Werewulf Journals: Weddings, Bells, and a Brownie Read online

  Fortrayn kissed his mate good morning before turning to address his teenaged stepdaughter. “First of all, I can smell your menses all over the den. And second, the only reason your butt isn’t grounded for a week is because I know you must be PMS-ing.” His brows drew together as his voice lowered and deepened. “PMS or not, you don’t growl at your mother in that surly tone of voice. Ever.”

  He pointed to the table. “Sit down, keep a civil tongue in your mouth, and eat your breakfast. Oh, and apologize to your mother.”

  “What am I supposed to eat? There’s hardly enough left to choke a gnat.”

  Fort shrugged, unconcerned. “If you don’t have enough cold cereal, make oatmeal.”

  Andrea snapped her mouth shut, stomped over to the table, and slammed down into her chair. Muttering under her breath, she splashed milk over her meager cereal and began shoveling spoonfuls in her mouth.

  Fort cupped his ear. “What did you say? I didn’t quite catch that.”

  She didn’t respond.

  His voice hardened. “Youngling, one day you may well be the mate of a rich and powerful alpha wulf, but today you’re nothing but a rude crumb-snatcher who’s forgotten that she tucks her feet beneath my table by my grace. If you push me on the issue of respect, you will be extremely sorry. Apologize ... now!”

  The spoon clattered in the bowl as the teen balled her fists on the table and struggled to swallow the last barely chewed mouthful of soggy cereal. “Yes, sir.”

  Head humbly bowed, Andrea heaved a heavy, put-upon sigh as she grudgingly turned to face her mother. Eyes swimming with tears, she murmured, “I’m sorry, Mom. Please forgive me.”

  Rosa went and draped her arm over her baby’s drooping shoulders. Giving Andrea a commiserating pat while exchanging a parental glance with her mate, she soothed the dejected teenager. “Of course I forgive you, mijita. And I accept your apology. You still gonna be my flower girl?” Rosa’s quiet question shattered the angry atmosphere.

  Andrea’s head jerked up. Her slim, whipcord body quickly followed. “Of course I am,” she cried, flinging her arms around her mom. “I wouldn’t miss being in your and Aunt Melody’s weddings for the world!”

  “Whew, that’s a relief!” Rosa pretended to recover from a swoon. “With all that anger flying about, I thought you might take it into your head to withdraw and leave me high and dry. Can’t have a wedding without a flower girl, you know.”

  Andrea’s eye brows flew up and disappeared under the jagged fringe of her bangs. “C’mon, Mom, sure you could. All you really need in a wedding is the bride and doom.”

  “Hey!” Fort grumbled, pouring himself a cup of coffee, “I resemble that comment!”

  His stepdaughter stuck her tongue out at him. “Yeah, I know.”

  “You’re both wrong.” Rosa touched her daughter’s cheek in passing. “I couldn’t possibly have this wedding without my precious flower. And as for you, mister ...” She came to a stop in front of her mate. “I want the human world to know you belong to me. I want a ring on your finger telling these San Francisco bitches you are permanently off the market.”

  Smiling, she took his cup and set it on the counter before going up on her tiptoes to mash her breasts against the rock solid sheet of muscle that masqueraded as his chest. Throwing her arms around his neck, she reached up and hugged him hard. “I’d put a ring through your nose, if I could.”

  “It’s already there, just invisible. Now kiss me and stop fretting.”

  She did. Fort met her more than halfway, taking aggressive control of their exchange. Forgetful of her daughter standing watching, Rosa mewled and tried to wrap her leg about Fort’s hip. He helped her, sliding a hand up the back of her thigh and lifting her pelvis into his groin. His cock hit all the right places even through her clothing, lighting up her insides.

  “Oh, yuck, I think I’m gonna hurl my cereal,” Andrea wailed, averting her eyes and making the sign of the cross with her two forefingers. “Get back! Back, foul fiends! Back into the pit of sappy married sloppiness. Dang, Mom, his tongue was so far down your throat he was wagging your tonsils. Ya’ll need to take that to the bedroom. I’m too young to have to watch this traumatizing stuff.”

  Fort’s head lazily lifted from Rosa’s mouth and he mock glared at Andrea over his mate’s head. “Enough comments from the peanut gallery. Wait a few years. Once you and Chase are mated, we’ll talk about throats and what gets wagged. For now, go get ready for school. I’ll drive you this morning. There’s something about these kidnappings that bothers me on an instinctual level. I don’t want to take a chance with your safety.”

  Teasing and menstrual moods over with, Drea nodded her head as she dumped her bowl in the sink. “Thanks, Daddy Fort, but you know whoever’s doing the snatching has only taken infants up to two years old. I’m way safe.”

  “They’ve only taken toddlers ... so far. Let’s do it this way in case they decide today is a good day to branch out.”

  Andrea shrugged. “Have it your way, paranoid papa.”

  “I usually do, terrible teen.”

  Rosa laughed at both of them. “You two need to stop trying to cap each other. Sheesh, playing the dozens is so out of date!”

  “He started it!” Andrea accused, backing out the kitchen and snatching an apple from the bowl on the corner counter.

  “Did not ... just finished it!” Fort retorted just before she slipped out the door.

  “You had to have the last word, huh?” Rosa tugged Fortrayn down by the grip on his collar. “Give me that facile tongue, you dog.”

  “Wulf, baby ... and don’t you forget it.”

  Rosa let out a startled yelp when Fortrayn planted both hands at her waist and hoisted her up onto the counter. Flipping her gown over her knees, he spread her legs and stepped into the resultant space. The grin on his face told Rosa he was planning something outrageous.

  “Ooh! What have we here ...?” A broad finger explored the damp entry to her vagina. Pushing in, he rimmed the sensitive opening before rubbing her slick moisture over her clit. “You want my tongue, baby? I’m about to give it to you ... right here.” He pressed his finger deep.

  Heat poured through Rosa, melting her core. She clamped her thighs around Fortrayn’s hand, trapping him between her legs and inside her sweltering pussy.

  “Ah, you just bathed my finger; so I take it you liked that suggestion?”

  Rosa pushed on his shoulders and spread her legs wider. “Stop teasing me. I’ll take a rain check on that promise. Andrea will be back in a minute. It doesn’t take her long to dress. I don’t want her seeing our playtime.”

  Fortrayn pulled back and looked down at her, brows drawing together in a frown. “What’s wrong with our play? There is nothing dishonorable in mates enjoying sex with each other.”

  Rosa placed a finger against her mate’s lips. “No, there isn’t. But she’s a young, impressionable teenager who’s slated to become the mate of a mature and sophisticated wulf. You can get pretty worked up when we’re having sex, darling. While I love you like that, she might get scared. Chase won’t thank us for giving her complexes.”

  With a wicked chuckle, Fortrayn picked Rosa up and draped her legs about his torso. Walking to the door, he hollered down the hallway. “Andrea, I’m going to do that nasty, trauma-inducing married stuff to your mother in the dining room, so stay out!”

  “Yuck! Thanks for the warning.”

  “Fort!” Rosa slapped at his shoulders, face turning hot at his frank words. “That wasn’t what I meant and you know it.”

  “Maybe not, sweetcakes, but I’m about to fuck my bitch. In my den, not your daughter or Lachlan himself dictates where and how I take you.”

  In the dining room, he kicked the door shut and slid her against his body, letting her nipples scrape the hard wall of his chest. “I want you. Now.”

  Rosa squirmed, her pussy welling with liquid. “I love it when you go all masterful on me!”

  He slipped his hand benea
th her gown and palmed her vagina. “I love it when you’re wet and ready for me.”

  “I am!”

  “Not wet enough.” He lifted her to the table, pushing back the cloth to settle her bare bottom on the dark cherry wood. “But you will be,” he promised, tipping her back and lowering his mouth to her swollen labia. His talented tongue swiped her from anus to clit in a broad, rough sweep that had her crying out and lifting up to meet his mouth.

  Balling one fist in her mouth to keep her shouts in, she buried the other in the thick fall of his hair, urging his mouth to a harder, deeper tasting.

  “Madre de Dios, mi corazón ... give me some teeth!”

  He growled with lust and gave her fang, scraping his canines up and down the sensitive flesh between her legs. Holding her in place with one arm flung across her belly, he reached up to tweak a nipple between thumb and forefinger, never ceasing his greedy lapping of her saturated pussy.

  “Mmmmm ...!” she crooned, twisting under his loving ministrations. “Ahhh ... aye ... ooh, Fort, fuck me with your tongue ... make me come, mijo!”

  He tore his mouth away, chin and lower jaw shining with her juices. “Not like this, babe, not this time.”

  He rose up over her, eyes gleaming and claws extended. Ripping her nightgown off, he dragged her hips to the edge of the table and deftly flipped her over. Shifting into fur form, he clamped his fangs into the bend of her shoulder, holding her in place as he maneuvered his hindquarters into the delta of her thighs. Rearing back, he sent his cock spearing into her tight sheath. This time you come on my cock, with me buried deep inside you ...

  Fort!

  Yes, my bitch. Feel me fucking you so deep and hard!

  Oh, my gods, yeah ... yeah! Ooh, you feel so damned good inside me!

  Mine! Mine! Mine! Fort chanted in her mind, powering his cock into her as if trying to drill to the center of her being.

  The pleasure was too rich, too overwhelming. Rosa rested her head on the table and simply gave in to the inundating river of sensations flooding her. Tears of ecstasy poured from her eyes as her mate’s wedge-shaped cock sank deeper and farther than Fortrayn could reach while in skin form.

  Taking his fangs out of her neck, Fortrayn reared up behind her. Forelegs clamping about her waist, he increased the speed and depth of his thrusts until he was hammering her unmercifully.

  I’m going to knot you.

  Do it! she ordered, flinging her hips back at him as he pounded into her, stretching the walls of her pussy until she burned with the delicious friction. Fill me up with your cum!

  She couldn’t stop her thoughts from dwelling on the futility of his knotting her. Their species were too far apart. Much as she dreamed of it, longed for it, she would never be able to give him a child.

  Fort caught the wayward thoughts and slowed his thrusts until he was barely moving within her. By the Moon ... I love you, Rosa -- not your ability to give me children!

  One day, you might think differently.

  Never! You’re my forever fling, my joy and my mate. I’ll never want another. You are enough for me ...

  Oh, Fort, you make me fall in love with you all over again when you say such sweet things.

  Good! Now shut up and fuck!

  Twisting her head and shooting her bossy mate a naughty grin, Rosa tightened the intimate muscles in her sheath. The startled howl Fort gave was music to her soul. She smirked in vindication. He wasn’t the only one dealing out pleasure, here.

  I’m coming, Rosa ... come with me!

  She felt the swelling of his cock inside her, the huge knot pressing and reshaping the walls of her sex. She mewled through the stretching, raising her hips to accept everything he had to offer.

  It hurts so good, Fort.

  I can’t hold on! I can’t ... oh, hell ...!

  Rosa screamed, tipped over into her own conflagration as she felt the hot rush of his semen gushing into her, scalding her womb with wulven cum.

  Panting and growling, Fort pushed up inside her, pressing his flanks tight against her buttocks as spurt after spurt exploded from his jerking cock. Finally spent, he rested on her back, his weight a welcome cloak against the chill of reality.

  Drowsily luxuriating in the orgasmic tremors still rippling through her body, Rosa gradually drifted off to sleep, wrapped around her lover and a cloud of euphoria.

  She came to while Fort was cleaning her of their mingled juices, his tongue quick and thorough on her tender flesh. There was healing in his saliva and Rosa spread her legs in a languid sprawl, making room for him to reach every inch of her sore pussy.

  A banging on the door jerked her out of her lazy state.

  “Hey! Remember me? Gotta go to school, here! Sometime this year, if possible ...!”

  Fortrayn lifted his head from between his mate’s legs. “Watch your mouth, imp. We’re coming.”

  “Yeah, I know ... but hurry it up.” A giggle accompanied Andrea’s risqué play on words.

  Rosa chuckled at Fortrayn’s disgruntled expression. “Sometimes, she reminds me of you.”

  “Yeah? Well, Hunter would have slapped me around for that discourtesy, but I know how to get her goat.” Raising his voice, he yelled at the closed door, “You just talked yourself out of a car until you’re eighteen!”

  “No fair!”

  “Bring your mother a robe, and I might reconsider.”

  “Why does she need a ...” Silence reigned as she put two and two together. “Oh ... yuck!”

  “You really think these kidnappings could be more than simple baby snatchings?” Rosa smoothed the eyebrow closest to her, settling the ruffled hair as she waited for Andrea to return with the requested robe.

  “I don’t know how to explain it other than I smell something ... otherworldly about them. My hackles are up, and believe me, when the wulf scents a mystery, there’s usually one there.”

  Fear sluiced through her, icing her blood. “You think they have something to do with Andrea being breed? Maybe someone looking for breed children?”

  “I don’t know!” Fortrayn ran agitated fingers through his hair. “But until we figure it out, she goes nowhere without an escort.”

  “I love you for caring for my daughter as if she was your own.”

  “She is mine. She’s pack and of my den.” Fort smiled. “Besides, much as she can be a pill, I love her, too. I will protect her with my life.”

  “Oh, Fort, you are muy hombre!” She cuddled closer and kissed him. When their lips released, she mouthed another heartfelt thank you. “You took care of the situation this morning better than I could have.”

  “You’re too close. She knows which of your buttons to push.”

  He was probably right. Her daughter’s teen tantrums always got the better of her, though she knew it wasn’t good to give into Andrea like she did. The girl was already headstrong and stubborn, and growing more so daily.

  Rosa clicked her tongue. She couldn’t really blame Andrea. Most girls with a rich, sinfully sophisticated older male gifting her with attention and money would respond the same way.

  Hunter had restricted his cousin’s access to the teen breed until she matured emotionally and became of legal age. The impatient wulf chafed at Hunter’s command, but as the lesser Alpha, he had no option but to obey. Forced to court Andrea from afar, he inundated her with expensive gifts, accompanied by cards and flowers.

  Sometimes Rosa didn’t know which she wanted to do ... curse or rejoice. No mother felt comfortable knowing her baby would one day be subject to the sexual attentions of such a predatory male animal, yet any mother would be glad to know their daughter would have the world at her feet and a spouse who would never cheat on her.

  Still -- there was something about that future mate being a werewulf that caused all sorts of alarms to go off. Yes, she’d mated one, herself, and was giddy with happiness. Fortrayn was every woman’s dream man. Buff, handsome, strong -- oh, gods -- built like a truck and hung like a bull! -- and still young eno
ugh to train. But there were cross-species issues she faced every day, living with a being that could and would change shapes at will. Issues her still innocent daughter would one day also face ...

  Chapter Seven

  Melody raised her hand and waved, catching the attention of the slim black woman walking toward her. Through narrowed eyes, she observed Alison Morrison’s confident stride, easily seeing what had captivated Hunter once-upon-a-time.

  The woman was a classic black beauty. A short cap of silky black curls hugged her head, framing the delicate bone structure and wide forehead. Curiosity gleamed in the enormous black eyes openly studying her as the fashionably dressed woman crossed the courtyard and made her way to the outdoor eating area of the little bistro Melody had chosen for their meeting place.

  Alison’s poise and beauty didn’t set off any alarms in Melody. She felt totally secure. No woman worshipped the way Hunter did her could harbor doubts of their man’s devotion.

  She stood to greet the wife of her husband’s friend-turned-enemy. Holding out her hand, she smiled a welcome. “Alison, thanks for coming. Can I get the waiter to bring you a coffee?”

  “Herbal tea would be better, thanks,” the slim woman replied, shaking Melody’s hand with a firm grip. She set her purse down and slid onto the wrought iron chair. “I must confess I was surprised to get your phone call.” Her lips turned up in a gamin smile. “After our last meeting, I didn’t expect to hear from either of you anytime soon. It didn’t go very well, did it?”

  Melody grimaced. “My fault, entirely.”

  “Well ... I’m not too sure about that.” Alison’s dark eyes met and held Melody’s sherry-bright gaze. “I love my husband, Melody, but I am not blind where he is concerned. I’m sure Kevin had something to do with the unpleasant tone of our one meeting.”

  “I love Hunter, too, and I know him well enough to know the situation between him and your husband is hurting him. I’m hoping between the two of us, we can mitigate some of that unpleasantness.”

  Alison’s head tilted as she regarded Melody. Her open expression spoke volumes about her willingness to open negotiations. “Kevin won’t even talk to me about Hunter. He’s hiding something and I haven’t been able to ferret it out of him.” She pursed her mouth in a little confused moue. “If you knew the dynamics of our relationship, you’d understand how strange that is. Normally, Kevin can’t hold out against my questioning, but in this matter, he’s like a sealed clam -- shut down tight.”