A grin spread across her face. “Why would I want to control her? Maybe I like this feeling.” Scooting across the worn leather bench seat, she snaked her hand around grazing her fingers across the jeans encasing his thigh. She walked her fingers across the fabric to the bulge in his pants.
“Tell me what I am thinking now.”
He cleared his throat. “I, uh.”
Her palm rested against his dick still trapped behind his pants, the fabric growing tighter.
“It’s still early. Why don’t you pull this truck over?”
Pressing her hand against him, she began to stroke him.
Fuck me. She thought the words and wondered if he could hear them.
He cranked the wheel around, taking a dirt road she hadn’t noticed.
Pulling into the brush off the side of the deserted route before she could blink, he threw the truck into park. She didn’t even notice if he’d killed the engine when his lips, warm and hungry, took hers. She pressed into him, her arms wrapping around his neck.
God she wanted him, her wolf wanted him, and who was she to argue.
Olivia wanted to possess him, wanted to be his. He’d already claimed her. This was her turn to lay her claim.
She pushed him back, rising onto her knees. As her lips feverishly tasted him over and over, she fumbled with the button on his jeans.
She shivered at the warm touch of his fingers running up her thigh pushing at the fabric of her skirt.
“I love your obsession with skirts,” he said between kisses.
Finally, the button flipped free, and the zipper nearly popped at the pressure of his hard-on.
Her breath caught as his hand pressed against her, a finger yanking at the elastic of her panties. Pulling away from the warmth of his mouth, the lids of her eyes closing, as his finger feathered across her slit, finding her entrance and pressing in.
She moaned.
Breathing against the pleasure she ran two fingers over the tip of his freed dick.
“You’re not wearing boxers,” she said, each word breathier than the last.
“At some point, you’ll get tired of buying unnecessary clothing. Easier to shift with less. Now shut up and get over here.”
She gasped as his finger retreated, leaving room for her to come to him.
She crawled over and straddle him, her knee kicking the steering wheel.
A giggle escaped her as he slid to the center of the seat.
This wasn't like her, she thought. She paused a second to take in his five-o'clock shadow, the imperfect alignment of his nose, the way his eyes softened when he looked at her.
This was her. This was who she wanted to be. Confident.
“Lift your hips,” she said.
He obliged her as she pulled down his pants just far enough that his dick sprang free. She licked her lips at him in his full glory. Shifting to the side, she bent down and ran her tongue over the sensitive skin at the rim of his dick.
“No." His breath hitched as her mouth stretched over him. "No. Come here. I want you.”His fingers twined in her hair.
Peeking up, her tongue still dangerously close to his undoing, a golden fleck danced across his brown eyes. A soul-crushing need entered her head, running a trail straight to her heart.
“I need you now. Do not make me beg.” His voice gravelly as he guided her face up to meet his.
Their eyes locked. No one needed to say anything. She knew what he wanted and what she needed. She straddled him, the heat of his skin burning through his clothing. She wouldn't stop this time. His hands ran up her thighs, his fingers danced around the inside of her leg, moving up, up, up stopping at the cotton fabric that separated him from taking her. His fingers pushed aside her panties, brushing the tender skin beneath.
Slowly, she lowered herself onto his rock hard shaft. Her already sore muscles protested as he stretched her. The delicious burn of the pleasure shooting through her as her body remembered him. Her breath hiccupped as she finally seated herself on him. Slowly as she remained locked within his gaze, she began to rock against him.
A slight smirk touched her mouth. This was still on her terms, no matter what.
Her body was alive with a thousand nerves aching with pleasure from the night before and the day before that. She was tender, and every inch of him instantly stroked hyper-sensitive skin.
Restraint plain as he let her control him.
“You’re killing me.”
She smiled and on a breathy whimper said, “Death by sex. Sign me up.”
His hands gripped her hips tight, wanting.
A breath hissed between his teeth as she finally began to rock against him a little faster. As he stretched her well-used muscles, she worked against the sweet sore sensations. The need within her deepened, her wolf cried out, and her soul demanded she take him.
A foreign rhythm, one she set to her own escalating heartbeat became her dance.
Curling her fingers into the shoulders of his shirt she quickened the pace. Pushing him deeper, his shaft stroking her, pulling her to the edge of a cliff. Olivia’s release built with need coursing through her.
Mine. You’re mine.
Ethan’s thoughts answered her. Yours.
Faster and faster, she needed him to give himself to her. He was hers. His fingers dug deeper into her waist. Her body began to ache. Her magic began to crackle around them. The pressure grew higher and higher and higher with each and every thrust until she couldn't anymore, she needed to come.
Ethan growled. He pumped into to her, meeting her thrust for thrust. She moaned as her body burned of need.
Finally, with one last thrust he sent her over, her muscles convulsed and she took from him what she needed.
They sat in the truck, locked together until their breathing returned to normal.
"I didn't think it could get better." She kissed his neck.
"I didn't think you could be so controlling."
She fronted.
His voice lowered. "I liked it." His words followed by gentle kisses along her jaw line than her lips.
Pulled away he studied her. “We should get going. My mother’s expecting us.”
Olivia smiled. “Yes. Sure." And then she froze.
She gingerly got off him and started to straighten her clothes.
Ethan gripped her upper arm, causing her to pause.“What's wrong?”
What's wrong? Where did she start?
“I’m meeting your mother, and I just met you." She found interest in a stray thread before turning to him.
"Does she know?”
He chuckled. “She knows. The whole pack knows. Who do you think sent my brothers on their little quest?”
“Oh crap. She knows we had sex!”
Olivia pulled her shirt down and crossed her ankles. She groaned. "This is embarrassing. I had sex with you in an alley."
He nodded. "After knowing me for a few hours. She's aware."
She hung her head and covered her face with her hands. "Your mother probably thinks I'm a huge slut."
“She wouldn't think that. She knows how mating works. She also knows I’m a huge asshole about how it all happened.”
A giggled escaped. “Oh, well. In that case. I'm all for meeting her."
She looked up to catch him shaking his head.
"So, does she know you took advantage of me in an alley?”
Ethan’s lips formed a tight line, but Olivia swore she saw a twinkle of laughter.
“Olivia, my mother does not think I am a saint. In fact ,she knows I'm not a saint. I have something else to tell you.”
A knot formed in her stomach.
“I don’t do multiples. I can barely handle you.”
Olivia swore Ethan's eyes almost popped out of his head. “What? No. What kind of pack do you think we are?”
Her shoulders relaxed. “I don’t know. I’ve heard of packs that have orgies. It’s why my mom always said to stay away from shifters. You’re all sex-crazed.”
A belly deep laugh filled the cab of the truck. “I’d like to deny that completely, but when you find your soul-mate how exactly is one supposed to act? Tell me that you don’t feel the pull. It kills me to keep my hands off you. It’s only ever going to be you though. You’re it for me. So if that is sex crazed, then sure. But we don’t have orgies. I suppose there are all types of packs. My pack is not that kind of pack. You’re mine.”
Her heart melted. “Aw. Now that’s a proposal.”
A hint of pink touched his cheeks.
“I don't see why you don't understand why how this whole thing happened bothers me. We are together right? I mean like, forever. I think I deserve to be asked at least. Even if I can't say no...” Olivia glared at him.
“I. Uh. Right. You could say no though. Nothing stopping you. However, you can't live without me.”
Her mouth agape as she looked at him. "Aren't you cocky?"
She rolled her eyes.
"No. I mean the physical pain of being withheld from your destiny is literally too much."
She shifted in her seat. This sounded all very final. And, well it was.“Oh fine. Don’t get all twisted about it. I just mean that it would have been nice to have a proper proposal. Even if wolves don’t do that. I do. Witches have weddings similar to a human. And sadly, I already dreamed of it.”
Ethan scooted back into the driver’s seat, and Olivia had a sinking feeling she’d pushed too far. Not that she could chase away her soul mate as he labeled them.
“If you want a wedding then sure. Before this goes any further, and before we get to my mom’s, I really need to tell you something.”
Olivia shook her head. “What else could possibly surprise me?”
“Right.” He started rubbing a hand against his jeans, palm to fabric.
"What could be that bad? Just tell me." The newly released wolf within Olivia started to pace, pawing at the depths of her soul. She tried to quiet the unrest. With each second of silence, she slid to the front of the seat, teetering on the edge.
Swallowing back apprehension that she struggled to know if it was Ethan's fear or hers she nearly hit her head on the windshield.
“Please just say it. What else could you possibly need to tell me that could be any worse than 'hey we're married.' You can't leave me, according to you, so just spit it out.”
"No. I know. It's not something bad really. But it's big. Really big." Ethan started the engine and pulled out, winding around the small bend to the main road. As they pulled up to a stop sign, he turned to her.
“I have a daughter.”
The words doused her body in cold. “A daughter?”
Chapter 12
“You have a daughter?” Her voice sounded flat as he studied her face.
Ethan nodded. “Yes. She’s three. Her name is Amelia.”
Olivia hadn’t moved. Her chest was moving, so she was still alive. Ethan tried to reach into her head. He needed to know what she was thinking. Nothing.
Quick learner.
“I should have mentioned her sooner, everything happened so fast. Now that you are meeting the pack, that means my daughter as well.”
She nodded. A good sign she hadn’t died of a heart attack.
“She’ll love you, I promise.”
Adjusting his ass on the seat, a thread of something seeped into him. A spicy almost toxic scent filled the cab.
“Are you okay?”
A crimson rage set across her cheeks. Her blue eyes flashed wolf.
He watched her cleavage expand with each deep breath.
“Where’s the mom?”
Ethan was taken aback. “Not in the picture. Why?”
“I barely know you. I’ve had to trust you on instinct alone. I’ve known you all of a few days. You never once mentioned a daughter, let alone another woman. You said I was the only one.”
Ethan searched his head, his heart, the wolf within him. What can I do with this?
“Olivia, it’s just the mating talking. Take some deep breaths. I promise you, there is no one else.”
He wanted to pat himself on the back or run. Maybe he should call his mom? The possessive thing was a wolf thing, right? Digging deep he knew it was a newly mated thing. The idea of someone touching her pushed a button, but the difference was he had years of learning to control the animal instinct within him. She didn’t.
“Mating thing? So this animal is making me crazy too?”
“Uh.”
“Just don’t. You know what. I didn’t assume you were some virgin, but a little girl? That’s a huge thing. Like super huge. And that fact also means I have to compete against her mother too? I’m only now figuring out what it means to let myself love you. I don’t even know what being a wolf means, and now I have to tread water into a murky disaster of a baby-mama? Was she your first love? High school sweetheart?”
Ethan glanced around as the air dropped ten degrees. This was a fucking disaster. He stared at the ice forming on the window and back at Olivia. Her eyes no longer human, the wolf had taken over. Maybe that would push aside the emotions. Of course, the territorial issue might be worse.
“I never loved her.” He paused as steam trailed his words. He shivered. “I couldn’t love her because she wasn’t you. She wasn’t my mate. I tried to make it work because it would have solved some shitty pack issues.”
Her body began to tremble. Shit.
“I’m never anyone’s choice, am I? I was just some easy lay that you happen to be stuck with. I can’t do this. I can’t.”
Her hands fumbled with the door, pushing it open just as he saw the change take her.
“Shit. Olivia. Stop. You are my choice. You can’t run from this.”
A guttural growl hit him as her clothes ripped and tore, a bit of shirt still clinging to her flank.
“Shit. Olivia. Don’t run.” He threw the truck into park and jumped out. Without a thought he ran after her, shifting mid-sprint. He sniffed the air, but something about her was different. She was everywhere yet nowhere. The air was colder than it should have been at the brink of fall, summer still trying to hold on.
His wolf cried out, a howl that would alert the pack.
He would find her, and he would explain. His daughter was no mistake, even though the mother was.
He paced back and forth unable to grab her scent. Shit. That damn pack. He’d thought that he could force a mating. He’d been a young dumb kid. But if he’d mated the Alpha of the Ashburn pack’s eldest daughter, it would have solved the war issue. Or at least he’d thought it would. He’d been wrong. And now this.
Olivia would understand once she calmed down. Once she learned to control herself, the shift, the emotions. All Ethan had ever wanted was for both packs to coexist.
He paced, waiting for the others to arrive. If only he could have told Olivia that the woman she was suddenly so jealous over had used him. She’d used him so she could find a way out.
Olivia. He called out to her in his head. Nothing. The connection should be stronger in wolf form. He’d heard her so clearly in the truck. Sharp pain shot through him. She’d left. The one woman he loved more than his own life just left him. He knew the pain of betrayal. This time though, he wouldn’t be able to recover. He had to stand strong for his daughter and her freedom, but the pain ripping through him took every ounce of his energy. He was the only reason his daughter was safe. He had to remain strong. He had to remain alpha. To do that, he needed to stay strong.
Echoes of his pack coming came to him. His pack was close.
All this would be over soon. They would find her.
He still remembered the day Amelia was brought to him. The Ashburn Pack had created a procession along the tree-line between their lands. Pack law ignored and what followed there were no protocols for. Right now, Ethan tried to pull the strength he’d had that day. He’d been ready for a fight, yet no duel was presented. One didn’t need to.
Ethan had barely grieved the loss of his father, the l
oss of his hope for a truce, and here they were waiting for him. He’d commanded the packs to remain separated until he’d been able to work out the logistics. He’d kept both packs in check, but at some point when Heather had run off and later returned only for him to realize she didn’t want to be with him, it was all too late for anything.
The reality was that she was the reason for the duel that killed his father. She’d created some kind of game, and he’d been the pawn, only she’d never seen him coming.
He’d risen to the occasion and challenged their alpha and won. The bitterness replaced now by the worry he had for Olivia.
The confusion of the moment now so close to the mess then. He paced more, stepping between the trees only to come back and wait for his brothers. Odd how this moment might end up so close to then.
He’d remembered his brothers flanking him as they’d approached the Ashburns. Anger laced the air that night. He still couldn’t forget the scent of Amelia as she was presented to him. Gianna, a younger member of the Ashburns, had come forward around the front lines. Ethan hadn’t expected her, not when it appeared to be a battleground.
Instead of the pack attacking, she walked forward and passed over a baby. He’d never forget her words.
“Heather’s gone. This is your daughter. I’d sleep with one eye open from now on if I were you.” She’d ducked away fast and ran back to hide. Kurt, the asshole who had always believed Heather was his, that being the Alpha was his birthright, approached.
The words spoken next had surprised him. “That child for my pack. You back the fuck off, and you keep it. You break the truce, and I will break you.”
He hadn’t broken the truce, but now that he’d found his mate, Kurt was bound to try something. Olivia had just given him his opportunity. Ethan sniffed the air again, the memory of the past faded but the promise in those words shook him to the core. Olivia would wander onto Ashburn land because she didn’t know. How could she? He hadn’t told her.
Circling back he sniffed the cab of the truck. He headed back to the tree line, pacing the natural fence that separated him from her. A flake of snow flew by. What the fuck was she doing?
Icing On His Mate (A Move Over Fate Novel) Page 10