by M. L. Briers
Jill clenched around the length of him and heard him growl in response. He wasn’t even completely sheathed inside her and yet she felt so full, so stretched, so damn tight around him. He started to pull out and her body rushed to panic, her legs wrapped around his waist and she tried to pull him back towards her.
The sound of his deep chuckle drew her eyes up from his shaft to his face and he leaned in over her, slowly easing himself back inside her again.
“I’m not going anywhere for a very long time.”He teased her, a moment before his lips came down on hers and he took her mouth with the ferocity he had displayed earlier. He gave one final push into her body, taking her to the hilt as she moaned against his lips.
Jill palmed his chest and tried to get him to move, but it was like pushing against a brick wall, and when he started to move within her, instead of pushing him away, she curled her fingers against his bare chest, trying to pull him closer. Her fingernails dug into his flesh causing him to growl with the pain, his hips moved faster against her, and he took her harder and deeper than before. She could feel her body climbing towards release, her nails digging deeper until suddenly his hands clamped down around her wrist and he thrust her arms up over her head, pinning her there.
‘Mine.’
“You’re getting my beast so very damn excited…”He growled against her ear before his blunt teeth nipped at the flesh.
“Does he want to taste my blood?”Just the sound of those words on her lips made his heart race that little bit faster. Made his length stretch a little bit harder, and made his beast just that little bit wilder within him.
‘Mine.’
“You know he does…”He was moving faster now, stroking to the hilt on every thrust. He could feel her body tensing around him, could hear her breath catching as he stroked back and forth over that sweet spot…
“Do you want to bite, Brad?”
‘Mine.’
“You know I do…”He growled against her neck, his tongue sweeping over her skin a heartbeat later, running down over her shoulder until he found the place he would place his mark into her soft flesh. His fangs pushed down just with the sheer thought of claiming her as his.
“Bite. Claim me…”It was the last thing that came to her lips as he thrust her over the edge. He locked her body against his and pressed his fangs into her flesh, piercing the skin and placing his mark into her shoulder for the world to see. His deep, feral growl of satisfaction rumbled through him, and he released his fangs and tasted her blood, pure satisfaction for himself and his beast.
Brad savoured the very life force from within her. His mind spun with his desire, his need to take her and he rolled his tongue over the piercing marks and lifted himself away from her body as she still rode the waves of her release.
Brad pulled out of her and flipped her over on the bed. His beast was still close to the surface and he was mindful to pull the animal in him back as he raised her up onto her knees and thrust back inside her. His hand splayed against the space between her shoulder blades and he pushed her down against the bed. Leaning over her back, his body rode low against her, his chest brushing her back as he thrust into her with the need that burned within him. He could feel her body welcoming each and every thrust, even with her tight muscles still clenching around him and she came back to him, moaning her pleasure as he rode her fast and hard towards another release.
“Mine.”He growled against her ear. The beast within him was still so close to the surface that she could hear it in his words.
“Yes…”Jill knew what he wanted, what his beast wanted. He meant to bond with her, now or later, it was a burning desire within him, and it became a fire within her blood as she reached out for him with her magic and found him there. “Bite. Bond.”
“Jill…”He warned, releasing his hand from her shoulders and she pushed her upper body up towards him. Tipping her head to one side, she offered her shoulder for his bite and felt his arm tighten around her, pressing her back against him, locking her in place, but still he hesitated, slowing in his pace.
“Don’t stop. Bond with me.”She pushed out with her magic and wrapped it around him as if it were her arms, locking him to her. The sound of his feral growl was almost too much for her body as she reached the very edge of the abyss and tightened around him as he thrust inside her…
“Mine.” He was lost to his beast as his fangs locked back into place and he pounded into her, taking her over the edge and sinking his fangs deep into her shoulder in a bite that sealed their bond.
Jill cried out in pleasure and in pain as the rapture flowed through her. The orgasm took her hard and fast and mixed with the burning pain of his bite into her flesh. He reached for her mind, met it as it spun with turmoil, lost to what he was doing to her and her pleasure became his.
Brad released his fangs and tasted her blood as he absently sealed her wound. His body was on fire with the desire to find release, to spill his seed within his mate and he pulled back from her, his hands finding her hips, his fingers digging into the flesh as he pounded into her. Taking her harder and deeper with every long, fast thrust until his pulse pounded within his ears and he buried himself against her womb as her inner muscles massaged the seed from his body. Over and over, he released his essence inside her until he roared with the ferocity of the orgasm that tore through him.
Brad threw his head back on his neck and savoured the feel of his mate around him, her channel clenched and released him as his orgasm ragged on. He pulled back his hips and thrust back inside her over and again, spilling out his seed and making her come once more as she cried out against the covers. Her body was weak, her arms just too heavy to hold her up any longer and she felt him curl in over her as he found his second release and spilled his seed within her again until he had nothing left to give.
Keeping the majority of his weight off her body was taking its toll on his muscles. He felt as weak as a pup as his muscles quivered and threatened to give way. He scooped her back against his chest and rolled them together on the bed. Curling his body around hers protectively as they both fought for breath, for sanity in the midst of pleasure so intense it was mind numbing, and they also fought to come back to each other.
“Are you hurt?”He growled breathlessly into her hair. The scent of her blood called to him and his protective instinct made him draw on the strength that was slowly seeping back into his body so he could push up and check the wound on her shoulder. He was mindful that his mate was human and their bonding had been rough, perhaps too rough…
Brad reached out and brushed the hair away from her face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was starting to level out, but she wasn’t moving, and that caused a rush to panic within him.
“Talk to me, tell me if you’re hurt, there are vampires that could…”
‘If you even think about bringing a blood sucking leech into this room, I will personally tear you a new ar…’
‘You connected with me through the link.’ He seemed both amazed and delighted by her ability to project her thoughts into his mind, and for a long moment he forgot that she might be injured. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘Trust me, if you’d been hurting me, you’d know about it.’
He searched for any deceit from her, but came up empty.
“Apart… from my damn shoulder, which… is stinging like a bitch…”She groaned out between long, deep breaths of air that she dragged into her lungs.
“Let me take care of that for you…”He nestled against her shoulder and slowly, carefully traced over the wound, making sure that every part of it was sealed and clean. He knew it would hurt like a dull ache for a few days. She was human and wouldn’t heal as quickly as a Lycan mate would, but there was nothing he could do for that…
“Anymore of that and I’m not going to be responsible for my actions…”She grinned to herself, feeling the tingling throughout her body for him, even in her damn toes. She guessed the need was no less diminished by the mating bond. “O
nce I get some energy back.”She groaned as Brad wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against him, curling around her, possessively and protectively shielding her from the outside world.
“Sleep. Rest. Get your strength back.”He gently growled against her hair as she snuggled back into him.
“Just for a bit.”
“She’s still a Corbin witch…”The deep hard growl of the Lycan man who was on his feet, black eyes blazing with hatred as he stared around the room at the pack that was gathered at their alpha’s request, bugged the beast within the alpha.
“And the alphas mate…”Jade, one of the pack elders, shook her head at the man as a ripple of conversation went through the crowd. “And as the alpha’s mate she would be loyal to this pack.”She reminded him of just how strong the mating bond was. It was not just to the mate, but to the pack.
“Her mother…”Jed growled, pointing an accusing finger towards the alpha, and that was all that Dale needed to feel his beast rush to the surface as though a challenge had been issued. He growled long and hard accordingly. Warning the man to be careful of his stance and attitude, and the Omega responded accordingly. His hand dropped to his side and his eyes went down the floor between them as his head tipped to one side.
“Tried to protect the pack.”Rafferty finished off for him with a reminder that the Blackwell sister’s might not have been completely without blame for what had passed before, but had tried to stop it happening again.
“I have rescinded the blood feud between the pack and the Blackwell’s…”Dale spoke with all the authority within him. He wanted to make it clear that no one was to touch her. For now she may have rejected him, but with time perhaps she would take her rightful place at his side…
“Should we not at least vote on…”Jed started again and the alpha roared as he stalked up the aisle between the rows of chairs towards the male.
CHAPTER NINE
“Do you challenge my authority?”Dale was in no mood to listen to the whining of the omega. The hard growl of warning within his voice let the man know that he was walking a dangerous line, and for a long moment Jed wavered on his feet before he dropped his backside down to the chair and his head bowed in submission.
“No, Alpha.”The muted tone of the man’s voice left Dale in no doubt that he wouldn’t be hearing again from him at this meeting. He stood there for a long moment before he slowly moved backwards down the aisle towards Rafferty. Dale wouldn’t turn his back on the man or the wolf inside, he knew better than that. Even the most placid omega could become bold when faced with a man’s back.
“When will we meet her?”Jade asked, but the alpha didn’t shift his gaze away from Jed as he answered her.
“When she found out what had happened to her mother she rejected me as her mate…”The ripples of conversation were back and the alpha groaned within his own mind. Sometimes the pack acted like a bunch of old gossiping women… “But I’m hopeful that time will change her mind.”
“Not too much time, alpha.”Jade warned and this time he did bring his eyes towards her. She might have been an elder, but the woman was certainly not yet ready to be put out to pasture. She still had all her faculties and she still enjoyed a hunt, even if it was a slightly sedated one.
“Hopefully not.”Dale assured her and she smiled at him, but it was a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and it held the same meaning that was inside him. If he lost his mate he would eventually become rogue, but that didn’t worry him as much as the thought of not being with Petra.
“Meeting adjourned.”Rafferty called out, thinking that it was better to end it now than have anyone else debating the fact that the alpha was vulnerable to becoming rogue. Implied was bad enough. The pack would probably be gossiping about that until he wooed his mate. Or not, as the case may be.
The last time she had snuck out of a house was when she was sixteen years old and living with Jill’s parents. That had been to meet a boy, this was something different. Petra didn’t do well stuck inside four walls. She was Fae and had an instinctive need to feel nature around her. Too long without that blessing and her skin would start to crawl, an itch that could only be relieved by being outside, and this was one of those times.
It probably didn’t help that her body was in what some would consider to be withdrawal from the loss of having her mate close. But she didn’t want to think about him now. She just wanted to enjoy the moonlit night, the wind in her hair, and the solitude of it all.
When he appeared in front of her, in that ‘now you don’t see me-here I am’ vampire way, she almost tripped over her own feet and simultaneously swallowed her tongue. A few choice words popped into her mind, well more than a few, but she kept her lips firmly clamped shut. The funny thing was he almost looked as impressed to see her as she was to see him.
“A witch that can’t keep her promises. What are the odds?”He rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest.
“Had my fingers crossed. Go away.”Petra went to take a step around him, but he blocked it.
“So I should add childish and deceitful to your list of attributes.”
“And you’re a shining example of everything I should attain to be are you?”It was the large pang of guilt that caused her to revert to where she felt safest, wrapped in sarcasm and on the attack.
“Hardly, but did you never hear the old say, don’t do as I do- do as I say?”There was a sort of glee on his face and a sparkle of mischievousness in his eyes that she couldn’t ignore.
“People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones…”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”He shot back and she took a long breath of annoyance and pinned him in place with her eyes.
“Ye without sin cast the first stone.”
“Well if we’re going old school, thou shall honour thy mother and thy… stepfather.”He took a long moment to consider that one himself, but it was a moment that broke the tension between them as Petra couldn’t help but chuckle at him. He seemed to relax slightly at the sight of her laughing. Damn, but she looked like her mother. But then her face took on a more serious note and the moment was lost.
“Stop following me.”
“Fine. Stop making me.”He casually tossed back at her and saw her take a long, deep breath to steady herself, her annoyance with him, with the world in general. She went to speak but he held up a hand and shushed her. His eyes scanning the distance off towards the woods, and she turned on her heels and followed his gaze. Whatever he’d heard, she hadn’t and all she could see was the darkness of the shadowed area.
“What is it?”Petra summoned the magic within her and pushed her energy out in front of them. Like tentacles it reached out and felt its way into the darkness until it found what it was looking for, something out of the ordinary. The feeling was akin to running into a brick wall, only what was out there wasn’t manmade it was supernatural.
“I think your mate is on the prowl.”Jerome informed her and noted how her back straighten as her shoulders tensed and her breath caught in her chest. With her shields in place he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing where her mate was concerned. “He’s just doing what I’m doing.”He offered to see if there would be a response so he could better gage her mood.
“Being a pain in the butt? Being all territorial and male chauvinist, thinking a woman can’t take care of herself is what’s wrong with you people…”She muttered, pulling back on her magic with a little regret. Feeling her mate, even through her shields had made her feel somehow warmer inside.
“As opposed to being headstrong to the point of needing saving by us people, as the Fae are prone to do?”He shot back. She turned to him, eyes glaring as if she would just strike him dead with a thunderbolt that she snatched from the sky. If only.
“Well you didn’t save my mother…”She wanted to snatch it back the moment it left her lips.
“No, I saved you instead.”He informed her dryly. The fact that he was wearing his vampire
face made it impossible to see just how badly she’d dented his ego, wounded his pride, or just plain hurt him. It hadn’t been her intention, but faced with her mate stalking her on one side and her stepfather’s overprotective stance on the other she was feeling hemmed in. It was back against the wall time and she unfortunately came out swinging.
“Sorry.”She tossed her arms up in the air in a show of helpless frustration. She wasn’t mad at him, not really. She wasn’t even mad at her mate, not anymore. She was just hacked off with life in general. It was one of those ‘can’t be arsed with life’ moments that was uncharacteristic by her very nature and fleeting in its presence. But perhaps she should have been a churchgoer rather than a Fae because the guilt would remain with her longer than it took the act to be forgiven, however long that might be.
“I have a thick skin and an even thicker brain, or so I’m told.”She went to open her mouth with a rush to sarcasm that swept through her, but thought better of it. “It’ll take a lot more than that to push me away. So either try harder or stop fighting me. Either way you’re still under my protection.”
“I don’t like to be caged in.”
“You’re not. But you will be chaperoned by one of us, so get used to it. Right now I think it’s your mates turn to watch over you.”Her eyes snapped to Jerome’s and she saw the amusement there. Her heart hit her ribs and tried to make a dash for it out of her chest as her gaze swung around to the woods just as Dale was strolling out of the shadows. The sight of him caused her heart to skip a few quick beats and she shook her head.
“That’s not going to happen…”Petra went to turn on her heels but Jerome’s hand on her shoulder stilled her in place. His hold was akin to a vice grip and she knew the only way to shuck him off was to use her magic. That was a thought she considered for a long time as her mate covered the ground between them on long, purposeful strides.