by Kele Moon
Desmon avoided looking at Amber as Jazz showed himself out. He was embarrassed over losing his temper so soon after mating her, but his wolf was still feral and reckless over what had happened to Amber. There was guilt too, because she had no choice about this being her life. He didn’t want her to hate being a shifter, but they weren’t getting off to a very good start.
“Don’t panic. It’s a weird, sensitive subject with Jazz. The pack buried his father, and he’s still pissed off about it. Marcy never got a grave. It’s unfair,” Desmon explained after Jazz left. “We do bury our dead to honor them like humans do—most of the time.”
“But you also eat them,” Amber clarified softly. “The other alpha, Leroy, he talked about eating their prey, and he didn’t mean rabbits.”
“If they’re human hunting, then yes, I’m sure they’re eating them. It’d be dangerous to risk human remains being found, just like it was dangerous to risk Gary being found,” Desmon explained, hoping it was enough, but knowing it wasn’t. “Truth is, wolves will eat just about anything in the name of survival. We’re not picky eaters.”
“You hunt animals for meat—and you hunt people for the same reason. It’s a problem.”
“Nightwind doesn’t do that,” Desmon assured Amber when she wouldn’t let it go. “We have never done that. Even when Albert was in charge. We didn’t socialize with humans, but we didn’t hunt them, either, I promise. My mother was human once, remember? My father had respect for them, enough to fall in love with one, and he instilled that in this pack. The Shifter Alliance has laws to prevent human hunting, but there are still a lot of immoral asshole shifters. Just like there’s a lot of immoral humans, and it does happen, same as human crimes happen.” He shrugged, trying to remind himself of that fact as much as Amber. “We’re not perfect, and I know you wouldn’t have chosen this life, but—”
“You’re better than most of your kind,” she finished for him. “You’re an honorable wolf, and an even more honorable man.”
It wasn’t what he was going to say, but he went with it. “Okay.”
“You try your best to keep your pack safe, even from themselves. You make rules to keep humans in this town safe, too.” Amber gave him a soft smile. “The world is better with you in it, and I’m lucky to have you for a mate.”
Desmon raised his eyebrows and smiled back in surprise. “If you say, so.”
Amber walked up and wrapped her arms around him. Desmon took a shuddering breath at the rush of warmth that rushed down his spine. He hugged Amber back and kissed the top of her head, relieved beyond words that she didn’t hate him or what she had been forced to become.
“I’m sorry about the trouble.” Amber rested her cheek against his bare chest. “But I’m so glad you showed up when you did. I know you risked a lot, Des. Your freedom. Your position as alpha. Your whole pack.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Desmon tightened his arms around her, and the anger fell out of him like it had never existed to begin with when he realized Amber was healthy and happy in his arms. “Really, you being safe is the only thing I care about. The rest is just noise.”
“Can those Goodwins hurt me or my sisters now that they know who we are?”
“No, we’re going to move your sisters onto pack land permanently, and I’ll make sure the Goodwins know they’re under my protection. As for you…you’re my mate, and a pretty tough bitch, if I do say so myself. You’ll be able to protect yourself.” Desmon felt the pride swell in his chest, and an excitement for the future slowly started to grow. “I’m going to teach you how to fight, Angel. We’ll do survival training, and sleep together outside. It’ll be fun.”
Amber tilted her head, giving him a calculating look. “Don’t think I’m going to start hunting deer and rabbit with you, ’cause there’s no way.”
“Sure.” Desmon smiled in spite of everything. “You’ll be the first vegetarian wolf.”
“You don’t believe me?” Amber asked, sounding genuinely indignant.
“No, I don’t.” Desmon was pretty sure of it. “We’re carnivores. It wouldn’t be good for you, and it’s my job to keep you healthy.” He caressed her arm and leaned down to kiss the soft spot behind her ear. “I could teach you to wolf right now, if you want?”
“Why, are you in the mood to hunt?” Amber’s voice was teasing.
“If that’s what we’re calling it.” He breathed in the warm, spicy scent of her arousal, and leaned down to bury his face against the curve of her neck. His wolf was still reckless under the surface. He needed a lot more time with his mate to assure himself she was safe, to know she was alive and healthy and not leaving again. “I need to taste you, Angel.”
Amber obviously needed it, too, and let her head fall to the side in submission. “Go ahead.”
The need was blinding. He nearly howled with it as he started kissing and licking her neck, making her moan, and the rush went straight to his cock. He cupped Amber’s bare ass. She wore nothing beneath his shirt, and Desmon knew she was losing the human fondness for modesty faster than she probably realized.
A part of him was sad for it. Her humanity was slipping away like a distant memory. It was as it should be, but he wanted to make it easier, to hide her from the death of it.
Desmon forced her tighter against him, letting her feel how much he wanted her. The way she melted into him with a low, soft growl made the fire burn brighter. He slipped his hand between her legs, savoring the smooth, slick feel of her pussy as he found her clit.
Her gasp, the way she gripped at his shoulder, it hit him hard then, the realization that she was his, and she wasn’t a fragile human anymore. She was a powerful bitch. His mate. A partner to stand by him with their pack. It felt like a miracle, something he didn’t dare dream about coming true for so long.
She lost something, but she gained something, too, as long as Desmon did his job as mate correctly. He would make sure she grew to love what she’d gained far more than she mourned what she’d lost.
Right now, she was here with him.
And they were bonded.
Amber was his forever.
Gratitude collided with the lust while he touched her, listening to the sounds she made as she got wetter and wetter. He wanted to bite her, to fuck her, and drown himself completely in the taste and feel of his mate—but he waited this time. A part of him had always been hungry for the soft comfort of fucking his mate just to connect with her.
He suspected the last of the bloodlust had left her during their time in the cave. Now it was just their chemistry as she tangled her fingers in his hair encouragingly. He enjoyed going slower, admiring the flush of her skin and the low growls that became more wolf-like than human the longer he touched her. He alternated between rubbing her clit and slipping his fingers in deep, fucking her with them, making Amber cling to him harder with low gasps for more.
“Now, Des!” Amber forced his face tighter against her neck this time, obviously fed up with his teasing. “Bite me. Fuck me.” She was panting, desperate, flooding the room with the smell of her need. “What’re you waiting for?”
“I’m being gentle.” Desmon smiled playfully. “Don’t you—” He growled when Amber bit him, hard, right in the tender curve of his neck. “Fuck!”
The rush was blinding and, like in the cave, it wiped out all sense of reason. He’d planned to take his time now that they were in his home instead of the woods, to watch her come for him, begging, breathless and sweaty while he touched her, but the joke was on him. The white-hot flood of lust had him pushing her against the sofa instead, the two of them falling against the cushions.
He tugged her head back and caught her mouth with his. Amber’s lips were red with his blood, the taste of it still on her when she met his hunger with the same fiery ferocity, and it only fueled him more. They lay there kissing, open-mouthed, tongues bushing until they were both shaking.
Amber pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground, leaving her completely naked
beneath him. Then, it was her hands pulling the button to his jeans open. Her sharp canine teeth biting his bottom lip, neck and shoulders, leaving them both sticky with blood and slick sweat as the need heated their skins. It was her nails raking down his bare back, and that’s exactly how Desmon liked it.
He didn’t bother to take his jeans off, instead he shoved them past his hips when Amber wrapped her legs around him. She fisted his hair, forcing his lips to hers once more and rubbed herself against the thick length of his dick—over and over again—teasing him with the slick feel of her pussy.
Unable to wait, Desmon grabbed her hips, holding her down as he pushed in.
“God!” Amber cried out, and bowed into the thrust of his cock, letting Desmon drown in the warm, wet feel of her wrapped around him.
Mindless with the need now, Desmon hooked his arms under both her legs, opening her wide to take him when he started fucking her hard. Their growls and moans blended between harsh kisses and passionate bites. Amber arched into him, dropping her head back, letting him suck her tits, and Desmon couldn’t resist catching her tight pink nipples between his teeth in a way he would’ve never done with a human.
This was were sex, intense and ferocious, and like before, Amber surrendered herself to it completely. Desmon had no idea how long it would take for this wilder, more primitive side to wane between them, but he wasn’t complaining.
Amber suddenly stiffened, climaxing with a loud shout, and Desmon followed her over the edge. The pleasure just grabbed him, pulling him under, until he was thrusting into her, hard, fierce, following the pulse of his own release, but Amber was still there with him. Even out of his mind with ecstasy, he savored the way she shook in his arms. He loved that it was both of them drowning in this pool of pleasure, because without her there with him, Desmon knew it would’ve never felt this fucking good.
It took a long time for the ecstasy to fade while his dick still throbbed inside her, letting them come down together. The first thing Desmon felt after the storm was Amber’s fingers, soft on his back, soothing the healing scratches. It was a gentle caress, a lover’s caress, something far more human than wolf, and he loved that, too, maybe even more than the wolf sex moments before. He loved everything about her…and she was all his.
“I love you.” He spoke it out loud against the curve of her neck, licking a healing bite, enjoying the tang of her blood still there. “We’re going to survive this, Angel. It’s going to work for us, we’ll make sure of it.”
“We will?” Amber asked, like she wasn’t sure, either. It was still a lot to take in, and reality obviously grabbed her quickly in the come down. “What if I’m terrible at this? What about everything with the Goodwins? What if the pack hates me?”
“They just fought to save you. They’ll love you. You’re already an incredible werewolf, and we’re going to be fine.” Desmon believed it completely, more so than ever, because Miles had been right. The Nightwind pack was stronger now than they had been when he was a pup. “I promise.”
“How can you promise that?” She pushed at his shoulder, trying to untangle herself from him, but Desmon wouldn’t let her. “You don’t know that, Des!”
“We’ll have each other.” He brushed Amber’s hair off her forehead, and knew he was telling the truth. “It’ll be enough. Nature says we’re supposed to be together, and nature rarely lies.”
“Okay.” She reached up to caress his cheek, still rough with stubble. Her light gaze grew glassy with tears as she smiled and whispered, “I believe you.”
* * *
The saga continues. Up next…Jazz
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About the Author
LAURANN DOHNER
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NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
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I'm a full time wife, mother, and author. I've been lucky enough to have spent over two decades with the love of my life and look forward to many, many more years with Mr. Laurann. I'm addicted to iced coffee, the occasional candy bar (or two), and trying to get at least five hours of sleep at night.
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I love to write all kinds of stories. I think the best part about writing is the fact that real life is always uncertain, always tossing things at us that we have no control over, but when writing you can make sure there's always a happy ending. I love that about being an author. My favorite part is when I sit down at my computer desk, put on my headphones to listen to loud music to block out everything around me, so I can create worlds in front of me.
About the Author
KELE MOON
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A freckle faced, redhead born and raised in Hawaii, Kele Moon has always been a bit of a sore thumb and has come to enjoy the novelty of it. She thrives off pushing the envelope and finding ways to make the impossible work in her story telling. With a mad passion for romance, she adores the art of falling in love. The only rules she believes in is that, in love there are no rules and true love knows no bounds.
So obsessed is she with the beauty of romance and the novelty of creating it she’s lost in her own wonder world most of the time. Thankfully she married her own dark, handsome, brooding hero who had infinite patience for her airy ways and attempts to keep her grounded. When she leaves her keys in the refrigerator or her cell phone in the oven he’s usually there to save her from herself. The two of them now reside in Florida with their three beautiful children who make their lives both fun and challenging in equal parts–They wouldn’t have it any other way.
