by Ally Summers
Francesca
“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” The complete bliss I had from exchanging my vows with Drew was lingering between us, but it didn’t feel real with the angry glare of my parents trying to penetrate the happiness.
“We’re too late, aren’t we?” My father’s voice roared over the violinist.
“How did you even know?” I was in disbelief. Were they upset they weren’t invited or upset I was married?
“Laney Sampson,” my mother explained.
“Laney, but she’s a freshman.” I had no idea how she had heard I was getting married, but we were from the same town. Maybe some of the other students had somehow heard. I had sworn Alexa to total secrecy.
They stormed toward us, and I felt Drew’s hand draw across my waist in a protective stance.
“Does he know about you? Does he know what kind of monster you are?” My father hissed.
I shrank behind his words.
“Mr. XX. If you’d like to stay for the reception, we can take your coat and maybe talk over a glass of champagne.” Drew’s voice was low and forceful.
My father staggered back. He had heard the growl from Drew’s chest. He reached for my mother’s hand. “You’re—you’re like her,” he accused my new husband.
Drew stayed calm. I heard Case walk up behind us.
“Is there a problem?”
Drew turned. “Case, these are my new in-laws. In-laws, my brother Case.”
Case’s eyes shimmered. My parents looked horrified.
Case held out his hand. “It’s always a pleasure welcoming new members to the family.” He grinned wickedly. I decided then he wasn’t a shifter I ever wanted to cross.
“We’re not family,” my mother hissed. “We came to warn the groom, but that seems pointless.”
“Warn me?” Drew’s eyes hardened. “About Francesca? About the most loving, beautiful woman in the world? You want to warn me about her? You’re talking about my wife.”
He pushed past me until he was almost chest to chest with my father.
Dad didn’t back down. His stubbornness was showing. “We thought we had a moral obligation to let her future husband know, but it seems like he already does.”
“Yes, and then some.” Drew winked. “Now, if you’d like to stay for the reception, you are welcome. But if you’re here to spew your hate, there’s the door.”
I held my breath, waiting for their answer. Part of me hoped they’d say they wanted to stay and celebrate my marriage. Part of me wanted Case and the rest of the Tribe to kick their asses out the door. I was torn.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when they retraced their steps and walked out the front door. The violinist started up again and Drew faced me.
“You ok?”
I nodded. “I think so.” I felt the tears stinging. I didn’t want them to fall. I didn’t want a single one on this beautiful wedding dress.
“Hey, look at me.” He pulled my face between his hands. “I’m your family now. We are family. A bond like no other.”
And I felt it. I knew he was right. I knew there was truth in his words. We had exchanged vows, but the shifter magic we had opened by pledging ourselves to each other was stronger than anything I’d felt growing up in my parents’ home. This man loved me totally and completely.
His entire purpose as a member of the Tribe was to find me. To make me happy. To love me.
I leaned up to whisper in his ear. “I’d like to drink a glass of champagne, have our first dance, and have you make me yours forever.” I smiled.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “You know it’s cute you whisper because all these guys have shifter hearing and heard everything you said, but I’m sure they’ll act really cool about it.”
I blushed down to the tops of my breasts. What the hell. They all knew what we were going to do tonight anyway.
I held my husband’s hand as we walking into our private reception, leaving the hurtful memories of my childhood locked outside.
21
Drew
I locked the door to the bridal suite and turned to face my mate. The look in her eyes took me to my knees. She was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. And somehow I’d managed to convince her to marry me and be my mate.
I walked toward her. “Did I tell you tonight how beautiful you are?” I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck.
“You can say it again.” She bit her lip.
“You’re fucking beautiful.”
I had felt the need to show restraint during the ceremony and during the reception. I let Case make his big brother toast. And the girls from Francesca’s class laugh about study group stories. But my heart was pounding. My blood was pumping. My ring was on her finger. She was mine in all ways but one.
My lips came crushing down on hers. I kissed her toying her with my tongue. My lips trailed over her shoulder and behind her ear, savoring the taste of her skin.
Her chest heaved rapidly. Her eyes widened. “Tell me about this part.” She breathed.
I ran my thumb over the bottom part of her lip, pinching it until my mouth met hers. She groaned.
“How about I show you?” I sucked at her mouth, inhaling the air from her lungs, drinking her in.
She nodded. “I’m yours. Show me. Show me what it means.” She was already breathless and we hadn’t shed a single piece of clothing.
“That’s right.” I traced a line along her collarbone. “You are mine.” I nipped her shoulder. Now that we were alone I could finally take her all in. The dress was white and strapless. She had tied a crystal beaded belt around her waist.
I reached for the laces, and untied the belt, letting it drop to the floor. I watched her eyes as she saw it hit the carpet.
“I want everything at once,” she whispered. “And I want it to slow down. How do we do both?” Her eyes closed as I peeled the zipper down her back.
“We do it more than once,” I growled in her ear. “Every way you want.”
I pushed the dress to the floor, kissing her as I peeled it over her body. She stepped out and I admired her body. She was wearing white lace underneath. So virginal and so pure. So ready to give herself to her mate.
The bed and breakfast staff had layered rose petals on the bed and left us a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. Maybe when I was done with my mate, we could try those. I swept the petals to the floor and laid her in the center of the bed.
I crawled toward her, planting kisses as I inched toward her neck.
“I feel like I’m on fire every time you touch me,” she moaned.
“We are on fire.” I shrugged off my tux jacket and discarded my vest and shirt.
“Because we’re mates?” she asked.
“Because we’re meant to be together,” I answered. My hands roamed over her skin, memorizing the feel of her breasts. The way her nipples hardened under my touch. The way her chest rose and fell with each touch sweeping between her legs.
I grinned. It was a moment every jaguar waited for. A rite of passage. A mark on the timeline of his lineage. The moment he took his mate for the first time was something he’d never forget.
22
Francesca
I looked into Drew’s eyes. I could barely breathe. I could barely talk. I could only think about what we were about to do. How our bodies were going to bind us together for life. I ran my fingertips over his chest. I closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of his skin.
He was warm and smooth. Firm and chiseled. I’d never seen anyone this sexy hover over top of me. I reached up to drag his mouth to mine. I wanted the feel of his tongue. The taste of his lips.
I wrapped my hands around his neck as he kissed me with fiery passion. There were times when I thought we could burst into flames. There were no thoughts. No questions. Only the promise of a night we’d always remember.
My hands smoothed over his back until I circled to his tuxedo pants. In a few short seconds we had them piled on the flo
or.
There was a devilish smile on his lips, that made me hotter and wetter than I already was. He discarded the bridal lingerie I had picked out so carefully to impress him. But he seemed much more interested in my body. He kissed and licked, sucked and lapped until I was purring with want.
Was this what other shifters felt when they spent the first night together or was this because of our connection? Did Drew do these things to me because somehow we were meant for this unbelievable chemistry and heat? Is it why our skin burned every time we touched?
His eyes glowed and I felt the jaguar in him coming to the surface. He was turned on and ready to claim me. Take his panther as his mate.
“Kiss me,” I ordered him.
His lips landed on mine with intensity as I rocked my hips toward him. I clawed at his back, bucking, widening my legs, inviting him, wanting him, needing him.
And then I felt my panther take over. I rose to meet him, clawing at him with animal fierceness as he plunged deep inside me. I rushed to meet his thrust with one of my own. It was powerful and sensual. Taking what he could give me, and giving him every part of my body.
His thrusts intensified as we rocked harder into each other.
I panted with want and need. I clenched around him. Desperate to hold him close. Desperate to feel him fill me.
“Oh God, Drew,” I whimpered as I felt the first wave start to wash over me. This wasn’t an orgasm. This was ecstasy. My body felt like it was floating with pleasure. Pure joy. Pure fullness.
He growled into my ear. “You’re mine. Mine.” He pumped inside me as he threaded his fingers through my hands, joining our palms.
“Yes. Yours.” I nodded as another rocket of ecstasy slammed into me. This time it was electric as I vibrated under the weight of his body. He unleashed everything he had inside me.
Our breathing slowed and I looked into his eyes. They had returned to his human shade of green. I kissed him on the chin before reaching his mouth.
“Did we fly around the room?” I smiled.
He breathed hard. “I think it’s possible. I couldn’t see. Only feel what it was like to be inside you.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “It was everything, darlin’. Everything.”
“It was.”
I felt like we were one heart. One breath. One skin. I never wanted to leave this honeymoon suite, or the perfect bed and breakfast where we made our vows.
I held the emerald ring up over his shoulder. I didn’t know it was possible to feel closeness like this. It wasn’t sex. It was our bond. Like Drew said. It was our everything.
23
Drew
The sun filtered through the blinds. I heard a knock on the door. “Breakfast is ready, you lovebirds.”
I threw a pillow at the door. “Maybe later,” I called to the owner of the B&B.
Francesca was nestled in my arms and her hair was splayed across the pillows.
“Breakfast?” she murmured.
I kissed behind her ear. “Are you hungry Mrs. Maddox?”
I saw the smile creep across her face as she stretched her arms around me and her back arched. God, she was beautiful. And she was mine.
“I can’t believe you just called me that.”
“It’s your name now, isn’t it?” I waggled my eyebrows, pouncing on top of her.
She giggled, but her laughter quickly turned to moans as my hands began to massage between her legs. “Oh God.” She bucked her hips upward.
I leaned to kiss her plump, luscious lips. They were tender and swollen from a night of mating, but she wasn’t gentle as she kissed me back with fierceness.
I caved to her passion, dipping my tongue toward hers. I growled against her mouth. “You’re fucking sexy, Francesca.” I pinned her wrists over her head and she gasped as I nestled myself between her legs.
I held her, watching her breath quicken as I toyed with her. She whimpered when I began to slide into her, but withdrew.
“You’re wicked,” she whispered.
“And yours.” I growled, taking her with a powerful thrust. I loved how she felt. I loved how she clenched around me. How our bodies fit together perfectly as if she was made for me.
Our thirst for each other rapidly slowed to a deep, sensual rhythm. I looked into her eyes, locked on them, reading her lust. Reading her hunger for me, until I saw the ecstasy spread through her expression.
I pushed, filling her, taking us to a new level.
“Oh, Drew,” she moaned. Her hands clutched my back and I ground my hips to hers, desperate to be under her skin. Desperate to taste every inch of hers. Desperate to know she had changed my life.
“Mine. I swear, Francesca…” but the words trailed off as I pulsed inside her.
I collapsed on top of her, slick with sweat, but content. I tangled my fingers through hers and kissed her hand.
“I think I like being married,” she breathed.
I kissed her neck. “You’re everything to me.”
“I didn’t know it would be like this.”
“Like what?” I propped up on my elbow, tracing her collarbone. I loved every inch of skin on her body.
“Two shifters. Fated mates. Before you I didn’t even know this existed, and now I feel like the missing link in my soul has been filled. You filled it. This is my life now. For the first time in my life I see my future.”
The guilt punched me in the stomach. Future? There was a list I had to fulfill. A list of other mates. Other wives. Other cubs to create.
“How about that breakfast?” I jumped from the bed and headed for the shower. “Want to get a little wet first?”
I didn’t know how long I could keep the list from her, but I knew I would as long as possible. I wanted to be the man she thought I was. The man who had saved her from misery. The one who gave her a heritage. The one who finally gave her family. Why couldn’t I be that man? Why couldn’t I be the shifter to love her for the rest of her life?
I turned on the water and felt her arms wrap around my waist. “Do you think we can both fit in this tub?”
I laughed. “Oh yeah. Come on.” I pulled her in under the stream of hot water.
“So what kind of looks are we going to get at breakfast?” Francesca dabbed drops of shampoo in her hand.
“You worried they heard you?” I teased.
“Me? You’re the one with the beastly growl. Mine is so quiet.”
“Is that so?”
She nodded. “I’m as quiet as a kitten.”
“Then I must have been doing it all wrong.” My eyes flared.
She shook her head. “Oh no. What are you doing?”
I dropped to my knees, pressing her against the wall with my palms.
“You can’t. Stop,” she moaned as her hips tipped toward me.
“I’m making sure everyone in this entire place hears how I can make my wife scream.”
24
Francesca
I watched my husband across the breakfast table. Husband was such a funny word. Everyone at breakfast kept their eyes on their plates of quiche and fruit. Drew had kept his promise in the shower. I screamed louder than I ever had. I was still blushing and my legs were still shaking.
“What do you want to do today?” Drew asked over a pitcher of orange juice.
I felt like we needed to talk quietly. “I have to study. Exams are tomorrow.”
“Darlin’, it’s our honeymoon. I was thinking something a little more recreational.”
I stared at him. “After exams I can do anything. But I have to take them and turn in my final paper with Alexa.”
He chewed on a piece of bacon. “All right. And what am I supposed to do while you study?”
I smiled. “Watch me?”
He laughed. “Depends on if you study naked or not.”
I kicked him under the table. The older couple might have canes, but it didn’t mean they were deaf.
“Ouch,” he grumbled. “I’m not kidding.”
“Doubtful. They have to get back to their own mate situations.”
“Situations?”
Now it seemed important to him that we had company. Sure he didn’t care about embarrassing me about sex, but once we talked shifter he was hush hush.
“Are you done with breakfast?” He eyed my plate.
I nodded and followed him up the stairs to the bridal suite.
He closed the door. “Look, we can’t talk about those things in front of other people.”
“But you sure as hell don’t care if they hear me come three times in a row.”
“Was that all? I thought it was four.”
I folded my arms. “I’m being serious, Drew. I’m not trying to out us. They have no idea what we’re talking about.”
“You can’t be careless like that. What if they are agents?”
“Agents?”
“You know people without power but hired by witches or other shifters as spies.”
I sat on the bed. My head was spinning. “I’ve never heard of agents.”
He brushed the hair behind my ear. “I have a lot to teach you.”
“Can we find my family? That’s what I want. I want to meet my mother and father. I want to know if I have siblings. What if I have sisters?” My mind started to spiral with all the possibilities. I could have an entire panther family out there looking for me.
“Slow down.” He held my hands firmly. “One thing at a time. You said you have some studying to do. Exams tomorrow, and then we have a birthday to celebrate.”
My face lit up. I could feel it from the inside out. “You remembered my birthday?”
“Twenty-two is a huge one for any panther girl.” He kissed my forehead and stood from the bed.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t want to distract you from your exams. Why don’t you get the studying out of the way and then we can talk shifter stuff.”