Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Noah
I gather Aster up against my body, crushing her with the force of my emotion.
Fuck, I’ve kept my desire on lock from the moment I first touched her. I kept my wolf on a leash. I wanted to ravish her.
To stake my claim.
Mark her skin.
Make her every promise in the world to win her submission to our fate.
But I couldn’t push her. I didn’t want to scare her off.
I knew she could be as brainwashed as my mother about her pack and their cultish ways, and I needed to give her time to arrive at a decision on her own. Without me influencing it.
And she chose me.
Knowing that she’s mine–that Aster chose me over pack and power and all the magic she possesses–makes me want to drop to my knees and praise the Moon Goddess. I want to get her alone, strip her naked, and worship her body all night to show my gratitude.
I swing Aster up into my arms and appeal to Brick.
“We only came because Aster had the vision that Madi was in danger. I’m not asking to keep my job.
I'm not asking for your help, or your permission to free my family. I just need you to let us go, so I can get them out before my sister is raped by every alpha in their pack in one of their sick rituals.”
Madi blanches.
Everyone looks over at Sully, but his lips aren’t moving. I look back to Madi, who bares her teeth, and hinges clawed hands together in the sign for growl.
Brick’s expression remains inscrutable as he studies me. “How do you plan to get them out?”
“I’m still working on that plan. I have a tracker on each of them.”
Aster’s body trembles in my arms. Her breath is coming in shallow gasps. I need to get her out of here. I want to get her alone. I twist toward the door and back. “May we leave?”
“Give them a room in the East Wing,” he says to Sully. To me, he says, “Attend to your mate. We’ll talk more about this plan of yours tomorrow.”
I follow Sully to the room without taking my eyes off my beautiful mate. I can feel her heart pounding with her decision. Like she’s scared and excited at the same time.
I know what this means to her. She’s giving up her role as Seeress. Giving up the magic that she loves. Giving up her visions.
I know they are her source of power, but part of me rejoices that she won’t suffer through them anymore. I hated seeing her so vulnerable, weakened by the debilitating side effects of them.
I love you.
Aster’s words project into my head. She’s speaking to me telepathically. My beautiful, magical mate.
I try to project it back. I don’t know if she can hear me, but I know she must feel the ecstatic sense of soaring in my body. The avalanche of love pouring out of my heart and into hers.
Sully says something that makes Aster smile.
“What?” I ask.
He turns to face me and signs as he repeats it. “I said get a room, you two.” We arrive in front of a door, which he pushes open. “Here’s a good one. I’ll instruct the guards to give you some space tonight.”
Aster blushes.
“Here.” Sully hands me my phone. I thank him, pocketing it with relief. I’ll be able to access the trackers, but not the drones.
“Noah,” Sully hesitates, all glimmers of amusement disappearing.
“You did the right thing, coming here. The Alpha Rites are an abomination. They should be stopped at any cost.” A visceral blast of cold comes from him, and from the menace in his glowing eyes, I can see why Brick chose him as pack enforcer.
Aster gasps, eyes widening, like she’s Seeing something about Sully.
Thank you, I sign.
He nods gravely to both of us and walks away.
I gently set Aster down and close the door.
We’re in a large, stately bedroom with an en-suite bathroom.
A dark mahogany four-poster bed stands in the center, covered in what looks like a fluffy feather blanket wrapped in a plum silk duvet.
Matching plum pillows in all shapes and sizes adorn the head of the bed.
“What was that about?” I ask.
Aster shivers. “I think…Sully knew a wolf named Moira. She was an acolyte killed by the Warden while trying to escape the rites years ago.”
Goosebumps race across my skin. “Fate guided us to him for this reason.” I turn to Aster and cradle her face between my hands.
“Yes.”
“Just like fate guided me to you, starshine.”
She smiles up at me, her face luminescent.
“But I was a fool. I thought she brought you to me for my mission. I didn’t know” –my throat closes as I speak– “I never dreamed…she would gift me the most exquisite jewel on the continent.” I brush her hair back from her face. “My mate.”
I still can’t believe she chose me. I am punching way above my weight.
Aster’s eyes flash silver, and she leaps, crashing into me. She straddles my waist, attacking my mouth with hers.
I stumble back as our tongues twine until my ass hits the bed, and I lie down, letting her climb over me and rip open my shirt.
“I want you,” she says. The scent of her arousal permeates the room.
It’s too much. My wolf goes wild. The need to claim her, to mark her, overwhelms me. I flip her over on the bed, a growl ripping up my throat. With a swipe of my arm, I clear the bed of all the decorative pillows, then tug her shirt off over her head.
I somehow remember to yank the covers down, so we don’t stain the silk bedspread between feral kisses.
Mine, her wolf growls in my head as she unbuttons my shirt.
Yes, I’m yours, Aster Adalwulf. Until the day I die.
I kiss the fuck out of her as my hips roll over hers, the hard bulge of my straining cock grinding in the notch between her legs. She reaches between us to undo my jeans as I lower my head to suck one of her nipples.
Freeing my erection, she fists my cock, and a sound rockets from my throat.
She pushes at my shoulders. “Roll over.” Her eyes are pure silver.
I comply, and she crawls over me, pulling my jeans and boxers off. She wraps her fist around my cock and tugs, further engorging the head with blood. Pre-cum drips from the slit.
Aster holds my gaze as she lowers her head and flicks her tongue over the head, tasting my essence.
I groan. “Fuck, Aster. You’re killing me.”
She takes my murder to the next level by opening her mouth and fully engulfing the head of my cock.
I shudder with pleasure, my fingers reaching for her hair. My canines have already descended, sharp and ready to puncture her skin. She’s playing a dangerous game. She’s going to get me so excited I won’t be able to hold back. And it’s her first time. I need to be gentle.
I should come now, so I can take that pressure off and take my time claiming her. Yeah. That’s a good plan.
I lie back and receive her gift. Her hot, wet mouth slides over my cock at the same time she cups my balls. I show her how to use her fist in conjunction with her mouth, stroking along my length as she moves her head down and up to make it feel like she’s taking all of me.
I surrender to the sensations. Allow the exquisite pleasure to wash over me until I reach a peak.
My fingers tighten in her hair, and I use them to pull her off then flip her over onto her back and give my cock a few jerks. With a shout, I come all over the flat plane of her belly.
She runs her fingers through my essence and brings them to her mouth.
I yank off her sweatpants. “Do you want me to use a condom?” I somehow remember to ask.
“No.”
I’m surprised by her immediate answer, but then she already made her choice. I suppose a she-wolf who has lived in harmony with nature, guided by Fate would embrace the possibility of conception with her mate. Even on their first time.
With her full permission to coat her with my seed, I use my cum to lube up her entrance, painting her plump folds, rubbing it all over her clit. She arches, rolling her pretty pussy into my hand. I screw one finger into her, prying her open, readying her for my dick.
I fucking love seeing her pussy painted with my cum. Claimed with my essence.
O. K.? I sign.
More, she signs back.
Fuck, yeah.
I screw in a second finger and curve them up to stroke her inner wall. Some of the tissue under my fingertips tightens, and I know I’ve found her G-spot. I stroke it, loving the way it makes her writhe and kick in pleasure. Then I pump my fingers in and out, hitting the spot every time I plunge in.
She screams something. I can’t see her lips because her head is tilted back, but I feel the reverberation in her body. Her inner thighs squeeze around my wrist, her ass clenches up tight, and then she squirts in a glorious display of female ejaculation.
A growl reverberates in my throat, and I pull my fingers out, hardly waiting for her to finish her orgasm.
Judging by the wild silver of her eyes, she needs me inside her as much as I need to be there. I rub the head of my cock through her juices, and she reaches for my hips, lifting her knees up to tip her sopping pussy up for my ravishment.
My teeth dig into my lip as I force myself to slow down instead of impaling her in one violent thrust. Blood drips into my mouth. I gently press against her entrance, but her nails score my hips as she pulls me over her, taking me all at once.
“Aster,” I choke. “Fuck, yes.”
Her eyes are round, her mouth open as if in surprise. I freeze, buried deep inside her to give her a chance to get accustomed to my size.
“O.K.?” I mouth.
She nods and starts slowly moving beneath me, rubbing her clit along the base of my cock. My body shakes with the effort, but I still don’t move. I want her to lead this. To show me what she’s ready for.
She finds a rhythm, rocking her hips and sliding beneath me, and I see the exact moment she surrenders to the pleasure. She moans and her breath deepens.
I draw back and sink in deeper, and she rocks to meet me. My upper lip curls as I drive a little harder, my hips snapping to bury myself deeper with each thrust.
Aster thrashes beneath me, her head sliding over the luxury sheet, her eyes rolling back in her head with pleasure.