by Kathryn Moon
“I’m okay. Settled after earlier,” I said, figuring he was really asking about Jonah. “I like Rebecca, I’m glad she was the one to come.”
Ryan hummed, undressing out of his pants in an unconscious and casual way. It was a show for me whether he meant it to be or not, but I found his own lack of concern in the act wonderfully domestic. As if we’d been undressing for each other for a decade, rather than less than a month.
“Connor, her alpha, seemed okay. Kind of confused about us. It’s a bit of a head trip listening to Bull talk to a guy like that though,” he said.
“His voice changes,” I agreed. “He starts sounding kinda posh.”
Ryan snorted at the thought and then kicked off his jeans, wearing only boxer briefs. He turned back to me, head tipping and eyes skimming. “C’mere. You don’t want to sleep in that dress.”
I stood and spun, offering Ryan access to the zipper. He pulled it down slowly, thumb following the line down my spine to the base of my back. He reached inside, pushing the sleeves down my arms with a heavy caress of my skin all the way to my wrists. The dress sagged off my waist and Ryan shimmied it off, my panties nearly going with it. Every touch was thorough and elongated, the act savored more than the quick and efficient strip he’d done for himself. I wiggled my shoulders.
“Bra too,” I said.
Ryan huffed softly, fingers gripping the softer flesh of my hips before returning to my back. The clasp was unhooked and his fingers skimmed my sides before sliding and covering my breasts. I sighed as he cupped and massaged them, taking the straps off and tossing it behind us. I leaned back and Ryan pressed his chest to my shoulders, arms circling and one hand playing absently at my nipple.
“Tired?”
I shook my head. “I missed you, I don’t want to sleep yet.”
Ryan purred, kisses pressed from my shoulder up my neck to my jaw. “Missed you too, sweetness.” His grip around me tightened, and then my feet were lifted from the floor, scooped by one arm and turned in his arms as he climbed onto the bed.
I sucked in a breath and stared at my alpha as he spread me across the bed. The lamplight was warm, fire orange catching on Ryan’s bronzed skin and in the gray strands of his black hair. He turned me beneath him, hands around my knees and spreading them open, before sinking on top of me, nose to nose and hip to hip. We still had our underwear on, and Ryan only took a brief kiss from my lips, tongue flicking out.
“I’m in no hurry,” he said, leaning back just enough to make eye contact. One hand lifted, pushing my hair back from my cheek as he smiled faintly. “And I’ve got no reservations, Baby.”
I sighed, reaching to pull him down to me again. “Kiss me,” I said, smiling.
I knew what he was saying, and I knew we’d end up there before the night was over. I was going to soak up every second of the moment first. Ryan purred, his smile wide until our mouths connected. Then every cell of him was invested in the connection, lips caressing and tongue teasing and teeth skimming oh so gently. The kisses were languid, lazy touches, Ryan’s hands cupped at the back of my neck and around my hip as mine traveled the geography of his back. We rocked softly together, the muffled friction heightened by my still tender sex.
It was like being a teenager again, grinding with my crush on a couch. Except that Ryan was more than a crush, and my breasts were pressed to his bare chest, and he was a better kisser than any boy I’d known in my teen years. My legs wrapped around his narrow hips, holding him tight to me. He growled, and the sound shivered through me as I pulled away to gasp. His lips latched onto my pulse, sucking in a steady beat that matched the gentle nudges of his hips against mine.
“More,” I moaned, reaching down to push away our underwear.
Ryan growled again, catching my hands and pinning them into the pillows behind my head. He worked his way from my throat to my collarbone, licking long stripes on sensitive skin and then nibbling over the spots. He slid down my body, flat planes of his stomach spreading my legs open. When he reached my breasts he had to release my hands, and they dove into the silk of his hair as I moaned and arched. Teeth framed and pinched at the tip of my nipple as I ground myself against Ryan’s stomach.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please, I want to come on your cock.”
Ryan purred, and I lifted my head in time to catch his smile. “You will, sweetness. More than once. You can come on my stomach too.”
His hands left my breasts, hooking on the edges of my panties, tugging them off as he sucked on one nipple and then the other. When he settled against me again, the heat of his skin against mine made me gasp. It was an awkward angle, my clit barely touched as I tried to work myself against him, but my frustration and desperation made Ryan purr, and the vibration heightened my arousal in a constant cycle.
“You’re being mean,” I whined as satisfaction skittered away for the third time as he switched from one breast to the other.
Ryan’s laugh barked and his grin suddenly shined. He pinched one nipple between his fingers, took the other with his teeth in a tighter grip, and I keened, rocking frantically beneath him as he twisted the one in his fingers. His tongue flicked over the tip of the other, and it was that rough treatment more than the soft, smooth, glide of him against my pussy that made me shatter, a shallow orgasm rolling gently through me.
I sighed as he released my breasts, my eyes falling shut as I caught my breath. The bed rocked and then Ryan’s weight returned, this time with one notable difference. He was finally fucking naked. I moaned, and my arms and legs closed around him as his cock slid through the slick of my release.
“Can’t help it, sweetness. Just love wrecking you like this,” Ryan said.
I bit my smile as it stretched over my face, and I opened my eyes to look at him. “You love me.”
“Don’t be shy,” he whispered, thumbing my lip free of my teeth. “I do love you.”
I hummed as Ryan covered me completely, cock still cozying against my sex. “Want me to present?” I asked, wiggling beneath him.
“Nope. Want you like this,” Ryan said, kissing me briefly. “Wanna see your face as I do this.” And then he reached between us, fitting the head of his cock at my opening and sliding in slowly. My lips parted on a silent gasp, eyes widening as he sank in, stretching and filling me with a gentle thrust. “Beautiful.”
I whispered his name as my eyes welled up. His sweetness was what wrecked me, and I only wanted more. “Please. Make me yours.”
“You are mine, Baby.”
He kissed me, licking into my mouth as he started to take me in heavy, slow strokes. Our hands were restless, gripping at one another with every push in, traveling together with every pull out. I poured my need for him into the kiss, dug my nails into his shoulders and ass when I wanted him closer. It wasn’t an urgent fucking, but there was desperation to it, and every groan and growl and purr from Ryan’s lips reassured me I wasn’t alone in the need.
“You belong with this pack. You belong with me, sweetness,” Ryan panted into my ear as we came together in a constant rhythm.
“Yes. Ryan, please.” My back curved, and Ryan’s arm slid underneath and held me to his chest, cock striking at a new angle that made my jaw drop and a high sigh escape. “Oh god, yes, alpha. I need you. I need your knot.”
Ryan mouthed across my jaw, hips snapping slightly rougher as if he was losing control. His knot was striking against my opening and I was at the edge of my patience, ready to flip us over and take him down. His other hand fitted between us, distracting the thought, rubbing at my clit in fast encouragement that had me clawing at his back and crying out. Just before the touch forced me off the edge of arousal and into free fall, Ryan drove forward, filling me with one long thrust, knot lodging in place.
We came together, arms clasped tight around one another, bodies shaking unevenly in the aftershocks. It wasn’t the dizzy, delirious, fall of a heat, and I found myself glad of it. Instead of the frantic need for more, I enjoyed the hazy, calming m
oment of collapsing together.
“Love you,” I whispered.
Ryan kissed the corner of my jaw. “Love you, Baby.”
I sighed, certainty clear and still and crystalline inside of me. I tilted my head, throat bared to his lips. “Bond me, Ryan. I’m ready.”
His purr was low and rattling, and I shivered as he lifted his head away from me. His hand lifted to my cheek, fingertips damp from my sex, and he turned my face back to his, nose nuzzling against mine. His eyes were open, fixed to mine, and he looked so calm, but I wasn’t sure what that meant when it came to Ryan who always seemed calm.
His lips pressed to mine and I whined, afraid he was about to tell me it could wait. He licked the seam, and I opened to him on a sigh, grateful for the kiss no matter what came next. I stroked my hands up his shoulders, soothed my fingers through his hair, and answered every lick and pull with one of my own. He sucked my bottom lip between his teeth, and I shivered as I squeezed around his knot.
With a soft growl, Ryan bit the fragile skin of my lip. I gasped and froze as his teeth pierced the inside of my lip and full pad, a shallow and delicate bite, but no less effective. Trembles wracked my body and Ryan’s growl grew, his arm like a clamp around my back as he bucked inside of me.
He did it. Elation burned through my chest, up to my eyes, which grew wet with happy tears. The bite burned, but I couldn’t have cared less about the pain. I scratched my nails against his scalp until the growl became a purr and Ryan unlatched the grip of his teeth, immediately sucking and soothing at the bite. Every swipe of his tongue was like a stroke of his cock inside of me, tingling along the bite and echoing through me directly to my heart as if he could reach inside of me.
The bond grew slowly, the scent of ginger heavier on the air, tendrils of growth unfurling in my chest. Ryan’s calm. His satisfaction. An unexpected and pure joy at being in my arms. My breath shook in my chest, overwhelmed by the sudden connection, settled by the weight of my alpha in my soul.
“Baby,” he mumbled, still sucking and lapping at the bite, cleaning it and strengthening the bond. I nodded in answer, twined myself around him as we started to move in unison, a wave rising between us that was stronger and clearer and more enveloping than sex.
Love. Connection. Home.
I pushed it back to him in answer until his purr rang through my head, a hypnotic calm and happiness carrying me into peace.
34
Baby
My hips ached the next morning. Not because of the activity, but because Ryan remained there, pinning me beneath him as he dozed on my breast, a sliver of drool pooling on my nipple. Ticklish, decadent, heady joy rushed through me. I watched in fascination as Ryan’s lips curled in sleep in response to my own happiness. I combed my fingers through his hair, and his nose twitched before burrowing against my breast with a soft groan.
My lips pressed together with my smile, and the bruising ache of the bite on my lip sent a thrill through me. Ryan’s grin pressed to my chest and his teeth scratched my breast before he rolled to the side and slid up to curl around me. His stare landed immediately on my bottom lip, and I laughed as a wave of alpha satisfaction hit me in the chest.
“How swollen is it?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
Ryan’s lips twitched. “A bit. It’ll be healed soon.”
He leaned in, warm skin pressing to mine, nuzzled my cheek and then pressed a soft kiss to my lip before licking over the wound. Shivering desire rushed through me, swirling around my center, and I moaned and curved into Ryan until his smile broke the kiss. This was a smiling record for Ryan, and I was deeply pleased with myself.
“You did that on purpose. Am I going to be horny for you every time someone kisses me now?” I asked.
“You shouldn’t notice it so much with the others,” he said, pulling away just enough to swipe his thumb across my lip. I shook again and narrowed my eyes at the delight transforming his face. “Do you mind?”
He knew I didn’t. I was absolutely bubbly inside, like a champagne bottle waiting to spill over. We were lucky the bond left us exhausted and drowsy or I would’ve kept Ryan up all night. “Of course not.”
“It won’t be as noticeable,” he said. “You could cover it with lipstick. In case you want to wait to discuss it with the others. Your smell has shifted a little, but most would assume it was due to sex.”
I shook my head. “I’m not hiding this from anyone.”
“I can’t guarantee how Jonah will take it, but I’ll challenge him if it comes down to it,” Ryan said with a faint wince.
I sighed and cuddled closer, aimlessly tracing the shadow of stubble on his jaw. Ryan didn’t have a lot of body hair and he kept his beard shaved so I hardly ever felt the rough grit of growth coming in. He purred as I scratched, and I thought it might be worth a little beard burn for mornings like this.
“If Jonah thinks his own decision to wait on bonding me should have any effect on my relationship with anyone else in this pack, he and I have a much larger argument ahead of us. He’s in charge of the club, but he’s not in charge of me,” I said as an answer to any of Ryan’s concerns.
“He knows you belong with this pack,” Ryan said, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “And you’ve got back-up if he needs anything else clarified about that. Now, I have a confession to make.”
I propped myself up on my side and when he did the same, I nodded for him to continue. I smiled when his eyes focused on my breasts instead and found the sheet to tug it over.
“There’s a reason I’m glad we bonded last night,” Ryan said, shaking off his distraction.
I laughed. “I should hope so, ‘cause you’re stuck with me.”
“Right, well there’s a lot of reasons. But I have a question for you, and I’m kind of hoping the bond will help you answer it.”
Even with the heaviness sneaking into our connection, I was expecting a question about emotions, or the Hangmen. “Shoot,” I said.
“What happened with Coal that day you came to see me?” Anxiety snagged in my chest and I hiccuped on a gasp. Ryan’s face hardened, a soft growl at the back of his throat. “Baby, I need to know. If he hurt you—“
“He didn’t,” I said quickly. “It was just… I don’t know what to call it. He pushed. I got him to back off.” Ryan’s growl deepened, and I was surprised by the depth of anger in the bond and how tense we both were. I released a slow breath and then leaned in, brushing my lips across his. Sweetness slipped between us, an automatic reaction to my alpha touching his mark. “I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at the time—“
“You were stressed and upset,” Ryan said, a rattle in the words as he struggled not to snap at me.
“—But he was one of the scents that attracted me to the pack. And with all the rest of you, that response proved to be…a pretty good gauge of how strongly I’d feel for you,” I said, kissing Ryan again. Gentle humor and affectionate pleasure warred with his temper through the bond. “I wanted to give him a chance, and then I didn’t really know how I felt about what happened and I thought maybe I led him on.”
“He fucking knew better,” Ryan said.
I nodded. “Well. Anyway. This week has been good to clear my head and I realized no, I don’t want to bond Cole. I considered telling Jonah to keep him at the Plaza, but I was afraid of getting into the whole thing.”
Ryan grunted and rolled away, checking an old mantle clock on the other side of the room. “He’s on the road now, or I’d be getting into it.”
“I’m not in heat now, my feelings are a lot clearer. I can deal with Cole if he starts up again. He’s part of the pack, he’s going to have to hear it from me eventually.”
“He makes you uncomfortable,” Ryan said, sitting up and reaching to pull me up and into his side. “I’m trying to not be an asshole about this, but I’m gonna have a hard time leaving you alone with him.”
I opened my mouth to respond with something along the lines of ‘I can take care of myself,’ which was tru
e, but not what Ryan needed to hear. “I don’t want to be alone with him. I’d be perfectly happy to have my alphas chaperone me until he’s on his way back to the rest of the pack, okay?”
Maybe it was a testament to how right for each other Ryan and I were that I found the bond so delightful to examine, studying his reactions to the conversation. Relief and surprise mingled with pride in response to my declaration, and Ryan’s eyebrows lifted.
“Really? You’re not going to feel crowded?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t think so. You’re right, Cole makes me uncomfortable and that’s partly my own fault for not realizing sooner that I didn’t have the same connection with him as I do with you and the others.”
Ryan’s jaw clenched. “Trust me, sweetness. It’s his fault.”
“We’re a team now,” I said, unable to resist the giddy smile spreading across my face. Ryan looked somber, but his own delight was blooming wildly in my thoughts and I didn’t have the control over my expressions that he did. “How’s my lip look?”
“Succulent,” he said, smirking and scooping me up, the sheets tangling as he dragged me onto his lap for a kiss that left me squirming and sighing. “Now, do we deal with the others or hide in here?”
Hiding sounded good, less for avoiding the others and more that I could enjoy extra time with Ryan, but I wanted to wear my first bonding mark proudly.
“Let’s talk to the others,” I said, before crawling off Ryan’s lap and stepping onto the cold floorboards. “And also, I want breakfast foods.”
“You fuckin’ didn’t!” Bullet bellowed, my chin held in his hand as he gaped open-mouthed at my bottom lip. His thumb pressed the fragile scar, and while it was a nice warm feeling, Ryan was right that it wasn’t nearly as good as when he touched the mark.
“He clearly fucking did,” I said, pulling myself free from Bullet’s grip.