She sucked in a startled breath. “Ross?”
A growl rumbled from his throat, vibrating through him and down into his woman. Darci shuddered. Her fingers curled around his leg and squeezed.
My mate. Mine. He bit her. Claimed her. And Darci shifted.
The pack’s song increased, a sound of joy, connection. Community. Darci surged to her paws, shook out her shiny black fur, and pranced in a circle, happy as a puppy. Ross lifted his head and howled, fucking relieved as hell.
Darci yipped and head-butted him in the side. He nipped and pawed at her then shifted to human and wrapped his arms around her wriggling body. She leaned against him, tail thumping happily on the ground. He ran his hands over her sleek, black fur. She made one beautiful Wolf. He couldn’t wait to run with her under the full moon tomorrow night. And every night moving forward for the rest of their long lives. But right at the moment, he wanted his curvy, little pixie nestled in his arms.
He stroked her head, gazing deep into her green eyes. “I think you’re good, Moonbeam.” She licked his jaw, making him laugh. “You can shift. Anytime you want, baby.”
She stilled in his grasp.
He sensed her fear and rushed to assure her. “Feel our ties, Darci. Your connection to me. To the pack. When the time was right, you flowed into your Wolf, baby. You can do it again, in reverse. Just trust your instincts.” He kissed the top of her head. “Trust in us, little mate.”
***
Trust. Shift. Her man made it sound so easy. But years of pain had trained Darci to proceed with caution. Besides, she was enjoying her first drug-free experience in Wolf form. Power surged through her muscles along with a bone-deep connection to the Earth and, strangely, to her new pack, most of whom she hadn’t formally met yet. And deepest of all—the mate bond with Ross.
Fear jolted her when Ross had shifted and clamped his mouth full of wicked-sharp teeth onto her shoulder, but then her inner Wolf—the Wolf trying hard to take over—had calmed her, assured her Ross’s actions were right. She belonged to him just as he belonged to her. Then his bite had set her free.
She’d shifted so fast. A huge improvement over her past shifts. Would shifting prove so easy? Could she, as Ross urged, trust?
Darci paced in front of Ross. Carson and Orson ceased howling and watched her. She bared her teeth and growled. Don’t mess with me, boys. I’ll eat you alive. Had her father, the Infiltrator, felt this way all of the time? So invincible? She rather liked it.
Carson and Orson shifted to human. Carson raised his hands in Darci’s direction, his eyes sparking with amusement. “Easy, girl. You’re among friends. You’re pack. Right, Orson?” He elbowed his friend in the side. Hard.
Orson doubled over. “Yes,” he wheezed and straightened. “I’m sorry, Miss. For before.” His brows collided. “Humans, human boys hurt my little girl. And D, he didn’t—” He rubbed his jaw. “Ross is right. You’re not your father.” He pushed through the gawking men and stalked down the driveway.
“Darci,” Ross called from his spot on the ground.
A fierce protectiveness burned in his brown eyes. He extended his arm. She went to him, stretching out beside him as he had with her on the stormy night in his home when he’d shifted and urged her to trust him. He asked it again of her. “As much as I’d love to say go ahead and stay in Wolf form and we’ll go home to my land and run the hills together, it would be wiser for you to shift here, while we’re surrounded by help, and with a healer on the way.”
She whimpered.
“I know you’re scared, Moonbeam.” He stroked her spine. “But I’m not losing you. You can do it. Come back to me, baby.” He hugged her. “I need you.”
Well, when he put it that way…she focused on the sensation she’d experienced when he bit her. Like water in a gentle stream, she’d flowed from human to Wolf. Off, on. Stuck, unstuck. Deep breath….
“Fuck, yeah, baby.” Ross’s excitement and the cheers from the men around her rang loud in her human ears.
“I did it.” Draped across her man’s lap, she blinked up into his face, happy to see his pleased and proud expression. “I—”
Sharp pain jabbed her chest. Her throat closed. The world spun. A shrill ringing assaulted her ears. She tried to find Ross, but darkness veiled her vision. Well, shit, she was dying after all. No fair.
The void consumed her.
Chapter Fifteen
Rhythmic pressure on her chest. Ross’s lips pressed to hers, his warm breath filling and refilling her lungs. Small, soothing, unfamiliar hands—a woman’s—roamed over her body. Darci’s eyelids fluttered open.
Ah, not dead. Maybe passed out?
Ross’s worried face came into focus. “Drink.”
He held a water bottle to her lips. Best water she’d ever tasted.
An unfamiliar man squatted down next to them and shocked her by cupping her face. Even more surprising—the calm and the sense of safety his touch instilled in her. Though he didn’t smile, his eyes glinted with kindness. “I’m Drew. Your Alpha. Welcome to the pack, Darci Diamond.”
An unexpected lump of emotion formed in her throat. “Thank you,” she croaked.
A ghost of a smile came and went on his handsome face. He clapped Ross on the shoulder. “Bring her by to meet my Betty. Soon.”
Ross bowed his head. “Understood.”
Drew rose and disappeared from her view as Ross gathered her in his arms and lifted her from the ground. “Let’s get you home, Moonbeam.”
She snuggled close and shut her eyes as he strode to his truck and settled them into the passenger seat. The truck shook. Someone—oh, Carson, judging by the voice—slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Ross.” Darci struggled to stay awake, to talk about everything, but Ross’s steady heartbeat under her ear, his arms banded around her body, the rocking of the truck as it navigated the back roads, all of it threatened to pull her under again. She yawned.
Ross kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay, Darci. Sleep. I’ve got you.”
She flitted in and out for the rest of their trip. She registered the truck stopping, the rumble of Ross’s voice speaking to Carson, Cinder’s hungry meows, the softness of Ross’s couch then nothing until Ross said something about a bath. She thought she responded but fatigue weighed her down until wet warmth caressed her skin startling her awake.
She bolted upright, arms flailing, water splashing. “Ross?”
“I’m here, Moonbeam.” He flattened his hands on her tummy and pulled her against his chest.
She looked around the room. Toilet, burgundy towels, fancy vanity, beautiful cream stone floor, enormous sunken tub big enough for three. Ross’s master bathroom. “We’re in the tub.” Heat blossomed on her cheeks. “We’re naked.”
He chuckled. “Yes we are. In my defense, I did ask you.”
Her embarrassment fled, and an excited thrill shot through her. This could only lead in one delicious direction. She smoothed her hands over his arms, enjoying the wet, silken feel of skin over solid muscle. “I remember. Sort of.” She wiggled on his lap.
He let out a sexy grunt at her movement then cupped her chin, tipping her head so she looked up at him. Emotion flooded his eyes—need, worry, love. “You scared the shit out of me, Moonbeam.” He pressed his lips to hers. “We need to work on your shifting.”
“Agreed. But later. Much later.” She licked the seam of his mouth until he parted his lips, letting her deepen their kiss.
He hardened underneath her, pulling a needy moan from her throat.
“I love that sound,” he murmured against her mouth.
He cupped her breast and rubbed his thumb over her nipple then pinched and pulled the sensitive nub, repeatedly, with no mercy, sending zings of pleasure straight to her clit. He switched to her other breast, his free hand resting around her throat, over her frantically beating pulse.
She ground her ass against his hard length. “I need you.”
He bi
t her neck then laved the sting with his tongue. “What do you need, Moonbeam? Tell me.”
She dug her nails into his arm, her other fingers buried in his hair, tugging at the soft strands, eliciting a growl from him. Shivers scurried across her skin at his sexy sound.
“Words, Moonbeam. And be specific.” He cupped her breasts, his fingers working her nipples, busy, so busy. How could she articulate anything when he kept doing that?
She moaned. “Please.”
He nipped her earlobe and trailed one big hand south along her abs. His fingers traced a lazy line along the edge of the hairs covering her sex. Oh, God, just a little lower.
His hot breath tickled her ear. “Do you want my fingers deep inside you? My thumb on your clit? Tell me, Darci.”
“Yes, I want your fingers in me.”
Another pull on her sensitized nipple, another tease of his fingertips stroking her folds, circling her clit. “And?” he demanded.
His commanding tone and taunting touch pulled the words from her. “Your tongue on my clit.”
He sucked in a harsh breath. “I want my mouth there, too. But first….” He slid a finger into her needy center.
“Ross.” Her back arched and she almost came on the spot.
He added another finger and worked her with ruthless drive, gliding fast in and out, over and over, while his other hand palmed her mound, putting pressure on her clit. “Break apart for me, baby.” With unnerving accuracy, his index finger found her clit and flicked.
Darci screamed her release as her walls milked his fingers. When her spasms lessened, he shoved his fingers deep, curling them and rubbing over another needy spot inside her, catapulting her higher and higher until she was pushing and wriggling to escape him or create more friction, she didn’t even know.
He laughed, a distinctly satisfied male sound. “Oh no, little mate.” He lifted her by the waist and sat her on the edge of the sunken tub. “We’re just getting started.”
He opened her legs wide and licked her from spasming core to swollen clit.
***
Ross had never in his life tasted anything as sweet as his little mate. With every pass of his tongue, every nibble of his teeth and press of his lips over her pretty pink flesh, she quivered and moaned. His cock tightened to painful stone. Even the gentle swish of the water in the tub was almost too much for his cock. He wanted to stand and sink into her, balls deep, but not until he pulled another climax from her sweet little body. He stabbed his tongue into her sex, savoring the honey of her arousal as much as her sexy-as-hell moans and her fingernails scratching his scalp as she clung to his head with both hands.
To think he’d come so close to losing her today. Thank fuck he hadn’t. He couldn’t live another day without her. Not one.
Darci held her breath, and her muscles tensed. Close to coming again. He slid his tongue over her swollen bundle of nerves then lavished attention on either side, prolonging the moment, holding her on a painful, pleasurable edge. Her needy keen made him smile.
He blew on her bud then looked up at her. She stared down at him with wild, passion-glazed green eyes, cheeks flushed, lips parted. He released another hot breath over her bud. “Breathe, baby.”
She panted for him, short, sexy-as-hell bursts of air.
“There we go. Now hang on tight.”
She fisted his hair at his command. He pushed two fingers into her wet heat and sucked her bud into his mouth, giving it rapid flicks with his tongue.
“Ross!” His little mate detonated, her hoarse cries echoing in the bathroom. He grabbed her waist, holding her upright as she flailed and moaned and ground herself against his face, riding his fingers with an abandon that fucking slayed him.
“Ross, need you. Inside. Now.”
Perfect fucking words. He shot to his feet, gripped her hips, and shoved inside her slickness all the way to his balls. Warm water spilled over the tile floor as he pounded into her. She wrapped her arms and legs around his tightly coiled body, her heels digging into his ass, and urged him on with breathy moans and an endless chorus of, “Yes, Ross. Yes. More.”
She sucked in a breath. Nails sinking deep into his shoulders, she catapulted headlong into another orgasm.
“Darci.” Her name came out of him like a prayer. With her insides gripping his cock, he came so hard his vision sheeted white. She made him see stars. She is my star. He held her tight and shuddered. “Holy hell, Moonbeam.”
She licked his sweat-slicked skin, forcing another full-body shudder from him. “That’s holy heaven to you, my Wolf.”
He chuckled. “I love your sass, Moonbeam.”
He sank into the water with her straddling him, his cock still buried inside her folds.
She licked and nuzzled his neck as if she couldn’t get enough of him. The feeling was definitely mutual. Already his cock twitched, considering round two.
Darci trailed kisses along his jaw. “We’re going to turn into prunes if we stay in here too long.”
He trapped her face between his palms, rubbing her damp cheeks with his thumbs. “I’ll risk it.”
But then she shivered. “You cold little mate?”
“A bit,” she admitted.
“Say no more.” He pulled out of her, smiling at her mewl of displeasure then sat her on the side of the tub while he climbed out and grabbed a towel. “Stand.”
She cocked a brow at his bossy tone, but his wink brought a smile to her lips and she complied. He dried her off with brisk efficiency, starting at her ankles with his face temptingly close to her sex. He enjoyed the hitches in her breathing as he neared her center. Her full out moan when he rubbed her mound made him growl in approval. “Hang on, Moonbeam. Almost done.”
She groaned in disappointment when he left her hungry for more, but her frustration turned to aroused moans as he worked her breasts with the towel.
“Ross, please.”
He loved the raw need in her tone, the desire flushing her cheeks. “Don’t move, Moonbeam.”
He hurried to dry himself then used the towel to pull her close so he could kiss the ever-loving hell out of her.
She melted against him with a happy sigh. “I love this,” she murmured against his lips, when he finally let her come up for air. “Love you.”
Warmth erupted in his chest. She loved him. How quickly his life had changed. His parents had said when he found his one true mate, he’d know it in a heartbeat, and they were right. This smart, sexy woman had fallen into his life in the middle of a storm and in mere days turned his solitary life into something magical. Special. She loved him. And he loved her, too.
He must have been quiet for too long because his little mate stiffened in his arms and attempted to pull away. “Uh, pretend I didn’t say that.” She looked uncomfortable and a little hurt. She refused to meet his gaze.
Unacceptable. He tipped up her chin and forced her to look at him. “No.”
“No?” He loved the way her brow crinkled in confusion.
“I won’t pretend a damn thing, Moonbeam. I heard every word, little mate. I love you, too. I love you, Darci Diamond.” He swept her into another kiss then carried her into the master bedroom, their bedroom, where he would proceed to show her just how much he loved her. Again. And again.
All night long and for the rest of their lives.
Epilogue
One month later….
Darci bolted up the steep driveway, sleet pelting her rain-soaked fur. She’d never experienced such a cold summer as this summer in South Dakota. Ross assured her the June storms would pass and give way to a warmer July, but so far, the month was a mixed weather bag. Tonight’s storm was the worst yet, almost as bad as the hailstorm she’d endured a month ago, when she’d landed on the doorstep of Ross’s home.
Now her home, too.
She hastened her pace, her four legs propelling her fast toward blessed dryness. Thank God they’d had the foresight to light a fire before their full moon run. The house would be toasty warm. S
he couldn’t wait to snuggle with Ross and sip a steaming mug of cinnamon-and-milk-laden coffee.
Lightning and thunder cracked overhead, illuminating the trees and their wildly whipping branches. Sleet gave way to marble-sized hail. Beside her, Ross put on a final burst of speed and leapt onto their porch ahead of her, shifting midair and landing in front of the door. She followed suit but landed less gracefully, smacking into him as he opened the door. The collision propelled them over the threshold to collapse on the foyer in a wet heap, Darci on top.
She giggled. “Oops.”
Ross grunted and kicked the door shut with his booted foot then rolled. He had her positioned under him in a hot second. “We need to work on your landing.” He tried to look gruff, but the twinkle in his eyes gave him away.
“Yes, sir.” She leaned up and licked the rain from his jaw, eliciting a growl from him. Her core clenched with want at the sexy sound.
He pushed her legs apart and settled himself between them. Hurrah. Who needed coffee when she had a hot man to warm her? She thought he’d strip her so they could get busy with the loving. Instead, he propped himself up on one elbow and smoothed the wet hair off her forehead.
“Déjà vu, Moonbeam.”
She swiped at the beads of moisture on his cheek, tucking his damp hair behind his ear. “What?”
“This is where we first met.”
She blinked up at him. He was right. “Exactly where we first met.” Her lips curled upward, and she wiggled her hips. “But you weren’t sporting an erection at the time.”
He gripped her hip. “Yet.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Oh yeah, Moonbeam. I wanted you from the moment I held you in my arms. You fired up every dominant, protective, male bone in my body.” He swiveled his hips, rubbing his length against her mound. “Especially this one.”
She laughed and hugged him, burrowing her face in his damp, black henley. “I love you.”
“And I you, my little mate.”
Diamond Moon (Black Hills Wolves Book 12) Page 9