by Milly Taiden
“Mm…yes I am. Where are we going?” She whispered, nibbling on his earlobe.
She was unbelievable. It was a good thing all he wanted to do was slide into her whenever she was around, because she was insatiable. “We’re going to take a shower.” He sighed in contentment when she giggled.
Chapter Six
After an incredible, admittedly long, shower they went back to his bedroom. Sam still felt ready to have another round of the sexy werewolf. She didn’t know why, but thinking of him all wild and untamed lit a slow fire in her blood. It pushed her to get him in her body again. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she was turning into some kind of cat in heat. Her sole focus had become Riel and getting him to stroke her insides with his cock. She shuddered, remembering how good he felt driving in and out of her.
Had it not been so damn pleasurable she’d be worried. Her pussy clenched at the thought of having him again, filling her with his seed and marking her. Wait, what? Since when did she care about markings?
A fuzzy feeling entered her heart. He’d been taking care of her and had been so concerned she couldn’t help but wonder if something long-term could grow between them. Great sex was one thing, but that wasn’t her priority in life anymore. She wanted a man to love her and want her whether she was young and perky or old and fat…and finding a man like that was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Riel had been so caring and thoughtful in the past three days she didn’t know what to think. Her brain told her it was too soon to have feelings, but her heart screamed at her to grab him and never let go. What the hell was she supposed to do?
She dressed in the previous day’s clothes. Riel picked up his cell phone. He frowned as he listened to his messages. The heat in his eyes was enough to have her pussy dripping again. She was in deep shit. All the man had to do was look at her and she was panting and ready to get on all fours.
He pressed a button and moved the phone to his ear. “Sophia, you called me? Now? Yes. No, we’ll come to you.” He threw the cell phone on the bed. “We need to go see Sophia. She wants to talk to you about your blood.”
Was she sick? Did something come up she didn’t know about? She looked into Riel’s eyes and knew that no matter what Sophia said, everything would work itself out.
When they arrived at Sophia and Chase’s house, Sam was greeted by a really tall man holding Selena. The Alpha, Chase Blackburn. He was a few inches taller than Ry and much more muscular, yet the only impression she got was of a concerned husband. He was fawning over the petite brunette she’d come to see, Sophia.
Sophia jiggled Shane in her arms. The little boy lifted his arms to Sam the moment he noticed her.
“My Sam,” Shane’s little voice called.
Sam’s heart melted. “Seriously, can I adopt him off you? I promise to treat him right, overfeed him, and never let him out of my arms. I’m in love with this boy. He’s so precious, and those chubby cheeks just drive me crazy.”
Everyone laughed when Shane attached his mouth to Sam’s cheek and tried to bite her.
Sophia giggled and tickled her son on the side. “Uh-oh Shane. I think uncle Ry might have a problem with anyone else biting on his mate.”
Sam lifted her brows. Ry’s mate? What was she talking about? She turned to Ry. He gave her a look that dared her to say anything against that. Like she knew what the hell that meant.
Chase motioned for Riel to take Shane and turned to Sam. “We’ll take the kids, and you can go into Sophia’s lab and talk.”
Sam let go of Shane with a pout and followed Sophia down a hallway, through a set of secured doors and into a cold lab.
“Wow. I can’t believe you have this in your house.”
Sophia grinned and sat at a desk. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and her T-shirt had handprint marks on the front with the names of her kids under each handprint.
“It was either have my own lab at home or Chase was going to have to put up with me working long hours away from home. He prefers for me to do anything that’s not related to my cancer research here. It’s safer for the pack. I tend to go overboard when I work. They’re scared I’ll do something weird and turn everyone into a different animal if I’m not supervised.” She rolled her eyes. “Seriously though, like there’s anything out there that’s cooler than a werewolf? I mean a unicorn would be awesome, but I haven’t run into any of those.” She pouted.
Sam laughed and took the seat across from Sophia’s desk. “So can you tell me what it is about my blood that caught your attention?”
Sophia flicked through papers before stopping and focusing her attention on Sam. “The reason I asked you if you were shifter is because there’s a partial code in your DNA for the shifter chromosome.”
What was she saying? “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what you mean.”
Sophia smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I tend to forget not everyone speaks geek. OK. Think of it this way: your mom gave you some of her genes, and your dad gave you some of his. They blend together and make up Sam. Normally that means you’ll either be a shifter or a human. However, in your case I’ve found that you have a partial link. Almost as if you were meant to be a shifter but somehow the other legs necessary to make up the full gene were removed.”
Sam laughed thinking Sophia was kidding. “So you’re saying you think I have werewolf inside?”
Sophia shook her head, glanced back down at the papers on her desk and then back at Sam, her lips no longer curled up in laughter. “Not really. What you have is some of the traits since you don’t have an animal. Trust me, I checked.”
Sam really thought there might be a mistake with her blood work. There was no way she could have any shifter traits inside. “I think you might be mistaken.”
Sophia bit her lip. “Have you encountered anything different lately? Enhanced sense of smell? Sight? Arousal? Sorry to get so personal, but it’s important.” She lifted her brows and waited.
The beating of her heart made it almost impossible to hear Sophia’s questions. Since she’d been bitten in Brazil, she’d been seeing things at a farther distance with more clarity, even in the dark. And her sense of smell had gotten incredibly acute. But what made her palms sweat was the arousal bit. For the past three days she’d been desperate in her need to have sex with Riel. She’d brushed it off as having been ignorant of her needs for too long, but now she wasn’t so sure. A cement block settled on her stomach. “What does that mean?”
Sophia’s brow puckered. “Which part?”
Sam gulped. “All of it. Especially the sex part. What if I…I’ve had better sight and smell. What if I’m hornier than a bunny and can’t get enough sex to save my life?” Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch.
Sophia gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Calm down, Sam. I know how you feel. But what you have to realize is this has always been you. When you were bitten in the jungle, the animal that bit you was a werewolf. He couldn’t turn you because you already have the partial gene in your makeup. That means the bite only served to awaken dormant traits. You can’t turn into an animal because the gene is not complete, but you have some of the traits. And one of them is the mating heat. Right now you are in full-blown heat.”
She stared wide-eyed at Sophia. “So this desperate need for sex, will it go away?”
Sophia lifted one brow. “Do you want it to?”
Did she want it to? Of course! She wasn’t an animal. She shouldn’t be in heat! But wait, if the heat went away, did that mean she’d stop wanting Riel? “If it goes away, will I still want to have sex?”
Sophia laughed, her eyes twinkling. “That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about. The difference between regular sex and in-heat sex is that when in heat all your body wants is for your mate to breed with you until you’re pregnant. The hunger doesn’t go away until you’re either pregnant or see the full heat through. It’s the way our species survives and thrives.”
Sam’s mind whirled at a million miles per hour.
Hold on just a second. Did she say mate and pregnant in the same sentence? “What exactly do you mean mate? I don’t have a mate.”
“I think you do. And I think you know it too.”
Sam knew she was right. Ry. She’d had feelings for the man since the first time she’d laid eyes on him when she was eighteen. The invisible link had always scared her, but now that they’d been together she couldn’t imagine being apart from him.
“But don’t you need to go through some kind of ritual to be someone’s mate?” She’d heard something, but wasn’t sure what that meant.
Sophia’s eyes softened. “Well…it’s more of what he does that seals the bond.”
Sam wanted to jump over the desk and shake the other woman. Sophia was having too much fun at her expense and taking too damn long to explain. “What does he have to do?”
Sophia giggled and sighed, her voice turning wistful. “He bites the back of your shoulder and fills your womb with his…er…semen.”
Did that mean—? “But Riel already came inside me. We’ve been having sex like rabbits. So does that mean I can be pregnant?”
Sophia sniffed. “I’m not scenting any changes in your hormone levels. Has he bitten you?”
Sam ran a hand through her hair and made her ponytail fall. “He’s given me a few love bites, but what does that have to do with anything?” She fixed her hair and wondered if she was nuts or if Sophia was the crazy one. Somehow she doubted Sophia, renowned geneticist, would screw with her just for kicks.
“I’m not sure how this works, but trust me I’m looking into it. I think a male can only get his mate pregnant after he’s given her the mate bite. A mate bite isn’t a little love bite. He’ll have to bite down hard on the back of your shoulder, embedding his canines into your skin and drawing blood. By doing that he’ll be able to mix his saliva with your blood and give you a new scent. You’ll scent of him. All other shifters will know you’re his mate. I’m not sure if you can get pregnant before mating, but I do know your heat won’t go unless you get pregnant or get through your heat. So you can’t be pregnant. If his seed had taken inside you, you wouldn’t be feeling horny as hell anymore.” Sophia tapped a short, pink nail to her chin.
So if she was Ry’s mate why hadn’t he bitten her?
As if she had read her mind, Sophia answered her. “I think he’s giving you the choice. Ry is one of the most thoughtful men I know. He would never take away your rights to choose. This isn’t marriage. This is a much deeper connection. It’s soul bonding. If you want to be his mate, you’re going to have to tell him to bite you.”
Sam was even more confused now. She ran her sweaty palms over her shorts. “But if it’s that deep and committed, how do I know that’s what he wants? What if he hasn’t done it because he just doesn’t want to?”
Sophia shrugged and gave her a small smile. “I can’t tell you what to do. I can only tell you that whatever your heart is telling you is probably right. Our brains tend to overanalyze things until we don’t know which way to go. Follow your instinct.”
Her instincts told her to stay with Ry. What did her heart say? That she loved the sexy, caring, and hot-as-hell wolf. Just thinking of him made her breath hitch, her heart do flips, and a warm marshmallow emotion run rampant in her stomach. The question was did he love her? She couldn’t ask him that… Could she? Oh who the fuck was she kidding? If she wanted to have a long-term relationship with him, which she did, she’d have to grab the bull by the horns. She’d have to pretty much tell him to mate with her, or he’d never do it. He probably thought he would infringe on her rights to decide. The stupid, thoughtful, sexy beast. God, she loved that man. And she was keeping him.
Sophia’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Can you do me a favor?”
Sam glanced up. The dilemma of her love life no longer seemed so confusing. “Sure. You’ve done so much for me today, what do you need?”
Sophia scrunched her nose in thought. “I’d like to find out more about your past and why you’re not a full-blown shifter, or it will drive me bananas. Do you have any family records you can rifle through? I would really like some details on your family history to see what has made you the way you are.”
Now that she mentioned it, Sam remembered Ginny had a trunk full of old family information she needed to go through. “Yes. That’s not a problem. I do have things to go through, so as soon as I find anything of value I’ll bring it over.”
Sophia sighed. “Thank you. I’ve just never seen anything like you before. It’s your right to know why you can’t shift and, more importantly, how you came to have the shifter traits. Plus, we’ll want to know if your future offspring will be able to shift.”
Sam nodded. “Thanks. I do want to know.” She stood and walked out with Sophia.
They found Chase and Ry in the backyard on their stomachs while the kids played horsey and bounced on the men’s backs. Sam grinned and couldn’t help laughing when Selena pulled at Riel’s hair and giggled. He’d make a great father. Her womb clenched as if in agreement. It was time to get him back to the house and have her way with her mate. Shifter or not, he was hers, and they both knew it. The link between them had been tangible since the first time their gazes met.
While he drove them back to the house, her thoughts centered on getting him to admit how he felt for her. If he was waiting for her to make the choice, then she was waiting for him to open his mouth.
When they reached his house Nat had been sitting down on one of his front steps and waved at them. He parked and walked both women inside. Just as they entered his phone rang. Moments later he pulled Sam off to the side and into his arms.
“I need to go see Kane. He’s got some information and can’t get to me. Don’t leave the house. I’ll be back shortly, and then we need to talk.” He lowered his head and kissed her until all she knew was the firm stroking of his lips and the sexy invasion of his tongue in her mouth.
Once he left, Sam turned to Nat. Her friend grinned from ear to ear. “So…when’s the wedding?”
“You’re out of your mind.” Sam laughed. “And what are you doing here anyway?” Her heart told her all she needed was for Riel to admit he loved her and bite her, claiming her as his mate. If he happened to ask her to marry him then she’d say yes. What woman didn’t want to marry the man she loved? But her main concern was getting her mate to claim her.
Nat gave her a sheepish smile. “I came to get the copy of my birth certificate you always keep for me. I can’t find the key to my lock box. I need the copy for some stupid human resources paperwork at my new job. Why? I don’t know but they keep asking for it, and I don’t want to get into trouble making them wait any longer.”
That was the perfect opportunity for Sam to find the small trunk Ginny kept all the important personal papers in. Maybe she would be able to figure out how the strange shifter link had emerged in her life.
“Let me run over to the house, I have something I need to pick up anyway. Do me a favor and make me a sandwich, I’m starving. Ry and I ran out without getting a chance to eat.”
Nat waggled her brows. “Yeah. I can imagine what kept you so busy you didn’t get a chance to eat.” She laughed. “Go. I’ll have something by the time you get back.”
Guilt made her rush. Ry had told her to stay in his house, but she wasn’t going to be gone for long, and she really wanted to know who the shifter was in her family. She entered the house and ran up to Ginny’s room. Once inside she was overcome with sadness. She’d been avoiding Ginny’s room, knowing it would be difficult to handle. The soft gold and purple tones that decorated the room were Ginny’s favorite colors. Pictures of Sam through the years hung on the walls and sat on every surface in the room. Moisture gathered in her eyes, making her vision blurry.
Grief tore through her, roping around her heart and squeezing hard. She took a breath, and a sob escaped. Tears fell on her cheeks, and she wiped them with the back of her hand. Her heart ached for the woman who’d taught her
right from wrong and to be the person she wanted to be. She’d loved her unconditionally. She’d never hear her grandmother’s soft Latin accent telling her to live her life to the fullest. She’d never hug her tiny frame or brush her short, raven bob. But worst of all, she’d never be able to tell her how much she loved her.
She choked on her sobs. Taking choppy breaths, she swallowed at the knot in her throat and sighed. If only she’d been back before Ginny had died, but it was too late to change the past. And Ginny would never have allowed her to. She’d tell her to move on and let go of whatever went wrong, learn from it, and use it to make better decisions in the future.
Steeling her spine, she stepped forward. Ginny had always told her not to cry for her when she died. She’d enjoyed her life and didn’t want anyone mourning her. It had been hard to do as Ginny asked the first few days when pain and loss had filled her heart. Now she had so much going on, she knew what Ginny meant when she told her to live her life the way she wanted to be remembered. All she wanted was to find one man who would love her and who she could love for the rest of her life. The image of Ry’s face filled her mind. She no longer had a doubt he was the right man for her, and she’d tell him as soon as he returned home.
She marched toward the large trunk at the end of Ginny’s bed. The latch came open, and she lifted the lid to find the small trunk she needed. Thank goodness Ginny never moved it to a new spot. Although small, the trunk was heavy. Breathless and panting, she ran back to Ry’s house. In her haste she left the front door of her house ajar, but she’d send Ry to close it for her later. When she got to the kitchen, she collapsed on a chair, placing the trunk on the large kitchen table.
Nat chuckled at Sam’s panting and brought her a glass of water. “Did you get my birth certificate copy?”
She cursed. She drank some water and stood slowly, taking her sweet time after having carried the heavy little trunk. “I’ll be right back.”
Out the door again, she walked back to her house, Natalia’s laughter floating from the kitchen. Grateful she’d left the front door open; she ran back up the stairs. She'd just walked into her bedroom when she was the squeaking of the floor made her stop in her tracks. A strange smell permeated in the air. She frowned and marched into her room to look for the reason behind the smell. Someone grabbed her from behind. Like manacles, two big arms held her in place while a black material was placed over her head. She screamed and kicked to no avail. The arms around her chest tightened until she was struggling to get air into her lungs.