The Wolf Lord's Mate

Chapter Nine

I slept fitfully.

If Isa was at all bothered by my tossing and turning, she didn't show it; she slept peacefully, gentle snores escaping from her every so often. It was nice having someone else in the room, but even the comfort of having her near couldn't soothe me to sleep.

There was an itch in my skin, this nagging feeling that something was missing, but I couldn't figure out what. After a while, I tossed the covers back and crept to the door, peering behind me at Isa. She showed no signs of waking, and as I turned the doorknob, she merely turned over onto her side and buried her head in the pillow.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I slipped into the hall. The gentle glow of lantern light flitted in from the common room, and I found an older woman sitting at the table, a book open on her lap. She was a Wolf, I quickly realized, her eyes still sharp and keen despite her age.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." I was already moving backwards, but the older Wolf beckoned me to stop.

"Not interrupting a thing. I don't think we met earlier – I'm Patty." Patty offered me a kind smile, almost motherly, and a spike of longing lodged itself inside of me at the sight of it.

"Can't sleep?" Patty asked, tilting her head at me.

"No," I shook my head, "I suppose it will take me a little while to adjust."

"Where are you from?" Patty closing the book shut over her thumb, "Did you work at a shop in town?"

"I was self-employed," I said, copying the phrasing Nathaniel had used before, "I'm from The Alleys."

"Goodness," Patty's eyebrows shot up, "I imagine it will take you quite a bit of time to adjust, yes. You should have no worry for safety here, however, I can assure you."

"Even as a human?" I chewed my lip, almost stopping myself before continuing, "I've heard stories about humans who have gone to work for Wolves. They don't exactly end well. They aren't exactly treated very well."

"I don't doubt that," Patty sighed, "But change happens a little bit at a time, and our Lord is very keen for humans to be treated better."

"Is that why he hired me, do you think?" I asked, but Patty only smiled. It was an odd sort of smile - almost knowing, but what it was that she knew, I couldn't say.

"Possibly," Patty said, flipping her book back open, "But considering the way the Lord spoke about you, I have a feeling he sees something very special in you that he does not see in others."

"What does that mean?" It was an odd statement. There was nothing particularly special about me, and the skill that I had was a learned skill, the kind that anyone could master given the time and dedication.

"I'm sure he'll tell you in his own time, or perhaps I'm wrong." Patty turned her attention back to her book, sparing me only a single glance, "But I doubt it. An old Wolf's instincts are never wrong."

****

Trying to go back to sleep was a mistake.

My dreams were cluttered and mismatched, and the only common theme was him.

Nathaniel.

His scent wrapped around me tightly, and in my dreams I imagined that it was him; his strong arms curled around me and surrounding me with warmth and the comfort of safety I somehow knew that he could provide.

The dream Nathaniel's lips pressed to my neck, just lightly scraping his teeth over my skin. His mouth was hot, and yet every movement sent a shiver down my spine. His hands swept across my skin, slipping under my nightdress to caress my thighs, inching higher and higher.

His fingers moved upward, tantalizingly slow, until he just traced the seam of my slit. He did not slip his fingers inside, instead only brushing lazily over my seam, each movement causing the throbbing inside of me to increase ten-fold until I was sure that I would go mad if I did not have him.

Gods I was wet for him, this wall of a man, but every time I tried to shift in his arms, urging his touch to move closer, my dreams would shift and change, starting over again and again and again.

I was robbed of my pleasure each and every time, his touch always light and teasing, disappearing just as soon as it appeared, but his form never faded. Nathaniel was there in every dream I had, holding me tightly against him.

When I woke up the next morning, groggy and exhausted, I half expected him to be there lying in the bed next to me. Instead, I woke up alone, with only an ache between my legs.

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