16. Mébh
I flat-out ranthrough the blue-tinged trees in an unknown land under the red full moon’s light without the faintest idea where I was going. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The full moon wasn’t for another two weeks. I’d assumed Gray would have claimed me by then and I wouldn’t have to worry about my Wolf going crazy—I’d gotten the cliff notes out of a reluctant Molly after her full-moon mating experience with Nikos. So here I was, sprinting through territory I knew little about, all because my Wolf needed this to complete the matebond. I was ready, but was Gray?
This moon energy was very different from the pull of the full moon on Earth. It called to my Wolf, giving her permission to rise like on Earth; however, this felt almost more primal, more jagged, more cantankerous—dark and mysterious.
Traditionally on the full moon, I’d always run with the pack. We gathered in the field outside the pack house and ran together in human form, following our Alpha and Luna wolf, until the moon’s light overpowered us and took us to our animal forms where the fun really began. This felt similar. The Wolf dominated my psyche, but she didn’t control me totally like in fight-or-flight mode. This was a symbiotic time, the closest I usually felt to being able to control my Wolf when she rose, without factoring in recent events.
My Wolf demanded we run under the full moon’s light. It was an ancient ritual taking place. This was necessary. Gray had to give chase. He had to earn the right to claim my Wolf and me this night. He was my mate. There was no doubt in my mind that I was more than ready for this step; I’d wanted it from the moment I laid eyes on him. He was the one who had held back. But there would be no going back after this. We would be bonded together forevermore.
While my senses scanned behind me, listening for the sound of Gray’s pursuit, I heard nothing besides my own lithe steps.
Odd.
Was he actually following?
Maybe he wasn’t going to give chase—he wasn’t accepting our bond.
Before crushing sadness could overtake me, through the trees up ahead I spied him leaning against a tree, arms folded across his chest, waiting. I wanted to kick myself for forgetting his ability to mist and my jumping straight to negative conclusions.
Misting added a whole new dimension to the game.
This chase was going to be fun.
My Wolf yowled with excitement within me, and I heartily agreed.
I made a split-second decision, and instead of dodging around him, I ran straight at him and surprised us both by jumping into his arms. He rumbled in satisfaction as our chests collided, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and arms around his neck. His hands cupped my ass, supporting me from below and copping a feel.
Something came over me suddenly, my Wolf completely possessing me. I grabbed his left ram horn and yanked his head to the side, pulled his collared shirt aside with my other hand, and exposed his throat. I struck, sinking my lengthening fangs into the spot where his neck and shoulder met—the werewolf marking spot. I snarled into my claiming bite and shuddered as new mating power coursed through my veins, making me feel lightheaded. I released my teeth and threw back my head to howl.
This was my mate. I’d claimed him. I wanted the whole damn dimension to know he was mine. Fuck with him and you would have to deal with my Wolf and me.
Gray was lost in sensation, his cock rock hard and pressed between my legs through the shorts. I rubbed myself up and down his clothed shaft, enjoying the feeling for a moment longer, spurred on by his deep rumble of satisfaction.
Instinct riding me hard, I disentangled myself from him and raced off into the trees. There was more chase to be had. More of the ritual needed to take place.
He growled as I slipped away, but he let me go. That was all a part of this, the cat-and-mouse game, and despite being a demon, he was playing the werewolf mate well. This time, after a beat or two, I did hear him crashing after me. He wasn’t misting this time, his steps seeming to shake the ground. He caught up to me quickly and snagged me around the waist, hauling me back against his chest possessively.
“You’re mine, princess,” he snarled in my ear and my channel fluttered.
“You sure? I think I’ve caught you.” I wrapped an arm around his neck from behind as if to prove my point. I was talking nonsense basically, but I didn’t care. Then I wiggled free of his loose grip and shot off in another direction.
He didn’t give chase right away. There were no stomping sounds echoing through the forest, aside from my own quiet steps. Was he misting this time? Or was he following on foot?
When no attack came after a few minutes of sprinting as silently as I could, I circled back toward where he had caught me last. I found him in the exact same spot, still leaning back against that tree with a smug look on his face. The tables had suddenly turned. The game had changed. He was now the prey, the hunted, and I the hunter. My Wolf approved of this subtle shift and narrowed in on her target.
When we got close enough, I pounced from the side, wrapping my legs around his body again and clinging to his shoulders. He snarled and pried me off him, then set me down and misted away.
I suddenly found myself alone, without a clue which way my demon may have gone. Fuck misting. It was impossible to track from a physical perspective. I stuck my nose up and scented the air. Hellfire mostly filled my nose, but then I caught a subtle whiff of a bonfire I recognized and knew what direction he went.
I gave chase, following my mate’s addictive scent. He moved silently, this time hiding his presence, but I could track him nonetheless. I was led to another large tree trunk, this one heavy with scratch marks that smelled of him. His scent traveled off to the left, and I stalked after it, finding another tree with similar scratch marks. By the third one, I’d realized what he had done. There were marks on nearly every tree in the vicinity, and it had completely thrown me off his true trail.
I snarled and threw back my head to howl angrily at the dark sky. My Wolf was informing Gray that she wasn’t pleased with his trickery. With renewed determination, we set off to find his actual trail.
It was not easy detecting his true scent from his marks, but I went with the strongest signature and finally found him grinning down at me from a branch up in a massive tree that looked like an oak save for its blueish tint. He misted again from there and I snarled in fury. Looking left and right quickly, I searched for any hint of him.
“Over here, princess.”
I whipped around to find Gray leaning against another blueish pine some twenty feet away. Racing toward him, I growled furiously again as he misted just before I could reach him.
“Almost got me,” he taunted. He was once more some twenty feet from me through the trees in another direction.
I tried once again to capture him, but he misted away just before I made contact. I howled in fury, my Wolf and I equally pissed off. I was losing patience fast. It was time to end this.
This time, when I ran at Gray, I anticipated his misting and spun on my heel, hurtling in the opposite direction from where he had misted to the past two times.
I guessed correctly.
He appeared right in front of me, and a look of shock flashed on his face just before I took him down. I jumped into him with all my strength, my Wolf backing me. Colliding with Gray, we went down to the blueish-black moss-covered ground, me landing squarely on top of him.
I snarled in his face, gloating my victory, and then I captured his mouth. Our fangs clinked together as we both struggled for the upper hand. My hands found their way to the collar of his white shirt.
“You caught me, little princess,” he growled, and I ripped his shirt open, popping every single button in the process. My hands landed on his skin, and I toured his bulked-up chest and rippling abdomen as he shrugged out of the remains of the shirt. His clawed hands came up to grip my waist, and with a snarl he recaptured my mouth, rolling us so he was on top instead. “But now you’re mine.”
The tables had turned again, and it felt so right. He wasn’t playing anymore, and neither was I. This was for all the marbles. He was taking control. He was stepping into the Alpha male role my Wolf and I so desperately needed.
He threw his head back and roared so loud it shook the trees around us—a warning to all.
He grabbed the fabric covering my breasts and his claws tore into it. My dress was in shreds in seconds. I still had the purple string bikini bottoms on, but his claw slid under that and ripped it off me next. He captured my lips and somehow managed to get his shorts off as I all but quaked with need.
He was shifting more. His horns straightened as his body took on muscle rapidly. His facial features were sharpening. His tail whipped out behind him and then slithered around my leg to hold me in place.
The Shoal full-moon energy was pumping through me, making me wild with need—then again, the Earth full moon did something similar, but I’d never experienced it to this degree. Maybe this was just because I was with my fated mate?
I writhed under Gray, my Wolf going crazy within me.
He began kissing my jaw, then he moved down to my collarbone. He reached my neck, to the spot I hoped with all my soul he would mark, fully claiming me in return. It felt like he was teasing me as he lightly kissed when all I wanted to feel was his teeth sink deep.
His body began to grow, taking on height like I’d seen him do on Maui when he fully shifted for me. He was so much larger than me, but I wasn’t scared. It made me feel small but protected. Where he wouldn’t let me near him then, now I couldn’t stop touching him, his skin an aphrodisiac in and of itself.
His lips trailed down from my neck and dipped between my breasts, continuing to tease me. This was heady, and I felt almost lightheaded again.
I couldn’t help my gasp when he finally closed his lips around one of my nipples. I was awash in pleasure, the sensations his mouth elicited sending pulses between my legs. Abruptly he switched to my other nipple, and the pleasure spiraled higher from there, building into a raging inferno.
Settling between my legs, Gray pushed my knees to my chest, giving him full access to tongue fuck my pussy without his horns getting in the way. His tail now waved behind him erratically. He speared his tongue inside and groaned. “Devil take me, your pussy tastes divine!”
I was dancing along the edge, waiting, wanting, wishing. I only needed a nudge and I would fall, but he seemed to sense this and kept me hovering right there.
There came a faint snick of his claws retracting, then his fingers slid into my channel. I felt his tongue split in two, and it assaulted both sides of my clit with renewed vigor. Between licks he rasped, “I’m going to fill you up. First with my dick, then with my cum.”
He went right back to licking me out, and I writhed, my body shaking with need. I couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Come for me, princess,” he demanded, showing me his fangs and sharp teeth before attacking my clit again, and I came undone with a scream.