Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild)

14

It was a little after eight by the time Alex left with Annie to walk her back home. Lily knew he wasn’t looking forward to seeing Tinker, but she’d suggested before he left that the two men were going to have to establish a working arrangement where Annie was concerned.

Alex had agreed. Poor Annie had just wrapped her hands around her waist and stared off in the distance, toward her parents’ house. It really wasn’t going to be easy, but if Alex really loved Annie, he’d figure out a way to make it work.

Lily watched through the kitchen window as the two of them walked away, hand in hand. Alex leaned close, obviously listening intently to whatever Annie was saying. She’d never seen him like this with any woman, and definitely not with her. More proof, as far as Lily was concerned, that she and Alex were not meant to be mates.

Thinking of mates had her glancing to her left where Sebastian stood in front of the sink washing breakfast dishes. He looked really good standing bare chested in her kitchen, wearing nothing but a pair of Alex’s old jogging shorts, his hands in soapy water, and bubbles glistening in the dark hairs on his wrists. Damn, she really had it bad, but she turned the thought around and said, “Alex has it so bad.”

She took the plate Sebastian handed to her and added, “But it’s not going to be easy. Annie’s dad really is wonderful.” She finished drying the plate, then took the next one Sebastian handed to her and carefully dried it. She thought it was pretty cool that he’d cleared the table and started rinsing dishes while she put leftovers away. Obviously he didn’t mind helping out around the house.

Score more points in his favor.

“Why do I hear an obvious but at the end of that sentence?” He waited while she put the plates away and then handed her a well-scrubbed frying pan.

“Do I even have to say it?” Laughing as she dried the pan, Lily couldn’t help but think of how much she loved Annie’s father, but the reality of the man made her sigh in frustration. Poor Annie. “Tinker is big and he’s very strong, and Annie is such a little thing that he’s always been protective. Way too protective. And just wait until you meet her brothers. They were the really huge dark gray wolves who left with Annie’s mom last night. All the McClintock men are big and strong and extremely protective, and it’s not easy for Annie. Everyone treats her like she’s such a fragile little girl because she’s petite, but she’s thirty years old. She’s got a will of iron, and she’s had a lot of self-defense training. She was good enough to compete in the sport while in college, and she won competitions all around Europe, but Tinker’s having a hard time accepting that she’s a grown woman.”

“It can’t be easy for any father who loves his daughter.” He chuckled. “I’m surprised your father has been so nice to me. I can’t imagine how I’d deal with some strange guy showing up to court my daughter.”

She tilted her head and studied him for a moment. “Is that what you’re doing? Courting me?”

“You mean you haven’t figured that out yet?” He leaned over, kissed her cheek, and went back to washing dishes.

Lily watched him, amazed by how calm he seemed about taking their relationship to a new level. She was still getting used to the idea she’d actually met a guy with most of the right stuff.

If only she could be sure about the rest of it.

They finished up. Sebastian wiped down the stove, and Lily put the rest of the dishes away, but there was no more talk of courtship. She leaned over to grab a napkin that had fallen to the floor. Sebastian planted his hands on her hips and rubbed against her bottom.

“Sorry, darlin’.” His voice held a low, sexy timbre that sent shivers along her spine. “You can’t tease a man like this and expect to get away with it.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “Tease?” Her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. “All I did was bend over.”

“That’s all it takes when I’m around you.” The feral gleam in his eyes had her hot and ready within seconds. His hand sliding inside the waistband of her loose knit yoga pants found slick, wet heat between her thighs.

The cottage was bright with morning sun, the day would be filled with their visit to Eve and worry about the rogue wolves, but right now it was just Lily and Sebastian in her sun-warmed kitchen, with the scent of bacon and fried potatoes in the air.

And Sebastian. His masculine scent filled her nostrils and teased her senses like nothing else. She gave him a knowing glance and then grabbed the slick granite counter and hung on while he shoved her pants down to her knees.

He dropped to his knees behind her and his big hands clasped her thighs. She’d expected the thick head of his cock, but the first slick swipe of his tongue had her whimpering. Her hips jerked involuntarily, but he held her still. His grasp was firm and definitely the hold of an alpha as he licked and nibbled his way across her buttocks, along her perineum, and after shoving her pants to the floor and scooting her legs farther apart, her * and the softly engorged lips of her sex. Deep, slow sweeps of his tongue, and soft little nips with his teeth and lips.

Teasing, tantalizing, torturing her with his slow, steady restraint, and a low, soft hum that added a shivery vibration to every inch he covered. The bruising strength of his fingers holding her in place added to the sense of control, quickly reminding her with his powerful grasp that he was physically so much stronger, so much bigger.

Just that quickly, Lily was close to the edge. So damned close to flying off the precipice that when he abruptly let go of her thighs and stood, she cried out her loss. He didn’t say a word, merely pressed his hand against her back to hold her still. He surged forward, driving his thick cock between her legs, finding her wet and ready, filling her completely on his very first thrust.

She almost lost it, and she cried out, shocked into a harsh scream that swiftly morphed into a moan and then a soft whimper of pure pleasure. He thrust hard and his cock bumped against her cervix on each deep penetration, and she knew she couldn’t take any more of him, couldn’t take him any deeper.

But he grew larger, thicker, and her body stretched to take him. Deep, so deep, until her world narrowed down to nothing but Sebastian and the heavy weight of his shaft filling her, the bulbous tip sliding over her cervix, moving beyond the hard mouth, stretching her beyond anything she’d ever known.

What would it be like, to mate with him as a wolf? To have him fill her and then tie to her so that she couldn’t escape, until she was linked to him and he to her for all time?

But only if he were Chanku. Only if she could discover the truth behind the darkness in Sebastian Xenakis. There were some principles she could never disregard, and this was one.

She’d not mate with one who wasn’t her kind, even if he could become a wolf through magical means. The thought chilled her, because it wouldn’t matter if she loved him. If he loved her. It had nothing to do with whether or not he was right for her or good enough, but because it was something she’d promised the ancient ones so long ago.

And she’d learned from her father that promises were not made to be broken, that honor and integrity were more important than immediate pleasure—even if holding true cost her more than she’d ever dreamed having to pay.

As a six-year-old child, she’d journeyed on the astral plane and learned the history of her people. How the first Chanku had come to Earth as refugees from a dying planet millennia ago, how they’d found refuge on the world that would one day be host to humankind. A young world that offered shelter amid ancient forests ruled by prehistoric creatures—a world still shuddering in the cataclysm of creation.

There were so few of them left now. So very few, and she had promised. She’d been their hope, those ancient Chanku who had remained for millions of years, existing, yet not living, merely waiting for one to come along who could carry on their history.

Lily—six-year-old Lily Cheval—had been the one charged with remembering the past for a people verging on extinction. She’d held their history, their memories, and all their hopes for the future in her heart and mind.

Then she’d returned to her pack and shared those memories and hopes with all the known Chanku in existence.

And because of that, she knew it was not her lot to find happiness with any man not of her kind. She could have sex with a human male, but there would be no children from their joining. A woman with Chanku genes who had never had the nutrients could produce offspring with a human, but once she’d become fully Chanku, the egg and seed were no longer compatible. Lily had been fully Chanku from birth—she could mate only with another Chanku. The ancients had told her she would find true happiness only with a Chanku male.

Dear Goddess, she wanted Sebastian to be that male, because she already loved him. Loved him without any other reservation beyond that most important one.

What was he? Human or Chanku?

He had to be Chanku. She couldn’t bear to give him up.

But she would have to, eventually. Her life span was almost immortal. As a human, Sebastian would die in sixty or seventy years. She would remain forever young, while he grew old.

He thrust harder. Faster. He clutched her hips, and his fingers dug into her muscles, holding her in place. She knew she’d have bruises. Welcomed them as marks of his taking.

Chanku males were such physical, dominant creatures. She saw his power as one more hint he might be the one. He swore softly, a steady litany of whispered curses. The rhythm of his powerful strokes changed—deeper, harder, faster. Caught in the rhythm of his loving, Lily found her own pinnacle of pleasure.

But she wasn’t there alone.

He stood beside her, held her close, and their minds linked as Sebastian leapt from the edge with Lily in his arms. She cried out, overwhelmed by their shared orgasm. Not merely her own experience but Sebastian’s as well. Her vaginal muscles clutching his thick erection, the rush and the sweet burn of his ejaculate streaming from balls to cock to bathe her inner channel.

His surprise looped back on her when Lily’s sensations washed through him—the powerful throbbing pleasure in her womb, the sweet pain of taut nipples rubbing against the loose weave of her cotton top, the soft press of his balls against her sex.

Her legs trembled and she feared they’d collapse, but Sebastian had anchored both of them atop the granite counter. His forearms protected her from the hard surface while his chest covered her back like a warm, living blanket. The staccato thunder of his pounding heart and the warm exhalations against her ear matched her own racing heart, her own deep breaths. He planted soft kisses along the sensitive nape of her neck until all she wanted was to slide slowly to the floor and lie there until she felt strong enough to move again.

His cock still pulsed within her sheath, her vaginal muscles rippled around him with long, flowing contractions. The sound of their harsh breaths filled her ears. The pounding thunder of his heart soothed her. Enveloped in his heat and power, she could stay there forever.

Which was exactly why she should have known it was too good to last. Lily? I want you and Sebastian at the house as soon as you can get here. We have to work on his shields as well as yours. Aldo Xenakis is in town.

Well, damn. Give us a few minutes, Dad. She wondered if her father was aware what they’d been doing and almost laughed. Talk about rotten timing. Though she figured it could have been worse. Like before they’d shared such an amazing climax. She glanced over her shoulder and caught Sebastian’s questioning glance. We’ll be there as soon as we can.

Sebastian slowly pulled away from her, and she felt a moment’s regret when his penis slid free of muscles still rippling and clenching, doing their best to hold him in place.

And she thought again of what it would be like, to mate as wolves. He wouldn’t come free so easily if he were a wolf. Not when he’d swollen and knotted deep inside, when he’d tied with her in the way of the wolf.

She rather liked that idea. Let her father try and demand their presence then!

In the act of pulling his cotton shorts back on, he glanced up at her. “What are you laughing about?”

“Didn’t you hear my father’s orders?”

He shook his head. “No. He must have spoken privately. When did you hear from him? What did he say?”

She couldn’t stop laughing. “Right in the middle of our climax, and he wants us at the house, ASAP.”

Sebastian glanced at Lily with one eyebrow raised and his pants around his thighs. She laughed even harder when he drily said, “I guess I’m glad I wasn’t included in the conversation. Talk about blowing the moment. Any idea what he wants?”

“You’re not kidding, and yeah. He wants to help us work on our shields. Your father’s in town.”

“Crap.” He tugged his pants up over his slim hips, stretching the elastic wide enough to carefully tuck himself in. Lily almost sighed when he hid all those delicious parts from her view.

“Your father’s right. We both need to work on our shields. In fact, I hope I can practice blocking your father before moving on to mine.”

Lily laughed and hugged him around the waist. “That’s an excellent idea. I can block him, but it’s from years of practice. I was leaving myself open in case he needed to reach us.” Then she sighed as something her father said fully registered. “I wonder if your father was in Montana when Alex and Annie were attacked last night.”

“I don’t know.” He kissed her, just a quick little kiss that reminded her how much she really liked this guy. How much she risked by already loving him so much. “But I imagine your father does. I have a feeling very little gets by him.”

“Didn’t take you long to figure that out, did it?” She didn’t laugh, though. Not with the specter of Aldo Xenakis once again hovering between them.

He glanced down at his naked chest. “Is there an extra shirt in that closet of yours?”

“Not necessary. Dad may want us to shift for him, so the less you’re wearing, the easier it is.”

He wondered if he’d ever get used to the Chanku concept of relaxed dress, but then Lily grabbed his hand and the two of them left her cottage. Half naked or not, he held on tight as they headed across the meadow to her father’s house.


Anton was in the den with a cup of coffee and the news playing softly on the big wall screen, but he turned it off as soon as they entered. “Coffee’s fresh and hot on the bar. And yes, Lily, I made it myself.”

Sebastian flashed Lily a quick look and caught her trying not to giggle. “Good,” she said. “It’s nice to know that even über-alphas can be taught a thing or two.”

Anton grunted and gave Sebastian a look that could only be described as long-suffering. “My daughter thinks I depend too much on my lovely wife for creature comforts. She insists I make my own coffee when her mother wants to sleep in.”

“Hey, it’s only fair.” Lily grabbed the pot and filled two big mugs. Sebastian laughed as he took the cup she handed to him.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. Except you just poured my coffee.”

She cocked one perfectly slim hip and planted her hand on it. “That’s different. I only poured one for you because you voluntarily helped me clean up the kitchen.”

“You cooked. As you said, it’s only fair. But thank you.” He leaned close and kissed her. She blinked, surprised, he imagined, that he would kiss her in front of her father, but there was no better time than the present to establish his place in her life.

And he would have a place in her life. He took his cup and sat on the couch across from her father.

Anton glanced over the rim of his mug as he took a sip. “I hope you realize that by voluntarily doing housework, you’re giving the male of the species a bad name.”

Sebastian glanced at Lily, and as so often happened, he couldn’t look away from her. She wore a crop top and loose yoga pants and her long hair was twisted up on top of her head, held in place with what looked like a couple of chopsticks.

He’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his life.

“Sorry, Mr. Cheval. I can’t seem to help myself.”

Her dad let out a long, dramatic sigh. “I think you can drop the ‘Mr. Cheval’ and go with my given name. I have a feeling we’ve moved beyond formalities.”

Lily glanced at Sebastian, and he knew she expected some kind of teasing comment, but he was looking at her, not at Anton. “Thank you. I certainly hope so.”

Did she have any idea how he felt about her? How much he hated the fact that his father stood between them? Somehow, Aldo Xenakis had to be stopped, but the first thing they had to do was figure out how to keep him out of their heads.

The memory—or lack of memory—of his time running with Lily haunted him. That couldn’t happen again. He wouldn’t allow it to happen again.

He turned abruptly away from Lily and focused on her father. “Okay, Anton. Where do we start?”


They broke for lunch around two, only because Lily’s mother swept into the den with a tray of sandwiches and insisted her husband take time to eat. “He gets grumpy when he misses a meal,” she said in a rather loud whispered aside to Sebastian.

Lily hugged her mom, Anton kept his mouth shut, and Sebastian wanted to bless the woman for feeding him before he keeled over. Breakfast had been hours ago, and the work Anton had them doing, though it was mental, not physical, was exhausting, drawing on whatever reserves he might have had.

They ate, cleared away the mess, and Sebastian carried the empty tray to the kitchen. Keisha stood at the big restaurant-sized range, checking the temperature on a roast that looked like it could feed an army.

“We do feed an army,” she said when he commented. “It’s my night to cook. You’ll see Stefan and Xandi Aragat, Alex’s parents—you met them last night. Possibly Oliver and Mei. You might have seen them as snow leopards last night. I know Lisa and Tinker McClintock will be here. There might even be more than usual, as I imagine they’ll be curious about you.”

He didn’t ask, but she answered, anyway. “You’re the first young man our daughter has ever brought home. The pack is already buzzing about your presence, so be ready to answer a lot of questions, some not at all subtle.” She slid the roast back into the oven, stood, and leaned against the counter beside the stove.

“I hope Alex and Annie come. Lily always said those two were meant for each other, but I never could see them as a pair. I was wrong. It’s a lesson well learned.” She smiled at him. “I need to pay heed to what our daughter says. Anyway, Sebastian, our doors are always open to members of the pack. To you, as well, since you obviously have our daughter’s blessing.”

She was so warm, so accepting that he stood there a moment, speechless. He felt as if something inside broke free, and he wondered if it was the darkness he’d carried in his soul. Then he sensed Anton’s call. It was time to go back. “Thank you,” he said. And for some reason, he, who was never comfortable with people he didn’t know well, leaned over and kissed Keisha’s cheek. “You’ve made me feel very welcome. It means more than you can possibly imagine.”

She took both his hands in hers. “You are welcome, Sebastian. I feel the good in you, and I feel my daughter’s love for you.” She smiled. “Like I said, I’ve learned to trust Lily. In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s an amazing young woman. Now hurry. I sense my impatient spouse growing anxious.”

It was after five before he and Lily escaped, with plans to return for dinner by eight, but Anton’s parting words stayed with him. Lily had gone ahead when her father stopped him at the door and put both his hands on Sebastian’s shoulders.

“You’re a good man,” he’d said. “A worthy man. Aldo Xenakis may have provided the sperm that gave you life, but you are not your father’s son. You are your mother’s, and I believe she was Chanku.” Then he’d laughed and dropped a bombshell on Sebastian.

“You said your mother’s name was Angela Lupei. We have a packmate whose name is Daciana Lupei. I’m going to see what I can find out. You might be related.”

His mind was still reeling from that bit of information when he caught up to Lily and grabbed her hand. He needed her to hold on to him, to ground him. She squeezed his fingers, then led him down the hallway and through the big kitchen. The rich scent of the rib roast cooking had him salivating, but Lily tugged him past the stove. At the far end of the huge kitchen, she opened a door to stairs going down into a basement he hadn’t expected.

Lily closed the heavy door behind him. Thick and made of metal, it was obviously fireproof. “Where are we going?”

“Someplace very special. I had to get permission from Dad to bring you down here. Since he didn’t hesitate, it tells me you’ve passed inspection. Here.” She stopped by a doorway with hooks beside it and grabbed a white cotton T-shirt. “You’ll need this.”

Curious, he put it on. It was snug and stretched over his wide shoulders, but at least it covered him, though suddenly needing clothing was an interesting thing. He hadn’t told her what her father had said to him about his mother’s name, but even Anton’s comments couldn’t compete with where Lily took him—down a tunnel that led them to a wonderland that defied description. They stepped out into a huge cavern with a large, shallow pool set in worn rock along one side. Slowly swirling tendrils of steam rose from the spring-fed pond, and the air in the cavern was warm and somewhat humid. He tried to imagine the entire pack hiding out down here during the forest fire Lily had told him about. The one that burned the original house to the ground.

It certainly explained the fireproof door.

They walked around the pool, and Lily pointed out hieroglyphs along the cave wall. She ran her hands over them as if they were old friends, before finally stopping at a point where the writing ended. She glanced at him, and he figured his amazement was written all over his face. “These are the symbols you said you could read when you were just a little girl? But how?”

She shrugged. “I never really found out. Either the goddess or the Mother, or maybe even the ancients who called me, but they’re still as clear as the printed page to me. When we have time, I’ll read them to you. They’re the history of our kind. At least part of it. I got the details from the ancient ones on the astral, which is where we’re headed now.”

He had so many questions he couldn’t narrow them down to the ones he wanted to ask, so he merely waited for Lily to show him. She put her hands against prints carved into the stone and stared at the rough wall in front of her. He sensed a change, a shimmer, and then a brighter glow until he was blinking against the light.

Stunned, he watched as the rock dissolved in front of Lily, opening up into the most beautiful place he’d ever seen—blue skies, green grass, and greener trees. Lily merely grabbed his hand and dragged him through the portal she’d opened. He stepped into a world he’d barely glimpsed the day before, a world too perfect to be real.

And yet it was. He turned, expecting to see the cave behind him, but it was more of the same—green, green grass, a beautiful forest filled with trees and flowers of every description—perfection so complete it was totally disconcerting.

“Look. Eve’s here.”

He spun around and stared as a subtle shimmer in the meadow in front of them grew brighter, sparkling beneath a brilliant sky without a sun, taking on form and shape until a beautiful woman stood not ten feet away.

Her aura shimmered like silver fire with streaks of gold and red leaping within the silver, more flames covering the full color spectrum, a woman of power. Unimaginable power, tempered by love. She raised her head and smiled. “Lily! You’ve come back.”

He was caught in the unusual swirling color of her eyes, constantly changing from green to gold to blue until he felt dizzy. She focused on Sebastian, and he blinked as she recognized him. “It was you. You are the one bringing darkness to my world.”

He glanced at Lily, but she was shaking her head. “No, Eve. This is Sebastian Xenakis. I don’t think he’s the one. We believe his father is the source of the darkness, but touch him. See what you sense.” She glanced at him. “Is that okay?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

Eve stepped closer and gazed up at him. She was tall and beautiful, similar to the Chanku he’d met so far, but there was such power in her aura that he felt as if he should kneel before her. A goddess. She really was a goddess. His knees actually trembled, but when she placed her hands on his forearms, a great well of calm filled him.

“Please?” She looked up at him out of those odd eyes.

And Sebastian realized he would give her anything. No matter what she asked. “Whatever you need.”

She smiled and placed her hands beneath his shirt so that they touched, skin to skin. Her touch was warm—sensual without feeling sexual—yet he felt as if his heart might beat right through his rib cage. She smiled, slowly shaking her head as if she’d discovered something unexpected.

“You’re right, Lily. The darkness is there, but it’s from association, not nature.” She stepped back and he pulled his shirt back down, but his skin felt all prickly, as if energy sparked over the areas where she’d touched him.

“Come. We need to talk. I have learned things, and you have experienced even more.”

Lily grabbed his hand again, and they followed Eve through a meadow that was too perfect, through a small forest much too lush to be real, and then to a grassy knoll beside a perfect stream.

Eve found a spot in the shade of a huge tree and sat. Sebastian hadn’t really paid close attention to his surroundings. As beautiful, as ethereal as was this part of the astral, nothing could compare with Lily. When she folded her long legs and sat beneath the tree beside Eve, Sebastian watched each graceful movement, losing himself once again in her beauty. Once she settled herself, though, she glanced up at him with one eyebrow artfully cocked, as if asking what he thought of the place.

He didn’t know. He’d not really looked, but now he took a moment to glance at the wonders around him, and the mystery of where he was, who he was with, washed over him with a sense of wonder, of indescribable joy.

He was really, truly here. Not as a spirit but as a man. He, Sebastian Xenakis, a man who so often felt totally inept and out of his league, was actually on the astral plane, the guest of a goddess and a woman who seemed to love him in spite of himself.

His skin prickled with a frisson of awareness, a familiar rush of power that caught his attention and dragged his avid glance to the tree sheltering this beautiful spot of ground.

It wasn’t the same tree. Not his oak, the one where he’d first drawn the power to shift, but he knew, without any doubt, that it held the same spirit.

His lady was here. Not a dryad. No, this was no simple wood spirit. Here, on the astral, she was more than spirit. More than an ancient power. Here, she was Power. She was his lady, and he knew her with a visceral sense of destiny.

Without hesitation, without any thought at all beyond giving her thanks and the obeisance due a presence of undeniable importance, Sebastian fell to his knees before the tree, bowed his head, and waited to see what his lady wanted.


Lily shot a quick glance at Eve and caught the raised eyebrow, the shock on the goddess’s face as Sebastian suddenly knelt before the massive tree and bowed his head.

Then Eve’s eyes went wide and she knelt as well. Confused, Lily opened her senses to the tree. The blast of power almost sent her reeling.

She was on her knees beside Sebastian before she realized what had happened. He reached for her and grabbed her hand, and she realized he was holding on to Eve as well.

The three of them, kneeling to a huge tree that, for some reason, felt as if it held the answers to all questions, the power for all worlds.

Eve was the one to speak first. She raised her head and smiled at the towering tree, and her face literally glowed. “Blessed Mother. I have missed your touch. Please? Tell us what we must do to right what is wrong.”