by Tara West
Hakon’s nostrils flared. “What is it?”
She looked at him with wide eyes. “I just had this strange feeling, like a flower had blossomed inside me.”
She drew back as all four of her mates simultaneously howled.
Before she could stop him, Hakon swooped her up in his arms and carried her into the house, taking the steps two at a time. His eyes were alight with a strange gleam. After carrying her into her private bedroom, he slammed the door shut with his backside, then tumbled with her onto the bed, ripping off their clothes like they were on fire.
The light in his eyes frightened her, reminding her of a predator stalking its prey.
“Hakon, please be gentle.”
But he was already between her legs, lifting her ankles above his ears and driving into her with one fluid thrust.
She cried out when his large cockhead hit a bundle of nerves that was more swollen than ever before. She gasped when he pulled back and thrust again and again, her insides swelling like an inflatable balloon that molded around his erection. It was as if her sheath was trying to squeeze out his seed.
Holy fuck! She was ready to combust, stoked by Hakon’s friction creating liquid fire between her legs.
He cupped the back of her head, passionately kissing her and increasing his pace. She spread her legs wide, letting his lust consume her, breathing in his musky scent and soaking up his heat. She was hardly aware of the coarse hair on his chest scratching her bare nipples. Her mind was in a whirl, her senses caught up in a vortex of pleasure as he relentlessly fucked her.
Just as that balloon inside her was ready to burst, he stilled, bathing her womb with powerful spurts from his cock. She rode through his orgasm, grinding against him, a tsunami of pleasure washing over her. The climax was so powerful, she feared the contractions would sweep her off the bed. She dug her nails into his broad, muscular back, panting his name over and over while pleasure shot through her like rings of fire.
And just when she thought Hakon was finished, he fucked her through that orgasm and into several more. Hot damn, she loved being his mate.
AMARA WOKE IN HAKON’S arms and breathed in the smells of sweat and sex. Her head was foggy, her ears buzzing as if she was suffering from a hangover. She’d lost count of the number of days she’d spent in bed with her big protector, but just as her bunica had said, they’d mated like rabbits for a long time. Sure, the sex was incredible, but she was so sore, she wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.
Her stomach roared as if a protector was living inside her, and she blurted the first thing that popped into her head. “I’m so hungry.” As if to emphasize her point, she raked her teeth across his shoulder, then licked salty sweat off her lips.
“Me, too.” He gave her a lazy smile. The stubble on his jaw was much thicker, and his hair stuck up at all angles. He smoothed the tangled hair out of her face. “Let’s go eat.” He sat up, stretching.
“Wait.” She grabbed his thick, hard thigh, loving how it flexed beneath her fingers. “How do we know it worked?”
“Try to shift.”
“What?”
One of his brows hitched up as he gave her an expectant look. “Amaroki women can’t shift when they’re pregnant.”
“Are you serious?” Why had nobody told her this? She wouldn’t be able to go for her evening run through the forest with her mates? That was her favorite time of day, other than sex time.
“Try it.”
She held her breath and summoned the change, but nothing happened. “Omigod!” Panic seized her chest. “I can’t. I feel nothing. It’s like I’m human.”
“Don’t be afraid, Amara.” He settled a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You’ll be able to shift again in five months.”
“Five months?” She gaped. “Don’t you mean nine?”
“It only takes five months for an Amaroki baby to develop.”
“Really?” Then she recalled the argument she’d overheard one night between her mother and her grandparents during one of the few times her mom had shown up at their farm for a handout. “My mom swore I was a preemie, but my grandparents said I was full term.” She counted down the months on her hands. “So by January we’ll have a baby?”
A broad grin split his face in two. “Yes.”
She couldn’t help but smile back. Five months was a small sacrifice to finally be able to hold that sweet child in her arms.
“Oh, Hakon.” Her heart fluttered. “I’ve seen our son.”
His brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“Our goddess showed him to me in a vision, along with our other sons. Drasko and Luc took them fishing in your bass boat. I can’t wait to hold our baby in my arms.”
Hakon swept her into his strong embrace, kissing her so deeply and passionately, she felt the need to spread her legs for him once more. “I love you so much,” he murmured when they finally came up for air.
“I want you again,” she breathed, wishing for another kiss. She shifted at the ache between her legs and knew she’d regret it later, but this virile wolf made her so horny.
“Let’s go eat.” He laid his calloused hand on her flat stomach. “Our child needs nourishment.”
She heaved a baleful sigh. He was right. Sex would have to wait.
RONE WAS WAITING FOR them in the kitchen, looking like a pup eager for his master to take him for a walk. “Well? Can you shift, Amara?”
A blush crept into her cheeks. She had no idea why she suddenly felt like a deflowered virgin the night after her honeymoon. “No.”
“Ha!” He howled, then picked her up and planted a sloppy kiss on her lips. He gently set her down as if she was made of glass. “You will make a wonderful mother.”
“Thanks.” She blushed again.
Rone tugged her toward a stool. “I have lots of food for you.”
“Good.” She patted her growling tummy. “Because I’m famished.”
She and Hakon sat at the island and polished off a platter of smoked salmon, a roast with carrots and potatoes, four loaves of nutty bread, a bucket of buttery crab claws, a tray of chicken wings, and three baskets of onion rings. She’d never eaten so much in her life. Then again, she’d never had several days of marathon sex, only stopping to take short naps and drink water from the sink.
“How long were we in there?” she finally asked, licking barbeque sauce off her fingers.
“Two days,” Rone answered.
“Wow.” She gaped at Hakon. “It felt more like ten.”
“I don’t have that much stamina.” He chuckled, wiping crumbs off her lips.
“You have plenty.” She grimaced and adjusted the cushion under her. “It hurts to sit.”
Rone went into the utility room and returned with an ice pack from the deep freeze.
She took it and slipped it under her seat. “Ahhhh.” The numbing cold was just what her poor twat needed after forty-eight hours of intense friction. “Thanks.”
Hakon kissed her cheek. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m not,” she said with a wink. “What’s for dessert?” she asked Rone, then licked her lips when he pulled a tray of brownies out of the oven.
A door slammed and then she heard footsteps on the stairs. Her nostrils flared when Drasko and Luc emerged from the basement, smelling like fish guts. She’d wondered how they’d passed the time while she and Hakon were fucking like rabbits. She hoped they’d wanted to go fishing, and they weren’t just escaping the moans coming from her bedroom.
“Well?” Drasko asked, looking pointedly at Amara.
Hakon wrapped a possessive arm around her shoulders, beaming. “She carries our son.”
Warmth flooded her chest when her mates howled. She’d never been happier in all her life. Now that she was pregnant, she hoped her mates wouldn’t go hunt down the Devoras. They couldn’t possibly leave her behind in this vulnerable state.
She turned to Hakon with pleading eyes. “Does this mean you won’t go to Romania no
w?”
Frown lines creased his brow. “We have to go.”
Her heart skipped to a halt, slamming against her chest. “No, you don’t. I called my fathers. They’re insulted you’d fly there to hunt the Devoras after they promised they’d do it.”
“They had their chance,” Drasko said as he leaned over her and snatched a brownie from the tray. “Now it’s our turn.”
She struggled to find the words that would convince them to stay, her brain going numb from fear. “It’s only been six weeks.”
Her mates shared knowing looks and then Hakon cleared his throat. “It shouldn’t take them that long to find a pack of scraggly wolves.”
She ran trembling hands down her thighs, trying to keep from falling apart and failing miserably. “They said they have a plan.”
“What plan?” Drasko asked with a smirk.
She hung her head. They weren’t listening. “They refused to tell me, but they said it’s not safe in Romania, and you must stay in Alaska.”
“They’re stalling,” Hakon rumbled, “which gives the Devoras the advantage.”
Amara shot him a dark look. “Katarina distracts them. Last week my fathers found her trying to hang herself in the barn.” Her dramatic stepmother had been giving her fathers grief ever since she found out about Amara’s existence, blaming Amara’s birth father for having sex with her human mother while he was still a teen. It wasn’t his fault he’d been bewitched by their ancient goddess, but Katarina refused to forgive him or his brothers for harboring this secret.
Drasko let out a low, sinister chuckle. “They should’ve let her go through with it.”
Amara swiveled in her seat, glaring up at him. “She might be a bitch, but she’s still the mother to my brothers. As terrible as she is, even my fathers know their place is with their mate, unlike my mates.”
Hakon stood, holding out both hands defensively. “Amara, that’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” She jumped from her seat. “It’s not fair that you’d impregnate me and then go risk your lives.” She jabbed Hakon’s chest before turning an accusatory look on each of her mates. “I need to be alone.” She pushed Rone out of the way and snatched the tray of brownies. “I’m going to my room, and I’m taking this with me.” She waved the tray under their noses as if she was holding the dessert hostage, then raced up the stairs.
She slammed the door behind her so hard, the walls rattled. She threw the brownies on a dresser and fell on the bed with a sob. Damn those stubborn wolves for breaking her heart.
Chapter Four
Amara stood on the front porch of her mates’ parents’ house, where she’d be staying during their absence, too numb from shock and grief to formulate a decent goodbye. She held her back ramrod straight, trying hard not to cry as each of her mates hugged and kissed her.
When Hakon bent down on one knee and tenderly kissed her stomach, she lost the battle with her tears and let them flow. She stared stoically at her other three mates when he stood and whispered words of love in her ear and hugged her one last time.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Hakon asked, wiping moisture off her cheeks.
She didn’t trust herself to speak, for fear she’d break down and collapse, but she needed to say something. “Don’t go,” she finally said. Her depression was so stifling, it felt as if an elephant was sitting on her chest.
He kissed her on the forehead, his lips lingering long enough to draw a sob from her. Then he and her other mates climbed into his truck and drove away, dragging her heart behind them.
After her mates’ mother, Mihaela, and Tatiana helped her upstairs, she fell onto Tatiana’s bed, weeping into a pillow. When she heard Mihaela and Tatiana sniffling, too, she felt ten shades of selfish for ignoring their suffering. They were also worried for their sons and brothers. She sat up and wiped her eyes, then she and Tatiana fell into Mihaela’s outstretched arms, and they all cried together.
“We must pray to the Ancients,” Mihaela said, blubbering.
“I will,” Tatiana said. “Every day.”
“Ancients, please keep my mates safe,” Amara whispered. “Please, please return them to me.”
“I GUESS WE’LL BE ROOMIES for a while,” Tatiana said, helping her put away her clothes in an empty drawer, “unless you want me to sleep in my mom’s room.”
“Don’t be silly. I don’t mind sharing with you.” She nudged Tatiana with her hip. “We’re sisters now.”
Tatiana’s cheeks reddened. “I guess in more ways than one.”
“Yeah.” Amara laughed. Tatiana was destined to mate with Amara’s brothers, after all. Tatiana had gone suspiciously quiet. “Is something wrong?”
Tatiana chewed her bottom lip, looking sheepishly at Amara. “Did you tell your brothers I don’t want to move to Romania?”
“I did.” She grimaced, remembering how that conversation had resulted in her brothers getting pissed off at her. “I asked them if they could move here instead.”
Tatiana’s dark eyes widened. “What did they say?”
Amara heaved a frustrated groan. “That their roots are in Romania. They seem confident they can persuade you to want to marry them.” After dealing with male wolves and their egos, Amara had come to realize they were really stubborn.
“What are they like?”
“Tall, blond, and handsome.” Opposite Tatiana with her long, dark hair and tanned skin, just like Amara had the opposite coloring of Tatiana’s brothers.
“And their personalities?” Tatiana asked.
“Loyal and sweet.” Amara recalled with fondness how they’d called her their soră and tried to protect her from the Devoras. “I think you will fall in love with them.”
“But I’ve heard stories about my future mother-in-law.” Tatiana flopped on her bed. “Is it true she tried to run off with the Devoras?”
Amara cringed. “Yes.”
Tatiana sat up, hugging a stuffed wolf to her chest. “Where is she now?”
“Living with my fathers in their barn while their house is being rebuilt.” She felt sorry for them. Their spoiled mate was probably throwing a fit.
Tatiana gaped at her. “They took her back?”
“They had no choice.” She shrugged and sat beside Tatiana. “Her parents disowned her.”
“Do my mates have a home of their own?” Tatiana made a face, and Amara knew she was probably contemplating a hellish life with her future mother-in-law.
She did her best to keep a straight face. No use getting Tatiana more upset, though she feared her stepmother would do her best to make Tatiana’s life miserable. “Not yet, but my grandfathers have laid claim to the Devora farm. They have one more week to challenge, but they’ve disappeared. It’s all but guaranteed to go to my brothers.”
“Is it a nice place?”
“I haven’t seen it. My fathers say it is.”
Tatiana leaned against her headboard, squeezing her stuffed toy to her chest. “Do you think it has running water and toilets?”
“I’m sure it does. Even my grandparents’ old house had a bathroom.” It was another country, not the Stone Age.
Tatiana gaped at her. “Just one?”
“Yeah.”
“Ancients save me.” She turned her gaze to the ceiling. “I’ll die if I can’t have my own bathroom.”
“You’ll survive.” Amara chuckled. “I did.” The girl really was being dramatic about the whole thing. Other than the mother-in-law from hell, Tatiana was marrying into a great family.
“You were only there for a few days.” Tatiana threw up her hands. “I’m going to have to stay there the rest of my life, especially if your grandfather is made chieftain. My father said they’ll expect my alpha, not your father, to take his place when he retires, because the Amaroki will refuse to honor Katarina as their chieftain’s mate. We won’t be able to leave if my alpha is made chieftain.”
She hadn’t thought of that. Damn that foolish Katarina for shaming Amara’s fat
hers. She did her best to sound optimistic. “You can come for visits.”
“Believe me.” Tatiana blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I’ll be visiting often, crying on my mom’s shoulder while lamenting my fate.”
She felt the sting of Tatiana’s words like a shot of venom to her heart. Her brothers were amazing guys. Any girl would be lucky to mate with them. “You make it sound like you’re marrying monsters.”
She threw up her hands. “I don’t know them.”
“Trust me.” She forced a smile, patting Tatiana’s knee. “You’ll be so crazy about them, you’d follow them anywhere.” At least that part was true. Tatiana would come to love them once she gave them a chance.
Tatiana gave her a pointed look. “Do you know how hard my mom cried when she found out I’d have to move to Romania?”
Tatiana and Mihaela were being a little too dramatic. Amara had loved the beautiful countryside and old rustic farms skirting the shifter town. They were a little poor, but everyone seemed happy. “Why?”
“Because it’s a rough life.” Tatiana held out a hand, counting down on her fingers. ‘There are hunters, an unstable government, poverty, and a haunted forest.”
She stiffened. She hadn’t heard of a haunted forest. “You mean the Strigoli? My brothers told me that was a rumor.”
“Not the Strigoli. The Hoia Baciu. Demons live there.” She said it matter-of-factly, as if she was discussing the weather.
“Why am I just now hearing this?”
“The Amaroki don’t like talking about it. Your family probably didn’t want to scare you.” All color drained from Tatiana’s face. “I’m sure I’ll have nightmares now.”
“Where is this forest?”
“In the center of Transylvania.”
Her heart pounded in her ears. She’d had a bad feeling about her mates going to Romania, and now she knew why. She swallowed a lump of fear. “D-do you think your brothers will go there?”
Tatiana vehemently shook her head. “Nobody goes there, especially not wolves.”
“Why not?”
