by Erin Havoc
Grabbing Jason’s pants without thinking, I run out to the corridor. Picking the heavy piece, I skip down the stairs to the main door. The doorknob is broken, the door ajar, and I’m sure it is Jason’s doing. He smelled my fear or something and came after me. Affection swells inside my chest, and I grind my teeth as I run out of the door, conviction burning through my veins.
I find the two fighting on the side of the building. Facing the black wolf I know is Carl, there’s a silver one. Big, blue eyes and a lean frame tell me this is my mate. Jason’s silver fur is sprinkled in red. Carl limps as he steps back and prepares for a lunge.
Letting Jason’s pants drop, I grip the fire extinguisher. I aim, my heart hammering against my ribcage once more, and smash the lever down. God, I hope this works.
The jet bursts out of the hose I hold, slamming straight into Carl’s furry face. He yelps in surprise and jumps back. Jason takes this chance to slam his body against Carl’s and snarl straight into his face. I wait for my mate to attack him, and I do wish Carl gets badly bitten, but nothing happens. Jason slams against his body once more, then pulls back. Tilting his muzzle up, he howls.
The sound is chilling, down to the base of my spine. And it echoes from several points around town. Carl jumps farther back, looking around himself as if he’s waiting for the owners of those howls to jump on him. With one last snarl and annoyed glance, he turns and leaves, his tail tucked between his legs.
Putting the fire extinguisher down, I dart to Jason. He meets my eyes for a moment, then lifts one of his front paws to lick at a wound. I kneel in front of him, my heart settling.
“Are you all right?”
He nods, and his lips stretch into something akin to a smile. I reach out and touch his fur. It’s as soft as his hair. Patting him for another moment, I feel the coldness of his muzzle against the hollow of my throat. He takes a deep sniff and growls. A grave sound that turns my insides to mush and tells me he’s ready to go upstairs.
I am his mate. Nothing will ever change this. And I’m ready for him to mark me as his.
8
JASON
As soon as the sucker’s out of my sight, I shift back to my human form. My fur is reabsorbed, my bones reshaped, my ears change the place they sprout from. It’s not a beautiful thing to watch but Meghan waits for me, her eyes riveted to my shape. I’m mindful of my nakedness, hiding my junk once I’m done changing back. Quickly, I walk to my clothes and put my pants back on.
Blinking twice, Meghan reaches for the wound down my arm. I’ve been bitten in several locations, but this one is the deepest slash — the one he took me by surprise, trying to bite my arm off. It will be healed soon enough, anyway.
“You’re hurt,” she breathes out, stepping closer to me. I inhale her scent, savoring the lack of fear. She has seen me transform into a wolf and back and she’s not afraid of me. She feels safe.
I shake my head, then bring a hand up to brush my hair back. “It’s okay, it’ll heal.”
She cocks a brow. “We should go to a hospital.”
Cupping her face, I stare into her eyes. “I’m all right, Meg. My healing is improved because I’m a shifter. I’ll be fine.”
Her pillowy lips twist to a side in worry, then she takes my hand and turns back to the building. “Let’s go. At least let me patch this up.”
I chuckle and nod, letting her lead me. We stop to pick the fire extinguisher she so bravely brandished and we do our best to shut the door. I’ll have to get that fixed first thing in the morning. Her apartment’s door is also jumbled, and we prop a chair behind it to keep it closed.
“I’ve done quite a mess,” I tell her as she makes me sit on the couch. “I’ll get the doors fixed in the morning.”
She strides into another room, smiling over her shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ll call the cops and tell them Carl burst in. I don’t want that fucker anywhere near me.”
“He won’t see you ever again,” I say, sitting up straight. “I won’t allow it. I’ll keep an eye out and be sure he’ll leave the city. My brothers out there must be chasing him out right now.”
She walks back with a sweet smile. “Thanks. I’d love that.”
Meghan kneels in front of me and carefully cleans and patches my major wound, then assists to the other slashes over my torso. Her nimble fingers are gentle as she pats the skin, and I feel no pain. Nothing but a growing heat.
Because now I’m in her house, and the place has her smell all over it. My hunger’s back. My starvation for this beautiful woman’s lips and body. Every touch of her skin on mine a burst of blinding lust.
And from the way she’s biting her lower lip, I think she feels the same. I reach out and run a hand up and down her arm, feeling the bumps of shivers along her skin. She’s smooth and all curves, looking up at me with big, glittering eyes.
Gorgeous. And mine.
Time slows down as our eyes lock. Bending, I brush my mouth over hers. She half-opens her lips, her breath coating my tongue. I take a deep breath, inhaling her sweet aroma... The scent of her arousal wafts up to my nostrils.
My wolf howls inside me.
Picking her up, I sling her legs around my waist and stand to my full height. Meghan cries out, dropping the tools she’d been using and gripping my shoulders.
“Jason,” she mutters, out of breath, her cheeks blushing.
“Bed,” I growl, barely able to say anything with how much I want this woman.
She juts a thumb over her shoulder to the right and I stride into her bedroom, not stopping to check the decor. We’ll have time for this. For me to learn every habit and every like and dislike. Now, I need to have a taste of her. A bite. Anything.
Resting her back on the bed, I climb on top of her and stamp our mouths together. Meghan rises to meet me, hugging me closer and sliding that delicious tongue over mine. Her sounds lower into whimpers and I don’t stop myself from exploring her body.
Her ample curves, heavy breasts, thick thighs. I can’t get enough. My fingers tingle for more, to feel skin on skin, to taste. I’m desperate to have her, aching to have my member buried into her center. Her arousal drives me mad, and my wolf celebrates and slobbers inside me as my dick twitches, harder and harder by the second.
Meghan moans as her hands roam down my exposed chest. First shyly, then with more confidence by the second. She snaps her eyes open to meet my gaze, and a rumble of lust sounds from inside me as I watch her pupils enlarge.
“There’s something I want to tell you,” she breathes out, and I lean and kiss her, anxious to taste more of her. She breaks the kiss a moment later. “Let me speak before we’re too far gone.” Her voice breaks as she smiles at me, her lips already swollen.
“Say it. Say it, my love. I’ll listen to you. I will always listen to you.”
She looks deeply into my eyes, and my wolf calms down, settles. My heart fills with so much feeling for this woman... This amazing woman I have come to love in the matter of a day. My wolf knows she’s the one. I know she’s the one.
There’s nothing but love between us.
She licks her lips. “I feel it. The connection. The attraction.” She’s breathless and her lip trembles. “I feel it too. I know we’re meant to be. And I know we’ve just met... But I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Her words are sweet moonlight cascading down my skin. I breathe her in and close the space between us.
“I am in love with you too. It’s fast because we were always meant to find each other.” I shake my head, the tips of my hair brushing over her cheeks. “Let’s not fight it. Let’s embrace this.”
She smiles and kisses me harder, and in a beat, the sweet moment is gone. Now comes the heat of passion, the flare of intensity as our bodies meet and clash. I’m dying to rip her clothes off her, but I hold back enough to just pluck them out as fast as I can. We’re naked in two heartbeats and I’m gawking.
“You’re so fucking hot, baby,” I say into her neck as I kiss her. My hands
find her breasts, the hard nipples waiting for my touch. She’s surrendered to me, arching her back and moaning, her mouth half-open. Her nails dig into the muscles of my back and I bare my teeth and groan in delight to feel the pain mixed with pleasure.
Meghan widens her eyes as she peeks between her legs at my member, twitching, patting her mound. “Jason. Take me. Claim me.”
I nibble onto her shoulder. “I will. But I need to taste you first or I’ll die, baby.”
She nods, plopping back onto the bed and parting her legs for me. It’s a heavenly sight — she spreads herself on the mattress, her breasts jiggling with the movement, her lower lips parting for my viewing pleasure. She’s soaked, her juices running down the insides of her thighs and making my mouth water.
With a groan, I part her knees and bury my face between her luscious legs. She gasps, a hand shooting out to fist my hair. “J-Jason!”
I feast on her pussy, drinking from her juices and lapping at her with abandon. She squirms and moves and cries in pleasure. I have never done this, but all I have to do is follow her motions. She rubs herself against me, moaning and riding my face. I take turns licking and sucking at her button. Before long, Meghan’s bucking against my face, harder and harder, a torrent of “oh oh ohs” letting me know she’s close to release.
So I double my efforts and take her over the edge.
Favorite new thing: feel her coming against my face.
I drink her nectar, then climb on top of her again. Meghan’s eyelids shut, and she trembles from head to toes, but when my chest meets hers, her eyes snap open.
“That was amazing!” She gasps, holding me tight. “I was a bit afraid you wouldn’t fit inside me but now...”
My cock finds her entrance with her words and I brush a thumb over her bottom lip. “Listen, love. I don’t think I can take this much longer. I have to claim you, and I have to claim you bare. Are you sure you want this?”
“Yes,” she answers at the same instant.
“Do you want me to mate you? The mark is forever, Meghan. This is not a casual thing.”
“I know.” She rolls her hips, and my cock presses against her tight, tight entrance. Her eyelids flutter shut again. “I want it! My body needs it! Please, please, please...”
“Fuck,” I move into her.
I meet resistance for a moment. Pressure. Then the two of us move together and my cock-head slips inside her. She’s so tight, so warm. I gasp and sink my teeth into her shoulder. She cries out and I taste the tang of her blood in my tongue.
Mine.
She tightens her hold on me. “It’s okay, I’m all right, fuck me, fuck me, for Christ’s sake!”
Meghan moves under me, forcing my cock to slide deeper inside her. It’s a maddening feeling, pressure and ache and relief, all clashing at the same time. My wolf howls yet again, and I know he feels it too — the mating bond settling into place.
“God!” Meghan cries out, moving so more of me enters her. “This is so good!”
Gripping her thighs, I take control of the motions, sinking into her to the hilt, then starting to move. Her heat encapsulates me, steals my breath away. Her inner walls clamp down around my shaft, and at that moment, we’re one.
We are doing what we were made to — mating one another. The universe has brought us to this and I have only words of gratitude as I kiss her lips and move inside her.
Meghan’s motions grow out of rhythm, desperate, and she thrashes on the pillow. I shift so I take her weight on my arms, and I fuck her with all my might. My cock jerks inside her and I know we’re close to coming together.
Bending, I take a nipple in my mouth and suck. It’s all it takes for her to come crashing down again. She screams her pleasure out, scratching my back until I smell blood. My wolf fights for control and I let him come to the surface, change my features just a little bit, feel the pleasure I am feeling.
Pounding into her wet heat, the first tingles of a huge orgasm threaten to take me, and I let them rock over me. My skin shivers and I feel the utter connection of being one with my mate. My balls are heavy, ready to spill my seed inside her womb and make her the mother of my cubs.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
The words echo in my brains as I’m repeating them between her breasts. Her muscles twitch around me, and I drop off the edge with a raw, primal growl. The pleasure crashes over me like a wave and I let it drown me. I gasp against her pulse, nibbling on the skin as I spurt inside her, holding her tight so she takes everything.
A thin veil of sweat coating our bodies, I take deep breaths, inhaling her arousal, her body, our mixed orgasms. Soon enough my seed will start dripping from within her, and I will have to put it back in again.
Meghan smiles softly as she comes down. “Hi,” she says as she snuggles closer.
“Hi, baby.” I kiss her face and slip out of her pussy so I can lie beside her. She fits perfectly against me, her body molding against mine as I press my erection between her ass-cheeks. “Take a breather.”
She chuckles. “Why? Do you plan to take me again?”
“Most definitely.” I kiss her bruised shoulder, my mark clear. “Do you have something against it?”
She shakes her head, undulating her hips against mine. “Not at all. Use me as you will. Mate.”
EPILOGUE
MEGHAN
THREE MONTHS LATER
Jason runs his fingers through mine, the contact of his rough hand against my palm making the exposed skin of my arms shiver. My body never tires of his, the same reaction washing over me again and again. Every kiss is electrifying. Every gesture fills my heart with love.
Every smile pantie-melting.
He pulls me along, looking over his shoulder to grin at me. I have never seen him this happy before. Every day with him is a new favorite day of mine, but today? Today we’re beaming at one another. My cheeks hurt from smiling too wide, too long. But I can’t help it.
I’ve just married the man of my life.
The mating process seals the deal, but every group of people has a process to make things official. Two days after we mated, he introduced me to his pack mates. Claimed me to them. But I still wanted the white-dress thing, which brings me to today.
The ceremony is very simple, just family and close friends, in a private estate that borders the woods. We’ve put up a tent and benches, and the place is covered in white roses. Beautiful and natural. I look over my shoulder to catch another glimpse of our party as we leave it behind, stepping between two gigantic pine trees into the woods.
As soon as we’re out of sight, Jason turns on his heels and presses his body against mine until I’m sandwiched between him and a tree. A grin spreads over my face as I run my hands up his shirt, feeling the muscles beneath it.
“Oh, are you in a hurry for the honeymoon?” I tease him, cocking my head to brush my lips against his.
Jason makes a sound deep in his chest, his grip tight around my hips. I have chosen a white silk dress that hugs my curves and drops to my feet. It’s classy, and I wouldn’t want to see it ripped.
The way Jason’s fisting the fabric at my sides makes me fear that’s a possibility.
“I can’t bear this dress of yours any longer. Under the right light, I can almost see your panties,” he says in a low rumble, his pupils darkening.
I run my fingers through his smooth hair, feeling the weight of the wedding ring. My husband is collected and sweet, but he has a limit. And I love to test where the line between human and alpha wolf stands.
“No one’s noticing that, baby,” I coo against his lips, pecking the corner of his mouth. “That’s only you. Staring at my butt unashamedly. You know none of your friends would do that.”
“They wouldn’t,” he grips me tighter against him as if he wants to be sure we’ll never be parted, “because I’d kill the fucker who looked twice your way.”
A shiver touches me, turning my nipples to pebbles. “So aggressive.”
Jason skims up my si
des to fist my hair, tugging my head back to expose my throat. “And you fucking like it, don’t you? I’m well aware you’ve been swaying your hips like that because you wanted me to see it. You know I don’t like it when you do that next to other men.”
I bite my lower lip, batting my lashes. “Sorry,” I say, not sorry at all. “Please, don’t punish me.”
He opens a hungry grin, his eyes flashing into that pale blue. “I am the alpha. I make the rules and I inflict the punishment, love. You know that if I don’t punish you, you’ll never learn to behave.”
His voice drops to a growl as one hand runs down to find my nipple. I gasp when he twists it, hard, the way I like it. A moan blooms from my lips, and we’re yet too close to the party, but Jason doesn’t seem to care.
He wants the others to know who I belong to.
Jason holds my arm and turns me around so I’m facing the tree. “I’ve been sporting a hard-on ever since you walked down that aisle. You’ve been teasing me ever since you chose this flimsy dress of yours.”
He clutches my hips and forces me to my knees. He drops with me and I hear his zipper coming down. My chest brushes the rough tree bark, and I shudder.
“Baby, everyone is going to hear us,” I try to reason with him though I know it’s impossible. I am the one who’s been teasing him in public. Now he wants everybody to know I’m his and his alone.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he roars, and I know he’s teetering on the edge of losing his control to his wolf. Jason flips my dress up, tugs my panties down and presses his erection between my thighs. “You’re smelling amazing, baby. So wet.”
A blush crawls up my face. I wonder if his friends can smell it too. Living with shifters is kind of embarrassing sometimes.
“Be gentle.” I shoot a grin over my shoulder and he grins back.
“Hell no.” Jason laughs as he positions his thick member to my entrance and bucks.
He sinks inside me easily. I’m so wet, so ready for him. My muscles struggle to take him, to adapt to his size. It’s always a stretch. He always fills me so much.