***
Vivienne awoke to a wicked soreness between her thighs. Reaching down immediately, she cupped herself as she reached for Conall. That hand came away empty and she opened her eyes. It was still dark, but her developed sight allowed for seeing in these extraordinary conditions.
Conall stood by the window, fully nude and staring out. It was easy to access his mind, and she slipped in like a shadow, wanting to know what troubled him. He was replaying what had happened in the bathroom. Vivid images of her under him, at his mercy. And then came the images of him picking her up, drying her body, and placing her under the covers. Not before he’d branded the cuts and bruises that were already slowly fading from her near flawless skin to mind.
“Conall?” she whispered softly, pushing onto her elbows and staring up at him. As he turned to face her, she read the regret in his eyes and shook her head. Removing herself from the bed, she approached him and wrapped her arms as far as they could go around his torso. He was a large man.
“Go back to sleep, alainn.”
She shook her head once more, kissing his muscular back. “I trust you with my life, Conall. I know you would never hurt me.”
He turned quickly, catching her against him, before setting her back, and touching her hip, her upper thigh.
“You have marks, Vivienne, scratches, and bruises—”
“I wanted all of you, Conall,” she replied, lifting her eyes to his. A smile hovered on her lips. “And you gave that to me. Thank you.”
He blinked down at her before turning back to look from the window. “I hurt you, Vivienne—”
“You gave me pleasure, and I liked every second of it,” she countered, squeezing her way between him and the window. She briefly hoped there was no one walking before their house at this moment who’d look up and see her naked ass.
His eyes narrowed on hers, and then she felt him probing her mind. She purposely showed him images of their erotic joining, the way he’d felt to her. He pulled away when the images starting affecting him.
When she leaned into him, he didn’t move away. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her.
“What are you, alainn?”
“My mother told me I’m druid, but that I have the genes of a witch, a werewolf, and a human inside of me. Cassie is the same way. We can access all of them but we are strongest as druids.”
“I never smelled the wolf in you until your fight with Samia.”
She lifted a brow and replied, “You didn’t smell my druid either.”
He only smiled before conceding the point. “So you’re a wolf? It wasn’t a spell? You’re a wolf?”
“A druid who can shift into a wolf,” she clarified, kissing his chest right above his steadily beating heart. “So stop treating me like I’m a delicate flower, easily crushed.”
She nuzzled him, and sighed. God, it was hot. She’d recognized it before but had been intent on getting Conall to understand he hadn’t hurt her. She turned away from him, and unlatched the window.
“Vivienne?”
In a rapid succession, she pushed it up, sighing when the bitter cold night air rushed over her body. Conall caught her in his arms once more, and held her like that for a few minutes before closing the window, despite her protests, and dragging her back to the bed.
She protested as he placed her on the covers and leaned into her. He kissed her clavicle, the tips of both breasts, and then her lips. Vivienne was already sighing as the tingling between her legs started blossoming into something more intense, when he murmured, “Alainn?”
“Yes?” she replied with a smile, opening her eyes a fraction to glimpse his. There was an amused expression on his face. She leaned up and kissed him, sliding her hands around his neck, and pulling him down to her. As his hot skin touched hers, she moaned, pushing her legs apart and gasping as his hardness slid over her sensitive flesh.
“You’re either going into heat, or you’re already there.”
Chapter Twenty
She was. In heat. By seven o’clock the following morning, Vivienne was burning up, and in a constant state of arousal. Conall cut off the heat in the house, and bared his teeth at any of the bachelors who dared to complain. Sloan wisely kept his mouth shut, piling on the down and wool jackets when there was need for his human form, and shifting to his wolf when there wasn’t. Raoul did not, and had to make do with Conall’s growling, glaring, and snapping. He seemed to find humor in the situation and bore it. Eli, wisest of them all, left for a few days, taking up lodging at the house of a friend.
Although Vivienne had begged him to, Conall refused to open the windows. He even considered having them bolted shut, but that would mean allowing males to enter their bedroom. He growled at the thought. Even if she were removed, they would smell her, know this was her time of need. No.