“Oh.” Haley blushed. She hadn’t expected that.
He leaned forward and kissed her on the thigh. It sent a shot of electricity right up into her sex. Haley started to pant. Wyatt trailed kisses further up her leg toward the apex of her thighs.
He stopped, just before reaching the top, and stood up.
“You need to get on the bed Haley, I don’t want you fainting on me again.”
“Cocky,” she admonished.
“Very.”
Haley gracefully climbed onto the bed. Wyatt stood where he was, just watching her, taking in her long, supple limbs, her gorgeous backside as toned as a professional dancers, but filling out beautifully with baby weight.
Wyatt felt his erection grow heavier, becoming painful as his body sought to be sated. He walked slowly toward the bed. Haley didn’t take her eyes off him.
“You’re fully dressed – it seems a little unfair,” she murmured.
He shrugged, “I can fix that.”
He pulled his hoodie off over his head, leaving his hair in complete disarray. Haley felt her throat run dry as he dropped the hoodie on the floor and the muscles in his arms flexed and rippled. He was so broad; the muscles in his shoulders taught and solid, narrowing down to a six pack that tremored with each labored breath that he took. His jeans hung off his hips, exposing a tantalizing happy trail that Haley wanted to follow down into the contents of his boxer breifs.
Wyatt undid the top button of his jeans, and unzipped his fly. His jeans dropped down to the floor, and he deftly stepped out of them. Haley gulped at seeing his boxer-clad bulge. He looked huge.
“We’ll go slow,” he said, his voice hoarse, as he saw Haley’s reaction.
She nodded.
“Wyatt – I need you to know, I’ve never told a…partner this,” she hesitated, blushing furiously, “I’m a flamingo shifter. I wanted you to know.”
“What?”
“I know – it’s so…strange. I guess.” She chewed on her lip anxiously, waiting for him to say something.
“That’s fucking incredible!”
Wyatt’s face lit up, a huge smile completely transforming his expression. He looked so young in that moment, a completely beguiling innocence that Haley couldn’t help but laugh at.
“I would have told you sooner if I’d known I’d get that reaction.”
“Jesus Haley, how could I not think that’s amazing? A flamingo. Baby, you’re extraordinary.”
Haley felt her stomach turn to jelly at the endearment, warmth flooding her body. Wyatt came and kneeled on the bed. He wrapped his hands in her hair, drawing her face toward him and caught her lips in an intense, passionate kiss that caused Haley’s body to hunger for his impatiently.
He forced her upward on her knees, cupping the cheeks of her backside in his hands. He groaned, “your body…fuck.”
He lay her back on the bedcovers, grabbing her ankles and pushing her legs apart. He ran his hands up her calves and thighs, stilling her spasms of excitement and embarrassment that he was seeing her so intimately.
He reached down to the apex of her thighs, and kissed her pubic bone, then trailed his mouth down to her center. He licked the silken soft folds of skin, then sucked gently on her clitoris as Haley flooded his mouth with wetness. He grabbed her thighs and pulled her more deeply into his mouth. Haley felt the onset weightlessness and full-body shudder of her orgasm. She cried out Wyatt’s name, and then it crashed around her, sending her senses reeling and rolling, riding waves of endless pleasure.
Wyatt removed his boxers, his erection springing free. Haley sat up on her elbows gazing at his hardness, her breath catching in her throat as a red flush spread across her body.
“Are you sure this is okay?” Wyatt asked breathlessly as he placed his hand across her stomach.
“Yes, we just need to be gentle,” she whispered.
Wyatt cocked an eyebrow at her, “Don’t worry about that – I want to feel every inch of you.” His eyes were hooded with lust, and Haley felt a surge of desire that sent her head spinning.
He leaned forward, wrapping one hand around her hair, the other entwined in her fingers. She felt the head of his penis push insistently at her entrance. She gasped as inch by inch he made his way inside her, the muscles of her core already slick and expanding to welcome him.
She raised her hips to meet him, and he retracted slowly before pushing back inside her. As a natural rhythm asserted itself Haley moaned and clutched his hand tighter in hers.
Wyatt desperately wanted to remain in control; he was half afraid of transforming, or loosing himself in her so completely that he went too hard and hurt her. His entire body trembled with the effort of holding back. He gritted his teeth, panting into her neck as his lips softly grazed her skin and their perspiration combined into salty dew that smelled of sex and warmth.
“It’s okay, Wyatt – let go, please, let go – I know it’s going to be okay,” Haley exhaled.
He didn’t need to be told twice. Their pace sped up, her hips rising up to meet his thrusts. He leaned upward and buried his face in Haley’s hair, spread across the pillow. She clutched and clawed at his muscled buttocks, driving him more deeply into her.
Haley felt the second orgasm build within her, one that reached into the tips of her fingers and down to her toes. It reached a climax, and Haley inhaled a gulp of air as her body lost itself in his.
As it was subsiding, she left a bright, electric volt start to build from her stomach, as if she was about to shift. She briefly felt a flutter of anxiety at the fear of shifting while she was pregnant, but it passed, and instead of shifting the sensation just ran throughout every artery and vein in her body; healing, reviving and filling her with Wyatt.
She felt Wyatt’s body tense and the muscles in his back contract, then with a deep, reverberating growl of her name, he let go, pulsing jets filling her with his seed. His body jerked, and he clung to her. She heard him take a sharp inhale of breath, and then moan against her. She knew it wasn’t just her that had felt the strange sensation.
Haley looked into Wyatt’s eyes and saw her own expression mirrored there; the understanding that she had found her true mate, the one soul that could bond with hers completely, in every way possible; two halves of one.
She smiled softly, “Did you know?” she asked.
“I thought so. Now I know.”
Haley nodded, wrapping herself closer into his blazingly hot body as he stroked her hair.
Wyatt didn’t sleep that night. He lay still, watching Haley in her sleep, knowing that he held the most precious being on earth in his arms.
Chapter fifteen
Haley woke up alone in Wyatt’s bed. The sheets were twisted and crumpled around her, bright white sunlight filtered through half closed blinds. She smiled softly to herself, stretching luxuriously as she inhaled the scent of Wyatt all around her and heard the soft padding of his footsteps downstairs.
She retrieved her leggings and thermals, neatly folded on an armchair by the side of the window.
When Haley had explored the house yesterday, she had tried to be respectful of Wyatt’s room – only peeking her head around the door and not fully venturing inside. Now she was eager to explore, to find the objects and belongings that marked this extraordinary man.
She wondered over to the opposite side of the bed, finding a battered Bukowski novel face down on the side table. In the library yesterday she’d found a far-reaching assortment of novels from a myriad of genres, but it appeared that the hard-boiled American was a favorite. She smiled.
Opposite the bed was a large hanging photograph that had very briefly caught her attention last night as they dozed off. She gazed at it now, realizing that it depicted the Port Ursa coast; dark, moody with a raw beauty that spoke to Mother Nature’s ferocity.
Haley heard his footsteps again, and the sound of a pan being knocked around. She wanted to go down and join him, but she couldn’t help but peek into the closet first. It was huge, ta
king up a whole wall – but practically empty when she opened its doors. A dozen suits hung formally and some hoodies, alongside a row of folded jeans and another shelf full of sport clothes. Well, Haley smirked to herself, not much of a surprise he works out.
Satisfied she had been thorough, she made her way downstairs. Wyatt was clearly a man she wouldn’t get to know through his belongings – he was a sparse and orderly individual, one that might appear cold to some, and would to Haley had he not sent her soaring into a seventh heaven last night. Her mate. She clutched herself gleefully at the treasured fact; the most ridiculously sexy, good-looking man she’d ever laid eyes on, and he was her mate.
She walked through to the kitchen. Wyatt was standing at the oven wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung sweat pants.
A bolt of desire shot through her abdomen, desecrating the sated, hazy feeling that she’d woken up with. She wanted him again.
He turned round to face her, his eyes lazily roaming over her figure in appreciation.
“Morning baby.”
“Morning,” she smiled, crossing the kitchen. He wrapped her in a bear hug as she ran her fingers up the taut muscles of his back. Heaven.
“Pancakes?”
“Please!” She eyed the contents of the pan, and inhaled deeply as she caught the scent of bacon on the griddle.
“Again, you’re ruining my ability to do my job as your companion,” she mock scolded him.
“You’re under doctor’s orders to relax, and anyway, I disagree – I’m feeling very, very well-cared for.”
His lips melted into hers, first softly coaxing then deepening into a more urgent kiss that left them both gasping for breath, and Wyatt’s desire pressed against her stomach.
“Enough, or I’ll ruin your breakfast,” he murmured.
She laughed and broke their embrace only to move behind him and wrap her arms round his waist while he attended to the food. After a moment, Haley felt that she should probably leave him alone, but as she moved to take her arms away he took hold of them with one hand, locking her to him.
She nuzzled the soft skin of his back, sighing contentedly.
Wyatt served up the pancakes and bacon with a steaming pot of freshly brewed coffee, and they sat perched on stools around the marble kitchen island.
“This is delicious.” Haley praised him as she dug in with a ravenous hunger. When there was no reply, she looked up to see Wyatt’s gaze fixed upon her.
“What?” she smiled uncertainly.
“I’m amazed – at this,” he gestured at the two of them, “Finding you. And under such unlikely circumstances.”
“I know.” Haley whispered softly, “I can’t believe it either.”
Wyatt suddenly looked disgruntled, and Haley raised her eyebrows in surprise at his expression.
“I will never hear the end of this from Colton.”
Haley burst out laughing. It was clear from the short time she’d known Colton and Wyatt that the two brothers didn’t always see eye to eye.
“I take it this was all his idea?” She asked.
“Of course. It was a last resort after I died a thousand deaths on some truly awful dates, which I will entertain you with another time.”
“I can’t wait,” Haley’s eyes gleamed. She would treasure every single moment that she got to spend with Wyatt, whatever they were doing. For how long? The question came unbidden into her mind, and she swiftly dismissed it.
“So, baby momma, tell me about shifting while pregnant - not something I know much about.” Wyatt asked.
“Basically I can’t,” Haley replied, “It could harm the baby –the amniotic sack, especially in the later stages. Not to mention the energy that it takes to shift, energy that is necessary to sustain a growing, developing baby”
“I can’t wait to see you, your flamingo, after that baby’s born.” Wyatt smiled broadly at her, his eyes alight with excitement.
“Do you mean that?” Haley asked quietly.
“That I want to see you shift? Of course.” Wyatt looked confused.
“No – I mean, that you want me to be around after the baby’s born.”
Wyatt looked taken aback. He put down his coffee cup and reached for Haley’s hand. He ran a thumb down her index finger, rubbing her skin softly. Neither of them spoke.
Wyatt felt tongue tied, irritated at his inability to formulate a sentence. He’d closed million dollar deals without breaking a sweat, was soon to be Alpha of his Clan and command what equated to a small, yet powerful army. And here he was, unable to tell his mate what he truly wanted.
“Haley…You are my mate. Do you think, that after the miracle of finding you, I would ever let you go?”
Haley’s breath hitched in her throat. Warmth flooded her entire body.
“I wasn’t…sure – I didn’t know if it meant as much to you…” she trailed off on seeing his eyes blaze with a mixture of anger and lust.
“It means everything to me. Not just because of the Clan, not just because I find you mind-blowingly sexy,” he smirked at her, “But because I know that we belong to one another – last night, what I felt being with you, making love to you, it was fundamentally altering.”
“Me too,” Haley replied in wonder, “I feel different today. I can’t put my finger on it. As if I’m whole, and no longer lost.”
She blushed in embarrassment at her words, yet she meant everything she said, but it seemed so strange to be talking like this to a man she felt she knew, yet didn’t know at all – as if she’d seen his soul before knowing how he liked his eggs. Weird.
“I know it’s strange – now. But it won’t be soon. And as soon as it’s not strange, I would like to officially claim you as mine.”
Haley smiled broadly across at him, deliriously happy and also squirming with anticipation in her seat at the idea of truly mating with Wyatt.
Most shifter pair-bonds were created through a bite, each one marking their partner often during climax, a bite deep enough to leave a scar; physically marking them as belonging to one another, but the act also left a scent that would indicate to other shifters that they were taken, that they belonged to another in an unbreakable, life-long union.
“Yes.” Haley replied, simply.
Wyatt moved toward her swiftly, picking her up from her chair, he lifted her upward and wrapped her body around his. She squealed in surprise, and then wove her fingers into his hair kissing him deeply.
“Haley Dubois, you are mine.”
“Always,” she whispered into his ear.
Their half-eaten breakfasts were left unattended as Wyatt carried her back up to his bedroom and made love to her again, softly and gently as the morning light danced around them.
“I need to go into the office and go over a few things with my brothers.” Wyatt lay on his side holding Haley naked in his arms, his legs wrapped around her, encasing her body completely with his.
Haley nodded, brushing her face against his chest.
“Then I thought we could go into town and get some baby things…we need to prepare a nursery,” he leaned down and gently nibbled on her earlobe, “I have a room in mind, but will leave the decorating to you – it’s really not my strong suit.”
“Oh, Wyatt,” Haley suddenly felt guilty, she’d come into this man’s life like a wrecking ball, “You’re taking a lot on – you know that right, a mother and a baby?”
Her earlobe received a sharp bite of admonishment.
“Haley, I can’t wait for the baby to arrive – and I happen to be completely enchanted and head-over-heels for its mother. I’ve always wanted to have a family, just never thought I’d find the one that was meant for me.”
“Okay,” Haley laughed, relieved and back in her cocoon of contentment, “Just making sure.”
“Be sure. I’ll pick you up when I’m back from the office – and then I was thinking I could take you out for dinner tonight?”
“I would love that. Thank you, Wyatt.”
“Good.�
�� He slowly untangled himself and stood up, retrieving clothes from his closet. Haley smiled to herself as she saw Wyatt’s naked body in all its glory. She would never tire of that view.
Chapter sixteen
Haley pulled on her boots. They weren’t the most practical for the Alaskan weather, but they were the only pair she had to bring with her that weren’t buttery-soft suede. At least her coat was mildly practical; it was a fur linked parka that she’d bought in Moscow, up till this trip it had been shoved into the back of her closet and hadn’t seen the light of day for years. She was grateful for it now.
As she opened the back door, icy winds smacked her in the face, pulling at her hair. Haley shivered and sighed, but stepped out.
“This is for you, little blob. I sure hope you appreciate it.” She rubbed her stomach with mitted hands.
Haley walked down to the water edge, admiring the seaplane that had frozen at its base in the water. She looked forward to summer when Wyatt might take her out on it, and they could skim the waters of the North Pacific. Little blob would be born by then.
She took a tentative step onto the jetty. It creaked loudly under her weight, ice cracking like glass around its spindly legs. Perhaps not. She hastily took a step back onto the frost-covered grass.
Haley trudged up and down, her feet feeling like ice blocks and her breath coming out in curls of condensation smoke.
She jumped up and down on the spot, persuading herself to stay out for just five more minuets before going to get a cup of hot tea. God damn this weather.
It would take some getting used to. It was the only thing that she hadn’t mentioned to Wyatt when the subject of her shifter animal came up. Flamingos didn’t fare well in the cold, and neither did Haley. And yet here she was, in one of the coldest climates on the planet, where her shifter mate had built an empire and ruled a Clan. She wouldn’t ask him to live somewhere else, it would be impossible for him – but could she really remain here? All year round?
Haley started to walk back toward the house. It was a question she didn’t want to dwell on, not right now.
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