by Kimber White
Then something else entered my heart that washed away all traces of melancholy. It got hard to breathe, and the hairs stood at the back of my neck. Heat coursed through me, and I had the urge to run.
“That was fast,” Pat said. She let go of my hand and sat back again. “You really are special, aren’t you?”
“What?” I tore my gaze away from the front door and looked back at Pat. “How did you know he was . . .”
She smiled and waved a hand in front of her face. “It’s written all over you, dear. Seems your Tucker doesn’t want to spend another minute away from you, either. Go on, honey. You’ll find him down by the lake. Take the trail out past the barn. The lake is at the end of it, a little less than half a mile.”
But I was already out of my seat and nearly running around the table. I said a breathless thank you as I pushed open the screen door. Pat needn’t have bothered with directions, my heart could lead me to Tucker over any distance. I took the porch steps two at a time and broke into a run when my feet hit the grass.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tucker’s body called out to mine. His howl cut through the air and vibrated through me, sending shivers down my spine. I ran toward him as fast as my legs could carry me. Tucker. My Tucker. I couldn’t bear to be separated from him for another second.
I burst through the clearing at the end of the path, and my heart dropped to my feet at the sight before me. Tucker. My glorious wolf. He stood perched at the top of a rocky outcropping over the lake, his silvery head thrown back as he howled at the rising moon. It was as if the cells in my body rearranged themselves in response to him. My hair stood on end, and my pulse pounded in time with his.
He turned toward me, his silver eyes blazing through the dusk. He stomped his front paws once and threw his head back once more to let out another soulful howl. For the first time since he’d marked me, I understood his thoughts as he was in wolf form. It meant the bond between us was growing even deeper. It thrilled me and overwhelmed me. Wild Lake was his place. He was home. And he needed the world to know it.
And there was something else, too. The moon shadowed everything around us in blue. The lake was still as glass, mirroring the moon and Tucker’s outline. A gentle breeze lifted my hair, and I took the first slow steps toward my wolf. I peeled off my t-shirt and cast it aside. I stepped out of my shorts and left those behind. I stood at the edge of the water, naked, digging my toes into the sand. I looked over my shoulder. Tucker watched me. His ears pricked backward and he pawed the ground again. The fur between his shoulders stood on end.
I turned back toward the lake. In my reflection in the still waters, I saw myself as Tucker did. My skin gleamed white. My breasts rose and fell with each breath. My nipples rose to hard peaks, and gooseflesh covered me. I dipped a toe into the water. The lake was a perfect oval, maybe three hundred acres. But with the late August summer heat, the water was warm and inviting. I threw my hair behind my shoulders and walked in up to my knees.
Tucker howled again. I could see his shimmering reflection before me. I took a breath and made a shallow dive into the water. I swam to the rocks where Tucker stood and tread water in front of him. He sat back on his haunches and watched me. I felt like some sort of water nymph as I floated naked before him. I kicked backward and floated on my back, letting my long hair drift around me. Tucker pawed the rocks again, and reared back. His fur rolled and shimmered. He dipped his head low before he shuddered and tucked into himself. Then he stood again, this time as a man. My naked and glorious man. Sweat made his skin glisten in the moonlight. His great cock stood straight out and the muscles of his thighs rippled as he took a step back then launched himself forward. He made a graceful arc as he dove into the water beside me.
I squealed and splashed as Tucker emerged in front of me, his black hair dripping over his forehead. He wrapped his arms around me and drew me to him tight, threatening to drag me under. I wondered if Tucker was part sea creature, as well. With the agility of a shark, he kicked backward, dragging me along with him. He lifted me and brought me down, sheathing himself to the root inside me with one nimble movement that made me gasp with the thrill of it.
Tucker kept his arms around my waist as he kicked backward through the water. I wrapped my legs around him, clenching my pussy tight to keep myself well seated. He was huge, hard, and filled me completely. My body shivered with the twin sensations of Tucker’s heated cock inside me and the swirling cool water surrounding us. Then he had us back on shore. He rose out of the water and I kept my legs around him tight as he laid me down in the sand.
“Fuck me,” I whispered.
Tucker’s eyes blazed, and his white teeth nearly glowed in the moonlight as he began to pump and thrust into me. He pressed my knees flat into the soft sand, spreading me wide for him. He was hard and hot, and my pussy clenched and shuddered as he set the rhythm he needed. I gasped and raised my hands over my head. He grasped my wrists in one hand, pinning me against the ground. As I lay spread before him, he pummeled me with his powerful thrusts. Fucking. Grunting. Claiming.
“What are you doing to me?” he said through each punishing thrust. “I can’t get enough of you. Do you know that? I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t breathe unless you’re with me like this. I need you Neve. Always. I want to fuck you raw. All the time.”
“I know.” I gasped as I coiled my legs around him, drawing him in even further. “Don’t stop. I’ll die if you stop.”
His pulse thundered through me. His blood heated mine. With each thrust of his cock, I felt myself open even wider. My juices gushed out of me. I bit my lip to contain the sensation.
“Scream if you want,” Tucker said, breathless. “These are our lands.”
“Yes, don’t stop!”
Tucker let go of my wrists and grabbed my ankles. He raised them up to my shoulders, splaying me wide. I clawed at the sand to brace myself as he kept up his driving rhythm. His wolf eyes flashed and I knew he struggled to keep the beast contained. A part of me wanted him to let it go. I wanted the wolf. I wanted the man. Ever since he’d marked me, I wished that I too could shift along with him. For as wild as he was, as hard as he fucked me, I knew he held so much back as he tried not to hurt me.
“Let go,” I gasped. “I want it. Tucker. All of it. All of you. I know you won’t hurt me.”
And it was true. Something had happened to me since the first time Tucker and I coupled. Each time, I wanted it harder, deeper. Laying with him and the rest of the pack had altered me in so many ways. I could handle him. All of him. I knew it. I needed it. I wanted so much more. The harder we fucked, the more I wanted. I clawed at Tucker’s back and thrust my hips upward as he pressed my ankles against the ground.
Tucker leaned down and took my nipple between his teeth. He was gentle at first, until I dug my nails into his back, urging him on. He bit down harder, sending a stinging heat through me and a fresh gush of juices between my legs. Yes. This. More of this. I wanted it rough. I wanted him to claim me, fuck me, and tear me apart.
A low growl vibrated through him as I met his punishing pace. He caught my chin in his hands and turned my head, making me look him in the eyes. He was a man still, but the wildness in him was just there below the surface. His eyes glinted silver and I nodded. “Yes,” I gasped. “I want it as hard as you can give it.”
Tucker snapped his teeth, and let go of my ankles. He put his hands on my hips and jerked me to my knees, forcing me down to all fours. My pussy was on fire, and dripping for him. My legs quivered in anticipation as he lined himself up to enter me again. He put a hand between my shoulder blades and pushed me down, angling my ass high for him. He got one knee between my legs and forced me to spread them even wider.
“Yes!” I gasped again. “Do it. Fuck me! Please!”
Tucker gripped my hips, holding me into position. My pussy throbbed, waiting to be filled again. He did get a scream out of me as he reached between my legs and stroked my poor, swollen clit between his finge
rs, coaxing even more heat from me and making me shudder.
Then Tucker finally gave me what I had begged him for. He rooted his cock deep inside me, making my teeth rattle with each punishing thrust. But, oh, it felt so good. Even though I knew how sore he’d make me in the morning. I’d be lucky if I could walk straight for days. But it was worth it. Each delicious thrust of his massive cock was worth it.
I dug my fingers into the sand, struggling to keep myself in position as Tucker fucked me like the wild thing he was. I went wild along with him. He was so thick, so long. I felt each pulsation of his massive cock as he drove it deep inside me. On and on he fucked me and I bore it all. I needed to. I needed to show him, to prove to him that he could be as rough as he wanted and I could bear it. I craved every bit of it. Though he’d chosen me, I felt like I was born for it. Born for him.
“Do you like that?” he said, his voice low and husky.
“I . . . love . . . it,” I said, struggling to get my words out as he pounded me. My breasts swung wildly as he rocked me back and forth. Tucker’s balls were full and hard. I felt them smack against me as the pressure built within him.
Something flashed in the trees before us. My eyes were drawn to it as Tucker kept fucking me. Tucker wound his fingers through my hair, keeping my head up, and my back arched as he kept his other hand on my hip, holding me in place. I saw the flash again. I struggled to focus on it as Tucker kept up his relentless pace, making my head bob as he held my hair. The flashes got close enough so I could tell they were a pair of golden eyes.
Mal.
He loped through the trees, watching us. If Tucker knew he was there, he didn’t break his rhythm. Mal’s eyes blinked again, and rose up as he shifted from wolf to man. I could make out his silhouette just beyond the tree line. He got bolder, taking a few steps forward until the moonlight shone on his skin.
Tucker picked up his pace as he rooted himself deep with each thrust. He let go of my hip and reached around, sliding his fingers over my throbbing clit. I cried out from the pleasure of it. Tucker growled with satisfaction. He kept his other hand wound in my hair as he leaned forward and nipped my neck where I bore the deep scar of his mark. Heat flashed there, sending a fresh wave of moisture between my legs.
If Tucker saw Mal, he showed no sign of it. His focus was completely on me, as he worked my swollen clit and I felt the first shudders of pleasure. When I gave into it, I knew it would be the most powerful orgasm I’d ever felt.
I looked back toward the woods. Mal stroked himself and I gasped as I saw his thick, giant cock. He was every bit as big as Tucker and, God help me, my mouth watered at the sight of it. I couldn’t understand what was happening. But, as Tucker fucked me and Mal watched, I was more turned on than I’d ever been in my life. It scared me as much as it thrilled me. I was shameless, wanton. I couldn’t imagine what Mal must think as he watched me get fucked by Tucker. My back arched, my tits swinging wildly as I licked my lips and begged Tucker to go even faster.
I belonged to Tucker. He filled my body as well as my thoughts. But I’d fucked the others, too, and loved every second of it. Something about Mal was different, though. He had a deep, menacing power that drew me to him, even though he held himself at a distance. I imagined what it would feel like to have Tucker fill me from behind as Mal slipped himself past my lips.
“Oh!” I cried out. As Tucker worked me into a lather, I couldn’t control myself another second. I came hard and fast, my orgasm tearing through me. I screamed through it, rearing backwards. Tucker showed me no mercy. He tweaked and stroked my clit, drawing it out until the sensitive little bud was hard as a rock. My juices coated his hand and he pulled me back until I was up on my knees. I knew Mal could see everything now. My body was on full display for him, with Tucker behind me, sheathed to the root, my aching breasts with taught nipples thrust out, Tucker’s fingers stroking me between my legs.
Tucker cupped my chin with his free hand, and turned my head until he caught my lips with his. He gave one last deep thrust, and I felt his seed shoot straight up into me as my orgasm crested down. His buttocks clenched again and again as he pumped his hot semen into me. I kissed him through it, biting his lips, reaching back to touch his jaw.
When he was through, Tucker helped me stand and turned me to face him. He was gentle now, the beast sated. He whispered my name as he lifted me in his arms and carried me back to the lake where he could cleanse us both.
As we reached the water line, I stole a glance back toward the wood. It was full dark now. Mal was long gone. Then, the cool water enveloped me, and I threaded my hands through Tucker’s hair as he pushed off from the shore and swam with me in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“I’m sore in muscles I didn’t even know I had,” I said, feathering soft kisses across Tucker’s chest. Since our reunion at the lake, Tucker had grown bolder and rougher, now that he knew I could handle it. Though I loved every second of it, my body paid for it each morning. It was a good hurt. For the third straight day in a week, we’d slept through the sunrise and he held me against him. We were hopelessly tangled in the bedsheets.
Tucker smiled as he traced lazy circles around my nipples. He kept my nipples pebbled and hard, licking them and blowing on them for his pleasure and mine. I wriggled away a little but he held me in place. “Stop teasing. You said mating and fucking were two different things. Was that mating last night?”
Tucker leaned back, hooking a hand behind his head. “No. That was just really, really fantastic fucking. When we mate, you’ll know the difference.”
“Oh, do tell.”
Tucker stroked my hair. “You have to be marked many more times, my love. Every time I mark you, our bond will grow even stronger. Eventually, it can bring you into heat.”
“How many times do you have to mark me?” I propped myself up on my elbows. Tucker had bitten me twice now. The first time back in Hidden Forest, the second time just last night. I knew what he meant, our bond did seem stronger this morning. I was starting to feel the heartbeats of the rest of the pack along with Tucker’s now.
Tucker shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. Every woman is different. It usually takes years.”
“Mmm.” I leaned down and swirled my tongue around his nipple. It tickled and he jumped. I laughed and leaned up on my elbow, running a finger down his sternum, over his abs, circling his navel. Then I circled the base of his cock with my thumb and forefinger. Even when he wasn’t hard, I could barely make my fingers meet.
“Unless you’re ready for another round, I wouldn’t wake him up, Neve.”
I leaned back, snuggling into the hollow space below his shoulder. As much as I loved the bubble we built around ourselves in this bed, I couldn’t forget the circumstances that led us here. “Is there still no sign of Asher? I know Mal took Jake to patrol last night.”
Tucker’s eyes grew dark. “Not so far.” He leaned forward and tried to draw my chin up to kiss him. I pulled away. He meant to evade the discussion, but Asher’s actions impacted me now. I was part of this pack, too, and I needed to know what was to come.
“What about the other packs? When do I get to meet them? If there’s a war like Mal said, will they fight with you?”
“There hasn’t been a real pack war since my grandfather’s generation,” Tucker said. Luke McGraw. Most of what I knew about him had come from Harold and Pat. Lines of worry crossed Tucker’s face and I wished I could read his thoughts in the same way I could now sense his emotions. Tucker’s rise to power had to have been brutal and bloody. He was remembering it now. That much I could feel from the flutter of his heartbeat and the pain in his eyes. Indeed, our bond had grown stronger after the second marking last night.
“What was he like?” I said. “Your father.”
Tucker raised a dark brow. “You’re getting good at this. Don’t try to go too far into my head. I might scare you off.”
I circled a lock of his chest hair with my index finger and leaned down to
kiss him just above the nipple. I smiled when his skin raised in gooseflesh. I wanted to make him respond even more, but he seemed in a talking mood and I had so many questions.
“Pat says you look just like him.”
Tucker nodded. “He was strong. Powerful. I was scared to death of him when I was a kid. It was just the two of us and the pack. My mother died when I was little.”
“Was she human?” I sat up and hugged my knees. He shook his head.
“No. She was full blooded were. Tall. Beautiful. You remind me of her.”
“What was her name?”
Tucker rested his head against the headboard and looked up toward the ceiling. The corners of his full mouth lifted into a smile and he closed his eyes. “Camilla. She had long, red hair. She always smelled like cinnamon to me. She snorted when she laughed and she was the only person I ever knew who wasn’t afraid of my Dad. He was more afraid of her. She would have liked you, I think.”
“I hope so. I wish I could have known her.”
Tucker pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. “Me too. And my Dad. There are so many things I wish I could talk to him about now. I blamed him for so much growing up. I didn’t understand the burdens he carried as Alpha. He tried to tell me and I was too young and stubborn to listen. I thought he was just stuck in the past. That I could do everything better. I’m sure he’s looking down now and wishing he could tell me I told you so.”
Tucker carried so many secrets within him. I could sense how much they weighed on him. I wanted him to feel like he could share anything with me, even though a part of me feared the brutality of them. I took a breath and asked.
“Was there a fight between the two of you at the end? Is that how you claimed the pack? Pat and Harold mentioned something.” A heavy silence hung between us. I wanted the truth. I asked for it. But, a part of me dreaded his answer. Had he been forced to kill his own father?
