Marisa Chenery - Wolves of East Anglia

The muffled sound of ringing brought Lexi awake early the next morning. Before she could nudge Raed, he jumped out of bed, scooped his jeans off the floor, reached inside the front pocket and pulled out his cell phone. As he answered it, she let her gaze run over his naked body. She had licked and kissed every inch of him during the night.

As she watched, his cock started to lengthen and harden.

Lexi brought her gaze up to find Raed's eyes filled with heat as he spoke. "I'll be there shortly. Tell the others not to touch anything." Raed snapped his phone shut then reached for his jeans again. "I have to go. Something came up at home."

She gave his erection a meaningful look as he shoved his cock inside his jeans.

"Are you sure you can't stay a little bit longer? It's still early. And you did promise to answer all my questions in the morning, which is now."

Raed pulled his shirt over his head and sat on the bed next to her. "I can't. You'll still get your answers, Lexi. They'll just have to wait a bit longer."

"You promise?"

"I promise." He leaned over and kissed her until her toes curled. Raed stood and looked down at her. "Call a locksmith to come and replace the lock on the flat's door.

You can tell your landlady I'll pay the bill."

"There you go again, ordering me about."

"Please? Is that better?"

Lexi chuckled. "I guess. I can see I'll have to work on your bossiness."

"I promise to work on it. I'll come back as soon as I sort things out at home."

"I'll be here waiting, but I hope it isn’t anything too serious."

"No, nothing that bad."

Raed gave her another quick kiss then he was gone. She heard the flat's door shut behind him. It was still early enough to roll over and go back to sleep if she wanted. She settled deeper into the covers, but sleep eluded her. Now she was awake, thoughts of Raed and the night they'd spent together wouldn't leave her head. Each time they had made love, Raed's cock had swelled to the point where he had become locked inside her. She may not have had too many lovers, but she knew the swelling was anything but normal. Then there were the animal-like growls he made. She had no idea what to make of them. But his touch left her coming back for more. Lexi stretched. Since she couldn't sleep, she decided to get up and take a shower. After she finished she would call the locksmith.

Thirty minutes later, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. As she lifted her right arm to dry it, something on her back, high up near her shoulder, caught her eye in the bathroom mirror. She wiped the steam off then bent her shoulder toward her reflection to get a better look. An area about the size of her hand appeared to be bruised. She reached over her shoulder to touch the blackish marks, but they didn't hurt like she expected, even though the mark couldn't be anything else but a bruise. And she had a feeling she knew how she got it, too—when Raed had taken her against the door.

She'd always bruised easily. Not that she would be complaining any time soon about how she had gotten that particular mark.

As she dried the rest of her body and went back to her bedroom to get dressed, Lexi remembered how desperate Raed had been to have her. She smiled. The mark on her shoulder had been worth it.

"Who found him?" Raed asked.

He looked at the mangled body lying on the ground among a thick stand of trees at the rear of their property. Even though the man was in human form, his scent gave him away as a werewolf. Not only that, the scent told Raed this had been the werewolf who had been here the day before . . . the one who'd gone sniffing around Lexi's flat, as well. He couldn't say he felt sorry to see the bastard's dead carcass.

"I did," Brand said.

"And you didn't see anyone else?"

"Nope. Just him. He'd already been dead for a while."

Whoever dumped the body—presumably another werewolf—had taken measures not to leave traces. A slight acidic smell combined with the dead werewolf's scent irritated Raed's sensitive nose.

His brows drew together as he stared down at the body. "Why dump him here if he wasn't killed here? Seems like extra work to me."

"Maybe he's supposed to be some kind of message," Algar suggested.

"Maybe." He shoved the body with the toe of his shoe. "I found this bastard's scent outside Lexi's flat. Whoever did this saved me from having to hunt him down."

Dolf chuckled. "So that's why you didn't come home last night? Did you and Lexi make up?"

Garrick, who stood beside Dolf, elbowed him. "Of course they made up, and probably had sex for most of the night as well. Ow!" Garrick shouted when Raed smacked him in the back of the head. "Touchy, aren't we?" He ducked the second smack.

Raed gave Garrick a warning stare. "If we can keep on subject? Somehow this one found Lexi's flat. They're getting smarter, or just better organized. I don't like the thought of Lexi being alone. I'm going to bring her back here. This is where she belongs anyway."

Wolfric held up his hands. "Whoa. Hold up. What exactly do you mean by Lexi belongs here?"

Raed sighed. "I mean I'm not giving her up."

"You just can't keep the little American," Dolf said. "For one thing, you would have to tell her exactly what we are."

"That's what I intend to do."

Wolfric shook his head. "No. Are you crazy? You've known Lexi for how long?

You wouldn't even tell your wife. You went so far as to make it look as if you were aging before you faked your own death so you wouldn't have to tell her. Remember Sutton Hoo?"

"Lexi is nothing like my dead wife. She's stronger. She'll be able to handle what I am. And it doesn't matter how long I've known her, I want her at my side."

Brand snorted. "Won't work."

Raed turned to him. "Why?"

"She's mortal."

Raed hadn't had time to think that one through yet. Lexi's mortality was a bit of a problem, but it still didn't hold him back from wanting her as his own. Last night had shown him just how well they fitted together, at least in bed. His hunger for her seemed endless. She had somehow become as vital to him as the air he breathed, never straying far from his thoughts.

"Do you love her?" Algar asked.

Did he? He didn't know. He had loved his wife, but he had never been as attached to her as he was to Lexi. His wife had been the mother of his children, ran his household and had been good company. But she had never engendered this all-consuming need that pounded in his body whenever he was around Lexi.

"Honestly, I don't know," Raed answered. "All I know is I want her." He looked each of his men in the face before he continued. "Enough about my personal life. One of you call Tiw's fire to get rid of the body. Since they now know where we live, we're going to have to be extra vigilant. Starting tonight, while the others are out hunting, one of us will stay at the manor and patrol the grounds. I don't want any more surprises such as this. I'll take the first shift."

When his men nodded, Raed turned and headed back toward the manor. He heard the sound of god-fire consuming the body as Algar fell into step beside him. "Are you serious about telling Lexi about us?"

"Yes."

"You are my king; you know I would never gainsay you, but think carefully before you do this. You're asking a lot of her."

"I know, but I think Lexi can handle it."

"For your sake, I hope you're right."

Once she figured the bookstore would be open, Lexi went downstairs to talk to Charlotte. When she explained about the lock being damaged on the flat's door, her landlady's eyebrows rose in astonishment. Lexi quickly explained Raed would cover the cost to replace the door. To Charlotte's credit, she didn't ask how the lock had become damaged in the first place. She told Lexi she knew of a locksmith who made emergency calls and that he would have the matter attended to in a couple of hours.