Good. Yes. Very good. I just needed my clothes off and his hard thrusting body between my legs.
His hands gently slid around my waist.
Gently. Boa's way. Throw in his calculated nature and he operated just like his sneaky namesake right before squeezing the life out of its prey. Oh. Yes. Dying right now sounded perfect. The future would be one less thing to worry about.
His strong tongue thrust into my mouth.
Claiming. Conquering. Sparring with my tongue. Until I felt the slither of his palm's skin beneath my shirt. Sneaky. Sneaky snake. But what does a little measured conquest matter? I'd be the winner in the end. Dead or gasping for breath. Why do both sound like he'd squeeze the life out of me?
His mouth marched across my cheek, planting warm massaging kisses all the way to the edge of my jaw, down to tally the pulses in my jugular.
Gods. Count. Yes. Count them all.
I shivered.
All over. Again and again. Down. I wanted that mouth down lower. At my nipples. My navel. And between my legs. Doing the duty of a man who'd made promises he hadn't kept. Making amends. Stitching up the rip he tore in my soul.
He pushed me backward, into the soft bedding, his mouth locked onto my throbbing neck and sucked like the cure to some plague resided inside me while his intoxicating weight pressed along my length.
Where's my shirt? And bra. Gone. Like they never existed. As if the universe wanted nothing between our skin. Crazy. Not crazy enough to make me stop and ask questions.
And then his wickedly merciful mouth set out on another journey.
Down to the swells of my chest. But he didn't head straight for my knotted nipples. No, he took special care to stop halfway there. Midway. Where he tickled kisses across one breast's quivering skin to the other rise. Then glanced at me. Smiling.
That evil man. He could lure a bird out of a tree. Me, I just scared them away. But Boa is amazing. The weight of his iron body pinning down my aching sex, where he'd somehow managed to pin me against the bed with my legs open, only made me run my hands across the firm flesh wrapping over his shoulders down to his shoulder blades while he turned his attention back to my chest.
Yes. Get back to work. I tilted my breast up, toward my chin, just enough to present him with a nipple.
He winked at me and planted the tickling warmth of his mouth on the outer curve of my one dome.
If his teasing hadn't made me ache even more, I might have screamed and tried to kick him off. But the seductive path he planted around my nipple only kept me watching, mouth gaping, waiting for the moment when he'd suck and nibble at the only thing significant at the moment other than those lips of his.
A knock pounded on the door.
Boa's head twisted up, turning his profile toward the door. He groaned.
My sentiments as well.
The person pounded again. "Boa?" Tornado called. "Are you in there?"
"Gods-be-damned pain in the tail." Boa muttered and shot me a wink, shoved backward, and pulled the edge of the scratchy woolen blanket over my body. He got his feet beneath his towering bulk and gave me a show with that steely ass and long sexy muscled thighs as he strode to the door. "What do you want?" he almost snarled at Tornado through a small crack he made between the door and doorframe, blocked by his glorious strong body.
"Croc left. I thought you should know," Tornado said softly.
Set out for home without the gathering ending? Why did my sire surprise me? Of course he'd leave. He had to be beyond furious. Too angry with me to even stay and help with whatever the Elders meant to do about the extraterrestrials. Crap. My family disowned me.
I'd really screwed up my life. I no longer had a father and couldn't trust the man I'd chosen for a mate. Couldn't believe I had a future left to embrace. How could life leave me all alone this way? I rolled onto my side with my back to Boa.
"Did he give a reason?" Boa asked.
"No."
Croc's reason was obvious. I'm his embarrassment. His weak child. But how can I be the shameful person? Who proved the mature person in all those encounters with the Bitterroot clan when my behavior intensified hostilities between our clans? Did I deserve to be abandoned without a farewell though?
The door clicked shut.
Who needed to announce a reason? My sire left at dusk when Bounders crawled from the planet's woodwork to dine on human flesh. To abandon me because I'd made bad choices. Me. His little girl. I'm horrible driving my sire away like this.
The bed sagged.
From Boa's weight.
His hand draped my waist, pressing the blanket into my belly. "Willow?"
What can I do? Croc's gone. Fatherless. Me. Gods. He left me here in the Oregon Territory. So far from my home. And why wouldn't he? I'd given myself to Boa. His rival's son. And now Boa claimed me. For what?
The bed shifted behind me. Boa stretched out his hard warm length along my side, sliding his arm around my waist, shoving the blanket off my body, pulling my back into his solid chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't want our mating to cause you problems like this."
The sincerity in his voice made me want to roll over. Dare I believe him and buy into his words? Would he leave me in the end too, after he got his hand on his child?
His lips brushed the edge of my collar bone. "This is what I dream about. The place a Wolf marks his mate."
Those words tickled up an itch where they wiggled against my skin.
Oh to believe him. Hug the strength and promise his voice offered. But not tonight. Too many things changed far too quickly.
His soft pleasant lips withdrew but fluttered against my ear. "Tell me I can mark you, Willow," he whispered. "Please. I feel like I've waited a lifetime to claim you."
What? The bite of possession--a ghostly promise of a real future with him. Dare I believe him? I rolled to face my opponent, to play the game, placing my palms against the patter of his bulging warm breast.
Muscle. Everywhere, his body curled around me. The prey. Would he love or squeeze the life out of his prey?
He stared into my eyes.
Lovingly. As he'd always done. The Boa I knew and wanted to be with. His heart continued to rattle out a promising beat of love beneath my palms.
He didn't move, just held me close to his steady heartbeat beneath the caressing skin of his enormous body. "Tell me, Willow. Give me permission."
Oh, to keep that warmth around me. I just wanted him between my thighs, him inside me. But will he mark me if I tell him to? If he does, I know I'd been wrong. "Mark me."
A hint of a smile slowly grabbed and tugged at the corners of his dark green eyes.
Is he about to run out again? Leap from the bed? Laugh in my face? Tease me with another round of waiting and disappear? I'd be the outpost's laughingstock--a deeper shade of Croc's humiliation.
He canted down, pressing a kiss on my cheek.
My heart rattled.
I couldn't breathe.
His velvet lips marched to my neck where they kneaded a gentle caress, only for the heat of his closeness to drift away with his wandering mouth.
To my collarbone. Hovering. Toying with me yet again. I'd been stupid to believe he'd go through with the bite.
Pain stung, slicing into my skin until the hard bone of my clavicle stopped the assault.
By the Gods, he'd marked me.
Spoken nothing but truth.
His moist lips brushed at the fleeting sting and sucked.
He marked me. My Boa.
He slid his stubbled cheek along mine until his face pulled free to touch our noses together. I stared into his gentle eyes, hovering a breath away. Into the most possessive gaze I think I'd ever seen.
"Everything's going to be alright now, Willow," he whispered.
Relief welled up through me.
Hot. Searing. Choking me. Making my nose and eyes bleed. Or tear. Must be tears because magma would cauterize any open wounds.
His broad palm cupped my cheek and tilted my face
up to his, even more. "Oh, Willow, don't cry. I'm sorry, kitten. So, sorry. I didn't want our mating to hurt you like it has."
Either his eyes mirrored the tears in mine, or he was about to cry. But nothing mattered. I could believe him now. Accept his actions as a reflection of his love for me. I inhaled a sniffle and managed a smile when my damned lips trembled to bawl anyway. "I'm okay. I just thought you were using me to get to Croc. And I'm sorry. I should have known better."
The firm pad of his thumb brushed my cheek and the corner of my mouth. "Nothing matters anymore. We're together. And Croc's departure expresses his acceptance of our mating."
But what kind of acceptance? My sire has left without one tiny word of understanding.
"He knows he can't fight our mating, Willow. It is our choice to be together."
Yet, Croc won't see his grandchild. Will never know the baby. Why does that bother me so much?
Boa must have read my mind. Must have hated the pain I conjured with those accursed thoughts. Because he slammed his mouth over mine and rolled me onto my back, onto the soft squeaking bed, ripped off the covers, and settled between my legs in a blink while his tongue kept my thoughts on the need welling inside me.
The need for belonging to him. On knowing I wasn't alone. That my child would be part of a clan. Happy. Safe. Grow big and strong. And until I held my child, Boa would hold me. Like he did now. With hungry hands.
Oh. Yes. He knows what to do with the strength in his body. He was like a divining rod seeking water from the Earth. And my body was quick to respond. My internal organs melting. Gushing like a spring at his command. To the swiftness in the forceful way he spread-eagled my knees. To his needy glances when he chanced focusing on the pulse in my neck or unknotting one of my beaded nipples.
And all my body could do was thrash with need where his demanding weight pinned me against the bed.
****
She was so dripping wet from The Well for me. And Wolf didn't care he'd been immortalized in The Well of Immortality with his child growing in her womb. No, Wolf wanted to mate again as if his Mating Fever must occur regardless of her pregnancy. That he had to plant his seed. But he'd have to sit back and keep quiet so I could show my mate how much I loved her. I couldn't risk confusing her more. Not now that I had her. Had a future for myself.
Her hot needy palms glided down my back. "Please," she begged. Her hips bucked beneath my waist.
Mine, Wolf whined.
Indisputably. Keep quiet, Wolf. I don't want her to feel anything but ecstasy.
Wolf whimpered.
Impatient cur. I shoved with my knees until my body slid along her sleek slender form and the head of my cock locked into the damp notch of her groin. The entrance to The Well of Immortality--the place where our love grows into a melding of ourselves.
Her hands curled around my shaved head and yanked my forehead down against hers. "Now, Boa. If you don't do it now, I'm going to kick you out into the moonlight and lock the door."
Only a fool would test the determination in her gaze. I thrust my hips.
Home. Into the pressurized heat of a mate. Into the promise of life. Existence. Here, there's no war. No hovering spaceships. No angry clan heads. No Bounders. Only her groaning and gaping mouth, rocking hips, squeezing inner channel, and clawing hands. Nothing else was important. And everything became the pulse of our synchronized movements. Focusing along the length of my aching cock. Into a pull and squeeze of everything. Life. Breath. My quaking upper arms trying to hold me up so I could reach that little spot inside her that made her squirm with delight. Over and over. Until nothing but shoving up and plunging so deeply into the tight vise of her heat gave way to my body's need to explode. Fill her.
My cock erupted into surging spasms, releasing the hold my lungs kept on the air in my chest.
I could barely move. Gasped. But had to move against her soft flesh. Merged with her trembling body. Yet, feeling as if I still needed to fuse with The Well. Recharge its pool with my burning acidic seed as she clutched my ass, holding me to the grinding dance of fusion we shared in the crook of her groin.
She cried out, her chin thrown back.
Sounds of beauty. Acceptance. Yes. Acceptance in more ways than one. I couldn't wait to take her home. To lead her into Falcon's lodge and see the equal acceptance of my mate among my kin. Let her witness the truth of matters. That my sire never wanted the feud. Had done everything to end it. And Willow would give my sire even more. She'd bring peace to his lodge through showing not all Croc's pack harbored a grudge. And Falcon's guilt for the tear between his kin to begin to stitch. Before he died.
****
Lucius stood as tall as Boa with eyes as pale blue as the sky, Willow noted. Boa has ushered me into the meeting lodge to sit next to him while Lucius rattled off questions about my sire's mating habits. Croc had mated Normal women who had gifted him with fine strong Shifter sons and me--the lowly Normal female. I had no psychic powers. That's me. Boring.
"Falcon's wives were all Normals. None had any psychic powers. And all his children were Shifter males," Boa noted.
Lucius nodded in deep thought while writing in his small journal. "That's the same I've heard reported from all Shifters mating Normal females. Well, except with Ram. He's taken on three sisters all at once." Lucius slid a quick glance at us then returned to his scrawlings. "Something about his taking three mates at once has resulted in him having all daughters. Normal daughters at that." Lucius shrugged.
"Are you suggesting we all take multiple mates?" Boa chuckled.
I don't think so. I elbowed him in the ribs.
My Boa graced me with a wink. "Not that I'm inclined to take on more than one mate at a time."
Lucius snorted. "Neither am I. But with the results I've gathered here, I can say for certain that Shifter males mating Cougar females can produce Cougar daughters. I still don't understand where the psychic children are coming from. But I'll leave that to Augustus to solve."
Boa nodded. "Augustus is a Shifter mastermind. You should be too after being raised in his lab."
Lucius chuckled, nodding. "I learned enough to run all sorts of tests. But not the type that produces a cure for cancer." He winked then grew serious. "I'll be ready to leave the morning after tomorrow. We should head out as soon as possible after I've interviewed the last few couples."
Lucius is coming home with us? Well, that left less time for Boa and I to mate at the drop of a hat. Oh well. There would be plenty of time for mating when I had a chance to travel with a female who looked my age. I wonder what she could tell me about the part of the world she'd lived in?
Eight
The slow ride into my father-in-law's fortified outpost with Boa proved disheartening yet revealing. Nobody acted the slightest bit irritated by my presence. Strange. Because Croc surely caused some bad feelings all those long agonizing years. But who could focus on that when her mate had just learned his sire passed in his absence? Falcon was gone.
Lucius decided to depart eastward in the morning. So, everyone chatted where we stood outside the main log cabin's front door. Laughing. Leaving me to my observations.
"Don't leave so soon. Rest a few days. There's moose on the spit." Boa's younger brother Viper waved toward the largest of three log cabins.
A two-story structure with a window in the second floor or loft. Viper must have taken over while Boa was away. They must know I'm pregnant. Have to smell the scent on me. But nobody's said a thing.
Boa turned, smiling.
Even though he'd just heard his sire was gone. Yet, saying everything with his eyes. That this is home. That I am welcome. I hadn't made a mistake in choosing him. Maybe in doubting him. But not in my choice.
The others fell silent.
So this is where my journey ends and begins. I turned to face my brother-in-laws.
"It's about time Boa mated." Viper smiled ridiculously big. "And I'd have marked you myself if I found you first." He winked.
Tea
sing me. "Thank you."
Everyone erupted in laughter.
"Does your sire know you're here?" Viper asked.
"Yes."
"And that you're pregnant?" He watched me intently.
"Oh yes," Fox chuckled. "You missed quite a performance."
"I wish I'd seen it!" Viper laughed.
Boa extended an elbow. "Shall I should you around?"
He's just the way I remembered. Attentive and helpful. Yes, this is home. I took Boa's offered elbow and wound up standing inside an enormous room lit by sunlight shafting through high windows. Undoubtedly elevated to keep the bears out.
"Do you think you'll miss your home here?" Boa asked.
Who wouldn't? I released his arm and faced him where a beam of sunlight brightened the strong intelligent features of his face.
And those green eyes.
"Anyone would miss the place they called home. But I'm certain this place will grow on me so quickly that I won't have time to think about my childhood."
"Well said." Viper nodded slightly. "You'll make the perfect clan leader's mate." He shot Boa an approving glance.
Viper turned to the three Shifters standing behind him. "Fox, help Willow with that moose. And show her where the dishes are. She's eating for two these days."
Boa shot me a wink.
Not a bad habit. Winking is a heck of a lot nicer than my sire's yelling. But Croc had his good side. He protected me. Treated me like his china doll. Well, whenever I'd let him. And always made certain I had everything I needed before the boys did. I'd miss him. His jokes. The way he made my brothers and cousins hop up to pull their weight.
After eating with a few of Boa's brothers studying me, I cleaned my dish and fork in the sink's running water and soap, dried them with a towel, and returned to my seat on the bench at the long table.
My brothers would have bugged the heck out of me by now to learn what I'd experienced at a gathering. But these Shifters remained distant in their chatting. Respectful.
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