Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set

by Multiple Authors

  “I had assumed you weren’t dating anyone while you got naked with me, Jolie. You hardly strike me as that sort of girl.” He was totally missing the point, but it was nice to hear he never thought of her as a slut.

  “I mean I never needed them.”

  “Never.” The word escaped his lips in a whisper.

  “Never.”

  “So, you are mad I took advantage of you in the dreams.” His legs tensed beneath her. He was getting it all wrong. “I really thought you knew what was going on. I never would have—”

  She had to put him out of his misery.

  “Stop.” Her voice was weak, but he stopped immediately. “Those dreams kept me going. They were the one thing I looked forward to. This has nothing to do with that.”

  “So you want to wait?”

  She was messing this up so terribly.

  “No. That is the last thing I want. It is just that, I don’t want to … you know …” She kept pausing, hoping he would fill in the gaps so she didn’t have to. “Disappoint you, is all.”

  “Oh, sweet, you have no idea how my heart soared when you told me I would be your first, your only.” It did? Yeah she'd missed that, for sure. “Deep down, you must have remembered that dream too and knew I was coming for you.”

  Did she? She hadn’t thought about it that way.

  “Wait, is that why you got all insecure when we were in your dorm and I pulled you off of me?” So he both noticed and remembered that. Brilliant.

  “It was my first time, and I thought maybe I hurt you or it felt bad or something.” She tried to turn her head down and break their eye contact. This conversation was just too raw for her.

  “Don’t look away from me. Don’t ever look away from me.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “You were and are perfect. That was the most amazing day of my life. It was then that I realized that dreams really do come true and that our connection was stronger than some random make out session on a bench.”

  “I had no idea what was going on that day. My hormones were insanely overcharged, adrenaline from almost being killed was still flowing through me, and there you were all hot and smexy one minute and my stepbrother the next.”

  “I was unfair to you.”

  “You did what you had to do.” She leaned in to kiss him, but he was too far away and the angle was too awkward. “So what do we do now?”

  “Well, that is up to you.”

  “I seem to remember the first time I was in this room that you promised when we were here in real life that you would make love to me.” Boom. Her self-confidence was back.

  “Only if you are sure.”

  She took that as an invitation to get out of his lap. “Oh, I’m sure.”

  She pulled him to stand and grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head. My goodness, she could stare at these abs all night. She ran her fingers over the ridges, and when she was sure she had memorized them, she began to trace them with her tongue. He tasted better than chocolate, and she almost questioned if this was a dream—even in her dreams he never tasted this good. As she approached his nipple, she gave it a quick nip and reached for his pants button. They had to go.

  His chest vibrated and a growl filled the room. It seemed like her Jesse liked to be bitten. Duly noted. She worked the first button with ease, followed by the second, and she lost all patience and reached into the opening before she could fumble with the third. Darn button flies were going to be the death of her. She'd barely reached his now very erect cock when her pulled her up by her shoulders and slammed his lips into hers.

  There was no gentleness to this kiss. It was all need, lips, tongue, and teeth. She felt herself practically gush when he nipped her lip. If a nip did that to her, she really wanted to know what a full bite would do. She met his movements and was so lost in the kiss she didn’t realize they had even moved until her calves hit the back of the bed and he pulled away.

  He helped remove her top and just stood there admiring her breasts. She looked down and was embarrassed to see the clearance bra from the discount store that covered them, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was practically drooling. Scratch that, he was drooling.

  “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. It is taking every last bit of will power I have not to ravage you right here.”

  Ravaging sounded pretty darn good to her.

  He reached for the front of her bra and unclasped the closure. She normally hated front closure bras because they tended to not last long, but after seeing his eyes deepen with lust from just unclasping it, she planned to buy stock in the company.

  His thumb caressed her nipple, and her belly clenched. The things he could do to her with the slighted touch. His nostrils flared and his eyes glowed again as he stepped back. This time she knew it had nothing to do with her. Well, everything to do with her, but in a good way.

  She took the opportunity to look him up and down. His cock glistened with precum as it bobbed up and down. It was thick, long, and standing proud, and Jesse didn’t try to hide it.

  “This might not be our best plan.” He groaned a he ran his hands through his hair. “The mating call is riding me too hard, and I don’t think I can resist it.”

  Fuck. What were all the good reasons to not do this? She couldn’t think of one. “Don’t.”

  “Oh, sweetling, that is why I stepped back. I promise to be good, but it may mean adding some more clothes.” Boys were dumb.

  “No, Jesse.” She unbuttoned her pants and pull down the zipper, dropping them to the floor and stepping out of them until she was standing there in just her panties and an open bra. “Don’t resist.”

  He clenched his fists and turned his back to her. She could see his muscles clenching. He wanted this as badly as she did. She took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around him so that her breasts pressed against his back and her hands were on his abs.

  “Woman, you are not making this easy.” He laid his hands on hers.

  “Why are we supposed to wait? You have known for years I am for you, so I know it is not doubts.” She was not playing fair, but her instincts were riding her at least as hard as his were riding him.

  “No.” He turned to face her. “Not even a fraction of a doubt.”

  “Then why? Because it might be safer? What if it’s not?” The hiding thing had not made sense to her outside the “he was technically her brother” thing. If someone from the pack was trying to kill her, wouldn’t being a mate be a good thing? Let them know she wasn’t a danger?

  “You mean what if being my mate makes you untouchable?”

  “Or calls the person out of hiding? How long were we going to wait? What if we never solved the mystery of who was trying to kill me? Would we stay unmated forever? Can you handle that? Because I don’t really think I can.”

  “It is hard to focus with you standing there almost naked.”

  Hard was a good way to describe it, she mused to herself as her hand moved of its own accord to his protruding cock.

  “Not helping,” he growled. She could feel the lust rolling off of him. They needed to decide and now. She took a few steps back to give him air. This was not a decision to be based solely on lust.

  “Better?”

  He gave her the stink eye. Fair enough.

  “Rationally, I feel like mated or not both pose a risk. Emotionally, I really think it would be amazing to have our, my, first time be at our mating.”

  He was kneeling in front of her within moments. She had never seen a person move that quickly. Maybe it was a wolf thing.

  His hand reached up to her cheek. “It would,” he whispered. “It would be amazing, but that doesn’t mean it has to be today. We can save all the things.”

  She leaned into his hand. “Haven’t we waited enough?”

  He leaned in to kiss her. It was ever so gentle, yet she could feel it in her toes. “Tell me you’re sure.”

  She kissed him back, this time deepening it a bit. Not
enough to get carried away, but enough to share her emotions.

  “I have never been more sure.” She went back to kissing him. She felt her bra drop from her shoulders. It had been decided. Tonight was for them. They were not deciding out of fear or out of lust, but out of something greater.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her hands through his hair, stopping to play with his earlobe. The kiss got deeper and deeper, and she got lost in the sensations. When her head hit the pillow, she realized how lost she was, and if she had it her way, she would stay lost this way forever.

  Jesse moved his kisses from her lips to her neck and behind her ear. He traveled lower and lower and skipped over where he told her he would one day bite her. She whimpered, and he smirked.

  “What did I say about patience?”

  So they were back to that again. His kisses worked their way to her breasts which were begging for attention. His tongue swept across her nipple as his finger brushed her clit. When had her panties been removed?

  “Please tell me this is not a dream.” She had to know.

  “Not a dream. My dreams taste nowhere near as amazing as this.” So the taste thing was universal. Excellent. “My, my, you are wet.”

  “I blame you.”

  “I accept full blame with honor.”

  He went back to his dual assault, licking and nipping her breasts as he ran his finger over her clit. She was about to become undone, and they hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff. When his finger entered her, she moaned. It felt unlike anything she had ever experienced before, and if this was a preview to what was to come, it was far better than any of their dreams.

  “You are so tight. Just imagining what you will feel like wrapped around me has me harder than I have ever been.”

  She went to respond, but his thumb flicked her clit and she found herself in the throes of climax. He was talking to her between kisses in what she assumed were words of praise, but she couldn’t focus on anything except the way her body was singing. Even in her dreams, her orgasms never felt this good. She'd been missing out.

  As the orgasmic fog lifted, she looked up to see Jesse face to face with her, his eyes glistening. “That was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I need to get up for a minute.”

  Her arms wrapped around him and held him tight. Leaving was not an option.

  “I’ll be right back,” He leaned in and gave her a much too short kiss for her liking. “I need to go find a condom.”

  “No, I thought we decided.” He looked confused. “We are going to mate, aren’t we?”

  “Oh honey, I wasn’t leaving this room.”

  “No condom.” He looked at her as if she spoke an alien language. “We only get one first time. Only one mating. I don’t want anything between us. I thought … I thought you knew what I meant before.”

  He dropped his head so it now sat on her shoulder. “Okay, let me think for a minute. I clearly missed that memo and thinking as my cock is pressed against you doesn’t come easy.”

  He rolled off of her and propped himself up on his hand and she copied him.

  “So, you are sure?” he began.

  “Very.” She was a bazillion percent sure.

  “It means there may be babies.”

  “I’m on the pill.”

  “Oh.” He took a deep breath. “Well, if you're sure, and we don’t need to decide on babies yet …”

  He rolled back onto her and kissed her, stealing her breath away. They kissed and kissed until she was all but a pile of need. Maybe shifters have magical kisses. She was okay with that.

  “Jolie.” He kissed the spot on her neck where she knew he would bite her, and she almost came again. “One day, I do want to make babies with you, lots and lots of babies. And if you had said you were not on the pill and were okay with them now, we would still be in this same spot right now. I just needed you to know that.”

  My goodness, Jesse the jackass from their first meeting was beyond romantic.

  “I need you, Jesse.” Her breath was heavy. He had her so worked up. “I need you inside me and to make me your mate. My soul found you before I was ready, but I am ready now.”

  “Oh, Jolie, I have been waiting for this moment for years. Promise me you will tell me if I go too fast or you need me to stop.”

  He positioned himself at her entrance and she waited and waited.

  “Promise me.” He was waiting on her. Darn his considerate nature.

  “I promise.”

  He slowly pushed in as he kissed her neck. She waited for the pain she knew would be coming, but just as she felt a bit of pressure, his teeth sunk into her neck and she found herself coming. But more than just coming, she felt as if they were almost merging together.

  We are honey.

  It sounded like he was inside her head with her.

  “You feel amazing.”

  She was coming to faster than before, and she looked up to see her sexy mate looking down at her with his aquamarine eyes, eyes she could happily lose herself in.

  “How do you feel?”

  “There are no words.” And if there were, her brain was not working well enough to form them.

  “I meant, are you okay? Can I … you know … move?”

  She had come so hard and the bite had been so amazing that it never crossed her mind that there was more to come. She was a lucky, lucky girl.

  “Please.”

  He slowly began to move, never breaking eye contact with her. This was so very different than anything they had done before or in their dreams. This truly was making love. He loved her. She could see it in his eyes, even if he had not spoken the words.

  “Jolie, I have loved you since that very first time you visited me in your blue dress.”

  Tears welled in her eyes as they continued to make love. She was his and he was hers ... forever. For that moment, that was all that mattered.

  “And I love you, Jesse.”

  She pulled her head up to give him a kiss, and that kiss became deeper and deeper. She savored every slow thrust and felt herself starting to come again. She never knew it could be like this. Just as she fell over the edge into another orgasm, she felt him do the same. It was perfect. Everything was perfect.

  They laid there in silence, relishing the moment. She didn’t want to break the magic spell with words, but she wanted him to know how very much this evening meant to her.

  I already know, and trust me it means just as much to me. No denying it this time; he was in her head.

  “How are you doing that?”

  “We’re mates.” Because, you know, that answered it all.

  “So only mates can do that? I can do that?”

  He nuzzled her neck, rekindling her need.

  “You probably can. We can work on it later.” He started to kiss that spot on her neck. The man was trying to kill her with pleasure. “Sorry.”

  So he heard that too. Fabulous.

  “So the short story is only mates can do it, but the Alpha can do drive by messaging when needed. It is just not two way, like it is with us. Or will be.” He went to roll off of her, and she stopped him. She wasn’t ready to break their connections.

  “So you can read my thoughts or just my loud thoughts?” She had yet to hear his. Another Mama question, most likely.

  “Only the loud ones, as you put it, and I am sure only ones you want me to hear at some point.” Well, that had some potential indeed.

  “Alrighty then, Jolie.” He kissed her neck one more time. The man played dirty. “Let’s get you and me a nice hot shower and bed. Normally I would hate to wash my scent off of you, but we need to clean where I bit you.”

  Her hand instinctively went to her neck. It didn’t hurt at all, but she could feel parts of it were … well, yuck.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  He rolled off of her and she started to get up.

  “Does the bite look really bad?”

  “Now, yes.” Well, at least he was honest. �
��But once we wash it, it will be beautiful. It is just messy. Mating is like that.” He winked at her and rose, leading her out of the bedroom and into the glorious shower.

  Most of the day sucked, but in the end she got the three hots she wanted. Life was starting to look good.

  Back to Reality …

  Jolie woke up the next morning, exactly the way she hoped to wake up every morning, wrapped in Jesse’s arms. They had made love twice more last night before falling asleep. Unfortunately, they were going to have a lot to answer for today. Jesse was right, her bite mark was beautiful, but it would not go unnoticed and there would be questions. Jesse had told her you only get one chance to make a mate mark, and he was determined to do it right.

  Lunch was to be at her mother’s new home. She felt all kinds of wrong showing up in Jesse’s clothes, but she hadn’t been back to her car since the incident with the truck. Not that her mom would notice since she was sporting a brand spankin’ new mating mark. As they turned up to the house, it looked like an estate out of an old movie more than a house.

  “You grew up here?” She knew he had done well for himself, but had no idea he had come from this kind of money.

  “Sort of.” He pulled up alongside the house. “We can talk about it later, but I spent more time home than here. This is pretty much work, for my dad. You will see.”

  He popped out and over to her door. She climbed out and took his extended hand.

  “No use hiding it.” She chuckled at her sad attempt of humor. The hand holding was going to be the least of their mating giveaways.

  They were greeted at the front door by her mother who was all smiles. She turned her head and shouted back, “I win. You are on dish duty all week, Garrick.”

  “Well, come in and tell me all about it.” Jolie’s face dropped. “Not that, Jolie, please. Give me some credit. I mean tell me everything else.”

  Her mom hugged them both and led them into the great room. Yeah, this house felt more like a business than a home. No wonder he had the secret cabin. Garrick was there with a grin matching her mother’s. Maybe today was going to be better than she thought.