He chuckled as he settled next to her, leaning back with his palms planted firmly in the grass. “There’s nothing common about you, Sweetness.”
The last time he had called her that, his cock was deep in her throat. Now, hearing her nickname made her think of having him inside of her, and not just her mouth. She was getting wet imagining all the possibilities.
“Even so,” she said, crossing her legs, hoping he wouldn’t smell her arousal.
“Hayden said he’d fill in for me, so I could watch with you.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t sound pleased.”
“Honestly? It feels awkward.”
“Why? Because you gave me a blowjob in the middle of Aloe’s house last night?”
Eyes wide in alarm, Tess glanced from side to side to see if anyone was paying attention. The closest shifters were a good hundred feet away, close enough for a shifter to hear if they were paying attention.
“Must you?”
“No one’s listening. Unless I raise my voice. If you sit between my legs, I can whisper, to make sure they don’t hear me.”
Yeah, like she was falling for that one.
“Or I can talk really loud,” he began, his voice so loud that several nearby shifters turned their way, “and discuss how I’d like to suck—”
“Fine!” She clamped her hand over his mouth.
Damien was wearing a pair of loose-fitting khakis and a black polo to compliment that arrogant grin of his. She slid in between his thighs, wondering how she got herself into these situations.
“No fooling around,” she warned as the couple about to blood-bond arrived at the lake.
Hayden was already on the dais, dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt, traditional colors for the officiant, while Bethany and Kyle both wore white-satin, hooded robes. Kyle reached over and removed Bethany’s hood, then he leaned in to scent her, to assure himself that this was his intended mate, and no one had stolen her away and put another female in her place. Then it was the woman’s turn. Bethany leaned in, sniffed Kyle, leaned back, and then sniffed again as if she wasn’t sure. Laughter rolled through the pack as it became clear she was teasing him. With a final sniff and a wide smile, Bethany gave Kyle her nod of acceptance.
Hayden lifted the first gold cord from the small table set up behind him. He started with Bethany, where he laid the cord behind her neck and wrapped it loosely around her throat once, then brought it forward to crisscross between her breasts. As he pushed the ties behind her, he wove them together and then slid them over her hips. Then he tied them in front of her stomach leaving the extra cord dangling over the juncture of her thighs. Three crossings instead of four, symbolizing vulnerability, heart, and family. Standing there wrapped in a silky white robe adorned with gold cord, she looked like a beautiful present being offered to Kyle to untie.
As Tess leaned back so she could whisper, Damien settled his hand around her waist. “The cord’s not tied around their heads?” she asked.
“The alpha before me dropped that years ago. He said our brains often lead us astray. Better to listen to our hearts or seek guidance from family.”
“That’s nice actually. Was your father alpha?”
“Until I was twenty-two. He’d started grooming me to succeed him as alpha, but then he was killed by humans. I wasn’t quite up for the task, so my uncle took over and continued to train me, until he too was killed. Six years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Silence. Damien had never really talked about his family before. But at least now she understood his dislike of humans. Hayden finished wrapping a second gold cord around Kyle in the same manner as Bethany’s. Kyle was one of the shifters who often sneered at Tess, so it was hard to get into the spirit of the ceremony. Nonetheless, the entire pack was here to witness, and it felt really good having Damien with her, his chest against her back with one hand around her waist and another resting on her thigh. That alone made showing up worth it. She should be ashamed of herself, considering she had already decided to keep her distance from him.
“I haven’t seen a blood-bonding ceremony since before we left North Carolina.”
His chin came to rest on her shoulder. “You said your pack had blood-bonding ceremonies.”
“Yes, but don’t forget we lived in the suburbs. Not much was done in the open, much less under the stars like this. It came down to immediate family and friends, whoever could cram into the shifters’ house. William always said we didn’t need the moon, or even the cords, only the shifters’ immediate family and a knife.”
“He’s right, but this is better. Let the pack see and share together. The same reason we all run together, including the weaker shifters.”
“That was painful to watch.”
Every muscle in Damien tensed. “I’m sorry, Tess. If I had known what Ian had done to you…”
Tess realized that Damien thought he had caused her more distress by having her attend the Running of the Moon. The opposite had happened. He had given her an opportunity to discover herself that night, to know she wasn’t helpless just because she had lost her wolf. She twisted her torso, so she could see him.
“Had you known the specifics of what they’d done to me, would you have had me stay behind and never witness a Running of the Moon again?”
“Of course not.”
She turned back to watch the blood-bonding. “I’m glad you made me go.”
“You are?”
“I learned a lot about myself and weak shifters. Watching them struggle, seeing their pain that comes with shifting…”
When her voice faded, Damien gently brushed her hair behind her and kissed her cheek. It was a small gesture, but it gave her the strength to continue.
“I had always thought weak shifters were embarrassed by their abilities, and that’s why they shifted at home. At least they did in my pack. But here, everyone was together, regardless of ability. They weren’t embarrassed by their weakness. That’s when I realized I shouldn’t be either. This whole way we refer to ourselves as strong versus weak shifters is wrong. We all have different abilities, nothing more, nothing less.”
“You’re right.”
His voice was warm, rich, soothing. Damien never brushed her off as some stupid female. He treated her as if she was so much more than she was. How could she give him up?
“I’ll never shift again,” she said, as if it had to be said.
There was silence, then he wrapped both arms around her and held her closer. No words, just him holding her. It was nice, really nice.
Deep, breathy moans floated to her from off to their left. A male shifter lowered himself face down into the tall grasses. From the motion, it was clear he had company beneath him, and the pair was starting the post-ceremony celebration early. She almost asked Damien if he had noticed. With his heightened senses, he would know exactly what was going on around them. His hand on her thigh remained still.
Curious.
Tess relaxed back against Damien’s chest as Hayden raised a ceremonial knife, a four-inch dagger with a gold hilt, then poured wine on both sides of the blade. Bethany and Kyle held out their left hands, the hands closest to their hearts. As they recited the shifter vows, Hayden sliced their palms. Blood pooled on the ground as Bethany and Kyle joined their hands. Hayden finished by binding their hands together with the ends of the gold cords.
Now they waited for the flow of blood to stop, a sign that their blood had finished mixing, that the healing was complete, and that they were finally one.
Elation lit Bethany’s face and a smug grin covered Kyle’s, as the blood slowed to a mere trickle. There was no kiss, unlike in a human ceremony. Their first physical contact would come soon, deeper in the woods.
Starting at Bethany’s, and then Kyle’s neck, Hayden unwound the cords, until only the couple’s hands remained bound. The wind caught their robes, nudging them open enough that everyone saw the side of Bethany’s right breast.
The s
ound of skin slapping against skin came from somewhere off to Tess’s left, making her thighs clench. She hoped Damien wasn’t paying attention or getting any ideas. As a kid she had wondered why the children and teens always sat up front during a blood-bond ceremony with the adults further back. Her mom had said it was because the young ones’ hearing and eyesight weren’t as good yet, so the adults sat in the back, some really far back. Now Tess knew there was more to the tradition.
Blood no longer dripped.
“Kyle is weaker than Bethany,” Damien whispered in Tess’s ear. “But they have been best friends since childhood. He’s always been slow to shift, with a lot of pain, even more than most. This will be interesting to see what happens.”
“She risks a lot,” Tess said. “He might weaken her more than she strengthens him.”
“Perhaps she only cares about what she gains: Kyle. Either way, it’s done. Their fate is now sealed.”
Hayden untied the cord, then separated their hands and held them up for the pack to see. The cuts where Kyle and Bethany’s blood had mixed were already healed, and there were no scars beneath the smears of blood, only smooth flesh. The couple’s blood forever mixed, and their wolves forever bound to one another.
The crowd cheered, with howls from those who had shifted to their wolf forms. Hayden stepped down from the dais, and the pack fell completely silent. In a blood-bonding ceremony, the weaker wolf always shifted first, so he or she would not keep the mate waiting for their run through the woods. As the weaker shifter, Kyle’s shift would either remain poor or improve slightly. Bethany was the one who risked weakening her shifter abilities.
Kyle fell to all fours, his cape pooling around him. As his jaw elongated, forming a snout, his arms and legs shortened, and paws formed. Fur sprouted all over his body, as his spine shifted, and a tail formed, seemingly from nowhere. His ears were the last to protrude from his head, as his brown and tan fur completely filled in. It wasn’t the fastest of shifts, but not the slowest, either.
“Excellent,” Damien whispered beside her, very pleased with the result. Of course, he would be pleased. Kyle had become a stronger shifter, which meant the pack, in turn, was stronger.
Tess felt her hand clench Damien’s, nervous for Bethany more so than for Kyle. Kyle rubbed his snout against Bethany’s thigh, and her hand sifted through the fur at the top of his head between his ears.
“Horny wolf,” Damien muttered. “He can’t even wait until they make it into the woods.”
“Oh, and you would wait?” Tess blushed, not sure why she said that. Damien hadn’t touched her during the ceremony, despite the obvious sounds of sex going on around them, and here she was baiting him, full well knowing that he didn’t back away from a challenge.
“I would wait. That first time touching as a blood-bonded couple should be private.”
Then again, maybe he was losing interest in her. He was acting rather reserved, today. No flirting or sensual touching beyond watching the ceremony together and that one chaste kiss on her cheek.
Bethany started shifting and finished before her robe hit the ground. It was that fast. Her tan and black wolf body-slammed Kyle, and he nuzzled her beneath the chin. The pack howled and cheered to celebrate a very successful blood-bonding.
Tess realized she was beaming, as Bethany and Kyle disappeared into the woods. It had been a beautiful ceremony, with a happy ending for both shifters. Tess had always dreamed of this day, of joining with another shifter in a way that would forever bind them.
“That could be us,” Damien said, ruining the moment.
Tess scrambled to her feet. “There are two things you need to get through your head, Alpha. One, I’ll never shift again. Two, you and I are never going to blood-bond.”
“I need you, Tess,” he said, not caring who overheard them as shifters headed back to their homes.
Tess hastened her pace to get ahead of him and surrounded herself with the crowd. She wasn’t going to have this conversation, again, and in the open.
“Go home, human,” someone called from nearby.
She halted the second she heard Damien growling somewhere behind her. The crowd moved as one, away from both of them. She had already sworn to herself that she wouldn’t let those remarks get to her, that she’d let them roll right off of her. But they didn’t. The comments hurt, and the fact that Damien was standing a few feet behind her, demonstrating his displeasure at whoever had made the remark, only made matters worse. These shifters would never see her as one of them, as being good enough for Damien. They were right. He needed a shifter to stand beside him, to lead with him, not someone who couldn’t even stand up to them when they hurled harmless insults at her.
“Let’s go,” Damien said as his hand fell to her lower back. He waited for her to move.
“You need a shifter, Damien. Someone they can respect and who can help you. Not someone who will be a burden to you.”
“You’re not a burden, and they’ll come to respect you once they get to know you. As I did. Come, Tess, I’ll walk you back to our house, or Aloe’s if you prefer.”
“No need. I’ll walk with Mac.”
Damien scowled, not thrilled with the thought of Mac for some reason. Then he scanned the crowd for her bodyguard. “Actually, Ty is here. They must have switched during the ceremony.”
Ty? No thank you. “On second thought, perhaps you should take me.”
He dismissed Ty, and Tess started walking with Damien, his hand still on her lower back. From that one small spot where he touched her, a delicious heat traveled through her. He was too close to her. His unique, enticing, masculine scent was wreaking havoc with her hormones. Her nipples hardened, and an almost electric sensation traveled from his fingers to her core. The rumble in his throat added to how her body was thrumming for his touch.
“What’s wrong with Ty?” he asked. “Has he done something? Has he touched you?”
She could feel the anger rolling off of Damien. He’d been losing control faster and faster lately, even growing suspicious of the shifters in his own pack for no reason other than his wolf made him paranoid.
“You can’t fight all my battles,” she said as they reached Aloe’s house.
“Yes, I can, and I will.” His arms went up against the doorframe, caging her in.
Her heart started beating, and, not only was she very wet, she found herself watching his lips, debating whether she wanted them on her mouth or lower, much lower.
“It’s my job to protect you.”
“He’s one of your pack.”
“Which means I get to put him in his place when needed.”
“Not all battles are physical.”
Damien pulled away, which surprised her. “I don’t want to fight you.”
“But you are. The longer you delay, the worse you’ll get. You shouldn’t have to suffer like this, Damien. You need to blood-bond.”
He smiled. It was sexy, playful, and full of promise. God, how she loved his smile, how she loved him, which made what she was about to say all that much harder.
His hands landed on her hips. “I’m glad you finally see that we’re meant for one another.”
Ah, hell. Even as her stomach sank, Tess gathered all her courage and kissed Damien softly on the cheek before she stepped out of his grasp.
“I’m leaving tomorrow. It’s not that I want to, but I have to. And you can keep putting me under house arrest, but eventually you’ll have to face the fact that you need to blood-bond, and it can’t be with me. The pack needs you, Damien, and I’d drag you under, as much as any human would. You’re an alpha. Blood-bonding with me will do more than weaken you, it will kill you, and I won’t let that happen.”
* * *
DAMIEN
Damien wasn’t surprised by Tess’s words. She had said them often enough, but this time was different. Before, she had denied the idea of blood-bonding with him out of trepidation. Now, he smelled no fear coming from her, and he saw nothing in her except a c
onfident, resolute shifter. Even if she had lost the ability to shift, she was born shifter, and that made her a shifter, no matter what anyone said. But her perception had been skewed along the way. Now she was more convinced than ever that blood-bonding him would kill him.
“Did you hear me? You need to forget about me and blood-bond another.”
Blood-bond another? The very idea was nauseating. Did she think he should have the single, female shifters enter a lottery, and the winner got him? He needed a mate who complimented him, someone who would moderate his temper with compassion, who would inspire patience when he felt the need to beat or kill another without fully understanding the circumstances or considering the ramifications. He needed someone who understood how to turn his weaknesses into strengths, and who would be by his side, no matter what.
Tess thought the pack only needed him to lead. To rule fairly, compassionately, wisely, he needed her. He’d have to take another tact, one that would keep her here and let her see that she was the one—the only one—for him.
“Then help me find another,” he said, shocked to hear himself say those words.
“You expect me to find my replacement?”
“You’re smart, and you care. And I can’t do this on my own. If you care about this pack, or me, then you’ll help me.”
She eyed him, suspiciously. “You’re finding excuses to keep me here.”
Damien leaned past her, holding his breath so he wouldn’t breath in her delicious scent or her arousal that already had his wolf running in circles with the need to take her.
As he turned the handle and pushed the door open, he said, “I’ve accepted a lot of shifters into the pack, since I became alpha, not because I pitied them, but because I believed they would strengthen the pack. You’re still a shifter, Tess, even if you don’t have your abilities. At this point it hardly matters if you’re human, shifter, or neither. Your talents, your compassion, and heart will strengthen the pack. Or do you think I’m lying?”
Damien’s Dilemma Page 20
