by E. M. Moore
“Squeeze me with your tight pussy, Kinsey. I want to feel you. Fuck, I’m so close.”
His excitement seeps under my skin, fanning the flames already burning there like a raging wildfire.
He cups my ass, holding me to him as he thrusts.
He hits a new spot, and I race closer to my climax. “Jonah,” I warn.
He struggles to stay under control, his movements shaky. “Come with me, Little Mate,” he demands as he jerks inside me, pushing me over the edge.
I start to squeeze him and cry out at the barreling intensity. He meets me, grunting out his own release. His arms give out, and he shudders over me while I kiss his chest. His orgasm keeps coming and coming, his body shaking. His cock spasms inside me for the longest time before settling.
“Fuck,” he groans, dropping his head next to mine. “You’re not leaving. You belong here.”
I wrap my arms around him, cradling him to me. “One day,” I promise, making him a pledge of my own since he’s the only one who’s been doing that. Being in this house, I see what life could be like here in the woods with him. Maybe we could build a greenhouse? I could start my own business. I could make a home here. In Lunar.
Something I never thought I’d have.
He lifts up to kiss me. “I’ll be right back. I just have to throw this out.”
He withdraws slowly, and the both of us moan as he exits. My core is empty without him. He strides toward the bathroom, pinching the condom. The door to the en suite closes halfway, hiding his perfect body from view as the water runs for a moment.
When he returns, his cock is still erect, and my brows raise at it. “Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have sex with you on the full moon. My wolf is raging. Are you sure you’re okay?”
It kind of makes sense now that I think about it. Our wolves get carnal during the full moon, thinking only of mating, running, and hunting. “Am I hearing you correctly, Jonah Livestrong? You wish we didn’t have sex?”
His eyes narrow. “I’m going to punish you for that.”
“I have a feeling I’ll like your punishments.”
“I have a feeling you’ll love them.” He lies next to me on the bed, pulling me close. Placing a hand on my belly, a growl works up his throat. “You have no idea how much I wanted to tear that condom off and spill inside you.”
“Full moon talking? Or does Jonah want kids, too?”
“I want everything with you.”
I press my lips together. “What if the lineage concerns never go away? What if—”
He lunges forward, kissing me silent. “I don’t give a fuck what anyone else believes,” he fumes, barely restraining himself.
“I just don’t want our kids to go through what I did.”
He blinks, a frown tugging at his mouth. “I’ll fight for them like I should’ve fought for you. I’ll make it up to you, Kinsey. That, I can promise you.”
I cup his face. “You don’t need to promise anything more. I have everything. Except for my freedom—”
He interrupts me with a warning growl.
“—But that’s coming,” I say, continuing like I don’t hear how possessive he is. “Your mom told me to stay away from Lydia Greystone today.”
Jonah pulls back. “She did?” His brows crowd together, lines marring his forehead. “She’s probably come to the same conclusion we did and realizes Lydia’s out to get you for some reason. Which, by the way, there’s another excuse for why I wanted to bring you here.” He grins at me. “Why don’t you shift?”
My heart hammers to a stop. “What?”
“Shift. I’ll stay human. No one will know. I’m sure your wolf is dying to be free.”
“My wolf is pretty tuckered out, actually,” I smile.
His eyes glaze over with heat, but he doesn’t stop insisting. “I’m worried about her. You can’t keep her contained like Lydia wants you to, and I don’t like what she’s trying to do. You can’t go for a run or anything but let her out. Free her.” Tears gather in the corner of my eyes, and he kisses them away. “I’m here.”
My wolf scrambles to the surface, barely giving me time to think about it before fur cascades down my arms and my fingertips grow long claws. I open my mouth in a silent scream as my bones break, back arching unnaturally. Before long, my wolf is lying on the bed, copper paws outstretched toward Jonah. He smiles, his fingers working through her fur. He nuzzles her ears, and my wolf pants, licking him.
She moves forward, crawling over the bed to lay her head on his hard chest. He reclines, petting her until her eyes close in bliss. Before long, my wolf becomes restless, though. She gets to her feet, nipping at his face, and he laughs as she swats at him, pouncing and howling on the bed. He rolls her, pinning her to the mattress while she kicks playfully, pretending to nip at his neck.
“You’re feisty, Little Mate,” he quips, voice throaty. She yips, animal grunts passing through her teeth. She wrestles him onto his back and lies there, sitting contentedly as his chest moves up and down. His fingers still work through her fur for an hour until she gives me back control.
It happens quickly, her need propelling me into a quick shift that still hurts like a mother. I curl into a ball, gritting my jaw until my body relaxes once again into my human form.
He frowns. “She could’ve stayed longer.”
I straddle him in one swift movement, and his breath quickens. “We needed this,” I tell him. Reaching down, I stroke his already hard cock. He’s been hard since our first encounter, never fully returning to normal size even when I was in my wolf form.
I stroke him toward my center, and he stills. “I won’t be able to stop, Kinsey.”
I place him at my entrance and slide down, his bare cock filling me in the most delicious way. I’m lost to the powerful feeling of pleasure and need, pushed by my internal animal instincts.
Jonah grabs my hips, his fingertips biting into my skin as I ride him. He meets my every movement—his hard ridges massaging my core; his bulbous head driving inside me. “Fuck, Jonah. You feel fucking amazing.”
He growls, reaching up to palm my breasts. “You like my bare cock, Little Mate? Stretching you. Filling you.”
I keen, the sound coming from low in my throat as I search for the ultimate climax hovering ever so close. I quicken the pace until I’m spasming around him, gasping for breath as he continues to thrust inside me to prolong my pleasure.
“Kinsey. For all the fates….” He waits until my spasms subside, then rolls my back to the bed and spins me to my stomach. Propping my ass in the air, he fills me again. My wolf howls as he takes me this way, his movements driving us forward. He places a strong arm around my middle, holding me in place as he fucks me from behind. My wolf cries out as we come together, and I’m launched into the most blissful orgasm of my life, feeling the intensity through my wolf and me. Jonah grunts. His claws come out, and I hiss as his hold tightens before filling my pussy with his hot cum.
We fall forward simultaneously as soon as he stops moving. His chest rises and falls against my back while I drag in my own deep breaths. Cum leaks from my pussy, and Jonah reaches around to cup me. “I don’t know whether to say I’m sorry or take you again.”
“Don’t ever say you’re sorry for that. I started it,” I pant. “I knew your wolf wouldn’t be able to stop.”
He moves my hair from my cheek. “It wasn’t all him.”
25
Jonah grips the steering wheel hard as we sit in the driveway of Greystone Academy. In the middle of the night, the beautiful architecture looms forebodingly under the moon but some of that is my current mood.
My mate breathes through his nose. “I can’t do it. I can’t let you go now.”
I reach over and place my hand on his thigh. He’s been tense all the way here. Our coming together has stitched us closer, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling the same way. How inhumane and unshifterlike to have this reform school keeping mates away from each other. Keeping nature
from doing its thing.
“I’m getting that DNA tomorrow. With any luck, this will be over in twenty-four hours. I can wait that long,” he states though it sounds as if he’s trying to talk himself into it. His claws come out, digging into the steering wheel.
Maybe we were reckless. I don’t care. Like he said, it wasn’t all the moon and the fated pull. It’s Jonah and me, too.
“I’m safe at Greystone Academy,” I tell him. “Ms. Ebon is here. She’s on our side. My teachers are good.”
“Fucking Lydia,” he growls.
I unclasp my seatbelt and prop myself in my mate’s lap. His arms automatically come around me, closing me in. My next words try to convince me as much as they’re meant to convince him. “I’ll be fine.”
He pulls me to him, desperately holding me in place. It’s our nature to not want to be apart from each other. “I’ll take the swab first thing in the morning.”
I smile. After he came inside me, he went into total alpha-wolf mode. He swabbed my cheek with a Q-Tip and placed it in a zipped, plastic bag. Tomorrow, he’ll get my parents’ DNA—without their knowledge—and then he’ll take it to a lab to get tested.
It was my idea to get my parents’ DNA without their permission. I couldn’t stand to see their disappointed faces, as if I don’t trust them. That’s not it at all. In the grand scheme of things, this has nothing to do with them. The test is just the way to get proof that I’ll be safe, something Jonah and his wolf urgently need before they come apart.
Male wolves do this when they first mate. When they can’t be with their female counterparts, they rage. We were safe from that before tonight. Now, everything in Jonah is telling him to protect me. To be with me. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be so bad, but since he detects a threat, he’s going to go crazy until we figure this out.
“I’ll kill them,” he promises. “If they try to keep you from me, I’ll kill them.”
I swallow the sudden dryness in my throat. “You filled out the paperwork. They should be getting that soon. We’ll have answers.”
“Not fast enough.”
He’s not listening to reason. He’s human-Jonah right now but his wolf is dictating his answers. “Can I see your phone?” He narrows his gaze at my request, and I sigh. “You need help, Jonah.”
I don’t want to regret what we just did. I refuse to.
“You can’t come into the Academy like this. You’re not even supposed to come up at all.”
He clenches his teeth together. “I can do it. I’ll be fine.”
My chest tugs, and I get the feeling he’s not entirely convinced either. “I’m just going to my room and sleeping. That’s it. Nothing else. I’ll stay there all night. We can dream together,” I tell him, wiggling my brows suggestively.
His shoulders relax a fraction.
I breathe out in relief. “You can show me more positions you’d like to try?”
“I’m not sure we’re veering into a territory that’s helping.”
I break out into a smile. He’s right. We had a hard enough time getting dressed and making it all the way to the academy. “You have my number. We have the freaky mate-connection thing. I’m right here. Always,” I say, pressing my hand to his chest.
I lean forward, sealing my lips to his in a passionate yet brief kiss before pushing his door open and jumping down. Jonah hands me the bag with the ripped dress in it. I’m currently wearing an oversized t-shirt of his that’s like a dress on me, just not as fashionable.
“Go home, Jonah,” I tell him, shutting the truck door with him inside. I reach out and squeeze his arm and then turn to walk into the school. I use every source of strength from me and my wolf not to look back, hoping he’ll do the same. Logically, we know this has to happen. I have to be here until they release me. If I stayed at Jonah’s, it would make things worse.
I step inside the huge, wooden door, but instead of going straight to my room, I head toward Ms. Ebon’s office. I knock lightly, but as I thought, she doesn’t answer. Miraculously, the knob turns in my hand, and I immediately move toward her desk, searching for my file. I find it on top. Unsurprising, since I’m currently her only student. I flip through the varying papers to find the form Jonah filled out. My stomach bottoms out when I don’t see any of his personal information on it, but luckily, in a form at the back, I find one titled Mate Pairing that has all of our personal information on it, including our parents.
I use the office phone on Ms. Ebon’s desk and dial the number for his parents. “Hello?” his mother answers.
“Mrs. Livestrong, it’s Kinsey.”
“Kinsey, are you okay? Is Jonah okay?”
I bite my lip. “Jonah’s fine, but his wolf is going all alpha, and he’s having a really hard time leaving me at the academy. He needs help. He’s...freaking out.”
“Of course he is,” she says. “Where is he right now, honey?”
“I left him down in his truck. I’m afraid he might shift and do something stupid.”
“I’ll go get him,” I hear Johnathan say in the background.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, tears threatening my eyes. I should be down there with him. He’s my mate.
She sighs. “You did the right thing, Kinsey. Jonah can’t help himself, and you can’t help your situation. Just relax. Deep breaths. I’m going to call my son. Are you okay to go up to your room?”
“Yeah,” I choke out. “I told him I was going straight there.”
“Good. Go straight there. It’ll help to know that you’re safe.”
“Okay.”
She mutters a goodbye but doesn’t wait for my own. I hang up the phone and put everything back in the file before hurrying to my room, the bag with my dress and shoes bouncing against my thigh as I sprint.
I use the key to open my door and walk inside, dropping everything in my path to my bed and just flop down on it. I stay there staring at the ceiling, counting down the minutes to when I think Jonah might meet up with his father. If Jonah stayed in the truck, maybe a half hour. If he started heading home, it would be quicker. If he shifted, who knows?
Forty-five minutes later, after my eyes feel as if they’re sliced open, my phone rings. I answer it right away. “Jonah?”
“It’s Cindy. We have him.”
I breathe out in relief when I hear his mother’s voice. “Is he okay?”
“His dad’s talking to him, but he’s home. Can I tell him that you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I’ve just been worried about him.”
On the other end, I hear Mrs. Livestrong report to Jonah, “Kinsey is fine. She’s absolutely perfect. I’m talking to her now.”
The phone muffles for a brief moment. “Mrs. Livestrong?”
“It’s me,” Jonah’s gruff voice answers.
My heart lodges in my throat. “Are you okay? Are you mad at me?”
He chuckles softly. “No, I’m not mad. I do have you to thank for a nice bite mark on my shoulder, though.”
My mouth drops. “Your dad bit you?”
“I deserved it. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Like father, like son,” his mom calls out.
I smile into the phone, all the tension over the past few hours slowly draining away. My body rests—finally—against the bed.
“Call me as soon as you get up,” he orders. “Otherwise, I won’t promise not to show up, and we’ll go Feral together.”
“Jonah Livestrong,” his parents scold at the same time.
I chuckle. “They weren’t fans of that comment.”
“They never are.” He’s silent for a little while until he says, “Kinsey, if it wasn’t clear earlier, I love you. So if you’re thrust out, I’m coming with you. I don’t care about all the horror stories. We’re together.”
My chest expands. I squeeze my eyes shut as if I can hide away in this moment forever. Acceptance and love. What a beautiful combination. “I love you, too, but we’re not going Feral.” I shiver as s
cenes from the movie they showed us in class crawls through my mind. I steel my shoulders. I won’t go down without a fight. “Get some sleep,” I tell him. “I’ll be here in the morning.”
We hang up the phone, and I force myself off the bed to grab his shirt that I keep in my closet. I pull it over my pillow and lie my cheek against the soft material, pretending I’m sleeping with him.
If I was the same Kinsey who came here, I’d want to rip my own throat out for this, but so much has changed since then.
By not being a part of the pack, I never fully accepted my wolf, and now I embrace every part of me. Every fucked-up, needy, obsessive part. If I want to pretend I’m sleeping with my fated mate, I will.
Luckily, swimming in his shirt and using the other as a pillow helps me doze much more easily. Soon, sleep takes me, forcing me into a dreamless slumber.
Falling asleep went a lot more peacefully than being jolted awake by my door slamming open. I sit up in bed, gasping as Ms. Ebon runs into the room. Her long, black hair falls over her shoulders in disarray. “Kinsey, you have to leave. Run. Now.”
“What?”
Ms. Ebon grabs my arms, shaking me. “Run!” she urges, yanking me to my feet. “Lydia ran a paternity test, and it didn’t come out favorable. She’s coming for you now, you need to run.”
Panic grips me. My heart is in my throat. Ms. Ebon leaves me standing in the middle of the room as she marches to the window and throws it open.
“Keep running, don’t look back. Don’t go to Lunar.”
“My paternity test?”
Ms. Ebon isn’t giving in to any of my questions. “Please, Kinsey,” she seethes. “Run!”
She pushes me toward the open window. My limbs shake as I crawl onto the sill. Jonah did this before—shifted and then leapt from it, landing on all fours. I peer down at the grass below, wondering how in the hell I’m going to follow in his footsteps.
The fear in my heart forces my wolf to the forefront. She’s less scared than me, twisting my torso, fracturing my bones until she’s soaring through the air, landing on all four paws. She stumbles but gains her footing underneath her as she surges forward.
