by Alisa Woods
She dropped her gaze to the ferns on the forest floor. “My wolf never gets to come out. I can’t risk it. And yet here…” She looked up at him. “Here I feel like I’ve finally found a pack. Of sorts. I know that has to sound silly to you, but I’ve never had anything like it, and my wolf… my wolf has been whining and whining about you like she wanted me to tell you…”
Her wolf was singing for him.
He stepped back, dumbfounded. His heart raced, catching up to the thought that was surging through his brain—she was the one.
She dropped her gaze again. “I know it’s silly—”
“No.” He lurched toward her, suddenly unsteady with this understanding—he had found her. She was a witch who was secretly a wolf. He was a wolf just discovering his inner witch. They fit together like destiny and fate rolled up into one magical ball of blue energy. He eased up to her. “No, no, no. You don’t understand, my love, because how could you? You don’t have a pack. You don’t have anyone to explain…” He was still wrapping his head around this. All this time, she grew up as a witch—she was a witch—and yet she was also a wolf. And that wolf had needs… for pack… for a mate.
“Explain what?” she asked, but her arms, tightly-locked around her chest, had loosened a little.
He took her hands and unlocked them the rest of the way, holding one in each of his. “That whining you’re talking about. That’s your wolf singing for a mate.”
Her face opened in surprise. “A mate?”
“Yes, a mate.” His heart was banging around inside his chest. “Someone to bond with. Someone to care for. Any alpha lucky enough to mate with you would love and cherish and protect you all the days of your life.” Did she hear what he was saying? Would she understand?
Her eyes were wide. “My wolf was singing for you?”
Yes. “And mine for you.” He gave a little laugh—he was hopelessly meant for her, and he’d barely recognized it himself. “All this time. I just didn’t know it because…”
“Because I was a witch.” The expression on her face held the same astonishment he felt.
His voice drew husky. “And now, so am I.” His wolf was clawing to come out. To have her. To claim her. It was insanely fast, but he could hardly hold back.
She still looked amazed. “And you want me?”
He slipped a hand into her short, spiky hair. “If I wanted you any more, I seriously think it might kill me.” Then he decided he’d had enough of words, and he would just show her what he meant. He pulled her hard into the kiss. Her moan as his tongue ravaged her mouth was all the encouragement he needed. He slid one hand down to cup her delicious bottom and hold her tight against him while the other kneaded her breast. She gasped into his mouth and arched into his hand. Her mouth was hot and demanding against his. His hands had minds of their own, urgently seeking out that bare-skinned touch that had sparked magic between them before. He slipped a hand under her tight little t-shirt and up under the flimsy bra she had, finding bare flesh. Her nipple was stiff against his palm.
He moaned into her mouth. “Fuck. Skylar, my love, what is that when I touch you? I’m losing my damn mind with that.”
She was clawing at his shirt, but his hands were too busy finding bare skin down the back of her pants to help her out with that.
“That’s our magic,” she breathed, her voice husky and so damn sexy. “Don’t wolves have that? Don’t you share magic when you touch?”
“No,” he said, feasting on her neck. “But I really fucking like being a witch now.”
She laughed, short and fast, before the moan came back. He couldn’t decide which he liked more. He backed her up against the tree trunk, slipping his hand out of the back of her skinny black pants and sliding them down the front. She gasped as his fingers caressed her silky-soft skin, sparking magic all the way to her sex. Then the gasp turned into a whimper, and he was back to consuming her mouth, swallowing her moans as his fingers worked the slick hotness between her legs. She was squirming and panting as he pressed her against the tree with his body, leaving just enough room for his fingers to torment her with pleasure between her legs.
She threw her head back, breaking their kiss. “Oh yes! Daniel… holy…” She was panting so hard, he was losing his mind with it. He worked against her pants to slip two fingers inside her, and she shrieked. He could feel the magic sparking pleasure in his damn fingers—he couldn’t even imagine what it must be doing to the sensitive nerves of her sweet, sweet sex.
“Goddammit, Skylar,” he panted against her throat. She was squirming and whimpering so much, he had to hold her still with a hand on her breast and his mouth on her neck. “Is it always like this for witches? Because fuck I need to be in you.” His fangs were already coming out, and the need to sink them in her was howling inside him.
“Yes, oh goddess please, yes.” She was still uselessly grabbing at his shirt.
“Pants. Off. Now.” His growl held all his impatience. He lurched back from her long enough to rip open his jeans and shove them down, springing free his cock from its aching prison. He didn’t bother taking off his pants the rest of the way. She had only gotten hers halfway down her hips, so he fell to his knees and took care of it. Then he tore her boots free of her little feet, running his hands up the sweet curves of her legs once they were bare. She was whimpering as she braced against the tree, one hand on his head, and he couldn’t resist—he was desperate to be inside her, but he had to have a taste. He lifted one of those delicate knees over his shoulder and dove in, tongue first. She shrieked again as the magic leaped from his tongue straight to her sex, then she grabbed onto his head with both hands and bucked into his mouth. He gave her everything she wanted, lapping up all her sweetness, then plunged his fingers inside.
“Yes!” she cried. “Please, yes, please, don’t stop…”
No way in hell he was stopping. “Come for me, my love,” he whispered against the impossibly soft skin of her thigh as he pumped her hard with his hand.
She cried out, and the thin limbs of her body wrapped all around him, clutching him, grabbing at him… until finally she bucked so hard against him that he had to fight to keep her anchored to the tree. Her sweet wetness gushed as her sex convulsed around his hand. The sounds she was making, the scents and the sweetness… there was only so much he could take. He pulled his hand free of her and rose up in one swift motion. He grabbed her hot bottom away from the tree, but her head was still lolled back, lost in the magic-sparked orgasm he had just given her.
“I need to be inside you, my love,” he panted, positioning his cock at her entrance but waiting. He wanted her back to her senses. He wanted her beautiful blue eyes on him. He wanted to see her when he buried himself in her.
She lifted her head and blinked. “Sweet goddess, more?”
“So much more,” he growled, ducking his head to nuzzle her flushed cheek. “Say you want me.”
“I want you.” She was still gasping for breath.
His cock nudged her entrance. So wet. A shudder ran through her and spread to him as the magic sparked between them at the contact point. He had to hold himself back from slamming into her. “I want you now. I want you hard, Skylar. But this doesn’t end here. I want you for more.”
“More?” The word was mostly a gasp. Her hands had worked into his hair and gripped his shoulders. Her legs wrapped around his waist.
“I want you for life.” It was a whisper. And it was too much to ask. Far too much. But it was everything he wanted.
Her eyes went wide. “As mates.”
“As mates.” His breath was hot on her lips, but he wasn’t touching her there. Only his hands on her sweet bare bottom and his cock pressed to her hot, dripping sex. “I can fuck you once and leave you. Or I can love you once and forever.”
Her breath caught, and her eyes glassed. “Forever. I choose forever.”
Yes. The joy that filled him sent his wolf howling. “Skylar,” he breathed, his voice so husky it was almost a whisp
er. “I claim you for my mate.” Then he thrust hard up into her.
Her mouth dropped open. “Sweet mother goddess,” she breathed as he stayed buried to the hilt. Magic was sparking the length of his cock, and he had to fight not to come right then. She clutched hard at his shoulders. “So big. You’re so damn big. Daniel…. take me.”
So he did. Pulling back and thrusting in, again and again, each stroke a wonder of magical pleasure. She was so sweetly tight, he had to ram so hard, that he was afraid he might be hurting her. But those sounds coming out of her mouth—the moans and the whimpers and the shrieks—were nothing but pure pleasure.
“Yes! Yes!” she cried over and over, and then she crested again, pulsing all around him. By some power he didn’t think he possessed, he managed not to come. He needed to forestall that for just a little longer… because he had every intention of truly claiming Skylar Starling.
When he was sure he had milked her climax good and long, he eased out of her, still hard as a rock and wet from their lovemaking. He lowered her legs to the ground and stepped back. “Shift for me, my love,” he said, speaking the ritual words.
“What?” she said, dazed and holding onto the tree now that she no longer had his support.
“Shift and submit to me.”
She blinked and stared at him for a moment… then a slow smile spread across her face.
And she shifted into the most beautifully delicate black wolf he had ever seen.
I can’t believe this is happening, thought Skylar.
She was standing in wolf form, her clothes in a pile beside her, in front of Daniel Wilding… and he wanted her for a mate.
The whirlwind of it was almost too much for her mind to grasp—Daniel had embraced his witch, she’d confessed her secret, and now he was standing before her, tall and proud, as a white wolf. His wolf had changed from that shaggy black beautiful beast she had seen in the forest, and now he stood with his tail and head held high. Her wolf instinctively recognized it—the alpha pose. Did she really want this? Could she really give herself to this amazing man so quickly… and forever? It didn’t help that her mind was muddled by two insane orgasms that Daniel had just given her, with his tongue and his cock. Now he wanted to give her his love—once and forever.
Even the memory of the words sent a shiver through her.
Yes, she wanted this. More than anything else in the world. She tucked her tail and stretched out her paws and dipped her head. The submission pose. As soon as she reached it a surge of magic seized hold of her, flowing from and resonating with Daniel’s magic. He was an incredibly powerful witch, but that energy—the combined energy of his witch and wolf magic—made the submission bond zing and lift her on a high that rivaled the orgasms still echoing through her body.
Holy shit.
Rise, my love. Daniel’s voice was in her head, startling her but popping her up from the forest floor.
You’re my alpha, she thought in amazement and wonder.
Shift for me, Skylar, my love. It was her alpha’s command, and she could hardly disobey it, not that she had any desire to do so. She shifted human again, almost wistful to be leaving their wolf forms behind—she wanted to rub her muzzle against his, chase him through the forest, and run together as a pack. Maybe only a pack of two, but she could feel it—they were pack now.
But all thoughts of wolf-ish fun dropped away when she ended up naked in Daniel’s arms, his cock pressed into her belly as he pulled her against him and devoured her in a kiss. She moaned into his mouth again. She could hardly help herself. Wolves were known for their voracious sexual appetites, but this was just insane. He was still ready for more—and she would take everything he had to give.
He broke the kiss and pulled back to look in her eyes. “This is your last chance to say no, my love.”
“No? Why on earth would I do that?” She truly had no idea what he was talking about.
He was breathing in ragged gasps, and his cock was still hard against her. “The submission bond only lasts until the next full moon. We’re bonded until then, but after that, you would be free again. But if I claim you for a mate…”
“I know how it works,” she said, suddenly glad she had done all her surreptitious research on wolves, once she knew she was one. “The male bites the female and the magic in his blood binds her to him forever. They’re mated for life.”
His hand was in her hair, and his expression had gone tender. “And it’s irreversible. You can’t change your mind, my love. I want this so badly—you have no idea how badly my wolf is dying to claim you—but this is all so fast. And you must be sure.”
She stared up into the furrowed expression on his face. He was kind and noble and strong. He was already the most amazing lover she’d ever had, and they’d just barely had sex for the first time. But more importantly—most importantly—he understood what she was like no other person could. Both witch and wolf. Magical in a way only a few people on the planet were.
And a part of her wolf would die if she said no. Of that, she was certain.
“I want to be your mate like nothing I’ve ever wanted,” she said, holding back her smile.
His smile blazed forth.
“But I have one condition,” she added.
His face fell. “What’s that?”
“I can’t ever come out as a wolf,” she said. “I can’t ever be part of a pack, not openly at least. My coven would destroy us, Daniel, if they knew.”
His eyes set into a harder expression. “I won’t hide my love for you.”
That surged such an unexpected joy in her that she had a hard time getting the next words out. “You won’t have to.” She smiled to fight back the tears. “They can know that we’re together. They can even know that you’ve claimed me for a mate. Some witches have done that before. It will mystify my family, but I don’t care about that. Just please… they can’t know I’m a wolf. It will hurt the people I love. I don’t want that. I’ll take that secret to the grave.”
He looked at her with a kind of awe that made her naked body flush with heat from head to toe. “You’re protecting them.”
“Yes.” She couldn’t stop one of the tears from cresting and falling.
Daniel frowned and wiped it with his thumb, sparking delicious magic across her skin as he did.
She leaned into his touch. “I thought keeping that secret would mean my wolf would forever be sad. Forever lonely. Instead…” She choked up a little, and another tear fell. “Instead, I found the most amazing man who understands me and wants to claim me. So when you say I must be sure, all I can say is… I’m already yours, Daniel Wilding.”
His eyes held more love than she’d ever seen on a person’s face. Then he kissed her, and all her tears dried. With their naked bodies pressed against each other, magic was sparking everywhere. It was pooling fresh heat between her legs, and Daniel’s cock was still hard and insistent between them.
He broke their kiss to whisper, “Turn around. Hold onto the tree. I’m going to make you mine.”
That word sent a shiver through her that had nothing to do with the cool forest air, but her nipples ached and hardened all the same. She turned around in his arms and leaned forward to hold onto the rough bark of the tree, pressing her rear end into Daniel behind her. He moaned and grabbed hold of her hips, sliding that delicious cock of his around to position at her entrance. Then he thrust hard into her, and she couldn’t help the gasp that came out of her mouth. She’d already had him inside her, just minutes ago, but she wasn’t kidding when she said he was big. And with the magic sliding in along with him, pounding every ultra-sensitive nerve, again and again, it didn’t take her long to start rocketing toward another climax. His hands held her tight as he thrusted harder and harder. The grunts as he took her sent waves of goosebumps all over her body. Then he eased forward, reaching for her shoulder to brace against as he kept thrusting deeper and deeper into her.
Her hold on the tree almost slipped, she was so lost in the
pleasure that kept mounting in her as he claimed her from behind in a primal mixture of love and lust that had her witchy-human head light-headed and her wolf essence ecstatic. As he kept thrusting, she could feel his urgent pants on her shoulder. He kissed it and then grazed something sharp against her skin.
His fangs.
“You are mine,” he panted, lips against her skin.
“Yes!” she cried. Praise the goddess, he was going to do it. He was going to claim her right now.
“All mine,” he growled out. “Forever mine.”
“Yes!” she begged.
He thrust again and again, pushing her closer and closer to release, and just when she thought he had changed his mind, he sank his fangs into her. She cried out with the twin pinpricks of pain, but that bite just sent her over the edge, her sex convulsing all around him, shooting a deluge of pleasure everywhere in her body. He groaned and thrust deep and stilled, his mouth still clamped on her shoulder, his hot seed spilling into her sex even as his wild magic filled her body from his bite. She’d never felt so fully possessed. So fully one with a man.
And the swirl of his magic in her blood was floating her on a high like no other.
He stayed that way, holding her against the tree, sunk deep inside her both ways, for a long moment… and then slowly released her. First with his fangs, which he pulled back, and then his cock, which he eased out of her. She instantly missed the fullness of it. The possession of it. If it were up to her, they would spend the next eternity locked away in a bedroom somewhere—or the forest, or anywhere he would take her—endlessly making love. Endlessly joining and releasing and coupling again.
Daniel’s breath was ragged. He pulled her around to face him, cuddling her into the broad expanse of his chest, cupping one hand to her breast and dipping down to pepper her face with kisses.
“I’m the goddamn luckiest wolf on the face of this planet.” He was gazing at her with wonder.
She reached up to touch his face. “I think you’ve got that backward, hot witchy-wolf of mine.”
