by Vivian Arend
And found her mate.
Damon covered her with his body. It was the heaven she’d been hoping for.
But she didn’t want to hurry. Touching him, sharing completely intimate skin-on-skin experiences would be amazing, but to rush forward without considering all the new nuances between them seemed criminal.
She pressed her hands to his bare chest, caressing strong muscles as she stared into his eyes. “I need to touch you everywhere.”
“That’s my line,” he rumbled, dipping his head to brush their mouths together. His lips traveled across her cheek until he was nibbling her earlobe. She leaned into him, her entire body one huge bundle of sensitive desire.
His emotions filtered through her, distinct and uniquely his. As individual as his handwriting, or the familiar glide of his fingers down her torso so he could play with her breast—that was Damon, that was how he caressed her.
And now his thoughts and emotions did the same thing—they wrote a message inside, just for her to read. Passion and lust, but the desire wasn’t invasive because it was passion and adoration all at once. As if he couldn’t believe she was his for the touching. He would never tire of her. It would take their entire lives for this need to begin to be met.
“I’ll always be there for you,” Damon promised, sliding back so his hips settled between her thighs.
His eyes weren’t sky-blue anymore. Now his human side mixed with the silver of his wolf, both of them rising up and promising protection. Promising Damon would be everything she needed him to be.
She captured his face with her hands so she could kiss him until she was lightheaded, oxygen-deprived but sustained by a steady stream of life-giving emotion pouring off of him into her very soul.
Damon rolled to the side, pulling off his kilt in one motion, his strong biceps flexing as he moved to grab the bottom of her shirt and jerk it over her head. The fabric was tossed aside as he went for her pants, stripping her bare in a matter of seconds as he stared in wide-eyed adoration.
“I can’t believe you’re mine.”
“Always,” she promised in return. “To help you, to support you and love you.”
He pulled her into his arms. “I like the sound of that. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
The emotion pouring from him matched his words, but there was more. Things that words alone couldn’t say that were concealed deep inside. Maybe Damon wasn’t aware what else he’d been hiding for too long, and she wasn’t about to blurt them out. But he had to know one thing.
“You’re not just mine.” She nestled closer, settling in his lap, their torsos touching, his arms wrapped around her as she ran her fingers through his hair. “I want you, and I need you, but I’m not so selfish as to keep you all to myself when there’s more that you need.”
A shudder took him for an instant, but inside his wolf howled in agreement, the beast damn near grinning at the thought of getting to care for an actual pack. That was what it craved, what they needed to be complete. Until that happened, Damon would never truly be happy either.
He tucked his fingers under her chin and tipped her head back. “Enough of you being curled up inside my head. We’ll talk about all sorts of things in the days to come, but right now I want you.”
She had no objections. She had even less when he lifted her enough he could nuzzle her breasts. Teasing and taunting until he rolled her under him and slid down her body to make her system sing.
He seemed determined to make her see stars, and she really couldn’t fight his single-minded focus on turning her into a pile of quivering jelly. Breathing grew tough when her entire body shook for the third time in rapid succession.
“My turn,” she said, attempting to twist free to touch him as well.
“Nothing doing.” Damon scooped her up and paced to the nearest wall. “Well, okay, you can do one thing.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around him instinctively, the thick heat of his cock settling against just the right spot. “I have no idea what.”
“I’ll tell you when the moment is right.” Damon pushed her backward and down, spearing her on his hard length. Glorious sensation rippled through her as his thickness spread her wide, and she dug in her fingernails.
His hands protected her from the cold stone wall, while the hot, hard cock he thrust into her over and over was enough to make her drop her head back and moan in ecstasy.
“So good. Yes, my mate.”
“Mine,” Damon agreed, rocking again with a grunt of satisfaction.
He found a way to reach between them, teasing her clit with his fingertips as he drove into her. Pleasure twirled faster until she was on the very edge. One more thing would tip her over—
His teeth at her neck, biting down. Marking her and claiming her as his and, oh my God. Her climax hit, and the tower room was in danger of exploding, torn from the foundation and shot into the heavens.
Satisfaction didn’t pulse through her veins; it ricocheted like ten million ping-pong balls all launched at once into a confined space.
Addie fought her way out from her pleasure-induced state of euphoria and put her mouth to his shoulder, licking daintily as she struggled to catch her breath for long enough to complete the ritual.
Damon drove his cock deeper, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he leaned one elbow on the wall and shortened his stroke. Keeping close enough for her to reach.
“God, Addie, now,” he begged.
She snapped her jaws shut. His taste raced over her tongue, and the connection they’d forged through her Omega talent widened further as the mate bond snapped into place.
Damon shouted, hips thrust forward one last time before stilling, buried deep inside her. His body inside hers.
Their minds inside each others.
“Oh man, that was intense.” Damon’s voice. Inside her head.
Addie kissed his cheek, his shoulder, everything she could reach. “That was amazing.”
Powerful arms cradled her as if she were the most precious thing in his world. Powerful emotion wrapped around them—love and friendship and belonging, all tangled together.
He stood there, nuzzling her neck until she squirmed against him, the heat between them flaring again. Damon stepped away from where he’d been leaning, his fiery gaze darting over her as he took her to the shower and proceeded to make love to her all over again. “It’s going to take some getting used to, this whole mate thing,” he warned.
Addie leaned on the shower wall and admired the tall, muscular wolf in front of her who was hers, now and forever. “That’s why we’re mates. We have all the time in the world.”
It took enormous effort to get up a few hours later, not just because her bed was warm and comfortable, but because it was full of eager male wolf with every intention of proving his claim again and again until she laughingly escaped his grasp.
“Damon, stop. I have to get to work. And the executor should be here in a few hours.”
He waggled his brows. “I like having a mate,” he exhaled on a sigh, leaning back on the pillows and folding his hands behind his head.
“You look like a cat that’s gotten into the cream.”
His face twitched. “Oh, hell, no. Stop right now with the cat jokes.”
“Should we get matching collars?” Addie teased as she pulled on her clothes, barely escaping as he bounded after her with a snarling laugh.
They hadn’t solved everything, but for two wolves the biggest issue had already been settled. They would be together from now on, period. That was unquestionable, and the rest of it they would work out in the coming weeks.
“I’ll deal with the will first thing,” Damon told her, tucking it away carefully before pulling her back into his arms for a body-shaking kiss.
They were both grinning like fools when she finally wiggled free. “I’ll get back to work. Join me when you can.”
She happily headed to the library, content to finish her task while she trusted Damon to fulfill his pro
mise.
Addie was so into her work it was only by chance she noticed a long, black sedan pull into the yard. When she recognized the executor, she couldn’t resist. She grabbed her things and raced downstairs, slipping outside before the man reached the front doors.
She tucked herself behind one of the massive entrance pillars. A warm hand slipped into hers, briefly squeezed her fingers, then Damon stepped forward, joining Niall and Alastair on the front step as the business-suited man approached.
Niall sniffed. “Really, don’t you have somewhere else you need to be? Bones to dig up, or balls to chase?”
Damon chuckled, a touch of evil in the tone. “Oh, I’ve been digging up bones, all right. Wait and see.”
Alastair spotted her, his eyes widening as he took a cautionary step away from Damon.
The executor arrived at the base of the stairs, glancing up expectantly. “I hear you have news for me.”
Niall sneered. “Please. After all this time, you should have news for us. You haven’t come to a decision?”
The man offered Niall a disdainful glance. “We’re working through the other wills, but I understood there was a new one. A newer one than any we’re examining, and obviously less fabricated than at least two of the others we have on file.”
Alastair choked. “Fabricated—that’s preposterous.”
“Is it?” the man asked, a single brow rising. “It’s a criminal offense to forge legal documents, you know. Perhaps we’ll just ignore that small matter if this new will is less fake than the ones you and your brother handed in to the office.”
“I think you’ll find this authentic.” Damon stepped forward, the blue-and-green tartan around his hips flaring slightly as he handed the executor the precious papers Glenn had shared.
Alastair and Niall screeched like cats being tossed in a lake.
“What are you doing?” Niall made the mistake of grabbing for the papers.
Damon snapped at him. “Addie found it in the library. I assumed you’d want it given to the proper authorities.”
Alastair glanced over his shoulder at her, murder in his eyes.
A moment later the cat-shifter flew through the air, landing in an untidy heap at the bottom of the stairs.
Damon had simply put a hand to the man’s chest and shoved, but now he let out his full power with a warning. “You even look at my mate again, and I will reach down your throat, pull out your guts then strangle you with them.”
Alastair shifted on the spot. He scrambled out from his suit and left it abandoned as his cat shot forward into the nearest tree to shout insults from its topmost branches.
The executor cleared his throat, then patted his pocket. “Well, I’ll leave you all to your private business. We’ll take a look at this immediately and get back to you soon as possible.”
Niall glared evilly at Damon, but at least he was smart enough to walk away in the opposite direction, avoiding all contact with Addie.
“You didn’t need to scare them that much,” Abby whispered in his head, amazed they could communicate like that, thrilled she had a mate she could do that with.
Damon showed his teeth. “Hey, I’m not tracking them down and pulling all the fur from their tails, even though that’s what I want to do. See how reasonable I can be?”
“Very reasonable. I’m glad.”
His laughter was clear as they spoke by mind, and joy welled up inside her.
She held out a hand and waited for him to join her, but he motioned instead to someone standing out of her line of sight.
Glenn came forward, hat held in hands. “I never would’ve believed it, but we have a chance.”
“More than a chance,” Damon assured him. “I looked the papers over, and while I’m no expert, I think they’re real. I hope to hear good news on your behalf soon.”
The gardener nodded. “We’ll all be forever grateful to you if that happens. Thank you for standing up for us. That takes a good man, and I’m proud to have met you, sir.”
Addie stepped forward and linked her hand through Damon’s. A deep sense of longing rolled from him, and she wondered at it.
“Addie, my love. Would you mind living in Scotland for a little longer?”
“What, you’re not going to drag me to the bright lights of New York City and make me soak in the decadence?”
“I love you, sweetheart.”
He added a little nip to the words, as if a kiss had been pressed to her mind, squeezing her fingers as he turned back to Glenn.
“I have a proposition. If it does turn out you inherit, give me a call. Splitting the castle between the group might be difficult, but if you sell the place, you can all have a share.”
Glenn nodded, confusion muddying his eyes. “But part of the idea was to keep my grandmam here.”
Damon nodded. “If I buy the manor, you can all stay on. I’ve never owned a castle before. I imagine it takes a fair bit of work to keep it up.”
The gardener flashed a smile.
“Don’t get too excited until we find out for sure it’s yours,” Damon warned, “but here’s where you can reach me. For this, or anything else you need.”
Addie waited until Glenn had marched off, Damon’s business card in his fingers. She shook her head in confusion as she patted his nonexistent pockets. “Where did you get that from, and how can you possibly offer to buy this place?”
Damon cleared his throat. “We still have a bit of talking to do.”
Addie snickered—there was nothing else she could do. “It appears we do.”
“Would you be upset to discover you’re mated to a wealthy man?”
“Only if I were an idiot,” she replied. “Come on. You can tell me all about it over lunch.”
“Naked lunch?” Damon suggested.
“Talking lunch,” Addie insisted.
He hummed in disapproval before brightening, a grin dancing over his expression. “Tell you what, we’ll play a game of checkers to decide which we do first—your memory can’t help you win that game.”
She laughed and led her mischievous wolf back into the manor, enjoying the steady stream of happiness and satisfaction rolling off him through their linked fingers.
Happiness, satisfaction and a solid dose of lust. She could handle all of that, with or without cheating at checkers.
Epilogue
One year later.
Damon caught her, twirling her in the air before pressing her shoulders to the wooden wall of the stable. Addie laughed, the sound turning into a moan of pleasure as he pushed up her skirt and slipped his fingers into her, testing her wetness. “Every damn time. Every damn time you’re ready for me.”
“Now,” she begged. “Hurry, Damon. Someone could come along any moment.”
Damon shoved aside his kilt. There was no time for finesse or long foreplay, although they had been fooling around in the hayloft for the past hour, so that totally counted. He lined up his cock and thrust, pinning her to the wall as he protected her with an arm behind her hips and shoulders. Addie tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled as he drove forward, pounding into her.
It was his favourite position, and by now, she knew it. She knew everything about him.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” he whispered into her mind. “So damn addicted I can’t breathe without you.”
“You say the sweetest—oh, my God, there. There.”
He chuckled, his laughter turning into exploding pleasure as she tightened around him, dragging a climax from him faster than he ever would’ve thought possible.
Except he should’ve expected it. This was what his mate did to him.
Even after a year of being together, he couldn’t resist the touch of her skin or the taste of her lips. He loved waking up in the morning with her tangled around him, a steady stream of emotion pouring between them as if she’d spent the entire night stroking him. Caring for him.
And when they fought, she held nothing back. She shared it all, and her frustr
ation and fiery darts dashed over him as she let him have it when he’d done something stupid, which tended to be at least every other day.
Makeup sex as mates was like nothing on earth.
He slowly lowered her to the ground, dipping to press a kiss to her cheek. She sighed happily as she straightened his shirt and rearranged his kilt. “Are you still glad we live here?”
“At the manor? Of course. It’s the best home I’ve ever had.” He caught her by the chin and nipped her lower lip. “And it’s got you, which makes it perfect.”
“Hello. Are we in the right place?”
A shout rang from the door, and Addie darted under his arm with a squeal, racing forward to tackle hug a stunning copper-haired woman.
Damon was only a step behind, eager to see his friend Jim again.
They’d visited with Lillie and Jim in the Yukon last summer, and then again at Christmas. They’d seen each a half dozen times over the past year, but this was the first time it had worked for their friends to make the trip to Scotland.
Lillie and Addie walked ahead of them toward the gardens, arms wrapped around each other like the best friends they would always be.
“You’d think those two hadn’t talked in years,” Jim grumbled good-naturedly, accepting the cigar Damon offered, “instead of having Skyped less than twelve hours ago.”
“Addie’s never going to forgive me for taking an entire month to hook up high-speed Internet,” Damon said, mock weariness in his voice.
“Ha.” Jim poked his cigar at him. “You weren’t here for most of that time. I thought that’s when you were in New York introducing her to the family and all the wolf clans you had to impress.”
“Hey, it wasn’t my idea to take over leadership of Scotland.”
It had been the weirdest thing ever, having a supremely regal grey-haired Alpha wolf show up on their doorstep one day and simply offer him leadership without any bloodshed.
Well, okay, it hadn’t been quite as simple as that, but close.
“Never thought you’d settle down,” Jim admitted.