All in the Chemistry [The Royal Wolves 4] (Siren Publishing Allure) (22 page)

“Tomorrow,” he agreed before lifting her leg to spread her open to his taking of her. Pushing deeper faster and harder he watched her attention splinter away from where it had gone to the moment. Stroking his tongue over her mating mark, he breathed in at her shiver.

When his teeth once more bit down on her mating mark, Courtney shattered into a million pieces. Her body exploded and her lungs released the air inside of them with screaming his name once more. Courtney saw stars from her release. She was in the heavens as her body climaxed seemingly over and over again.

Collapsing from his own release, Kristof let out a small, satisfied sound as he nuzzled her throat. Long minutes later, he rolled over with her held tight in his arms and cradled to his chest. Stroking her hair back, he let out another breath as he relaxed.

She was already half asleep as she nuzzled against him gently. “I love you, Kris” was her whispered sound followed by a sigh of contented happiness. “Our baby will be the most beautiful child ever born and he’s going to be his daddy all over again.” Which made her so very happy. “Dream with me, Kris, dream with me so that I can ask you something.”

Smiling softly, he nodded and kissed her hair. “As you wish, love. Make it comfortable for us both, no balancing on a rooftop again, please?” he asked remembering the one time she’d wanted to try the paragliding and chosen a building in Dubai she’d seen on television. He’d nearly had heart failure when she’d dived off the edge and then again when he’d stupidly followed her.

“Spoil sport,” she teased and grinned even as she felt sleep pulling her into the dream where they could talk, and love once more.

Chapter 7

She sat on the wrap-around porch of the cabin high in the mountains. The lake at the back and snow at the front, it was perfect. Closing her eyes, she rocked in a hand-carved rocker and breathed in the scents around her for a very long time before the smile curled her lips, “Hello, my love,” she whispered knowing he was there finally. “Took you long enough to fall asleep, my mate.”

“It always takes me a bit of time,” he told her as he moved up the steps to stand before her. “I happen to love watching you for a time and knowing that I’m the luckiest man and Wolf on the planet.”

She grinned and nodded. “I want you to see who else dreams with us, Kris,” she whispered quietly and tugged at his hand just as a little boy who looked just like Kris came barreling around the corner with the whole pack at his heels, laughter pealing from him as he ran and yelling for “mommy and daddy.”

Stunned, Kris stumbled and ended up sitting down hard on the deck. Looking to her, he blinked. “Is that…? Oh god,” he breathed at her nod. He would not cry, he would not cry, oh god, he was going to start blubbering like a hormonal female.

She touched his hair and nodded. “Yes, that’s our son,” she whispered against his ear and rubbed her cheek to his cheek. “I love you, Kris, I wanted you to meet him because he certainly likes to let me know that he’s here when I daydream or am on the fringe of sleep. Go, talk to your boy, my love.”

“God, he looks just like I did at that age,” he whispered, not capable of movement, he was still too shell shocked. “What do I say to him, Courtney?” he asked, shaking his head slightly as he tried to get his thoughts in order.

“How about you start with ‘Hello’ and go from there?” Stroking her hand through his hair she smiled. “He’s very small yet, darling, he has very simple needs, to play, to be held, to be loved, that’s all he needs right now. Later you can deal with the big things like slaying dragons, for now though, darling, just love him.”

Shaking his head at her, Kris moved toward the boy and crouched down so they were closer in height. “Hi,” he breathed out, not sure he could have managed more when eyes just like Courtney’s turned his way.

A smile greeted him with two missing front teeth. “Hi,” the little boy whispered to his father. “You are my Daddy, aren’t you?” he asked curiously, as he tilted his head to the side slightly. “My Mommy talks about you a lot.” He looked toward Courtney and smiled. “But you not been here when I been sleeping, too, and she misses you when you’re not here.”

Nodding, Kris let out a breath. “I miss her, too, when she’s asleep and I’m not,” he murmured. “But she needs more of it.” And he’d been frantically searching for the genome that led to the path of turning Rogue. Mainly because of the child she carried, his son, he never wanted the boy to know the fear of that guillotine hanging over his head.

“She dreams of letters and numbers when you aren’t here to give her the good dreams, I sometimes hide so she doesn’t know I sleeping and watch her at the big white wall writing on it.” The little boy didn’t understand the white board or the equations that his mother wrote on the board. “But then she figures I’m watching and turns the dream into something I would like. We play together a lot, but she looks for you, she’s always looking for you.”

“I know,” Kristof said, reaching out to gently brush a curl from the boy’s eyes. It figured that Courtney would be working on the cure even while asleep, he’d found himself doing it as well which was yet another reason why he wasn’t with her as much as he should be. “I’m glad that she’s had time with you, though, it’s good for her to have you to talk and play with ahead of time, she’s a little nervous about being a mother.”

“I don’t know why, cause she’s gonna be the bestest mommy, that’s why I chose her to be my mommy and you to be my daddy. It’s cause you two are the best of the best and you’re mine.” The little boy leaned back and all but beamed with his prideful smile.

“She is going to be the best,” Kris agreed, turning to look to his mate and smiled. “She’s amazing, that’s for sure, and you could never ask for a better or more protective woman,” he murmured, shifting to look at the boy. Stroking a hand over the soft hair, Kristof felt a pang of emotion. “We’ll figure it out,” he promised himself and the boy even if he didn’t know to what Kris was referring, the sentiment was there.

“I know that you will, Daddy, I have faith in you and Mommy.” He hesitated and then said, “I gotta tell you something before I wake up, Daddy.” The little visage began to waver. “Mommy makes it better for you, look from there and you will find the right thing Daddy to make it all right.”

“What?” he asked and then blinked, spinning around. “Damn it,” he growled under his breath, shoving a hand through his hair with another curse. Getting up, he walked back to Courtney and paused to stare at her for a long moment, trying to figure out the rather cryptic clue.

“I love you, Kristof,” Courtney said and watched him. “Did you have a good visit with your son, my love?” She had adored watching Kris and their son together, so alike and so uncertain, both of them. Her men, her loves.

Nodding, he moved closer and knelt down before her. “You never once told me that you had him with you in the dreams, love,” he whispered softly. Reaching out he gently cupped her face and pulled her close for a kiss. “Why didn’t you ever tell me, Courtney?”

“Every time that I tried to tell you something happened and I wasn’t able to just simply tell you.” Courtney leaned forward. “Will you forgive me? I kept trying to tell you, to bring you into my dreams and you didn’t come or you wouldn’t.” 

“As long as you forgive me for my single-mindedness of late,” he said, hugging her to him. “I love you, Courtney and I’ve been an absolutely horrid mate of late to you, love.”

“No you haven’t, sweetheart.” Courtney argued. “You have been trying to find the missing link for the Rogue gene so that our son can be born without the fear of one day battling the demon that you battle every single day, darling.” She understood how hard it was for him, at times she felt the monster just under the surface begging to be released. “We will figure it out.” She was confident in them and what they could accomplish together.

God, he hoped so, he hated that blade hanging over his neck every second of every minute of every day. “I know we will, love,” was what he gave to her, knowing she didn’t need to hear any more of his doubts of what was to come.

“We will do it for our son, we will ensure that he will never have to live with this uncertainty and we will also do it for our people so that those that share in your struggle can receive help, Kris.” Courtney patted his hand and nodded. “We will do this because we love each other more than anything else and there is no other way for us.”

“You amaze me, Courtney,” he murmured with a smile. “So giving and caring.” Shaking his head, he shifted to sit at her side, her hand in his as they stared over the landscape she’d created in their dreams. 

Leaning her head on his shoulder, Courtney let out a breath and closed her eyes. “You amaze me, too, Kristof, you are beautiful inside and out.” He was perfect, mostly because he didn’t see himself as such.

Snorting at her, Kris shook his head. “You are blowing smoke again, love,” he said with a smile, dropping a kiss to her hair. “But you are beautiful and perfect, so you get away with the load of crap you are handing out.”

“Now who’s the one stretching the truth to fit their image of reality?” Before Kristof could say anything more, Courtney shook her head and laughed. “Leave it, Kris. Enjoy the rest of our dream with me so that when we wake we will be ready to tackle the world.”

“Well then,” he grinned and, in a quick move, lifted her up onto his lap to wrap her close. “There, much better,” he murmured, able to nibble on her throat with her in that position.

Shaking her head, Courtney began to laugh. “My Wolf, always wanting to nibble and lick and be petted.” Not that she was complaining, because she honestly loved all of those things.

Nodding, he kissed her jaw lightly. “I love all those things, especially the nibbling and licking part, but I have to admit to being partial to you petting me. I like feeling your hands on my body.” His voice was degenerating to a low rumble very close to a growl.

“Then I really do need to remind you of just why it is that you like having my hands all over your body, my Wolf. I think that we should play in our dreams, my love, in our Wolf forms, are you game?” She knew that he was. He loved being in his Wolf form as much as it seemed that she loved it.

“Lead on, my lady Wolf,” he said, loosening his hold so she could slide off his lap. “Perhaps a little game of hide and seek for you so you can practice tracking with the bonus of a prize at the end of your choice if you find me,” he challenged her.

If anything Courtney knew that her life with Kris was going to be anything but boring and so it was with that in mind that she took off into the dream fields, determined to play games with her mate.

* * * *

Frowning into the microscope, Kristof sat up and tossed his pen down, rubbing at his eyes in exhaustion. Rolling his head about his neck, he let out a sigh. He thought he’d had it, but now he knew that he didn’t, the cells he’d been looking at exploded on the slide, not something he really wanted to have happen in his own body.

While he wanted the genome that could potentially turn him Rogue dead, he didn’t particularly want that state for himself. Pinching his nose he let his mind wander over everything they’d been working on over the last few days. They’d had to work in the house lab since their new lab, that would be hiring those that held the same values they did toward the betterment of humanity and not the almighty dollar, wouldn’t be ready for another four months.

Shooting his mate a look, he let out a breath, she had such faith they’d figure this out. He was still worried that they wouldn’t, not in time, but her faith was unwavering and a little addictive. Smiling he closed his eyes and let his mind blank. They’d mapped it and begun testing various and common drugs to see what they did to that particular strand of DNA. A few had had little effect. Too many had had no effect at all. Now they were going outside the box of conventional thinking and practically, if metaphorically, throwing the kitchen sink at the damned thing to see what they could come up with.

Courtney frowned and looked up. “Kristof.” It couldn’t be, it really, really couldn’t be. “I need you to take a sample of your blood.” When he just looked at her, she glowered back. “Trust me. It’s something our son said to me the last time that I dreamed with him. He said that I held the key for you, so trust me.” Oh gods, if this was right, if it was true…“Take a sample of your blood and add in a drop of mine. A fifty-fifty ratio, Kris. Tell me what you see.”

Sighing softly he pulled out a rubber band and tied off his arm as he took the needle from her. Sliding the needle into his arm he slid in the tube to collect the blood. A moment later he slid the tube free and then pulled out the needle, taking the cotton balls she handed him and pressing it to the wound site as he bent his arm to trap it in place. “Do it,” he said with a sigh as he sat waiting for his wound to clot.

Flipping the switch to put the slide onto the overhead screen, she said, “Our son said that he had told you the same thing but he wanted to ensure that we did it together. Watch.” Courtney placed his blood on the slide and then as she watched him placed a drop of her blood onto the slide with his, an equal droplet of the same water. She watched as the blood came together as one and then said, “It’s fusing as one, Kris, the gene that we have found to be the Rogue will be gone if we test this stream. It’s mates, that’s what the key is. A wolf mate’s blood.”

“Test it then,” he said softly as he watched the screen, not willing to hope until it was before him in black and white. He’d been too close too often to let himself get too hopeful too soon. Looking to her he let out a breath. “Test it, Courtney, please,” he whispered softly not able to do it himself and be crushed again.