Rane's Mate

by Hazel Gower

  “Are you okay? Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

  She stared into his gorgeous face. “No, please.”

  Nodding, he said, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I think this will be easier.”

  As he said that, he eased almost all the way out, leaned down to kiss her, then in one powerful thrust broke through her virginity. She screamed into his mouth, and he stilled.

  “I’m so sorry, my little red.” Rane moved down her neck, sucking and kissing.

  His hands shifted to her breasts, massaging and caressing. Every now and then, he would lightly pull on her nipples. The fire started to ignite in her body again, and she experimented by moving her hips. Rane looked up and gave a strained smile. She smiled back, and he slid up her body, kissing her mouth again, and started to slowly move with her. Kirby glided her legs up his and wrapped them just below his tight buttocks. He growled into her mouth. Feeling more daring, she trailed her hands down to his toned arse, holding on as it tightened with every movement.

  * * * *

  Rane looked at the sexist woman he had ever seen in his life. Kirby’s fire engine red hair was everywhere on the pillow, he brushed away a couple of pieces that were covering her passion filled brown eyes. Her lips were big and puffy, and her cheeks matched her hair. Moving down her neck, to her full, plump breasts, he couldn’t resist sucking one in and giving a small bite. He smiled against her skin as she yelped his name. God, that was the best sound he had ever heard. She groaned and started to pick up the pace. He chuckled because he had been going crazy trying to go slow so she could get used to him. Kirby was so tight, and he was afraid he couldn’t last much longer; nothing had ever felt so good. She was his little piece of heaven. Deciding she was ready for him to take over, he pulled her body up so they were chest to chest. His hands held her to his body as he picked up their pace.

  Kirby panted his name out as she tried to keep up the pace. He sucked on her neck where he knew she was most sensitive, and she screamed out his name as she came around his cock. Finally letting go, pulsating into her, he bit her shoulder, and she screamed his name again so loud that he was sure she shook the house.

  “Shit!” Swearing because he forgot to tell her about the lock, Rane felt his dick lock at the base of her pussy.

  She moaned and bit his shoulder back. He cried out her name as he continued coming, feeling pleasure like he had never experienced before. Rane knew he could never feel this with anyone else.

  As her mouth let go of his shoulder, she groaned and her head fell to the pillow. She was so sexy. Rane moved them to the side to spoon and leveled himself up to watch her eyes close. She smiled a secret smile, snuggling her body into him, and fell straight to sleep. Kissing her forehead, he laid on his back. Moving her onto his body, he wrapped his arms around her and fell into the most peaceful sleep he’d had since being a child.

  Chapter 7

  Kirby winced as she stretched to the morning sun peeking through the curtains. Moaning, she snuggled into Rane’s muscular chest. She kissed his chest and got up.

  He groaned, grabbed her waist, and pulled her back down for a morning kiss. “Morning, little red.”

  She smiled up at him. “Hi.”

  Not believing what had happened last night, even as memories flashed before her eyes, she ducked her head from his stare, mortified.

  He chuckled. “Don’t do that. There’s nothing wrong with anything that we did last night. To my people, we are now mated, married as you would call it. Once we mate, we mate for life and there is no such thing as divorce.”

  Kirby’s mouth gaped open. “What! How?”

  Rane kissed her. “Tell me you are okay with this? I know I should have wooed you, and I promise I will explain, or try to explain, anything I can, but sometimes it’s hard to and I forget that you’re human.”

  Kirby stared at Rane. “Is there any way that I can become a werewolf? You bit me.”

  Rane grinned. “No, little red, you can only be born a werewolf.”

  Releasing a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, she noticed Rane’s face drawn in a frown.

  “Not that I would mind, but I already feel weird. I don’t know how I’d feel with that added on.” She frowned as she remembered something that she had heard. “I was told that werewolves were ‘long lived’, and if I’m your mate and that means we’re married, what does it mean by long lived? I don’t want to be old and you still look like you do now.”

  He took her hand and kissed it. “No, you won’t grow old while I stay looking young. It’s kind of complicated. We live about one hundred and fifty to two hundred years—”

  She gasped. “How old are you?”

  He chuckled. “Only thirty-two. I’m very young for a werewolf.”

  “Wow! How old is Kane then?”

  “We’re all pretty young. He’s only thirty-five, but he’s the oldest child in the family. The whole pack is young. Tray is forty, and his family moved to Australia when he was two years old. Blake, who you seem to like,” he growled out, “is forty-five. There are others who are older and came here with their parents, like Blake and Tray did. One of the reasons we think we live so long is because with our true mate, we produce the highest quality offspring. Although it’s very rare, if we mate with someone our wolf knows is not our true mate, it never works out, as we are one with our wolf.”

  Kirby frowned, trying to take everything in. “How did you know that I was your mate? I remember you saying something about smell, but what else?”

  He smiled and sniffed her, breathing her in. “Yes, you smell like my favorite things, apple and cinnamon. My wolf recognized you straight away, some say they recognize their mate from a past life, others say they look at their mate and know all, I think it’s a bit of both. From what Faith has told me, and from what I’ve seen for myself this weekend and throughout my life, I know the true mate bond got it right. Don’t get me wrong, I know we won’t be perfect, but nothing ever is.”

  Kirby smiled. “Thanks, I think. I’m looking forward to getting to know you more too.”

  Kissing her forehead, he continued. “Answering your question…no, you will not grow old while I stay young. My biting you transferred something into you. I don’t know what to call it. Faith says it’s magic, and for the sake of this discussion, let’s just say it is. So because of my bite and my penis locking inside you, and so forth, you will age at the same rate as me, heal quicker, gain extra strength, and have all around a lot more energy.”

  Kirby knew she must look a fool with her eyes large and a mouth that wouldn’t shut, but she didn’t care. Her mind raced with all the possibilities of these new abilities she would have, and she also realized that with Rane being what he was, he wouldn’t be scared away by her family.

  Snapping her mouth shut, she hugged Rane as tight as possible. “This is fantastic news. With your super strength, and now my added abilities, you won’t be scared away by my brothers. For once, maybe I could win a fight, have a boyfriend. Oh, you could probably kick their arses for me and not even break a sweat.”

  He chuckled, which made his rock hard chest vibrate. Mmm, she loved his body.

  “After everything I’ve just told you, the first thing you think about and are happy about is that I’ll be able to beat your brothers up? And, little red, we are a lot more than just boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  He growled the last and pulled her lips to meet his. She melted into his embrace as his hand moved down her back. Pulling her mouth away from Rane’s, she stared into his eyes. She had so many questions.

  “Will I be able to run faster, or do you think you could teach me to beat my brothers in a fight?”

  Rane sat up, pulling her with him, laughing. “You are a blood thirsty woman.”

  She whacked Rane’s chest, but he just laughed harder. “It’s not funny. I’m serious.”

  “Oh, I know you are, that’s what’s so funny. You have just learnt that you’re mated to a werewolf forever, and you’l
l live longer, among other things, but all that matters to you is that you get payback at your brothers.”

  She whacked him again. “What is so funny? I’m so sick of being picked last for every family sport thing. That’s not the worst though, when I was younger, they always picked on me, and even though I have an animal affinity, I still am not a fan of stick bugs, mice, rats, spiders, and snails. Do you know what I would find in my bed all the time? I even woke up screaming several times to mice crawling on me, or bugs, but the worst had to be the two hairy huntsmen spiders.” She shivered, remembering that morning. “They got worse as they got older. I never got to date, or make friends, as they were all terrified of my brothers.”

  Rane hugged her tighter in a lame excuse to comfort her, but it was lost on her, being he was laughing so hard. She whacked him a couple more times until he let go and she got off the bed. He was laughing so hard she didn’t think he even noticed.

  “It’s not funny. You’re acting just like them, and they’re one of the reasons I left, so I wouldn’t be picked on, and to make some friends, be independent, learn to stick up for myself against overbearing arseholes.” Turning, she started looking for her clothes. All men were idiots!

  * * * *

  Rane tried to stop laughing, really he did, especially knowing Kirby was getting cranky and looking for her clothes. The problem was he and his brothers would never do anything like that to their sisters, but their sisters would, and did, do stuff like that to them.

  “I’m sorry, little red. I’m not just laughing at how cute you are, I’m laughing because in our house it was the other way around, the girls would terrorize us.” He grabbed her waist, pulling her back on the bed when she reached down to get one of her ripped pieces of clothing.

  He pulled her into his body, but she remained stiff. He kissed her shoulder and up her neck murmuring, “I’m sorry. Please don’t be angry. Come on. I’ll beat up your brothers for you however you want.”

  She finally relaxed into him, looking at his eyes and giggling. “I don’t want you to hurt them. The thought really only crossed my mind for maybe a second or two.” He smiled at her, and she sighed. “Oh, okay, ten, fifteen minutes tops. Oh, shoot, fine, I’m still thinking it’s a good possibility.” He chuckled and she joined in, chuckling along with him. Snuggling closer into him, she rested her chin on his chest as she murmured, “I hate to say this, as I’m so comfy, but we should probably head back to Faith’s and Kane’s. I mean, the reason I’m here this weekend is because of Faith’s birthday. I know we really haven’t finished discussing everything—”

  He placed his hand over her mouth, silencing her. He moved her off him and on the bed, telling her to stay for a couple of minutes. Without even bothering to get dressed, he ran out of the bedroom and to the front door, opening it before the two battered and bruised werewolves had the chance to open it.

  Fuck, something major must have happened. They should have been healed by now. “Come in. What happened?”

  Blake stepped forward. “You and your mate need to come to Kane’s house now. We’ve called a meeting of every available werewolf.”

  Nodding, Rane went to get Kirby from their room. He almost forgot about the two werewolves waiting in his hall when he saw Kirby bent over in one of his black shirts that came to her knees. She seemed to be looking for her other shoe. “Ah, little red, if we didn’t have to be somewhere now…” He moved up behind her, growling. She dropped the one shoe she had found and moaned as his hands snaked up her body. “Mmm, oh my, you don’t have anything else on.” He groaned.

  “Well, if someone hadn’t ripped all my clothes, then maybe I wouldn’t just be wearing your shirt.”

  His groan turned into a growl as he heard the two werewolves outside chuckle. He rested his head on her shoulder, and then turned her around to face him. “Wear my shirt. It looks better on you, and I like more of my scent on you.” Her cheeks blushed a pretty pink. “Don’t worry about your shoes, I’ll carry you.”

  “No, I’m too heavy. You ca—”

  He cut her off by picking her up in a cradle hold and kissing her lips. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that you’re not perfect. You’re light as a feather.” She laughed when he lifted her above his head several times. “See, my little red, you are lighter than a feather.”

  She reached up and kissed him. “Let’s go.”

  They all left the house and ran to Kane’s.

  * * * *

  They entered a house full of chaos. Once they were inside, Kirby ran straight to Faith and Sara, who were crying. “What happened?”

  Faith blabbered out, “I didn’t see anything. I never saw anything coming. I should’ve seen it. They have to be okay. She has to be okay. I sent extra men later when I started to get a bad feeling, but we didn’t really think they would need them. Who would think they would attack a bowling alley? They’re going to be okay. They have to be.”

  Rane’s mother Della came to Faith and wrapped her arms around her, whispering, “Faith, you need to calm down. Remember the baby. This is not your fault. You cannot see everything.”

  “But, she, she, he…” Faith blabbered out.

  “Shhh, both our best healer and Kane are in there looking at them. You know he’s the best doctor there is.”

  Kirby was starting to fret as well. What the hell had gone on? She needed more information. Looking around the room, she didn’t see anyone else she knew. Where were Remy and Bengie? She finally saw someone she knew, one of Rane’s brothers, Jamie. Walking over to Jamie, she tapped him on the arm to get his attention. Now, on closer inspection, she could see he wasn’t in very good shape either. “What happened?”

  He didn’t even glance down at her as he stated, “We were at the bowling alley, all having fun. I never thought they would come to a bowling alley. There was no warning, no nothing. All of a sudden we smelled the sulphur and everywhere we looked there were fucking demons. Fifteen, I’m telling you, fifteen, they swarmed in with minions and zombies. There were only eight of us, that’s including my sisters, Remy, and Bengie.”

  He shook his head like he was trying to dispel a nasty thought.

  “Bengie, he… I don’t think they knew his potential when they let him go and haven’t come searching for him. He fucking kept three, and I mean three huge demons from Remy. I…we can’t…can’t…” He shook his head. “And wow, Remy wasn’t doing so bad herself with minions, but once the four demons surrounded them, they just...”

  He seemed to choke as he spat out, “Remy was amazing. She set demons on fire, burnt most of the minions that way. Demons are different to minions, they can take the pain.” A tear fell out of his eye, sliding down his face. “It felt like hours, although I’m sure it was only minutes, when the stupid fucking police started showing up and shooting the demons. It made the fuckers stronger. Finally reinforcements came, but they weren’t enough. Faith couldn’t, Faith… She didn’t see how many. We didn’t know how many. So they only sent eight more and we really needed double. All of us fought as best we could until more help arrived, but with the demons enhanced from the lead bullets the stupid humans used...”

  He glanced behind her, and she felt Rane’s arms come around her waist.

  “I’m sorry, man, one of your human army men is dead and one is in critical condition. None are as bad as Remy and Bengie.” Tears were freely rolling down Jamie’s face now as he whispered, “They’re in real bad shape.” Kirby could barely hear him as he said, “I don’t know if Remy will survive this. We have had problems as we cannot chance a hospital visit, especially with Bengie. Remy’s not…”

  Faith jumped up from the lounge, Rane’s mother let go of her. Her eyes turned an eerie color as she seemed to lose focus and yell out, “Call Arden, he has to come home, now! Call Arden, call him.”

  Everyone turned to Faith. Della touched her shoulders. “Sweetheart, he’s not due back from his away team for three more weeks. They’re in Canberra, and it will take him hours to get her
e.”

  “I don’t care. Get him here now or I will never forgive you.”

  Everyone gaped at Faith. Rane’s dad came up and tried to pull her in for a hug, but she fought it.

  “No, no, he has to come. She’s his mate.”

  “Faith, she can’t be Arden’s mate. He would have recognized her, or said something by now. She’s been friends with you for years. No, she can’t be.”

  Sara spoke through sobs. “No, this is the first time Remy’s been out here. We never understood why Faith never had sleepovers or invited us to her house for visits. Faith just never wanted us to, and Remy didn’t come to Kane’s thirty-fifth birthday party. We have only ever been around your daughters, Jamie, and Devlin, although recently Kane too.”

  Everyone stared wide-eyed at Faith. Her lips were pursed and her eyes seemed to be flashing with anger. “What? Stop looking at me like that. It’s not how I envisioned them meeting. I saw it differently, but…” She looked at Jack and then at everyone. “They’re messing with the future, so I don’t see why I can’t. If she dies, the future I saw will be out of whack anyway. All I know is she can’t die.” She glared at everyone in the room, before she added, “None of you can tell him, or her, why he has to come home.”

  Rane growled at the same time as his father and then everyone gave a reluctant nod. Jack slowly walked away with his phone to his ear. He arrived back only a minute later. “I told Arden he has to come home ASAP, family emergency.”

  Faith seemed to deflate. She grabbed Kirby and Sara’s hands, pulling them down the hall. “Come on, let’s go see them. They’re in my poor brother’s bedroom. He will be okay. They’re all going to be okay.”

  Kirby didn’t know what to expect. She tried to think on the bad side, so she could prepare herself for what she was about to see.

  Remy was just one big, purple bruise. Her left arm was broken, her ribs were wrapped, and she was covered in cuts. One ankle was swollen, and she was either sleeping or unconscious—Kirby wasn’t exactly sure which one.