Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (35 page)

Larissa
swallowed audibly. Vaile blinked the blue from his eyes and pulled her close.

‘I don’t mean to
scare you, but you have to understand that my wolf’s brain is wired differently
to mine. I let him have me—body and soul—for that night. I let his instincts
lead me. I waited for that farmer to come out of his house to see what had
happened to his only source of livelihood. And when he did, I attacked him,
leaving his body for his family to find. I wanted them to feel my pain. I
thought I would feel better once he was dead.’

‘And did you?’
Larissa asked in a soft voice.

‘No.’ That one
word was so raw with pain that she had the urge to cry for him. ‘I still feel
the pain of her loss. But since you’ve been in my life, it’s getting less and
less. When I’m with you I feel like a good man, Larissa. I need you in my life
now.’

‘You’ve got me,’
she smiled. It was a small smile, an unsure smile, but Vaile returned it,
tipping her off his chest and pinning her to the bed with his lower body.

‘I don’t want to
talk about this anymore. The past is in the past. You are my future.’ He kissed
her. It was rough, forceful, and everything that Larissa needed to feel in that
moment. She grabbed onto his broad, muscular shoulders, digging in her nails
until the coppery smell of blood tainted the air. Vaile pulled away for a
second. His eyes were ice-blue and wild.

‘More,’ he said,
his voice taking on a roughness that sounded like a growling dog. Larissa’s
fingers went back to the half moon shaped cuts in his shoulders, dug her
fingers in once more and dragged them down towards the middle of his back.
Vaile growled again, the sound coming from the middle of his chest until it
trickled from between his teeth.

His eyes were
shifting colours quickly now, and Larissa didn’t know whether that was a good
thing or a bad thing. She kissed him again, pushing her tongue into his mouth,
tasting him. His fingers clamped down on her hip bones, pinning her more
tightly to the mattress.

‘I want you,’ he
said. The timbre of his voice sent shivers down her spine. ‘I want you,’ he
repeated when all she could do was blink at him. ‘Now.’ He lifted her hips from
the bed, holding her up by her lower back. She didn’t understand what he was
doing until his huge length was sliding inside of her. She screamed out,
clawing the sheets with both hands as her body jerked and bucked through the
instant orgasm Vaile was able to give her just by entering her.

He drilled into
her, not going slowly like he did before. There was an urgency there that she
couldn’t explain; didn’t want to explain. He was slamming into her so hard that
the back of her cervix was being bumped repeatedly. She’d never had a lover as
big as Vaile before and the new sensation wasn’t wholly unpleasant.

He stayed like
that for a long time—long, powerful, even strokes in and out of her body,
reaching the end of her before pulling out again. That delicious warmth was
filling her again. She clutched at Vaile’s sweat-drenched arms, her fingernails
scoring long, bloody lines into his skin. Her orgasm washed over her as Vaile
tilted her hips into a deeper angle. She rode that pleasure until she could
feel Vaile’s rhythm falter. It was only for a split second before he was
pumping harder and faster into her; the ropy muscles in his neck cording tightly.

He slowed for a
second, jerked a little then shuddered above her as his own orgasm crashed over
him. She could feel him filling her up over and over again, triggering in her
yet another orgasm. She was lost to it for a full minute before she opened her
eyes to see him staring down at her.

‘Christ, I love
watching you come,’ he whispered into her ear, nipping at the lobe.

He lowered her
hips to the bed, pulling out and stretching out beside her. They lay like that
for a while when Larissa remembered that they hadn’t used protection either of
the times they’d made love that night.

‘Vaile?’

‘Mmm?’ he
murmured. She turned to see him dozing lightly.

‘We didn’t use
protection,’ she whispered. Her heart was pounding. She didn’t want children
right now.

‘Don’t worry
about that. Lycanthropes and humans can’t breed.’

‘Ever?’
Larissa’s blood suddenly went cold. Just because she didn’t want kids right
then didn’t mean she wasn’t going to change her mind.

Vaile’s eyes
opened. ‘Something always goes wrong. You can fall pregnant, but you’ll never
be able to take the baby to term. We’re not sure why. Maybe it’s just because
of the different genetic make-up.’

Larissa’s throat
felt like it was closing up. ‘So I’ll just keep miscarrying?’

Vaile actually
looked at her then—his eyes and expression softening. ‘Yeah. I didn’t even
think to ask you, but did you want children?’ She shook her head, feeling the
tears form. Vaile caught the first one on his finger before it could fall.
‘Hey, don’t cry,’ he said softly. ‘I thought you said you didn’t want kids.’

‘I don’t. Now.
But what if I change my mind? What happens then?’

‘We’ll figure
something out, but please don’t cry about it, baby. I love you, and you’ve got
me. What else do you need?’

Larissa didn’t
answer him out loud, but inside her head she was screaming it to herself. Had
she just given up her one and only opportunity for children?

Rhett had watched Indi convulse
uncontrollably for an hour in his uncle’s office. Thankfully she was only
conscious for about half of the time. When her body finally stopped jerking,
he’d picked her up carefully and taken her back to his bed. Laithe was on his
heels, carrying the first aid kit with him.

‘Did she keep
down the blood you gave her last time, Rhett?’ Laithe asked, sticking an
electronic thermometer into Indi’s ear. Laithe frowned down at the screen when
it beeped, and Rhett knew it was bad.

‘No,’ he replied
through gritted teeth. ‘She only had a mouthful and brought it straight back up
again.’

Laithe nodded.
‘I’m not the enemy here, Rhett. You can trust me with her. I’m already mated.’

Rhett knew his
face had clouded over with anger. ‘I know,’ he said, not believing the words
for a fucking second.

Laithe shook his
head slowly. ‘Antain told me about the theory that maybe it’s how she’s being
fed that is the problem, but I think after today’s little episode, it’s safe to
say that that theory has been blown out of the water.’

‘I know that.’
Rhett’s words came out in a hiss through his clenched teeth. He was on the
verge of telling Laithe to fuck off when his phone started vibrating in his
pocket. He pulled it out, cursed and walked into the bathroom—shutting the door
and turning on the shower for privacy from eavesdropping pack mates.

‘Leona,’ he
barked into the receiver. ‘Now is
not
a good time.’

‘I know. I’m
sorry. I was just calling to tell you that Eaton is getting worse. She’s still
refusing to eat and drink. Marcus is getting suspicious of me. He’s disarmed
me, and now has Connall on guard duty. I will come over after my shift—at dawn.
Can I speak to Antain then?’

Rhett ground his
molars together. ‘Fine,’ he growled, snapping the phone shut and killing the
water. After Vaile had told him that she was the one responsible for the
murders in town, Rhett didn’t like the idea of letting Leona anywhere near his
alpha, but Vaile wanted to use her to get Eaton back, and Rhett had to admit
that it was a good idea. Quickly, he texted Vaile the update; not waiting to
hear back from him.

Rhett pushed out
of the bathroom, finding Laithe sitting in the armchair next to the bed. He was
just staring at Indi, concern furrowing his brow; making him look a good ten
years older.

‘What?’ Rhett
asked, his eyes ratcheting between Indi and Laithe suspiciously.

Laithe sighed.
‘Her pulse is weak—weaker than before.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I don’t know how
much longer she’s going to last.’

Rhett felt his
wolf march right up to the front of his subconscious. It snarled at Laithe for
even thinking that. ‘Get out,’ Rhett hissed, his fists shaking. He knew his
wolf’s eyes were burning holes right through Laithe, but the bastard stayed
right where he was, staring back. ‘Now!’ he barked.

Laithe’s
shoulders drooped. He turned and left them alone. Rhett approached the bed
where Indi was lying perfectly still. All the colour had drained from her gaunt
cheeks, leaving her skin cold to the touch and deathly pale. Sweeping some of
her hair from her forehead, Rhett noticed some of the black strands had caught
in his fingers. He shook his hand to get her hair off, and stared down at Indi.
Her hair was starting to fall out. That couldn’t be good.

Sliding his
hands along her throat, he felt for her pulse, but couldn’t feel a damn thing
except for the pounding of his own heart in his chest. He tried to relax his
breathing and try again. He felt it this time; barely there and irregular. He
knew in his gut that she was slowly dying. She needed to be able to feed and
keep the blood down. The only time he’d seen her remotely interested in feeding
was when she was feeding from the Dragos intruder in her apartment. His mind
churned over the information, stopping when it came to an impossible solution.

What if they
were right about having blood from the source, but wrong about the species?

He looked down
at his wrist, and desperation took over. He shifted his teeth and bit into his
wrist. Blood welled quickly; hot and red. Indi stirred as soon as the room
filled with the scent of his blood. Her eyes opened, fixing on his wrist. Her
violet irises were suddenly getting smaller and smaller as her pupils expanded
and her bloodlust took over.

She sat up,
never taking her eyes from his wrist and his blood. Rhett licked his lips,
trying to get rid of the taste of bile that had risen in his throat. This was
the point of no return. If she had another taste of him, there was a very good
chance that she would kill him. But he had to try—to save her life.

‘Feed,’ he
croaked, thrusting his wrist in her face. Indi seized his arm with both
hands—squeezing too hard—and placed her mouth over the wound he’d created.

Rhett had heard
that a vampire’s bite had the same effect on lycanthropes as it did on humans,
but he wasn’t sure what to expect when Indi’s fangs sank home. He remembered
how Natalie had looked when Indi was feeding from her, but he had no idea how
good it would be.

He felt like he
was floating, like every care he had in the world meant nothing at all. Such
unimaginable warmth crept through his already heated body, wrapping around him,
bringing him a peace he hadn’t ever felt before.

But then that
changed. Indi’s fangs sank in further, breaking open a new vein. And this time
a pleasure that felt like the point of orgasm rushed his body. He was held at
that point, panting, sweating and wishing that it would never end. His hips
rolled, jacking him up off the mattress.

He moaned, and
there was a shift of weight on the mattress. When he opened his eyes, Indi was
straddling him—his wrist still in her mouth. All he wanted to do in that moment
was fuck her, to be inside her like she was inside him. This desire to share
blood called to him. He looked up at Indi. Her eyes were back to normal again;
her cheeks flushed with colour. His other hand cupped the back of her neck,
dragging her down to meet his mouth. Reluctantly, she pulled free of his wrist,
licking over the wound to seal it off. His skin tingled where she’d lapped at
him, sending a jolt of heat across his skin and deep into his body.

He kissed her,
tasting his blood, tasting her. Her tongue explored his mouth as his did hers.
He just couldn’t get enough of her at that point. Her fingers pulled at the
collar of his t-shirt, tugged at it until the material ripped. When he moaned
into her mouth, she ripped the rest of the fabric free. His fingers dug into
her skin, pulling her hips closer to his. His fingers rode up her back. Her
skin was blistering hot now, and he could hear her heart pounding almost as
loudly as his own. 

He rolled her
over, tangling his legs in hers while he tore at her shirt. They didn’t break
their kiss as he wrestled with the fabric. Eventually, it ripped away, leaving
her upper body exposed to him. He pulled away to just look at her, to marvel in
the smoothness of her skin. Her body was lean like a warrior’s; her stomach
toned and defined. He kissed a path down her neck, across her collarbones and
down her stomach. Her hands cranked down on his shoulders, and he welcomed the
pain; revelled in it.

He scooted off
the bed, hooking his arms under her thighs and pulling her to the edge of the
bed. Her ass hugged the side as he lowered his head to look at the place
between her legs.

‘Your panties
are in the way,’ he growled playfully, sliding his finger under the fabric and
pulling gently.

‘So take them
off,’ Indi replied breathlessly. ‘With your teeth,’ she added with an impish
smile. Rhett groaned, and did exactly as she asked. When the fabric was
unrecognisable on the floor, Rhett sat back on his haunches. She had no hair at
her juncture. She was perfectly smooth, mouth-watering and slick.

‘Rhett,’ she
moaned restlessly.

He spread her
wide with his thumbs, revealing pink, glistening skin. He wanted to take his
time with her after all the traumatic shit that had happened in her past. But
looking at her like he was in that minute, all he wanted to do was taste her.

‘I can’t wait,’
he growled, placing his mouth to her sex. With his tongue, he swept a long,
hot, wet line from her core to her clit. Indi’s inner thighs twitched when the
tip of his tongue circled her clit, sending the bundle of nerves into frenzy.
Her fingers clenched around the sheets in response. Rhett made another sweeping
pass, languishing in her flavour.