by May Sage
What the fuck? Aisling was no prude. Shifters needed sex and she made no apologies for it. Sure, she wasn’t easy, and she never settled for anyone she didn’t fancy - but tonight, she hadn’t even been looking. Normally, the males she didn’t want bored her. They didn’t infuriate her like they did tonight.
She’d known her cat - and herself, if she was honest - wanted Rye, but she hadn’t realized that it wanted no one else.
Maybe she could ask Rain if there was a potion against that.
Ace grabbed the phone ringing in her pocket and rolled her eyes when she saw the name flashing on the screen; Rygan. Of course.
“Good evening.”
Being an alpha male, the man immediately asked, “What’s that noise in the background? Where are you?”
And, as she was Ace Cross, she shot back, “What makes you think you have the right to know?”
“Aisling.”
His tone was warning her; she found it amusing.
“Aww. You really do think you can intimidate me. Look at you, still delusional.”
“Where are you?” he growled threateningly.
“None of your business. Any reason why you called?”
He did manage to surprise her, by just hanging up on her. She was still staring at the phone in disbelief when it rang again.
“Trance, Aisling? Really?”
She had a positively awesome snarky repartee at the ready, so she sighed when he hung up again.
Aisling spent the next hour considering whether she should text him, call him back - and maybe tease him for being so easily ruffled - or just wait until morning, when she felt a presence behind her.
She hadn’t seen that coming at all, believing that he’d be completely focused on his territory and his pride, yet there was no mistaking that particular musk, or the way her cat behaved when it smelled him.
“Rye.”
She didn’t have to turn to know it was him.
“What are you doing here, Ace?” he sounded frustrated, yet resigned. Hopefully, he’d come to terms with the fact that he didn’t have the authority to boss her around.
“And that’s your problem because?”
She knew she probably shouldn’t push his buttons, but it was just so much fun.
Rye walked around her and pinned her under his intense gaze again. She managed to prevent herself from squirming, but only just.
“Because I care about you. And because, for now, I consider you mine.”
She snorted, which served to amuse him. The Alpha took another step, getting right in her personal space, and leaned towards her.
“You want to play this game? Fine. I’ll go in right now, grab the first girl who throws herself at me, and screw her in the restroom. How would you like that?”
She knew he was just playing her, she knew it, and she should have been able to shrug indifferently – but, before her brain had kicked in, her cat was hissing and digging its claws into his arm, almost deep enough to mark.
“That’s what I thought.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“You like it in the asshole? Good to know.”
She groaned. “Please, Rygan- I swear I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just don’t ever attempt to joke again.”
He smiled, relaxed, and started playing with her hair. Strangely, she let him.
“A few friends of mine made it early. Only three of them, but they’re going to make a difference, even if no one else turns up.”
“I know. Daunte is here - he recognized one of the girls. He’s currently trying to talk to her.”
That made Ace wince. Daunte had been trying to get into Vivicia’s pants for years - she shot him down so harshly each time, Ace was embarrassed on his behalf.
“So, what made you crash our girls’ night out?”
“I might not have, if you’d just told me it was a girls’ night out.”
Touché.
“I didn’t think you’d leave your territory, with everything happening right now.”
“Jas came back - she, Ian, Coveney, Ola, and Tracy can handle things for an hour. We’re not far.”
She nodded, then, because she was pretty sure he wouldn’t catch the drift without a hint, she added, “You know, I would probably be a little less difficult if you didn’t attempt to boss me around.”
He shrugged unapologetically. “I’ll still try. You’ll shoot me down each time. Might as well get used to it. Come on, dance with me, pretty cat.”
Chapter 16
Surprise
Unsurprisingly, she felt right against him, her body fitting perfectly as they moved together; there were a good two hundred people in the club, but they might as well have been alone in the universe.
Rye caressed her arms, her back, her ass, exploring his mate. When he couldn’t stop himself from doing so, he tilted her head up, and kissed her plump lips. Not only did she let him - she responded touch for touch and leaned closer to him, her soft curves pushed against his hard flesh.
“I’m going to take you home tonight.” It wasn’t a question. “I’ll make you scream my name so loud the entire town will know you’re mine.”
“Get it right, pretty boy,” the vixen replied, biting his lip playfully. “I’m getting you home, as there are no sensitive ears at my place. And you’d better make me scream.”
Fuck. She was so fucking perfect for him - the very first woman who’d ever dared to speak up to him.
“Holy fuck, Ace!” came from a feminine voice close by; Rye was too busy nipping at his mate’s neck to care enough to check whose.
“Wanna introduce me to your friend?”
The voice sounded flirty and, to his amusement, Aisling growled a warning.
“Oh. Right. Well, that explains things. Catch you later!”
Rye smiled against her skin, but didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. His little mate was slowly understanding what Tracy had made him realize; he could wait…as long as she didn’t take too long to understand she was his.
“That was Rain, by the way. She’s a witch - a good one. We’ll get her to place specific wards around your home tomorrow.”
Her tone was curt.
“She’s a friend of yours, then.”
“Yes?”
She didn’t sound quite sure about that.
“Yet you growl at her because she sounds interested in me…”
“I will kick you in the balls if you mention that again.”
“You’re possessive- we both are. Can you imagine how much more we’ll be, once I’ve pounded this pussy all night long, Aisling?”
“Or maybe that will be enough to get it out of our systems.”
He bit her earlobe a little harder than necessary, punishingly. Ace shivered and plastered herself against him.
“You like that, do you?”
Teasing her always had consequences; he wasn’t sure what she’d do, but he expected retaliation.
Yet she shocked him by gliding her hand right inside his pants, into his boxers, and firmly grabbing his throbbing cock; she pumped it twice and flicked her finger over the sensitive head, before pushing up on her tiptoes and getting to his ear.
“You like that, do you?” she parroted in a soft whisper, before nibbling at his earlobe.
Fucking hell.
Enough nonsense. He just grabbed her, threw her on his shoulder, and called to his Beta, “Daunte, we’re going. Now.”
* * *
Aisling’s friends, who he still hadn’t been introduced to, left with them. Two of them sat with them in the back of the pride’s SUV, the other one sat in the front. Ace spent the whole way on top of him, grinding against him, biting and licking like they were alone in the world. He hadn’t taken her for an exhibitionist, but she was proving him wrong.
Good. He wanted the world to see she was his.
Daunte had offered to drive, saying, “I really don’t want to see you guys going at it.”
He really did seem disgusted, w
hich was strange, because Daunte was really into watching people fuck.
Rye was a little too preoccupied to analyze it, trying not to come in his pants.
“I’m going to plunge inside that hot pussy the moment we’re alone,” he told Ace, cupping her under her short shorts.
Fuck, she was already so damn wet.
“I don’t see why you’re waiting,” one of the girls said. “You’re basically fucking anyway.”
They were. Ace had taken his cock out, and never stopped touching it.
“Fabric interior. Cleaning cum is a bitch,” he replied with a shrug.
Finally - finally - Daunte, who’d been driving way above the limit the last few miles, swerved in front of the house and they burst out of the car.
They didn’t make it indoors. Aisling’s hands, partially shifted, tore through his clothes, and he took it as an invitation to do the same. Fucking hell, she was perfect, with her small, firm tits he wanted to suck and bite and lick…
He did just that, bending down to reach them, while pushing his desperate cock deep inside his mate’s drenched heat.
Rye stayed still one infinite instant, not quite understanding everything he felt; his insides were exploding, his heart contracted, and the tiger inside him roared, hard. He felt her claws deep inside his back - those would mark, and leave scars. They were meant to. So would the marks he’d made on her forearms without consciously choosing to do so. He’d drawn blood. He’d claimed her; and she’d claimed him right back.
“What. The. Hell.”
He should have felt sorry for her; she was only now realizing the force at work. But Rye just laughed, and drew his dick back before plunging harder inside her, making her cry out in pleasure and pain. Then, he did it again, and again, and again, until she was panting, whimpering, chanting please.
They came together in under ten minutes- in other circumstances, it would have been embarrassing.
Still panting like she’d finished a sprint, Ace glared accusingly, saying, “You don’t look surprised.”
Rye just shrugged, particularly self-satisfied. There was no denying that, of the two of them, she normally had the upper hand. She had more contacts, she was better at subtle shit - he hadn’t even guessed that Lola, the kid he’d looked after since she was a newborn, had wolf in her, yet one sniff, and Aisling knew.
But, for all that, the woman had been completely blind about the one thing that mattered between them.
“Surprised by what?” he asked playfully, yet seriously.
He needed to hear her say it.
Aisling rolled her eyes, but she must have sensed what he wanted, because she spelled it out. “You’re my true mate.”
Damn right he was. He ruffled her wavy hair and kissed her forehead. “And you’re mine. Now get your pretty ass up.”
He got to his feet and lent her a hand to help her up. “There’s about eleven rooms I need to fuck you in inside this house. Better get to it.”
Chapter 17
Marks
He genuinely didn’t think anything could cloud this day for him, so, in its infinite wisdom, the world proved him wrong.
Rye woke up feeling that his pridemates were anxious; not terrified or desperate, but still feeling uneasy. He opened his eyes and turned to the soft, perfect body of his mate, next to him under the covers, and kissed her shoulders.
She had a few bruises - so did he. They hadn’t gone easy on each other; claimings were messy affairs, but their healing rate meant that the marks’d be history by the afternoon. What caught his attention were the marks on her arms. Instead of looking like she’d been clawed, intricate patterns had appeared on her skin; they were ocean blue, and changed like running water.
Beautiful.
Rye dreaded to have to tell her that he needed to go, when all he wanted was to stay with her and bury himself deep within her folds again, but he didn’t have to.
“There’s something wrong with your pride, right?”
Of course. Now he paid attention, he felt her through the pride link. He hadn’t noticed at first, because she hadn’t joined as someone he should take care of, look after. She wasn’t one of his cats. She was his equal. Their Alpha female. He’d only hear her when she wanted him to.
“Our pride, pretty girl.”
Aisling tensed a little.
“They all respect you, Ace. And most of them like you, too. You’ll fit in, because you were made for it.”
When she didn’t answer, he pushed, “You know it, don’t you? That you’re a born Alpha. No one with your level of dominance would ever be content to live alone.”
“My father also is a born Alpha. So is Daunte, for that matter. Neither of them rules a pride.”
“Daunte is the highest pride authority after me. And he can obey me because he knows I’m more dominant than him.” To be fair, he admitted, “Slightly, anyway. But you’re missing the point. He is part of a pride.”
Aisling sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about it now. We’ll see how it plays out.”
She wasn’t exactly ecstatic, but she hadn’t asked him to leave the pride, so there was that.
He worried all of a sudden, because, honestly, if she couldn’t deal with living within the Wyvern Pride…he would leave with her. He had no other choice in the matter.
Shaking his head, he put that thought out of his mind and got up. They had more pressing worries right now.
“They’re coming our way, I can feel them getting closer. Have you got any clothes my size?”
“Yeah, Daunte has some stuff in the guest bedroom, next door. Help yourself.”
They got dressed and he headed downstairs just in time: Jas, Coveney, Daunte, and Ian arrived on her front porch, in animal form.
All of them stopped dead, and shifted.
“Holy fuck.”
“I knew it!”
“Seriously?”
Rye smirked. The mating bond had changed him, he knew it; he felt quieter, more confident. He couldn’t quite place it, but obviously, his pride could tell the difference.
“Dude, you were always scary, but you basically look like a freak now. Have you seen your eyes?”
He hadn’t; turning to the closest window, he smiled at his reflection. Freak was right. His normally gray eyes had been replaced by cold, electrifying blue pupils, and the marks she’d started on his back had changed, forming patterns that would look like tattoos if they hadn’t been blazing amber, like liquid fire was running through his skin.
He rather liked it.
“So, she was your mate. How unexpected,” Daunte said. Yet the man was smirking smugly. “And I believe that means I win our little bet, guys. You all owe me and Tracy two-fifty for the mate thing, and two-fifty because they’ve fucked within a week. Pay up.”
Rye just shook his head; so that was why Tracy had given him a nudge. Devious little thing.
While he was happy about the mating, now wasn’t the time to linger on it. Ace came down from upstairs, fully dressed; she’d also taken a shower, washing his scent off. He didn’t like that one bit, but he’d remedy it soon enough.
His three Enforcers and his Beta bowed down as she came to stand next to him, hands over their hearts, silently showing their acceptance of her as their Alpha female now. He felt how awkward Aisling was, so he moved on to get to the point.
“I felt something through the pride link?”
The others stopped joking around, instantly growing somber.
“Yes. Kim is gone,” Jas said.
The instant the words crossed her lips, Rye realized that the most useless member of his pride wasn’t anywhere. And by that, he didn’t mean to say she’d popped into town. He also couldn’t feel her, not even faintly. As he was the Alpha, he felt every member of his pride.
That could only mean one thing. She’d left the pride.
If that had happened to any other one of his cats, he would have noticed it immediately, but, as the useless, passive one he paid no attention t
o, she’d slipped away unnoticed. He’d had a great many things to think about of late.
“Fuck.”
“She left before I came back,” Jas added. “We waited all night - I figured she might just be out partying or something – but, when I called this morning, she said she wasn’t coming back and hung up on me.”
She didn’t sound surprised, or upset, for that matter. Nevertheless, Rye felt responsible.
“I’m sorry, Jas, I have no clue when that happened - she never said anything.”
If she had come to him, he might have tried to dissuade her from leaving, for Jas’s sake.
Maybe.
His Enforcer shook her head, “No, I’m sorry for asking you to let her in the pride. I kept hoping, but, you know, some people are just…”
Neither of them completed that sentence. Kim was a shallow, egocentric, megalomaniacal pain in the ass, and they were well rid of her, if Jas didn’t mind.
“So, you’re not going to go after her?”
Jas shrugged. “No. This pride is my home.” She didn’t elaborate but he saw what she meant: it had never been Kim’s.
“I’m sorry we didn’t manage to make her feel welcome.”
“We did,” Ian replied, growling. “She just wasn’t into the pride thing. She preferred doing what she liked, when she liked. Living in the human world. That’s fine. That’s how she was raised, and pride life just doesn’t suit everyone.”
It wasn’t the Enforcer’s fault, but Rye could have strangled him for saying it in front of Ace; she tensed, feeling that the words could apply to her, too. Another problem for another time.
“Right. Well, as your sister, she’ll have our protection if she ever needs it. We have bigger issues - the Vergas wolves. Three of Ace’s friends have joined us; did Daunte introduce you?”
Jas smiled. “Yeah, they’re fun.”
Oh dear. If Jas liked them, they were seriously dangerous, then.
“Good. We’re still outnumbered, though. Any news from our allies?”