Chapter 50 #5
“Those nights I lay here wanting to fuck you in that bed? Torture.”
My expression drops.
But he speaks against my lips. “So now we both get to fulfill a fantasy.”
I turn that frown upside down quickly as he’s now ensuring the mood doesn’t dim by divesting me of my jeans and my t-shirt.
“My turn,” I tell him when I’m down to my undies and bra. I peel his tank up and off before undoing his fly and throwing his Levis down.
He undoes my bra with a snap of his fingers while putting his mouth to my mate mark and taking a playful nip.
I let out a little squeak and am abruptly lifted up.
Jase’s face changes briefly and I follow his gaze to see what he’s looking at. He lifts the old pair of glasses from the jewelry dish on my nightstand.
“Still weird that I don’t need them anymore.”
“You’re welcome,” he quips.
I laugh.
“So you don’t care about these ones?” he asks.
“Sorry?”
“These aren’t important, right?”
I give my head a shake. “Those are my old ones. They’ve got scratches on the lenses. I just kept them around in case–”
I stop talking because he’s popping the lenses out.
He puts the empty frames on me. “Those nights I lay on the floor here fantasizing about touching you?”
I wait for him expand on that.
“You had your glasses on. Let’s keep these for playtime sometimes.”
I laugh again and do it so hard it’s not remotely sexy. But I can’t help but find this hilarious, because one of the things I thought might have made me less attractive to Jase is no longer a factor, and yet he wants me to wear glasses while we fool around.
“Ain’t life funny?” I ask, running my hand up his chest.
“No,” he whispers, and begins to kiss a path between my breasts while his fingertips work magic on my nipples. “If Fate had given me a clue sooner, you could’ve been mine longer.”
I touch his face, melting.
He angrily adds, “And I never would’ve put you through all that heartache.”
“Don’t look back. I’m not.”
“No? You’re not gonna get pissed off if we run into women from my past who think they’ve got a right to breathe the same air as you?”
“Nope. Because it’s in the past. And they might have had your attention for a minute, but I get to have it for the rest of our lives.”
Jase swallows, looking like he’s still carrying guilt.
“And I get to make babies with you.”
His expression softens a little.
“And do life with you. Maybe I’ll get you to wear a wedding band when we go to town, so everyone knows you’re taken.”
“You think this ink doesn’t say that?” he jokes.
Good point.
“But I can do that. Happy to do that. Are we goin’ to Alaska?” he asks.
I wrinkle my nose. “Maybe not. I don’t want to miss anything important around here.”
“We can talk about it some more when Blakely sends you that job description. Always wanted to fish in Alaska. We know an alpha up there I get along great with. He has a construction company. I don’t mind if we go.
I can hop on some jobs with him if I get bored while you work.
I want you to have everything you want in life, Bay, and working for the SCC on a big medical project could be a nice feather in your cap. ”
“We can talk about it,” I say. “Later. Right now, I want you to ravish me in this bed so we can hurry up and go shift and run.”
“You got it, baby.”
I hesitate. “What if my parents come home?”
“They’re out for at least four or five more hours.”
“You sure?” I ask.
“I arranged it, babe.”
“Do I want to know how you did that?”
“I sent your parents tickets to a concert at the casino for that country singer your mom loves. She told me they’re going to your favorite steakhouse for dinner first.”
He gets down to business, moving down my body with kisses, nips, and caresses, lining up and fitting himself inside me, making gentle, passionate love to me in my bed.
***
“Try and focus,” he says. “Feel for your wolf in here.” He puts his hand to his chest. “Feel for her and fuse with her. Send your energy, your intent… inward.”
“I’m trying. I’m concentrating really hard.”
“Don’t overthink. Connect. What do you feel in your chest?”
“You,” I say.
His eyes sparkle with happiness.
“How about this…” he says, stepping closer and looking into my eyes. “Shift, Bailey.”
And bam! That does it.
Bubbles!
I’m starting to think of my wolf as Bubbles as this is what I feel when she turns up.
Now I’m looking up at Jase through her eyes. We’re in the yard and he’s standing before me / us.
He says, “Good to know. I can help you shift both ways until you synch up. Follow me, baby wolf. We’re goin’ for a run.”
Jase transforms, landing on his paws and putting his nose to mine.
My wolf is immediately acting like a dork, running in circles around him, pouncing, bucking with excitement, and ready to run and play.
And I’m stoked because the excitement has flared in my veins. Her excitement is what I feel. I know she wants to run; I feel it. She wants to run like the wind, and for Jase to run with her. To follow and chase her. I think our connection has been boosted.
Yes, I think this is exactly what this means.
It’s like little connections are fusing inside me.
Pathways connecting, plugging in. It’s not too many; I think there need to be a lot more of them.
This isn’t quite enough to feel like my wolf is part of me, but something is shifting between us. It’s a start.
Jase runs through the larger opening he made in the fence before we got undressed and came out here. She follows.
She’s running after Jase who looks over his shoulder while slowing to make sure she’s close.
And the way the night smells strikes a chord deep inside me.
I’ve always had a good nose, so I thought, like it was something given to me to show me I’ve got shifter blood in me that’s not entirely dormant.
But the scents are now suddenly even more vivid.
Jase’s scent. The earth. The trees. The river we’re running alongside.
I feel like shifting has taken me from three-dimensional living to an exploration of a four-dimensional universe.
I can’t wait to be even more plugged in.
He keeps looking over his shoulder to make sure I’m with him, leading the way.
The air smells amazing. The breeze feels great.
A strange sensation clogs my senses until I feel that she’s sneezing.
She sneezes twice before pain explodes in my foot.
She yelps and now Jase’s wolf is all I can see.
He’s up close, sniffing me, then shifting and lifting me up.
The pain is sharp, like a dozen bee stings in my right foot. My wolf is yelping. Fuck, that hurts!
Jase commands, “Shift!”
I feel a slurping sensation and I’m me now. I’m immediately crying. My foot burns. Fiercely.
He examines it and says, “Shift again.”
The bubbling sensation lasts just a second, though the bubbles feel bigger than the last time.
“Shift again, Bay,” Jase commands, yet again, and as soon as I’m slurped and back to me-shaped again, the pain is gone.
“Shift!” he repeats and my wolf is running as soon as she’s here, bursting with energy, feeling better, though she’s running not nearly as close to the river as before.
I can see what she’s now avoiding. Little blades of new grass growing between the existing grass blades.
Wait. Not grass. The scent from those short blades make my nostrils tingle, but though I know this, there’s a disconnect.
I don’t know what the scent is. I recognize all the other scents around her today, but not this one.
She suddenly stops, turning to look back for Jase.
A light zings by, not far above his head.
“Shift!” Jase suddenly commands.
“Those!” I point.
“What the heck?” I start to ask, but Jase collides with me, his body covering mine as he looks up at the sky while shielding me.
“Home. Now! On my back.”
“What was that?” I ask.
“Hurry!” he clips.
I climb on Jase’s back and he runs, lightning fast, the ground blurring as he gets us back to the yard with superspeed, going directly inside, grabbing his phone, and connecting to the contact Surveillance Room.
I hear Joel answer.
“Drone, seen four or five hundred feet from my back fence along the river heading west, not more than a minute ago.”
“More?” Joel asks.
“Me and Bay were both shifting. Don’t know if it got footage. Also ran at superspeed, don’t know if that was caught on footage either. Code orange?”
“Definitely, bro,” Joel says.
“You look. I’ll text the group chat.”
He ends the call and opens his messaging app. We’re both still naked and I’m still on his back, watching him tap out ORANGE before he squats enough that I can easily put my feet on the floor.
I reach for my clothes to get dressed while he’s continuing to tap on his phone.
“Your foot feeling better?” he asks.
“Yes, it’s better. What was that?” I ask.
“Sit, let me see.”
I pull my pants up the rest of the way and sit on the dining room chair so he can lift my foot and inspect it.
“Your wolf stepped onto a little plant shoot. I don’t know what plant it was and it didn’t hurt me.
The bottom of your paw swelled up, pad looked shredded.
I’ll send a text to Cat and ask her to come take a look in the morning and identify it.
But right now, we need to figure this drone out.
” He rubs my foot. “No sign of any injury. It’s okay? ”
“It’s fine.”
He lifts his phone again and I get to my feet and move to the fridge to get myself a bottle of water.
“Drink?” I ask.
“Yes, please.”
***
Jase blows out a heavy breath of relief, tossing his phone to the table. It’s been about half an hour and I feel relief at both the look on his face as well as the sensation of it in our bond.
As suspected, the gunshot we heard was Joel shooting the drone down.
Jase says, “Footage taken off the shores along the river, a few minutes circling the space over the falls, and that’s pretty much it.
Nothing on there of us shifting or me running at superspeed.
Just my face as it zoomed over when I clocked it.
It’s an older unit, only has an SD card, so it’s not broadcasting the footage anywhere. ”
“Really? That’s a relief. I wonder who it belongs to.”
“We’ll be at code orange until we’re sure it’s no threat.”
“Should we be worried?” I ask.
“My job. You don’t worry about a thing, Bay, except maybe washing my back up in that shower right now. You down?”
“I’m very down,” I say, “Though we just had a shower a few hours ago at my parents’.”
“Want to make sure there’s nothing on our skin after what happened by that riverbank.”
“Good point.”
“And it wouldn’t hurt, you givin’ me head before we go to bed.” He shrugs and flashes his dimples.
I laugh. Before I’ve stopped laughing, he’s got me hoisted over his shoulder, carrying me upstairs.
***
I fall backwards into bed and yawn. I’m exhausted in the best way. We didn’t run far tonight, but between the running and the multiple shifts I did, not to mention all the sex today, I feel like I could sleep for a week.
Jase slips in beside me and shuffles us into a more comfortable position, tracing my jawline with his fingertips. As my eyes drift shut, he says, “Still have a surprise for you.”
“Hm?”
“Look,” he prompts.
I open my eyes and he’s holding his phone up.
“What’s this?” I ask, despite the fact I see it’s an email confirmation of airline tickets purchased.
“Italy?” I ask.
He swipes up to a picture of the Colosseum. Now I’m looking at St. Peter’s Basilica. He swipes again and now there’s a picture of a train. When he does it again, there’s a picture of Venice.
“Jason,” I whisper.
“Your trip got cut short. Here’s a do-over. We don’t have to do these things, but I’ve got us airline tickets and booked us a hotel for the first three nights so far. Once we’re there, we can do what you want.”
“I…” I let that hang. Because I’m at a loss for words.
“So we’re leaving a week from tomorrow for two weeks.”
“Wow. Um…”
“And tomorrow night, we’ll venture out to the town hall if you want. There’s gonna be a party for Brody and his people. A send-off. Not the whole pack, but those who were involved with Brody’s people the most. They’re leaving the day after for their new digs.”
“You don’t look too happy about that,” I point out. “Do you have concerns?”
“With Brody taking his new pack away? No. With having to take you to a party? Yes.”
I tilt my head a little, assessing his face.
He mutters, “I’ll deal. I know there’s no way you’d miss that party.”
I snuggle in. “Thanks for understanding without me having to explain. Another benefit to mating someone you’ve known your whole life. Even though you might have thought they didn’t pay all that much attention, they truly know you.”
He makes a sound that’s agreement but a grumbling one.
“Thank you for the trip, Jase. I am super-excited about this.”
“But?” he asks.
I pull my lips tight and snuggle in tighter. He definitely knows me.
“But…” he repeats.
“But I hope we don’t miss anything important while we’re gone.”
He laughs and rolls me to my back, pinning me with his body.
“Hate to break it to you, babe, but you will survive if you miss something around here.”
I make a grumbly sound.
“My baby and her FOMO.”
He kisses my jaw as his hand snakes up my body, gliding from my hip until he’s got a handful of breast.
“Seriously? Again?” I ask.
“Told ya you were in for it,” he teases while licking my mate mark, making me shiver.
He maneuvers me into a reverse cowgirl position and keeps his hands on my hips, moving me to and fro while he slides inside me.
I must not be energetic enough because it doesn’t take long before he goes from moving my hips for me, thrusting from underneath, to getting onto his knees and letting me fall face-first so he can finish me off from behind.
Though I’m a bit of a ragdoll, I’m very present because I’m enjoying his sounds along with the sensations which include kisses dotted all over my back, shoulders, and neck.
I’m also very much enjoying his touch. All of it results in me coming pretty darn quick.
As soon as I hit the peak of an orgasm, his knot takes over and before I can come down from that peak, I’m hitting a summit that’s even higher.
I must fall asleep immediately afterwards because it feels like a blink after his knot releases, I’m waking up with the waking sun beginning to brighten the bedroom underneath his hot, muscled body.
I’m on my tummy, he’s got a leg thrown over me, his face buried in my hair, our fingers threaded together.
I kind of need to pee.
But maybe if I close my eyes and ignore it, I’ll fall back asleep.