‘Will you come in? I’ve made cake.’ She squeezed Tressa’s hand. ‘Your favourite. I thought Sawyer might like some’
And just like that their cub shifted back into his human form. ‘I love cake.’
Gabe stroked his son’s soft cheek. ‘I’m gonna head home, kiddo, while you visit with your grandma.’ He turned to Connie. ‘Thank you for the invite, but I’m gonna leave you three to catch up.’
She reached out, touched his arm. ‘You are welcome here, Gabe. Anytime.’
Then she picked up Sawyer and took him inside for cake.
Tressa moved in, wrapping her arms around his waist. ‘I don’t want you to leave.’
And he sure as fuck, didn’t want to go. He rubbed her back, let the heat of her skin soaking through his shirt sooth him. ‘You need time with your mother.’
‘I know. Doesn’t make it any easier, though.’ She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him, soft and slow until he started purring.
God, he didn’t want to leave them there, wanted to take them to his home where they belonged. With him. But Tressa and her mother needed time together, to heal, he knew that. He’d already waited four years, he could wait another couple days, right?
‘I nearly forgot.’ He pulled the keys to the Nova out of his pocket and placed them in her hand.
She frowned in a cute way, making him instantly hard for her. ‘Why are you giving me your car keys?’
‘The car’s yours. I brought it for you a week after you told me you wanted one. I was gonna give it to you after I’d fixed it up.’
‘You did that for me?’ Tears welled in her dark eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks, and then a tentative grin lifted one side of her lush mouth. ‘But that was only a week after we met.’
He smiled. ‘I fell head over heels for my feisty she-wolf the moment you opened your mouth and spoke to me.’ He shrugged. ‘The way you shook that sexy little ass as you walked away might have tipped me over the edge, though. Plus, I’d been walking around with a hard-on that threatened to cause me permanent injury. I needed a way to convince you to keep going out with me.’
‘So you bought me a car.’
‘I hadn’t quite learned the art of subtlety.’
They both laughed and then they were kissing again, making out on her mother’s front porch like a couple of loved-up teenagers, delaying the inevitable.
Gabe yanked the door of the fridge open and grabbed a beer. His cabin was close, just on the border of Black Hills territory, but he felt a million miles away.
Fuck, he craved her and he’d only pried himself away from her that morning.
The squeak of the screen door was loud as he walked out to his front porch. He slumped into the old couch, propping his legs up on the railing. The sky was ink blue, streaked with a blaze of oranges and golds, washing everything in a weird pinky glow that lit up the gravel road, leading to the only cabin for miles—his.
The purr of a V8 engine cut through the forest a full minute before he got a glimpse of the Nova’s chrome grill glinting in the distance.
His heart rate picked up, just like it had the first time he’d laid eyes on her. The beast purred, stretching in contentment, happy that she must have been missing him as much as he had her.
The car pulled up outside the front gate and the door swung open. He didn’t move, watched her over his bottle as he took another pull. Needing a minute to get it together.
The light hit her silky, black hair, making it shine. And when she stepped away from the car, he drank her in. Denim hugged her long legs and rounded hips and she wore a black tank top he couldn’t wait to peel off.
A fresh bandage had been wrapped around her bicep and stood out against her beautiful dark skin. The sight of that white gauze made his beast snarl. The memory of her being hurt by that bastard would haunt him for the rest of his life.
His heart started up with an erratic staccato against his ribs. But still he didn’t move, couldn’t. Her stride wasn’t overly confident, a hesitancy there that he didn’t like. Had she changed her mind?
Nerves cramped low in his belly, and he took another swig of his beer then rested it on his thigh, happy for the icy condensation dripping down the sides, soaking through his jeans and cooling his overheated skin.
‘Hey,’ she said when she came up the steps and stopped beside him.
‘I didn’t think I’d see you for a few days.’
What the hell was going on? Why were they suddenly acting like spotty juveniles heading out on their first date?
She was looking at her feet then glanced out to the forest. When she turned to him she was biting her lip, her big, dark eyes filled with too many emotions to name. And he had no idea how to help her. ‘You didn’t?’
He shook his head. ‘Sawyer?’
He took another sip of his beer and held it out for her.
‘With my mother. My shy little boy took to his grandmother like a long-lost friend. He’s asleep now.’
She took the bottle from him, pressing it to her beautiful mouth and drunk deeply. Her throat worked in a way that made his dick hard as stone and his fingers twitch to touch her.
When she handed it back, he ignored the bottle and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer. She came without resistance and he lifted her into his lap. Both beast and man released a relieved breath. In the back of his mind he’d been afraid, afraid her dead father still had a hold over her, that walking back into that house would cause her to turn her back on him.
‘Does your mother know where you are right now?’ He brushed her hair over her shoulder, exposing the side of her neck. ‘Does she have any idea what I plan to do to you tonight? Would she approve do you think?’
Her soft gasp hit him in the gut. ‘She knows.’
‘She okay with that?’ God only knew how he’d kept his voice even when he was close to jumping out of his skin. He slid his palm up her thigh. ‘Spread your legs, baby.’ She did as he asked without question and the scent of her desire for him nearly had him undone.
Her breath rushed out between her lips. ‘I don’t care what anyone else thinks.’ She lifted her hips asking for more. ‘I’ve waited long enough for you. We’ve waited long enough for each other.’
God, she was killing him. Did she have any idea how her words affected him?
Suddenly he knew what the hesitancy had been about.
‘You’re nervous?’ He popped the button on her jeans, and right then the sound of her zipper going down was the most erotic thing he’d ever heard.
‘Yes. But only because I was afraid you might change your mind. Decide you couldn’t forgive me for what I did to you.’
‘There’s nothing to forgive. I want you, Tressa. I’ve always wanted you, even when I tried to forget you, you stayed right here.’ He thumped his fist against his chest, over his pounding heart. ‘Because we were made for one another, do you understand?’
‘Yes.’ She bit her lip and he pulled it free of her teeth, dragged the pad of his thumb over the tender flesh. Her tongue darted out, touched the tip and he shuddered.
‘There’s no backing out after this, Tress. You’ll be mine. I’ll be yours. You, Sawyer and me, we’ll be a family. The way we should have been four years ago.’
‘Yes,’ she whispered, lips trembling.
He slid his hand down the front of her jeans, under the silky fabric of her underwear. They both moaned when he drew a finger through her slick folds, moving up and back along her cleft until she begged him for more. She buried her face against his neck when he circled her clit, her hot, panted breaths coasting across his overheated skin.
‘You’re so hot, baby, so ready for me.’
‘Please,’ she groaned. ‘Don’t make me wait.’
He gripped her hips and stood. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist and he fisted her silky, dark hair, slamming his mouth on hers. Right then he couldn’t do gentle, couldn’t give her a sweet seduction. He hungered for her, his body starved of h
er touch, crying out for the feel of her body wrapped around his, his cock buried deep, his fangs breaking through tender skin.
The taste of her blood on his tongue.
She kissed him back just as hard, letting him taste her need for him, letting him feel an urgency that equalled his own. She trembled in his arms as he strode blindly through the front door. He wanted to shove her against the wall and fuck her, pound into her until neither one of them could walk. But he couldn’t do that, not this time.
Instead he carried her into the bedroom and slid her to the floor in front of him, letting her feel how much he wanted her, how hard and desperate she made him.
‘Take off your clothes.’ His voice was shot to shit. Rough, full of hunger and longing. He didn’t care. He wanted her to hear it, to feel it.
He kept his hands at his sides when she kicked her shoes off and slid her jeans down her long legs.
‘Everything,’ he rasped. She hooked her thumbs in the sides of her panties and took them down as well, kicking them off. He fisted his hands. ‘Now the shirt.’
Those dark eyes, now shot with the yellow of her wolf, met his as she tugged the soft fabric over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra and her beautiful brown tipped breasts bounced free.
‘Fuck,’ he groaned. ‘So beautiful.’ He moved in, slid his hands from her hips up over her waist, caressing her gently curved belly with his rough palm.
‘One day, I want to see you round and soft, carrying another one of my cubs. Do you want that too, Tress?’
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, until she blinked and one tracked down her smooth cheek. ‘Yes. More than anything.’
He brushed it away, kissed the skin beneath. ‘I can’t believe this is happening, that you’ve come back to me.’
‘I’m never leaving you again.’
‘I’ll never let you.’ He took her mouth again, trying to take it slow, wanting to savour this moment. He cupped the side of her neck, sliding down over her shoulder and inwardly winced when he felt the scar there, a mark given to her by another male, a male that had never deserved her. Proof of his brutal treatment, the way he’d hurt her, punished her because of her love for him.
She gripped his wrist, pulled back. ‘What’s wrong?’
Suddenly he couldn’t talk. The brick lodged in his throat choking off everything he wanted to say.
‘It’s okay, I’m okay,’ she whispered, because Tressa could read his damn mind.
‘I don’t want to hurt you, Tress…but I need to do this, I need my mark on you. I need to wash that fucker away. I need to wipe away that scar he left you with.’
She cupped his face, her gaze searching his. ‘You won’t hurt me. I want that too. Please cover this…’
She lifted her hand and placed it over the ravaged skin between her neck and shoulder.
‘Make it yours, make me yours. Take the pain away.’
‘I’ll take it away, baby. I’ll take it all away.’ He lifted her, placed her in the middle of the bed then stripped off his clothes. No finesse, just the need to have her, skin to skin. The feel of her warmth pressed against him.
His biceps and thighs fucking trembled as he crawled onto the bed and covered her, emotion and need near overwhelming him. She felt amazing, instantly wrapping her legs around him. Her hips rose up, causing her hot, slick centre to slide along the length of his cock. ‘Ah…shit.’
‘Please,’ she gasped. ‘Now.’
He needed to take this slow, but if they carried on like they were he’d lose his shit completely. Soft lips grazed his throat. Sweet whimpers filled his head, her fingers dug into his flesh, nails scraping his skin.
His beast came roaring to the surface and he reared back. Gripping her knees, he spread her thighs. He wanted to see her, see her open and ready for him. Her pussy was wet, swollen. Fucking beautiful.
She was powerless, at his mercy, but nothing but love and trust radiated from her.
A hiss escaped his clenched teeth and he lowered his head to her delicate flesh to taste. The beast was in the driver’s seat, tasting, sucking that sweet little clit, fucking her with his tongue. Grasping hands moved to the back of his head, holding him to her so she could grind against him. He held her wide, didn’t hold back, barely registered the growling, hiss vibrating from his chest.
Her movements became frantic and she yanked at his hair, tried to close her legs. Using his shoulders to hold her open, he buried two fingers inside her grasping channel and sucked hard on the tiny bundle of nerves. She cried out, came hard around his fingers.
Sliding up her body, he took her mouth, sharing her taste, swallowing her moans. ‘Roll over, baby. I need inside you.’ His fingers were still buried inside her, and her muscles contracted at his request.
‘You like that?’
He pumped them in and back, loving the way she squirmed, lifting her hips to take them deeper.
‘Yes.’ She strained, reaching for her next release.
‘So hungry for me,’ he rasped then withdrew his finger. ‘But the next time you come, I want to be deep inside you.’
He lifted her, flipped her onto her belly and she didn’t hesitate, lifted her ass and spread her thighs, offering herself up to him.
He was done teasing, needed to take her now. Wanted to take back his female. He moved in behind her, running his hands down the smooth expanse of her back.
‘You’re beautiful, Tressa. So fucking sexy.’
Kissing the base of her spine first, he moved up and over her, crowded her smaller body with his. He didn’t need to guide himself inside her, so hard and ready he was already there, the opening of her drenched pussy kissing the head of his cock. Flexing his hips he breached her tight opening, then brushing her hair to one side, kissed her shoulder before thrusting home.
Her entire body undulated beneath him, her spine arching, taking him deeper. ‘Move. Please. Take me.’
He pulled back, until his cock almost slipped out, and hissing, slammed forward. ‘I can’t take this slow, I need you too much.’
‘I want it…any way you give it to me.’ She moved her head to the side, exposing more of her slender neck. ‘God, own me, make me yours.’
With those words, he lost it, and started fucking her in earnest, slamming into her repeatedly. Taking her. Owning her.
His fangs slid into place. He didn’t warn her, couldn’t risk her tensing up before he struck, and sunk his fangs into her flesh, clean and deep, right over the mark already there, making sure his was the only one she saw when she looked in the mirror.
And he made her his.
She screamed, but it wasn’t from pain, there was pleasure too. Her inner walls contracted hard, so hard he struggled to stay buried inside her. She clenched around him repeatedly, milking him while her blood coated his tongue. His balls drew tight and his orgasm throbbed at the base of his cock. Retracting his fangs, he reared back and came hard inside her, deep wrenching pulls that made him cry out then gasp for breath.
He took her down to the mattress with him, rolling to his side and wrapping her in his arms.
‘You’re mine. You’re mine,’ he repeated over and over.
Chapter 13
‘You’re mine,’ Gabe whispered one last time against her throat.
‘And you’re mine,’ she said back.
He lifted his head, smile so wide it transformed his entire face. God, she loved that smile. A trace of her blood smeared the corner of his mouth and her stomach clenched at the sight. She hadn’t known when he’d strike, but there’d been little pain. The pleasure overriding any discomfort.
Her body heated. And she knew she wanted him to do that again. Reaching up, she brushed away the blood from his mouth. He grabbed her wrist before she could pull it away and slid it into his mouth, sucking all traces from her thumb. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Gabe was beautiful, brutal, loyal and the father of her cub.
He was also hers and she would never leave his side again.
; ‘Roll over, baby.’
She did as he asked without question, trusting him fully with her body, with her heart. When her back was to him, he moved her hair away from the shoulder he’d marked, then leaned in and kissed the punctured flesh, swiping his tongue over her skin repeatedly. He cleaned the wound and in doing so, made sure she would heal fast and with as little damage as possible. Something Dan had refused to do, wanting her scarred, to suffer a slow recovery.
‘Thank you,’ she said when he rolled her to her back.
‘You don’t need to thank me, Tressa. Not for that, not for taking care of you. That’s my job, what I was born to do.’
He moved up, covering her, sliding his heavy thighs between hers, so she was open to him again. He kissed her gently, reverently then looked down at her.
‘I’m almost afraid to close my eyes. Scared when I open them you’ll be gone, that you’re nothing but a beautiful illusion.’
Lifting her hips, she rubbed against his already hardening cock.
‘Does that feel real to you?’ She nipped his bottom lip and he hissed. ‘Does that?’
That wide smile was back, and her pulse raced in response.
‘Fuck yeah it does.’
He slid into her, slow and easy, the pleasure on his face no doubt matching her own.
‘I love you, Tressa, so damn much.’
She held each side of his face, brought his mouth down to hers.
‘I love you too. I never stopped,’ she said against the gentle heat of his firm lips.
He groaned and surged forward, taking her gently, making love to her, claiming her all over again. He pressed soft kisses to her cheeks, her eyelids, whispering tender words that melted her heart and broke it at the same time. God, the time they’d lost.
‘Don’t,’ he whispered, reading her mind. ‘It’s over now. It’s just me and you and our son, nothing else matters, not anymore.’
She felt hot tears run down her temples and he held her tighter, increased his pace, every thrust, every kiss showing her without words how much he loved her. His breath turned harsh and he took her deep, so damn deep. She felt it building, wave after wave of pleasure. Her back arched and she cried out, shattering beneath him. Gabe followed, his big body shuddering above her, his rough words of love ringing in her ears as he surrounded her, loved her.
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