Chapter 9
ALARA
In deference to my brother, Booker stepped back just enough to make it seem like we hadn’t just been wrapped around each other. Caelan came to a stop a few paces away, tension tightening every line of his body.
He flicked a glance to Booker’s arm. “Your injury. How deep is it?”
“Superficial,” Booker answered.
I exhaled softly and slid my fingers into Booker’s, relieved that he wasn’t hurt badly.
Booker’s hand tightened around mine, and my brother’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as though the gesture hit him harder than he expected. His gaze dropped briefly to our joined hands before returning to my face. I caught a flicker of acceptance in his eyes.
Then he let out a weary sigh. “Get some rest, Alara.”
I nodded, my chest loosening for the first time since I met Booker. “I will.”
I tugged gently on my mate’s hand, guiding him toward the stone steps that led to our family corridor. His fingers laced with mine in easy acceptance. Heat bloomed low in my belly when I realized where I planned to take him.
No man but family had ever been allowed in my private quarters, but bringing Booker there felt like the most natural thing I’d ever done.
I didn’t let myself second-guess what I was doing.
If I paused, even for a heartbeat, I might lose my nerve.
So I guided Booker down the corridor, past the carved archway that marked my family’s private wing, and straight to my room.
I pushed the door open, my cheeks filling with heat as he stepped inside.
The space wasn’t grand by any stretch, but it was mine.
Booker stopped in the center of the room, and his wolf pushed so close to the surface that the energy buzzing off him felt like he’d shed his skin for fur any second.
“He likes it here,” Booker explained. “Surrounded by your scent.”
My heart tripped, and I reached blindly behind me to close the door.
We didn’t rush toward each other. Instead, we settled side by side on the edge of my bed, our shoulders almost touching.
I traced a fold of the blanket with my fingers.
“I used to stare out that window for hours, trying to imagine what the world looked like beyond our mountains. Forests without these cliffs. Cities lit up at night. Oceans.” I sighed.
“But every time I mentioned wanting to explore, Caelan shut it down. He said my place was here.”
Booker’s thigh brushed mine. “And you listened because you didn’t want to disappoint him.”
My throat tightened. “He’s not just my alpha. He’s all the family I have left. But I wanted more. Even before I met you.”
He turned slightly, his blue eyes locked on my face. “What stopped you?”
“My echo-sense.” The words felt strange spoken out loud.
Nobody outside the chain even knew I had it, but Booker was my fated mate.
He could be trusted. “I can feel emotional residue—like fingerprints left behind by people. The stronger they feel something, the more there is for my echo-sense to find. Fear, deceit, danger. Sometimes even joy.”
“That sounds like it could be a lot to deal with.” He reached for my hand and set it on his thigh, interlacing our fingers.
“I inherited it from my mother after she passed when I was seventeen, and I had trouble filtering it out at first. The elders said it made me too vulnerable to be far from home.” I shrugged. “But I’ve learned how to deal with it over the past five years. Now I have a good handle on it.”
Booker’s brows drew together, and his head tilted to the side. “That shows a lot of strength.”
A small, startled laugh slipped out of me. “If only my brother and most people around here would see it that way.”
“I’m not most people.” He leaned back a little, bracing one hand behind him on the mattress, eyes steady on mine.
“And I can understand the frustration to a certain extent. Balancing life between two packs wasn’t easy either.
Timber Ridge was home because of my parents.
The Wilderness Pack became home because it made sense for the kind of man I am.
But even with both, I never felt rooted. Not really.”
I flipped my hand over to squeeze his. “I’m sorry.”
“I do now, though.” He reached over and brushed a knuckle along my jaw. “You choose where home is, Alara. Not your bloodline. Not tradition. You.”
The simplicity of his response undid something inside me, especially since it sounded like that was what he’d done in leaving his childhood pack.
“I want you,” I whispered. “And the future fate saw when it tied us together, wherever that might take us.”
Booker’s gaze darkened, and his thumb stroked the corner of my mouth. “Careful, kitten. If you say things like that…”
“I mean it,” I cut in, breathless.
His control slipped just enough that his pupils flared, gold burning at the edges of his irises.
We gravitated toward each other without thinking.
My hand slid up his chest, feeling the steady hammer of his heart.
His fingers curved around my waist, and the world narrowed to the warm press of his breath against my lips.
Our first kiss in the courtyard had been a wildfire. This one sparked in an instant, blossoming into something molten the moment he closed the short distance between us.
“Mine,” Booker growled, the word rumbling from deep in his chest as his hand slid up under my sweater, his fingers tracing the bare skin of my back before tugging the fabric over my head.
He tossed my sweater aside, his gaze devouring me as I sat on the edge of the bed in just my simple bra and leggings. The air between us crackled, the mate bond pulling taut like a string about to snap.
Booker stripped off his shirt in one fluid motion, revealing the hard planes of his muscled chest, tanned and scarred. My breath caught at the sight of him—my wolf, so powerful and patient, now burning for me.
He dropped to his knees in front of me, his hands gentle on my thighs as he peeled my leggings down slowly, his thumbs brushing my inner thighs and sending shivers racing through me.
When I was bare except for my underwear, he leaned in, inhaling deeply at the apex of my thighs, a low growl vibrating against me.
“You smell like heaven, kitten.” His voice was rough with need. “My lynx. All mine.”
My cheeks flushed hot, but my lynx purred inside me, arching toward him. I'd never felt anything like the desire brewing low in my belly, making me ache in ways I'd only dreamed of.
“And you’re all mine, too.”
“Damn straight.” Booker rose, shedding his pants quickly. He went commando, and when his cock sprang free, my eyes widened.
“You're huge,” I whispered, a mix of nerves and want twisting inside me.
“Only for you.”
I loved knowing that we’d be each other’s one and only and was fascinated by his hard length. His wolf flashed gold in his eyes as I reached out to tentatively trace a fingertip along his shaft. He twitched under my touch, a hiss escaping his lips.
“Careful, kitten,” he warned, his voice strained. “You're testing my control.”
I smiled up at him. “Who needs control when we have passion?”
“So fucking perfect.” He unhooked my bra, sliding the straps down my shoulders to bare my breasts.
I gasped as he cupped them, his mouth descending to circle one nipple with his tongue before sucking gently. Pleasure shot straight to my core, and I arched into him, moaning as my head fell back.
“Eyes on me, kitten,” he commanded softly, trailing his fingers down my stomach to hook into my panties. “And lift for me.”
I obeyed, raising my hips as he slid them off, leaving me completely exposed. Nervous flutters danced in my belly. This was all new and overwhelming, but his gaze was pure adoration mixed with hunger.
“Don’t be scared, kitten,” he soothed, settling between my thighs. “I’ll take care of you. Always.”
He kissed my breath away before trailing his mouth down my neck, nipping lightly at my collarbone. His hands kneaded my breasts while his teeth grazed a nipple just enough to sting sweetly, marking me with small bites that made my lynx purr.
Lower still, he kissed my stomach, nipping under my navel before spreading my thighs wider. His thumbs parted me, and he licked a slow path from top to bottom, sinking his tongue inside my core.
“Oh yes,” I cried, my fingers tangling in his shaggy hair as my legs wrapped around his shoulders instinctively.
He devoured me ruthlessly—licking and sucking until stars burst behind my eyes. But he didn’t stop there. He slid one thick finger inside, and I clenched around him.
“Need you ready for me, kitten,” he rasped, adding a second finger while circling my clit with his tongue.
The stretch burned deliciously, building pressure until I shattered again, coming hard with a cry that echoed off the stone walls. “Booker! Yes! Oh yes!”
“That’s it, kitten. Come for me,” he murmured against my damp flesh while eating me through my second release.
When my shudders subsided, he kissed up my body and settled between my legs, his dick nudging my soaked entrance.
“You ready for me?” he asked
“Yes, please,” I begged, my nails digging into his back.
He held himself at my entrance, sliding the head through my drenched lower lips before pressing in slowly. Tight heat enveloped him inch by inch, and he dropped his forehead to mine, breathing ragged.
“You feel so good, kitten.”
I whimpered as he stretched me farther, hitting my barrier. A fierce possessiveness flared in his gaze. “All mine. Every inch of you, inside and out.”
“Yes,” I gasped, giving my hips a tiny wiggle.
With a gentle kiss, he thrust forward, breaking through in one swift motion. Pain flared, and a tear slipped down my cheek.
He stilled completely, licking the dampness away tenderly. “Breathe, kitten. I've got you.”
The pain faded slowly, replaced by fullness and need. When I rocked experimentally against him again, he groaned.
“Move, please,” I whispered.
“Thank fuck,” he growled, starting with slow strokes, one hand lifting my thigh around his waist as he kissed me deeply.
His pace built as I met him thrust for thrust, my nails scoring his back and my lynx urging him deeper.
“Come again for me, kitten,” he demanded, his thumb circling my clit.
Pleasure coiled tight and snapped, my body clenching around him in waves. “So close.”
That spurred him on, and he hammered into me harder. “One day soon, I’m gonna fill you deep and put my pup in your belly so the world knows who you belong to.”
The words sent me over again, and he followed with a roar, spilling hot inside me, claiming my body and soul. We collapsed, tangled together with him still hard and deep inside me.
His mouth trailed down my neck until his teeth brushed the place where his mark would go. My entire body arched, heat rolling over me again. My lynx purred so loudly I felt it in my bones.
Booker’s breath hitched. His wolf surged so hard that I felt the ripple of it through his muscles.
“You ready to take my mating mark, kitten?”
I wanted to complete the bond between us and bind our souls together more than anything. “Yes.”
He pressed a soft kiss to the spot he’d just grazed. Then his lips parted, and his teeth skimmed my skin again, a whisper of a bite that made my vision blur. But just as he drew in a breath, footsteps creaked faintly in the hallway. He went still.
Every muscle in his body locked as his wolf snapped forward, protectiveness flooding the air around us. He lifted his head, his body vibrating with tension as he listened with supernatural precision.
“Booker?” I whispered, barely a sound.
He lowered his forehead to mine. “Not like this. Our mating should be private, just you and me. I want to take my time with you.”
I hated the idea of waiting but loved the sound of what he’d described. “Yes. I want that too.”
He guided me back against the pillows, drawing me into his arms after pulling his thick length from my body. We curled together beneath the blanket, the mating bond humming between us like a living thing.
Booker pressed a soft kiss to my temple, lingering there like he couldn’t pull away. “Soon.”