by M. L. Briers
“He is part of this pack, and the man who saved your brother’s life, and don’t you ever forget it.” Wade was in two minds about whether to plant his fist in the younger Lycan’s face, just out of sheer frustration alone. He could surely understand how Nathan felt, having the rogue within his grasp, within his power to end him, and then losing him because of his brother’s stupid and inability to follow orders.
“That’s four members of this pack Nathan’s saved in the last twenty four hours…” Brook put in. Not best pleased with either twin’s behaviour.
“Four?” Jax narrowed his eyes and questioned the count.
“Sky, Rose, Sienna, and now your brother…” Brook answered and Jax seemed to deflate where he stood. The younger man frowned and dropped his eyes to the ground before him, silent.
“You could almost forgive him being a vampire…” Wade muttered to Brook as he listened to the sounds of the woods around him. He figured the rogue was long gone, and Nathan was too, and he wished he was still on the hunt, tracking the rogue instead of babysitting the members of his pack that had let him down tonight.
“What happened?” Jasmine was sitting on the edge of the bed when Wade stalked into the bedroom and his black eyes took her in.
Right now he was torn between wanting her and wanting to tear chunks out of something. His temper had cooled considerably since they had delivered Jason home with his brother to continue his rapid recovery.
“Nathan’s still tracking the rogue…” Wade offered, but Jasmine drew herself up on her feet and frown hard at her mate.
“Alone?” She demanded, and caught Wade off guard for a moment.
“It was unavoidable…”
“Unavoidable? Five went out together, four came back and left Nathan out there alone, that’s not unavoidable, and I doubt you misplaced him.” Jasmine felt the heat rush to her face and the anger rise inside her.
“Jasmine, I’m in no mood…” Wade started. Nathan was her friend and she had every right to be worried about him, but right now Wade didn’t need to hash this out.
“Oh, you’re in no mood…?” Jasmine’s clenched fists went to her hips and she looked slightly surreal standing there in one of his t-shirts that swamped her body, and nothing else. Her eyes were blazing with anger and her hair was a mess, and she looked so damn sexy he wanted to scoop her up and kiss her until she was daft. “Why would you leave him out there alone with no back up?”
“Jasmine, he’s a damn vampire, not a helpless pup…” Wade hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his low hung jeans and narrowed his eyes on her, it was obvious she had something to say, and even more obvious by the way she was now pacing back and forth that she was going to get it off her chest, one way or the other.
“Wade, he’s not only your brother, but he’s the vampire that saved your sister’s life, and your sister’s mate to boot, and yet here you are, in the comfort and security of your bedroom…”He wanted to smile when she rolled her eyes and motioned wildly around her, but he didn’t. “While he’s out there, alone. Hunting down the rogue wolf that attacked your sister, and is threatening your pack.”
“Firstly, let me correct a few mistakes you made in your speech. This isn’t my bedroom, it’s our bedroom…”
“That remains to be seen.” Jasmine muttered as she folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot on the floor.
“It’s also not my pack, it’s our pack, and she’s not my sister, but our sister, and now let me tell you why he’s out there alone hunting the rogue, because one of our pack screwed up and he had to heal him. We needed to guard the injured man until he was healed enough to move him, wherein Nathan decided to take off on his own and try to pick up the scent…”Jasmine’s foot stopped tapping on the floor and her arms relaxed slightly about her.
“So, you can berate me if you wish, but Nathan took off on us, not the other way around.”Wade took a long step towards her and saw her drop her arms and give him a look of disdain.
“So why aren’t you out there searching for him, he could be injured?”
“Because, if the rogue got the drop on him to the point where he was injured that badly, he would already be dead.” Wade pointed out and Jasmine knew that to be true. Nathan was old, but in vampire terms that just made him stronger and more experienced a fighter. If he was injured to the point where he couldn’t get away then the rogue would show him no mercy, he would have finished him.
“But still…” Jasmine offered, melting in her stance, and Wade closed the distance between them. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her close to him, nuzzling his head against her neck and taking in her scent. It calmed him and invoked the memories of being with her, having her wrapped around him as he stroked into her body, and he growled his need.
“Jasmine…” He growled against her neck and it took everything she had to push her hands against the hard muscles of his chest and not melt into him.
“Oh no, no, no. Don’t you even think I’m going to lay with you until Nathan is home and safe…” She warned him and he pulled his head back and looked down on her.
“You’d deny your mate…?” He started and she balked at him, her eyes going wide as she lifted her hand and wagged a long finger by his nose.
“You bet I bloody would…”She informed him and he frowned down at her, a low growl of annoyance running through him.
“But he’s a vampire he could stay out there until he finds and kills the damn rogue…” Wade offered male logic and she scoffed at him.
“Well, you’d better hope he makes that kill soon then hadn’t you?” Jasmine gave a wry smile and he growled down at her again.
“But sweetheart…?” Wade offered the endearment up and Jasmine scoffed again.
“Don’t you sweetheart me, Wade.”She informed him and he took a long step back from her.
“Females…” He growled out, turning towards the bathroom and muttering along the way. “Irrational… Emotional…”
“And stop pouting.” She called out just as he back heeled the door closed and she heard him growl again from behind the closed door, and couldn’t help the smile that turned up the corners of her lips.
Jasmine knew she must have looked a sight as she walked down the stairs, her hair every which way, a giant T-shirt that came down to her knees, and a thick pair of Wade’s socks on her feet, and when she spotted Sky and Sienna sitting at the kitchen table, mugs in front of them, looking as worried as she felt, she didn’t give a damn. It seemed she was in good company.
Sienna got up and was back with a third mug of coffee for her by the time she slipped into the seat next to Sky.
“Thanks, Sienna…”
“You’re welcome. We thought you and Wade would be… busy.” She offered tactfully and Jasmine couldn’t help but scoff her contempt for her mate in that moment.
“He thought so too. Men…” She shook her head in disbelief and wrapped both hands around her mug for the warmth that it provided. She wasn’t cold, but she needed that kind of tactile reassurance it provided her.
“He’s stressed, and we all know men use sex as stress relief…” Sienna offered and Sky grunted her disapproval.
“They do? I thought they just punched each other for that.” Sky muttered and Sienna gave her daughter a knowing smile.
“If they can hit it, have sex with it, build it, chase it, or eat it they are generally satisfied. It usually depends what is presented to them first…” Sienna offered and Jasmine couldn’t help the snigger that came from her lips.
“And if they’re human you can add shoot it to that list.” Jasmine informed her and Sky nodded in understanding.
“As long as they don’t apply all of those things to one object you’ll be fine. You’ll get to see the signs and know which way to go with your own mate.”Sienna offered as the younger women chuckled.
Sky tapped her long nails against the table top in a rhythmic beat and Sienna and Jasmine couldn’t help but smile at each other across the table. They
could both see that the young Lycan was worried about her mate, and when she rested her elbow on the table top and her chin in her palm, she gave a long low sigh of frustration.
“So this is where my three favourite women are hiding…” Nathan came through the back door and was standing in the middle of the kitchen before the night time breeze reached them.
Sky’s face exploded into a grin as she jumped to her feet and covered the distance between them in a heartbeat. Jumping up into his arms she wrapped her legs around his hips as he caught her and held her against him.
“Someone’s pleased to see me, what brought this on?”Nathan grinned down at her and was greeted with a playful shrug of her shoulders. “If this is the greeting I get every time, I’ll go out and come back in again.” He teased and she nuzzled against his neck.
“We thought the rogue might have made you into supper…” Jasmine explained in her usual no nonsense way and Nathan understood now why they were all sitting there.
“Well, I’m honoured that I have three such wonderful women worried about me, and I apologise for causing that worry.” Nathan’s old fashioned ways were showing in full force, but Jasmine could see that he was actually very touched by it.
“We were just debating who got to keep your very expensive car…” Jasmine teased him and Nathan raised his brows up his forehead.
“You wound me, madam.” He retorted a moment before he turned his attention back to his mate.
“Well, I’m exhausted…” Sienna offered getting to her feet at the same time as Jasmine, and they grinned at each other across the table.
“And I have a pouty mate to get back too.” Jasmine offered following Sienna out of the kitchen and leaving the mates to it.
Jasmine hooked the duvet and slipped beneath it. She knew Wade wasn’t asleep, she could tell by the way that he was breathing in her scent from the moment she opened the bedroom door, not to mention the way his body tensed when she got under the covers.
“Pouty.” She offered, only able to see the large shadow of him in the bed in the darkness of the room, but she felt him turn towards her in the bed as she settled onto her side facing him.
“I take it Nathan is home safely.” Wade offered. His voice was a low, deep growl and she knew that he was feeling the same amount of desire for her as she was for him. They may have mated, but they hadn’t bonded yet and that draw on their psyches was getting stronger by the minute.
“He’s with Sky.”
“And you’re with me…” He reached for her with one hand around her waist, pulling her across the bed and up against his naked body, the press of naked skin against hers, from their toes to their chests. “And you’re naked…” He growled long and hard and heard her chuckle.
“I never said I didn’t want you, Wade…”
“You were just worried for Nathan…” He brushed his fingertips down her spine and she pressed further against him. The warmth of his skin seemed to seep into her very bones.
“But I’m not worried anymore…”He could see her lips curl into a seductive smile, even through the darkness, and he growled again as he trailed his fingertips up her naked thigh.
“And you still want me…” Jasmine felt the hard satin of his arousal twitch as he pressed it further against her stomach.
“I still want you.” She cupped one hard globe of his backside and gave the flesh a squeeze, getting another growl from him for her trouble.
“Maybe I’m tired…” He growled against her lips and she sighed dramatically.
“Well I wouldn’t want to over tax you. I know how fragile Lycan males can be…” She didn’t get any further. His lips came down on hers with a hard growl as he rolled her over onto her back and kissed her until she was senseless.
Nathan back heeled the bedroom door closed and carried his mate, who was still wrapped around his body and didn’t appear to have any intention of letting go, over to her bed. His lips caught hers as they travelled up her neck and chin, and she opened to him on a low growl of desire.
Nathan wasn’t giving up this time. If she was to pull back from him then he would use everything, aside from mind control, to persuade her to mate with him. His need was great, and he could feel her emotions were on an equal paring. So as long as he didn’t scare the hell out of her, he thought this might just be the time when he claimed his mate.
When she squirmed against his arousal, searching for the feel of him, he groaned into her mouth. He was rock hard with needing her, if she kept on rubbing against him like that he just might throw her down on the bed and take her hard and fast, and that was something he didn’t want. He’d waited many lifetimes for his mate and he wanted to savour the first time with her for many lifetimes to come.
Nathan crawled over the mattress and lowered her into the centre, easing her legs from around his hips and giving his poor tortured manhood the relief it needed so his brain could concentrate on her.
It felt as if Nathan’s lips never left hers, that he never stopped devouring her as he undressed them, and yet somewhere in the darkest recesses of Sky’s brain she knew that wasn’t possible, but she really didn’t give a damn.
The feel of Nathan’s hard muscled body against hers was all that mattered to her, the press of his skin over hers as he worked his way down her body. His lips claiming every last inch of her was enough to dull any though other than the erotic way which her mate was making love to her. She felt as if she were being worshipped, and damn did she like it.
Nathan had teased over her sex, lightly brushing his fingertips, his lips, his tongue against her, but when he finally settled between her thighs and brought her slowly towards her first release, she felt the wonders of being loved so thoroughly. She’d had lovers, but they had never been this thorough, this patient, or this gloriously skilled to coax the kind of orgasm from her body that tore through her when it finally happened.
With his lips he sucked the little swollen nub, his blunt teeth were working backwards and forwards against it, and his tongue had found the little hidden bunch on nerves under the hood, and he worked her into a frenzy. His fingers stroked back and forth over the sweet spot inside her core and when the release hit her, her body convulsed up off the bed and Nathan had to use his strength to keep her in place.
Sky’s claws had come out at some stage and she had embedded them into the mattress on either side on her hips, and she couldn’t understand why her hands wouldn’t move as she tried to reach for her mate.
“Let me help you with that…” Nathan’s deep drawl brought her back to him slowly, as he soothed her body, and her claws retracted. “I guess we’re going to be spending a lot of money on mattresses…” He teased as she opened her eyes and gazed up at him through the haze of satisfaction.
“That’s never happened before…” She swallowed down a ragged breath, and then another, as he settled his hips between her thighs and his body over hers.
Nathan couldn’t help the devilish grin that claimed his face and his ego. “I guess it’s lucky I heal quickly, because if those claws end up in me…”
“Perhaps you should be mindful to hold my hands away from your body, should the situation ever arise again…”
Nathan slid a hand under her lower back and lifted her hips from the bed, bringing her in perfect alignment with him, he thrust into her, taking her halfway, before running back and forwards over the sweet spot that he’d already stimulated, and she pushed her head back into the mattress as her eyes closed and she growled her pleasure, as her claws came out again.
“Oh, I think it’s safe to assume it will happen again.” Nathan teased, letting her hips down as he reached for her wrists and pushed them up over her head on the bed, pinning them with one hand, before he lifted her back against him, his hips working back and forth against her the whole time.
Nathan pulled back to the very edge of her core and thrust all the way inside her, the feel of her inner muscles contracting around him made him groan out in pleasure, as did the soun
d of the low growls that rolled through her chest and hung on her lips.
“Do that again…”She growled against his lips and Nathan obliged, pulling all the way out to thrust hard and deep inside her, she wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him deeper. “Nathan…”
“Patience little She-wolf, we have all night…”The slow rock of his hips, back and forwards, taking her from the tip of his shaft to the hilt was making her wolf push forwards with every stroke.
“But I need to bite, Nathan, and I want to feel you feed from me…”When she opened her eyes he could see the wolf there, her fangs were slipping down into place, and the slow, long growl that rolled through her was all She-wolf. Nathan groaned with desire for her. To taste her blood on his tongue, to feed from his mate had been like a fire within his own blood that he was struggling to hold back, now she was echoing his thoughts, he didn’t think he could hold onto it any longer.
“Damn it, Sky…” He growled out as his fangs elongated and the steady thud of her pulse within her neck was all he could think about, all he could hear. “I want you, love.”
Nathan collected her within his arms and lifted her from the bed, pulling her against his body, he ran his hand up her spine, locking her into place against him as he dipped his head and ran his tongue up over the vein in her neck.
Sitting back on his knees he thrust hard and deep inside her, stretching her around him with each long thrust. The feel of her inner muscles working around him was almost too much to bear.
Nathan felt her claws in his back as the pain screamed through his body, only serving to heighten the feral side of his nature, the need for her blood now overwhelmed his senses, and she pushed him as close to blood lust as he would allow himself to go.
“Mine.”She growled as she nuzzled into him, the wolf within her pushing forwards.
Nathan could feel her breath hot against his shoulder. The feel of the razor sharp tips of her fangs against his skin and he bit down into her vein. The sound of her gasp of pain as she tipped her head back was closely followed the growl of pleasure as he took his first taste of her blood. The sweet nectar of his mate’s very life essence rolled over his tongue and down his throat and drove his hips wild against her.