I glided my hand down her leg, wrapping my fingers around her ankle for a moment because I was loathe to let go of her. I savored the feel of her beneath my palm—even with her jeans between us—and inhaled her scent deep into my lungs. It helped soothe my beast as I stood from the couch and stripped my shirt over my head.
“Um...wait...why are you taking your clothes off?” she asked. Her dark eyes were locked on my bare chest, and she was biting her bottom lip with a hungry look on her beautiful face.
“I only leave them on when I’m in a rush. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have anything to wear.” My lips curved up in a smug grin when her gaze followed my hands down to my jeans and her eyes widened as I popped the snap open before lowering the zipper. She gasped and her cheeks pinkened when I dropped my jeans to the floor after kicking off my boots. My cock strained against my boxers, and I was sorely tempted to let them fall to the floor too. But then shifting would be the last thing on my mind, and I needed to focus on proving to my mate that shifters were real—and that she’d been born to be mine.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Uh-huh.” Her answer was distracted, but the sensual fog cleared from her eyes when I called my wolf forward. Fur swelled under my skin as my muscles rippled. Cracking and popping sounds filled the room as my human form retreated, allowing the wolf to come out. Landing on all fours, I padded closer to Allegra.
“Oh, my gosh! You’re a wolf,” she gasped. Her hand shook as she reached out, and I rubbed my muzzle against it. Her fingers dug into my fur as she ran her hand across my back. “And you’re gorgeous.”
I let out a soft bark of appreciation and carefully set my paws on either side of her body to climb up and give her chin a lick.
“Ah! Why is your tongue so cold?” she cried, scrubbing her hand over the spot to dry it off. “I think that might take some getting used to.”
I have her another lick—just because I could—and then I rubbed my fur against her. I felt a driving urge to mark Allegra with my scent. Any shifter who came near needed to know she was my mate. Mine.
I basked in the sound of her giggles as she let my wolf rub all over her body. Then I settled next to her on the couch while she petted my wolf’s fur and scratched behind my ears.
My wolf wanted to soak up her acceptance of our dual nature, but my human side knew there were things we needed to discuss, and we couldn’t do that until I shifted back. I forced the wolf to take a back seat, changing from my wolf form to human in the blink of an eye.
“Oh, my,” Allegra breathed, my naked body sprawled between her legs.
I pressed one hand against the back of the couch and the other against the arm beside her. Leveling myself over her, I brushed my lips against hers. “Do you believe me now?”
Her hands clutched my bare shoulders as she kept her eyes locked on mine. “Yeah, it’s hard to wrap my brain around everything, but it’s not like I can accuse you of making it up when you just changed into a wolf right in front of me.”
“I’ll never lie to you, Allegra,” I swore, staring into her eyes so she could see the sincerity in mine. “I get that it’s hard for you to process that shifters are real, but I want to make sure you know you can trust me. Even though we just met, I’ve been waiting for you my entire life, and I won’t do anything to mess this up.”
“My instincts were telling me to trust you from the moment you pulled me out of that car,” she admitted softly. “But I do have some questions for you.”
“Ask me anything,” I offered.
“Um.” Her gaze started to drift lower, but she jerked her head up again and asked, “Could you pull on some pants first? It’s kind of distracting with your...um...junk hanging out.”
“My junk, huh?” Damn, she was so fucking adorable, it hurt. I flashed her a wink, rolled off her body, and snagged my jeans off the floor. After I pulled them on, I lifted Allegra off the couch before sitting down and settling her on my lap. “Is that better?”
“I wouldn’t say better, exactly,” she teased with a little grin. “But it’s easier to talk this way.”
She wiggled in my lap, making me groan as my dick pressed against my zipper. I’d been waiting forever to sink deep inside my mate, and my willpower was only so strong now that I’d found Allegra. “Go ahead and ask me whatever you want, baby.”
She rested her head against my shoulder, getting comfortable in my embrace. “Well, you said you’d waited your whole life for me. How long is that?”
“I’m thirty,” I answered, rubbing my chin across the top of her head. Just like the animal side of my nature, I felt the urge to leave my scent all over my gorgeous mate. “How about you?”
“I turned nineteen a couple of months ago,” she admitted softly.
It was a good thing she wasn’t young for a freshman, or else I would’ve been stuck waiting until she was legal before I’d be able to claim her. “I’ll have to do something extra special to celebrate your twentieth since I missed your last birthday.”
Her plump lips curved up in a pleased smile. “I guess that means you think we’ll still be together next year, huh?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely, baby. Mates are forever, and I knew you were mine the second I smelled you. Your strawberries and cream scent called to me from blocks away,” I explained.
“So if one of my friends had gotten a strawberry shake at the diner and then waited around for the check instead of me, you’d be acting like this with them instead?”
Her dark eyes spat fire at me, and she crossed her arms over her chest, blocking my view of her perfect tits. I loved how pissed off the possibility seemed to make her because I wanted my mate to be as territorial over me as I was her. But I didn’t want her to feel pain over something that never would have happened, so I hurried to reassure her. “Your friends could drink a million strawberry milkshakes, and I’d never want them.” I pressed her against my hard length as I tilted my hips up. “You’re the only woman who can do this to me. The only one I’ll ever want.”
6
Allegra
I’d never seen a penis in real life before, and I’d really wanted to stare at Zeke’s when he’d been naked. It had taken everything in me to force my gaze away from it, and now he was telling me that I was the only woman who could make him hard like that. But I wasn’t sure if I was taking it the wrong way. “When you say you’ve waited thirty years for me and I’m the only one you’ll ever want, you don’t mean like...ever, right? As in you’ve never, um...you—”
He saved me from being super awkward by pressing his finger against my lips and finishing my sentence for me. “Did I mean I’ve never had sex before? Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying.”
This incredibly sexy man just kept surprising me in the very best ways. His confession made it easier for me to admit, “I...um...I’m a virgin, too.”
His hold on me tightened as he pressed his face into the crook of my neck. “I’m so fucking happy to hear that, baby. Shifters don’t feel desire for anyone other than their mate, and the same tends to be true for their mates even when they’re human. But so often, human mates are completely unaware of why they aren’t attracted to anyone else and aren’t still a virgin when they finally meet the one.”
I’d never expected that I would end up with a man who had such a strong but also positive reaction to my virginity. I kind of assumed it would make guys second-guess being with me. It was a relief to know that Zeke valued the fact that he would be the only man I’d ever slept with, and even more so that I was the only woman he’d ever want to be with. The whole fated mate thing was kind of incredible, especially since it seemed that I was the possessive type when it came to Zeke. But his reaction showed me I was in good company. “You don’t have anything to worry about there. I’ve never even had a boyfriend or gone on a date with anyone.”
His hold on me tightened again, and I shifted on his lap. A sharp pain radiated up my arm to my shoulder, and I let out a small whimper. “C’mon, let’s get you in
a hot bath to help loosen up your muscles so you’re a little less sore tomorrow. Once I’ve got you settled in the tub, I’ll grab you a pain reliever and something to drink.”
“A bath sounds amazing,” I agreed.
He stood with me in his arms, and I wrapped mine around his neck. I caught glimpses of his home as he carried me through the living room, up the stairs, and down the hallway to a large bedroom decorated in dark blues and grey. He passed the California king-sized bed and brought me directly into the bathroom. After he set me on the vanity between the double sinks, I stared at the oversized Jacuzzi tub and separate rain shower in awe. “Wow, this is gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tub that big before.”
“I put it in for you,” he said as he bent over to play with the knobs until the water pouring out of the faucet was to his satisfaction. He opened a small door on the cabinet built into the bottom of the tub and pulled out a bottle of bubble bath, dumping in a capful before putting it back. Then he looked over his shoulder at me and caught me staring at his butt. He winked at me and added, “I wanted my mate to be comfortable in our home, so I tried to keep what you might like in mind while I was picking stuff out. My niece discovered the tub when they visited last month and took several baths each day.”
“I can see why she enjoyed it so much. You did an excellent job,” I complimented as I traced my fingertip over the marble top of the vanity, grinning at his explanation for the bubble bath since it was difficult to picture him in a bath full of bubbles.
He brushed a soft kiss against my forehead before reaching over my shoulder to open the medicine cabinet. “I’m glad you think so since I did it all for you.”
“Seriously, what did I ever do to deserve a guy like you?” Zeke seemed too good to be true.
“You don’t have to do anything other than be yourself,” he answered as he shook a couple of pain relievers out of the bottle and handed them to me. “You were born to be mine, and I’ll always treasure the gift you are.”
He had the art of the perfect answer down pat, making me swoon before I popped the pills in my mouth and swallowed them down with the glass of water he gave me. Then I handed it back and looked at him expectantly. He cocked his head to the side, and I blurted, “The tub looks like it’s just about full.”
“Good catch.” He crossed the room to turn off the faucet and returned to my side to help me off the vanity. “You should get into the water while it’s still hot, or else it won’t do much good.”
Although he’d gotten naked in front of me without blinking, my cheeks filled with heat at the thought of stripping out of my clothes in front of him. “Are you going to at least turn around while I get in?”
“Shit, sorry.” He flashed me a sexy grin as he walked over to the doorway. “Nudity isn’t as big of a deal for shifters, and I forgot it isn’t the same for humans.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what else to say since I hadn’t expected that to be his reason for wanting to see me strip.
Zeke stopped and turned to face me again. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’ll be a big damn deal for me from now on. No way in hell do I want anyone other than me to see your beautiful body.” He swept his hand down in front of his chest. “And I’m all yours, so I’ll be careful about who’s around me when my clothes come off before shifting.”
I grinned, happy with how he just put everything all out there. “Thank you.”
He returned my smile before walking away. The door was still open, so when he was out of my line of sight I hurriedly stripped out of my clothes and climbed into the tub. The bubbles were thick enough to cover my body, but I still let out a surprised squeak when Zeke strode back into the room. Shifters were real, I was the fated mate of a sexy wolf, and I was naked in a tub only a few feet away from him. It was a lot to take in.
“Is it like this with all fated mates?” I asked as he dropped a big T-shirt on the vanity.
Pulling my knees up to my chest, I covered myself a little more. “Like what?”
I was acutely aware of the fact that I was completely naked with only the bubbles stopping Zeke from being able to see my body. My nipples pebbled, and I felt a slickness between my legs that had nothing to do with the bathwater and everything to do with my overwhelming attraction to him. “This instant connection to someone you’ve just met who seems to have been tailor-made for you.”
“For the most part, yeah,” he confirmed with a grin, his green eyes gleaming with male satisfaction. “So you think I’m perfect for you?”
“I mean...I don’t really know much about you except that you can shift into a wolf, are the sheriff, and have a niece. But from what I’ve seen so far—which has only been about an hour—yeah, you seem pretty perfect to me.”
“What do you want to know about me? I’m not the best at sharing stuff with people, but I’m an open book for you,” he offered.
I figured the whole getting to know each other thing would work best if it was a give and take thing. He’d mentioned having a niece, so I assumed talking about siblings was an easy place to start. “I’m an only child, but I didn’t feel lonely growing up because I had my best friends. How many brothers or sisters do you have?”
“Just one brother,” he answered as he bent over to pull some more bath stuff out of the cabinet under the tub. “He found his mate almost a decade ago when he was only eighteen. He was one of the lucky ones. I spent years being jealous of him and worrying I’d never find you.”
My heart raced at how grateful he sounded. I’d always known my parents loved me, but I’d never experienced romantic attention like he was giving me. “Does that happen often?”
“Before I met you, I would’ve said it wasn’t too bad because most of us find our mates. But now that I’ve experienced what meeting you feels like, I understand that even one shifter never being mated is too many.”
It was impossible to resist Zeke when he kept saying things that made me want to cry in the best way possible.
7
Allegra
Zeke poured body gel onto the washcloth and stretched his arm out, his hand hovering in the air for a moment before he offered it to me. I had a feeling he’d intended to wash me himself and then decided I wasn’t quite ready for that. And I really shouldn’t have been, considering we’d just met, but I had the whole fated mate thing to blame for it when I leaned forward so he could reach my back instead of taking the washcloth. Goose bumps broke out along my spine in the wake of his touch.
I rested my chin on top of my knees while he cleaned my back and arms. It felt so good to have him pamper me. And incredibly sexy. I watched the flexing of the muscles in his arms and breathed in his scent as he leaned down to reach into the water and lift one of my feet higher. The bubbles were still thick, but he still ate me up with his eyes. When his nostril flared, I wondered if it was possible that he could smell the proof of my desire. His fingers grazed my skin, and my need for him intensified.
“The water’s getting a little cold,” I whispered, blaming my shiver on the temperature instead of the desire burning through my veins as the washcloth moved up my calf.
My need turned into an inferno when his fingers drifted above my knee and he suggested, “Maybe there’s something I can do to help you stay warm.”
My legs parted a little, giving him more room as his hand continued up my thigh. “How would you do that?”
“It depends on what you want.” The washcloth continued up my thigh, almost to the crease near my core.
My legs parted slightly more, and I breathed, “I’m not sure what I want.”
“I bet an orgasm would make you feel better,” he suggested as he dropped the washcloth into the water. “Tell me yes, and I’ll give you one.”
Even with all the fated mate stuff—or maybe because of it—I probably should have thought twice before I answered, but I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Thank fuck,” he growled, his green eyes riveted on my face as his fingers slid up to my pussy.<
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My gaze dropped to watch his hand move between my legs, my breath catching in my throat as his finger brushed against my clit before dipping down to slide through my wetness. “Oh, wow.”
“Feel good?” he rasped.
“Uh-huh,” I breathed, moving my knees as far apart as I could get them in the tub.
He increased the pressure of his touch and asked, “How about this?”
“Even better,” I gasped as he inched one of his fingers inside me. Then he twisted his wrist to circle my clit with his thumb, and my orgasm came out of nowhere, crashing over my body as I gripped his arm to keep his hand in place. He kept stroking me through it and pressed a kiss to my forehead when my shudders finally subsided.
When he lifted me out of the tub and covered me with a fluffy white towel, the sensual fog he’d wrapped me in lifted, and my senses returned. “Oh, my gosh! My friends!”
“What about them?” he asked as he carried me into the bedroom and set me on the bed.
“They’re probably scared out of their minds. It’s been a couple of hours since they left the diner. I definitely should’ve been back way before now,” I explained, my gaze searching the room for any sign of my purse but not finding it. “Have you seen my bag? It was with me in the car.”
“I’ll run down and check the truck.” He padded across the room to grab the T-shirt from the bathroom and came back to give it to me. When he left to look for my purse, I finished drying off with the towel and slipped the shirt on. Then I went into the bathroom to grab my panties.
I had just gotten them in place when he came back with my purse. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I dug inside for my cell phone and cringed when I saw that I had three missed calls and about a dozen text messages from Larissa and Calliope. There wasn’t anything from my mom yet, so I hoped I was in time to stop them from letting her know they didn’t know where I was.
Her Wolf Page 3