Page 9 of Never Submit (Bad Wolves #2)

Chapter 9

Ren

E ven the exhaustion has begun to dissipate, as though my system is working overtime to get me healed and whole.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be healed again, not mentally, not with everything that’s happening.

“Thank you,” Noble says to the omega.

She keeps her head ducked down on her way out of the room, and then it’s just the two of us.

Alone.

In a room that smells like him.

“Do you feel well enough to take a shower? I’d be happy to help you if you need it.”

I lift my gaze to stare at Noble, the curious tilt of his head, the way his auburn hair falls over a face of angles and sharp planes.

“I wouldn’t turn down an offer of help.” I run my tongue over my teeth, my mouth going dry.

He notices the motion and his attention zeroes in on my lips, heat pooling in his eyes.

It’s always been that way with him. As much as I tried to tell myself it wasn’t there, the chemistry between us lived and breathed under my skin, off the charts.

That’s how it feels with all of them, in fact.

But there is something unique about Noble. I knew it that day on the mountain and it's impossible to ignore it now.

Noble takes control and peels my clothes off of me. “It really is a lovely tattoo.” The pad of his thumb draws a line around the wolf on my stomach. “You didn’t have this before. I’d remember.”

“I’m not sure where it came from.”

“It’s unique, just like you,” he purrs.

“What if I want to be normal?” I say. “What if I want to be like everyone else?”

“I’d say you are out of luck. You are so far away from normal, you are practically in another universe. Which is a good thing.”

He kisses me, just a brief press of his lips to mine, and heat pools in my stomach.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“For what?” he answers against my lips.

I smile at him. “For being you. For coming to find me.”

His expression darkens. “Except I wasn’t the one who found you. Someone else got there first.”

Before I have a chance to respond, he guides me toward the shower. The scraps left of my clothes are easily tossed aside. Soon I’m naked in front of Noble, but I’m not shivering, and I’m not weak. The way I was last time.

The last time we’d had any sort of intimacy, I’d been less than half alive.

He’d taken control then, though. He’d nestled his head between my legs and twisted his tongue against my clit until I wanted to scream but could not .

Immediately, my body warms at the memory.

“In you go.” Noble’s voice is husky as he guides me beneath the pulsating spray, following behind me fully clothed.

The hot water turns his hair to rippling fire. My mouth is dry when he reaches for me, his touch light but strong.

And I feel him everywhere. Not just on my skin but inside of me, in my head and in my heart, like a second energy has somehow settled beside mine, twining together.

Not just a second energy. There are more energy threads, aren’t there?

But before I have a chance to examine too deeply, Noble clears his throat, drawing my attention back to the shower, the run through the woods, the fur.

“What happened?” I ask Noble as he rubs a bar of white soap along my arms, my back, my spine.

He doesn’t pause as he asks, “What do you mean?”

But I feel his nerves like my own.

“Up on the mountain. Things between us changed. It’s like we’re connected.” I swoon at the sensation of soap and strong, competent hands.

Damn, there is nothing better than a hot shower with a sexy man who has a firm grip on the soap.

Noble chuckles. “You weren’t a wolf then, not like you are now. And yet somehow, in what Torin thinks is a cosmic joke, you and I…are mates.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” I admit.

I don’t want to say the wrong thing and have him laugh at me. Not that I think he will.

He’s not a prankster or someone who makes light of serious situations. He has depth.

“It’s not such a common occurrence, but among wolves, your mate is the soul that will walk down the path of life with you until the end of your days. Your partner. Best friend,” he explains.

His gaze flicks up to mine, molten, before dipping again to follow the trail of his hands.

“Like a canine version of soul mate?” I ask.

“You could say that.” No laughter. Not even a hint of it from him, thank goodness. “It just means that you and I are connected for the rest of our lives.”

He drops his hold to my waist and spins me around to face the wall. I automatically press my hands to the tile and let him rub his knuckles against the knots in my back.

“Don’t you think you should have asked me about it first?” I joke.

I crane to look at him over my shoulder, tensed and waiting for his answer. Shit, what if he doesn’t even want a mate? It’s not like I stopped to ask Noble his life goals when it comes to a woman.

There wasn't a lot of time to talk in our desperate race to the shrine.

But now, the weighty sense of too much time is suddenly on me, making it hard to breathe.

Even if he wants a mate, he might not want it to be me. That’s a distinct possibility.

I breathe like it will somehow help me to be okay with the fact that I’m with an honest to god werewolf, connected in a permanent way. Or, rather, help me be okay with already being okay.

“It was just as much of a shock to me.” His voice drops. “I never expected to have a mate.”

Something about his tone gives me pause. “Why not?”

“Those kinds of things don’t happen to men like me,” he admits. “Mates are special things.”

He says it like there’s something wrong with him, and my heart thuds, jerking up toward my ribs. I know the feeling. Even when there was something special about me, my life given by a mythical goddess, I’d always felt wrong. Doomed.

“Do you think you don’t deserve to be happy? Because if that’s the case let me assure you. A life tied to me probably won’t make you happy every day.” I’ve got to lean into the levity or I’ll go apeshit insane. “I can be a real stubborn bitch.”

The statement has the desired effect when Noble tips back his head and laughs, water from the second shower head cascading down his hair and turning it to magma, molten and alive. The way I feel when I’m with him.

With them .

And he’s so handsome. In a rugged kind of way with only a hint of beauty around his eyes, which see right into my soul. Like he’s got the soul of a poet or an artist or a teacher.

“So, if you’re my mate, then I shouldn’t…” I trail off, biting my lip.

It’s probably shitty to bring it up. To ask Noble about it.

How could I have fucked Dax, twice, if Noble is my mate? It doesn't seem possible.

Slut of the week .

But I don’t feel like it. There’s a little bit of shame, but not nearly the wave I expect.

And as if he reads my mind, Noble stops bathing me and draws me into the safe circle of his arms. “You’re very special, Ren Wexler,” he says. “I guarantee the old rules don’t apply to you.”

He finishes washing me before cutting off the shower, wrapping a towel around my shoulders, and guiding me toward his bed. Back massage, hair brush, and suddenly I’m dressed in a clean cotton bra and a cute red long-sleeved button-up blouse.

“The clothes should fit. The underwear is new. I had someone go out and buy them.”

The panties are adorable cotton things, but I’m not putting them on yet. Not when being naked from the waist down feels this good.

I can get used to this pampered thing. If only for a little while. Because man, it feels nice not to have to struggle to survive for once.

To have someone else, someone strong and powerful, watching my back.

“You’re really into this whole taking care of me bit, aren’t you?” I ask softly, gnawing on my cheek.

“It’s my duty and my pleasure to make sure you’re cared for.” He swipes the brush through my hair, one long wave, before pulling it free at the end. I moan and lean back into the contact.

It’s enough to lull me to sleep, but I’m not tired. Not really.

Not when all I can think about is the sensation of his mouth on my pussy, and how badly I want to know if he fucks as well as he sucks. My mate, if he’s to be believed, and I’ve never slept with him. It doesn’t seem right.

I adjust myself onto his lap to bring my core in contact with his hardening cock. No panties, and the shirt is big enough to give him enough room to touch me wherever he wants.

Noble drops the brush and glides his fingers along my leg, up my inner thigh until he slicks his fingers through my folds. Along my entrance and up to my clit, a gentle probing touch, to judge my readiness .

His eyes go glassy, and with a moan, he bends to bite my lip.

“Do you know how scared I was?” he asks in a low voice. “How many times I wondered if I would ever get to touch you again?”

I don’t want to think about it because I’d had the same fear.

“Touch me, then,” I beg him. “Touch me now and show me it’s all right.”

There’s heat and possession in his hands, in his mouth and the curve of his smile against my skin. He kisses the side of my neck, nipping at my jaw and then drawing his tongue down my neck.

My head drops back, my aches and pains forgotten.

This is so different from what I experienced with Dax, and it’s meant to be different, in all kinds of good ways.

Which doesn’t make fucking Dax bad, just…different.

They are unique men.

Noble had shucked his wet clothes after our shower and now he’s only wearing boxers. It’s easy to reach between us, to draw his cock out through the slit in the front. To take his ready dick in hand and stroke my way along the length.

Precum already dots the head of him as I stroke.

“If you’re not feeling up for this—” he starts through gritted teeth.

I kiss him, long and slow. Tasting him and stroking my tongue along his. It’s sweet and exploratory, and sends my stomach into a tailspin of heat and desire.

Then suddenly it’s more. Like the connection between us realizes this will be our first time together and explodes. I feel Noble all around. His lust is mine. His emotions are mine, and I’m clawing at him to get him closer .

I arch my back, my breasts tight and heavy, nipples pebbled.

“I want you,” I whisper against his mouth. “Now.”

It’s more than a want, though, it’s an obsession in my blood. My pussy throbs with anticipation of being filled and I’m hungry, absolutely starving, for Noble.

The bond between us is a bright and living thing, and a huge part of me has become undone in his proximity. Not in a bad way, though. I’m safe. When I'm with him, I’m safe.

Is a mate bond supposed to keep me from wanting anyone else?

Because that hasn’t worked out so far.

“You deserve more,” he grunts out. “You deserve it slow and sweet.”

“I’m here. And we have time.”

It’s impossible for me to tell him how much I need him. How empty I am without him inside of me.

When he says nothing else, I lift onto my knees and slowly impale myself on him, sliding him inside of me inch by tantalizing inch until he’s buried to the hilt and we're both gasping at the sensation.

I groan at his size, at the lack of an adjustment period, before I drag myself up and drop home again. I swivel my hips against him, grinding my clit against his pelvic bone and holding on to his shoulders as I ride him.

So fucking good.

He fills every piece of me and presses against all the right spots. I’m not sure how it seems that his dick, as thick and slightly curved as it is, feels like the perfect fit. But holy fuck is it good.

My pussy clenches around him, sucking him deeper, gripping him so that every inch he gives is nothing but exquisite friction as I accommodate his size .

Noble lifts me up by my waist and holds me just above his cock, pressing against my entrance without allowing me to slide down again.

“What are you going to do?” he purrs. “Are you going to beg for it? For me?”

I nod, licking my lips and holding eye contact until he finally slams me down. The force is enough to have me gasping, ready to curse. Ready to moan out his name or scream or whatever else he wants me to do.

He twists his fingers in my hair and yanks my head backwards until I have no choice but to look at him.

Then Noble takes control and there is nothing I can do except hold on as he thrusts into me. Maintaining a torturously slow tempo when I want to rush, to go as fast as possible.

So not what he said earlier.

At least, that’s what I think until he surges to his feet, the movement forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist. He reverses our position and takes me in missionary before hooking an elbow beneath my leg. Transferring both of them to his shoulders and finding an even deeper seat inside of me.

I’m panting and holding onto the sheets for dear life. My hands fist in the fabric to keep steady.

“I don’t care who else you fuck,” Noble grunts, flesh slapping against flesh, “but you’re going to remember me. Your pussy is going to know who has a claim on it.”

“Yes,” I hiss out between my teeth. “Yes, yes.”

Sweat slicks my skin. I drag my fingernails down his spine, along the back of his neck.

He reaches out and takes hold of my throat, working his hips in a circle, and the pressure is so exquisite I cry out .

“But I’m not going to come yet,” he warns. “And neither are you.”

“What do you mean, you’re not going to come?” I’m shocked.

“I’m not done with you.” He flashes me a wicked grin. “You’d better hold on tight. Because this first time between us? It’s going to last a while. And I’m going to make sure you get off multiple times, Ren.”

Noble stands and pulls back, tugging out of me, his glistening cock bobbing out of his boxers. He kicks them off, his breathing short.

I’m panting like I may start to choke.

Then with a terrible groan he covers me, kneading my backside and slamming home. He tears into me with reignited passion, burning through me, his thrusts increasing until tears drip from my eyes.

The way he swells inside of me. It’s so good.

I wrap my legs tighter around him and hold on. “Give it to me, Noble, please.”

I want to feel him come inside me, hot, knowing I’m the one who made him come. He shoves me down harder, pressing his weight into me, shuddering and pounding home. His hips rocking like he can’t stop himself.

His fingers are tight around my throat again and I squeeze my eyes shut, my mouth dry and the rest of me a wet mess.

If this is the way I die…I’ll take it.

I throw my head back and scream against the pillows, the headboard. Scream as he fills every inch of me.