Chapter 31 Take Backs
Take Backs
The haze of my heat faded, leaving me feeling exhausted and wrung out. I’d lost count how many times Luca and Cade had knotted me.
Cade’s demeanor grew clipped, and I sensed he was anxious through the bond. He’d been kind about it, but I knew he was stressed about losing two days of prep time before their mission.
He drove the truck back, and Luca sat in the passenger seat with his arms around me. I sighed and nestled my head into his shoulder.
The claim mark Cade gave me had healed to a circle of tiny scars, just like the one he wore from Luca. I was hoping for a second claim mark during my heat, but Luca never bit me. He reassured me over and over of his feelings, but I would have liked the permanent sign of his commitment.
My hand came up to my neck, and I rubbed absently. Luca kissed the top of my head.
“Feeling okay?”
I dragged my lip through my teeth. “I’m fucking tired.”
“As long as you’re not tired of fucking,” he teased. My cheeks darkened, and I wrinkled my nose at him.
“Give her a break,” Cade growled. “When we get back, I need you to check in with everyone. See what they accomplished. I’m going to my office to check messages for any updates or changes.”
We parked, and I clutched the bag holding the remaining birth control shots. Hopefully, Elowen would help me with them, because getting Luca to help was like pulling teeth. Both men wanted me pregnant, even if it was illogical.
Luca kissed my head again before jumping out of the truck. I followed, peering around at the pack members. Lux stood on the deck with her arms crossed, and Jem peered around the corner.
“Are you safe to be around now?” Archer shouted from behind Lux.
“He’s never safe to be around,” Luca answered, grinning. The tension relaxed, and they gathered around, updating Luca on everything he missed during our cabin stay.
Cade pushed past everyone, headed for the lake house. The pack knew better than to bother him. I, however, lacked that common sense.
He stalked around the kitchen to the hallway and his office. I padded after him, my stomach churning with anxiety.
“Cade?” I asked.
He paused in the doorway, turning to scowl at me.
“What should I do? I’d like to help?”
Several emotions flickered over his face, and I tried to read our bond, but he locked them down too fast. His expression hardened.
“Nothing has changed.”
I drew myself up, squaring my shoulders. “You don’t have to dote on me at all, say you love me, or anything else. But at least respect me and give me something useful to do.”
His lip curled, showing his teeth. Teeth that had claimed me as his mate. My hand went to the mark, covering it with my palm.
“I might be stuck with you as a mate, but I don’t want you anywhere near our missions. You haven’t earned that trust yet. You can’t even manage to obey simple directions, like leaving me alone.”
He glared at me, his eyes blazing. I pushed my own anger back and reached for his emotions, finding a tangled mess of desire, self-loathing, worry, protectiveness, and something warm and gooey. This man had a lot of feelings for someone who acted like a pissy robot most of the time.
As I watched, his lip curled. “You should go, wait for Luca to need some entertainment. I don’t have a use for you.”
“You are such an asshole,” I growled, my voice breaking. He loomed over me, chest heaving, our eyes meeting in a staring contest.
The tension exploded.
Cade was so fast, I didn’t see him move. One second, he was framed in the doorway; the next, he was on me. His hand collared my throat, shoving me back into the wall hard enough that the air whooshed from my lungs.
Gasping for breath, I whispered, “Cade.”
He loomed over me, his other hand slamming into the wall beside my head. With a long, deep groan, he buried his nose in my messy hair.
“Why do you always smell so good, you treacherous little thing?” He sucked in my scent, his chest expanding under my hands as they weakly pressed against him.
“I swear you’re here to destroy me. You took Luca, and now you’re controlling me.”
“Fine, let me go. I’d happily never see you again.”
“It’s too late for that,” he said.
Muscles flexing under my fingers, he slid down until he was on his knees. He was so tall, I was forced onto my tiptoes when he hooked an arm between my legs and slid my thigh over his shoulder.
“Oh,” I gasped, my mouth falling open.
His eyes flashed golden with his wolf, and I could feel claws against the delicate skin of my inner thigh. My skirt was bunched up, and he tore my soaked panties easily. The cool air washed over my core, followed by his warm breath. It was disorienting.
Before I could make sense of it, he angled his head and licked my slit from bottom to top. Stars exploded behind my eyes. Nothing had ever felt as good as Cade running his tongue over me.
I wanted to question him, rage at him, but he had reduced me to a whimpering, compliant mess. All I could do was let out a low whine and squeeze his shoulder muscles under my hands. I was aching to touch his thick, beautiful hair, but I was terrified to shatter this moment of connection.
Self-hatred twisted my stomach, but the intense need for my mate overrode all the rage boiling in my veins. I would have done anything in that moment if it meant he kept touching me.
Another long, slow lick, and he paused at my clit, swirling his tongue. And then, with more gentleness than I expected from the angry Alpha, he sucked.
My body shuddered and I came. My orgasm seized me, and my back arched, my head thudding into the wall. The wave crashed, and every muscle relaxed into a warm, gooey mess of rippling pleasure.
He forced my legs further apart, and I teetered, almost losing my balance. His forearm pressed into my stomach, right below my belly button, holding me to the wall. The pressure sent another wave of shimmering warmth through my muscles and blood.
Before I could catch my breath, his other hand brushed over my sex, replacing his tongue.
He pushed one thick finger into me, and I spluttered, the intense fullness blotting out all thought, every sensation past the feel of his touch.
He withdrew and pushed in again, and I whimpered.
It was too much. I was so sensitive from my orgasm, he was sending aftershocks through me.
In all the ways he and Luca had me, not once had his fingers been inside of me. I had needed their knots. Now he finger-fucked me like his life depending on it.
“You’re going to be a good little mate and come for me again,” he growled, the vibration of his words on my clit making my eyes roll back in my head.
A second finger joined the first, and he swirled his tongue over my clit. The sensation inside of me shifted, and it felt as if he was curling those two fingers to press against my inner wall. The feeling was amplified by the pressure of his forearm. It was all too much.
For a second, I was teetering on the edge. His touch was stirring a fire low in my belly. Gently, he drew me further until I was falling. Like plunging off a cliff, except instead of crashing into icy waves, I was drowning in the most exquisite pleasure.
This time, I wasn’t in a haze of heat. Every sensation was clear and sharp. I came hard, and it wouldn’t end. I was dizzy with it, like my soul was leaving my body. Perhaps this was how he would dispose of his unwanted mate. Only his bracing forearm kept me standing.
It wasn’t until Cade pulled away that I saw my plain, cotton panties, the ones he had torn in half, in his hand. They were glossy with my wetness. His arm released me, and I sank to the floor, my legs unable to hold me up.
Cade peered down at the soaked fabric wrapped around his fist. He breathed in, taking one last hit of my scent. His neck glistened with sweat, and I wanted to lick him all over like he had done to me. The compulsion was so strong, I tried to rise to my knees, but my body was too wobbly.
“You want to be mine?” he growled, eyes glowing gold again. “Fine. You can be my fuck toy. Mine to use. You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” His sneer displayed elongated fangs.
My exhale came out as a snarl. Even after two orgasms, I wanted to chase after him and bite him. I wanted to antagonize him until he pinned me down and claimed me again and again.
This fated mate bond still fucking sucked.