by Ellis Leigh
So a bear shifter was looking to retrieve an artifact that was important to his clan and had come to ask the Feral Breed for help. Important meant valuable, and that meant money. Maybe the bear was willing to pay a fee. If he were…other people would be. Paranormal people. The sort that couldn’t go to a regular detective or inspector. Ideas and concepts shot through my mind, wispy but with potential. If I could solidify something, one problem in my life would be solved. I’d just need to look for a chance, for my opportunity to talk to the bear without anyone else around.
I needed to make a plan.
Rebel closed the door behind the bear shifter just as the guest room door swung open. I jumped to my feet, but Julian just raised a finger to his lips and beckoned me. Something I could never resist.
“So?” he whispered as the warmth of his body against mine and the feel of his breath on my skin made me break out in goose bumps. I ran my hands up his arms, pulling him closer so I could reply. Rubbing my nose up his neck and scenting him simply because I could. He smelled so good, so strong and masculine. I wanted to lick him up one side—
He patted my ass as my tongue flicked against his skin, chuckling softly to get my attention back where it should be.
“Right. Yeah. So, bear shifter looking for the Feral Breed to retrieve something that’s important to his clan.”
“Huh. That’s not what the club does.”
I closed my eyes, relishing the warmth of my mate. “That’s what Rebel told him.”
Julian hummed and dropped his head to place a soft kiss on my shoulder. While cuddling the way we were was definitely my favorite way to talk, it was also a necessity. In a house filled with wolf shifters whose animal senses tended to be far stronger than average human ones, privacy was next to impossible.
Something made all too clear when Sariel’s voice carried down the hall. “Break it up, you two.”
“Busted,” I whispered, letting the air hiss over my lips. Julian grinned and grabbed my ass again.
“Worth it.” He dragged me out into the hall, holding my hand as he did so there was more room between us. Not that I wanted room. In fact, I wanted the opposite of room. I wanted to join with him as mates were supposed to. We’d put off our claimings for so long, following human rules and laws to appease those around us. I was so done with all that, but Julian wanted more than I was ready to give him. An endless source of frustration, for sure.
“Angelita, can you do me a favor?” Sariel wrestled a bin of cans and bottles from its usual place under the sink. “Can you take out the recyclables? Charlotte will be done feeding the baby at any minute, and she never lets me help her clean up.”
I reached for the bin, but Julian beat me to it.
“I’ve got it, Miss Sariel. Thanks for helping my sister.”
Sariel caught my eye, grinning. “You’re welcome, Julian. I’m happy to help.”
“I’ll grab the door for you.” I jumped in front of Julian. The scent of woods and water greeted me again as I stepped outside, but they didn’t soothe me. No, as Julian walked lightly down the steps and toward where the garbage was stored, those scents tormented me. I rushed to keep up with my mate, opening the lid on the recyclable container and guiding him so he could empty the bin.
“Done,” I said, letting the lid fall. “Let’s get back inside.”
“Quit stressing,” Julian whispered, allowing me to nearly pull him back to the house. “I can feel your thoughts from here.”
“I’m just a little—”
“Worried. Yeah, I know. You’re always worried when we’re outside.” He led me forward, dragging me away from the kitchen and toward a storage room at the back of the house once we were inside the door. Tucked away in the shadows, I spun, growling, fighting back the instinct to shift. To take. To claim him as mine right then and there. It was so hard to resist him, so difficult to go against the pull between us. To deny what we both needed.
Julian shut the door to the storage room and grabbed me, lifting me off the ground, pulling me into his arms. I settled immediately, the feel of his skin on mine a balm like no other. Wrapped around my mate was exactly where I wanted to be. Forever.
“Relax. You’re so worked up right now.” Julian’s lips met mine in a slow, soft kiss. One that stole my breath. “We’re here, we’re safe, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I pressed my forehead to his chest, holding tight to him, soothing myself with the sound of his heart. “I know.”
“No, you don’t. But you will. Eventually.” He kissed the top of my head and set me down. “Now, let’s go see that brute of a father of yours.”
“He’s not my father.”
“Could have fooled me.” We walked out together, hand in hand. Normal except for the scratchy need tormenting me from under my skin. Game-face time.
“Julian, Angelita, come join us.” Rebel smiled at us from where he sat on the edge of a chair. His mate, Charlotte, sat in the chair, looking almost dwarfed by the way the shifter had basically draped himself across her shoulders. I hid my smirk, my wolf knowing it was a power-play move on Rebel’s part. There was another Alpha male in the house, one big and bad enough to threaten Rebel in his own den. He rarely left Charlotte’s side when Bez was anywhere near, even though Bez was happily mated to Sariel. Silly male wolves and their need to be the top dog at all times.
I led Julian to the open couch, directly across from Bez. Sariel tried to sit beside him, but he yanked her onto his lap with a growl. Wolf posturing from him as well.
“I’m glad you’re both here,” Charlotte said, sitting forward. “There’re a few things we’d like to talk about.”
Julian stiffened beside me. “Char.”
I glanced from brother to sister, almost tasting the tension between them. My wolf crept forward in my mind, watching Charlotte, not happy that she was upsetting our mate. Our protective streak was wide and never-ending, even in regards to family.
Charlotte must have felt the wolfish energy of my glare. She sat back again, eyeing me hard. “There are things that need to be discussed.”
“What things?” I asked on a growl.
“Well, like plans. What are you two going to do now that you’re…adults?”
I glanced at Julian and squeezed his hand, not wanting to step over him and declare anything, seeing as it was his family doing the asking this time.
“We’re going to stay together,” he said simply. I nodded, knowing that was what I wanted as well.
Charlotte seemed to expect that answer. “And what about college?”
Julian huffed. “There’s time for that.”
“Julian, Mom and Dad—”
“Don’t,” he interrupted, his voice hard. “Don’t invoke our parents just because you think your life would have been better if they’d been alive.”
“Julian,” Rebel warned.
“No, I get it. Mom and Dad died, and I lost my sight. It was horrible, a tragedy, and saintly Charlotte gave up everything to keep me with her and raise me to do all the things she never got to.” Julian sat forward, his hand shaking in mine. “I’m not you, though, Char. The one thing I want is the one thing you fought hardest against. I want to be with Angelita, to experience the love of soul mates, to live our lives together, and be happy. Forever.”
Charlotte frowned, staring at her brother with sad eyes. “You can still do that and go to college.”
“Really? And how do we pull that off? Angelita’s never been in a human school. She’ll never be able to keep the secret of what she is in that sort of setting. She hates crowds, doesn’t get along well with strangers, and would never be comfortable in a campus environment.”
My stomach dropped, guilt a heavy burden on my heart. “I can blend.”
Julian spun toward me, probably hearing the hurt in my voice. “But that’s the thing. I don’t want you to blend. I don’t want you to try to tame yourself for other people one damn bit. I love your wolfishnish. I want you to be comfortable with
where we live.”
“I can be comfortable in the human world.” Which was a lie. I couldn’t, and luckily, Julian knew it.
“You’d be worried all the time, and I’d end up worried about you worrying so much. We’d be much happier together—away from the crowds of humans who would never understand how special and amazing you are. We’d fit better into the shifter world than the human one.”
I melted into his side, practically purring. “You’re sort of the sweetest.”
He kissed my head. “Just sort of?”
“Julian.” Charlotte wasn’t just frowning anymore. She looked angry. Julian had to have heard the harsher tone in her voice, because he stiffened. And, no matter how unlikely it was, I swear I heard my mate growl.
“What?” His voice sounded just as harsh as hers, though his carried a tone of dismissal. This was going to go badly for both of them, I could already feel it coming.
Charlotte’s eyes flashed my way. “I need you to be serious.”
“I am serious. I want to live my life with Angelita. I want the two of us to be happy. Why isn’t that enough?”
“Angelita?” Bez asked, his husky voice breaking the tension between the siblings. “What do you want?”
I glanced from Julian to his sister, then back to the man who’d taken on the responsibility of raising me. He gave nothing away with his expression, but I knew him. Knew how much he believed in the sanctity of a mating bond. Knew how hard it’d been on him these years as I left his home for Rebel’s to stay close to my mate, to give up protecting me for those weeks every year. He hadn’t wanted me to grow up too fast or to be without his insane level of protection, but he would never try to stand in our way now. Not after everything—not since I’d become an adult in the eyes of even the humans. And I knew, no matter what I chose, he’d be right behind me. Backing me up the way only he could. With brute strength and a will as strong as steel.
Even if he disagreed with my decision.
That fact gave me the courage to lay my heart and soul on the line in front of everyone. “He’s my mate, and I love him. I want to live here, with him.”
Bez stared at me, eyes hard, before he finally nodded. “It’s what they want.”
Charlotte’s face went red. “But what will they do for money? And what about college? Julian’s only a year in—he needs to finish that degree.”
“We’ll get to all that,” Julian said. “I can go local or do most of my classes online. I’m not saying I’m dropping out, but I’m not going away to live the college campus life. It’s not for me, and it’s certainly not for Angelita.” Julian pulled me into his side, resting his hand on my hip. “I’m not giving everything up, and that includes the life I want with my mate. We have time to deal with the rest.”
I met Sariel’s eyes. They mirrored the emotions I felt roiling under the surface. Worry, fear, anxiety. Sariel had been trapped on that damned houseboat right along with me, for far longer than I’d been. She could have died there. We both had a deep and personal understanding of how wrong Julian could be.
Sometimes time was the one thing you didn’t have.
“And what about you, Julian?” Rebel asked. “Do you want to become a wolf shifter?”
Julian answered yes at the same moment I blurted out a no. Typical.
“We still have a few decisions to make,” Julian said, his hand squeezing mine. His voice tight.
Rebel raised an eyebrow. “Might want to lock that decision down before you exchange mating bites, then.”
Charlotte spun, her mouth agape. “Abraham.”
“What?” Rebel shrugged. “They’re mates, and there’s no denying their souls are ready for the next step. It would be irresponsible of us not to remind them of the commitment such a thing entails.”
“We know.” Damn, did we know. “We won’t be jumping into anything without more discussions.”
Rebel and Bez both looked as if they doubted my words, Charlotte seemed disappointed, but Sariel? She simply smiled, her red-rimmed eyes giving her away. I’d be leaving her home, which meant her job as my mother was done. And given the fact that she couldn’t bear children of her own, that had to be a difficult truth to accept. But I wouldn’t bring Julian to Texas—he and Bez would never get along well enough for that. I needed to stay put, to learn to live in the Midwest if I wanted to stay close to my mate. Which I did. Enough to be willing to leave behind the woman who’d saved my life.
FOUR
Julian
“I thought for sure your sister would have put up more of a fight about us shacking up together.” Angelita gave my hand a squeeze before walking toward the bathroom of my apartment. I crossed the room, thankful to be alone with her. We’d retreated from the main house after dinner, neither of us wanting to deal with the tension between our two sets of non-parental units. We needed quiet and peace, and to talk some more. Just the two of us.
I reached the end of the bed and sat down, remembering the tone of Charlotte’s voice when she’d finally agreed with Bez. “I’m sure she’s not quite done yet, but the worst is probably over.”
The sound of water running was my only answer, and I counted until it stopped. Eight seconds to silence, three more as she reached for the towel, and then the rustle of fabric as she dried her face. Angelita never understood how in tune with her I was. How much I knew about what she was doing and feeling just by the sounds she made, by the smell of her, by the tone of her voice. I couldn’t see her emotions expressed, but I felt them. Strongly and deeply.
The click of the light going off had me cocking my head. Angelita padded across the floor toward me, bringing her warm, earthy smell with her. Want burned deep and strong inside of me, need. My mate and I were about to sleep together in the same bed for the first time, and I was wound tight in anticipation of feeling her against me all night long.
When it seemed to take forever for her to get to me, I reached out, needing to touch her, too impatient to wait until she crawled into bed with me. It took a second, but I finally grasped her hand with mine, immediately pulling her on top of me, rolling her to the side so she lay between my body and the wall. Protecting her from the rest of the world. Wanting to hide her away.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked with a laugh. That joy, that ease—I craved it all the time. I wanted her happy and relaxed, wanted her animal side to be comfortable no matter where we were.
I shrugged, nuzzling into her neck in a mimic of the way she always did to me. “Your scent.”
“My scent?” Fuck, her words came out a little softer, a little rougher. Her smell changed, deepening with arousal as she curled into my body. I knew that scent. I loved that scent. My body responded, sending my blood to my already hardening cock, throwing my heart into overdrive.
We were alone…for the entire night.
“Yeah, it’s calling to me. I need more of it.” I ran my hands over her back, pulling her closer the lower I went. Pressing my fingers deep into her flesh as I moved below her waist. Skin welcomed me, warm, soft, not enough and too much at the same time. Cotton and lace slid over the backs of my hands as I reached lower, as I moved under her clothes. As I craved. “Damn, Leelee. You’re driving me crazy here.”
She moaned this time instead of giggling, creeping closer as I kneaded the flesh of her ass. “I try.”
“You succeed.” I gripped her tight, melding my mouth with hers. Fuck, my chest hurt. There was a pressure, a need deep within me to join with this woman. Something I hadn’t felt before. I wanted to do more than love on her, wanted to go beyond my lips against hers and my hands all over her. I wanted to take her. To join us together forever as mates. To fuck and bite and claim—to give in to what I’d resisted for so long—to give myself to the woman the fates deemed my perfect match.
That same need had always been present, but it’d simmered at first. Barely more than a warm breath when I would hear Angelita’s voice or smell her scent. It’d grown over the years since we met, building h
igher, burning brighter. And hotter. So fucking hot.
My Angelita wasn’t a timid girl. She rolled me onto my back, moving in concert with me, straddling my hips with her hands against my chest. “We’re alone.”
The pressure, the heat. This girl was such a tease. And I loved it. I rocked her over me, shifting until we were lined up exactly as I wanted us to be. Well, not quite exactly. There were still too many layers between us. “I know.”
“So,” she said, sitting up and moving her hips in a way that made me groan. Made me need. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. Watch a movie?” I tried to keep my voice calm, almost detached to match hers, but it was so hard. As was I. Angelita rocked on top of me, dragging her pussy over my cock. The heat from her, the pressure—it was too much and not enough all at the same time. I kept my hands on her hips, guiding her, lifting my hips to match her rhythm as we moved. This wasn’t new. I’d felt her come before like this, heard her little gasps and fell apart at her satisfied moans. This, we were good at.
“Huh,” she said, almost gasping the word. “I… Oh, God… I wonder what’s…on.”
No, she didn’t. Her breath sped up, the warmth between her legs growing. She rocked harder, snapping her hips faster. Releasing a gasp every few strokes as I pushed against her. She wasn’t wondering anything except when I was going to make her come. And I hated to keep her waiting.
Without a word, I rolled us both, caging her in with my arms as my hips settled between her legs.
She squealed, holding on to me, sounding pouty as she said, “No fair.”
“Sure, it is.” I lined my cock up with where she was so wet for me and rolled my hips. She shivered, clinging to my shoulders. Breathing out a deep sigh as I picked up where we’d left off. I dropped my weight onto her a little more, knowing she liked that. Knowing how much she felt protected and cared for when I surrounded her. Angelita hitched her leg over my hip and opened herself wider for me. One of these days—I grunted, trying to hold back as my thoughts swirled to things we had yet to experience. We’d been naked around each other already. I’d felt every inch of her—kissed each one, too. We’d managed to find time to do the things most people our age did. Except for one.
