He took her there in the front against the wall, lifting her so he could get the right angle, holding and bouncing her to an appetizer of what was to come.
Food. Sex. And then, because he sheepishly admitted he was worried about Terror being alone, since Quinn refused to kitten-sit two nights in a row, they dressed and walked to his place with an overnight bag for her.
Second date and not only was the sex even better, she slept over in his bed. Not exactly cuddled, as the kitten chose to wedge himself between them.
She smiled over the furry body at Ulric and said, “Francis said we could borrow his cottage next weekend. Think Terror is up for a road trip?”
“Hell yeah, he is!”
A few days later, Terror did not appreciate the car ride, but he did enjoy scouting out the new space, a space they didn’t leave much. They spent their time making love.
And it was love. Ulric said it quite clearly that first night there. “I am falling in love with you, Bee.”
Some might have been freaked by this declaration, even rushed. Her?
“Ditto,” was her blushed reply. How she still had any heat to give her cheeks after all they’d done…
The following week, they got their bloodwork done and, because she used an IUD, ditched the condoms.
She didn’t expect a difference.
Wrong. The sex went next level the first time they went at it bare-skinned.
Thrust, slide. The pleasure of it had her gasping and crying out. Her nails dug into his back. Her lips latched on to him, sucking and leaving a mark that turned into a bite as her orgasm hit. She bit hard enough she tasted metal.
Apparently, Ulric didn’t mind because that was when his hips went rigid, burying his cock, and he howled. An eerie sound cut off when he buried his mouth against her flesh and returned the bite.
The sharp pain of it should have distracted. Instead it rolled her into a second climax that left her breathless and sightless for a moment. A literal orgasm blackout.
She would have basked in the glow forever if he’d not said, “Move in with me.”
“No.” She didn’t even hesitate. She really liked Ulric. Likely even loved. But they’d been dating less than a month.
“We spend every day and night together.” With Terror commuting between their places.
“We do, but we’re in the honeymoon phase. What if it wears off and you realize you want your space?”
“My love for you isn’t fickle,” he argued.
“It’s also shiny and brand new,” she argued, trying to remain pragmatic.
“You’re afraid I’m going to leave.”
“It’s been a pattern my whole life, so, yes, I’m going to be cautious.” Said by the woman who’d slept with him on her first date.
“We’re meant to be together,” he insisted.
“Then in that case you won’t mind waiting a little bit. For me,” she added.
He sighed. “If I must.”
To ease his disappointment, she gave him some hope. “If I do eventually say yes, it will be my place simply because it’s bigger.”
He grinned. “Do I get to bring my comfy chairs and game system?”
“If we do move in together, it will be just as much your place as mine. You can even choose some colors to repaint some rooms. Just not the kitchen. That’s where I draw the line.”
“You can do all the decorating so long as I’m the guy wielding the paintbrush and rolling his eyes at his Honey-do list.”
“Does that Honey-do list include doing me?”
It did. Apparently, a daily recurring task that brought them both great pleasure.
Every day became exciting. Her life full of laughter, love, and happiness.
So explain the dread that it was all about to end.
7
Happiness filled Ulric. He and Honey meshed together like mustard on a hotdog with onions, mayo, and relish. Given how well it had been going, he wouldn’t take her refusal to move in as a setback. She didn’t yet realize they were soul mates. She just needed a little more time.
Ulric had waited his whole life to meet the one. He could be patient a while longer. Since he’d spent the night at her place, he brought Terror with him to work. The cat was actually a source of amusement with the Pack. They might laugh at his choice in pet, and yet they all doted on the little feline who had free reign of the store.
Until Tyrone walked in. His dozens of swinging braids with their beads proved too much temptation for a young kitty who fancied himself an agile hunter. He wasn’t. Terror missed his ambitious jumps more often than he made them, but once he latched onto something—say like one of Tyrone’s braids—then he held on for dear life.
Good thing Tyrone was chill about it. The discount on his weed purchase probably helped.
Just after Ulric’s midday lunch drop-off to Honey—where he stole a kiss and a grope that left her flushed—Griffin called him into his office, aka the living room in his apartment over the store. Maeve was doing a shift at the hospital, so it was just his boss and a stranger who must have come up via the back staircase.
They sat on couches that faced each other. His boss, Griffin Lanark—a dark-haired dude with creeping grays—sat on one and across from him a woman, her hair cut fairly short but spiked on top, the tips frosted. Her nose and ears were pierced. She wore all black: jeans, sweater, socks. The combat boots on the shoe mat must be hers too.
“Hey, boss,” Ulric offered as greeting. “You hollered?”
“I did. Ulric, I want you to meet Doctor Silver.”
“Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand, and she extended a gloved one to grip. She had a firm grasp and eyed him quite frankly with eyes a little closer to golden yellow than brown. There was something off about her scent. Something even the heavy coconut mist she’d sprayed couldn’t hide.
She released his hand and eyed him, saying, “He’s a fit specimen like most of your Pack. How long since the change?”
Wait what? Ulric recoiled.
Griffin didn’t seem phased. “More than ten years now.”
“Meaning he has well-established Lycan genetics.”
Ulric finally interrupted. “Hold on, what’s happening here? Why are you telling her about, you know, the secret?” He added finger quotes.
“Doctor Silver is here as part of a nationwide venture to learn more medically about our kind. For some reason, very little study has been done, but Doctor Silver aims to change that.”
“And you’re just telling her everything. Is that wise?” The Lycan secret was a well-guarded one, even as it got harder and harder to hide with social media in everyone’s business these days.
“He’s not telling me anything I don’t already know about the Lycan people. Rest assured, my interest in the community is purely scientific.” Her voice emerged as a husky murmur.
“Said every mad doctor and government hack,” Ulric muttered with a scowl.
“I can only state that I am neither of those. I truly want to understand more about the Lycan condition.”
“Why?”
“Because we won’t be able to keep it secret forever,” she said, echoing his recent thought.
“And how does studying us help?”