Taming Her Mate

by Kathy Lyon

  Her mouth opened on a frustrated cry. She wanted that connection with him. And when she looked into his eyes, she saw indecision there. Did he feel the same thing, too? Did he know what had almost happened?

  Maybe. Because he pressed his lips to her neck. A kiss. A lick. Then he spoke, his words low and barely audible even though his mouth was right next to her ear.

  “I had to wait until the edge was off. I had to hold it back until we weren’t so desperate.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Shhh. Just listen.”

  She quieted. Her entire body stilled. She didn’t breathe, and she wasn’t even sure her heart was beating. Every part of her strained to hear him, but he didn’t speak right away. Instead, he pulled back far enough to look into her eyes.

  “I feel like you’re my home,” he said. “Like you could be everything to me.” Then he grimaced. “You are everything. It’s already happened, Frankie.”

  Her eyes widened as he spoke. Her heart lurched inside her chest, and her breath seemed to burn.

  “What I’m saying,” he continued, “is that this is more than playing house to me. It could be love. The forever, bonding kind of love.”

  Her hands tightened on his shoulders, squeezing just to be sure that he was real. “It didn’t lock in,” she whispered. “Did you feel that? We didn’t—”

  “I don’t care about magical bonds, Frankie. It’s you. It’s me. I’m all in.”

  Her breath caught. She couldn’t be dreaming this. He was committing to her. A bear promising himself to a wolf. And the magic of that was enough for her.

  “Me, too,” she said. “All in.”

  She expected his expression to lighten then, to burst into the kind of joy she felt bubbling inside her. And it did, though not nearly as fully as hers. Instead, he drew his body back from her. Not far. He still pressed her down into the mattress. She still felt him thick and alive inside her. But she also sensed him drawing back.

  “Frankie,” he whispered.

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t betray me.” She heard the meaning in his words. They were both an order and a plea. After everything he’d been through, he couldn’t be hurt again. Not by her. Not after he’d just become so vulnerable to her.

  “I won’t,” she answered. “I swear it.”

  And she did. With every cell in her body, every aspect of her soul, she promised not to hurt him. She’d never turn on him, she’d never turn away even though he was a bear and she was a wolf. In that moment, he became her pack, and she shuddered at the implication of that. But she also welcomed it. Lost no longer, outcast no more. He had called her his home, and now he was hers.

  Suddenly she was pushing him over. She didn’t let him fall out of her as she straddled him, pinning his shoulders and his hips to the mattress. His eyes widened, but he didn’t comment. Especially when she began to lick him.

  She did everything a wolf did with her mate. She tasted his skin, she bit gently at his throat. She nuzzled into his belly. The position forced them to separate and she helped him clean up as well. And then she licked his thighs and his hips. She inhaled his musk deep into her lungs, and she licked his organ. He was thick and hard as she took him deep into her mouth. She thought she’d finish him off that way, but he didn’t let her.

  Well, not exactly.

  He lifted her off the mattress and twisted her around. She pulled off him to support herself on her elbows while he began to taste her in the way of a bear. Broad flat licks, rumbling nuzzles, and suction in surprising ways, special places.

  She moaned her delight with every caress. And as she allowed him to touch every part of her—including her vulnerable belly—he settled deeper into her soul. One pair, one pack. They claimed each other, and when orgasm hit, they did it together.

  Joy pulsed from her to him and back.

  Together.

  And maybe it went just a bit further.

  Her eyes shot open in shock. Maybe it went a lot further.

  Chapter 22

  Ryan felt her stiffen, moving from orgasm to languid to suddenly anxious way too fast for him to follow. He was still boneless from his own release, reveling in the scent of her all over his face and body, not to mention his position between her thighs. But when she tightened—in a bad way—and started to roll off him, he gathered his scattered wits and tightened his grip on her thighs.

  “Frankie?”

  “I think…” He heard her swallow and pulled back far enough to see her face. “I think I just did something…um…unusual.”

  He waggled his eyebrows. “I hope so.”

  She flushed and shook her head. “No…I mean, yes of course. But…um…” She was obviously struggling to pull her wits together. That made him feel a little better, but it also showed him the importance of what had just happened. Whatever that was…

  He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. He also adjusted their positions on the bed so that they now sat facing each other. She pressed her hand to her mouth and her eyes lost their focus. It didn’t take him long to guess that she was feeling her pack link.

  His gaze slid to the window where everything was as it had appeared before. Floodlights on in an empty street. No attack, at least not that he could see. No werewolves or bears mixing it up. When he listened, he couldn’t hear anything unusual either.

  So he waited with increasing impatience as Frankie continued to stare blindly into space. Fortunately, she soon took a breath and focused on him, but she didn’t speak.

  “What happened?” he prompted.

  “I think I just told my entire pack what we were doing.”

  He blinked and tried not to gape at her. “Uh, why would you do that?”

  She sighed and looked away. “Do bears have an alpha link?”

  “You mean a psychic connection with everyone else in the clan?”

  She nodded.

  “Not generally. Nanook had something like that, but it’s rare. We all thought it was because he was part polar bear.”

  “It’s an alpha trait in wolves. Everyone in the pack feels the connection, but the alpha can broadcast. Usually it’s just emotions, sometimes it’s commands, but that’s rare. Either way, it’s what makes the alpha so hard to unseat. Once he takes control of a pack, the other members are compelled to fall in line on a subliminal level.”

  He nodded as if he understood what she’d done. He glanced out the bedroom door—startled to realize that they’d just made love with the thing wide open—to see her father still sleeping unaware of everything. “Your father’s not awake, so you broadcast?”

  She shook her head. “I shouldn’t be able to do it at all. I mean, I’m good, but I’m not a full shifter. I can feel the pack, but I’ve never broadcast.”

  “Until just a few moments ago?”

  She nodded, her eyes wide.

  “So…um…just what exactly did you tell them?”

  She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Her hands in her lap tightened, entwining her fingers together into a clenched knot. He covered them with his own, using his calm to settle her. Except, of course, he wasn’t fully calm. The last thing they needed was for the wolves to realize that Frankie was sexually involved with a bear. That would cement her as a traitor to the pack.

  “I shouldn’t have been able to do that,” she said. “I mean, it’s not like the pack link is flooded with orgasms all the time, even if the alpha is getting it on.”

  He swallowed. “You broadcast your orgasm?”

  She shrugged, her blush burning hot on her skin. “Maybe they just got happy, loving feelings.”

  “And…um…how did everyone react? Can you tell?”

  “Yeah. They’re…um…confused.” Her gaze wandered out to the street. “They were all ‘I hate bears, I hate Frankie.’”

  “And then you flooded them with an orgasm?” He couldn’t help it, humor laced his tone. Fortunately, she caught the ridiculousness of what had happened. Her lips curved, and she ducked
her head in embarrassment.

  “I think so, yeah. Now they’re just milling around, wondering what to do.” She looked out the window. “It’s hard to go kill people if you’re stuck in afterglow.”

  Now his smile turned into a grin. Trust Frankie to find a new way to avert a war. “So can you broadcast at them again? Something like, ‘Bears are the good guys’?”

  She closed her eyes and apparently tried to send the message. Ryan received it loud and clear. Not in words, but in a sudden flush of feeling that went: Bears were friends. He liked the bears. It probably helped that he was already part of the bear clan, but that wasn’t what surprised him.

  “Should I be getting that message?” he asked. “I’m not part of your pack.”

  She opened her eyes, and when she spoke, her voice was filled with happiness. “Yes, you are. You are my pack.”

  Okay, so that was new. A bear in a wolf pack. He kind of liked the idea, assuming she and he were the only two members. But apparently everyone else was included in that link and that wasn’t nearly as nice. He shifted uncomfortably on the bed, and this time she was the one who squeezed his hands.

  “Can you feel me?”

  He knew she meant psychically, and so he tried to narrow his focus down. To feel—

  Her!

  She was warm and solid, like a bright pillar of strength. He could settle himself inside her light and feel the power of their link. It was wonderful, and it shook him to his core. No one and nothing had ever been this deep inside him before. What if she betrayed him? What if she went bad? But her light was so bright, so strong that he couldn’t believe she’d do it. Not just because she was a good person, but because they were so linked together it would be like betraying herself.

  “I feel you,” she whispered. “It’s like I can sink into your presence.” Her eyes shone. “You’re wonderful.”

  He swallowed. “So are you.” But who else was on this link? He tried to feel around for anyone else, but all he felt was her. “Is anyone else…here?” He was just getting comfortable with trusting her. The idea that suddenly her entire pack could touch him mentally was terrifying.

  “Not like you. And not…” She shook her head. “I can barely feel them.” She shrugged. “You swamp everything.”

  Was that good or bad? What exactly did this mean?

  She took a deep breath. “I think it’s us together. We broadcast that orgasm. We have the alpha power.” She frowned trying to understand the details. “I can send to you, but I don’t think I can get anyone else. Maybe we have to do it together?”

  His eyes widened. “Send that ‘bears are friends’ message together?”

  She shrugged in an I-have-no-idea gesture. A moment later, they entwined their fingers and tried to send it. Ryan felt a little ridiculous shooting out a mental thought, but Frankie seemed to be completely at ease with the idea. So he tried…and came up empty.

  “All I get is you,” he said.

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  “Maybe we have to be…um…revved up to do it?

  They stared at each other. His mind was filled with questions that he wasn’t even sure he could phrase. And while he struggled with his thoughts, a distant sound cut through the night air. It was faint, but he knew it intimately.

  Sirens. Multiple ones headed this way. The police were coming, and he and Frankie turned to look out the window. It wouldn’t be long now until the building across the street started reflecting red and blue strobe lights.

  “Frankie,” he said, “what do you want to do?” She had to take the lead here. He could barely fathom what had happened, though from the look on her face, she was equally baffled.

  “Don’t freak out, okay? I’ll figure this out.”

  He wasn’t the one freaking, so maybe she was talking to herself. But he didn’t like the way she said that she’d figure it out, not they. He didn’t have a chance to respond as her cell phone suddenly buzzed. She leapt to get it, her motions jerky and obviously keyed up. She was still naked and he wanted to appreciate the view. He did appreciate it, but he also heard how she answered the phone with a panicked, “Hello?”

  If she’d wanted to, she could have kept him from hearing the other person on the line by pressing the phone tight to her ear. She didn’t. He heard the first squeak of a cry—Noelle—and crowded close to her as she returned to the bed and tilted the phone so they both could hear.

  “Oh my God, girlfriend, tell me that was you!”

  “Noelle?”

  “That was you. I know it was you. No one else feels so…so…I don’t know. Powerful woman.”

  “Um, what exactly did I send?”

  “It was like a rush of love. I mean fated in the stars kind of love. I’ve heard about this kind of thing before but never thought it would blast through the pack like it did. I mean, everyone felt it. You should see the look on some of the guys’ faces. They don’t know what to think.”

  “Oh shit…” Frankie murmured.

  “Don’t say, ‘oh shit’! It was wonderful! And it completely took the wind out of your brother’s sails. We could hear him screaming in the other room. ‘Attack! Attack!’ but my guess is that nobody listened. I really hate that my husband is overseas. I want some of that loving right now.”

  “So Raoul isn’t out at the bears? He’s still back at the community center?”

  “Yeah, in one of the back offices. I was really worried when a bunch of the men left an hour ago, though I was relieved, too. They were the meanest ones. Good for us, not so good for you because I was sure they were going after you.”

  “They were supposed to attack the bears.”

  “So did they?”

  Ryan crossed to look out the window. He could see the flashing lights of three different squad cars, but no werewolves. Only cops who were leaning on their cars while Simon and Alyssa talked to someone in a National Guard uniform. He looked back at Frankie and shook his head.

  “No attack,” she said into the phone. “That’s a good thing. The bears were not going to roll over quietly. It would have been ugly.”

  “Well, it was ugly here. Kids crying, mothers cranky, and the men looking edgy and mean. A couple teenagers got into a fistfight, and the wolves were snapping at everyone just to scare them. And then you happened. It was a miracle. Everyone looked shocked, but the little kids settled down. The women went mellow, and the men got embarrassed. And everyone is asking, who’s the new alpha? Like I didn’t already know, so I sweet-talked our guard and got my phone.”

  “Did you tell them it was me?”

  “I didn’t say a word, but all the women could guess. It certainly got everyone’s attention.”

  “Noelle, I…um…I didn’t do that on purpose.”

  “Well, pretend like you did.” Her drawl was laced with humor. “You wanted to be alpha. So come over here and cement your position.”

  Frankie nodded as if that was expected, but when she looked at Ryan, he saw an edge of panic in her eyes. “Um, yeah,” she said. “No time like the present, I suppose.”

  “Look, you’ve got the alpha power. Just blast everyone with a ‘stay put’ message. Say you’re coming to sort things out.” Then when Frankie didn’t respond, Noelle sighed, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “You can send the message, right?”

  Frankie looked at Ryan and shook her head, but the message was obviously just for him since she said something different into the phone. “Why don’t you tell them I’m coming? Tell them it’s time to talk common sense.”

  He could hear Noelle blowing out a heavy breath. “I can spread that message around, but you’ve got a plan, right? How about your father? Is he really dead?” Noelle’s voice broke a bit on the question.

  “He’s not dead, but he’s unconscious. Raoul’s guys messed him up bad.”

  “Right. So it’s up to you.”

  “Yeah, and don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.”

  “Okay. But hurry. Afterglow doesn’t last long with these guys.”


  “As soon as I can.” Frankie thumbed off the phone, dropped it in her lap, and looked at Ryan.

  “You don’t have a plan,” he said. More a statement than a question.

  She shook her head slowly.

  “And you can’t do the alpha thing again.”

  Again, she shook her head. Then she took a deep breath, gave him a quick, very abrupt kiss, and started to get dressed.

  “What are you doing?” He knew the answer before she said it.

  “I’m going over there.”

  He nodded and started grabbing clothes for himself. Fortunately, the Griz kept lots of XXXL sweats around for just this kind of thing.

  “You’re going to confront your brother.” It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway. A shallow dip of her chin. “A dominance fight.” He swallowed. “Can you win that?”

  He was watching her closely and so he knew that she didn’t answer by even the smallest movement. She’d locked down everything—thoughts, feelings, even panic—under a stoic mask of determination.

  He touched her arm, pulling her gently so that they faced each other. “We’ll fight this together.”

  “Dominance fights are one on one. You can’t help.” Her voice was tight, and he read despair in her face. “I’ll have to kill my brother.”

  After everything Raoul had done, she still wanted to save him. His heart swelled in pride for her fierce love. Especially since he’d just become part of her family. “We need a different option,” he said.

  She nodded slowly, and he felt her rigid mask soften. He felt her soften. “Okay, so that’s the plan.”

  “What?”

  “To figure out a plan on the way there.”

  Chapter 23

  Frankie had butterflies in her stomach and knots in her neck, shoulders, and back. She had her phone in her pocket right next to their entire plan: a hypodermic needle with the anti-serum. Dr. Cecilia Lu had made it clear that it wouldn’t reverse any brain damage, but it did noticeably decrease aggression. So the plan was to get close enough to her brother to inject him. If nothing else, it would ease off his push to drive the pack into war and hopefully allow her to reach the sweet boy he’d once been.