by L. P. Maxa
Riley kissed her, pouring his love, his devotion into her. He pressed her down onto the small twin-size bunk mattress, devouring the soft moans coming from her mouth. He could sense Jasper a few feet away, could feel his eyes on them. There was no menace in the air, no threat of violence. Jasper’s wolf understood what was happening, understood she wasn’t for him and he couldn’t touch her.
Riley couldn’t give her the experience he wanted. He couldn’t take his time and worship every inch of her body. He hated that, but at the same time he understood he had the rest of forever to take her nice and slow, make love to her for hours on end, night after night.
Blake’s hands went to his zipper, pushing his jeans down enough to free his hard cock. He’d been aching for her for days, wanting desperately to bury himself inside her again. He ripped through her yoga pants, not wanting to expose too much of her flesh to the wolf watching them. He rained kisses on her collarbone, the side of her neck. “Keep your eyes open, watch me.”
Blake nodded, her fingers digging into his scalp, her hips grinding up to meet his. “I’m ready, please, Riley…” His name on her lips spurred him forward: he thrusted into her in one fluid movement. He paused, filling his mate, taking a moment to appreciate how fucking perfect she felt wrapped around him.
Her gaze moved past him for a moment, watching Jasper while he watched them. Riley nuzzled her neck, licking her flesh and savoring the sweet taste of her skin. He moved inside her, one of his hands on her throat, the other on her thigh, hiking it farther up his hip to open her even more. His wolf demanded he bury himself as deep as possible, but he kept his thrusts shallow, not wanting to leave her body, even a fraction of an inch. “Now look at me, doll.”
He waited until her pretty blue eyes met his before he started pounding into her. He wanted to claim her, bond her to him for the rest of time. Then wanted to get her the fuck out of this room. His wolf didn’t love that Jasper was there, watching this sacred thing between them, but he wasn’t mad about it either.
“Fuck, Riley, don’t stop.” She bit at her bottom lip, her nails dragging down his back and digging into his ass, demanding even more. “I’m so close.”
He palmed her face, holding her gaze as he buried himself deep inside her. Her core tightened, holding him hostage, milking his orgasm from his body while she came with his name on her lips.
The air seemed to shimmer around them, their surroundings nothing but a blur for a few moments.
Then his world dropped back into focus, his heart so completely full of love for the girl clinging to him.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Riley
Blake was asleep in his arms. He’d pulled the blankets up over them. Her head was on his chest and his hand was behind his head. She was his now forever. They belonged to each other. The tension, the jealousy he’d been feeling over the last week was nonexistent. His heart was whole, and he knew no one would ever be able to take her away from him. He turned his head toward the small living area where Jasper was lying on the couch, his arm thrown over his eyes. “You feel better?”
Jasper nodded. “I feel lighter. My wolf is calm, content.”
Jasper’s feelings mirrored Riley’s in a lot of ways. Everything was as it should be, and everyone could relax now.
“This won’t happen again. You know that, right? She isn’t ours, she’s mine. Forever.” He’d allowed Jasper to watch out of necessity, out of preservation for them all. He wouldn’t allow it again though.
“I know she’s yours. So does my wolf. We see her like we see Axie. We love her. We’d die for her. But we don’t desire her.” Jasper sat up, his feet on the ground. “Maybe it was always supposed to be this way. We’ve shared so much over the years. I don’t know if my wolf would have fully accepted our bond was broken unless he witnessed it himself. Blake becoming yours, you becoming only hers.”
Riley shook his head. “Our bond isn’t broken, man. We’re pack. We’re family.”
Blake was his and he in turn was hers. That didn’t mean his bond with Jasper was any weaker. He saw that now. It was altered, sure. But not broken.
The silence was suddenly breached by the sound of the locked door whooshing open. “What in the actual fuck? How did the three of you end up in this clusterfuck?” Jace stepped into the room, his hands on his hips, his gaze assessing the scene in front of him.
Riley carefully untangled himself from his sleeping mate, not wanting to wake her. The drama and the claiming had seemed to exhaust her. “Jasper was hiding in here already. I didn’t know. I brought Blake in here and shut the door. You changed the code. Chaos ensued, I had to finish the bond to keep us from killing each other.” A somewhat brief synopsis for a really fucking monumental two hours.
Jace’s gaze moved to the nearly destroyed bathroom door. There were holes in the wood where Jasper had hit it. “There’s no lock on that door.”
Jasper snorted. “No shit, bro.”
Jace pointed to the other side of the room. “Why didn’t you use the other bedroom?” All heads turned to the second closed door none of them had seemed to notice in the chaos. “It has a nicer bed and a deadbolt on the door.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Blake
The guys had been holed up in Jace’s office for the past few hours, glued to all the security monitors around the property and the houses where their packmates lived in town. Jace sent the information on the man who tried to threaten her life, and all they could do now was wait for the authorities to do their job. She was in awe of the way they protected each other, the way they refused to allow anyone they cared about to get hurt.
Blake’d had a nice dinner with Axie, and she’d told Blake more about what she, Jace, and Jasper had been doing over the last few months. They’d helped send so many criminals to jail. They’d made the world a better place. It was selfless, really, to put so much time and effort in to stop bad things before they even had a chance to happen.
Constantine, the one who’d been tracking the pack, sending the pictures and threats? He was pure evil. Drugs, guns, human trafficking—he had a hand in every piece of the pie. He was a dangerous man. Blake hadn’t realized how serious the threat on her life really was. Her love and appreciation for the pack grew. After dinner she’d gone upstairs to shower and decompress.
“Claimed by her shifter” was a phrase she would’ve never believed she’d ever think, never mind do. She was connected to Riley forever. They were destined to live and love until the end of their time here on earth. It was a big thought, but she’d never been overwhelmed by it. To be honest, Blake found the drama of it fitting.
“It’s done. He was picked up thirty minutes ago by the FBI.” Riley came into their bedroom, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor. “We can go back to Greenly tomorrow. Get ready for the spring semester.”
Blake ran her fingers through his messy red hair when he laid his head in her lap. “How do mates work when they live in separate resident buildings? I have a roommate.”
Riley pulled a key out his pocket, holding it up so it caught the lamplight beside them. “Jace bought an investment property. He intended for Jasper and me to live in it while we’re in school. But now, it’s your home too.”
Blake took the key, squeezing it in her palm. “Freshmen have to live on campus.”
“Nah, Jace took care of that too.”
“How?”
Riley shrugged. “When it comes to Jace and his ways, it’s best not to ask too many questions, doll face.”
Blake laughed, handing the key back to Riley for safekeeping. “How am I supposed to explain any of this to my parents? Hey, Mom and Dad, this is my boyfriend Riley, he turns into a wolf, and I live with him and his BFF Jasper.” She rolled her eyes. “Their brains will melt and stain the expensive carpets I’m sure Jace furnished the house with.”
“First of all, I’m not your boyfriend. I’m your mate.” Riley grabbed Blake’s hands, putting them back into his hair. �
��Second of all, your parents don’t need to know I shift, or that my bff does either. You can keep your dorm room for the rest of the year. You can meet them there when they come to visit.”
“Okay, but how do I tell them that I’m basically the human version of married? You haven’t even met them yet, and there’s no ring or ceremony. No reception for my cousins to get shitfaced at. They won’t understand any of this.”
Riley rolled over and sat up. “I guess it’s been a long time since someone mated into the pack with a family of humans.” He cupped her cheeks, kissing her lips in a way that made her swoon. “We’ll let them watch us ‘date’ for the rest of the year, then over the summer we’ll tell them we’re moving in together. Then I’ll stage an engagement in a couple years and we’ll have a big party. Your family can drink until they pass out. Or…”
She narrowed her eyes at his sexy smirk. “Or what?”
“I knock you up and we rush a shotgun wedding.” He waggled his eyebrows, rising up over her and pushing her back into the mattress, settling between her thighs. “Much simpler.”
“You been smoking Jasper’s weed?” He kissed her again, his hand slipping into the waistband of her pajama pants. “I want to finish school before I birth a litter of babies.”
“Better not miss one of those pills then, because I plan on coming inside this perfect pussy every fucking chance I get.”
Her core reacted to Riley’s words as if they’d been spoken with his tongue against her clit. “How is it possible you’ve gotten more possessive and hornier after the claiming? I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.”
His fingers slipped inside her heat, his hips grinding with his movements. “I’ll never be able to get enough of you, doll face, fucking never.” His wolf claimed what was his, again and again, until the sun began to turn the sky from inky black to a deep purple.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Riley
Riley left Blake upstairs, asleep in bed. They’d come together over and over, all night long. He’d meant what he’d told her, he’d never get enough of her. Jasper had to drag him out of bed and down into Jace’s office. Baze was there too, standing by the window, his arms crossed over his chest.
“You guys are free to head back to campus. We have pack dinner tonight, but after that, you can go whenever you’re ready.” Jace stood next to Baze, never one to sit down when his alpha was standing at attention.
Riley, Jasper, and Blake would load up the truck and make the drive back to the house near campus. Riley would need to hide where he was staying from his coaches. Being a student athlete, he was supposed to live on campus. He’d break every rule in the handbook if it meant he got to fall asleep beside his mate every night.
“So what happens to this one? How long will he be in jail?” Jasper clasped his hands behind his head, his eyes on his brother.
“Locked up, awaiting trial. The FBI said the evidence is irrefutable.” Jace nodded, dark circles under his eyes giving away how much stress the last six months had caused him. He acted and looked so much older than his twenty years. “Feds have brought in eyewitnesses who we’d handed them. He’ll go away for life.”
“Okay, then why do you still look like someone just told you getting head causes male pattern baldness?” Jasper jerked his chin up. “What gives, twin bro?” It seemed Riley wasn’t the only one who’d noticed how exhausted Jace looked these days.
Jace sighed, his shoulders slumping in a rare display of defeat. “I’m starting to think we were naïve, crazy even, to think that this plan of ours would work.” He sat in the chair behind his desk, a rare occurrence, which pointed to how unwell Jace was. Sitting when Baze was still standing? Never happened.
“What do you mean? Jace, man, you’ve rid the world of so much fucking evil over the last six months.” Riley, the whole pack, they owed Jace a huge debt. “You’ve saved countless lives. Screw Mathias, you’re the actual Avenger.”
Matias had compared himself to Robin Hood. Corey had taken his bravado and had run with it, likening him to Thor. Mathias was a badass, there was no denying that. His computer skills, his mercenary killer vibes, they’d all been a huge asset. However, it was Jace who’d decided to take on the underworld and devote his life to their pack’s safety, to their continued survival.
“I made a small dent in a large tank.” Jace shook his head. “What happens when the next round of scum decides to rise up, take over, wreak havoc?”
“Don’t borrow trouble, kid,” Baze said, clearly trying to pull Jace out of his funk.
Jace scoffed. “It’ll never be over. It’ll never be the end. There’s no shortage of evil people in this world, we all know that. Monsters are born and bred every day. Hell, I was meant to be the second generation of Franklin’s empire. You think our asshole of a sperm donor was the only bad guy who sired kids?”
Damn. Riley woke up in an excellent mood and Jace was really bringing the whole vibe of the house down. He knew that so much rested on his beta’s shoulders, he wished he could snap his fingers and give Jace the easy life he deserved. The easy life he’d earned.
“Then we become the biggest monster of them all.” All four male gazes flew to the door when Axie spoke up. How long had she been standing there? For sure, she’d picked up some of Jace’s covert op stealth skills.
“Baby, that’s—”
“We keep watch, and we never stop taking out the monsters.” She stepped into the room, moving to stand behind her mate, her small hands on his broad shoulders. “Who needs college, who needs a nine-to-five?” Her smile was wicked. “We’re good at beating evil men at their own game. We’ve both been doing it since we were old enough to talk. Why stop now?”
Jace took his mate’s hand, placing a kiss to her palm. “Why stop now.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Riley
Three Months Later
“Soundproofing our bedrooms is probably the best idea Jasper has ever had.” Riley grinned up at his mate where she was perched on his dick, her blonde hair a mess from his hands pulling at the curls as she rode him. “That was ego-stroking loud, doll face.”
She laughed as she leaned down and kissed his lips, then hopped off him and headed into the bathroom to clean up. He refused to pull out, and he refused condoms. His wolf wouldn’t let him come anywhere other than inside her. He knew neither he nor Blake was ready to be parents, but he looked forward to the day she threw her birth control in the trash so they could start a family. He wanted tiny blonde clones of his girl. Hilariously dramatic and loyal-to-no-end kids.
He, Blake, and Jasper had been living together for three months and it’d been going better than he could’ve ever imagined. The was no jealousy, no fear of wanting to hurt his best friend for being close friends with his mate. They seemed to have reached the perfect balance of pack and family. They ate dinner together every night and had movie marathons on the couch.
If Riley wasn’t available to walk Blake to class, Jasper jumped in to make sure she was safe. Blake went to all their games. Hell, she was the one who encouraged Jasper to go after his walk-on spot on the team. She was their biggest supporter.
“Anyone naked?” Jasper knocked, opening their bedroom door with his hand over his eyes. “Not that I haven’t seen it all before.”
Riley grabbed a pillow from behind him and launched it at his best friend. “Hilarious.”
“I thought so.” Jasper perched on the edge of their bed, high-fiving Blake when she came out of the bathroom dressed in her jeans and cropped t-shirt. “We partying tonight? It’s our one free weekend until baseball season is over.”
Riley groaned, looking across the room to his open laptop with the cursor blinking on the blank page. “I have to write a paper that needs to be turned in by midnight.”
“Then it’s you and me. You game?” Jasper grabbed her by the hips and tossed her up the bed toward Riley. “We can get some drinks and you can play wingman. There’s this sweet quiet chick from my
lit class I’ve been itching to corrupt.”
Blake wrinkled her nose. “Callahan? The chick with the glasses and the freckles?” When Jasper nodded, licking his lips, she threw her head back, laughing. “You realize you’re going after a sweet, quiet redhead, right?”
“So?” Jasper frowned, seemingly confused by her laughter.
“Your sweet, quiet best friend got all mated up and won’t let you see his dick anymore, so you’re replacing him with a female version.” Blake giggled.
“Why are you so obsessed with me, bro?” Riley couldn’t help but join his mate, and he honestly saw a little bit of truth in what she was saying.
Jasper rolled his eyes and climbed off the bed. “You two suck.” He put his hands on his hips, scowling at a still-laughing Blake. “You coming with or not?”
“Oh, I’m not about to miss this.” She straddled Riley once again, kissing him deeply before hopping up and letting Jasper throw her over his shoulder. “I’ll come back home as soon as she turns him down, sourpuss.”
Jasper spun around, nearly knocking Blake’s head into the doorframe. “I’ll drop her ass back home on my way to seal the deal.”
“Have fun.” Riley got up, fighting the desire to shut off his computer and go with them. “Love you.”
Both Jasper and Blake screamed it back.
Riley wasn’t sure what the other males in his pack would think about the relationship between Blake and Jasper, the ease and comfort between them. It wasn’t conventional. Most males would hate anyone else touching their mate, being in their space, and spending time alone with them. It worked though, the bond between Jasper, Blake, and Riley. He assumed it was because of the way they’d started. Or maybe it was the way the bonding had been completed with Jasper there, almost a part of it.
In the end, it didn’t really matter what anyone else thought. Riley had his best friend and his mate, and he got to keep them both.