55. Chapter 55

As she looked at the scorch marks on the ground and the remains of the burnt tree, Nicole remembered clearly the heat of the flames as they had licked along the ground and danced into the sky. The truck that had been at the centre of the conflagration was long gone but the memory was still etched into her mind, written by her heightened sense and police training.

The one thing that Nicole couldn’t recall was any sense of regret. But that was because there had been nothing like that to remember. If she had managed to get her hands on Bobo Del Rey that night and put them around his throat she wasn’t entirely sure that would have made a difference… Other than actually knowing if he was alive or dead instead of all the wondering and doubt left by the forensic results on the truck.

Nicole could remember clearly the smell of flesh burning but once the ammunition had exploded there had been nothing and she just hadn’t cared enough to see if the silver in them had killed him. Or, Nicole thought, maybe a part of her hadn’t wanted to know else she might have been forced to decide if he should live or die.

Feeling the weight of it hanging high above her, its light casting a glow across the landscape, Nicole looked up at the moon where it hung in the sky so big and full. Even though her changes weren’t as bound to it as most werewolves, she could feel the pull of it and knew that if she gave in to it, her powers would be at their height. Even so, she wouldn’t be able to gain any more information from the crime scene and she wanted any change that night to be with Waverly.

As though drawn by her thoughts, and maybe she had been with how in tune they were with each other, Nicole smiled as she heard the soft tread of Waverly’s booted feet across the frost-encrusted ground. The slide of her warm hand as it caressed along her spine had her leaning into Waverly’s touch, her arm lifting to make room against her side for the brunette to slot into.

Snuggling into the solid heat of Nicole’s body, Waverly wormed her cold hand underneath her top to get to the warmth there… and really just so she could listen to her hiss in a breath at the coldness of her fingers.

“Geez, Waves, gloves!”

“I still can barely even walk after all the sex and you expect me to be able to handle something complex like putting on gloves?”

Nicole rolled her eyes at the teasing pout in Waverly’s voice. “I’ll knit you some mittens.”

Tilting her head back, Waverly gazed up at Nicole at that unexpected offer and titbit of information. “You can knit?”

“Nope. But for you, I’ll learn. But… To save time and keep your fingers warm I’ll buy you some and… you can use my body when you want… just, a little warning next time,” she sucked in another breath and squeaked as Waverly instantly took her up on her offer and slipped her other hand up under the front of her clothing with a little smirk playing around her lips and eyes.

Waverly smiled in satisfaction and gave herself a little mental high-five as Nicole relaxed into her new task of keeping her warm and probably trying not to let out any more startled noises, instead of worrying and second-guessing everything that had happened that night. In Waverly’s eyes, Nicole was alive and that was all that mattered. She needed to know though. “Nic, do you really think Bobo got away from that?”

“It is possible, Waves. But even if he somehow managed to avoid getting hit by any of the silver ammunition during the explosion, the fire would have done a lot of damage. Even we can’t recover if it gets intense enough to turn our bones to ash. I can’t tell for sure though and that worries me. It’s been too long for me to be able to pick anything up now even with the strength of the moon. I hope he didn’t though. I don’t want him around to threaten anyone again.”

“If he did survive there’s no one around to help him. We… kill-“ feeling the slight stiffening of Nicole’s body, Waverly quickly cut herself short. She knew her love didn’t like to think about that side of it. “We got over half the pack that night and Xavier let slip that it has been checked and the trailer park is abandoned now. No one even stepped up to try and take over. The way Bobo ran things so tightly they were probably looking for the first chance to run away.”

Nicole pressed a kiss to the top of Waverly’s head and breathed in the sweet scent of her body beneath the light perfume of her shampoo. “Well there’s nothing to see here and I don’t know about you but I can think of much better things to be doing. Do you want to run at our place or are we joining your sister?”

“Yes, and yes,” Waverly admitted. God, but she loved that confused puppy look on Nicole’s face! The little creasing of her brow and the glance to the left flicker if her eyes was as endearing as hell. “We’re running with them. Wynonna wants that and she also wants to start the run at your place. Actually, she’s probably there already so I guess we better get going before she finds out about the strap-on.”

“Okay…” Nicole stumbled as Waverly darted ahead and made for her Jeep. “The what? I don’t… Hey…! Waverly! What strap-on?! Oh, my God… that’s why you were so eager to get to the mail this morning?! Waverly Earp!”

Nicole froze, her eyes darting from the door to Waverly’s eyes and her Omega’s cheeky smile as she heard the central locking engage. “Waverly?” Even though she knew it was locked, Nicole did it, she tugged on the handle anyway. “Let me in, Baby?”

“Nope.” Waverly bit her lip as Nicole’s eyebrows climbed as she popped the word of refusal at her.

“Waves…” Nicole stalked around the hood of the Jeep to the driver’s side and tapped gently on the window beside Waverly’s head as she leaned a shoulder against the bodywork so she was facing the front of the vehicle. Waverly’s eyes darted her way but, looking more like a guilty driver pulled over for speeding, she kept her face fixed on a point on the hood of the Jeep. “Wind the window down.” Nicole rolled her eyes as Waverly lowered it… an inch. “Do I need to ask for your licence and registration, Waves? Open up?”

Rolling the window down the rest of the way, Waverly faced the soft brown of Nicole’s eyes as her Alpha folded her arms against the open window and leaned against them with her head tilted. “Not until you promise to consider something?”

Nicole frowned in confusion. What was there to consider? “But, Baby, I already told you the other night when we were looking at them online that I would be more than happy to use a strap-on on you, it just took me by surprise you’d ordered it already.”

“Not that, silly… though I am looking forward to that too,” smiling, Waverly tiptoed her fingers across Nicole’s arms and shoulders and played at the nape of her neck. “I want you… to consider… letting me… use the strap-on… on… you.”

Lifting her head, Nicole blinked at Waverly. “What?” she squeaked out.

“Ever since we talked about it I just can’t stop thinking about you, on your hands and knees, while I fuck you.” Leaning forwards, Waverly tangled her fingers into Nicole’s hair and closed her teeth around the fullness of her bottom lip and nibbled as Nicole’s mouth dropped open a little.

She could feel the shock of her words running through her Alpha turning to burgeoning desire as she thought about them too. And Waverly could also feel the whimper of need spilling against her mouth from Nicole’s echoing through her mind as Nicole’s breathing hitched. “Mmmm, like the thought of that, Nic? I know I do.”

“I’ll make you a deal, Waverly Earp. Get us home… without me feeling the need to ticket you… And before your sister finds the strap-on and I’ll consider it.”

“No… no, not consider,” Waverly pouted. She didn’t want there to be wiggle room. “If I manage that, you’ll let me fuck you with the strap-on.”

Nicole paused for a second, her senses telling her there was a trap but her imagination was doing crazy things that told her no matter what the outcome she would be bending over for her Omega to fuck at some point anyway. “Okay,” she managed to squeak out past the burgeoning desire and anticipation.

Grinning, Waverly opened up the doors and watched with eager eyes as a still stunned Nicole move around and climb in. Starting the engine she slowly got the Jeep moving and heading down the road… well under the speed limit. Seeing Nicole’s questioning glance at the speedometer she grinned all the more. “Wynonna’s not going to find the strap-on,” she smirked as Nicole’s eyebrow climbed higher. Maybe the receipt if she went nosing around in the bedroom, Waverly acknowledged, but not the strap-on itself. “That’s under your seat.”

Nicole didn’t dare reach down to touch it. Not that she needed to. She knew that Waverly wasn’t stringing her along, there was too much heat and anticipation in her eyes. And, even if she hadn’t suddenly grown aware of every rustle and movement of the package beneath her seat feeling like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, Nicole could actually smell the silicone and the material of the harness now that she knew what to smell for.

Nicole had never really thought of anything like that before, she’d never been with anyone long enough for taking a relationship in that direction to come up. The thought of Waverly using a strap-on on her though… it had her shifting surreptitiously in her seat as it created an ache inside her as enticing as the thought of being the one in charge of using it.

Knowing that the sight of Wynonna and the others, and their run, would be the much-needed distraction Nicole would use to compose herself with, Waverly drew the journey home out. By the time she pulled her Jeep off the road and into its place where Nicole’s cruiser usually resided, the vehicle was heavy with barely restrained desire and wolf. As Nicole’s eyes met hers, she wasn’t the least bit surprised to see that their brown beauty was blown wide, the white gone over to her wolf.

“Someone’s looking a little, Haught and bothered.” Wynonna ignored her sister’s reproachful look and grinned at Nicole’s eye roll as climbed out of the Jeep. She couldn’t help it, she actually liked the Alpha!

Nicole was surprisingly easy going, for anyone let alone a, ugh, cop or an Alpha, and quite obviously as in love with her sister as Waverly was with her… Which was actually quite sickening when they got all mushy with each other but… well, Waverly deserved someone that loved her and wasn’t looking to score points within the pack.

She was also fiercely protective, another thing that Wynonna loved and appreciated. She’d been watching her around town, in a purely scientific, concerned sister and not at all stalker-ish kind of way. And before they had gotten all holed up in her bedroom for nearly a week, and even in her short amount of time in Purgatory, Nicole had managed to work her way into the hearts of the people there with that damned dimpled smile and her willingness to listen.

Yep, she was a good one.

“You ever going to give up on the puns, Earp?”

“But, Red, I’ve only just started,” Wynonna winked and slapped her arms across Nicole and Waverly’s shoulders, pulling them both closer as they made their way towards the house. “Now, will you two come help out Doc and Xavier, that wild tiger you own has got them trapped on the stairs?”