Chapter FIFTEEN
–Kaia–
I WAS IN LOVE.
Just like that.
I know it sounds crazy because I’d known Tréan for what? Two minutes? So what the fuck? I seriously need to get a grip.
Yet he had me at...shoot, I don’t even know.
What part of this night hadn’t made me all mushy inside? The love Tréan felt for his pack? Siblings? His bi-sexual polyamorous sister? The maimed wolf he mourned leaving his pack because he’d clearly cared for her and accepted all creatures no matter their lot in life? Hence, the old, maimed, broken wolf that led me back to his chambers after he left to run with his pack.
There could be no doubt Tréan put their needs before his own, and that was a damn attractive quality.
Then there was that kiss. Our kiss.
His mouth.
My skin burned, and my lips throbbed at the thought of it.
Either way, I was done, gone, so obsessed with the guy I felt like a giddy teenager when his matriarch gazed into a corner of Tréan’s den, looked at me in a way that translated, then hobbled off.
She didn’t speak because not just her physical but mental wounds were that deep.
Curious about the direction she wanted me to go, I headed toward a darkened corner that looked like nothing but rock, dirt, and roots, only for the shadows to fall away and an earthen doorway to appear.
“Love it,”
I murmured, opening it only to feel the same wonder I had when I’d stepped into the master wolf den.
It almost looked like a rustic oasis that an interior designer would create, only it was real.
Ancient-looking roots spiraled down glistening rock walls that surrounded a small shimmering pool steeped in steam.
Wall-bracketed torches burned on either side of a small waterfall that streamed down the back wall into the pool, creating a pleasant water-running-over rock sound, like a river through a forest.
Plush green moss rimmed the water’s edges, and boulders chiseled into sitting areas were staggered around.
Like Tréan’s main chambers, I detected no other female scent.
Instead, the air smelled of him.
Masculine and spicy.
And it seriously agreed with me.
I couldn’t help a small smile when I found all my favorites on a small table tucked in the corner beside a crackling fire, from steaming vegetables to bourbon.
Shaking my head, I kept smiling when I spied a cup of black coffee and a plate of freshly cooked meat.
“It seems you thought of everything,”
I said, having no intention of going near the meat but had to give him credit for trying.
The more I explored, the more I realized just how thoroughly Tréan had prepared this place for me—this sanctuary I knew was all his.
He had never brought another female here.
So when I opened one of several trunks lining the wall, I knew everything inside was for me.
Fingering the fur cloaks and various pants, tunics, and boots, I could admit he knew my taste.
Medieval wasn’t my thing, but I could work with this stuff.
It might even look halfway decent on me.
Knowing I’d wanted to bathe, he had even left plush towels and things to wash myself with by the water.
Honestly, for the first time in my life, I felt spoiled and bit back emotion yet again.
I’d actually teared up earlier—and I don’t cry ever—when Tréan had talked about Callum’s mate leaving the pack.
His pain had been mine, and it hurt bad, telling me just how good he was at hiding his emotions from others because, though I’d heard it in his voice, his face remained stoic.
As if he felt nothing even though I knew he felt everything.
Having had enough whisky, I yanked off my clothes and headed into the pool without, shockingly enough, a moment of hesitation given my typical dislike of water, only to find it pleasantly warm further from the waterfall and equally pleasant in its chill closer to the falls.
Based on the slight current of the water and the pool remaining at one height, there was a drainage system somewhere below, but I couldn’t find it.
Incredibly at ease, I used the pleasant-smelling soap and bathed, leaning my head back under the waterfall to rinse my hair.
Everything felt amazing.
The way the water ran over my body.
How the currents massaged me from beneath.
It all felt so good I eventually settled on a comfortable rock seat in the water, braced my arms on the side of the pool, leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and relaxed.
More in tune by the moment, thanks to my wolf, I took everything in.
Felt the warm, velvety moss beneath my fingers.
Tasted Tréan’s kiss in my mouth. Smelled him all around me, soaking into my pores, making me his. Heard him howl in the distance in a way that made my breath catch.
Knew he was closing in.
Almost here.
Struggling to breathe, I opened my eyes to find him watching me.
He was no longer in wolf form but human.
All man and flesh, without a stitch of clothing.
Breathing became impossible as I took him in, from the ropes of muscle running over his broad shoulders to his tattooed chest, down his ridged six-pack abs to the V carved of muscle that led straight to an erection that just about made my jaw drop.
“Hell,”
I whispered on a whoosh of breath that came out choppy.
It seemed he was in no mood for chit-chat because he strode my way with so much determination and desperation in his golden gaze that I knew my life was about to change forever.
More so, even, than it had when I turned wolf.
The next thing I knew, he was in the water, yanking me against him and closing his mouth over mine.
After that, forget it.
If I thought I’d been soaking up sensations before he arrived—damn, at any point since I’d been born—I was wrong.
Truly feeling started now.
Right here in this moment.
Right here with him.
Everything came alive in vibrant colors inside out when he grabbed my ass and hoisted me up enough to accommodate our height differences, wrapped a hand into my hair, and angled my head until he could devour my mouth.
Just like last time, his kiss turned hungry fast, and so did mine.
Kissing him was like the best sort of explosion in my mouth.
Like an orgasm made of lips and tongue and delicious tastes.
Having kissed enough guys in my time, I knew some were better at it than others, but none held a candle to Tréan.
Not even close.
He had a way of tongue tangling and lapping and consuming me in a way that made the terrible ache spearing my core only grow stronger.
He knew it, too, because he didn’t waste time with foreplay, and good thing.
There was plenty of time for that later, and I knew he’d excel in that department, but for now, I needed the ache I’d pretty much felt since laying eyes on him taken care of.
Right there with me, he wrapped one big, warm, weapon-roughened hand over my backside, hoisted me until I straddled his waist, slowly ended our kiss, and pulled back enough to lock his golden eyes with mine.
Made it clear in a singular look that he was about to claim me.
Mark his territory.
Well aware I was past the point of no return, I ground my clit against him, raked my nails down his strong neck, licked my lips in anticipation, and nodded once.
That was it, all he needed because he lowered me onto his rigid, sizeable, blazing-hot shaft, and yet again, I was gone.
Biting my lower lip hard, I tried to keep my gaze on him, but my eyes grew heavy, and my eyelids fluttered shut at the sensation of taking him inside me.
Feeling his girth stretch and fill me.
He touched every inch of my swollen, sensitive flesh until he pressed up into me completely, and my body let go.
For the first time, I orgasmed on the first thrust, not even a fast one at that, and it hit me hard.
So hard as pleasure tore out from my center, sending quivering shockwaves through me, that I was barely aware of him growing quiet until my storm had calmed and I managed to see straight again.
When I did, and our eyes connected once more, it was to find a new kind of look in his gaze.
He was beyond hungry and desperate now.
Painfully ravenous.
And I got that one hundred percent.
Shockingly enough, I still felt just as needy despite him already giving me one hell of a climax.
So I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, my legs more securely around his waist, kissed him deeply, and ground my hips, letting him know he could take everything he needed.
I was ready.
Some women, most in their right mind, would have stopped this straight out of the gate without a condom, but my wolf knew he was disease-free.
It also knew—because I wasn’t on birth control—that he could only get me pregnant if I were in heat, and that wasn’t happening right now.
So we were good to go in a way I’d never been with a guy because I was too smart to have unprotected sex.
The moment Tréan had my permission because he had been waiting for it, he took matters into his own hands, and good God, that meant more than I saw coming.
I should have because he clearly rocked in bed.
Yet the orgasm he’d already given me had nothing on what was coming.
Instead of watching me this time, he kept one hand on my ass, wrapped a big strong arm around my lower back, yanked me close to his hot, hard, slightly hairy chest, and thrust.
Catapulted right back into that terrible ache I needed to be assuaged, I wrapped my arms tighter around him, dug my heels into his backside, and moved with him.
And, oh, how we moved together.
Groaning with every thrust, I was vaguely aware that he’d repositioned us, so my back was to the waterfall, and what a combination.
Between the growing heat, friction, and outstanding pleasure building between us, the cool water soothed me in such an erotic way it energized me, and I moved faster, meeting his increased speed.
At some point, keeping the cool water near my on-fire body, he braced his hand against the rock beside the fall and thrust harder.
Deeper.
More violently.
And I loved it. Craved and needed it so much I’m pretty sure I went from groaning to crying out with every thrust.
“’Twill not be long now, mo maité,”
he rasped hoarsely by my ear.
“Not this first time.”
He nipped my earlobe and ground out, “I need you too much.”
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew he was asking my permission again, and I moaned yes.
Again and again, egging him on as he thrust once, twice, then pressed deep, locked up with a shudder, and released a broken, ragged, deep-chested half roar, half rumble of pleasure.
Right there, just on the edge, hovering, wondering if I’d go over with him, I gasped when I felt him swell sharply and throb deep inside me.
Throb so intensely, filling me with red hot liquid heat, that I didn’t just catapult into an orgasm but screamed over the edge of the cliff without a parachute.
Leapt right into sheer cataclysmic ecstasy that made the world burn away into sheer unfiltered bliss.
On and on it went, pulsing out from where he throbbed inside me in such heavy waves that I kept moaning.
It wasn’t just extraordinary pleasure that hit me either, but overwhelming emotion.
Deep, heart-wrenching emotion that made no sense but somehow only heightened my release.
In time, the climax subsided somewhat, but not all the way, as he steered my chin until our eyes connected again.
I was surprised, though I suppose I shouldn’t have been given my fluctuating emotions, when he wiped tears from my cheeks.
When had I cried? Biting back my embarrassment, I shook my head.
“Sorry,”
I whispered, my voice still choked up by everything I felt.
“This isn’t like me.”
“I know,”
he said softly, caressing my cheek.
“But I’m honored by it.
By the trust your inner beast and you put in me.”
When I narrowed my eyes in confusion, he explained.
“’Tis a thing that can happen when fated mates come together.”
He brushed his lips across mine like he couldn’t help himself.
“As we merge during the Fated Mate Cycle, we open up to each other in ways we haven’t with others.
Truly let another into the deepest parts of us.
In your case, you’re finally giving into all the tears you’ve held back over the years so you didn’t appear weak. So your cousins, who needed you, only ever saw your strength.”
“Now?”
I managed, still wholly aware of my ongoing release.
“During sex?”
“Why not?”
He shrugged.
“’Tis an intense union betwixt us, so it stands to reason it would pull forth deep emotions.
‘Tis a release in all ways and ‘twill only make you stronger for having finally let go.”
“Not sure how I feel about that.”
I shook my head.
“How did you know what I was thinking and I don’t? Because I wasn’t thinking about my past.”
“I could not say, other than ‘tis more a sense my wolf is picking up from yours,”
he revealed.
“And ‘tis nothing to be embarrassed by.
You chose to be strong for so long rather than give in to self-pity or weakness over the years.
That shows admirable character.”
I could tell he meant it.
Saw the admiration in his eyes.
And truthfully, outside of the obvious pleasure I felt from lovemaking, I did feel better.
Like a weight had lifted off my shoulders, I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying. More than that, my embarrassment faded. This wasn’t something I would ever do in front of others, but in front of Tréan, it felt okay. Safe to show my vulnerabilities. Safe to let things go.
“And that sensation will only grow,”
he murmured. “For us.”
Point in fact, I suddenly sensed something off him I hadn’t until now.
Something that was a definite game-changer when he voiced it soon after.