One Last Prowl: BBW Were Mountain Lion Shapeshifter Mail Order Bride Romance (Shifter Grove Brides Book 6)

by Anya Nowlan

  The lights were low in the bedroom, but not low enough that she couldn’t see every flex of muscle, every contour of flat planes and deep hollows between his ridged abs. He was not simply buff, but he had that hardness that came from a life of hard labor, joined with good genetics. While younger shifters looked almost too perfect, he had that jaggedness to him that marked real strength in place of simple size, and speed in place of useless pomp.

  She had no doubt that he could wrestle a bear bare-handed and win, shifter or not.

  And that, well… that made him incredibly mouthwatering.

  Her hands were on his belt buckle when Austin pushed her down into the covers and covered her body with his, giving her the first taste of that wealth of muscle she had stared so admiringly at for days. Her nails raked his skin as his hand cupped her sex, pressing through the tough material of her jeans to feel her growing heat. He let out a guttural growl, fierce and demanding, and Dahlia just about evaporated on the spot.

  God, he sounds good!

  Her clothes were practically ripped off of her and Dahlia didn’t utter a peep of resentment against it. She was tugging at his belt while Austin was pulling off her pants, a plethora of hands and arms everywhere, cut with excited giggles and heavy breaths. He undid the clasp on her bra with ease and the delicate garment tumbled off of her, crumpled in the sheets. For the first time since their trek from the dining room, she felt a blush creeping up her cheeks.

  She hadn’t been seen naked by a man ever, other than her late husband, and it was now years past since even that. What would he think? Was the swell of her breasts too heavy, the curve of her hips too wide? The softness of her belly…

  “Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he hissed, putting so much emotion in the words that they went straight to her core.

  Flushed, she grinned and cupped his chin, pulling her back onto her.

  “Then fuck me, Austin.”

  She pushed his jeans and his boxers down his hips when Austin pushed aside the lace of her panties, sinking his fingers into her wet heat. Like the recoil of a gun, she sprang back, her back arching and her eyes closing tightly as he parted her lips, letting his fingers flick over her sensitive pussy.

  “That’s so good,” she whined, biting her lower lip as he swirled his thumb over her clit and then dipped down, lapping at it with hunger.

  She spread her legs willingly, giving all of herself to him, and enjoyed the feeling of utter bliss that was pulsing through her like hard liquor mixed with lightning. Every swirl of his tongue, every nip of his teeth had her teetering on edge, her body a lightning rod for every touch he could spare her. Fingers curling into his hair, she clutched him, bucking her hips into him with growing desire. Her nails scraped his skull and her body shook with shivers. It was everything she thought it could be, but had never dared to hope.

  When he inserted two fingers, she couldn’t hold on any longer. In a maelstrom of wails and pleads, Austin all the while thrusting his thick digits into her wet slit, Dahlia gave into the orgasm. She grinded herself against him, lavishing in the deft motions of his tongue, and the occasional throaty groans he gave. Five years she had gone without the touch of a man, and five years this orgasm had been growing inside of her. When it wafted over her and ultimately passed, she knew one thing—she wanted more. Now.

  Gasping for breath, Dahlia watched as Austin rose from his spot between her legs, licking his lips and grinning like he knew something she didn’t. Her eyes were hazed over with the aftershocks of that tidal wave that had shaken her so thoroughly, but that sleepy warmth dissipated immediately when she saw the rigid length of his massive cock.

  “Fuck me,” she gasped, as much an invitation as a statement.

  “Don’t you worry about that, I will,” he said, shucking those pants off for good and tearing Dahlia’s panties off her hips with a satisfying rip.

  She pulled his face to hers and assaulted his lips as Austin settled between her legs. The head of his cock rubbed against her sensitive lips, but she bucked and grinded against him eagerly, coating him with her juices. He was big and thick and she wanted every inch as hard and fast as he could give it to her.

  When he pushed her down against the mattress by her hips and kissed her with the kind of violent need reserved for couples having longed for each other for decades, Dahlia shook with anticipation. That first moment when he thrust into her, slowly, so slowly, just about turned her world upside down. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she pressed her body against his hard planes, clinging to him breathlessly as he filled her with his length.

  Her mind spun as Austin pulled back, a strained groan on his lips from holding back, and then stroked forward again. She hid her face into his shoulder, her nails digging into his back with growing fervor, as he began plowing into her. Each motion went deeper, stretching her wider and bringing that delicious pain along with excruciating pleasure that shook her universe.

  She was faintly aware that she was mewling out little murmurs that could have been words, or prayers, or moans, but none of it mattered. When he sunk into her to the hilt, giving her that feeling of fullness that she’d longed for, her body relaxed and tensed around him at the same time. Relaxed, because they were finally one. And tensed because she couldn’t wait for more.

  With a casual flip, though Dahlia could feel the steady, heavy thump of his heart beating through his chest, Austin turned them around so he was on his back and she on top of him. Dahlia stared down at him, whimpering softly from the way his cock filled her even better when she was on top. Austin’s hazel eyes, usually filled with that devilish fire, now burned a different hue. A deep amber glinted back at her, his predatory side close to the surface, so near that she could almost touch it.

  His hands traveled up her belly and cupped her bountiful breasts, thumbs rolling over the tight nubs of her nipples. With a sigh, Dahlia leaned back and started grinding on him slowly, letting her hips rise and fall to the beat of their shared heartbeat. She felt every little movement clearly, every spasm and grunt ran right through her and joined with her own intense pleasure. This was exactly like it had to be. Exactly like she’d hoped but not dared to dream.

  “You’re beautiful, Dahlia,” he said, that deep baritone engulfing her.

  She smiled and for once, there wasn’t a shred of doubt in her mind. Of course he meant it. And if he meant it, she had no reason to doubt him. She picked up the pace, starting to ride him harder, until he grabbed her hips and took over for her. With a yelp, Dahlia fell on his chest as Austin raised her up and started pounding into her wild and fast.

  Her core pulsed as he drilled into her, their conjoined moans creating the perfect cacophony for a night neither one of them thought they would ever get. Being in the arms of someone who gets it. And not only gets it, but has lived through it as well, and is ready for another chance.

  “Yes!” she squealed.

  That monster inside of Dahlia that Austin awakened demanded more and she clenched down on him hard, tears prickling at her eyes from how heavenly it felt. His rutting grew more erratic, and Dahlia bit his ear and snaked her tongue into it, drawing the final grunt of satisfaction from her. When his hard, calloused hand hit her on the ass, spanking her once, she was gone.

  Lost in her own personal bliss, her pussy milked Austin’s cock greedily, until he couldn’t stand it either. With a powerful sigh, he pumped into her one last time, emptying his load into her with a sound that could only be compared to a roar.

  After a while, Dahlia slowly slipped off of him, moving gingerly. She grinned as Austin’s hands found her before she could wander anywhere and tuck her right next to him, kept safe and warm.

  “Don’t you go anywhere,” he murmured into her ear.

  “Why not?”

  “Because we’re just getting started here, missy.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Austin

  Austin was almost literally purring since the night with Dahlia. He hadn’t felt that kind of attractio
n for a woman since Amelia’s untimely passing and for once, he dared to hope. But there was something that still needed to be taken care of.

  Dahlia was in town with Teresa, who she’d hit it off with well, leaving the men to fend for themselves. That was not a problem, of course, seeing as Marcus spent most of his time outdoors and Austin had plenty of work to do. He didn’t want to crowd the boy when he was barely settling in for their stay, but there’d been something weighing on Austin’s mind that he wanted to put straight.

  Standing up from his office table, he rolled his shoulders back a bit and stretched, feeling the life flood back into his limbs. Paperwork was not the kind of thing a predator wanted to spend his time on, but in today’s world it was a necessity.

  Sometimes I wish we were back in the saber-toothed tiger phase, Austin mused to himself. At least there wouldn’t be any tax forms.

  Chuckling to himself, he stalked outside and took a deep whiff of the air. He shoved his big palms in his pockets and started casually walking in the direction of the smell he’d determined. Rustling through leaves and underbrush around his home, he finally made it deeper into the woods and found who he was looking for. Marcus sat on a big rock by the stream that ran down the length of Austin’s property, whittling a makeshift spear that looked to have no other use than to make the time go by. Austin could understand that. After all, it didn’t feel like so long ago that he’d been a broody, angry teenager himself.

  “Mind if I join you?” Austin asked, taking a seat opposite of Marcus on a fallen tree trunk.

  “You didn’t really wait for a reply,” Marcus snapped, but there was no bite to his growl.

  Austin frowned mildly. He’d talked about Marcus with Dahlia a few times. She was soft with him, but he could understand that. Deep down inside, she must have felt guilty about what happened to Arthur and so it was no surprise she went out of her way to try and make her son at least somewhat contented. But with teenagers, that was a slippery slope – Austin knew. Still, it was not his place to intervene, not until he had a ring on that gal’s finger.

  And he certainly intended to have that done in the near future.

  “I figured you could use the company,” Austin said lightly, brushing off Marcus’ attitude.

  “How come?”

  “Seems like you’re angry a lot and I’m not sure you know why, Marcus. Why don’t you talk to me about it?” Austin offered, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees.

  This wasn’t exactly something that came superbly naturally to him, but he broke it down in his head. He wasn’t talking as the prospective boyfriend/mate of Marcus’ mother, but as a werecougar to another of his kind, one who maybe needed some assistance. It sort of felt like hunting, talking to a teenager. He was ready to have his prey jump up and run off hissing at any moment.

  “Why should I?” the boy said, looking up from his spear for the first time.

  “Because I want to see your mother happy. And I think nothing would make her happier to know that you’re happy,” he offered.

  “Mom doesn’t get it,” Austin snorted, flinging the spear at a patch of grass and having it plant itself firmly in the ground. “She doesn’t miss dad like I do.”

  “I think you’re wrong about that, Marcus,” Austin said, keeping his voice level.

  “Yeah? Is that why we’re here, with her making goo-goo eyes at you? Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do, man,” Marcus said, waggling his finger in an accusing way at Austin. “You want her to stay, You want me to stay, too. But this isn’t my home. New York is.”

  “It could be your home,” Austin said, taking a deep breath.

  He’d offered that Marcus should go and spend some time with Slate, because he knew that Marcus needed to let out a bit of steam. But if this was the relaxed version of the young man then Austin had to admit he was even more impressed that Dahlia had managed as well as she had. He was a handful.

  “Why? So she could forget all about dad and just live here? No, that’s not right,” Marcus snorted.

  “Nobody’s trying to make any less of the memory of your father. But do you think he would want your mother to be unhappy?”

  “She’s not unhappy! She has me!” Marcus snarled, his eyes wild with indignation.

  “I don’t mean that. You keep getting kicked out of school and she ends up losing her jobs because she’s trying to find you a new place. Don’t you think that’s hurting her?”

  “I…” Marcus paused, frowning, before continuing on. “I don’t like those schools. They’re…”

  “Suffocating?” Austin offered, knowing full well what it felt like being a shifter, and a lonely shifter, in a school full of humans who didn’t understand him.

  Being at that fragile age and without a father must have been times worse. His heart went out to Marcus and as no surprise to himself, he felt a strong surge of protectiveness for the boy. As much as he was infatuated with Marcus’ mother, Austin also admitted that he had always wanted a family and he would have been more than happy to treat Marcus as his own. In any case, as long as Austin was tied to Dahlia, he would be tied to Marcus as well and they would get no objections from him. No matter how much attitude was flung in his way.

  “Yes,” Marcus agreed, glowering at Austin suspiciously.

  “It comes with the territory,” Austin said with a chuckle. “Teenaged years are supposed to be rough, but nothing like when you’re a shifter. And nothing like when you’re a shifter without someone to guide you.”

  Marcus visibly bristled at that, jumping up. Austin could see the uncertainty in Marcus’ eyes, the desire to believe and share, but also the pride that kept him from doing that. There was a lot there that Austin recognized and remembered from when he was the same age and frankly, he knew all too well how it worked. What he also knew was that if he forced himself on Marcus, the boy would never learn to trust him.

  He was a scared and confused young man, one who had been without his father or any other strong male role model for far too long. Being in Shifter Grove was a step in the right direction and Austin knew that with time, they could come to understand each other. If for no other reason than because they both loved Dahlia, that much was plain to see.

  “I don’t need any handling by you or my mom! You’re not my dad! Just stay out of my life, is that so much to ask!”

  “Marcus!” Austin called, standing up as Marcus ran deeper into the forest, his slim, long legs carrying him further quickly.

  Shaking his head, Austin sighed and turned back towards the house.

  That could have gone better, he thought.

  He could have now made things worse, but he was an old enough man to know that when the skies were at their darkest, the sun was going to come out and be the warmest it had ever been. Sometimes, things just needed to deteriorate a little before they could really get good. He had to believe that.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dahlia

  Floating on air was pretty close to how Dahlia could describe her current state of mind. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and everything seemed to be bright and cheery, no matter where she went and how late it was. The sunshine in her life had nothing to do with the weather, but with the man beside her.

  She’d spent a week in Shifter Grove now and the only thing that was really wrong was the fact that her flight back was nearing with alarming speed. They’d agreed on two weeks, and one week in it didn’t seem like nearly enough. The last thing that Dahlia wanted to think about was returning home to their drab apartment, where Marcus would blast his music again and actively hate everything, while Dahlia desperately looked for a job.

  In Idaho, none of that seemed like the reality afforded to them. Marcus spent more time outside than in, dashing around the forests like a pup let out to play for the first time. And Dahlia could really breathe for the first time since her husband passed, finding the strength and most of all the desire to greet every day like an opportunity, rather than a chore to get throu
gh so she could get back home and wait for the next one.

  Austin had taken both her and Marcus to see all the sights around Shifter Grove and they’d met most of the locals as well. She had yet to meet one she didn’t like, and she was beginning to think that all that fresh air was playing tricks on her. No way one little town could feel so… right. Like she was meant to be there all along.

  Smiling, Dahlia shook that thought off. She was sitting on the porch swing, watching Austin teach Marcus how to chop firewood. Marcus’s face was twisted with concentration, focusing on the heavy blade in his hands and the block of wood before him. There was a hardness to his expression that Dahlia had never seen before but that struck her as entirely familiar.

  That’s the way Arthur used to look when he was building something…

  A sigh rose to her throat and she let it out, shaking her head a bit. There were all these moments she wished Arthur was there to see, but that life had denied him and her both. The true victim here was Marcus, though. He was the one growing up without a father. That had never been as clear as it was in Shifter Grove, where he was surrounded by men who were like what Dahlia wanted Marcus to grow up to be. Dependable. Assertive. At peace with themselves.

  And she had to admit that with every day in Idaho he looked more like the kind of boy who could become that man. So different from the hurt teenager she saw in New York, the one she had to worry about constantly. Here, he was exactly like Dahlia had imagined him to be if Arthur was still around. Austin had a lot to do with that, she knew.

  She hadn’t noticed at first, but he’d been spending a lot of time with Marcus. Whatever he could teach him, he did. From fixing small electronics to changing a truck tire, to driving and fishing, Austin let Marcus try his hand at everything. The way Marcus was beginning to look up to Austin for it was obvious as well. Yes, they had their squabbles, when Marcus’s fiery nature got the best of him, but these were growing rarer and further in between. Her child was growing up right in front of her eyes and she couldn’t be happier that it was with the help of the man who had completely won her over.