We left for Hale Valley at sunrise. I’d planned to leave earlier, but I was quickly discovering that Caleb was most definitely not a morning person. He’d looked pretty fucking adorable grumbling his way into his clothes this morning, though, and he’d perked up when I handed him an overstuffed breakfast burrito and a travel mug of coffee.
“Did you get enough to eat?” I asked him now, glancing at him in time to see a shaft of sunlight turn his hair a burnished gold.
“Yeah, I’m good.” He squinted as he flipped down his visor. Almost immediately, his stomach released an angry growl.
I hid a smile. “There’s a bag behind your seat.”
He gave me an inquisitive look as he reached around and lifted the small backpack I’d stashed in the SUV while he was in the shower. A second later, he eyed the clear plastic container of apple slices. “You packed me snacks. Like we’re on a field trip.” Lust streamed through our bond as he peeled off the lid andpopped an apple wedge into his mouth. “Thank you, Mr. van der Meer,” he said around the fruit.
Somehow, I kept my voice even. “You’re a new werewolf. Calorie deficits are not your friend.” I put on my turn signal as I merged into another lane. “Besides, I have fond memories of those apples.”
Another shot of desire fired over our connection. “Me too.” He polished off half the container and shoved it into the bag. Then he rested his head against the back of his seat and huffed a short laugh. “I thought last night would take the edge off, but I think it made me hornier.”
“You’re not the only one.” After his distress in the kitchen, I’d told myself I wasn’t going to fuck him. That he needed a quiet night after his first shift and our first official argument. But those plans fell apart once we got into bed. I’d cuddled him from behind, determined to be a platonic big spoon. One slow thrust of his ass against my groin later, I was yanking down his shorts and closing my teeth over his shoulder.
“Little tease,”I’d murmured, flicking my tongue over the indentations left by my bite.“Do you know what happens to college boys who rub their naughty asses on my dick?”
He’d shuddered as he worked his hips against me, one hand reaching back to clutch my thigh.“Fuck me, Jesse. I need it so bad.”
I obliged him, but not until after I’d edged him for a good hour, slicking us both with lube and nestling my cock between his cheeks so I could grind up and down his cleft, teasing his hole until he was a squirming puddle of “Please, please, please,” and “You have to, you have to.”
Then he’d dropped an atom bomb by rolling his hips and whispering,“Please fuck me, sir.”
“Such a slut,”I’d growled, holding my tip to his entrance.“If you want it, come and get it.”
He did. Bucking and gasping, he screwed himself onto my cock, sheathing me with heat and pressure until I couldn’t help but roll him to his stomach and thrust the rest of the way home, my nuts so tight I thought they might burst.
Caleb looked at me now, sunlight a halo around his head. “I’m not? The only one, I mean.” Worry drifted through our connection, carrying some of the desperation he’d displayed after dinner last night.
I’d missed it at first. My wolf had been so enraged by the thought of Caleb leaving me that I hadn’t grasped just how agitated he’d become at the prospect of me returning to Hale Valley without him. But I should have anticipated his reaction. His parents had made him feel unwanted. Then they’d attacked him and chased him from the only home he’d ever known. Was it any wonder he didn’t want to be alone? He put up a good front with his smart mouth and tough exterior. But his hard shell was so thin in places I could see the bruises underneath.
I reached over and grasped his hand, then guided it to the bulge between my legs. The second his fingers brushed my jeans, my erection kicked against his palm like some kind of wild animal locked in a cage. When he sucked in a loud breath, I took my eyes off the road long enough to give him what I knew to be a rueful smile. “You’re not the only one, babe. Last night was amazing, but it didn’t put a dent in my desire for you.”
He withdrew his hand from my groin, and his voice was slightly raspy as he said, “I had no idea. You said your control was better than mine.”
“It is most of the time. But right now, I’m nervous as hell and focusing all my energy on keeping you from feeling it. I don’t have a lot of concentration left for other stuff.”
Understanding dawned in his eyes. “You’re nervous about the rogue.”
“I’m nervous aboutyoubeing anywhere near the rogue,” I corrected. My wolf stirred, its restlessness the psychic equivalent of pacing. “I can’t stress how critical it is for you to follow my lead in this. Until the rogue is dead, I need you to obey my orders without question. No exceptions, got it?”
“I’ll behave,” he murmured, turning his gaze to the snowy landscape outside.
Some of the tension left my shoulders. For a long moment, we drove in silence, nothing but the sound of the SUV’s heater keeping us company. Then Caleb threaded his fingers with mine and rested our joined hands on the center console.
“You don’t have to hide from me,” he said softly. “I want all of you, Jesse. Good or bad, I can handle your emotions.”
I squeezed his hand. But I couldn’t say what I was thinking. I couldn’t tell him that I wanted him to have all of me, too.
But he didn’t. Not yet.
I couldn’t confess that Ihatedhiding—and that, more than anything, I hoped one day I wouldn’t have to.
Twenty minutes later,my smile was long gone as I pulled into my driveway. The morning sun climbed the sky, and a few neighbors were out and about, warming up cars and walking dogs. An elderly man a few doors down ambled to the sidewalk and retrieved a newspaper from the snow-dusted concrete.
“I’m going to park in the garage,” I told Caleb. “I want you to go directly into the house. I’ll start in the woods that border the backyard and then move toward campus.”
He gave me a startled look. “You’re going to hunt the roguenow?”
