Just Ridley: Chosen Book 1

by J. D. Light

  I laid there, shuddering and trying to catch my breath. Flynn's hands gently soothed my wrists, down my arms and into my shoulder length hair. He touched me like a man with a precious treasure he never wanted to be parted from. There had never been a doubt that if this man wanted me, he could happily own me. But now, everyone would know that Flynn Becker was mine, and I was his.

  I must have drifted off, because I was only vaguely aware of Flynn getting off the bed and coming back with a warm washcloth to clean me up. Then I was being pulled backward into a warm, hard body and strong arms.

  "Sleep tight, my precious love." Whispered against my ear with a brief kiss to my neck.

  ***

  “A bear?!” I squeaked.

  “Wait! We have a bear?!”

  Flynn sent Benny an annoyed look. “He’s not our bear. He just owns land that butts up to the leap land. We invite him to all our events because he’s a great guy and we would like to keep him as a neighbor. Better a laid back bear than nosey humans—no offense, baby—or any other shifter we don't know. You’ve been here three years, Bennet. How did you not know we had a bear?”

  “It’s only been two years. And I thought he wasn't our bear.”

  “Please don't make me kill my mate’s best friend. I don't think that is something you easily bounce back from in a relationship. And at the moment, it feels like twenty.”

  It was good to see them teasing each other. Of course, I’d had to sit my mate down and explain to him that Benny and I had been friends for so many years we were practically brothers. And as such, we were going to bicker every now and then and he wasn't allowed to pull the alpha card on him anymore unless it was actual leap business. My mate had grumbled and complained, but in the end I reminded him that Benny had always been there for me and would never hurt me physically or mentally and he’d agreed to try not to strangle Benny when he called me a fucking idiot when we were arguing over something like who would win in a fight, Ironman or Batman.

  We'd spent the day, the three of us, getting everything settled with the mating and distributing errands so we could have a party that night. I'd already moved most of my stuff to the alpha house, never happier that I hadn't really been able to afford much.

  I had been worried about the lease, but apparently, my landlord was a member of the leap and he and Flynn had worked something out. He never did tell me what, but I was pretty sure my mate had been more than fair with the other man.

  "The Command and their mates should be arriving within the next hour. We have to have a meeting to discuss the second position and it just seemed like a good idea to get it over with before the party. Bennet, I'm taking my mate upstairs for a little bit, will you make sure everyone is settled in the library?"

  "Yes, alpha." Benny may tease my mate, but it was clear in everything that he did regarding the leap, that he respected and trusted Flynn.

  "Do you think everyone in the Command will be happy about me, Flynn? What if you lose more leap members?"

  Flynn grabbed my chin, smoothing a finger along the bridge of my nose. "I've already told you what. If they choose to leave, then they do. I can only promise this leap that I will lead them to the best of my ability, as every alpha should. That is not, and never has been, a promise to give up all happiness just to make them comfortable with my life. If they can't be happy having a human as an alpha-mate, then they can leave. Or if it comes to it, I will. You are my everything. I will not give you up for anyone or anything."

  And I still couldn't figure out how that was fair. I had absolutely nothing to offer this man. In fact, he could get kicked out of his position as alpha because of me, yet he saw himself as blessed. Absolutely crazy, but I'd decided to accept it. This man saw me as something special, so that must have meant I was, right?

  Shaking my head and chuckling, I leaned up and kissed his lips. "Okay, Alpha. Whatever you say."

  Growling, he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me until I had to wind my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. "I like when you call me Alpha," he said against my ear, making me shiver. "Whatever I say?"

  Suddenly, we were headed for our bedroom, not even slowing as Flynn mounted the stairs with me acting as a weighted vest. Every step rubbed our bodies together and I couldn't help but attack my mate's mouth with my own.

  Would I ever tire of this man's taste?

  "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Benny yelled from the living room.

  Snorting, I mumbled against Flynn's mouth. "That basically means we can do absolutely anything. Benny has no chill."

  "You shouldn't be thinking about Bennet right now." It was a possessive growl. One he couldn't seem to control. One that happened all too often when other men where around. One I absolutely loved.

  "Trust me. I don't currently give a shit about Benny," I said breathily against his mouth just before I shoved my tongue deep.

  "Hey!" Benny yelled from the floor below. "I'd think about you! Wait! No I wouldn't. That's gross. You, Ridley, are a dirty boy!"

  But I had to admit, I really wasn't paying much attention to my friend, because we had finally reached our bedroom and Flynn was kicking the door shut.

  As soon as Flynn lowered me to the floor so that we could start working on each other's clothes, I grabbed ahold of his shirt, bunching it at his sides as I steered him backwards toward the bed.

  He growled into my mouth, shackling my wrists. "Not this time, mate. I have plans for that beautiful body that I have been fantasizing about all day."

  His sexy, growling voice plus the way he was holding my arms sent a whole new wave of need through my body. When he pulled my shirt over my head with the other hand, never letting go of my wrists and just leaving my shirt on my shoulders, making it clear he just wanted access to my nipples, I whimpered in expectation.

  Keeping his eyes on mine, he lowered his head, bringing his mouth closer and closer to my hardened nubs. He stopped at my collarbone to run his tongue along the bone and indentions before sharply biting the top of my pec.

  I gasped. It had barely been enough to draw blood, and with my new advanced healing, it merely welled one drop before stopping. Flynn dragged his tongue across it, gathering the blood and soothing the sting.

  "Mmm. You taste amazing, my love. I can't help but constantly want my mouth on your skin. Tasting your nipples, your lips. Your dick. Drinking your blood and cum." Flynn's breathing was mostly just pants at this point.

  Working quickly, he released my arms, but still left my shirt. He jerked my pants open and down to my knees, immediately taking my dick in his hand and stroking it twice. I was so close already, I was sure I was going to explode in his hand, but he stopped abruptly and spun me around, shoving me face first into the bed.

  "There is somewhere else I've been dying to taste you," he said gruffly, taking both my cheeks in his hands and spreading me apart so he could look down at my hole. His thumb brushed against the wrinkled skin, making me shudder. "All day long I watched this perfect ass, wanting to bury my face right here."

  I'd obviously never had this done to me before, but I'd always had a sensitive opening, so just the idea that this man that I was already completely in love with tasting me there had me struggling against the t-shirt restricting my movements to grab the base of my dick so I wouldn't go off prematurely.

  Probably sensing my problem, Flynn reached around me and squeezed my cock, staving off my orgasm. "You have no idea how fucking hot you are, my gingerbread boy. Everything you do when we make love makes me want you more and more. Just watching you struggle not to go over the edge makes me want to give over the control. But I don't just want this, I need to taste you."

  And with that, Flynn dropped to his knees behind me, immediately pressing his nose into my crack. He breathed deep, growling on the exhale.

  I whimpered again, glad my man hadn't let go of my dick.

  When he nipped at first one cheek and then the other, I squeaked and buried my face in the blankets, just as
Flynn buried his face in my ass.

  For countless minutes, Flynn sucked and licked my hole, stopping to drag a fang across it from time to time. When he finally released my cock, it drooled copious amounts of precum, leaving streaks against the bed as I rocked into him, trying to get closer.

  When he plunged his tongue inside me, I completely lost control of my body. I was clawing at the bedding and shouting Flynn's name as my untouched dick erupted. Flynn barely slowed as he plunged my hole three times more before getting to his feet and shoving his dick in my loosened, wet hole.

  My orgasm had barely ebbed before I was being thrown into another one as my bound arms latched onto the blankets beneath me as best they could and my legs shook with the effort to hold me up. Flynn pounded me hard. Harder than he had up until this point and, I loved it. Every. Single. Second.

  When his motions got jerky and he yelled my name loud enough for anyone in the entire house to hear, my body liquefied against the bed and my legs collapsed. Flynn too seemed unable to stand as he flopped on top of me on the bed, breathing hard against the skin of my shoulder.

  "Gawd, baby. You are amazing," he mumbled against my neck before brushing his lips against the skin between my shoulder blades.

  After a few minutes of allowing my body it's much needed recovery, I noticed my mate had frozen above me. I tried to turn my head to see what was wrong, but his hand against the back of my head, stilled me.

  His finger brushed against the skin he'd been nuzzling earlier, high on my back. "What is this mark, baby." His tone was calm, but I could hear a tightness in his voice. It sounded almost like excitement…or panic.

  "My birthmark?" I squeaked, suddenly feeling self-conscious of the raised purplish-blue skin that resembled a ragged Celtic knot. If it hadn't been for the fact that my mom found it on near the top of my spine the day I was born, someone could easily mistake it for a brand.

  It had actually been one of the things the kids I went to school with had teased me about. They said I had gotten it to look cool. If I weren't nervous about the way Flynn was acting about the thing, I would probably have laughed at the silly kids they had been. They really hadn't needed much of a reason to pick on me, had they?

  "You were born with this?" My mates voice was barely a whisper and I couldn't help the panic that was rising in my chest.

  "Yes," I whispered back.

  Huffing out a small laugh, Flynn rested his forehead against the mark before kissing it. Slowly, he pulled out, making me squirm. "Get dressed, baby. It would seem we have one more thing to discuss with the command before the mating party."

  I did as he said, still a bit nervous despite the dazed smile on my mate's face. "Is everything okay, Flynn. Is something wrong with my birthmark?"

  "No baby." He cupped my neck and kissed my forehead, before smiling down into my eyes. "I can't be sure until the priestess gets here, but if I'm right, there is something so amazingly right about that mark."

  CHAPTER SIX

  "So it begins," the priestess said, brushing a red lock of my mate's hair away from his face. "Do you know what this means, Alpha?"

  "Yes." My voice just couldn't seem to get above a harsh whisper. Clearing my throat, I smiled into Ridley's beautiful face. "It means the chosen have returned to the shifters."

  "It does. And it means the beginning of a new gifted generation." Running her hands down Ridley's arms, she stopped at his stomach, placing them on either side of his covered bellybutton. "And I'd say it won't be long now before he's ready. Already, his post mating heat gets closer."

  "Heat?!" My mate squeaked out. "I've read enough romance novels to know what a heat is. Is she saying what I think she is?"

  Seeing the panic on my mate's face, I realized this might not be good news for him. Gathering him in my arms, I pressed his face to my neck. "It's okay, baby. If you don't want to have kids, there are supplements you can take. This is completely up to you."

  "I'm going to have babies?"

  "Only if you want to." I pulled back to look at his precious face and almost died at the tears I saw sliding down his cheeks. "Please don't cry baby. There is always birth control."

  Ridley closed his eyes, making more tears fall. "Are you going to leave me now? I'm even more of a freak than you signed on for."

  Shocked to my core, I yowled mournfully. How could my precious, precious mate think that he was a freak? Had I not done enough to prove to him that he was perfect the way he was? Had I failed in showing him exactly how much I needed him in my life?

  Tears filled my eyes and then rolled down my cheeks as I squeezed my mate to me. My baby thought he was a freak. I knew he'd been self-conscious before, but I had thought we had come a long way on that front in the last few days. I had been trying everything in my power to show him how amazing I found him. How had I failed?

  "No, baby," I sobbed into his hair. "I'd never leave you. Never. I'd give up everything to be with you. And if you decide not to have kids, I'll stick by you the whole time. But if you do decide that you want beautiful, little redheaded, whiskey eyed babies running around at our feet and clawing the furniture, I'd be more than happy to watch you grow with child and bring little Ridleys into this world."

  "Flynn?" My mate grabbed the sides of my face, looking horrified as he stared into my eyes. "Why are you crying? Please stop! I can't handle your sorrow! Please, love."

  I did my best to dry up, not wanting to distress my mate any more than he already was. "Do you understand now, Rid? I would never, ever leave you. I think you are absolutely perfect. There is nobody in this world who is a better fit for me."

  "You'd want babies with me? Even though I'd be a pregnant man? You don't find that weird?"

  I looked around, suddenly noticing that it was just Ridley and me in my study. Everyone must have realized we needed space. Probably when they all witnessed their alpha break down into tears. I should feel embarrassed, or even like less of an alpha, but I'd never really had trouble feeling confident in who I was, so having the upper levels of my pack see me in tears really didn't bother me.

  Chuckling through tears that were still trying to build in my eyes despite my trying to force them away, I brushed a strand of cinnamon hair off my mate's forehead and pecked a kiss to his lips. "When I was a child, we heard stories of the leaps, prides and packs that had come before us. There was a time when shifters struggled to start families. It was believed there had been too much inbreeding and it was causing problems with reproduction.

  "Centuries passed before one of the wolf alphas found his mate in a human male with a strange marking on his face. At the time, when shifters were already struggling to have children, it was considered a curse. Why would God give a male alpha, in need of children, a mate who couldn't provide him children? But then he did. Many, many children.

  "It wasn't long before rumor spread of not only the wolf alpha and his marked mate, but a leopard alpha and his male mate that had given birth to three litters. As it turned out, his mate was marked as well. Same mark, but on the back of his knee.

  "Within a decade, there were leaps and packs and prides all over the world whose alphas and even many of their members had found what they referred to as 'the chosen'. And suddenly, the shifter population was growing again.

  "But not only that. The babies of these shifter-chosen couples were stronger and faster. Some even possessing special gifts.

  "So, even if I hadn't known the stories of the chosen, I would still be so very happy to make babies with you, because I love you so very much. Every. Part. You're not a freak. You're special. You're the beginning of something amazing to this pack and shifters in general. You are chosen."

  Watching my beautiful mate process the information might have been funny if I wasn't holding my breath waiting for him to decide our fate. And he would. Because no matter what that mark meant for this leap or even all the shifters, Ridley would be making this decision. That is how special he was to me and I could only hope he understood what that impl
ied.

  "I want to have your baby," he whispered, clearly choking up on the lump in his throat. "I've always dreamed of having a child, but I never expected to find someone to love me, even more less want to raise a child with me. And obviously, I thought we'd have to adopt. But the idea of taking care of someone so innocent and finding that unconditional love is something I've always dreamed about, but never thought I'd have." He paused, blinking up at me in confusion. "Wait! Did you say that you love me?"

  I laughed when that last question came out as a squeak. "Of course, baby. How could you not know how much I love you?"

  "I don't know. I guess I just thought––"

  The sound of angry yowls and hissing stopped whatever nonsense was about to come out of my mate's mouth. Jerking, he immediately headed for the door.

  I reacted without thought, grabbing his arm and jerking him behind me, just as the door to the study exploded off the hinges and two half human, half leopards came tumbling into the room.

  Bennet pinned Abby to the floor, growling down at the hissing ex-second.

  "He's mine," the cat on the floor yelled, her words distorted by the canines protruding from her mouth. "That ugly human can't provide for him what he needs!"

  Her words angered me more than I ever thought words would have the ability to do. It was a "say what you want about me, but don't even fucking speak his name" type moment. I moved in slowly, prowling toward the still hissing leopard clawing at Bennet.

  "Release her, Bennet." I growled.

  I heard my mate gasp and Bennet gave me a strange look for just a moment before he nodded and released the woman's throat. I glanced at my mate, trying to read his expression.

  Did he think I was letting this woman, who'd wanted to kill him, go free?

  My mate's best friend gave a warning growl as he positioned himself close to my side so we made a wall between the crazed leopard and Ridley.

  Abby's face and claws returned to normal as she sat up slowly, a satisfied look on her face. "Thank you alpha. I'm glad you are seeing reason. You can't make future alphas with that human male."