Not that I’d worked up the courage to say it either. I mean, jeez, we’d only known each other for a few weeks. It was a flimsy excuse, though, because I knew I was madly and hopelessly in love with Kace.
Kace called out for Tane to enter, and the door opened, revealing a tall, blond man with brown eyes. He stepped in and smiled warmly at me until my man growled. The smile disappeared—mostly—from Tane’s face, and he immediately dropped his eyes and bent his head to expose his neck.
“Welcome home, Tane,” Kace finally grunted. “Glad you’re back.”
When Tane lifted his head again, the smile had become a slight smirk, and I noticed that he avoided looking in my direction. “I guess what they say about the power of the mating in the beginning is true.” He chuckled and though his eyes sparkled with humor, I caught a flash of longing.
Hmmm...I’d been bummed when Calliope came to visit and none of the males in the pack had been her fated mate. But there was one shifter she hadn’t met.
Kace glanced down at me, and I wiggled my eyebrows with a conspiratorial smile. He chuckled and shrugged, before turning back to his packmate.
“Tane, this is my mate, Larissa,” Kace introduced us. “Larissa, Tane, my third.”
“I’m happy for you both,” he replied. “I’ll leave you to...whatever I interrupted.” He smirked again, and Kace rolled his eyes.
“Everything good in New York?”
Tane nodded. “Yeah, my dad fell and broke his hip. He shattered it so badly that they needed to do surgery to reset it immediately. Which was probably for the best anyway, if his shifter healing had already kicked in, the bone might have healed wrong. Even though my sisters were there, I wanted to be at the hospital. He came through it like a champ.”
“Happy to hear it. Now get the fuck out of here so I can be alone with my mate.” Tane laughed and spun around, quickly exiting and shutting the door behind him.
Kace maneuvered me around until I was cradled in his arms with my hands on his very impressive chest and his even more impressive hard on digging into my belly. “Now,” he murmured as his head lowered, “where were we?”
I raised my lips to accept his kiss, but my mind was a little distracted. I pulled back and grinned up at Kace. “Calliope is still staying with Allegra for a couple of more days. We should get her and Tane together. Maybe she’ll be his fated mate!”
Kace kept right on kissing, his lips sliding down my neck, but he mumbled what sounded like an agreement. Then he grabbed my butt and lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist. As he headed toward our bedroom, I asked, “You really don’t mind that I’ve been trotting out your pack like a meat market to see if they are fated with my friend?”
Kace snickered, and I shivered when I felt his canines scrape gently along my throat. We reached our room, and he walked to the bed and took a seat, keeping me straddled over his lap. His hands came up to cup my cheeks, and his eyes roamed my face hungrily, making me feel sexy. When our eyes met, though, there was a serious note to them. “I’ve told you, baby. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. Besides that, why would I take away an opportunity for someone in my family to find the love of their life? Now that I’ve found mine, I understand their acute desire to have what we have.”
I sucked in a harsh breath and froze. A couple of heartbeats later, I blew out the air that had been stuck in my lungs and gasped, “Love of your life?”
Kace’s expression softened, and I felt warm and fuzzy all over. “Yeah, baby. How could you possibly think anything else? You’re the center of my world, and I love you more than my own life.”
The smile that stretched across my face was almost painful, and my heart was bursting with joy and love. “I love you, too,” I breathed.
“Damn straight,” he growled before kissing the heck out of me. To my surprise, he released my lips after a few minutes and didn’t make a move to remove my clothing. Instead, when his hands slid under my shirt, they rested on my belly. “And I already love our little cub.”
My jaw practically dropped into my lap. “What?” I shrieked. “I’m not—um—how could I possibly be?”
Kace raised an eyebrow and looked at me knowingly. I huffed in annoyance because he had a point. Okay, so we hadn’t exactly been careful, but it had only been a few weeks! Besides… “How could you know before me?” I asked indignantly.
He laughed and put his hand on my hips to urge me up onto my knees. Then he raised my shirt and pressed his lips against my belly, setting off a storm of butterflies. He inhaled deeply, and a grin split his face when he dropped his head back to look up at me. “I can smell it. You have a different, but no less delicious, smell now that you’re pregnant.”
I was still getting used to the heightened senses thing, so his explanation threw me for a bit of a loop. Still, I had trusted Kace from the moment I met him, and that hadn’t changed. If he said I was preggers, I had no reason to doubt him. Other than freaking out because my dad was going to kill him for knocking me up before he married me.
“Don’t worry, baby. You’ll have my last name before our cub arrives.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “I thought you couldn't read my mind.”
He smirked and drawled, “I don’t need telepathy to read your mind, baby. You wear your thoughts on your face.” Then he nuzzled my stomach before adding, “I love that you're only that way with me.”
Sighing, I melted into him. He really did say the sweetest things.
“That’s how I know you’re also excited about our little one.”
I smiled happily and hugged him close. “I can’t deny that. I love you, and I’m ecstatic to be starting our own little family.”
“Love you too, baby.” In a split second, I found myself flat on my back on the center of the bed with Kace looming over me. “Now,” he growled playfully, “let's practice making the next one.”
Epilogue
Kace
“Baby, we need to have a talk with our daughter.”
My wife stopped dropping cookie dough onto a tray and turned to face me. “A talk?”
I growled as I prowled over to my gorgeous mate, struck by the beauty she’d passed down to our five-year-old, Brea. “She’s decided that she doesn’t want to wait until she grows up to find her mate.”
Larissa snorted with laughter and buried her face in my chest.
“This isn’t funny, mate,” I grumbled. “Zeke just called to tell me that Jake caught Kyla walking Brea and Alena all over the neighborhood, knocking on everyone’s door to see if their fated mate lives there.” Alena was Calliope and Tane’s oldest. She was two years older than Brea and Kyla, but they were thick as thieves.
Now, Larissa doubled over with laughter, and I scowled. “She’s five, Larissa. She shouldn’t be thinking about mating until I’m dead.”
Just then, our seven-year-old, Talon, came strutting into the kitchen with his little chest puffed up. “Don’t worry, Dad. Jake and I threatened all the boys at school. They won’t go near our sisters,” he stated proudly.
Larissa huffed and glared at our firstborn. “Seriously?”
I grinned shamelessly and gave Talon a high five. Larissa smacked my arm. “You guys didn’t need to scare off the boys. It’s not like any of them can be physically interested in the girls anyway.”
“There are human boys in their school,” I growled. Timber Ridge was a small town and was almost completely shifters or human mates. But there were a few human families in the area who were aware of shifters, and their kids attended our schools.
Larissa rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when our two-year-old, Izac, came toddling into the room.
“Dwink, Mommy?”
“Of course, baby,” she said, then threw me a warning glare as she walked over to get a sippy cup from a cabinet.
She pulled it down and started to fill it when Izac piped up. “No, Mommy. Bowl.”
“What?” she asked as we both watched hi
m curiously.
“Bowl. Izac be doggy. Bowl.” Then he got down on his hands and knees and imitated lapping up water from a bowl on the floor. “Be doggy, dwink bowl.”
Talon giggled, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Izac hadn’t shifted yet, so I had no doubt this turn of events had something to with the older boys.
“Why does your brother want to drink from a bowl on the floor?” Larissa asked Talon suspiciously.
He shrugged and tried to look innocent, but he ruined it when he giggled again.
“Talon,” I growled.
He giggled again. “We might have told him if he wanted to shift, he had to eat and drink like a dog.” I pressed my lips together and frowned...to keep from laughing. It was exactly the type of things my brother and I had done to each other, but I didn’t want to encourage this type of behavior.
“Good grief,” Larissa muttered. She put the sippy cup together and leaned down to pick up Izac, propping him on her hip. “Izac, baby. You can drink from your cup. You’ll be a wolf someday.”
“No,” he pouted, pointing at the ground. “Dwink bowl.”
Larissa raised her brow and gave me a “it’s yours turn” look.
I scooped him up and looked him in the eye with a serious expression. “You’ll be a wolf soon, buddy. I promise.” Izac watched me with a dubious frown for a minute, then nodded his head solemnly.
“Okay, Daddy.” He held out his hand, and I put the cup in it. He popped the straw in his mouth and started sucking happily and wiggling to get down. I set him on his feet, and he wobbled out of the kitchen.
I noticed Talon began to edge that way, and I raised an eyebrow, staring him down. After a couple of beats, he dropped his head and muttered, “Sorry, Dad.”
“Stop messing with your siblings, cub.”
He nodded reluctantly. “Kay.”
“Love you, bud.”
Talon perked up and gave me a bright smile. “Love you too, Dad!” Then he walked proudly out of the room, just as he’d entered.
“Brea and I are barely outnumbered in this house, yet the level of testosterone makes it feel like there are a hundred more of you than us,” Larissa grumbled as she turned back to her cookies. She sounded put out, but the corners of her lips were tipped up, and she threw an affectionate glance toward the door.
I came up behind her and slipped my arms around to rest my hands on her flat belly. I fucking loved seeing her round and swollen with our cubs. “Maybe the next one will be a girl,” I murmured into her hair before sweeping it to the slide so I could kiss her exposed neck. When a shiver skittered down her spine, I grinned and did it again.
“Next one,” she gasped. “Am I pregnant again?” Her voice was filled with indignation. It irritated her to no end that I knew she was pregnant before she did. I could have pretended and let her “surprise” me, but what was the point?
“No.” I pressed my hands against her belly and brought her back flush with my front so she could feel my big cock begging to get inside her. “But you will be when I’m done with you tonight,” I growled.
* * *
“Oh, fuck, baby,” I groaned, my eyes sliding closed as my body pulsed with pleasure. Fur rippled along my skin as my wolf shuddered with need. He wanted to be dominating our mate, but it was my turn. “Suck it hard, Larissa. Oh, yeah. Fuck!” I forced my eyelids up so I could watch my mate take my cock to the back of her throat. Holding her hair in one fist, I helped guide her head up and down, fucking her mouth like I was gonna be doing to her pussy real soon. She raised her eyes to mine, and I almost lost it right then. She looked so damn gorgeous on her knees with her pretty lips wrapped around me, and her eyes filled with desire.
My orgasm was fast approaching, but I wasn’t about to come in her mouth. I hadn’t been joking around when I vowed to knock her up tonight. With a gentle tug, I pulled her off my dick. It took everything in me to stop her from continuing when she let out a disappointed little mewl.
“On the bed, mate,” I ordered hoarsely. Every muscle in my body was rigid as I tried to push back my orgasm. She scrambled up from the floor and jumped onto the bed, bouncing on her knees a couple of times before flopping onto her back in the middle. Shaking my head, I chuckled as I joined her on the mattress. It amazed me that she could be so fucking sexy and completely adorable at the same time.
I crawled between her spread legs and licked my lips at the sight of her dripping, swollen pussy. She widened the gap and raised her hips in offering. “You want my mouth on your sweet pussy, baby?”
She whimpered in response, and I slid a finger down her slit as I contemplated what to do next. My mouth watered to taste her honey, but my cock was about to explode, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t make it through. I bent over her and braced my hands on the bed on both sides of her head. I kissed her deep and wet, leaving both of us breathless. “I promise to give your pussy my tongue, but I need to come inside you first.”
“Please, Kace,” she moaned. “I don’t care how you fuck me, just do it.”
“My pleasure,” I growled. I grabbed her ass and lifted her up to the perfect angle, then plunged deep inside her waiting womb. We both cried out at the acute pleasure, and when her walls tightened around my cock, I abandoned myself to the instinct to breed my mate. I yanked out of her and flipped her over, raising her ass into the air. My wolf growled with satisfaction, barely keeping beneath the surface of my skin as I let him take charge. I slammed into her again and she screamed, her ass thrusting back to take all of me. “That’s it, baby,” I grunted. My fingers dug into her hips, and I pounded in and out. They were going to leave a mark, and my wolf growled in frustration. He wanted to mark our mate.
Bending forward, I moved my hands to her tits and twisted and plucked her sensitive nipples while I licked a path to her neck. When I reached the place where I’d made her mine, my canines descended. I was a heartbeat away from coming, and my wolf went fucking crazy. Quickly, I glided one hand to her pussy and pinched her clit just as I sank my teeth into her warm flesh.
“Kaaace!! Yes!!” Larissa threw her head back and screamed as she flew apart. I planted myself as deep inside her as I possibly could and finally let my orgasm barrel through me, ending at my dick, pushing out my come out in a massive explosion. “Fuck yes, baby!” I shouted. “Squeeze that pussy. Take every drop. Fuck! Fuck!”
After our orgasms receded and our breathing had returned to normal, I cuddled her close. Her body was sprawled across mine, and my dick was still snug inside her. “Good thing the kids are at Calliope’s,” she mumbled.
I snorted. “You think that wasn’t by design?”
Larissa’s head lifted, and she looked at me with narrowed eyes. “How long have you been planning this little baby making session?”
I grinned without an ounce of shame. “Since you had Izac.”
She tried to look put out but ended up laughing and giving me a sweet kiss. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, baby.” I grabbed her hips and began to drag her up my body until she was straddling my face. “Now, I believe I promised to give this pussy some attention.”
It was rare for us to be able to be uninhibited in bed with three little ones in the house, so I took full advantage and spent the whole night listening to my mate’s loud cries of pleasure as I gave her round after round of orgasmic bliss.
Three months later, Larissa grumbled good naturedly about more testosterone when the doctor broke the news that we were having another boy.
Extra Epilogue
Larissa
“I wonder how Zeke did with the kids?” I asked as my best friends and I walked up the steps to Allegra's house. Her mate was the one who ended up watching Talon, Jake, and Alena while we went out for a little girl time. Kyla and Brea were hanging out at my house with Kace, and Tane was one town over taking care of some pack business. We hadn’t been gone long since the oldest three tended to be a handful when they were together, but getting mani-pedis while sipping champagne had be
en fantastic.
Calliope pressed her index finger over her lips and made a “shh” sound. “We should be quiet so we can sneak in and see how everything is going.”
Allegra giggled and shook her head. “There's no way Zeke hasn’t heard us already.”
I shrugged and whispered, “You never know. Remember that one time we were able to sneak up on Tane when he was watching them?”
Calliope’s eyes went wide as she pressed her lips together. I figured she was trying to hold a laugh back because walking into their backyard to find her mate spraying down three toddlers who were covered from head to toe in baby powder had been hilarious. Nodding, she agreed, “I guess it's worth a shot.”
We tip-toed into Allegra’s house and stumbled into each other when we found Zeke and Talon sitting on the couch, almost nose to nose with each other. Neither of them moved an inch as Jake and Alena came running toward us. “Ooh, pretty,” Alena cooed as she tugged on Calliope’s hand to look at her nails. Allegra and I held our hands out so she could see the colors we’d picked, too. “I like the pink my mommy has best.”
None of us were surprised since the walls in Alena’s room were painted pale pink, her bedspread was bright pink, and at least half of her clothes were one shade of pink or another. She didn’t leave any room for doubt about what her favorite color was. “Thank you, sweetie,” Calliope said as she pulled a bottle of polish out of her purse and shook it. “I’m glad you like it because I bought some to do your nails tonight.”
“Yippee!” Alena shrieked, jumping up and down while clapping.
Shifted Love: Volume 1 Page 12