PAIGE

"I'm headed out, do you need anything?" The Wolf found me in the kitchen where I sat at the island reading and drinking coffee in the early morning light. He had some thick canvas pants on and a wool flannel, looking ruggedly handsome leaning up against the door frame. I licked my lips. It had been two weeks since the dinner at the Alpha house and the night that Damon and I had fallen asleep together on the floor. Since then, we had been dancing in an awkward and unnecessarily shy territory where neither of us quite knew how to proceed. A tension was growing between us, constantly forcing us closer and closer.

"I think I'm good," I responded, noticing the way his eyes watched my mouth. He swallowed and knocked on the wood of the frame, nodding. It looked like he had more to say but chose to keep it to himself. His eyes found the book I had in my hands and a smug little smirk crossed his mouth, just a flash, making me think I may have imagined it.

The wolf turned back to leave and then paused, "If anything comes up, you know where to find me." With that, he gave me a small smile and left.

With him gone, I could breathe a little easier. Rhia was busy that day, which meant I could relax by myself. It had been a long time since I had been left completely alone in the cabin. I wasn't quite sure what to do with my new found freedom.

After I finished my coffee and a few more chapters, I set my book down and washed the mug out. I meandered into the den where I stoked the fire and organized the wood pile. There was a blanket laid out across the couch so I folded it and set it on the armrest. The CD player sat on a little end table near the window with a stack of alternative rock beside it. I wasn't much of a fan of music, but the silence was getting to me so I popped a disk in and coaxed a scratchy tune out. It was then, as I listened to the music and stared out into the snow, that I realized I didn't really know how to relax.

I decided to rustle through the drawers around the house to pass time. Though I wasn't sure what I was passing time for. Eventually, I did come across a sketch pad and a pencil, which reminded me I did have a sort of hobby.

Settling back down at the island, pencil in hand, I hovered over the sketchbook for a few minutes. The blank page stared up at me, waiting for something. I began to draw without thinking, mindless sketches transferring from my brain to the page. At first, it was the wolves that made it on the page, something I didn't usually draw. They ran, played, and stood proudly across the lined paper. The wolves morphed into trees, and then mountains, and then... The curvature of the Wolf's jaw. The rigid line of his shoulders. The way his lips parted. His lupine eyes with dark, heavy brows. His hands, strong and deft, relaxed, one palm facing up...

I pulled my pencil away from the page, staring over the work I had done. There was a twinge in my gut, inexplicable, hot. I hadn't meant to draw him, but I had. He was all over the pages, from beginning to end. I couldn't get him out of my head.

Tearing the pages out, I hid them away and paced before the windows. The snow had stopped and an icy sheet coated every surface. The clouds hovered low, promising more snow and cold and misery. I ran a hand through my hair and decided on a shower.

The standing glass shower fogged immediately with how hot I had the water. I stepped in and then sat down under the stream, resting my forehead on my knees, arms wrapped around my shins. There wasn't a lot on my mind, and that was a bad thing. I wanted and wanted for something I wasn't sure if I was ready to have.

After a while of fighting the feeling growing inside of me, I stood back up and got to washing. My hair had grown out since the bear attack, it reached my tailbone. I grabbed the body soap and began lathering up when the thoughts of him came to the forefront of my mind once again.

Closing my eyes, I imagined it was his hands running the length of my body instead of my own. First over my jaw and along the column of my neck, hitting the crook of my neck and shoulder where his mark was placed, sending a rippling shiver down my spine. Over both arms, following further to my wrists and hands Across my collarbones and down my sternum. Under and over the swell of each breast, teasing over each nipple. Descending down my belly and traversing from hip bone to hip bone... Lower, my hand moved to the sensitive area between my legs. Eyes shut tighter, feeling myself in a way I rarely did. My pace started slow, but he infected my mind further. Combinations of the dreams from my Heat and many nights since then flashed beneath my closed lids. I could picture his mouth on mine, his mouth on my neck, his mouth down down down... I gasped for air, increasing the pace of my fingers. My body was tensing, hips grinding, driving myself further and further down the path that he had inspired.

With a burst of color, I ground my teeth together to keep from crying out as I came. Gasping, spine curling, hand braced against the wall. It took several minutes to regain my bearings and by then, the water had gone cold.

Shakily, I shut it off and grabbed a towel. I was in a sluggish euphoria, still falling down from the high as I dried my hair and body. Using the hand towel, I wiped off the mirror and looked at my reflection. My hair was dripping down my back, I turned to look at its length.

There was a pair of scissors sitting inside the medicine cabinet. I pulled them out and looked over the metal tool. Meeting my eyes in the mirror, I made my decision.

Pulling my hair over each shoulder, I began to cut.

---

When the Wolf came back home, it was dark and I was sitting in the arm chair by the fire, nearly done with my book. He came in through the door with a gust of frozen air. His hair and coat were dusted with snow and ice, he smelt of the woods. My cheeks warmed at the memory of earlier just by the sight of him.

"Your hair," he commented immediately.

For some reason, I stood. "My hair," I responded.

The Wolf slowly approached, for some reason, it felt like he knew what I had done in the shower. His eyes were on the hair that was now reaching just below the top of my shoulders. Tentatively, his fingers reached out and took a lock in a gentle grasp. I didn't pull away, I didn't want to pull away.

"It suits you," he said softly, still holding the piece between his index finger and thumb. The same fingers I imagined wandering over my bare skin. A shiver went down my back, warmth shooting between my legs. I could admit, I liked his touch. His boldness to initiate was enticing. I breathed in his scent, potent with his closeness.

"Thanks," I murmured, staring into his eyes that still roamed over my hair.

"Why did you cut it?" He asked, feeling over more strands of hair.

"It was time," I responded, feeling a minor quaking in my legs. The resolve inside of me hardened. I wanted him, badly. His nostrils flared, scenting my want in the air.

"Can you cut mine?" The Wolf's voice was soft, hand slowly making its way from my hair to the nape of my neck. He had never touched my neck before.

"Probably," I kept my eyes on his and he looked into mine.

"Great, because I need a trim." His hand moved up, bringing his thumb around to brush over my jaw. My eyes felt heavy, my insides liquified. The memory of the shower was fresh in my mind. "You're making this hard for me, Paige."

I could smell his want in the air as he held my face in one of his hands, the other was limp at his side. "How?" I questioned.

"Because I want more, I've always wanted more. But I don't want to push. I don't want to force my way into your life, I never have." His voice was dark and sultry.

"How much more?"

"Everything," he breathed. "I want everything."

His lips were inches from mine, the tension was blooming, tugging, aggressive. "I don't want you to hold back," I confessed, breathless.

"Then where do we stand?" His thumb brushed over my lower lip, eyes still meeting.

"We don't," I responded, taking his thumb between my teeth.

With that, he pulled his hand away and crashed his lips to mine. I realized he had been holding back the whole time, letting me play top, have the control. The force of him took my breath away, but I wouldn't let him keep the upper hand. I increased my intensity, opening my mouth, letting our tongues mingle. My hands tangled in his long hair, keeping his face to mine. The Wolf bit down on my lower lip and drew it into his mouth. My eyes rolled back in my head. He grabbed me by the hips and I began backing him into the bedroom.

"Do you mean what you said?"

"Stop talking," I tugged at his shirt, trying to push him into the bedroom.

"I can't hold back if we continue. I won't be able to stop." The Wolf wouldn't budge from the doorway, he was rock solid.

"Good, because I don't want you to." It was all the reassurance he needed. His lips came back down on mine, breath in my mouth, hot, fevered. The Wolf turned us around, pushing me back onto the bed only to follow quickly. He climbed on top of me, pressing his weight down through his hips to grind into my core. I was dripping already, yearning for him after what felt like a million years of waiting.

His lips captured mine and his hand held my throat, he was controlling the pace. He tasted as good as he smelled; pine, woodsmoke, musk. I could drink him in. I was trying to. His lips broke contact and I groaned, only for him to pull my shirt over my head. He grinned like the devil before descending down my neck. Further and further down he traveled, sucking and biting and kissing my skin. Over my collarbones, down my sternum. His tongue traced over the mark he had put on me and I cried out before I could stop myself, knotting my fingers in his hair. He paid extra attention to each breast and nipple, one hand massaging and teasing the tender flesh until each nipple had become taut beneath his mouth or fingers. His tongue moved languidly across each hardened peak before trailing down my belly. 

His thumbs hooked on the band of my sweatpants, tugging them down. I tried to lift my hips but nearly bucked instead at the feeling of his breath on my vulnerable flesh. His eyes were on mine, and mine were on his. His wolf irises were carnal and hungry. The Wolf threw my sweatpants to the side where they landed somewhere on the floor. I wasn't wearing any underwear. 

I whimpered as his mouth gently caressed each inner thigh, stubble scraping against the skin and drawing a shiver down my spine. His warm tongue could be felt teasing the sensitive skin between nips from sharp teeth that were sure to leave purple lovebites behind. Finally, his tongue slid over to my entrance. He sucked the wet flesh into his mouth and groaned. Fuck, could he use his mouth. I sat myself up on my forearms, watching him devour me. His eyes were still on my face. When his tongue circled my clit my head fell back in ecstasy. I bucked against his hold but his arm belted over my hips, holding me to his face and his tongue worked me further and further to the brink. With his other hand, he slipped a finger inside of me, curling it as he pumped it back and forth. 

With a choked cry, my eyes squeezed shut and I came. Hard. The aftershocks of the rolling pleasure had my back arching and legs quaking. 

But he wasn't done. With one hand, he grabbed my opposite hip and flipped me onto my belly, dragging my ass up to meet his hips. He still had his pants on, though somehow they had gotten unbuttoned. With a growl into my ear and a nip at my lobe, he ground into my ass, holding my throat from beneath. I could drool in ecstasy with his weight pressed down on top of me. The feeling of his large member straining in his pants as he rolled his hips into me drove me absolutely wild. 

I couldn't take it any longer. Hooking our legs, I flipped us over so that I was on top of him. The Wolf smiled at me with all of his sharp white teeth. I kissed that smile, hard, grabbing his jaw with my hand to force his head back so I could access his neck. He groaned loudly, hands gripping the flesh of my waist and grinding me into his length that I could feel throbbing between my legs. I knew I was soaking his pants. 

Fervently, I trailed down his neck to his toned chest and then down the hardness of his abdomen until I reached the waistband of his briefs. I was never as patient as him. Yanking his pants and underwear down, I was startled by the immense size of his hard cock as it sprung free of its confinements. No time was wasted as I took it in my hand and drug my tongue up the underside of it all the way to the sensitive head. Wrapping my other hand around it, I took his warm flesh into my mouth and pumped him up and down. 

After a minute of tasting his salty flavor, he growled and pulled me up to his mouth, sitting me right over the top of his cock. A growl escaped my own mouth, surprising me, as I kissed him roughly. He met my pace, gripping my hair at the base of my neck as he bit my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth. I took his member into my hand and positioned it at my entrance. 

"Good girl," he growled into my mouth, sitting up slightly as I leaned back enough for his tip to slide into me. My eyes rolled back into my head and my arm slung around his neck as I slowly slid down his length. A whimper ground out of me and my hand tightened in his hair. 

"Fuck," I moaned when he was buried to his hilt. I felt unbelievably full and stretched. In that moment, I couldn't remember ever having sex with anyone else. There was only him. 

He began to move and so did I. We were rough, battling for dominance as I slammed down onto him. The Wolf gripped my hips as he sat up, moving me faster as I bounced on him, creating that delicious friction. As I moved, he took one of my breasts into his mouth, making me cry out. 

And then he was pushing me back onto my back. I was almost angry as I waited for him to slip out of me, growling as I did. But he never did as he followed me onto his knees and drew my legs up over his broad shoulders. From this angle, he felt even bigger as he drew my hips up and drove himself into me. I cried out, gripping his forearms for support as he slammed into me over and over again. With one of his hands, he released my hip and let his thumb rub circles over my clit. 

"Please, oh please..." I begged, gripping the back of his neck as he railed me. 

"What do you want?" He ground out, nipping my jaw without stopping any of his movements.

"Make me come, please..." And he obeyed. My eyes rolled back once again and I was gasping and spasming in pleasure. 

Once again, he flipped me onto my belly before I had a chance to recover. In one fluid motion, he drove himself into me harder than he had before. His movement was brutal but undeniably wild. I was drunk with him. He gripped my hair and his pace picked up. I was screaming beneath him, begging him for more. And he fulfilled. The Wolf's hand found my core once again and worked me hard as he slammed into me. Both of us were dripping with sweat and panting from our passionate union. The pace of his hips and his hand increased until I was unraveling beneath him as I screamed in pleasure. With a brutal growl, his teeth caught on my neck and he pulsed deep inside of me. 

I was quivering beneath him, his breath was hot on my ear. He collapsed to the side of me and drew my back into him without letting himself slip out of me. The both of us were slick with sweat and attempting to control our breathing. 

Somehow he knew how to do me in ways that I had no idea I liked. The linkage of our bodies was brutally beautiful. Rough and passionate. Both of us incessantly fighting for the top, but compromising somewhere in the middle.

It was late in the night when we finally settled, exhausted but sated, in his bed. I closed my eyes, trying to control my breathing and regain some composure. There was something undeniable between us, something I could no longer turn cheek from.

I thought my life had been somewhere else, doing other things, playing pretend. But after the month that had lead to that moment- naked in a bed with the Wolf- I knew there was no going back to what I had been before. It was stupid of me to think that just because I had changed, didn't mean that others had as well. But for that night, I fell asleep reflecting on the new future that held more for me. It held comfort and sanctity. The hole my mother had left and my father had gouged was seemingly scabbing over. At the moment, that was enough.

I told myself it was enough.

DAMON

The next morning was different. She was still in my arms, we were still tangled in the sheets, Winter was still present, and time was still counting on. Yet, the bond had grown, we had grown. It felt like there was little between us at that point. Though her mark had yet to brand my skin, I could feel all of her, and I knew she could feel all of me.

I didn't want to get up and end the moment we were living in. But in the end, duty won out and I had to get up and go to work.

Looking back on her sleeping form before I left the room made me feel a pit form inside of me. I lingered in the doorway, unsure of why I was hesitating, and closed the door behind me. I left a pot of coffee and a scribbled note on the counter and walked into the cold.

A whispering inside of me continued to beg me to turn around all the way to Cody's cabin. I ignored it.

Cody was the only one home when I got there, though it was only six in the morning.

"Where's Faith?" I asked, walking into the kitchen where Cody sat at the breakfast nook nursing a cup and examining a map.

"On a run, she's got a lot on her mind with the attack coming up. I do think she's kind of sick of me right now, though." Cody gave a little knowing smile.

"I know the feeling," I poked, sitting across from him.

"Shut up," he said pleasantly, before looking up to me. "And... how was your night?"

Flashbacks of Paige on top of me, biting my lip, gripping the skin of my shoulders tore through my head. "Good," I responded, looking down to the map.

"Seems like it was a little more than good..."

I shot him a look.

"Don't tell me," he grinned.

"Don't ask," I retorted, but I matched his grin.

"Things are going better then?"

"I think so, I mean, she's different. More alive, less angry. It feels like she's starting to like it here." I ran a hand through my hair. "We still have a lot to go through, but for now, we're improving."

"I'm happy for you," he said. "Now, you ready to go over this again?"

We delved into the logistics of the attack. It was hard to pinpoint when and how often the clan was at Samuel's house. The scouts found it hard to get close enough for a decent perimeter as the grounds were littered with traps. It was an even harder task getting them out there often with the snow drifts being so deep. The facts left us to choose between waiting until Spring, or taking our chances with the cold and unknown.

I found myself reverting to anger again and again. The thought of the corruption he inflicted on his own daughter was infuriating. I wished that I could have helped her get away earlier, before he sank his claws so deep that she felt she could never escape. I knew she would never admit it, but her dreams said it all.

When her guard was down, the images would sometimes transmit through the bond. In her nightmares she was falling down holes, scrabbling for purchase on ice, being eaten alive by wolves or bears... And then, blurry memories of her mother.

Her mother.

"Cody," I stated abruptly. "Do you remember the body we found on the riverbank?"

"Yeah, that must have been almost ten years ago or something," he didn't look up from his notebook. "Why?"

"I need to see the report for that," something in my tone made him look up.

"It's in the training cabin."

- - -

The file cabinet that held the significant reports of our history was in a room a few doors down from my office. Cody and I squeezed into the dusty room around noon and began looking through the stacks of records and drawers of papers filed alphabetically. I wasn't sure what it would be under.

"Here's the file," Cody held up a manila folder and then extended it to me.

I grabbed it and took a deep breath.

"Why do you need it?" Cody leaned up against one of the cabinets.

"Paige told me her mother had been killed by wolves. Our pack, in particular. I told her that we had never had an altercation with humans until her. It shocked the shit out of her. Which means, either wild wolves killed her mother, a different pack... Or the answer is right here. And my gut is telling me, this is it." I waved the folder at him.

"Shit," he responded, rubbing his jaw.

I looked down to the folder and then cracked it open. Right on top, clear as day, was a photo of Paige's mother.

"Oh goddess," I breathed, looking at the pale shape of her body on the rocks of the riverbank, stuck in an unnatural position. The resemblance between her and her daughter was uncanny.

Cody moved to look at the photo and let out a deep breath. "There it is," he said grimly.

In the middle of her bare chest, was a bullet wound.

I opened my mouth to comment when I felt the fear.

another update! love to all. also, do not fear, this is not the last sexy scene.

dont forget to comment, vote, and share if you feel like it (:

LS