by R. A. Boyd
He sucked on her tongue in the rhythm he fucked her, cock pummeling her pussy as he drove them both toward a climax. She sighed into his kiss as he swept his tongue deep into her mouth, exploring every piece of her he could. She spread her legs wider and the sounds of their love-making, their fucking, filled the room; the echo of sweat-slicked skin slapping as he drove into her over and over, the passionate moan that was constant through her lips.
She cried out into his mouth as the orgasm ripped through her, and her channel clenched and released, clenched and released, around Aiden’s cock as he pounded in and out of her sheath. It was like her pussy was sucking his dick deeper into her body, and the wonderful feel demanded he come inside her.
The rumble in his chest grew feral as the release overtook him, and he thrust into her and froze as the waves of release crashed against his body. He pulsed inside of her, pulled away and then slammed into her again, filling her with his seed again and again.
He buried his face in the bend of her neck and stayed like that, lost in her and enjoying every minute of it. The scent of spring that had invaded his senses earlier was seeping away as easy as it had come.
“Do you smell that?” he asked.
She laughed and tried to get away from him, but he held her close and blew into her ear.
“Stop!” she said, grabbing his hair and pulling his face way. “It tickles when you talk on my neck. What does it smell like?”
He sniffed her neck again and she erupted into a fit of giggles. It made her pussy contract around him. If she kept it up she was going to find herself dripping with his seed even more than she already was.
“It’s like dew at sunrise. Or autumn leaves after the rain. I can’t decide. It’s coming from you.” He kissed a path from her neck to her ear. It made her shiver, and the buds of her nipples began to harden again.
She bit his shoulder and then soothed it with a kiss. “I forgot to tell you. Willow said that me being born of a shifter and a witch connects me to the earth a little more than most shifters. I’m paraphrasing here. My brain is still rattled from that orgasm. Mental high-five to you, by the way.”
“You are quite welcome.” He pulled his cock from her and she winced, and when he went to apologize she licked his nose and told him to shut his face. “So,” he said, turning over and pulling her completely on to him. “You won’t get back your premonitions but your witch powers are pretty cool. Would it be gross to sell your sweat? ‘Cause you should bottle that shit.”
She slapped his shoulder. “Ew, Aiden. No one wants to wear my sweat.”
“I do. I am at this very moment.”
With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head, she gave him a severe look that was nothing short of playful. “Anyway, he didn’t take that away from me. I just forgot what I was and how to use it when he put that spell on me. It’s slowly coming back and she’s going to teach me what to do to harness that power.”
She rested her head on his chest and relaxed. He traced from her shoulders to below the swell of her ass. She quieted, and the slow cadence of her breath let him know she was asleep. He wanted to pick her up and take her to bed, but if this was where she was comfortable this is where he would stay.
Aiden closed his eyes and fell asleep to the idea that his mate was still growing and learning about herself. They were both getting back so much of what they’d lost. She was experiencing the unfolding of her life with him and he was honored to be a witness.
Chapter 13
“Well stuff and mount me! You got yourself paired up.” Mr. Benjamin pulled Paige into a back cracking hug that lifted her from the floor. “And here you were just a few days ago, saying you didn’t want a mate.”
Paige didn’t know Mr. Benjamin—call me Benny— well enough to tell him her story and why she had said the things she did when she saw him a few days ago. This was only the second time she’d met him, but he was being just as nice now as he had been the first time. Lucky for her, this time she wasn’t trying to use him to infiltrate the supporters of the Ghost shifters.
She liked him. She knew she did the first time she saw him and now she knew why. He reminded her of her father. Paige couldn’t place exactly why she enjoyed his company when they’d first met, but now it was clear as the animated eyebrows on his round face. She imagined that this is what her father would have looked like if he’d been allowed to get older.
“Is something on my nose?” Mr. Benjamin asked as Paige stared at him.
She shook her head and gave him a dismissive smile. “I’m sorry. No. Your nose is fine. You look like my dad.”
“He must be a handsome fella,” he said, straightening a nonexistent bow tie around his neck.
“He’s dead.”
The smile fell from Mr. Benjamin’s face so face that Paige snorted out a laugh. “I’m so sorry, Paige. That was insensitive of me. My regards.”
She reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder. In only a few seconds, a clear picture of her father popped up in her head. Kind hazel eyes that sat beneath thick, dark eyebrows that moved when he spoke. A long nose that had intended to come to a point but decided to round itself out right at the end. His chin had a butt, and Paige could remember poking her finger there when he was close enough for her to touch. He smelled like sage and peppermint, and when his emotions got the better of him his scent changed to that of the early morning dew drop that rested on green grass.
Paige swallowed thickly and fought back happy tears of remembrance. Her mind came back to Mr. Benjamin and she smiled. “Thank you. He died eighteen years ago. I just realized you kind of look like him. He was handsome. And nice. Just like you.”
His brown eyes looked everywhere but at Paige, and his light brown skin began to redden with embarrassment. “That’s really nice of you. Well, you ever need anything you just come and get me.” He sniffed and patted her on the arm so hard he knocked her to the side. “I don’t do emotion stuff so I’m going to get some pie.”
Emotion stuff? She told him he looked like her dead father. Maybe she wasn’t up on her people skills but that didn’t seem like a good reason for him to get emotional.
She looked down at her watch for the millionth time. Sunset was in less than ten minutes. Today’s date would have been on her grave marker if Willow hadn’t been there this morning. That’s what her godfather had planned. Paige took a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks at the idea. Curtain call in T-10 minutes and she would silently be giving Poppa Sam the freaking finger.
“What’d you do to Benny?” Aiden asked as he walked up to her, handing her a cup of a dark liquid with ice cubes floating around inside. Looked like iced tea.
Paige took a sip and holy crap it tasted like a pound of sugar had been used to make it. It was awesome. “I told him he looked like my dad. Did I say something wrong?”
Aiden stepped closer and a shiver worked its way down her spine. How could his closeness in a room full of people affect her like this? The heat from his body radiated toward her and she cursed herself for wanting to hop on him again and ride him to her next orgasm.
Aiden smiled and kissed her forehead. “Calm down, Baby Bird.” She liked when he called her that. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and with a devious grin on his face he patted his knee. “Wanna sit on my lap?”
With a snort, she spit out some of her iced tea and used her sleeve to wipe it away. “This’ll make it so much better,” she joked, making sure to rub her behind on his man-bits a few times until she was comfortable. She could play this game with him.
“You are in fucking public,” Simon murmured as he walked by with a plate full of mini cheesecakes and eclairs. “Get a room. I’m so fucking sick of this love crap.”
They ignored him and went back to flirting with each other. Paige had eyed Simon’s plate as he sat down in the corner and then looked over to the dessert table. Did she have time to cram a few sweet treats into her face before her time of death? Absolutely. There were only a few left.
/> Just as she was about to get up, Mr. Benjamin walked back over and handed her a napkin with an éclair. “You kept looking at them. There were almost gone and I thought you’d like it.” He slapped Aiden on the arm and walked toward the exit.
“That was nice.” Paige took a bite of the creampuff and chocolate pastry and then offered the other half to Aiden. He looked at it thoughtfully like he really wanted to take a piece but then shook his head. She ate the rest and then balled up the napkin. “What’s with Mr. Benjamin?”
Rubbing one hand up and down her arm, Aiden pulled her higher on his lap. “Benny takes care of his grandkids. His daughter, son-in-law and his parents were killed in a territorial dispute down south. He comes from a long line of pure bread sun bears, and they are aggressive as shit. His daughter joined her husband’s clan and the swell in numbers pissed off a neighboring sun bear clan. The buildup lasted for a few years, but they thought it would all die down. Benny and his wife went to visit them just as the attack started.”
Sun bears. She never knew they were that aggressive. Paige thought for a moment and frowned at the horrible thought. “Sun bears are called honey bears. Wasn’t Winnie a honey bear?” Who the heck would name a children’s bear after a creature so aggressive?
He quirked his lips to the side. “Nope. That bear was named after a Black bear. A lot of people make that mistake.”
“Oh. Sorry. Tell me about Mr. Benjamin.”
He took a deep breath and tightened his arm around her waist. “He and his wife picked the kids up and took them to a theme park for the day, and when they came back almost everyone in the clan was dead.” He huffed a curse and shook his head. “The others just attacked. No warning. He’s felt guilty about it ever since.”
Oh, no. She told him he’d reminded her of her dead father. It must have brought up feelings of his daughter. Her heart broke for the sweet man. She clasped her hand over her heart and sighed. “How old are his grandkids?”
“Nine and ten. Two girls. He and his wife have been taking care of them for about three years now. His wife got really sick after they brought the kids back. She’s human. Benny just kept saying that her heart was broken and he didn’t know if she’d ever recover from losing her only child. She’s better now. Sara from the raven clan really stepped in and helped when they got back.”
Aiden stared at the door where Benny had walked out of, and Paige had the feeling to get up and go after him. She looked down at her watch and decided not to. Death was coming in two minutes and Paige planned on having a spectator ready to watch his hard work come to fruition.
She shifted in Aiden’s lap and looked around the room again and again. The meeting was set to start at eight. Paige wasn’t familiar with the interworking of small towns or shifter communities, but the people of New Rose and the surrounding cities were really coming out to support the Ghost shifters. The Town Hall was even more packed than it had been when she first came here a few days ago.
The Ghosts deserved this. What Samiyah had planned for them was unjustified, and she knew in the end he would lose. Him and the rest of the Rogue pack. They would lose because there was so much love and acceptance filling this place tonight. She could feel it. It was like an energy to her soul and made Paige feel like she hadn’t just inherited her mate’s family, but also this town. It was full of people who cared.
Riley, Teague, and their daughter Liv had come tonight, along with Simon who sat in the corner looking pissed at everyone who walked by. Accept the silver-haired beauty who he kept his eye on. The woman couldn’t have been any more than in her early thirties, but her hair was as silver as a moonbeam. It was cut in a curly bob that brushed her jawline. Whiskey brown eyes sat above cheekbones sharp enough to cut through Simon’s hardened heart. Did she know he was checking her out?
“Baby,” Aiden said as he pulled away from Paige. His dark eyes locked on hers as he ran his fingertips across her brow. “You’re sweating.” He put the back of his hand on her forehead. “You… you have a fever.”
Dang-it. It was happening already. Paige looked around the room, but she only recognized a few people. The person she was counting on being here was nowhere around. Damn. What if this was all for nothing? That would suck donkey balls.
“I’m fine,” she said, using the back of her hand to wipe away the perspiration that was now dripping down the sides of her face. This was happening too fast. With a dismissive shake of her head, she took a trembling breath and smiled. “I think I’m just nervous. Can you get me some water, please?”
Shifters didn’t get sick, and every person in this building knew it. She was counting on it. No, no, no! He probably wouldn’t get there until the meeting was in full swing so no one would notice him.
Bile crept up the back of her throat and she reached for the paper cup of iced tea that Aiden had given her a few minutes ago. She took a long pull of the cool, sweet liquid and felt her temperature spike. No. Too soon.
“Air,” she said, clearing her throat. “Just air and a sip of water. Leave me here and just grab that for me.” This wasn’t going to work.
“Paige?”
He wrapped her in his arms and eased her to the floor, and she reveled in the cold feel of the marble tile beneath her. Her head throbbed and her stomach turned in on itself. Unconsciousness was trying to pull her under, but Paige would fight with every ounce of strength in her body not to fall.
She reached her hand up and made sure the pocket on her jacket was still zipped up.
“What the hell is happening?” Riley’s voice was filled with fear.
Paige pried her eyes open to look around her. Aiden’s frightened face filled her sight. “It’s okay. Riley, call Willow and tell her to get here now.” He lifted his eyes and looked around the room.
Pain shot up Paige’s spine and rolled through her body like an earthquake. Her resolve to keep this going as long as possible was slipping through her fingers. No. Don’t think of it. Focus on the pain. Focus on how horrible it feels to be ripped apart from the inside out.
Voices. Voices were murmuring all around her. She closed her eyes and tried to anchor herself in the moment. She would pass out if she didn’t, and she would miss her chance.
A scream tore its way through her mouth and Paige fought the words that would free her from this.
“I’m here, Paige.” Aiden’s voice was like a broken speaker, loud and brain-splitting one second but too far away to hear the next. “Help is coming. Fight baby. You’ve fought before and you’ll fight now.”
She tried to nod but feared it would hurt to move any more than she had to. Her body spasmed and jerked as the ache needled its way through every nerve in her body.
No one is going to help you, Paige. You’ll die here. In front of your mate. In front of your people.
He was here. He was close enough that she could feel his presence.
“This has to be magic,” Aiden said. “But she didn’t touch the fl—”
With every ounce of energy Paige had left in her body, she reached up and grabbed Aiden’s arm. She couldn’t let him say it. Not when this was so close to being over. “Aiden,” she said on a whisper. A cough broke through her lips as she held tight to him. “Hold on.”
He was closer. Paige had been afraid that she wouldn’t hold on to what Willow had taught her, but it stuck. She could feel Samiyah’s energy as it loomed closer to her. He was there. So close, but she couldn’t see him.
“What’s happened?”
Some kind of sick hope bloomed inside her as the voice of her godfather spoke out. Pride. It was always the thing that stopped him from being a great witch. A great trader. A great person. He may have tracked her every move and changed her to be his puppet, but he’d been the only thing she’d known for so long. And she knew he would come for her. Come to witness her death.
Simon’s snarky voice was a comedic blessing at this moment. “Who the fuck are you?” Paige looked up and saw that Simon stood protectively over her and Aiden.
“Doctor.” He sniffed at the man and if Paige wasn’t in so much pain she would have laughed at the appalled look on his face. “Witch.”
It was Samiyah, but he looked different. A spell. His hair was lighter and he had freckles. But his eyes were the same cold gray that they’d always been. “Yes. I’m a witch. Is she a shifter?”
“Yeah,” Aiden said, hope growing from his fear. “She is. Can you help?”
Instinctively, Paige jerked away as Samiyah bent down to get closer, giving her a deceptive smile that only she could see from this angle. “I’ll try. It’s alright, child,” he said out loud, but in her head his voice was full of vitriol. ‘I will watch you die. You dishonor your grandmother with this pairing.’
Tremors wracked Paige’s body as she tried to reach into her pocket. She managed to unzip it but couldn’t focus to still her hand enough to get what she needed. She couldn’t keep this up.
“End in mendacium.” As soon as the words broke their way through her chattering teeth, every modicum of pain fled her body and she was free.
Time stilled as understanding clouded Samiyah’s face. He knew that she’d broken the spell that was afflicting her. Faster than she could even keep track with her own senses, she grabbed the syringe from her pocket, pulled the protective cap from the needle with her teeth, and plunged the needle into his neck, injecting the thick, silvery Heaven’s Flame into his body.
They both fell back and onto the floor, Paige in satisfaction and relief, and Samiyah in agony and suffering.
Aiden gathered her body to his and pulled her into his lap, running his hands over her arms and legs and chest. “What the fuck happened? Are you okay? I don’t understand.”
The pain was gone. With the three words Willow had taught her to end the spell that afflicted her, it all came to an instant end. She wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed him in, taking a moment to bring comfort to them both. She had done it. It was over.