Chapter Seven
Phoenix
I looked up to see the small cottage as we approached it.
Esther didn’t live in the main pack area, but in a semi-isolated cottage on the outskirts of the woods.
And as far as I knew, she’d always lived alone.
No mate, no children. I didn’t know why, but I could hardly ask.
I saw Kaylan inhale as he got out of the car and knew he could smell the wolves that would be guarding the cottage.
Kaylan jogged around to my door and opened it, extending a hand.
The snarl escaped my lips before I even knew it was in my throat.
Kaylan withdrew his hand with a bemused smile, and I shot him an apologetic look before I put one long leg out, cradled Emery to me, and climbed out.
Esther opened the cottage door as I took my first stride toward it, and she beckoned us in.
I followed her through into the familiar cottage, then into the bedroom.
I heard Kaylan close the door behind him and knew he would wait outside indefinitely.
Emery blinked open fevered eyes. “Where… where am I?”
I bent and brushed a kiss on his hot forehead. “You’re sick. My friend Esther can help.” I laid him down on the bed as gently as I could and, much as I hated to, stepped back. Emery widened his eyes and kept them trained on me.
“Stay here,” Esther murmured—like I would be going anywhere else—and she stepped closer to the bed, sitting down and tutting as she took one of Emery’s hands in hers. “So hot, child.”
Emery seemed to wrench his gaze from me with what looked like reluctance and tried to focus on Esther. “I think I might need—” He bit his lip to try and stop the whimper from his throat and tried to curl on his side.
I raised my alarmed gaze to Esther. “Does he need a human doctor?”
Esther shook her head and beckoned me to the bedroom door. “Phoenix, he needs you. This is his heat. He isn’t sick, or not yet anyway.”
“Not yet?” I zeroed in on the words. My mind was still struggling to comprehend what was happening.
“I know you learned your history,” Esther reproved.
I stared at her in horror. “I thought that was a myth, and only… well, she-wolves.” That first heats could kill if the she-wolf wasn’t mated.
“Well, clearly not,” Esther said wryly. “It hasn’t happened for centuries, but it used to be a favorite of the silver-skins.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned. “What do they have to do with it?”
“They would tempt the warriors from the village, leaving the younger children less well protected. They would take the girls before they had their first heats and imprison them. It used to be said you could hear their cries of agony as the silver-skins just sat and watched them die as the females writhed in pain. I’m told the blood of an unmated she-wolf strengthens the silver-skin that drinks it. ”
I glanced back at Emery, unable to keep the second growl that seemed to echo around the room hidden.
“It was a badge of honor among their princes, especially if they captured the she-wolf destined for an alpha.”
“But how would they know?” I half snapped out. “And he’s not…” It seemed ridiculous to point out that Emery wasn’t a wolf… again.
“Because blood mates used to be recognized even in infancy. Years before an actual mating took place. It was rare but something so special no pack would ever keep it a secret. It was such a source of honor and celebration.”
“Until the race wars, after which everything had to be kept hidden,” I finished.
So much of our history had been lost. Before the immortals had risen, the humans loved the shifters who protected them, and all species lived in harmony.
But when it happened, the truce had many conditions.
The silver-skins’ strictest rule was that no humans ever knew of their existence.
The packs had no choice but to agree because that was the only way huge numbers of humans wouldn’t be culled.
The silver skins agreed to feed without killing.
It was difficult, but the law had worked because the immortals knew the shifters had the strength and speed to kill them.
The only way to kill a silver-skin was to remove their heart.
The humans didn’t even know who they were.
The smell of an immortal was only obvious to an alpha.
Which was why the births of alphas were so crucial, not just to the survival of the packs but also to prevent the humans from being enslaved. How could I mate a man—much as I wanted Emery with every breath—when it meant denying my pack, my people, a chance of a future?
“Please?” Emery whispered. “It hurts.” He licked his lips and shook. “What’s wrong with me?”
I couldn’t stand it any longer and didn’t even notice Esther leave as I rushed to the bed.
“I need to explain something to you.”
“Edward,” he whispered.
“What?” Fuck, he was delirious. Confused if he didn’t even know who I was. Esther had to be wrong. I should’ve taken Emery to the ER.
“My name. It’s really Edward, but I always hated it, so I changed it. Legally and everything. I just wanted you to know, before I die, something no one else does.”
“Before…” I repeated, aghast. “Em, you’re not dying. Do you hear me? As your alpha, I absolutely forbid it.”
“I like Em even better.” He sighed, eyes closing.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Talk?” Emery murmured. I clasped Emery’s hand, and he sighed again. “You’re so nice and cool.”
I knew I’d be anything but, which showed just how hot Emery must’ve been. Where did I even start? “Emery, this is going to sound like I’ve lost my mind, but I swear on my honor, every word I’m going to tell you is true.”
“Mmm,” he murmured. “I’m dreaming, aren’t I?”
“What?” I asked, knowing I was making a mess of things already. “Sweetheart, I—”
“If I was really your sweetheart, you’d be kissing me again.”
I pressed my lips together. It wasn’t funny, but Emery sounded stoned.
“Well, then,” I murmured back and bent down.
I caught Emery’s lips in a breath-stealing languid kiss that seemed to meld our bodies together.
I felt my wolf relaxing, sensing Emery’s pleasure.
Really, who needed words? Emery moaned into my mouth, dragging what seemed to be heavy arms around my neck.
He arched his head back when I broke our kiss to nibble and taste the soft skin on his neck, particularly at the side.
I knew that was no accident, that my wolf was urging me to select where I would deliver the mating bite.
Which made me pause and nearly groan. I was so hard, my jeans were painful. Any restriction was painful. But I had to at least try and talk to Emery. I needed some sort of consent before either of us were too far gone to even think it. “Em, sweetheart, I’m an alpha wolf shifter.”
Emery nodded against my shoulder. “Okay,” he agreed. “And I’m gonna be a unicorn.”
I let my head drop in defeat. “Em, I mean it. You must have some wolf blood in you, and this is what’s wrong. You’re my mate, and you’re in heat. We have to mate, and I have to bite you, or you’ll die.”
I wasn’t sure whether it was hearing the defeat in my own voice, the word vomit I couldn’t seem to control, or that Emery wasn’t that far gone, but he opened his eyes and regarded me for a moment.
“I could say all sorts, make all sorts of jokes, call your psychiatrist even, but something tells me you mean every word you say.”
“You believe me?” Relief rushed through me.
“No, I said you believe every word you say, but paraphrasing the great Julia Roberts, I appreciate this seduction thing you got going on, but after last night, don’t you get that I’m a sure thing?”
I chuckled helplessly. I was officially having the most ridiculous conversation of my entire life. “Do you want me to show you?”
Emery clutched my hard bulge through the denim. “Yes, please.”
“Em—”
“No, Phoenix. I don’t care. I felt lousy up until when you kissed me. I don’t understand it, but I need it.” It was true, I acknowledged. My touch would soothe Emery.
“We’ll sort everything out later, I promise.”
He groaned. “Do I have to beg?”
“No, but once I bite you, we’ll be joined.
It’s very important—” But the rest of my words were lost as Emery yanked me down and claimed my lips.
Emery writhed in pleasure under me and tugged at my shirt.
I got the message and quickly stripped us both, almost giddy in relief when my cock sprang free.
I could feel my knot starting to tingle even now, which was ridiculous as I wasn’t even inside him.
I reached down to fondle Emery’s balls, and as my hand slid underneath, I felt his omega slick, a physical trait that enabled easy penetration without pesky human things like lube, and smelled the enticing aroma.
It was like that intoxicating scent finally flicked my alpha switch to very firmly on.
I pressed more kisses onto every part of Emery I could reach, licked and scraped with my teeth, pushing us both higher and higher in a swirling mix of lust and need.
My wolf was chanting in my head, urging completion.
Urging to take, to possess. I knelt between Emery’s legs, pulled him forward, and slid both my arms under Emery’s hips, tilting him up and back.
Emery moaned, begging to be filled. I nearly shook with need as I lined myself up with Emery’s slick hole, then biting my cheek to stop myself from just ramming in and hurting Em, I carefully pushed, expecting natural resistance, but I just slid in.
I nearly lost it there and then. The heat, the way Emery’s ass just welcomed me home.
The pressure as his channel seemed to grip me.
Em was leaking copious amounts of precum and slick, and drawing my cock back then pushing forward was my new favorite thing. That and hearing my mate.
Emery begged, cajoled, and chanted. Every pleading request that left those gorgeous lips drove me further.
It seemed like the semen in my balls heated at every erotic-sounding cry from my mate.
My wolf urged me on. My canines dropped.
Emery froze under me for one second, and then, with a cry, he started pumping cum onto his belly, onto my belly.
Long creamy ropes shot out of him as he gasped, and I finally followed him.
The sight, the noise, the smell tipping me over the edge.
My knot locked, which set off another pleasured cry from my mate.
I reveled in his nails raking my back as Emery tried to hold on, but I wanted to send him higher.
I bent forward, the change in angle drawing another delicious cry from Emery, and licked a path from his collarbone up the side of his neck.
I let my wolf take over. This was the alpha animal I’d nestled inside me for all my life.
We were always in sync. As I’d grown, my wolf had accepted my dominance and command, but right now, I might’ve still been in human form, but my instincts were all alpha wolf.
I picked the exact spot where I saw the vein pulse with Emery’s life force and bit.
In my animal’s mind, I enjoyed Emery’s sharp cry.
Any other time, I would die rather than cause my mate a second of pain, but this pain was as old as the first-ever shifter.
This pain was the one my animal demanded.
I sank my fangs into Emery’s neck and held him still.
Barely three seconds later, I felt another orgasm slam into my mate, and then Emery went slack underneath me, and I knew he felt no pain anymore.
I sucked harder, then withdrew and licked the bite to close it.
Still joined, I carefully rolled us both so I wasn’t squashing my sweetheart. I nuzzled into Emery’s neck and closed my eyes. I just needed a moment. A moment to revel in the bonding.
A moment before I knew Emery would wake up, and then I was sure the proverbial shit would hit the fan.