Chapter 21
Wayne
Bianca hugged me as tight as she could for about three seconds, then pulled back and stomped my foot.
“Ow!” I yelled. “What was that for?” It wasn’t like I didn’t already have a big fucking knife wound in my side.
My adrenaline kept the pain and shock from that at bay, but I didn’t know for how long.
“You disappeared on me,” she seethed. “Then you show up just in time to get stabbed.”
Chuckling, I yanked her into my arms and pressed my lips to her full, soft mouth. “I missed you, too, my love,” I whispered. “And I’m so glad to see you.”
When she relaxed in my arms, I released my mate and smiled down at her. “How have you been?”
I expected her fire and sass, but instead, Bee’s eyes filled with tears. “I missed you so much.” With a gasp she pulled back and scrabbled at my shirt. “He stabbed you,” she wailed.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “It’s already healing.”
She pulled my shirt up and ran her fingers up my side, which sent shivers down my spine. “It already looks like it’s a week old,” she whispered.
I nodded. “Perks of being a shifter,” I said. “We’re killable, but it’s a hell of a lot harder to do it.”
Yanking me close again, Bianca buried her face in my chest. “I hated not knowing what was going on,” she said. “I did my best to give you the space you needed, because that was the only way you were going to work through your anger, but it was miserable.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I blocked you out.” Leaning back, I cupped her face. “Can we go somewhere and talk? I’ll tell you all about it.”
Sniffling, she nodded and held out her keys. “If your truck isn’t nearby, do you want to drive my car?”
Bianca was one of the strongest people I knew, but everybody needed somebody sometime. I was pretty sure there was even a song about it. “My apartment?” she asked.
“Sure.” I opened the passenger door for her, then hurried to the driver’s side. I’d been on my way to the hospital when I drove past the club and saw my mate out there with that asshole.
As we drove past my truck, I clicked the lock button on the key fob in my pocket. It’d be fine there until we got back for it.
“So…” she looked at me with wide eyes as I drove down Main Street. “What happened the last few weeks?”
I cleared my throat. “Well, I’ve been in this, like, therapy intensive.
It was hard to get into and expensive, but basically every single night after work, Mom and I, and my sisters when they could come, have been going to a two-hour long therapy session.
By the weekend, I’ve been beyond exhausted. ”
Bee stared at me in shock. “That’s… Wow.”
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “It involved all kinds of truth, trust exercises, and even hypnotism. And Sammy helped us out by spelling us to want to be as truthful and raw as possible. It was really hard at first. The truth doesn’t always feel good.”
It had been hardest for my mother. We’d had to tell her how her not protecting us from our father had made us feel. But once it was all out in the open, we’d begun to work toward healing. “I feel like a new man,” I whispered.
She was quiet for a while, then when I pulled into her parking lot, she sniffled and unbuckled. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get a glass of wine.”
Once we settled down on the couch, I told her a bit more about the therapy. “I thought about coming to you so many times. But I was like an exposed nerve. It was actually the therapist’s advice that we all spend some time alone if we didn’t have an already established support system.”
Her eyes flashed over her wine glass. “I was an already established support system,” she whispered. “Why couldn’t you come to me?”
I cupped her cheek. “You will be. But I asked her about you, and she said maybe best to spend the time apart, and honey, she was right.” Leaning forward, I pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I had to fix me so I could treat you like the queen you are.”
I sighed. “We went through everything with my dad. How it affected us all. The trauma of his death. The aggressive behavior I learned. And that’s a big revelation, Bee. It was learned behavior, not hereditary. It’s not in my blood. It’s not a part of me. It was a habit.”
She snuggled closer and moved our wine glasses to the coffee table. “I’m so glad you worked through so much. Does this mean you’re done with therapy?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I have to be whole for you. Not shattered pieces that will splinter when you need me most. I’m going three times a week at first. As time goes by, it’ll be less and less.”
She nodded encouragingly. “I support that. And if you ever want me to go with you, I’m in. Totally.”
I grinned. “Staying away from you was no longer an option, and the therapist thought I’d worked myself to a place that you would only help my progress.”
She beamed at me. “I’m so glad to hear that.” After sucking in a deep breath, she pressed her lips to my cheek, my jaw, then my lips. “Promise me that was it. From now on, we work through things together. Promise you won’t disappear again, even if you slide back, or have a lapse, okay?”
I returned her kisses, following the same pattern on her face. “I promise. I love you so much, Bianca Newman.”
“I love you, too.” She ran her thumb over my cheek and smiled. “And since you said it first, you’re stuck with me.”
I grinned and shook my head. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Tilting her chin up, I stole her lips, fighting back the insistent urge to claim her immediately.
She responded with fervor, the intensity building quickly until we were tugging at each other’s clothes in the middle of her living room.
Her confession had pierced a shell, relieving an ache I hadn’t known existed until it was gone.
I felt like I could walk on air in that moment—after I’d taken care of my woman.
Fabric ripped in my impatience to get her undressed, but she either didn’t hear it or didn’t care. I dove for her neck, barely stopping myself from sinking my teeth in, especially when she tilted her head to give me access. Instead, I kissed a line from just below her ear down to her shoulder.
Bianca fumbled with my pants, feeling the same rush to come together as I felt.
As soon as the zipper loosened, she hooked her thumbs into my pants and boxers and shoved them down.
I stepped out of them and tossed my shirt across the room, then backed her against the wall, latching onto a nipple as I worked on her jeans.
Her head thumped on the wall, fingers digging into my scalp as I worked her pants over her luscious hips, down her smooth legs.
She moaned as my tongue brushed over the sensitive peak, stiffening under my affection.
No matter how many times I tasted her, it would never be enough.
Bianca was a craving I could never fully satisfy.
My thumbs pressed into her soft stomach, massaging my way down to her pussy.
I switched breasts just as my fingers slid into her silky wetness.
Her hips bucked and she gave a short cry.
My dick strained with the need to be inside her, so much that I almost started working it myself while I pleased her.
The hands in my hair tugged up gently and I followed the motion, reluctantly releasing her even as my fingers continued.
She pulled my face to hers and I obeyed the unspoken demand.
Our tongues met, wild and fierce, and she threw her left leg around my hip. With more room to work, I swirled my fingers faster. She gasped into my mouth and grabbed my cock, pumping once, twice.
“Put it in,” she whimpered.
“You haven’t—”
Her soft voice turned into a growl. “Now.”
I didn’t hesitate further. If my woman wanted me, I was going to give her what she wanted.
Grasping my length and the leg she already had lifted, I angled and eased into her.
She clung to my neck as I thrust slowly until I was fully sheathed in her, then pressed her hard against the wall and gave her all of me.
Bianca cried out, eyes closed, her expression one of sheer exultation.
I covered her mouth with mine, smothering the sound, and the way her tongue responded told me she didn’t mind a bit.
My grip on her leg tightened and I reached down, scooping her up to wrap both of them around my hips, pinning her to the wall.
Her beautiful hazel eyes were glazed with lust—my favorite look on her—as she rolled her hips in time with my thrusts. Heat enveloped us and my gaze strayed to her neck again. The dragon in me wanted to get it over with, but I resisted. It wasn’t the right time.
Echoing my thoughts, or noticing where my eyes had focused, Bianca leaned her head to the side. “Do it.”
I laid my forehead against hers, slowing. “I want to, Bee, but not right now.” Surprise flickered across her face and I continued quickly. “Soon, I promise, but there’s something I want to accomplish first. Something I need to do for me.”
Her mouth opened, then shut again and she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I can wait, if it’s for you.”
Hunger raged through me like an inferno and I stumbled away from the wall, adjusting my grip on her ass.
She kept me sufficiently distracted as I tried to navigate her apartment, her slick heat still wrapped around my throbbing dick.
Impatiently, I laid her across her kitchen table, resuming a brutal pace that stole her breath.
I fucking loved this woman and everything she’d brought to my life.
I couldn’t imagine where life would’ve taken me if she hadn’t come crashing into it.
When the table started scooting away from me, I scooped her back up in search of a new, more stable place.
We collided with the hallway walls, almost falling through the bathroom doorway.
I staggered into her studio, trying to focus on my surroundings while she used my hips and shoulders as leverage to keep thrusting herself on my cock as I walked.
Spotting the twin bed in the corner, and not giving any shits about how small it was, I made it there without tripping.
I tilted her back on the bed, then brought her left leg around as I turned her on her right side, her knees pressing together.
The increased pressure on my dick was dizzying as I pulled out and drove in hard.
Bianca cursed under her breath, her boobs jiggling wildly with every blow.
I leaned forward on my knees, not trusting them to hold my weight for much longer.
She opened her legs just enough to get her fingers in there, and I nearly lost myself watching the sight.
I grabbed the leg in question, pulling it up to my shoulder so I could see better as she rubbed herself while I fucked her.
Tension coiled in the pit of my stomach and I tested my teeth on her delicate foot.
I wasn’t done, wasn’t ready to be done yet, but she had ways of bringing me down quickly.
“What are you doing to me?” I growled.
With a grin that said she knew exactly what she was doing, she moaned louder. “Wayne! Yes!”
I watched her circle her swollen clit, her mouth dropping open on a silent scream of pleasure as she convulsed around me.
Suddenly, the tension that’d been building released and I felt it from my throat down into my balls.
Her orgasm triggered mine and I came hard, clinging to her leg as my vision fractured from the force of it.
My hips lost their rhythm, thrusts erratic as I gave her everything, as I always would for as long as she wanted me.
As she blinked up at me, eyes unfocused but smiling, I had no doubts that she would wait. I loved her, and she would stay with me until I was ready to claim her.
With an enormous smile on my face, I finished the lasagnas for the week’s order. The bell over the door to my kitchen chimed. I’d given everyone the day off since Bee was going to be doing a long video and editing today, so I was here cooking all day, in my happy place.
Well, my other happy place. Bianca now held the top position.
“Hey, Wayne,” Toby said as he peeked his head around the corner.
“Toby,” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” Wiping my hands on a towel, then throwing it up on my shoulder, I held my right hand out to shake his hand. “Good to see you.”
We’d hit it off at the pack meet, both of us being so interested in food. We’d emailed and texted a bit, and he’d told me of his desire to move to Bluewater. I didn’t blame him. This place was magical, even without the literal magic that Sammy had imbibed in the area.
“I’m in town visiting Porter. Figured I’d stop in and see how you are.” He clapped me on the back. “Heard you found your mate, too. Congratulations, man!”
I ducked my head and grinned. “Man, it’s the best. I highly recommend it to everyone. There’s something in the water around here, I tell you.”
“I don’t disagree.” Toby laughed. “I swear, the more I’m around this town, the more I’m considering pulling a Porter and just moving here.”
We sat at my prep table and I slid my new friend a slice of cheesecake. “That sounds like a great idea to me.”