by Bella Jacobs
“We’ll go slow during round two,” I promise against her lips as I find her nipple and squeeze it lightly between my fingertips.
She moans and spreads her legs, granting my other hand easier access as I thrust my fingers deeper into her tight heat. “I don’t want to go slow,” she says, kissing me between the words, her tongue dancing urgently with mine. “I want you inside me. I’m dying to feel you, Kite. Please.”
Before I can respond, she reaches between us, taking my cock in her hand, sending a rush of desire through me, so powerful that rational thought becomes impossible.
Nothing has ever felt as perfect as this moment, with Wren’s hand wrapped around where I ache, and her body wet and ready beneath mine. I’m drowning in how overwhelmingly right it is to be seconds away from claiming my mate, this heart-stopping woman I knew was meant to be mine from the first time we touched.
She’s beautiful in every sense of the word, from those sky-blue eyes that make my stomach flip to the gentle way she touches people in pain, with such complete generosity of spirit that I am humbled by her goodness. I can’t believe this gorgeous person is going to be mine, that she’s looked into my heart and decided I’m worthy of her absolute fucking sweetness.
“You’re sure?” I ask, even as I allow her to guide my cock to her entrance. “I don’t want you to ever regret this, Wren.”
“Are you going to regret it?” She holds my gaze in the soft glow filling the room, the love in her gaze making my throat squeeze tight.
I shake my head and whisper, “Never. Not a chance. Not today or tomorrow or a single second from now until the day I die.”
Her eyes shining with emotion, she nods. “Me, too. It’s so right. Can you feel it?”
“I can.” I fight to maintain control as the tip of my cock presses against her slick folds. “Nothing has ever felt this perfect.”
“Then make me yours, Kite,” she says, wrapping her legs around my hips. “Make me yours.”
Too overwhelmed to hold back another second, I give my girl what she wants. I push forward, sinking into her inch by gentle inch, pulse rocketing as her pussy grips me blissfully tight. It’s by far the most amazing thing to happen to my body in my entire life—bar none—but I still force myself to pause the moment I feel resistance blocking my way.
She’s a virgin. My first virgin, and I’m terrified of hurting her. I only want to make my sweet Wren, my mate, my love, feel beautiful things. Not pain, never pain.
But fuck if I know of a way to avoid it. At least not completely.
“Don’t stop.” She holds my gaze as her fingernails dig deeper into my ass. “Don’t stop. Please, I need more of you. I don’t care if it hurts, please, I need you, Kite, I—” Her words end in a soft cry as I grit my jaw and thrust forward, breaking through the thin barrier. Slowly, gently, I sink deeper, all the way to the end of her, until I’m fully seated in her sinfully tight pussy. And then I force myself to still, hopefully giving her time to adjust.
But the wince of pain has already faded from her expression, leaving nothing but love and desire behind.
She brings her hands to my face. “Yes. This is it. What I’ve been dying for. You.”
“Me, too,” I echo, fighting to hold still. My body is demanding I ride her, thrusting in and out until we both explode, but I need to know she’s okay first. “The pain?”
She shakes her head. “Gone. There, but over so fast I barely felt it.”
“You heal so fast.” I bite my lip as I shift my hips back and then rock slowly into her again, loving the way her lashes flutter in response. “Your body is amazing.”
“No your body is amazing,” she says, the hunger in her voice making me smile even as the feel of her hands gripping my ass makes my head spin. “I want more of you, Kite.” She pulls me deeper, making me groan. “More and more and more.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I growl as I begin to take her in earnest, riding her harder, faster, deeper, until we’re both clinging to each other, every muscle straining as we writhe together, racing for the edge.
“God, Wren, yes,” I groan as I feel her pussy tighten around me. “Come for me, baby, come for me.”
She ignites, calling my name as her body clutches at my cock, triggering my own release. Shoving my hips forward, I come harder than I have in my entire life, so hard the walls melt and the room disappears and I lose all sense of time or place. I’m consumed, lost in bliss, in the magic I’ve found with Wren and the seamless way her soul entwines with mine as we ride out the final waves.
Afterward, it’s immediately clear that things are different between us, but in the best way.
I can feel her spirit whispering inside of me like the first shot of the finest whiskey, warm and soothing, smoothing away all my ragged edges, while our kin forms curl together in complete harmony. I always knew she would begin to acquire my kin gift after we were joined, but I hadn’t realized that I would feel more powerful, too. Though I’m not sure if I’m literally absorbing some of her strength or if this is just what it feels like to find the one who’s meant for you.
I’d always assumed there was nothing better than coming home to the family who loves me, to this place where, for thousands of years, my ancestors have loved the land and the land has loved them in return and there has never been any doubt that I belong.
But this right now, right here, with Wren…
This is something deeper than familial love or the peace of being part of a sacred lineage of bear-human-earth-ocean-spirit.
This is home in a deeper way than I’ve understood it. This is the safety of being joined with the woman who was destined to be the dearest part of my heart. There will be no more going to sleep aching for that ineffable something I have always sensed was missing. There’s no need to hold back or hide my feelings or be anything but a man completely in love with his woman, his one, his mate.
And it doesn’t matter anymore that I won’t be her one or only.
As I roll onto my back, pulling her with me to rest on my chest while we catch our breath, the last of my jealousy fades. My girl’s heart is more than big enough for four men, and when she opens the door to another mate bond, it won’t mean that she loves me any less.
What we have is special. Sacred. One of a kind, even though someday soon I won’t be the only man in her bed.
I’m about to tell her so—tell her that I’m here to support her in everything she does, even bonding with her other mates when she’s ready. But before I can speak, my phone bleats urgently from the floor, where it’s still tucked into my jeans.
It’s the breach alarm, the one programmed to go off on every tribe member’s phone if our perimeter is compromised and enemies have made it onto our land.
Guiding Wren to one side, I roll off the bed and scramble for my phone, jabbing Leda’s contact number. She’s on guard tonight. She’ll know what’s happening.
Or she’ll be dead, a chilling voice in my head offers.
But thankfully, my sister answers before that terrible thought can take root. “We’re taking fire,” she shouts, “Humans in trucks built like tanks. They penned us in, and we weren’t able to stop the things they sent through. They’re headed your way. You’ve got to—”
“What did they send through?” I ask, already calculating the distance between here and the armory, where I can grab something capable of taking down a truck built like a tank.
“I have no fucking idea, Kite.” The fear in Leda’s usually rock-steady voice makes her next words even more chilling. “I’ve never seen anything like them. They’re monsters, Kite. If they make it to the village, they’ll tear our people apart. They’re headed down the north road. You’ve got to stop them.”
“On my way.” I’m about to end the call when Leda shouts, “Be careful, baby brother,” over the sound of gunfire somewhere beyond her location. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I say, praying it won’t be the last time I get to tell her.
E
nding the call, I circle around the bed, telling Wren, “Get dressed and get to the longhouse. Tell everyone it’s imperative they seek shelter in the bunkers as fast as they can. Deadly force incoming from the north road.”
“What about you?” She swings her feet off the bed, reaching for her clothes. “You need help, Kite, you can’t take this on alone.”
“The second-string defense are all at the party, they’ll know what to do.” I lean down to press a quick, but urgent, kiss to her lips. “But you go to the bunkers. Keep yourself safe.” I hesitate one more precious minute. “I love you, Wren. If this was my last night, it’s been the best one.”
As I pull away, I see tears filling her eyes and wish I could stay and give her comfort. But there’s no time.
With one last, “I love you,” I head for the window and throw up the glass.
Chapter 31
Wren
I’ve never thrown on clothes so fast, but by the time I shove my feet back into my borrowed sandals, Kite is already out the window.
I hurry across the room, only to freeze with my hands on the sill, my jaw dropping as I witness his shift for the first time.
As Kite tumbles to the ground and rolls down the short slope into the grass behind the house, his shoulders swell impossibly large and his arms lengthen and thicken. Dark brown hair flows across his frame like water gliding onshore, banishing every inch of smooth skin in less time than it takes for my sharp inhale to become an exhale.
By the time he lands on all fours near the raised garden beds, there’s a massive grizzly where my boyfriend used to be, an intimidating predator with teeth that flash in the moonlight as he drops his head back and roars loud enough to rattle the frame beneath my fingers.
Vibrations shiver up my arms, a visceral reminder to snap out of it and get moving. I have to find Dust, Luke, and Creedence and warn them that we’re under attack.
With one last look out the window, saying a quick prayer for Kite as he bounds across the yard toward the bend in the road, I turn and race through the quiet house. Bursting out the front door, I take the stairs two at a time down to the footpath winding through the village and hit the gravel at a sprint. I run faster than I have in my entire life, faster than I realized I was capable of moving until the man I love ran off to face our enemies alone.
Alone.
Unarmed aside from teeth and claws and his brave heart that I can’t bear to imagine not beating.
It’s going to be all right. He’s going to be all right, I chant silently as my lungs burn and my calves howl with pain.
But I don’t slow down. I push harder, flying across the ground, past quiet houses and boats drifting peacefully in the harbor, toward the warm glow of the longhouse.
Every light is blazing, but I can’t hear the music. I can’t hear anything except the pounding of my heart in my ears and the harsh suck and huff of my breath. I’m halfway up the stairs leading to the feast room when I hear the screams, and my blood goes cold.
Oh God, I’m too late.
How can I be too late?
Leda said the threat was coming down the road, and no one passed me as I ran. I should have made it in time to warn Kite’s people to take shelter. None of this should be happening!
But it is happening.
I burst through the doors to see chaos and blood.
Blood on the floor…
Blood on the walls…
On what’s left of the sacred costumes that are now ripped and torn, feathers floating through the air as a creature straight out of hell rips a man in half right in front of me. I scream, but there isn’t time to process the horror before two other nightmare monsters chase a group of children past the dead man, out onto the deck, and still another lunges at an enraged grizzly, who is clearly out to draw blood of her own.
But it only takes a glance around the room to realize the bears are outmatched. The things they’re fighting are as big as a grizzly, but with the haunches of a giant cat, giant, reptilian-looking claws with opposable thumbs, and the fierce, powerful muzzles of dogs bred to kill.
They are fast and merciless, jabbing and slicing at the bear kin in a controlled frenzy that’s unnatural. Nothing made of flesh and bone should be able to move that quickly or kill with such utter lack of passion or remorse.
But these monsters are managing it and quickly taking down bear after bear.
They have to run. We all do. Standing our ground to fight is only going to get more people killed.
Maybe if I can create a distraction, something to pull the monsters’ attention away from the bears…
Maybe that will give them time to get away…
I’m scanning the room, mind racing as I look for something, anything, I can use to make a loud noise, set a fire—something—when a high-pitched cry to my left makes me spin. It’s Helena, wedged into a corner behind a totem pole, while one of the nightmares does its best to drive claws into her hiding spot.
“Mama, help!” Helena sobs and cringes closer to the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks as the monster goes after her, teeth snapping inches from her red face. The wooden pole cracks—her safe space won’t be safe for long. “Mama!” she wails, hiccupping in terror as the thing slams its forehead again and again into the obstacle keeping it from its prey. “Mama!”
I don’t know where Helena’s mother is, but there’s no one else on this side of the room—the battle is spilling out onto the deck and onto the grounds below—and no one coming to help her. I’m her only chance.
Before I realize quite what I’m doing, I’ve grabbed a wooden chair from along the wall, lifted it over my head, and I’m charging at the nightmare. I don’t have fur or muscles or claws, but maybe I can at least distract it long enough for Helena to get away.
As I run, the beast turns, fixing me with its cold black gaze, as flat and pitiless as a shark’s. They are heartless, soulless eyes that promise no mercy for me or anyone else in this room.
I have a split second to realize the thing is about to pounce, and then it’s on me, knocking me flat, sending the chair flying.
“Run, Helena!” I scream as I instinctively reach for the beast’s neck, digging my fingers into its thick, elephant-like hide as I lock my elbows, fighting to keep its teeth from my face or throat.
Pain and heat explode along my left ribs as claws slice through my shirt and into my skin. I barely have time to acknowledge the pain before it comes again and again—my thigh, my shoulder, my hip. I cry out in agony and panic as I realize I’m being shredded alive. My arms begin to tremble, and the next time the monster snaps its powerful jaws, its rancid breath—motor oil and week-old trash left out in the sun—blasts hot on my face, making me gag.
I’m going to die like this.
On the ground, pinned beneath a monster, retching and bleeding while all the things I should have done and could have done and would have done if I’d only had the chance to grow and get stronger are left unfinished.
“No!” I shout into the snarling face frothing above my head, refusing to let this be my ending. “No!” Not like this, not when I’ve just started to live, to love, to learn the truth of who I am and what I can do.
What you can do!
The thought flips a switch in my head. Focusing inward, I funnel all my anger and rage at the creature into the hollows of my bones, into the neurons firing in my cells, into the skin growing red hot beneath my clothes.
A beat later, I ignite with an audible whoosh, bursting into a column of flame.
The nightmare howls as it rears back, falling onto its side with a whimper as it limps away. But I’m already up, stalking it across the floor as my clothes burn away, leaving me wearing nothing but fire, writhing flames desperately in search of more fuel, more food.
As the creature rises unsteadily onto its singed hind legs, lifting its claws in a warning to stay back, I thrust my palms forward, willing the fire to jump, to surge, to soar across the space between us and burn.
And bur
n…
Burn…
The sound as the monster falls to the floor, writhing in agony as its flesh catches fire calls to something primal inside of me. If given the choice between being predator or prey, I will choose predator. I will hunt and kill and rip out throats with my bare hands if that’s what I have to do to keep my people safe.
I step closer, ready to deliver the final blast—one final torrent of flame that will finish off the creature that made the mistake of crossing me—when the dark gray flesh seems to melt away, falling off of massive white bones. And then the bones are twisting and jerking, shattering and reforming in an almost mechanical-looking dance until there’s a scrawny naked kid with a shaved head lying on the floor in front of me where the monster used to be.
He rolls over, brown eyes wide and terrified in his bright pink face as he lifts a trembling hand, “Please. Please, help me… I can’t stop it. I can’t stop…”
The words make me pause, but it’s the tears that stream from his eyes as he begins to sob that still the flames on the tips of my fingers.
“They made us, and we can’t control it,” he says, his voice raw and hoarse. “They turn us and make us do terrible things and I… God, I just want it to stop. I’m so sorry. Please… Please, help us…” He reaches for me again, his hand drawing so close to my flame I realize he’s going to burn himself.
The knowledge short-circuits my rage, replacing it with concern for a fellow creature in pain. My fire goes out, leaving me as naked and vulnerable as he is. When his fingers brush my leg, we are skin and skin, human to human, and I’m instantly, violently horrified by how close I came to cold-blooded murder.
The self-defense excuse ended when he fell off of me and tried to scramble away. My violence should have ended then, too.
But it didn’t, and I’m so deeply ashamed that I’m consumed by it, so lost in my private misery that I don’t hear the footsteps behind me, and the gunshot takes me completely by surprise.
I jump with a scream that becomes a gasp of horror as the man at my feet jerks backward, falling to my feet with his eyes wide and a hole in the center of his head. I start to reach for him but realize instantly that it’s too late—he’s dead.