by P. Jameson
“Elders.” Magic shook his head, exasperated. “That sounds about right. So you’re both to be our Elders. That’s why you can rock the telepathy.”
Mason dipped his chin once to confirm his friend’s take.
Magic’s hands hooked around his hips as he let off a shrug. “Yeah. Sure. What the hell. I’m good with that. As long as Sunshine is safe from that darkness shit, and you’re happy.”
“I’ll be happy when I get her out of here and set things straight.”
Magic gave him a knowing nod. “Well, go then. Get right with your female. We’ll take care of…” He waved a hand at Father Isaac. “This.”
But Adira stiffened. Magic noticed.
“Relax, Sorcera,” he lazed. “He’s one of yours. We won’t hurt him.”
“As if you could,” Father Isaac mumbled under his breath.
“What was that?”
“He said, not that you should,” Nastia answered quickly, and Magic smirked.
“Riiiiiight.”
Mason bent and lifted Adira into his arms. This was the fastest way to get her through the dark woods and to where he wanted her.
Wait, she spoke to his mind. Turning her gaze to Father Isaac she asked, “I’m really okay? I’m truly safe from the darkness?”
The male gave her a soft smile. “Yes, Adira the Lightest. The mystics have spoken. Your Anchor holds, and your light remains.”
Mason felt her relief through their bond. Their mating bond. The bond he was going to make iron strong in the next few minutes. Claim. Mark. His cougar was loud in his head.
She found his eyes, a careful expression on her face. One that flirted with joy, and smelled like the sigh at the end of a long battle. “We did it,” she whispered.
Mason dipped his head in a nod.
“I’m safe. I don’t have to go anywhere. I can stay here, with my sisters and the clan and the young and… you. For as long as I want.”
“Forever,” he corrected. I’m never letting you go.
Her eyes went big and her teeth came across that bottom lip, but he didn’t break her gaze as he walked away from the clan, taking the shortcut through the woods to his cabin.
I mean it, Sunshine. Wait and see.
Chapter Fifteen
Adira stood just inside the door of Mason’s cabin. She was filled with so many different emotions. After all the fretting and worrying for her future, for the clan, for her sisters… finally everyone she cared so deeply for was safe. Including herself.
The clan, her beloved Ouachita shifters, was her Anchor. Through them, she could maintain her light magic. Because of them, she could have the future she wanted, the one she dreamed about. There was young to teach, to guide. She could continue to be there for Rhys. She could… have young of her own?
Maybe. She added that to the wish list.
She watched Mason’s back—backside… bare backside—as he closed the door and locked it. Locked all the locks. Good thing she didn’t want to escape.
His cabin was the farthest one out. The farthest away from the lodge. And even though she trusted him fully, the air he was giving off was all feral hunter. Seductive animal, promising a night full of wickedly delicious things. Lecherous things.
Possibly even things that would make her heart explode from the way she loved him. Things that only mates could share.
Which thoroughly confused her.
He was mated. His mate had left him. Died. Just like his little boy.
Adira went sad at the memory of what he’d confessed to the clan. Her poor lion. He’d been through the toughest of trials. She wished she could be the one to heal all those hurts, but shifters didn’t mate twice.
Which was the thing that confused her the most. She remembered his words. I healed you… that means we have a bond.
Glancing around the open living area, she took in his domain. She knew he’d been staying at the lodge most nights. He’d said he wanted to be nearby in case Gash needed help with security. The cabin looked like it hadn’t been lived in much. But his place was nice. Simple. She liked simple. Except there were no pictures on the walls. None on the mantle over the woodstove. No indication he’d had a family before his time here.
“Mason.” She turned to ask him, needing an explanation for everything that was happening. “What are we doing here—”
But he rushed her, his arms coming around her waist. He walked her backward until her shoulders hit a wall, and then his hands went to her cheeks tilting her mouth up for his brutal kiss. His lips slammed into hers in a beautiful, desperate clash that made her cheeks burn and her heart thunder.
She tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. A sign she didn’t want him to stop. There was something different about this kiss. It didn’t feel like it did the first time, a fragile lusty exploration. This time it was a brand. It was a mark upon her soul.
His tongue pressed in, invading her senses as he went to claiming every inch of her mouth. His knee nudged her legs open as far as her long skirt would allow them to go, and he pushed closer, until his thigh was cradled against her center and his solid erection was nestled against her leg. The weight of his body so hard against hers sent her desire skyrocketing to the moon.
But his fierce kiss never let up. She was pinned against a wall with his body and his mouth, and she didn’t care one bit if he ever released her. He’d snared her in the beginning, good as a hunter traps his prey. But the rabbit was never so happy to be captured.
Mason broke away, just an inch, breath sawing in and out of his chest. His eyes found hers, flickering from feline to man, his gaze digging in with all the ferocity of his beast.
“Don’t you ever… ever, ever do something like that again. Do you understand? Never put yourself in danger like that. Never try to leave me like that. I will honor your wishes if you don’t want to mate, because that’s the kind of male I am. But don’t leave me like that, Sunshine. Not like that. I wouldn’t survive it.” His voice went achy at the end and somehow she knew he was remembering his previous losses.
The pain and fear and desperation she’d felt during Father Isaac’s spell came back, hitting her in the chest, full force, giving her the biggest revelation of the night. Those feelings were coming from Mason. From his heart, through their bond, into hers.
All at once, she realized just what her choice had done to him. And it made her stomach turn with regret. “I didn’t know,” she breathed. “That it would hurt you like this. That you cared enough that it would hurt like it did with… with your son.” Her voice broke mentioning his little boy. She couldn’t fathom the anguish her cat had lived through. And knowing she’d brought it back was unbearable. “I’m sorry, Mason. I was only trying to help. I never want to hurt you. Not you. Not anyone, but most of all, not you.”
“You mean so much to me, damn it,” he sucked in a sob, squeezing his eyes closed for a long blink. “I just didn’t have the chance to tell you. Or… I should have told you sooner. Fuck, I regret not telling you sooner. I only figured out I could give you what you wanted when I opened up to the clan. Before, I was… I was not what you needed. I was strangled by my past. Couldn’t let go of my grief. Couldn’t see that the female I chose before wasn’t my true mate. All the signs were there, and my animal was practically pounding it in my head, but I… I wasn’t ready. But it’s you, Sunshine. You’re my female. The one that completes me, balances me. Heals me,” he whispered, “like I healed you.”
Adira shook her head, fingers digging into the back of his neck because she wanted him closer. “I didn’t know,” she said. “If I had, I would have tried another way. Something. Anything.”
“You know now.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You know I need you, and you’re mine. You know I can give you everything. All of me. Like you wanted. Like the others have. A true mating like you deserve. You know I want you, and no one else. You know you were my sunshine when I was trapped in the shadows. You know I’ll do my damnedest to give you so
many happy moments you’ll never remember the bad ones. You know. Don’t you, Sunshine? Tell me you know.”
His thumb swept softly over her cheek but his words were urgent. Like he needed to get it all out as fast as possible.
And she could feel the truth to every syllable he uttered. The bond between them was strengthening bit by bit, touch by touch. Every moment of honesty between them, every open confession, drew them closer.
She could trust this. She could believe in this. She hadn’t gotten it wrong before. She’d just been missing a few details.
“I know,” she breathed. “I feel it.”
Her heart thumped double time in her chest to contain all the things she was feeling. But then she realized… maybe she shouldn’t contain them. Maybe she should let it all bubble out of her, the way she wanted to.
Maybe Mason needed to know how she felt.
“But I want you to know something too.” She took a deep breath, and let it fly. “That I knew you were special the very moment I saw you emerge from the forest as a snarling cougar. That seeing how deeply you care for others is what made me fall so hard for you. And Mason, I did fall hard. You need to know that my heart cracked a little—no, a lot—when you declared we weren’t meant to be, but that I do understand what made you say it. And because of that, I’ll never get tired of hearing you say ‘mine’.” An involuntary shiver rattled her body and sent chills to her skin at the memory of him saying it in the clearing. “And know that I want to make you happy. I want to share your past, your present, and your future. I want your all, yes, but… I want to give you all of me too. And I think that when we put both of us together…” She recalled watching the mated shifters in the spa when they were waiting for Josie and Bethany to give birth. How with each couple, two pieces always resulted in a whole. A perfect, fated whole. “Something miraculous is going to happen.”
“Yes, mate,” he rumbled, pressing his thigh harder against her, and she could feel his heart growing fuller just like hers had. Her words meant the world to him. “We’re going to have our miracle too. Right now. Don’t wanna wait a minute longer to have you.”
Adira nodded, holding in a moan at the pressure between her legs.
With the next breath, his solid body was gone and the air between them stark and cold. Her legs trembled with his absence. But not for long. He scooped her up and stalked with her to the bedroom, not bothering to turn on the light. He could see just fine in the dark.
Mason set her on her feet and went to work unbuttoning her top.
“There are a million buttons,” he muttered. “You need easier access clothes, mate. Because we’re going to be doing a lot of this.”
Good. Exactly what she wanted to hear.
“I’ll just stay naked when we’re at home.”
His fingers paused on her shirt and she got the impression he was staring at her, even though she could only see his faint outline.
“Fucking hell.” His breath puffed rapidly. “That’s a terrific plan.” And then he went back to work on the buttons, moving faster this time.
When he’d pulled her shirt free of her shoulders, he quickly disposed of her bra. Like it was a mere annoyance. Not important to his task at all. Fishing under the ruffled fabric of her skirt, he found her panties and dragged them down her legs. She stepped free and he stood just out of her reach.
In the darkness, she couldn’t tell what he was doing.
“Ah, mate…” His gravel and suede tone set her skin on fire. “You’re so wet your panties are soaked. Mmm. And your scent fills my room. I’m gonna have it all over me by the time I’m finished.”
She squeaked in surprise as the tip of his finger grazed one hardened nipple, circling and then pinching it softly.
“I think we’ll keep the skirt on,” he murmured, lowering his head to take her other nipple between his lips.
Adira let out a tortured groan. Her fingers tunneled through his hair, nails digging into his scalp as he sucked and licked and kissed and nibbled. His smooth fingers fluttered over her ribs, grabbing palmfuls of her skin and squeezing urgently. He kissed a trail across her stomach, chasing down the surface when it hollowed with her gasping breaths.
Lowering himself to the floor, he tunneled beneath her skirt again, this time ducking completely under. The mere idea of him trapped there, so close to her bare sex was so erotic she shook like a leaf in an autumn wind, barely holding on to its branch. Oh, when he touched her there, she was going to come loose and fly free into the breeze.
Mason spread her legs farther apart with his palms on her knees. Farther, until her feet were more than shoulder width apart. Those hot palms slid up, up, and around back to firmly grip her cheeks. Adira held her breath as he kneaded her backside, once. Twice, harder. Fingers digging deliciously into her flesh.
With a throaty growl, he used his grip on her behind to pull her hips to his mouth. His kiss to her hot center, his tongue dragging through her folds and the snarl of him enjoying it, the rasp of his short beard at the creases of her thighs… it was the perfect spell that sent her tumbling into bliss.
Her hand flew to his head, gripping through her skirt as she jerked against him unintentionally. But his hands on her cheeks weren’t letting her get away. His fingers dug into her crack, keeping her there for every last lick of his tongue, every soft suck of his lips.
As her release faded and her knees were trembling with the effort of keeping herself upright, Mason jerked her skirt away, standing so fast her head spun with the change.
“Need to see you better,” he rasped, arm swinging in the dark and somehow find the switch that turned on a lamp. His gaze raked her. “No more skirt.” With a quick jerk at the waist, he had it open and grazing over her legs before it pooled on the floor at her feet.
But Adira couldn’t take her eyes from his body. His nakedness was something she’d witnessed many times before, but he’d never looked like he did now. His muscles were taut and bulging. His skin was flushed pink across his broad chest. And the perfect washboard abs that brought her gaze lower, rippled with each breath. But his… his…
What had he named it? Dick? Or pecker. Dick sounded grander, though she’d been just fine using manhood.
His dick jutted proudly from his hips, so hard it took her breath away.
She’d caused that. Adira chewed her lip, considering what it would feel like moving inside her.
Oh, you’re going to find out, sweet mate.
She jerked her gaze to his and he gave her that sideways smile. The lecherous one. The one she loved.
“It slipped through,” he said. “Your words. Same as mine did earlier, I guess.” He pulled her right up against his body, and they were skin to skin. He was smooth and firm to her soft and lean. They matched perfectly. “You’ll have to be careful about that,” he murmured. “Or else I’ll know all the dirty lecherous things you want me to do to you. And…” He bent to graze his teeth along her ear. “I’ll do them.”
“I don’t think that’s a problem,” she said, breathless.
“Mmm.”
His hand slid into her hair, tangling as he angled her head for a deep, bone melting kiss.
He pulled back, whispering, “I never brought anyone to this bed. I need you to know that. This will be only ours.”
Adira nodded. She wasn’t worried about what happened before her. Their story started the night she cast her spell on him and he called her Sunshine. It started when he tackled her to the ground, trying to save his clan from her power even though she meant them no harm. It started when a golden eyed cougar looked at her like she was his light.
Like he looked at her now.
“We’ll make this our home. Build it up together.” He kissed her jaw. “This will be our bed.” The curve of her neck. “This will be ours. Everything we share here.”
“I want that.”
“Good. Because I’m not waiting any longer to put my mark on you, Sunshine.”
He took her down to the bed
, their bodies tangling together in a desperate needy knot. Hands went everywhere. Lips weren’t satisfied unless they tasted skin. Nails scraped, sweat dripped, and somewhere in the dark, two souls made magic as they found each other, fingertip to fingertip.
Spreading her legs, Mason settled between her thighs. She throbbed for him to touch her again, but knew something better was coming. Him. All of him. The cougar’s claiming.
One hand braced on the bed, the other gripping his cock, he slid between her drenched folds, drawing a shaky moan from her.
“It’s okay, Sunshine,” he whispered, his voice raw with the nearness of his animal. “Your male is going to take care of you. Always. You’ll see.”
Slowly, inch by inch, he pushed into her. He fit tight, but the pressure was exactly what she needed. He watched her face as he went deeper. Her mouth was open on a gasp but she couldn’t and didn’t want to pull her gaze away.
Mine, she thought.
“Damn right,” he confirmed out loud, rolling his hips so smoothly it was like a dance.
Lowering his body over hers, he brought them eye to eye, holding her captive as he pulled his hips back and plunged in again. Out, then in, making her desolate, then full. Every push was slow, measured. Like he was dragging out as much feeling as he could from every move.
This is right. So right. You feel right to me. His words in her mind were the sweetest reassurance.
Pulling her knee up, he spread her so he could go deeper with his steady rhythm. But when the words “I love you” eased from Adira’s lips, Mason lost all control. His hips went wild, pistoning into her as his gaze went heart-stopping intense. Intense. The way he’d looked at her in her room. And now she knew what the expression meant.
He’d loved her even before he allowed himself to admit it.
“Mine,” he rasped.
That word. It had her body quivering for its next release, and he knew it.