by R. E. Butler
“You guys have big appetites, huh?” Celeste asked after greeting the pride, who were milling about in the kitchen.
Lucius laughed. “Definitely. But it’s a special meal, so we went all-out.”
Jupiter pulled out Celeste’s chair and then scooted her close to the table, taking the seat next to hers. Everyone waited until Jupiter had filled her plate first, ensuring that she – as the newest pride member and his soulmate – had the best of everything.
“Are you sure that’s enough?” he asked her.
She looked at him incredulously. “The plate is piled high. I’m positive I couldn’t eat more if I had a gun to my head.”
“There won’t be seconds with this group, so I’m just making sure,” he said, eyeing the thick steaks and wondering if he should set one aside for her.
“No, I swear. I don’t need anything else.” She smiled, happiness dancing in her eyes, and he nodded.
“I just want to make sure that I take care of you first.” It was possibly the truest statement he’d ever made. In the span of a day, she’d come to mean more to him than he ever thought possible, and his own happiness hinged on hers.
Her brows wiggled, and even though she didn’t say anything, he could tell exactly what she was thinking – that he did take care of her first.
Loading his own plate with two porterhouses, he handed the platter to Amadeus. While the pride filled their plates, they talked about the VIP tours that would happen the following weekend. Since not only Jupiter had found his soulmate, but also Zane, expectations were high that more of them might find their mates.
“What would happen if you were working in the park and found your soulmate?” Celeste asked. “You assume that your soulmates will be on the VIP tour, which makes them more of a captive audience. But what if you’re working security and you happen to…smell your soulmate?”
Everyone went quiet. Even Jupiter wasn’t certain what to say. It hadn’t happened before. No one in the park had ever scented their soulmate from a random park visitor.
His dad said, “We would be able to scent our soulmate in our human form as well, but it hasn’t happened. I suppose that we should add that to the list of things we need to discuss with the alphas.”
“What other things are you discussing?” Jupiter asked.
His dad’s brow arched. “How to better handle the soulmates. You nearly tore the fence apart because the wolves were too close to your girl.”
Celeste snickered. “Now that would have been interesting!”
When the meal was finished, Jupiter left Celeste and Jenni chatting over cupcakes, and went to speak with his dad and brothers.
“The good news about Zane and Adriana is that she’s accepted that they’re soulmates and they’re mated now,” his dad said.
“What’s the bad news?” Jupiter asked.
“The alphas agreed that because Jesse broke three laws in attacking Adriana, he would be punished with the Flayer for three years,” his dad said.
Jupiter whistled. The Flayer was a collar that had hooks on the interior. When it was placed on a shifter’s neck and locked, the hooks embedded into the flesh and prevented shifting. It was a punishment reserved only for the gravest offenses, and in Jupiter’s mind attacking a soulmate just for kicks as Jesse had was deserving of such a punishment.
“He was a crazy asshole before,” Lucius said. “If he survives being unable to shift for three years, he’ll be a complete lunatic.”
“I don’t think he will survive,” Amadeus said.
“We’ll need to be on high alert in case he does something,” Jupiter said.
“The gorillas changed their security codes, and Jesse is under house arrest as well,” his dad said. “We’ll want to monitor his friends, too, just to ensure that no one tries get revenge, but I don’t see that happening.”
“Better to be safe than sorry,” Jupiter said, “especially where mates are concerned.”
Jupiter took Celeste to the greenhouse at the far corner of the lions’ private area. The glass enclosure was the size of a large shed and held tables and hanging shelves filled with plants that were important to their people. Lifting a wicker basket from a hook by the door, he handed it to her and said, “First we’re going to cut flowers for you. I’ll show you how to weave them into bracelets.” He led her to the back of the greenhouse, where a long table held rows of carefully cultivated lilies.
“These are impala lilies, and they’re native to Africa. We plant them in such a way that at any given time there are enough blooming for the mating ceremony. Before greenhouses allowed our people to harvest them at any time of the year and not only when they naturally bloom, they would use dried petals.”
He lifted a pair of shears off a hook hanging from the row, and began to cut the stems. “The number of flowers relates to the members of our immediate family. Both sets of our parents are alive, and including you, my brothers, and me that means we need eight blooms for each bracelet.”
She took the stems from him and laid them carefully in the basket. “It’s kind of like having our parents here even though they’re not.”
“My mother wouldn’t care to come even if I could contact her. She had no interest in staying in touch once she found another male to mate.”
Celeste laid her hand on his shoulder, and he looked down at her. “I’m sorry.”
He snipped the sixteenth stem and gave it to her, putting the shears back on the hook. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. In my father’s generation, the males and females would often get together for the sole purpose of having cubs. If the couple weren’t soulmates, one or the other would raise the children alone, no hard feelings.”
“It’s unfair that you didn’t have both parents. Even if they weren’t soulmates.”
“You’re thinking like a human.”
“Well,” she said with a chuckle, “I am one. I don’t understand everything that you have going on, but I do know that whenever we have kids, I’m thankful they’ll have both of us in their lives.”
He hadn’t ever thought he’d missed out on anything by not having his biological mother around. But now, as he looked down into the beautiful, determined blue eyes of his mate, he was very certain that whatever he hadn’t had as a young cub, his children would never be without.
While they harvested the sweet prickly pear, he explained the ceremony that would happen later and the need for his cat to mark her physically.
She rubbed absently at her neck. “It’ll probably hurt, right? I’m not a masochist, so pain is not my friend.”
He chuckled. “It will hurt, but I promise that you’ll be really happy before I mark you, so you won’t be too aware of it.”
She hummed appreciatively. “Happy? Like lots of orgasms happy?”
He nodded. “I wouldn’t want you to be truly hurt by the marking, and although it will sting and you will feel it, the idea is that you’ll be concentrating on the pleasure and won’t be as affected by the mark.”
“You’re just lucky I don’t have fangs. I’d bite you so good.” She clicked her teeth together with a grin, and he kissed her.
“You’re too precious, little love.”
They left the greenhouse and headed back to his home so he could show her how to safely peel the thick outer skin of the prickly pear and prepare it for their ceremony. When the fruit was cooling in a bowl in the refrigerator, he and Celeste sat on the floor of the family room and braided the lily stems into bracelets for her to wear for their ceremony. Their fragrance enhanced her naturally sweet scent, and the pretty red-and-white blooms looked lovely against her creamy skin.
When the bracelets were finished, Celeste climbed into his lap and cupped his face. Peering down at him, she smiled wickedly and said, “I hope that there isn’t a no touching rule before the ceremony tonight.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush to his chest. “I wouldn’t care if there was.”
* * *
Jupiter
donned the leather pants he’d worn the night before, and Celeste wore the black shirt she’d fashioned into a sexy dress. He carried the bowl of prickly pears under one arm and held her hand with the other, while she carried the bracelets. His cat was purring uncontrollably. After tonight, she would be his mate in truth, marked and mated in the traditional way. When they first started out on this VIP tour experiment, he hadn’t thought it would work. Now he was thankful that no one had listened to him. If he could find his soulmate, then anyone could.
She was quiet as they walked up the stairs, through the storage building, and out into the pride’s paddock. In the distance he could see the bonfire glowing. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Just thinking about tonight.”
He paused and turned to face her. “We don’t have to do this tonight. If you’re not ready…”
“Whoa, I didn’t say that. I was just thinking that this is like a wedding, but I don’t have my family here. I can’t tell them anything about you or about what our life will be like together. I’m glad that Adriana is with the gorilla shifter so I have someone from my old life to talk to sometimes, but…it feels kind of lonely, and I feel bad for feeling that way.”
Setting the bowl down on the ground, he kissed her. “We can get married by human standards so you can have a wedding your parents can come to.”
“Oh, really? I’d love that.”
“Of course. Whatever you want or need, I’ll go to the moon to get it for you.”
“I really do think I just need you,” she said as she went onto her toes and brushed her lips across his, “but a wedding would be nice.”
“You can start planning it in a few days. There’s a lot to do first.”
She hummed. “Like quit my job.”
“We can deal with that later. Right now, there’s a bonfire calling our names.”
“I can’t believe we’ve only been together for two days. It feels like longer. Like I’ve known you my whole life.”
“I feel the same way.”
They resumed their walk and reached the bonfire a few minutes later. The pride was there, with his dad presiding over the ceremony. He and Celeste knelt on the fur before the fire, facing each other. His dad picked up the bracelets and lifted them to his nose, inhaling quietly.
“The impala lilies come from Africa, the place of our shifter ancestors. Some of us will never go there, spending the entire span of our lives in places like this – veiled in secrecy from humans. It’s important that we hold tight to the traditions so that we never forget what we are or where we came from. The fierce beasts that prowled in the darkest nights cherished their mates above all else. It is because of these fierce protective instincts, that our beasts must mark our mates, a visible claim that not only permanently imprints the male’s scent on his mate, but also scars the skin.
“Celeste, do you accept your place at Jupiter’s side as his beloved mate? Do you welcome the marking that his beast will give to you tonight, knowing in your heart that this is the first night of the rest of your mated life?”
As Jupiter had told her to do, she lifted her hands to his dad and said, “I accept Jupiter, his beast, and his marks.”
His dad settled the bracelets on her wrists, and she pushed them up past her elbows, trailing the lilies’ essence on her skin. The sweet scent made his beast prowl, anxious to have her alone.
Jupiter lifted the bowl of sweet prickly pear, which he’d cut into bite-sized pieces.
“Jupiter,” his dad said, “do you swear yourself and your lion to Celeste? Do you promise to be with only her for as long as your heart beats? Do you promise to make her life as sweet as the prickly pear fruit, as lovely as the lilies, and to protect her with claw and fang as long as you live?”
“I swear,” Jupiter said, feeding a bite of prickly pear to Celeste. She made a sound of pleasure as she bit and swallowed the fruit, and it made his cock jump.
Celeste fed some fruit to him and they took turns until all of it was gone. The sweet juice sloshed in the empty bowl as he set it on the ground beside the fur. His dad rested a hand on each of their heads. The pride drew closer, their soft growls of agreement growing louder.
“I welcome you, Celeste, to the pride, and I declare this night that when Jupiter has marked and mated you; you will be as a lioness in the pride, honored and adored. The pride will stand with you and for you against any who would harm you. May the cubs you bear grow up to be as strong and fierce as their parents.”
The lions all roared in approval, and Celeste shivered. The pride filed by them one by one, each dropping a lily on the ground next to the rug, a token of their approval and a blessing on the mating. They disappeared quickly into the darkness, but Jupiter waited until he heard the soft clang of the secret door in the storage shed before he hauled his sweetheart close.
“I guess we’re alone,” she said with a chuckle.
“We are now,” he said, lowering his head to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck with a moan as their tongues touched. He slid his hands down to the hem of his shirt, and drew it up over her lush curves. She was naked underneath, and as he bared her skin to his questing fingers, he reined in his cat, needing to ensure that she had her pleasure first so she would be lost to the world and wouldn’t feel the marking.
The shirt tightened over her breasts, and he growled softly at the hindrance. His claws came out to shred it, but she laughed and pulled away from the kiss. “It’s totally sexy that you want to rip my shirt off, but I don’t want to walk back to the shed naked, so give me two seconds.”
His claws receded, and he was glad she had her wits about her so that he didn’t do something they’d both regret. The firelight danced on her skin as she wriggled her way out of the shirt, pushing it over her breasts and hips until it pooled at her feet. He stood and shoved his leather trousers down his legs, tossing them to the ground and falling back to his knees at her feet. He grasped her legs just above her knees, rubbing his fingers up the sensitive backs.
She cupped her breasts and said, “I love how you look at me.”
“How?” he asked, his voice rough.
“Like you could devour me and make me love every second.”
“I could. I will,” he said. He kissed her navel and inhaled the sweet scent of her arousal, and then he offered her his hands as she moved back to the center of the fur. She went to her knees closer to the fire so that she wouldn’t be affected by the cool night. Moving behind her, he gathered her hair in his hands and twisted it, pushing it over one shoulder to bare her neck. Trailing his fingers over her shoulders and down her arms, he placed a kiss between her shoulder blades.
He cupped her chin with one hand and tilted her head until he could kiss her as he slid his other hand slowly down her stomach. She wrapped one arm around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair as their tongues slid together and the sweet taste of her filled him. She laid her other hand on top of his as he delved between her thighs. Parting her legs farther, she canted her hips as he rubbed her clit a few times before lightly stroking his fingers between her pussy lips. With each pass he pushed them a little deeper, sweeping them over her clit and back down to circle her entrance. He felt her tremble as he moved his fingers faster, never staying long enough in one place to drive her over the edge. Her fingers tightened in his hair and she pulled her mouth from his, panting hard.
“Is this what you want, little love?” he purred into her ear, flicking his finger over her clit rapidly. “Or this?” he asked, sinking two fingers into her pussy.
“I want it all,” she said, tilting her head to expose more of her neck to him. He growled as he pulsed his fingers into her pussy and bit her neck gently. He rubbed his palm against her clit, her pussy clutching his fingers as he worked her to the pinnacle of pleasure. When he growled, the vibrations sank into her flesh. Untangling her fingers from his hair, she moaned and cupped the back of his head to hold him against her. He pulled his wet fingers from her pussy and press
ed them against her clit, rubbing hard and fast, tossing her over the edge into pleasure. She moaned his name, shuddering in his arms. Releasing his hold on her neck, he purred as she dropped forward onto her hands and then lowered her upper body down to the fur, spreading her thighs even farther to bare herself to him. He’d never seen anything sexier.
His cat pushed at him, anxious to complete their mating with the scent of the lilies and her arousal in the air. Grasping his dick, he rubbed the tip along her wet center and then pushed into her. He groaned at how hot she was; a searing inferno that gripped him so tightly he almost came on the spot. He settled his hands on her hips and pushed the cat back so he could make her come again.
Then he felt her cup her pussy with one hand, spreading her fingers to surround his cock. She teased his balls with a sexy chuckle and then her pussy clenched; he could tell she was rubbing her clit. Wanting to prolong her pleasure, he angled her hips slightly and began to move, drawing himself out of her almost entirely and then plunging back in. She rubbed herself swiftly, letting out short gasps and moans that drove him wild.
His cat pushed at him harder, anxious to mark her, and he held it back by the scruff until Celeste reared up with a scream of pleasure and he caught her, wrapping his arms around her and flicking her clit rapidly as they both came. He kept her climax going until she groaned loudly and slumped back against him.
His cat rushed forward as he gently settled her back on her stomach. Pulling from her pussy, he settled his hands on her hips, watching as his shift morphed his body slowly, starting with his hands. Thick black claws erupted from his fingertips as they merged into paws. As the golden fur flowed up his arms, he placed his paws over her hips, piercing the skin. She gasped and panted for breath. He left his claws in long enough to allow his scent to penetrate her skin, and then he pulled them away and let his shift take over.