by R. E. Butler
“It’s sexy when you growl,” she whispered, kissing his cheek.
He chuckled. “I’m glad you like it. I kind of can’t control it around you. My wolf is doing backflips right now because we’re so happy to have found you.”
“You don’t mind having prey for a mate?” As a reindeer, which were traditionally thought of as prey animals, she wondered if he would be embarrassed by her. Some shifters, especially the serious hunters like wolves, tended to think of prey shifters as inferior.
“Hell no,” he said vehemently. “I couldn’t care less what you shift into. You’re mine, Dani. I’m never letting you go.”
Everything changed for her in that moment. She didn’t want to keep going on her journey to meet her people; she wanted to stay with Adam. He was her people now.
“I don’t want you to let me go.”
He glanced down at her as he stepped up onto his porch. “Good.”
He pushed the front door open and carried her straight through a dark living room and into a bedroom. He set her gently on the bed and reached over to click on a small lamp, bathing the room in low light.
He straightened and stared down at her, his body tense and flexed as if he was stressed. She let her gaze roam his body. The left side of his body was mottled and shiny with burn scars. They formed thin stripes from his neck down to his knee and seemed worse on his torso.
Tears pricked her eyes, and she blinked rapidly as she met his gaze. “Do they hurt?”
He relaxed slightly and cupped her face with one hand. “My leg hurts because the muscles were damaged by the fire. I was too young to shift and heal myself.”
She gripped his wrist and held his palm to her face. “I don’t care about your scars, Adam. I’m deliriously happy to have found you.”
His gaze searched hers, and she saw the awe in the blue depths as he realized she was being entirely honest. She truly didn’t care about his scars, apart from being sad that he’d been injured and that he still had pain.
“Where are you going with your brother?” Adam asked as he walked to a dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He rejoined her and gave her the shirt, and then tugged the jeans on.
“My herd was killed when I was very little. Row’s mom adopted me, and she’s been searching for reindeer shifters ever since. Apparently my people like to keep hidden. She had a private detective searching for them, and he finally found a herd.”
She’d been nervous about meeting her own kind. She’d spent almost her entire life surrounded by shifters who were very different from her. Alice and Row had always made her feel welcome, but she’d never quite felt at home. When she and Row had left on their journey, she thought she’d finally find a place where she would feel welcome, assuming they embraced her as easily as the bear sleuth had. But now, as she sat in the presence of her truemate, she knew she’d never felt more at home in her life. It didn’t matter that Adam was a wolf; it only mattered that he was hers.
Adam fastened his jeans as she pulled the shirt over her head. His eyes darkened as he moved between her legs and gazed down at her. She rested her hands on his hips, splaying her fingers across his flesh as he stared at her intently. “I’m glad you came to Wilde Creek.”
“I’m glad you didn’t try to eat me,” she said.
“The night’s still young,” he whispered, his voice a low growl.
She exhaled slowly, her pulse racing as the air hummed with arousal. She wanted to strip him from his jeans and explore his body with her fingers and tongue. She wanted to know what he sounded like when he came.
“Dani,” he said hoarsely, “stop looking at me like that.”
She grinned. “I’m totally picturing a Little Red Riding Hood thing here…my big, bad wolf.”
He growled and hauled her into his arms, turning to the wall and pressing her back to it. She wrapped her legs around his waist and linked her ankles. “Yes,” she hissed as he latched onto her throat, sucking her flesh into his mouth until she could feel the press of his teeth.
She could hear Row and Kammie talking quietly in the front room. He seemed to realize it at the same time, freezing against her and releasing her with a sigh. “I don’t want to leave this room, but we should probably go talk to your brother and Kammie before we go too far.”
She brushed the back of her hand across his cheek. “If you insist.”
“Let’s get them on their way and then we can see where the night takes us.”
“Back to bed,” she whispered.
“Fuck, Dani,” he groaned, pressing his forehead to hers.
It would have been so easy for her to reach between them and undo his jeans to free his cock and impale herself on him. She wanted to do that – to take him and be taken, to bond them together. But over that insistent need was the knowledge that her brother was in the next room and had very good hearing. She didn’t want her first time with her mate to be a hurried affair. She wanted him all night, with no interruptions.
After a long moment, he eased away from the wall, and she slid down his body reluctantly until her feet were on the floor. He went to the dresser, pulling more clothing from it and then offering her his hand, which she eagerly took. Her mind was spinning with all the things she wanted to do with him that didn’t involve clothing. Her mate was sexy as hell, and the last thing she wanted to do was have a conversation with her brother and Kammie. She hoped they’d hop out of the house fast, so she and Adam could get back to business.
They left the bedroom and walked into the front room, finding her brother and the she-wolf in the dark by the front door. Dani took the clothing from Adam and gave it to Row and Kammie, then returned to Adam’s side. He wrapped both arms around her, pulling her into his protective embrace.
Row made a face after Kammie had tugged Adam’s shirt over her head.
“What?” Kammie asked.
“You smell like another male in that shirt,” Row said.
Kammie rolled her eyes, and Dani giggled. Her brother was an idiot.
Row snarled in Dani’s direction, and Adam pulled her behind his back quickly. His voice was threatening when he growled, “Do not snarl at my mate in my house. I don’t give a damn who you are to her.”
Kammie, looking genuinely surprised, said, “You’re really mates, Adam?”
He nodded. “Yeah. What’s up with you and growling bear here? Do you need help?”
Row snarled so loudly that the pictures on the walls rattled. Dani had heard Row growl and snarl since she was little, so she was used to him and his bear having a bad attitude from time to time. It didn’t worry her, but Adam was tense. She could feel the fur of his shift prickling under her fingers as she rubbed his back in a calming motion.
Kammie said, “It’s fine, Adam.”
Adam cleared his throat before saying, “Dani said you were taking her to see her people, but that’s clearly not your concern any longer.”
Row’s face tightened in anger. “She’s my sister.”
“I’m her mate,” Adam said, growling the words. “I’ll take her to her people.”
“Or we could skip it,” Dani said, sliding her hands around Adam’s chest and resting her cheek on his shoulder as she peered at them. “I don’t need to find my people to have found my home.”
Adam turned his head to look at Dani for a long, quiet moment. Without breaking eye contact with her, he said, “You can borrow my truck to drive to Kammie’s.”
Kammie said, “You don’t want to drive us?”
Adam glanced at Kammie for only a second and said, “I don’t really want to leave the house. You can bring the truck back tomorrow.”
“Late tomorrow,” Dani added.
Row made a disgusted sound, and Dani grinned at Adam.
Adam pointed to a hook on the wall next to the front door, where a set of keys dangled, and Row grabbed them. She and Adam said goodnight to Row and Kammie, and when they were gone, Adam walked to the door and twisted the lock.
He t
urned with a soft growl, and a shiver raced down her spine. She’d never had such a hungry look directed at her. What she’d wanted from the moment she’d scented him in the woods was within her grasp and she had no plans to ever let him go.
Chapter 3
Adam closed the distance to his mate swiftly and lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and grasped his shoulders, lowering her mouth to his. He moved to the bedroom as they kissed, his wolf growling with excitement. Part of him wanted to sit and have a long conversation with his mate, to find out everything about her until he knew her more intimately than anyone else. But the larger, less chivalrous part of him didn’t want to do any talking at all.
He crawled onto the bed and laid her down, caging her with his arms. Her scent hit him hard as she sighed against his lips and let her head fall back on the pillow. Her blue eyes were dark with passion, heavy-lidded and sexy as hell. She was his perfect angel, fallen from the heavens just for him. He couldn’t believe how fortunate he was to have found her.
“Adam,” she whispered, her fingers sliding through his hair and her nails scraping his scalp. “I want this so badly. Make me yours, please.”
His throat tightened with emotion. She was laid bare before him emotionally, and he let go of the tight hold on his own emotions.
“I never knew if I’d have a mate of my own. My scars,” he said, closing his eyes for a brief moment, “they make me feel like I don’t belong anywhere.”
“You belong with me.”
“I do,” he said, meeting her intense gaze. “I’m not just lucky enough to have you as a mate, I’m fortunate that the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen in my life is my truemate, the one female on the planet meant for me.”
She blinked as tears filled her eyes. “You’re going to make me cry.”
He kissed her, tasting the salt of her tears. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said against her lips. “I just want you to know how important you are to me. I swear to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”
She nipped his lower lip and arched her brow as he met her gaze. “You can start by losing your pants.”
He loved that she was comfortable enough with him to tease him even though they’d only known each other for a little while. “I hope you didn’t plan to get any sleep tonight,” he said as he eased from the bed and shoved his jeans to the floor, stepping out of them. He climbed up the bed as she scooted back, and knelt between her spread legs.
“Nah,” she said, reaching for the bottom of the shirt she wore and lifting it slowly. His brain fizzled out as he watched her gradually bare herself to him. Her pussy was bare and glistening with arousal, and he wouldn’t have been able to look away for anything.
His hands tightened on her knees as she pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it away. She leaned back on his pillow and rested her hands on top of his. He slid back on the bed, easing down between her legs. His muscles ached as he moved, but he pushed past the pain to focus on Dani. He looked up the length of her body and found her smiling in anticipation. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, and he growled softly before flicking his tongue out to graze her clit. She inhaled sharply, her nipples beading tightly as her hands slid into his hair and tugged him forward.
She moaned his name as he kissed her pussy and pushed her thighs further apart to expose her more fully to him. He licked her clit, rubbing his tongue along either side before sucking it into his mouth. She groaned and tilted her hips. He flicked the tip of her clit as he sucked, wiggling the tight bud while she writhed under him.
He released her clit and slid his hands underneath her, lifting her to his mouth as he stroked his tongue into her. Her sweet taste saturated his senses, driving him wild as her thighs tightened around his head and her fingers twisted in his hair. He growled as he licked her and she moaned loudly, rubbing herself on his tongue. Laving her pussy from bottom to top, he swirled his tongue around her clit and took it into his mouth once more. She released his hair and gripped the slats of his headboard, crying out as she came.
“Adam, Adam, please,” she groaned, as he pushed his tongue into her wet heat, drunk on her scent and taste.
He lifted from her and saw her knuckles were white as she gripped the headboard, her mouth open and her lower lip plump from where she had been biting it. He’d never seen anyone as beautiful as Dani, flushed from climax and wanting more.
He kissed up her body slowly. Her skin was so soft, and she deserved to be worshipped from head to toe. He nuzzled her stomach, kissing her navel and moving leisurely up her, stopping to nuzzle and lick her nipples. She caged his hips with her legs, twining her ankles together at the small of his back. He slid his hands underneath her and gripped her shoulders as the head of his dick touched her pussy. She was slick with arousal, and the tight heat of her pussy was almost enough to make him come as he pressed slowly into her.
She tugged him closer with her legs, lifting her hips and urging him forward.
He kissed her throat with a growl. “You’re killing me, Dani.”
“Yes, say that again.”
He chuckled. “Which part?”
“My name.”
He slid inches deeper into her, his heart hammering in his chest and his wolf rubbing against his skin. “Dani. My. Fucking. Dani.”
She let go of one of the slats and gripped his shoulder, her fingernails biting into his skin as he slid all the way home inside her. He went still, their bodies wed as tightly as possible, and licked her throat, feeling her pulse flutter under his tongue.
Lifting his head, he gazed into her eyes as he slid from her pussy until only the thick head of his cock was inside her. “Dani,” he murmured, pressing into her once more, watching her eyes dilate from the pleasure.
She hummed, biting her lower lip. “Faster. More.”
He wanted her to come; he was greedy for her pleasure. Sliding one hand down to her ass, he squeezed her cheek and then tilted her hips up. She gasped in surprise and then moaned, her legs falling open as he pulled from her pussy and then thrust in faster. Her eyes glazed over as he began to move more quickly, holding her close and rocking into her.
Her eyes shuttered, and he nipped her throat. “Keep them open,” he growled, fucking her harder and faster. She let go of his shoulder and returned her hand to join the other one gripping the headboard over her head. She gazed into his eyes, her pussy gripping his cock as he pushed her toward climax.
He twisted his hips until he heard her breath catch and knew he’d hit the right spot, and then he took her as fast as he could, driving into her until her pussy clutched him tightly and she shrieked in pleasure. He couldn’t hold back his release; he let go, crushing her against him as his cock spilled inside her. He shouted her name as his fangs erupted from his gums and his wolf rose to the surface.
She tilted her head and bared her throat to him, her hands sliding into his hair as she said, “Make me yours, Adam.”
He sank his fangs into her throat as gently as he could. She moaned, her pussy squeezing him once more, as he tasted her blood and marked her completely. He pulled from her throat and nicked his tongue with his fangs, covering the marks with his blood to help them heal in a way that would scar permanently. As he nuzzled her throat, he could think of nothing except the future that lay ahead of them; Dani as his wife and mate, children filling the house, and a life together full of love and happiness.
He rolled to his back, and she followed, curling against him like a warm and familiar weight. She rested her head on his shoulder and linked her fingers with his.
“When can we do that again?”
He chuckled and tilted her chin up until he could see her eyes. “Anytime you want.”
“All the time. I want to do that all the time.”
“I’m so glad I found you, Dani.”
“Me too.” She sat up and straddled his legs, planting her hands on the bed on either side of his stomach. She gazed at his dick, which thickened as soon as
she locked eyes on it, and grinned. “Having a truemate rocks.”
It sure as fuck did.
* * * * *
It was pretty clear to Adam that his sweetheart was not a morning person. She groaned when she rolled over and a beam of sunlight hit her in the face, which caused her to roll back over and pull the covers over her head. He was in bed with his mate, and he decided not to waste the opportunity to wake her up fully. He tucked himself against her back and brushed his fingers down her stomach with a feather-light touch. Then he teased her clit, lightly rubbing the bud until her breathing started to quicken and she slid her leg back over his to open herself more completely to him. He kissed her throat, nibbling on her neck as he fingered her pussy and thumbed her clit until she was panting for breath and making sexy moaning sounds. Her back bowed, and she threw back the covers as she came, gripping his wrist and canting her hips to take his fingers deeper.
He flexed his hips and pushed his dick into her, linking their fingers on her stomach as they moved together. She squeezed his hand tightly, lifting it to her mouth to kiss his knuckles. He bit down lightly on her neck as he came, groaning against her flesh as his dick emptied inside her. He’d never felt so connected to another person before, and he knew it was because they were truemates. They were meant to be together, despite being from two very different places.
She rolled to her back, her eyes bright and her skin flushed with passion. “That’s a great way to wake up. I’ll definitely be a morning person if your fingers are my alarm clock.”
He chuckled, leaning over to kiss her before slipping from the bed. “Whatever my mate wants.”
“I want to stay in bed with you.”
