Roan's Fall

Chapter Ten

Stepping into the living room, Roan found Ansley on the couch. She stared off into space lost in thought. He had no idea if that boded well for him or not. Cautiously, not wanting to startle her, he crossed over to where she sat and took the space next to her.

“I’m so sorry, Ansley. I never planned to spring it on you like this. I wanted to take things slow.”

Ansley kept her gaze fixed straight ahead of her. “I don’t know what to think, Roan. What Roxie told me … it’s an awful lot to digest all at once.”

“I know. Roxie told me to be upfront with you right from the start. You have to understand when a male werewolf finds his mate the mating urge sinks its claws into him and doesn’t let go until he has claimed his mate. It’s hard to ignore when the wolf inside is howling for you to take what belongs to you.” When Ansley didn’t say anything or look at him, Roan sighed. “I know it doesn’t excuse what I did, but can you at least try to forgive me?”

“Do you love me, Roan?” Ansley’s voice sounded flat, emotionless. Roan blinked at the sudden change in topic. “What?”

“I asked if you love me.”

No longer able to stand the distance Ansley had put between them physically and mentally, he pulled her onto his lap. He put a hand under chin and forced her to look at him. “Of course I love you, Ansley. You’re my mate.”

“Are you sure it’s love and not lust? Are you sure it isn’t this mating urge forcing you to feel what you think is love?”

Roan scowled. “It isn’t just the mating urge. I love you. The mating urge never would have kicked in if you weren’t the one meant for me. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to find my mate?”

“Roxie told me you were over a thousand years old. She also told me about the spell.”

“And?” Roan held his breath, waiting to hear what Ansley’s answer would be.

“I’m not ready for that, Roan. I don’t know if I’ll ever be.”

He released the breath he had been holding. “What are you saying, Ansley?”

“You say you love me, but I don’t know if what I feel for you is love or not. I’ve never been in love before. I have no idea what love is. I didn’t exactly grow up knowing the love of a mother or father. I don’t know if I’m even capable of it. I’m just so confused right now.”

Roan pulled Ansley’s head down to his shoulder and rubbed her back. “I won’t ask anything from you that you aren’t ready to give. Just know that I’m not going anywhere, ever. You’re mine. For now, that’s enough for me. We’ll work out the rest as we go along.”

Some of the tension he felt left his body when Ansley snuggled closer into his embrace. At least she hadn’t rejected him outright. The way she had reacted when he had gone wolf, Roan had been pretty worried she would want nothing to do with him. At that moment, Jager popped his head into the living room. “Sorry, never mind me.” He walked over to the couch and picked up his sword where Roxie had left it on the floor.

Much to Roan’s surprise, Ansley lifted her head and shook her head in Jager’s direction. “You better not let Roxie catch you with that. She may kick your butt instead of just taking it from you the next time. And given how big she looked in her half wolf/half human form, I would say she would have no problem kicking your butt if she wanted to.”

Jager shrugged. “She can always try,” he said with a smile. He had just stepped into the hallway when Roan and Ansley heard him say, “Oh, shit.”

The next voice they heard was Roxie’s. “I thought I took that from you already.”

Jager replied, “Well, I took it back.”

“You know how I feel about it,” Roxie said. “Now hand it over.” Jager obviously didn’t do as Roxie had asked, because she then said, “Give me that damn sword, Jager.”

The next thing Roan and Ansley heard were the sounds of heavy footfalls taking off at a run and another much lighter set following behind them. Roxie’s voice drifted to them as she chased after Jager. “You can run, but I’m still going to take that sword away from you.”

Roan and Ansley looked at each other then burst out laughing. Ansley was the first to recover. “Are they always like this?”

“Not all the time. The sword just happens to be a bone of contention between them. Roxie’s just afraid Jager will hurt somebody with it.”

“Would he?”

Roan shook his head. “No. Jager can handle a sword better than most of us. He doesn’t make mistakes like that. As you may have guessed, he’s so attached to the thing you would swear he had been born with it in his hand.”

Ansley’s face grew serious. “You have a sword too, don’t you?”

“Yes. All my brothers have one. Same with Saskia. That’s our weapon of choice.”

“I think I would like to see your sword, Roan,” Ansley said softly. “I have to admit Jager looked pretty hot standing there with his sword raised like that. It made me think about other raised swords.”

Roan growled low in his throat. “You had better be thinking about my sword and not Jager’s. I would hate to beat the crap out of my own brother.”

Ansley smiled. “It most definitely was your sword I thought about since you know how to use it so well.”

With another growl, Roan kissed Ansley until she grew pliant against him. He then urged her head on his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. He knew she would still need some time to come to terms with everything that she had learned today, but he felt more than pleased that the distance she had tried to put between no longer existed. Later he would show Ansley how much he loved her. And, if she made the decision to stay a mortal, he would show her that he would stand by it and wouldn’t force her into becoming a werewolf. He had already taken one choice away from her. He wouldn’t take this one away from her too.

Ansley watched Roan cross swords with Jager down in the training area in the basement. After they had left Roxie and Beowulf’s place, they had gone back to Roan’s house, actually her house now too. She and Roan had had a long talk. He had told her everything about him, even what it was like to be a werewolf. It had helped her to be more accepting of what he had done. And it helped her to understand the whole mated business. She knew she had strong feelings for him, the strongest she had ever felt for a man, but she still didn’t know if she would call it love. She wished she could tell him she loved him in return when he told her he loved her, but Ansley wouldn’t just say the words because he wanted to hear them.

During their talk, Roan had also explained why he and his family had trained so hard to protect Roxie, the foretold one. According to Roan, Roxie was more than just special. She could do things no other werewolf could, much more than just being able to shift into a half wolf/half human form and use a spell to turn mortals into werewolves. Since she also ruled over all the packs, it made her vulnerable. If another werewolf somehow managed to get control of her, they could use Roxie as a figurehead to rule instead. Roan had also told her about Miles, Saskia’s true brother, who at one time had been trained to protect the foretold one alongside his sister. But that was before he decided to switch sides and covet the foretold one for his own.

The sound of swords clashing together brought Ansley out of her musings. She followed Roan’s movements with her eyes. Shirtless, she could easily see the muscles in his arms and shoulders bunch when he swung at Jager. Each man’s hits were controlled. Not once did they draw blood.

Soon Roan stepped back and held up his hand to Jager. “That’s enough for one day I think.”

“Are you sure?” Jager swung his sword in an arc in front of him. “I could do this all day.”

Roan nodded in Ansley’s direction where she stood off to the side. “Unlike you, I have something more important in my life than my sword.”

“Since I’m no longer wanted, I guess I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. I’ll tell the others that you and Ansley will be fooling around down here and not to disturb you.”

Roan shook his head at his brother. “Jager.”

“What? Isn’t that what you want to do?”

“Would you get the hell out of here?”

With an unrepentant smile, Jager then headed up the basement stairs leaving Roan and Ansley alone. Ansley crossed over to Roan. “You definitely were right about Jager. He says whatever he wants and doesn’t give a crap what other people think.”

“We’ve tried breaking him of that habit over the years, but I don’t think he’ll ever change.”

“Will he tell the others we’re fooling around down here?”

“Of course, but Saskia will soon set him straight. She usually does.”

“I still can’t get over the fact that Saskia is the leader of you all.”

“It wasn’t on a whim that she had been picked to be our leader. She knows how to put each and every one of us in our place. She’s also lethal with a sword. She’s the only one who can best Jager in sword practice.”

Ansley let her gaze run over the sword Roan held in his hand. “Can I?”

Roan moved to her side and put the pommel of his sword in her hand. “You got it? It’s pretty heavy.”

The way she had watched Roan swing it, Ansley didn’t think it could be all that heavy. She wrapped her hand around the pommel and nodded. “Okay, I got it.” Once Roan let go, she soon found out how wrong she had been in that thinking. The tip of the sword thumped down onto the floor. It took both her hands to lift it back up to her waist. Her arms soon started to shake with the strain of holding the heavy sword. “I think you had better take it, Roan.”

He easily took it from her and held it as if it weighed nothing. “I told you it would be heavy.”

“The way you and Jager handled them you wouldn’t think it would be that heavy.”

Roan put his arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the stairs. “I’ve had years of practice. How about I go take a shower then we can watch TV or something?”

“I guess.”

Instead of staying downstairs, Ansley followed Roan up to their room. Roan and she planned to start moving the things out of her apartment to the house the following day. She decided while he was in the shower that she would see where she could fit her dresser into the room. Most of her furniture she would have to either sell or give away to charity. Not that she cared. None of her furniture held any sentimental value. Ansley sat on the bed after Roan went into the bathroom. Since he had left the door open, she easily heard him undress before the water turned on in the shower. It didn’t take much for Ansley to picture what Roan would look standing in the shower, the water running down his naked body. His arms would flex while he ran the bar of soap all over him. Her pussy started to ache and wetness pooled between her legs as she pictured him running his big soapy hand up and down his cock as he washed it. She stood up and walked over to the bedroom door and locked it. She stripped off her clothes and let them drop to the floor. She then crossed the room to the bathroom. After revealing what he was, Roan hadn’t once tried to initiate sex. If Ansley didn’t know better, she would think he held off, afraid she would reject him. Not that she would have. They were mates and nothing would change that. She may not be able to tell him she loved him, but she could show him with her body that he meant much more than what she could say in words.

Slipping into the bathroom, Ansley walked over to the glass enclosed shower. Roan had his back toward her with his head under the running water. She pulled open the shower door and stepped inside behind him.

Roan spun around. “Ansley?”

She gave him a smile. “I hope you didn’t expect another woman to get in the shower with you.”

“I thought you were going to wait out in the bedroom for me.”

“I decided I would much rather join you.” She stepped closer and pressed her lips to his chest.

Roan moaned. “Are you sure?”

She dragged her tongue across his nipple. “Why wouldn’t I want to?”

His hands fisted at his sides. “I thought maybe you would need more time to get your head around what I am.”

Ansley slid her hands down Roan’s back to his ass. She then rubbed herself against his cock, which had grown thick and hard between them. “I’m over my initial shock. And right now all I can think about is making love to you.”

As if that had been all he waited to hear, Roan threaded his fingers through her hair and took her mouth in a hard kiss. Ansley pressed closer and rubbed her taut nipples against his chest. She sucked his tongue into her mouth. She reached between them and took his hard cock in her fist. She pumped her hand up and down his length. Roan growled softly. He cupped one of her breasts in his hand and thumbed her nipple. The fingers of his other hand trailed down her body to her pussy. He found her clit and rubbed it before he pushed a finger inside her core. “You’re already wet for me.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Ansley asked coyly. She squeezed his cock even harder.

“First I’m going to taste you.”

Roan pulled out of her grasp and went down on his knees. He nudged her legs apart and used his fingers to spread the lips of her sex. Ansley gasped at the first stroke of his tongue. Roan flicked her clit with the tip of his tongue before he sucked it into his mouth. She held onto his shoulders and rocked her hips. Waves of pleasure shot through her body when Roan pushed two fingers inside her. He pumped them in and out of her while he continued to suck and lick her clit.

Ansley’s moans filled the shower as he continued to work her, pushing her ever closer to an orgasm. It was all she could do to keep upright. Her legs started to shake. She knew if she hadn’t been holding onto Roan she would have fallen. Roan spread his fingers as he moved them inside her, stretching her. “Come for me, Ansley,” he half growled. “I want to taste you when you come.”

He sucked on her clit harder. Ansley called Roan’s name as her climax tore through her. He replaced his fingers with his tongue. He lapped and sucked until the last wave of pleasure receded.

Weak, Ansley sank to her knees in front of Roan. “My turn.”

She bent and circled her tongue around the head of his cock. Roan sank his hands into her hair and groaned. She opened her mouth and took just the tip of him inside. Sucking, she wrapped her hand around his shaft and pumped it up and down. Roan’s hips bucked. He growled deep inside his chest. The sound of his growls made her body liquefy.

Taking hold of his shaft at the base, Ansley took more of his length inside her mouth. Roan’s cock grew even harder. He pumped his hips when she alternated between sucking and swirling her tongue around the head of his cock. She would have continued to pleasure him this way until he came, but Roan had other ideas. He pulled away and turned her so she faced the glass shower door. Both still on their knees, Roan came up behind her. He took hold of her hips. His cock slipped between her spread thighs and probed the entrance to her body. Ansley rocked back against him, rubbing her wetness along his thick shaft. With a growl, Roan sheathed himself inside her to the hilt with one stroke.

Ansley placed her hands on the glass door. Roan pulled back until he was almost free of her body then rammed back inside. She clamped her inner walls around his shaft as he pounded into her. Moaning, she pushed back, matching his strokes. Her body started to coil tighter once again. The feel of his thick cock stretching her, moving in and out, pushed her ever closer to orgasm.

Roan surged into her harder, faster. With one hand still on her hip, he reached around her body and found her clit. He rubbed it as he bent forward, bit the top of her shoulder near her neck and held onto her with his teeth. Ansley cried out when she started to come. Roan stiffened behind her when he too found his release. His cock pulsed deep inside her, filling her with his cum.

Ansley leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the shower door. Roan was still buried thick and hard deep inside her pussy. “You’re still hard.”

He pumped his hips once. “Of course I am. All male werewolves can keep an erection for hours, even after coming.”

She pushed back until she leaned against Roan’s chest. “It’s a good thing that isn’t common knowledge among mortal women or poor mortal men would never get laid.”

Roan swirled his tongue inside her ear. “The only mortal woman I’ll be sharing that information with is you.”

“I’m not complaining. How about we go to bed and you can show me just how many times you can come. Maybe you can set a new personal best.”

Roan pulled out of her, turned off the water and picked her up in his arms. He carried her out to the bedroom and put her on the bed. “Now that is one challenge I’m more than up for.”