by Roxy Mews
Doc pulled me up from the couch and gave me a hug. His heart pounded against my silent chest. I inhaled to remember his scent.
“Take care, baby brother. You know what we talked about,” Shelly said.
Doc patted my cheek. “Things have to change, Amber. Sometimes we have to let go of someone we love to let them get where they need to go. You need to go. But we will work on making it safe to come back. It will just take time.” I held his hand as he kissed my forehead. Doc nodded to Daddy before he and Shelly walked out together.
Craig and Mary were the next pair to exit stage left. Mary couldn’t stay in Indiana any more than I could. Shelly had been a bit too vocal about my best friend being a witch in front of a bunch of vampires.
“Seems that witch blood is extra tasty.” Mary shrugged.
She didn’t understand. I licked my lips as I remembered her taste. She had something extra in her blood. Craig gave me a dirty look, like I was going to start snacking on my best friend. Geez. I wasn’t the one who put her arm in my mouth. Craig took Mary to get some of her things from her apartment. She was coming with us.
When Jake said he was going to pick up some essentials, I couldn’t help but wonder if everyone was dumping me like a flea-ridden dog at a pound.
Daddy didn’t leave, though, and I realized why everyone else stepped out first. Daddy stood in the room looking like his heart was breaking. My soul ached at what I was doing to him.
“Don’t look at me like that, Amber. You have my blessing in this. I don’t have any regrets.”
“I feel like I am taking away too much by leaving. Are you going to be alright? I don’t have to go, you know. I can stay and fight.” I meant it, too. If Daddy needed me, we would find a way to stay.
“Amber, every child leaves their home. If they don’t, the parents haven’t done their job. Your mom would have been proud of you.”
That started the real tears. He had to go and mention my momma. I can stuff a lot of emotions down, but not about her.
Daddy pulled a small, drawn leather pouch from his pocket and placed it in the hand that wasn’t wiping my eyes. “Your mother was a wonderful woman. She gave me the children I always wanted, she raised you and your sister and she gave us all the support and love a person could ever ask for. She did it all at the sacrifice of what she really wanted. Sweetie, your mother loved someone else.”
I fell back onto the couch. I managed to hang onto the small leather bag, but my hand dropped to my lap for support. I had to be at my limit for horrible surprises by now.
“You married her when she was in love with someone else?”
“It was a complicated time, Amber, and an even more complicated story. She loved me though. I never doubted that. Amber, when you were born, it was as if our family found its missing piece. My missing piece at least.” He pointed to the little bag. “But this was what she kept on her. Even then I knew it was his. It belongs at least in some way to that other man. When she died, I took this with me. I vowed that I wouldn’t settle for what was acceptable anymore. I would do what felt right. I would never ask you to give up love that found you. You take this. And you live the life love has given you.”
Daddy stood up. I don’t know if he was putting space between himself and that little brown pouch, or if he was trying to let me go. Either way, he was pushing me out of the nest. I wasn’t in the Pack anymore. He couldn’t tell me what to do under Pack authority. I never really listened when he did, but it made him feel like he had some control.
I wondered why he never pushed me as hard as the rest of the Pack. Maybe he was afraid he would lose me. Maybe I was stubborn enough that I would have gone. Right now, I would have done anything to be able to stay.
“Be with your mate and be happy. Because of my ties to the Pack, I can’t risk knowing more, but knowing that you are alive and living with the love I couldn’t give your mother—that is the most I could ever ask for.”
He hugged me as I wept, smearing tears on his cotton shirt. He waited until the sobs lessened. I don’t think he shed a tear, but his face strained with the effort to hold them in. I was going to miss him.
I had Jake now. I would be alright. Who did Daddy have? Doc? I wasn’t even sure how much of his Pack I was leaving him with.
Daddy wiped my last tear with his thumb. It had taken me awhile to reach the bottom of that emotional bucket. Daddy looked at the droplet on the pad of his thumb and then turned until he had it pressed to his heart. He left with a messy shoulder and a wet spot above his shirt pocket.
I didn’t open the pouch. I’m not sure I wanted to know what was inside. This was my mother’s secret, not mine. I walked over to the window and yanked down the chain that worked the blinds. Being careful as I threaded it through the worn leather ties, I wrapped it around my neck and fastened the ball into the small loop to keep it attached. I tucked it beneath my shirt, and reached into myself to find my Pack…err…Family.
I might have been alone in that room, but I had more support than I ever felt before. First things first. I was working on the terminology of the situation. I was the first. It was pretty cool I got to make history. I flipped on the TV for inspiration. At the very least, I was going to get a distraction. Anything but reality television. I had more than enough reality right then.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jake came back to the room. Sitting there alone made the few minutes before he returned painfully long. He must have wanted to give me a moment, but the second Daddy left, the only thing I wanted was to be in my mate’s arms. The fact that he held himself away from me for even the shortest of moments was too long. “When do we leave?” I asked. Hopefully making Jake speak to me would get him close enough to touch.
“We have everything ready to be gone within an hour.”
It worked. He sat next to me on the couch and put his arms around me. He felt different. I felt different. Not all of the different was from becoming a vampire either. I realized that I had changed on a much deeper level, and I wasn’t so sure I liked all I had taken on. I wasn’t just an Alpha’s mate. I wasn’t just a Matheo’s mate. There was a new power inside me that I didn’t understand.
I shouldn’t have felt it. I was the female. Females supported. Males led. That’s the way it was for supernaturals. In a world of magic, it had been the one thing that was constant. Now Shelly had become Protector, and I was…something more.
Jake’s body next to mine was just the distraction I needed to break that line of thought. The mating scent bounded into my nose and let me forget the strange new world I was stumbling into a bit. I lengthened my fangs and licked the points with my tongue. There might be a bonus to this whole hybrid thing. I felt like biting him. Hard.
The feel of his skin under my fingers was no help pulling that thought from my head. My fangs—and that’s what I had now—lengthened. There was no overpowering bloodthirsty hunger. I had been a bit afraid that I would want to chew on everyone. Nope. Right now, my thoughts came from a very different place.
His skin was flawless. Not a scar, not a mark. No tattoos or piercings were needed. Jake had just enough hair to remind me how much of a man he was, and how amazing of a wolf he had become. I let my fingers play over the hair on his arm. I loved the way he flexed beneath my hand.
He was agitated. He was trying to argue with himself about whether we had time to play before we left. I didn’t care what he thought. I needed this.
“Jake. Sit still. Let me touch you. I need to try something.” I wanted his blood. But it was getting hard to talk. My teeth filled my mouth, and I felt a bit awkward. Only men bit the women in a werewolf Pack. Unless you really pissed off your female.
My mouth hovered over his neck. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to happen. I didn’t want to turn him off. His blood wasn’t the only thing on my mind.
“Amber.” He groaned as my hand moved over his crotch. There was a part of his body that wasn’t arguing with me. That part of him was more than willing to give m
e what I needed. Hopefully, his cock would keep the rest of Jake happy, while I took what I couldn’t believe I wanted. He pushed some of his power at me.
I felt the Alpha in him trying to gain a foothold. Screw that. I pushed back. He eyed me a bit funny. It wasn’t every day that an Alpha’s mate challenged him. By the supreme confusion in Jake’s eyes, I gathered it wasn’t very common among vampires either. This was going to be fun.
“We have to get moving. I need to keep you safe.” He pulled back as he talked. He eyed me more like a science project than a woman who needed to play.
“You need me, Jake.” At least a good portion of his anatomy did. “But, go ahead. Try and make me go. You are my Alpha, aren’t you?” Nothing like poking the big bad hybrid with a stick and seeing how long it took him to pop.
“You might be weak after the change. You might not feel it, but your body has been through something drastic.”
He didn’t know anything. I felt better than ever.
He kept pushing me away from his neck. I hooked my leg over his lap and pushed myself up in front of him—eye to eye. I wasn’t weak, and I could feel the power inside me gaining ground.
“I’m fine. And I’m not going anywhere. I need—”
Too bad he interrupted me. But I could be very persuasive. As he fought me, he moved the blood through his body. I could see the pulse beneath his skin. His wolf was stirring. The power in the room was thick, but I could handle it now. I wanted to show him.
“Amber, I almost lost you. If we take too long to get out of here, my father could catch up with us. You’re not supposed to exist. The miasma split after you survived. The knowledge that you are alive is with it.”
Yup. I was alive. And I could feel so much. I could feel the way his pulse quickened under my tongue as I licked his neck. I could feel him getting harder beneath my legs. I could feel my teeth starting to ache. They throbbed in my mouth. The pulse went right to my pussy. I was getting wet just from being on top of him. And if I was honest with myself, the ability to go blow for blow with my mate in the power department turned me on, too.
I mewled against his skin at the thought of using those restraints that were still in my duffle bag on him. I pushed the lust that was in me through our connection as mates.
He cleared his throat, but I was getting to him.
“Shelly will stall, but she is bound to the Matheo in ways you can’t understand. She won’t be able to keep it secret for long. They are going to come for you. I can’t lose you. When I held you in my arms in that parking lot, watching you waste away, parts of me were dying with you.”
I stopped licking him long enough to hold his face between my hands. Such pain. I wanted to erase it. “We are not in that parking lot anymore. I’m here. I’m healthy. I’m not going anywhere. This—” I ground my hips against his. I could feel his cock pressing against the seam of his pants. The seam of my jeans pressed against my pussy and I wiggled back and forth enjoying the heat and friction. “—this is where I am supposed to be. With you. So let me be with you. Please.”
I kissed him. His lips were a little stiff. He was fighting me. I let my will press back. It felt like an Alpha’s command. Lucky me, it shocked him just as much, and he softened enough for me to move in.
I licked his lower lip and sucked that plump skin into my mouth. My teeth were so long at this point they scored his skin. His blood trickled into my mouth. He had turned me—he was part of me. And as a few drops of his blood hit my tongue, every cell in my body recognized that I was his. Then it wasn’t just enough to be his anymore. He needed to be mine.
I continued to wiggle against his frame. A specific part of him was singing that it was mine already, but I wanted more.
Hard hands grabbed my arms to hold me still. I wasn’t as strong as him physically, but there was something new inside me. I didn’t need physical strength—I was something more. My eyes locked on his and the grin that crossed my face was hard as I leaned in, because he leaned back.
Nice try big guy, but it will take a lot more than that now.
Jake took a breath. He was scenting me. Something was very different, and he was trying to figure it out.
While he was working to solve the puzzle, I decided I’d had enough with the back and forth. I grazed my fangs across his jawline. His blood had settled me a bit and I could keep from scratching him, but the feel of him—the sensation of his slight stubble dragging across my teeth—was heaven.
“I know how good it feels to have your teeth rub against someone. It was heaven when I claimed you.”
I moved to his ear. His earlobe was lucky that it fit between my canines. Talking about that first time together had me shaking, and my fangs slammed against my lower teeth. I needed to bite. This man was mine.
His neck. I went back to his neck. “Jake. Please. I need to…” Why couldn’t I finish the sentence?
He wasn’t going anywhere. I had him, but could I really tell him what I wanted? Would he give it to me willingly?
Jake released my arms and his fingers began to work down to my hips. His thumbs pressed against my hipbones as his fingers dug into my ass. A slight rotation had me rocking against him.
“You need to do what, baby?” His nostrils flared. He smelled my arousal, and I got even wetter knowing he could tell.
“I want to bite you.”
His grin was golden, but he couldn’t understand, so I tried to explain it to him. “I want to mark you. I want to claim you.” The smile faded a bit, and he stilled. He was processing. My body started to cool, until I saw his pulse kick into action again. I leaned forward and licked the luscious line of his vein just beneath his skin.
He still didn’t say anything. So I went for it. “I am going to bite you. I am going to sink my teeth into you. I need it, Jake. Give me what I need.”
The flex of his dick beneath me let me breathe. He was still with me. Why wasn’t he talking now? If I was someone other than me, I might have kept my mouth shut and just run while the getting was good. But I was me. And this was Jake. I couldn’t keep anything from him. I didn’t want to.
I was still wearing my clothes, but I had never felt more naked. I had to wait for him. He had to submit to me.
If he wasn’t going to talk, I was going to try something else. I lifted his shirt. His hands released me as he allowed me to take the soft fabric over his head. I tossed his shirt behind me, and as soon as I turned back to him, he grabbed the seam of my tee and returned the favor.
Skin to skin, my nipples puckered at the feel of him. We both took breaths. I could smell his arousal. For a moment, I mourned not having the tang of him on my tongue, but then I saw the throb of that artery in his neck within biting distance, and I burned for it. I nipped my tongue as my teeth refused to go back to normal. They were ready. And I was so full of anticipation that I was just as ready as my canines. He had to give it to me. He would give it to me.
Fingernails scraped down my back, gently scoring my skin. Sensation snaked from my shoulders along a direct path to my pulsing core. My mouth opened on a hiss and there was no hiding my intent, or my fangs. Instead of backing down or pulling away, he licked his lips, and his fangs extended. I rubbed against him more and held his head to me. He returned my kiss for a moment and then pushed away to lick and nibble on my neck.
My matemark had settled a bit and could be mistaken as a large birthmark from afar. I have never been a delicate flower of a girl, but I could really get behind that silver-dollar-sized flower mark that changed so much for me. Jake teased the plum-colored mark, and I throbbed with the need to mark him too.
I wanted him everywhere on me. His hands, his mouth, that hard cock straining to be freed—I wanted it all. I wanted it now.
My mouth trailed to his shoulder. I kissed that heavy collarbone and then my lips found that magical spot where his neck and shoulder met. The skin was hotter there. I needed it.
“Do it, baby. Take what you need. You took away my burden, I can share
my power.” Jake leaned his head to the side and that delicious sizzling soft skin was on display.
“You’re not sharing it, Jake. I’m taking it. I claim you.”
The bite had us both bucking against each other. We still wore pants, but the connection was stronger than any sexual encounter. We were both together in that moment. The world stopped as more than his blood hit me. The power he had—his authority—wasn’t meant for him. He held it for me, and now I had my mate, and I could make anything happen. It was mine.
Releasing his neck, I wanted to watch to see what his mark would be, but there was something else I needed to give him first. There was something else our bodies needed. Jake panted.
Bet his miasma hadn’t prepared him for me. I was one of a kind. And now my one of a kind was going to be one with his one of a kind.
Now. He needed to fuck me now. I fumbled with my pants. Why did I insist on jeans? I was going to only wear pants I could rip through from now on. He growled, slapping my hands away, and tossed me over onto my back. He knelt in front of the couch. Strong capable fingers sank into the flesh of my knees.
“I gave you my blood.” His eyes flashed. His wolf came forward. Oh boy. “Now it’s my turn to take.” Jake losing control was a beautiful thing. I had claimed my mate, but his wolf needed to claim my body.
He backed up enough to pull my pants off and toss them over his shoulder. It brought my legs straight up, but instead of adjusting them to the side, he one-handed the back of my knees and pushed them up to my chest. I could feel the cool air brushed against my wet cunt and I was exposed to him. He leaned in with one shoulder to hold me there. A finger trailed along my lips. He didn’t push in, just traced back and forth until I opened for him. Even my pussy was begging him to get inside.
Jake’s head dropped from my view, and I felt his tongue trace the same path as his finger. He dipped the tip of it just inside my lips. The warm soft drag left me motionless.
His wolf needed to be in control for now. He was mine, I was his and this time was ours.