Chapter SIXTEEN
–Tréan–
AS SWIFTLY AS I had raced home after hunting with my pack, it wasn’t nearly fast enough when I knew Kaia was naked and waiting for me in our private den.
When I realized she loved me.
Yet still, I took a moment in the shadows, trying to bite back a groan of arousal as I admired her stark beauty while she bathed.
Her warm, silky, soft skin reflected the Native American indigenous blood I sensed coursing through her, glistening beneath the waterfall as she rinsed soap from her long black hair.
There was no part of her I didn’t want to touch, caress, and run my tongue over, from her long, slender legs to the cinch of her slender waist to the fullness of her breasts.
She was in excellent shape.
Made for moving fast and flexibility. Boons when battling.
Boons in other things, too.
When she braced her arms on the side of the pool, rested her head back, and closed her eyes, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer.
The primal need to be inside her had grown too strong.
She seemed to sense it because her eyes drifted open and locked on me.
Whether she was partially underwater or not, I sensed her stark arousal at how ready I was for her.
That was all it took.
My patience snapped, and I went to her.
Pulled her into my arms.
Finally felt her flesh against mine.
Her soft curves melted against me as our mouths crashed together. Then, everything became a blaze of scorching heat and raw sensation. I’d been with enough females, but none felt like her when I sank into her tight, hot sheath. She was different. Set apart. And felt so wickedly good, I almost let go when she vice-gripped my cock and released before I thrust once.
Yet I managed to wait, giving her time to enjoy her pleasure.
Well worth the wait, no matter how painful my arousal had grown because it only made her next release all that much better.
But not as intense and near-crippling as how it felt when I finally let go.
It was a wonder my knees didn’t buckle at its intensity. The pure ecstasy that throbbed through me as I emptied myself inside her, then the ongoing sensation of her milking me.
And it was that much more intense when I sensed her tears.
When I knew we were moving through the Fated Mate Cycle faster than most, leaving no doubt whatsoever, we were meant for each other.
Touched by the feel of her opening to me in a way she had no other and letting my inner beast see the sadness she kept hidden in her youth, I was caught off guard by my own emotions.
By a certainty, I’d never felt for a female outside of my mother, yet so much more intensely.
“I love you too, mo maité,”
I said softly after brushing my lips across hers.
“And ‘tis a welcome feeling.”
Although I sensed Kaia was tempted to deny what she felt, she surprised me when she didn’t fight what was happening between us.
Instead, she cupped my cheeks and kissed me.
It wasn’t desperate and hungry this time but deep and heartfelt.
Full of emotion and longing.
Eventually, I carried her out of the water with her legs still wrapped around my waist and lay her down on a bed of furs.
I didn’t take her quickly but slowly.
Passionately.
Brought her close to peaking, yet left her hovering on the edge as I ran my mouth down her neck and explored. Touched where I sensed she liked to be touched. Pulled a taut nipple into my mouth while pinching the other.
Groaning, she arched against me, squirming in need while I continued loving her with my mouth and hands.
My teeth and tongue.
Pleasured her in ways designed for her.
Made for her. My instincts guided me as I ran my tongue lightly over her stomach, and she quivered. Hovered my mouth and hot breath over the sensitive flesh between her thighs until she pressed up against me, desperate for more.
Beyond hungry for her, I ran my tongue through her soft folds and consumed her like I’d wanted to since the moment I’d laid eyes on her.
Made love to her with my mouth and drank her sweet juices until she arched sharply, cried out, and shuddered with pleasure.
Aching with need, I flipped her onto her stomach, pulled her hips back until she was on her knees, and drove into her at just the right moment, rolling one climax into another more intense release.
Pleased by her sobs of pleasure combined with the untouchable feeling of filling her again, I didn’t pause but rode her, matching the rhythm of her ongoing release in a way I knew no other had before.
Fueled by the sight of her backside in my hands as she pressed her cheek into the fur and gave herself to me, my release was, impossibly enough, even more impactful than the last.
It tore down my spine, tightened my ballocks painfully, then exploded when I thrust hard one last time and let go.
Right there with me, her ongoing release burst into a fresh climax, and she clamped down hard on me with a ragged half cry, half groan.
One that mingled with mine at the extreme pleasure she brought me.
And she only kept it going when I lay beside her and kissed her again.
I wouldn’t call myself insatiable in bed, usually taking and giving pleasure until my partner's lust was slaked, then I’d send her on her way.
Yet now, despite being more satisfied than I’d ever been, I wanted more.
As much as Kaia would give me, and that was a lot.
Endless. She was a selfless lover who instinctually knew my needs as readily as I knew hers, and laying with her only got better and better.
It wasn’t just her talented touch and tongue but the intensity of the love we shared fueling it.
Driving us together time and time again.
Soaked in sweat, lost in lust, we explored every inch of one another.
Tasted every last bit. She was as good with her mouth as she was in other areas, taking my cock deep and with such skill, allowing me to dig my hands into her hair and guide her, that I let go hard more than once.
Eventually, we must have drifted off because my wolf stirred me awake in the wee hours of the morn, only for me to find Kaia laying on her side, staring at me with an odd yet emotional look in her eyes.
“What is it, mate?”
I murmured, somewhat alarmed yet not because I knew she wasn't endangered as I traced her delicate jawline.
“I feel emotions churning in you, but they are hard to decipher.”
Narrowing my eyes, I tried to sense what the blurriness in her mind meant.
“’Tis as though I peer through murky water.”
“Because you do,”
she said softly, blinking away moisture.
“Did you know outside of a shower, I've avoided going into water since I was young, yet I thought nothing of walking into your pool last night? Experienced no fear and had no flashbacks because I felt safe.
You make me feel safe, and I'm not sure what to make of that.”
Her confession opened a door in her mind, and I suddenly saw murky water and a sinking boat caught in the turbulent tides of a stormy ocean.
Saw through Kaia's eyes as she locked gazes with her mother through the portal of a closed door.
Saw as her mother looked from the little girls flailing near Kaia back to Kaia only to mouth she loved her, and nod once.
She needed to leave her mother—leave her parents—behind and save Naya and Storm.
“Even though I didn't know it at the time, I couldn't save my mother if I wanted to,”
Kaia murmured, clearly aware I followed her thoughts.
“I couldn't save any of our parents.
The pressure of the water filling the cabin made it impossible.”
“I'm so sorry, mo maité.”
I said gently, brushing away the single tear that rolled down her cheek, feeling the terror, grief, and incredible strength she had found when she’d mouthed she loved her mother in return and managed to get her cousins out of there and to the surface.
“You are...”
I struggled to find the right words to describe her, but none existed because she was so much more than courageous and strong.
Kaia seemed to understand all the words I couldn't find and the immense respect I had for her because she met my eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”
“I believe ‘tis the other way around,”
I murmured, only meaning to brush my lips across hers, but when she locked her lips more firmly over mine, needing me closer and an escape from the dark memories, I gave her everything I had.
Lost myself in her body every bit as much as she did mine as we brought each other pleasure time and time again until we must’ve dozed off again because my inner wolf stirred me awake abruptly at dawn.
Alarmed, I woke Kaia, doing my best to set aside how tempting she looked with her hair touseled from lovemaking and her lips swollen from my kisses.
“Are you well enough to be alone because someone is at our gates?”
Clearly caught off guard by waking so abruptly after such an intense night with each other, she offered a jerky nod and sat up.
“Yeah, I'm okay.”
She yawned and frowned.
“Everything okay?”
“’Tis,”
I lied, knowing it very well might not be.
After brushing my lips across hers because I wanted her taste on my tongue first thing, I chanted myself into clothing, grabbed my blades, gestured at the trunks, and strode for the entrance.
“Dress.
I’ll be back soon.”
I longed for her to remain by my side, but we weren’t there yet.
Not until Ceara, Callum’s former mate, was back with our pack.
Then, my enemy, Tadc, would know Kaia was already mine.
We were mated, and he would never have her.
She belonged to me now.
“Harsh,”
Kaia muttered into my mind.
“I think I preferred, “I love you, too,”
rather than belonging to someone.”
“And I do love you.”
I had never meant anything as much as I did that.
“Yet you still belong to me, as I belong to you.
More so now that we have claimed each other and marked our territory.”
“And you don’t think Tadc will know that?”
she wondered.
“I thought once we slept together, other wolves would know it.
Females especially.”
Her internal voice might have initially had an underlying possessive tension, but it was fleeting the more she felt out the changes between us this morning.
Knew with certainty no other female would ever satisfy me like she had.
She truly owned me, body, heart, and soul.
I was hers in ways I’d never been another’s. Would always come back to her. Crave her like nothing else.
“Other wolves will sense we belong to each other,”
I promised, powerful enough to hide it from my enemy for now.
“As soon as Ceara is safely back with us.
Then you and I will marry and rule the Wolves of Ossary together.”
I thought she would be pleased with that revelation because it would happen if it were the last thing I did, but I was met with silence.
Setting aside the tension her lack of response invoked, I headed into my castle’s courtyard, not surprised to find Bain and Callum awaiting me there.
There was no need to ask what drew us because I caught their stink beyond my gates.
“How many did Tadc send to do his bidding?”
“Blaithin and two other mutts,”
Bain said as they fell in on either side of me, and we headed for the gate.
“Are we sure?”
I sniffed the air, but there was barely any wind to carry a scent.
“Let us through, then close it behind us,”
I ordered the gate watchmen.
“I won’t have an invasion whilst our people sleep off last night’s celebration.”
They nodded, and we headed onto the drawbridge where Blaithin and two of Tadc’s more sizable men flanked her.
“Have we a deal?”
I asked her through the metal bars of the portcullis, which were kept lowered because, again, I didn’t want the castle and wolf dens vulnerable to attack.
Undoubtedly sent to incite us, I was doubly glad the portcullis was between us, not because of the scent lingering on her but the scent on one of the meaner-looking mangy mutts with her.
Based on the taunting defiance turned frustration in Blaithin’s gaze, I surmised she’d hoped for more of a response from me, given she was covered with Tadc’s scent, having without a doubt taken him between her thighs, but I couldn’t care less.
She was a traitor, and I had more than moved on.
The scent of the mean-looking warrior, however, made Callum act because he was covered in Ceara’s scent.
“What did you do to her?”
Callum seethed, pulling his blade free, only to stop short when I released a low growl of warning and spoke telepathically to him.
“Do not be baited, brother.
We will have our revenge, but ‘twill not be now, or we might never see Ceara again.”
“Always such a good little pup, Callum,”
Blaithin taunted, her eyes turning wolven with her inner beast.
“When it would have served you better to listen to your instincts and marry Ceara rather than just mate with her, ta? ‘Twould have served you better to ignore your alpha’s warning against it and marry, so she knew how accepted she was despite her deformity.”
“One that doesn’t stop her from letting any wolf that will have her betwixt her thighs,”
the mangy brute grunted, grinning at Callum when my brother lost control and roared in fury, baring his teeth at the man and slamming his hands against the bars.
His breathing turned harsh with pent-up rage, and his inner beast was barely held back when Bain and I each clutched one of his shoulders.
This time, I came through internally in a way Callum's wolf had no choice but to obey.
“Enough,”
I ground into his mind, making clear not just Ceara’s life was at stake but Kaia’s, and he didn’t want to test how far I would go for her.
The unparalleled power my wolf could wield over his to protect her.
“Find peace in how Ceara will be avenged because you know I will keep my word.”
Pushing images of how I intended to end the mangy mutt when the time came into Callum’s mind, I reminded him what I was capable of.
“And I promise you, I will let you finish him off.
Let you end all who hurt her.”
Because there was no way Ceara would willingly lie with anyone but Callum.
Though Callum didn’t loosen his white-knuckled grip on the bars, no doubt envisioning his hands wrapped around the brute’s neck, he did calm some, his steady glare never leaving his nemesis.
“Have we a deal, Blaithin?”
I ground out again, enunciating each word so she knew I grew impatient and nobody liked it when that happened.
“At dusk tonight.”
She ran her tongue over her lips seductively.
“Just follow the scent.”
“I never understood what you saw in her,”
Bain grumbled when they all shared one last look of disgust, and their enemies vanished into the fog.
I didn’t bother responding for two reasons.
Firstly, because Kaia was still right there in my mind following everything, and I wouldn’t see her disrespected by talking about laying with another female.
Second, because Bain had lain with Blaithin a time or two when I turned her away, so he knew she was a vigorous, attentive, ambitious lover if it helped improve her ranking in the pack.
“Somehow, I don’t doubt that,”
Kaia said, confident amusement in her internal tone.
“Too bad she’s not as vigorous and attentive as me.”
I fought sharp arousal at the memory of her mouth wrapped around my cock, and tried to keep in mind what becoming fated mates truly meant.
Things I had shared with Kaia last night but didn’t imagine would be so intense.
Namely, that she was firmly rooted in my mind now.
Right there in my every moment, following my steps and thoughts.
Right there in my memories of Blaithin.
Despite understanding what was coming, it would still take some getting used to.
A period of adjustment.
One I experienced just as vividly as Kaia.
Hence sensing who had made love to her before me. And seeing those memories of others only helped improve how I pleased her because I could do everything they had done, but better, keeping her in a constant state of arousal, need, and release all at once.
She, in turn, could do the same, and I was already addicted to it.
Her.
Even as I spoke to my brothers about our next move, I wanted to be inside her again.
Merged with her until she was fully claimed and entirely mine.
Until she was my queen and our offspring kept her belly round.
Until we whitened around our muzzles and grew old curled up together.
“Go back to your kingdoms and rally half your best men, then meet me here before dusk.”
I gave my brothers a look they understood.
This was undoubtedly not a trade but a planned slaughter of mine and my sub-kingdoms.
“The other half of your warriors need to keep watch over your people.”
As much as I wanted to return to Kaia and spend every waking moment in her arms, I needed to utilize these daylight hours.
My men and I weren’t at our most energetic with the rising sun, but there was no choice.
My castle and the dens beneath might be well fortified, but I wanted everything double-checked and inspected, weapons sharpened, and soldiers in place.
“And what of me, brother?”
my sister, Mave, said telepathically, surprising me with her support.
“What will you ask of my pack?”
“You will help Callum, then?”
I wondered.
“No,”
she replied.
“But I will help you and Bain and your lovely new mate.
Especially her because she doesn’t deserve what she faces if you fail.”
“He needs backup,”
Kaia said, comfortably entering our telepathic conversation.
She understood my needs well, which took a weight off my shoulders I hadn’t realized I carried.
Well into our Fated Mate Cycle, she was gaining more and more access to all her questions, including the reason behind Callum and Mave’s strife.
She now understood that when Ceara fled the pack, Mave was her closest friend and had promised Callum she would keep a close eye on her because she was becoming more depressed by the day.
Yet when Callum had been off battling, Mave was nowhere to be found, and Ceara had left.
To this day, Mave refused to say where she’d been, and the tension between her and Callum had only grown.
“Just be there if shit goes sideways and no sooner, Mave,”
Kaia went on, agreeing to Mave's offer to help.
“Because if Callum senses you, he won’t be on his game, and you know it.”
Kaia hesitated as if wondering how far she should go before ultimately being true to herself and blunt.
“Not sure I blame him, considering you bailed on him when he needed you most, but that’s a conversation for another time.
Right now, your alpha needs you to help save someone you guys love who’s living in hell, and that’s what matters.”
What I didn’t realize, and shocked even me, was Kaia wasn’t just assuming that but knew it, and by the end of the day, we would know far more.
Things that would make all the difference going forward.