17. Steamy

He laughed; it almost startled her. She didn’t think she had heard any of the others laugh. But, then again, they hadn’t really had much of a reason to. Emmalyn couldn’t help but feel as though she was troubling them, causing them to alter their ways because of her. Surely Caleb wouldn’t normally be there, sitting in the springs. She was sure he would much rather be out with his kind, hunting.

“Caleb,” she said, blushing even more at his compliment.

She closed her eyes when she felt his finger lightly caress her shoulder. For a moment, she forgot what she was going to say. A warmth spread from his touch to the rest of her body. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

Caleb stared back at her as if he could read her mind. He felt he could see into her heart to see all her fears and wants. Her needs.

He was hers.

“Caleb, would it be alright if I asked you some questions?”

Her question snapped him out of the trance she had unknowingly put him in. The way her pale skin continued to flush encouraged him. He would definitely make her blush from now on. Even while he was considering just how he could do that, his fingers trailed along her neck, drifting up to trace the delicate shell of her ear where it had turned bright red.

“Of course. Ask anything you want. I’ll answer the best that I can,” he promised.

Caleb let his hand drop back to the rocks behind her. While he waited, he watched her curiously and let his thumb slowly rub back and forth against her shoulder blade. It was a natural reaction; a need to keep touching her soft skin now that he had already touched her once.

She closed her eyes and her lips parted when his fingers moved over her neck and ear. Goosebumps formed all over her skin as she made a soft little sound while pursing her lips together slightly. He was driving her to absolute distraction, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty about it.

She opened her eyes and looked over at him while she slipped her bottom lip between her teeth. She dragged it out, the plump little tier swelling from the minor abuse. Caleb watched with rapt fascination as she chewed at her lip, then released it. His tongue darted out, licking across his own lips as if he could taste her from where he was. Given her scent, he almost could.

“The way you spoke of humans earlier, it sounded like you are more familiar with my kind than some others.” She said as she looked into his eyes.

Emmalyn couldn’t help but notice their color. She looked away quickly and cleared her throat to regain a bit of lost composure. She looked back at him again, careful not to fall into those golden depths.

“Am I right?” She asked.

“I was abandoned when I was just a pup,” he replied immediately, smiling brightly at her despite the sad beginning of his story.

Shifting a little closer to her, he urged her closer to his side; his hand gently stroking her arm in a soothing and encouraging manner.

“They left me in Abenwae and a human family raised me. I protected them for about two generations before Farrel found me. He brought me back to my people. It was hard to get them to accept me, but Farrel always defended me. I’m still a wolf no matter who raised me and I’ve learned plenty fast the ways of the pack and how to hunt. Aside from my Alpha, I’m the best there is.”

Her eyes filled with sadness when he spoke of being abandoned. No one should ever feel that way. She moved closer to him as he spoke, and his hand moved over her arm. She watched him as he spoke, her eyes drifting to his lips before they returned to his eyes as soon as she realized what she was doing.

He spoke of everything with so much pride and confidence it was clear he wasn’t simply boasting himself. It was plain truth

“Then you know and understand me.” She said. It was almost a question, but more of a statement.

He grew up there, among the humans. She thought of another question, but it was more of a request. Farrel had said that every other sentence from her was a demand. She didn’t want to be like that or for Caleb to even think of her like that. But she wanted to ask so badly. She started chewing on her bottom lip again and looked down as she tried to think of how to approach it.

“I’d like to think I do. Though you’ll excuse me if I’m rusty with some things. It’s been two hundred years since I was with the humans,” he chuckled, then impulsively leaned in to press a chaste kiss against her temple. Or, at least, chaste for a moment or two before he inhaled the fragrant scent of her hair. He exhaled, sighing softly with pleasure as he nuzzled his nose against her temple and wandered towards her ear. She closed her eyes again and leaned towards him when he kissed her temple so softly and then nuzzled against her. She found she was entirely too weak against that. It made her want to do it back to him. She inhaled slowly, her bottom lip trembling a bit as she opened her eyes.

He caught himself there, lips lightly grazed her earlobe, and forced himself to pull back. He noticed her fidgeting, and she did that far too sexy thing with biting her lip. It was enough to get him to watch her for a while before he spoke again.

She shivered and gasped softly when his lips moved against her ear. She was pretty sure she was losing her mind. For so long, no one even looked at her twice and she had no thoughts about men. And yet, in less than twenty-four hours, she found herself attracted to two different males, both with their own distinct personalities, but connected. That deep guilt reared its head again, and she moved back a bit, trying to gain some level of control. If she understood things better, she would have been happy she was in the water. At least he couldn’t smell how turned on she was getting.

“Something on your mind?”

“I…” she started out, stammering a bit before swallowing hard and trying again. “I was wondering if you would help me, teach me how to fit in better so that I don’t offend again.”

Her question had a thoughtful look crossing his face. It was so intense; it was rather comical. Inside his mind, he was filtering through Farrel’s memories of the night before and their misunderstanding. He shifted beside her, moving his arm from around his shoulder. Rather than withdraw though, he reached down, slipping his hand under her knee, and brought her leg up over the top of his. The movement spread her open to the warm water, though he didn’t touch her sex. He seemed perfectly content to stroke his fingers back and forth along the inside of her thigh.

Her eyes fluttered a bit when he pulled her knee up and the warm water moved to kiss her most intimate area. She inhaled slowly through her mouth, letting it out slowly, trying to calm herself. But, her body betrayed her mind as her pert nipples peeked out from under the surface of the water. She didn’t notice. Her eyes were on his as he spoke.

“Well, wolves aren’t all that complicated to figure out. We’re obviously creatures. Physical beings. Things that humans think of as embarrassing are a way of life for us. Sex, for instance. You lot think of it as shameful when it is a beautiful act shared between mates. Or if not that, a necessity to breed pups,” he explained slowly; trying his best to word everything as simply as he could. “Our code of honor is easy to understand. The strongest defend all those weaker than him or herself. It is our born instinct. Our purpose. Defend the pack at all costs because even the weakest form an important link in our society.”

“Maybe,” she said softly, “I’m looking too far into things, making things more complicated than they are.”

She waited to see if he agreed with her. The longer he moved his fingers up and down the inside of her thigh, the faster her heart beat.

“Farrel told me the other night that he was potent. What does that mean?”

Emmalyn didn’t know what brought that to mind. Perhaps when he spoke about pups.

“What will happen to me if I… if…” she turned bright red again, not able to complete the sentence.

Caleb’s sensitive ears picked up on the rapid beat of her heart and her labored breathing. He almost visibly perked just knowing he could arouse her, and he had barely done anything! It sorely tempted him to tell her she would have made a fine breeder, but knowing what he did about humans, she would no doubt take a great offense to what would be a compliment to his kind. She was beautiful, physically sensitive, and receptive to stimuli. Her wide hips were a plus.

“I think so. Though it is more likely that you think with your heart more than your mind and body.”

His warm gold eyes stayed on her face, drinking up every expression that danced in her eyes as he slowly trailed his fingers down from her knee again. This time he continued onward, slipping over her silken outer lips; one fingertip circling them slowly.

“His parents were both breeders. Rather legendary as well. Anyone his age is most likely a brother or sister of his. And there are quite a few of them.”

She bit her lip again, hard this time. She needed to get control of herself. As much as she was attracted to Caleb, she was also attracted to Farrel. It was so confusing to her and her body’s reactions weren’t helping matters. She whimpered softly when he touched her. His fingertip left a fiery trail along her outer lips that was burned into her memory. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it and risk hurting Farrel if he felt anything for her. She didn’t understand their ways, but she knew hers.