Rane's Mate

by Hazel Gower

  Finding him curled on the bed in wolf form, she stared at the beautiful tree bark brown wolf. “It’s like that, is it?”

  The wolf lifted its massive head and whined, his big blue eyes pleading.

  “No, I am not falling for that. Change back now, Rane.” She stomped her foot, hoping he would know she was serious.

  Rane changed back into a very naked man and still he said nothing.

  “You’re not going to say anything?” She waited, but he just stared at her. Screaming in frustration, she yelled, “Answer me.”

  He raked his fingers through his short hair and moved so they were only an arm’s length apart. Seeming to let out a breath, he grabbed her and pulled her on top of him. He murmured against her lips, “I’m not really good with words.”

  Rane’s hands crept up her back and around to her front, caressing her breasts as his lips nibbled at her mouth. Her body came instantly alive, on fire, burning with need.

  Kirby’s mind fought, telling her to stay strong, be firm, get answers, but once he had her pants off and his mouth plastered on hers, breathing life and fire into her, she lost all ability to think and her anger vanished. She promised herself she would get answers later, much later.

  One of his skilful hands moved down to her pussy, exploring. He switched their positions so she was lying on the bed and he was hovering over her. Growling, he ripped her singlet and didn’t even bother with the bra, pushing it down, which pushed her breasts up to him like an offering. He groaned as he sucked one extended nipple into his mouth, then switched to the other.

  “You taste and smell so good.”

  By now she felt needy and desperate. “Oh, Rane, I love what you do to me.”

  She felt him smile against her skin. Kissing his way down her body until he reached her pussy, he then paused and leaned back. “You’re so wet it’s glistening,” he groaned.

  He settled himself between her legs. His tongue came out and lapped from the bottom to the top. He growled, lapping at her pussy, making sure he got all her cream. Shivering, she held onto his hair, loving the noises he made against her, which made everything vibrate.

  She needed more, wanted more. Pulling him up by the hair so they were face to face, she sobbed, “More, more, I need you inside me. I want to come around your thick cock.”

  Growling, he lined up his dick and plunged in. Screaming his name, she pushed up to meet him and bit him when he pulled almost all the way out and thrust back in.

  Rane roared and pulled out. She moaned at the loss, but he moved her so she was on her hands and knees, spreading her legs apart as far as they would go. He moved over her, his cock hovering at her opening, teasing her. She panted. “Please, please, I need… I’m burning.”

  Rane buried his dick halfway in. “Whose are you? Tell me you’re mine, tell me now.” He thrust in, making her scream in ecstasy as he pumped into her. “You’re mine, all mine. I will never let you go. Mine, say it.” He pulled her up so her back was against his chest and bit her shoulder gently. “Promise me you’ll give me a chance.” He moved in and out. “Say you’ll move in with me. Please don’t make me live without you.”

  She nodded, just wanting more. Holding her in place, this time when he plunged in, he bit her hard.

  Kirby shivered, yelling at the top of her lungs as she came on the best orgasm she had ever had. “I’m yours, Rane, only yours, yours. Yes, anything, yes.”

  He relaxed a bit and put her back so her knees were on the bed, but he placed her hands on the headboard, all the time never removing his mouth from her shoulder. Rane used one of his hands to hold her in place, and the other to play with her clit. Kirby could feel herself building again. Rane pounded into her, and she knew he was about to come. He flicked her clit and roared out his release, biting her again.

  Collapsing in a sexual daze of satisfaction on the bed, feeling his penis lock, she shivered in ecstasy. “Mmm, once you go wolf, you will never go back.”

  He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her tender shoulder.

  Yes, she knew she had been tricked, manipulated, but at that moment, she really didn’t care. Kirby felt so good right now, she wasn’t worried about anything. Snuggling closer to Rane, she fell asleep, feeling safe and satisfied.

  * * * *.

  Rane knew what he had done was wrong, and beneath him. But when Kirby had started talking about them not knowing each other and not wanting to live with him, he knew he would say something wrong if he voiced his thoughts, so he didn’t say anything at all. Instead, he waited for her to get so worked up she wouldn’t notice when he pounced, doing what he’d wanted to do since they reached the barracks.

  He couldn’t lose her. She was his angel, and he loved everything about her. He loved having her with him where she belonged and in his house, well now their house. It was nice to have someone he could talk to and who wasn’t scared of him.

  Laughing as she snuggled into him, he rubbed his hands up and down her back. It was so good to have someone willing to stand up to him and say what they felt without being afraid of the consequences. No one stood up to him, bar his father and his oldest brother. He might not be the tallest in the pack but he was the biggest body wise, which seemed to terrify people more. He smiled as he thought of his little red yelling at him earlier on, chuckling as he remembered her stomping her foot, which was the cutest thing he had ever seen. She was so tiny at five-four, his cute little redhead.

  As he slowly detangled himself she moaned out “no” and grabbed for him. Rane kissed her forehead and headed for the kitchen. He was going to make up for his deception. Maybe making his famous lasagna with mashed potatoes and veggies for dinner would cheer her up. Whilst she slept he also needed to check in with all of his brothers and do some paperwork.

  Five minutes before Rane was going to wake Kirby for dinner she wandered in wearing one of his black shirts. She looked so sexy, her curly red ringlets falling everywhere, and her eyes still sleep dazed. He grinned, knowing she had nothing on underneath.

  She ran her fingers through her hair and came to stand in front of him. “What’s that yummy smell? It smelt so good, it woke me up with my stomach growling and making demands.”

  Reaching down, he kissed her forehead, murmuring against it, “It’s my famous lasagna, mashed potatoes, and veggies. It’ll be ready in about five minutes.”

  She smiled at him, and his heart seemed to explode. She was his sunshine, his everything, especially when she smiled like that.

  “Wow, you cook? All my brothers can do is heat canned food, or re heat food.”

  Rane pulled her into his arms as he laughed. “Well, I have nine siblings, my mother made us learn to help out. I think the only one in our family who doesn’t know how to cook, clean, and iron is Jamie. But we have Faith to blame for that, because she did all his chores for him.” He looked down as Kirby’s face screwed up.

  “I mean this in the nicest way—I’m surprised Faith ended up with Kane and not Jamie.”

  Rane smiled. He had wondered about that for a while himself. He let go of Kirby and wandered over to get plates and utensils ready and to set up the table.

  “I don’t know if Faith told you how she became a part of our family.”

  “No, she hasn’t.”

  “When Jamie was eight, he saved her from some bullies. She then asked to see Jamie and Kane’s wolf. Kane had come to check on Jamie, catching the last of the fight. They were shocked that a little girl knew they were werewolves. She grabbed Kane’s hand and walked to our house.”

  “Well, that just makes less sense. If Jamie saved her, why didn’t she end up with him?”

  Chuckling, Rane continued as he put a plate of food in front of her. “How about you eat, and I’ll tell you the story?”

  She nodded and groaned as she placed the first mouthful of lasagna in her mouth.

  “Even though there’s a three year age difference between Jamie and Faith, they became best friends. I think for a while ev
en Devlin was close with them. Don’t get me wrong, she got along with my sisters too, especially since there’s barely a year’s difference between them. But it was always, has always been, Kane for Faith, although he’s fourteen years older than her. Kane was twenty and was studying to be a doctor in the army. He would come home from being away and that’s when you would notice the difference, she would become his shadow, never leaving his side. It was kind of odd when you think about it—a twenty-year-old with a five-year-old following him around—but Kane didn’t seem to mind. He actually seemed happier when Faith was around. When I think of it now, it should have been obvious to us. A normal twenty-year-old man wouldn’t let a five-year-old hang off him.

  “Kane never played with the other kids, but he always played any game Faith wanted him to, even playing her prince and swooping down to save her from Devlin, the dragon, or Jamie, the evil warlock. Jamie never seemed to mind when she left him when Kane was home. And when Kane was around Faith also seemed to progress more in controlling her visions.

  “I once came in and watched them all together. Jamie was playing in the pool with our sisters. Faith was sitting next to Kane eating ice cream, slopping it everywhere. She was asking about bones in the body, and not just the normal simple bones like the elbow, but the finer bones and what they were called, what their connections were, and so forth. It wasn’t until I got closer that I discovered it was what Kane was studying at the time. The next day he left to go back to university, and a week later we found out that he had gotten the highest grade in his class in that area that he’d been studying with Faith. It went on like this until she turned…I think about thirteen or fourteen, the teen years, that’s when Faith started to get shy, and she stopped being his shadow.”

  Kirby paused with a fork ready as she stopped and asked, “How did she keep up with Kane’s studying? All those questions should have been too hard for someone her age.”

  Smiling, he continued. “We all would like to know how Faith knows and does lots of things. If you were to see them that day it would have been clear, it should have been clear to all of us. When Kane would leave she would go back to Jamie. I think it actually helped, as it gave Jamie a break. I love Faith, but she was a pretty full-on child. In the end, it comes down to Jamie is her best friend, and Kane is her lover, mate, and all-around confidant. The next time Jamie, Kane, and Faith are in a room alone and you can watch them, do it. Then you will understand there has always been a gravitational field around Kane and Faith. When they’re in the same room together, they’re very rarely an arm’s length apart. That’s how it is with true mates.”

  Kirby nodded, smiling as she asked, “Were you ever one of Faith’s dragons?”

  Rane’s smile grew bigger at her subtle way of getting to know more about him. “Well, I would like to say that I was spared, although when someone knows secrets they shouldn’t know and threatens to use them, you kind of never have a choice. If I didn’t care about what she’d learnt, then the waterworks usually did the trick and I caved. Most of the time I was away with the military, or training. I knew from a young age that it was the route I wanted to go. I joined straight out of school.” He paused and made sure he looked into her eyes as he asked her a question that he’d been dying to know to answer to. “What made you choose to work with children when you have an animal affinity? Why didn’t you become a vet or something similar?”

  Kirby gave a shaky laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I love children, and my job, but people already found me odd, when for no reason at all animals would follow me around. I thought that to be on the safe side, I would stay away from any field to do with animals. My brothers may be arseholes, but they stuck up for me against all of the bullies. And as far as I know they never dated any of the girls that were nasty to me or picked on me.”

  Taking in everything she had said, he thought of all that had happened. He had noticed that Kirby’s confidence had started to get better, even in such a short time, and he was willing to do anything to make her as happy as possible.

  “Now that you’ve moved away from that town and you have new friends and a new life, if given the option, would you change your profession?” He looked into her beautiful brown eyes, waiting for her answer.

  Her eyebrows furrowed. She pursed her lips and spoke slowly as if she was thinking over every word she was saying. “Truthfully, I don’t know. I do love my job, for now. I don’t know what I would do if I did something with animals. I know I couldn’t be a vet, because I’m not good with death or blood, guts, or anything like that.” She put up her hand before he could butt in. “I know the other night there was blood and other yucky stuff, but that was different then, having to operate or work on animals that you love is not something I could do. Working for an animal rescue or the RSPCA would really make the animal affinity show, as I would feel so bad for the animals, I would probably donate most of my pay and end up with a whole heap of animals at my house.” She laughed. “I suppose I could be a horse whisperer, or work on a kill free farm.”

  He laughed too. “Well, that really settled that question.”

  She laughed along with him.

  “So!” He tried for casual. “Do you want to go to your apartment and get your clothes and other things? You need to make sure you have everything you need for work tomorrow.”

  She only had a mouthful or two left, as her fork fell to the plate and she glared at him, shaking her head. “That was a cruel, mean trick you pulled earl—”

  He put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. “Please give us a chance, it’s all I want. I promise you can leave if I do something wrong. I need you. Help me get the house ready for your parents. It’ll be easier for us to get to know each other better if you live here.” Her mouth shut, so he pressed on. “I really do need help choosing furniture. Ava got the stuff I have now, but she didn’t want to get the rest, because she thought it would be best if I left it for my mate to choose.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. Bringing it up to his mouth, he kissed it. “The biggest benefit will be, if you stay I’ll get to wake up to you every morning.”

  Kirby sighed. “Fine. I’ll call my parents from my apartment and tell them that I’m moving in tomorrow, give them the address and phone number, and have a talk to them.” She raised her eyebrow as she added, “What did you say to them anyway?”

  He knew he needed to tread lightly. “I told them that I’ve been seeing you for a while and have fallen head over heels for you.” She groaned as he continued on. “I told them that I would love to meet them, as I have an important question to ask them. I invited them over this weekend, and they agreed to come.”

  She doubled over laughing. After a good five minutes, she straightened and said, “No, really, what did you say? Because I know it didn’t go like that. It took me three years to convince them I was grown up enough to move away. They call me every day, sometimes more. I turned on my mobile before I came down here and it said I have twelve missed calls from them. So what did you really say, Rane?”

  Grabbing her around the waist, he pulled her to him and moved them to the lounge, sitting her on his lap and curling his arms around her. If he held her and kissed her, maybe she would be less angry. “Let me just start off by saying that your mother sounds really nice.”

  Kirby raised her eyebrow.

  “Well, she did.” In a softer voice he added, “At the start.”

  She laughed at him and snuggled in.

  “I introduced myself and said that I had heard a lot about them, and that you were apprehensive about telling them about me as I’m quite a bit older and you weren’t sure how they would react, especially with everything happening so fast. I told them I had asked you to move in and you had said yes. This is where it started to get…dicey. When your father got on the phone…let’s just say that he is very creative.”

  Kirby was laughing so hard she was holding her stomach. “Oh, I can just imagine what he said. My dad makes my brothers look like pussycats.”
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  Rane frowned and hugged her closer. “I kind of thought I might get a little sympathy?”

  She stopped laughing. “You went behind my back, so you don’t get any sympathy.”

  “Well, after some discussing of how long we had known each other and that we had meet through your friend, your mother got on the other line and said her bags were packed and she would be here by tonight.” He mumbled the next bit against her head. “I told them that your brothers were here and not to worry.”

  “Oh my frigging God!” Kirby laughed. “You had to play the brother card.”

  He grunted. “I invited them to stay this weekend, to see how happy you are. They still wanted to come, but I convinced them to wait until the weekend as we both work all week, and I told them that you are even helping out at the military base. What got them to agree in the end was that your two brothers will be here this weekend as well as my own parents.”

  She laughed again. “I’m the only girl, and there are seven years between Hayden and I, and eight between Logan and I. They tried for another child for years after Hayden was born, and they had given up when I came along. So I was Mummy and Daddy’s little angel surprise. My mother was extra excited because I was a girl and I would get her gift.” She giggled as she continued, “I always forget that she has an animal affinity the same as me. Mum’s gift doesn’t seem to be as strong as mine, but she is going to know what you are.” Kirby frowned. “Do you think she’ll know what you are, or be like me and think she’s crazy?”

  Rane kissed her forehead. He had forgotten himself that her mother or someone in her family had to have the supernatural ability for her to have one. “I don’t know, my little red. I guess we’ll find out on Saturday.”

  * * * *

  It felt weird to be back in her tiny two bedroom apartment, and Rane made it feel so much smaller. His massive form looked like it barely fit in her room. Her roommate was at work, thank God.