8
PHOENIX’ POV
My ears pricked up at the new sounds flooding the house. My ears were my best wolf feature. The other guys raved about their noses all the time, and yeah sure, my nose was pretty damn good, but it was my ears that I could truly rely on.
And right now, despite not being in my wolf form, I was picking up on something...
"Err, are you guys okay?" I checked with Grant and Joey. They nodded, barely paying any attention to me. They were too embroiled with the Lego structure that they were building they barely even noticed me. "I just need to pop upstairs..."
They didn't even look up as I backed away, but that didn’t stop me from feeling like I was doing something wrong. I wasn’t sure what this sound was, I didn’t know what I was chasing, but I felt compelled to continue. I was like the children following the pied piper, unable to resist the siren’s call.
I might as well have been in a daze as I headed up the stairs. My hackles had risen, but my wolf didn’t sense danger. Instead, I sensed something else. Something... intriguing perhaps. The more I walked, the closer I got to the sound, the more the cells inside my body reacted. There was a lump in my throat. A thick one, making it hard to breathe. The noise was a moan, a desire filled groan, and I liked it all too much. A sound like that could only be coming from Billie, and that was enough to pull me forward to find out what exactly was happening.
Truth be told, I'd wanted to know more about her the whole time. That wasn't a sensation that I'd caved to, because this wasn't a time in her life when Billie wanted to get all caught up in complications, but that didn't mean it wasn't there.
She was a beautiful woman, strong and ethereal all at the same time. The idea of seeing her writhing in the grips of pleasure was just too much to bear. I was trembling all over, even though I probably shouldn't continue on, but I couldn't stop myself. I let my wolf take over until I found myself pressed up against the bathroom door, peering through the key hole to see what was going on inside.
Oh fuck!My heart leaped up into my throat, pounding heavily in my mouth. Billie was touching herself, moaning and groaning, looking like she was in ecstasy. Thank fuck she had no idea that I was around because I could not drag my eyes away. If I thought that she was smoking hot before, that was nothing compared to now. My God! At her most vulnerable moment, she was unbelievable.
I swallowed hard, growing weaker at the knees by the second. I had to fight off the urge to break down this bathroom door and to join her. I might not have ever touched Billie before, but I just knew I could make her feel phenomenal.
"Oh God, Cody," she groaned as she took herself over the edge. "Grant, that feels so good. Jasper, holy shit, Phoenix. Oh my God, Phoenix."
Hearing my name tumble off her lips like that was too much for me. I had to shove myself back away from the door because I was hard as a rock and too needy for words. If I didn't suppress this desire quickly, then I was going to lose all control of myself. In fact, what I really needed to do was get the hell out of here. I needed to unleash my animal rapidly so that I could just get rid of some of this energy.
I ran down the stairs in a daze. Even if someone was yelling out at me at that very moment, I couldn't hear it. I couldn't deal with it, I couldn't cope. I kept running until I hit the trees, and then shifted into my wolf form. I ran right through the trees and kept on going, in an attempt to shake off all thoughts of Billie.
But those moans… the way that she screamed out my name, all our names... the fact that she was in that bath tub thinking about all of us in a sexual manner was too much. I didn't think I would be able to forget them ever. They were so deep, so intense, so powerful... fuck, she really was the hottest woman alive.
It didn't help that love for me hadn't ever been a smooth road. I never seemed to find someone that really captured me. Perhaps that was why my intrigue in that moment with Billie stuck in my brain. One of my ex-girlfriends once told me I would never commit to someone forever because I got bored too easily, which maybe was right. There was never any spark to begin with when I was with other women. But now with Billie, there wasn't just a spark, there were flames...
I could also recall once telling Jasper that I didn't think the harem lifestyle was for me. He laughed at me at the time, telling me that I'd spent too much time with non-shifters, but I was convinced I didn't need it. And that wasn't an opinion I had ever compromised on. Until now, and all because I'd heard Billie calling out all of our names. There was something so sexy about that, I couldn't get enough.
I thought that I wanted more before, but now I needed more.
Fuck, I ran the perimeter of the property several times, I wasn't even sure how many, but it hadn't done anything to calm me down. My brain was racing, pulse pounding, mind scrambled. I wasn't sure I would be able to head back into that safe house again for a long time. I wasn't sure I would be able to look Billie in the eyes without feeling this way. It was going to be a real hard time for sure...
* * *
It didn't matterhow much time had passed, but I wasn't getting those groans out of my head. I couldn't shake off the image of Billie masturbating like that. I'd spent the last week or so trying to keep my distance from her, so I wouldn’t lose my mind.
But every time I caught my eyes drifting over to her, every time I closed my eyes in an attempt to get some sleep, there she was again. She was haunting me like a ghost I didn't want to get rid of, causing me to go back and forth in my mind. I kept trying to stop myself from acting on these feelings, but I wasn't sure how long I could keep it up. I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
The fact that I got on so well with Joey had me thinking all kinds of things as well. I didn't just want to be with her for one night, I wasn't just hoping that I could get Billie into bed, I was thinking about how cute a family we'd make as well.
Now that was really dangerous. That scared the shit out of me.
"Ah, Phoenix, there you are." Grant grabbed hold of me and pulled me to one side, dragging me from the door frame where I was watching Billie and Joey reading. Oh God, was he about to call me out for being a weirdo? "I need to talk to you."
I let Grant pull me through the kitchen and right out into the backyard as well. There was almost a mania in his eyes, I didn't know what was about to happen.
"Grant, what is it?" I demanded as my hands flung on my hips.
"I've been thinking." He paced up and down the garden, tapping his chin. "I've been thinking a lot actually, and putting some jigsaw pieces together, trying to work out dates and things like that. And I think I have it."
Okay, I snapped into business mode, assuming that this was going to be linked to Project Hammond and everything that had happened recently. I even rolled my shoulders back a bit to really hear what he was going to say to me.
"About six years ago, right? That's when Billie left the military. That's when she walked away. That's when she left the division she'd been working in with Cody."
"What are you trying to say, Grant?"
Grant had thrown me off track. I wasn't expecting to be talking about Cody and Billie and something that happened about six or so years ago.
"Do you think maybe the reason Billie left is because she was pregnant?"
"Oh... maybe." I shrugged a little helplessly. "It didn't say that in her file."
"But date-wise, that makes sense. Right?" He cocked a knowing eyebrow at me. All I could do was nod because I had no idea where this was going. "And if that's the case, then I'm pretty sure that I know who Joey's father is."
This was getting weird. I rested my hands on Grant's shoulders and stared into his eyes, trying to bring him back down from whatever tree he was currently flying high in. "Grant, what are you talking about? What does this have to do with anything?"
He bit nervously on his bottom lip and darted his eyes towards the house. Once he was sure that no one was listening in, he continued. "It actually matters a lot because it could affect everything. This is something I said I wouldn't say anything about, but now I know I have to. We all need to know."
Still I wasn't following. "What do we need to know?"
"It's Cody." My heart damn near stopped beating. We knew that they worked together, and we'd have had to be blind not to sense that something was going on because the tension between them was so thick, but this? This knocked me off guard. There was me fantasizing about being a little family with Joey and Billie, and Cody actually was. "They were together then. It makes sense, you know."
I was breathless. I actually leaned down and gripped my knees as I tried to catch myself before the dizziness really claimed me. Grant was right, there was a chance that this really was going to affect us all.
"Does Cody know?" I whispered in a raspy voice. "About this?"
"No, I don't think so. He certainly hasn't mentioned anything to me."
"Oh my God." I lifted my eyes and met Grant's. The more I thought about this, the more I realized Grant could be right. "This could really be a thing."
I hadn't noticed it before because I wasn't looking for it, but now I could see the resemblance between Joey and Cody. They shared a lot of the same physical traits and personality quirks, which was kind of mind blowing. If there was a romantic relationship of any kind between Cody and Billie, then Cody was likely Joey's biological father.
"Do you think that's why she quit?" I asked Grant, now putting all the pieces of the puzzle together as well. "Because she didn't want Cody to know? I don't know what he was like six years ago, but he might not have been father material at the time, and Billie could have panicked."
Grant shrugged and nodded. "Sure. Maybe, I don't know. But it's likely going to come out now, isn't it? Eventually. I mean, we're all stuck here for the foreseeable future, so the truth will come out sooner than later."
That made my blood run ice cold. Just the thought of this unraveling while we were all here in such a confined space... it was going to be a nightmare. I couldn't imagine how Cody was going to react when this all came spilling out. I didn't know how I would react if it were me, to be honest.
"We need to get back inside," I told Grant firmly. "I don't know what we need to do, but we have to think of something. We need to, at least, be there to make sure things don't get worse."
Grant was all wide eyed and shocked. "I know, you're right. Maybe I should take Cody out for a run around the perimeter, see if I can suss out anything from him."
I nodded in agreement. "Sure, and I could maybe talk to Billie..."
I didn't think Grant would have been quite so keen to agree with me if he knew about all the thoughts I’ve been having about Billie––if he knew that I'd seen her masturbating in the bath tub and hadn't been able to think about anything else since. But of course, he had no idea, so he was more than happy to encourage me.
"She doesn't talk easily," he assured me. "But if she knows you're there to listen to her, then she might just say something. I don't know."
Oh God, this was potentially going to get really messy, wasn't it? I didn't think the little harmonious life we had just about managed to create would possibly turn into shambles. But now...
Well, now there was a little burning wick underneath us all, and although it had already caught fire, none of us knew when it would explode.
We headed inside. Grant managed to get both Jasper and Cody out of the house to scout the perimeter. I didn't know if that was to make it look like it was just an innocent trip, rather than a chance to get Cody alone or not, but it worked.
That left only me and Billie in the safe house, alone.
"Where is Joey?" I asked her with a little nervous chuckle.
"Oh, he's down for a nap. Apparently, he's feeling pretty tired." She smiled. "I think he just wants to play in his room for a while so I don't keep giving him school work to do. This whole homeschooling thing is hard for all of us."
I nodded, wondering what I should say next. Grant had already said that Billie wasn't the sort of person to open up easily, that I shouldn't push her with questions, so that left me with very little to say. This was really fucking awkward. It didn't help that this was the first time we'd been alone since I watched her in the bath.
"Do you mind giving me a hand tidying up in here?" Billie asked, much to my relief. That would give us something to do to distract from the weird tension around us.
"Not at all. Let's get to it." I grinned. "There are Lego pieces everywhere. That's probably my fault more than anyone else’s anyway."
Now it was me that had the weird tension with Billie. Especially because I could not take my eyes off the curves of her body as she bent down to pick the Lego pieces up off the floor. The funny thing was even after what I'd just learned from Grant, I wasn't thinking about her being with Cody. Not at all. Not six years ago or now either. I couldn't get the image of me and her out of my mind.
My wolf eyes were like saucers, I couldn't help but sniff her as well, and the scent of her was intoxicating. Oh my God, my heart was absolutely racing with need as I inhaled her deeply. How the hell was I going to keep away from her?
Billie seemed to sense my eyes on her. She whipped around to look at me with intrigue flashing across her face. At least she wasn't screaming and running for the hills, that was something. She didn't even run when a small desire-fueled growl came flying out of my throat. Her grin grew wider, especially as I apologized.
"Don't you worry." She shot me a playful wink. "You can't help how you feel."
"Hmm, yeah, I suppose you're right about that."
A heat flushed through my body. But that didn't affect Billie. It seemed to draw her much closer to me, to bring out the desire within her.
"Especially when it's something like this that feels right." She traced her finger down my cheek. "I love those wolf eyes of yours. Very sexy. Very intriguing."
My head was spinning, I was completely absorbed by her, unable to pull myself away from her, even if I wanted to. Which I definitely didn't. Instead, I allowed myself to edge in a little closer, to feel the intense heat of her body, to find out once and for all if my fantasy was as good as reality could be.
Not what I was here for, but I honestly couldn't remember the plan Grant and I had come up with to get to the truth about her and Cody. I was so lost in the absolute need to lean in and kiss her.
Which I did. I couldn't resist any longer. I felt like I'd been trying to hold back forever. I couldn't deny myself anymore, so finally I kissed Billie, and oh my God, the taste of her lips was utterly phenomenal. I needed more. I pulled her closer to me. She rolled herself up against me, and we began kissing ferociously like horny teenagers who couldn't get enough of one another. And that was how Billie made me feel, like I was in the throes of passion and lust.
This kiss was not going to be enough for me. Instantly, I knew that all I had done was open up a can of worms. One that wouldn't close easily.
I held her tight, kissed her deeper, moaned in sheer delight as I really felt her. No fantasy could compare to this. Fucking hell, Billie was the real deal, she was so special my mind was blown. I wasn't ever going to want to stop kissing her. And maybe I didn't have to. Billie seemed to want me just as much as I did her...
A cough caught my attention, a loud pointed cough coming from the doorway. Me and Billie jumped apart like we'd been caught out by the head teacher as we kissed in the bike sheds. Much to my absolute horror, it was all three of the other guys. They'd returned from their run around already and found us. It was clear from their expressions that they weren't expecting to find me and Billie intertwined with one another, making an already complicated situation worse. Shit, what the hell was I going to do now? I looked at them all in time as panic flourished through my still aching, and needy, body.