Wild and Free by Kristen Ashley
As completely awesome as that was, still, I was me, so I shared, “That’s the sweet part I’m pretending doesn’t work.”
His eyes came to mine. “Keep it up, pussycat. I like tangy Lilah.”
“Let go of me so I can be annoyed somewhere else,” I ordered, though what I meant was so he’d stop turning me on.
“So full of shit,” he replied.
He knew what I meant, but of course he would. He could smell it.
I pretended that wasn’t the case too and told him, “I’m almost at my quota of bickering for the day so you need to let me go so I can save some up for later, seeing as I’m gonna need it.”
Abel kept smiling, this time doing it giving my hand and head a squeeze. Then he let me go.
Without looking at the other men, I stomped out, Leah and Sonia on my heels, so I could try to see if I could zap something.
I couldn’t. But I knew this already.
I still tried, though not for very long, since it was a lot more fun to go out and watch Sonia talk to bunnies.
Chapter Sixteen
Let the Day Begin
Abel
Abel woke and did it because he felt Delilah getting agitated.
He opened his eyes, feeling her body tucked to his, back to front, his arm draped around her waist.
He tightened his hold and opened his mouth to say something to wake her when her words of three days before came to him about trying to get in her head during a dream.
He closed his mouth and his eyes, tipping his head forward to rest his forehead against her crown. He made his attempt, using his abilities to control her mind by telling her to let him in her dream.
He got nothing. She simply shifted in his arms as she normally did when she was having a dream.
He’d never tried to control anyone’s mind while they were sleeping, so he tried a different tack.
As a test, he ordered her to find his hand and hold it.
Instantly, she did, but she did this still asleep.
And still dreaming.
That meant he could get to her. He just needed to keep trying.
“Bao bei, let me in,” he whispered, curling his fingers around hers and repeating his words to her mind.
Nothing.
Let me in your dream, he again ordered.
Her movements became more agitated but whatever was going on in her head was not his to have.
He tightened his hold on her hand and tried again, shouting, Lilah, let me in!
Instantly, he saw it in his head. A street. Blood. Bodies. Delilah there, several feet in front of him, her back to him. A man down the street from Delilah. Classy, haughty, a look on his face that was an amused sneer. A vampire.
The man looked beyond Delilah, saw Abel, and gave a start as his chin jerked back in shock.
Delilah turned and Abel’s eyes went to her, his body growing taut at the fear etched on her face. Fear so extreme, even in a dream, he could taste it.
She saw him, lifted her hand his way, and screamed, “No!”
A bright blue flash obliterated everything and he was out of her mind, back in bed, gripping Delilah to him in a hold that he forced himself to relax or he’d break her fingers.
“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?” she chanted, moving in a way he knew she wanted to turn, so he let her go and she did so, facing him, eyes open and scared.
“I was there,” he told her.
“Where?” she asked on a soft pant, her breath coming fast, the fear still clinging, making the air around them heavy, sticking in his throat.
“Your dream,” he answered.
“Shit, I dreamed again?”
Fuck, she didn’t remember.
“Yeah.”
She shook her head on the pillow, but it wasn’t in the negative. She was just doing it, probably to clear the fear that still had a hold on her.
“A street. Bodies. Blood. You standing there. A vampire with you,” he explained her dream.
“You got in?” she asked, her eyes growing wide, and he held her gaze.
“You don’t remember?” he asked back even though he knew the answer.
She shook her head again.
“Nothing?” he pressed.
Her eyes went unfocused as her body stayed tense and he waited. He was used to this whenever he’d ask her to try to remember her dreams.
She refocused and relaxed against him. “No, baby, nothing.” She pushed closer, her hand on his chest between them. “But you got in?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Saw what I said I saw.”
“Blood. Bodies. A vamp?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he confirmed.
“A good vamp?”
“Not even close.”
He felt her shiver and gathered her closer.
“Was Leah there? Sonia? Callum? Lucien?” she went on.
He shook his head.
Her brows drew together. “Just me?”
Just her. Just her, an evil vampire, and a street full of dead humans.
Abel did not like this.
“Just you,” he said quietly.
“Why would I be alone?” she asked.
“No clue,” he answered.
“I wouldn’t,” she told him, pressing even closer and pulling up so her face was near his. “I wouldn’t, honey. No way would I be alone. You wouldn’t let that happen. None of The Three would. So this dream can’t be premonitory.”
He hoped like fuck she was right.
He didn’t reply.
“It’s just me freaking out about all the shit that’s going down,” she assured him.
It could be.
Though, no shit was going down.
They’d been at the compound now for a week and dick was happening.
Not dick, precisely.
He was training with Callum and his family.
Lucien and Stephanie were working with Xun and Wei.
Chen and Jabber were getting better.
Hook had caught the eye of some female vampire two days earlier. They’d then disappeared behind her door in the south wing and no one had seen them since. All they knew was that four bottles of Jack had been delivered to that room, as well as sandwiches, steak dinners, made-to-order omelet breakfasts, and a bottle of caramel syrup.
So they actually did know what was going on between those two. Abel just refused to think about it even though Delilah thought it was hilarious and shared with him that she was glad her father had found someone with whom he could “pass his time.”
Poncho had left days earlier, saying he had an errand to run, but Abel knew it was to go back to New Mexico to meet with his aunt. Abel had gotten progress reports, including the fact Poncho made it home safely. He had to pass some test that involved a goat and a snake (he didn’t give specifics and Abel didn’t ask), and once he did, Abel would hear from him again.
With Hook hooking up and Poncho gone, Moose had lost it the day before, unable to be cooped up, even on a twenty-five-acre compound, not without his crew there to help pass the time. Jabber didn’t do it for him considering Moose was not a man prone to bedside vigils at all, but definitely not when they included listening to a biker bitch about how he wasn’t allowed to move around, have a smoke, or down a bottle of Jim Beam.
Moose had roared off on his Harley, saying he’d be back after he found himself some bourbon, a brawl, and a bitch.
Other than that, and the fact that they’d heard nothing from Serena and Yuri had disappeared, according to Gregor “to see to something important,” zero was happening and Abel was feeling like Moose.
He was restless.
If it wasn’t for Delilah’s insatiable need for orgasms, Abel’s need to give them to her, and Callum’s training, he’d be going out his mind.
He sensed the same with Delilah.
What they had was not the wild and free she wanted.
She was wild, that was certain. She took his dick and gave back all she could any way he wanted. She w
And he loved that.
But outside of her getting off in another way, that being watching him transform to wolf and train—something she didn’t hide seriously turned her on—and the minimal training in basic moves that Xun and Wei were giving her, Leah, and Sonia, there was nothing wild and free about eating off fine china and fucking in a bed that some human servant made for them after they left it.
“Abel?” she called, bringing him back to her.
He gave her his attention, rolling to his back and pulling her on top of him.
“Yeah. Maybe it’s nothin’,” he muttered.
She slid her hand up to curl it around his neck and dipped her face close.
“Something’s gotta give for my man,” she said softly.
She sensed he was restless too.
“Big place. Still feel caged,” he admitted.
“Maybe they’ll let us out to do some day-tripping,” she suggested.
“Rather feel caged than have you an open target.”
Her face got soft at his words and she muttered, “I hear that. Still sucks.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
She shifted her hand so her thumb ran the edge of his lower lip, and not surprisingly, his cock responded to her touch.
“Take your mind off it by sucking your big, beautiful dick,” she offered, her gaze heating, her lips curled up.
She was good with her mouth. She was good with everything. So he was not going to refuse.
“Like that, pussycat,” he murmured and watched her green eyes flare.
His mate. His temptress. Abel had known a lot of women in his life, including some who could go a few rounds and not lose the mood or their energy, but he’d never had anyone like Delilah. A woman who matched his appetite. A woman who wanted it all the time, with no boundaries.
Wild and free.
She dropped her head and kissed him, her sweet tongue sliding between his lips to play with his. A tease. A dare.
Abel let her have the first before he took the second. He tensed one arm around her and drove his other hand in her hair, slanting his head and taking over, demanding it all.
She gave it to him.
When he let her break it, she gave him a sexy smile that made his balls draw up before her face disappeared in his neck.
He shifted the pillows behind his head and shoulders so he could watch as she moved her mouth down his chest, making her way to the target. He spread his legs, cocking his knees to give her all access.
She didn’t disappoint. She never did. She fucking loved his cock. Worshipped it. Lavished it with attention, tongue, suction, hand, taking him as deep as she could. So deep, when he was inside, he could feel the back of her throat with the tip.
He watched her blow him, gritting his teeth and gripping the inside of his thigh with one hand, balling the sheets in the other, doing both in order not to move his hands to her head, hold her steady, and thrust into her mouth.
When she replaced her mouth with her hand, started jacking him, and moved to gently draw his sac into her warm, wet mouth, he was done.
“You want my cum on my stomach, keep that shit up, pussycat,” he growled and watched her lift her head.
She’d released his balls, but her hand kept jacking him.
“You wild, Abel?” she whispered.
“Close,” he gritted, and she grinned, eyes languid, lips wet and swollen from his kiss and her blowjob.
Fuck.
“I want you wild, baby,” she kept whispering.
“Might lose control,” he warned, ending on a groan when she guided his dick to her mouth and sucked hard at just the tip.
“I like it like that,” she told him after she released him and before she blew on his sensitive head.
He gripped his thigh harder, his entire body tensing.
She sensed it, he knew it when she turned her head and sank her teeth into the flesh of his inner thigh.
At the sting, a nonverbal snarl ground up his throat.
Her eyes came back to him and he almost lost it at the greed and power shining bright in them, searing his skin with the intensity.
Then she lifted up to her knees in the bed and slid them wide, still jacking him. Her gaze locked to his, she stroked hard, tugging from the root, as she slid her hand down her belly and between her legs.
He knew she found the right spot when her head dropped back, her hair swaying all the way down to her waist, her lips parting.
“Jesus,” he grunted, no longer able to hold it back, surging his hips up, thrusting into her hand.
Her head dipped forward, her gaze unfocused and hot as fuck, only just managing to catch his.
She whispered, “Wild,” then worked him hard as she worked herself and he watched it all, her hips moving with her fingers, riding them, fucking fuck. It was so magnificent he shifted to his knees, hooked her behind her neck, and drove into her tight fist. “Yes,” she breathed.
He bent his neck so his forehead was to hers.
“In a minute, gonna fuck you so hard, you’re gonna taste me.”
“Yes,” she panted.
He gripped the back of her neck harder and took her mouth, fucking her fist, feeling her move as she rocked her hips into her fingers, whimpering down his throat.
That was all he could take. He grasped her hair and heard her gentle cry as he used it to whirl her around and shove her face in the bed. Her ass up, he mounted her and commenced rutting, just as he liked it, just as his mate fucking loved it.
She came in about three seconds.
He came three minutes later but only after he took her there again.
He gave himself a few beats before he dragged her up, impaled on his cock, and sat back on his calves, his arms around her.
She turned her head and pressed her forehead into his neck, wrapping her arms around his, her fingers curling around his wrists.
“Now we can let the day begin,” she said quietly.
He felt his lips curl into a smile and twisted his neck until he found her mouth.
“Now we can let the day begin,” he agreed.
Then he kissed her before pulling her off his cock, out of bed, and into the shower.
* * * * *
“You’re a fast learner,” Ryon said after they transformed to human behind a hedge.
The hedge was where they’d leaped out of their clothes three hours earlier in order to begin training.
Before he bent to retrieve his jeans, Abel’s eyes slid to the balcony where Delilah, Sonia, and Leah were sitting and watching. The reason for the hedge. His woman was intimately acquainted with his dick, but he wasn’t real hip on the other two being even a modicum of the same. Further, the other men, particularly Callum, had a lot to write home about in regards to their manhood. Delilah liked big dicks so he wasn’t fired up about her seeing the others’. He was relatively sure the rest of the wolves felt the same.
When she caught his gaze, Delilah gave him a finger wave.
Fuck, she was cute.
He grinned at the ground, shaking his head.
“Thanks,” he muttered in response to Ryon as he nabbed his jeans and pulled them on.
“You’re favoring your claws to your teeth,” Callum noted quietly. Abel looked to him, now buttoning his jeans. “I know your instinct is to use your hands,” he went on, “but wolves deliver the kill with their teeth. Remember, incapacitate with your claws, Abel. Go for the kill with your jaw.”
Abel nodded before he bent to grab his tee. He yanked it over his head as he sensed Lucien’s approach. He twisted his torso, catching Wei and Xun moving to the women on the balcony as he did so.
Obviously Lucien was done with them and it was time for his brothers to train the women.
He twisted further and watched Lucien walk toward the pack of wolves.
“I’m off,” Ryon murmured, clapping Abel on the shoulder. “Good session,” he finished and sauntered away.
&n
Calder just gave them a jerk of his chin before he followed his brother.
Lucien nodded to them as they passed him and Abel looked back to the balcony to see the door closing on Sonia. Leah and Delilah had already disappeared inside. Lucien had stopped close to him and Callum by the time the door shut behind the queen of the werewolves.
Abel focused on Lucien as he said, “I just had a conversation with Gregor in the hall on the way here.”
“And…?” Callum prompted.
“Nothing,” Lucien reported.
“What, is Serena engaging in a reconciliation fuck-a-thon with her phantom while the world hangs in the balance?” Abel asked impatiently. “Jesus.”
Callum’s lips twitched.
Lucien’s did not.
“Asked him where the fuck Yuri is,” Lucien told them and doing so got their undivided attention.
“Did he share?” Abel asked.
“Said Yuri had an idea on where to get some information, but so far, Gregor’s heard nothing from him,” Lucien replied. “He said if nothing comes of it, nothing comes of it. If something does, he’ll report it to us as soon as he knows.”
“That’s vague,” Callum muttered suspiciously.
“That and annoying,” Lucien agreed.
“That vampire has both those down to an art,” Abel noted, bending to grab his socks and yank them on.
“He does,” Lucien stated and waited until Abel had his socks and boots on and had straightened before he continued, “Is Lilah dreaming?”
Abel nodded. “Had one this morning. She suggested a few days ago I try to get in her head while she does it since she isn’t remembering. It was a good suggestion. Took a couple of tries, but I got in.”
It was then Abel had both their attention, but it was Callum who asked, “You got in her dream?”
“Yeah, couple of seconds of it,” Abel confirmed and shook his head. “Not thinkin’ she’s even got that dream shit happening to her like the rest of us.”
“So the dream had nothing to do with our situation?” Lucien asked.
“It did, but it doesn’t make sense, seein’ as in it, she’s on a street littered with dead human bodies, but she’s alone. She pointed out no way that could come true since she’d never be alone, and she’s right. Not only wouldn’t I let that happen, neither of you would either, not to mention Gregor, her father, and a dozen other people.”