Chapter 5 #2
“Fuck, yes! I am your alpha!” The cords of Ethan’s neck stood out as he growled, “Take my knot! Take all of it!” He roared, driving inside so deep it felt as though his cock was entering my womb.
Ethan went still and his knot began to inflate. The pressure became immense almost immediately, filling my passage to the breaking point.
A hot flood of his cum machine-gunned into my pussy then, dumping what felt like gallons of fluid into me in mere seconds. The second it splashed inside my core, I began to spasm in an insta-orgasm that had me seeing multi-colored stars and fireworks.
I joined my alpha’s shout of release as our bodies locked together as one. That’s when I felt it. A sharp sting on my wrist, which Ethan had wrenched over my head and was currently suckling. It aggressively intensified the pleasure of my already mind-blowing release.
Ethan’s fangs, which had grown to sharp points before he’d knotted me, sliced through the delicate skin. Blood, hot and sticky, like the slick between my legs, trickled onto the pillow behind me.
We remained like this for several minutes, until Ethan’s knot began to deflate. At that point, he released my arm and began to lave the open wound with his raspy tongue.
My heart and lungs were still recovering when Ethan rolled to the side, allowing me to breathe without his added weight. I would have preferred the oxygen deprivation over the separation any day of the week.
We didn’t stay separate for long. Ethan pulled me into his arms and tucked my head into the crux of his neck, and I immediately snuggled in deep.
“How are you doing with all of this?” He asked, as I breathed in his smell like a sommelier might sniff the rarest and finest bottle of wine.
I chewed that question over for a moment. “I don’t know, honestly. The sex, well, it was great.” I blushed so red, I could have moonlighted as a fire engine. Glad that my face was out of Ethan’s view, I added, “Better than great, actually. It was spectacular!”
Ethan chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it, but I can do better. Now that I know what you should have told me before we started.” Tilting my head back so we could stare into each other’s eyes, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin, Millie?”
My breath hitched in my throat and my heart rate picked back up again. “I was going to say something,” I admitted, shame faced. “But I was embarrassed by my lack of experience, and it all felt so good that I kind of ran out of time.”
Ethan quirked a brow at me. “There can’t be any secrets between us, Millie. That’s not how a mate bond works.”
I really should have inquired about this earlier, but when was there time for a conversation like that? I guess now was as good a time as any. “What is a mate bond, exactly?”
“A mate bond isn’t just about affection, Millie. It’s about a soul-deep connection that keeps a pair united for life,” he explained with passion.
“Like a marriage?” I pressed, loving the idea of Ethan and I being connected for life.
“No, not like a marriage. It goes far deeper than the law of humans. A mate bond is akin to soulmates, Millie. Only death can sever the tie,” Ethan spoke solemnly.
Biting my lower lip, I built up the courage to ask, “And you’re okay with that? Being bonded with me for life?”
Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, Ethan nodded.
“We would have been connected for life no matter what, Princess. Before all of this happened, I would have given my life for you. Now, I’d willingly surrender my soul as well.
Needless to say, I’ve no regrets about what we just did. How about you?”
My heart beat double time in my chest as our gazes met and held. “No regrets,” I admitted in a strong voice. “I only want to know one thing?”
“What’s that?” Ethan queried.
Smiling ear to ear, I coyly asked, “When do we get to do it again?”
I woke up the next morning to an empty bed. I panicked for a moment, thinking I’d been abandoned after sex like so many of my friends had told me they’d experienced after sharing a wild night with a guy.
That’s when I realized how irrational that fear was. I was in Ethan’s bed, which was in his house. Unless the man was willing to abandon his hand-crafted cabin after a one-nighter, my fear of abandonment was absolutely ludicrous.
I didn’t have any clothes, so I slipped out of bed and found one of Ethan’s t-shirts in his closet to slip into.
Semi-covered, I stepped out into the hallway that had a mezzanine balcony that overlooked the kitchen. Though I couldn’t see him, I could hear Ethan bustling about preparing something for us to eat. That was perfect, because I was starving after all the calories the two of us had burned last night.
Padding down the stairs, I tip-toed into the kitchen. No matter how quiet I tried to be, Ethan heard me and said, “I hope you like meat. We tend to eat a lot of it around here.”
Walking to where he was busy whisking eggs for an omelet, I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tight. “I’m starving. I’ll eat anything right about now.”
Setting down the bowl on the butcher block countertop, Ethan turned and leveled a hot kiss on my mouth. As his touch had a way of doing, it rattled my nerves and scrambled my senses to the point of complete oblivion.
When he pulled back, Ethan smiled lazily down into my face. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“A little sore,” I confessed, “but in the best possible way.”
The man emitted a low, throaty chuckle that caused my sex to instantly clench and dampen with renewed interest. “I’m sorry about that. We can take it easy for a bit until you feel better.”
I shook my head. “Not a chance.”
He squeezed me back and we swayed together for a bit before I could smell something burning in the oven.
“The sausage is burning,” Ethan announced, kissing the top of my head before he raced off to pull the delicious smelling meat out before it became inedible.
Wandering over to the freshly baked rye bread on the counter, I snagged a slice and began to munch as I watched the beautiful man in front of me working.
He was only in his boxer shorts, slung low on his chiseled hips, and it was quite the sight to behold.
Tanned and toned, every time Ethan moved about, a series of ripples and bunches happened along his taut body that sent shivers of longing down mine.
When he caught me staring, a bite of bread poised at my lips, a hungry expression on my face, his eyes began to smolder.
“You keep looking at me like that, Princess, and you’ll never get fed,” he vowed, placing the hot tray on a cast iron trivet to cool.
I laughed despite my embarrassment. “I’ll be good,” I promised.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Ethan quipped. “You’re already too good as it is. Too good looking, smelling, and tasting for me to keep my hands to myself.”
Rolling my eyes, I popped the chunk of delicious, still warm bread into my mouth. After I finished chewing, I asked, “Can I help prepare anything for you?”
I wasn’t much of a cook, but I could do the basics and was decent at following directions.
“Nah, I’ve got it all under control,” Ethan said, coming up to me and spanning his rough, workman’s hands around my waist.
Picking me up with ease, he sat me on the edge of the counter and began to prep the eggs once more. “You can sit right there and direct me as I make your omelet.”
Works for me. I told Ethan what I wanted for my omelet: tomato, sausage, spinach, and extra cheese. As he got to work, I snacked on my seeded rye slice and glanced around the spacious kitchen in awe of the attention to detail in every nook and cranny of this beautiful home.
“This place is really amazing. My father would have loved it,” I noted without thinking.
Ethan’s motions slowed at my words. “Yeah, Calvin and I talked about it for years before I finally decided to make it a reality. A lot of time and care went into this place. I think about him whenever I look at those support beams, which he and I both agreed were a must in any rustic cabin worth its salt.”
My eyes grew dewy and the lump of bread in my mouth turned to saw dust when I considered how my dad had died.
“Ethan, I want to find out who killed my father. I want to find out exactly who they are and make them pay,” I stated emphatically, feeling an anger so strong and fierce rise up in my chest that it actually frightened me.
Ethan paused his knife and laid it next to the partially chopped spinach. “Millie, I don’t want you to worry about that. You have enough on your plate as it is. Leave the vengeance to me.”
I frowned. “Don’t worry about it? Ethan, I just learned my father was killed by a sadistic pack of shifters when I’d thought he’d died from a terrible accident.
We never even had a body to bury because I was told wild animals had dragged him off somewhere in the woods to devour his corpse.
I think I deserve a little vengeance of my own. Don’t you?”
“I don’t disagree. But that’s not what’s most important right now,” he bluntly returned.
“I think it is,” I countered hotly.
Folding his arms across his chest, Ethan issued me a level look.
“I know you don’t want to hear it, Millie, but now that you’ve been claimed, your change is inevitable.
The last thing you need to do is get mixed up in pack politics and to be on the Tupilaq’s radar.
Not after everything your family did to keep you safe from them. ”
Blowing out a frustrated breath, I crossed my own arms to mirror Ethan’s firm stance. “Why do you keep insisting I’m a shifter? This whole argument is getting tiresome, Ethan. Why can’t you accept that I might not be one despite my parents?”
Ethan’s expression hardened then. “Because I can smell it on you Millie. You will change. It’s inevitable. All it will take is the right trigger. That instinctual catalyst differs from shifter to shifter. Once you find it, you’ll know what I’m telling you is the truth.”
“My mother and father should have told me about this stuff,” I stated darkly. “But since they’re both dead, I don’t know a single thing about myself and my shifter roots.”
Looking guilty for a moment, Ethan took a beat before admitting, “I never wanted to be the one to tell you this, Millie. Calvin was supposed to speak to you about it when he took you back to our hometown in Alaska. But after what happened there, he never got a chance to explain and now I have to.”
My heart sank into my feet. “Tell me what?”
“It’s about your mom, Millie,” Ethan calmly began, his strong hands bracketing my shoulders.
Scrunching up my nose, I physically balked at his words. “What about her?”
Ethan’s gaze sharpened before he confessed, “She’s still alive.”