Chapter 64 #2
“Anything you want, baby,” he hoarsely said, trying to memorize her face. He didn’t want to forget a single moment with her. Any of it. She was his universe—and Lyssa, too—and whatever he had to do to protect this perfection?
He would.
In a heartbeat.
Because this was what mattered most in the world to him.
His family.
His peace.
And now he truly understood how quickly this perfection could be snatched from him, and that there were people who made their own rules to destroy it.
Meaning he’d make his own rules to protect it.
Burying a hand in her hair, he fisted it, earning him a low, pleased growl from Dewi, and held her in place to kiss her again, even as she tried to rock her hips against him.
His other hand settled on her ass, kneading the firm globe of flesh, his fingers firmly digging in as she happily undulated against him, pinned between their kiss and his cock embedded inside her.
Except he wouldn’t rush. Damn right he’d earned this time for himself, for them. He’d never demand that Dewi quit and walk away from her job. Not when he now intimately understood how critical a role the pack played on a global scale. If they didn’t meet this head-on, they were doomed.
All of them.
He’d fight to the death in whatever way he could to prevent that from happening.
He flexed his hips under her, drawing a sweet gasp, which he swallowed and savored as he slowly played the tip of his tongue against her front teeth.
When she tried to deepen their kiss, he tightened his grip on her hair, prompting a full-body shiver of pleasure from her. “I’m in charge, baby,” he whispered against her lips. “This one’s all for me, right?”
A soft, mewling whine rolled from her. “I need you.”
He slowly thrust again, his firm grip on her ass keeping her from taking over and fucking him at her speed. “You have me. All of me. Right here.”
Dewi
She used to not-so-secretly roll her eyes at people with mate bonds. Wasn’t interested in rom-com TV shows or movies. Didn’t read romance books.
She never believed the hype, the over-the-top sentiments.
The melodramatic declarations of undying love.
She’d thought her brothers’ stories about their parents and their relationship were hyped-up sentimentality for her benefit.
Now?
Now she got it.
Ken completed her soul in ways she never realized it lacked, before meeting him.
Life was short. Life was finite, unable to do justice to the infinite love she felt for him and their daughter.
And she greedily wanted it all.
Despite not letting her move, every slow stroke he took inside her perfectly glided across her clit and sent tingles of pleasure sparking through her.
He paused, his head cocking as he met her gaze, studying her.
“You sure, you want to risk it, baby?” he finally asked.
She nodded. “Let’s let nature take its course.”
He rolled them over, pleasantly surprising her.
Caging her body with his, he stared down at her. “Love you so much, Dewi. Never thought I could ever love someone as much as I love you.”
She wrapped her legs around him. “Then show me.”
Slanting his lips over hers again, a crushing, brutal kiss, he started thrusting, brutally fucking her and quickly dragging her up the precipice with him. This wasn’t making love; this was re-staking his claim on her body, on her soul.
On her heart.
Moaning, Dewi did her best to keep up with him, but something overcame him, animalistic and raw and powerful. It dissolved her into happy goo as the first climax slammed into her and left her panting and squirming below him.
But he wasn’t finished. His brown eyes looked dark, black coffee and passion. He sat up, effortlessly flipped her over onto her hands and knees, and thrust home again, this time holding on to her hips.
Even his voice sounded deeper, a sexy, growly edge to it. “I’m happy to give you what you want. Anytime you want, mate.”
She shivered as that climax caught her by surprise and shattered her. She fisted the covers, trying to find purchase as Ken’s hips pistoned and he fucked her, deep and hard and spinning her into another orgasm before she could even catch her breath from the last.
She threw her head back and barely stopped herself from howling in pleasure, because the baby was asleep in her crib and she didn’t want to awaken her.
Ken jerked her up, against his back, one hand cupping her breast and the other slipping between her thighs. “Oooh, I’ve got you now, don’t I?” he hoarsely whispered in her ear. “The big bad wolf who melts for me, hmm?”
His fingers unerringly zeroed in on her clit and as he teased and rubbed, her body squeezed down on his cock again.
“That’s it,” he said, nipping the shell of her ear. “I’ll keep breeding you until you’re pregnant again. I love everyone knowing you belong to me.”
She bit down on that cry of pleasure—barely—and he pushed her back to the bed to fuck her on all fours again. And when she felt him coming, pulsing inside her and filling her, she nearly wept with joy.
Because she knew.
Unlike the previous time, the unintentional accident, this time she was completely keyed in to her body.
This time, it was on purpose.
His fingers dug in as he took several final, hard thrusts before falling still inside her. His breath blew across her bare shoulders, one hand planting on the bed next to hers, fingers lacing while he feathered kisses along her back.
“Yes?” he whispered.
“Yes.” She wanted to cry, to scream—in joy.
In triumph.
Giving a big ole’ middle finger to everyone standing in their way.
She would live. They would live.
Finally, she would embrace it all—the love, the risk, the pain, the joy—and feel it.
Everything.
He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled spooned behind her, the warmth of his body pressed against hers possibly the best feeling in the universe. He nuzzled the nape of her neck, back to her sweet geek, the perfect man for her. “I hope you meant it,” he said.
She smiled. “I did.” She tipped her head back to kiss him. “Hopefully I won’t be so klutzy this time.”
He snorted. “Greatly appreciated.”
“Where are Peyton and Jake?” she asked.
“They’re running an errand,” he said, playing with a lock of her hair, idly wrapping it around his finger. “Mexico.”
“Miranda Segura?”
He nodded. “Handy having a guy who’s fluent in Russian.”
“Carl still doesn’t know?”
“No. Peyton will hand him off to Duncan, and Duncan will go with him to Florida. He’ll work for us as an Enforcer with Carl and Mateo. He’s a shifter and an Alpha. And he’ll be with us when the lab is attacked.”
“‘Us’?”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “The royal us. No, I am not going. Neither are you.”
She relaxed and resisted the ingrained urge to bristle at being restricted in what she could do. Because as much as she wanted to be one of the ones putting her body on the line…
She knew she couldn’t. She would be a distraction to Peyton and the others, and it was a morbid “designated survivor” situation.
She would have to take over as Pack Alpha if something happened to Peyton.
One hand slipped to her tummy, the faint tingle she already felt.
And for that reason, too.
“He’s fluent in Russian,” Ken added. “We apparently only have two other shifters in our whatever the hell we’ll start calling this coalition who can also speak Russian. One of those not very well.”
“Okay,” she quietly said.
He studied her. “No arguments?”
She rolled to face him and trailed her fingers through the light dusting of hair across his pecs. “No arguments,” she said. “I know I have to change my thinking. Can I at least get a cookie for that?” she grumbled, earning her a smile.
He nuzzled her nose. “The whole damned pack of cookies, baby.”
“You’ll be doing more stuff though, won’t you?”
He grimly nodded. “Yeah. Peyton offered to bring in Da’von to help, but I don’t want him involved in this part. Once he graduates and they move here, he’ll be working with Trent and Gillian on the ‘mundane’ business stuff.”
“And you’re scared of Nami skinning you alive if you were to have him do other stuff,” she teased.
“Fuck yeah, I am.” He smiled. “Seriously, having him take that work off my shoulders will be a huge help. I can focus on the rest of this bullshit.” His smile faded. “Don’t be surprised if Peyton silos information again, okay?”
Her gaze narrowed. “Why? I know everything now. Don’t I?”
“I meant me,” he gently said. “I told him I’m okay with that.”
She looked away. “I don’t know if I am.”
He gently caught her chin and turned her head so she had to meet his gaze again.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he said. “But that’s a choice you don’t get to make for me.
My job will be logistics, support, and intelligence, not boots on the ground.
Physically, I will not be in danger. But I will be traveling to the UK and elsewhere as needed. ”
“I don’t like that.”
“Didn’t say I liked it, either,” he said.
“But I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of these fuckers.
” He smiled. “And then I get to be a happy househubby and raise however many babies you want to have. And I’ll enjoy changing every dirty diaper, cleaning every puddle of blurp, all of it. ”
She finally laughed, burying her face against his chest. This impossible man, this amazing love.
This incredible coincidence.
Maybe the Goddess is real.