Mating Heat

by Jenika Snow

  I felt a bit of shock flow through me at the sudden words he spoke. I cleared my throat and looked down. “Thank you.”

  I watched as Graham inhaled deeply, and hoped like hell he picked up on my disinterest. I took another sip from my glass and shifted in my seat, sensing the desire pounding through him. It was an unmistakable feeling and scent, an aroma that instantly had my wolf bristling in distaste.

  He isn’t Chase or Xavier.

  “I want you, Ophelia.”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t come here for this.”

  “You don’t have anyone. I don’t have anyone. We don’t have to be alone, Ophelia. We can make this work.”

  I looked at him with surprise. This was getting too real for me. “This isn’t why I came here,” I said again, stronger this time.

  “I’ve gone years without finding my mate. I have given up hope that I will. I want to start a life, have a family, and be with someone I can grow to love. We can make each other happy, and in time, we can learn to love each other.”

  I didn’t know what to say after that. I wasn’t feeling him like that, and I knew I could never love him. That was reserved for two men that I probably would never have in my life in the way I wanted.

  “What then, Graham?” I finally asked. “What if we do all of this and your mate comes along? What if we have children, grow to love each other, and she comes into your life?” Of course I had no desire to do any of that with him, not because he was a bad male, or that I could never be happy with him, but my feelings consumed me too much. They’d been with me far too long to just ignore. “If that happens how could you not go to her? If we got together it would be out of convenience.”

  He shook his head and inched closer, but I stopped him with a hand out in front of me. “You would be helpless to not go to her, and I couldn’t blame you.” I took a deep breath. “And I can’t be with you, have that with you, because my love is elsewhere.” I know my words struck something deep inside of him by the way he kept his eyes on the ground. “You don’t have to be a stranger in the community, and you don’t have to hide from me. We can still be friends. I want that.”

  He lifted his head and stared in my face. He kept what he was feeling and thinking locked down tight. Finally he exhaled. “You’re right. God, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

  I felt anguish for this male, and found myself walking up to him to embrace him. “You’ll find what you’re looking for.” I pulled away and smiled, wanting to show him we were good, that things could just fine even if they didn’t seem like it. He walked me to the door, and when it shut behind me I stood there and thought about everything that had happened.

  I could have taken Graham’s offer, but I knew that’s not what either of us needed.

  Feeling resolve after speaking with Graham, I knew what I had to do. I wanted to tell Chase and Xavier how I felt, even if it ended up blowing up in my face.

  Chapter Six

  I stepped off his porch and made my way back to my cabin. The sun had since set, and the night was in full bloom around me. My mind was elsewhere, so it wasn’t until the wind blew from the north that I sensed I wasn’t alone. I stopped and slowly looked around. Aside from the flora around me, I couldn’t see who was near, not could I pick up on the exact scent and nature of who was so close. I inhaled, trying to catch what shifters were near me, but the direction the wind blew made it impossible to pick up on their scents.

  “Ophelia.”

  My name was whispered in a deep rumble, one that had everything in me tightening. My heart was beating frantically in my chest, pressing against my ribs in a wild tattoo.

  There was a chill in the air that spoke of fall just around the corner, and I shivered.

  “Ophelia.”

  And that’s when I felt the warm breath along my nape after my name was spoken for a second time. I turned around and was immediately pressed against a thick oak tree, the bark scraping along the backs of my arms. I craned my neck and looked into the feral eyes of Xavier. They glowed in the darkness. His bear was right there, the scent of him about to shift into his animal form heady in the air. The smell of pure male testosterone and eager arousal was thick around him, and my body answered instantly. I warmed, grew pliant … became wet.

  “Xavier?” I breathed out his name. “What are you doing?” His hands gripped my waist and slowly started to inch their way up, taking my shirt with them. I gasped as my desire for him started to increase. “Xavier?” I whispered his name again, but he didn’t respond.

  His eyes were riveted to my lips and I felt his huge erection press against my belly. I could tell he was barely holding onto his human form.

  “I can smell him on you,” he growled out, the words rasping against my face. He moved his face toward me so that his lips were an inch from mine. I didn’t move, didn’t even know what the hell was going on. The last I had heard Xavier and Chase had found their mate, but here was one half of the shifter duo, looking rightly pissed, acting possessive of me, and looking like he wanted to place his claim.

  I was totally confused.

  But of course my body grew wet and ready, my feelings for him too strong to deny … too heady to pretend weren’t real.

  We stood like that, perilously close to kissing, but then he wrenched himself away from me. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He took my hand and started moving briskly toward camp.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I tried to pull my arm free, but he only tightened his grip.

  His answer was a throaty growl

  His thumb started a slow, gentle caress on the inside of my wrist, a stark contrast to the animalistic need around him. I finally saw where he was leading me—to his and Chase’s cabin. Instantly my heart started to jackknife in my chest.

  “Wait. Xavier.” I dug my feet in the ground and yanked my arm back, not sure what in the hell was going on. My wolf had risen to the surface, the instinct to show strength riding me strong, even if this was Xavier, one of the men I loved.

  The force of my actions and the strength I was exerting must have surprised Xavier, because I ended up pulling out of his hold and falling backward. Before I could hit the ground Xavier was there, cradling my body to his, our breath mingling, our gazes clashing. And despite the urgency in his actions, he started to lower his head toward my mouth, as if he couldn’t stop himself, couldn’t help his desire.

  I scented his need for me instantly, let it coat me, and as shocking as it might have been, I didn’t want this moment to end. Before our lips fused, the front door to the cabin he shared with Chase opened. I was so caught up in the moment I hadn’t even realized we were already here.

  Xavier set me on my feet, and I faced Chase, scenting his need, as well.

  What in the hell is going on?

  “This isn’t the place for the things we have planned for you,” he said in a gruff tone, looking between Xavier and me.

  “Come on.”

  I shivered at Chase’s words and let Xavier lead me up the steps of the porch and into the cabin. When the door shut behind me, Chase and Xavier moved to stand in front of me. I kept my back to the door, looking between the two of them.

  “Um, can you tell me what’s going on?” Of course what was slamming into my head on repeat was the fact these two males had been with me, had claimed me, eased me. My body recognized them as mine, and I hated I couldn’t be the mate they were looking for.

  There was no “fate” at play when mates got together. There was just a deep-rooted need to be with the other. Of course I wanted them as such, but mating couldn’t be one way.

  As the silence stretched, I could sense the tension within them.

  “What’s going on?” I asked again, waiting for a reply. But all I got was their gazes focused on me. Whatever they needed to say was on the surface, hanging between us.

  “You really don’t know?” Xavier asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked at me right in the eyes.

  My stomach jumped up
into my throat. The only logical thing coming to mind was that they wanted sex again. I could smell their desire for me coat the air. But that wasn’t going to happen. I was not going to be pussy on demand, not even for the men I loved.

  My heart was racing as I opened and closed my mouth, knowing what I wanted, but not daring to actually say the words for fear of humiliating myself if I was wrong.

  “You know, Ophelia.” Chase spoke softly, and took a step toward me. “You feel what we feel.”

  “We’ve always known there was something special about you,” Xavier said, “but we wanted to give you time to grow, to come into yourself.” Xavier took a step closer. “We wanted to make everything perfect, right.” They both took a step closer. “And then we scented you in your heat, and we knew without a doubt we couldn’t wait any longer.”

  “I…” I swallowed and felt myself start to shake, my emotions and what was transpiring overwhelming me.

  “We always knew you were ours, Ophelia, but Xavier is right,” Chase spoke softly. “We wanted to wait until you were older. We didn’t want to rush you.”

  I shook my head, confused. “You never acted interested in me at all, never even gave me the time of day.” I backed up. This wasn’t happening. This confused me, made me feel like I was drowning.

  “Mate,” Chase and Xavier seemed to say at the same time.

  Xavier held his hand out to me. “If we let our basic urges, our bears, come forward, we wouldn’t have been able to stop ourselves.”

  I sucked in a great lungful of air.

  “You’re still so young, nearly a decade younger than we are, Ophelia,” Chase said, this softness coming over his face. “Rushing you, making you our mate before you were really ready, is not how we wanted to start things.” Chase made this low growl.

  “But then your mating heat came, and it was then we realized we couldn’t wait anymore. You were ready for us.” Xavier smiled.

  “I’ve always loved you two,” I whispered, and the low sound that came from them told me they were pleased with that. The door stopped me from backing up anymore.

  “Fuck, baby, we wanted to go to you as soon as you came of age,” Chase reached out, and I felt him stroke my cheek.

  I thought about last night, and what we’d shared … what they’d done to me. My cheeks cheated, and everything became focused. Yes, this was fast, intense, and was shocking all in the same breath. But the fact of the matter was it felt so right I could have wept.

  “But you just left after…” I didn’t finish speaking, my lust spiking again.

  “We knew springing it on you right after we’d claimed you might be too much. This is fast, we know, but it’s what we’ve wanted for a long time.”

  Chase kept stroking my cheek.

  “You’re what we’ve wanted for a long time,” Xavier said.

  “We wanted to prepare everything, figure out how we’d tell you.”

  I looked at Chase. He stepped closer, covering those last few inches that separated us, and took my hands in his. “You’re ours, Ophelia. We want you like we have never wanted anything in our lives.”

  “We don’t want to rush you, but we need you to realize just how important you are to us. We need to you to understand we won’t let anyone else have you,” Xavier growled out those words.

  “We wouldn’t have rushed it like this, but then we fucking smelled that other male sniffing around you, and we couldn’t stand back,” Chase said those words with possessive dominance laced in them.

  I looked between the two of them, so shell-shocked that I couldn’t speak.

  “This is why we wanted to go easy with you. We know what a big change this means, and we also know how controlling having a mate is. With you there would be no going back.” Xavier came closer and stood in front of me. Chase stepped to the side, and Xavier took his place, cupping my face with his big hands. “We want you to stay with us, to live here with us, Ophelia.” He stroked my mouth with his thumbs.

  “We want you to be our mate until we take our last breath, until there is nothing left of us,” Chase said beside me, his warm breath tickling my ear. I was lost in the sensations they conjured up in me.

  “We want you to be the mother of our young, to let us share you, love you, protect you,” Xavier whispered against my other ear.

  And then Chase took my left hand and Xavier took my right. “You see what you do to us?” They both placed my hands right over their straining, huge erections.

  “Say you’ll be ours,” Xavier coaxed.

  God, I was helpless to keep away from them.

  Chapter Seven

  “We love you, Ophelia, so much.” I looked at Chase as he stepped closer. He brushed a strand of hair from my face. “Can’t you see what you mean to us? Was it that much of a surprise that you were ours?”

  It was then that I broke out in tears, my happiness and joy too much for me to contain. They both wrapped their arms around me and held me tight, knowing that this was what I needed from them. It was that pleasure, that euphoria of getting the dream I’d always wanted, the men I’d loved for so long, that had me breaking down.

  “When I heard the rumors that you’d found your mate I felt my heart break in two.” I buried my face against Chase’s chest and gripped Xavier’s hand, keeping him close.

  Xavier lifted my chin with his forefinger, and I craned my head back to look in his turbulent, expressive eyes.

  “You are our mate. You’re the only female we’ve ever wanted to spend our lives with.” Xavier rested his forehead against mine. “Hell, baby, we haven’t even been with another female since we knew you’d be ours.”

  The shock filled me. “But I’d heard—”

  “All lies,” Chase said.

  “Rumors,” Xavier finished.

  For years they hadn’t been with any females. God, that made me feel incredible.

  “We love you, baby.” They both said it in unison, which had my heart palpating.

  I couldn’t help it. I started laughing as tears of happiness moved down my cheeks. “I love you both so much.”

  My body had known all along that they were to be mine.

  “Maybe this isn’t the right time,” Xavier said and looked at Chase.

  “But we need you, Ophelia. We need to claim you now,” Chase said. It was like the two of them were one well-oiled machine, working in unison.

  I stared at the two of them, my body primed and ready for whatever they had to offer. My pussy was already soaked, and although I’d been fucked good and hard recently by them, I still wanted them fiercely.

  “Mate with me.”

  Chase leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. His fingers speared in my hair, and I tilted my head and opened my mouth. Our tongues stroked over one another, and I gripped his biceps as the kiss deepened. Xavier grabbed onto my hips and pulled me away from the door. Chase broke the kiss, and before I knew what was happening we were in the bedroom. Xavier turned me around and pressed me to Chase, my chest to his. Then Xavier moved right behind me, and I felt his hard cock digging at the small of my back, and Chase’s pressed against my belly.

  Xavier moved my hair over one shoulder and kissed the spot where my shoulder met my neck, a place mates marked each other. Chills danced up my spine, and I reached my hand back until I could curl my fingers around his lean, muscular hip.

  Chase broke the kiss, and Xavier tilted my head back and to the side so that I was now kissing him. Chase went to work on removing my clothing, and in a matter of seconds he managed to get me completely naked.

  I felt the heat from the fire soak into my skin, and my nipples instantly became rock hard. Chase’s hot, wet mouth latched onto my breast, sucking and gently biting the swollen nub until I was moaning against Xavier’s mouth. I spread my legs, hoping the temptation, and the scent of my arousal for them would be too much for them to resist. I needed them now.

  Xavier broke the kiss, ran his canines, which were now elongated, up the side of my throat, and growle
d low.

  “Get on the bed for us,” he demanded.

  One I was on the mattress, Chase pulled my legs apart. Both males stepped back and looked down at what was in front of them: my wet, swollen pussy.

  “Christ,” Chase said, and then was between my splayed legs, his big body dwarfing mine, and his moist breath teasing my pussy lips. I tried to lift my hips in invitation, but Chase placed his hand right under my ribs, making me immobile.

  “Let me make you feel good, baby.” He inhaled deeply against my saturated flesh and groaned. “You smell so good, Ophelia.” He ran his tongue around my pussy hole before dragging it back up to my clit. I looked at my other mate. Xavier was out of his jeans and kneeling before me with his cock in hand. He stroked his shaft in unhurried motions while his other hand smoothed along the underside of my breast.

  “God, your pussy tastes so good,” Chase murmured against my cunt and then sucked harder.

  I could hear wet slurping noises, and the sound just about sent me over the edge. I gripped the blanket beneath me and closed my eyes in ecstasy. I felt the smooth, velvety tip of Xavier’s cock head rub along my lips and eagerly turned my head and opened my mouth. I stared up at him. His eyes glowed fiercely, his bear right at the surface.

  Chase lifted my leg and pulled it out more before going back to my cunt and devouring me. I writhed beneath him as I sucked greedily on Xavier’s cock. Little jets of cum filled my mouth, and I sucked harder, needing his seed in my mouth, down my throat. Chase grunted against my clit, and the vibrations traveled throughout my whole body. I tensed, feeling my orgasm slowly start to crest.

  I started to wantonly thrust my cunt in Chase’s face, needing him to go faster, harder. I needed him to be the animal I loved. I felt his thick fingers being thrust into my pussy hole. Chase pumped those digits in and out quickly at the same time he moved his mouth to the bundle of nerves at the top of my pussy. He sucked hard on my clit, and I cried out around Xavier’s cock as pleasure washed through me.

  Xavier was fucking my face in shallow yet quick pumps, and just as my climax peaked, I felt Xavier’s cock nudge the back of my throat right before he got off. I tasted his hot, salty cum fill my mouth. I swallowed like a starving woman, and when Xavier’s cock grew soft in my mouth and my pussy was too sensitive for Chase’s licks and nibbles, I felt them move away. I panted, goosebumps popping out along my skin even though it wasn’t cool in the room.