by R. E. Butler
Her cheeks blazed. “I don’t know what to say.”
“For fuck’s sake, don’t apologize.” He moved over her, caging her in with his arms and staring down at her. “Cinder,” he growled her name, “be mine.”
She placed her hands on his waist and stroked up his sides. “I thought we had to wait until the full moon.”
“For your shift and for you to be lygisa, not to become mates. I want to mate you and mark you so that no one will even think of touching you.”
She smiled. “I had that same thought earlier.”
His eyes narrowed and he licked his lips. “I want my cock in your pussy and my fangs in your neck.”
His hand moved slowly, and she saw the ends of his fingertips as they shifted into dark claws. Her top ripped easily as he sliced it apart, and her panties didn’t stand a chance as he curled a claw around the delicate fabric and shredded it. He tossed the torn fabric aside. He glanced down at himself, and with two quick swipes of his claws, he shredded his boxer briefs and threw the fabric over the side of the bed. His claws receded and he cupped her cheek.
“This is stronger than human marriage, Cinder. When we mate, there’s no going back to the world you knew.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it?”
“I just want you to know how serious this is. It’s not about you being lygisa. It’s because I’m crazy about you and I can’t stand the thought of spending another night without knowing what you taste like and hearing you scream my name in pleasure.”
She curled her hands in his hair and drew him down to her lips. “I’m crazy about you too.”
Their lips met and parted, and the first slide of their tongues together made sparks light behind her closed eyes. He settled over her as they kissed, sliding one arm under her back to hold her close. She felt his hard cock as he settled into the cradle of her hips, and she wound her legs around him and hugged him close. While their tongues danced in a slow, seductive kiss, his hand traced light patterns up her waist to her breast. His thumb rubbed a circle around her nipple, and it tightened into a hard point, making her groan.
He sucked her bottom lip and bit gently, before kissing her chin and down the column of her throat. His tongue stroked along her collarbone while his finger and thumb pinched her nipple, sending a riot of sensations through her. She arched up and he plumped her breast with his hand and closed his mouth over her nipple. She released her tight grip on his hair and trailed her fingers down his neck and back. He was all thick muscle and silky skin. Lifting her head, she kissed his throat and captured some of his flesh between her teeth.
He released his hold on her nipple with a soft snarl and lifted from her, making her lose her hold on his neck. He kissed her other nipple, licking and sucking it until she couldn’t hold still, and then he kissed his way down her stomach. Her body tensed as he drew closer to her pussy, and the wolf inside her howled in happiness.
She giggled as he kissed the sensitive skin over her hip. He pushed her thigh open roughly, giving himself more room to settle between her legs, and he held her, splayed open, while he stared at her core. He glanced up the length of her body, meeting her eyes for a brief moment.
“Mine,” he growled, his eyes turning the golden amber glow of his beast.
He lowered his head, his hands tightening on her thighs as he held her open. He licked the length of her pussy slowly. His tongue flicked over her clit, and she gasped as he circled his tongue around her entrance with a throaty growl. Her pussy flooded with heat as he tongued her, her stomach clenching as he pushed her closer to the edge of climax.
Her hands gripped the sheets as he focused his attention on her clit, flicking the tender bud rapidly with his tongue. She spiraled quickly to climax, but he eased the torment on her clit, gentling her with slow strokes that brought the flames of her pleasure to a low simmer. She reached for him, determined to shove his face into her pussy until she came. He released his hold on her thighs and pressed her hands to the bed with a growl. She wiggled under his intense gaze as he poised above her throbbing pussy.
“Adam, please,” she whispered, trying to extract her hands from his grip.
He flashed her a grin, and she saw his fangs. The sight of them made her gums tingle. He lowered his head slowly, driving her insane with want. Just as she vowed in her mind to make him suffer the same wait for his own climax, he closed his lips around her clit and sucked the tight nub into his mouth, growling loudly. The combination of the vibrations from his growl and the heat of his tongue lashing her clit sent her over the edge immediately, white hot pleasure blinding her as she screamed her pleasure.
Adam slid up her body, kissing her twitching stomach along the way, until they were face to face. Her legs caged his hips, and she slid her trembling hands up his arms as his cock nudged her tingling entrance.
He breeched her, his thick cock stretching her as he pushed inside. She gasped as he powered into her. He seemed to go on forever, until finally, he was seated completely, their bodies joined as tightly as possible.
There was a brief moment when time seemed to stand still as they gazed at each other, and then he canted his hips and slid out of her. She moaned at the feeling of all that thickness leaving her as he pulled from her body slowly, paused only a heartbeat, and pushed back in. Each inch of him filled her once more, and she hooked her ankles together at the small of his back and gripped his shoulders and titled her hips. He snarled and captured her mouth with his as he began to move within her, their tongues dueling as his body staked a claim to hers.
Heat spiraled through her as they moved together, until he was taking her so hard she couldn’t keep kissing him. Wrenching away from his mouth, the breath gusted from her mouth as she dug her nails into his flesh. She raked her nails down his back, her body tightening as pleasure poured over her.
“Adam!” she screamed.
She groaned as his cock thickened in her already sensitive channel. He growled as he came, and she felt the heat of his come filling her. She pulled herself closer to him as twinges of pleasure ebbed and flowed within her. She’d expected him to bite her, but he hadn’t, and she didn’t know what that meant.
She found herself suddenly on her stomach, with Adam pulling her against his chest as he kneed her legs apart. He gripped her tightly across her shoulders and nuzzled her head aside. His other hand slid down her sweat-soaked stomach, and his fingers grazed her clit.
“This is how we’ll be on the full moon, my mate,” he snarled the words, and she could feel his cock harden against her back as he spoke. Images flashed through her mind of them making love in front of the pack. The light of the full moon casting their bodies in pale blue as the pack watched, waiting for the shared pleasure he’d told her about.
She gripped his forearm, relaxing against him.
“Make me yours, Adam. I want it all. All of you, all of the pack. I’m not afraid anymore.”
He kissed her neck tenderly, a soft growl in his throat. “Fly with me, Cinder,” he whispered.
She closed her eyes as he began to rub her clit. The rough pads of his fingers drew her body back to life quickly. She tilted her hips, inviting him to do whatever he wanted to her, and he growled his approval. His fangs traced a light line up her neck, and her wolf howled in approval. Gasping as the first fingers of orgasm rolled through her, she shrieked in bliss as he sank his fangs into her flesh at the place where her neck and shoulder met. His growl vibrated through her body, and she cried out his name.
He shoved his arm in front of her, and she saw that he’d nicked his arm with his own fangs. The smell and sight of his blood made her fangs erupt. She buried her fangs in his arm, his blood cresting her tongue with a sweet, metallic tang. As she lifted from him, she felt her skin prickle as her wolf rolled under her skin.
He laid her upper body on the bed and sank his cock into her pussy, fucking her hard and fast as her climax twisted through her. Each stroke of his cock hit a place inside her that made her vision w
ink out. She buried her face in the pillow and screamed. Adam curled his hands around her hips and pounded into her until the center of her body turned to molten lava and she thought her heart would pound out of her chest. She’d never been part of such pleasure before as Adam came inside her with a howl of bliss and lowered himself to blanket her with his warmth.
He growled, the sound heartfelt. “Mine.”
She turned her head. “Yours.”
Too blissed out to move under her own power, she let him pull her onto his chest as he rolled to his back. She could taste him on her tongue and still feel the pinch of his fangs as they marked her. She felt completely connected to him now and smiled as she drifted off to sleep, safe in his arms once more.
Chapter 11
The day before the full moon, Adam was working with pack members to finish the items needed for the bonding ceremony. As a pup, he’d done a lot of full moon preparation, handling the grunt work for the adults. He’d swept the clearing free of debris and cut wood for the fire until his arms ached so badly he thought they’d fall off. He’d been glad when he was old enough to fight for rank and not have to do that work anymore, but there was something very satisfying about preparing ceremonial items for his mate.
The ceremony itself was simple, but it was steeped in powerful magic. Cinder would have full use of her new power once the ceremony was complete. He liked knowing that she would be able to help keep the pack safe, but what he appreciated even more was that she would be nearly invincible herself. A lygisa was extremely difficult to kill, and although a lygisa could die from the heartbreak of losing her pack, Adam didn’t foresee that happening. His pack was the only one in Northern Ohio, and they had a cadre of other shifters around to support them. He’d never called on any of the other shifters for anything more than a casual favor, but he knew if an enemy came up against them that he’d have tigers, bears, dragons, falcons, and white lions at the ready to help defend their territory. The only creatures he’d never planned to contact for help were the vampires. Although the pack and vampire coven had an alliance, he didn’t care for the blood drinkers. They smelled strange to him, like dust and dried blood. Fortunately, he didn’t have reason to be in contact with the coven and didn’t ever plan to be.
Adam turned his attention back to the branches of the white ash tree he was twisting together. White ash, a native tree of the area, had been part of his pack’s special ceremonies for generations, usually reserved for ceremonies inducting newly shifted young wolves into the pack as full members. White ash was strong and adaptable, and with the underside of the leaves being white, it reminded wolves of their dual nature. The twisted branches, held together with thin wire, would be used in the ceremonial fire, added to represent Cinder’s duality – she was both the protector of the females as their alpha and the protector of the pack as their lygisa. His thoughts kept drifting to his mate. He could feel her in the house, and just knowing she was there made him happy. He was falling hard for her, and it had little to do with her beauty or the power that he could already feel coursing through her. She was sweet and loving, kind and generous. The females had taken to her immediately, so desperate for a leader of their own. Although Cinder would always be accountable to Adam as the alpha male, she would be the go-between for the females and handle their issues herself. He’d found her meeting with the females in the living room, learning about them and their roles within the pack, more than once during the last few days. Angie had confessed last night to telling Cinder about the role of unmated females in relieving the sexual needs of unmated males on the full moon. Cinder had confronted him later about her dislike for the process, but it was one of those aspects that wasn’t going to change.
“There’s no force, Cinder. If a female doesn’t care for a male, she doesn’t have to fuck him.”
She made a face. “Do you have to be so crude?”
Shaking his head, he snagged her around the waist and drew her close. He loved how she sighed softly whenever their bodies touched, even fully clothed. “They’re not making love, sweetheart. Unmated males can get overly aggressive without sex on the full moons, and the females are sensitive to that. I guess you’d say there’s a desire on the females’ part to help them because they know that restless, agitated wolves can be dangerous.”
Her brow arched. “You’re saying that the unmated females feel sorry for the males being all horny and unfulfilled and just roll over for them?”
“Now who’s being crude?” he asked, kissing the space under her ear where her slowly changing scent called to him. Before she began to change as their lygisa, she’d smelled sweet to him, but now, that scent was bathed in the woodsy fall scent of wolves and another scent he couldn’t quite place – like candles being lit and the crisp scent of night on the full moon. She smelled like a single flower blooming in the woods, with a shaft of moonlight highlighting its beauty.
“I’m just saying I don’t want any of my females feeling obligated to do any of the males. They can date their right hands if they’re feeling horny.”
He stared at her in shock for a long moment and then laughed. “It’s a wolf thing, Cinder. You’ll feel it for me too. There’s an inherent need within wolves for everyone to be content, and, yes, you might think that males are getting the better deal when it comes to sex, but the females benefit too. It brings the pack closer. A well-satisfied male is better able to hunt on the full moon, to protect if necessary.”
She still looked skeptical. “Do other shifter groups have this sort of thing?”
“I don’t know. It’s not exactly dinner conversation.” He kissed the tip of her nose and released her. “No one is being forced. If a female wants to say no, then she can and she should. It’s as simple as that.”
Something slowly dawned in her eyes, and she asked, “So you’ve been with all the unmated females outside of your family?”
He met her eyes. The green was slowly swirling to amber as her lip curled and a soft snarl erupted from her throat.
“You already know the answer to that.”
She growled sharply. “You’re mine!”
“I know.” He pulled her over to the couch and sat, tugging her into his lap. She curled up immediately against him, snuggling close. “Yes, I’ve had sex with the unmated females. The wolf has a strong desire to mate, especially on the full moon. It’s hard to ignore, and there was never any reason for me to do so. When I moved up the ranks, the females came willingly to offer themselves to me.”
“Even though you weren’t their mate?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Some wolves never find their truemates, and after a while, the desire to have a pup and start a family is stronger than the desire to be with the one meant for them. A female might decide it would be better to be with the alpha than to be alone, and some females are very power-hungry and only want to be with the strongest males. That’s also an ancient desire. Finding the most powerful male and hooking up for protection and status.”
“What if a wolf feels a mate connection to another species?”
“Like another shifter?”
“Sure, or a human or some other supernatural creature.”
“Then they would be with them.”
“Are they still part of the pack?”
“Why wouldn’t they be?” He frowned, tipping her chin until he looked into her eyes. “Is someone mating with another shifter?”
“No, I was just asking. I didn’t know if the pack was exclusive, like if a male or female mated another supernatural creature then they’d have to leave the pack.”
“Pack members can mate with whoever they choose, sweetheart. Other shifters would be welcome to hunt with the pack, but humans and non-shifters wouldn’t. The pack isn’t exclusive, but some aspects of pack life are.”
She hummed lightly and rested her head on his shoulder. “I just want the females to be happy.”
“They are, I promise.”
“I don’t want to disappoint them or do a
bad job.”
“You’re already an amazing alpha and you haven’t even gone through the ceremony yet,” he pointed out.
“I have a good teacher,” she whispered before kissing his neck.
Later they made love, and he couldn’t say it was anything less than love because he felt so connected to her. He felt as though their hearts were beating as one. Which sounded incredibly cheesy in his head, but it was still the truth.
“Adam?” Brick said his name, drawing him back from his thoughts to the present.
“I’m sorry, what?” he asked, twisting a wire around the end of a bundle of ash branches.
“The oil’s gone rancid.”
“What?” He set the finished bundle on a small tarp with the other bundles he and some of the wolves were making and stood, joining his cousin on the back patio where a container of anointing oil sat open. Even from a distance Adam could smell that the oil had gone bad.
“Well, shit.”
“I’m sorry. I called the Wiccan store, and they’re out, but they gave me an address of another store. They don’t deliver, so I’m going to pick it up. I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks for handling it.” He clapped Brick on the shoulder.
“It’s my pleasure. My wolf is happier than he’s been in a long time, and it’s because of Cinder. I can already feel how much stronger our pack is with her in our midst, and she hasn’t even fully claimed her power.”
Just then, Cinder raced out of the house with a sharp cry of alarm. Her eyes were bright gold and her fangs were elongated. Adam grabbed her, feeling her panic.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone’s hurt, in the woods!” she panted, her chest heaving as if she’d run a marathon. “I can feel the pain. It’s one of the females.”
He opened himself to his wolf and the connection to the pack and felt nothing, at first, but then he slowly began to sense panic and pain, but he couldn’t detect the direction.
Cinder struggled in his grasp. “Let me go. I have to help her.”