by Marie Mason
Gunner’s eyebrow rose. “Not sure what happened?” If he wasn’t so worried that she was getting ready to try and run, he was pretty sure his ego should have been reeling from the blow she’d just given him. “Baby, if you don’t know what happened, then I must not have done it right.”
Autumn was taken aback by the corny, light-hearted teasing that was coming from her dark wolf. He’d been hiding in the shadows last night, his aura a mass of blacks and grays. Today…well today, she realized, golds and browns surrounded him. And if she wasn’t mistaken, just a little pink.
Was she responsible for that?
“Yes, you were.”
Before she could comment, he had the silken sheet stripped away and her naked body beneath his. He thrust his legs between hers, spreading her open. He settled on top of her, his aching dick pulsating against her clit.
“Now, what about last night don’t you understand?”
Autumn’s hands were pressed firmly against his chest, trying to keep some distance between them. He allowed her that much, supporting his weight on his elbows. With the fingertips of his right hand, he brushed her hair away from her face.
“You can’t possibly know that I’m your mate. Not that quickly.”
“Why not?” Gunner realized he had acquired a stubborn mate. And he couldn’t be happier. He didn’t want a woman who would simply lie down and let him walk all over her. He ran his hand down her side, brushing his knuckles along the curve of her breast, the small indentation of her waist, before clasping her hip.
“Because.”
He exhaled a rough breath. “My wolf knew you the moment he scented you.”
“And that’s all there is to it?” She blinked up at him, her green eyes wide and guileless.
“No. Yes.” Gunner lowered his head until their foreheads touched. “I wanted you, Autumn. Never doubt that. Ever. You gave me back my wolf. You made be whole again. Better than whole, because you gave me you. My other, better half.”
Gunner closed his eyes and tilted back his head, wanting to snap at himself. He didn’t have the words to explain everything. He didn’t even really know how to say what he knew she needed to hear. But he’d try. He’d spend the rest of his life trying. He opened his eyes and stared straight into hers. “I love you.”
“Oh.” Her mouth parted and all he could think of was how he wanted to kiss her, lick and touch and taste her.
He nuzzled aside her hair, finding the spot where he’d marked her last night. “I love you, Autumn. I take you as my mate. My bride. My heart.”
He licked the still slightly raised edges of his bite, savoring the shiver that ran through her and the scent of her arousal flooding the air around them. He pressed closer until his mouth was touching her ear. “I will keep you and care for you. I will give you your every need, your every want, your every desire. I will love you until my soul parts from yours and then I will love you into eternity and beyond.”
Tears flooded her eyes and began to fall. He stroked them away. He cupped her face kissing her lips tenderly. “Sssh,” he urged. Damn it, he hadn’t meant to make her cry. He traced the curve of her eyebrows, her cheekbone, and her jawline with his mouth. “I love you, pretty pixie,” he whispered hoarsely.
Gunner drew back and watched her with those golden brown eyes. Watching. Waiting. Waiting so patiently, Autumn thought, her silent wolf. She clasped the side of his jaw and he turned his head, placing a kiss in the center of her palm. It was the gentlest of expressions but one that sent a sharp arrow of pain to her heart.
What would she have done if he had never found her?
“Wasn’t ever going to happen.”
Autumn mimicked his earlier touch. Her mouth traced his eyebrow, rubbing over the raised skin that split it near the end. He closed his eyes as she brushed her tongue over his lip, tracing the scar.
“Don’t,” he ordered harshly, whipping his head away.
“Oh, Gunner.” She ignored his order and ran the tips of her fingers along the swathe of silvery tissue. “You see failure while the world sees only a grave sacrifice.”
“Poor wolvie.” She brushed her lips against his scar again. The gesture was so disarming that a small whine emanating from his wolf. Wanting more, no doubt, thought Gunner. He realized he was leaning forward, asking for her touch. He bent his head and kissed her. Their lips met in the briefest of whispers, the softest touch. The sweetness of a promise. It was a slow, emotional filled kiss, but more erotic than anything they had shared during the night. She opened her mouth and touched the tip of her tongue to his. Then, suddenly, neither of them could think of anything else.
He tugged her to edge of the mattress, urging her to sit up. He’d removed her hose and heels sometime during the night and now she was completely bare to his gaze and his touch. He gripped the back of her neck beneath her hair. The long strands fell down her back. She shivered as they danced along her bare skin. Then he pressed himself between her thighs. He growled half in playfulness and half in passion as he presented his need to her. It was, he thought, so damn intoxicating, standing before her, aroused to the point of pain, anticipating her touch.
“Suck me, Autumn. Make me come in your mouth.”
His dirty words were all Autumn needed to hear to make her pussy cream. She placed her hands on his hips, her thumbs caressing the muscled Apollo’s belt at his waist. She leaned forward and placed an openmouthed kiss right above the patch of dark hair surrounding his cock. Ignoring the needy flesh. She licked upward, following the natural masculine flow of his body. She pulled him closer until his dick was pressed against the warmth between her breasts. That brought a growl and sharp thrust against her upper body from her mate. Once she had explored him with her tongue, tracing and laving his lower stomach, she pushed him back again. His cock sprung free, butting against her chin. She bent her head, catching just the very tip in her mouth and sucking gently before letting it drop from her mouth.
He growled again and buried both of his hands in her hair, trying to force her to take him in her mouth.
“Patience, my wolf. Patience.” She repeated the words he’d spoken last night, smiling up at him. Gunner felt a shiver of such overwhelming need race through him his knees lost their strength and he thought he was going to make a fool of himself and go down right in front of her. He’d already taken her—more than once—and yet the hunger just kept growing. He toyed with the silky strands of her hair, twining them around his fingers, watching them shimmer in his hands.
“I want to taste you,” she whispered. “You’re so soft and smooth on the surface, but so damn hard when you come inside me.” The sensual caress of her fingers and the pictures she conjured with her words made his back bow and his hands tremble.
“Aaah, yes. Touch me there.” His ass clenched as her thumb rubbed the underside of his cock and along the flange. Then she leaned forward and Gunner was lost. Lost in the sensation of his mate’s lips on his body. He arched forward, unable to prevent the sharp thrust into her mouth. She didn’t protest and he did it again. Her mouth was warm and wet.
Her hands climbed up his body and she tweaked his nipples, letting him know who was boss. He lost it and shoved his cock into her mouth, bumping the back of her throat with each thrust. She took him. She took him deep and then deeper still as she relaxed her throat. She swallowed when he pressed as far inside her as he could go. The sensation so intense, he rose to his tiptoes, trying to go deeper. All the time she watched him with those big green eyes, taking everything without complaint.
Gunner felt that heady sensation at the base of his spine, signaling he was about to release. “I’m gonna come, baby,” he warned, pressing her face closer. “Swallow me, baby. Swallow me down.” Her hands gripped the cheeks of his ass and pulled him closer. Her throat opened and he shot down her throat.
After his body quit jerking, he reluctantly pulled out of sweet warm mouth and positioned her over the edge of the bed, face down. His bed was so high up off the floor th
at she almost stood on tiptoes. The position put a strain on her body, making it impossible for her to move away. His cock was wet from her mouth and he knew her pussy would be moist. Sucking him off had aroused his mate. He could smell it. He wanted to taste it. He stroked her slit feeling the thick cream coating her lips. He brought his fingers to his mouth and licked it away. “So responsive, pretty pixie. So damn responsive.” He pushed two fingers into her wet passage, slowly fucking her, making sure to touch the over sensitized bundle of nerves inside her hot pussy. She arched off the bed and he laid a restraining hand on her low back right above the beautiful slope of her hips. Her hips were wide, twin dimples at the base of her spine. Beautiful.
“Wider,” he ordered and knocked her feet apart and kept them spread with his legs.
“Gunner, please,” she moaned. “Please do something.” Her hips undulated in silent invitation.
He continued rubbing her opening, stroking and penetrating. Her whimpers spurred him on. His mate wanted him as much as he wanted her. When he felt the spot inside her again that made her scream, she growled. His little mate actually growled at him. His pixie was getting impatient. “I am doing something, sweetheart. I’m looking at you all pink and shiny. For me. But you didn’t ask for what you wanted. What do you want Autumn?”
Autumn’s hands clutched the soft comforter by her head. “Take me, Gunner. Please take me,” she whispered back.
Instead, of his hard length pressing inside her, she felt the sharp slap of his fingers on the wet opening of her pussy. “Gunner!”
Again and again he rained blows down over the sensitive flesh, spreading her legs even wider so his slaps would be sharper. “Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want.”
“Fuck me, Gunner. Fuck me hard,” she screamed.
He continued to hold her legs open and spank her pussy. Then he was thrusting his fingers into her sopping channel. He dug his fingers into her, rolling them to coat them all the way past his knuckles before pulling them out. He switched his attention to the tight bud of her anus, rubbing the moisture around the brown star before gently sliding a finger inside her.
“Gunner,” she whimpered at the invasion.
“Sssh, let me make you feel good.” He crouched down to lick along her slit, his tongue circling her clit from behind. He drew her inner lips between his teeth and sucked them hard while he pushed his fingers in and out, opening her to him. He twisted inside her, loosening the tight ring of muscle, then drove another finger inside and fluttered them, back and forth until she was moaning and gasping for breath. He wanted to take her there, mark her everywhere, but his wolf demanded that he spend inside her sex, sending their seed into her womb. He settled for making her come. Keeping his fingers in her ass, he stroked his tongue over her pussy, faster. A low cry signaled she was close so he redoubled his efforts. “Let go, baby. Let go.”
In seconds, she was keening her release.
He quickly adjusted her hips to accept his penetration. He plunged hard and deep, so deep that Autumn lost her breath. It escaped into the night, a shiver, a sigh. A streak of power that whispered his name.
Her fingers curled tighter in the tangled covers of the bed, gasping with throaty, pleasured pants. He dropped forward, supporting his weight on his hands. They didn’t touch anywhere except where they were joined as man and woman. His cock reaming her pussy. He watched as he took her. He was so thick her pussy lips clung to him with each erotic slide of flesh against flesh.
“Okay, baby?” he asked. Her body was struggling to accept him, but damn his black heart, he didn’t know if he could stop. Having her body grip him so tightly was heaven.
“Yes.”
Her scream ignited a fierce, carnal lust deep inside him. He’d wanted to take his time with her, show her he could be a man—a wolf—of tenderness.
Fuck that, his wolf grunted.
Gunner agreed. He cored into her, twisting his hips with a thrust so deep she had no choice but to submit to both him and the wolf.
Autumn raised her bottom to meet his strokes, moaning loudly with each hard thrust. He stroked faster, harder until his balls banged her clit.
Again and again, Autumn felt the animal beneath the man’s skin as all three sought the pleasure they knew could be theirs. He rode her hard. His cock pounding in and out of her pussy, making her cry out with desire.
“Again,” he commanded, and Autumn shivered at the sensual demand in his voice as he ordered her to come for him. With that one word, he pushed her over the edge. His smell surrounded her, woods and rain and male all wrapped together. He was solid, real. He was hers. As they fucked, they joined together on a primal level that would join them forever.
“Mine,” Gunner felt the head of his cock press against the mouth of her womb. He needed to possess her, brand her, and make her his and his alone. Her cries were now throaty and raw.
It was as if she reached for him, drawing him closer, steeping him in need. A need so powerfully shocking, his wolf almost recoiled from it. But Gunner knew what the animal and man needed. They needed her. He speared into her one final time and froze, spurting his seed once again into his receptive mate as they both convulsed. A red haze blinded him as his cock gushed, flooding the only woman he would ever love with his seed. Her pussy clenched in rhythm around him. They remained that way, drowning in sensation, swimming in an orgasm that seemed to last for hours. The man and wolf joined with her.
The echo of a lusty howl filled the room as they collapsed on the bed. Satisfied and sated. For now.
“Damn,” Gunner cursed as he rummaged through a drawer in his walk-in closet. It was an antique highboy dresser that had been in the family for years. He slid his hand all the way to the back. It wasn’t there.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” He closed the drawer quickly and turned around. Autumn stood in the doorway, watching. She’d refused to dress in his clothing and had somehow managed to piece her dress back together. She appeared as elegant and gorgeous as she had last night before Townsend had swept her up in his arms. The thought of the wolf still made Gunner’s fists clench. “You look beautiful.”
He walked over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t you go on down. I’ll be right behind you.”
He wanted to say to hell with everything else and chain her to his bed and keep her there. Forever.
His wolf howled inside him in agreement. Forever.
Autumn frowned but didn’t say anything. “Okay. I’ll, umm, see you downstairs than.” She turned, making her dress swirl around her legs and Gunner had to yank back his wolf to keep from chasing her. The animal wanted to mount her then and there. But he needed to do this right.
Autumn bit her lip as she made her way out of Gunner’s bedroom wondering why he was sending her ahead of him. She slowly made her way down the staircase, hoping that he would catch up with her before she had to enter the room where the party appeared to still be going strong. She had no idea what time it was. Looking toward the windows at her right, she saw it was still dark out.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t cousin Autumn doing the walk of shame.”
Autumn’s head jerked to the left and she groaned silently. Trixie was standing in the entryway, a glass of champagne in her hand. She thought idly that the wolf throwing the party had to have spent a fortune on champagne and liquor. Not to mention the food. Supernaturals had very rich tastes and fast metabolisms, which meant they could drink all night long without feeling the effects.
She debated walking past her cousin but knew the woman would simply follow, yipping at her heels like an annoying toy poodle. Her fingers twitched and for a moment she was tempted to see if she could actually turn her into a dog.
“Trixie, I see you’re drinking, same as ever.” The insult wasn’t much, but it was the best she could do considering her mind was a gooey pile of melted chocolate. Mmm? Chocolate on wolf—she wondered how that would taste.
Remembering the feel of Gunner’s tou
ch, she squared her shoulders and threw back her head. She ached between her legs said she had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, she needed to flaunt her shit. She’d just been ravished by the big, bad wolf.
As she walked past Trixie without saying another word, the woman turned and followed her. “So who decided they wanted a try some chub love, cousin?”
Autumn cursed the lack of control that had her swirling to face her childhood nemesis. Before she could speak, a rough rumble sounded from the shadows.
“That would be me.”
Autumn almost swooned when Gunner, once again dressed in his tuxedo, stepped from the shadowed doorway. He must have followed her from his room as quickly as he had promised.
His white shirt was opened to the waist since the gold studs she’d popped out with her magic had melted. His cummerbund held it in place around his waist. It was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. No, him standing before her naked, stroking his cock, ordering her to take him in her mouth had been the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. Her pussy creamed thinking of the things they’d done.
Seeing the flare of gold in his brown eyes, she realized he was also reliving those moments. Lowering her gaze to the bulge behind his zipper, her body warmed even more when she realized he wanted to do those things again. With her. Only with her.
The hurt of Trixie’s taunts rolled away and Autumn knew she would never be bothered by her cousin’s petty words again.
Gunner strode across the short distance that separated him from his mate. His wolf was snarling, angry at the man that they had left her alone and that somehow the female beside their mate had upset her. He calmed his wolf, reminding him of the velvet box in his hand and the reason why they had been late.
“Autumn.” He held out his hand and he was proud when she came to him without hesitation.
Amber looked over Hayden’s shoulder, her gaze focused on the back of the room. The were sharing another dance. Their moves were slow and easy, satisfied in both mind and body. Her grandmother and mother had practically forbidden her to go back upstairs with Hayden. And, truth be told, she probably did need a little more recovery time. Not so her mate, she thought with a smile, feeling the hard ridge of his cock pressing into her side as they danced.
