by Cecilia Lane
Her entire life had been spent pushing her toward an attitude of not caring. Her mother was unconcerned with anything that didn’t further her career and bring in money. Bentley certainly had no issues putting himself and his opinions above others. When she dared to stray from the path, they tried everything to pull her back.
It was in the enclave where she found true purpose. The town was far removed from the rich and famous lifestyle and she found she didn’t care. So what if there was only one coffee shop and a handful of restaurants? She didn’t need to be ‘on’ all the time. She was just another person who happened to be a little recognizable.
And Gray lived there. He never once made her feel inferior for having dreams outside of looking pretty and memorizing lines other people wrote. He teased and joked, but there was only caring under his words.
She could have her dream and him, too, if she took up the cause of defending his people.
Her people, now. If she survived.
The choice was clear in her mind. One path was forced on her and the next step was the right one to take.
Gray was her home. He had her love. She wanted to be his mate and not just because it might give her an edge over an unruly inner animal. She wanted to be with the man himself.
Chapter 28
Gray paced outside the bathroom door. His bear wanted to burst inside and take their mate into his arms. Her scent was clouded with too many emotions. Confusion. Misery. Fear. Buried under it all was the most beautiful one of hope.
He’d be damned if that scent faded into grave dust.
Fucking Bentley. The piece of shit just couldn’t lose gracefully. He’d hounded Meghan after she made it clear she didn’t want him, then punished her for the choice repeatedly. Gray wanted the man dead, even if Meghan’s talk of punishment made sense. The world wasn’t fair that Bentley couldn’t be killed, resurrected, then made to suffer the loss of his empire.
Maybe he could find a vampire with less than perfect morals. He wasn’t above paying off the undead to really fuck with the man.
Gray reached the end of his path and turned on his heel. The shower curtain finally parted and he heard Meghan slip under the water. There were no tears, and he sure as shit listened for them. She didn’t speak, either. She was still locked inside her head.
He rubbed at his heart. He’d given her a lot to think about. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was being a big baby. Leah made it through the change and she had fairly decent control over her bear after a year. He knew others in the town who’d had easier times of it. Meghan was good and decent and willful when she wanted to be. She wouldn’t die.
She couldn’t. And if she did, he’d meet her right on the other side. There wouldn’t be any stopping him slipping off the deep end if she didn’t make it.
Muttering to himself about his plans for Bentley should the man somehow buy his way out of SEA custody, Gray doused his hair under his kitchen sink and quickly scrubbed the blood from his chest. He angrily kicked out of Cole’s jeans and vowed not to wash the things simply because the man asked and he was wallowing in his shitty mood.
He couldn’t lose Meghan. Not when they were going so well. Not when he had his bear finally straying back toward civility.
Gray stomped back into his room and tugged on a fresh pair of sweats. Then he waited for Meghan to emerge.
He had plans to win her over with fancy words and more promises of devotion. All of it truth, even if he didn’t exactly know how to string the words together the right way. Nolan was better at that crap. Hell, even Cole managed to make his shy mate happy as a clam.
But when Meghan stepped through the door in a cloud of steam, his tongue stopped working right along with his brain. A towel wrapped around her frame and her dark hair hung around her shoulders. She was lean with curves in all the right places, perfect lips, cute nose. By the Broken, she was beautiful. Too gorgeous and smart to be with a man like him. And for some reason he didn’t want to fight, she liked him right back.
Fuck, but he’d done the impossible before. She chose him before the entire mess went down. Maybe he could make her love him enough to mate him, teeth and insanity and all.
Meghan cocked her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want to die and I want to be with you, so yes, I will be your mate and fuck Bentley for making this happen right now.”
He blinked at her and felt his face split into a grin. “I don’t know if I’ve heard you curse before.”
She tried to frown at him, which ended as a total disaster. “Well, get used to it. Fuck him. I’m mad! No. I’m pissed!”
She looked about as threatening as a wet kitten but he couldn’t fault her attitude. His bear rumbled approval deep within his mind. The animal didn’t want her hurt or upset. That righteous anger was deserved.
There was also the delicious fact that she wanted him to bare his fangs and mark her. Gray loved it, the bear loved it, there was no problem. She’d have an edge over her first shift and be properly claimed by the man and beast. Fuck Bentley and his stupidity. He should never have treated Meghan so poorly. Asshole deserved to lose everything.
But there was a trace of caution, too. He wanted to act. The thought of claiming her made his gums and cock ache. She’d been through so much, though.
“How do we do this? Do you just pick a place and nibble?”
He snorted. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“Then how?”
She took a step forward and the scent that lingered around her shifted. Gray wanted to lose himself in that sweet smell. Light, airy, a hint of citrus from her soap. Something wild and earthy was growing underneath it all. Her bear was taking hold. The creature wouldn’t show for days, likely, but it was there and growing stronger.
“It’s best if it’s done while we’re—” He coughed suddenly and stopped his words. This was supposed to be special. “While we’re intimate.”
“Fucking. You were going to say fucking,” she said slyly.
He growled and pulled her across his lap. The heat of her center lined right up with his cock and he was hard in a second. “If you keep cursing at me like that, I’m going to be explaining while I’m balls deep in you.”
“Filthy bear.” She walked her fingers up his chest and nipped at his lower lip. “Why is it better if done then?”
“Instinct. It’s when I want to do it most. If our souls are to be twisted together, why shouldn’t it be done when we’re closest physically?” He buried his face in the crook of her neck and skimmed his nose to her ear. He teeth caught her lobe. “And I want you as distracted as possible so you don’t feel any pain.”
She inhaled sharply. Fear laced through her scent and he reared back immediately. It was too soon. He had to tread carefully. She’d been through too much, seen her life twist drastically over a span of hours. He couldn’t push more on her yet.
Meghan let go of a shuddering breath and pressed her hands to his cheeks. “Gray, I don’t want to leave you. I want to be with you every way possible.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he tried to deny over the very loud protests of his bear. His insides hurt with the raking claws.
“I know I’m going to be a shifter. I know you believe I’m your mate. If this is going to help me in the slightest, then let’s do it. I don’t want to waste another moment without you in my life. I want you.”
Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
That was more than he could resist. All the logic and fear disappeared in a puff of forgotten thoughts. She wanted him and he’d give her everything to keep her happy. She was his mate. She deserved it. Simple as that.
His arms tightened around her waist and the kiss heated in an instant. Her fingers tangled in his hair and he swallowed her low moan. She took on a desperate need he was only too glad to meet with thrusting tongues and banging teeth. The wildness mirrored his own. The days without her, the threat to her life, he needed to show her real love.
/> He tore his mouth from hers, breath panting hard between them. Her pupils were blown wide and a tiny lick across her swollen lips nearly tempted him back for more. But there were other needs, other desires, more urgent than a kiss.
Gray’s hands locked on her hips and he flipped them in an instant. A small gasp escaped her lips, but the note was colored with excitement that swirled down his spine and drew his balls up tight.
He plucked at the tucked end holding her towel around her body and slowly unwrapped her without breaking eye contact. She was the present he always wanted and he’d be damned if he lost her.
“You are my mate,” he said thickly. “I’m going to prove how much I love you every day from now until we die. And if there’s any afterlife, I’m going to keep loving you for eternity.”
She made a small noise and a wide grin broke across her face. She locked her ankles around his back and dragged him flush with her body. Her hands cupped his cheeks and she kissed him softly. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
A growl built in his chest. Satisfaction. Lust. Love. There’d been no formal declaration of what had grown between them, no acknowledgment of how closely tied they’d become. It suited that a simple calling each other home and words slipping over his tongue was how he told her he loved her for the first time.
With a hand in her hair, he tipped her head and slashed his lips over hers. She melted into his embrace, ceding control. It was a small sign of submission that drove his bear wild. The beast rolled through him hard and fast enough that Gray was surprised fur didn’t push through his pores.
She wanted him and his touch. She wanted to be his mate.
The pleasure he took from that knowledge brought the push of fangs to his mouth. He shoved back on his inner animal even as he roamed hands down Meghan’s form. He wouldn’t rush her bliss. He wanted to make her feel good, drug her with desire, before sealing them together.
But fuck if she didn’t make that a challenge. She arched into him with a low moan when his hands cupped her ass. The sound whipped through him and he rocked his hips against her center. He devoured her groan with another clashing, wild kiss.
He broke the kiss and landed a biting, sucking trail across her jaw and down her neck. He licked the line of her collarbone, growling and nuzzling against the spot he intended to lay his claim. Down further, over the swell of her breasts, he directed his attention. Her breath hollowed her stomach with every harsh gasp and her fingers tightened in his hair.
Gray cupped her breast, squeezing the mound and reveling in the clamping of her of thighs. He spiraled his mouth with slow swipes and teasing licks, deliberately avoiding the hard tips. The buds drew tighter as he meandered over her flesh and Meghan pursed her lips to keep her frustrated sounds locked away.
Yeah, he was being a tease and no, he wasn’t about to stop.
Heat blasted from her center and her wetness coated the bulge in his sweats. She silently begged for more, writhed her suggestion against his dick, and chewed on her lip in temptation.
He lifted his head and locked with her stormy eyes. “Want something, Hollywood?” he asked in a voice dripping with innocence.
“Gray,” she groaned.
Her head dropped back as his fingers grazed over her nipples. The tiniest stroke sent a shiver through her and the scent of her arousal thickened. Gray followed the path of his fingers with his tongue.
Lower and lower he dragged his hand. Her silky skin gave way under him until his fingers danced at her slick opening. He dipped a digit into her wet heat, then swirled the evidence of her desire over her sensitive clit. She mewled and rocked her hips, trying to chase his hand.
With a growl, Gray plunged two fingers into her core. Her gasp was fucking music to his ears.
He flicked her nipple and she tightened around his fingers. By the Broken, he wanted to bury himself in her. Soon. The dirty words he described over the phone would be his reality. He wanted to taste her on his tongue as she came.
He released her nipple with a wet pop, then dropped to his knees. She barely had time to open her eyes with a questioning look before he spread her lower lips open. A pleased growl rumbled in his chest. Her arousal hung heavy in the air and her mind-blowing flavor would soon coat his tongue.
Meghan rose up on her elbows. She licked her lips but no words slipped out. She didn’t need any. The naked, raw hunger in her eyes was enough and more.
Gray’s mouth watered as he bent to lick her cleft. Slow strokes teased them both. His cock strained in his sweats. It was nearly painful, how much he wanted her. Soon, he reminded himself. Just as soon as the blush on her cheeks spread down her neck and her release blasted through her.
His own control was slipping. The teasing exploration took on a frantic need to consume. He speared her with his tongue, licked and stroked her, until her fingers dug into his arms and his name dripped from her lips.
Perfect Meghan. Perfect mate.
He growled against her and his eyes slid shut. She tasted so fucking wonderful. He was addicted to her and never wanted to get clean. Not when the flattening of his tongue made her grind herself against his face. The proper, polite mask dropped when she neared the height of her pleasure.
He wanted it all.
His fingers drove back inside her and curled against her sensitive spot. His tongue whipped and pressed hard over her clit. Then her hips bucked and her orgasm hit. Her low moan brought another rumbling growl from him and the urge to bite and claim and mate.
Gray lapped up every drop of her arousal and brought her down slowly. There was no rush. They had all night.
They had the rest of their lives.
Meghan watched Gray languidly kiss her thighs, her center, her stomach. His face was strained in direct contrast to the sated feeling that lived in her. Mmm. Maybe sated wasn’t quite the right word. Her need of him was satisfied for a brief moment, but he’d only given her an appetizer. She wanted the main course and dessert, too.
Gold eyes opened to her and she swiped her tongue over her lower lip. He rose to his feet fluidly, then shoved his sweatpants down his hips and kicked them off his legs. He stroked his hard length and she couldn’t tear away her eyes.
“See something you like, darlin’?” he drawled and pumped his hand over himself.
Unable to find her voice, she nodded.
Gray stepped closer to the bed. She was caught in his gaze. His knee sank into the mattress, then his other pressed right between her legs, urging her higher on the bed. They were in a dance of predator and prey as he stalked her backward.
Then he loomed over her, all muscles and messy hair and gold eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to capture him in a kiss. She needed to taste and touch him. He was too good, too wonderful, to be real. She had to prove she wasn’t imagining things.
His lips met her neck, her shoulder. His teeth grazed against her skin and she stilled under him. Nerves sparked to life wherever their skin touched and she thought she’d combust before he even impaled her.
“Gray, please,” she urged.
“You’re mine,” he whispered against her lips and eased the first inch of his cock into her.
She parted for him without any tension. Her muscles were jelly and he’d warmed her with his mouth. Still, the press of his thickness made her gasp. So big. So good. God, she’d never be satisfied with another man. No one would compare to the feeling of her mate sheathed deep within her heat.
He held himself apart, his forehead pressed to hers and his arms shaking with the struggle to keep still. So much emotion glowed within the pure gold. Love. Hunger. Need. Happiness. Everything in between.
He was hers. Laughing bear, filthy-mouthed bear. Gray was hers.
A strong… something pulsed in her middle and her eyes widened in shock. That beat of another heart wanted to claim the man who teased her by not dragging their hips together.
“Move,” she demanded with a nip against his shoulder.
Gray groaned
and she echoed the noise with a moan of her own. His hands slid under her bottom to cup her as he dragged his length from her in a slow, maddening pace. He was stretching it out, she knew, but dammit, she wanted to feel him lose control.
The slow press allowed her to feel every inch of his cock. Meghan traced the outer edge of his ear with her lips. “You feel so good,” she murmured.
His fingers dug into her skin just a bit harder for a flash of a second. That was her cue. He was slipping and she wanted him wild. She didn’t want to think about tomorrow or the next minute. She wanted to just feel him. All of him, bear and man alike.
“I love the way you fill me up.”
“You’re playing dirty,” he growled. His next stroke was a little harder than before and drew the breath from her lungs.
“Am I? Just being honest about how hot you get me. Fingers alone don’t compare.”
“Fuck.” He kissed her throat, adding in teeth when he reached the spot where neck and shoulder met. Where he’d claim her.
A shiver of delight spiraled down her spine and settled in her middle. Yes. She wanted that.
“I love how you feel around my cock,” he growled into her skin. “So wet. So fucking hot. Squeezing me until I think I’m going to die of sheer pleasure.”
Harder. Faster. His thrusts turned rougher right along with his voice. Meghan dragged her nails down his back and grinned when Gray’s teeth nipped at her skin. There he was. His bear turned him wild and wicked. She wanted to be possessed and commanded by him.
Breath left her with each pairing of their hips. Sex and slick skin, those sounds were beautiful to her ears. They cried out their passion between the sounds they worked out of their throats. She dragged in deep breaths of the sexy, earthy smell of her man, her mate.
Pleasure whipped through her without control. He tethered her to reality, or else she’d be lost to the insatiable hunger that blazed to life. She wanted, craved, needed. He filled her, then left her, then filled her again. Over and over, until she met his hips with bucks of her own.
