Dawn's Innocence

Kacie climbed the flight of stairs, step by agonizing step with the help of Tristen's coaxing words of encouragement. She hurt so bad and the bed would feel so good, if she could make it to her room. There was not one part of her anatomy that hadn't been used and abused from her workout. Sighing in relief, she gripped the handrail and pulled herself up the last two steps onto the landing. The two-dozen or so stairs might as well have been Everest. She let Tristen drag her down the hallway. Confused when he stopped at the closed door next to his room and dropped her off at her door.

Tristen read Kacie's confused expression. Noting the hint of disappointment that drifted across her face when he stopped short and escorted her to her own room instead of next door to his. Good. He was strategizing and it might be starting to pay off. He'd been too open to her and too available to her whims. Let her stew for a bit. He wanted her in his bed. He liked her in his bed. But, she needed her rest. If she spent the night in his bed, as she had the last couple of nights. Rest would be the last thing either one of them would get. Sexually frustrated, oh yeah, horny as hell, definitely, but get some sleep? Not a chance. "Goodnight," he said as he tipped his head down and gave her a gentle peck on the cheek.

Kacie stretched up on her toes, hoping to steal more than a peck from his lips. She was denied as he stood to his full height and lifted his chin out of reach. Was he playing hard to get? Was he bored with her all ready? Disgruntled and dismayed, she lowered her weight onto her heels. Arching a disgruntled brow, she let him know her opinion of their goodnight kiss. "Goodnight, Tristen." She scowled at his cocky, knowing smile and closed the door in his face.

Chapter 36

Daniel stretched out on his bed. Pretending to be interested in the video game instead of the goings on in the hallway. Sometimes, he didn't understand his older brother at all. Tristen and Kacie had been hot and heavy after one another for months. And now, Tristen was sending her to bed alone. Daniel sure as hell wouldn't do that. When he got a girlfriend, it was going to be an all or nothing relationship. Not a cold-hot, on again-off again thing like Tristen and Kacie seemed to have happening.

Tristen appeared in the doorway, not bothering to knock as he barged in and flopped onto the bed. Daniel shimmied over on the mattress, making room for the big doof. When Tristen had gotten a room upgrade into one of the bedroom bathroom combo suites reserved for unmated males, Daniel had kept their old room. So far, he hadn't been assigned another roommate to take Tristen's place and the bunk style bed across from his was still empty. Apparently, nobody wanted to room with him. There wasn't a vacant sofa in the place. Every possible sleeping area was taken, except for the bed. Must be his charming personality that kept the space unfilled. "What gives? Why aren't you spending time with Kacie?"

"We need some space," Tristen answered. The mattress was lumpy and uncomfortable beneath his back. Today, he'd gotten one hell of a workout from John Mark and Chance and any place he landed was good. The neatly made bed across the room had been his at one time. Not that long ago, actually. Sometimes, he missed the closeness he used to have with his brother when they'd shared a room together. Sometimes, he was grateful he had his privacy. Especially, given what he did in the spacious shower he'd acquired in the room upgrade. Daniel was still bunking it and using the community bath down the hall.

Nobody had been assigned his old bed. Nobody had stepped up and volunteered to be Daniel's bunkmate either. Daniel wasn't really that bad. Yeah, he was, but. His kid brother was obnoxious, argumentative, egocentric, pushy, and totally well, pretty much an asshole most of the time. But, Daniel was his brother and he loved him anyway.

Daniel wore his hair short and spiked straight up into sharp points with hair gel he swiped from their little sister. Daniel was emo enough without the black t-shirts, ripped up jeans, and hair to prove it. He reeked of axe body spray, nasty stuff. He had brown eyes, dark hair, high cheekbones, and deep russet toned skin, just like the rest of the family. But, he was so different from everybody else. Tristen didn't know if Daniel worked at it or if he truly didn't fit in because he didn't want to. He cherished his individuality and singularity above all else. And that type of thinking had no place in a pack. Tristen worried about his little brother, of what would become of him when his wolf finally came out to play.

"She got smart and dumped you huh?" Daniel teased in a semi-sympathetic mocking tone. He loved his big brother, sometimes had no idea why though. Tristen was so fucking perfect it made Daniel's teeth ache to think about it. Even with the scraggly buzz cut he was desperately trying to grow out, Tristen still managed to have the good looks of a GQ cover model. He was broad, muscled, tall, a touch arrogant and totally, unquestionably obedient.

Mr. Perfect stretched out next to him and hogged up the twin bed. Tristen always did and said the right things. Daniel wondered if he actually belonged in this family or if he'd been switched at birth as a cruel trick of fate. Maybe, his real parents were out there somewhere raising the absolutely perfect child the real Daniel was. Maybe, his real name was George or some other stupid shit name like that. Maybe, they knew he'd been born...different and hadn't wanted the embarrassment of having to claim them. God knew his father hadn't been around enough after Mouse was born and their mother died to know the difference.

Nah, he was definitely his father's son, Tristen's pain in the ass little brother, and Mouse's hot shot older brother. He hadn't been born different, his siblings had. He was A-ok, right on track, numero uno, one hundred percent, average, ordinary guy next door. Tristen and Mouse were the overachievers, the go-getters, the shakers and movers of this world, and he was just like everybody else. There was nothing that made him stand out from the crowd. The problem was. Well, maybe Tristen had pounded his skull in a little too hard one too many times, because Daniel wasn't content to be stuck in the middle, average, everyday ordinary.

"Nah. I got her right where I want her," Tristen boasted cockily. He watched the players on the screen splatter one another to a pulp at Daniels command. His kid brother was wicked with a game controller. Dangerously fast reflexes, jaw-dropping strategies, moves the likes of which Tristen had never seen on a flat screen TV. Too bad Daniel couldn't apply himself to real life the way he did to the players on the screen. Daniel never worked too hard at anything. He coasted. And in their world coasters were outcasts. You either fit in or you didn't. There was no in between.

"I think that's the other way around. Big brother, you are as pussy whipped as they come." Daniel cursed under his breath as his player took a sword to the gut and killed over dead.

Tristen snatched the spare controller off the floor and reset the game for two players. They did their best talking while splattering zombie guts. "I am not pussy whipped. I'm workin' here." His fingers flew over the controls as he avoided a nasty looking demon on the screen. "Wait and see. Watch the master and learn, little boy."

Daniel groaned when his player was splattered into a bloody pulp on the screen, yet again. He was never going to get to the next level at this rate. He eyed his brother as Tristen jolted and jerked, thumbing the controls to dodge a zombie. "Watch what?"

"Kacie is going to marry me, someday. Wait and see," Tristen said. Blood and guts dotted the screen as a particularly foul demon ate his avatar. He hadn't ever made it past this level of the game. Sure, there were online cheat codes. He could have beaten this round with a little help, but what was the fun in cheating? Grunting, he dropped the controller onto the floor and stretched out on the bed.

Twisting to a sit on the bed, Daniel looked his brother in the eyes. "Can I have your porno collection, if you actually sucker her into marrying you?" Everybody knew the kind of stuff Tristen had kept stuffed between the mattress and box springs of his bed. They all pretended they didn't know what he did during those hours long showers he took sometimes twice a day. Tristen sure as hell wasn't washing his hair. When he'd moved into the bigger room, he'd been kind enough to leave his cache of Playboys and Hustlers behind.

"You can have it now if you want." Tristen snickered, reaching under the mattress of his old bed. "This was one of my favorite issues," he said on a heavy sigh. It was a bittersweet thing to surrender his girls to his little brother. Flipping through the magazine, he paused to have a look at the centerfold page for a final goodbye to Miss January. He scanned the glossy photo and rolled the magazine into a tube. She paled in comparison to the real thing, to Kacie. Playfully, he swatted his brother on the shoulder with last year's January issue.

"Damn, you must be serious," Daniel said with a hint of awe in his voice. Carefully prying his beloved Miss January out of Tristen's fingers, he protectively tucked her away beneath his mattress. A whole calendar year of Playboys and Hustlers and a few...Daniel wasn't quite sure what to make of. Real raunchy stuff that made Hustler look like Better Homes and Gardens. Tristen's private stash was now his. It was sort of like receiving the Holy Grail of smut. Sure, he'd already read them, for the articles, RIGHT. Not.

"Damn straight I am."

"Have you two done it yet?" Daniel asked curiously. Tristen was getting a taste of the 'real thing' the kind of shit a guy just had to experience and not with his palm and he wanted all the details. He was sixteen almost seventeen. He had a right to know what sex was really like.

"No. You know the rules. That's what sucks." Tristen groaned, flinging himself back onto the pillows. "I want to. I really do. But, I can't."

"That sucks," Daniel agreed. Tristen and his damnable rule following self, of course he wouldn't risk it. His brother was a real fucking Dudley Do Right type. Out of sympathy, Daniel wanted to return Miss January to her rightful owner. Instead, because he kind of liked Miss January too, he yanked the controller off the floor by the wires and handed it to Tristen. Poor son of a bitch had it bad for Kacie. He felt bad for teasing his brother. Hard to be pussy whipped if you hadn't actually petted the pussy.

He had to give his brother some credit where it was deserved. Daniel would have gone for it. He would have bagged the babe and to hell with the consequences. But, then again, he didn't have his brother's lofty sense of morality or glittering perfection. If Tristen liked Kacie so much that he wouldn't do it with her. He had it bad. Real bad. No wonder the f'idiot took two or three showers a day. Kacie was the kind of a girl who left a guy tied up in knots.

"No shit." Tristen sighed and sat up, taking the controller from his brother's hand. Maybe beating something up would take the tenseness out of his muscles and untangle the knots in his stomach. He and his brother's avatars battled side by side, kicking ass and taking names. About an hour and a half later, after finally advancing to the next level with his brother and bidding his magazine collection a wistful goodbye, Tristen took a quick shower and called it a night. The bed was cold and empty, lonely without Kacie beside him to warm it up. But, he tried to look at the bright side, he had taken a hot shower instead of a cold one and for once, his body was completely relaxed instead of a hard, throbbing bundle of nerves and lust. Maybe, this hiatus from temptation was a good thing after all. He might actually get a decent night's sleep.

Chapter 37

Kacie stretched out her hand to feel the side of the bed that would have been Tristen's. Tristen had shunned her. Leaving her alone in the dark to shiver beneath the covers in the big, cold, lonely bed. She really should try to get some sleep. Take advantage of the fact that he wasn't sprawled out next to her, hogging the covers and drooling on her pillow. Peace and quiet, she thought. His snoring and constant twisting and turning was annoying, but somehow, she missed it.

Groaning she sat up and glanced at the clock. Two in the morning and she hadn't so much had gotten a wink of sleep. Around her, others were tucked comfortably into their beds dreaming the night away and the ones who weren't were out on patrol. Here she was pouting like a fool. She threw back the covers and paced the floor. That wasn't much better. Tristen hadn't said she couldn't sneak into his room later on. He hadn't said that she had to stay put in here alone. Determined to secure her place in his bed she slid into something more attractive than the cotton sleep pants and long sleeved T-shirt he was used to cuddling next to.

It was time to pull out all the stops. She pawed through her dresser drawer hoping to find something seductive but not slutty. Some of her things had found their way here from Texas. She thought she remembered unpacking the silk shift that she'd fallen in love with and spent way too much for last summer and tucking it safely into a drawer. Smiling, her fingers locked around the delicate fabric and pulled it out of the drawer. Shivering, she shed the layers of warmth and slid into the cool red silk. Her fingers smoothed the shimmery length down her curves. The hemline stopped just above her knees. She felt sexy as hell in the nightgown. Gently tracing the embroidery and beadwork that wove from one dainty spaghetti strap, down over her breasts, and across to the other strap. The slinky chemise was breezy for such a cold night, but very beautiful and hopefully hard to resist.

She tiptoed across the hall to Tristen's closed door. Hesitating for a moment as she placed her hand on the brass knob, she wavered. What if he'd locked her out? What if he didn't want her in his bed and turned her away? She'd be cold, humiliated, and completely mortified. A nightgown like this only served one purpose and that was to be peeled off her body in a fit of desire.

Her fingers trembled as she turned the knob. The door eased open. The hinges whispered with the movement breaking the quiet hush of the house. She bit her lip as she stepped across the threshold and slipped it closed as quietly as she could behind her.

Tristen watched Kacie cross the floor from beneath his heavily fringed lashes. He couldn't fake being asleep. Not when she was wearing that nightgown. He might, MIGHT, be able to pretend sleep if she'd shown up in her usual sleep pants and t-shirt, but not in the curve hugging, filmy gown of red silk that whispered against her thighs and breasts with every foot fall she took. God, she was beautiful. He sucked in a breath and slid over, holding open the covers, welcoming her openly to slide beneath them with him.

Kacie eased beneath the covers and wrapped her arms around Tristen's waist. He was so warm and so cozy next to her. His skin was smooth, covering a hard layer of muscle as she lay against him. She sighed in bliss. This was so much better than that bigger, fancier bed alone. His fingers trailed along the curve of her shoulder and his arm draped around her waist, snuggling her closer.

"And I thought I was going to get some sleep tonight," Tristen husked. The silk was cool and smooth in contrast to the warmth of her body and where it met his skin, the fabric was so soft against him. He played with the thin spaghetti strap tempted to slide it down and seek out the treasures beneath. In the darkness, he grinned a victory grin. She was his, even if she didn't want to admit it quite yet. Gently, he kissed a trail down the curve of her neck, easing the strap over her shoulder as he followed its descent with his lips.

"Sleep is overrated." Kacie relaxed in his arms. Went limp as he slid her onto her back and captured her in his big, muscular arms. Her fingers trailed through his bristly hair as he kissed a trail over her skin. Inching the neckline and the strap that held the gown in place lower until he revealed a pert nipple and took the ripe peak into his mouth.

Tristen's heart pounded as he gently laved her berry colored nipple with his tongue. Flirting with danger, his common sense cautioned against such temptation. At this moment, he liked what his body whispered more than what his head nagged. He was tired of fighting against what he felt for Kacie. Every shudder and soft gasp from her parted lips, built his confidence. She felt the draw of attraction too. He could tow the line between danger and curiosity and dance close to the edge. As long as he didn't fall off, they were both safe.

Tristen was all about bold moves and staking claims tonight, horny as hell and hard enough to launch a rocket off the end of his cock. He ventured farther than he'd ever dared before. Doing things he'd only read about and going for it with bravery and enthusiasm. He bunched up the silky fabric in his hands and eased it up over the curve of her hip. She was bare there. No underwear, not even a thong impeded his progress. Brushing against the soft down of the promised land between her thighs with his fingertips. Underwear, it seemed, was just as overrated as sleep. He wedged her legs apart gently with his knee and teased the soft curls with his fingers. "Kacie, tell me what you want."

"You, Tristen. I want you." Kacie's head reeled in a flood of sensation and desire. Tristen's fingers teased at the outermost rim of her sex, hovering so close. Promising to answer her each and every desire with obliging thoroughness and care. Her hand snaked down his powerful triceps to his elbow, coaxing his hand lower, closer, to where she needed him. Gasping breaths escaped her lips as he obeyed, carefully parting her folds with tenderness as he explored her depths with soft, gentle, strokes.

Tristen didn't hesitate for a second. He plunged full speed ahead. His mind was a research database on overdrive. Sifting through files of data he'd read over the years. Touch her here. Stroke her there. Don't do this. Do that. Now. Zero hour was here and he couldn't even think let alone recall what he was supposed to do. Where he was supposed to do it, how, and when. Her fingers clutched at his forearm as he slid his fingertips in between the sleek, warm, wet folds of her sex. She bucked her hips in response, opening her thighs wider, flooding the room with the scent of her desire.

Tristen probed and explored with unbridled enthusiasm. He was hesitant at first. Taking his time to seek out the places that pleased her the most. Thankfully, he was a quick study, rarely repeating a mistake. His fingers glided against her softness gently, but not too gently. With each stroke he gained confidence. Kacie's body was alight by his touch, burning for more. How far would he take it? How far would she allow him?

Kacie's back arched off the bed as he found a particularly sensitive spot that she hadn't known about herself. Taking the hint, he stroked and fondled the spot. His mouth alternated between her lips and her distended nipples as he attacked that special place deep within her with his fingers. Tickling and teasing, coaxing the sensitive nub with long strokes until she thought she was going to implode into a ball of pure sensation and pleasure. As for her previous question, how far would she let him take it? Was there really any question? He could take it as far as he wanted, and then some all the way and as far beyond as the two of them could go.

Tristen gauged Kacie's physical response to his touch. His mind was all instinct. He'd gone completely caveman. Her hips bucked and she rocked against his hand. He felt her heart pound against his cheek as he continued his exploration. All the articles and books had it wrong, so wrong. There was no magic formula or owner's manual to operating a woman's body. Her response to his touch was the best advice he'd ever gotten. Whatever mystical place he'd brushed across with his fingers, she liked, a lot. And he was going to keep it up. Touching her there, right there, and only there until she cued him to move on and explore other areas.