Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Gabriella stretched her deliciously sore muscles and sighed as she slowly came awake. She felt magnificent.
Go figure, her inner Wolf snarked, and though their connection was new, she knew the beast was pleased.
Just as she knew that last night was the kind of life-altering sex she’d only ever read about prior to meeting him.
Her mate.
The word felt foreign, and yet it was the right one. She was certain of that. Just as she was certain she could hear someone, Ernie, scuttling about somewhere in the other rooms of Ash’s vast home.
Speaking of her mate, where was he?
She sat up, her hand going right for the warm spot he left right beside her.
Her Wolf rose to the forefront and Gabby inhaled, sifting through the various flavors in the bedroom until she found his.
The spicy dark fragrance seemed to permeate the very walls of the house and her Wolf barked happily, more than satisfied to be breathing her mate in.
“Good morning,” a deep, familiar voice startled her, and she gasped, turning to see Ash walking toward her with a breakfast tray in his hands, and nothing else covering his magnificent frame.
She licked her lips, gaze roaming over every inch of the perfect male in front of her. He was beautiful, perfectly proportioned, and then some. Like he was carved from marble at the hands of a master. And all for her.
Mine.
“Yours,” he echoed her thoughts, eyes bleeding to black as he placed the tray on the nightstand and took her face in his hands.
Ash pressed his mouth to hers and Gabby responded on instinct, opening for him, and taking from him as much as he was willing to give.
She wanted to drown in his kiss, to get lost in his arms, and never, ever find her way back.
Her feelings were so intense she damn near fell off the bed as they raced through her mind.
“Easy love,” he whispered, kissing her more gently and turning to hand her a cup of steaming hot coffee. “Here you are.”
“Thanks,” she whispered, sipping the warm drink, and hoping it would fortify her.
She wasn’t normally one of those women taken to flights of fancy or love at first sight, but what she felt for Ash was real. So real, it scared her.
“I know what you mean,” he whispered, lifting his own mug to his lips.
“Can you read my mind?”
“Sort of,” he grinned. “It’s like I can hear part of you inside, but I think that’s because you’re projecting your feelings to me.”
“That’s not fair,” she said, smiling, though it freaked her out a bit.
I am just as vulnerable, my love.
Gabby gasped. She’d heard his words clear as a bell, but his lips were currently occupied as he drank from his mug. He replaced it on the tray and took her hands, smiling at her shocked surprise.
“It is all part of the matebond,” he explained.
“You are my mate,” she whispered, awestruck by the fact.
Her chest warmed at the announcement. The steady thudding of that wondrous muscle beat inside of her, seeming to hasten at the mere thought of him. Gabby closed her eyes, trying to get a hold of her emotions. It was all so fast, but last night, right now, it all felt so very right.
“I know, love. I have had over a thousand years on this plane. I have been aware of the miracle of fated mates, and yet all that time and knowledge could not have prepared me for the reality. Truth is, I’ve never felt anything like this.”
“Me either. Is it crazy? I mean, should we slow down?”
“Do you want to slow down?” Ash asked, head cocked to the side.
Gabby giggled and lifted a piece of perfectly cooked bacon to her mouth.
“I suppose that would be like trying to put a lid on a hurricane.”
“I think you might be right,” he replied, eyes twinkling.
“So, is this what you meant by mates?”
Ash stilled at her prodding question, but she had to know. Needed to have her own suspicions validated with words. Maybe that was her human side talking, after all, the she-Wolf seemed to feel it without words.
“Yes, love,” he replied with a quiet intensity she felt echoing inside her own heart. “You are my fated mate, Gabriella. Last night, we claimed one another with our bites. Our bond is strong, unbreakable, my love. I know it seems fast, but the feelings I have for you—”
“I have them too,” she replied, cutting him off.
Happiness bloomed in the bedroom as they chatted and ate. It was wonderfully intimate and yet felt as natural to Gabby as breathing. After they finished, he led her to the shower, adjusting the knobs until the water reached the perfect temperature.
“Come here,” Ash said, a wicked grin on his handsome face.
His skin glowed like alabaster as he stepped backward into the spray of water. The hot liquid sluiced over his shoulder, running over his muscular frame like loving hands. He did not have to beckon to her twice. Gabby was more than willing to follow him.
“How’s the water?” he asked, kissing her cheek and nuzzling her neck as his hands gently skimmed her body.
“Mmm,” she whispered, hardly able to form words when he was touching her like that.
For a Sunday school teacher, Gabby had hidden depths to her passion that she’d never been aware of.
At least not until Ash brought them out of her.
Whether it was his sheer skill, or the fact she was already head over heels in love with the Demon that made their lovemaking so sweet, she had no idea.
All she really knew was if he stopped doing what he was doing right then, she’d turn into a puddle of goo at his feet. He had a way of turning her inside out with a mere caress, a simple slide of skin on skin, and mouth on flesh.
Please don’t stop.
Her body shivered with anticipation. The promise of his touch fanning the flames of her need for him until she was whimpering with it.
Gabby gasped aloud as his long tongue twirled around one taut nipple.
The talented appendage lavished attention on one then the other breast until she was pulling on his hair, wanting him everywhere at once.
Ash dropped to his knees in front of her, worshipping her like she was some kind of goddess.
“You are my goddess, sweet. I want to worship you. Let me,” he begged, suckling at her breast while his hands spread her legs apart, allowing him access to her molten heat.
Gabby whimpered at the first brush of his thumb over her clit.
Already soaked and desperate for him, she moaned aloud when he pierced her core with two thick fingers, circling the tiny nubbin the entire time.
Clutching his head to her breast, she leaned against the cool tile, loving the way it felt in contrast to the warm water and Ash’s scorching attentions.
The sensual assault was almost too much as his tongue and teeth nibbled and laved their way to her core. Ash growled, lifting one of her legs and draping it over his shoulder.
“Mine,” he grunted, leaning forward to feast on her soaked pussy.
“Ash!” Gabby squealed, pulling on his hair.
Or was it pushing?
Gods knew she wanted him closer. She wondered if he was reading her mind then as he started sucking on her clit with enthusiasm, and thrusting his fingers deeper, harder, faster inside her.
Damn, it felt so good.
Every nerve ending was wound tight, waiting for release.
But at the same time, she did not want this to end.
Gabby had never felt so desired, so beautiful, not in all her life.
There was something about always being the chubby, nerdy girl that had her settling in the past. When she was younger, more impressionable, but never again.
She would never settle for anything. Not when she had a mate who loved her so well.
I do love you, Gabriella, Ash’s voice whispered into her mind.
I will do anything for you.
Give you anything, my mate.
Anything at all.
Love you.
So much.
Love. Love. LOVE.
“I love you too,” she moaned as the first wave of her orgasm came crashing over her.
“Yes,” Ash growled, rising to his feet and lifting her in the process.
He had hold of her hips, carrying her weight as if she were light as a feather and trusting the wall to keep her back upright. Gabriella trusted him. She knew he wouldn’t let her fall. Clutching his wet shoulders, she licked her lips.
“Want you,” she said. “Need you, my love. My mate.”
That was all she was able to say before Ash rendered her speechless. Eyes fully black, her gorgeous Demon mate growled a deep and guttural sound that struck a chord deep within her. Next, he flexed his hips, spearing her on his hard, long cock.
Oh damn, that felt good.
So good.
She wanted him slow and deep, hard and fast, any way she could get him. She wanted him over and over again. Now, later, and again after that. Gabby wanted Ash. She would never stop wanting him.
“Mate,” he growled, driving into her center, brushing his pubis against her sensitive clit with unerring accuracy with each and every stroke of his engorged cock.
“Yes. Mate,” she echoed, feeling the word deep down for the truth it was.
She was his mate. Her Wolf howled in her mind’s eye with the knowledge. The beast gloried in belonging to him. Ash was her one and only, the male destined for her by the universe itself.
Chosen by the Fates.
And as she spiraled into ecstasy, Gabby couldn’t help a bark of laughter, moaning with delight as he followed her soon after into bliss.
“What’s so funny?” Ash asked as he carried her back to their bed wrapped in a fluffy white towel.
“Hmm?”
“You laughed,” he stated, dropping her on the mattress and kissing her neck until she giggled and writhed beneath him.
“Oh,” she sighed when he finished torturing her. “I was just thinking, here you are, a thousand year old Demon, and I’m just this schoolteacher who found out I’m a Werewolf. But here we both are, Fated mates and all. It’s just funny.”
“What’s funny?”
“Well, I mean, destiny decided we were meant to be, but we had to meet at speed dating,” she said, giggling against his shoulder.
One of Ash’s eyebrows rose as he contemplated her statement and for a second, she was worried he’d be offended. Then he laughed, and she laughed too, relieved he wasn’t angry.
“Oh no,” he said sitting up after they were done giggling like teenagers.
“What?”
“Aphrodite and Eve are going to be incorrigible after this,” he said, hugging her close to his side.
“Is that bad?”
“Not bad. Just annoying. They’re going to want favors now. Probably think I owe them something,” he grumbled.
“And don’t you? I mean, aren’t I worth it?” she teased.
“Yes, of course, love,” he replied without hesitation.
Good Demon.
“I am a very good Demon. Now, what did you want to do today?”
“I have a few ideas,” she said, straddling his waist.
And for a Sunday school teacher, her ideas were really quite something.
Mine.