The Hungry Wolf Ch. 06

"Yes," she hissed. She panted and shook above him as she came, her nails digging into Damien's chest.

Their harsh pants and wordless moans slowly eased as they both recovered their wits. Charlie lowered herself on top of him, laying her head on his chest as she caught her breath, the occasional aftershock making her entire body twitch. Now that they had quieted, they could hear the vibrator still thrumming against the floor where Damien had dropped it.

"You're amazing," he whispered, his hands slowly running up and down her back, caressing her. She shook her head against his chest. "Oh, yes you are."

"Will it always be this good?" she asked tentatively. Her left hand toyed with the hair on his chest, the fingers threading through it gently.

"Making love?"

"No. Well, yes, but not just making love."

"What do you mean, dolcezza?"

"I mean everything between us." She sat up, looking at him levelly. "Will it always be this right? This easy?"

"I believe so, my love." Damien caressed her cheek and smiled at her reassuringly. "I believe it gets better."

"Better than this." She looked at him skeptically.

"I promise I will always love you at least as much as I do now. That I will always be yours. And that I will always do all I can to make you happy."

"Is that all?" she teased, laying herself back down. "I don't know how I got so lucky."

He caressed her back slowly, his hands traveling between her shoulders to her ass as she lay atop him. "That is a good question, isn't it?" he said, her breath making goosebumps erupt on his skin when she laughed. "We should get up, my love." She shook her head against him and he laughed. "Come on. At the very least we should turn off your little toy before it vibrates it's way through the house and meets up with a gang of unsavory dildos and pocket pals. We'll be overrun."

"Very funny," she snorted, poking him in the ribs.

"Let's finish getting your stuff put away," he said, giving her a squeeze and kissing her head. She gave a heaving sigh and rolled off him, picking up his t-shirt and pulling it on. "That's my shirt."

"Yeah, well, my shirt seems to have been turned into a dustrag," she said, picking up her torn shirt and bra off the floor and turning to watch as he slid his jeans on. She held her ruined clothes up.

"Sorry."

"I'm not," she said with a shrug. "It was a good bra, though."

"So, any other surprises in these boxes?" he asked as he watched her dump her pajamas, bras and underwear into one of the drawers he'd cleared out.

"Nope. Sorry to disappoint."

"You don't. Not at all," he said, stepping behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "Not one thing about you disappoints, dolcezza." He nuzzled her neck for a moment, watching her nipples harden underneath his t-shirt.

"You better stop, cowboy, or we'll never get out of here," she husked, her mouth suddenly dry.

"You're right." He gave her a soft kiss in the hollow where her neck and shoulder met and let her go, noting smugly the wobble in her legs. "Which box next?"

"Umm...I think tops and bottoms. But those must still be downstairs."

"Be right back," he said, kissing her nose and heading out before she could protest. She walked over to his closet to check out how much space he gave her and stopped after she swung the door open, stunned at the sheer size of it. "Cleared a little space my ass," she mumbled, walking in. His closet was huge, more than large enough to be another bedroom. It had rods running the length on both sides, about 5 and half feet of the ground, and another rod about three feet off the ground running half the length of the wall. The back wall had row upon row of shelves, more than half empty. She eyed the completely empty half of the closet with a smile as she heard him drop the boxes.

"What was that?" he said, leaning in the doorway.

"Your closet is huge. HUGE. I think it's bigger than my last bedroom. Hell, maybe even bigger than my last apartment."

"Our closet." He walked over to her and tilted her head up, looking into her eyes. "It is ours, Charlie. Our home, our bed, our closet. Yours and mine."

"Alright," she said, smiling at him. "Then help me get settled in our room." He laughed, bending to kiss her forehead.

They quickly had the drawers filled and anything that could be hung up was. They stacked the rest of her stuff inside the closet to await the delivery of her dresser. She looked at the dozen or so items she had hanging up in comparison to the rows of clothes on his side and laughed.

"What's so funny?" he asked, moving to stand behind her.

"Huh? Oh...well normally the woman's clothes crowd the man's in a shared closet. It just struck me as funny that it's the opposite here."

"Hmm." He glanced around at the closet. Even with the few boxes she still had to unpack she really didn't have a lot of clothes. She didn't have a lot of anything. He put his arms around her, crossing them over her chest and pulling her back against him. "Why do you have so little?" he asked. He didn't know why, but he was certain it was a concerted effort on her part to own as little as possible.

"I guess...I guess after what had happened, it didn't seem important to have things. Things...things get taken away. Lost. Stolen. Sold." She shrugged. "Supporting myself -- and digging out of the debt Keith and I had accrued -- took most of my pay for a long time. I splurged on my bike. Then I saved up and bought my car. That...that's what was important to me."

"I can see that," he said, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Did you never splurge on yourself?"

"No. Well...once or twice maybe. Whenever Becky..." she trailed off and was silent for a moment. "Ah shit! Becky was supposed to call me last night and she didn't. I hope she's okay. I need to call her." She started to pull herself out of his arms but he held her tight.

"I asked Darian to make sure we weren't disturbed, Charlie. She probably called and left a message."

"You did?" she asked, turning and looking up at him.

"What can I say? I'm greedy." He bent and kissed her softly. "Go ahead and call her back."

"Okay." She stepped around him and walked toward the phone, stopping just outside the closet and turning to face him. "Wait. You knew she called?"

"Not until just now, no." He smiled as he sauntered over to her and put his lips to her ear. "Telepathic party line, remember?" he whispered, his lips brushing against her ear slightly, watching the goosebumps erupt on her skin.

"Right, I forgot," she sighed, leaning towards him for a moment before shaking her head as if to clear it. She stepped back, putting space between them. "What day is the ceremony going to be?" she asked.

"The next new moon," Damien said.

"Right. But what is the date so I can tell Becky?"

"You can't tell Becky," he said, looking at her as if she'd grown a second head.

"What?"

"You can't tell her. You can't tell anyone."

"But...but..." she trailed off, quiet for a minute, looking at the floor between them, her brow furrowed. "I want her there, Damien. She's the only family I have," she said at last, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"This is your family now, the whole pack is your family" he said, closing the gap between them and putting his arms around her.

"And Becky," Charlie said, pushing his arms away, her eyes narrowing.

"She can't know, Charlie."

"Why?"

"Because it protects us. Outsiders -- humans -- can never find out about us."

"But...I'm a human. I'm an outsider."

"Not for long, though." He smiled at her sweetly, almost shyly, and Charlie's resolve nearly wavered.

"So what would have happened if I didn't agree? If I chose not to stay? If I chose to never be with you?"

"I don't...I'm not sure," he said with a weary sigh. "But that's something we don't need to discuss now, right?"

"When then?" He shook his head at her but said nothing. "Okay. Fine. But explain to me how letting Becky know, having her here for our ceremony, endangers you."

"What do you think would happen if word got out about us, Charlie? What do you think they would do to us?"

"First of all -- that's bullshit. I'd accept that reasoning, Damien, if it were a hundred years ago. But now? Nu-uh. Nope. No way. If someone were to go spouting off about you they'd be ostracized, laughed at, institutionalized. The days of the angry mob with pitchforks and torches is long gone. Long gone." He started to speak but she cut him off, putting her hands on her hips and stomping her foot at him, her eyes bright and her cheeks red with anger. "And secondly -- Becky is my family. She loves me and I love her. There is nothing -- I repeat, nothing -- we wouldn't do for each other. If there was any threat whatsoever from people finding out about us, she would be the last person to talk about it. Ever. To anyone. You are far more likely to hurt me than she is." She took a deep breath to calm for a moment before finishing. "Your argument, your reasoning, does not stand up, cowboy. She would die before she did anything that could remotely endanger me. I can't cut her out, I can't keep this from her. I won't."

"You don't have a choice, Charlie."

"What do you mean I don't have a choice?"

"Just what I said." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her coldly. Charlie could see he was angry, but had no fear.

"Listen up, Damien, because I am only saying this once. When we have our ceremony Becky will be here. I don't care if that's tomorrow or ten years from now. If Becky is not present, it ain't fucking happening."

Damien dropped his hands onto her shoulders and gripped her tightly, growling low in his throat. Charlie didn't flinch, she didn't twitch, she didn't even blink. She just stared up at him, levelly meeting his gaze, until he stormed out in frustration. She heard him stomp downstairs and jumped a bit when the door slammed.

"Well...I certainly could have handled that better," she mumbled to herself, heading for the shower. She washed up quickly, drying off and slipping Damien's t-shirt back on before laying on the bed. Charlie curled around his pillow to wait for him to return, dozing lightly.

Darian had watched his twin storm out of the house and followed him as he stomped to the barn. He smiled as he watched him pace up and down the center aisle for a minute before deciding which horse to saddle. He brought out Goneril, a beautiful russet colored mare, and started to ready her to ride. Damien looked up in acknowledgement, but didn't speak to Darian as he brought out Othello and began to ready him. It was an activity they used to share when they were in their teens and twenties; riding out together when one of them was upset.

'I am riding with Damien, my heart,' Darian sent to Eva. 'He's upset about something.'

'Charlie?'

'Oh, I'm sure it is.' Eva could sense the humor from her mate. 'I'll be back in a bit.'

'Be careful.'

Damien had Goneril ready before Darian and Othello were, and he hopped up and trotted her out of the barn. It didn't take Darian long to finish, but he was cursing himself for being so slow by the time he was done. He finally mounted his horse and head out to see if he could catch up to his brother when he pulled up short, almost making Othello rear, surprised to see Damien waiting for him.

"It's been a long time since we've ridden together," Darian said, coming along side Damien.

"It's been a long time since you've ridden at all," he said, nodding at his brother.

"I know," Darian sighed. "I get so busy with the pack and everything, sometimes I forget we even have horses. Until I get the bill for their feed." Damien laughed at that, surprising Darian.

But he'd surprised himself, too. It felt good to be with his brother again, like they used to when they were younger. In spite of the blow-up with Charlie, Damien couldn't suppress his rediscovered optimism. And Darian's surprise grew to outright shock when Damien turned to him with a mischievous smile and said, "Last one to the pond is a coyote!"

He took off with a hearty laugh, leaving Darian to catch up. They rode fast, mostly neck and neck, laughing and shouting crude insults at each other like they did when they were kids. Neither pulled ahead of the other. Neither of them wanted to. Damien relaxed, letting go of the tension from the argument he'd had with Charlie, as they came to the pond and slowed down.

"What's going on?" Darian asked as they led their horses around the pond.

"It's...it's just something with Charlie, the ceremony," Damien said, shaking his head.

"What is it?"

"She's being stubborn," Damien said, leaning forward in the saddle and resting his hands on the pommel. Darian watched the scowl cross his face and decided he should just remain quiet and let Damien tell him at his own pace. "Did you have problems with Eva?" he asked at last.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, we fought a bit in the weeks leading up to our ceremony. But that was mostly nerves." He was quiet for a moment, a small smile on his face as he reminisced. "Is that what's going on with you two?"

"Not exactly," Damien sighed. He knew, even before he left their apartment, that he would cave. He would do everything in his power to try and make sure her friend was at the ceremony; and now he wasn't even sure why he fought her at all. "I don't know, Darian. Maybe."

"Well, what did you guys argue about?"

"There's this woman -- Becky -- who's her friend. Her best friend. Charlie says she's the only family she has." He sighed and hopped down from Goneril, leading her to the pond's edge while Darian did the same with Othello. "Well, the only person Charlie considers family, anyway. She has distant cousins or something but they have nothing to do with each other. Anyway, I tried to explain that the pack is her family now, we're all her family, but she still wants Becky there."

"She wants Becky where?" Darian asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"At the ceremony," Damien sighed. "I explained to her that she couldn't. I explained to her why she couldn't. But she is still insisting that Becky is there. She says Becky can be trusted because she's..." Damien trailed off, glancing at his brother to see him trying no to laugh. "What?" he asked, exasperated. "What's so funny?"

"You are!" Darian said, unable to hold back his laughter.

"How am I funny?"

"You're such an ass, man. Do you really think we wouldn't allow her to have her family present -- whatever that means -- if she wanted them to be?"

"But the laws say-"

"The laws said, doofus. They changed a while ago." He was still smiling teasingly at Damien.

"They did?"

"Yeah. Just before Eric claimed Lisa."

"Why didn't I -- oh. Oh." Damien crossed his arms and stilled, his face a scowl as he realized he was so deep in his funk when they'd changed the laws, he didn't remember it happening. Hell, he barely remembered Eric and Lisa's ceremony. "Well...fucksticks. I'm an idiot."

"Yeah. I'll agree with that," Darian said, trying again to not laugh.

Damien looked at his brother, trying to give him his most severe 'don't-you-dare-laugh-at-me' look, but couldn't quite pull it off. A chuckle escaped him, and he clamped his mouth shut tight against it. The look on his face set Darian to giggling, which got Damien laughing out loud. Soon both brothers were bent over, laughing and snorting, holding on to each other's shoulders to keep from falling over.

"I should get back to her," Damien said when their laughing finally tapered off.

"Yeah, you should," his brother agreed, slapping him on the back. "Idiot."

"Alright, alright," Damien chuckled as they both mounted their horses. They turned towards the main house and started back, joking and laughing with each other on the way. They reached the barn and dismounted before heading inside where Quinn met them and took the horses from them.

"So the ceremony is still on then, brother," Darian teased as they head into the house.

"It is indeed." Damien smiled and shook his head as Eva approached them.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, looking back and forth at the brothers. She smiled tentatively, unsure of the joke that had them both so merry.

"Yes, love. Everything is more than fine," Darian said as he put his arm around her shoulder, drawing her to him. She smiled, leaning in to him and laying her head on his shoulder. Her eyes fell to Damien, who grinned at them.

"I'm going on up. We'll see you two tomorrow?" Damien said, heading upstairs.

"Why don't you two begin eating in the dining room," Darian said. "I think Charlie should start interacting more."

Damien stopped on the stairs and turned to look at his brother. Darian was right, and Damien knew he was right, but it didn't stop the surge of possessiveness and jealousy from momentarily twisting at his gut. "Then we will see you at breakfast," he said, with a smile that was more grimace before changing to a scowl when Darian laughed at him.

"Hush," Eva said to Darian, giving him a soft slap on the shoulder. "It will be fine, Damien. Everyone respects your claim." She smiled at him as she led her mate away.

Damien made his way to his home -- our home, he reminded himself with a smile -- closing the door behind him softly and listening. He didn't hear her downstairs, so he quietly made his way upstairs, her strengthening scent leading him to their bedroom. He paused at the door, smiling at the way she was curled around his pillow, and decided to take a quick shower before waking her up. He wanted a little extra time to work on his apology.

The sound of the shower roused Charlie. She sat up, rubbing her eyes a bit, deciding whether or not to join him. She needed to apologize to him, she needed to say she was sorry for being so snotty to him before.

Charlie slid off the bed and made her way to the bathroom, opening the door slowly and poking her head in. She could make out his form, standing under the water, propped up by an arm against the wall. He'd heard her as she came in, pulling his t-shirt off over her head and dropping it on the floor before joining him in the shower.

"I'm sorry, cowboy," she said softly, slipping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his back. "I shouldn't have been such a snot to you."

"I'm sorry, dolcezza," he said, laying his hands on her arms. "You have every right to have Becky there for our ceremony. I...I didn't know the laws had been changed." He sighed, turning in her arms and pulling her close. "But...I want you to know... even if they hadn't changed the laws, I would have supported your decision." She leaned back and looked at him, giving him a smile.

"Thank you," she said, going up on to her toes and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

"I love you," he said, squeezing her gently to him. She laid her head on his chest and sighed, nuzzling her cheek against the thick hair for a moment.

"And I love you." She gave his chest a noisy kiss before stepping out of his arms with a saucy smile and heading out of the shower.

"Where are you going?" Damien asked, watching as water beads traveled from her lower back to her ass, willing his cock to not get hard.

"To call Becky," she said, giving him a sweet smile over her shoulder as she wrapped herself in a towel. "What is the date going to be again?"

"The eleventh," he said, leaning his head out of the shower.

"That's...only a couple weeks from now?"

"Nine days, actually."

"Nine days," she repeated, her eyes wide and a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"And...?" he prompted, smiling.

"Just...wow...so soon." She looked at him and blinked a bit, her cheeks pinking even more.

"Not soon enough, dolcezza," he said, giving her a wickedly seductive smile before moving back under the spray. "Not soon enough." He washed up quickly and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and drying himself vigorously as he head to the bedroom. He paused in the doorway, slinging the towel around his neck and watching Charlie as she talked on the phone to her friend, trying to convince her to come out for the mating without telling her why she wanted her there. He laughed to himself as he climbed on the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him.