Chapter 4
Santo
A mating to remember…
El Chupinazo soars up into the sky and explodes into red sparks and smoke. We’ve kept most of the traditions alive, including the rocket launch and the Soak.
Wine sprays everywhere as the men celebrate before starting the mating run. They’re all shirtless in white linen pants, chanting as they line up for me to ring the bell, starting the race.
"?San Fermín! Iruna! Iruna!" They call into the night, honoring our ancestors with the city’s original name and praying to them all for good matings.
“Mat?” My beta Miguel asks by my side.
He can tell I’m off. I have been since my return home. Trying to avoid your fated mate proved particularly hard. But I managed it with only one close call. When I saw her undressing in front of her open balcony, I almost lost it. I take a deep breath, knowing that my wait is almost over.
“I’m fucking great. Ready?” He slaps my shoulder with a huge grin.
“Fuck yes,” he calls out into the night, and I ring the bell three times.
When the ringing finally stops, a quiet descends as we all tie our red scarves to our wrists.
“Go,” Everything narrows down to her scent as all twenty of us run into the trees.
We run, we catch, we claim.
I groan as I let my inner beast take over. This is his part to track her and claim her before anyone else can. If need be, fight to win her, but I’m the Alpha. No one would dare challenge my claim tonight.
Knowing she’s my fated mate is a disadvantage to the others, but it can’t be helped. I’ve already imprinted on her, so finding her is way too fucking easy. I slow my pace and watch in disbelief as she tries to climb a tree.
Does she really think that will work?
My beast snorts at my inner question. I don’t feel any of my men in this area, so I decide to watch and let her feel safe while she can. But then tragedy strikes, and her foot slips on the branch. Her mouth opens on a silent scream as her body tumbles down in slow motion, and I move on instinct.
I catch her and growl.
“What were you thinking!”
She gasps and struggles to get the white fabric of her dress out from in front of her face, then matches my glare.
“HIDING! I was not going to let any of your brutes catch me!” Well, seems she’s been made privy to my true identity.
That should make tonight easier, or so I think for one fucking second.
“Don’t think that because we had a moment that I’m just going to bend over and let you have your way with me! I’m not that easy.” I try not to react, but her anger and the way I’m holding her make me think that I’m cradling an irate kitten.
“Preciosa, tú eres mi Reina,” I whisper as I move her hair out of her eyes.
“Your Queen? Santo, this is insane!”
I laugh and nod.
“Yes, it is. Never would I have imagined this was what the universe had in store for me. Yet here you are. My fated mate and I didn’t even break a sweat. It doesn’t seem fair. So I’ll give you one more chance to get away.” I place her on her feet and make sure she’s steady before letting go.
“You’re going to let me run again?” I nod and don’t bother hiding my grin.
“You’re joking.”
I shrug.
“I could skip to the mating part,” before I can finish my sentence, she darts into the woods.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve already met each other. That’s against everything we hold dear.” Miguel steps out from the shadows with an evil smirk on his face.
“Shut the fuck up. That is your Luna, and who are we to argue with fate?” That sobers him up.
“Truly? A fated mate?” I nod and turn back in the direction she disappeared.
“Well, then. Good hunting.” I take off after her and let my senses overtake me once again.
Coconut, lemongrass, and musk fill my nose as I rush in her direction. Her scent stops by a stream where I find her shoes abandoned.
“Clever girl,” I whisper.
She’s using the water to hide her direction, but I can hear her rushed steps louder thanks to the slapping now. I round a bend and see her up ahead. Just a few more meters, and I scoop her up into my arms, pulling her off her feet to swing around in the air.
“Now you’re mine.” Before she can argue, I turn her and slam my mouth over hers.
The kiss turns feral instantly.
Those six days apart have made the mating fever ten times worse, and I’m ripping her out of the white dress she wears in seconds. The soft ground of the creek bed is damp as I lay her down on the ground, not letting the kiss break for a second.
Her hands find my pants, and I growl, finally letting her up to breathe just so I can find her neck where I’m going to mark her. My teeth graze her skin, and she freezes mid-back arch to grind herself against me.
“Please don’t eat me.” I glance at her face and can’t help the chuckle that escapes at her absurd request.
“Are you sure?” I let my tongue lick down her sternum, stopping only to suck each exposed nipple into my hot mouth once before reaching her underwear, which I firmly take in my teeth and yank down her legs.
She swallows hard, but not once does she try to stop me as I kiss my way back up her inner thigh until I’m hovering right above her pussy.
“I’m very, very hungry.” I let my lips graze the very edge of her clit as I speak, and she gasps, lifting her hips so that my lips moisten in her juices, but I hold myself in check.
I won’t do anything to jeopardize my mating. If she wants to wait, I’ll honor her wish even if it kills me.
“Make me cum.” Not the enthusiastic eat me I was waiting for.
“I can do that with my fingers. Hell, if I blow on this little clit the right way, you’ll shatter. We’ve been in a mating fever for days. No, Oma, ask me to eat you nicely.” Her hips fall, and she grabs my head by the hair and glares at me.
“Devour me.”
Yes, ma’am.
I drop my head and taste her. I’m a lost man. Never will I be able to quench the thirst that I feel for this woman. I will happily drown in her cunt for as long as she allows me the pleasure of sucking her dry.
“SANTO!” Her scream echoes into the night, and if my clan didn’t already feel their Alpha bonding, they knew it now.
A roar echoes around us in triumph and happiness for us as Oma crests over the first of many orgasms she’ll get tonight. I lick her softly to bring her down as I struggle to remove my pants.
“Oh, God. I’ve never, that was like no other,” I cover her mouth with mine before her words set off my rut.
“Don’t you ever mention any others while you’re with me. They have never mattered, and they never will, because you were always meant for me. Understood?” She bites her lip as she gets a good look at my cock, which is now positioned to enter her.
“Yes, but we need a condom. I’m not on birth control.” I shake my head as I run the crown of my cock through her folds.
“This is a true mating, Oma. We aren’t using protection.
I’m mating you, breeding you, this is a total and complete claiming of your heart, body, and soul.
If the goddess grants us children from this union, we are not going to say no to that blessing.
You know that Minotaurs mate for life. You are all I will ever want or need.
I need to hear you say this is what you want too.
I can’t stop once I start. I’ll go mad. The fever has already made this so much more difficult.
” I swallow dryly as I wait for her to comprehend my words.
“You realize this sounds like the worst pickup line ever. You’re promising me forever with your dick two centimeters from entering me. Why the fuck should I believe you?” I close my eyes and try to focus.
I let my change overtake me. It’s only a partial, but it’s enough for her to see my mating marks that glow in the moonlight.
She gasps at my new appearance but doesn’t scream out in fear, so I take that as a good sign.
When I open my eyes, it’s to see her fingers lingering over the tattoo that fascinated her so much.
“They’re my mating marks. Only my true mate can see them.
The tattoo you saw the other day, the dove, I was born with it, Oma.
No one placed that on my skin. The universe literally branded you on my skin so you could find me.
Now here you are. Please say I can have you.
” An Alpha begging his Luna to love him back.
Love really does bring you to your knees.
“Santo,” I glance up at her face, and she pulls me down into a kiss that wrecks my understanding of life.
I used to live for my clan, but now I live for her.
I enter her in one swift thrust, not needing to hear those words but feeling them in the way she’s pulling me into her, urging me to move, but I want to savor the moment. I pull out and hover a moment before repeating the thrust in, and then I let my beast take over completely.
Don’t hurt her.
I think at him as he shifts her legs wider to accommodate his wider form.
NEVER.
He growls as she moans my name again, lost in the feel of us. I can feel my knot starting to swell and my own orgasm starting to tingle in my balls.
Make her cum!
I groan as the pleasure mounts and my teeth elongate to deliver the mating bite. We feel her tighten around us, and she clings to our shoulders, meeting us thrust for thrust until she breaks. Our knot expands as he pushes further inside her.
“Shhh,” we moan into her ear as she cums harder, and then we bite.
White-hot lava starts to replace my blood from my heart and out through my entire body. I cum harder and longer than I ever have, knowing that my knot has trapped all my seed exactly where it belongs.
Inside our mate.
“Oh God, is, is this normal?” Oma gasps as another shiver runs through both our bodies.
“I’m not sure. This is a first for both of us.” My voice sounds distorted and brings her attention to my fully shifted body.
“Oh, oh my. You’ve got horns.” We chuckle at our mate.
“Handlebars, Preciosa. They’ll come in handy when you’re riding me.” I shift back slowly, making us both groan when the pressure of my knot lessens at my human size.
“So it won’t be like that every time, then?” She caresses my face as she looks at me in wonder.
“Disappointed?” I nip her palm, and she gasps, moving slightly, which causes me to jerk my hips forward.
“God no. I’m just not sure I can take you like this often.” I arch an eyebrow, and curiosity mixed with playfulness has me moving closer to nuzzle my mating mark.
“Define, often.”