His voice shook as he slowly spread her enough to press the head of his c**k against her and push inside. Just a bit, in and then out. Her body trembled but she was still with him.

Once he was all the way in, she slid the vibrator into her cunt and the vibrations wrapped around him.

“Not gonna last too long back here. You’re very tight. Hold on and it’s okay to come whenever you want, all right?” He’d leaned down to speak in her ear. He caught her scent, ridiculously ripe and turned on, and he nearly howled.

In and out he f**ked, slowly, deeply and when she cried out and came, her entire body clamped down around him as she shoved back against him.

Mindless, he slid into her tight, smooth passage over and over until his orgasm grabbed his balls and didn’t let go.

Grace woke the next morning wrapped in a man, twisted in blankets. Her body ached but in a good way. He’d taken her so many times in so many ways she’d lost count. She was covered in love bites though, that made her smile even more.

He mumbled as she got out of bed and hit the shower. It was after nine, late for both of them, but it felt good. She’d needed the time with him, when he was all hers and it was just Grace and Cade. No Pack politics, no family stuff, no danger and no Challenge, just the two of them.

It had been the best gift she’d ever received.

He joined her some minutes later. “Coffee is on. We’ll get breakfast and then we have to head back.”

She tried not to frown. “Yum coffee. I’ll make breakfast since you made dinner and midnight snack too.”

“We’ll have more time to ourselves. After.”

“After breakfast you can start talking about it. I still own your ass. Although frankly I’m not up to doing much to it in a sexual nature. I’m a wee bit sore today.”

The look on his face was of pure, masculine pride and she held back a smile.

She made pancakes and bacon while he’d scrambled eggs and they’d eaten as they sat close and held hands on and off.

True to his word, he didn’t speak of anything of any import until they’d finished drying the dishes.

“We leave for Boston in two weeks. The location was chosen by a neutral third party. A Pack in Europe as a matter of fact. It’s sealed, we just know it’s in Boston, which makes sense because that’s where National is headquartered. Bare knuckles, no weapons, to the death. He’s already signed papers that attest that should he lose, all Pellini wolves surrender to National Allied Packs.”

“And if you lose?”

Her voice shook. She hadn’t meant it to. She didn’t even want to mention it but she had to say it, had to know.

“Well, I won’t. But if I do Pellini will challenge Lex for Cascadia lands. It’s a huge risk, Grace. We could lose everything. But I won’t lose. I don’t even know why he made this Challenge and then poisoned Templeton. He has to know any of the top five Alphas would take him.”

“He’s messed up but he’s not stupid. He has a plan and I don’t like it.”

“What do you mean? You know him well, tell me what you think.”

“He wanted the Challenge to be you and him. And the only way he can beat you without cheating, which will be closely monitored, is to infect you. That’s his biggest weapon. He doesn’t know you have all the stocks from before and he’s got no idea I’m working on a vaccine. It’s a risk, Cade. If he infects you and the vaccine doesn’t work, you die. And then, I’ll kill him. You need to understand that. I will violate the sanctity of that Challenge space and kill him.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. But, your vaccine will work. I trust you. The truth is, I think you’re right.”

“Well, here’s the thing, when he infects you, the virus will be active in your system for one minute. I’m trying to cut it down but that’s my margin right now. You’ll have the vaccine to render it inert. But he won’t. Use that, Cade.”

“Oh! Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that. But that’s poetic justice. Infecting him with what he tries to kill me with. And if he fights fair, I’ll defeat him that way too. Good planning. I like how twisted you can be when you need it.”

“I think you got quite a bit of that last night, didn’t you?”

“Smartass. Let’s go. You get working on that margin and I have to work on getting everything transferred over to Lex. Templeton and Carla are going to retire but he’s offered to stay on as an Elder.”

He helped her load her bags into the car and they drove back to the lab.

“Good. That will be useful. I want a house of my own. No one else living there. If you want to have guard houses next door and across the street and behind us, fine. If you want to buy a building and fill it with wolves, fine. But I want to be able to walk about naked and eat potato chips at two a.m. if I so desire.”

“Your wish is my command. I’ll have a realtor start looking, is that okay?”

She grinned. “I wish you were this agreeable about everything.”

He laughed. “I am where it counts.”

Chapter Eighteen

“This sucks.” Nina adjusted herself in the seat as they made their way to Boston. Lex piloted the plane and Cade, the coward, left Grace to deal with her cranky sister-in-law.

“Drink some of the hot chocolate and stop whining.”

“You know, that sweet thing is so just an act. I just want to go on record to say that now. You reel ‘em all in with your big brown eyes and that teeny-tiny body and you’re all cute and stuff. But scratch a layer and you’re a bigger bitch than I am.”