The springs of the bed depressed as Noah sat down. His boots hit the floor, and then she heard the whisper of clothing that followed. When the sun got higher, she’d have no choice but to sleep, but she wished she could be out there snuggled with him. A couple of minutes later, a furry wolf body curled up next to her.
“Do you think we’ll ever sleep with you in your human form?”
Not that she was complaining. It felt safe and peaceful and made her nostalgic for simpler times when she hadn’t yet understood how dangerous the world was. As a child she’d woken many times with the wolf beside her.
Noah would play in the sun during the day with his friends, but he’d always be right there next to her after sunset.
He snorted in reply. Soon after, the power of the sun claimed the last of her energy for the day.
When Sydney woke, Noah was still curled around her snoring and twitching, deep in a dream. He’d no doubt become as nocturnal as she was from the way they’d scheduled his sleep and active times during his captivity.
She stayed in the dark closet, afraid the sun might still be up. After several minutes, she poked Noah in the side. He growled, nipped her lightly, then laid back down.
Sydney jabbed him harder. “Noah, wake up. I need you to check and see if the sun is down yet.” Like she wanted to stay in this awful closet a minute longer than was necessary.
He grew more alert and went to check things out. A few minutes later, a naked Noah stood with the closet door open.
“It’s safe. Sun’s down.”
Well, she could see that now with the door open.
He helped her up. She hated this closet. It had a weird smell she couldn’t decipher and didn’t want to think too much about. She worried some dead thing was buried beneath piles of moth-eaten clothing in the corner.
It had been deserted for ages, and she hated the idea of mice and other assorted creatures crawling over her as she slept. Only one more night until the moon would begin to wane, then hopefully she’d be sleeping for the rest of her days in a nice normal bed.
Sydney licked her lips at the sight of him. “When will the pack be here?”
“They’re here already. They’re on the other end of the house.”
It was wise that they’d stayed so far from her and Noah. She couldn’t imagine he’d be very sane and rational if he scented or sensed someone near his mate when she was so vulnerable.
“Can they hear us?”
“Probably.”
“Oh.” There went that idea.
But Noah didn’t seem as upset by the potential for eavesdropping as she did. “They’ll get over it,” he said.
“But… I don’t think…”
His eyes flashed gold. “You’ll get over it, too. Besides, you need to feed.”
Noah had removed most of her clothing when she put a hand over his. “I can’t with them in here.”
Annoyance flitted over his features, and he disappeared down the hallway. Sydney didn’t care. Let him pout if that was how he was going to be about it. He might be just fine screwing with a bunch of people within hearing range, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t even sure if her aversion was normal for a vampire. It definitely wasn’t for a wolf.
He returned several minutes later. “They’re gone. I told them to go outside and hunt without me. They’ll be too pre-occupied running to care what we’re doing in here.”
She was still irritated, but when he pulled her against him and his warm body pressed against hers, her irritation started to melt. As he trailed kisses down the side of her throat and over her breasts, it melted a bit more. And when he pushed her back on that awful old bed whose history she didn’t even want to guess about, she didn’t care anymore.
Noah nudged her legs apart, and she gasped when he drove into her. He stilled, cradling her in his arms. “Am I hurting you?”
“No, I’m okay. You’re just so warm, it’s always a shock.”
“Eh, a few hundred years, you’ll be fine,” he joked.
Sydney giggled. When he got within range of her fangs, he nuzzled the mark he’d left on her throat. She turned her head and bit over the claim she’d left on him. A growl erupted from his throat.
She smiled against his skin. This time when she fed, she tasted something new. Contentment. Happiness. Love. When he reached orgasm, the taste of his blood grew richer, and it triggered her own release.
Afterward, they laid tangled together, neither eager to go anywhere.
“The old train station was a lot nicer,” Noah commented.
“Yeah, well you were the one who just had to do it now.”
Noah rolled his eyes, and got up. “You would have fed and jumped me like a crazy animal. You know you would have.”
Sydney took in the view as he turned away and stretched. That perfect olive skin, muscles rippling as he moved. Yeah, she would have.
The only thing that marred his perfection was that stupid black number tattooed into his upper arm.
“I’m so angry those monsters put a number on you, like you were some thing they were tagging and keeping in a box.”
“I was some thing they were tagging and keeping in a box,” he said, staring out the window. The moon suddenly moved out from behind the clouds and Noah leapt out of the way of the light.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m just not sure if I’ll shift when the moon hits me if I haven’t eaten first. It’s still a full moon. I have less control right now.”
“No. I mean… from everything.”
He glanced down at the number on his arm. “Sydney, if you’re talking about this, I’d planned to cover it with another tattoo when I got out. Most pack leaders have one, anyway.”
Sydney hadn’t realized at the time that Shira’s snake tattoo held any significance beyond her just wanting to look like a bad ass. But none of the other wolves had any tattoos that she’d noticed.
“Only an alpha can have tattoos on their arms. It’s how visiting wolves know immediately who’s in charge. It’s been a tradition in wolf packs for hundreds of years.”
“If you’d always planned to get a tattoo to cover the number, does that mean you always planned to lead a pack?”
Noah shrugged. “I figured I could get away with it in my dad’s pack. It’s not like he’d kill me for it, and he’d understand why I did it. And if I couldn’t handle living with them without being in charge, I thought I could just be a lone wolf. I assumed that might happen, anyway. The tattoo thing is a pack law in most packs. If you’re not in a pack, it’s not an issue. In the end it means a wolf that becomes an alpha either has to stay an alpha, die in a challenge fight, or become a lone wolf. Once you take on that mantle of leadership, you can’t ever follow inside another pack again. It’s a big responsibility.”
A rock hit the window. “Get dressed and meet me outside,” Noah said. He’d shifted to alpha mode. She didn’t much care for him barking orders at her, but he was under too much pressure to start a petty fight right now.
And yet… “So you can run around like that but I can’t?” Sydney asked.
“Or be naked. I don’t care. I assumed that would be an issue for you.”