by Tami Lund
“What the hell was that about?” Matt demanded, and it took her a few seconds to realize he was standing at the foot of the bed, glaring at her as if she’d done something wrong. She hadn’t even comprehended that he’d entered the room, so lost in thought she’d been.
“That was Mere. She is the head of the Procreation Chamber on Cupid’s Plain.”
“The Procreation Chamber?”
He didn’t know. When he’d interrupted their conversation as she’d been explaining the concept to Rachel, he obviously had not overheard that part. Listlessly, she lifted her hand, gave it a weak flap.
“It’s where Cupids go when it’s their time to procreate.”
“Procreate? Like have pups? I thought you said Cupids weren’t allowed to fall in love and take mates?”
“We aren’t. The procreation process has nothing at all to do with those two concepts. It is strictly having sex and begetting babes. In fact, you don’t even necessarily have to do it with the same person each time. It’s encouraged not to. Whatever it takes to ensure there is no emotional bond.”
“That is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard.” He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. “So what the hell was she doing here, talking to you?”
Adora rolled onto her side, away from Matt, and watched the sliver of light cast by the rising sun. “She was letting me know it’s my time. When I’m finished with this assignment, I’m to report to the Procreation Chamber.”
“Bullshit.”
She felt the bed shift, and a moment later, Matt was behind her, on his knees, his knuckles pressed into the mattress on either side of her. She could feel his warmer-than-average body heat seeping into her, as usual, turning her insides into liquid. She wanted to roll over, to curl into him, to forget all about the life she was supposed to lead, but she forced herself to stay where she was.
“I’m not letting you go.”
Adora sighed. “You don’t have a choice, Matt. You have to find a mate, and I have to leave. It’s the way—”
“I want you to be my mate.”
The proclamation made her shiver, made her wish for things she could not have. He moved closer, and she wondered if he thought she was cold. His thigh brushed against her backside and she longed to distract him from this conversation in a way that would bring them both pleasure. But she could not.
“It’s the pheromones,” she reminded him. “You don’t really—”
“Stop trying to tell me how I feel, Adora, because you’re wrong. Shifters have an overabundance of pheromones all on our own. I know what lust-inspired sex is like. And since you came into my life, I know what love-inspired sex is like, too.”
“D-did you say love?”
“I did.” He leaned so close, she felt his breath on her ear. “I love you.” The words were whispered, hardly loud enough to hear, but she did. She heard him tell her he loved her.
“Oh, Matt…” She started to roll over, but he stopped her with a hand on her waist. The bed shifted again and then he lay behind her, his far larger body molded to hers, chest to back, her backside nestled against his erection. It was thick and hard and pulsing with need. Just like her.
“I’ve never fit with another woman as perfectly as we fit together.” His fingers trailed a path up and down her side, causing her to shiver again.
She let out a strangled laugh. “You’re practically twice my size. A foot taller, at least.”
“Which makes it even more impressive.”
Something grazed the back of her neck. His lips, she realized. She let her head loll forward, enjoying the sensation. He was seducing her. Despite what she’d said last night, despite what she’d told him about the Procreation Chamber, he still wanted to have sex with her. And he’d told her he loved her. She tried to convince herself he was confused, he didn’t understand the difference between lust and love, but she was failing at the attempt. Matt was a confident person; he knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. If he were the type to confuse lust and love, he would have been mated by now.
Maybe he really did love her.
“But I can’t…” she murmured, her heart aching even as his hand slipped up to cup her breast through her thin nightgown.
“I think we need to get ahold of that rule book you’re always quoting,” Matt said between kisses. She could feel his lips marking a path along her collarbone and over her shoulder, while he kneaded her heavy, aching breasts. “We need to find a loophole.”
“A loophole?” Her voice was breathy, choppy with need. Her breathing turned to panting when he reached down and slipped his hand under the hem of her nightie. She appreciated her own decision to not wear panties to bed last night as his hand brushed over her hip and his fingers found the throbbing bundle of nerves between her thighs. Lifting her leg and draping it over his thigh, she spread herself wide for him.
“Yeah,” he said, stroking her, slipping two fingers inside while rubbing circles over her nub. Adora groaned and arched, reaching back and grabbing his hair with one hand, while holding his hand with the other, guiding him, pushing him, helping him pleasure her.
“Yes.” She wasn’t sure if she was agreeing with him or simply responding to the desire coursing through her body while his fingers and his kisses brought her closer and closer to the edge. “I need you.”
“I need you, too.” She felt him moving around behind her, but her focus was on the hand that was still working her, still pushing her higher. “Forever,” he added.
“Yes.” He pulled his hand away and she protested. “Matt, please. I’m almost…”
“I know, babe. I’m right here. I’ll get you there.”
He grasped her hip, pulling her closer to him. She felt his hardness pressing against her backside, and she realized he’d managed to undress himself, while at the same time pleasuring her until she was mindless with need. Leaning forward, she clutched at the edge of the mattress and tried to spread her legs wider to accommodate him, not just his fingers, but all of him. When she felt him pressing against her opening, she closed her eyes and moaned.
I want this. I need this. I love you.
“Me, too, babe,” he said, his voice strained, and she realized she must have said the words out loud.
And then he was inside her, filling her, with one arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against his chest, while his other hand held her hip, guiding her body to move in rhythm with his. As if she needed any guidance. This was Matt. She knew what to do. It was as if she’d been born for this moment, for this man. Reaching down between her legs, she stroked herself while he pumped into her, needing the release, needing it to happen fast, while she was too lost in the moment to consider what this really meant.
This coupling. This mating.
*
They were mating. This was happening. It was really happening. Matt hadn’t necessarily had this expectation when he’d come seeking Adora this morning, but he wasn’t complaining. Not one bit. This was right where he wanted to be. Forever.
Yesterday and last night had been nothing short of torture. On Tuesday evening, after she’d told him how she’d been demoted to Cupid Level One, her wings had sprung from her back and before he had been coherent enough to stop her, she’d shrunk to a ball of swirling lights and flown away.
He’d stayed away on Wednesday, mostly because he sensed she needed space. He didn’t believe for one second their relationship was anything like the one she’d experienced before, but he had no idea how to convince her. And then he’d spent Wednesday night lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and missing her. At dawn he’d given up any pretense of sleeping and had gotten dressed and headed over to Josh’s house, determined to, if nothing else, at least try to talk some sense into the woman.
He didn’t want anyone else. Only Adora. And now he had her. She was an orgasm away from becoming his mate, and when she began stroking herself, he knew that orgasm was about to happen any seco
nd, both his and hers. Nothing was hotter than watching his woman get pleasured by both him and her own hand.
His woman. She really was. Her hand began moving urgently, in a fevered manner, and he felt her inner muscles clench around his cock, milking him until he squeezed her hip so hard she’d probably have a bruise, and his own release poured out of him, his body, soul, and spirit. And love. He’d never thought he’d feel such love in his life, and now he could not imagine ever living without it.
Finally, she collapsed against him, flinging her arm back so that it hung over his side. He did not pull out as he looked down at her, eyes closed, lashes brushing against her cheekbones, a small, satisfied smile on her rosebud lips. She looked peaceful, happy. Satisfied. And he knew she knew what they’d just done, what it meant.
Gently extracting himself, he grabbed a handful of tissues from the bedside table and wiped himself off before spooning her from behind. He wasn’t ready to lose the connection just yet, even though they would need to talk about what happened, the implications.
Her losing her wings.
“I’ve heard it said that shifters are crazy for assuming having sex in that particular position constitutes a mating ritual.”
“Yeah?” He traced a pattern on her hip with his finger.
“But it isn’t crazy. Well, it is, but in a good way. That was so intense. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of mating rituals, and that one definitely ranks highest in my book.”
He chuckled. “Glad you approve.”
He felt something rub against his chest, and he leaned away from her to see what it was. Her wings sprouted from her back and slowly fluttered. He touched one, running his fingers along the smooth, delicate surface.
“Just checking to see if they’re still there,” she quipped, and he heard the strained note in her voice. She was trying to keep up a brave front, but she was worried.
“Turn around,” he commanded. “And look at me.”
She did as he said and he saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Adora. I shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t apologize. If I hadn’t wanted it as much as you did, I wouldn’t have done it. But I love you, too. I-I want to be with you more than I want to live out my life as a Cupid.”
His heart swelled even as it ached with pain and regret—and guilt. He never should have climbed onto the bed in the first place, but at the time, he’d been overcome with jealousy and fear over the idea of her returning to her home and having sex with other men. Whelping their pups, or whatever the hell Cupid kids were called. If she ever had pups, he wanted them to be his, only his. And he wanted the two of them to raise them, together. He couldn’t fathom the idea of never having a relationship with one’s own kids.
And yet, for all his wants and desires, she was the one giving up her life, her family, everything she’d ever known. He’d selfishly only thought of the negative aspect of her life as a Cupid, but the reality was, there likely were plenty of positive ones, too. And he’d just forced her to give it all up. Disgusted with himself, he rolled away from her and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Matt, please don’t do this. Not now.”
“Do what?”
“Lose yourself in the guilt.”
“But you’re going to lose your wings. You can’t ever go home.”
“This is my home now. With you. Unless you don’t want me?”
The pain and fear in her voice caused him to turn around, to grab her around the waist and haul her into his lap. Pushing the pink hair out of her face, he cupped her chin. “I want you more with each passing minute. I want to mate with you again, right now, just to reassure myself it was real. I can’t imagine my life without you in it, but I also can’t believe I just cut you off from your own life, your family and friends.”
Her smile was wobbly. “First, what just happened required both of our consent, so you didn’t cut me off from anything. I don’t have much family, you know. I hardly know my father, and my mother and I aren’t particularly close. My brother and I are, but he can always come here to visit me. Same goes for my friends. So you see, I’m not losing much at all. And what I’m gaining more than makes up for it.” She stroked his unshaven cheek and he covered her hand with his own.
“I want to believe you really believe that.”
She kissed him, achingly gently. “I do. I swear it. I don’t want to be anywhere but here, with you, for the rest of my days.”
“What happens now? With your wings?”
As if on cue, they sprouted from her back again and fluttered. He moved his arm out of the way and stared at the fascinating sight.
“I don’t know. I suppose my Assigner will pay a visit, once she figures out what’s happened, and then we’ll find out. I wonder if it’s a painful process?”
Wrapping his arm around her waist, below the wings, he pulled her to him. “Fates, I hope not. I can’t stand the idea of you in pain.”
A knock on the door brought an end to the melancholy moment. “Adora? It’s Jeannine. May I—” Without waiting for an invitation, she stepped into the room and then gasped when she saw a naked Adora curled up on Matt’s equally nude lap.
Matt grabbed the quilt and pulled it up to cover them and scowled at the housekeeper. “Maybe wait for an invitation next time?” he suggested frostily.
Jeannine’s cheeks pinked. “Yes, sir. I—I didn’t think—that is—” Jeannine took a deep, fortifying breath and straightened her spine. “I’ve invited, er, Rachel to the farmer’s market. Josh has given his permission if the Cupid accompanies us.”
“He did?” That didn’t sound like Josh. He was hyper paranoid about his mate on a good day, and in light of the recent murder of that human family that had lived nearby, these days he was ten times worse than normal.
“He says she enjoys that sort of thing, and that he was glad I’m making an attempt to befriend her.”
Matt almost laughed at the barely disguised unhappiness in the housekeeper’s voice. She didn’t want Rachel to accompany her, yet she was doing it anyway. He was glad she was making the attempt. Rachel was a likable person. Once Jeannine got over the fact that she was human, Matt suspected she would grow quite fond of her pack master’s mate.
“Okay. Why don’t you guys take Brendon or Cal, just in case?”
Jeannine’s lips twisted into a sour look, but she did not argue. Adora rolled her eyes. “We’ll be fine,” she promised. To Jeannine, she said, “Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be down.”
When the housekeeper left and Adora did not immediately climb out of bed, Matt gave her a speculative look.
“It only takes me ten minutes to put myself together,” she told him as she rolled over onto her stomach again. “And I’ve discovered a recent liking for this particular sexual position.”
He climbed on top of her. “Entertaining your sexual preferences is my pleasure, honey,” he assured her as he kissed her shoulder.
* * * *
Forty minutes later, Matt and Josh took off for the hotel, to prepare for the convention attendees who would start arriving by noon. An hour later, while Matt was helping one of the bellhops load luggage onto a brass luggage rack, he received a text from Josh.
Come to my office.
I’m busy taking care of guests, he shot back.
It’s about your mate.
That got his attention. Adora must have told Rachel about what happened this morning, and Rachel had informed her mate. Apparently, Josh wanted to let him know he had his blessing. Chuckling to himself, Matt apologized to the bellhop and headed to Josh’s office.
As soon as he entered the room, he was struck by the grim look on Josh’s face. “What is it?” he asked, instantly fearing something had happened to Rachel and Adora. He realized Adora didn’t carry a cell phone, so if something had gone wrong, he wouldn’t even know. He needed to fix that little issue at the first available opportunity.
“I ne
ed to talk to you,” Josh said, still grim. “About your mate.”
Matt smiled, despite the stormy look on Josh’s face. “Rachel told you already? I had a feeling Adora wouldn’t be able to keep it to herself. That’s okay, I was hoping to ask you by now. I would like permission to take a mate.”
Josh gave him an odd look. “You want to do this? What about Adora? I thought…I thought it was her you wanted.”
Matt shook his head, not quite understanding the flow of the conversation. “It is,” he said. “What are you talking about?”
“Kat,” Josh said. “She swears you two are mated.”
Chapter 11
“KAT?” Matt repeated dumbly.
“She says you’ve been mated for quite some time. Just never got around to asking the pack master’s permission.”
The memories came flooding back as if he’d never suppressed them in the first place. He had been fifteen, a freshman in high school. She was eighteen. A senior. As much as he filled out early in life, so did she, tenfold. She’d been all long, lean legs and big boobs back then. Not quite as sexy as she was now, but from a fifteen-year-old youngling’s perspective, she’d been the thing wet dreams were made of.
She had invited him over to her house after school one day. Her parents were both at work, she said. They wouldn’t be home for hours.
She led him back to her bedroom. He remembered the walls were dark purple and covered with posters of whatever pop stars had been popular at the time. The comforter on the double bed had been white, with dark purple pinstripes and tiny crochet flowers sewn on it at regular intervals. Interesting, the details he could recall with vivid clarity, even now.
He had sat down on the bed and she sat next to him, close enough that their thighs were touching. When she placed her hand on his leg, his dick had given a leap, which had been obvious in the loose fitting gym shorts he’d been wearing at the time.
