Beauty in Summer Read online

  My wolf starts to whine, and I clamp down on him, refusing to give in to panic. Stay in control. She just needs to know more, that’s all. “BMI is a company and also a wolf pack. I’m the head of both—as President and CEO of the company, and Alpha of the pack. My wolf has been acting up, more like a rabid dog, and my pack assumed that it was because I hadn’t found my mate yet—we usually can identify them by scent. So Cairns decided to try to find a mate for me, and somehow he lucked into you and persuaded your parents to bring you to BMI.”

  Bellamy’s eyes are glistening, and her mouth is drawn tight. Despite my best efforts, dread is starting to claw into me, and my wolf won’t stop whining and scrabbling. “So there never was an admin job, was there? My parents just sold me to you, the fuckers.”

  “I don’t know the details, but essentially, yes.” She winces, and I hastily add, “You’re not a prisoner here—if you hadn’t wanted to stay, no one would have forced you to.”

  “But that was before, right? Before you discovered I’m your mate?” She looks at me straight in the eyes. “If I want to, am I still free to leave?”

  I stare at her. No! I want to scream. You’re mine, and you’ll stay mine forever. I’ll never let you go. The wolf howls his agreement. Mate!

  But even as I start to tell her, hell no, you’ll never leave me, I falter. I can smell her incipient terror, panic and pain clouding her scent, and knows she fears the beast after all. To have my mate fear and hate me will break me utterly. It already has. I have no choice.

  “Yes. If you want to go, I won’t force you to stay.”

  At my words she rises in a flash and scrambles out of the tub, stumbling in her haste to get away from me. She rushes into the bedroom, and I look away, pain already tearing at me.

  No! howls the beast. She can’t leave! Go after her!

  But I can’t. If she can’t bear to be with me, I have no right to force her to stay. A wolf only has one mate and will choose to die rather than to be separated from his mate. But I would rather die than know that she loathes and fears me. I close my eyes against the sight of her leaving me forever.

  Chapter Nine

  Her

  “Wolf? Alpha? Marriage?” I sputter as I race around looking for my clothes. My skirt and torn top are on a coffee table. My shoes are near the doorway. I can’t find my panties. I drop to my knees and find the pair tangled around a chair leg.

  I jerk the underwear on, only to have them fall right off. In dismay, I snatch the cotton off the floor. Holding the pair up, I realize that the sides are totally shredded and my single pair of good underwear has been ruined.

  Tears prick my eyes. I collapse on the bed and press the heels of my hands against my eye sockets. I feel overwhelmed. My internal circuits were blown out by the sex I just had, and then the world as I knew it was lifted and shaken like a glass globe. Instead of snowflakes falling around me, my beliefs and understandings of how things work are raining down on my head.

  The easiest thing to do would be to leave. But if I’m being honest with myself, do I really want to? If I leave, I’ll lose Garrett. I don’t know if I’m ready for that. On the other hand, am I prepared for the alternative, which is becoming a wolf, mating with a man I just met, leaving the life I’ve been—

  What life? The one where I have no job? Where I have parents that are so selfish and awful that they sold me to strangers? Where my so-called friends are there only when I’m flush and abandon me when I’m not available to help them?

  I was empty before, and here I’m offered something more. And I’m not referring to Garrett’s giant package or the mind-blowing sex we just had. Staying gives me a family I’ve always wanted, friendship that I’ve longed for, and a partner I never dreamed I could have. A partner who’s made me feel more in a day than I ever felt in my entire life before, and that’s no exaggeration.

  The thoughts settle on the ground, watering the longing I’ve felt for something magical to happen to me again since I first saw that fairy. That long-ago fairy who turned out to have been real and not something I imagined and now will change my life completely with just one wish…

  It’s too soon to fall in love, I tell myself. And though fairies may be real, life still isn’t a fairy tale. You can’t fall in love in a day. Sure, there’s this thing called love at first sight, but that’s what girls tell themselves to make sleeping with a guy right after meeting them okay.

  But…what if it is love? Maybe I was upside down in the globe before and Garrett is setting me upright.

  I’ve always been accused of being a dreamer—by my parents, by teachers, by friends—but now, I’ve been given the chance to make my dreams come true. I just need to be brave enough to do it.

  I stand up, testing my legs. They’re surprisingly strong. I blink my eyes. The tears are gone. I press a hand over my chest. My heartbeat thuds steadily.

  A cough at the door grabs my attention. I look up to see Garrett staring at me.

  “Still here?” His golden eyes are shuttered, but there’s a vulnerability in his expression that I’ve never seen on a man’s face before—as if the answer to this question is the most important one he’ll ever hear.

  When he said before that I could go, I knew instinctively that he was lying. My entire being strains toward his. I take a step forward. “I’ve been considering your offer.”

  He nods briskly. “About that. I wanted you to know that the admin position is yours regardless of what you decide to do with the rest of it. And I’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you need.” Beside his thighs, his fists clench and unclench. He doesn’t like the idea of leaving me alone, but I adore him for giving me that space.

  It’s space I don’t need now that I’ve made my decision. I press my lips together to hide a smile. His noble gesture is so adorable. “I’m afraid I don’t like the terms of that deal.”

  “Write up the terms that you want. I’ll agree to them,” he says hoarsely. “So long as you are here. That is my only requirement.”

  I take another step forward. “I’m greedy. I want more.”

  His eyes widen. “I’m ready to negotiate.”

  “I’d like—”

  Before I can move another inch toward him, he has me swept up in his arms. He tosses me on the bed and follows me down. “You were saying?”

  I palm his face. The stubble on his chin feels delightfully rough against my fingers. I squirm slightly as I remember how the abrasion felt between my legs. From the hungry look on his face, I suspect I won’t have to rely on memory for much longer. He’s ready to devour me.

  “I want it all. You, the pack, the job.” I reach between us to palm his hot shaft. “Your wolf.”

  He bares his teeth in triumph and then sinks them into my collarbone. “You get it all,” he says. “You will get it all and more.”

  His fingers part me, shoving inside my wet core. His mouth latches on to one nipple, drawing hard enough that I feel the suck all the way to my pussy. I spread my legs wider, wanting more of his touch, his kiss, his love.

  And he doesn’t hold back. His fingers fuck me fiercely as he tongues one taut bud and then the other.

  “You’re perfect, Belle,” he groans against my breasts. “Perfect for me. I lied when I said you could go. I wouldn’t be able to let you go. Even if I were without my wolf, I’d chase you to the ends of the earth and make you mine.”

  They’re words that I shouldn’t want to hear. They’re archaic sentiments of ownership and possession, but they thrill me. In their own way, the words reveal the intensity of his desire, the capaciousness of his need.

  The urge to claim him back swamps me. I tug on his hair until his face is above mine. “You’re mine now, too. There can’t be anyone else.”

  He smiles ferally. “There was never anyone in my life but you.”

  He takes my mouth, eating my lips, kissing me until there’s no breath inside and then giving me back the air I need. I rub my breasts against his chest, and he growls into my
mouth, and I know he’s about to sink that massive cock in me again. But before he does, I need to put my mark on him as well—and torment him just a little. I nearly giggle—whaddya know, payback really is a bitch.

  I break off the kiss, and before he can protest I slither my way down his body, lips following that yummy treasure trail to the real prize below. Garrett realizes my destination and sinks back on his elbows with a moan, parting his tree trunk thighs to allow me room to settle in between.

  Before I get to the main event, though, I nip him quickly on his inner thigh, enough to leave a mark. Not hearing a reaction from him, I look up to find him looking amused. “You’re going to have to bite me a lot harder than that if you want to punish me.”

  I huff. “That wasn’t punishment, you ass, I was marking you!”

  The amusement instantly vanishes, to be replaced by a look so tender it makes my heart stutter. “Baby, all anyone needs to do is catch your scent all over me and they’ll know I’m yours.” He suddenly gives me what I think of as his wolfish grin. “Though I totally approve of biting as foreplay, just so you know.”

  I flush with arousal at the memory of his biting my ass, and I nip him again on the thigh, this time a lot harder. His leg jerks and his breathing quickens, his chest moving up and down rapidly. I allow myself a smug grin. Obviously, he felt that bite. Now back to the business at hand.

  Garrett is practically quivering with excitement now, and his cock is beyond hard. I stroke a finger up the engorged, veiny shaft to the huge mushroom head, swollen dark red and leaking copious pre-cum. I sneak a glance up at his face, and he looks like he’s about to come already.

  But now that I’m here and face to face with his cock, I’m getting a little nervous that he won’t be able to fit in my mouth. Damn, he really is big. I decide to stall for time and kiss and fondle his balls, and he groans like he’s in agony.

  Feeling bolder now, I lick a path up the shaft and swirl my tongue around the tip, tasting his pre-cum. I stroke his cock slowly as I lick the head, using my lips and tongue to tease him. I’m really enjoying this, and I know he is too by the noises he’s making and the way his body arches toward my mouth. In fact, I’m enjoying this so much that I really want to take him into my mouth now, and slide my lips around the crown and nearly choke. Yeah, I will definitely need to practice this a lot. Not exactly a hardship.

  Garrett doesn’t seem to notice my ineptitude, though, and is panting and groaning his pleasure. “Damn, baby, this feels so good. Your mouth is perfect. You’re so beautiful.”

  Humming happily, I suck as much of his cock as I can fit into my mouth and feverishly stroke the shaft with both hands. Garrett thrusts his hips up, and his cock slides in deeper, and I immediately back up, not ready to be deepthroating his giant cock yet. But the motion is exactly what he wants, and he arches again. This I can do, and I bob my head shallowly on his cock. “Yeah, that’s it, baby, please do it again,” he moans in encouragement.

  Up and down I go, and it gets me hotter than I thought possible. I squeeze my thighs together; my clit pounds an urgent demand. His cock grows even harder and thicker under my hands.

  Suddenly, I’m jerked away. I moan in dismay.

  “The knot,” Garret explains grimly.

  “But, I wanted—”

  He kisses me roughly, his mouth bruising my lips. “I know, but later. When you’re more used to it. I’ll teach you.”

  He pulls me onto his lap, draping one leg over each of his, spreading me wide for his touch. He slides three fingers down my pussy and then into my channel.

  “Ah, you’re ready for me,” he says in supreme satisfaction.

  I wriggle delightedly. “Always.”

  He withdraws his fingers and grabs his cock. Slowly he impales me. I whimper with pleasure as he stretches me wide, my inner muscles contracting around him as I force myself to take all of him.

  Garrett grabs my hand and brings it to his chest. “Up until I met you, I didn’t know what life was. Now, my heart is full. Each breath I take is sweeter when you are near me. Each color is more vibrant; each scent is richer. Until you, I was only half a man. I am now complete. That is what it means to be your mate.”

  His eyes lock onto mine, and a look of such complete adoration stops my heart for an endless moment before it resumes beating. It’s beating for him.

  Yes, I think. YES!

  His hands come up to cup my breasts, and I lean toward them, toward him. When our lips are nearly touching, I whisper, “My mate.”

  Beauty in Spring

  by Kati Wilde

  Read on for an excerpt from Beauty in Spring.

  Chapter One

  Cora

  “Are you sure about this, luv?”

  It’s the first thing that the hired driver, George, has said since picking me up from my London hotel just before dawn, when the full moon still lingered just above the western horizon. Since then we’ve traveled almost two hundred miles north, but the silence between us over the course of those four hours was a comfortable one. I was too preoccupied for conversation, anyway—with nerves tumbling in my belly, my heart full of hope, and my imagination racing as I pictured how Blackwood Manor might have changed in the ten years I’ve been away.

  But I never imagined this. George stopped the car in front of the manor’s gatehouse—the house where I lived the first fifteen years of my life. The stone structure straddles the lane that leads to Blackwood Hall, and serves as the entrance to the estate. While I was growing up, never once were those wrought-iron gates closed. Instead they were always open, inviting visitors to continue on toward the great manor house that sits like a crown upon the escarpment overlooking the woodlands and beautifully tended grounds.

  Yet now those gates are closed. The heavy rusted chain looped between the wrought-iron bars looks as if it has been there almost as long as I’ve been gone. A weathered sign reading “No Trespassing” hangs from the gatehouse arch. The gatehouse itself, traditionally the home of Blackwood Manor’s groundskeeper, appears utterly abandoned.

  And those grounds are no longer beautifully tended. The overgrown lawn beyond the gate looks as if no one has held the groundskeeper’s position since my father left—since he took me from Blackwood Manor, the only home I’d ever known. The home I’ve been dreaming of returning to for ten years.

  But judging by the disrepair of the gatehouse and estate grounds, that home looks as if it has been left to rot. And instead of nerves in my belly and a heart full of hope, now despair thickens sourly in my chest.

  Why had I been brought here? When I was contacted by the Blake family’s solicitor two weeks ago, he said that my father’s former employers had learned of his recent death and wished to discuss the repayment of a debt. As far as I was aware, they hadn’t owed my father anything, and the solicitor hadn’t been forthcoming with details. All I could imagine was that a severance had gone unpaid when he’d left their employ and they intended to bestow it upon his only living relative. Whatever debt they owe, they apparently felt it needed to be paid in person, so they arranged for me to travel from the Seattle airport to London, then hired a driver to bring me here.

  But why? Clearly the Blakes don’t live here now. If anyone still resided at Blackwood Hall, then those gates would not have gone unopened and chained for as long as they appear to have been. There would be some sign of the staff coming and going, because an estate and house of this size simply cannot function without people to care for it.

  Yet obviously no one has been, and seeing the neglect feels as if a razor is slicing away at my heart.

  The driver softly clears his throat. “Would you like me to take you back to the village, then, and see you settled at the inn?”

  I tear my gaze from the gatehouse’s sagging roof and broken windows. At the inn? A flutter of panic quivers through the heavy despair.

  The reason I never returned to Blackwood Manor before now is simply because I couldn’t. Especially after my father’s long illness
. Even before that, however, money has been scarce for years.

  And although the Blakes bought my plane ticket and hired George to drive me here, those arrangements didn’t include a return trip—or a stay at a village inn. I assumed that would all be taken care of after I arrived. Blackwood Hall doesn’t lack for guest rooms…and, in truth, I’d hoped that I wouldn’t have to make that return trip back to the States. I’d hoped that there might be a place for me here, and that I’d either find employment on the estate—

  Or something more. Because the estate isn’t the only thing I left behind.

  It’s not the only thing I’ve dreamed of returning to all these years.

  Because there’s always been Gideon.

  Gideon Blake, with eyes as green as spring and with a devil’s smile. Two years older than me, we grew up together on the estate, but he was never like a brother—and always a friend. Until he was almost more than a friend. But we never got further than a kiss and a promise.

  Then my father left his position here and put half a world between me and Gideon.

  Of course I knew that my return might mean nothing to Gideon, and that everything I’ve hoped for was just a silly girl’s dream—I can hardly expect him to remember a promise of love he made ten years ago, as a boy of seventeen—yet the possibility of finding a job on the estate hadn’t seemed so silly.

  I never dreamed that no one would be here at all, though. So I can’t stay. But I’ve also got nowhere else to go. There’s nothing left for me in Washington and the little coastal town where my father and I lived, even if I could afford the plane ticket back.