Chapter 10
Shea
Shea woke up and stretched, her body sore in all the right places; the muscles in her butt and thighs were tight.
She would need to stretch when getting up; she felt like she had been ravished in the most intense but delightful way.
The flesh of her pussy was sensitive and tender but satisfied; the ache to be filled was gone.
She blurrily glanced around the room, trying to get her bearings, and pulled up the sheet to her neck.
Sheet???…
She stiffened in surprise to feel that she’d been covered, and then she realized that she didn’t feel Roland inside of her anymore; he must have slid out.
Joy flooded through her, and her hand lowered underneath the sheet to her still flat belly.
She was now pregnant; she turned to face Roland, but he was not here.
She turned around and sat up. The room was dark, but she could still make out the objects in the nearly empty space and saw that the door was left ajar.
She got to her feet and wrapped the blanket securely around herself.
She could hear the murmur of voices and opened the door to see Roland, Emiyah, and two of the King’s own guards, Calum and Mathius, standing there.
They turned, and she could see that Emiyah’s eyes were red and tears were running down to her cheeks.
She rushed towards her but was captured and pulled into the arms of her mate and soon-to-be alpha.
She heard him growl in warning. He was now in protective mode of her and their unborn child.
Shea knew better than to struggle but reached her hand out to Emiyah, who clasped it tightly in hers and gave her a weak smile, her eyes running over her to make sure she was okay, and then the dark brown eyes that were filled with sorrow a minute ago now shining with happiness for her.
Shea’s gaze searched her friend’s face and then went down to her neck; she saw no mark there, and her belly clenched tight. She took a sniff and could not smell the traces of Mack on her but could sense that she was with child, and more than one.
What the hell happened? The last she saw her; Emiyah had tackled Roland and then ran off into the forest with Mack hot on her feet. Was she able to elude him and mate with another?
How long was she out? From the serious discussion that she interrupted and the look on Emiyah's face, she knew that her twin had not been found. She didn’t have to wait long for her questions to be answered.
“Emiyah, tell me again what Mack said to you before he left.”
“It wasn’t what he said to me; it was what I said to him.” Emiyah lifted her chin even though a fresh track of tears appeared and ran down her cheeks and chin.
“What happened? Did he—” Roland's words to her ears sounded harsh with fear behind them.
What was he worried about?
Emiyah blurted out. “He wanted to mark me, and I refused.”
Roland stiffened behind her and said over her shoulder in disbelief. “You refused to copulate with your mate?”
If Emiyah didn’t have dark skin, she would think her friend was blushing. “No, we copulated alright; I brought that man to ecstasy six ways to Sunday, but I refused to let him mark me as his mate.”
“You did what?!” Roland shouted.
Her eyebrows rose, because since she’d known Roland, he was always calm and collected; he never raised his voice, but when he enunciated his words, you knew you were in trouble.
She had to bite her lip at Roland’s outrage at Emiyah defying what was supposed to occur when the heat was on, but times were changing.
Not only had Shea tried to change what naturally occurred to a woman's Lycan body during the heat cycle, but now Emiyah would not let her fated mate mark her.
“Yes, I did. That man thinks that he can treat me the way he wants; he gives me a little dick, and I would fall at his feet begging him to mark me and make me his.” She scoffed, and Shea grinned.
“You don’t know what you have done.” Roland spoke softly, but Shea and everyone standing in his presence could see he was very angry.
Emiyah took a step back, and Shea moved to go to her to protect her friend, but Roland tightened his arms around her.
He moved his mouth to her ear. “Don’t worry, Meliah, I won’t harm your friend; she is also carrying. But what she has done has now added another crisis that I must fix.”
She felt herself calm at his words and the comfort of being in his arms, even if they were wrapped around her right now for protection and to show the males in their presence who she belonged to.
She glanced at the two guards and thought that they would look at her in disdain, but Calum and Mathius just nodded and carried on listening to what Emiyah had to say.
“Calum, I need you to track Mack for me. He could not have gotten far. Just proceed with caution with him until I can get there to speak to him.”
“Why would they need to proceed with caution? He just left to go and find Adanya for me. I promised if he found her, then and only then would I let him mark me.”
They both turned to Emiyah again, and Shea saw a confused look on her face, her gaze searching Roland’s for answers.
She turned and caught an expression on Roland’s face, and an image of him throwing his hands in the air entered her mind, and she had to sink her teeth into her bottom lip to keep from laughing.
He spoke with exasperation now. “Calum and Mathius, go and grab some more of the men and go after Mack. He is now the best way to track Adanya, as he is one of the best that I have, and I am sure he has her in his sights and will need backup.”
“Come, Meliah, we must go now to my father so that he can welcome you into the family.” He began to move with her toward the door, and she dragged her feet in protest.
He gave her a look that said, not this again.
She pointed at the sheet she was wearing. “Like this?” She now spoke, sounding outraged for the first time, appalled that she was going to the king dressed in a sheet.
He grinned, and she caught her breath. She had yet to see him smile, and it softened his face, and she felt her heart flutter; he looked so handsome. She had to start thinking about her herbs to calm herself down.
Roland's eyes widened, and then he frowned. He cocked his head, looking at her funny, and then opened his mouth. “Were you just thin—”
Emiyah interrupted as she approached them from where they had left her standing. “I will head back to my home to wait for Mack to return with Adanya.” Her voice sounded shaky but hopeful.
“No, you will come with me and Shea; you are now under my protection until Mack returns.” And he turned and followed Shea to her bedroom, not waiting for a response from Emiyah.
Shea entered her room with him following behind.
“Umm, I need to change.” She pointed out to him.
He shrugged. “I’m your mate, and I have seen you naked.”
“I—But the cycle is done, and I’m pregnant. You don’t need to be—”
He moved close to her and lifted her chin and said huskily.
“Meliah, don’t ever deny me the pleasure of seeing you naked.
The heat only made you my mate and the mother of my child, but let’s get one thing clear: I have always wanted to see, touch, taste, and feel the pleasure of your sweet pussy on my tongue and surrounding my cock day and night.
” He took her hand and placed it on his flesh that was now hard for her, and she began to feel heat again, like the heat cycle but not as intense.
“See what you do to me without even trying? I think about you constantly. Wondering what you are doing, looking forward to seeing you in town, hell, even hoping my dad’s cough would linger just so that you would have to visit, and now that I have had a taste of you, your touch, and to hear your sighs, knowing it is me giving you pleasure… ”
His eyes stared intensely into hers. The gold is now blazing with heat and desire. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him. His confession had just rocked her world, and happiness spread through her that maybe he cared for her too.
She nodded and gave him a sensuous smile, wanting to test out her power over him.
She dropped the sheet, and when his gaze ran over her, his eyes raised back to hers, darkened and hooded. He reached out for her, and she moved away to stand in front of the mirror in her bedroom.
She now looked at herself as she thought he was seeing her, and she cupped her breasts that had plumped up and the nipples that were longer and distended now from pregnancy and not the heat cycle, and caressed them, her eyes tracing her hands and fingers over the dark areolas over her lighter brown skin, down to the curve of her stomach that was never completely flat on her and will soon expand with the growth of their child.
Her feather touch moved now to her hips that would also get broader as she prepared for birth, and slipped them through the coarse hair protecting her womanhood to between the wet folds, her fingers now sliding against and parting her lips to the aching flesh inside.
Her eyes met his as she felt his warmth behind her, his lips parted slightly, and he licked his lips as if ready to partake in a tasty meal. He lowered his head, eyes trained on her in the mirror, and racked his teeth against the sensitive spot on her neck. She hummed her excitement and pleasure.
His lips followed, and he sucked her flesh into his mouth, and she rose up on her toes and moved her buttocks into the hard press of his cock that was straining against the pants he had donned.
She tilted her head to give him more access as they moved against each other; she dipped her fingers in and out, rubbing her palm against her clit, their breath in sync.
He cupped her breasts, squeezing and molding the heaviness of them, making a low rumble in his chest, and he lowered his mouth and nipped her shoulder, and he dragged his fingers against the pointed tips, distended for his touch.