by Liza Street
“Are you happy, Laura?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” she said, snuggling closer.
“I guess that’s my biggest fear. Not making a woman—my mate—happy.”
Reaching up, she touched his chin, his nose, his eyebrows. “Why would you worry about that? You’re—you’re everything, Dristan. Any woman would be lucky to have you, and you make me happy just by existing.”
He hesitated. “You know what happened with my parents.”
“They wanted to take over the pride.”
The words rumbled warm and deep, and she listened to them through his chest. “There was a little more to it than that.”
Laura waited.
“Nothing was ever good enough for my mother—not even our family. She wanted me and Frasier to be smarter, stronger, faster. She wanted my dad to earn more money, win more fights, climb up in the pride. We exhausted ourselves trying to make her happy.”
“I didn’t realize all of that ambition leaked over to you and Fraze,” Laura whispered.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly advertise it. But I never felt like I was enough.”
“You’re enough for me,” Laura whispered. “Always.”
“So we’re going to do this?” he asked. “We’re going to be together as mates?”
Laura swallowed, then nodded. “Yes.”
“I know you want this, too, but your parents and Marlana—they don’t want it for you. They’d rather send you to some far-off pride in Oregon than have you be with me.”
“I don’t care what they want anymore. Doing what they say doesn’t make me happy.” Laura took a deep breath and brought up something she’d found in the shifter forum. “I think we should mark each other.”
She looked at his face in time to see those gorgeous blue eyes go round with surprise.
“The mate mark?” he asked. “Shifters don’t do that anymore.”
“It’s permanent,” Laura said. “It scars every time, and nobody can argue with it. The scars will be proof to everyone that we’re not just fucking—we’re mates. And we can get married anytime so it’s legal in the human world. But Dristan, I really want this.”
Without pausing, he said, “Okay. We’ll do it.”
She didn’t need to ask him if he was sure—she could see it in his eyes, in the caring way he looked at her. “Okay, so there’s a couple ways to do this.”
“Yeah?” he rumbled, amusement in his voice. “I thought I just got to give you a big old bite somewhere.”
“Claws or teeth,” she said. “Bearer of the mark gets to decide.”
“Human claws or teeth, or lion claws or teeth?”
She shuddered. “Ew, well, because we’re supposed to be having sex while we do it….”
“Human it is.”
They laughed.
After a moment, Dristan said, “I want teeth.”
“Me, too. When should we do it?”
“Lady’s choice.”
“How about after we get all the vampire shit under control? Could be tonight, could be a week from now. But once we’re not freaked out as a pride about that, you and I can claim each other. It’ll be easier for everyone else to handle, and we can fall seamlessly and easily into our new life together.”
“The best-laid plans…” Dristan quoted.
She smacked him lightly on the arm. “Well, it’s more a wish than a plan.”
“I have a wish right now,” he said, grinning.
Moving her hand from his arm, down over his stomach, and to the zipper of her pants, she said, “Yes, I can feel how big that wish is.”
“If wishes were horses, Laura would ride.”
She burst out laughing at that, but then he was kissing her open mouth, trailing his hands up along her waist to cup her breasts. Her laughter soon turned to moans as she allowed herself to be taken up by the pleasure coursing through her body.
When he unfastened the buttons on her jeans, she lifted her hips so he could take them off.
“Are you going to tell me about all the people who might overhear us?” she asked, kicking her pants from her ankles.
He sat up and leaned over to kiss her bare thighs, and his stubble scratched gently against her skin. “Just you and me here this time, Laura.”
As much as she liked thinking about possibly being overheard or watched, she loved even more that this moment was different for him, like it was for her. This coupling was also their agreement, their promise to each other that from here on out, they’d be together in everything, in every way.
He tugged off his long-sleeved shirt, and Laura marveled at the muscles stretching from shoulders to pecs, all the way down his washboard stomach.
“Off,” she said, pointing to his pants.
With a sexy smirk on his face, he shucked off his pants and boxers.
Hooking his fingers in the sides of her panties, he pulled them down while Laura yanked off her sweater and camisole. She felt Dristan’s hot breath between her legs, but she tugged on his arms. “I want you up here, your face with my face, this time.”
He nudged her knees wider with his legs. “You sure you’re ready for me?”
“Touch me and see,” she said.
He pressed one long finger against her, and she was wet enough to give easily. He moved his finger in and out, then dragged it over her clit, playing in her wetness.
“Oh, that feels so good,” Laura murmured.
His lips found hers, and she kissed him back, hard, enjoying the play of his tongue against her tongue, his breath mingling with her breath, his heart pressed against her heart. This was Dristan. This was love.
He pulled his hand away and replaced his finger with his cock, slowly sliding in, letting Laura feel every glorious inch of him. Once he was fully inside, Laura squirmed, already eager to feel him moving.
“Mmm, you are perfect,” Dristan said. “Paradise.”
All she could think of was bearing his mark, earning the right to call him hers and be entirely and only his. “Do the mate mark now,” she whispered. “I can’t wait.”
“Let’s do it together,” he said, his voice rough while he stroked inside her. He filled her completely, hitting her clit perfectly each time he pushed all the way in. His chest rubbed against her breasts, and she felt she’d burst from the pleasure.
He nuzzled against her neck, teasing her with his lips and teeth. She teased him in the same way with biting kisses along his shoulder. The whole time, he moved within her, taking her higher. Her body was wound tight, ready for release. Just a few more pulses, a few more delicious strokes, and—
“Now,” she breathed.
His teeth clamped down on her shoulder, and she bit into his. Hard, riding the waves of pleasure as they turned to pain and back to pleasure again. A magical, warm connection flowed between them, something bigger than an orgasm, bigger than forever.
He tasted sharp and metallic, and her shoulder throbbed, but she didn’t want it to end. Dristan continued to move inside of her, faster and stroking upward, hitting that sensitive bundle of nerves inside. She came again and locked her legs around him. He pulsed inside her, filling her with heat. His arms were rigid for a moment, and then he rested his forehead against hers.
“I love you, Laura,” he said.
“I love you, Dristan.”
He fell to the side, curling her against him, and pressed tender kisses against her shoulder. The mark would heal in minutes, but it would still leave a scar. She traced around the bruised skin on his shoulder, watching the wounds heal before her eyes.
Twenty-One
Dristan’s phone buzzed at the same time as Laura’s. He kissed her nose, rolled over, and checked the screen. The message from Marlana read: We leave for war in fifteen.
A pride war. Not with another pride or pack, but with a group of vampires. Still, it was a war.
Laura stirred next to him. “Is it time?”
“Yeah. We should get dressed.”
He watched her new sc
ar ripple with her movements. His mate. She bore his mate mark on her shoulder, and he bore hers. Nothing would keep them apart, now. Not Marlana, not her parents, not some stupid Exchange with a faraway pride.
She pulled on her underwear and pants and looked at his cock with amusement. “Usually it’s the undressing that gets guys hot and bothered, isn’t it?”
“Everything you do gets me hot and bothered,” he growled. Holding her head in place with his hands, he kissed her hard.
“Careful, or we’ll be late,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
She sounded out of breath, and he smiled to himself in satisfaction. He had the same effect on her that she had on him.
After dressing, he said, “Do you want me to go out first, and you wait a little behind?”
“Why would I do that?”
“If you still didn’t want everyone to know—”
“No,” she said urgently. “I want them to know. I want everyone to know. We belong to each other now.”
Grinning, he held his hand out for hers. She took it, and they walked down to the living room together.
Everyone looked up when they entered. Dristan ignored the cold look from Marlana and instead watched Rafe and Frasier smirk and elbow each other. Frasier whispered something to Rafe, whose smirk turned to a frown as he pulled some bills from his wallet and passed them to Frasier.
Those assholes had made some kind of bet about Dristan and Laura.
But Dristan was too happy to be bothered by anyone else. Laura’s hand was warm and reassuring in his, and all was well with the world.
Other than the vampires, of course.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Marlana said coldly, “it’s time to go.”
They spilled outside and piled into vehicles. Dristan and Laura ended up in the back of Rafe’s Pathfinder. Frasier tried to climb in the passenger seat up front, but Nina beat him to it, sticking her tongue out at him.
Rafe, of course, was oblivious. He pulled out of the drive after Marlana and Jeff’s Porsche Cayenne.
Nina turned in her seat. “You guys smell different.”
“That’s because they were just fucking,” Rafe said with a laugh.
Laura snorted. “You don’t have to be an asshole just because you lost a bet.”
So she’d noticed, too. Dristan squeezed her hand.
“Not sex,” Nina said. “Your essential scents are different. They’ve changed.”
Dristan sniffed in Laura’s direction and shrugged at Nina. He couldn’t smell anything different.
Nina grinned. “I got it. You guys smell like an old married couple.”
“Wow,” Laura said. “Way to kill the romance.”
“No—it’s like, when a couple is really together, usually for a long time, you know how you can smell traces of one in the other? You have a new scent thread within you, Laura. It’s a little bit of Dristan. And the same goes for Dristan. What the hell did you guys do during rest time, anyway?”
“We slept,” Dristan said shortly.
“We claimed each other with mate marks,” Laura said.
“What?” Nina and Rafe asked together.
“People don’t do that anymore,” Nina said.
Laura shrugged. “It’s an archaic method of claiming a mate, but no one can mess with it. It’s done—forever. I guess it changed our scents when it happened. According to the forum where I read about it, that’s not uncommon.” She reached across the back seat and touched Dristan’s arm. “We’re really together, no matter what.”
“Wow, that’s…that’s great.” Nina’s eyes filled with tears, and Dristan looked at Laura with alarm.
“You okay?” Laura asked her.
Nina’s gaze swept to Rafe, then quickly back to Dristan and Laura. “Yeah, I’m fine. Really. That’s just really romantic and old-school, and I’m really happy for the two of you.”
Nina turned to face the front again and added, “Party at Hart’s after we explode the vampires, okay? We need to celebrate.”
Dristan looked over at Laura and grinned. It would be perfect—a get-together at Hart’s had led to their first night together, and he hadn’t been able to think of anyone but her since.
Rafe parked alongside the road behind Marlana’s Porsche, and they all climbed out to join others who had already arrived and parked and were walking to the cave. Michael was carefully carrying a bag, which Dristan assumed must be full of dynamite. Dristan smiled, wondering if that was a metaphor for Michael’s relationship with his mate, Agatha. Ben and Doug each carried a five-gallon jug of gasoline.
“What’s the gas for?” Dristan asked.
“Once the door blows open, we need to burn the vamps,” Ben said. “Here, you’re the newest Guardian. You carry this.”
Dristan took the jug and swept his gaze over to Laura. She looked unaffected, her head high, her steps light. He caught her eye and mouthed, You okay?
She smiled. “Never better.”
At the mouth of the cave, Agatha and Michael bickered for a moment over how much dynamite to use. Eventually they settled on something and both of them went into the cave with the explosives.
The pride spread out in a large semi-circle around the cave. Penny and Juan had been sent to stay with the Upper Missouri Pack, a few hours away, so it was only adults here, at least. Whatever her faults, at least Marlana wouldn’t put the kids at risk.
Moments later, Agatha and Michael returned, strings for the fuse in Agatha’s hand.
“Once we light this and the dynamite explodes,” Agatha said, “we don’t know what will happen. Out here, we should be safe, but be on your guard.”
She lit the fuse and everyone waited.
Laura stood so close to Dristan that he could feel the heat of her, but they didn’t touch.
The ground shook slightly, and a loud boom filled the air.
Dristan half-expected a horde of angry vampires to come flying out of the cave, but nothing happened.
“It’s time for fire,” Marlana said. “Dristan Rhees, you’re up.”
“I’m—up?” he asked, looking around.
“Go inside and set the vampires on fire.” Her words washed over him with the power of a flash flood.
Twenty-Two
Laura felt Dristan’s lips touch hers for the briefest of seconds. Then he took a box of matches and the other jug of gasoline from Doug. The twins smirked at him.
Laura wanted to claw their faces off.
The minutes crawled by. Laura glared at the back of Marlana’s head, putting as much hatred and anger into her gaze as possible. Her emotions were still clouding her thinking. Fear for Dristan, anger at Marlana for sending him in there alone. Desire to go in after him and help.
But behind the emotional turmoil, her mind started to work.
She marched up to Marlana. “Why?”
Marlana turned, her eyes flashing. “Why what?”
“Why did you send him in there alone? It doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s dangerous. Better to risk one of the pride than three or four.”
“If a few more went in,” Laura said, “it would be less risky.”
“Hush, Laura,” her dad said from her side. “It’s not your place to question your alpha.”
“It is when she’s purposefully putting my mate in danger,” Laura hissed. “Brand-new Guardian? Sending him on the most dangerous mission our pride has seen in fifteen years? You never trusted him, and the same with Fraze.”
Fraze started forward. “He’s done nothing to hurt this pride, and neither have I!”
Marlana shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe not. But the sins of the fathers…”
It took every ounce of Laura’s willpower to not stomp her foot like a child, or worse, attack Marlana. “Sins of the fathers? Their parents were punished. They were killed. Dristan and Fraze never had anything to do with it, and the pride decided collectively, with your approval, to let them remain.”
“And now one of them is coming in use
ful.”
“For a suicide mission.”
Marlana turned her back on her, a clear dismissal, and worse, a snub because it showed the pride that Marlana didn’t think Laura was a threat of any kind.
“Forget it,” Laura said, “I’m going in after him.”
“Me, too,” Fraze added.
“You will not.” Marlana’s voice carried every level of power she had. Alpha, matriarch, ruler.
Laura remembered experimenting, as a child, trying to disobey. It had been physically and emotionally painful. If Marlana ordered them to go to bed and be quiet before a party was over, Laura, of course, would try to linger. Her stomach would begin to hurt, and then her head, each full of pressure like hunger pains or a migraine headache. So much physical pain to the point where she knew the only possible remedy was to obey.
It had been worse emotionally. The longer Laura tried to hang back after everyone else had gone upstairs to bed, the worse she felt in her heart. Thoughts would come unbidden to her mind at how big of a disappointment she was. Every ugly thought she’d ever had would dominate her brain until she curled around the lower banister, weeping, trying to stay downstairs as long as possible.
She’d never lasted more than five minutes.
Now, Fraze stopped in his tracks, a furious expression on his face.
“I forbid anyone from going inside that cave after Dristan,” Marlana said, and the power hit Laura again with extra force.
And even though Laura knew better than to argue or try to disobey, she still took a step forward.
It didn’t hurt.
She took another step. Her parents gasped, and Marlana turned sideways, surprise etched on her face.
Fraze gave Laura a pained look. “How are you doing that?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“If you have taken yourself from this pride,” Marlana said, “you are no better than the Rhees lions who turned against me.”
“I haven’t taken myself from the pride,” Laura said. This was impossible, and yet it was happening. She took another step. “I’m not removing myself from the pride. I’m still your subject, I haven’t pledged to anyone else.”
Marlana marched over and held her hand up, as if to strike Laura.