8. Lycan #3
My inner beast roared. He’d have no part in that.
After two years, some small part of him (and human-me) would always consider Poe mine.
As of five nights ago, Ava had become a Mitchell.
I’d married her, promised to stand by her side until I died, and given her my magic to ease her transition into being a shifter. She was mine…forever.
There would be no standing aside.
And yet, a shifter only ever had one mate. One. I hadn’t felt that cataclysmic change inside my soul telling me either was magically destined to be mine, and I couldn’t decide if that was mercy or punishment.
“I won’t be offended,” she said, breaking my train of thought, “if you two get back together.”
“What?” I blinked, trying to understand what she’d just said.
“Jealous, maybe,” she said, “if only because I wish I could find someone who looks at me the way Poe looks at you…and the way you look at him. But not offended. I’d understand. I’d get the annulment. It’s not too late for you two.”
I squeezed her tighter and kissed her forehead, tucking my finger under her chin to tilt her face toward mine. “I won’t leave you, Trouble. I swore a vow.”
“A fake vow.”
“It doesn’t feel fake to me.” Even now, days later, the magic in the sworn words drifted through my veins like glitter, like a brand on my soul I could never scrub away.
“What does it feel like?”
I couldn’t stop myself. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, swallowing the sweet little gasp that fell out between us. My nerves burst into flames, and I rolled on top of her, positioning myself between her legs. She didn’t protest.
No, she moaned, and when my cock brushed up against that warm, wet spot throbbing for attention, I leaned into the contact.
The heat pouring off her set me on fire, her scent so delicate and mouthwatering.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the way her slick tasted, and even though most of her transition was a haze, I remembered how much I loved it, how addicted I’d gotten to it.
I broke away from her lips to bite and suck down her throat to her collarbones, holding her hands above her head with one hand while I explored her ribs with the other. Her fleshy body gave way under my grasp, so soft and pillowy, such a perfect place for me to rest my sharp edges.
“Lycan, please,” she said.
“Please, what?” My voice sounded gravelly from my wolf taking over, the primal side of me having taken the reins on the entire interaction. The human would have stopped this. The beast needed the release.
“Take me,” she murmured. “Own me.”
An image shot out of her mind of the night she’d walked in on me with the submissive I’d brought back to the hotel in Copenhagen. Except, she’d substituted herself in his place—hands bound behind her back, skin stinging, drool dripping from her chin as I fucked her face however I wanted.
Our mental connection had only gotten stronger since her transition.
What started as little thoughts here and there had now escalated into full-blown sensations, images, and emotions.
It should have died down by now. My magic should have receded inside her until it was gone completely.
But now…fuck, that image nearly sent me into a rut.
“Is that what you want?” I bit the spot just above her breast, glancing up as she arched into the ache and threw her head back. “You want to be my little submissive? Do what I say when I say it? You want me to tie you up and turn your ass red before I fuck it?”
She gasped, and the salty scent of her arousal burst from between her legs.
“Yes,” she hissed.
“Yes, what?” I twisted a finger under the strap of her nightie and yanked it down her arm, staring up at her while the silk drifted down over her nipple.
“Yes, please,” she said.
I let out an amused laugh. “Yes, sir.”
She huffed at the honorific, and I slammed on the brakes, remembering she’d only slept with a handful of people before her transition, and she certainly had no idea what the rules of kink were.
We’d covered the shape of it a few nights ago, but nothing like this.
I’d have to take it slow, much slower than I wanted.
Which meant no fucking tonight, and I could practically hear my cock groan its disappointment.
I allowed myself to lick her nipple and give it a gentle suck before I pulled her nightgown back up her body and propped myself up on my hands so I could stare down at her while I said the next part.
“I want that, too,” I said, leaning down to give her a tender kiss. “But before we do that, we need to talk.”
She pouted and grabbed my hips, rolling her cunt against my cock again in an adorable attempt to break me down.
But I had years of experience controlling myself, and as much as I might have wanted it, I couldn’t give in until we’d established boundaries.
And I was too exhausted, too drained, to do that tonight.
“So talk,” she said.
“Not tonight.” I rolled off her and lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling. “Maybe tomorrow. If you’re good.”
She sucked through her teeth. “I’m always good.”
I laughed, scooped an arm under her shoulders, and brought her closer to me, her arm lying over my stomach.
“Get some sleep, Trouble. Turn your mind off.”
“But—”
“What did I tell you about disobeying, hmm?”
She rolled away from me, muttering to herself about safewords and stupid, arrogant dominants as she fluffed the pillow under her head.
But there in the dark, as I ruminated on manifestations of Poe and Ava together—kissing, hugging, mating, breeding—a pungent scent filled the room. Sickeningly sweet. Dark. Masculine and predatory and territorial.
I closed my eyes and sighed, realizing the fucking aroma was coming from me…my wolf…and he was pissed at the mere idea of Ava and Poe together without him. More than that, he wanted Ava sweating and writhing under him, if only to prove to Poe that Ava belonged to him, and Poe did as well.
Fuck.
This was so fucked.
I shoved my palms into my eyes, waited until my cock deflated, and forced myself to sleep.