Leader of the Pack (15 page)

Cullen nodded. He couldn’t help his amazement. How the hell could anyone be making weres? It just wasn’t possible was it? “I take it you’ve never changed into anything outside of your dreams then?”

Aislinn shook her head. “No.” She stopped and looked contemplative. She was trying to think if there was anything else she knew that Cullen might find helpful to know. Besides, if she told him everything right now then she’d be able to say honestly that she didn’t have any more information. “Um, I’ve heard him use the word druid. Between that, him calling the compound the Circle, as well as the research I did when I had that luxury, I was able to draw conclusions and make connections about that. It’s not like the original druids in Europe from 500BC kept records or books so that I could figure out what a druid really is. But I could pretty much guess he wasn’t the Winston Churchill kind of druid. I also know that Rafe has some weird vision of cultivating a ‘perfect Circle.’ I don’t know what exactly that means, but I heard the phrase more than once. He has a crazy vision of something, and he’s been planning to get it for years.

“I know from the vision in the restaurant and from the ceremony that he wants the standing stones for some reason, but you should have figured that out by now. I’m guessing from the whole druid connection and the Stonehenge associations that he either wants them for sentimental reasons or he thinks there’s power there. I don’t know for sure on that one either. Really I don’t
know
anything. I only have a lot of partial information. Just enough to make Rafe keep coming, and not enough to do me any good.”

She took a deep breath and moved to stretch. Cullen watched her quietly, realizing that he had almost forgotten she was naked during all of the seriousness. It was all he could do to keep from going after her breasts as he watched her change positions and get comfortable again. The number of things that she said that had him convinced she was a great deal more intelligent than she gave herself credit for only made her more attractive to him.

“Anyway, that’s how I met him, why I don’t know if I’m human, and how I knew about the stuff with you and the ceremony. Did I leave anything out? Oh yeah,” she added sarcastically. “My full name is Aislinn Brianne Stevens.”

Cullen noted the sarcasm in that last and knew that her self defense mechanism had kicked in again. He figured that he better be careful, or he’d be sleeping alone after the meeting. He definitely didn’t want that. So he ignored the tone, and focused on the information he still needed that she hadn’t already answered. “Do you know where this compound is? Can you find it again?”

“Yeah, I think I could if I had to,” she said uncomfortably. “But I don’t really recommend it. I mean, not that I don’t think you guys aren’t pretty tough or anything, but as far as the animal kingdom hierarchy goes I think lions, tigers, and bears would probably beat a wolf on the brute force and damage scales.”

Cullen smiled at her. She certainly was a thinker. And he had to admit that she was right, as far as most of the pack was concerned. Being an alpha, by nature, put him above the rest, and he had more than a decent chance of being capable of dealing with the kinds of things she was talking about. However, the average lycan probably would have a tough time dealing with the average katta. If that’s even what these things were. “I may be a bit tougher than you think,” he said with his ego showing through. “But you’re right in general. Especially if Rafe has the numbers you seem to be implying. Cullen was becoming increasingly more concerned. It felt good to know what he was up against, but at the same time there was a sinking feeling coming from it all. Aislinn’s answers were creating more questions.

Then there was the one question that he needed an answer to, but didn’t really want to know. “Do you know who in my pack is aiding this asshole?” Aislinn shook her head no.

Cullen looked over at the clock. He wondered where Sarah was with those clothes. He had promised an hour, and he intended to make good on that. He smiled trying to stop his brain for what brief time he had left before dealing with the council. He could tell that as far as Aislinn knew, she had told him everything. It came across in her tone and the expectant way she kept looking at him. It was as if she was waiting for him to kick her out and be done with her now.

Cullen decided that at the very least, he needed to make sure she was okay before they headed downstairs. He pushed all the frustrating information she had just given him out of his mind. He reached out and ran a hand over her shoulder and down her back smiling wickedly as he did. “We could both use a shower.”

Aislinn smiled back. The relief she was feeling at the fact that he was still interested was almost overwhelming. “Trying to wash my scent off,” she teased.

“Nope,” he said as he stood up offering her his hand. “I fully intend to re-mark my territory the first chance I get.” She raised her eyebrows at him as she took his hand. He pulled her up into his arms. He held her tightly to himself and breathed her scent in. “But I haven’t had a shower in a day or so and, while you might not care, there are a few people who might. I just thought it would be fun to bring you with me. Though, I would be just as happy if you wanted to walk around with my scent all over you, advertising that you were in my bed. Less competition that way.” He grinned at her devilishly.

Aislinn’s face fell a bit. “Something occurs to me,” she said. “I mean it’s not like I didn’t know you were in charge around here. But I guess I just didn’t really think about it in terms of where things have ended up. I mean. What exactly am I dealing with here?”

Cullen looked at her carefully. She had the right to know. He was impressed that she knew the right questions to ask and worried that the answers might scare her off at the same time.
Well, I guess it’s my turn to be worried about being dumped.
He had never been in that position before. “How likely are you to run away from me if you don’t like what you hear,” he asked only half kidding.

It was Aislinn’s turn for the reassuring smile. “Pretty unlikely, as long as you tell me that you want me around and prepare me for whatever is going to happen when we leave this room. Or we could just stay here forever,” she suggested hopefully.

He grinned at the joke.
We may be too close of a match,
he thought and wondered what the fates were getting him into with her. “If only. I wish we could hide up here. But seeing as we can’t,” he considered his answer carefully. “Alright, you were honest with me, and it’s not like I’ll be able to hide the kind of thing you’re asking about. Let’s jump in the shower, and I’ll explain while we get cleaned up. I don’t have much more time left before I need to get downstairs.”

Cullen nodded toward a door on the far wall and Aislinn headed for the bathroom. Cullen groaned as Aislinn walked in front of him toward the bathroom. He loved the swing of her hips, and the fact that she was naked certainly added to it.

She glanced back at him and chuckled when she saw his huge erection. “That didn’t take much.”

“With you it doesn’t seem to,” he smiled.

As they walked into the bathroom, Aislinn looked around at the enormous room. She had never seen a bathroom so big. There was an entry area with a small couch and a plush navy carpet on the floor. The tiles were gray marble looking, and they led up to a large tub in a raised platform. There were steps leading up to the edge of the tub. The tub looked like there were Jacuzzi jets in it, and it was impossibly deep.

Cullen noted the impressed look on her face as she examined the tub. “Maybe later,” he said as he read her mind. “We don’t have time for what would happen if we got in there.” He grabbed her around the waist and dragged her to the shower stall in a back corner of the bathroom. “I actually don’t tend to use the tub much. But with you around I might be inclined to spend some leisure time in there.” As he was talked he turned the knobs on a walk in shower, and put his hand in the stream to see if the water was warm enough.

Aislinn let him pull her into the streaming water. “I just haven’t had a real bath in a while and that is some tub. But don’t let that change the subject. You were going to tell me what’s downstairs.”

Cullen thought about making joke about the casino and restaurant being downstairs, but decided that he didn’t have time to mess around at this point. He grabbed up the soap and lathered his hands, then much to Aislinn’s delight started to run them over her body instead of his own. She giggled as his hands slid over her and he started talking. “How often do you watch the discovery channel,” he asked more seriously than she liked.

“Not often in the past seven years. I haven’t had cable. You don’t really mean-“

Cullen cut her off. “No it’s not quite that barbaric, but the principle is the same. And you, mo mhúirnín bán,” he added, making her smile and working his way over her breasts with his soapy hands, “are in the pack alpha’s bed. Unfortunately, I’ve been around for a long time. After a certain point I stopped thinking I was going to find one woman I wanted to commit to,” he paused trying to think of how to put the rest of what he was going to say.

Aislinn was a little amused by the way he was staring at her breasts and running soapy fingers around her nipples. He looked like he was concentrating on something vastly important. She couldn’t believe he was that nervous talking to her about it. Cullen reminded her of a high school kid trying to ask a girl if she wanted to go steady or wear his ring. She leaned into him and reached down to his erection. As the soap from her body ran over it, she began gliding her hand up and down along its length. “So I get two things out of what you’ve just said. Firstly, there are several women, who might want to beat me up, given that this is a pack of wolves. The strongest of them is the one who should be in the alpha’s bed.”She grinned as she mimicked the way he had phrased it. “And secondly, that maybe you think that you might be interested in making some kind of commitment to me,” she said tentatively, afraid to hope.

Cullen finally looked her in the eyes. “You are certainly clever. I’ll give you that. You can turn me down,” he said. His stare was intense. It was like he was trying to get inside her head. “But really that’s a conversation for when we have more time than we do now, and for when you really understand what you’ll be getting into if you agree to it. Just think about it,” he said hopefully. “But as far as the first one goes, yeah there’re a number of women who’ll try to put you in what they think your place should be. I personally don’t care if you end up an omega. But they’ll think that if they make you look bad enough in that respect then I’ll lose interest. So they’ll try. The rest of the pack will probably be curious and inquisitive, but not dangerous. I suggest you stay away from any women who seem to be trying to pick a fight. It’s worse than an actual wolf pack in the regards that it’s not just physical prowess. There’s an element of mental prowess that goes along with it. Brute strength can really only get you so far. And I have had a tendency of preferring the higher ranking females who’ve offered, over the lower ranks. So you can count on the ones trying to cause you trouble as being good fighters and thinkers as well. As far as the men go, you shouldn’t have any real trouble with them. Except that since I’ve shown interest in you they might try to find out why.” Cullen seemed to growl the last part.

Aislinn just stood there feeling his hands running along her body, stroking his erection, and listening. “Okay,” she said curtly. Aislinn was starting to think he was just trying to add her to a pack harem or something. She didn’t know what to think. She certainly didn’t want to share him, regardless of what the hell he was or wasn’t. But she couldn’t stand the idea of leaving and never feeling him come inside her again. Her stomach was in knots and her brain was spinning. “Don’t worry too much. A person doesn’t survive on the streets for seven years without learning a couple things. I can take care of myself, better than you might think.”

He moved his hips into her stroking, and his eyes rolled back into his head momentarily before returning to the conversation. She pulled her hand off of him finally, noting his disappointed reaction to the loss of attention. She grabbed up the shampoo and poured some into her hands, sniffed at the nonexistent smell and started washing her hair.

Cullen watched her soap her hair and couldn’t help but reach out and toy with her breasts some more. This was taking longer than he should allow it to. “I’m not doubting that you can take care of yourself in most circumstances. But you aren’t lycan, and they’re going to have trouble with that. Although you may be able to hold your own against a human in fight, Aislinn, these women aren’t going to be nice enough to stay in human form. That’s not how pack rank works. They’re going to try to test you, and there won’t be anything I can really do about it. I probably won’t even be around when they decide to mess with you, if they’re smart about it.”

Aislinn heard the concern in his tone. “Really, Cullen, I’ll be okay.” She turned away from him and leaned into the water to wash the soap out of her hair. She breathed out heavily. “Just one last thing,” she added unhappily. “Not that I won’t consider it if it’s what you’re looking for, but I just want to know up front, so there’s not any confusion. Are you expecting me to join the ranks of all these women you have sex with and just wait around here for my turn in your bed? I mean, I was kinda getting the impression that you wanted more than that, and I don’t want to misinterpret what’s going on here.”

Cullen realized the mistake he’d made in what he’d said and wished he could go back and reword the whole thing. The hurt in her voice was almost palpable. He stepped up behind her, the water streaming over them as he pressed against her. His erection found its way between her legs and pressed into the slippery wet that was still there. “I’ve never wanted any of them the way I want you,” he said softly into her ear. “I’m not very good at this. But I give you my word that I’m not trying to add you to any ranks the way you think.” He pressed his erection as deeply into her slit as he could get it from their angle and listened to her moan. “You are one great big long list of things I’ve never felt or done before. Every instinct I have is telling me to take you and claim you, and it’s been all I could do to stop myself from acting on that.”