12. You Can’t Do That On A Motorcycle

Chapter twelve

You Can’t Do That On A Motorcycle

SHASTA

W ell, that was yet another disaster. I don’t know if Ethan and I are ever going to be able to be in the same room together the way things are going. My chest aches. It feels like acid is eating away at the tenuous bond I share with Ethan. The longer this goes on the worse it gets.

Wiping away tears, I continue gazing out into the night from the swing on Grams’ porch. I came out here after the guys left, just needing a minute to myself. All Grams and my mom could do was look at me sadly and I didn’t want to sit in there under the weight of their stares.

I get it. They’re worried, but so am I. It’s not like I want to die. Nothing about me and Ethan has been right from the start. It’s almost unheard of for a mate bond to be resisted like this. There are so few times it’s happened in the past because it literally kills you and whoever else you might be bonded to.

I don’t know what Ethan’s story is, but it sounds like it's an issue against witches. No matter what it is, it can’t be bad enough for him to be okay with all three of us dying over it, and it’s pretty damn selfish of him to just do this knowing what the consequences will be.

I saw Kadi beat the shit out of him in the yard. I thought about stopping it, but the pain and despair I felt through the bond stopped me. He needed that release and honestly, Ethan needed his ass kicked. Joaquin is one of the most calm people I know and even he got pissed enough to just take off.

He’s the Gods damned President of the Club too, and acting like this?

What am I doing?

I’m not going to be some wilting flower and just lay down and take this bullshit from him.

Standing, I wipe the rest of the tears from my face and start walking. Kadi is probably going to be upset with me for not waiting, but I don’t care right now. I’m not waiting patiently for Ethan to decide to make it over here. I need to work out a little frustration anyway and a nice brisk walk will help.

The night is quiet. I can feel my magic crackling inside of me in anticipation as my anger rises. Who does he think he is?

I’m about two blocks from the clubhouse when I hear a motorcycle. I can’t tell if it’s Kadi or Ethan though, when it comes around the corner, but it does look like it's Kadi’s bike. The helmet isn’t, though. It’s Ethan’s helmet with the skull face and demon horns. I remember it from the coffee shop that first day.

The bike pulls to a stop next to me and he holds out a helmet with bunny ears. Bunny ears? Seriously? Okaaaaayyy then. I throw my hair up in a bun and take the helmet. Putting it on, I climb on the back, unsure what to do with my hands. Ethan grabs them and puts them around his waist, though I can tell he isn’t quite happy about it.

I give him a little jolt with my magic, and I’m satisfied when I hear his grunt of pain. Two can play this game, and you’re getting ‘pissed off Shasta’ now, you dick.

We take off. Ethan doesn’t ride the same way Kadi does. He rides like a bat out of hell, taking corners like a maniac and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t give two shits if he has his second accident of the day. We are almost to the outskirts of town when the rain comes.

He’s going to get us killed if he keeps riding this way in the rain, so I tap his shoulder and yell for him to pull over somewhere. He shakes his head and holds up three fingers. What does that even mean? Three miles? Three minutes?

Sighing, I just keep my magic ready in case I need to do some emergency anti-wreck stuff. He’s going to get a piece of my mind when we stop though. We are soaked, the road is slick, and I have no idea where we are going.

After a few more miles we pull off the road and down a narrow gravel lane. Ah so three more miles it was. We finally slow in front of a field and Ethan drives into it slowly, feet on either side of the bike close to the ground in case he needs to balance it.

There’s a huge tree in the middle of the field with a large canopy that seems relatively dry underneath and he pulls the bike under it and shuts it off. I climb off and pull off my helmet. He does the same and looks at me with nothing but violence in his eyes.

So, we are just going to duke it out here then, and he wants no witnesses.

“Get it all out now. If you think I’m going down without a fight you’re crazy,” I say with venom in my voice.

He looks at me in surprise. Then throws his helmet and shakes his head. “I didn’t bring you out here to kill you, Shasta. That would kill all of us. What kind of person do you think I am?”

“Uh, the kind who hates his mate and so far, has done nothing to show me otherwise?” I say snarkily.

“That’s fair. But you’re wrong. I don’t hate you specifically, just witches in general. My parents were killed by the Society. I was eight,” he begins. I gasp in shock. “They took their body parts for spells and then burned the place down around them with them still barely alive. I watched from the escape tunnel under the floor until I couldn't stay anymore because of the fire. The tunnel led to Kadi’s parents’ house, which was always our plan in case something ever happened.”

“Ethan, I’m…,” I start to say but he cuts me off with a swipe of his hand through the air.

“Don’t,” he says through his teeth. “You didn’t do it, but I can’t reconcile what happened to them, with having a mate that’s a witch. I’ve hated your kind for so many years that I don’t know how to let it go.”

“Well, not to be insensitive, but you need to figure it the fuck out or you’re going to kill all three of us. Is that what you want? You’re going to let your hatred kill your best friend and your mate? That’s fucking selfish,” I yell at him. I start pacing angrily. I’m vibrating with anger at this point.

His story is terrible, it is. But to blame all witches just because of a few bad ones? “You need to grow up,” I snarl at him.

He rears his head back in shock. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“Grow. The. Fuck. Up. I didn’t stutter.” Pulling my magic through my body, I ready it in the palm of my hands. I want him to come after me so I can blast his dumb ass. He lunges for me, and I hit him hard with a taste of my magic. He flies back into the tree and I keep stalking towards him. He rights himself and goes to lunge at me again. Again, I hit him with my magic.

It’s just a little electricity, which goes well with his wet clothes.

His hair has come loose from its bun and is flowing around his head like a real lion's mane. Why does he have to be so damn mouthwateringly sexy? I want to hate him, I do. But I see the pain, and I can’t fault him for it. It’s the prejudice I won’t abide by.

“Am I hurting you? Are you afraid for your life right now, Ethan?”

I zap him again. And again, and once more before he lunges at me, yanking me towards him and smashes his lips down on mine. What the hell? He lifts me, wrapping my legs around his waist and slams my back into the tree and continues savagely kissing me like he’s trying to drink the life from my body.

Lacing my fingers through his hair I kiss him back. He is my mate after all.

Lifting his head, I look at his eyes and see that they are pure molten gold. Swirling eddies of liquid full of anger, pain, and lust. I bite my lip. They’re already swollen from how hard he was brutalizing them with his kisses. He reaches down and grabs my tank top, ripping it down the middle and exposing my bra. He lifts each breast out of the cups of my bra and my nipples tighten in pleasure and from the chill in the air. He growls; like a full-on growl, not human.

My pulse races a little because I’m in a pretty dangerous position right now with a shifter that’s about to lose control of his animal, but also with adrenaline from my fight or flight because I’m not a hundred percent sure I can trust him based on his actions so far.

Deciding to chance it, I tilt my head back exposing my throat to him. If I can’t show him in any other way that he can trust me, maybe I can appeal to his lion instead.

He growls again and then swipes his nose and tongue up the column of my throat and says low, “Mate.”

Finally.

He pulls us away from the tree and walks us over to the bike. What is he doing? He turns me around facing it and pushes me down over the bike.

Oh ok, so we are going to do this. He yanks my pants down around my ankles and thrusts up inside of me in one fast movement.

He didn’t even give me any warning. Why is that so sexy?

He’s thick. Kadi is very decently sized too, but Ethan is definitely thicker.

Kadi is pretty dominant, but right now, I can see why Ethan is the leader.

He grabs my ponytail and yanks my head back, almost too far, and my pussy clenches around him. I must be messed up right? If this is hot? We were literally just fighting two seconds before this. We weren’t having a good time. But, we sure the hell are now.

“Gods dammit, Shasta. Your pussy is gripping me like a vice. You must like a little pain with your pleasure.”

I can barely nod, but I try. It's very clear right now that I do and as he fucks himself up into me the only thing I can do is let him use me.

I moan low. It feels so damn good.

“You’re doing such a good job. I’m going to ruin you, Shasta, and then I’m going to bite the other side of your neck and finish making you ours.”

He takes his hand and moves it around to my front, rubbing my clit between a finger and thumb. Shuddering, I pulse around him again. He is so deep inside of me now. Between his dirty talk, the depth he’s reaching, and his fist in my hair, I’m not going to last much longer. I start pulsing slowly around him and I know he isn’t too far from it himself as he growls and starts thrusting into me harder.

My pussy is dripping wet and I clamp down hard on his cock.

“Shasta, are you ready?” he growls out.

He tilts my head to the side and bites down right where my neck meets my shoulder and as he does, I feel his barbs extend just as we both start to come.

My pussy clenches over and over as he rocks into me. I go from one orgasm to another. The bond clicks into place on his end and I feel his emotions rush in. It's a confusing mess.

As I come down from the orgasms, he releases my hair and leans over me, laying his head on my back. I feel fear, pain, protectiveness, possessiveness, sadness, and shame. Shame? Is he already regretting this?

“Shasta,” he says. “I’m sorry. I…didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“It’s a little late for that now Ethan,” I say angrily.

“No, no, you’re misunderstanding me. I don’t deserve this, you, a mate,” he says quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“I do hate witches in general. I’m trying to work on it, and I know now that I have to. But the person I hate the most is myself. I don’t deserve to have a mate. How can I protect you when I couldn’t even protect my parents? How can I protect you from dark magic, when I watched them burn from under the floor, unable to do anything?”

Oh Ethan. My heart shatters into a million pieces for him. I knew all of this couldn’t just be about hate.

“Hey, you were just a child, Ethan. What were you supposed to do? What would’ve happened if you had tried? Do you think your parents wanted you to get hurt or die too? You aren’t thinking clearly about this. You can be sad, you can even be angry, but don’t ever feel guilty for something you had no control over.”

I feel him take a shuddering breath behind me, and then I feel hot tears on my back. He wraps one arm around my waist and uses the other to hold himself up so he isn’t crushing me between him and the bike. Suddenly, I feel another set of arms wrap around us and I realize it’s Kadi. Where the hell did he come from?

“I, for one, am glad you didn’t because I would have had to spend my life without my best friend,” Kadi says.

“Um, what the hell?” I ask. “Have you been watching this whole time?”

He chuckles, “I know you didn’t think I was really going to let Ethan take off with you by himself, did you?”

Ethan raises his head from my back and grumbles, “I wouldn’t have really hurt her. Besides, if you were watching the whole time then you know she can protect herself perfectly fine.”

Wincing, I turn and look up into Kadi’s laughing eyes.

“You’re lucky she was just playing with you, or she could’ve really cooked you with her electricity,” he says laughing.

“Yeah, well, we had some stuff we needed to work out,” Ethan says in my defense.

“I just don’t want to fight like this every time we have a disagreement,” I say quietly.

I hate not being able to see his face right now, so I peer at him over my shoulder and see him close his eyes before he says, “Shasta, ever since the moment we came into your shop I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be just another job for us. It made me impossibly angry. The more everyone pushed at me to stop being an ass, the more I became one. It’s not an excuse, and I truly am sorry. It won’t be like this anymore. I promise. Just bear with me while I try to wrap my mind around having a whole family of witches now, okay?”

“If you just spend some time at the Coven with me, you’ll see for yourself that we aren’t like that. I know it probably freaked you out waking up to Grams and Mom doing that to you, but it was to help you, not hurt you.”

He nods. “I know. So, when do I get my mark from you?” he asks shyly.

I look at Kadi, who nods. Grabbing Ethans wrist, I draw the same mark I gave Kadi with a fingertip. Ethan screams and I feel the barbs release inside of me as he steps away and I stand.

“Gods dammit, Shasta, what the fuck?”

Kadi starts laughing his ass off and I snicker a little bit. Stepping back, Kadi takes off his hoodie and pulls it down over my head, pulling my arms through.

“She did the same thing to me,” he says with a smirk. “Though I didn’t scream like a little girl.”

“You could’ve warned me,” Ethan says.

“Now where would be the fun in that? You think biting hurts any less?” I ask primly.

“You do have a point there,” they both say in unison as I just shake my head.

Kadi turns me around and leans down to untangle the legs of my jeans from my ankles. I rest my hand on his back while he pulls them partway up. I release him and struggle to get them the rest of the way up over my ass. They are tight anyway but being wet doesn’t make it any easier. I finally get them up and I see Ethan button his own pants after tucking himself back into them.

“So now what? Do you guys want to go back to my place?” I ask.

“Uh, actually, I think we need to go to the clubhouse and make an introduction first and pick up Ethan's bike. It’s probably ready now. Then we can go to your place. I stopped by there after I dropped Ethan off and talked to Emmett. It’s been quiet. Joaquin is there now keeping an eye on things so Emmett could go home,” Kadi says.

“Thank you for thinking of him. I forgot with everything going on,” I say with a sigh.

Ethan swipes a hand down my arm and squeezes it. “It’s been a long day for everyone, but Kadi is right. We do need to stop at the clubhouse. How did you get here anyway since I have your bike, Kadi?”

Kadi smirks and the next thing I know he shifts into a fucking huge lion. Shifters are much bigger than their actual counterparts but Goddess he’s a big fucker. He has a light-colored coat and mane, which is totally different from his normally dark hair. Right at the top of his mane is a bit of black, that’s it. He yawns and shows off the biggest teeth I have ever seen.

“Now you’re just showing off,” I say, stepping over to him and cuddling up to him. He’s warm and pretty soft actually. “What does your lion look like?” I ask, looking at Ethan.

He shifts. Oh, my Goddess. I thought Kadi was huge, but Ethan is almost twice his size. Holy shit. He is red gold with a full thick mane. Where Kadi’s face is leaner, Ethan's is more filled out. There is no denying he is the king of the Pride.

My eyes widen and he stalks over to me, lifting my arm in his teeth, he bites down gently, just enough for me to really feel how sharp their teeth are, before shifting back. Magically, shifters don’t rip through their clothes when they shift. I’m not really sure how it works or where they go. No one has ever figured it out except to say they just melt into your body during the shift and reappear after. Gotta love magic.

Kadi licks me, his tongue rough as sandpaper, and then takes off through the field in the direction of town.

“So, I guess he ran here? How fast can you all run?”

“Normal lions can go as fast at fifty miles per hour or so, but only for a short distance. We aren’t limited to that. Top speed is usually about seventy and as long as your stamina allows,” he says before handing me my helmet and donning his.

“Who picked this helmet out?” I ask as I strap it on.

“I did,” he clears his throat. “I’ve had it for a long time. At one point I hoped for a mate. But as time went on, I realized that I probably wasn’t going to get one. That attributed a bit to me feeling like I didn’t deserve one. This land is also for you. Well, us. To build a home on. Kadi’s family lives about ten minutes from here. This is the land my parents’ house was on. There are about ten-thousand acres of land here that we own. The whole pride lives here in various sections. Everyone has about a hundred acres each.” He points across the field and in the moonlight, I can barely make out a small pile of rubble where the house once stood.

I wonder how it feels for him to have to look at that when he comes here and remember what happened. He has a faraway look in his eyes as he gazes in that direction. I don’t want to press him anymore right now because it feels like he’s reached his emotional limit for the day and is about to run out of spoons.

I nod, pulling on the helmet and Ethan steps over to help buckle it. He starts the bike and we both climb on. The ride to town is much easier this time. He isn’t driving angry and I’m not riding scared. Now we just have to figure out what's going on with my shop and the witch community. Right after I meet the rest of the club. Swallowing hard, I lay my head on Ethan’s back as we ride.

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