by Kyle, Celia
“What happened to them?”
“Those who protected Kathy were sent away by the National Circle and the pack was disbanded. Many joined our ranks, but some didn’t. I got word last week that Frank had been rehabilitated and released. Some nonsense about how their fated mate bond had muddled his brain with her crazy, but he admitted the error of his ways and took full responsibility. I knew it was all bullshit, but you can’t argue with the NC.”
“So why did he attack now? Didn’t your father pass away a few years ago?”
A jolt of grief surprised Mason. Losing his father had nearly broken him. He’d only survived through the support of the pack, and though it was difficult, he’d buried himself in his role as the new alpha, if only to honor his father.
“My best guess is that since my father is dead, he put the blame for his mate’s death on me. He must have sniffed out that you were my mate and decided to go after you as payback.”
Lucy rubbed a scar on her shoulder thoughtfully. “Or to finish what his mate started.”
“One more thing you should know. My father arranged to pay your medical bills and set you up with a scholarship, funded by what remained in the Riverson coffers once the pack was disbanded, not the Forest Service. That was just his cover.”
“That was kind of him,” Lucy said quietly.
Mason pulled her tightly, closing his eyes and breathing in her scent. She smelled of bitter smoke and sadness, but he could also smell the wild musk of her wolf developing. Quickly. He hoped her transformation would be complete by nightfall. Then they could seal their bond in a more traditional—and immensely more pleasurable—way.
A soft knock rattled the door and pulled Mason out of the moment. The intruder was Kade, who poked his head into the room after Mason gave the all clear.
“Everyone wants to know how their alpha mate is doing,” he said, smiling at Lucy. “And the NC are growing impatient. Roman said something about having better things to do than hang out in our living room for days on end.”
“Fuck ‘em,” Mason growled, burying his face in Lucy’s hair.
She stroked the back of his head. “No, we should go. I think we all need a little closure.”
He might have been the Blackwood alpha, but he knew better than to argue with his mate when her mind was made up. She would be a strong alpha mate, one who could stand up to the most fearsome wolf in the pack and still expect him to rock her world afterword. What a woman!
The living room erupted with cheers and applause the moment Mason and Lucy rounded the corner. The place was packed to the rafters with Blackwood wolves, and they all wanted to welcome their new alpha mate. Lucy took it all in stride, returning hugs and kissing babies. She was in her element—a true alpha mate.
Three very large wolves hung back, watching the scene, biding their time. After the initial rush of handshakes, back slaps and congratulations, the men approached.
“Mason, we need to talk.”
He couldn’t put them off any longer. “Okay, Roman. Talk.”
Roman’s lips turned into a thin, hard line at how close Mason had come to insubordination, but he let it slide. It’d been a tough couple of days.
“We now believe your version of events. That Frank Riverson set the fire on your lands. That alone would be grounds for extermination.” His gaze shot over to Lucy. “If your mate hadn’t already handled the situation so skillfully.”
“You heard?”
Roman nodded. “Your brothers filled us in. Frank was no longer an alpha, so her actions are considered self-defense instead of interfering with an alpha challenge. You should also know that we now have evidence linking the anonymous report of the illegal turning to Frank directly. It’s clear to everyone that it was an accident, not intentional. As far as the National Ruling Circle is concerned, the matter is closed.”
Mason huffed. “As it should have been from the start.”
“However,” Roman continued, giving Mason a steely stare. “I think we can all agree that your pack’s pups could certainly use some extra lessons in how to control themselves.”
“Agreed,” Mason said with a curt and slightly embarrassed nod. “Lucy will need the same training, so she can join the pups.”
He glanced over at where she stood, holding a chubby toddler. She tossed the girl in the air, a smooth-skinned child going up and a fluffy furball coming down. Lucy laughed and cuddled the wriggling pup before handing her back to her mother.
“She’ll be an excellent alpha mate for your pack, Mason.” Roman slapped Mason’s back. “And good for you, too.”
“I know. But that can’t happen until all of the uninvited guests in this house get the hell out, so I can finally claim her.”
Chuckling, Roman squeezed Mason’s shoulder hard—one last demonstration of his position—before turning to leave. He almost tripped over a blurry figure darting between their legs and heading for Lucy.
“Miss Lucy!” Charlie Tipton shouted as he ran up to her, breathless and panting. “Ghosty… pant pant …porch… pant pant …burned… pant pant …babies!”
Chapter Twenty
“Aren’t the cute?” Charlie exclaimed as he peered into the cardboard box sitting on the gigantic dining table in the middle of the pack house.
Lucy gently pulled him away to allow Drew room to examine the box full of kittens. The exhausted mama cat lay on her side, resting as her babies suckled. Her fur was grey, except where it was coated with soot.
“I still can’t believe she managed to keep them all alive when the house literally burned down around them,” she said, her fingers twitching to pick up a baby and give it sweet kisses. But she wasn’t about to interrupt Drew’s examination.
“It’s a miracle,” Robert Tipton said. “Charlie dragged me all the way over there, insisting we go save Ghost Kitty. I figured she’d have run off at the first whiff of smoke, but she must have been in the process of giving birth, because there they were. Tucked up in the only remaining bit of house that hadn’t burned to ash.”
“You’re a hero,” Mason said, patting Charlie’s back. The boy beamed up at his alpha.
Charlie wriggled out from under Lucy’s hand and crawled onto the table to look at the kittens without getting in the way. “What should we name them?”
Lucy didn’t want to get the boy’s hopes up. “Why don’t we wait to name them until Drew gives them a clean bill of health, okay?”
Drew gently laid the last kitten, this one black with tiny white mittens, against its mother’s tummy and smiled. “No need to wait. Other than smelling like smoke, they’re all fit as a fiddle. Now you just need to figure out what to do with them.”
“Keep them,” Lucy said.
“Get rid of them,” Mason said at the same time.
Lucy gasped and shot him a dark look, daring him to say it again. Ghost Kitty had defied the odds and survived a fire that destroyed an entire house and a lifetime of memories. They were the last surviving memories of her family home, her parents. She’d fight Mason if she had to, but she had a feeling should could convince him.
Somehow.
“We’re not keeping those cats,” he said, squinting hard at her.
She ignored him and turned back to Charlie. “Well, Ghosty already has a name, so what about the rest?”
“That one has mittens, maybe we could call it…um…”
“Lucy, we’re not keeping these cats,” Mason growled. “They’re puppy food. We’re wolves. Wolves do not own cats.”
Lucy gave him a defiant smirk. “You’re absolutely right, my love. Cats do the owning.”
“Lucy…”
Drew glanced between them nervously. “And that’s my cue.”
He was followed out of the house by Robert, who had to drag poor Charlie away from the kittens he still wanted to name. In the matter of a minute, the entire pack house echoed with emptiness. Only Lucy and Mason remained.
“Argue all you like,” Mason said, crossing his bulging arms over his ba
rrel chest with an air of finality, “but this is my house and my rules.”
Lucy glared up at him, tingles of frustration and anticipation skittering across her skin. “In the human world, married couples share ownership of all their belongings. Is it the same in wolf packs?”
He simply smirked, and one eyebrow shot up in challenge. Lucy glanced into the box to make sure Ghosty and her babies were settled. Then she grabbed a fistful of Mason’s smoky sweatshirt, pulling him along.
“Where are you taking me?” he said with a chuckle, as if he didn’t know.
She shot him a smirk over her shoulder without losing a step. “Well, I have to claim my half of this house, don’t I?”
Mason laughed, not fighting as she dragged him up the stairs to their bedroom.
With every step her heart pounded a hint faster, her blood racing through her veins and making her head swim. She drew in a lungful of air, catching the scent of his growing desire. It only thickened as they reached the hallway, and her own wanting swam in the air around them.
Lucy took a deep breath, willing herself to focus on the now, on every kiss, lick, and tease. On the hard plane of his muscles and the way he looked at her. He stared at her as if the entire world could burn down around them and he didn’t give a damn.
But it wasn’t enough for her. The small details, the things to be savored and cherished? Those were for another time. A time when her curiosity had long been satisfied. When she finally knew what waited for her in those tight, dark jeans of his. When she knew what it felt like to have him hard and deep inside her pussy.
Another handful of steps and they reached their destination, bedroom door standing wide for them. She hauled him in and practically slammed the door shut before spinning to grab the hem of his shirt.
He laughed. “I can do it myself.”
“Not a chance,” she countered and yanked on the shirt, whipping it over his head. He flashed her a grin that had her panties growing even wetter and moved to help her with her own. Not happening. She shook her head.
“Hell no.” She returned his grin. “You tortured me. It’s my turn to return the favor.” And she couldn’t wait to unwrap her present.
She pressed to her tiptoes and sought his neck, kissing the cords of his throat while she rested her palms on the hard muscles of his tanned abs. She gripped his toned waist, letting the warmth of his body pour into her as she continued her travels. She kissed him lower, tongue flicking out to lap at his heated skin. Her lips teased his dusting of chest hair and then lower still, to his stomach and belly button. Which led to… that patch of hair that beckoned her to dip beneath the waistline of his jeans.
So close to his cock, his scent surrounded her, urging her to take more. To drink in his flavors and revel in the passion they could share. Her mouth watered and she settled on her knees as she reached for the button on his pants. She flicked the closure, fingers going to the zipper and dragging it down slowly. A low, oh-so-sexy growl slipped past his lips and she turned her attention to Mason. Those eyes flickered amber, his beast dancing right on the edge of her mate’s control. His hands remained fisted at his sides, white knuckles revealing how hard he fought to restrain himself.
She wanted to break that restraint.
She grinned, offering him a teasing smile, before she grasped his jeans and boxers both. With a tug she dragged them down his thighs, freeing his hard cock from its tight confines.
She licked her lips, eyeing the small droplet lingering on the tip of his dick. She could hardly tear her eyes away, entranced by his hardness. Mason was more than she could ever have imagined—thick, long, and so fucking hard for her. Her pussy clenched and her clit twitched, body preparing for his intimate possession.
But first, a taste…
She grasped his length, fingers wrapping around his hardness. Like silk over steel, he was warm against her palm, shaft throbbing in time with his pulse. She leaned forward, drawing in the air around them and memorizing his heated scent. She parted her lips, tongue creeping out to flick against the sensitive head of his cock. A sweet saltiness burst across her taste buds and she couldn’t suppress the groan that flowed from her chest. A groan that Mason matched while his hips jerked.
“You’re going to kill me,” he rasped.
Lucy flashed him a wicked smirk and a wink. Then she focused on her task—driving Mason wild. She opened her mouth wide and took the head of his dick into her mouth, moaning with the explosion of flavors. She slid down his shaft and then back up again, taking him slow and deep before pulling away to press a soft kiss to the tip. “I can stop if you want.”
“Not on your life,” he growled then, his fingers going to her hair and fisting her strands. Holding her but not forcing her to move. No, he left the teasing up to her. She licked his shaft, tongue dancing over his length as she took him deeper and deeper still. She swallowed more of him—as much as she could—until he touched the back of her throat.
But it wasn’t enough. There was still so much more of him.
She worked his length with her hand, palm gliding over his shaft while she teased his balls with her other hand. She moved up and down, humming in the hopes of sending the sweet vibration thrumming through his system.
And based on the way he gripped her hair harder and pulled her closer? He liked every bit of it.
“Fuck, Lucy,” he ground out, his wolf adding a rumble to his words. “At least let me see you.”
She smiled around his rigid cock and flicked her eyes at him. Not releasing her prize, she gave a gentle shake of her head.
That rolling growl turned into a snarl, shocking her motionless.
“That’s it,” he snarled and gently tugged on her hair as he shifted his hips away from her mouth. He slipped past her lips with an audible pop and then encouraged her to stand. He kept up the pressure on her hair, forcing her to tip her head back and meet his stare. “I’m done waiting, Lucy. I want to fuck you so hard neither of us can move. I’m going to pound this sweet little pussy and coat you in my scent. And I’m gonna do it now. Do you understand me?”
She offered him a teasing smile, his rough tugs and erotic words arousing her even more. They made her want. Made her need. “I dunno. Can you be more specific?”
Mason released her hair and kicked off his jeans before taking a step toward her. And then another. And another. Her muscular alpha in all his naked glory. He crowded her with his bulky frame, steering her where he wanted her to go. “You want specifics?” His tone sent a shiver down her spine. “How about I rip off your clothes, pin you to the headboard, and then push my cock into that sweet, sweet pussy over and over again until you can’t do anything but scream my name?”
Lucy’s mouth went dry and her pussy clenched. “That’s very specific.”
And sounded so damn fun.
“Damn right it is. I haven’t been able to think of anything but being inside you since I caught your scent. Now, are you going to be good or do I need to redden that sweet ass of yours?” Another step closer. “I’ll bend you over that bed and paddle your ass until it’s red and hot and then I’ll fuck you deep.”
It was very, very tempting to be very, very bad. She licked her lips, unable to decide between an erotic spanking and feeling Mason inside her as soon as possible.
He cupped her cheek and rubbed the pad of his thumb across her swollen lips. “I used to think this mouth wasn’t good for anything but talking back.”
“And now?”
“Now that I’ve seen these lips wrapped around my cock?” He growled. “There are no words for that, beautiful.”
His strong fingers gripped the hem of her shirt and she lifted her arms as he pulled the top over her head. With another quick move, her bra fell to the floor, baring her breasts to the cool room. Not waiting for Mason, she unbuttoned her shorts and wriggled out of them, leaving her in nothing but her tiny purple panties.
And even those didn’t last long. Not when he hooked his thumbs beneath the sides and sn
apped the thin bits of elastic and cloth. They fluttered to the ground, another casualty of their passion.
He cupped her center, heel of his hand pressed against her sex lips and teasing her clit. “Fuck, you’re so wet. Coating my hand, beautiful.”
He rubbed her gently, back and forth, giving her a hint of pleasure with that nearly chaste touch. But it wasn’t enough. Not nearly. She mewled and shifted against him, needing more, but he didn’t give an inch.
“I need to see this pretty pink pussy again.”
A shudder of need raced through her veins, making her tremble. “It’s yours.”
* * *
Mason figured he’d been as strong as anyone could expect when an alpha faced his naked, willing mate.
He cupped the back of her head and held her steady as he lowered his head. He crushed his lips to hers, loving the warm and swollen feel. They were plump and sensitive from sucking his cock and fuck… she’d done it well. Almost too well.
Even after days of waiting, hoping, and dreaming of being with her… He’d never wanted her more than when she smiled up at him while she had his dick in her warm, yielding mouth.
Fuck, but he’d almost come right there.
But he wasn’t about to ruin their claiming night by popping too early.
He was going to have her, claim her, and then do it all over again. He wanted everyone to know Lucy was fully and completely his.
He swept his tongue inside her mouth, swallowing her moan as they began their push and pull. The rhythmic dance they’d soon mimic with their bodies distracted her as he led her back, back, and back until her knees met the mattress. With one last nudge, he broke their kiss and watched her fall back onto the bed. Her tits bounced when she landed, hard nipples practically begging to be touched, to be sucked.
“Fuck, you’re breathtaking.” He took a moment to stare at the creamy hills and valleys of her body, amazed that she was his—that they’d spend the rest of their lives together.