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Her lips were soft against mine, even as I could taste the passion behind them. I waited for her to push me away the way she had the other night. Instead, she leaned into the kiss, any reservations about our one either forgotten or dismissed. I didn’t care which. My wolf howled in longing as the kiss deepened, all thoughts of stopping wiped from my head. My hand went to her head, holding her against me as I pushed her against the wall, pinning her there as our bodies pressed against one another.

I slid one hand down her side, feeling the curves of her body as she melted against me. My thumb traced the line of her hip. She moaned into my mouth, the thrum sending new jolts of need through my body. I could feel my cock twitching, wanting to be inside her already.

My mouth moved to her collarbone, nipping gently. She gave small gasps of pleasure, her body pushing into mine as her back arched. It wasn’t until I began to fumble with her jeans that she stopped me.

“Not here,” she whispered. She gave me a coy smirk as she tilted her head. “I don’t want anyone seeing.”

I knew she meant Claire. Even as I wanted to throw caution to the wind and fuck her right there on the couch, I nodded and pulled her into my bedroom, closing the door shut behind us. When I turned back around, I saw with savage pleasure that she had already discarded her shirt, and she wasn’t wearing a bra. Snarling, I peeled off my own shirt. She sucked in a breath, her eyes raking up and down my body, drinking it in. The lust and hunger in her eyes only fueled my own. My eyes lingered on her tits, round and the perfect size, her nipples already hard with arousal.

“These are even better than I remember,” I growled, stepping forward and grabbing one in each hand.

She moaned at the touch. I bent down, my lips caressing her collarbone and neck. She shivered beneath me as my hands continued exploring her body, relishing the feel of her after years of remembering her smooth skin and gentle curves. Soon, I wasn’t satisfied with going slowly. I needed her. Needed all of her. My touches grew more insistent, holding her still as my mouth moved back to claim hers. I pushed her against the wall, keeping her helpless before me. Even that wasn’t enough. My wolf was greedy. He wanted more. I wanted more.

Unable to wait any longer, my hand slipped beneath her jeans. She gasped, her back arching as my finger found her clit. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her breath went ragged, driving my wolf wild. My own cock twitched again in response.

Snarling, I pulled down her pants and underwear, leaving her completely bare before me. I stood back, drinking in her nude body, savoring every moment. She stood before me, self-conscious at first, then more at ease. She looked absolutely perfect.

Without saying anything, I stripped off the rest of my clothes, my cock springing out. I pulled her against me, tangling my fingers in her hair and pulling her lips to mine, holding her in place even as my fingers resumed toying with her clit. She moaned into my mouth, her body grinding against mine in response. Her hands gripped my back, nails digging in.

I pushed her back against the wall, the pictures hung there rattling with the force of it. I watched her face as her expression contorted to one of pure bliss the more I played with her. I could smell her arousal, and it was driving me wild.

I crouched before her, hands holding her in place as they gripped her waist. Her scent grew more potent as I lowered myself, only intensifying my cravings.

My tongue ran along her slit, savoring the taste and relishing the way she writhed as her hands gripped my hair. I could hear her soft groans, growing higher and higher-pitched with every flick of my tongue. Her hips tried to buck but stayed still beneath my grip. I took my time, moving slowly, teasing her as I enjoyed her squirming and gentle mewling.

When I could tell she was close, I stopped, the taste of her still on my tongue. She shot me an irritated glare that only made me laugh as I raised myself. Before she could argue or say anything, I lifted her off her feet, raising her high before thrusting my cock inside her.

She groaned as I began pumping, her legs locking around me. I thrust inside her and let out a groan of my own. She felt incredible. I’d been with other women in the past, of course, but none of them had felt half as amazing as she did. Her hands knotted into fists on my shoulders as her back began to arch.

I kept pumping in and out of her, her own hips gliding up and down in time with mine. She threw her head back, exposing her neck. My wolf snarled as I grabbed her hair and forced her mouth on mine, keeping it there as I continued ramming into her. I knew she was close from the way she squealed, the way her moans grew higher-pitched, becoming more and more irregular. Each sound only intensified my own pleasure and need. All I cared about in that moment was her.

Her fingers dug into my skin, and I could tell she was close. With two more thrusts, she screamed into my mouth as she came, her muscles clenching around my cock. I kept pumping as her hips bucked. Her coming and her hips grinding against mine were enough to send me over the edge. I let out my own cry as I came inside her, filling her. My thrusts slowed to a halt as I finished.

We stared at each other, panting, neither of us saying anything as our bodies stayed pressed together. The surprise on her face was mixed with something I hoped was contentment.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, I slid out of her and lowered her to the floor. “Are you all right?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened.

“I’m okay,” she muttered.

I tilted my head, studying her and trying to gauge her reaction. I could sense something was off.

“Are you sure? How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Tired,” she said.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I teased. “But I meant more about the sex. You seem…” I trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.

She bit her lip. Something about the sight drove my wolf wild, and I could feel my cock twitch as I looked at her. Part of me wanted to pull her toward me and go for another round. But then her next words were like a bucket of ice water dumped on my head.

“It was fun,” she admitted, not looking at me. “Really, I had a great time.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” I said.

She nodded. “But I think it should be a one-time thing. Things are complicated enough right now without adding this to the mix.”

My wolf growled in disappointment, and I had to agree with him. Being with Audrey again had made me happy in a way I could never have imagined. Something about it had just felt right. I had been with other women before, but it had never felt like it just had with Audrey.

I tried to mask my disappointment and keep a straight face. Even if it wasn’t what I wanted necessarily, I cared about Audrey, and I wanted to respect her wishes.

“I mean, if you think that’s best, I’m not going to argue,” I said. “I trust that you know what’s best for you.”

“Right,” Audrey said absently. Something unreadable flickered in her gaze before she looked away.

I stood and walked over to her. I gently took her chin in my hand and raised it so her eyes, blue and sparkling like sapphires, met mine.

“That said,” I said, my voice low as my thumb stroked the line of her jaw, “I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And if you ever change your mind, you know where I am.”

Her cheeks flushed an adorable pink. The sight of that alone was enough to drive my wolf wild and make my cock twitch again. All I wanted at that precise moment was to pull her against me again, to kiss her before carrying her over to my bed for a second round.

I gritted my teeth, trying to squash those urges. Audrey wanted this to be a one-time thing, and I was going to respect that. But that didn’t stop me from wanting her again. It had been so long since we had last slept together that I had forgotten how incredible it was. Doing it again had brought back memories and fueled desires I hadn’t realized I still had.

God, I wanted her. I desperately wanted her. The fact that I couldn’t have her made the whole thing worse. And the longer I stayed here in front of her, inhaling her scent and being this close to her, the harder it was to resist those selfish impulses that made me want to kiss her again.

“I’ve got to go,” I said, taking a step back, and Audrey blinked in surprise and confusion. Something flickered again in her gaze, but I couldn’t figure out what.

“Okay,” she said.

***

“You seemed really eager to go on this mission right this minute,” Will said to me, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I noticed that, too,” Chris said. “Any particular reason?”

“Just want to get this sorted out before too much time goes by,” I said. “Besides, the sooner it’s taken care of, the sooner Audrey can start relaxing more.”

Silence broken only by the rumbling of the car followed the response. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I could see Chris shooting a skeptical look in Will’s direction. Beside me, Will had an amused, knowing look on his face.

“Knock it off,” I growled.

“I will when you tell us what’s really going on with Audrey,” Will said.

“Yeah, because we all know you aren’t just paying a favor back for Mira’s sake,” Chris added.

“And what makes you say that?” I demanded.

“Declan,” the two of them responded in unison.

“He says he remembers you making eyes at Audrey when she used to live in your old pack,” Chris said. I could hear the smirk in his voice. “And then she just vanished one day. You never talked about her after that.”

“I didn’t make eyes at Audrey when she lived in our old pack,” I said defensively. “I just wanted to get moving on this before anything bad happened. Doing my job and doing it promptly doesn’t mean there’s something else going on or some ulterior motive on my part.”

“If you say so,” Chris drawled, giving me a lazy, knowing grin.

“If you guys keep pestering me on this, there’s going to be hell to pay,” I warned, though that only earned chuckles from the other two in the car. But mercifully, they stopped pestering me after that, and I could just listen to the radio without having to field any more awkward questions about myself and Audrey.

The truth was, the reason I had pressed myself to get moving on this did have to do with Audrey, just not necessarily in the way I was implying. I couldn’t get the other night out of my head. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could think about was the way she had felt when I held her, and the way she had looked without any clothes on. It made focusing on anything else virtually impossible. Even if I had told her I wasn’t bothered or that I would respect her wishes, that didn’t stop me from wanting her.

So, with all that on my mind, I did the one thing that usually helped when nothing else did: throw myself into the job headfirst and hope it would distract me, at least for a little while.

Which was why Will, Chris, and I were currently driving through the streets of an unfamiliar town. I watched the shifters wandering along the streets, most of them smiling and laughing as they walked together in small clusters. The difference between this pack and Blood Moon was like night and day. No one here looked strained or nervous, and when we got out of the car and headed toward their town hall, none of the passersby shot us suspicious looks. There was none of the ominous atmosphere that had plagued Blood Moon. There was a brightness and vibrancy here that the other pack entirely lacked.

“Notice any differences?” Will asked dryly. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed the stark contrast.

“Yeah, no kidding,” I muttered in response, glancing around. “Hard to believe Reacher and this pack had any association with one another whatsoever.”

“The other place that bad?” Chris asked.

“It looked fine on the surface,” Will admitted. “But it just felt like everyone was on edge. Like they were afraid to screw up or step out of line. There wasn’t this air of relaxation like here.”

Chris nodded but didn’t say anything. We all remained quiet as we climbed the steps to the town hall and entered the main building.

We had only stepped inside when a man lounging at the front desk, engaged in a conversation with the receptionist, saw us. He muttered a final thing to the woman before pushing himself away from the desk and strolling over to us with a lazy, confident grin on his face.

“Hi, there,” he greeted, sticking out his hand. “Pete. Pleasure to meet you.”

I shook his hand. “Jackson. This is Chris and Will. We were hoping we could talk to your alpha.”

“You’re looking at him. What can I do for you fine gentlemen? Looking for a place to settle?”

He was certainly more hospitable than Reacher had ever been.

“No, actually,” I replied. “We’re doing some investigation on behalf of the Wolf’s Council. We were hoping we could ask you a few questions about the previous alpha. Reacher?”

Pete’s smile faltered, replaced by a grimace. Behind him, I noticed the secretary was staring at me, her eyes wide and posture tense.

“I see,” Pete said.

“You don’t seem particularly surprised,” Will commented.

“That the Wolf’s Council is looking into him?” Pete asked. “I can’t say I am.”

“He was bad news?” I asked.

Pete snorted, folding his arms. “That’s one way of putting it. A bit of an understatement, to be honest.”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” I prodded.

Pete didn’t respond at first. He looked the three of us up and down, as if trying to size us up, determining whether or not he could trust us. “Any particular reason you want to know? It’s pack business.”

“We’re part of the Gold Wolves,” Chris answered, cutting to the chase like he normally did.

Pete looked us up and down, one eyebrow raised. “Thought you guys retired.”

“So did we,” Chris retorted.

“Anyway, we’re looking into Reacher at the Wolf Council’s request,” I explained. “We found out he used to be the alpha here before he left suddenly. We were hoping to know the story about that.”

Pete didn’t say anything at first as he scrutinized us again, mulling over our words. For a moment, I thought he might refuse. After another moment, though, he gave a short nod.

“All right, but not here, if you don’t mind,” he said. “Why don’t you three come up to my office?”

He jerked his head toward the stairs, and we followed him in silence.

“Right,” Pete said once we entered the office. He closed the door. “So you want to know what happened?”

“Yes,” I said.

“It’s important,” Will added.

Pete nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek. I waited, not wanting to break his train of thought as he tried to figure out how to begin.

“It was a while ago, at least fifteen years, maybe even closer to twenty, so only us old-timers remember him. But he certainly sticks with you once you’ve met him.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” I muttered. Pete cracked a grin and nodded his agreement.

“You’ve met him, then,” Pete said. “Reacher was a strong alpha. He kept people in line. The problem was, the way he did that was basically by bullying everyone into listening to him. He was ruthless. And since no one wanted to get on the wrong side of him, everyone fell in line. People were afraid to cross him, so no one tried to fight against him or his cruelty.”

I raised an eyebrow, tilting my head. “But people clearly did fight against him. Otherwise, he would still be in charge of the pack.”

Pete gave a half-grin. “Yeah, well, he went too far, and a few of us decided to take matters into our own hands.”

“What did he do?” Chris asked.

“He tried to take over the nearest pack.”

The silence following Pete’s words was absolute. I didn’t need to look at Will and Trent’s faces to know that we all had identical expressions of shock. Being ruthless to the point of cruel was bad enough. Trying to take over another pack violated council laws.

“Yeah, that was about how I felt,” Pete remarked.

“He actually tried to take over?” I asked.

“He was planning a whole coup. Had people stationed in the other pack, ready to put things in motion the second Reacher said go. The only reason it didn’t happen was because a buddy of mine and I overheard a couple of his inner circle talking about it.”

“And I’m guessing your group wasn’t going to let him get away with that,” Will said.

“Hell, no,” Pete said, scowling at the memory. “So we rounded up a few guys willing to go after Reacher and his guys. There was a pretty nasty fight, but we managed to run them out of town. We warned the other pack what might happen, I became the new alpha here, and that was the end of it.”

“You haven’t seen him since?” I asked. “Or any of his group?”

The alpha gave a feral grin. “We made it known that if he ever showed his face here again, he wouldn’t make it back out alive. So, no, we haven’t seen him since. That was several years ago.” He gave us all a speculative look. “I’m guessing that, based on the fact that you’re asking around, he’s shown up somewhere else and is making trouble?”

“You can safely assume something along those lines,” I confirmed.

Pete frowned, something flickering in his gaze. I could tell that what I’d said bothered him, as if he understood the implications there.

“He was bad news on a lot of levels,” Pete said. “Ambitious, cruel, shrewd. Once, he threatened to kick out all the elders because he considered them useless. He didn’t, but his plans were usually along that level of cruelty. If he’s trying to start back up what he was doing…” He trailed off, looking at us questioningly.

“We’re still trying to get all the facts,” Will said.

“Fair enough. Regardless, I pity whatever pack he has his claws in now,” Pete said. “They’re in for a world of pain if he manages to get what he’s after.”