by Jess Bryant
“You may call me Alpha, Deanne.” He spoke slowly, deliberately and calmly so that everyone in the room could hear his words. “My given name is not yours to use and I disapprove of your attempt to discredit my mate. You will listen to her. You will answer her. And you will do so, now.”
“I… but… Mi…” The woman whimpered when Luna dug her claws in deeper, “Alpha, please, she’s attacked me unprovoked.”
“Oh, you provoked.” Zoey snorted from somewhere nearby. “If you’d tried that touchy shit with Rafe, I’d have ripped your throat out already.. She’s being very reasonable in my estimation.”
“Zo. Hush.” A harsh male voice spoke low but there was clear amusement there and Luna assumed it must be the redhead’s mate. “This isn’t our business. Stay out of it.”
“She’s my sister now so…”
Michael cleared his throat, “Deanne, apologize to my mate for your disrespectful behavior.” The woman opened her mouth but he must have sensed she didn’t intend to do any such thing because he growled and his voice took on all the power of the Pack Alpha when he spoke again, “Apologize!”
“I’m sorry.” The girl instantly softened beneath Luna’s grip, “I’m sorry I disrespected you and the bond you share with our Alpha.”
“You won’t touch him again.” Luna gritted her teeth.
Blue eyes fell to the floor and the blonde shook her head, “Never.”
“Good.” Luna released her hold on the other woman and stepped back.
Michael was right there, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling her neck reassuringly. She felt her claws and teeth begin to recede back to their human size. The tension in the room was palpable as the blonde pushed her way through the crowd and ran away sobbing. But nobody went after her and nobody said a word for a long moment.
Finally, it was Michael that sighed, “Anyone else care to question my fated mate?”
There were some murmurs. Feet shuffling and arms being crossed. But nobody spoke up.
“Good,” Michael turned his attention on his pack and met each and every one of their eyes, “Luna is my mate. We’re bonded. She’s mine and I’m hers. I’m your Pack Alpha. That makes her your Queen. You will treat her as such and show her the same respect and honor that you show me or you will deal with my wrath. Understand?”
This time the crowd spoke quickly and assuredly. An echo of “Yes, Alpha” went up throughout the room. Luna finally let herself take a deep breath and relax a little.
She’d stood up for herself and made her point. She wasn’t weak. She wouldn’t be a pushover. And, Michael had stood with her. Not pushing her behind him to protect her but instead standing at her side and having her back. Letting her prove herself and then confirming what they all knew already.
The Pack Alpha was a bonded male and he would protect his mate with his every breath.
Luna smiled when Michael glanced down at her, “Yes Alpha.”
He smirked, “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”
She managed a snort as he took her hand and began to drag her from the room, “Where are we going? I was playing a game with my sisters and…”
“You can play with them later. Right now, I want to play with you.”
“Oh.” She grinned as heat flushed through her and she caught Zoey waggling her eyebrows knowingly, “Oh!”
She laughed again as Michael dragged her from the room. There were a few chuckles behind them. Some laughter and catcalls but he didn’t slow down. He pulled her back towards their bedroom and Luna couldn’t remember ever smiling so much in her life.
This amazing, incredible man was hers and she just knew that she would spend the rest of eternity smiling because of him.
Chapter 17
Michael slammed the bedroom door behind them and then pivoted, forcing Luna up against the wall. He was on her as soon as they were alone. Lips taking hers with a savagely brutal kiss. His hands tangling in her curls. He dropped his hips against her so she could feel what she did to him and she moaned into his mouth.
He was hard, aching, throbbing for a release that he could only find within her beautiful body. Fuck, her taste was a drug and he was addicted. No, not just her taste. Her scent drove him insane. Her body made him crazy. And her strength, her fire and determination, it was all sexy as hell.
She was perfect.
He dragged his teeth over her bottom lip, “That was so fucking hot, baby. I loved seeing you like that. You were so strong, so possessive. ”
Luna arched, “You’re mine. Nobody else gets to touch you. Nobody.”
“Damn straight.” He acknowledged with a lick of the mating mark, “You claimed me out there. Now I want you to claim me in here. I need it, Luna. Need to feel your teeth in me. Need to know you’re with me one hundred percent.”
She made a sound that drew his attention up from where he’d been nibbling on her collarbone and his breath caught in his chest. Her beautiful, deep and soulful brown eyes were gold now. Her teeth had elongated with her wolf’s push to the forefront and seeing how much her wolf wanted him made his cock pulse. He wanted to be buried inside her when she buried those teeth in him and brought them full circle.
“Yeah, that’s it baby.” He released her and walked backwards towards the bed, “Come take what’s yours.”
Michael reached one hand behind his head and tugged his t-shirt off. He tossed it aside and smirked when Luna’s golden eyes blazed a trail down his body. He kicked his boots off and unbuttoned his pants. When he pushed them down, she hissed and when he stepped out of them and crooked a finger at him, she moved towards him.
She shrugged out of the shirt she’d been wearing. The bra came next, unclasped and discarded as well. He groaned when she stopped in front of him, barely a breath separating them, and began to unbutton her pants. His hands came up of their own accord, cupping her breasts and drawing a gasp of breath from her lungs as she slid out of her clothes.
“Gorgeous.” He groaned as she stepped out of them and he slid his hands around her waist to cup her ass. He lifted and she twined her long legs and arms around him. “You fit me so well.”
Luna kissed his jaw, “Love the feel of you.”
“Mmm, you too baby. You too.” He stepped back until his knees hit the bed and then dropped to his ass, settling Luna in his lap.
“More.” She pushed him backwards until he was lying down and crawled over him.
Michael closed his eyes on a groan. Her lips were everywhere. Feathery soft and sweet against his shoulder. Hard and demanding against his nipples. She licked and sucked at his skin and when she slid her teeth over him, not breaking the skin but teasing him, he nearly lost his mind and flipped her.
He wanted to feel her beneath him. Wanted to pound inside of her until they both erupted in ecstasy. But he wanted this more. Wanted Luna to want him bad enough to take it, take him, any way she chose, however she chose, this time was her time to mark him so he fought his urge for control and simply gripped her hips to hold on as she began to grind against him.
Her wetness coated his length as she rubbed herself against him but she didn’t move to take him inside. She was teasing him, he realized as she smiled against his throat and scraped her teeth against his skin again. Teasing him with what was already his, what they both knew she was going to give him. Her, all of her, finally.
“Luna.” He tightened his grip on her desperately, “I need you, baby. Please.”
She moaned against his ear, “My strong, powerful Alpha mate. Do you know what it does to me when you ask like that?”
He hummed as she sat upright and he saw the adoration shining clearly in her dark eyes. He had an idea but he wanted her to say it. He cupped her throat with one hand and slid the other to her ass, keeping her hips moving against him. Her eyes fluttered in response and she bit her lip.
“You could demand.” She finally whispered softly, “You’re an Alpha. You’re bigger. Stronger. More powerful. You could simply take. So many in your
position would. They’d only see their mate and let their possessiveness become ownership. But not you.”
“I don’t own you, Luna. You’re my mate. We belong to each other.” He stroked her rapidly beating pulse and then slid his hand up to swipe away the lone tear that escaped the corner of her eye.
She caught his hand and licked the salty fluid from the tip, “You gave me time and space when you thought I needed it. You took care of me. You put your own needs aside while I healed. You stood by me when you learned I wasn’t dominant. You had my back out there but you didn’t treat me like I was inferior.”
“Because you’re not.” His chest ached and his heart thumped too hard as he leaned up to wrap his arms around her, to put them eye to eye, “You’re my equal in every way. Don’t you ever doubt that for a second.”
She dropped her forehead against his and took a shaky breath, “I know it’s fast and that some of it is probably the heat. The bond is powerful between us. Maybe some part of me has a case of hero worship because you saved me but…”
Michael tilted his head when she paused, “But?”
“But I think I’m falling in love with you.”
His heart stopped for a second and then jolted with a rush of pure joy. He smiled as the feeling began to fill his veins. He’d told her already that he’d begun to believe fate wouldn’t give him a mate. Just having her in his life would have been enough, but knowing that she felt for him just as strongly as he felt for her, it shifted his entire world.
“That’s good, baby. That’s real good.” He brushed his lips over hers softly, “Because I’m crazy about you. I don’t think its too fast and I don’t think it’s crazy. I think it’s just fate showing us how well we fit together. Fate made us mates for a reason and I think it’s because even after everything we’ve been through, all the pain and the loss and the suffering, we’re both still open to falling in love. You’re mine, Luna. You’re mine and I’m never letting you go. So make me yours. Please.”
Her eyes shone with unshed tears but her lips twitched upwards a second before they were against his. He could feel her happiness through the bond. He could feel the joy radiating from inside her. Her wolf was there with them this time, rubbing against her skin, wanting him to know that she felt the same way even if she hadn’t been allowed in the open with her mate yet. Michael let his own wolf out of the cage he’d erected, letting him brush near the surface to scent how close they were to having their mates claim.
She was right; the bond between them was so strong. Stronger than anything he could have ever imagined. He couldn’t imagine how much more powerful it would be once she marked him and their wolves mated as well. The need to be close to her, touching her, taking care of her wouldn’t wane over time the way it did with some humans. A mate bond was about so much more than physical affection and he couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life learning and loving this woman that fate had seen fit to gift to him.
Luna nipped at his lips, “Michael?”
“Hmm?” He tipped his chin up to give her room as she trailed kisses down his throat.
“Stop holding back.”
“I thought you’d want…” He trailed off, unsure how to put what he’d been thinking into words but luckily, either from the mate bond or just their connection, Luna seemed to understand and her face was soft when she pulled back enough to meet his eyes.
“To be in control this time?” She asked and he nodded even as she shook her head, “I don’t. I know I said out there that you can’t treat me like I’m submissive but in here, just the two of us, like this…” She bit her lip and looked up at him from beneath her dark lashes, “I’m yours, Michael. I’m yours to do with as you please. I trust you and I love you and I want you to be yourself with me. I want my strong, dominant mate.”
His cock throbbed between them and all the moisture in his mouth dried up. She wanted him to be in control. She was naturally submissive and though she fought it outside the bedroom she was willing to let go and let him dominate her when they were alone like this. She wanted him, just him, the way he truly was without holding back from her.
Michael’s throat felt tight, “Are you sure?”
Luna nodded, a small, coy smile tugging at the corners of her beautiful lips.
It was all the answer he needed. Michael wrapped his arms around her and twisted. She squeaked a little when he slammed her onto the mattress but he took her lips and swallowed the sound. She opened for him instantly, her tongue meeting his and her arms and legs coming up to wrap around him.
He groaned as his wolf howled inside his head. He wasn’t going to last. Not this time. Not if he went at her full throttle. Not knowing that she wanted it as badly as he did and not knowing that whether she was on top or bottom, whether he was in control or she was, that there was only one way this was going to end.
Her teeth in his skin. Mating him. Marking him. Binding them together forever.
With no hesitation, he notched himself between her legs and thrust hard. He buried himself inside of her as deep as he could get and growled when she cried out his name. He pulled almost all the way out and slammed into her again so hard she scooted up the bed a good foot. She only clutched at his back harder, her nails scraping him down to his ass as she pulled him against her and he groaned as he realized it wasn’t nails he felt. It was her claws. The knowledge that her wolf was fighting to be with him drove him out of his mind and he lost it completely.
He took her harder than his human side would ever have let him. He slammed into her again and again. He snarled and growled. He bit her again and again, leaving claiming marks on the soft curve of her breast, the inside of her bicep, the thin skin above her rib cage. He was sweating, panting, her blood making his wolf go wild inside his head.
He didn’t just mark his mate this time. He claimed her. Body. Soul. Heart. Wolf. Woman. She was his in every way and he wanted everyone to know it. To hear them. To sense that they shared one scent now. To see the marks no matter what she wore and know whom she belonged to. But more than any of that, he wanted them to see him and know that he was hers in every way too.
Luna arched as her climax rocked through her and he grit his teeth as his hips stuttered, her grip on him tightening to a vise, tightening until he wasn’t sure he could move. In one swift buck of her lithe body, Luna jolted upright. Her arms went around him, one at his back and one digging into his hair so hard he winced. She wrenched his head sideways and he didn’t resist at all as she all but howled and sank her teeth into the flesh of his shoulder.
Michael blacked out from the pleasure as his own orgasm overtook him. Their bodies still, locked together, as their hearts synchronized into one beat and their panting breaths fell into step together. The jolt of electricity that had been zipping between them since he first laid eyes on her solidified and the hints of her feelings, of her wolf, of her emotions that he’d been getting became a tidal wave that forced its way inside of him, rooting around and digging deep, finding a home inside of him just as his own being was knitting itself to her.
He didn’t know how long it took. Had no idea how much time passed while they sat there in each other's arms, wrapped around one another, his dick still inside his mate and her teeth still inside him. He only knew that when his muscles finally unlocked he fell backwards, taking Luna with him and holding her to his chest so she couldn’t slip away.
Not that she tried. Her grip on him was just as tight and she nuzzled her nose against his neck, licked at the claiming mark she’d made on his shoulder, helping it to heal, and then sniffing around his skin, scenting and marking him, mixing their skin and come until there was nothing left of each of them individually, only their combined scent.
His eyes drifted shut as the rightness of the moment washed over him. He yawned and stretched, feeling his muscles strain from exertion. But Luna continued to nuzzle and rub against him and despite his aches his body responded. He smiled softly as he slid a hand to her ass and smacked her so
ftly.
“Be still or you’re going to make me hard again.”
She giggled against his chest, “Exactly.”
“Jesus, woman, aren’t you tired?” He groaned as she slid up and over him, straddling his waist and giving him a gorgeous view of her long, lithe body, her full, tight tits and her gorgeous glowing face as she grinned down at him.
“No.” She shook her head and her curls bounced adorably. “I’m not sleepy at all. I’m… electric. I feel alive for the first time in so long and I want… I need…”
Michael groaned as he watched her eyes dart to the floor length windows and the door that led to the patio. The patio that led to a wide-open yard and then, on the far side of it, to the creek and the forest. He knew what she was getting at and even though he was exhausted and really wanted to take a nap, he knew that he couldn’t and wouldn’t deny her.
“You want to go for a run?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
“As wolves?” He raised an eyebrow when she nodded again, “You know my wolf isn’t going to let you get far, right, Luna? As soon as I let him break my skin, that’s it. It’s all over for you. He’s going to chase you down and finish the bond full moon or not.”
Luna continued to nibble at her bottom lip, “I know.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“More than okay with it.” She shifted off of him to stand gracefully, “Just give me a little bit of a head start? It’s been so long since I let my wolf run and she needs it. She wants you to catch her but she needs to run too.”
Michael smiled at the woman that owned his heart, “I’ll give you a ten-second head start and then I’m coming for you. We can run together after and I’ll show you our land. Just don’t head back for Crescent territory or my wolf is going to freak the hell out thinking you’re trying to get away from him.”
“Never.” She smiled back at him and then leaned down and brushed a kiss over his lips. “I am never leaving you, mate.”