by Eva Chase
“I just got back from making additional preparations farther down the highway,” I said shortly. “I’d have found out soon enough. You should be more concerned about looking after yourself.”
Was that a wince she’d stifled as she set her hands on her hips? For fuck’s sake, she shouldn’t be walking, or standing, or anything other than lying down right now.
“I’m fine,” she said, in her usual stubborn way. “It was a tough fight, but we all got through it. You don’t have to treat me like a weakling.”
Did she not realize how close she’d come to dying? My temper escaped me. “I wouldn’t if you’d finally learn you can’t do everything. You practically got yourself killed out there, but we did still need that back-up fire last night, didn’t we?”
Ren definitely flinched then. But not because of any injury. Because of my retort.
In a flash, I saw how her face had fallen, the joyful light gone out of her eyes. She’d come in here brimming with happiness she’d had every reason to feel, and I’d managed to crush it in less than a minute. My heart wrenched.
“I don’t know…” Ren’s voice wavered. She waved her arm vaguely, blinking as if trying to hold back tears. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. But if after all this time you still don’t think I’m enough, why don’t you just tell the rest of us to leave so you can do whatever it is you think you’re going to do without a dragon shifter?”
Her words tore through me. Did she really believe—
She was already spinning around, shoulders tensed, swiping at her eyes. I couldn’t let her leave like that. Fuck plans, fuck principles, fuck good intentions. If this was where they’d gotten me, they obviously weren’t worth much.
“Ren.” I caught her elbow as she stepped toward the door. She turned back, her expression wary.
Suddenly I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d led hundreds of kin since I was a kid. Why was talking to this one woman so damned hard? She was meant for me.
And I was meant for her.
I rested my other hand against the wall beside her, leaning just close enough that I could feel the warmth emanating from her body. Not so close that she couldn’t break my grasp and move away if that’s what she wanted.
But she stayed there, gazing back at me. I swallowed thickly.
“I’m sorry,” I said, forcing myself to keep looking back at her. If seeing the pain on her face hurt me too, well, that was my own damn fault. “You’re more than enough. You’re fucking spectacular, Ren. I’m sorry I ever made you feel otherwise. I don’t know if I’m ever going to be worthy of you. But I’m going to try. I promise you that.”
“West…” Her expression had turned puzzled. “But you— I thought— You’ve been acting like you’re still not sure.”
“That’s not what I was aiming for. There just hasn’t been a good time…” I didn’t even know how to explain it. “I’m sure. I’ve been sure.”
She blinked. “Since when?”
That one thing I could tell her. I could pinpoint the exact moment my heart had flipped over and I’d realized what an idiot I’d been. I could still see her in that instant in my memory, naked and blood-streaked at the edge of the clearing, her eyes shining with grief.
“When we ambushed the rogues with the disparate kin. The way you tried to save that guard of Nate’s. How upset you were when you couldn’t. If you could care that much about a muskrat shifter who’d considered betraying us… I couldn’t ask anything more for all our kin than compassion like that.”
“That was—that was days ago, West. Why the hell haven’t you said anything?”
I opened my mouth and closed it again, trying to find the words. My reasoning had all made a lot more sense when I’d only had to work it out in my own head.
“There was so much going on,” I said. “The rogues and Marco’s challenge and now the bloodsuckers wreaking havoc… I know I have a lot to make up to you, for how I treated you before. I didn’t want to put any pressure on you to forgive me while you were dealing with everything else. When things have calmed down, when you have room to breathe—you can take your time deciding whether you can be sure of me. I can prove to you that I’ll be a good mate. I—”
“Oh, West,” Ren interrupted, so softly my pulse stuttered. She rested her hand against my chest. “You don’t need to prove anything. I already know who you are. I want you. Now, if I can have you.”
Now. That sounded like a very, very good idea. I stared at her, and all I could see in her eyes now was the same longing coursing through me.
She wanted me. She wanted me, even now, in spite of everything.
The dam cracked open inside me, releasing a surge of desire more powerful than I’d even known I was bottling up. I bridged the last short inches between us and captured Ren’s mouth with mine.
My dragon shifter kissed me back just as hard. Her fingers curled into my shirt, tugging my body to hers, as her other hand rose to tease into my hair. I pressed her up against the wall, with just enough self-control to be careful of her injuries. She tasted and felt like heaven. Why had I denied myself this bliss for so goddamned long?
It didn’t matter. I had her now. Had her arching against me as I gripped her thigh, had her whimpering at the sweep of my tongue over hers. The possessive impulse I’d tried to bury earlier rose up, and I didn’t have the will left to rein it in.
I jerked her hips tight against mine, tipping her head so I could claim her mouth even more deeply. Her hands clasped behind my neck. She hummed eagerly, with a gasp as I released her lips to trail my tongue and teeth along her jaw.
“Mine,” I muttered. “Mine.” I hadn’t really believed it until this moment. I wasn’t sure I totally believed it even now.
“Yours,” Ren agreed with a happy sigh. “And you’re mine.”
Something about those three simple words made my throat close up. I pulled back just enough to meet her eyes.
“I am. I’ve been yours since the first second I saw you, even if I was too bullheaded to accept it.”
“Wolf-headed,” she murmured with a breathless giggle, and I was lost again. I fell back into her, the heat of her mouth, the rocking of her body against mine, setting all of me on fire in a way I was all too happy to burn. My hand rose to cup her breast. I was stroking its peak harder through the thin cotton of her dress, marking my territory down the other side of her jaw with the graze of my teeth, when she lifted her chin.
In that first instant, I didn’t catch the meaning of the gesture. Then she raised her head even higher, not just giving easier access but blatantly offering the entire pale expanse of her throat.
My breath stopped. For a second, all I could do was ogle the vulnerable skin she’d displayed for me so easily. The highest show of trust any of my kin could give another. An act of total submission, placing her life at my discretion.
How had I become worthy of an honor that great?
I’d better be worthy of it. I dipped my head, pressing the most tender kiss I had in me to the center of my mate’s throat. I couldn’t bring myself to do more than that.
“Oh, Sparks,” I said, my voice hoarse. “You should never have to submit yourself to me.”
Ren lowered her head to meet my eyes. The corner of her mouth quirked up. “I figured we could take turns. Keep things fair.”
A rough chuckle broke from my mouth, and all I could do was kiss her again. Firmly, hungrily, with all the passion I’d spent the last few weeks denying.
Ren
My lips slid against West’s, and I reveled in the heat radiating off him. My nerves were already trembling with the bliss of having him here, like this, giving himself and taking me without restraint. But who was I kidding? I wanted more, so much more. I wanted everything.
My hands trailed down his chest to grip the hem of his shirt. I tugged it upward. With a hungry growl, West broke the kiss to tug the shirt off, capturing my mouth again an instant later. His fingers teased over my body until they foun
d the zipper beneath my arm. One sharp yank, and the soft fabric of my dress was falling off me.
I hadn’t bothered with a bra in my hasty departure from the healer room. My nipples pebbled as they grazed my mate’s bare chest. I let out a whimper, kissing him harder, but a prickle of discomfort crept through the haze of pleasure. I wasn’t completely healed, and my muscles were starting to protest about staying upright so long.
Well, I had no particular interest in staying upright any longer. I pushed West backward, toward the bed, careful of the bandage that covered his scar. He glanced behind him, and his lips curved into an eager grin. With a flash of his dark green eyes, he swept me off my feet. In a few swift strides, he’d thrown both of us onto the bed, him bending over me. Then his lips were pressed against mine again.
“Sparks,” he murmured as he stroked my breasts. The nickname didn’t sound like anything less than a reverent compliment now. His thumbs flicked over my nipples, and I moaned. My hips canted toward his of their own accord, wanting to feel him pressed against me there too. His hardness against my core.
He flipped us over in an easy motion, leaving me gazing down at him. Rising up on one elbow, he wove his fingers into my hair and claimed another kiss. I rocked against him, unable to help myself. The feel of that bulge beneath his jeans made me giddy.
West groaned. He eased back for a second, holding my gaze. Then, very deliberately, he tipped back his head to expose his whole throat to me.
My heart skipped a beat, or maybe two. I’d be willing to bet this man—this alpha—had never offered his throat to anyone except the alpha who’d come before him, years and years ago. I’d already believed everything he’d said when he’d told me how he felt, but seeing him volunteer that vulnerability to me made the truth of it hit me even harder.
I was his. And he was mine. All mine.
A little choked up, I eased down to kiss a gentle path from his jaw down the hollow of his throat, past his Adam’s apple. Then I kept going. Down across the planes of chest, over his solid abs, to the buckle of his jeans. I could make short work of those. My knuckles brushed his erection as I tugged the zipper down. West sucked in a breath.
Before I could make good on my intentions, he grasped my shoulders and pulled me up the bed, rolling back on top of me in the same motion. His voice came out even more throaty than usual.
“If I’m going to be inside any part of you, there’s only one place I want to be.”
A flood of heat washed through my sex, as if he were already there. “So get on with it already,” I said. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to properly call you my mate?”
West made a rough sound. Then his mouth crashed down on mine as if he were desperate to taste me again. We wrenched his jeans off together, and somewhere in there my panties disappeared. His hands teased over my thighs as the hard length of his cock rubbed against my clit. I whimpered, clutching at him and raising my legs by his waist to urge him on.
A tremor ran through West’s entire body. Then he was plunging into me, all the way to the hilt in one thrust. A moan burst from my lips.
“Ren,” West murmured in time with his strokes. “Ren.” Like he was laying claim and saying a prayer at the same time. The glow of our bond radiated through me, so bright my vision hazed. Bright and completely solid for the first time, as that rush of warmth joined the rest of the ties to my four alphas inside my chest.
I had my mates, all of them, exactly as it was meant to be.
West drove into me, filling me, completing me with that giddy burn. I caressed my hands over every inch of his skin that I could reach, the muscles coiling in his shoulders and down his chest. I bucked to meet his strokes. My breath broke into pants. With each pump of his hips he sent me higher, a wave of pleasure building and building until I was trembling with it.
He arched, bending to slick his tongue over one of my nipples. His cock surged inside me at a tighter angle, and my orgasm crackled through me like a firework. I gasped, clenching around him. His breath hitched too. “Fuck,” he muttered, bucking harder. His muscles twitched beneath my gripping fingers. With a groan, he followed me into release.
We rocked to a stop, our skin damp with sweat where our bodies pressed together. A pleased sounding hum reverberated from my mate’s chest. He lowered himself beside me, tucking his arm around my waist, his nose brushing my cheek.
“Mine,” he murmured one last time.
I smiled and squirmed over to hug him back. “Mine.”
Chapter 10
Ren
I dozed for a few minutes, until a strange light hazing my eyelids brought me back to sharper awareness. I blinked, nuzzling closer to West and breathing the smell of his skin, like rich earth and the pines outside.
Somewhere in the midst of our coming together, his bandage had fallen off. The glow I’d noticed was emanating from his scar. I’d never seen it this close before: a slight indent in his skin with ragged edges marking the boundaries of a magical blast.
I raised my fingers to it tentatively. The surface of the scar was smooth, harder than the rest of his skin but just as warm. When West didn’t pull away, I lay my palm right against it.
“It changed color,” I said.
“It does that,” West said. “What were you expecting?”
“I think it’s always been red when I’ve seen it before.” Now it was beaming a vibrant pink. Not a color I’d have expected West to sport, but I guessed he didn’t have a whole lot of choice in the matter.
“That would make sense. You’ve probably only seen it when I was throwing myself into some kind of skirmish. Angry.”
It took a moment for that information to sink in. I looked up at him. “It shows your emotions?”
He shrugged. I could tell from the slight tensing of his shoulders that he didn’t enjoy discussing this topic, but he held my gaze anyway. “Fae magic works in strange ways.”
“No wonder you keep it covered up.” Imagine going around alpha-ing with all your kin being able to read anything you were feeling from the glow through your shirt. Wearing your heart on your sleeve pretty much literally. “You got it during that fight when your…”
“When they killed my mother,” he filled in when I faltered. “Yes. It was red for a pretty long time after that.”
I ran my thumb along the edge where the scar met the softer skin over his leanly muscled chest. “So what does pink mean?”
West chuckled. “Do you really need to ask that, Sparks?”
He tipped my chin up to bring my mouth to his. The kiss was so long and tender it left me feeling as if my heart were glowing too. Our lips parted, our faces still close enough to brush noses.
“I love you, Ren,” he said, low and rough.
My pulse skipped. I looped my arm around his neck, tugging all of me closer to him. “I love you too.”
“Lord only knows how I got that lucky.”
I laughed. “You didn’t exactly make it easy when we got started.” But there were some things I didn’t totally understand about how he’d reacted to me. “You were worried I was going to take off on your kin—all the kin—when the going got tough, like my mother did?”
He shrugged. “That was some of the problem. I wanted to be sure we could count on you before I put their lives in your hands. And also, especially later on… I wanted you. I didn’t know how much to trust my judgment. I have to put what my kin need over what I want, so when my instincts seem to be telling me what they need just happens to be something I’d very much enjoy, I have trouble not being skeptical.”
“Maybe you’re a little too hard on yourself,” I suggested.
“Maybe.” He exhaled a ragged breath. “Ever since that battle, and losing my mother— It might not make total sense, but I’ve always had this feeling hanging over me that if I make a selfish choice for something else, I’m saying she didn’t matter enough. If I was willing to sacrifice her and not something else.”
My throat tightened. I nu
zzled his cheek. “You’re definitely too hard on yourself. I guess I can forgive you for being hard on me too.”
He gave a hoarse guffaw. “You have no idea how much it’s been killing me watching you throw yourself into harm’s way, again and again…”
“That’s my job,” I said. “Just like it’s yours.”
“I know. That’s why I don’t stop you.”
“You just mutter about it like a jerk.”
“Hey.” He bumped his nose against mine. “You have been known to place heroics a little too far over your own safety from time to time.”
I smiled. “Hmm. Well, if we’re comparing irrational behavior, where do we put ‘making up for being a jerk by acting like an even bigger jerk’ on that scale?”
“I’m not sure if ‘bigger jerk’ is a fair assessment. I was trying to ease off on you.”
“Funny how easing off included an awful lot of snarking. And, you know, there was always the option of saying how you actually felt.”
“Before or after you were done getting yourself almost killed, again?”
“Either would have been fine.” I poked him in the sternum, peering up at him through my eyelashes. “Of course, given your usual fluency at sharing feelings, I might have ended up thinking you were telling me to jump off a cliff instead.”
West caught my hand. With a growl, he rolled on top of me, pinning both my wrists above my head. “I think I can make my intentions a little more clear than that,” he said, the gleam in his eyes both amused and heated.
I squirmed beneath him, the playful hold getting me all kinds of heated up too. My breath caught at the hardness I felt pressed against my thigh. In an instant, I was twice as wet. “Already up and at ‘em again?” I said, wriggling a little more to the side so his cock could settle against my core.
The contact made us both groan. West grinned down at me. “I do have a few impressive qualities.”
