by J. K Harper
With her chin perched on his shoulder, she tightened her knees as she clung to him. The tips of the tall grass tickled her feet as they hung from his sides.
A few hundred feet from the house, he came to a stop and turned so she that could observe the building’s silhouette.
From the outside, the house appeared lonely. Neglect permeated the façade and the untended yard. The distant chorus of crickets added to the malaise.
But under the sweet Vidalia moon, Albany let herself imagine what the house—the land—could become.
She could see Granny Jane’s Bradford pear tree near the front porch, its flowers blooming before the living room’s tall windows.
She could see Logan perched on a ladder, his dark jeans marred with flecks of white paint.
She could see herself tending to the yard, pulling up weeds and planting beds of azaleas around the house’s perimeter.
In her head, she saw flashes of black, gray, and white wolves darting through the forest. In her heart, she felt a flutter of possibility.
“Cosmos mariner.” The familiar phrase tumbled off her tongue before she even knew she was going to speak the words.
Logan looked back to her, a curious glint in his eyes. “Destination maybe not so unknown?”
“I like the surprise,” she whispered, sincere.
Bending slightly, Logan helped her to the ground. “The house isn’t the surprise.”
“Isn’t it?”
He shook his head. “I have something for you. Two somethings.”
“I told you I didn’t want gifts this year.”
“One is for now,” he continued, sliding his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “The other’s for later.”
“Logan—”
“We’re so lucky. I’m so lucky. Most wolves go half their lives not knowing their mate. Some never find their mate at all. But I’ve known you for as long as I can remember. No gift will ever convey how honored I am to know you, Albany Cumberland. Or how much I love you.”
His irises turned a shock of green. Albany’s wolf rose in her chest, rumbling with joy to see her lupine partner in Logan’s human eyes.
And then he sank to the ground.
It took her a moment to realize he’d dropped onto one knee.
It took her even longer to register the small box he now held in his right hand.
“This is for later,” he said, using his thumb to pop open the box’s lid. “Because this requires planning and paperwork and human things that make us official to the rest of the world.”
The diamond at the center of the silver ring glinted like the starlight overhead.
“Marry me later.” He plucked the ring from the box and took her left hand. Albany splayed her digits, letting him slide the cool metal over her ring finger. “But right here, right now, I want to give you something else.”
Tiny pinpricks of heat stung her eyes.
“Be mine.” He held his chin high, and the viridescent glimmer of his wolf brightened. “Be mine forever.”
Albany flexed her fingers, testing the unfamiliar weight of the ring. Her wolf scratched at her insides, urging her to speak.
She couldn’t.
Dropping to her knees in front of him, she met his eyeline. She seized the hem of his shirt and yanked it up and over her head, leaving herself naked under her mate’s loving gaze.
Pulling her still-damp hair to the side, she tilted her chin to the sky. If she’d been in her wolf form, this would have been a sign of submission. But in her human body, her consent was clear. “I’ve always been yours.”
A low, gratified snarl rose from Logan’s chest. His wolf was pleased.
Edging closer, Logan brought his hands to her naked shoulders. His fingertips ghosted her skin, barely touching her arms as he followed the lean lines of her biceps to her elbows. From there, he went lower, brushing her wrists. He took her hands in his and brought them higher. Bending slightly, he placed a kiss over each of her knuckles.
“You have all of me.” His voice grizzled with his wolf’s next growl. “I am yours. And I will love you and protect you until the world stops spinning and the moon falls out of the sky. I will always, always buy you Skittles.”
Serious, life-altering moment or not, Albany burst into a fit of laughter. Logan’s half-moon grin lit his features with a warmth that seeped into her pores. Pitching forward, she threw her arms around his shoulders.
“I will love you when you don’t love yourself,” she whispered, hugging him with the bone-breaking strength of her wolf. “But I will always, always call you a dickhead when you deserve it.”
He slid his hands behind her back, then slotted his palms over her bare ass. Once more, his wolf rumbled for him. Albany’s animal answered with a low, joyful song.
Guiding her backwards, Logan slipped a hand beneath the back of her head to cushion her against the ground. Albany stretched out her legs, letting her knees fall open so as to better accommodate him.
She reached between their bodies, deftly unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans.
Though this was far from their first time, her thighs trembled as she pushed down the denim. His cock was already hard and slick at the tip.
She dragged her palm down his length, pausing only to grip the base of his shaft. This time, the growl rose from Logan’s human vocal cords.
Nudging her head to the left, he buried his face against the right side of her neck.
The first tease of his teeth drew a sharp, lilting gasp from her throat. He trailed his tongue across her pulse point, then clamped his lips over the spot. Sucking her skin with calculated force, he guided the index and middle digits of his free hand to her lips. Albany opened to them without question.
She stroked up and down his thick cock while wetting his fingers with swirls of her tongue. He sucked her pulse point again, and Albany released a strangled cry when his teeth pressed harder.
Withdrawing his digits, he kissed up her neck then claimed her lips in another, deeper kiss. He lowered his hand. His spit-slicked fingertips glided over her clit. She jolted, her hips jittering under the soft pressure of his middle digit.
“I almost asked before the bonfire,” he said, speaking into her parted lips. “You tasted so goddamn sweet on my tongue.”
She squeezed around his base, but this time she lingered on the upstroke. With her fingertips dancing along the sensitive underside of his head, she bit his bottom lip.
He dipped his middle finger lower, easing the tip into her body with the same care he always showed before sex. It wasn’t totally necessary, though. Albany was already slick with anticipation. Her wolf paced back and forth, so close but still so far from the one thing it had craved since the day of Albany’s first shift.
“Get inside me.”
“So bossy, princess.”
It was Albany’s turn to growl.
Clamping her legs around his waist, she pushed up and rolled until Logan was flat on his back. She braced her hands on his shoulders, but the world flipped again when Logan reclaimed the position on top. Locking their fingers together, he pinned her hands in the grass above her head.
Albany bucked beneath him, laughing lightly. She was no stranger to his brute strength, but it still thrilled her to be reminded of his dominance.
One day, her mate would make a fine alpha.
“Shh,” he soothed, kissing the crest of her chin. He reached down with one hand and steered the head of his cock to the seam between her legs.
“Yes,” she urged, canting her hips higher. “Please.”
Again, he growled. The sound was so deep, it vibrated from his chest to hers. Albany’s insides melted, and her wolf whimpered. The canine cry wafted from her throat, and Logan shuddered atop her.
Covering her like a blanket, he hid his face in the crook of her neck while he pushed forward, breaching her tight channel with a slow, intentional thrust.
The air in Albany’s lungs caught, becoming trapped. She didn’t exhale again
until he’d slid every inch of his considerable length into her body, claiming her as his.
In the past, they’d always used condoms. She’d hated it, but skin-to-skin contact was the first step toward a full mating.
The sensation of just Logan was different. So different, she could hardly believe they’d ever let a barrier separate them.
From the dazed, appreciative glint in his eyes, she knew he was thinking the same.
“You’re so wet,” he whispered.
“You’re so hard,” she replied, a delirious laugh lilting her voice. “This is so much better.”
Moaning in agreement, he kissed her bottom lip and rolled his hips. His cock pressed deeper, and Albany’s eyes fluttered of their own accord. He continued with slow, shallow thrusts, letting her adjust to his girth.
Albany wasn’t sure if it was just shifter healing or her, but she was forever tight. Sometimes too tight, according to Logan. Tight enough that he’d have to pull out and catch his breath lest he came too soon.
From the way Logan’s lower half trembled, she guessed this was the case now.
Taking a deep breath, she squeezed the fingers of their still-joined left hands.
He rocked forward, pushing with more insistence. Albany met his thrust, squeezing her inner muscles around his length.
Against her neck, she felt the familiar graze of his blunt human teeth. The tease made her clench again, and Logan groaned. He pulled back, but he didn’t slip free of her body. With a precise movement, he sat up on his knees, hauled her ass atop his lap, and began to move in earnest.
In and out, in and out. The slide of his cock matched the thunder of his pulse.
With her arms still poised above her head, she arched the small of her back and pushed up her chest, knowing he loved watching her breasts bounce.
Groaning, he increased his pace. He relinquished his grip on her hips long enough to wet his right thumb. Spit-slicked under the moonlight, he returned his focus to her clit.
The first swipe made her cry out.
The added pressure made her moan.
The swift tempo of his circular patterns drove her wild.
Her lower half quivered, starting in her toes and working toward her thighs. By the time the familiar heat of a climax coiled in her belly, Albany was already a mess.
Logan thrust deep, growled her name, and made the final strike necessary to light her tinderbox aflame.
The orgasm ripped through her with violence. Waves of pleasure rushed from her core, seeping into her limbs. Her upper body thrashed.
He seized her shoulders, pulled her upright, and held her flush against his chest while he continued to thrust upward. His pace did not waver, and the wolf never left his eyes.
She was still whimpering when Logan returned his lips to her neck. Once more, she felt the graze of his teeth against her sensitive skin. But the sensation was different now.
Sharpened canines had replaced his blunt teeth.
Still shaking, she parted her lips to urge him onward, but no sound emerged. Her wolf grew taut with anticipation.
And then heat.
Heat from her right shoulder. Heat from her middle. Heat from between her legs.
Logan’s teeth—turned into dagger sharp fangs thanks to a partial shift—tore through her skin. And it hurt. She’d be a dirty fibber if she said otherwise. He was as careful as he could be given the situation, but the pain still flared, lighting up like fireworks behind her eyes.
But it was worth it.
A deeper cry shook the night, but she was so dazed she couldn’t be sure if it came from her or him.
She became aware of the iron on the air and knew it was her blood. Her gums itched then burned as her own canines elongated.
From deep in her chest, her animal snarled.
Logan retracted his teeth. Despite the mild relief, Albany mourned the loss of the bite. He receded an inch, his chest heaving and his breathing ragged.
Crimson dribbled down his chin. After wiping it away with the back of his hand, Logan turned his head to the side, offering his neck in return.
Albany’s years of patience snapped. Clenching around his cock, she tightened her thighs, pushed him onto his back, and held her ground.
Moonlight spilled over his broad shoulders, illuminating every muscle hidden beneath his skin.
Digging her nails into his pectorals, Albany met his green gaze, knowing her eyes had turned a shade of blue to rival the summer sky.
She ground her ass against his hips, resuming their earlier rhythm.
Despite the dominant creature lurking so close beneath his surface, Logan pleaded. “Baby.”
She thrust again, then bent forward. Dragging the tip of her tongue over his flushed lips, Albany growled.
Lowering her head, she nuzzled the tip of her nose to his right earlobe. “You’re mine, Logan Calloway.”
“Yours,” he agreed.
“Only mine.”
“Fuck yes.”
“And I’m yours.”
He clapped both hands over her ass. The slap of flesh-on-flesh reverberated across the open yard.
Her wolf darted forward, howling with delight the second Albany’s partially shifted fangs sank into Logan’s shoulder. The metallic tang of his blood coated her tongue.
Beneath her, Logan practically roared. He groped the fleshy swell of her cheeks, gripping her with more force than he’d ever dared exhibit during sex.
For a moment, Albany saw stars. Light bloomed behind her eyes, and she had to force her eyelids shut. Whimpering, she shook atop his strong body, eased by the unwavering clutch of his hands.
Fire burned through her veins, and her wolf crooned a victorious song so beautiful, so loud, so uninhibited, Albany was certain Logan had heard it, too.
Once again, he took control. With a movement so quick and fluid that he remained buried deep in her body while her teeth remained lodged in his shoulder, he flipped her onto her back and resumed thrusting.
Mine, said the growl of his beast.
Mine, answered Albany’s animal.
She lost her hold on his flesh as he pushed deep. She snapped her hips, and he matched her ferocity. A fresh funnel of heat swirled through her core. Albany sank her fingers into the surrounding grass, her nails digging into new earth that would, most likely, serve as their new home.
Logan rose onto his knees, his thrusts now jerky and unrestrained as he chased his climax with all the fervor of his wolf’s need to chase the full moon.
Albany tore the grass as her second orgasm hit her like a snap of lightning splitting a tree.
She moaned and screamed while Logan threw back his head and howled at the stars.
Thick, wet heat flooded her body. Albany arched her back and shuddered, reveling in the warmth of his release.
Logan threw himself forward, shielding her from the cool night air. He worked his arms beneath her body and cradled her against his chest, holding her a few inches off the cold ground.
Albany shook and shivered as the aftershocks of her orgasm continued to twang her muscles. She hid her face against his collarbone, panting and whimpering until he withdrew. Overwhelmed, she didn’t fuss when he rose to his feet and carried her back to the house.
All the while, he nuzzled his nose to the mating mark he’d left on her shoulder.
Back inside, he kicked the door shut and carted her up to the bedroom he’d prepared in anticipation for the night.
He splayed her out atop the mattress, his intent clear.
By the time the sun crept over the horizon, they’d made love thrice more. Exhausted, Albany sprawled atop her mate’s sturdy chest.
“Sleep, mate,” Logan said, his tone warm but heavy with command. “We’ll dream together.”
Chapter 5
The white wolf bounded through the open field, her blue eyes alight as she joined the black wolf’s side.
They butted heads, then nuzzled necks. The black wolf licked her muzzle. She pulled away, f
licking her tail across his face.
He pounced, but she darted out of his reach.
Growling, he narrowed his green eyes.
She let out a bark and raced toward the trees, her pace swift and her gait graceful.
The black wolf gave chase, intent to wrestle his mate in the tall grass. But she’d always been faster.
Never mind. He’d still catch her.
He always caught her.
She disappeared into the crowded forest of red oaks, leaving him with only a fleeting glimpse of her white tail.
The black wolf pushed harder, increasing his speed.
He caught sight of her in the distance, then she disappeared again.
Following her scent trail, he took a shortcut, rounding to the west. Trotting through the forest, he noted the robins’ early morning song.
Leaves rustled to his left. The black wolf crouched behind a thick-trunked oak, preparing to spring.
As expected, his shortcut had placed him in front of her path. Had she continued at her previous speed, he might have missed her. But her steps had slowed, and she peered back over her shoulder, trying to discern his proximity.
Just three steps more and—
The black wolf leapt, wrestling its surprised mate to the forest floor.
She yelped, her tone reproving even in this form. But he’d caught her, fair and square, so she rolled onto her back and offered her stomach. She showed her teeth, though not in defense. No, her distinctly canine grin drew a cough and bark from the black wolf.
He butted the tip of his snout to hers, then licked her face until she squirmed and yelped. When she finally rose onto all fours, leaves matted her pristine white fur.
The black wolf almost felt guilty.
Almost.
She whimpered, then scratched at the blanket of leaves beneath her paws. The understory had grown over a flat, heavy stone that had been buried in the ground.
The black wolf wouldn’t have thought this unusual if not for the engraving on the corner of the stone.
There was a crescent moon and—
Ringing.
