He was so beautifully naked, the light hair trailing down his torso to his pubic hair, his cock jutting out so proud and large and eager to please and take pleasure.

She dug her heels into the mattress, enraptured with the way he was making her feel—the joy, the headiness, her body thrumming with pleasure.

She let out a small cry as the fireworks showered her with hot, warm gratification. He wasn’t done as he lifted her legs over his shoulders and separated her with his fingers, stroking as she writhed to his touch, waves of renewed carnal need washing over her.

He replaced his fingers with his cock, burying it deep, seating himself. He pulled out and thrust again. He pounded against her ass, his muscles straining as he worked up the heat, their breathing heavy, the smell of wolfish sex permeating the air.

“Beautiful,” he managed to say, his voice ragged as he climaxed, the tremors of her own orgasm clutching at him.

He sank down on top of her, his face buried between her breasts, his breath warm against her skin, his tongue licking the valley. “Salty and sweet.” After a moment, he added, “And spicy.”

***

Sometime later, Elizabeth woke in Tom’s arms in his bed, the covers over them, and she realized they’d fallen asleep for a couple of hours. “Do you think your cousins might be changing their minds about joining the pack?”

“Maybe. They would be mad at all of us—Jake and me, Darien, and Lelandi. Probably Peter, too, since he took their father’s place as sheriff. I don’t know if they’re out looking for CJ, or if that’s just CJ’s wishful thinking. I’m worried that they might have turned tail and given up on trying to come back to the pack.”

“You think they’d leave CJ?”

“I wouldn’t want to think so, but I wouldn’t think Eric would entertain notions of helping kidnappers just to get back at us, either.”

“Too bad I wasn’t able to track them while we were in the forest.”

He pulled her tighter into his arms. “Best little tracker in Colorado.”

“And Oklahoma and Texas. Not that I’m bragging,” she said with a smile.

He kissed her forehead and smiled a little, but a crease marred his brow.

“What’s wrong?”

“I wonder what evidence North could have of your uncle’s involvement in your parents’ murders.”

“He wouldn’t tell me. I think he wanted to see me.”

Tom scowled at that. “I suspect to convince you to stay with him. What triggered the killings? Do you have any idea?”

She took a deep breath and let it out. “My parents were getting ready to celebrate my sixteenth birthday.” She gave a soft snort. “Sweet sixteen and I didn’t have any friends around my age to celebrate it. You know what my father gave me? I mean, it was sweet, but not exactly what I had expected.”

Tom caressed her arm and shook his head.

“A boot knife. To protect myself with. Like I said, it was sweet of him to worry about me, probably because of the trouble I’d had with wolves who didn’t like what I was. But still, I was thinking more of a mare. A boot knife? I was away from home both days when they were murdered. If I had been there either day…” She shuddered.

Tom rubbed her arm. “Your father wasn’t home when your mother was murdered?”

“No. He had broken some horses for someone, and he went to deliver them. I was at the mercantile that day, picking up some goods my mother wanted. I—I returned home after my father did and found him in a state. He was just numb. I’ve never seen him so… shocked. He wouldn’t let me see her body. He buried her alone. I had… a sense that he knew who had done it. I asked, but he just shook his head.

“Two days later, he sent me into town for some supplies. I—I didn’t want to go. He insisted I take the boot knife with me. He was acting really strange. I wanted him to go with me. But he said he needed me to do it. I begged him to go with me. I was scared. I didn’t take the knife with me. I hadn’t wanted it. When I was halfway to town, I almost turned around. I had like a sixth sense something bad would happen.”

“He was meeting someone. Meeting the person he suspected killed your mother. Family,” Tom guessed.

“I think so. He didn’t want to tell me. I believe he confronted whoever it was, and that person got the best of him. He was stabbed to death. It was awful. Maybe that’s what had happened to my mother and that’s why my dad didn’t want me to see her. I was terrified. I was certain whoever had done it would want me dead next. North arrived and—”

“North?”

“Yeah, he was excited and said he had something for my birthday, but he needed to speak to my dad first. Then he must have seen my tears and how distraught I was. Once he learned my dad had been murdered, North never said anything more about my birthday and the two of us quickly buried my dad. He helped me pack, and I planned to take the remaining five horses and sell them. I still own the property, but I used the money from the sale of the horses to buy a small house out of the pack territory and lived there for a while. Then I moved to Oklahoma, close to my mother’s family, and from there to Texas.”

“Okay, back up a moment,” Tom said. “You didn’t smell who killed your mother? Back then no one would have had hunter’s spray to use.”

“My dad wouldn’t tell me where he’d found her. I was caught in a torrential downpour before I made it home with the goods for my mother. My dad had been outside, probably trying to calm one of our more skittish mares. I—I did smell a hint of what I thought might have been my uncle and Sefton’s scents. But I couldn’t be sure. Not with the way the rains had washed everything away. Since I suspected they had a hand in it, I thought I might have imagined it.”