That's not who I am anymore, and over the last five years, I proved that to my family and the pack. I assumed more responsibility at the orchard with the goal of one-day taking over and running it for my father. I even got an on-line business degree, since I couldn't very well go off to some college campus as a werewolf.
With a violent shudder and a familiar burst of pain, I shift back to human and rise to my feet. Then I snatch up the sweatpants and slip them on hurriedly.
"I'm sorry," I rasp out in a pained voice as I step closer to him.
His fierce gaze softens. "I know, son," he replies as he claps a hand to my shoulder.
"I was wrong, Dad," I whisper harshly, the words dredging up the brutal biting pain I've been suppressing these last few days. "She rejected me." I shake my head. "She's not my mate." I close my eyes under the crippling onslaught of emotion. "She's not my anything."
"Emmett," he says sternly, and I open my eyes to meet his fierce and piercing gaze. "I raised you to be a fighter, to go after what you want with tooth and nail until you've exhausted every option before stopping. So what you've been doing these last few days ends now. No more running away, and no more feeling sorry for yourself. You're stronger and better than that, Emmett, and you know it. You're going to haul your ass home and face reality. You're going to fight for that girl with everything you have because she's your mate. You know in your heart that it's true."
"But-" I try to interject, the still fresh and painful wound of her rejection feeding my insecurities.
"No," he bites out, cutting me off with a glare. "No more self-doubt. No excuses. Listen to your heart, son. What is it telling you?"
I blink as I push aside the fear, pain, and uncertainty. I focus on the one good emotion that undeniably sits at the very core of my soul. The one that's stronger than anything else I feel in my heart. Even if it left me vulnerable to all the negative emotions that have been plaguing me since Raven sent me away.
Love.
I love Raven. She's my mate, and I know that the connection I felt between us isn't a fantasy, even if it is terrifying for us both. It's very real, and it's something worth fighting for, not something to give up on and run away from. I can't let my fear get the better of me. I won't.
My father's face fills with pride and satisfaction as he watches me, seeing the sudden determination in my eyes. He puts a hand on the back of my neck and pulls me forward until our foreheads touch.
"That's my boy," he says fiercely, then wraps me up in a hard hug.
This man is a constant in my life, always there lifting me up and supporting me. Yet he still gives me the freedom to figure out who I am and where I fit in the world. I hug him back, grateful beyond measure that I'm lucky enough to have him as my father. I pull out of the embrace, and open my mouth to thank him and apologize yet again for my lapse in judgment these last four days. He cuts me off before I can say anything.
"No more words, son," he says with a warm smile as he cups the side of my face. "They're not needed. Just go get your mate."
I nod with a grin of my own, then immediately whirl and take off at a dead run through the trees in my eagerness. I can hear my father's deep chuckle trailing behind me. As soon as I get home, I plan on driving over to Raven's house and convincing her that what's happening between us is real. It isn't anything to fear. It's to be embraced wholeheartedly. She's mine, and I'm hers. We were meant to be together, and I don't even want to fathom any other option.
Even in human form, I'm a hell of a lot faster than a normal man, and it doesn't take me long to reach my cabin on the edge of the forest. I break from the trees and slow to a determined walk as I cross the grass of my small backyard. My mind is distracted as I run through all the things I want to tell Raven.
It isn't until I'm a few yards from my house that the sweet scent hits me, and I stumble to a halt in shock. I close my eyes and breathe it in again, afraid that I'm imagining I. But no, that familiar honey sweet scent is real. I don't know how or why, but Raven is here, and elation has the man and the wolf inside me buzzing with excited energy. I break into a run again, swiftly closing the last remaining distance between me and my mate.
I round the corner of the house and step onto the deck of the first floor. It overlooks the driveway of my cabin, that was built into the side of a hill. I glance down at Raven's little gray Ford Ranger, that's parked in front of my basement level garage, and grin like an idiot. She willingly came to me, and I have to believe it means something good.
I don't see her anywhere, but her fresh scent trail leads me to my front door. Somehow she let herself into my cabin, and my grin widens. I suddenly suspect that my mother probably had something to do with that. My parents have made it an infuriating habit of meddling in my life from a place of love as far back as I can remember. But this time, it doesn't bother me one damn bit.
I burst through the door and take in the beautiful sight that greets me. My Raven is in the middle of my home spinning around to face me with a gasp. Beneath the fear and uncertainty in her expression, I see relief and longing in her eyes. They edge out the rest of my doubts.
I close the door behind me as Luna, who's standing next to Raven, starts yipping happily. She bounds over to hop and dance around me with excitement. She licks and nibbles at my fingers, but I don't pay her any attention. I only have eyes for Raven, my mate, my everything.
Stark need instantly flares to life inside me, inflaming my body with fiery lust in an instant. I don't even think. I just react and stalk across the hardwood floor toward her. I see the same blistering need heat her eyes as I draw near. With a low animalistic growl, I wrap a hand around her hip and yank her toward me until her luscious body is pressed up against mine. I clasp the fingers of my other hand between the silky black strands of her hair, and tilt her head just the way I like. Then I crush my lips to hers.
The sweet and heady scent of her arousal envelops me as I taste her with a savageness I've held back from her until now. I delve my tongue into her mouth again and again, nipping and biting at her lips. A profound need like I've never felt before inundates every cell in my body. It's intense and emotional and like nothing I've ever felt before. Nothing matters but Raven and getting as close to her as I can get.
She doesn't push me away, but kisses me back with wild abandon, clutching at my waist, as if she's afraid I'll let her go. That's not happening ever again. I wrap myself tighter around her, letting her know that I'm not going anywhere. Her warm hands slide up my belly, caressing my abs as a low feminine moan of appreciation slips from her mouth into mine. Fuck me, I love her hands on my skin. My entire body trembles with need, and I can feel her shaking in my arms too.
I clutch her sweet little ass in both my hands and lift her up. She winds her legs around my waist as I continue kissing the hell out of her. She latches her arms around my neck and mewls softly as I grind my aching erection against her core through our clothes. The goddamn clothes that I want gone.
"Naked," I snarl out between our breathless kisses in a grating voice that's barely human. "Now."
"Please," she whimpers in reply as she mindlessly undulates her hips against me, seeking more friction between our bodies.
I set her back on her feet and yank her T-shirt up and over her head, revealing her pretty red satin bra with tiny white polka-dots. Fuck me. She's gorgeous, but I want to see more. I want it all. I unfasten her jeans and swiftly shove them down her legs. Then I kneel to slip off her ballet flats, so I can pull them off. I stand and take in her matching panties. She looks sexy as all hell, but it's still not enough.
I make quick work of removing the bra and panties. I toss them aside with a deep growl as I take in the sight of her gloriously naked body. Heaven help me, she's absolutely perfect. Her glowing ivory skin is creamy perfection from head to toe. Her breasts are the perfect little handfuls with pale pink nipples that are hard little nubs. Her hips flare out into an ass that I already know fits in my hands to perfection. Part of me wants t
o spend hours exploring and teasing every inch of her flawless body until she's begging and pleading for me to give her my cock. A bigger part of me knows that I can't wait that long. I need her now.
I push my sweats down and off in one swift motion, letting my already leaking erection spring free. Raven stares covetously at it, and I know that she can't wait either. With a soft needy whine, she throws herself at me. I catch her in my arms and lift her up so she can wrap herself around me again. I moan as her skin connects with mine, so warm and silky smooth as she rubs against me with her pebbled nipples pressing into my chest.
The ridge of my cock unerringly finds the slickness of her pussy, and slides through her wetness. I grip her ass more firmly and grind her clit over my dick as she plasters her lips to mine. She buries her fingers in my hair and holds on for dear life as I rub her against me over and over and over. Her soft mewls and whimpers grow more frantic as I send her up and up and up. Finally, as she reaches the pinnacle, I push hard against her clit and still as the pressure flings her over the edge.
Her body stiffens. Her back arches. And with a loud and glorious scream, she combusts in my arms. I break the kiss and watch her shatter apart, avidly drinking in the sight of her writhing in pleasure for me. Before she can come down, I lift her quaking body up, so I can notch the head of my dick at her entrance. Then I drop her back down and bury myself to the hilt deep inside her in one hard and decisive stroke. It sends her up again, and her tight wet heat fists my dick in a strangle hold as she wails out her release.
Suddenly, an unbelievable blast of pleasure like I've never felt before slams into me. I gasp as it steals my breath away and careens wildly through my entire body. At first, I think I must be having an orgasm. But then I realize that's not it at all since my dick is still hard as steel and unmoving inside her. Confused, I pull my head back enough to meet Raven's electric-blue eyes as she comes down from her climax.
Her eyes flutter, and her body grows languid in my arms as I'm hit with a wave of sated euphoria. It echoes the warm contentment I see on her face. And that's when I realize with a jolt, that it's not my pleasure I'm feeling at all. It's Raven's, and like an instant addict, I need more.
17
RAVEN
I fall limp, drooping languorously in Emmett's arms in the afterglow of my second orgasm. I know with certainty that he won't drop me or let me go. He feels so good and right inside me. His huge and imposing cock fills me up so completely that I can't tell where I end, and he begins. He pulls his head back to meet my eyes, and I see a flash of confusion as he studies my face. Then his eyes widen in stunned surprise in the next beat, followed swiftly by a fierce and covetous lust that has silver glinting in his eyes. An instant later, a profound and intense desire like I've never felt before crashes into me like a tidal wave and sweeps through me. It feels wild and alien and strange, as if it came from outside my body.
What?
Before I can fathom how that could make sense or even be possible, Emmett's fingers dig into my ass as he lifts me up and slams me back down onto his cock. I detonate again with a long wail, glorious bliss igniting and expanding out from my core to rush through my entire body. My insides clamp down and ripple around him.
"Holy fuck," Emmett blurts out in astonishment. I watch incredulously as his eyes roll back in his head, and he actually falters a step.
I go limp in his arms again as the orgasm wanes, and he clutches me more securely against his hard muscular torso with big warm hands. I'm vaguely aware of him moving as he carries me across the room like I weigh nothing with his dick still buried deep inside me. He takes me up some steps to what I assume must be the loft above the first floor that I saw when I walked in here a short while ago. When he reaches the top of the steps, I turn my head and manage to flutter my eyes open. I see a massive king-sized bed with a deep-blue comforter and matching sheets. It dominates one of the walls of hewn logs that make up Emmett's small, yet cozy open-concept cabin.
He walks over to the bed and climbs onto it, then lays me down with his big body hovering above mine. I briefly glance up to see the rustic beams above us that support a vaulted ceiling made of paneled wood. Then my view is immediately blocked by Emmett's gorgeous scruff-covered face as his lips brush over mine.
"Do you feel it, baby?" he growls out. Silver glints in his eyes once more as that strange and feral lust seems to hammer into me again.
"What?" I ask, blinking in confusion.
"Do you feel me?" he says in a deep sexy growl. "Because I can feel you," he adds. Then he gives me a single hard thrust that lights up every nerve in my body with a wash of warm shivering pleasure.
Emmett moans right along with me, as if it's washing through him too. It's followed by yet another wave of that foreign animalistic lust. And with a jolt of sudden realization, I understand exactly what he's talking about. Somehow beyond all reason, beyond all sense, he can feel what I feel, and I can feel what he feels.
"H...how?" I gasp out in fear-tinged wonderment.
"I don't know," he answers softly, before his voice grows rough with desire. "But I need more."
He thrusts into me again, grinding against me as his soft full lips press hard onto mine, and the how or why doesn't matter anymore. All I want is to feel more, to feel all of it. I sink my fingers into his dark hair, clutching him to me as he kisses me deeply and thoroughly. All coherent thought is driven from my brain by the blinding lust and pleasure that ricochet back and forth between Emmett and me. I surrender myself willingly and completely to this inexplicable bond that we share right now.
His thrusts are deep and rough, and punctuated by low snarling growls as he fucks into me over and over again. His lips slip from mine to glide over my cheek and down to my neck. His kisses turn more desperate as I feel his arousal rise higher and higher. I feel the sharp bite of teeth as he sinks them into my skin and worries at me like an animal. How fitting, I think as it lights my body on fire. I lift my chin encouraging him to give me more, but he can already feel how much I love the delicious pain.
"Yes," he growls into my neck. "You love that."
He reaches down to grab my left leg and hikes it up around his hip. He sinks even deeper on his next thrust, and I climax in a thought-stealing burst of pleasure.
"Oh...fuck yes," he snarls out vehemently as I scream, his next thrust faltering as my orgasm quakes through us both. In its wake his teeth bite into my neck again before his tongue laves my skin to soothe away the sweet sting. Then he abruptly lifts himself up and pulls out of my body. I'm instantly bereft.
"Emmett," I plead in a pathetic whimper as I clutch at him. "Please don't stop..."
"Shh, baby," he soothes. "I'm not anywhere near close to stopping. I just want to taste you, feel you come on my face before I fuck you some more."
To be honest, I've never been that fond of a man going down on me. The few men I let do it before didn't know what they were doing, and I never climaxed from it either. But something tells me this experience is going to be a game changer because I can feel how excited Emmett is about it. I can feel exactly how confident he is that he can wring every last drop of pleasure from my body. I really like the sound of that.
"Yes!" I cry as my hips buck in unconscious anticipation. "I want that!"
Emmett lets out a deep panty-melting laugh, his approval of my reaction obvious, even if I didn't already feel it. He slides downward with his hands never leaving my body. He nuzzles his lips and scruffy jawline over my chest and belly as heady anticipation seesaws between us. Then I feel his soft breath tenderly caress my most sensitive of places as I watch him stare avidly at my pussy. Though not as intense as when his cock was inside me, I can feel his eagerness. I feel his pleasure as he inhales my scent on a ragged breath. It feeds my anticipation and has my core clenching before he even touches me there.
He looks up and catches my gaze, and I watch silver flash in his eyes. He holds my stare as he lowers his mouth toward my sex with a dark fervid expression. T
hen he growls deep in his chest and buries his face between my legs.
Oh. My. God.
His mad skills are readily apparent within seconds as his tongue sweeps across my wetness in a wicked swirl. It has my back arching and pulls a loud gasp from my lips. He growls and groans against my sex, sending giddy vibrations throbbing through my clit. He digs in with zeal, lapping and sucking and nipping at my pussy. I can feel how much this turns him on. His joy and eagerness in this intimate act melts into me and increasing my pleasure tenfold. His hands grip my inner thighs and hold them wide as I buck against his face seeking more. I reach down and claw at his head, desperate for something to hold on to, to tether me in this intense onslaught of pleasure as I grasp his hair between my fingers.
Our arousal spikes higher and higher, mutually feeding off each other as my climax grows near. Then he attacks my clit like a starving animal, closing his lips and teeth around it and sucking hard, and I fly.
"Emmett!" I wail as my back arches with the sheer and brutal force of the unexpected orgasm that ravages my entire body.
I'm vaguely aware of Emmett's fingers sinking almost painfully into my thighs and the deep guttural groan that leaves his body, just before the pleasure crests, and I plummet down to earth. When I manage to crack my eyes open, he's already lifted his head from between my legs and is moving up my body to hover above me again. I meet his eyes and see that they're glowing a solid silver now. They're wild and maddened with lust as he lifts my legs to rest an ankle on each of his shoulders. He leans down over me, pressing my knees up to my shoulders as his desire spills over and floods me with torrid searing heat. He plants a hand onto the mattress next to my head, then notches his cock at my soaked entrance with the other. Then he reaches up to wrap that same hand around my throat, his thumb over my hammering pulse point. He squeezes with just enough pressure to send another wave of my own desire ripping through me and into him. I feel his surge of bestial possessiveness hit me. I have just enough time to grip his biceps for dear life before he thrusts roughly into me with a savage snarl.
Wild Blood: The Trueborn Saga Book 1 Page 12