Perfect: Tales of the Were (Big Wolf Book 2) Page 3

  “Cody.” She wasn’t too proud to beg. “I need you.”

  “I like that, Cassie.” He rose and snagged something off the nightstand. It turned out to be one of her scarves. He must’ve taken it off the hanger on the door where she’d placed it with the blouse it matched the day before. “Question is, do you like this?” He moved with steady, measured movements as he tied her wrists together above her head and then looped the end of the scarf through the headboard. His eyes questioned, but she was willing. The idea of being at his mercy was something new, and she wanted to find out what it would be like. Besides, she trusted him.

  They’d already made love once, and though he’d been rougher than the few men she’d known before, he hadn’t hurt her. She didn’t think he was the type of man to use his bigger size and superior strength against her, and the very thought of letting him do something so wicked—so kinky—made her salivate.

  “Is this all right? Tell me now, baby.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “Not too tight? I wouldn’t want you to bruise.”

  She moved her hands a bit to show him she was okay. “It’s fine. But, um...” She bit her lip in a moment of shyness. “I’ve never done this before.”

  “Do tell.” The grin that split his face was one of pure male satisfaction.

  She felt heat rise to her cheeks and knew she was blushing. She looked down, unable to meet those knowing eyes. “I’ve never been very adventurous sexually.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m adventurous enough for both of us.” He chuckled then settled at her side, stretching out his long, nude body along hers as one hand trailed over her skin. “Seriously, Cassie, you need to tell me if I push too hard. I want it all with you, and I’ve been wanting it since the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

  “Really?” She looked up at him, needing to see the truth in his expression.

  He nodded, his eyes solemn and lit from within by passion. “Yes, ma’am. You turn me on like no other woman I’ve ever known. You’re smart, you’re funny…” He punctuated each statement with a kiss to another part of her body. “You bake like a dream and have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.” He reached down and guided her legs apart. “And now, I know even more about you.” The sparkle in his eyes dared her to ask.

  “Like what?”

  “For starters, you have the softest skin I’ll ever touch.” He marked the words with a long caress that started at her shoulder and ended at her knee, hitting all the interesting points in between. “You make the sexiest little noises when you’re aroused, and you’ve got the tightest pussy it’s ever been my pleasure to know.” His daring words made her gasp, and he grinned down at her. “Now just relax and let me show you how much I enjoy this perfect body of yours.”

  She wanted to protest that she was hardly perfect, but he seemed to believe his words, so who was she to argue? It was a fantasy come to life, having Cody in her bed, saying such wonderful, scandalous things. Time enough to face reality—and all her flaws—tomorrow. Tonight was for loving.

  Well, for sex anyway. At least on his part. No doubt he hadn’t been fool enough to fall in love with her. Not the way she had fallen like a ton of bricks for him almost at first sight. No, that sort of thing only happened to foolish spinsters who didn’t get out much.

  Cassandra felt a little pang when she thought about how this special night probably meant way more to her than it did to him, but it couldn’t be helped. She wanted this memory, and she was hanging on with both hands to whatever time he’d give her. Luckily, he didn’t seem in any hurry to leave her bed.

  Cody taught her to respond to his lightest touch, teasing parts of her body she’d never thought of as erogenous zones. The back of her knee, the bend of her elbow, the nape of her neck, he touched her everywhere with devastating thoroughness. By the time he moved over her, she was more than ready for anything he had in mind.

  He grabbed a condom from his wallet, left conveniently on the bedside table, and sheathed himself before settling into the V of her thighs. Holding her gaze, he pushed in with slow deliberation, in small pulses, to make his possession easier and more complete. Seated deep within her at last, he watched the place where they joined as he began to move. He was sitting up on his haunches, her thighs draped around his hips as he slid deep.

  One ingenious finger stroked her clit, coaxing a small climax from her body that took her by surprise. She cried out as the completion hit, never ending, but pushing her even higher.

  “That’s it, baby. Show me how much you want me.”

  His words nudged her on. Cassandra began to squirm against him, rotating her hips as he pulsed in and out. The combination was heady, and lightning zipped up her spine as she reached another peak.

  “Cody!” she cried out as he increased his pace.

  “That’s it. Stay with me, baby. Come with me. Come with me now!”

  Between his words, his loving, and the finger stroking her in just the right spot, she was a goner. She came again, harder than ever before as he surged into her one final time, tensing as he pulsed deep inside her. His muscles went rigid, and his face was a study in masculine perfection, eyes closed in bliss as he came.

  *

  Cody stayed in Cassie’s bed as long as he dared. He didn’t want the rest of the hands gossiping about her. Especially when he hadn’t yet had the chance to explain to her that he was playing for keeps. Last night had only served to confirm what he had suspected for a few days now…

  She was his mate.

  Knowing that, he was even more intent on figuring out exactly what was wrong with that back acreage of Cassie’s new ranch and who was responsible for it. He hadn’t dared scout the area in human form during the day before he’d hired on as a ranch hand. The last thing he’d wanted to do was ruin his chances at inserting successfully onto the ranch. Getting Cody onto the ranch so he could investigate—and have a legitimate reason for being on that land, should anyone discover him there—had been the priority.

  The Alpha had tasked him with finding out what was going on. To that end, Cody left the bunkhouse with none the wiser and shifted into his wolf form to do some more investigating before he had to be up and at ‘em, just before dawn.

  What he found when he got to the back acreage that bordered the Weaver land wasn’t good. Dead animals. More than one. A calf, a pig, and a sheep were arranged almost ceremonially around a charred circle on the land. There had been a fire here, no more than a day ago.

  He sniffed around, but he couldn’t tell much more than that at the moment. There had been rain between the time of the killings and now, which had washed away a lot of the scent. He’d have to come out here in the full light of day and see what other clues might be hiding in the darkness. That was going to be tough to manage, but he’d find a way.

  Knowing that the sun would rise shortly and he’d be expected at the breakfast table prior to starting work for the day, Cody ran back toward the bunkhouse, really stretching out his muscles. It was a good run, and it helped settle him for the day ahead.

  He climbed back in the window to his room, which he’d left through the night before. He used the extra time before he had to appear at breakfast to send a coded text message to Joe, the Alpha of the Big Wolf Pack. Surprisingly, Joe called right away.

  “Morning,” Joe said when Cody picked up the call. “You’ve been busy.”

  “Yeah, but it’s going to be hard to get myself out there during the daylight hours. I couldn’t do a completely thorough search in the dark, regardless of our night vision,” Cody griped gently. “That small rain shower washed away a lot of the scent trails.”

  “I could send Shane out there,” Joe said, referring to the highly capable new sheriff in town. “Or some of the trackers.”

  “Probably best to send the sheriff,” Cody replied. “Three carcasses means plenty of evidence to examine.”

  “Yeah,” Joe replied, his voice flat. “Damned if I understand what’s going on out there. D
id you get any scent of magic?”

  “Not that I could scent, and the rain wouldn’t have washed that away,” Cody said, annoyed with his lack of progress. “You’d think, if someone was going to go to the trouble of sacrificing animals like that, they’d at least have a whiff of magic about them.”

  “Not if it’s black magic,” Joe said contemplatively.

  “Shit.” Cody hadn’t thought of that. “But it’s so rare. Do you think it’s really possible?”

  “I’ve been hearing reports from the Lords that say it’s not as rare as it used to be,” Joe told him. “There was a communique only last month warning of a potion witch that had an entire factory under her spell using the dark hidden arts. Apparently, they’re starting to come out of the woodwork.”

  “Then, we’d better get all the intel we can today before whoever it is goes back and cleans up,” Cody said, frowning. “Damn. I’m supposed to be working near the house today, and it’ll be hard to fabricate an excuse to go out there.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll ask Weaver if he’ll allow access through his property. Shane can start the investigation quietly. You can do an info swap with Shane tonight, after dinner, if that works,” Joe suggested. “You’ve done well in finding this before they have a chance to completely cover their tracks. That’s good enough, for now.”

  Cody didn’t feel that way, but if Joe was okay with it, Cody would have to be satisfied. For now.

  “I’ll do better, Alpha,” Cody felt compelled to pledge.

  “You’re already doing better than I expected,” Joe reassured him. “I didn’t set you an easy task. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

  Cody shook his head and had to grin. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

  “See that you do. Now, what’s your opinion of the new owner? Cassandra of the cakes,” Joe asked.

  Cody sighed. It figured the Alpha would ask that today, of all days, when Cody was still reeling from the discovery that Cassie was his mate. But he had to be honest with his Alpha.

  “It’s complicated, Joe,” Cody began, not sure how to say this, when he’d never said anything remotely like it before in his life.

  “Bad? Is she in on it, you think?” Joe’s tone immediately got suspicious.

  “No! Oh, hell no,” Cody objected. “Sorry. I’m just… It’s hard to believe. Joe, she’s my mate.”

  “Are you serious?” Joe asked.

  Cody wished he could see the Alpha’s face, but this was a voice-only call. Was he pleased? Angered? Did he not want another human brought into the Pack?

  If that was the case, Cody would damned well leave and keep Cassie with him. He’d rather be a lone wolf with a mate than part of a Pack that was intolerant of non-magical folk.

  “Yeah. I realized it for certain last night,” Cody admitted, waiting to see which way this would go. He was seconds from leaving his birth Pack, but he had no choice if the Alpha wouldn’t accept his choice of mate.

  “Well, hell,” Joe said slowly. “Congratulations.”

  Cody started to breathe again. It sounded like he wouldn’t have to go lone wolf after all. Thanks be to the Mother of All. He might have had the wanderlust the past few decades, but he always returned to Big Wolf. Now, it seemed he had a great reason to stay. Permanently. No more wandering. No more searching. He had a mate now…if she could be convinced to accept him, and all that entailed.

  But Cassie didn’t even know he was a shifter yet. He had to find a way to make her fall in love with him the human way, so she’d be more willing to accept his differences. He’d have to seduce her and make love to her so creatively that she’d be ruined for any other male.

  It was a tough job, but he was up to the task. Cody smiled to himself, thinking about the ways he would go about winning her trust and making her crave him the way he craved her.

  “Does she know?” Joe asked, bringing Cody back to the conversation.

  “No, not yet,” Cody admitted. “I’m going to have to approach this cautiously. She’s totally ignorant of the real world and has no clue about magic or shifters at all. Of that, I’m nearly a hundred percent certain. She’s a big city career lady who loves to bake and had a hankering for the wide open spaces. What you see is what you get with her. Educating her about magic and the paranormal world is going to take some finesse.”

  “You’re up to it,” Joe said, giving Cody his support like the good Alpha he was.

  “Thanks, Joe. So, just to be clear. You don’t mind that she’s human?” Cody had to ask. He believed in straight speaking and knew Joe did, too. That was just one of the reasons Cody respected the Alpha so much.

  “Mind? Hell, no. Not at all. She’s welcome because she is yours, and you’re ours. Pack. Never doubt that.” Joe was silent for a moment. “Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have an ally of the Pack on our border. If we can’t own the land outright, at least we’ll know it won’t belong to an enemy, and one day, your pups may bring that ranch into the Pack proper.”

  Cody hadn’t even thought of that. Pups. His children. His and Cassie’s. And they’d be heirs to this ranch. Joe was thinking twelve steps ahead, as usual, and he’d just floored Cody with a vision of the future.

  “Scuttlebutt’s wrong again. You’re not the least bit of a megalomaniac.” Cody felt easy enough with Joe by now to tease him.

  “Hey, what I do, I do for the Pack. Including long-term planning. I won’t always be here to look after them,” Joe reminded him, though he wouldn’t be even close to retiring for another century or more. Shifters were very long-lived. “It’s good to have a friendly buffer zone between the Pack’s heart and the rest of the world. That ranch is just one more piece of that safety zone, and it’s a relief to me that it’s owned by someone who will be part of our Pack, once you explain things to her.”

  If only it were that easy. “We still have to make the place safe and run off whoever’s messing around on that empty acreage.”

  “You do that, and when it’s done, I’ll be looking around for something we could maybe use that empty land for that would prevent anybody from encroaching ever again. Maybe the Pack could lease it for farming or something,” Joe said, surprising Cody again, with his long-range plans. But that’s why he was Alpha of one of the most powerful Packs in the country. He was just that good.

  “So, are you going to color-code Cassie’s ranch on that big map of the area you’re rumored to have?”

  “Just getting out my crayons now,” Joe teased back.

  Chapter Four

  The morning dawned bright and clear. Cody was gone when Cassandra woke, but she had expected that. He was probably up before dawn, heading back to the bunkhouse so he could get to work with the others, seeing to the horses. It had been nice of him to let her sleep in a bit.

  She tried to comfort herself with that thought as she took a shower, got dressed, and started her day. Much to her disappointment, it became clear that Cody wasn’t on the property. When she asked casually, Rich told her he’d sent Cody into town for a few hours to pick up some things from the feed store.

  By the time dinner rolled around, he still hadn’t returned, and Emma and Rich were due for dinner at the big house. Cassandra had invited them a day or two before, promising she’d cook one of her specialties for them. She enjoyed the comforting feel of her kitchen—and the new, raunchy memories a certain corner of her cooking island elicited.

  They shared the news of the day and talked about the ranch all through a lovely dinner. Rich and Emma were two of her favorite people, and Cassandra enjoyed their company. Rich had big ideas for the horse training and breeding programs he was creating.

  He was an entrepreneur, just about to break out on his own…with her help. She’d recognized that about him from almost the moment they’d met when he’d applied for the job as foreman. Cassandra hadn’t really been planning to put her barns to work the way Rich envisioned, but once he’d shared his dreams and goals with her, she couldn’t see why they shouldn’t at lea
st try.

  She’d taken a chance on her first bakery a decade ago and had made her dreams a reality. She felt good about helping Rich do the same. And it really would be a shame to let the barns get even further dilapidated. This way, she helped a business get off the ground, and Rich saw to it that her ranch outbuildings got repaired and put to work again. It was really a win-win.

  They talked about his and Emma’s plans all through dinner. Emma was overseeing and working with the small carpentry crew who were rebuilding everything. They’d redone the bunkhouse first, and it was fantastic. Emma was the brains behind the design, and she was also pretty handy with power tools and woodworking, which impressed Cassandra greatly.

  As a couple, they were interesting to talk to and fun to be around. Cassandra was so glad they’d agreed to come live at the ranch. She knew them well enough by now, she thought, to count them among her dearest friends. All those plans she’d had about moving to the middle of nowhere had included making friends, but Cassandra hadn’t counted on just how out of the way her ranch really was when she’d bought it.

  The nearest town was Big Wolf, but the people there weren’t exactly warm and fuzzy towards outsiders. They were nice enough on the rare occasions when she went into town, but she hadn’t made any friends there. Making friends in a small town wasn’t as easy as she’d always imagined. She’d thought about different ways she might be able to meet new people—joining civic organizations, sports clubs, charities, and the like—but she hadn’t really figured out how to go about it just yet. She had to find the right fit, and so far, things just hadn’t worked out for her, in that area.

  When dinner was over, Cassandra cleared the table and headed into the kitchen to get the dessert she’d made earlier in the day. Emma followed her with the rest of the serving dishes they’d used.

  “I wanted to talk to you for a minute, away from Rich.”

  “What’s on your mind, Em?” Cassandra faced the other woman, surprised by the serious tone of her voice.