she was before him, naked and so beautiful. He reached out to pull her close, but she pushed him away. She wanted to have her way with him, and he was going to let her. Slowly she knelt in front of him, her hands on his hips. He watched as she tentatively licked her lips. His cock, already hard, was nearly bursting, so ready was he to get her sweet, hot mouth wrapped around it.
She opened her mouth and took him slowly and deeply into her throat. Lukyan stilled. She felt so good, so warm, so soft. It wasn’t enough. He wanted her to take all of him. He wrapped her blonde curls around his fingers and pulled her head closer. He heard her gag, but then she steadied herself, opening that tight little mouth further for him. He worried that he might be giving her too much, too deep, but she didn’t resist, in fact, she seemed to enjoy sucking his cock.
Slowly he began to thrust in and out while she slid her thick, soft lips over his shaft. Her tongue worked its way up his length, snaking lazily from base to tip, tip to shaft. It felt so good. Too good. He wouldn’t last. With a loud moan, he threw his head back and came.
After a few long moments, Lukyan raised his head and looked down the length of his body. His hand was still lazily working his shaft, milking every last bit of pleasure from his fantasy. He had just jacked off to thoughts of his mate, but he refused to be ashamed. She was his, totally and completely, just as he was hers. Soon he would be able to have her as the Goddess intended. Until then, he would make due with feverish masturbation sessions.
Lukyan awoke in a cold sweat. His head was throbbing and his dick was hard. Thoughts of Norah filled his head. His need for her was growing.
It had taken a long while, but he finally drifted off into a fitful sleep hours after he had returned from his run. The lack of light in the sky told him that he hadn’t stayed asleep for long.
He clutched at his cock. It was stretched full to bursting. He entire body was on edge. Visions of Norah’s sweet, lush curves flashed in his mind. He needed to get to her, soon. He wiped the sweat from his head and sat up. A loud banging came from the hallway. “Who is it?”
“Alek. Open up. It’s important.”
Lukyan scooped his forgotten pants from the floor and pulled them over his hips. His erection was obvious, but he couldn’t do anything about it now. He opened the door to find Alek standing there, shirtless and sweaty.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Don’t you feel it?” Alek’s eyes were wild.
“I feel like you need to do something about yourself, cousin. What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s Cate. She’s in heat. Can’t you feel it?”
“Heat? It’s too soon. A woman’s heat can take up to one hundred years.”
“She’s the damn Queen, Luk. I suspect nothing will go as expected with her.” Alek ran his hand through his short dark hair. Lukyan did the same to his own.
“Heat. That would explain a few things.”
Alek looked down to the front of Lukyan’s pants. “I’m the same. I need to find a woman. I should have known, should have taken one of the blondes back to my room. Cate left dinner early. She said she didn’t feel well, which makes no sense. Shifters don’t get sick.” Alek rubbed his palm against his forehead in exasperation. “I should have known then that she was ready to start her heat. If I had been thinking, I would have picked up the three Goldilocks and brought them back to the room with me.” Lukyan rolled his eyes. That was just like Alek to go from needing one woman to needing three of them in a matter of seconds. Lukyan’s mind shifted to his own Goldilocks. His wolf growled its need. He struggled with the beast to maintain control. The animal had been barely contained as it was, Cate’s heat had only made things worse.
“So it just started?” His voice sounded low and harsh to his own ears. His wolf was close to the surface.
“Apparently. Mylo called and said that he and his team are taking turns guarding the suite. I don’t know how they can stand to be so close to that smell and not fuck someone.”
Lukyan agreed. He was three floors below the couple and he was about to pop out of his skin. “Mylo won’t take a woman. He’s too strict for that. But his men will. They will take turns guarding and then fuck some willing maid until this is over.”
Alek poured a glass of vodka from Lukyan’s bar. “I came to tell you to find your mate. I have no idea if there are other shifters nearby. If there are, they will want to take a woman and they may very well find her before you can get to her.” Lukyan’s wolf snapped his teeth at the thought.
“I will kill any man or shifter that touches her.”
