Hawke heard her, but he continued to pump his fingers into her, continued to kiss her—sucking at her lower lip, dipping his head to mark her breasts, her neck. “Not yet.” He wanted her all but liquid with pleasure before he took her, because it was going to hurt. No way around it, even if the thought of hurting her in any way pissed him off. She was tight and hot, and he was a big man.

“Let me pet you some more.” Sweat shimmered on her throat, and he licked it off, savoring the salt and spice of her. “I love your breasts.” They were flushed pink from the brush of his jaw, the touch of his teeth. In a chair, he thought, biting at her lower lip when she ordered him to “Finish it!” He was going to take her in a chair the next time so she’d be astride him and he could play with those pretty breasts as he pleased.

Feeling her muscles clench around his fingers, he kissed his way back down her body again and spread her thighs, inhaling the erotic musk of her. His mouth watered, and since she was his and she was delicious, he decided it was time for seconds. It only took one long lick for her to shatter, but he kept going, using his mouth to pleasure her with flicks and nips and hot little sucks focused on the slippery nubbin of flesh at the apex of her thighs until her body went limp, aftershocks rippling over her skin.

When he prowled up this time, she watched him from beneath heavy-lidded eyes, her chest rising and falling in a rhythm that was pure temptation. “Are you,” she gasped as he slotted himself against her, began to push, “like this”—a throaty feminine sound, her tissues liquid fire around him—“all the time?”

He wasn’t thinking much anymore, consumed by pleasure, but he knew one thing. “For you—yes.” Gripping her hip, he slid in another couple of inches, felt her nails dig into his shoulders.

But instead of pushing him away, she pulled him toward her. The leash snapped, and he buried himself to the hilt in a single thrust. Her pained gasp was muffled against his shoulder as her legs quivered around him. Yet she continued to hold him tight. Finding some semblance of civilized thought, he petted her thigh, nuzzled, and kissed until she began to move her hips—or attempt to in any case. He pinned her to the bed, and he had every intention of using that leverage for her pleasure.

One hand on her hip, he slid back out torturously slowly . . . then slid in the same way. Sienna’s eyes flared open, held his. “Do that again.” An intimate demand.

Teeth bared in a feral smile, he did. Then again. And again. Until she fractured around him, those tiny muscles squeezing so tight around his cock he almost came. He wanted to pound into her, to flip her onto her hands and knees, and to mount her in the most primitive of ways, but that could wait. Tonight, this, it was for her. So though his jaw hurt from how hard he’d clenched it, he continued to stroke into her slow and easy and again. And had the pleasure of feeling her body rise to meet his over and over.

This time, he allowed the erotic pulse of her orgasm to sweep him under, wring him dry. “Next time,” he murmured in her ear as he collapsed, his heart a fucking drum against his ribs, “I’m not going to behave.”

Chapter 45

TEN HOURS LATER, those rasped-out words had Sienna wondering just how very bad he could be, because if he’d been good last night . . . Dear God. Her body still bore the marks of his passion. The insides of her thighs were stubble-burned, and there was more than one bite mark on her breasts. Remembering how he’d taken her with such primal thoroughness made her skin flush, things clench low in her body. She wanted his teeth—

Thwack!

“Ouch!” She slammed up the long wooden staff too late to block Indigo’s strike. “That hurt.”

The lieutenant rolled her eyes. “Here I was trying for a love tap. Stop mooning about his wolfiness and start giving me some real competition.”

Swiveling the stick, Sienna went for Indigo’s legs. The lieutenant avoided the sweep, but the move put her slightly off balance. Then they were off. Indigo was too experienced for Sienna to take down, but she got in a few good licks, and by the time the practice session ended, her blood was pumping, her black athletic tank stuck to her skin.

“Thanks. I needed that,” Indigo said, gulping down water. “What are you scheduled for now?”

“I have a free afternoon.” Sienna opened her own bottle, took a long draught. “Thought I’d spend time with Toby and Marlee, do some work on a course paper at the same time.”

Indigo’s eyes gleamed as she put down the water and reached back to redo her long black hair into a tight ponytail. “You know anything of what’s happening between Walker and Lara?”

Sienna began to buff her fighting staff with a towel. “What are you talking about?”

Indigo laughed at her fake innocent act. “They’re not getting away with it, you know. Everyone’s just being real polite and pretending not to notice they’re kissing each other in dark corners.”

Sienna’s lips twitched. “My uncle would never be so common as to kiss a woman in a dark corner.”

“No, must be someone tall, blond, and silent who looks exactly like him.”

Sienna was still laughing at that dry statement when she went to join the children after a quick shower to wash off the sweat. However, she hadn’t been at the family apartment long before she got a call from Riley.

“Sienna, I know you’re meant to have the afternoon off, but can you accompany Mariska and three of her techs up to check on the hydro station?” he said, referring to the “green” system that used the natural power of the water crashing over the mountains to supply the den’s power. “The plant is secure, and I’ve got Drew heading up with the team, but he should have backup, just in case.”

“Of course, but I’m with Marlee and Toby. Can you—”

“It’s not even a question, sweetheart. Bring them over—they can hang out in the senior soldiers’ break room off my office.”

Knowing the kids loved spending time in the hub, which saw a constant rotation of the pack’s dominants—with more than one willing to pull up a chair to chat to a couple of “pups”—she said, “We’ll be there in fifteen.” It actually took closer to twenty to get everything sorted, but she left her brother and cousin competing with each other to tell Riley their latest news.

Drew was waiting for the team at the exit—or more accurately, he was kissing Indigo and smiling all the while. They’d been laughing before they kissed, Sienna thought, remembering Hawke teasing her as they lay in bed. She’d felt it when he smiled as he kissed her. It had been more wonderful than she could’ve imagined. “Ahem,” she said, lips curving at the memory. “At least find a dark corner.”

Indigo shot her a laughing look. “Touché.” Another kiss before she headed down the corridor, a woman with long, long legs and a body that moved with lithe muscular grace. “Don’t get shot,” were her parting words to her mate.

“Too scared of you to dare!” Drew called out, then grabbed some of the techs’ gear. “Let’s go, boys and girls.”

HAVING spent the day with Matthias’s and Alexei’s teams to make sure they were comfortable with the terrain and aware what their duties would be in a combat situation, Hawke was more than ready to take some time for himself. Thanks to his people, he could.

Waylaying Sienna as she headed to her quarters after returning from the hydro station, he tugged her down to the garage. It was tempting to lick up the taste of her, but if he put his mouth on those lush lips, they wouldn’t make it any farther than his bedroom.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked once they were on the road, the light diffuse as the first whisper of night touched the Sierra. “Am I being Psynapped?”

His wolf laughed. “We’re going to play.”

It should’ve sounded silly, Sienna thought, when there were so many other things to worry about, but there was no denying that the constant state of battle-readiness was an unrelenting tension at the back of her mind. Last night had been a sensual respite, one that had left her more alert and aware today. “Play isn’t a waste of time, is it?” she said out loud, having never quite understood that until this moment.

“The wolf has decided that that question doesn’t deserve an answer.”

It made her laugh. “What’s the game?”

“Wait and see.”

Half an hour later, he brought the vehicle to a stop deep in den territory, the area so dense with trees that he’d had to punch up the hover drive and get creative in his driving. As he set it down, she peered out at the small cabin hidden amongst the firs. “It looks new.” So new the area was still littered with wood chips.

“The lieutenants in the den banded together with the senior soldiers and started to throw it up.” He shook his head. “Apparently the other soldiers got wind of it and wanted in. It took them twelve straight hours with a revolving crew and by the end . . . seems almost every able-bodied adult in the den had something to do with either building the cabin or making sure it was furnished.”

She heard the stunned joy in his voice, felt her heart clench. “They love you.” Just like me.

“Yeah.” Shaking his head, he got out and jogged around to open her door. “I’d have torn into them for spending time on this when we’re so close to war, but Drew tells me the project boosted morale back to normal levels, so . . .” He pulled her from her seat. “This is ours,” he said, leaning down to rub his nose against hers. “The area’s off-limits to the pack when either of us is in the vicinity.”

Sienna stood on tiptoe, her hands on his shoulders. “Just us?”

The bright slash of his smile echoed her own. “Just us.”

It was an incredible gift. She loved SnowDancer with every beat of her heart, would die to protect the people who’d become her own, but being able to be truly alone with Hawke for even a few hours, a few minutes—she had no words for the force of her joy. “Let’s go explore.”