I swung my legs off the bed, each movement rubbing the tender folds of my exposed body.
“Is this what you want?”
Aldrich. Naked. He was thick and hard, his straining erection boasting an already wet head. I reached for it and he held his breath, his shaft jerking in anticipation.
“Is it what you want?”
His eyes swirled. “I want you to suck me off.”
I trailed a finger down the front of him, my entire body thrumming with empowerment. Every breath he took was stuttered and I giggled, touching my finger to the weeping seam of his cock. His answer was a strangled sound that I couldn’t quite make out, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to know what he tasted like. My tongue flicked out and I moaned along with him.
Strong, blunt fingers wound in my hair and he pushed himself into my throat. The heady smell of him mixed with a taste like nothing I’d ever had. Arousal ignited, and I relaxed my jaw, taking every one of his shallow thrusts until he deepened the pressure, sinking further into my throat.
Once I got the hang of the rhythm, he palmed one of my breasts, stroking me to a frenzy while I rocked back and forth, my thighs brushing against the slick, throbbing center of my being.
This time when he bent down, it was to press his palm right where I needed. I whimpered low in my throat, knowing that the vibration tunneled its way through his shaft as I bobbed my head.
His voice was gruff, but he managed to choke out. “Hold on for just a moment.”
He lifted me up into his arms, setting me back on the bed. I didn’t understand what he wanted at first, but he spread out, pulling me onto his lap, facing his feet. His hands enveloped my hips, leaving hot prints in their wake. I gasped softly, not sure what he wanted.
“Bend over, liebling. I want to taste you while you take me into your mouth.”
The position was embarrassing and I frowned, realizing I wouldn’t be able to see his face this way. “Are you sure this is…?”
A ragged plea dragged from his chest. “Please. Do it.”
I scooted backward, and he ran the heels of his palms along my spine. The span of his shoulders kept my thighs parted, and I felt his breath stroking the flesh between my legs. I lowered my head, blowing on him the same way, and he jerked in reaction.
When his tongue snaked out, running over my slit, I melted. My entire world became focused on how to make him feel just as good. I used my fist to keep him steady, drawing little grunts and promises from him. He murmured against my skin and I followed his silent instructions until I was squirming on his face, his hands keeping me from jumping off. Pleasure rolled through me on all fronts, my senses were filled with him and my body ached with the need he was creating.
His tongue rocked me back and forth, and something sweet and hot coiled in my gut. I sucked him in deeper than I thought I could go. The coil wound tighter and tighter, and he fell from my lips, my fist pumping furiously. His tongue slipped into the warmth of my body and I shattered, throwing my head back while my mouth hung open.
It took me a moment to realize he was flipping me around, covering my trembling form with his. My body thrummed with pleasure and he pressed his body against me, settling between my thighs where he continued to stroke the sensitive button.
He dragged the head of his cock along the puffy skin, painting wetness everywhere he touched. On pure instinct, I wrapped my legs around his waist, lifting up so I was rubbing along his length.
He groaned low in his throat, capturing my mouth again. “I need to be inside of you, Roux.”
It was so rare that he said my name. It stroked along my eardrums like a prayer, and I whispered my own fervent thanks to whoever had put me before this man, this beast. My mate. My whisper was a little breathless, but I poured every ounce of what I was feeling into my words. “I love you, Aldrich.”
His eyes flashed black, then white, and then settled back into their normal state, one white and one black. “I’m going to mark you this time. Before you leave this bed you will be well and truly mine.”
I shifted my hips even closer to him, pressing his head in the direction I wanted it to go. He grinned for a second, a wolfish expression that blossomed over his face like the sun bursting into the sky. It warmed me inside and out.
“I will take care of my delicate little human.”
With that, he flipped me over onto my stomach and dragged my hips to his body. I gasped, my first inclination to buck away, but he pushed a finger inside of me, smearing the juice that slid down my thighs. “You’re so excited,” he purred, waiting. “I bet the anticipation is killing you.”
I pushed away my natural shyness, running by teeth over my bottom lip. This is what he liked, and I would give it to him. “It is. I’m so close to the edge, Aldrich. I can feel it stretching out, spiraling with promise. All I need is one little push.”
He angled himself so that the slippery head of his cock rubbed against my entrance. “This little push? Is this what you need?”
Swallowing, I dipped my head. “Fill me up. Please, I can’t stand it anymore.”
I pushed backward, trying to drag him into my body and he hissed with pleasure, his palms clamping down on my hips. He slid into me, all the way to the hilt. The moment of penetration was earth-shattering. Just like that, I was flying, my body collapsing into a void of delicious sensation. He pumped to a steady beat, each motion taking me to impossible new heights.
I clenched and flexed in time with him, matching his thrusts with mine until he was the one holding on and I was in control of the depth and speed at which he sank into me. I gasped and choked, the girth of him more than I had remembered or ever hoped for. By the time the third scream tore through my throat, I was riding wildly, slamming back against him with so much force I would have worried about bruising him if I could get enough oxygen to my brain to form a thought.
Sparks of ecstasy blasted through me and all that I was aware of was him, me, and the bed. He leaned over my rocking body, his chest pressed against my back and I shivered when his breath hit my ear. “I can’t hold on much longer. Brace yourself.”
I wrapped one arm around his neck, repositioning the other to keep me up while still holding him to me. The force of his orgasm tore through me like a tidal wave and he brought his hands up to my breasts, squeezing tightly as he clung to me. I followed him over the edge once more, endorphins turning my brain to mush and my body into a bundle of tingling nerves.
Seconds later, I felt the Wolf stir and his jaw stretched out and clamped down on my shoulder. I screamed, this time in pain, as he sank his elongated teeth into my skin. He bit through muscle and didn’t stop until he was buried in bone. I bucked wildly, an involuntary response to the amount of pain crashing through my consciousness.
The wind swept through me like a cooling balm. He let it work slowly, making sure the scar remained, but taking away much of the pain in the process. With a concentrated effort, I calmed down, forcing myself to focus on the soothing things he said.
“It’s all right, liebling, it’s over now. You did great.” He stroked my back, keeping the blankets and such from touching my slowly closing wound.
I buried my face in a pillow, wiping away my tears. I refused to look at the jagged mess of flesh that was my shoulder, mostly because I knew it would only make it hurt more. But it was done, I finally had my mark. This made me the Primarch of the entire Pack. I groaned.
“What? Does it still hurt?”
I shook my head, groaning again for good measure before I turned to him. “This means I’ll have to apologize to Adawolfa. I may even have to—hrk—thank her.”
His laughter soothed away the rest of the sting from his bite.
* * * *
The Howl was a pulsating whine that escaped the voices of every wolf present, gathering in the sky and twisting into one name. It died down slowly but the energy echoed along in the night, painting Aldrich’s name in the sky.
Elder Marrok placed the crown of black laurel on Al
drich’s head and stepped back. We were standing underneath yet another tree that I’d never seen in a courtyard I hadn’t known existed.
“The Storm has passed and we are stronger.”
Elder Ralphina stepped forward and laid a crown of soft white flowers upon my own head. She stepped back after giving me a sly wink, something I doubt I will ever get used to.
“We rebuild what was lost, and look to the future.”
Botolf stepped forward, raising his hands in the air before us, facing the crowd. I smiled broadly up at the guy, I couldn’t help it. He’d decided to wear ceremonial mud to the event, even though it was still freezing. “The Pack grows, and with it, so do our spirits.”
The cheers that rang up between each statement wound down abruptly. Ylva, a woman who hadn’t been within the stronghold in some time stepped forward, her back straight and her head held high. In her hand, she clenched the stem of a bold-faced sunflower. At the end of winter.
She offered it to me before sinking into a deep and flawless curtsy. “We learn from our pasts, correcting injustices that we find.”
The crowd erupted into cheers once more and bits of sweetmeats and streamers were tossed in the air in celebration. I was immediately rushed by Mina and Evrard, who had asked to stay long enough to watch the coronation.
“Look at you! You made it through the entire thing without throwing up!” Mina clapped me on the back laughingly. “I’m so proud of you.”
I pinched her but she only laughed harder, taking both of my hands into hers. “You look beautiful, Mina. I’m sad to hear you are leaving, but I’m happy for you.”
I hugged her, and she pushed me away but not before I saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes. “Don’t go getting all sappy on me. It’s not a big deal. We can see each other whenever we want to. Evrard’s Passel isn’t far away.”
The big man chimed in. “And we will need to discuss how to deal with the wee piggies who thought to frame my family.”
Not to mention what Daciana had said right before her death. I shivered, looking over to Ylva, who was refusing to meet my gaze. Turning back to Evrard, I put my hands on my hips, no longer intimidated by his size. The man was a big teddy bear. “It would have helped if you had told us your true identity.”
He had the grace to blush. “Yes, well … being nobility is one thing. Even if I had given you my title, I doubt any of you would have cared a lick. Being the future king, on the other hand…”
I nodded my understanding. “Where is Deryk anyway?”
Both of them groaned before Mina answered. “Probably off causing trouble somewhere. And speaking of trouble, I think that’s Ulric here to beg for your forgiveness again. Why don’t you try giving it to him this time? You know you’re going to.”
I pouted, but didn’t respond to the suggestion when her brother appeared beside me. “Roux, have you got a moment?”
“Sure.” I tried to keep my frosty tone, but honestly, I wasn’t good at staying mad for long.
“Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry again. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and maybe I should have let you in on my suspicions, but I didn’t want to drag you into any—”
“You can stop now, Rick.” I sighed before winding my arms around his waist. The hug might as well have been a deep breath, because I felt my bond-brother sigh with relief. “I get why you did what you did and even though I was miffed at first, I appreciate it more than you will ever know.”
He smiled one of his sweet, special smiles I’d never noticed he saved just for Mina and myself until it was gone. He squeezed my shoulder. “You have no idea how badly I needed to hear that. It ate at me, Roux. Every time I looked at you and you shot back that guarded, hurt gaze … it was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
I leaned up to kiss his cheek but the symbol of my affection and thanks never landed. Aldrich shoved him forward, effectively ripping him out of my hold. “You are touching my mate again, Undedicated. What did I tell you about that?”
Ulric responded with a low snarl. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not Undedicated anymore. I’m a Shadow, for shit’s sake.”
“Do not get any idea in your head that you will be her Shadow.”
“And why the hell not? She doesn’t even have one and she’s supposed to be allotted two.”
“Cundrie is more than capable of dealing with any issues my mate will come across.”
“Yes, like that has worked out so far. Besides, Cundrie is going with Mina. Roux gave her the duties of Relations until Ylva gets her bearings, so Cundrie volunteered to act as her Shadow for the time being. You might want to try keeping up with the happenings in your own stronghold, Primogen.”
Aldrich considered for a moment, taking my appointments in stride. “Fine. Adawolfa will now become her Shadow and you will be mine.”
“What?!”
“Hell no.”
Rick and I barreled our responses at the same time, but after the voices stopped echoing I couldn’t say for sure which was mine.
Aldrich turned to me, a lavender eyebrow already high on his forehead. “You protest this change?”
“Well … I, you see…”
He folded his arms across his chest before tossing some signal I’ve never seen him do into the air. Almost immediately, Adawolfa was there standing off to the side. “Don’t you have something you’d like to say anyway, mate?”
Oh, if only looks could kill. My mate would have been standing in a puddle of retribution goodness. I wasn’t putting this off. Really, I wasn’t. I just didn’t know what to say.
One look at his smug face told me I wasn’t going to get away with that excuse. “Fine,” I snapped, marching right over to where Adawolfa watched me with wary eyes. “Thank you for your help, even though I think a nice ‘Hey, get your act together’ would have worked much better than trying to kill me.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “I wasn’t trying to kill you, Princess. Trust me, if I had, you wouldn’t be standing right now.”
I tossed her one of my own smirks. “Are you sure about that? Perhaps you’d like to say that to my Grundstoff? I don’t think the two of you have had a chance to meet.”
“No, we haven’t, though I doubt you would have her at all if you hadn’t needed to channel your magic in order to save yourself.”
I didn’t have a comeback for that because, damn it, she was right. I inclined my head slightly before leaning in so only she and I could hear the next thing I said. “I will never let you have him, so you might as well let go of any thoughts of being with Aldrich.”
She scoffed. “What makes you think I still want him at all?”
“I don’t care whether you do or don’t. This is fair warning. I’m not going to look over my shoulder every day for the rest of my life. If I even think you’re sniffing around him I will take you out. Hard.”
She measured me silently for a minute before nodding her head. “Understood.”
“Good. I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”
I stepped back and away from her, just in time to see Aldrich and Ulric lift their heads from a similar huddle. I narrowed my eyes, knowing exactly what my mate was up to and not liking it one bit. His gaze clashed with mine, daring me to say something when I’d obviously been doing the same thing. I decided to let this one go.
He grinned, scooping me up into his arms and kissing the end of my nose. The mark on my shoulder throbbed in time with his heartbeat as he pressed me to it. His mouth danced close to my ear. “So, mate. How are you enjoying your happily ever after?”
I muttered something unflattering and he laughed.
“Don’t worry, I know something that will make it better.”
“Oh, and what’s that?”
Hot breath tickled my senses as he whispered his naughty little suggestion.
“Oh my,” came my breathless response.
The End
About the Author:
Nina S. Gooden has been in lo
ve with the written word since her first well-spent allowance on A Light In The Attic. She spends most of the time she's not drowning in characters and plot ideas watching anime and playing video games (she's a Holy Paladin/Chloromancer Mage in disguise). Her biggest influences are mythology and psychology, though she's been known to dabble in the obscure. Currently, she lives in dusty Las Vegas with her long-term boyfriend and evil genius kitty.
The Big Cry Wolf Page 13