“Ellis,” she moaned. “Ellis, please.”
He snarled in answer, his hips bucking into her faster. The slams shook the bed hard enough she feared they’d break the damn thing, which felt exactly right. He’d held back from her when they were in the park. This was him in his entirety.
Wild. Savage.
Hers.
Pleasure raced through her veins and she threw her head back with a cry. Maylee met Ellis’s eyes and saw the naked desire swept aside by the deep and utter emotions that’d lodged in her own chest reflected back at her. Words weren’t enough. Looks, either. They needed something more. Something permanent.
“Do it,” Ellis growled. “Make me yours.”
As he crested her again, they both struck. The salt of his skin was washed away with a deep growl of satisfaction. Maylee shattered around him as his fangs found her shoulder and marked her as completely as she’d marked him.
Hers.
His.
They were one.
Ellis collapsed against her, then rolled her against his side. Neither spoke. The light in their eyes said enough.
Maylee stretched against her mate and reveled in the sense of completeness that descended over her. She’d fought so hard for six long months to find a safe place to raise Esme.
Home had been waiting in Redwater and in Ellis’s arms.
Epilogue
A ball rolled into his foot and Ellis turned away from the sink. Esme grunted and pointed to the toy. Ellis threw the little cub a grin before toeing it back in her direction. A peal of giggles brought his shoulders to his ears in a wince. His inner wolf lolled out his tongue and puffed out his chest like a proud papa.
Ellis turned back to the messy remains of Esme’s breakfast that put abstract artists to shame. Yogurt had not gone over well that morning. Grapes were similarly rejected and smooshed into unrecognizable blobs of color.
Rice cakes, though, had been the winner.
The ball hit his leg again as he dried off the highchair tray and secured it back in place.
Ellis eyed Esme sharply. The teetering side steps she took as she clung to the couch reminded him of customers trying to leave Dark Horse after a night of hard drinking. Swaying, tentative, unsure if they were going to make it, but still carried forward by the strange laws of physics.
She giggled and waved a fist at him. Secured by only one hand, she took another shuffling step toward him.
She was running out of couch.
Ellis quirked an eyebrow. “Don’t you do it. Don’t you dare do it without your mom in the room.”
She shook her head hard enough to almost send her down to her butt, then straightened with another giggle.
And stepped away from the couch.
Shit. Shit. Ellis looked around helplessly for a camera to appear out of thin air to capture the moment.
One step turned into a shaky second. Esme wobbled and stared at the ground like she, too, couldn’t believe what she was doing.
Ellis fell to his knees a short distance away. “Okay, little cub. Do you have another one in you?”
One cautious step forward ended with a hard plop to the ground, but Esme didn’t care. She flashed a gummy smile and zipped forward on all fours until she laid hands on her ball.
Ellis turned into the fresh roll and found Maylee frozen in the middle of toweling her hair.
His mate shook herself and pointed to their cub.
His mate. Their cub. His inner beast sank back with a pleased huff.
“Did she just take her first steps?” Maylee asked.
“No,” he answered quickly. And laced with guilt.
The two had been through so much loss and upheaval. They were mated, yes, and the month had been full of late night conversations and discoveries about one another as well as daily adjustments from the life of a bachelor to one of a father. Esme was his and he’d defend her to the death.
But Maylee deserved the reward of seeing the little cub’s firsts well, first.
“You’re lying. I can tell you’re lying.”
Esme punched the ball out in front of her, then scaled his thighs and fisted tiny hands in his shirt to stand unsteadily next to him. With a messy pop of her lips, she pressed her open mouth to his shoulder in her version of a kiss.
Ellis winced. Sweet cub, sweet mate. He sucked down a breath and prepared to come clean.
Except when he raised his eyes to Maylee’s face, she didn’t look pissed off. She smelled downright amused.
“You’re not mad?”
“Of course not. Do you know how much I’ve been waiting for you to see that?” Maylee sank to the ground a few steps away and waved at the cub. Esme babbled incoherently and shook her fist at her mother.
Ellis cocked his head. “Wait, you’ve seen her walk?”
A fine blush spread over Maylee’s cheeks with her nod. “Just a couple yesterday. I didn’t want to say anything until you saw it. You need some firsts.”
“You’ve given me many,” he rumbled.
First, and only, mate. First cub. All-nighter tending someone’s illness. Diaper explosion. Inexplicable messes that made him question his sanity and understand why sleep deprivation was a torture method. Toy shopping. Baby wearing. Laughs and arguments.
Most of all, the first time he’d ever been completely comfortable.
She’d changed his life from the moment she walked into Dark Horse. He felt calmer. Steadier. He still got annoyed at the customers pushing each other around and cracked skulls when needed, but he didn’t have to fight his wolf to stay in control. The beast knew there was a time and place to run wild.
Running. That was another thing he’d stopped wanting. His place was in Redwater, not on the unfamiliar open road. He didn’t need to get lost in the long stretches of asphalt when he knew what waited for him at home.
In a split second, Esme pitched forward and shimmered in place. The tiny human was replaced with a tiny blonde bear cub, the spitting image of her mother and her twin.
“Oh, that’s cheating!” He picked up the squirming bear cub and hugged her tightly to his chest. “You need to learn the two legs just as much as the four.”
Tiny roars filled his ears as the little ball of fluff wiggled in his arms. One of her paws distracted her from the escape attempt, then turned into a delicious snack that had to be sampled.
“Stay there. Right there.” Maylee bolted for her new phone and slid back into place while her fingers worked over the screen. “I want to save this moment forever.”
Ellis crooked his finger to summon her closer, then took the phone from her hands. With Esme still snuggled against his chest and his mate leaning against his shoulder, he snapped another picture.
“That’s the one I want,” he said softly, turning his head to face her. “My family.”
Maylee pressed a real kiss to his cheek. “Our family.”
Shifters of Bear’s Den
Forbidden Mate
Dangerous Mate
Hunted Mate
Runaway Mate
Stolen Mate
Untamed Mate
Black Claw Ranch
Wrangled Fate
Spurred Fate
Breaking Fate
Wild Fate
Bucking Fate
Newsletter
Want updates on new paranormal/fantasy romance releases and special sales? Want to receive an EXCLUSIVE ebook available nowhere else?
Sign up for my newsletter!
http://cecilialane.com/cecilianews
BAD Alpha Dads
Bestselling and Award Winning Paranormal Romance authors are bringing you the baddest of the bad ALPHA dads. Keyword bad. So sexy, you’ll want to teach them to be good. These shifter dads need all the help they can get, and we want to give it to them.
https://BADALPHADADS.com
About the Author
Cecilia Lane grew up in a what most call paradise, but she insists is humid hell. She escaped the heat with weekly journeys to the
library, where she learned the basics of slaying dragons, magical abilities, and grand adventures.
When it became apparent she wouldn’t be able to travel the high seas with princes or party with rock star vampires, Cecilia hunkered down to create her own worlds filled with sexy people in complicated situations. She now writes with the support of her own sexy man and many interruptions from her goofy dog.
Connect with Cecilia online!
www.cecilialane.com
Also by Cecilia Lane
Shifters and Sins (BAD Alpha Dads)
Whiskey and Wolves
Tequila and Tigers
Bourbon and Bears
Black Claw Ranch
Wrangled Fate
Spurred Fate
Breaking Fate
Wild Fate
Bucking Fate
Shifters of Bear’s Den
Forbidden Mate
Dangerous Mate
Hunted Mate
Runaway Mate
Stolen Mate
Untamed Mate
Shifting Destinies Standalone Stories
Her Christmas Wolf
Claiming the Wolf Princess
Wanted by the Bear
Bourbon and Bears: Book Three: Shifters and Sins Page 13
