“Then you need to ask Eliza,” she replied softly. “But you need to make her feel as safe as possible first.”
“And how do I do that?” I protested. “What more can I do? I mated her months ago and have given her as much space as I could stand so she could get used to the idea of being mine. I’m getting fucking desperate here, Grace.”
“Maybe that’s it,” Hunter piped in.
We both turned to him, trying to figure out what he meant.
“Space isn’t working, so take it away. Stop being a pussy and man the fuck up and make her tell you.”
“Hunter!” Grace gasped. “Don’t be a jackass.”
He might have said it crudely, but the idea had merit. Maybe I had given Eliza too much space.
“It’s not a horrible idea,” I admitted. “Maybe she needs to see that I’m willing to fight for her, too.”
“Hey, don’t sound so shocked. There’s a reason I’m the alpha,” Hunter complained.
“And giving relationship advice clearly isn’t one of them,” Grace said sarcastically. “Make her tell you? Ha! Like you can make a woman tell you anything if she isn’t ready.”
“Oh, I have my ways,” Hunter murmured before kissing her neck.
“And so do I,” I mumbled, giving serious consideration to Hunter’s suggestion.
I truly was nearing the end of my rope. When I’d mated Eliza, I hadn’t expected it to take this long before she would accept my mark. Holding back wasn’t working, so I decided that pushing a little was worth a shot. And I wasn’t going to wait to give it a try, either. There was no time like the present.
Glancing at Hunter and Grace and seeing them wrapped up in each other, I decided they wouldn’t even notice if I left. He’d lowered his mouth for a kiss and their bodies were melded together, so I quietly shut the door behind me, giving them the privacy they deserved, and headed over to Eliza’s cabin.
Her shift at the diner was over in a couple of hours, and I wanted to do something special for her tonight. I decided that a romantic dinner for two was in order. Since I was hopeless in the kitchen, I tugged my phone out of my pocket as I climbed into my truck. After finding the right person in my contact list, I hit send.
“Spencer,” the female voice on the other end greeted me. “It’s so nice to hear from you.”
“Hello, Alicia. I hope I’m not bothering you.”
She laughed lightly. “Not at all. You know I’m here if you ever need anything.”
I knew she meant those words from the bottom of her heart. Alicia was the mate of our pack’s omega. She was the most kindhearted she-wolf I’d ever met, always going out of her way to provide assistance where it was needed. She was also an amazing cook, so I knew she was the perfect person to help with my plan for tonight.
By the time we hung up, everything was set. Alicia was going to drop off dinner right before Eliza would be home and I’d take care of everything else.
****
When Eliza walked in the door, candles were lit on the table and our meal was spread out. A bottle of her favorite red wine was open and ready to pour. She dumped her purse on the floor as her jaw dropped open in surprise.
“What’s the special occasion?” she asked.
I led her to the table and helped her into a chair before answering. “Just another night I get to spend with you.”
Seeing the joy that filled her eyes made all my efforts worthwhile. I filled our plates with food from the serving dishes, and she seemed even happier when she realized it was one of her favorite meals—lasagna with green beans and garlic bread. The food was delicious, and we quickly inhaled our meal.
“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” she said before lifting her glass of Shiraz and sipping from it.
I didn’t like the surprise in her voice. Clearly, I wasn’t doing something right if she thought this was a lot. Grabbing her hand, I waited until she looked up into my eyes to respond.
“I’d do anything for you, dream girl.”
The smile she gave me lit her whole face. “Anything?” she murmured huskily.
“Don’t you know how much you mean to me?” I asked as I pushed my chair back and stood. Holding her gaze with my own, I moved to where she was sitting.
“How about you show me?” she teased.
My plans for a romantic evening to soften her up for a serious conversation flew out the window as the scent of her arousal hit my nose. Her need was strong, and it ramped up the desire I always felt whenever she was near. Our talk could wait until after we’d sated ourselves.
“Hard and fast or soft and slow?” I questioned, offering her the choice to set our pace before lifting her in my arms.
The fire in her eyes answered me before her words did. “Hard,” she moaned into my ear as she blew hot air on my neck. “And fast.” Then she followed her answer up with a nip of her teeth on my skin, setting an inferno of lust deep inside me.
It made me think of the mark I wanted her to wear. The one showing all other males she was my mate.
I didn’t even last the time it would take to carry Eliza to her bedroom. Instead, I tossed her onto the couch, stomach down, her luscious ass in the air and her legs dangling over the side. Then I ripped her pants down her legs and sank my fingers into her hot pussy.
“So damn wet for me,” I murmured in her ear as I bent my body over hers, pumping my fingers, needing to stretch and prepare her for the fucking I was about to give her.
“Always,” she sighed, wiggling her ass as she widened her stance.
“Ready for me to pound into you?” I growled.
“Yes,” she hissed.
After whipping my fingers out of her, I quickly unzipped my pants and let them drop to the floor. “Hold still,” I rumbled as I gripped Eliza’s hips and thrust into her from behind.
She writhed beneath me, trying to surge upwards so I’d hit her in that spot that was guaranteed to make her come. Based upon how her walls were already clenching against me, she hadn’t been joking when she’d said that she wanted it fast, but I wasn’t ready for her to come yet. I wanted to drive her out of her mind first before I let her go over the edge. Once I’d planted myself deep inside, I held still for a moment, knowing that it would make her a little crazy as she waited for me to move.
“Spencer, please,” she begged.
Tightening my grip on her hips, I waited a little longer before I leaned over and forced her chest farther into the cushions of the couch. “Not yet, my dream girl. I know you wanted it fast, but hold on just a little bit longer for me and I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Promise?” she said as she once again tried to thrust back against me.
Running my hands along the globes of her ass, I slowly slid out of her pussy until my cock tip rested at her entrance. “Always,” I swore just before I slammed back inside.
Her hands reached out to grip the back of the couch in an effort to hold still. “More,” she pleaded.
I trailed my palms under her shirt and up her back until I gripped her shoulders for leverage. “Yes,” I hissed before I began to hammer in and out of her. “As much as you can take.”
Her pussy clenched against my cock each time I pulled out of her body, almost like it was trying to suck me back inside. As I thrust into her body with quick and measured strokes, I could already feel the telltale tingle in my balls. Fast didn’t mean I was going to come before her though, so I moved my hands from her shoulders to wrap them around her tits. Her shirt hampered my movements, so I lengthened my claws and ripped it from her body. A quick flick tore open her bra so I could grip her naked breasts in my hands.
“Oh, God, that was so hot!” she cried out, apparently unconcerned that I’d just destroyed her clothes.
Taking this as a signal that she was in the mood for my total domination, I spread her legs open wider so I could get even deeper. Rotating my hips, I ground against her, covering her body with my own so there wasn’t an inch of her I wasn’t touching.
�
��Want you to carry my scent,” I growled into her ear. “And to feel me inside for days so you never forget who you belong to. Never doubt you’re mine just as I am yours, my dream girl.”
My words sent her over the edge and she shuddered as she climaxed beneath me. Her pussy gripped me so tightly that I had to use all of my willpower to stop myself from coming with her. I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold on any longer when she was milking my cock like that, but I wanted to try so I could get her there again.
She finally began to settle just as I started to tremble with the effort it was taking me to hold still. After pulling out of her tight sheath, I flipped her over so I could stare into her eyes as I took her again.
“Wrap around me,” I ordered as I surged back in as deep as I could go until my cock slammed against her cervix.
“Harder,” she groaned, clenching her legs as she hooked them around my ass while she gripped my shoulders. The feel of her nails against my skin pushed me closer to the edge because I knew she would leave her mark on me for everyone to see.
I was pissed that she hadn’t shared with me her reasons for not accepting my mark yet, and I knew I was taking some of my frustration out on her the only way I could as I fucked her. The tightening of her pussy against my cock told me she didn’t mind how rough I was being though—it was the opposite, in fact. My mate loved when I dominated her and showed her who was boss. Her wolf demanded it from time to time as a reminder of my worthiness.
“Come again for me, Eliza,” I moaned into her ear before biting down on her shoulder. My mark wouldn’t hold until she accepted me as her mate in all ways, but I needed to see it on her skin tonight.
“So close,” she moaned.
Bracing my arm on the couch, I moved my other hand down her body until I reached her pussy. It was getting more and more difficult to hold my own climax back, so I needed her to come with me this time. Slipping my fingers in her wetness, I found her clit and pinched it.
“So fucking good,” she groaned as her walls fluttered against me. “Again.”
“Always amazing,” I agreed as I pinched harder this time. Circling my hips, I bottomed out on each thrust and felt her start to shudder again.
“Spencer!” she cried out just as my body clenched.
Right in the nick of time, too, because I flew over the edge as her pussy began to spasm. She trembled beneath me as my climax roared through my body.
“Spencer,” she grunted when I continued to thrust slowly, not ready to lose this moment between us and the closeness I was feeling.
“Never want to be anywhere else but right here with you,” I told her before capturing her lips with mine for a slow kiss. By the time I drew away, her trembling had stopped and I’d emptied myself inside her.
“That might be awkward,” she chuckled. “It would be hard to see about pack business with me wrapped naked around you.”
I knew she was teasing, but the mere thought of anyone seeing her naked body sent waves of jealousy through me. Although I had mated her, as long as she didn’t willingly bear my mark, I had no formal claim over her. And tonight, she was going to tell me why.
Chapter 4
Eliza
I’d thought Spencer would laugh at my joke, but I didn’t get the reaction I had been expecting. Instead, he leapt off the couch, flung me over his shoulder and stormed into my room. After he tossed me onto the mattress, he glared at me from the side of the bed.
“What?” I sputtered.
“Don’t you ever fucking joke about anyone else seeing you naked, Eliza,” he bit out in a raspy voice.
I rose to my knees so we would be closer to eye level. “I didn’t mean it like that, Spencer,” I tried to explain.
He wasn’t having any of it though. “Don’t care how you meant it,” he growled. “Do you know what it’s been like for me these last months? Being able to touch you, kiss you, and fuck you but never to mark you? Knowing the whole time that my future hangs in the balance? Waiting for you to tell me what’s really holding you back from me?”
I’d never seen Spencer so angry before. At least not in real life—only in my dreams. Looking at that expression now made me think about those dreams. How they’d continued to recur, sometimes several times a week. A never-ending cycle of highs and lows. Just like right now. I’d gone from relaxing with him on the couch after two mind-blowing orgasms to that feeling of terror over the thought of possibly losing him forever. But my confusion was nothing compared to the agony on his face right now. He’d been incredibly patient with me. Now that I realized how much I was hurting him, I didn’t have any choice. I had to tell him about the dreams.
“Come sit with me,” I said as I patted the bed next to me.
Spencer swiveled and plopped down with his back facing me. It made it easier for me to open up, so I crawled towards him and wrapped my arms around his body. With my head resting on his back, I began to speak.
“My dreams were always vivid. Even as a child. I don’t know exactly when I realized things in them came true, but I think I was fairly young,” I began. “It was little things at first—harmless stuff that didn’t really mean anything to me at the time. It wasn’t until I mentioned it to my mom that I knew what my having those visions meant. That the gift she viewed as a curse which skipped her hadn’t skipped me.”
“Your mom wasn’t happy about your walking in dreams?” he asked.
I thought back to how she’d made me hide that side of myself, even from my father. “No, she definitely wasn’t happy,” I said before telling him about my parents, how my mom had been raised, and the death of my grandparents. About my dream of her death and the reaction of our alpha before I had been tossed out of my old pack. And my wait for my father and that final phone call with my childhood friend.
“Is that why you aren’t ready to accept my mark? Because of what happened with your parents?” he asked as he grasped his hands around my wrists and pulled my body closer to his.
“No,” I whispered.
Spencer’s chest heaved as he sighed deeply, most likely in frustration. “Then what is it, Eliza? What could possibly be keeping you from me?”
“I’ve dreamed of you often,” I said. “In the time we’ve been together and before.”
“I’m sure that’s nothing to worry about, Eliza. I’m your mate. It only makes sense that you’d dream of me,” he said, probably trying to comfort me.
“When I say before, I mean years before. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that you were the man I would fall in love with. The wolf I would want to mate. The only person I could ever imagine spending the rest of my days with,” I tried to explain, my voice cracking because I didn’t want to share the rest.
“But if you knew this whole time I was your mate, why didn’t you just say something?” Spencer demanded.
“In all my dreams, you’ve turned away from me. Denounced me as your mate and broken my heart,” I whispered. “Every single time.”
“Eliza, no! That can’t be true,” Spencer protested. “I would never do that.”
“In my head, I feel like I know you wouldn’t. Why would you mate me and ask me to accept your mark if you were just going to turn away from me, right?” I asked, not really expecting an answer or even giving Spencer time to say anything before I continued. “But I’ve had years of seeing you do exactly that in my dreams, and it’s etched into my memory. Burned into my heart and feeding my fears.”
“Fuck,” he hissed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I felt like, if I said the words, it would somehow make the dreams more real,” I admitted.
“Thank you for finally sharing this with me, my dream girl,” he murmured. “I won’t lie and tell you it doesn’t still hurt knowing you aren’t ready to accept my mark. At least now I understand your hesitation. What I don’t understand is why you’re still having these dreams, because there isn’t the slightest possibility of them coming true.”
“You don’t know tha
t!” I cried out.
Spencer tugged on my arms and pulled me onto his lap. Then he waited until he was staring in my eyes before he spoke. “There isn’t anything in this world, nothing you could do, nothing anyone else could ever do, that would make me turn from you.”
I melted at his words and my eyes slid closed. “Oh, Spencer,” I sighed.
“Look at me,” he ordered as he gripped my chin so I would gaze up at him again. “I love you, Eliza. I didn’t admit it to myself when we started our affair, but I loved you then. And I will love you until the day I die. The day you believe that with all your heart? That’s when I want to mark you, and not a moment before. Because I know that day will come. I don’t have any doubts.”
His faith in me was humbling. I could see it shining from his eyes. So I simply nodded in agreement and snuggled closer to him while I hoped that day came soon.
****
The next month flew by in a whirlwind of preparations for the marriage of Grace to our alpha. I had been surprised when she’d asked me to be her only bridesmaid. Any of the she-wolves in the pack would have been honored to have the privilege, but there was a bond between the two of us. One that was most likely formed because we’d both faced such difficulties in our lives.
It was because of that friendship that I found myself dressed in a deep-purple bridesmaid dress as I helped her get ready after having spent most of my night decorating the arch in the garden with flowers. Sneaking out of my own cabin after she’d fallen asleep hadn’t been easy, but after my dream from the night before, I’d known that it had to be done. Everything needed to be perfect for Grace and Hunter today.
Grace stood before me in her wedding gown, and as happy as I was that she had found such amazing happiness with Hunter, I was also jealous. Not only had he mated, marked, and claimed her, he was now marrying her as well. She would never have any reason to be uncertain about her importance in his life—like the kind of doubts my damn dreams had given me and were still giving me.
Some of what I was feeling must have shown in my expression, because Grace paused in lowering the veil over her face and motioned me closer. Then she held her hands out to me when I was standing in front of her.
Shoot for the Moon (Black River Pack Book 2) Page 4
