Chapter 18 Ruby
Ruby
Ithought for sure we’d be stuck in Centralia for hours, but not long after the local cops arrived on the scene federal agents swooped in and took over. Lois’s work, Cassie explained.
“Shifters can’t go to a human jail,” she said. “They need special handling. These feds are part of a supernatural unit of the FBI.”
Alexei had been unsuccessful in getting any more information from the shooter. His claim to be a contractor who didn’t know his boss seemed true enough that Alexei and Cassie believed him, but if there was anything else to learn from him, they assured me the feds would get it out of him.
The bus was eerily quiet the entire way back to Seattle, all of us shaken up by what had happened.
I wasn’t an anxious person as a rule, but I shuddered every time I remembered Cassie shoving me under that bus and facing the shooter.
I knew it was her job, and I knew that Alexei was the one who actually caught him, but it didn’t make what happened less scary.
When we got back to the stadium, Cassie loaded us into the Sapphic Security SUV and drove to the office so we could debrief with the team. We filed into a large conference room with several agents I hadn’t met yet. As soon as Lois entered the room, her eyes flew to Alexei.
“You too Alexei? Damn it, what do you think I’m doing here? Staging the Super-freaking-Natural Dating Game? Maybe we can broadcast it on that Hulu channel to make money since you idiots are going to ruin our chance to have any future clients!”
The older wolf’s criticism made Eleanor puff up with protective anger. She placed one hand on Alexei’s arm, her claws showing, and growled at Lois, who simply laughed at her.
“Take a chill pill, little wolf. Your bear can defend himself.”
Eleanor immediately shrank back, lowering her eyes.
I didn’t pretend to understand supernatural politics, but it was interesting to me that all the creatures in the room deferred to Lois.
It seemed like more than just her being the boss.
At one point in the meeting she let out a low growl and every person in the room immediately shrank back and fell silent, including Cassie and Alexei.
By the time we were done at Sapphic Security the events of the past few days were hitting me hard.
Between playing a tough three game series in Portland, with the stress of traveling, us being shot at, and spending several nights staying up way too late having sex with Cassie instead of sleeping, I was a weird combination of wired and exhausted.
Alexei and Cassie agreed that Alexei would go home with Eleanor while Cassie stayed with me.
I wasn’t sad about it. It had only been for that one night but having two extra people in my house had felt like a lot.
Also Eleanor and Alexei could scarcely keep their hands…
paws?... off each other right now and it was becoming a little bit uncomfortable.
“I know it’s too late to take a nap, but I’m hoping for a quiet night tonight,” Cassie said as we entered my condo.
With a finger on her lips, she scanned all the rooms for listening devices or explosives while I followed her.
As soon as she gave me the all clear, I threw myself at her, catching her by surprise.
Cassie took a step back from the impact of me crashing into her, her back connecting with the wall, and I pulled her head down to give her a hard, desperate kiss.
“You could have been killed today,” I whispered when I pulled away. I trailed little kisses down her neck, my body pressed against hers as if I couldn’t possibly get close enough to her.
“It’s my job,” she reminded me, her voice the tiniest bit breathless.
“I don’t care.”
I ran my hands up and down her body, reassuring myself that she was okay. I shoved her shirt up, cupping her breasts over her bra, and kissed her again. When Cassie’s hands moved to my ass, I pushed them away.
“Keep your hands against the wall,” I ordered, pressing them on either side of her hips.
Cassie’s eyes widened and I watched in fascination as her fangs appeared from between her lips.
My mouth fused to hers, my fingers found the snap of Cassie’s pants, pulling down the zipper and shoving her pants off her hips.
Then I dropped to my knees, dragging the fabric downward as I went.
When I reached for her panties, Cassie tapped on my head.
“What are you doing?”
I landed a quick smack on her mound, then gave her pussy a little squeeze. “I told you to keep your hands on the wall.”
Against my hand I felt the flood of arousal my words elicited. I practically tore her underwear off her body, then freed her legs from her pants and tapped on her ankles in a silent command to spread her legs.
“I didn’t know you had a dominant side,” Cassie teased. “I like it.”
I didn’t recognize this side of myself. I was acting on instinct, and instinct that told me to claim her as mine.
My fingers gripped her thighs hard enough to bruise as I lowered my head to give her seam a long, slow lick.
Cassie kept her hands on the wall as instructed, though I saw that her fingers had lengthened into sharp points, telling me that her vampire was close to the surface.
I continued licking her up and down, exploring her folds with my tongue until she was rolling her hips off the wall, encouraging me to give her more.
I loved this feeling. Loved giving her pleasure. Loved tasting her cream on my lips and knowing it was all for me.
Releasing her leg, I slid two fingers inside her opening, giving her a few pumps as I waited for her inner muscles to relax. As soon as they did, I added a third finger and began fucking her hard with my fingers while I circled her clit with my tongue.
“Fuck. Mate. That feels so good. I’m close.”
The words sounded like they were ripped from Cassie’s throat.
But it wasn’t enough. I needed to possess her.
Needed to know that she was here with me, that she was okay, that she was mine.
So I did something I’d never done in my life – I trailed the fingers of my free hand in between her ass cheeks.
When I inserted the tip of one finger into her back opening Cassie completely came apart.
“That’s right, come for me.”
I watched from beneath my eyelashes as she detonated, violently shaking against the wall, her hips punching forward as her head rolled from side to side.
“Ruby. Mate.”
Then she was coming so hard the words died in her throat.
I continued to tease her with my fingers while I sucked her clit into my mouth, biting down softly.
That set off another round of shaking. Cassie made a sound deep in her chest, part moan, part growl, and it was so primal I almost came on the spot.
When I’d finally wrung as much pleasure from her body as I could, I slowly moved my hands away from her and sat back on my heels. It took at least thirty seconds before she garnered the strength to open her eyes and look down at me. She looked almost shellshocked.
“Well, if I wasn’t already in love with you, that would have done it,” she joked weakly.
Her legs seemed to give out, and she slid down the wall, sitting in front of me with her knees pulled up to her chest and her breath coming in rapid bursts.
“You love me?” I asked, feeling the strangest sense of elation.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not to me. I didn’t know you had feelings for me. I thought you were just following your vampire’s instincts.”
Cassie took both my hands in hers and stared me dead in the eye. “I love you Ruby. Not because my vamp recognizes you as her mate, but because the human side of me is head over heels for you. There will never be another woman for me as long as I live.”
My mouth dropped open at her sweet declaration. I licked my lips, took a deep breath and spoke my truth. “I love you too.”
This time when we kissed it was less frantic, more sweet, a confirmation of our declarations of love.
“I, uh, I’d like to reciprocate, but I really need to do some work,” Cassie said regretfully. “Lois will have my ass if I don’t file my report in the next hour.”
“Go ahead and work,” I said, popping to my feet and giving her a hand up. “I’m in the middle of a really good book right now. I’m going to chill out for a while and read, then I’ll grill us some chicken for dinner. After dinner, you can have me for dessert. How does that sound?”
Cassie’s smile lit up her face. “That sounds great.”
We were all on edge for the next few weeks, but whoever was behind the attacks on women’s soccer players, they were laying low.
The feds hadn’t gotten any more information from the wolf who’d tried to shoot us in Centralia, and despite diligent searching on the Dark Web, Wanda and the other agents were coming up blank on any leads.
The only thing we knew for sure was that only the U.S.
team was being targeted. None of the other teams had reported any issues.
The next week was filled with team activities – practices, workouts, games, and public appearances. The team felt strongly about giving back, especially when it benefited women and girls.
Cassie and Alexei were always around, ever watchful, and if my teammates suspected they weren’t who they said they were, no one said anything.
Every single person on the team had seen the way Cassie protected us while Alexei and Coach Cora caught the bad guy.
They might not totally understand what happened or why the bodyguards were there, but they definitely appreciated their ongoing presence.
Meanwhile, Cassie and I had fallen into a routine that was surprisingly easy.
Other than her regular security sweeps of my condo and the way she was always on alert when we were out of the house, it was easy to forget that she was bodyguard.
It felt very domestic. We’d awaken every morning, if not snuggled up together then at least touching, and have breakfast together.
I’d gotten used to the idea of her drinking blood with her morning coffee, and as long as I didn’t have to see it up close, I was okay.
At night after we were both done with work for the day we made dinner together, cooking side by side, then we’d hang out and enjoy each other’s company.
We would read, watch TV, or just talk while Cassie worked on knitting the scarf she’d started on our trip to Portland.
I’d never lived with a romantic partner before, but living with Cassie was surprisingly easy.
For the first time in my life I was starting to imagine the future with someone else in it.
There was only one thing bothering me. After our first discussion of becoming mates, Cassie never brought it up again.
She often called me ‘Mate’, especially in the throes of passion, and we’d professed our love for each other.
But for some reason, she seemed hesitant to seal the deal.
I could feel the mate bond between us growing stronger every day, but Cassie made no effort to bite me and make things official even though I knew her vampire was pushing her to do it.
Finally I decided to call in an expert. I hung back in the locker room with Eleanor after practice one day, the only chance we had to talk without Alexei or Cassie nearby.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” Eleanor straddled the bench that ran along the front of our lockers. “Pull up a bench.”
“How did you and Alexei know it was time to become mates? Officially I mean? I know you were having sex before you made a commitment.”
The whole hotel in Portland knew that. The two shifters hadn’t exactly been quiet. Then again, the same could be said for me and Cassie.
Eleanor gave me a long look before replying. “The first time we had sex, I was pretty adamant about Alexei not biting me. I didn’t want him to rush me, because even though my wolf was certain he was my mate, I needed to get there emotionally too, you know?”
“Yeah.”
“Because he’s a good guy and he wanted to respect my wishes, Alexei held himself back, even though his bear was riding him hard to claim me.
I could see the struggle in his eyes whenever we were fooling around.
But in the end, it was my wolf who made the decision.
She took over and marked him before I knew what she was doing. Then Alexei marked me back.”
I was silent for a few seconds, mulling over her words. Eleanor reached out and squeezed my hand.
“If you’re ready to make a commitment, you need to tell her. She’s a vampire, not a mind reader.”