by Jenika Snow
“I’m really glad you guys decided to come tonight,” Emma, Jason’s sister, said and set two plates of pie down in front of them.
“I’m glad we came, too,” Jessie replied.
“It’s about time we got Easton out of that office and socializing with us,” Roake, Emma’s mate, said and grinned. The scent of the hybrid filled Easton’s nose, but there was also the warmth and sincerity of his words that surrounded him.
“Yeah, it was about time,” Easton said in all honesty.
Easton looked over at Jason and Annabelle. The male was sitting beside his mate, but she looked a little uncomfortable. It was clear by her body language and the fact she was tense, almost as much as he was, that Annabelle didn’t care for all the people around. He knew enough about their situation to know Roake and Annabelle had been prisoners of a nasty organization of shifters that thought only purebreds should be alive. They’d tortured, maimed, and killed hybrid shifters, and it was damn lucky Roake and Annabelle had gotten away. He didn’t know what had happened to her exactly, but he could guess, and it fucking sickened him. It was clear the scars, both physical and mental, were still there, especially with Annabelle.
Easton was starting to understand that friends and family were what held everything together, that having someone by his side, his mate and the only person that could really reach him, was what he desperately needed. It was nice to have the easiness and comfortable atmosphere, even if it was hard for him to absorb it all. Everyone was happy and laughing, talking and filling the room with warmth, and it was really fucking nice to just … be here.
He looked over at his mate, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her in closer. She was so beautiful, so patient with him, and in return he’d wait until the end of time for her. But the best part of it all was that he had been lucky enough to have found her, and that he hadn’t fucked this up, and that she was all his.
“You’re actually smiling,” Jessie said and leaned her head on his shoulder. He turned his head to look down at her, loving that she didn’t care who saw them. Easton felt his smile grow even more, and pulled her impossibly closer to him.
“I am, and it’s because of you.” He smoothed his hand over her hair, but she lifted her head before he could do it again. “You put that smile on my face, Jessie.”
Her lips tilted in a grin. “You know, if someone told me this was where I’d be after coming to Sweet Water, I wouldn’t have believed them.”
“Me either, but I’m glad things worked out the way they did.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, surprising the hell out of him. Easton had never had a serious relationship with a female, and certainly didn’t show affection to them in public. But this was his mate, and he’d do anything for her. He also didn’t give a fuck if anyone watched, although he realized that it must be hard for Jason and Annabelle, seeing all these couples and not having that yet.
Easton pulled back and smoothed his finger over her cheek. “Later, baby.”
She smiled and nodded.
Emma started speaking with Jessie, and the conversation became comfortable. Everyone was talking now, the kids were screaming louder, and Easton couldn’t help but smile and look around the table again.
The sound of the children laughing made the atmosphere lighter. Luke, Sweet Water’s resident cougar shifting physician, and his mate, Alice, walked in with their own brood in tow. Many of these shifters had been given shitty hands in life, but they all shared the same thing, and that was finding the ones that completed them.
Two tragedies could make a beautiful outcome, and all these people surrounding him were proof of that.
“The house is coming along,” Charlie said, pulling Easton out of his thoughts. He looked at the oldest Wylde brother and nodded.
“I was planning on showing Jessie the construction after this.”
He’d be lying if he didn’t admit he’d thought about sharing that home with Jessie, even if they’d met not long ago. A shifter’s mate was his life. No marriage or long-term relationship would change the fact they were soul mates, connected in the most elemental and primal of senses.
Charlie clapped Easton on the back and moved over to his brothers and mate once again. Easton went back to looking around the table. Everyone was so damn happy. Easton focused on Jessie again, the need to touch her, smell her, to just be with her riding him hard. He traced a finger up and down her arm, and when she looked at him again his pulse picked up, as it did every time she was near. He wanted her love, wanted her to share her life with him. They had all the time in the world, and when it was time for him to ask for her hand in marriage, which he knew he would, because even that piece of paper that shouldn’t mean anything, meant a hell of a lot to him in the long run.
She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “I think maybe we should go. Maybe you should take me to your place and show me around.”
The way she said those words, and the way her voice sounded, told him this wasn’t just about a tour. Pulling back, his moose rose up, his arousal taking the front seat. There was no doubt the shifters around them could scent it, and if not yet they would soon.
“Yeah?” he said, feeling his voice deepen, his animal pushing forward.
She nodded and licked her lips. “I do.”
They finished their dessert faster than was probably socially appropriate, but damn, did he want to get Jessie alone. It was crazy how life could give him something as special as a mate, and how he’d never even thought he needed one until she was right in front of him. But now that he had her he couldn’t even imagine how he had survived without Jessie.
Chapter Twelve
They pulled up to the house being built, and Easton cut the engine. “Well, here we are.” His voice was deep, scratchy, almost inhuman.
Since he’d come into her life it had been like this fire had started inside of Jessie, like she couldn’t breathe because the heat was too suffocating. It slowly burned brighter inside of her, and the longer she was in his presence the hotter it became. This was what it meant to have a mate, and it was this never-ending feeling of desire, pulling tighter and harder until she felt like she couldn’t breathe because of it.
She’d felt guilty because of wanting Easton and losing Brenna so soon, but she knew this was what Brenna would have wanted. Her aunt would have wanted her happiness.
Jessie shook her head, clearing her thoughts.
In the short time since they’d found out they were mates she’d felt herself grow closer to Easton. It was strange feeling as if she were so engrained with another person. The sexually chemistry between them was intense, and she felt it consume her as if fire licked at her veins. Tonight she wouldn’t stop herself from being with him, because they’d waited long enough.
“Let me show you my home.”
They both climbed out, and when they stood side-by-side he reached for her hand. She looked down at his open hand, her heart beating, her feline rising. She slipped hers into his big, warm palm, loving the electricity that slammed into her from that small touch. Jessie was nervous, damn nervous, because it had been a long time since she’d been with a guy, and also because this was her mate. When he finally claimed her, put his mark on her, they would be connected forever. She could see the way his throat worked when he swallowed, and although she could sense things about him, and tell he was aroused, he also had this wall up, as if he were afraid to let her fully in. That made her sad, but she could understand his hesitance.
She had the same tentative reasoning, as well, especially since Brenna’s death had been so sudden. It was like a piece of Jessie had died with her aunt, but then the strange thing, as if it were a miracle, when she’d met Easton, and allowed her emotions to take control, she felt as if she’d gotten a piece of her life back.
They moved up to the front door, and he held it open for her. They walked inside, and the scent of fresh wood and paint surrounded her. Some of the rooms were almost complete, whereas oth
ers were still rough and unfinished. His hand was warm and strong as he held her, and she loved that she felt so connected with him with just this short physical exchange.
The arousal she felt was growing, reaching a fever pitch, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from giving in, from allowing her animal to be claimed. It was, after all, what she wanted. She didn’t want to wait. She wanted to make this real, to make it official. Jessie wanted his mark on her, his hands holding her down as he took her, made her his irrevocably.
“This will be the master bedroom,” Easton said as they stepped into a large room.
There was hardwood floor already down in this one, and the room was almost completely done. As they walked further into the room she saw a bathroom off to the side, and a set of French doors to her left.
“That leads out to the deck.”
She moved away from him and stepped right up to the glass, looking out at the thick line of trees that was his backyard. “This is gorgeous.” She turned around. “Your home is beautiful.” Her heart started beating so much harder as she stood there and watched him. There was a swatch of moonlight that came through one of the windows and covered half of his body. The shadows partially hid his face, but she swore she saw the glow in his eyes from his animal coming forward.
He took a step toward her, and another, but Jessie didn’t move, didn’t retreat. She wanted him close, wanted to smell him, take that scent into her and memorize it. When he was a foot from her he reached out, but before he touched her, he curled his fingers into his palm. He went to pull away, but she grabbed his wrist and brought his hand to her face, keeping her eyes locked with his.
“Are you sure about this, baby?” he asked in a low voice. She might not have actually said she wanted this, but she also hadn’t hidden what she wanted, and knew Easton had scented it from her.
“I’m sure.”
He groaned.
“Touch me.” Jessie had never been one to be so forward when it came to being sexual with a man, and the two men she’d slept with during college hadn’t been anything to write home about. They’d been human, wanted to be soft with her, and because of their species begin so much different from hers, there hadn’t been any of the animalistic qualities she’d craved.
But she knew Easton was the male that could make her feel whole, give her what she wanted.
“I can’t believe you lived in Sweet Water and I never knew it.”
She swallowed, about to moan when he smoothed his finger over her cheek. He was older than her, nearly a decade and a half. They’d been in totally different worlds, run in different circles. Even if she had met him when she was younger, the mating wouldn’t have been pronounced until she was in her adulthood.
But Easton was good at masking what he wanted, and maybe that was from years of keeping his distance from others. Maybe he never wanted a mate to begin with.
“I didn’t think I did,” he answered her unspoken question, or maybe she had said her thoughts out loud.
“Do you want me, Easton?” she asked softly, knowing he did, but wanting him to say it. She needed to hear it, needed to know that he was right here with her. She needed to mask the way she felt, the pain that was growing inside of her the longer she stayed in Sweet Water.
Jessie felt this heat move between them.
“I do want you, more than I’ve ever wanted another person in my entire life.” His voice was so deep, so dark and full of electricity and arousal. “I want to touch you, kiss you.” He leaned in another inch. “I want to make you mine, want to have you wear my mark so everyone knows that you’re mine.”
She was breathing harder, unable to control her respirations. Her serval cat was right there, purring, wanting out, wanting to rub up on this male and let him know she wanted this mating.
“I want you so much, but I’m no good for you. I’m no good for anyone.”
That broke her heart.
She wasn’t going to let him build that wall even higher between them. “You don’t get to say what is good for me, Easton. I get to decide that.”
He didn’t respond, just continued to look into her eyes and stroke her cheek.
“Maybe this is fate, of being mates that make me feel this way toward you, but I don’t care.” She took another deep breath. “I haven’t felt this good in a very long time, Easton, and I really don’t want to let that go.”
The emotion on his face was evident, but she could still see the fact he was fighting this, fighting how he felt, on some level. It was natural, she supposed, because she’d felt the same way. This was new, and having something taken away from her, having her not able to decide who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with was frustrating, and she wanted to rebel.
“I don’t like being out of control either,” she whispered into the darkness. “But I’d be lying if I said this didn’t feel right in every way. Being with you feels right, Easton.”
“I never wanted a mate, Jessie,” he said in this guttural voice that hurt her more than she wanted to admit.
Anger filled her at the fact he’d even said the words, but she tried to keep it at bay, and not show how much that statement made her curl into herself inside. But Jessie didn’t want him thinking about anything that wasn’t them right here, right now.
Without thinking and just letting her emotions and animal take control, she reached up, tunneled her hands in his short dark hair, and pulled his head toward hers as she rose on her toes. She kissed him with all the feelings she had. She kissed him with her pleasure, her anger, her sadness … all of it and more.
He made this deep sound in his throat, maybe because she startled him, or maybe because she had used so much force. Either way he wasn’t pushing her away. After a second he grabbed her nape, tightened his fingers around the back of her neck, and pushed her up against the glass door.
She felt wild all of a sudden, as if her animal was the one in control. Jessie pressed her mouth harder on his, loving that he made this deep male sound in the back of his throat.
“You wanted this,” he said as if to himself.
Her response was a soft moan.
He took a hold of her hair with one hand and tilted her head back, baring her throat. Gone was the human, and in its place was his powerfully strong animal. She’d never been with such a wild and untamed shifter male sexually before. This was uninhibited and exhilarating.
God, she loved it so damn much.
He squeezed the strands of her hair, and although there was a flash of pain from the action, the pleasure that washed through her took the front seat.
He pulled back from her, breaking the kiss. He flared his nostrils, and his pupils dilated so much that there was only inky blackness looking back at her now. He looked more dangerous than he ever had, than she ever could have imagined a male to look. But she was in no danger, felt no fear. All she felt was the pounding of arousal in her veins.
“I’ve never felt my control slip so much before.” His voice was this serrated sound, his animal now at the forefront, pushing forward, making itself known. He lowered his gaze to her mouth, and she parted her lips as if on instinct. Her breathing was hard and fast, and she felt her nipples harden from her desire for Easton.
“I don’t want to think about anything else but this moment, Easton.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I just want to be with you … mate,” she said on a whisper.
He growled low, and it was all animal. The flash of that wild, massive creature moved across his face, and she saw his muscles expand with its strength. Some might not think a moose shifter could be just as powerful, just as masculine and untamed as, say, a wolf or bear, but God, they’d be wrong, so wrong.
He tightened his hand in her hair once more and bared his teeth. But he didn’t move away, didn’t stop this. Instead he slammed his mouth on hers so forcefully that for a second their teeth clashed together. He was a force to be reckoned with, one that was so intense that she felt dizzy from the sensations
he caused inside of her. This is what she’d been missing out on in her life, what she’d been missing out on without her mate.
She placed her hands flat on the glass behind her. His hand was still tightly in her hair, and his other one held onto her waist, his nails elongated now as his body was starting to shift.
She wanted his mark, his brand on her, and she wanted to scream out because her mate was finally taking her, claiming her in the way they both needed. And she hadn’t known she needed this until she’d seen Easton, until he’d touched her. But it felt so right, so incredible, that she didn’t want it to end.
They hadn’t touched in the days since they’d met, and that was a long time for a mate to withhold from claiming what was rightfully theirs. And she was his just as much as he was hers.
What they had was not something to be ignored, was not something that could be ignored.
He tilted her head back as far as it would go, and then latched his mouth onto her throat. The sound that left him was distorted, but filled with desire.
“I could devour you until there wasn’t anything left, until you were a withered mess under me.” He growled low against her neck, and she felt the vibrations all the way to her clit. She was wet now, so wet that her panties were soaked.
Jessie’s mind and body were on the same wavelength, screaming for this male to have her, to let his powerful body slide inside hers, and take her in any way he saw fit. She just wanted him to claim her, to put out the burn inside of her, or at least tame it.
She noticed the way his breathing changed, how it was more ragged, broken. With the scent of him filling her lungs and the masculine and raw animal sexuality he was throwing off, she was helpless to stop anything he wanted to do to her, anything she wanted him to do to her.
Easton slipped his hand down her head and gripped her nape, pulling her forward until their bodies were flush with each other. Her breasts pressed against the hard planes of his chest, and the air gushed out of her at the feel of his rock hard pectoral muscles. For several long seconds all he did was search her face, his eyes now completely black because he was so close to shifting. It felt like her body would explode if he didn’t touch more of her.