Prideless

by Kasey Belle

  She leaned away from his shoulder and shook her head. “You didn’t do anything… wrong. I’m…not …hurt.”

  He used the corner of the sheet to wipe the tears from her face. “Then what are the tears for, Mate?”

  She took a few deep breaths trying to calm down. “I feel so bad.”

  “That we are mated?” Max almost doubled over in pain, it felt as if razor blades were shredding his insides at the thought that she regretted their mating.

  “No! God, no Max. I’m so happy and that makes me feel bad.”

  Huh? The instant relief Max felt was quickly replaced by confusion. “What does that mean exactly?”

  “I feel guilty that I am so happy and Fiona is so sad. I’m a horrible friend.” She sobbed.

  Max rolled to his back, pulled her on top of him, and held her tightly to his chest while she cried. “You aren’t a horrible friend. You are a great friend. I bet if you asked Fiona she would say the same. She wants you to be happy. She said as much.”

  “I found my one, and she lost hers.”

  Max didn’t know what to say to that. He knew David wasn’t Fiona’s mate. She was alpha mate. She carried the scent. He didn’t know, which alpha, but her mate was still out there somewhere. Fiona loved David. He didn’t doubt that for a moment, but there was a difference, at least in her case, between loving and marrying a husband and loving and mating your true other half. The problem was he couldn’t tell Shelly. He didn’t want to lie to her or keep things from her, but he knew his Shelly. She would tell Fiona if for no other reason than to try to ease her sorrow. By the fates, he couldn’t stand it when his mate cried.

  “She is still young, Doll. Fiona will have another chance. She’ll be happy again.” He hoped. The chances of finding your mate could be and often were slim and none. Not that he would tell her that.

  She looked up from where she had her face buried in his chest with trusting eyes. “You think so? Really?”

  He brushed away strands of her beautiful hair that clung to her wet cheeks and tucked them behind her ear. “Yeah, I really think so. She’s sad right now and probably will be for a while, but I do believe she will be happy again.”

  Shelly nodded. “I have to believe that, too. She’s always been there for me since the day we met. Did I tell you how we met? Officially, I mean?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think you did, but I know you met in the group home.”

  He watched a sweet smile appear on his mate’s lips as if she was reliving a happy memory. He ached for her every time he thought of how she lost her parents and how lonely the world must have been for her. If Fiona was the reason for that smile, then he owed her more than he could ever hope to repay. Shelly wiggled on top of him, innocently trying to get comfortable, but his cock saw it another way. He had been hard since the second he heard her voice. After what they just did, he should be sated, but he wasn’t. He would never be sated where his mate was concerned. He could so easily slip inside her, but she had to be sore. He knew if he suggested they go another round; she would never deny him no matter how sore she was. He gritted his teeth to keep himself from uttering the words. As much as he wanted back inside the tight clasp of her body, he refused to hurt her. He and his cock would just have to suffer at least until morning.

  When his mate climbed off him, settled next to him, and curled up into his side, it was both a relief and a disappointment. He loved the feeling of her on top of him, but his hold on his control was precarious at best. Max had been about ten seconds away from shattering his molars.

  She looked shyly at him. “My neck wasn’t comfortable like that.”

  He rolled to his side and rested his head in his hand so he could look down at her. “I want you to be comfortable. If it doesn’t work for you, then it doesn’t work for me.”

  “I know you were enjoying it.” She sent a pointed look at his hard north pointing cock.

  “You really need to stop looking at it. He’s going to get ideas.”

  She giggled and he couldn’t help but smile. She was like pure sunshine to his dark soul. Listen to him wax all poetic.

  “Sorry, it’s kinda hard not to notice it.” She blushed.

  She actually freaking blushed after what they had done. He hoped she never lost that innocence. She glanced at it again and he growled. “Shelly.”

  “Sorry. Maybe you could cover it with a sheet or something. I won’t be able to concentrate on my story.”

  Just when he thought her face couldn’t get any redder, it did. He grabbed the sheet and made a big show of packing it in between them to cover himself. He felt about ten feet tall when she let out a sad sigh and looked disappointed that his cock was no longer on display. Max pulled the comforter up and covered them both. He didn’t want her getting cold.

  Shelly snuggled with him under the covers and burrowed into his chest. He had never been the snuggling type, but with her, he couldn’t imagine any place he would rather be. She felt the same way if the contented sigh that slipped from her plump lips was any indication. Could he love her anymore? No, he didn’t think so.

  “Okay, I’m all comfy. Want to hear my story now?”

  “I want to hear anything you have to say, Mate.” He meant that too. She could recite a grocery list and he would revel in the sound of her voice. He didn’t share that little bit of info though. He didn’t think she would believe it. “I bet it’s quite the story, especially if it involves Fiona. She’s…uh.”

  Shelly snorted. “Yeah, she’s always been like that. Anyway, we met the day I arrived at the children’s home. I was so scared. I felt so alone and I was so sad. My parents had died the week before. I thought that my mother’s cousin was going to take me in, but it didn’t work out.” Shelly shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but he could see the hurt that still lingered in her eyes. “It’s not like she and my mom were close, she was actually a distant cousin, but we were family, so…anyway, it didn’t work out. The social worker was a nice woman and she tried to find a place for me, but there weren’t any foster homes available. She didn’t have a choice but to place in the group home. She promised me she would find me a placement and I wouldn’t be there for long.

  I was standing there in the common room, looking around at all these kids. Some were scared like me. However, most of them didn’t look scared; they looked mean. Some of the girls that were there were looking at me as if they hated me. I didn’t know why. I didn’t know them, but I got the feeling they wanted to hurt me. I wanted to run screaming from that place, but I had nowhere to go.”

  Max couldn’t prevent the growl that emanated from his chest. He didn’t like the image she painted. Picturing his sweet shy mate as a terrified little girl made him want to rip someone apart. She ran her palm over his chest to sooth him. She looked lost in her memories and he wondered if she even realized what she was doing.

  “I heard the door close again and could hear people walking from the foyer to the common room. I held my breath. I kept thinking, praying, with every footstep I heard, no more scary kids. One of the women that helped run the place, Mrs. Broussard, walked in the room with a tiny girl by her side. The second that tiny girl walked in the room, I knew I had gotten my wish. I could see it in her eyes and the way she held herself, she was meanest of all of them. She didn’t scare me like the others though, not because she was a good six inches shorter than I was, but it was the way she eyed at the others. She wasn’t scared. It was as if she knew she could beat them all. They were all so much bigger than she was, but she glared at all of them, until she got to me. She looked…confused. She shook her head at me as if she thought something was wrong with me. I didn’t know what she thought I was doing, but she wasn’t happy about it.”

  “Why the fuck would she do that? There was nothing wrong with you.”

  She smiled and shook her head. “I’ll get to that. All day I found myself seeking her out. Only every time I set eyes on her, she was looking at me with that same puzzled look on her fac
e. She would look at me, shake her head, and then glare at the other kids. It was the same pattern all day long. I wanted to introduce myself, but I was too shy and she didn’t really seem like she wanted to talk to me, or anyone, really. We ended up in the same room. It wasn’t a private room; there were ten of us sharing it. I didn’t want to talk to the others, so I went to bed. I had just drifted off to sleep when a few of the older girls grabbed me and pulled me from my bed. One of them covered my mouth while the others grabbed my arms and legs. They carried me in to the communal bathroom we all shared. There were others waiting. I was so scared. I didn’t know what they were going to do to me, but I knew it wouldn’t be good.”

  Max wrapped his arms around her when he felt her body shudder. He didn’t want to hear anymore, but he knew his mate needed to tell him. He barely contained his beast. His lion wanted to shift and hunt. He wanted to find those girls and rip them to shreds.

  “They started ripping at my clothes and hitting me. They kept saying things like, “It’s the way things are newbie.” “You belong to us now.” “Fighting us will only make us hurt you more.” I cried, and I fought, but it didn’t do any good, there were too many of them. I heard this primal yell, like a battle cry, and they all froze above me. I looked up and saw little Fiona running into the bathroom with a big stick. I later found out it was a broken broom handle. She started swinging, and she beat the shit out of those girls. They didn’t even have time to react she was so fast. She helped me up off the floor and she turned to the girls still moaning on the floor and said, “She’s mine, touch her again, and it will be worse next time.”

  I stared at her in shock as she pulled me from the bathroom. I didn’t know what that meant, but I was so grateful she saved me, I didn’t question her.

  Fiona helped me back to bed and turned away. I stopped her and said, “Thank you. I’m Shelly.”

  She gave me that ‘sup’ chin and attitude, and then she said, “Fiona and you don’t have to thank me, I hate bullies.”

  Fiona went back to her bed as if nothing had happened. The next morning, she got up and didn’t even acknowledge my presence. The girls from the night before gave me wide berth, which was awesome. I heard one of the nurses on staff ask the girls what had happened to them. They didn’t say a word. Every kid in that house knew and not one said a word against Fiona. They were all scared of her.

  I walked in to the dining hall and she was sitting at the end of one of the long tables, all alone. I felt bad for her. She saved me and she wasn’t scary like the others thought she was. She didn’t have to save me. She hadn’t spoken a word to me, didn’t know my name, but she beat six girls to save me. It wasn’t right that she sat there alone without any friends. I grabbed my food, walked over to that table, and plopped down in the seat next to her. She looked quite surprised. I told her that we were going to be best friends and she scowled at me, but she didn’t deny me. The rest is history.”

  Max owed Fiona a life debt, for sure. She saved Shelly from god knows what kind of abuse she would have suffered at the hands of those girls. A thought occurred to him. He pulled back to look in Shelly’s eyes. “She knew. She knew what they were going to do.”

  Shelly smiled up at him and nodded. “She did. I found that out later that day when she explained and I quote ‘how shit works around here’. I didn’t have a clue, about anything. She knew the ins and outs of the system like the back of her hand. Fiona had been in the system since she was six. She was so tiny, I was shocked to learn we were the same age. She looked like she was in second grade, not fifth. She snapped the end of a broom and hid the handle under her mattress. How the hell she got it in the room without anyone noticing, is beyond me. The damn thing was as tall as she was. She told me she knew they would come for me because I looked like a scared rabbit waiting to be slaughtered. She wanted to know what, the hell, I was thinking standing there looking all scared and shit. She said she waited for them to make their move on me and then made them pay for it by fucking their shit up.”

  Shelly chuckled oblivious to the fact that Max was laying there plotting the slaughter of six nameless, faceless, women.

  “She said that?”

  Shelly nodded.

  “Just like that, curse words and all?”

  Shelly nodded still grinning.

  “She was ten.”

  “Yep and she cussed like a sailor. She really did, does, hate bullies. She hates anyone who preys on someone weaker than they are. The kids thought I was using her for protection, but that wasn’t true. I genuinely liked her and after a while, I grew on her too. We balanced each other out. I was shy and timid and she was tough and fearless. I talked a lot and she hardly ever spoke. Even though I was sad about my parents, I had a great childhood until that tragic day and I held on to that. Fiona didn’t, she didn’t have one single good memory, just anger and hate. She was a ten-year-old girl who never smiled. Ten-year-olds should smile. I made her smile and laugh, and she made me feel less scared and alone. We have never been apart, even when they separated us. I got lucky, and they placed me in about six months. Fiona wasn’t so lucky. She bounced around the system until she was sixteen and met the LaFonts. No matter how far or how hard we had to look, we always managed to find each other.”

  Max heard her loud and clear. “We may be mates and I might have to live with you, but I won’t leave Fiona.” Not that he would ask her to do such a thing. He knew the second he set eyes on his mate, if he wanted her to accept their mating, he had to accept that Fiona and Emma Grace were part of the package. He was cool with anything that made his mate happy. He liked Fiona, and Emma Grace was an adorable cub.

  “You two should be proud of your relationship. Keeping and cultivating a childhood friendship into adulthood, especially with the obstacles the two of you had, that’s quite an accomplishment.”

  She pressed a tender sweet kiss to his lips. “Thank you, Max. They are very important to me.”

  “I know that, Doll. I would never ask you to choose between us. She’s your family. I may not have one of my own, but I understand what that means.”

  Max was expecting her to send that sweet smile his way again, but instead she glared at him. He stared at Shelly in shock. He wasn’t sure what he said to piss her off, but when she started poking him in the chest, he thought he had better figure it out.

  “You don’t have a family?” She accused. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? What am I, then?”

  Oh, shit! That’s what he said, yeah not good idiot. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “Really, what other way could you have meant it? I am your mate, right?”

  “You are.”

  “We will be mated forever, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So I’m basically your wife.”

  “You’re more than that, much more.”

  “Then how can you not have a family?”

  She looked like she was fighting tears. Kill him now. “I didn’t mean to hurt you Shelly. I meant family like parents and siblings not mate family.”

  She looked in his eyes for what felt like an eternity and eventually nodded. “Don’t let it happen again. I am your family. You are my family. Fiona and Emma Grace are our family.”

  She finally graced him with that sweet smile and he couldn’t help but return it. He pulled her close and covered her lips with his. He delved into her mouth with his tongue. He didn’t just kiss her he plundered. How could he not? She belonged to him and he needed to show her how much that meant to him. He couldn’t put those feelings into words, but he could show her.

  He rolled her to her back and settled himself between her thighs. Breaking his vow to himself, not to make love to her so soon after taking her virginity, he slid into her velvety heat. He had no choice in the matter. He couldn’t have stopped himself not after what she just said.

  She was wet and ready for him. He loved her slowly. There was no urgency this time for either of them. He looked into her eyes and he saw his
future.

  “I love you, Mate.”

  “Oh, Max I love you, too.”

  He dropped his head and licked her nipple before sucking it into his mouth. He nipped at it with his teeth, knowing she enjoyed that little bite of pain. She gasped and moaned. Every tug causing her pussy to contract and grip him harder, but he wouldn’t give into his own pleasure until he made her come at least twice first.

  He turned to her breast and gave other nipple the same attention. He felt her grow wetter and her walls ripple. She was close. He reached between them and stroked her clit with his middle finger. She gasped, and he felt her come around him.

  He let go of her nipple and licked his way up her neck. He sucked and nibbled that sensitive spot below her ear. He growled. “Come for me again, baby. I want to feel you drown my cock with your come.”

  He pinched her clit between his thumb and forefinger. She screamed out his name before her pussy clamped down hard on his cock. He continued to shuttle in and out of her, prolonging her orgasm. He watched as she slowly came down from the height of ecstasy. He couldn’t stop himself this time and gave into his own pleasure. He began to move faster. Pushing himself into her body making sure, he bumped her cervix every time, knowing it would set her off again. She grabbed his ass and dug her nails him.

  “Harder, Max.”

  No problem there. He felt the tingling at the base of his spine and knew he was close. She had to go with him. He felt her inner muscles begin to contract.

  “Go over, Mate. I’ve got you. Come with me.”

  His canines dropped. He leaned down and latched on to her flesh, piercing her skin, and marking her once again. She screamed her release and this time he followed her.

  He buried his face in her neck occasionally licking his mating mark. He would never tire of her taste. She tasted sweet like the cocoa she loved and spicy like the cinnamon candies she was always eating.

  His lion growled in satisfaction. “She tastes like ours.”