Caden watched carefully as Elise slid out of bed and covered herself with a robe. She threw a quick smile over her shoulder and walked out of the room, down the stairs and to the kitchen. He heard the rattling of dishes as Elise served up a belated dinner. Caden sighed deeply before he rose, gathering his clothing together in one convenient spot, in case she tried to stab him or something. He wanted his getaway to be quick and easy. He pulled on his boxers and joined Elise downstairs at the table.
As he sat down across from her at the rectangular table, he noticed how beautiful Elise looked, especially with his mark showing from beneath the robe that was wrapped precariously around her body. He watched as her nipples peeked at him from beneath the robe as she moved, reaching for one thing or another. His tongue darted out of its own accord, licking plump lips that were hungry for more than just food.
Elise's head popped up, staring at him as she caught his heated thoughts, flashes of things that she hadn't even thought to imagine up, things that were hot as hell and sexy as fuck. But, she knew then that something had happened between them that was beyond her at the moment. Mostly because she was certain that the vivid erotic pictures that flashed through her mind were not her own, but she wasn't opposed to partaking in those fantasies.
"Caden, talk to me."
Caden looked up and sighed once again. Here it was, the moment of truth. His eyes scanned the table for anything that was scalding hot and capable of being thrown in his face, but he blew a relieved breath when he didn't see anything overly concerning.
"Well, I love you and I wish we had talked before we…made love, but what's done is done and I can't change any of it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I will start from the beginning. I am a werewolf and you are my lifemate. I have seen and known many females over the course of my long life, but you are the first one that made my wolf howl. You are the one who my wolf yearned for, and as such, we pursued you with the intention of making you our mate."
"A werewolf. Are you shitting me?"
"I shit you not, my sweet. Before we had sex for the first time, my wolf emerged and after being repressed for so long, he was a little overeager…He bit you some time during your orgasm and established a telepathic link between us. I believe you've been picking up some of my stray thoughts."
"So you're telling me that you're a werewolf…and your wolf in your body bit me…and you mated with me without my consent?"
Caden watched as anger bloomed across Elise's features. "No, sweet, not at all. We have not mated. You and I can communicate telepathically, but that's the extent of it. The choice to mate with us will always be yours. I would never force you into such a binding and life long contract. Not to mention that you would need to be turned and that's another decision that belongs solely to you."
Elise stared at Caden, her mouth open in disbelief. He really believed this mumbo jumbo that he was speaking. "I don't believe you."
Caden nodded before speaking into her mind, making sure his lips were shut tightly.
'So that means that you're not hearing this? That you can't feel me in your mind…'
Elise jumped backwards at the first sounds of Caden's voice in her head. She had kept her eyes on his lips, but that didn't mean that he wasn't a ventriloquist. "That's a pretty clever trick, but it's going to take more than that to convince me."
Caden stood and stepped back from the table. "I suppose I could demonstrate, but promise not to freak out too much."
He relaxed his body, seeking out his wolf and allowing him to come forward, to take over the shift. Elise watched as Caden's muscles rippled beneath his skin, changing, and the hair on his chest becoming thicker until it covered him. His face became elongated, his ears growing upward, and he threw her a quick grin, showing off the sharpness of his teeth. He dropped to all fours and when she looked over the table at him, he was fully shifted. A large black wolf stood where he had been just seconds before. She doubted that he was keeping a wolf somewhere in her house and she would have seen something that massive trotting into her kitchen. So...that left one explanation…
Elise dropped heavily into her seat and watched with detached curiosity as the wolf walked slowly towards her, dropping down and inching forward as non-threateningly as he could manage. Elise took a deep breath and another as her mind struggled to process what was happening. Her eyes took into the wolf and she tested the theory that she was hallucinating by pinching herself and then tentatively reaching out, touching the wolf that had eased up next to her by then.
His fur was coarse, thick, beautiful. And his eyes were ice blue instead of the deep purple that she had grown used to. He was larger than most wolves and he looked ten times as dangerous, but she knew that he wouldn't hurt her. Mostly because she cold feel how he felt about her in her mind and it was a comfort. And probably the only reason she hadn't run screaming from the room or hit him with one of the pots on the stove.
This was Caden, another side of Caden, the man that she had grown to love. She could no more cast him out for being himself than she could hate him. She was pissed he hid this part of himself from her and she had a few more questions for him. But, she wasn't about to talk to a big wolf sitting in her kitchen. She felt crazy enough as it was.
"Shift back. I want to speak to you, Caden."
The wolf offered her a slight bob of his head and she smiled, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Caden changed there beside her and as he took his human form, she frowned at him and smacked him upside his head.
"What?!?"
"You know what."
"So the wolf gets a kiss and I get hit in the head?" Caden scowled at her while she glowered at him. Damn, she was so sexy, even when she was mad. His wolf was right, he was going to enjoy this.
"Why didn't you tell me all of this before we had sex?"
"Like I said before. My wolf wasn't interested in waiting any longer. I had been suppressing him and he got fed up with my lack of action. He bust through my defenses and took over and then…took you."
"Ok, then, next question. Why were you suppressing him?"
Caden looked a bit sheepish as he answered, not knowing how she would react but feeling ashamed for not telling her straight up. "I wasn't sure that you would accept us. I wanted to see how long I could hold him back…just in case I had to in order to be with you."
Elise's frown deepened. She smacked Caden in the back of the head again for good measure.
"Ow! What the hell?"