by May Sage
“So what made you crash our girls night out?”
“I might not have, if you’d just told me it was a girls night out.”
Touché.
“I didn’t think you’d leave your territory, with everything happening right now.”
“Jas came back - she, Ian, Coveney, Ola, and Tracy can handle things for an hour. We’re not far.”
She nodded, then, because she was pretty sure he wouldn’t catch the drift without a hint, she added, “You know, I would probably be a little less difficult if you didn’t attempt to boss me around.”
He shrugged unapologetically. “I’ll still try. You’ll shoot me down each time. Might as well get used to it. Come on. Dance with me, pretty cat.”
Surprise
Unsurprisingly, she felt right against him, her body fitting perfectly as they moved together; there were a good two hundred people in the club, but they might as well have been alone in the universe.
Rye caressed her arms, her back, her ass, exploring his mate. When he couldn’t stop himself from doing so, he tilted her head up, and kissed her plump lips. Not only did she let him- she responded touch for touch, and leaned closer to him, her soft curves pushed against his hard flesh.
“I’m going to take you home tonight.” It wasn’t a question. “I’ll make you scream my name so loud the entire town won’t doubt you’re mine.”
“Get it right, pretty boy,” the vixen replied, bitting his lip playfully. “I’m getting you home, as there are no sensitive ears at my place. And you’d better make me scream.”
Fuck. She was so fucking perfect for him - the very first woman who’d ever dared to speak up to him.
“Holy fuck, Ace!” that came from a feminine voice close by; Rye was too busy nipping at his mate’s neck to care enough to check whose.
“Wanna introduce me to your friend?”
The voice sounded flirty and to his amusement, Aisling growled a warning.
“Oh. Right. Well, that explains things. Catch you later!”
Rye smiled against her skin, but didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. His little mate was slowly understanding what Tracy had made him realize; he could wait…as long as she didn’t take too long to understand she was his.
“That was Rain, by the way. She’s a witch - a good one. We’ll get her to place specific wards around your home tomorrow.”
Her tone was curt.
“She’s a friend of yours, then.”
“Yes?”
She didn’t sound quite sure about that.
“Yet you growl at her because she sounds interested in me…”
“I will kick you in the balls if you mention that again.”
“You’re possessive- we both are. Can you imagine how much more we will be once I’ve pounded this pussy all night long, Aisling?”
“Or, maybe that will be enough to get it out of our system.”
He bit her earlobe a little harder than necessary, punishingly. Ace shivered and plastered herself against him.
“You like that, do you?”
Teasing her always had consequences; he wasn’t sure what she’d do but he expected retaliation.
Yet, she shocked him by gliding her hand right inside his pants, underneath his boxers, and firmly grabbing his throbbing cock; she pumped it twice, and flickered her finger over the sensitive head, before pushing up on her tiptoes, and getting to his ear.
“You like that, do you?” she parroted in a soft whisper, before nibbling at his ear.
Fucking hell.
Enough nonsense. He just grabbed her, threw her on his shoulder, and called to his Beta, “Daunte, we’re going. Now.”
Aisling’s friends, who he still hadn’t been introduced to, left with them. Two of them sat with them at the back of the pride SUV, the other one sat at the front. Ace spent the whole way on top of him, grinding against him, biting and licking, like they were alone in the world. He hadn’t taken her for an exhibitionist, but she was proving him wrong.
Good. He wanted the world to see she was his.
Daunte offered to drive, saying, “I really don’t want to see you guys going at it.”
He really did seem disgusted, which was strange, because Daunte was really into watching people fuck.
Rye was a little too preoccupied to analyze it, trying not to come in his pants.
“I’m going to plunge inside that hot pussy the moment we’re alone,” he told Ace, cupping her under her short shorts.
Fuck, she was already so damn wet.
“I don’t see why you’re waiting,” one of the girls said. “You’re basically fucking anyway.”
They were. Ace had taken his cock out, and never stopped touching it.
“Fabric interior. Cleaning cum is a bitch,” he replied with a shrug.
Finally - finally - Daunte, who’d been driving way above the limit the last few miles, swerved in front of the house and they burst out of the car.
They didn’t make it indoor. Aisling’s hands, partially shifted, teared through his clothes, and he took it as an invitation to do the same. Fucking hell, she was perfect, with her small, firm tits he wanted to suck and bite and lick…
He did just that, bending down to reach them, while pushing his desperate cock deep inside his mate’s drenched heat.
Rye stayed still one infinite instant, not quite understanding everything he felt; his insides were exploding, his heart contracted and the tiger inside him roared, hard. He felt her claws deep inside his back - these would mark, and leave scars. They were meant to. So would the marks he’d made on her forearms, without consciously choosing to do so. He’d drawn blood. He’d claimed her; and she’d claimed him right back.
“What. The. Hell.”
He should have felt sorry for her; she was only now realizing the force at work. But Rye just laughed, and drew his dick back before plunging harder inside her, making her cry out in pleasure and pain. Then, he did it again, and again, and again, until she was panting, whimpering, chanting please.
They came together in under ten minutes- in other circumstances, it would have been embarrassing.
Still panting like he’d finished a sprint, Ace then glared, accusingly saying, “You don’t look surprised.”
Rye just shrugged, particularly self-satisfied. There was no denying that out of the two of them, she normally had the upper hand. She had more contacts, she was better at subtle shit - he hadn’t even guessed that Lola, the kid he’d looked after since she was a newborn, had wolf in her, yet one sniff, and Aisling knew.
But for all this, the woman had been completely blind about the one thing that mattered between them.
“Surprised by what?” he asked playfully, yet seriously.
He needed to hear her say it.
Aisling rolled her eyes, but she must have sensed what he wanted, because she spelled it out. “You’re my true mate.”
Damn right he was. He ruffled her wavy hair and kissed her forehead. “And you’re mine. Now get your pretty ass up.”
He got to his feet and lent her a hand to help her up. “There’s about eleven rooms I need to fuck you in inside this house. Better get to it.”
Marks
He genuinely didn’t think anything could cloud this day for him, so in its infinite wisdom, the world proved him wrong.
Rye woke up feeling that his pridemates were anxious; not terrified or desperate, but still feeling uneasy. He opened his eyes and turned to the soft, perfect body of his mate, next to him under the covers, and kissed her shoulders.
She had a few bruises - so did he. They hadn’t gone easy on each other; claimings were messy affairs, but their healing rate meant that they’d be history by the afternoon. What caught his attention were the marks on her arms. Instead of looking like she’d been clawed, intricate patterns had appeared on her skin; they were ocean blue, and changed like running water.
Beautiful.
Rye dreaded to have to tell her that he needed to go, when all he wante
d was staying with her and burying himself deep within her folds again, but he didn’t have to.
“There’s something wrong with your pride, right?”
Of course. Now he paid attention, he felt her through the pride link. He hadn’t noticed at first because she hadn’t joined as someone he should take care of, look after. She wasn’t one of his cats. She was his equal. Their Alpha female. He’d only hear her when she wanted him to.
“Our pride, pretty girl.”
Aisling tensed a little.
“They all respect you, Ace. And most of them like you, too. You’ll fit in, because you were made for it.”
As she didn’t answer, he pushed, “You know it, don’t you? That you’re a born Alpha. No one with your level of dominance would ever be content to live alone.”
“My father also is a born Alpha. So is Daunte, for that matter. None of them rule a pride.”
“Daunte is the highest pack authority after me. And he can obey me, because he knows I’m more dominant than him.” To be fair, he admitted, “Slightly, anyway. But you’re missing the point. He is part of a pride.”
Aisling sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about it now. We’ll see how it plays out.”
She wasn’t exactly ecstatic, but she hadn’t asked him to leave the pride, so there was that.
He worried all of a sudden, because honestly, if she couldn’t deal with living within the Wyvern pride…he would leave with her. He had no other choice on the matter.
Shaking his head, he put that thought out of his mind and got up. They had more pressing worries right now.
“They’re coming our way, I can feel them getting closer. Have you got any clothes my size?”
“Yeah, Daunte has some stuff in the guest bedroom, next door. Help yourself.”
They got dressed and he headed downstairs just in time: Jas, Coveney, Daunte and Ian arrived on her front porch, in animal form.
All of them stopped dead, and shifted.
“Holy fuck.”
“I knew it!”
“Seriously?”
Rye smirked. The mating bond had changed him, he knew it; he felt quieter, more confident. He couldn’t quite place it; obviously, though, his pride could tell the difference.
“Dude you were always scary but you basically look like a freak now. Have you seen your eyes?”
He hadn’t; turning to the closest window, he smiled at his reflection. Freak was right. His normally grey eyes had been replaced by cold, electrifying blue pupils and the marks she’d started on his back had changed, forming patterns that would look like tattoos if they hadn’t been blazing amber, like liquid fire was running through his skin.
He rather liked it.
“So, she was your mate. How unexpected,” Daunte said. Yet, the man was smirking smugly. “And I believe that means I win our little bet, guys. You all owe me and Tracy two-fifty for the mate thing, and two-fifty because they’ve fucked within a week. Pay up.”
Rye just shook his head; so that was why Tracy had given him a nudge. Devious little thing.
While he was happy about the mating, now wasn’t the time to linger on it. Ace came down from upstairs, fully dressed; she’d also taken a shower, washing his scent off. He didn’t like that bit, but he’d remedy it soon enough.
His three Enforcers and his Beta bowed down as she came to stand next to him, hands over their heart, silently showing their acceptance of her as their Alpha female now. He felt how awkward Aisling was, so he moved on to get to the point.
“I felt something through the pride link?”
The others stopped joking around, instantly growing somber.
“Yes. Kim is gone,” Jas said.
The instant the words crossed her lips, Rye realized that the most useless member of his pride wasn’t anywhere. And by that, he didn’t mean to say she’d popped out in town. He also couldn’t feel her, not even faintly. As he was the Alpha, he felt every member of his pride.
That could only mean one thing. She’d left the pride.
If that had happened to any other one of his cats, he would have noticed it immediately, but as the useless, passive one he paid no attention to, she’d slipped by unnoticed. He’d had a great many things to think about of late.
“Fuck.”
“She left before I came back,” Jas added. “We waited all night - I figured she might just be out partying or something - but when I called this morning, she said she wasn’t coming back, and hung up on me.”
She didn’t sound surprised, or upset for that matter. Nevertheless, Rye felt responsible.
“I’m sorry Jas, I have no clue when that happened - she never said anything.”
If she had come to him, he might have tried to dissuade her from leaving, for Jas’s benefit.
Maybe.
His Enforcer shook her head, “No, I’m sorry for asking you to let her in the pride. I keep hoping, but you know some people are just…”
Neither of them completed that sentence. Kim was a shallow, egocentric, megalomaniac pain in the ass, and they were well rid of her, if Jas didn’t mind.
“So, you’re not going to go after her?”
Jas shrugged. “No. This pride is my home.” She didn’t elaborate but he saw what she meant: it had never been Kim’s.
“I’m sorry we didn’t manage to make her feel welcome.”
“We did,” Ian replied growling. “She just wasn’t into the pride thing. She preferred doing what she liked, when she liked. Living in the human world. That’s fine. That’s how she was raised, and pride life just doesn’t suit everyone.”
It wasn’t the Enforcer’s fault, but Rye could have strangled him for saying it in front of Ace; she tensed, feeling that the words could apply to her, too. Another problem for another time.
“Right. Well, as your sister, she’ll have our protection if she ever needs it. We have bigger issues - the Vergas wolves. Three of Ace’s friends have joined us; did Daunte introduce you?”
Jas smiled. “Yeah, they’re fun.”
Oh dear. If Jas liked them, they were seriously dangerous then.
“Good. We’re still outnumbered, though. Any news from our allies?”
“I have to check our messages, but three Alphas answered yesterday. We have their backing. Your brother said he’s passed the message on to your dad.” Which could mean anything.
“Right. Better get ready, then.”
Scouts
They had a solid plan and every day more allies pledged their help, so Rygan learned to relax, more or less.
He, Ace, and their Enforcers patrolled around the clock, barely taking the time to sleep. Ace still popped her head in at her bakery, which meant that she was more exhausted than all of them combined, although she did leave quite a few responsibilities up to her assistant.
The nice, always cheerful girl actually became an important part of the pride. The day after their claiming, Rygan was with her when Ace went to dismiss her, regretfully.
“You’re an awesome employee, but we’re in the middle of a fucking mess, and you can’t get involved. I’m not firing you; let’s just call it a paid leave.”
“No fucking way,” the girl had replied.
Ace reasoned with her, making her understand that just working for her, having their scent around her, was putting a target on her back because, for lack of better word, she was weak.
“I’m not letting those fanatics fuck with my life,” she replied, stubbornly crossing her arms on her torso. “And if you’re going to concentrate on the security around town, you need me here.”
She didn’t budge, so Rygan ordered that someone would guard the bakery at all times when Ace wasn’t in.
Clarissa learned some of Ace’s most popular recipes and took over the accounting; they hired a driver to do the rounds she used to do before. She also updated the website and he was infinitely grateful to her for taking some stuff off his mate’s shoulders.
The girl also was popular with the rest of his pride
because every day before going home, she stopped by their homes with all the leftovers.
The only one who didn’t seem to have taken to her was, strangely, Daunte. The guy was normally easygoing, but he constantly glared at the poor kid.
“Hey everyone!” she sang out, walking in their lounge, a large tray in hand.
The kids were already halfway down the stairs, running to her.
“We had an awesome day at the shop, so there wasn’t much left. I’ve just made a batch of pies for you guys, though.”
Everyone thanked her; Daunte grunted.
“You look nice today,” Ola complimented her.
She did; Clary was normally a jeans and t-shirt gal, but today she wore a sundress, and some make up, too.
“I had a lunch date.”
“Nice! How did it go?”
They went on talking about girly shit, so Rye turned back to Daunte; he’d just returned from his shift with Ace.
The two often patrolled together, and Rye tried not to be offended by it, but honestly, it hurt. His mate never ran with him in her animal form; he hadn’t been sure at first, but it had been three weeks now, and not once had they been rotated in together. He was pretty sure she did it on purpose.
“Nothing to report. Ace just went to grab a few more boxes from her house.”
She was taking her time moving - another thing that annoyed him to no end.
Rye nodded, and headed out of doors for his turn, when his phone rang.
“Hey pretty girl.”
“The wards have been triggered,” was Ace’s tense reply.
It wasn’t the first time that the wards Rain had set up around town were activated; every time one of their allies stopped by to speak to them, the pride stressed out just as much, thinking that it could be it - their attack.
Rye had enough of waiting for it. If anything, he was actually eager to getting it over with now.
“We’re on our way.”
He called the fighters currently inside the house. Christine took the kids to the kitchen, and he saw Clary standing nearby, at a loss.
