27. Orion
CHAPTER 27
Orion
T he pack celebrated my mating the way we always had, with booze, barbecue, and the loudest fucking party in Montana. By midnight, almost everyone was trashed, but it was far past time for me to take my new bride back to our house.
I hadn’t been drinking, and as far as I could tell, Sol had two beers before dinner and drank water the rest of the night. So by the time I met her gaze from across the room and whispered a quick, “Let’s get out of here,” she’d been more than willing to oblige.
I grabbed her hand, intertwined our fingers, and led her out to the parking lot, where Kai waited with my keys around his fingers.
“No newly mated couple drives themselves home from the ceremony,” he said, nodding toward my truck. “Come on. I’ll have Nix pick me up at your place.”
I was buzzing with too much anticipation to argue, choosing instead to help Sol into the back seat. After Kai circled around to the driver’s seat and started my truck, I wrapped an arm over my mate and pulled her in close. She smiled up at me, her warm green eyes switching to amber when I tugged on our bond, now reinforced by the pack magic. But once we got home, once I could sink my canines into her tender flesh, it would be a thousand times more potent.
“You two make a cute couple,” Kai said as he drove. “I’m just thankful someone got grumpy-gills to lighten up.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but Sol giggled and tucked her head closer to my chest. “I like him grumpy.”
“Yeah, I guess a wolf doesn’t change his coat and all that.” Kai grinned in the rearview and made small talk for the rest of the five-minute drive to my house, but once we were there, he quickly hopped into his buddy’s car and left us alone.
“Come here,” I said, scooping her into my arms so I could carry her over the threshold to our house. She laughed when I didn’t stop in the living room, choosing instead to walk her all the way down to our bedroom. Once there, I put her down and spun her around so I could cup her jaw and kiss her fully.
Finally.
My mate. My love. The one magic had decided was mine. No one could ever take her away from me.
“I love you,” she murmured in between breaths, circling her arms around my neck so she could hold me closer.
“I love you,” I repeated, growling as the sensation of her tongue wrestling with my mine surged down my spine and into my toes. I’d been deprived of her all day, and now my cock ached to get inside her, my canines extending in anticipation of biting her to mark her forever. I traced my fingers down her neck to her shoulders, fingering the delicate straps of her dress. “I want to tear this scrap of fabric off you.”
She chuckled and backed away, eyeing me with that tempting mix of desire and mischief. “You rip my pretty dress and I’ll edge you for the rest of the night.”
Fuck yeah! My wolf howled in excitement, and she must have heard it because she widened her grin and sat on the edge of the mattress, leaning down to unclasp her heels. But I didn’t like the thought of her undressing herself on our mating night, so I dropped to my knees in front of her, grabbing her beautiful ankle to lift it on my thigh, meeting her gaze as I undid the clasp and peeled the strappy shoe from her foot. I gave the other foot the same treatment before running my hands up her soft calves and under her skirt, tucking my fingers under the waistband of her tights and underwear.
Her flowery scent hit me in the face, mixing with the tangy, delicious taste of her arousal, amping up my feral side. I peeled the thin fabric down her legs and off her feet before rising and gesturing her to do the same. She did, and I slowly placed her hair to one side, pressing my forehead against her crown as I unzipped her dress and dropped it to the floor.
When she stood naked in front of me, her skin pebbled in the cool night air, I took a deep breath to calm the urge to shove her down on the bed and bury myself inside her with no preamble.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” I murmured, leaning down to kiss her again. “And so fucking mine.”
“Hmm,” she agreed before twisting her little fingers into the buttons on my shirt, plucking them undone one by one. “My turn.”
After she pushed the fabric off my shoulders and down my arms, she went to my pants and undid the buckle, whooshing the leather through the loops in one quick movement. Almost like she couldn’t contain herself, she hastily unbuttoned my pants and slid the zipper down, divesting me of my trousers and boxers in one go. I helped her by kicking off my boots and socks, and once we were both naked in the moonlight, I couldn’t fucking stand the anticipation any longer.
I wrapped my hands around the back of her thighs and lifted her up so her legs went around my hips. Then, I laid her down on the bed and hovered over her, breathing her in deep, allowing this connection to soothe the beast that had wanted to sink its teeth into her ever since I found her in that beat-up SUV.
Wanting to make it perfect, I started to kiss down her neck, a burst of lust hitting me in the balls when she moaned and arched into it. Her perfect breasts rubbed against my chest, her nipples fucking screaming to be bitten and tugged. But she grabbed my arms to stop me from going farther down, and when I glanced up at her with furrowed brows, she shook her head and pulled my face back to hers.
“Do it,” she said. “This entire day was foreplay. I need you. I want you. Please. Please fuck me and bite me.”
I let out a noise that sounded like a strangled laugh and half a moan before reaching between us to line my cock up at her entrance. And fucking hell, she’d been right. Her cunt was wet and wonderful and fucking dripping for me, the smell of it only making my mouth water more. I wanted to bury my face in between her legs and hang out there for the rest of the night. I wanted to wear her scent like cologne, knowing anyone who came across me would sense her and keep their fucking distance. I wanted to bury myself so deep inside her that no one would ever dare touch her again because they would face retaliation from me.
Almost losing her had nearly made me rabid, and after tonight, I’d never have to face that again. We wouldn’t be parted until death, and we’d both sworn to that only a few hours ago.
I pushed my cock inside her, slowly at first, working her up so I didn’t hurt her, but she quickly grabbed the back of my legs and yanked me home—all the way to the hilt, all at once.
“Fucckk,” I groaned, nearly toppling forward on shaking arms. She always felt like heaven, but tonight, she gripped me like a fucking vise, like she never wanted to let me go. So warm and tight and mine.
“Yes,” she moaned, rolling her hips against me, finding the special spot that drove her wild.
My arms shook as I tried to hold my weight off her, and I ignored my racing heart at the prospect of sinking my teeth into her skin and filling her with my scent.
“Goddamn it, you feel so good, little fox,” I said, trying to rein in my control as I thrusted my hips against her, rutting inside her.
“I love the way you fuck me,” she said, murmuring such sweet, filthy things that I didn’t think I’d last long enough to seal the deal. I wanted to bite her just as she was coming. I’d been told that made the orgasm even better, that the bite pushed it into the next fucking dimension, and I wanted this to be good for her. “God, I’m so close…so close.”
Her rising pleasure erupted into me along the bond, hot and fiery and sheer perfection, and I groaned against the waves, leaning down so I could kiss along her neck, licking her delicious skin to prepare her. I smelled the right spot, the area where her scent was strongest, where she smelled the most like her, and I knew—the bite had to be there. Right above her collarbone. Right where her shoulder met her neck.
My fangs tingled, the magic coalescing around us in a nearly visible cloud of pheromones and ecstasy and tangible magic.
“I’m coming, Ry,” she said, tilting her head to the side to make more room for me, meeting me thrust for thrust as I fucked her hard. “Do it.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I leaned down and sank my canines into her skin for the first time, piercing through flesh and muscle while she screamed in furious relief. I sensed her euphoria, the tendrils of her climax erupting into me as it surged out of her. My fingers tingled and my legs shook, and the most delectable agony twisted down my spine. Fucking hell, it brought me closer to mine. I wouldn’t last much longer, not at all. The bulge at the base of my cock had started expanding, and it got harder and harder to pull back from each rut.
Her blood coated my mouth, and I swallowed down what I could before dragging my tongue over her wound to seal it. She tasted even better than I thought possible, and not that I had much of a blood kink, but the sight of my teeth marks in her skin brought me so much fucking joy, I never thought I’d get over it.
“Get ready, baby girl,” I said, steadying myself on my elbows so she could return the bite. “I’m almost there. Almost?—”
I shoved into her two more times before my knot expanded and her delicate little teeth sank into my skin, much more carefully and pleasurable than she had during her transition. And it launched me into a whole new universe.
Our souls intertwined, our magic became one, and for a brief moment, I’d swear that the heavens parted and rained down pure undiluted bliss just for us two. My entire body floated and imploded. Her nerve endings were mine, and vice versa. We were one body, one heart, one being, and it was the most mind-blowing experience I’d ever had.
We melted down and reformed around each other like two pieces of metal in a furnace, like a blade being reforged into something stronger and better and more resilient.
“Do you feel that?” she whimpered, running her hands over my chest and up to my shoulders while she swiped her tongue over my bite mark. “ Do you feel me?”
“I do,” I replied, collapsing on top of her while my knot locked us into place, my cock kicking with its release, pouring my seed deep inside her. “You feel amazing, little fox.”
She hummed her approval and ran her fingers down my spine while I licked at her bite and nuzzled under her chin. “I can’t believe we get to have this forever. I can’t believe you found me.”
“I did,” I said, tracing the muscles in her throat with my lips, alternating kisses with little nips that let her know this was real, that we were together and always would be. “And you found me.”
We lay in silence, our post-orgasmic glow radiating along the bright, brilliant tether between us. It would be stronger than it ever had, and I’d be able to track her down no matter where she went, no matter how far.
It gave me a sense of peace that I’d never known, not in thirty-five years, and now that I had her, no matter what came for her, no matter if that bloodsucking Scorpion motherfucker showed up again, he’d have to go through me and my entire pack to get her.
We were safe now, and we had each other.