Found in Flames

by Desconhecido

  When they finally pulled apart he took a breath and said, “Once we make it official you’ll shift at the next full moon. That’s the first thing you should know.”

  Her eyes lifted back to the sky for a moment, clearly taking note of the nearness of the full moon. “You mean … tomorrow?”

  Grinning, Luka said, “The day after. If we mate before. If you’d rather wait, we can do that, too.”

  A thoughtful frown pursed her lips and she looked back at him. “You said ‘make it official,’ what does that mean?”

  His grin broadened and Luka slipped a hand beneath her sweater, letting his fingers tease her spine. “It’s a sexual ritual,” he said. “And you’ll have to bite me.” He lifted his other hand and tapped the base of his throat, over his pulse point. “Right here. Hard enough to draw blood.”

  “What?” she exclaimed, horror settling on her face. “You’re a werewolf, not a vampire!”

  Luka chuckled and smoothed some hair from her face. “Mating is a bonding of life forces,” he said. “I’m not saying you have to drink me dry. The point is the trust. I have to let you draw my blood, and you have to let me do the same. At our most vulnerable, most physically united.”

  She blinked, swallowed, and slowly repeated, “Bonding of life forces?”

  Inclining his head, Luka replied, “It’s the only way you can survive the Turn. And once you do, once you’ve physically changed, our souls will be irreversibly tied. If one of us dies, the other will die.” He paused, unable to stop the grin, and teased, “Also, after we become mates, the chances of you getting pregnant are very high.”

  Even in the darkness he saw her flush, but he also scented the rekindled desire that came with it. She swallowed again and flexed her hands over his shoulders. “So this is true ‘forever’…”

  Luka leaned in and deliberately stroked his tongue over her pulse point, the very spot he’d have to sink his teeth into if she agreed to see this through. “In every way that matters.”

  Joella’s hands slid into his hair and she gave a tug, saying, “Luka.” When he lifted his gaze to hers she said, “Make me yours.”

  There was no hesitation, no fear, no deception in her scent. Only certainty and desire. Only promise.

  Luka swept her sweater over her head and tossed it aside, letting his hands return to her paler skin. He only offered her a wicked grin before bowing his head and trailing wet kisses down her throat until he’d captured a breast in his mouth. As he licked and sucked, enticing low moans from her, he slipped one hand down her spine and beneath the hem of her pants. Catching her plump ass, he squeezed and tugged her forward, letting her roll into him.

  When she was clinging to his shoulders and grinding into his erection freely, he released her nipple and growled, “Take those pants off and straddle me, Ella.”

  She caught her breath after a moment and did as she was told, letting her pants fall to the ground beside him. Wholly bared now, Joella planted one foot on either side of his knees and lowered herself carefully, deliberately. She was teasing his cock now and he had to remind himself that she needed to be in charge of this. Just in case she chickened out.

  “You’re so sexy,” she said, sliding her hands up his chest and leaning forward in order to lick the underside of his jaw. “And you make me feel so … beautiful.”

  She ended with a nip at his earlobe, teasing, and he rumbled with a low growl, running his hands all along her torso. “You are beautiful, Ella. And you’re mine. I’ll never let you forget either part of that.”

  She met his gaze solidly, their noses brushing, and whispered, “Prove it.”

  Luka caught her teasing lips with his, plunging his tongue into her mouth at the same instant as he bucked his hips and impaled her on his dick. He swallowed her subsequent moan as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rocked into him, starting a slow and torturous rhythm. With his arms locked around her, one hand tangled in her hair, he let himself fall back and surged into her hard.

  She took his hint on a gasp and broke the kiss in order to sit up for a better angle. Her nails scraped his chest, sending delicious tingles through his body. As his hands settled on her hips she began rocking atop him, sheathing him entirely and rolling forward before retreating to repeat the motion. Her hair and breasts were bouncing freely, enticing and torturing him simultaneously. He thrust up a little sharper and she arched, moaning loudly, before grinding hard into him again.

  “Ella,” he warned, his own voice ragged.

  Obligingly she covered his chest with hers, leaning up as she ground into him and trailing her tongue along his ear. “I love you,” she whispered breathlessly.

  Luka growled and tugged her hips back down to his as he leaned up and licked the base of her neck. He waited until he felt her hot breath roll over his own throat to trail his hands up her spine as their bodies worked frantically toward release. And at the first pulse of her walls around him he finally let go, sinking his teeth into her neck. A sharp, barely distracting stinging at his own throat assured him she’d done the same and his orgasm exploded within him. Everything went white and he roared his ecstasy to the moon.

  Epilogue

  Two Months Later

  “Luna! Luna, look!” Two little boys chorused, drawing Joella’s attention from the odd-smelling berries in the bushes ahead.

  She turned, a smile already in place, and knelt down to their level. The boys came to a stop just in front of her, one of them with his hands clasped carefully in front of him. “What do you have there?”

  “For you,” the one with his hands clasped said, holding them up like an offering.

  “Mama said it used to be a crawly,” the other boy added eagerly. “Then it turned into something beautiful! Like you!”

  As he spoke, his brother opened his hands and released a startled butterfly. Joella watched as it fluttered around, appreciating the greens and blues of its wings.

  When it finally flew toward the bushes ahead she turned a smile to the boys, honest tears in her eyes, and said, “That’s very sweet. Thank you.”

  “Your mother’s looking for you,” Luka added as he stepped up, jerking a thumb sideways in the direction of their new makeshift den.

  The boys chorused “Okay!” and ran off in the appropriate direction.

  Joella straightened and turned toward her mate with a teasing smile. “Jealous?”

  “Of every smile,” he returned, brushing his fingers into her hair. “I think they like you better than me.”

  “Maybe you should’ve made me Beta,” she joked, leaning up to plant a light kiss to his lips. They’d had the Beta conversation before they’d left Nevada, of course, and she understood now that it just wasn’t feasible for an Alpha to mate his Beta without needing to find a new Beta anyway. Besides, as the Alpha’s mate (which apparently had earned the term ‘Luna’ some centuries ago) she outranked their Beta, anyway.

  Luka chuckled and nipped at her lips before catching them in a deeper kiss. His arms wound around her waist and he held her tight against his chest as he devoured her mouth.

  She loved the way he kissed her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the time or place to be losing herself in the desire that his kisses always roused. “Are we all set?” she asked breathlessly, pushing back enough to breathe.

  “Yeah,” he assured her. “You ready for your next moon?”

  Joella nodded. “As I’ll ever be. It wasn’t so bad last month.” The first month had been rather frightening, but she supposed watching as her numbed body rolled and shifted into a four-legged, sandy-furred wolf body and suddenly being inundated with all the heightened senses that came with that body justified the fear. And Luka had helped make the adjustment manageable.

  He always did.

  “Come on,” Luka said, stepping back and catching her hand. “Russell caught a couple rabbits for dinner. You’ll need your fill.”

  “I really never should have watched Bambi,” Joella mumbled as she walked beside him. But t
he wind had shifted as she spoke and she caught the scent of cooking meat. It made her stomach rumble with hunger and reminded her that the idea of eating this way wasn’t so horrible. Really, she’d discovered quickly that this life was infinitely better than the one she’d left behind. She hadn’t missed that miserable existence for a moment.

  Luka pressed his lips to her temple as they came into sight of their small pack. “Love you,” he murmured into her hair.

  Joella smiled, her heart swelling with warmth. Yes, this was the best decision she’d ever made.

  The End

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