ASH
I follow Callum into the trees, curiosity growing with every step. And that reminds me of something else. “Where do you get your money?”
He shoots me a confused look. “What?”
I gesture to the huge house we’ve left behind us. “Surely the garage doesn’t pay for all of that.”
He shrugs and I groan in frustration.
“Seriously? After everything, you’re not going to tell me?” I’m prepared for whatever it is to be illegal. Expecting it really, and…I don’t care. “Please?”
He turns to face me and takes my hands. “Okay. But you’re going to be sorely disappointed with the answer.”
I roll my eyes at his obvious stalling, and he sighs.
“Fine. We own a fairly substantial piece of land about five miles out of town that we rent out to the National Grid.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” He watches that sink in, then points a finger at me. “See. You’re disappointed, right?”
Am I?
Yep. Can’t lie.
I put my thumb and finger together. “Little bit.”
“You were expecting guns or drugs.”
Absolutely. “No.”
He grins and shakes his head. “I don’t believe you.”
I’m about to protest, when it dawns on me exactly which piece of land he’s talking about. “Wait…” My eyes widen in disbelief. “That’s a huge plot of land.” I thought it was owned by the government or the council or some big organisation. “How did you come to own that?”
His smile turns wicked, and I know there’s more to this story, but he tugs me to start walking again. “Enough questions for now. Come on, we’re almost there.”
I relent and let him lead me further into the forest, but we’ll be revisiting this conversation.
The closer we get to wherever he’s taking me, the more I can feel the excitement building in him. It’s in the bounce of his steps, the way his fingers flex against mine and I can’t help but be swept along with him.
I playfully elbow him in the side. “If it’s not your cock you’re going to show me—which I was looking forward to by the way—then I can’t imagine what other huge thing it could be.”
His loud laughter startles the birds. “You’ll see.”
We eventually come to a stop and he positions me against the trunk of the nearest tree. “Stay right there.” He steps back until he’s about ten, maybe twelve feet away.
I frown, confused, until he starts to take off his clothes.
It reminds me so much of Morgan when he brought me out here, I can’t believe it took me so long to catch on.
My breath hitches when he slides his jeans down, revealing his lack of underwear. All that warm brown skin, tattooed in more places than not, casually displayed like he’s not the most beautiful sight I’ve ever laid eyes on.
“Cal,” I sigh. Words fail me, because I’m not sure I can find any that’ll do him justice.
He tosses his clothes and boots off to the side. “I want to show you my wolf.” He cracks his neck from side to side, muscles rippling as he shakes out his shoulders. “So that you never mistake anyone else for me.”
Excitement floods me, matching what’s been coming off Cal since we set foot in the forest. “Do it.”
He grins.
The air around him shimmers, and even though I’m expecting it, I’m still not prepared when his body blurs and bones crack. I watch in utter amazement as Callum vanishes and in his place stands a beautiful grey wolf. Black edges the tips of his ears, his tail, and his paws.
“Wow.” I stare and stare. Hit by the same disbelief as when I saw Morgan do this. I mean, I know it’s Callum; I saw him change. But on the other hand, there’s a fucking wolf in front of me.
A huge one.
The laugh that escapes sounds a little manic, but I can’t help it. “You weren’t lying,” I tell him. “You are huge,” I add when he tilts his head like a question.
He takes a step towards me, then stops, tilting his head again until I get what he’s asking.
“It’s okay.” I wave him forward. “I’m not scared of you.”
And I’m not.
Just like with Morgan, Cal’s eyes are the same in this form as when he’s human. I know those eyes, trust the man, the wolf, behind them with every fibre of my being.
He trots forward, pads almost silent on the forest floor. When he gets within touching distance, I reach out and tentatively stroke my fingers over one of his ears. “Is this okay?”
He pushes into my touch, so I take that as a green light to stroke him all over.
Coming closer still, he stands patiently as I bury my fingers in the thick fur along his neck, down his back, and anywhere else I can reach. “So soft,” I murmur, leaning forward to rest my head against his side.
He rumbles beneath me, happiness and satisfaction washing over me, making me smile. It’s raw and uncomplicated like this, like his wolf filters out all the unnecessary emotions and sticks with the basics.
I like it.
Wrapping my arms around him, I let him take my full weight and relax in a way I haven’t since I saw Morgan stab him.
He feels so solid and strong.
Whole.
“I love you,” I whisper, knowing he can hear me. Can understand.
He turns and nuzzles my side, his soft whine making my voice catch as I remember how close I came to losing him.
“I get that the coming weeks, months even, are going to be rough. And I know fuck all about the hunter council or hunter groups. But I want to, Cal. I want to know everything.” I pull in a shuddering breath.
“Because there can’t ever be any secrets between us.
Not again. No matter how hard the truth is to hear.
I need to hear it. I need you to tell me. ”
The air shimmers again, and I have a split second to realise what’s happening before there’s a naked Callum in my arms again.
He pulls me into his lap, eyes fierce and determined. “It’ll be a lot.”
“I don’t care.” If the alternative is being kept in the dark, being lied to by those I love, then I’ll take ‘a lot’ over that, every fucking time. I hold his gaze, refusing to look away.
He finally gives me the barest of nods. “Okay.” Cradling my jaw, his hands are firm yet gentle as he draws me close enough to kiss. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” Another kiss.
I laugh. “Better get used to talking then, because I have questions. So. Many. Questions.” I punctuate the words with kisses of my own, and when he grins up at me, my heart stutters. “I love you.” Doesn’t matter how many times I say it, it’ll never feel like enough.
“I love you too.”
We sit like that for a while, trading kisses back and forth until something hard and insistent reminds me that I’m straddling a still-naked Cal.
I lean back enough to catch his eye.
He smirks up at me. “Can’t help the effect you have on me.”
I glance around us, aware that even though we’re hidden from the house by trees, anyone could head into the forest and see us.
Cal smiles. “They won’t come back here. Not when they know why I brought you.”
“You told them?”
“I told Lynx.”
He says it like that means it’s as good as law. Maybe it is. Like I said, there’s so much I still need to understand about him, his club, his pack. What it means to be bonded to a shifter.
But we have time for that.
I hope.
I don’t want to have those conversations now. Not when I have something else in mind.
Cal inhales, deep enough that I can see his chest expand. His eyes darken, filled with hunger and a feral need that grips me low in my belly. “What’s on your mind, Ash?”
I shuffle back enough to wrap a hand around his cock, hard and heavy and mine. The thought surges into my head, shocking the shit out of me. I’ve never been possessive like that before, never wanted to be because we can’t own people, but when I look at Cal, that’s exactly how I feel.
He frowns, getting god knows what over our bond. “What’s wrong?”
I go to answer him but stumble over the words because nothing’s wrong. The way I feel about Cal feels right down to my fucking bones. “I . . . you’re mine,” I murmur, and his smile blooms to something wide and beautiful and infectious.
“Yes.” He pulls me in for another kiss, this one nothing like the soft, easy kisses we shared before.
My hand tightens around him, and he groans against my lips.
“And you’re mine.”
The way he growls, it sends a shiver through me. “Shouldn’t feel like that,” I get out between kisses. “It’s wrong.”
He stops, grips my chin, and hisses. “Says who?”
“People.”
“Oh . . . people.” Quicker than I can track, he flips us over so I’m flat on my back with him leaning over me. He growls again, caging me in with his hands either side of my head, and flashes me another one of those filthy, feral grins. “You’re with a shifter now, baby. Human rules don’t apply.”
Then he ducks his head, mouth finding that spot where he bit me, marked me as his. It goes straight to my cock and I moan, reaching for him again, only to have him sit up out of reach.
Before I can complain, he tugs at my shorts, roughly pulling them down along with my underwear until I’m as bare as he is.
“Wait.” I shove a hand in my pocket, rooting around until I find the packet of lube I stashed there earlier, just in case.
Cal laughs. “And I thought I was being spontaneous.”
I shrug a shoulder. “I had a feeling . . .”
His expression sobers, softens. “Never ignore those.” The look we share is weighted with something I’m not ready to examine just yet, so I grab the packet out of his hand and tear it open. “Later,” he whispers, then holds his hand out.
Leaning over me again, he sets one hand on the ground, then wraps the other—now slick with lube—around us both.
Twigs and leaves tickle my skin, but I barely notice anything other than the steady rhythm of Cal’s hand as he strokes us from base to tip with an unhurried pace that’s going to kill me.
Tilting my hips, I try to thrust against him, but he’s too strong, pinning me in place with his thighs.
“Faster,” I beg, seeing if words work any better.
If anything, it makes him slow down, and I groan in frustration.
“I was thinking,” he starts.
I gesture between us. “Less thinking, more doing.”
He smirks, his hand almost coming to a stop.
“Cal.” I don’t care if it comes out like more of a needy whine, I just want him to touch me faster, harder, just . . . more.
I almost cry in relief when he moves his hand again, a little firmer, a little quicker than before. Pleasure ripples down my spine, pooling in my belly with the promise of an orgasm that I chase with my hips.
He ducks his head and kisses my bite mark. Suddenly sharp teeth scrape the skin and I cry out, desperate for him to sink them into me all over again. “Cal,” I beg for the second time, and he bites down.
I almost come from that, but his next words pull me back from the edge.
“I want you to bite me, Ash.”
I grab his hair and yank his head up, gaze into eyes blown wide with arousal. “Yes.” I’ve wanted it ever since I saw his mark reflected in my mirror.
“It might not scar.”
“Don’t care.” I press my forehead against his, needing him to hear this. “We’ll know it’s there, and that’s all that fucking matters.”
“Okay.”
He starts stroking me again, this time with a purpose that has my pulse racing, dragging me back to the brink so fast I grab his hand. “What do I do?”
He tilts his head to the side, the base of his throat calling to me in a way it never has before. “Bite down hard, with intent. Everything else is out of our hands.”
“When?” I gasp, pushing into his tight grip, pleasure building and building until I can’t hold it back any longer. My back arches as Cal sits back, pulling me up with him.
“Now,” he hisses, shoving my face against his throat.
I bite down with everything I have, moaning against his skin as my orgasm barrels through me. Wave after wave of searing heat floods my body as I taste his blood on my tongue. It feels endless, like I’m floating in a sea of pleasure with no land in sight.
I hear Cal cry out, feel the wetness of his release as he throbs against me, but I’m too lost to the warm blast of something unfurling in my chest.
“Ash.”
A hand strokes my face.
“Ash.”
A gentle touch on my shoulder.
I open my eyes to find Cal beaming down at me. Happiness floods the bond between us with such clarity, it makes my breath hitch. “What—” My gaze drops to the base of his throat. To the mark I put there.
I reach out to touch it, awe in my voice as I whisper, “It’s not healing.”
“It’s not.”
“Why?”
He shrugs. “Magic? Who knows.” His fingers join mine, his eyes lighting up as they touch. “It’ll leave a scar. Just like yours.”
My heart skips a beat, that flare of possessiveness stronger than ever. But I’m not scared of it now.
Cal’s right.
It doesn’t matter what other people think; I’m with a shifter now.
I don’t know if I’ll ever want him to bite me to turn me, to make me a shifter too. That’s a conversation for another day. Or maybe not at all. Who knows?
There are a lot of conversations we need to have first, but they can all wait.
I pull Cal down beside me, amongst the dirt and the leaves and the mess we made. If he doesn’t care, then neither do I.
He’s not your average human, a fact that’s starting to finally sink in. He doesn’t hold to the same rules, the same principles I’ve been brought up on. It’ll take some adjustment, on both sides, but it’ll be more than worth it to keep what we’ve got.
When he wraps an arm around me and pulls me into his chest, we’re so close I can feel his heart beat.
“Love you.” He presses the words into my hair with a soft kiss.
I smile against his skin, already drifting off. Safe in the warmth of his arms and the knowledge that whatever comes our way now, we will face it together.
Because I’m his, and he’s mine.
And in the end, that’s all that matters.