by Ravenna Tate
“It actually sounds kind of cool. Like permanent protection.”
“That’s exactly what it is. You belong to me, and no one would dare touch you. It would mean death for them.”
More shivers ran down her spine at his words, and at the conviction in his voice. “Do alphas ever change their mind? I mean what if you wake up one day and wonder what the hell you’re doing with me?”
Intense dark eyes, filled with humor and lust, regarded her. “That won’t happen. The idea that I’d change my mind one day is as absurd as believing I’d wake up tomorrow and no longer be a shape shifter.”
“Can’t you have sex just to have it? I mean why does our first time have to involve the whole biting thing?”
“Because that’s part of our pack law. We aren’t allowed to mate with anyone else. It’s punishable by death.”
“Wait a minute…” Gillian glanced around. No one was near them, but when discussing mating and pack law in a public place, one could never be too careful. She lowered her voice, just in case. “Whose death?”
“Mine. If I have sex with another woman, the Elders can sentence me to death.”
Chapter Four
Holy fuck. A very important fact she’d missed earlier suddenly struck Gillian. “You’re a virgin?” She whispered the last word, and nearly came at the look on his face after she asked. It was a combination of wicked humor and unbridled desire.
“Yes, but you needn’t worry. I know exactly what to do.”
“How? No offense, but if you’ve never had sex, how do you know exactly what to do?”
“Part of my gifts as an alpha.”
If any other man she’d dated had said he knew exactly what to do, Gillian would have laughed. But not tonight. Not this man. Coming from Arizona, it sounded perfect. As perfect as the way he’d called to her soul the moment she’d met him.
But that unexplainable attraction also frightened the hell out of her because this wasn’t like her at all. She was the logical one, and she’d never gone gaga over a man. Arizona was an enigma. The man exuded eroticism. Gillian needed no further proof of her attraction than the fact her pussy was now soaked, and every inch of her skin ached for his touch.
She shifted on the chair as her clit began to throb. “You know I’m not, though, right? I’m not a virgin.”
“I know.”
“Does that matter to you?”
“No.” He squeezed her hands. “I don’t care about that. Your past is your past. All that matters to me is your future, as long as it’s with me.”
“Will the Elders care about it?”
“The Elders will never know. It’s our business and no one else’s.”
“I won’t have to swear to them that I was a virgin?”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “No.”
“And your friends are all right with this?”
“Absolutely. They adore you.” He watched her face carefully for a few moments. “What else is on your mind? I know you have more questions.”
She eased her hands out of his grip and began to eat her salad again. He watched her a second or two before he returned to eating as well. After forming the question in her mind ten different ways, Gillian realized the best way to ask it was simply to be direct.
“What about my career?”
“What about it?”
“Arizona, you know what I’m asking. I only graduated from law school two years ago, and I happen to like working for the Benedicts. I love my career. I want to keep doing it, but I can’t help noticing the women in your village don’t work.”
“Some do.”
“The ones whose children are grown, and the ones who never mated do. The rest of them do not. Or did you think I hadn’t noticed?”
There was that look of playful humor again. It was part of what she loved about him, but she needed him to take this subject seriously.
“I don’t believe much gets past you, my beautiful Gillian. It’s your intelligence that intrigues me.”
“You like me for my mind? Is that it? My looks have nothing to do with it?”
After placing his fork down again, he slid his hands up her arms, so slowly it almost tickled. When he reached her shoulders, he gripped them, holding her gaze for long, luscious moments before he leaned over the table and kissed her, tongue and all once more.
Gillian’s first instinct was to pull away, just as it had been earlier. They were in public. She swore she heard someone laugh. But within seconds, her raging hormones took over as they had the first time, and she shoved her tongue into his mouth, matching his movements. The man could kiss like nothing she’d ever experienced. Maybe he was right about the other mechanics, as well? Only one way to find out.
But it was so … permanent. There was no turning back. Was she that sure about him? Could anyone be that certain of another person?
When he released the kiss, she felt deflated and empty. She also no longer gave a shit if people were watching them. She wasn’t in court. She was in a restaurant with this half man, half-lynx, having an amazing dinner. She was the woman he’d chosen and wanted to be with for the rest of his life. But as romantic as that sounded, this wasn’t a fairytale. This was serious shit, and she had a grown-up decision to make.
“Still think I don’t know what to do in bed?” He winked, and she bit her lip to keep from moaning again.
“No. Not even close.” He maintained the vise grip on her shoulders, and because he was so strong, it was beginning to hurt. But she didn’t want him to let go. She already missed his mouth.
“So, okay.” She struggled to compose her thoughts. “If we do this tonight, that means we’re together. For good.”
“Yes. Forever.”
“Where do we go? I mean where will we live? I assume you don’t want to return to living with Stone in Cash’s house after tonight.”
Arizona and Stone had moved into the home where Fiera and her father had lived, after Fiera moved into Canyon’s house with him, and Cash moved into the Benedict house. It was supposed to have been a temporary arrangement after the Medinas had tried to force Cash to give up his business, in case they set their sights on Cash’s house as well. But Arizona had told her that Luke and his wife enjoyed having Cash around, and he enjoyed living next door to his daughter.
“No, that’s true. It would be too awkward for us to live there with Stone. Rumor has it Cash wants to sell it, so Stone will probably buy it from him and live there now.”
“Do you have your own place?”
“I do now. It’s ready and waiting for us. Gillian, if it’s money you’re worried about, I have plenty. I’m only twenty-eight years old, but I own a third of the family business.”
Now she was embarrassed. She knew his family ran a very successful commercial fishing operation, and that despite his carefree demeanor, he worked hard.
“I didn’t mean to imply that. I only meant I don’t want to regularly have sex with you in someone else’s house, and where your roommate might come home any second. It’s too much like being in a college dorm.” The reference would be lost on him, but she imagined he got the general idea.
“I’m not planning on returning to the village until Sunday.”
“Are you going to tell me where we’re staying, or make me wait until after dinner?”
That grin! She couldn’t get enough of it. “Beecher’s Loft at Inn at the Market.”
“Holy shit, Arizona. Are you serious?”
“Yep.” He beamed with pride, and now she was beyond impressed.
“You weren’t exaggerating when you said you’d taken care of everything.”
“I told you.” He kissed her hands again. “Trust me, Gillian. I have this under control.”
“That takes care of the weekend. But what happens Monday morning?”
“We go to the Elders and tell them we’re mated. Just like Canyon and Fiera did.”
“I thought you told me the Elders weren’t too thrilled that Canyon and Fiera
put the cart before the horse?”
“See what I mean? You don’t miss a thing.”
“I also haven’t missed the fact that we didn’t decide about my career. I’m assuming this home you have is in your village, correct?”
Guilt washed over her as the excitement faded from his eyes. “Yes, it is. Close to where the Benedicts live.”
“That’s great, but I can’t commute back and forth from Seattle to your village every day for work. It’s a ninety minute drive one way, and that’s assuming no crashes, and normal rush hour traffic.”
“The Benedicts have an office in Port Angeles. I’m sure they’d let you work out of it.”
“Did you ask them already?”
“I haven’t. That’s your decision to make, not mine.”
“Thank you for acknowledging that.”
An exasperated sigh escaped his throat. “Gillian, these are minor details. Things that we will work out in time.” He leaned over and kissed her again, but it was too brief. Gillian was left wanting more. “The only thing that matters is we’re together. We’ll figure out the rest as we go along.”
“I think we need to figure it out now. Mating is the same as marriage to your kind, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“So if we mate, for all intents and purposes, we’re married. Correct?”
“Once we sign the contract in front of the Elders, yes.”
“You usually do that first, don’t you? Sign the contract?”
“It’s supposed to be done that way, but it’s so damn difficult to wait.”
As he moved across the table to kiss her again, the band that held his hair back in a loose ponytail slipped a little, and the strands nearly dipped into his wine glass. He grinned and moved the glass out of the way before giving her a quick kiss.
“I’m not sure how much longer I can wait for you, Gillian. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since the moment I first met you.”
Heat rushed to her face. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it either, but she’d never imagined when she met him that having sex with this man the first time also meant she’d be bound to him for life. Things were moving so fast, and yet it still felt right. Gillian wasn’t sure if she could believe her own emotions, but she knew one thing. She wanted this man more than she’d ever wanted anything.
The look he gave her was filled with such intense desire that this time she couldn’t stop the soft moan. “I’d cut off my right arm before I’d fail to give you what you want and need. Will you do one thing for me?”
“Anything.” That was an understatement.
“Will you let this weekend play out the way I’ve planned it? Please? I promise you everything will be all right.”
Their server cleared his throat. Gillian wanted to crawl under the table when she realized the man had been standing there for several seconds, but Arizona didn’t seem the least bit fazed. “The main course is ready, sir.”
As he placed dishes of halibut, peas, and baked potatoes in front of them, Gillian’s mouth watered. She also kept her salad because she hadn’t finished it yet. Arizona did the same, and once their server left the table again, Arizona took her hands.
“Gillian, you’re my mate. You’re mine. It’s already a done deal. Give me this one weekend to prove to you how much I want you with me for the rest of my life.”
Those words made her dizzy with need, and her answer came without hesitation. “All right. Yes.” How could she refuse this sexy, romantic man anything?
Chapter Five
The halibut was incredible, but if Arizona hadn’t been so hungry, he’d have asked for their dinners to be boxed up. An overwhelming urge to take Gillian straight to the hotel before she changed her mind swept over him.
The realization that she wanted to be with him was more than Arizona could handle. This was like having every dream he’d ever had about his future mate come true at the same time, yet he knew he hadn’t answered all her questions. He could feel it coming off her in waves. “What else do you want to ask me?”
“Are you sure your friends won’t oppose this?”
“I’m absolutely certain.”
“What about others in the village? Is there another family like the Medinas, waiting in the wings to stir up trouble?”
The image of that sentence, written on Cash’s front door in blood, rose up in Arizona’s mind. If that hadn’t been done by the Medinas, who the hell had done it, and why? Did whoever it was know he’d been dating Gillian? It certainly wasn’t a secret any longer that a human woman had been seen in both Benedict homes a lot lately.
“Gillian, I don’t know who wrote that on the door, but I refuse to live my life in fear of others. For too long our village was bullied by one family. We aren’t going to let that happen again.”
A look of fear crossed her face, and he wanted to punch something. It wasn’t right that any of them should be uneasy in their own homes. “That’s all well and good for you. You can shift into a big cat and fight. But what about me? Am I safe there?”
All his protective alpha instincts kicked in. Arizona put down his fork and scooted his chair around the table. Whoever might be watching was the furthest thing from his mind as he pulled Gillian onto his lap and cradled her in his arms. “Now you listen to me, beautiful. You’re my mate. That doesn’t only mean I get to fuck you all the time, and wake up with you every morning.”
A fierce blush rose up her neck and filled her face. She glanced around, clearly embarrassed that he had pulled her onto his lap and was saying these things in public, but he didn’t care. She needed to understand this, once and for all.
“It’s about protection. It means what affects you, affects me, and vice versa. Gillian, I would lay down my life to save you. I will always feel this way. You’re my mate. I’m in love with you.”
It felt so damn good to voice that out loud. The cutest little smile graced her face, and then she bit her lip. Arizona’s cock was throbbing now. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to wait until they got to the hotel. She looked at him like she’d never considered he might actually love her.
“You are?”
That sweet little voice, so childlike in its hope and innocence, was his undoing. He kissed her again, tangling his fingers in her hair and pulling her as close as physically possible. When he finally tore his mouth from hers, she looked at him with adoring eyes, and he knew if he died tonight, he’d die a happy man. Nothing could be this perfect. It wasn’t possible.
“Arizona, I love you, too. I know it’s crazy, but—”
“It’s not crazy. We’re mates.”
“I swear I felt it the second I first looked into your eyes.”
Touching her face sent an ache to his entire groin. “So did I.”
“Is this real?” she whispered, her voice filled with wonder and awe.
“Yes. It’s as real as anything else in your life, Gillian.”
As she glanced over the half-eaten food on their plates, a wicked smile spread across her face. “Why don’t we box this up, and get our dessert and coffee to go?”
“You’ve just read my mind, love.”
The drive to the hotel took no more than ten minutes, but to Arizona it might as well have taken days. Checking in felt like an eternity. The staff was so welcoming and polite, and he tried to return the sentiments, but his mind was screaming for them to just get on with it.
Once they were escorted to the suite, Arizona only wanted them to get the hell out already so he could be alone with Gillian. While they were still talking and pointing out the spectacular view, Gillian took the boxes of food and placed them in the refrigerator. Arizona shot her a grateful look, thinking the staff would take the hint, but no such luck. Finally, after Gillian told them she’d been there before, they left.
“Alone at last.” Arizona locked the door and pulled her into a tight embrace, inhaling her scent, now mixed with everything they’d eaten. He also caught the unmistakable whiff of arousal, and
his dick began to throb once more. She wanted him. This was real. This extraordinary woman had consented to be his mate. It was almost too much to take in.
“I should brush my teeth…” Her voice trailed off.
“I don’t give a shit about that if you don’t.”
They locked gazes, and Arizona nearly came at the lust blazing from her eyes. She took two steps back and unzipped her dress, shrugging it off her shoulders. It fell to the floor and Arizona watched, mesmerized, as she removed her bra and panties. He let out a low growl, and hoped like hell she wouldn’t run away screaming as he partially shifted. There was no way to hold it off.
“Does it hurt when you do that?” she whispered.
At first he didn’t understand what she was asking. “No. It doesn’t hurt.” He’d never seen a naked woman in person before, and hadn’t been prepared at all for the sight of Gillian. He didn’t know where to look first.
Every inch of his skin tingled, as though he’d stepped too close to a live power line. He couldn’t stop staring at her breasts, so ripe and full. They rose and fell slightly with each breath she took. He licked his lips as his gaze wandered over her nipples, so taut and inviting. He wanted to suck them. He wanted to bite them until she begged him to fuck her.
There was no hair on her pussy. Holy fuck, she was shaved. Another growl escaped his throat when he realized that. He’d seen pictures of shaved pussies and thought they were the most erotic thing ever, but didn’t realize women in everyday life would do such a thing. “Did that hurt?” he asked pointing. “Shaving off the hair?”
Her sweet laughter filled the room. “Yes, but only because I didn’t shave it. I had it waxed off. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Waxed off?”
“Yes. We humans do that.”
“Why?”
“The hair stays away longer, and the wax gets it down to the roots. Shaving can’t do that. Please tell me you don’t hate it.”
“I don’t hate it. Gillian, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
The look of complete surrender on her face melted his heart. She was in his arms, smashing her lips against his before he had time process the fact that she’d moved. Arizona growled deep in his throat as he tangled his fingers in her hair and shoved his tongue into her mouth.