by Leigh Kelsey
The bond had settled in my chest like a cat curling around my heart, golden and warm, a miracle. Finding this pack, being welcomed, was a big enough gift after I’d been roaming on my own for the better part of a year. After my sister kicked me out, I didn’t think I’d find friendships like I had with Cas and Gray, and I knew they’d become even stronger bonds now. But this link with Lyra … I’d do anything to protect it, even if it meant ripping out throats with my teeth or squeezing the life out of someone with my bare, human hands.
Whatever it took, I would protect my bond, my pack, and my mate.
LYRA
Like I suspected, the calm and quiet of the moment didn’t last longer than a few minutes. Gray, I could feel running out of patience, twitches flickering down his spine and his affectionate bumps becoming more frequent. Before wolves mated, we became tactile, spending time together, touching constantly. Gray apparently thought he could get the warm up done in two minutes and get right to the fucking. I nipped his ear, a warning bite.
Cas was solid at my back, the weight of him resting against me, but though I knew he had endless patience, I could smell the pheromones coming off him. He wanted me, and soon.
And Jack … I had to admit I found him hard to read, but he’d gone silent and still against my side. I bumped him with my nose so he met my eyes and a trill of alarm and delight ran through me as he looked up, his brown eyes heated with desire. Holy shit. I knew Gray would be as wild in bed as he was outside, Cas would be equal parts rough and gentle, but Jack … looking into his eyes, I got the feeling it would be intense. Eye-rolling and toe-curling and soul-touching.
Okay, cuddling over. This wolf needed her mates. Right the hell now.
I dug my claws into the earth, about to push up when the shift came over me, abrupt and painful. I whined, the sound long and pathetic, and everyone pushed closer to me, trying to comfort. But the moon had shifted, no longer full, and they were each suffering their own transformation.
Panting, I ducked my head and bore down on the pain the way I’d learned to years ago, letting the cracking and tearing and stretching work through my body. It seemed to take forever—it always did, turning back—but finally I crouched on the dirt, crushing leaves and branches in my fists as I whimpered through the last of the pain. A gentle hand ran steady, comforting strokes down my back as I endured the last few seconds of the transformation, pulling my mind back together and piecing the rest of me back into one human Lyra.
Exhausted and limp, I sagged against Gray, letting him pull me into his arms even though we were naked. No matter how eager I’d been minutes ago, I was wrecked and all I wanted was this, to be held and to recover. Even with the moon’s power still washing through my blood, I lost all my strength.
It wasn’t long before more hands touched me, more bodies pressed close. By the time Cas came around, I was feeling better. More like myself and less like a hedgehog who’d been run over by a ten-tonne lorry a few times. “Thanks,” I said to Gray, my voice gravelly. He answered by pushing a messy lock of hair behind my ear, his eyes on me concerned and caring, none of his usual teasing.
“Cas?” I asked. “Jack? You guys okay?”
“Fine,” Cas replied, squeezing my shoulder.
“I’m alright,” Jack said. I turned my head to find him behind me but not touching me. There was dirt smudged on his jaw and along his arms, like he’d been writhing in pain, and worry panged in my chest. I reached for him automatically, brushing his cheek. “I’m fine, Lyra,” he reassured with a smile, that brief flicker I was hoping to become familiar with.
I nodded. We were fine. It was just the shift. I didn’t know why I was so … protective. Nurturing. But of course I did know. They were my mates now. It was my duty and my instinct to take care of them.
Jack touched me then, a tentative sweep down my arm, and fuck if it didn’t make me instantly aware of him, of all of them. Of the fact I was sat in Gray’s lap and we were both stark naked. I’d seen them all naked before of course—it was inevitable with wolves—but I’d never paid much attention to Jack or Gray. Cas, I’d ogled shamelessly. But now I let my eyes sweep Gray, from his shaggy mess of hair, his stark, handsome face, down his chest and to the hardness between his legs. I couldn’t help the grin that curled my mouth. His eyes narrowed on my lips, the look a warning, and I loved it.
I glanced over my shoulder at Jack and Cas, and if the look was a little flirty and seductive, my lashes sweeping my cheek, well … I couldn’t help it, could I? They were paying such close attention to me, wound tight enough to snap, and very, very naked. “Did we forget to finish the ritual?” I asked innocently.
I watched Cas’s eyes darken, ink spilled across liquid silver, and knowing I’d caused that reaction made me feel so fucking powerful. I let my eyes drop from his eyes, skimming the broad shoulders, tattoos, his pale ripples of muscle, and the patch of hair leading from his belly button to his cock. My fingers twitched, wanting to touch, but he was out of reach. As if he knew what I wanted, Cas met my eyes, made sure I was watching, and gripped his length, running his fist up and down once, exactly what I wanted to do.
My mouth filled with saliva.
Gray ran a slow fingertip down the middle of my chest, drawing my attention back to him, and I inhaled sharply at his cold touch. Before I could say anything, or unlock my hands from where they were around his neck, hanging on tight, he kissed me. The kiss was as claiming as my bite had been on him, his tongue demanding, possessive, and sexy as hell. Gods, this man knew how to kiss.
Why had I never made out with my best friend before? I twisted my hands in his hair, loving the leverage it gave me, and adjusted the angle of our kiss so I could take over. My breasts pushed against his chest as his hands gripped the dip of my waist, wrenching me closer as the kiss ran out of control. He gave as good as he got, every bit as frantic and fast as I knew he would be, and my heart beat hard in my chest. I could feel his dick between us, the tip against my belly, and I was wet in an instant.
A low, deep rumble came from behind me, lupine and utterly, chillingly hungry, and with a note of thrill and surprise, I realised it had come from Jack. He could smell me. And apparently couldn’t keep his hands off me any longer. His fingers ran down my back, tracing my spine in shivery patterns as I kissed Gray fast and forceful. The touch of them both was nearly enough to undo me.
“Lyra,” Gray groaned, drawing away when we ran out of air. “I need you right now.”
I caught my breath at the sound of his voice and reached between us to take him in my hand. I was still desperate to get my hands on Cas for some reason I couldn’t explain, the desire one of pure want, but pumping Gray’s dick in my hand, and his sharp inhale, his tightly closed eyes … that was a different kind of drug to me. I wanted more.
The waterfall beside us crashed loudly but not enough to drown out Gray’s grunted “Fuck,” when I lifted my hips and sank down on him without warning. I couldn’t help the deep chuckle at how he sounded, at the flush on his cheeks and the tension around his eyes. Those eyes snapped open at the sound, flickering with pleasure as I lifted myself up and sank back down on him. Holy shit, he felt incredible. I knew my pussy was so wet it was dripping, but with Gray inside me, Jack still running his hands down my back, and the bond inside me thrumming, filling my chest like a spill of sunlight, I couldn’t help my reaction.
My pleasure intensified as the bond between me and Gray settled, and I could feel how good it was for him as well as my own pleasure. I rocked my hips on him, every thrust tightening my belly, pushing me closer to orgasm. Gray tightened his hold on my hips, thrusting up with enough sudden force that I caught my breath, an unconscious groan rolling off my tongue. I knew the ground was pressing into my legs and I’d probably regret this later but I didn’t care one bit as I rode him. Especially not as he took over our pace, using his grip on my waist to push me down to meet him when he surged up, animal sounds spilling from his lips.
I let my head fall on his
shoulder as I got close, my forehead sweaty and breathing quick. I could think of nothing except Gray’s dick hitting all the best places inside me, the goose-bump-raising touches Jack peppered down my spine, but then my link to Cas surged. I got a faint sense of his composure breaking, of need, and then I shuddered as he joined us, his palm sliding over my heaving chest, down my stomach, to swipe his thumb over my clit.
“Fuck, Cas.”
Nothing existed but the sensations rippling through me, a breakneck crescendo that was either mine or Gray’s or both of ours. The pleasure built and built, then orgasm hit with enough force to steal my breath. My back bowed and uncontrollable gasps and whimpers spilled from my lips.
“Holy,” I gasped when I’d come down enough to form words again, “shit.”
Gray’s answering laugh was deep and full of male satisfaction.
“Bastard,” I said, my face still pressed to his shoulder. The warm, lax embrace was its own heightened form of pleasure and comfort. I luxuriated in the feeling.
When I recovered enough to sit back, he ran the back of a finger down my cheek in a move so tender it went to my heart like an arrow. You’re amazing, he said in my head.
I laughed through my nose. You’re pretty amazing too, Gray.
His smile was soft. Love you, darling wolf.
I butted my nose against his, my stomach filling with butterflies again. Love you too.
He grinned, the wolf returning to his smile, his wicked eyes. You’d better touch the other two. I’m pretty sure they’re about to rip you out of my arms.
Now it was my turn to grin. I gave Gray a deep, lingering kiss and pushed off him, getting to my feet and letting my eyes trail over Cas, trying so hard to be patient but at the end of his tether, and Jack, watching my every movement, his dick twitching—and holy hell his body was ripped; I’d never let my eyes wander over him before but the huge muscles of his arms and shoulders flowed to his chest, his abs, his thighs, and I felt my mouth go dry.
I glanced down at myself, bits of twigs and dirt crusted into my knees, my legs, the rest of me dirty from shifting on the ground. “Oh, damn,” I said, trying not to grin at the way Cas inched forward, like he couldn’t fight the urge to come to me. “I’m all dirty.” I let my eyes slide past them to the rushing waterfall, the pool at the base of it. “Either of you men want to help me get clean?”
“Yes,” Jack said before I’d even finished. “Please.”
Cas said nothing, only devoured me with his eyes.
My pussy ached even this soon after fucking Gray. I wanted more. I wanted my mates.
I wet my lips as I walked past them, aware of their every breath, their precise location, as I took the rock path down to the water. Sex with Gray had lasted minutes at best, both of us needy and wild. I fully intended to make the next two slow and thorough.
I slipped into the water, my eyes falling shut at the cool, fresh water running over my skin. I ducked my head under, letting it wash the dirt from my hair, and slicked it back from my face when I emerged again to find my men at the edge of the pool. My heart threw itself against my ribcage. The strings tying them to me pulled taut, urging, begging. Yes, I agreed, now.
I looked up at them, hovering at the edge of the water, waiting for my request. My command. I let a smile curl my lips, watched the effect on Cas’s eyes, Jack’s jerking dick.
“Well? Are you coming in?”
They surged into the water instantly.
NICODEMUS
I paced the ridge overlooking the aptly named Bloody Beck near Ravenscar, watching as my Lord met with another shifter Lord—a rare fox judging by the scent coming off him, wet fur, blood, and smoking fire pits. Unlike werewolves, shifters like him could transform at will.
Branches bit into my face, my hands, and tangled in my long, pale hair as I bent my head to watch the two Lords but I didn’t care. I wanted to storm down the incline and let my natural power roll over me, wanted to tear out my Lord’s throat with sharp, canine teeth. These men threatened everything I lived for, every legacy I had ever built, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The grip of black magic around my chest drew tighter just at the thought of hurting him and I staggered, cutting my palm open on a tree as I grabbed for it to keep my footing.
He knew I was here, listening. He didn’t care. I was bound. Useless. The once great Nicodemus Ashmore, ruined. A slave to a master who’d killed my family, savaged my people, and desecrated my home.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do about it,” my Lord snapped at the other, down in the beck. Light glinted off his shiny black hair as he paced, phantom wings fluttering down his back as his anger corrupted him. “I sent two wolves to claim her and they’ve both gone missing. So the bitch mated herself, so what? How does this change anything? I’ll send more after her.”
“It changes everything,” the other Lord seethed, a quiet voice that chilled me, blood and bone. “She has three mates who will do anything to protect her, and if your spies are telling the truth about the three of them and the shields on their house—”
“You dare to insinuate—”
“Then reaching her physically will not be an option. But I have other means in mind.”
Other means? I held my breath, listening.
They were talking about the Russian wolf—the female who scent had stunned us days ago. The female whose scent I couldn’t get out of my nose, bergamot and grave dirt. My heart responded at the memory, racing as sweat pricked down my spine. Had I not been bound, I would have responded to that scent, instinct buried deep down answering the call of one so much more important than me, one who needed protecting like rare treasure. Because she was rare treasure, the kind we had not seen in centuries. Even in the two hundred years I’d lived, I’d never known one such as her. And neither had my Lord, or the other shifters.
Precious, I had known. But valuable, others would think. Useful. A tool to be used instead of a woman to be worshipped. Some days it felt like I was the only shifter alive who knew the old ways, who still respected them.
I flexed my hands as the scratches on my face healed, glaring into the beck at the two figures facing one another. They would misuse her the way my sister had been misused. They would manipulate her the way I had been manipulated. Maybe they would trap her and her mates the way I’d been bound by power so dark it didn’t have a name.
“I’m listening,” my Lord said, a sick smile in his voice.
“You still have spies in Whitby, do you not?”
“You know I do, Claudius.”
Claudius. I tucked that name away—any scraps I could find, I collected. My tiny hope at getting free, using their own clever game against them. Next time, I would not be the one tricked and caged. I would hold all the cards, know every secret. Next time I would be the one with the key, and my Lord the one behind bars in his own mind.
Claudius removed something from his jacket pocket. “Deliver this to the bitch. Make sure she wears it for at least a week. And then send your best liar to join her pack. It will make her … compliant.”
My Lord thought about it for a second. “Fine,” he decided. “I will send Stefan.”
No. He wouldn’t. That brute was getting nowhere near the female.
But I didn’t contradict him; I just followed the velvet box exchanging possession with my eyes, marking the crescent moon embossed on its lid. I’d done a good enough job convincing my Lord that I was broken, and lately I’d been doing anything to please him, carefully weaving the image I wanted him to see: a man desperate for approval and a higher rank among my Lord’s shifters.
Now, an opportunity to move another piece in our game had fallen into my lap. I’d known it would eventually—that’s why I’d been following him.
I would steal the velvet box and deliver it to the female. My Lord would think I was doing it to gain his approval, because I was needy and broken. That would buy me time to work around the black power inside my blood. He’d never know it for the betr
ayal it was. While the shifter Lords plotted to weaken their enemy, I built my own plan to strengthen her.
I hope you enjoyed Mated! The next book releases tomorrow!
Here’s the release schedule:
Mated ➜ 20th August
Hounded ➜ 21st August
Empowered ➜ 22nd August
Descended ➜ 23rd August
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HOUNDED: MOONLIGHT INN BOOK 2
Reunite with Lyra and her wolf mates in book two of the seductive Moonlight Inn reverse harem serial. With a new power buzzing in her blood and rogues still stalking her– along with a white hound with his own agenda - the problems are only just beginning for Lyra and her pack.
Hounded is the second book in a new reverse harem urban fantasy romance series. Expect sexy scenes, supernatural dangers, and tender romance. Welcome to the Moonlight.
