by J. D. Light
I bobbed on him, growling at the taste of pre-come as it coated my mouth. My balls grew tight, and I wondered if I'd actually blow before he did, completely untouched.
He made a sound that was somewhere between a grunt and a whine that got cut off, and then he was spilling down my throat. I pulled back taking his cum against my tongue, and groaned as my balls rolled and my dick exploded, shooting ribbons of cum between his legs on the concrete beneath us.
I groaned, letting my body flatten backwards against the ground. It was probably a little dramatic, but I honestly didn't want to think about anything at that moment. I was blissed out beyond reason, and I really wanted to stay that way.
I could hear him breathing hard above me, and I wondered if he was gonna start freaking out. I knew I was probably at fault here. He might've pulled himself out first, but his reasoning had been sound. I was the one who asked him to do the same for me.
"You weren't lying were you?"
I rolled my head, looking up at my mate where he stood, still braced against the building, his pants undone and his dick still out.
I frowned, trying to figure out what he was talking about. I may have been evasive sometimes, especially when it came to the mate thing, but I always tried to be as honest with him as I could be. I never wanted to lie to my mate.
"What do you mean?" I reached up putting my hands behind my head, stretching out on the ground, completely uncaring of the fact that I too still had my dick out.
"The day you told me I was your mate. You weren't lying, were you?"
I didn't know what to make of his face. His eyes were narrowed, and there was a line between his brows. I couldn't tell if the idea made him happy, or mad.
It was time for another leap of faith, but I didn't know if I could do it again. Could I admit to him that he was my mate and risk him laughing in my face again?
Granted, things had changed. I knew he was a good person. Not that I ever thought he wasn't a good person. But I knew if I told him now, clearly sincere, his reaction would be a lot different. Even if it was to let me down nicely.
"No, I wasn’t lying," I said simply, watching his eyes.
His face crumpled, and he closed his eyes, groaning. He put his face in his hands, and slowly eased to the ground, until he was sitting on the concrete with his back against the wall.
"I can't believe this," He whispered, sounding hurt. "I laughed in your face."
His voice shook, and the emotion was clear. I sat up slowly, watching his face the entire time. He was still hiding behind his palms, but I could see the way his lips quivered.
I didn't know what to say, and I let the silence linger. It was true, he had laughed in my face, but now that I knew him better, I knew there was more to it.
"Why did you laugh?" Best to just forget subtlety. Apparently, with the two of us, blunt was the only way to go.
He chuckled, easing his hands away from his eyes. I could clearly see that he'd been crying, and on the one hand, I never wanted to see him cry, but on the other, it made me realize that he did actually care about me.
"I thought you were lying. From the moment you walked in the store, I was drawn to you. In fact, I thought we had a connection, and I even considered I might be your mate, but then I heard you talking to Ryk. I don't know if you guys didn't realize I could hear you, or what, but I heard you tell Ryk that Lacey was your type."
The fuck I did!
He took a deep breath. "I didn't like it. I was so damn jealous when I heard you say that, but what right did I have to be so bent out of shape about it? And then when you started following me, a part of me thought maybe you were my mate, but then I remembered that once mates meet they’re never attracted to anyone else. So, when I put those together, I realized you couldn't be my mate." He shrugged, shaking his head. "And then when you knew I was freaking out about you following me all the time, that was exactly what you told me. That you were my mate. But how could that be? How could you be attracted to Lacey if you knew I was your mate?"
I leaned back, bracing myself on my arms stretched out behind me. "I wasn't attracted to Lacey," I said, narrowing my eyes and pursing my lips in thought. "I didn't say that."
He tilted his head, clearly thinking. "No, I guess you didn't. Ryk was talking about some girl that was far too young for him, and when you didn't seem interested, he asked you what your type was, but before you could answer, he said something about the blonde you were trying not to stare at was your type, and you agreed, heartily."
I smiled crawling toward Logan in my hands and knees and easing between his legs. "He was talking about you."
Logan's mouth dropped open, and he blinked at me. "What?" He whispered, looking stunned.
I reached out and grabbed the sides of his face leaning closer to speak against his lips. "He was talking about you."
I watched another tear slide down Logan’s face. "He was talking about me?" He shook his head, groaning. "So, I laughed in your face, when you confessed that you were my mate. I'm the idiot. I'm the idiot whose ass I've been wanting to kick. I'm the idiot who hurt you."
My lips twitched. Now that things seemed to be a little more order in my life, and it was looking like I might actually get my mate after all, I didn't have the energy to sit and dwell on the angst of it all. Sure, it had hurt, but how could I not be happy now?
"I don't care about that anymore. All I care about is now. Now that you know the truth, would you want to be my mate? Would you want me to claim you, and mark you for real?"
"You're letting me off too easy," he whined, burying his face in my neck. "You've been hurting for a long time because of my terrible eavesdropping skills. You should be making me suffer or something."
Never.
I ran my thumbs under his eyes, wiping tears. Tears that were for me. He knew he'd hurt me, and it was clearly hurting him. That had to mean he had some kind of feelings for me, right?
"That's not an answer, Loge. Do you want to be my mate?"
His eyes filled again. "See, I did it again." Reaching forward, he gripped my shirt, pulling me close. It was a little awkward in the position we were in, but it made me chuckle.
"Of course, I want to be your mate. I've always wanted that, from the very beginning. I watched you walk in the store, and I knew you'd be special. You demanded my attention from the start, and I haven't been able to look away yet. Absolutely, without a doubt I want you to claim me."
I groaned, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. I let my head tilt back as I sent up a happy prayer, completely grateful that we finally got our heads out of our asses.
When I opened my eyes again, and looked into his beautiful face, I couldn't help but laugh at the hopeful expression there, and I kissed him again.
It started out a little frenzied, but after a moment it turned sweet.
His alarm went off on his phone, letting us know his break was almost over, and we stood, chuckling as we tucked ourselves back in and did up our pants.
For the rest of his shift, we watched each other like idiots, smirking and giggling at ourselves. By the time he got off, I was more than ready to get him home and finally claim him properly.
I reached out, taking his hand as we walked out the front door. He bit his lip, giving me a crooked smile.
We had almost made it to the car, when I noticed a man I didn't recognize leaning against it. I pulled my mate up short, not sure whether to trust the new guy.
"Uncle John?" My mate asked, and I turned to find his narrowed eyes fixed on the man.
"You know him?" I asked, wondering at the expression on my mate's face.
"He's one of my dad's friends. One of his really good friends."
"So, this is where you've been the whole time." The man smirked, looking Logan over in a way that pissed my tiger off. It wasn't very uncle like.
"Didn't the FBI tell you that?" Logan used my hand to pull me closer, clearly needing me in that moment.
We'd found out that unlike almost all
the other chosen, Logan's parents hadn't even reported him missing. Nobody had really known what to make of it, but Logan hadn't seemed surprised at all. I couldn't help but wonder if this was fairly normal behavior for his family. And if that was the case, what was the weird uncle doing here?
"They told us, but they also told us they were sending you home. When you didn't show, we called them back. Their records showed that you had gone home, but apparently you lied to the FBI."
"Nope. As it turns out, the FBI realized something. They realized that my family wasn't even looking for me. They realized my family didn't even seem to notice I was gone." Logan licked his teeth, narrowing his eyes at the man.
"It's strange, Uncle John, now that I know about shifters, and have gotten to know their habits, I keep remembering things. I remembered how when I was nine, you showed up out of nowhere. I remembered what an avid fascination you had for my birthmark. I remembered sometimes your eyes didn't seem right. I remembered how you'd growl when you got aggravated, and how that growl sounded so animalistic."
I moved forward slightly, angling myself between my mate and his weird uncle.
Chapter Five
"So, what was it? What did you tell my parents about the reason I was gone? Did you even have to?"
John shrugged, smirking. "I told them the truth. Your dad has known I was a shifter for years. Right after you came out, and your mom lost it, your dad called me. I told him years ago about your mark. I didn't tell him everything that it meant, because your dad is a bigoted asshole, and I knew him having a son who had the ability to have a baby would never go over. So, I only told him you were special to shifters. When you came out, and he called me, he told me that the mark wouldn't do me any good now, but if I wanted you, then you were mine.
"Now, it was tempting. Not because I'm into men, but the prospect of having a chosen of my own, sounded great. Then I realized, there had to be men out there who would prefer a man. So, I ran an ad to see about a switch. They wouldn't switch me, but I was well compensated. I'd like to be compensated again.
His eyes shifted, and he growled showing me his fangs. I gasped. Deep down I'd kinda known he was a shifter since I found out about them, but seeing with my own eyes, was more than I expected.
There was no love lost between me and John. The man had always been an asshole, always treated me like shit when he'd come to visit.
I'd be happy to see him go.
"John, I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into. I don't think this is gonna end the way you think it is."
"And how do you think I think it's going to end?" John smirked, clearly not taking me seriously.
I wasn't scared. Like, not at all. I'd spent a lot of time over the last few months listening to my mate as he told me stories, and listening to others as they told stories about my mate. I knew that Axel, the streak alpha, commonly referred to River as a badass. I knew that even Meyers commonly known for being a bit terrifying, had once told Ryk he wasn't sure if he'd win a fight against River. My mate might not be big like me or Meyers, and definitely not like Rowe, but from what everybody said, he was definitely a scrapper.
My mate didn't wait for John to make the first move. Instead, he moved forward with the grace I was used to seeing when I watched him do anything.
I should've known that his shift would be seamless. Everything about River spoke of graceful fluidity. He jumped in the air and his body just shifted. It wasn't like I'd expected, or even like I'd seen in my friends that I lived with.
When my roommates shifted it had almost looked painful, but River's looked almost like a dance. John scrambled trying to climb over the car, his body also shifting. His was by no means as seamless as River's. In fact, in comparison, he looked like a scared animal trying to crawl out of a trap they'd fallen in that was far too deep for them to escape.
I tilted my head, watching as black fur sprouted over John's body. When the shift was over, only a wolf in a T-shirt was left.
He'd managed to make it up on top of the car, standing on the roof leerily watching my mate as he leisurely circled the automobile. I couldn't help myself, I smiled. I knew River was messing with him. I knew in the end, he was probably gonna kill him. And I knew, I wasn't gonna have a problem with it.
The man had happily handed me over to people who wanted something from me they had no right to have. He'd known me my whole life, and he'd give me away like I didn’t matter. And he'd been willing to do it again.
River circled around the front of the car pausing momentarily. I knew he was toying with the man. My mate wasn't stupid. And as soon as John took off for the woods, launching himself off the back of the car, my mate let out a snort of sound that could've only been a laugh and took off after him.
I wouldn't say that I regretted missing what happened next. I might've known it was going to happen. I might've even encouraged it, but I didn't think I was quite ready to see any man disemboweled in the woods.
And I only found out about the disembowelment when Kendrick's big mouth had mentioned something about River playing with his entrails, and I'd vowed never to speak to that man again.
***
I paced the floor, waiting for River to finish talking to Myers, Recker, and Rowe.
At this point, I was really starting to think that Myers was trying to piss me off. Or maybe he was trying to piss River off.
When my mate finally made it inside the house, I sighed, walking up to him and throwing my arms around him. I was so fucking happy that we were whole and healthy, and together. And soon, we were going to be together forever.
It was hard to believe that all this time while I was pining away after River, he was also pining away after me. I was still pretty mad at myself. Not only had my mistake caused me turmoil, but it also caused River turmoil. He'd felt rejected by his mate.
I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to a place where I wasn't angry with myself over that.
"I need to shower," River said, pressing his face to my neck and wrapping his arms around my body, as he took a long draw of my scent.
I smiled, shaking my head. "Yeah, you're pretty bloody."
"You should've seen the other guy."
I pulled back, glaring. "No thanks. I'd rather keep the visual I have in my head of you walking out of the woods naked."
And he had been gorgeous, save the blood. I'd seen him a lot of ways over the last couple of days, but I'd never seen him completely naked until that afternoon.
I was not disappointed.
Even butt-ass naked and covered in blood, he walked with that feline grace that did things to my body. Pair that with the undeniable beauty of his form, and you had an idiot that stood there with his mouth open collecting flies and staring at his mate.
My mate. River was my mate. River is my mate!
I just didn't know if that would ever seem real.
Leaning back in, I pressed my mouth to his, sighing happily at the feel of his lips against mine, warm and reassuring.
"Are you gonna claim me tonight?" I blurted, wondering if that was going to be my thing. Blurting.
"Definitely," he growled, the vibrations moving out of his chest and against my skin.
I'd already taken my shower for the evening while I was waiting for everyone to finish talking to River. So, River went and got in the shower, and I went to his room, nervous and fidgety as hell.
I wasn't sure how to sit. So, I moved around in the bed, practicing different poses and wondering if maybe I should just get under the covers.
Once I decided it would just be best to stretch out on the bed with my arms behind my head and my ankles crossed, it hit me that maybe I was wearing too many clothes.
I spent the next three minutes taking my pants off and putting them back on, only to take them off and put them back on again. By the time he casually strolled into the bedroom, once again completely naked, I was standing on my side of the bed with my pants down around my knees.
He raised an eyebrow at me, smirki
ng. He tossed something in my direction, and I bobbled it, tripping over my pants and thankfully, falling on the bed, but I still managed to save the… lube.
He didn't slow in his pace. Just casually walked around the side of the bed, gripped my ankles to flip my body in the position he wanted it, then grabbed the bottoms of my pants and pulled.
"I have been waiting for this for so long. I honestly never thought we'd get here," he whispered, letting his eyes move over me, while I let mine do the same to him.
"Me neither."
River smiled softly, reaching out, almost hesitantly and placing his hand on my chest. His mouth dropped open in awe as he moved his hand across the top of my chest, over the upper swells of my pecs and slowly down, raking his calloused fingers over my sensitive nipples.
I moaned, arching up into his hand.
They continued down, his fingers skidding over my abs before cupping my hips. His thumbs dug into the hollow of my hipbones, and my stomach quivered.
Hooking the bands of my underwear, he eased the material down, biting his lip with it released my dick that thwacked against my stomach.
The tip was purple and swollen and leaking, and he growled. "I want to taste that again."
I groaned, pushing my hips up in offering.
Pulling back, he bit his lip. "Climb further up on the bed," he growled, shuttering.
I followed his instructions, moving up the bed and spreading my arms and legs in clear invitation.
He moved up between my legs, leaning down to lick the pre-come from the head of my dick, but not taking anything into his mouth.
I whimpered, wishing I could have pushed more into his mouth, but knowing I needed to take it slow if I wanted to be claimed. And I wanted to be claimed.
I pulled my legs up, my knees pointing towards the ceiling, and then I spread them wider, showing off that I was limber enough to touch the outside of my legs nearly to the bed. From that angle there was no way he couldn't see everything I had, and for some reason that made me extremely horny.