The scent of her blood filled the air, so he knew she was injured. He charged toward the porch again, leaping into the air and threw all of his weight on the wolf that had dared lay his paws on Tianna. They rolled across the porch, not stopping until they hit the railing.
Pain surged through him as fangs sank into his front leg. He managed to get away and return a savage bite of his own before backing away favoring his injured leg. Growling he kept his attention on the wolf in front of him making sure he stayed between Tianna and the threat. The rouge wolf would have to go through him to get to her.
Then a shot rented the air out, followed by another. Blood splattered as the wolf in front of him fell over. Brayden looked over his shoulder to find his mate standing there, handgun in her hand. He turned his attention back to the wolf now laying prone on the ground. He eased closer, not satisfied until he was able to stare into the lifeless eyes on the porch.
It was over.
Now he had a mate to tend to.
Epilogue
Brayden ran as fast as he could through the woods, relishing in the feel of the earth beneath his paws. It’d been six months since the fateful night that he’d met his mate. While he’d known she was the one from him the instant they met, it’d taken Tianna a little longer to come around.
But thankfully she had. He’d introduced her to his parents last month. She’d been worried that his parents wouldn’t accept her because she wasn’t a shifter. She hadn’t needed to worry. They loved her.
Fortunately her parents had liked him just as much when Tianna took him to meet them last weekend. Now he wanted to take the next step. To mark her as his. Yes, he planned to put a ring on her finger and make her his in the eyes of the human world, but he wanted her to carry his mark now.
Brayden knew she knew what the significance of his bite meant. They’d discussed it enough. Mainly when she asked him reference questions for the book she was editing at the time, but he could sense her curiosity went a little deeper.
As he cleared the trees, he spotted Tianna’s home. She stood on the porch waiting for him and he pushed forward faster. He skidded to a stop a few feet in front of her and she shook her head.
“I assume you enjoyed your run?” she asked.
He yipped and before pushing his wolf back and allowing his human form to take over. Once he’d completed his shift, she held up his pants. He stepped into them, although he didn’t plan to have them on long.
“I need to take a shower,” he said as he sniffed.
She sat down on the swing. “It can wait. I like the way you smell when you come back from a run. The lingering scent of spruce and fir make me feel as though I was out there with you.”
He chuckled. “That’s why you’re the perfect mate for me.”
She leaned over and lay her head on his shoulder. “You make me feel like I am.”
“What will it take to convince you one hundred percent?” he asked. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re who I want.”
“I want you, too,” she admitted. “But I’m afraid. I never thought I’d meet a man who’d want forever with me, especially after the accident.”
He reached out and trailed his finger down her jawline. “As I’ve said before, a man would have to be insane not to desire you because of a few scars. You’re an incredible woman. You’re smart, funny and my wolf thinks you’re delicious.”
She laughed. “Tell your wolf that I said thank you.”
Brayden studied her. “How about you tell him yourself?”
“How?” she asked.
“By becoming his…ours forever,” he said.
She remained silent for several moments. “That’s a pretty serious commitment.”
“One that will last a lifetime,” he confirmed.
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured.
He rose to his feet and held his hand out to her. Once she stood, he pulled her into his embrace. “Say that you’re as drawn to me as I am to you. That you want to spend the rest of your life waking up to me every morning and going to bed next to me every sunset. Say that you want to become my wife. The mother of my children. My mate.”
A wide smile spread across her face. “When you put it like that, how can I say no?”
He studied her, looking for a flicker of doubt. When he didn’t find any, he grinned. “I promise to cherish you until I take my last breath.”
Tianna shook her head. “You can’t say things like that. It makes it hard for me to focus.
He drew her back against the railing surrounding the porch, his hands firm on her shoulders. “You seem to be doing okay so far.” His kiss was tentative at first, and any residual doubts she might still harbor about becoming his mate vanished beneath the warmth of his lips on hers. He slid his hands along her collarbone and down to her breasts.
Tianna gasped into his mouth as he cupped her and squeezed gently, his thumbs brushing across her hardened nipples through her shirt. As her blood heated and red-hot need pulsed through her body, she settled her hands at his waist then reached down and brushed her fingers over the bulge in his pants.
“Fuck.”
His whispered curse made her smile against his mouth, her confidence growing at the way his breath caught. “Isn’t that the general idea?” She moved her hand slowly up and down the hard length of his erection, resisting his attempt to pull her hand away.
His low groan gave her ridiculous pleasure and she increased the pressure of her hand.
“You keep doing that, sweetheart, and I’m going to come in my pants right here.” His low tone sounded sexy as it echoed in the silence of the night.
Tianna kept up the delicious friction, enjoying the way he jerked against her hand and the way his hips ground into hers. She was desperately wet and spread her legs when he shoved his hand inside the waistband of her pajama pants.
It was her turn to moan as his hand clamped over her mound.
“Christ. You’re drenched.” He dropped his forehead to hers and dragged in breath. “Not going to make it inside.”
Before Tianna could react, he grabbed the wrist that was currently working his erection then released her long enough to yank his pants down, then hers. The instant her scent of arousal hit the air, he growled.
He gripped her hips between his large hands. “I want my hands all over you. Every fucking inch.”
With her flesh on fire, her insides about to explode, Tianna reached her hands to his shoulders as he pushed against her and kissed her with such need she trembled. She had to wrap her arms around his neck to stop from melting to the ground.
His hands slid to her thighs and heat traveled over her flesh. The moan that escaped her seemed to drive him on. With a groan, he pulled his mouth from hers.
The fact that he was going to fuck her outside on the porch, turned her on way more than she should. A part of her brain warned that this was insane. Rational women didn’t allow themselves to be fucked outside in the wild. Except it was happening and she was loving every delicious, erotic moment. They were in his element and that only made the moment more special.
Brayden continued to run his hands over her heated flesh. “Open your legs,” he said huskily as he pushed his knee between them. “Let me touch you.”
She wobbled a little, grabbing on tighter to his shoulders as she spread her legs.
He caught his hand behind the back of her knee and pulled her leg up until her knee dug into the side of his waist. With his free hand, he cupped her pussy. “Wet,” he ground out. “Hot. Exactly the way I like you.”
Tianna opened her mouth to say yes, oh bloody hell yes, when he eased a finger inside her. She moaned, closed her eyes, and dropped her head back.
He kissed her neck, his teeth grazing against her heated skin as he pushed another finger inside her. “I can feel your muscles move against me,” he growled, pulling his fingers out before driving them into her again. “Will it be the same when my cock is inside you?”
“Yes,” she
gasped. “Yes.”
He upped the pace, his fingers driving inside her deeper and deeper with each thrust.
Tianna felt the heady pull of climax.
“Come for me,” he demanded as he continued the relentless thrust of his fingers. “Let me feel you against my hand, against my fingers.”
The climax ripped like a blade, shattering every semblance of sanity she tried to grasp. She clung to him, let him take her mouth as relentlessly as his fingers took her pussy. Spent, she sagged against, her leg sliding down his body, but he held her tight, keeping her positioned where he wanted her.
She opened her eyes, glimpsed him through the blur. His eyes were hooded, dangerous. She felt a little thrill at having been the cause of the lust darkening their heady depths.
Slowly, he withdrew his fingers, and with his eyes fastened to hers brought them slowly to his lips. Opening his mouth, he sucked one finger. “You taste good.” Then the other. “I want more of you. Much more.”
His smile turned almost feral, and Tianna felt no respite in the sharp quickening of her pulse.
Tianna reached down, her fingers so desperate to touch him she could hardly keep her hand from shaking. Her fingers brushed his hard abs and she felt his muscles clench beneath her feather-light touch.
Slowly, she brushed her fingers along his length, smiling when he hardened further beneath her hand and groaned his pleasure.
He released his hold on her knee and froze. “Damn.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t have a condom,” he said.
She grinned. “Considering the fact that you’re getting ready to mark me as your mate, which I understand to be a permanent situation. I think it’s safe to say that if we have to worry about using condoms we’re off to a bad start.”
He chuckled. “While I’m okay with forgoing protection, I’d like to make an honest woman of you before I impregnate you with my offspring.”
“I’m on the pill,” she said. “We’re good in that area.”
He studied for her for moment then he lifted her leg again. She felt the nudge of his cock against her and closed her eyes. She was so wet, so hot, she wondered briefly where all this sexual desire had been hiding. She’d never once felt like this with anyone else. Not even close.
Brayden pushed the tip of his cock against her sex, sucked in a breath, and plunged inside her.
Tianna gasped, gripping his shoulders for something to hold on to as need drove her senses into turmoil.
Brayden eased back a little, then drove hard inside her again. His fingers dug into her knee as he began to pump. “You’re tight. Beautiful and tight.”
Tianna held on to him for dear life as he thrust into her. The rhythm was fast and hard. No mercy. She loved it.
Incredibly, she felt herself nearing climax again. How was it possible? She’d barely had time to recover from the last one. How was it that she was near now? She had no more time to question it, because she came hard and fast seconds before Brayden lowered his head and the sensation of his teeth piercing her flesh made her cry out.
Euphoria surged through her, a scream of pleasure bursting from her as she flew unexpectedly over the edge again. Heat pooled between her legs and she whimpered. He’d started a fire she wasn’t sure he’d be able to put out. She clung to him as his thrusts became wild and sporadic before he froze and erupted in her.
Then he lifted his head and howled before slumping against her, driving her back against the rail. “Shit,” he growled against her throat. “Shit.”
Tianna couldn’t say anything. She was incapable of speech right then.
After a few moments, his teeth retracted, and he gently licked the spot that was tender and hot at the same time. He reached his hands to either side of her face, kissed her, and then pulled slowly out of her. “Tianna?”
“Hmm?” She mumbled, marveling at how she could have gone her whole adult life without being fucked so spectacularly.
Her eyes widened when he cupped her mound. “You’re mine,” he said in a husky tone. “The mate I’ve waited most of my life to find. Our lives are intertwined from this day forth. I promise to cherish you and protect you until I draw my last breath.”
Tears sprang into her eyes as his heartfelt words filled the air. Somehow, she’d managed to find the perfect man for her when she least expected it. She wasn’t going to take it for granted. Bracketing his face between her hands, she brushed her lips against his briefly.
“And I vow with every fiber of my being to do the same.”
About the Author
Stephanie Morris enjoys creating a story that combines a sensual energy with a captivating storyline. Sometimes her heroines have an edgier persona to them and sometimes they are of a softer essence. But all the time, her heroines are like real women, just trying to make a living and keep on going no matter what challenges life brings them. She believes in romance and happy-ever-afters. In Stephanie’s opinion, there is nothing like curling up with a good book that you can’t put down, and she is addicted to writing them.
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Only Tonight
Unhallowed Series, Standalone novella
Tmonique Stephens
About the Story
Duty vs. Desire
Stranded on a desolate country road, clothes slicked to her body, Aurora runs through the rain, seeking sanctuary from the storm. What she finds instead could be something much more dangerous to herself, and her heart.
With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, Warrant, former warrior class angel, now an UnHallowed, can’t stop her or protect her. Though she is the only light in his bleak existence, their deadly dance has to begin tonight…on a deserted farm.
In a broken house…
Where he will claim her…
Or kill her.
For my daughter, Cyré.
I’m so proud of you. Thanks for being my inspiration and keeping me focused.
Chapter One
“This is what happens when you don’t charge your cell phone,” Aurora Wells mumbled as she shuffled along on the shoulder of a road. Not that she needed to worry about traffic on the country lane. Not a single car had driven by in the last hour. Just what she’d planned for tonight, a moonlit stroll in fifty-degree weather dressed in a spaghetti strap gown and four-inch heels. Her silk wrap offered no warmth, no matter how much she burrowed into it.
Oh, and a dead phone.
Tonight was to be the beginning of something momentous. The invitations to the annual charity ball had come in a sealed envelope with a note from her boss. In a bold script, he had asked her to join him, and the rest of the board at the exclusive gala. After all the late hours and make-or-break deadlines, they’d finally noticed her hard work. A promotion and a seat in the inner sanctum had to be in the works.
A gust of air swirled around Aurora and she pulled the silk wrap tighter around her shoulders. So much for the weatherman promising high sixties into the late spring evening. For the occasion, she’d splurged on the perfect emerald green chiffon dress with beaded straps that crisscrossed low on her bare back and a pair of Valentino stilettos. Her credit card had wept, but every purchase was for the greater good—her promotion.
She stumbled on a pebble. Her ankle twisted one way, her body the other. Determination kept her on the road and not tumbling into the ditch. This was the third time in the last half hour. Or was it an hour? With no phone, she couldn’t tell. A regular old-fashioned Timex would sure come in handy right now.
The cry of a crow jerked her around. Its buddy answered on the opposite side of the road. A part of the night, both were nearly invisible.
Aurora hobbled along, focused on how to spin it so she didn’t look completely useless on Monday. A list of pos
sible strategies scrolled through her mind along with the truth, her car broke down in the middle of freaking nowhere. Yeah, it was eight years old, but she had a tune-up last week and left the repair shop with a clean bill of health.
She left her apartment on a high, determined to seize every opportunity the night presented, until her GPS went haywire. An hour from home, it changed from giving monotone directions to repeating, “Searching. Searching. Searching.” She’d obviously hit a dead zone but hadn’t worried. Once she got to the city, the GPS would reacquire the satellite. All she had to do was find a house and get help. But somehow, she must’ve taken another wrong turn and ended up in farm country, where houses were miles apart and traffic was non-existent. Farmers were known for their overalls-wearing, straw-chewing, and friendliness; they’d help her.
Tears stung the back of her eyes. Whatever the time, it was too late to salvage the night, and her career. Damn it! I worked so hard.
Another pebble, another hard twist of her ankle. This time she fell to her hands and knees, scraping both. A sharp cry wrung from her, and she bit her lip to keep the rest inside. This wasn’t what she signed up for when she decided to climb the corporate ladder.
Liar. This was exactly what the job dictated. Whether towing the line, or schmoozing, if she wanted that corner office in the sky, then she’d better stop whining…tomorrow. Tomorrow she’d quit whining. Tonight… She sniffled and swiped a finger under her eyes. Her crystal pendant slipped from its nest in her cleavage and banged against the asphalt. She grabbed it, stroked its smooth surface, then sighed, relieved.
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