Bonded Pair

by Lauren Dane

  On the way back to the car he kept close. “So do you just think I’m an asshole or what?”

  She stopped at a huge SUV and clicked the locks open. “No. Why would you say that?”

  He loaded his bags in and walked around to get inside. Once he’d shut the door, the sound of the world died away, the scents of asphalt and smog withered, and suddenly he was hyperaware of her.

  His gaze was locked with hers, he watched, fascinated as her pupils swallowed the sea of green. His breath seized as he truly scented her. Honey, lilacs, something else...

  “Oh. Well then.”

  He swallowed hard, trying to figure out what she meant. “What?” And then he knew. Understood. Despite the fact he’d lived his life outside a Pack, pretty much as a human, he did understand the mate bond. Believed in its power and knew she has his. Surety settled into his system even as he itched to rub himself all over her skin to mark her in some way. He’d only felt this much werewolf a few times in his life. When he first changed and when he performed the tri-bond with Layla and Sid. It freaked him out, the wolf under his skin, the one his mother taught him to fear. But at the same time, the downright rightness of what he felt for her, of what he knew the mate bond to be, overruled his fear. He would have her, he would seal the bond and celebrate that part of himself. Tomorrow he’d worry about the rest.

  He could barely hold a thought as need held him in her grip. “Go. How far is it?”

  She jammed the key into the ignition one handed as she buckled up with the other. “Twenty minutes. Pray for light traffic. Get money out for the ticket. In the console.”

  He fumbled with the console and finally just yanked his wallet out to pay for parking. Of course there was a huge back up to pay but eventually they got through and she headed for the freeway.

  * * *

  He placed his hand on her thigh and the hem of her skirt rose as his fingers inched it upward enough that he could touch bare skin.

  Megan gasped, never having felt anything with such total electric sensation before. She gripped the wheel so hard her bones creaked at the strain. She had to concentrate on driving but all she wanted to do was lick him up one side and down the other.

  She remembered Tracy and Nick that first day they’d met and how Tracy had just been swept away by the bond and her need to be with him. Megan hadn’t been able to grasp what that sort of need would be like. Until then, she tried not to get pulled over for speeding as she raced back toward the hotel.

  If anyone stopped them when they arrived, she’d probably throw down with them. Best not to think on it. Best to just try and focus on driving. She wanted to talk to him, to learn more about him but she didn’t have the mental ability to concentrate on speaking, driving and not jumping those utterly delectable bones of his.

  “Nearly there? God, your skin is so soft.” He stroked his fingertips along her upper thigh, sending shivers through her. His voice was rusty, like he hadn’t used it in a long time.

  “Two more exits. And we’re going to crash if you keep that up. I can barely concentrate as it is.”

  His fingers stilled but he didn’t remove his hand. He chuckled softly. “Gotcha.”

  Just seven minutes later, not that she’d been watching the clock on the dash or anything, she pulled into a space in the hotel garage.

  “Your room. Don’t let anyone stop you.” Urgency threaded through his voice, rode her hard as well as she scrabbled to get out.

  “We’ll take this side door, back through the pool area. They might be in the lobby.”

  He circled an arm around her waist, carrying his overnight bag but leaving his suitcase behind as they hustled toward the hotel.

  Single-mindedly, she guided him through the area, scenting those she knew and avoiding them. They took the stairwell to her room and she barricaded her connecting door and put up the do not disturb sign, bolted the outer door and turned to face him.

  Chapter Three

  He could no longer hold on once they entered her room and she locked the door. His head swam in a sea of her scent. Of her desire, of the basic imprint of her on the room around him. He. Had. To. Claim. Her.

  When she turned to face him, the primal male inside him thrilled to see her eyes widen at how close he stood to her. A soft sigh filtered from her mouth. A mouth he set his own to and fell.

  Her taste roared through him. His senses hummed with satisfaction, his body hardened as his brain filled with all that was his woman. He wanted to consume her, wanted every inch of her inside and out. Never in his life had anyone ever held so much fascination for him and for the first time since he’d began to really struggle with who and what he was, he reveled in it. Accepted that he was a werewolf and she was his mate. The freedom of it was nearly as heady as the connection of their two hearts and souls.

  Her head fell against the door as he pulled the front of her pretty dress open, the muted sounds of buttons flying and pinging off the carpet and walls filling the space between heaving breaths. Beneath was a feast for his eyes. Acres of creamy skin. A flat belly. Pretty dark blue panties and a matching bra.

  Bending his head, he feasted on the smattering of freckles on the curve of her right breast as he popped the catch of her bra, freeing them into his grateful hands.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed. “More. Touch me, Shane. Claim me.”

  She writhed against him and his body reacted as her scent filled him up to the bursting point. He wanted her with single-minded intensity.

  “God. God. You’re so fucking beautiful. I...” Instead of saying more he showed her. Cruised his mouth along her collarbone. Sturdy. Strong and yet totally feminine. He licked along the hollow of her throat, swallowing the frantic beat of her pulse, tasting the echo of his own need as it seeped from her skin.

  Her nipples, so sensitive they beaded as he moved to them, tasted like everything he’d ever wanted and never knew he craved. Her arousal hung between them like something tangible. The scent held him, fascinated, enthralled. His cock throbbed along with the beat of her heart under his tongue as he licked up the line of her chest, up her neck, capturing her earlobe for just a brief moment until she cried out.

  “Help me!”

  With two moves, his pants were down. He kicked them free and she wrapped a long, muscular leg around his waist, drawing him tight to her. Her dress hung in tatters. He yanked off her panties, the sound of ripping silk doing things to him low and deep.

  All he could think on was shoving his cock into her even as he knew he should take his time, show her pleasure.

  “Inside or I will maim you,” she gasped out and he obliged, guiding his cock to her gate. The slippery entrance bathed the head of his cock in wet heat.

  He laughed, totally happy for the first time in his life, as he surged up and into her body with a cry of joy.

  He stilled and she felt more than just his cock inside her, it was as if she’d cracked herself open and he’d settled within her. His joy ebbed into her very bones, married with hers. It was so right. Tears swam, blurring her vision. Her view of this man’s face. His beautiful face.

  It was then, her gaze locked with his, as he pressed back inside, she saw his wolf there, in his eyes. The loneliness of it struck her deep. This wolf of his wanted to be free, to be loved and she knew then, knew as she knew he was hers, their road would not be easy.

  “Your wolf is so beautiful,” she said softly. Despite that knowing, she knew she wanted him forever and would fight for him too. For that moment, she would revel in what they had because it was beautiful.

  His breath caught and he shook his head. “Wrap your legs around me.” His hands, big and strong, cradled her naked ass as he fucked her up against the door. Urgency marred his features, the line of his mouth was hard as she leaned forward to kiss it.

  He opened to her, kissing her back
as she held on, her fingers digging into his shoulders. She wanted his bare skin, needed it, so she ripped off his shirt, reveling in the way his intake of breath echoed into their kiss.

  She let herself wonder in the feel of his body, in the way his skin tautened over the bunch and play of his muscles as he thrust into her body. Broad shoulders beckoned and she gave in, leaving his mouth to press her lips into the dip just below his collarbone.

  His cock was fat, broad and wide like his shoulders, a big man all around and she couldn’t wait to see him totally naked and spread out on the bed so she could touch and taste every part of him.

  “I’m not going to last much longer,” he managed to gasp out, “it’s so intense being inside you. Beautiful.”

  She smiled and nipped his biceps just above where the sleeve of his shirt hung from his arm.

  “So come. Come inside me and mark me as yours.”

  “Christ.” He rested his forehead on her shoulder a moment, still fucking into her body. “You’re irresistible, you know that? And mine. What a lucky man I am. Make yourself come, my hands are filled with your ass just now.”

  She laughed, arching her body a bit to make some space to move her fingers to her clit. “I’ll warn you, I like to come. A lot. I like sex and I’m very exacting.” She hummed as the pleasure of her fingertips sliding against her clit added to the feel of his cock stretching her, filling her, stroking inside.

  “Well, lucky for me then.”

  He may have started to say more but she lost all ability to hear anything but the rush in her ears as she started to climax and a deep, rumbling growl came from his gut as he joined her.

  He filled her, sealing the bond between them and she barely felt it when he fell to his knees, shielding her from the impact of it, holding her against him as he pressed lips to her temple.

  He rushed into her senses, disorienting her a moment when she opened her eyes and saw double, felt double, but after some sweaty minutes, her heartbeat began to slow to normal and she looked into his face, caught his smile.

  * * *

  Shane knew he’d found something more special than he could wrap his brain around as he held Megan against his body. So perfect. Strong. Gorgeous.

  “Hi there.” He kissed her forehead and stood, helping her to her feet. She ran inside him like the blood in his veins and while at first it had felt strange, unnatural, by then it just felt right.

  “Hi yourself.” She grinned. “So um, wow. Here we are all post-coital and I don’t even know your birthday.”

  They didn’t know each other very well at all and the reality of their situation began to hit him. Still, he couldn’t be sorry for finding her. Regardless of his choice to live outside a Pack, he accepted certain things about himself. He was a werewolf and he saw the bond between his parents. Even if his mother rejected the wolf half of his father, she loved him and he adored her. So much his father had lived outside a pack because his mother had hated it so much. So he knew it was real even if it wasn’t perfect. The love was there between them, enough that his father had given up his wolf half and his mother had stayed even though she had been uncomfortable with that part of him.

  With Layla and Sid, he saw two mates, two wolves who accepted each other wholly and completely. They had children together, had created a family and a life. Hell, as Layla’s Anchor, he was part of that himself and that feeling of belonging to something bigger than himself was something he treasured.

  “We have time. It’s March fourth by the way. Now, a shower beckons I think. I want to see you totally naked. In exchange, I’ll make you come again.”

  She shrugged off the remains of her dress and let the bra fall to her feet. He’d already tossed her panties somewhere over his shoulder. Gloriously naked, tall, hard and fit, she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

  “I have to tell you those are the finest breasts I’ve ever clapped eyes on.” He tugged her toward the bathroom.

  “As much as I’m totally all over that idea, especially since it involves us both naked and having more sex, my phone has been ringing and I’d wager yours has too. Everyone is going to be wondering where we are.”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t care. I want you and those three minutes against the door were not enough. God knows I don’t want you to think that’s the game I’m bringing.”

  She laughed and kissed him. “I’m perfectly willing to give you a second chance. That was claiming, I’m sure with that body of yours and that very fine cock, you’ve got an A game in there.”

  He wrapped his arms around her, quite liking the feel of her against him and unable to remember any other woman. It was as if she’d totally pushed all memories from his head. He couldn’t decide if he should be happy or distressed by this point. He was seeing a woman back in Vegas and obviously that was over.

  “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay in here with you for a few days.”

  “I can feel you, you know. You’re panicking.”

  She pushed him back.

  “Not that. It just occurred to me there’s a lot of stuff to be resolved. Neither of us was expecting this obviously.” He saw the disbelief on her face, felt her unhappiness and wanted to fix it. “Hey, I was also thinking about how much I loved the way you felt in my arms and that you’d erased the memory of all other women.”

  She snorted but the rigidity in her spine eased.

  To underline her point, right as he’d moved his lips back to her nipple, his phone rang from the pocket of his overnight bag near the door. Layla’s ring—Eric Clapton.

  “My sister obviously.” She pushed him back as she said it. “Go on. Tell her we’ll meet her downstairs in the pool area in five minutes. Don’t tell her about the bond or we’ll have two dozen wolves pounding on the door.”

  Before he could answer, she’d turned and gone into the bathroom, shutting the door in his face.

  He grabbed his phone while struggling into the T-shirt he was thankful to have tossed into his carry-on that morning. “Hey there.”

  “Where are you? I saw the car in the lot when I came back from this hellish day of errands. Please tell me Megan didn’t strand you at the airport, she’s usually really on top of things.”

  He smiled at the very idea. “I’m really good actually. I have a lot to tell you. I’m here at the hotel. Megan said to tell you we’d meet you in the pool area in five minutes.”

  “Okay we’ll sneak off for dinner.”

  He hesitated. He wanted to see Layla. He loved her, she was his Anchor but Megan was his mate. Any plans he made would involve her and while he wasn’t a woman, he certainly knew them well enough to understand there’d most likely be some jealousy between them until Megan understood she was first with him.

  “We’ll see you in a few.” He hung up before she could say anything else.

  * * *

  Megan looked at herself in the mirror with a sigh. All her life she’d been a pretty confident person. Except when it came to Layla. Layla was the smartest sibling. Certainly Layla and Tegan gave each other some hefty competition when it came to beauty but they were the ones who got the best boobs and the red hair. And after Tegan had lost Lucas, Tegan had gotten a lot closer to Layla than to Megan. It had hurt. She loved her sisters, every one of them, but they were hard on a woman’s confidence sometimes.

  And Layla had him first. She knew it was stupid to feel jealous but she did. It wasn’t like Shane had done anything and she knew Lay would never in a million years betray Shane or hurt Megan. But it was there anyway. Layla was someone really special to Shane and she’d been that way to him first.

  Of course she had no clothes in the bathroom so she cleaned up quickly, applying some eyeliner and lipstick before heading back out to the room.

  “Now I really don’t want to go anywhere.” He looked her u
p and down slowly, approval clear in his gaze.

  “You can go on down if you want. Meet up with me later.” She pulled on underwear and a skirt before turning to grab a bra and look for a shirt.

  He was there, touching her before she could take another step. “Why would I want that? I want to be with you, Megan.”

  “I just meant, well, I know you’ve been looking forward to seeing Layla and she’s been talking about you for weeks so I didn’t want to get in the way or anything.”

  He wouldn’t let her move away to put her shirt on, instead holding her to him and breathing in deeply at her neck. “Of course I want to see Layla. But you can be there too, right? She’s always given me the impression you were close.”

  “She has? I mean, sure. I like all my siblings, even my brothers who will of course grill you and try to intimidate you and stuff. Just ignore them.”

  She wriggled enough he let her go so she could get her shirt on.

  * * *

  He groaned as they walked out of the room. He didn’t want to go anywhere but back inside where he could get her naked and treat her the way she was meant to be treated. That quickie earlier wasn’t enough.

  Her feet, my God, her toes were deep red in the daintiest sandals. It seemed totally at odds with the tough Enforcer Layla had always spoken about.

  “You have the sexiest, longest legs,” he murmured as he kept her close with an arm around her waist. He still smelled her on his skin and never wanted to lose that feeling.

  She actually blushed. “Oh, well, thank you. I run ten miles a day, I think that probably helps.”

  When the elevator doors opened and they walked out onto the patio area surrounding two large pools, Layla launched herself at him with a happy laugh, dropping kisses on his cheeks. He laughed, hugging her back, happy as hell to see her.

  Megan stepped away and more than her physical distance, he felt her emotional distance like a slap.

  He set Layla away from him, no easy feat because she’d been hugging him, but before he could turn to Megan, Layla gasped.