Joe snorted. “Losing me? She never had me. I told her over and over there was no future for us. For me, there’s only Quinn.”
The men went quiet and exchanged glances.
“What? Spit it out.”
Ringo looked off into the distance. “Been wondering if she’s staying. Not any of our business but things still seem to be unresolved for you two.”
“You overstepping your bounds here, Ringo?”
“Yep. Reckon I am.”
Joe let out a breath. Yeah, he was alpha but these were not only his closest lieutenants but friends. “All right. What’s on your minds?”
Manuel cleared his throat. “The longer the consummation remains undone, Joe, the more danger Quinn is in. Have you thought of that?”
“Hell yes, I’ve thought of that. The biggest attack against me and my authority would be if a consummation was ‘forced’ on Quinn by another lycan. I would not only lose my predestined mate but I would be seen as weak by any wolf eager to take my place.”
“Not a weak bone in your body,” Ringo said. “Still, you need to get it done.”
Anger swept him. Frustration too. “You telling me what to do, brother?”
Ringo’s eyes narrowed as he gave him a look. “Nope. Just a suggestion.”
Joe blew out a breath. “Look. Forget it. I’m just edgy.”
“Bet I know what would take that edge off.” This from Manuel, who backed away with a slow grin. “Think I’ll head over and help the men clean up the barbecue pit.”
“Yeah, you do that before I kick your ass,” Joe hollered, smiling. He turned back to see Ringo eyeing him steadily. “What?”
“The safety of the pack depends on this consummation.”
“I know. I’m working on her.”
Ringo prodded the ground with the toe of his worn cowboy boot. “She loves you. It’s plain to see. She might not admit it but we all know it’s just a matter of time.”
He nodded and turned back toward the house. “See you tonight at the barbecue.”
Heading across the wide expanse of ground separating the stock area from the house, he took in the tables set up everywhere, their blue and white checked tablecloths snapping in the breeze. Off in the distance, he saw Manuel join several other men as they tended the giant rock structure where tonight they’d grill steaks and burgers. It had been years since they’d done anything like this at the ranch and he figured it was long overdue.
Maria was standing at the kitchen sink when he stepped through the back door and tossed his hat on top of the kitchen table. “Where’s Quinn?”
She turned smiling and grabbed up a huge container of potato salad and set it in the fridge. “I made her go upstairs to rest. She’s been helping me set things up all morning and most of the afternoon. The woman works her butt off. Told her she’d done enough. Time to get pretty for the party.”
“Good.” Joe turned to go to Quinn but paused in the doorway. “I’m glad you’re here, Maria. You’re doing a great job.”
“No thanks necessary, Joe. You know I’ll do anything for my alpha and his mate.”
His mate.
As he went up the stairs, his heart thumping hard in his chest, he recalled the way Quinn looked last night as they’d raced together through the woods. She’d been the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, a rare white wolf with aqua eyes that threatened to knock him flat on his ass. Her joy had reached out to him, affirming what he already knew. He loved her and her place was here on the ranch. With him.
He opened the bedroom door and saw Quinn curled up in an overstuffed chair. She was wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe and her hair was still damp from a shower. Though her cell phone was pressed to her ear, she paused to smile at him. Joe didn’t hesitate but closed the door and crossed the room to her. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he pointed toward the bathroom indicating he’d be showering too. Now he was completely moved into the ranch house and he knew it was exactly where he belonged. In all his many years, he’d never lived with a woman but there was something comforting about seeing his clothes hanging in the huge walk-in closet next to hers.
The place felt like home.
Joe stripped out of his dusty clothes and turned to see Quinn eying him. Her brilliant eyes were at half-mast as they skimmed his body and his cock hardened in response. He watched her tongue sweep her bottom tip, saw her swallow. No doubt she was remembering what they’d done together in that big bed just the night before. God knew he did.
“Oh sorry,” she said into the phone. “What was that?”
Joe laughed and headed into the shower thinking he’d better make it quick because he had plans for what remained of the day before company starting arriving. Ten minutes later, he emerged from the steamy bathroom and stopped dead in his tracks. Fury whipped through him. Jealousy dug steel spurs deep in his belly when he heard her words.
“I’m happy for you, Graham.”
Graham. The lover who waited for her. Yeah, she’d said he was just a friend but Joe wanted to kill him.
His thoughts must have registered on his face because Quinn held up a hand, shook her head. “She sounds like a nice woman. The new high school principal? You know I’ll always wish you happiness. You’re my best friend.”
Joe let out a breath and got his emotions under control as he sat at the foot of the bed and listened to her end of the conversation.
Quinn looked at him as she continued to speak. She let out a heavy breath and plucked nervously at the fabric of her robe. “Listen, Graham. I need to tell you something too. I’ve…um…I’ve met someone. Just like you have. Could you contact a realtor for me? Kind of oversee getting the house sold?”
Joe went still.
“Um…yeah. I’m sure. I’m closing the store too.” She paused. “Yes, I’m sure. Business sucks. Just hanging on by a thread so I’m ditching it. I called the local lawyer here in Cloverfield and he’s going to handle the details. Life goes on and I’ve just realized that my life is here, on the ranch, with this man I’ve met.”
Joe’s entire world went reeling as she disconnected and set the phone down. His breath went still as she unfolded herself from the chair and walked up to him. Her hands went to the belt on her robe. She loosened it and let the cloth slide from her shoulders.
“Do you mean it, Quinn?”
She nodded and smiled at him. Joe’s breath expelled in a hot rush as he grabbed her hips and drew her between his spread thighs. He planted an open-mouthed kiss on her bare belly, nipping the spot then dragging his tongue over it. Her hands went into his damp hair to hold him closer.
“Yeah, I mean it.” Bending a little, she settled her mouth on the top of his head. “I knew it last night after I got to know my wolf and yours. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I love you, Joe. I’ll mate with you. I belong here. On this ranch. With you.”
Incredulous, he looked up, relief and joy evident on his face as he yanked her onto his lap. Her legs straddled his hips, his erection towered, hard and throbbing, between their bodies. “Do you mean it? Don’t you know you’ve been driving me crazy, woman?”
Her face lit up like the sun was shining behind her eyes.
“Maybe, but I can’t help what I feel, Joe. I’m ready to take hold of my future and who I am. Will you help me?”
Shocked to see his hands were trembling, he took her face and kissed her hungrily. “You don’t have to ask. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
His tongue stroked deep and she answered his passion with her own fire. Joe clasped the back of her neck, then swept his hands over her back. He clutched her ass and pulled her close enough that her melting heat dampened his cock. Thrusting through the silken layers, he broke the kiss and buried his mouth against her throat. “Been waiting for you to come to your senses, to believe that you belong here with me.”
“Where else would I go, Joe? I am who I am. I’m a wolf and I’m yours. I knew it last night. The world was so clear and new and I belonged to it.”
>
Growling low, he nipped her sweet flesh and drew her skin into his mouth to suck as she writhed against him. “Just like you belong to me.”
“Like we belong to each other.”
“Don’t you forget it. Fuck me, darlin’. I’m dyin’ here.”
Quinn came up on her knees and positioned herself over the head of his cock and he thought he might come that instant. Energy and power practically sizzled from her body to his as she rotated her pussy over the head. The globes of her ass still filled his hands and he squeezed and tormented her firm flesh. Her nipple brushed his lips.
“Suck me, Joe. Suck my nipple.”
Joe wasn’t about to ignore her. He drew his tongue in circles around her nipple until she whimpered for deeper contact and as he pulled the hard bud into his mouth she sank down over his throbbing cock.
Yes.
So good.
Joe groaned around her tight little nipple, drew harder as she lifted slowly and then lowered herself again. Her pussy contracted around his erection with the most delicious pressure. Planting his feet firmly on the floor, he pushed up, sending his cock higher into her milky depths. Quinn’s head dropped back. She writhed there, circled, then rose again only to plummet back down. When she went still in his arms, he felt her body gather for orgasm and plunged high again. She quivered for a moment then cried out as she began to come hard, suddenly gasping.
“Joe!”
He held her through the crisis, wrapping her up and when she’d settled he stood with her and laid her in the middle of the bed. Crawling between her sprawled thighs, he ran his hands over her legs, collected the dampness between them on his fingertips. Fascination with her body swept through him like wildfire but then he focused on the expression on her face and was lost. Her eyes sparkled like gems.
“Let’s consummate this, Joe. I’m ready,” she whispered. “Are you?”
They had roughly three hours before guests would begin to show up and he wanted nothing more than to introduce her as his lupa. His true mate. “Yeah. More than ready.” Gripping her behind her knees, he lifted her up and out until she was spread before him like a feast for a starving man. “After today, you’ll belong to me. You’ll also belong to the pack. Be sure, darlin’.”
“Yes. Take me, Joe. Fuck me. Do whatever you have to do.”
Bending low, he dragged his tongue over the damp folds of her pussy, prodded her opening. Quinn whimpered and arched to meet his mouth. Her fingers griped the white sheets as he took his time tasting her. His body was on fire to sample everything. Leaving her on the very edge, he leaned over and opened a drawer in the nightstand. He grabbed a bottle of lube he’d placed there earlier and looked at her.
Joe trailed his fingers over her pussy to find her drenched. He sank two fingers deep and worked her until soft little whimpers broke from her lips. Withdrawing them, he moved them deep between her ass cheeks until he found her tightly drawn rosette. He circled his finger around her opening before sliding it in to the first joint. “Wanna fuck you here.”
“Yes. I want it. I want you everywhere, filling me up.”
It was enough. Tenderly, he flipped her to her stomach and shoved a soft pillow under her belly before lifting her to her knees. Taking up the bottle of lube, he poured some on his fingers. He pressed his mouth to her spine, to her lower back and nipped at her ample hips. God! He loved her ass. His cock throbbed in a steady rhythm. He didn’t want to hurt her and he was a big man so he covered her liberally with the lube before sending one finger deep.
“So tight. Give me a minute.”
Joe slowly added another finger and gently scissored them both to stretch her.
Quinn went still when he began to slowly plunge and withdraw. He played with her pussy too, circling her clit and dipping his fingers deep into her channel. She was so wet, dripping. Finger-fucking her thoroughly, he finally withdrew and covered his cock with the lube.
When he settled the head of his erection there, he paused.
Quinn made a small sound. “Is this the consummation?”
“No. This is just for us.”
“Ah, do it, Joe.”
Going slowly he breached her, pushing past the tight ring of muscle, then stopped to give her time to adjust.
“So big.”
“Tell me the truth, Quinn. Is it too much?”
“God, no! Keep going.”
Joe went deeper, then deeper, until finally he was seated to the hilt. Gently he stroked her lower back. “Just relax. Breathe.”
Reaching down, he plucked her clit, rolled it between his thumb and forefinger and finally, Quinn started to move. Breath expelled from his lungs at her acceptance and unable to stop, he began to plunge slowly in and out of her body until she started to quiver.
“Joe. Oh yes.”
The give and take continued with her backing against him, demanding more and at last she stiffened and came. He released her clit and gently stroked her flesh before withdrawing from her body. It wasn’t time for him to come yet. He had to save himself for the rigorous consummation.
Hell!
He hoped they lived through it.
The intensity of their sex was so strong already he wondered now, how they would handle the constant eroticism of the consummation. Now it was time to find out. He pulled away. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
Quinn muttered something unintelligible and he had to smile. He’d hoped she’d be so out of it by the time he finished with her that she wouldn’t have time to think about the coming consummation. Looks like the plan worked.
He went to the bathroom and, after cleaning himself up, came back with a warm, damp cloth. Sitting next to her, trying for all he was worth to ignore the erection which demanded release, he moved the cloth in soothing motions over her body. He held it for several long moments between her thighs and stroked it over her ass. When he removed the pillow and turned her to her back, he was surprised at the silly grin on her face. “You take good care of me, Joe.”
“About time someone did.”
Instantly her eyes filled with tears and she laughed a little. “Yeah, long overdue.”
He didn’t want the memory of her years with the hate-filled Decker Harlow to mar the occasion of their consummation, so he kissed her. “I’ll take care of you and you’ll take care of me. How does that sound?”
“Perfect. Take me, Joe. Let’s do this thing.”
Relief whipped through him as he tossed the cloth aside and went to work enjoying her delicious body. He started at her toes and worked his way up, pausing for a tantalizing moment at her pussy. Joe nipped her belly and her breasts, sent his fingers gently over the pink layers of her cunt.
When Quinn reached out for his cock and slid her hands up and down, tightening her fist over his hot flesh, he almost came. “I can’t wait anymore.”
“I know,” she whispered.
Joe settled between her thighs and drew her legs up high to hang over his shoulders. He wanted it deep and wanted it now. Fisting his hand at the base of his cock, he dragged it repeatedly over her hot pussy. She was wet again. Wet and warm. He sank deep, seated fully and felt her inner walls clench around him. Gritting his teeth against the pleasure, he pumped into her repeatedly. His balls swelled, going hard and they pressed against her with each downward thrust further adding to his pleasure.
“Fuck, Quinn.”
Beneath him, she made a low sound. She gasped. Her back bowed as she struggled to get closer. He moved her legs from his shoulders until they were draped through the notch in his elbows. The kiss he gave her went deep as he drank her whispered sigh. He nipped her chin and felt his gums tingle as his lupine teeth grew. Settling his mouth against her ear, he groaned a command. “Drop your shields. Open your mind and let me in.”
Instantly she obeyed and he filled her mind with the pleasure she gave him. He sent his emotions, his thoughts, his love for her down a personal path that no one else could ever enter.
“Joe, I love yo
u. I’m coming. Oh God.”
The second the climax hit her, he sank his teeth into the soft flesh of her shoulder. The base of his cock grew larger and larger until he couldn’t move. They were locked together in a joining as old as time. Climax rocked him and he growled through the blasting, wicked release. Quinn gasped and murmured incoherently as she shook in his arms. “Again, Quinn. Again.”
Unbelievably he was still hard, his cock still firmly stuck inside her so he rode it out, fucked her through the pleasure. Quinn came repeatedly, quick bursts of energy and pleasure, that took him under with her.
She was his. He was hers.
It would always be enough.
Chapter Ten
As laughter and chaos ensued all around her, Quinn looked out at the boisterous crowd and felt she suddenly belonged. She’d never felt that way before. Sure, her mom had loved her but Quinn had always sensed an underlying fear of her too. She’d never understood it before. But after learning of her heritage, she now realized that to her mom, she would always be part beast. And Decker? He’d simply hated her guts. His cruelty had been beyond anything a little kid should have to endure. Thank God she’d grown up and learned how to fight back.
But here in this yard full of rowdy, laughing lycans, she was home.
Joe sat next to her at one of the tables quietly talking with one of the Wolf Creek cowboys, giving her plenty of time to take it all in. The scent of grilled steaks filled the air and off in a distant field a group of young boys wearing footballs jerseys with the words Cloverfield Lobos written on them tossed a football around. Typical of this kind of scene, several young girls stood around in clusters, laughing as they watched the boys. To anyone, it would seem so ordinary but Quinn knew they were wolves. She knew most of these boys actually hunted with the pack while the girls knew they would have to age a little longer before they could join the hunt.
As she thought of who here might be unmated females, Rayne strolled up wearing a broad smile and sat down across from her.
“Hey, Quinn. You guys sure throw a great party.” She settled back and sighed as she took in the crowd. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a reason to celebrate.”
Lone Star Lycan Page 10