by Eve Langlais
“I can. Supernatural reflexes.” He realized her brain would have trouble reconciling what her eyes saw. He had to be patient because he needed her to understand the magnitude of their bond. “I am a werewolf, Ellie. And you are my mate.”
* * *
Ellie’s heart beat a mad rhythm in her chest. Colin moved in a blur, so fast it was like the phone had been on the end table one second and was in his hand the very next. Witches were real. She knew that firsthand. Magic was real. Was it so far-fetched that other things, like werewolves, could exist as well?
“Wait, what?” Ellie’s eyes went wide. “Your mate? What in the hell does that even mean?”
Colin leveled his gaze on her. “I think you know what that means, Ellie.”
“Well, yeah. I know what the word means.” Wolves mated for life. Was it the same for werewolves? “But…”
“You’re mine, Ellie. I knew it the second I laid eyes on you at the Sourdough. The wolf knew it. I know it’s crazy and hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”
Um, ya think? Ellie stared, disbelieving, at Colin. “‘Hard to believe’ is an understatement. And I’m just supposed to believe you because you say it’s the truth?”
“It’s physically impossible for a werewolf to lie to his mate,” Colin replied as though the explanation were simple.
“And I’m supposed to believe that because…?”
Colin finished her thought. “Because if I lie to you, it will cause me intense pain.”
Ellie pursed her lips as she studied him. “Prove it.”
Colin let out a sigh as though he’d hoped she wouldn’t ask him to do just that. Well, too damn bad. He might have moved unnaturally fast, but that wasn’t enough to make her blindly believe everything he told her.
“Fine.” The determination in Colin’s hard gaze was enough to make Ellie wonder if she should have asked him to prove himself to her. He pushed himself up from the couch, slowly. “I am not a werewolf, and you are not my mate.”
Colin’s jaw clenched as he doubled over and then went down hard on one knee. Either he was an Academy Award–worthy actor or he truly was in pain. One arm wrapped around his torso as though to hold himself together. He let out several panting breaths before bringing his head up to look at her. “Anything else you want me to lie to you about?”
Ellie’s lips parted and she sucked in a breath. She didn’t know what to say, how to think or to feel. For the second time in her never-ending existence, Ellie’s world had been turned upside down. The things Colin told her terrified her and, at the same time, filled her with hope. Maybe she wasn’t as unique and alone in this world as she’d thought.
“Are you … immortal?”
Colin braced his palm on the coffee table and pushed himself to stand. Ellie cringed; guilt stabbed at her chest. He’d already been through a lot and she’d caused him even more pain. Ellie might have been infallible, but she was no stranger to pain. Physical. Emotional. Mental.
“As immortal as any supernatural creature.” Ellie’s brow furrowed at his esoteric reply. “I don’t get sick, I heal quickly, but I have weaknesses. Silver is one of them. But I can die. Nothing in this world is truly immortal.”
Ellie looked away. Apparently, she knew something about the supernatural world that Colin didn’t. “How old are you?”
Colin settled back down onto the couch. He gave her a wry grin that did traitorous things to Ellie’s insides. It was totally unfair that he was so breathtakingly handsome. “A little over five hundred years.” She didn’t miss the hint of arrogance in his tone. “Give or take. After a while, you sort of lose count.”
He was older than her. It had been centuries since Ellie had met anyone older than her. She couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips. “That’s pretty old.”
“Yup.”
Ellie found herself wanting to tease him. To get a rise out of him like she had that morning at the Sourdough. “You’re sort of robbing the cradle, don’t you think?”
Colin laughed. The deep rumble vibrated through her and settled in her lower abdomen, creating a warm glow that pulsed from her core outward. This was dangerous. The more they talked, the more comfortable she became. The more she wanted him. She felt an optimism she hadn’t experienced in hundreds of years. She’d known disappointment for so long, she didn’t think she could afford to hope for happiness. She definitely didn’t know how to feel about Colin claiming her as his mate, but the prospect of having someone she could confide her own secrets to, someone she could perhaps be friends with throughout the long, endless years, was almost too good to be true.
Don’t forget, Ellie. When something seems too good to be true, it’s because it usually is.
“Obviously, age isn’t an issue for my wolf. So … I’ve got a few hundred years on you.” Colin hiked a casual shoulder. Ellie’s eyes were drawn to the play of muscles from the simple act and her breath caught in her chest. “Age is just a number, right?”
His playful grin was as brilliant as the sun. It warmed Ellie from the inside out. Sweet Jesus, she was in over her head. Age might have just been a number to him, but for Ellie it had always been a reminder that she was doomed to an existence of loneliness, isolation, and unhappiness.
“I don’t understand any of this.” She wanted to. She wanted to be accepting and on board with everything Colin told her. “I don’t even know you. How can I be your … mate?”
Colin’s expression fell at her skeptical tone. “It’s a lot to process. I get that.”
He pushed himself up from the couch again. He rounded the coffee table and closed the space between them. Once again, Ellie was struck by the sheer size of him. She should have known he wasn’t an ordinary man. Nothing about Colin conveyed ordinary. His gaze grew hungry and that strange golden spark lit behind his irises. His proximity sucked all of the breathable oxygen from the room until Ellie felt as though a weight pressed down on her chest.
“I see it,” she whispered.
Colin’s brow furrowed. “See what?”
“The wolf,” Ellie said on a breath.
Colin reached out and smoothed her hair away from her face. Ellie stared in wonder and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized that foreign presence behind his eyes the first time she’d noticed the beautiful gold glint. She was frozen in place by the intensity of his magnetic stare. Held captive by those beautiful, feral eyes. She waited for the tremor of fear that would no doubt pass through her, but instead Ellie was infused with a delicious warmth that only served to awaken her desire.
Colin took a deep breath and held it in his lungs. The simple act carried a sensuality that added gasoline to the building flames of Ellie’s passion. She couldn’t help but want him. He was the epitome of male perfection. And she’d been alone for so long. Too long. Loneliness had been her purgatory.
“You need to stop.” Colin’s husky tone sent a shiver over Ellie’s skin.
She swallowed and took a breath to try to slow her racing heart. “Why?”
“Because the scent of your desire is driving me out of my fucking mind.”
Whoa. Ellie was definitely in over her head.
CHAPTER 7
Colin balanced on the edge of his control. The need to put his mouth to Ellie’s, to taste the sweetness of her lips, was almost more than he could resist. The mate bond formed an immediate physical attraction. But that was animal nature. Instinct told him Ellie possessed qualities that would make her his ideal mate. Instinct didn’t have a fuck to give about emotions, decorum, or anything else. Instinct was logical. Biological. A force that couldn’t be ignored or denied. Colin was helpless not to answer its call. Ellie was his. And only death could sever that bond.
Her scent drove him wild. Rich. Sweet. Heady. Her chest moved with her breath and her heart raced in her chest. His heightened senses allowed Colin insight as to how Ellie felt without having to ask her. Without having to guess.
The strands of her hair slipped through his fingers like silk. Colin’s awaren
ess of her vibrated through every cell that constructed him. How could he possibly resist her when everything about her beckoned him closer?
“Ellie, I’m going to kiss you now.” He figured she deserved a little warning. An opportunity to tell him no if she didn’t want this. Didn’t want him. He’d hit her with one hell of a life-changing surprise today. They still had a lot to discuss—her knowledge of witches for starters—but right now he needed to kiss her.
Her lips parted and her lids drifted shut. If that wasn’t a sign, he didn’t know what was. Colin’s head bent to hers. Their lips met and a contented growl echoed in the back of his mind. He shut the wolf out, unwilling to let the animal intrude on this moment. Ellie tasted just as sweet as he knew she would. Dewy and fresh, like a spring morning. His arms went around her as he pulled her against him. She rose up to her tiptoes and threw her arms around his neck as the kiss graduated from shy and tentative to urgent and passionate. The floodgates opened and there was nothing either of them could do to stop it. They kissed as though they were starved for each other. As though they’d waited centuries for this moment. Colin supposed that in some strange way, they had. And neither of them was willing to waste another second.
Colin’s hand crept up her back and his palm came to rest at the nape of her neck. His mouth slanted over hers as he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue between her lips. Ellie responded with equal fervor as their tongues wound in a sensual dance. He took her bottom lip between his teeth and sucked, which caused the scent of her arousal to intensify and bloom around him. Dear gods, Colin didn’t know it was possible to want someone with such intensity and raw passion.
Ellie’s arms left his body. She reached for her own shirt, quickly unbuttoning it and peeling it down from her shoulders. Colin hadn’t expected such an enthusiastic response, but the fact that she wanted him with the same burning intensity was a boost to his ego that made his chest puff with pride. He didn’t dare move his hands from where they were anchored to her body. She was in charge. However far this went was up to her. He wouldn’t make a single move until she gave him the green light.
His lips abandoned her mouth, greedy to taste the rest of her. Colin kissed along her jaw, beneath her ear, down the slim column of her throat, to her bare shoulder, and across her collarbone. Ellie’s head fell back on her shoulders as she let out a contented sigh. He kissed from the swell of one round breast to the other. Her opposite shoulder. The other side of her throat and beneath that ear. Back to her jaw, and to the opposite corner of her mouth.
Ellie reached behind her and unfastened her bra. “Colin,” she murmured against his mouth. “Take your shirt off.”
She didn’t have to ask him twice. He was still a little sore, but a few bumps and bruises weren’t going to stand between him and his mate. He was desperate for the skin-on-skin contact and unbuttoned his thick flannel shirt before shrugging out of it and letting it drop to the floor. Ellie pressed her chest against his. The cushion of her lush breasts seared his skin. The tight points of her nipples teased him as they brushed against the crisp hair of his chest. She reached for the waistband of his jeans and tugged the button loose.
All bets were off. Heat swamped Colin’s gut. Desire flooded every nook and cranny of his mind. He kissed Ellie with every ounce of passion he felt while he reached for her pants, jerking the button free and pulling the zipper down. He couldn’t get her naked fast enough. They devolved into creatures ruled by instinct and base desire. Their mouths met and parted. Hands groped and fumbled. Boots were kicked off and flung to various corners of the house as socks were toed off and tight denim pulled down the length of each other’s thighs. The only sounds in the room were those of their panting breaths. When finally not a scrap of clothing stood between them, Colin reached for Ellie and pulled her along with him down on the couch.
He settled her on top of his lap, once again putting her in the position of control. He needed her to understand that her needs, her safety, her wants came before his own. As her mate, Colin would protect Ellie from any and all threats. Even if one of those threats was himself. “Ellie.” He laid his palm to the side of her cheek as he looked into her eyes. “This can stop. Anytime you want it to. I know we’re moving fast and I need you to know that—”
Ellie put her finger to Colin’s lips. “Shhh.” She smiled and the expression was so gods-damned seductive that it sent a rush of heat through his veins. “I want this, Colin. I want you. Stop trying to talk me out of it.”
She put her mouth to his and once again logical thought took a backseat to desire. Ellie came up on her knees and positioned herself over the head of Colin’s cock. She dipped and rolled her hips, brushing his sensitive flesh along her slick, wet folds. He sucked in a sharp breath at the delicious shock of heat and swallowed down a groan as she repeated the motion. The way she artfully teased him, touching without penetration, was hands down the most erotic thing any female had ever done to him. He didn’t want her to stop, and at the same time Colin wasn’t sure how much more of this amazing torture he could take.
Ellie gripped his shoulders and her head rolled back as she continued to pleasure herself. The sway of her hips adopted a gentle rhythm and Colin gritted his teeth at the soft, wet caress that ended with the stiff bead of her clit brushing over his crown. He was certain she could make him come this way. Without an inch of penetration. Gods, how he wanted—needed—to bury himself deep inside of her. But that wasn’t going to happen until she decided it should.
“Colin.” She said his name with such heartfelt relief that it stabbed through his chest. “I feel so good. You have no idea how much I need this.”
He would give her everything she needed and more. Anything. As she was his mate, Ellie’s needs were his to satisfy. Colin kissed her bare shoulder. Her chest. Over the swell of her breast as he worked his way to the center. He took her nipple into his mouth and sucked gently before dragging his teeth along that very sensitive part of her. Ellie shivered and her nipple hardened even more against his tongue. She let out a low moan as she slid down the length of his shaft and settled fully on top of him.
Gods. Utter fucking bliss.
* * *
The years of loneliness and isolation had eaten away at Ellie until she’d felt like a hollowed-out shell. A dried-up husk of what was once human. Empty. In a few short moments, Colin had managed to reawaken all of those emotions and sensations she’d thought long gone. Had Ellie realized she could feel this way, she would’ve gone off in search of a werewolf a long damned time ago. Well, she would’ve at least searched as far as the curse that bound her to this land would have allowed her.
Goose bumps rose on her skin and she shivered as Colin’s tongue circled the tight point of her nipple. He used his teeth to heighten her pleasure and a moan gathered in her throat. She couldn’t wait another second to have him inside of her, and so she settled down over the head of his cock and her eyes drifted shut as his rigid shaft slid along the sensitive inner walls of her pussy.
He continued to kiss, lick, suck, and bite. He paid such lavish attention to her breasts that Ellie thought she’d passed out from the intensity of pleasure. His arms wound around her waist and his hands settled at the small of her back. The tips of his fingers kneaded her ass, urging her into an easy rhythm as she rode him.
Ellie wasn’t a stranger to the one-night stand. Because of her unique existence, it was a necessity. She couldn’t have entanglements of any kind. No relationships. No intimacy. Already it felt different with Colin. And that instant connection worried her more than it probably should have. She refused to let her worries ruin this. Over the past few centuries, her moments of happiness had been few and far between. When one presented itself to her, she was damn well going to take it.
Colin’s left hand abandoned her back to cup her breast. He lifted his head, and when his eyes met hers Ellie’s breath stalled in her chest. The naked, raw heat in his expression was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It set her on fire, drov
e her out of her mind with want, and stole every coherent thought from her head.
His mouth once again seized hers in a passionate, desperate kiss. Their mouths slanted, tongues lashed out, and teeth grazed. Ellie couldn’t get enough of Colin. The way he smelled, the taste of his mouth, the fierce, wild glint in his eyes, his body packed with lean muscle, and the way he held her tight as he fucked her. He’d unleashed something in her. Unlocked some hidden part of her that she didn’t know existed. Without common sense or reason. Abandon the likes of which Ellie had never experienced. And now that she’d gotten a taste of it, she never wanted to go back.
“That’s it, Ellie,” Colin said against her mouth. “Just like that. Take it deep. Don’t stop.”
Heat unfurled in Ellie’s stomach, reaching outward through her limbs like seeking vines. Her muscles tightened, her heart raced, as anticipation built within her to the point that she didn’t think she could take another second of the intense sensation. She shut her eyes to block out everything so all that was left was the sound of Colin’s breath in her ear, the sensation of his touch, and her own body’s response to him.
“Oh God!” Stars exploded in the dark universe of Ellie’s mind as she came apart. The orgasm rolled over her like an ocean wave, powerful, aggressive, relentless. She cried out as intense pleasure pulsed throughout her body, leaving her weak and shaken, her muscles warm and tense.
Colin held her tighter. His thrusts became wild. Hard and disjointed. Almost desperate. Each ragged breath ended on a low growl that sent a thrill through Ellie’s bloodstream. He fucked her like the animal he claimed to be and he let out a low growl as his muscles tensed, his hips drove deep, and his head jerked back to rest on the couch. His cock pulsed against her sensitive flesh and Ellie was flooded with heat as he came. His right hand came to rest at the back of her head and he pulled her to him for a slow, indulgent kiss that Ellie swore lasted a lifetime.
“Wow.” She was rarely at a loss for words, but Colin had managed to render her speechless.