Centuries Of Sin: Book II (Mature)

10

Elizabeth hadn’t left the huge mansion since they arrived two days ago. It quickly became apparent that she wasn’t entirely wolf, and people were either hostile, bombarding her with questions, or both. Most of them believed they had found some way of masking the fact Elizabeth was human when they arrived.

She would sometimes stand at the window of the large bedroom they had chosen to stay in, looking out at the smaller houses and the people who lived in them. It was bizarre to think of this little society set apart from the human world, but with modern comforts which must have required some level of human interaction.

She stayed firmly within the confines of the room after her first lone encounter with Cordelia. She had still smelled like a wolf then, and the older woman had hissed at her that she hoped Elizabeth enjoyed being left frustrated because that is all that would happen relying on Sawyer while she was on heat.

Elizabeth had just smiled sweetly and told her that had never been an issue where she was concerned. That should have been all it took for Cordelia to figure out who Elizabeth was, but she was too distracted by the fact Sawyer was back to pay enough attention to Elizabeth beyond the fact she saw her as a potential rival now Sawyer may be Alpha and apparently seemed content to take another mate as his father had asked. Cordelia still thought she deserved to be the highest standing woman in the pack and she intended to make sure Sawyer took her as his primary mate – and preferably as his only mate.

She had been one of the few suitable women in the pack who was uninterested in approaching Tobias after his younger son died. She was confident that she could have won him over if she had wanted to, but she was already living in the house anyway; after Sawyer left she had seen a relationship with Andrew as a means to an end – with an infant as his heir, Tobias was vulnerable. Andrew could easily dispatch of the child if Tobias died when he was still young, and it would leave her as the undisputable primary mate of the Alpha when he then took over.  She didn’t care for Andrew the way she had cared for Sawyer. Elizabeth had been correct when she assumed it was more than just wanting to be with him for his status. She found him attractive, and his cold indifference towards her when most other men fawned over her and tried to impress her meant she had rather a childish crush on him.

She had been one of the most persistently irritating to deal with when she was on heat, as far as Sawyer was concerned. She would end up pleading with him in a way that was not at all pleasing, and reeked of a different kind of desperation to the body-weakening physical need that had left Elizabeth in such a state a few short days ago. In the end he had avoided her around that time altogether to avoid her pestering him when he turned her down, but her vanity took that as a sign he didn’t trust himself with her and wouldn’t be able to stop himself going further with her than with the others. She used to boast about it when he turned her down, and the small group of women she was rather dominant over all ended up envious of her for it as they believed her theory.

Now that Elizabeth was no longer on heat, and no longer smelled like a wolf, she was determined not to bump into Cordelia while she was alone. Sawyer was busy dealing with preparations for his father’s funeral later that night, and so she was alone in the room most of the day.

The room itself was rather devoid of character. It was like an extremely upmarket hotel room, and she almost expected to be able to call for room service when she realised she hadn’t eaten all day. She settled for messaging Sawyer, knowing he would understand why she didn’t want to leave the room.

About ten minutes later she saw him walking at a fast pace across from another house, and then a few minutes after that he arrived at the room with some simple snacks, depositing them on the bed and turning hurriedly to leave the room again.

“Sawyer, wait…”

He turned back to look at her but his expression made it clear he was in a hurry and didn’t want to stay for long.

“What do you need?”

“I just haven’t seen you at all today. Why not have something to eat with me before you go back to them?”

“I really don’t have the time for that Elizabeth. We’re burying him tonight and there are some things to do before that.” She looked crestfallen and he sighed, stepping closer to her, “five minutes, OK? That’s all I can spare but I’m an absolute sucker for that look you just gave me so I can’t say no.”

She smiled, he sat beside her on the bed, and they picked at the food he had brought up for the next five minutes before he stood up to leave again.

“Oh…”

“I told you I’m busy, Elizabeth. I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK, I understand how important this is.”

“You know exactly how to make it impossible to leave you. You are far too reasonable.”

“Would it help if I was less reasonable? Because I can demand you stay here and satisfy my every whim if that will make it easier for you to walk away?”

“I think you know that it would not make it any easier if you did that.”

She reached out to him, resting her hand on his inner thigh just above his knee, and looking up at him as she dragged her hand very slowly upwards.

“You can’t spare another five minutes?”

“You know what?” He sat back down beside her on the bed, “I can spare as long as I f*****g want. I don’t owe Tobias anything, and I certainly don’t owe any of his pack anything, either.”

His phone rang, and he pulled it frustratedly from his pocket. She didn’t quite see who it was before he answered.

“…we got here a couple of days ago… I’ve been busy, Francesca…”

Elizabeth decided to fetch herself a drink while Sawyer spoke to his sister, and he didn’t stop her when she stood up.

She made her way to the kitchen, admiring some of the artwork on the way. She was surprised to find Lynette making a drink when she got there. She had expected all the others to be out of the house, and she had almost forgotten that Lynette even lived there at all.

“I’m sorry.” She looked at the floor, abandoning what she was doing and moving hastily towards the door.

“What are you sorry for?”

“I should have left the house and gone back to live with my sister and her mate. Cordelia already warned me I had to leave after Tobias…”

“… Cordelia doesn’t matter. Sawyer doesn’t have an issue with you being here and this house belongs to him. If anyone should be packing their stuff right now it’s her.”

“He’s not going to take her as a mate?”

Elizabeth laughed at the suggestion, “You know who it is you’re asking that, don’t you?”

“I think so.”

“Well, trust me that he wants nothing to do with her. We may not even stay here, anyway- we have our own pack to think of.”

Elizabeth continued making the drink that Lynette had abandoned, along with one for herself. She saw the woman wanted to know more about her in a way that was less intrusive than the others were being, and she also saw an opportunity to garner information about what was going on that Sawyer was too busy to give her right now.

“Who are you, Elizabeth?”

“I thought you knew.”

“I need to hear it.”

“I believe your pack would describe me as the woman who ruined Sawyer’s life.”

“But when you got here you didn’t smell human at all.”

“When I got here, I was on heat. Now I’m not.”

“I didn’t realise humans smelled like us then. I haven’t ever been around anyone like you before.”

“I’m not human, Lynette. Not fully. I probably shouldn’t be telling you that yet, but I know the others have been talking about it and you all think we found some way to trick you.”

“But you smell human now.”

“It’s complicated. All you need to know is that I’m as much wolf as I am human.”

“Are you going to be there tonight?”

“I think that I would be too much of a distraction. I already feel like people are staring up at the house trying to catch sight of me whenever I look out of the window; and I can imagine exactly the kind of things Cordelia will have been telling people around me.”

“Don’t take that personally. She isn’t nice to anyone.”

“I won’t. Dealing with women like her is just part of being with someone like him. It didn’t take me long to figure that out. Even humans are unnecessarily rude to me as if he’s some prize to be won and they deserve him more than I do. I was sick of it when it was human women I used to see as friends being overly flirty, but I have never stood for it from wolves and she’s in for a nasty shock if she thinks she’s getting anywhere near him.”

“She’s with Andrew now, anyway.”

Elizabeth picked up on the fact this was Lynette testing her, and whether she thought like a wolf or not.

“She’s not with him, she’s using him. She thought he might end up Alpha, so she took advantage of the fact he thinks she is better than he deserves to try and set herself up as the highest ranking woman in this pack. She had no respect for you, and she has no respect for me. She will try – and fail – to convince Sawyer to take her as his mate if she thinks he’s going to take over from his father.”

“Do you think that he will?”

“He doesn’t want to. I don’t want him to. I don’t want the rest of our pack to have to move here… but from what I can tell, people are already gravitating towards him and I don’t think anyone is going to listen to a word Andrew says. He doesn’t even seem like a decent Beta to me; just someone who would do what Tobias told him. He isn’t half as skilled as Robin was.”

“Was?”

“I should get back to Sawyer.”

“Is it true he’s going to have a child?”

Elizabeth didn’t know whether she should be honest or not. They hadn’t had the chance to talk about that.

“It’s true that I persuaded him to take a second mate, and it’s true that she’s pregnant.”

She had deliberately avoided answering clearly, and Lynette could tell that there was more to it than Tobias had relayed. But she knew better than to question Elizabeth further when she had been kind and understanding so far, and her own position was far from certain.

Elizabeth wasn’t sure whether Sawyer would even be there when she got back up to the room, though she had only been gone a few minutes. She expected he may have taken the chance to slip away from her, but the shower was running in the bathroom and so she decided to slip out of her clothes and join him.

He smiled when he saw her, and it seemed as if he was genuinely comforted by her presence. He pulled her into a tight embrace under the shower and she felt the warm water cascading over their bodies as she rested her head on his chest.

“You smell nice,” she remarked, “this is the same stuff you used to wash with. You haven’t used it for a while.”

“That’s right,” he held her at arm’s length, studying her carefully, “perhaps your sense of smell is getting better.”

Elizabeth smiled, “I don’t think so. I just always liked the way it smells; it reminds me of you. Masculine and strong, but not obnoxiously so.”

He laughed. “Well I am glad you like it. Here,” he reached for the bottle and put some of the ludicrously expensive shower gel on his hands, “you know I love it when you smell like me.”

His hands glided over her body leaving a soapy trail of tiny bubbles which was washed away by the water. His touch was gentle as he took the opportunity to explore her body, rubbing the shower gel into her skin. Her heart fluttered as he slipped one of his hands lower, between her legs, as his lips brushed against hers before he deepened the kiss to stifle the moan that had escaped them.

“We can’t…” Her breath was jagged as she almost gasped the words.

He wound the fingers of his free hand through her hair, gently pulling her head back so she was looking deep into his eyes as he continued teasing her with his other hand. He stopped rather abruptly, turning off the shower and stepping out to wrap a towel around himself. She regretted saying anything.

“We can,” he held out his hand to help her out of the shower, then pulled her close and wrapped her in a large fluffy towel, “if you want.”

She looked up at him, resting her hands on his chest and finding herself distracted by the how firm and unyielding his body was against hers.

She leaned up to kiss him in answer, and he gently pushed the towel from her so it tumbled down to the floor around her ankles.

She stepped over it, allowing him to guide her to the bedroom as his mouth remained hot against her own and his tongue entwined with hers.

He led her over to the bed, pushing her down as he cast the towel he had wrapped around himself away.

She pulled him on top of her eagerly, impatient to feel him inside her. He enjoyed the fact she was so keen; he needed distracting, and she made it so easy to forget about anything else.

He was rougher with her than he had been for a while, seemingly enjoying the fact she was just a little uncomfortable if he didn’t moderate himself. It wasn’t unpleasurable for her; she pushed her hips up to meet his, happy to take in as much of him as she could.  

She was surprised when she felt his body had tensed a little, and realised he was close before she was finished. She thought this may be the first time he came before she did.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve never left you unsatisfied before, have I?”

“No. But I can feel that you need to…”

He pulled out of her then smiled rather deviously, “I am perfectly in control of myself, and I can tell by the way you are breathing right now that you were more frustrated by what I just did than I was.”

He touched her again then, watching her carefully until he made her c*m and then giving her just a second to catch her breath before he was back on top of her again.

He didn’t lie down beside her when he was finished, he grabbed he towel from the floor and went back to the bathroom.

She heard the shower start again and called over to him to ask what he was doing.

“I have a funeral to go to shortly. If I turn up smelling like I just f****d you, it’ll probably be seen as disrespectful, and I would like to avoid any arguments if at all possible.”