He turned his attention back to Katrina. “What happened? It sounded like someone shot a grenade into your room using a grenade launcher.”
“I’m not a weapons expert, but that sounds about right.” She shook her head. “Woo. Ringing ears. Oh crud, I’m bleeding on your bedspread.”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s not a problem.” A minute later, the pack’s healer, Robyn, rushed in.
“All right, we’ll have you fixed up in no time.” She sat next to Katrina and put her hands on her, and closed her eyes. Katrina felt the pain begin to fade. Her cuts sealed up, and within a minute she was healed and her ears had stopped ringing.
“I’m fine. That was perfect,” Katrina said. Robyn was slightly pale, but not too bad; Katrina’s wounds hadn’t drained too much power because they were minor. She nodded at Katrina and hurried out of the room.
Maddox ran his hands over her arms, sending a little shiver through her. “You’re all right now?”
She nodded.
“Then I’m going to go find out who did this and rip their head off with my bare hands.”
He called Michael in to watch her, and headed out.
He was back in about two hours, looking frustrated. He waved Michael off, and settled down on the bed next to Katrina with a sound somewhere between a growl and a sigh.
“No luck?” she said.
He shook his head in exasperation. “I really thought that Lula was behind this but I had my men watching her all night. She went for a stroll by herself, went into the woods…she was far away when this attack happened. We found the grenade launcher; it had actually been taken from our armory. Opposite end of the property from where Lula was. Noscentium all over it, again. Thank God the grenade was a dud.”
“First someone tries to bust me out of here, then someone tries to kill me. You’re right, Lula sounds like the most likely candidate for both of those incidents.” Katrina heaved a sigh and looked around the room. Deer head with antlers mounted on the wall, heavy, rough-hewn oak furniture, a woven Navajo style rug on the broad oak planked floor.
“Whoa,” she said.
“What? You going to insult my taste in decorating? Bring it.” Maddox had that maddening grin again. “I’ll try to take it like a man.”
“No, no, not that. You and I. We’re alone in a room. Together. I’m sitting on a bed, next to you. Did you ever think you’d see the day?”
“Can’t say I anticipated this happy accident.” His voice was husky and his breathing was quickening.
“I, uh…I can’t go back to my room.” Her voice was small. Desire sizzled through her body, and she felt slightly dizzy. “There’s glass on my bed.”
“Nope. That’s true. And it seems like your room is a dangerous place these days. You’ll just have to sleep here.”
“I…oh? You…think we can keep our hands off each other? Given the unfortunate…” he moved closer to her. He was sitting right next to her, pressed up against her. “Given the unfortunate fact that our wolves are very attracted to each other?” Blame it on her animal nature, she thought, because there was nothing rational about it.
“No. I’m sure we can’t. See?” He ran his fingers along her arm and she whimpered, not even trying to hide it.
“This is a bad idea, isn’t it?” She twisted around so she was facing him.
“Terrible. And so is this.” He bent down and kissed her, his soft, warm mouth claiming hers.
Chapter Nine
Heat climbed into her cheeks and raced south to her suddenly tingling pussy. Maddox was dressed only in a pair of jeans, which he’d presumably pulled on in haste when he heard the blast. His naked chest was burning hot, and he pressed against her so that she could feel his heart hammering. Her pulse was racing too.
His explored her mouth slowly, tentatively, almost as if despite his Alpha nature he was unsure of her response. And she could understand that. This was crazy. He was kissing the step-daughter of a rival Alpha who had just issued him with a Death Challenge. But the strength of his hands as he cradled her face between them and the firmness of his muscular chest pressed against her breasts spoke of his strength.
Slowly, unable to resist, she wound her arms around his neck, curling her fingers into the soft hair at the nape of his neck. He took a ragged breath and suddenly he was bearing her down onto the bed, kissing her with wild ferocity, as if her unspoken acceptance had snapped the thread of his control.
His tongue tangled with hers and he bit the side of her throat, drawing a gasp from her as he ran his big palm up to her breast and tweaked her nipple between his fingers. A thread of arousal ran from her nipple to her clitoris and she mewled into his mouth. Frantically, he pulled at her pajama top, groaning with impatience when she broke their kiss and brushed his hands away so she could deftly undo the buttons. His eyes were feral with need, half-lidded, and his lips were parted. A flush of color stained his high cheekbones.
He growled when she exposed her breasts, and drew her into his arms, nipping at her lower lip and working his hips against her. She could feel the needy length of him against her pussy, even through her pajamas and the thick denim of his jeans, and she blushed again as a gush of moisture soaked the flimsy cotton and the scent of her own arousal reached her nostrils.
Maddox nipped at her throat again, then worked his way down her body, trailing his lips over her collarbone before drawing one peaked nipple into his mouth and suckling on it. His hand cupped her other breast, traced the curve of her waist, and worked its way lower to finger the sodden material of her pajamas. She gave an undignified yelp, which turned into a long, low moan when he began to rub her with his fingers, in slow, smooth circles.
He tore his mouth away from hers for a moment, still circling his fingers, then stilled with a shudder of effort. “You want this?” It wasn’t a question, nor was it a statement. It was a plea, and the heady sense of power that washed over Katrina had her heart racing and her pussy clenching against his fingers. The biggest, baddest Alpha on the block didn’t just want her – he was begging her to want him too.
Beyond words, she squeezed her thighs around his hand, rolling her hips, and a look of primal satisfaction washed over his features – satisfaction tinged with relief.
Then he was working his way down, kissing her belly, running his hands over her hips and thighs. He dipped his fingers beneath the waistband of her pajama bottoms and whisked them over her hips, leaving her naked and exposed to the cool night air.
Katrina parted her thighs further as she felt his hot breath against the slick, swollen flesh of her pussy. She trembled with anticipation, but only for a moment before his mouth descended and he sucked on her clit, not letting up even when her hips arched up from the bed and she clutched handfuls of his long brown hair, crying out as the sensations built into a maelstrom of throbbing, shivering need that had her teetering on the brink of orgasm.
He withdrew, teasingly, and placed sticky kisses on the insides of her thighs. Katrina whimpered, then moaned as he drew his tongue up the length of her slit, lapping up her juices. She thrashed her head back and forth on the pillow, unable even to beg as waves of sensation washed up and down her body.
He flicked her clit rapidly with his tongue – delicate, fluttering motions that pushed her into an orgasm so fierce and intense that she almost howled with pleasure, writhing against his eager mouth as he gave a low growl of primal satisfaction.
She was still spasming, still gasping for breath and control, when he positioned himself between her thighs, holding himself above her with one hand while he slid the head of his cock against her slippery entrance with the other.
She gasped as he pushed inside. There was no hesitation, just one smooth, confident movement that had him lodged fully inside her as her pussy greedily clutched at him, squeezing him like a fist with the aftershocks of her orgasm. He froze above her, squeezing his eyes closed and giving a long growl. The expression on his face was halfway between bliss and pain. He stayed still inside her for long moments, his chest heaving with his labored breaths. He rhythmically clenched and unclenched his fists, his biceps swelling as he struggled for control.
Katrina, feeling wicked, nipped his flat nipple between her teeth then, when he yelped with shock, caught him off-guard with a slow, deliberate flex of her hips.
“Fuck.”
His eyes went wolf and he thrust into her, desperately, furiously, shuddering and working his hips. She wrapped her arms around him, digging her fingernails into his back as the sensations built inside her again. The skin of his back was sweat-slick under her fingers, the muscles flexing smoothly as he pistoned into her.
Her legs trembled and she parted her thighs as far as she could, then wrapped her legs around his waist, wanting to get closer to him, feeling as if she could never get close enough. She threw her head back, closing her eyes and allowing her lips to part on a prolonged whimper of need, and he nuzzled against her, hiding his face in the crook of her neck as the orgasm roared through her and she clutched his muscular buttocks, urging him to go faster, deeper.
His howl of completion was muffled against her throat, and the pulsing of his cock set off a cascade of tumbling orgasms that left her writhing, blind and mindless with arousal and desire.