by Connor Crowe
I stared at him, floored for a moment. “No one?” I breathed.
“No one but you.” And without another word, he closed the distance between us and kissed me.
6
Elliot
What happened between us next was more than just a kiss. The moment our lips touched a sound like a gong rang out through my mind. It radiated out from my heart and into the space around us, filling the air. I opened my eyes in surprise only to see he’d heard the same thing.
“Fated,” Arric breathed like a prayer. “Mine.” He dipped forward, reclaiming my lips.
This time when we kissed it was quicker. Hungrier. His lips covered mine so expertly, his tongue running along the seam of my mouth as if begging for entrance. I couldn’t resist him. I didn’t want to.
Arric’s hand snaked up to curl through my hair and bring me closer. The delightful prickles on my scalp caused me to gasp out in surprise and arousal, and my alpha used that to his advantage.
His warm tongue found mine and together we danced to a tune as old as the heavens itself. I leaned into him and let his masculine musk flood my senses. If there was any fear or trepidation left, I’d all but forgotten it. I knew what I wanted, and nothing was going to stand in my way.
“Mmm,” Arric groaned against me, his head dipping lower now to press his lips to the side of my neck. For a frantic moment, I froze, thinking that he was about to bite and mark me right there—but he moved on, his touch impossibly gentle.
I let out a shaky breath and with it released a sliver of a moan. Being this close to him felt so much better than with any of the flight women they’d tried to throw me together with. This was a whole other level of intimacy and sensation, one I hadn’t known existed. But now that I did, I could never go back.
“Looks like fate wasn’t done with me yet,” I muttered aloud, eyes shining.
“And am I ever so glad for that.”
His strong arms wrapped around me and before I knew what was happening I was airborne. I squeaked and clung to him for dear life, my arms and legs flailing. “What are you doing?” I cried, the fire racing ever quicker through my veins now.
“You may be in heat, but that doesn’t take away from the gravity of this moment. If we’re going to do this, Elliot...we’re going to do it right. We will remember this night for the rest of our lives.”
Hope, strong and unfamiliar, surged through me. And then there was peace—blissful, easy peace in knowing that he would take care of me. Knowing that I had an ally. Not a master, but a partner.
That’s what had been missing from my arranged mating all along.
Arric laid me down on the bed, the impossibly plush comforter cushioning my body. It felt like laying on a cloud, and with Arric looming over me, he could have been some kind of sky god. He certainly had the body of one.
He raised his hands over his head to remove his shirt and I caught a glimpse of the hair trailing down his navel. It disappeared into his waistband, a promise of things to come. I couldn’t help it—my mouth watered.
I craved him, and I felt delirious from the weight of it.
He tossed his shirt aside to reveal his hard, well-toned body. He was no bodybuilder, but had the strong, stocky frame of a lifetime of hard work.
He was big. And as my eyes dropped again to the smattering of hair at his navel, I wondered if that meant all over.
He must have noticed me staring, because he made a noise between a growl and a laugh that caught me off guard. “Like what you see, sweet?” Arric cocked an eyebrow at me. “I want to undress you.”
I gulped, my hands already fiddling at my sleeves. The nervousness and self consciousness was still there, but back in a far corner of my mind, barely audible. I drew my lip between my teeth and looked up at him. “I’d like that,” I said, and it came out a lot more breathy than I’d intended.
This heat wasn’t messing around.
The sweat and fever racking my body had already begun to dampen my clothes, making them stick to me like a second skin. Each layer that Arric peeled away let a little more air in. A little more comfort to go with the harsh beating of my heart and the thudding of desire under my skin.
“You...” he said with a cracked voice once I was bare for him, “...are so beautiful. Why did you ever doubt yourself?”
I chewed my lip again and threw my gaze to the side. I knew exactly why—but little by little, it seemed less true. Here was someone that cared about me and was actually nice to me. A foreign concept after all the years in the Emerald Isles and then in the Black Hands. I knew better than to trust this quickly. I really did.
But in matters where fate was concerned, rational thought didn’t have a lot of say.
“I don’t when you’re here,” I told him, a smile peeking through my lips. “Now shut up and kiss me.”
So kiss me he did.
And so, so much more than that.
Each moment stretched out like an eternity when I was with him. For a virgin, he sure seemed to know what he was doing. There were a few fumbled missteps, a few awkward moments. Sure. There always would be. But it wasn’t a problem. In fact, it was kind of endearing, seeing him so worked up over me.
The thought alone that I could have this kind of effect on someone was intoxicating, filling me with a heady sort of joy I didn’t want to go away. If he left me now, I’d spend the rest of my life chasing this kind of high.
And something told me that try as I might, I’d never find it.
Only with him.
“Fuuuck,” I groaned when Arric wrapped his hand around my cock. The warmth of his skin combined with the tension of his grip nearly made me lose it right then and there, but I clenched my hands into the sheets and held on. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and threw my head back, closing my eyes for a second. I’d never felt anything like it in my life, and I wanted to remember this sensation of hot-blooded weightlessness forever.
The bed shifted as Arric moved beside me, and then there was a different sensation entirely. I let out my breath in a ragged moan and jerked my head upward to see Arric smiling around my cock.
His lips formed a tight seal and each time he bobbed his head, he met my eyes. I panted, trembled, writhed. It didn’t matter. Didn’t slow him down. He continued on at a merciless pace until I was thrashing my head side to side, desperate for release. The sounds that came out of my mouth were no longer my own. It was like some sort of animal had taken over my body, and I was only along for the ride.
I realized later that that was just what had happened.
Perhaps I wasn’t such a broken shifter after all.
“Arric...” I groaned when he took me all the way to the base, his nose nuzzling against my pubes. I rocked my hips upward without thinking about it, my body knowing what it needed.
And with a heat this strong, I knew there was only one way to sate it.
“I need...” I panted, but my face flushed red before I found the rest of the words.
My dick popped out of his mouth with a sound and he looked up at me, a grin bigger than I’d ever seen splitting his face. “What do you need, baby?” He asked, his voice an octave lower than before. I wasn’t the only one taken hold of by the mating frenzy, it seemed.
I pushed out another breath and forced myself not to cover my face with my hands. This was my fated. My forever mate. And even though we barely knew one another, the same sense of peace and surety bubbled through me. Soothed me. Grounded me.
Whatever I could say to him, now or ever, would not change his feelings for me. And there was something liberating about that. Beautiful. So I found my courage, took a deep breath, and gave into instinct.
“You, alpha. I need your knot...fuck, I need you inside me.”
A deep, trembling sound almost like a purr came from my mate and for an instant, his eyes flashed and changed colors right before my eyes. They were no longer the steely grey I’d gotten used to. No, this was something much different. Much more powerful.
&nb
sp; In the pale light of the bedroom with the moon beaming down upon us, Arric’s eyes were pure gold.
He growled again, rocking his hips upward against mine. Our cocks were already so close together, and the feel of his thick length against mine made me shudder all over again. My mind whirled and spun out in a million different directions, leaving me suspended in a freefall of sensation. I didn’t want to beg, but he sure was making me work for it...
“Arric...” I keened, arching my back against him. “Your knot...”
He gave me that crooked smile one last time, and then his fingers met my slick and ready crease.
This time neither one of us could keep from letting out choked sounds of pleasure. I ground my hips against him, pressing those fingers deeper into me. It wasn’t enough, though. Wouldn’t be, until...
“Fuck,” Arric breathed, hooking his fingers inside me. I tensed and curled against him.
Suddenly his fingers were gone, and the pulsing head of his dick pressed against me. This was it. He ran a hand over my torso. His eyes never left mine.
Then he breached my walls, and the world fell apart around me.
I’d done a bit of playing on my own, but having a living breathing person inside me was like nothing I’d ever experienced. The stretch was incredible, filling me with both heat and relief from the inside out. The fever started to break. I sagged against him, rocking myself deeper when he didn’t enter me fast enough.
Seriously, I knew he was trying to be gentle but now was so not the time. So I arched against him, wrapped my arms around his body, and speared myself on his cock. We cried out in unison and he slid home. He was still for only a moment, waiting for me to adjust to him, but my body knew what it was doing even more so than I did, apparently. So together we started the world’s most ancient dance—two bodies moving as one.
This was my mate. The one the stars had chosen for me. There was no doubt about that now.
Stars flashed before my eyes as the friction grew higher, reaching an impossible peak before crashing in around me. I cried out and bucked against him. Cum spurted across my belly and onto the bed. All the while, his cock pumped faster. Harder.
Needier.
The terrible heat faded, and as Arric grunted my name in release and his knot swelled inside me, I found my own little nirvana. Here with my alpha, I’d found something I thought I’d never have—peace. Acceptance.
And maybe—if I dared—love.
7
Elliot
Warm morning sunlight filtered through the curtains and in slats across the bed. I rolled over, pulling the fluffy covers around me, when I heard a voice.
“Good morning, sunshine.”
The scent hit me next. Not any usual kind of shifter scent, no. This was the smell of freshly cooked food, and I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was.
I opened my eyes and looked around. Arric stood there with a platter of crispy bacon, beaming at me. My mouth watered, and it wasn’t just because of the bacon. He was looking positively scrumptious this morning, wearing only a loose fitting pair of pants slung low over his hips. His chest stayed bare.
Had he cooked bacon shirtless? Ouch. I smiled at the thought, propping myself up on an elbow.
“What’s all this?” I muttered sleepily. “How long have you been up?”
“Believe me, if you’d heard the way your stomach was growling last night you wouldn’t be able to sleep either.” Arric grinned at me and plopped down on the bed, setting the platter on the side table. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Hmm.” I stretched my shoulders. Rolled my neck. Despite our rather vigorous “exercise” of the night before, I found I wasn’t as sore as I thought I’d be. Well, except for...down there. I winced as I rolled onto my stomach and finally into a sitting position.
“It’s normal,” Arric assured me. “We did go at it quite a few times last night, after all.” He watched me with a smirk. “You were quite insatiable, if I remember correctly.”
I gave him a look and stuck out my tongue. “Tease.” I grabbed a piece of bacon and shoved it in my mouth before I could say anything else embarrassing.
Goddess, how long had it been since I’d had bacon? The salty, crispy meat exploded over my tongue and lit up my taste buds, washing away the last vestiges of sleep. I leaned forward and grabbed another piece. And then another. It was so good!
How long had it been since I’d had a good meal of any sort? I scooted forward, closer to the food, and the quilt around my waist fell away.
Arric sucked in a breath beside me, but I didn’t pay much attention. I was too focused on the delicious plate of food in front of me.
“Elliot...can I ask you something?” His voice was careful.
“Yeah?” I mumbled between mouthfuls of breakfast.
“You um...you said you couldn’t shift, right? That’s why your pack—er, I mean flight—treated you so badly?”
I frowned. Turned away from the plate. “Yeah?” Worry began to gather in my gut. Why was he bringing this up now?
He let out a nervous laugh and pointed. “Well if you can’t shift...what is that?”
I craned my neck to see what he was talking about and nearly fell off the bed.
A tail.
I yelped and flinched to the side, nearly choking on my bacon in the process. My foot got caught in the sheets and down I went. The tail followed with me, bumping onto the carpeted floor at the same time I did.
My tail.
This wasn’t happening. I was hallucinating. Had to be.
The bruise on my ass from falling off the bed said otherwise, though.
And if Arric could see it too...was he part of my dream?
I turned around and around, trying to get a good look at it. Hard to do when it was actually attached to me, swinging around in circles just as I did. Finally, Arric got up and took me by the shoulders, steadying me.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
“I’ve got a freaking tail!” I cried, still trying to catch it in my peripheral vision.
“Honey you look like a wolf chasing his tail. Calm down.”
“You calm down!” I shrieked. “You try waking up with a new body part!”
Arric held me closer, his chest shaking as he laughed. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Darling. It’s a good thing. After last night and the good rest you had, your dragon must be waking up after all.”
I stared at him, my heart still racing with the revelation. My dragon.
My dragon.
My so-called “family” had been wrong all along. I did have a shifter inside me. It just needed a little coaxing to come out.
“It’s not so strange to have a partial shift, you know.” Arric’s voice was calm. Reassuring. I breathed in his scent and tried to listen to his words. “My eyes change when I’m excited...as I’m sure you saw.” He gave me a wolfish grin, showing all his teeth.
I let out a breath and sunk into his chest. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I think I ended up doing both that morning.
It didn’t hit me until I was in the shower later that morning what this could mean for me. The tail had gone away by then, of course, but already I felt an emptiness where it had once been. To have a taste of the experience my kin had shared for generations...I wanted it back. I wanted more.
But as the hot water and suds washed through my hair and I turned my face into the spray, I realized the implications.
I’d always known there was something different about me. And when I couldn’t shift like the other kids, it only reinforced that fact. Not to mention the fact that I was omega, lowest on the totem pole where I came from. All that resulted in me being labeled some sort of undesirable and being pawned off to whoever would take me.
In my case, Tiratina.
I snarled at the thought, my skin growing hot.
There was one very important provision I’d overlooked, though. If I couldn’t shift, then I couldn’t get pregnant. E
ven if I was omega. Even if I was in heat. The flight doctors had told me as much. I was barren. Infertile. Broken.
And yet there was the tail...
Water splashed to the ground around me and a hand went to my stomach. What if in our night of passion, I’d actually conceived?
Dare I even dream it?
A knock at the door startled me. “You about done in there?” Arric’s voice called.
I flipped off the water and leaned against the cool tile of the shower, breathing hard. “Yeah!” I called, not wanting to worry him.
“We’re meeting the pack for lunch, remember? I don’t want to arrive late.”
“I know,” I called through the door. I stepped out of the shower and threw the towel over my head, drying off as best as I could. “Be right there!”
Whatever had or hadn’t happened last night, there would be time to figure it out.
Later.
As I stepped out of the bathroom and got dressed, I couldn’t help but wonder. I was excited to see Felix, but my mind returned to the idea again and again.
Could we actually have children?
And if we couldn’t...if I was still infertile...how much would that break Arric’s heart?
I tried not to think about that. When he smiled at me and took my hand, those worries faded away—a dull whisper instead of a roar. I’d tell him. I’d have to.
Not that there was ever going to be a good time to do it.
8
Arric
Ever since the incredible sex we’d had the night before, something had been...different about Elliot. I couldn’t put my finger on it just yet, but the way he acted was almost defensive.
I swallowed. What if I’d accidentally coerced him? What if he regretted our mating?
If only I had the people skills that Markus did.
The great hall was still pretty empty when we arrived. Then again, I’d expected that. My definition of ‘late’ was what most people called ‘on time’, after all. There were a few men and women bustling about with plates and dishes, and the smell of roasting filled the air.
