by Callie Rose
But when he comes, I want it to be inside me.
So I angle his length slightly, and Dare lifts me a little to position our bodies perfectly together. The broad head of his cock notches at my entrance, and as soon as I release him, his hips surge forward.
He slams into me in one hard, long stroke, pinning me against the tree as he impales me on his length. I gasp at the sudden overload of sensations as the bark behind me digs into my skin and my core clenches around the sudden intrusion.
“Too hard?” he rasps, his hips freezing.
“No.” I wrap my other arm around his neck too, holding on to him as I try to catch my breath. “Perfect.”
He draws his head back a fraction of an inch, just enough to get a better look at my face without opening up any space between our bodies. His rugged features are full of nothing but warmth and desire as he stares down at me, all the heartbreaking rage from earlier wiped away.
“I fucking love you, moonlight,” he murmurs.
My heart seems to expand in my chest, and I nod slightly. “I love you too.”
As if those words were the only thing in the world he needed to hear, Dare draws out of me and slides back in, dropping his lips to mine as he does. We kiss as hard and deep as we fuck, our teeth clashing together as his thrusts grow faster.
I was right. He was already close to coming. I can feel it in the tension that gathers in his shoulders, the harsh way he breathes as he drives into me.
There’s something almost… violent about coming together like this, something animalistic and rough. I’ll be bruised later, my neck and thighs marked by him and my back scratched by the bark of the tree. He’ll probably have marks on his back from where my fingernails dig little crescent-shaped divots into his skin too.
But everything about it, even the slight pain, feels so damn good.
If we were trying to purge our demons earlier, they’re gone now—at least, for the moment. All that’s left is me and Dare and the consuming love that burns between us, driving us to cling to each other, to grope and kiss and grind against each other as if we’re trying to force our bodies closer than is physically possible. As if we’re trying to crawl inside each other’s skin.
The intensity of my need for him is almost frightening, but instead of shrinking away from it, I give myself over to it, sliding my tongue over his as I drink up his hot kisses.
“Fuck. Oh God, Sable. Fuck!”
Dare wrenches his lips away from mine on a grunt. His hips stutter and jerk as he thrusts in two more times and then circles them against me, pressing me harder to the tree as his cock pulses in my channel. I squeeze around him, wanting him to feel every bit of me as he comes, wanting to draw out every last drop of his release.
As my muscles clench tightly around his length, a second orgasm catches me by surprise, spreading outward from my core. I let out a little squeak, my toes curling as my arms tighten around his neck, clinging to him as the unexpected pleasure nearly bowls me over—not that I could go anywhere, pinned between his large body and the tree.
He chuckles, his breath warming my skin as his cock slowly stops throbbing inside me. “I don’t think I’ve heard you make that noise before.”
I grin, my body going lax in his arms as my muscles unclench. “I don’t think I ever have.”
He nips at my neck, and I know his teeth are grazing over the spot where he gave me a hickey earlier. “Good. I want more of your firsts, moonlight. I want more of you.”
“I want more of you too.”
The words fall from my lips automatically, so full of truth that I don’t even have to think before I speak them. My fingertips ghost over his broad shoulders before trailing up the back of his neck and delving into his hair.
I’m not ready to let go. I’m not ready for this moment to be over yet.
I barely notice the rough bark digging into my back as my legs wrap tightly around his waist. My head feels light in the wake of my orgasms, and we breathe against each other as we recover.
Still buried inside me, he presses his face against my neck, his breath warm on my skin. He trails his lips higher, over the edge of my jaw, toward my lips. I turn my face to meet him, my mouth parting as it connects with his. His kiss is slow and thorough now that the fierce need between us has ebbed a little. But there’s still so much possessiveness and tenderness in it that I can hardly breathe.
Every moment of my relationship with Dare has been volatile and confusing.
He was the mate who claimed me the most fiercely the night he found me beside the creek, but he was also the mate who rejected me the most painfully after my transition to witch. Pressed against the rough bark of the tree, sharing this space, sharing our bodies, I suddenly feel like we’re on solid ground for the first time in… well, maybe ever. Things between us make perfect sense in this moment. Maybe we just had to take a few detours along the way to reach this point.
7
Sable
Dare kisses me again and then draws back, brushing my hair from my face. “I’m not the man I used to be.”
“How so?” I ask quietly, trailing my fingertips over his broad shoulders. His skin is like satin and warmer than a ray of sunlight. “If you mean what just happened, you’re plenty of man. I thought we were going to knock over this tree.”
He laughs out loud, throwing his head back as amusement glints in his brown eyes. His reaction sends a flash of warmth and affection through me. I’m not used to being the source of laughter for anyone, but I like it.
“No, not that.” He chuckles again. “That was, as you implied, earth-moving.”
He kisses me deeply for a moment, like he’s trying to relive the intense sex we just had. But as he draws back, his smile fades and he swallows, hesitating only briefly before he speaks again.
“Since my pack was destroyed, I’ve turned into a lone wolf. Wild, angry… a little feral.” He flashes a wolfish grin that makes my heart skip a beat, but I can feel his pain below the surface. “I was hellbent on protecting other wolves from the witches. Or really, from any outside threat. It became my life’s mission to protect the three remaining packs. But in the process, I think… I guess I lost track of how to be with other people. How to take care of someone. How to love.”
My heart races a little faster. Dare’s been through a lot—he’s lost a lot—so I try to be understanding of the scars he carries. He’s not usually so open with his feelings, and his openness and honesty in this moment touches me.
“I can see how that could happen,” I say quietly. “But it’s not your fault, Dare. You did what you thought was right.”
“And maybe it was right for me. At the time.” He grimaces, shaking his head. “But in the middle of all that, I lost some of the qualities that made me a good alpha. My pack wouldn’t even recognize me now. Fuck, I don’t recognize me.”
He leans in and nuzzles my face with his. His chest rises and falls against mine, and I wish for a second that I could freeze time. I want to remain here, feeling him breathe, forever.
“You make me want to be a better man,” he murmurs. “I want to be capable of caring for you, taking care of you. Now and always.”
I cup his face in my hands and push him back just enough so that I can meet his gaze. I see something in his gold-flecked brown eyes that makes me feel like he’s a man who was once lost, but who’s found the map to lead him home.
Me, I hope.
“I want to take care of you, too,” I tell him, a smile tugging up the corner of my lips. “And you are capable of caring for me, Dare. You’re one of the best men I’ve ever known.”
He leans in and kisses me once more, but not before I see the shimmer in his eyes.
Oh, man. Big, dark, handsome alpha emotions might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
If his kiss is meant to be chaste, it definitely doesn’t remain that way. Heat rises between us again almost immediately, and I feel his cock twitch inside me like it’s considering whether it can
handle another round. If it weren’t for the fact that we’ll be missed, we’d probably have another go against the tree. As it is, it’s a near thing, especially with him still deep inside me and growing harder by the moment.
But Dare breaks the kiss with a bit of reluctance, and then pulls out of me before he gently lowers me to my feet. My legs are a bit weak and shaky, but everything in me is satisfied. I lean against the tree for support and focus on some deep breaths to curb the need he stoked back to life.
When we’re both semi-composed, we shift back to wolf form and head back toward the North Pack village.
We race through the afternoon sunlight, egging each other on and declaring ourselves the faster wolf. I know damn good and well I could never outrun any of my four mates—they’ve been wolves longer than I have, and are much more used to running on four legs. But it’s a fun game, and the way Dare’s tongue lolls out of his mouth, his snout open in a lupine smile, makes me feel lighthearted.
This small bit of fun makes me feel like everything is going to be okay.
We stop by Ridge’s cabin and grab clothes, since shifting back at the meeting house left what we were wearing before in pieces on the council floor. As I step into another borrowed shirt and pair of pants from Amora, I realize I should probably never get attached to any clothes I wear.
The magic of the shift has some mild healing properties, so the hickey Dare left on my neck actually isn’t all that obvious. I’m not sure most observers will even notice it, although I’m positive my mates will. Dare’s gaze drops to it as he takes my hand to lead me out of the house, and from the way his eyes darken, I’m sure he can see it. And he likes it almost as much as I do.
At the meeting house, the pack has mostly dispersed and gone back about their business, but my other mates are still there, as well as the group of elders.
As we enter the building, everyone present looks up at us, and all conversation stutters to a halt. A look passes between Ridge and Dare, and I get the sense that they’re silently working things out. Dare almost ripped apart a North pack shifter. Regardless of the fact that he was standing up for me, something like that wouldn’t sit well with the alpha. Were it anybody else, he’d probably be punished for the infraction. But it seems they come to an understanding, because I can read the apology on Dare’s face, and the forgiveness on Ridge’s.
As Dare and I join the crowd, conversation resumes as if it never ended.
“I’m inclined to think there’s much more to your mate than meets the eye,” one of the elders is saying. I don’t know his name, but his voice isn’t hard, nor does he look at me in suspicion. Mostly, he seems kind of curious. “We know she’s a wolf-witch hybrid, of course, and mated to four different alphas. Which begs the question, what other incredible gifts might she harbor?”
Great. They’re talking about me. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, since the entire meeting was essentially called to fill the pack in on who and what I am. If it’d had a written agenda, there would’ve been only one item of business to cover.
Sable is a wolf and a witch. What the fuck do we do about it?
“Ideally, we need to know more about witches and what they’re capable of,” Archer replies with a nod. “I can continue to teach her what I know and help her harness the easy stuff, but that’s not going to be enough.”
“She’s strong,” Ridge agrees. “Maybe even stronger than a normal witch.”
Elder Jihoon speaks up, glancing over at me. “So the idea is to help Sable get her powers fully under control before she becomes a problem.”
“She’s not going to become a problem,” Trystan snaps, but I reach out and touch his arm, giving a small shake of my head.
I am a problem. And I’m enough of a problem that I need my mates to stop reacting violently and acerbically anytime someone says a sideways word about me.
Elder Jihoon ignores Trystan’s outburst and turns to meet Ridge’s eye. “I might, perhaps, have something helpful to the cause at home. Something you should see. If you’ll all come with me?”
“Of course,” Ridge says respectfully.
As my mates all head toward the door, Elder Jihoon pauses at my side and takes my hand. He pats the back of it gently, a knowing smile on his face.
“I told you,” he murmurs. “I knew there was wolf in you, girl.”
I nod my head in something like a bow, because his old-world presence has that effect on me. “You did tell me.”
“You could have warned us about the witch though,” Trystan says, turning around to come back for me. He drapes an arm over my shoulders and presses a kiss to my hair, then herds me toward the door before Jihoon has a chance to reply.
“Don’t sass the elders,” I chastise him as we pass through the large door into the golden light of the afternoon.
He just chuckles, and we walk side by side away from the meeting house, making the short walk to Elder Jihoon’s home.
The last time I was inside the elder’s tiny, cramped shack, it was heavy with the scent of incense, and I ended up racing from the room in a panic attack. Luckily, I’ve learned how to balance my emotions better, and panic attacks don’t hit me as often or intensely as they used to. I have a much better handle on them nowadays, which is saying something considering I harbor a wolf and a witch inside me, both of them vying for power.
Once we’re all gathered inside his house, Elder Jihoon opens a cabinet in the corner of his living room and extracts an aged book covered in worn, maroon leather. He brings it to the couch and opens it on the coffee table, paging forward as the five of us draw closer to watch.
“I keep journals,” Elder Jihoon informs us, his dark gaze on the book as he squints at each page in turn. “I’ve kept a record of everything that’s ever happened to me, or to this pack. It is good for finding patterns. Or simply for an old mind to retain the finer details. Ah. Here it is.”
He taps a page with one long, arthritic finger, then rotates the book so that Ridge can read it. “I met a lone wolf once,” Elder Jihoon says, “who knew of a witch with no coven. He didn’t know her name, but rumor said she lived in the Blackrock Basin.”
“The Blackrock Basin isn’t real,” Trystan says, his brow wrinkled as he stares at the journal over Ridge’s shoulder. “It’s a legend used by parents to frighten their kids from going into the mountains alone.”
“Oh, I believe it to be real.” The white-haired shifter purses his lips. “Real and protected by this witch. One of the elder shifters of my day told me the Blackrock Basin can be found past Wolfsbane Mountain, in the deepest wilderness.”
Trystan rolls his eyes. “Wolfsbane Mountain isn’t real either.”
“It is.” Dare speaks up. “Way up north, past the Two-Tone River. Looks like a giant wolf’s head.”
Elder Jihoon inclines his head at Dare in agreement, then turns his gaze to Ridge. “It’s rare for a witch to be covenless, just as it’s rare for a wolf to be packless. I know of no other witches without a coven, except for the one who created Sable. And he’s dead. My hypothesis, given that this witch has no coven, and therefore no allegiances to protect, is that—”
“—she might be able to give us answers,” Archer finishes, nodding slowly. “Or, more to the point, willing to give us answers. I see what you’re saying, Elder. If she’s amenable, she could be the help we need.” Then he grimaces. “But approaching any witch is far too dangerous.”
Ridge nods. “I agree. Just because the witch has no coven, it doesn’t mean she isn’t an enemy of wolves. Attempting to make contact with her is way too risky.”
“Perhaps,” Elder Jihoon says thoughtfully. He scratches at his chin. “Though it is possible that since she broke ties with her coven, she may not hold the same hatred of wolves as the other witches do.”
“I’m not sure those are odds I’m willing to entertain.” Ridge reaches down and closes the journal, as if he’s putting an end to the idea itself.
I’ve watched the exchange in silence, abs
orbing Elder Jihoon’s information with my heart pounding in part excitement, part fear. As the conversation dies out, I stand abruptly and cross my arms, catching Ridge’s gaze.
“We have to try to find her,” I say, my voice sounding stronger than I feel. “She’s my only option at this point.”
He shakes his head, his honey-colored eyes darkening. With his jaw set, he picks up the journal to return it to the cabinet. “No. There are always other options. We just have to keep looking.”
Archer puts a hand on my arm. “Now that things have settled down, we’ll return to our training.”
“No.” I meet his gaze, biting my lip. I appreciate everything Archer has helped me learn. Without his guidance, I wouldn’t know any witch magic. The few spells I’m competent with are because of him. But it’s not enough. “Please, Archer. You can’t deny me the only possible answers out there. This woman is a lifeline I need, and maybe she’ll be willing to help us. If she turns out to be a wolf-hater, we leave. Plain and simple.”
“And if she turns out to be a violent wolf-hater and kills you on sight?” Trystan drawls. The wry tone of his voice can’t hide the palpable fear behind it. “We can’t bring you back from the dead.”
“There’s a chance she won’t hate us,” I point out, tension gathering in my muscles as I search for an argument that will convince them. “At the very least, she’s not affiliated with the coven that’s been starting wars with the shifters for years. She’s a lone wolf, so to speak.” I look at Dare, pleading with my eyes for him to understand and agree with me, hoping the lone wolf statement will spark something in him.
Instead, he grunts and says, “Lone wolves are dangerous.”
Ridge returns from the cabinet. “Look, Sable, we know this situation is tough. But after everything that’s happened, our goal now is to protect you. Seeking this witch is too dangerous, and you’ve been in harm’s way too much recently as it is.”
“We’ll find another way,” Archer promises.
All four of my mates watch me with concern, but none of them seem at all willing to back down.