by R. E. Butler
He cupped her face and brushed his lips over hers. “Be mine, Cella. Be my mate, my beloved, my gorgeous female.”
“Yes. Be mine, Cyrus.”
“I was yours the moment I laid eyes on you.”
He lifted her into his arms and turned, setting her in the center of the bed. She took off her heels and dropped them to the floor, then rose onto her knees and watched as he undid the laces of his work boots and took them off, then grasped the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head. She’d felt his muscles under her hands when they’d danced, but he was even more mouth-wateringly sculpted than she’d imagined. Broad shoulders, lickable abs, and a tapered waist, his sun kissed skin begging to be explored.
His fingers rested on the buckle of his belt and he arched a brow at her. She took the unspoken hint and reached for the ties of the corset, unlacing the decorative ribbon and unzipping the front. She peeled it off and tossed it to the floor, her nipples taut and aching already, and he’d hardly touched her.
His eyes darkened, from sapphire to a color so deep it bordered black. He shucked his jeans and climbed onto the bed, a soft growl rumbling in his chest. Their lips met and parted, their tongues touching in a slow glide. His fingers ghosted over her skin, making goose bumps erupt in their wake. He traced her collarbone with his thumbs and followed the curve of her breasts, cupping them and teasing her nipples. She moaned and he purred in response, curving his hands to her back and pressing her gently to the bed. He sucked on her bottom lip and then straightened his arms, looking down at her with unadulterated want.
“You’re beautiful,” he said gruffly. “So fucking gorgeous and all mine.”
She inhaled and stroked her hands up his arms, feeling the taut muscles. He lowered his head and kissed her lips, then kissed down the line of her jaw, nipping a path down her throat and across her chest. He plumped her breast and licked a circle around the nipple before kissing it and then sucking it into his mouth. He plucked at the other nipple, switching between the two until she was writhing under him. He kissed down the center of her body and found the zipper at the side of the short skirt, lowering it and hooking his fingers in the hem and pulling it down her legs. He caught her panties at the same time, stripping her in one quick movement.
He stared at her, longing and hunger in his gaze, looking as if he could devour her and she’d love every second of it. He grasped her ankles and pushed them apart, and she bent her knees and bit her bottom lip as his broad shoulders edged her legs open wider. Wrapping one arm around her thigh, he spread her open with his fingers and licked her clit with a slow stroke, flicking his tongue at the end and sending a delicious wave of heat through her. He met her gaze as he laid his tongue on her and purred, the sound making it vibrate. She dropped her head back against the pillow and tilted her hips, loving the way he purred and moved his tongue on her like a living vibrator. Exquisite tendrils of pleasure wove through her. A thick finger pushed inside her, and she gasped, burying her fingers in his hair and fisting the strands. He licked and sucked on her clit as he fingered her, rubbing her inner walls.
He found a place that made her tilt her hips. He braced his arm across her hips and held her down, rubbing that spot and purring against her clit until everything within her turned white-hot and molten. She came hard and cried out his name, only vaguely aware when he moved from between her legs and turned her onto her stomach. He slid an arm under her and lifted her lower body. She braced herself on her knees, her hands gripping the blanket and keeping her head down as pleasure coiled inside her.
He pushed his thick cock into her in one hard thrust, making her gasp as her head kicked back with the sheer pleasure of being claimed by him. He held himself fully inside her, brushing her hair to one side and cupping her face. He leaned against her back, his cock twitching inside her, and bit her ear lobe gently.
“Know it’s taking every ounce of control I have not to mark you right now.” His voice was low and rough. “To bond us together in your way and mine.”
She whispered his name. A plea and a demand rolled up together.
He dropped his head to her shoulder and flexed his hips, driving himself a little deeper. She moaned and her knuckles cracked as she fisted the bedding.
“When we bond, baby, I promise to make it even better.”
She wasn’t sure that was possible, but she was willing to let him try. She couldn’t think of anything better than the way he felt inside her, their bodies as tightly wed as possible. His teeth scraped on her shoulder and she closed her eyes, relaxing into his hold as he rose up behind her and grasped her hips with both hands. He pulled from her body until only the thick head of his cock was still inside her, and then he slammed into her. He began to quicken his pace, thrusting harder and faster. He tilted her hips and with each glide forward, he hit a place inside her that sent her senses into overdrive. She lost the ability to keep her arms locked in place and lowered herself to the bedding, reaching for the headboard to brace herself and push back against his thrusts. Her world narrowed to the place inside that twisted and twirled with pleasure.
He fucked her hard and fast, snarling as he gripped her hips even tighter, claws pricking her skin as he stroked deeply. She let out a sharp cry of completion as her body lit up and she came, her stomach clenching in waves as she crested the highest point of pleasure and tumbled headfirst into a glorious heat. He followed her, his cock spasming and filling her, and the connection she’d already felt between them strengthened. He covered her with his body, his chest heaving and his cat rumbling contentedly. With a smooth motion, he took them both to their sides and curled around her, kissing her shoulder and throat, and smoothing his hands over her belly and breasts.
“Fucking mine,” he murmured.
“Absolutely.”
Chapter Six
After making love a second time, Cyrus and Cella fell asleep, bodies entwined. He’d never slept so soundly and contentedly in his life. He felt a peace that he’d never encountered before and knew it was because he’d finally found his truemate.
He liked the term she used though. Beloved.
Once they’d made it down to her chamber, they hadn’t talked much, instead spending time exploring each other’s bodies. He delighted in every inch of her, from the soft curve of her hips to the way her eyes glazed over when she was close to the edge. He even loved her fangs, finding it highly erotic to feel them scraping lightly over his neck. He’d been tempted a hundred times during the course of the night to ask her to at least feed from him, but he knew if she did, he’d be unable to stop himself from marking her, and once he did that, he’d want to bond with her as well.
He was glad they’d spent time talking before they came to the chamber. He’d learned a lot about her, but he knew he hadn’t even really scratched the surface of how amazing she was. Cella was three hundred years old. He didn’t expect to know her well after only a few hours. As they drifted off to sleep, his last thought had been how good she felt in his arms. How perfectly she fit against him.
And then he woke up with a warm mouth on his dick, licking him like a lollipop. He cupped the back of her head and sat up on one elbow, watching as she dived down on him, taking him deep. He groaned and gritted his teeth, a personal war inside him waging between letting her finish him in her mouth or sinking deep in her pussy. He opted to let her play, and relaxed his control, letting himself enjoy what she was doing. The swirl of her tongue, the heat of her mouth, and the way her gaze devoured him. He’d never seen anything quite as sexy as her in that moment. Cella was an angel and a vixen.
He dropped his head back and groaned as he came, his cat rubbing against his skin and demanding to mark her. The beast was a broken record when it came to that, and he reminded him that it would be good to wait. Although as she sucked every last drop of come from him and made a sweet, almost-purr sound in her throat, he couldn’t recall what waiting was supposed to achieve.
He settled on his back and crooked his finger at her. �
�Come here, baby.”
She crawled up his body, kissing and nipping as she went, then rose onto her knees above him. He scooted down the bed until he was between her thighs and ate her out until she came all over his face, her honey the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. She leaned on the headboard and ran her fingers through his hair. “Good way to wake up?”
He licked his lips and grinned at her. “The best.”
She lifted her leg and rolled to her back, leaning against a pillow. “I can’t keep my hands off you. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not in the slightest.”
She beamed at him. “I loved falling asleep with you.”
“Me too. It was the most restful sleep I can remember.”
She looked over him to the nightstand. “We’ve got about an hour until we’re going to meet with Mishka. Join me in the shower?”
“You got it.”
The bathroom was very feminine, with yellow rugs and towels, and floral wallpaper. She turned on the faucet in the glass-enclosed shower. “Do you want to call your parents before or after we meet with Mishka?”
“I was thinking after. And maybe we could do a video call so we can talk to them face to face.”
“Sure. We can do that in my office if you’d like, my laptop has a nice camera on it.”
He nodded. They stepped into the shower and she apologized for only having flowery body wash, but he didn’t mind. If the price he had to pay to see his mate all wet and covered with soap was that he walked out of the bathroom smelling like a flower shop, he’d happily pay it. Although thoroughly tempted to make love to her in the shower as well, he opted to wait until they had more time later in the evening. Mishka would be waiting for them, and he didn’t want to rush when it came to loving her.
She handed him a fluffy towel and he dried off as she wrapped one around her hair and one around her body.
“I was thinking,” he said, rubbing his hair with the towel, “that we could visit my family on Friday. That’ll give us a few days to get to know each other.”
“Sounds good to me. The full moon is fifteen days away.”
He anchored the towel to his waist and leaned against the counter. “Is that too long to wait for us to become beloveds?”
“There’s no time limit.”
“I mean does it bother you that I want to wait to become beloveds until after we join as mates in the ambush?”
She looked thoughtful. “No. I feel really connected to you already, and our mating isn’t just about my traditions and ceremonies, it’s about yours too. Waiting two weeks so that we can officially join as mates in the ambush before we become beloveds isn’t really a long time in the whole scheme of eternity.”
“Good point.”
Since he didn’t have a change of clothes with him, he dressed in what he’d worn the night before. She changed into a black dress and heels, then pulled her hair up into a high ponytail. They left the chamber and walked to the elevator. When the doors closed, Cyrus pressed the stop button and caged her against the wall, giving her a kiss that devastated her senses.
She hooked her hands over his arms and smiled at him. “I’m not complaining, but why did you stop the elevator?”
“I wanted to ask you about clothes.”
“What about them?”
His gaze slid down her body and back up. “You dress very sexy for work.”
“We have a boutique clothier that handles the clothing for the coven females. Mishka’s old fashioned when it comes to how he feels females should dress in the office. And by old fashioned I mean sexist.”
He laughed. “I don’t mind you dressing sexy. I think you could be dressed in sweats and still look like a goddess. But I meant for myself. I don’t really have any nice clothes. I work construction, so pretty much everything I own is made of denim or flannel.”
“I like how you dress.”
“I don’t exactly fit in though.”
She tilted her head. “Do you want to?”
He gave a half shrug. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed by how I dress.”
“I would never be.”
He pressed his lips together and then blew out a breath. “I guess what’s been on my mind is that I don’t know what I’ll be doing once the restaurant is finished. I mean... I wouldn’t want to be commuting to Whisper Creek every day to work for the construction company. But I’m not an office guy. I don’t do spreadsheets, I build stuff.” He trailed his finger along the neckline of her dress. “I was wondering where I’d fit in here.”
She hummed, realizing he was genuinely concerned about his future with the coven. “We can talk to Mishka. There’s never been an issue for a mate to find work in the coven, and I know you’ll find a place to be here. And I’ll help. I want you to be happy.”
“Well, I’d be happiest if I could just sex you up every night.” He nuzzled her throat and she shivered with a giggle.
“You’re insatiable.”
“Just for you.” He kissed her once more, and then pressed the button to send the elevator on its journey.
A few moments later, Cella knocked on Mishka’s door, and when he called for them to open it, she and Cyrus walked in and found Harmony standing next to the desk and Mishka seated in the chair.
“Hi you two,” Harmony said. She gave Cella a hug while Mishka stood and reached over the desk, and Cyrus shook his hand. Then Cella and Cyrus sat in the chairs across from the grand desk and Harmony pulled up a chair and sat next to him.
“Now, first I want to say congratulations again to you both,” Mishka said. “It’s a wonderful thing when a vampire finds his or her beloved mate.”
“Thank you,” Cella said. She linked her fingers with Cyrus’s and smiled at him.
“What are your plans?” Mishka asked.
“He means, when are you planning to join as beloveds and how much time will you want to take off? We’ll need to cover the food manager position as well as ensure all your other duties are taken care of too,” Harmony clarified. “And, of course, you’ll need to make arrangements with your leader, Cyrus, for your job.”
“Cyrus would like to wait until the full moon for us to become beloveds,” Cella said. “The ambush holds ceremonies traditionally on that night. After the ceremony, we’ll become beloveds and then take a week off for a honeymoon.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want to become beloveds right away?” Mishka asked.
Cella looked at Cyrus, who said, “When Cella and I become beloveds, it’ll change me. I’ll still be a shifter, but I’ll be immortal as well. It’s not that I think the ambush won’t accept me as an immortal shifter or Cella as my mate, but I don’t believe that Midas would officiate our mating if I’m not entirely tiger. Which means she wouldn’t get the welcome and protection of the ambush, and that’s important to me.”
“I don’t understand,” Harmony said. “You’ll still be you.”
“But my allegiance will change, right?” Cyrus looked at Mishka, who nodded.
“It’s true,” Mishka said. “Angie feels an allegiance to me over her alpha. We can’t say for certain that it would be that way for you since you’re a different type of shifter, but you’re thinking that Midas wouldn’t officiate a mating if the tiger in question wasn’t under his command.”
“Pretty much,” Cyrus said. “My tiger wants to belong to Cella in every way and for her to belong to me in every way also, and that includes following in my people’s traditions.”
“I get that,” Harmony said. “Our natures make demands on us and it’s hard to ignore those feelings.”
Cella cleared her throat. “Cyrus wants to take me to meet his family and king on Friday. We’ll be back later that night. I don’t anticipate taking time off until the full moon.”
Harmony made notes on a tablet. “I reserved one of the SUVs and asked Brone to assign some guards for you.”
“Guards? What for?” Cyrus asked.
“Did Cella explain about The First Churc
h of Humanity?” Mishka asked.
“Yes,” Cyrus said.
“The night that Angie met her beloveds, Vex and Rage,” Mishka said, sitting back in his chair, “she left to return to her home. Unbeknownst to us, church members were watching the club’s parking lot and followed Angie and her friend, boxing them in on the highway and attacking. Angie and her friend were unharmed, but since that point, no coven members leave the club without a driver and guard at the very least. It’s for both of your protection, but I say this in all seriousness – it would be a terrible thing for the church to follow you two to the ambush territory and decide to attack them because of your relationship.”
“Church members are human, but they’re determined,” Harmony said. “They’re not above using violence against any and all they see as being in allegiance with the coven. They attacked the wiccans when Brone’s mate Arissa was with them. She almost died in the battle.”
“I understand,” Cyrus said. “I want Cella to be safe. I’d never put my ego above her safety.”
“Good man,” Mishka said.
“Cyrus was wondering about work,” Cella said.
“You’re in construction, right?” Mishka asked.
Cyrus nodded. “I can build and install just about anything, and I can do a little electrical and plumbing too. I’m currently supervisor on the restaurant job, and I’d like to finish that project.”
Mishka nodded. “After the restaurant is finished, we’re planning to do a redesign of the stage. It’s outdated and needs to be entirely redone from the floor up, including lighting and the sound system. You can join our construction company and be part of the planning process and work on the project. There’s a lot to be done, not only in redoing the stage but setting up a temporary stage while the new one is being constructed so we don’t lose any club goers. How does that sound?”
“Great,” Cyrus said.
“We’ll have a celebration for your mating when you return from your honeymoon,” Harmony said. “The coven loves to celebrate a new mating.”
