Chapter 45
Grey
I just couldn’t seem to stop touching Nadia.
It was late in the afternoon and we’d all fallen into bed to nap, but at some point Ethan had wandered off and Tex must be in the kitchen, if the smell of burnt toast was anything to go by.
That just left me and my mate.
Her slow breaths drew me closer and I watched the way a strand of hair kept flying up, then falling back on her face with every inhale.
Reaching out slowly to push it behind her shoulders was a mistake.
The slip of her hair made my fingers tingle, because it wasn’t enough.
My knuckles grazing her cheek wasn’t either.
It was like a bone-deep hunger had been awakened by the moment her wolf appeared, and it gnawed at my guts.
Because we need to mark, claim, mate her, the wolf informed me.
By the ache of my knot, it was what I wanted.
It throbbed so hard it set my teeth on edge, but as my cock rubbed against the sheets, I leaned in closer.
Just letting my fingers trail down her arm so I could marvel at the satin of her skin, watching her shiver, then her brows crease, let me know this was a mistake.
Her eyelids flickered then opened so she could stare muzzily at me.
Shit…
I was so freaking bad at this whole mate thing. Who the hell left me alone with Nadia? A complicated swirl of horror, fear, and self-recrimination rose.
Then she smiled.
My shame spiral was aborted instantly as she placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” By all the gods, did I have any people skills at all? “Sorry I woke you.”
“It’s no biggie.” She moved in closer, fitting her body to mine. My hand rose, hovering for a second, before letting it settle on the small of her back. Nadia smelled so sweet, I couldn’t help but bury my nose in her hair. “If I sleep too much during the day, I won’t be able to tonight.”
“I’m sure we could find something else to do if you can’t sleep.”
Who the fuck said that? Me apparently. I could almost hear the wolf’s chuckle in the back of my head.
“Really?” Watching her eyebrow curve upwards and her look turn heated felt like I’d won a prize I had no business receiving. Her fingers walked their way down my chest. “What did you have in mind?”
“You really…” I grabbed her wrists and pushed her onto her back, stretching her arms above her head. “Really don’t want to know.”
“Mm… I think I do.” Her smile softened. “I ask for what I want now, remember?”
“And right now, that’s me?”
Where the hell was the man that commanded his mate to shift? It felt like some part of me was always a little boy his parents abandoned and that was at the fore right now.
“So, so much,” she replied, which had my whole body flushing with pleasure. “You’ve been holding out on me, Grey. Don’t want to rush you, but if you’re ready—”
I silenced her with a hard, punishing kiss.
She was so soft and every part of me wanted to dive in and lose myself in her.
If I worried about coming on too strong, the way she strained against my grip to match my energy made clear that wasn’t the case.
Finally, I pulled away, letting us both catch our breaths.
“I’m ready. More than ready.” With a wince, I pushed down on my shaft with the heel of my hand. “But Nadia, I’m not like the others.”
“You want to be in control.” She nodded slowly. “OK, I’m yours to do what you like with.”
“That’s not how this is supposed to work,” I hissed.
“Show me what you’ve got in mind and if I’m not enjoying myself, I’ll tell you to stop.”
This was not what I had been trained to do. Limits were discussed when everyone was clear headed and not in an aroused state, but how was I ever supposed to achieve that around my mate? It felt like my entire body was always ready and willing to mate her.
Because we are. She belongs to us but hasn’t gone into heat yet, the wolf said. Which means she is not ready to accept the bond. Show her how good it will be when she does to help her through the process.
Loosening my grip, I sat back on my heels.
“Touch yourself,” I commanded. One eyebrow jerked upwards again and there was a question in her gaze, but her hand moved down her chest. It felt like I was focussed so damn hard on every move, it was as if I was the one that was touching her.
A hand gently cupped one breast, then the other’s fingers tightened around an already beaded nipple.
“You said you don’t like it when people pinch. Show me what feels good.”
Her lips fell open and her breathing was coming in faster, but that was just background noise.
I watched the way she pulled on one nipple, rubbing the thumb from the base to the tip, noting the way it flattened under the pressure.
How firm and for how long, my brain was like a computer, filing away every detail.
“Is that something you like a lot?” I asked, my tone far more even than I felt.
“Sometimes…” The sensual purr of her voice made me want to knock her hands away and take over.
I wanted to be the only one to control her pleasure, but I needed to learn her first. “If I’m turned on, I feel it more than just in my breasts.
” Glancing down, I watched her thighs rub against each other.
“Here?”
My fingers slid between her folds, finding her clit almost instantly. Her hips bucked up off the bed to prolong the contact and part of me wanted to capitalise on that. Get her to come first, take a bit of the pressure off, but instead I pulled away.
“Yes.” Her sulky tone had me and the wolf grinning. “Please tell me you’re not going to edge me into oblivion today.” Her hands went upwards as she let out a jaw-cracking yawn. “I am so not up for that.”
“I’ll only edge you if you’re up for it,” I replied. “Right now, I think I’m the one I’m doing that to. So what else? If you were at home, what would you do?”
“Grab my Hitachi wand and go straight for my clit, getting myself off as quickly as possible, before going back to sleep?” She laughed at my shocked response. “Most of the time masturbation is just a stress reliever rather than some big thing.”
“And if it was a big thing?” I asked, my fingers digging into my thighs lest I wrap my hand around my shaft and join her in this self-exploration.
“If I was putting on a show?” Partly shy, partly bold, her thighs fell open. My eyes took in the pink flesh of her seam hungrily. “Like this?”
Her fingers slid down, then separated her folds, revealing her most secret flesh.
A fingertip teased her entrance, dragging a thin whine from me.
I was her dog and she was tugging on my leash, but there was no need.
There was nothing I wanted more than her.
But as I followed her finger’s path, I saw how red and swollen she was.
“Are you sore?” I grabbed her wrist, stopping her from doing anything else. “Ethan knotted you yesterday, so you must be feeling a little tender. We can stop.”
“No.” Her fingers wrapped around my wrist, reversing my grip before pushing my hand lower. “We can’t. I am sore, Grey.” My teeth ground together. “Aching in a way only you can fix.”
“So I’ll get you off.” Mentally I started creating a plan.
The sex toys we’d bought were in the bedside drawer, all cleaned and charged.
I could use one of the smaller ones, just enough to give her the feeling of penetration without actually forcing her to stretch in the same way a knot would. “Use the wand…”
My voice trailed away as she placed a hand on my chest and forced me onto my back. Her thighs were placed either side of my hips as she straddled me. A palm on my chest made clear I was to stay where I was.
“You’re mine.” That was mostly a statement, but there was a little edge of doubt to it.
That couldn’t continue. “My mate.” The way she stared down at me, tracing her hand down my chest was something I didn’t know I needed.
“I know you’ve held yourself back, wanting to make sure there was something real between us, but… isn’t that happening now?”
“Yes, Nadia…” She stole my words from me by rubbing that hot little cunt up and down my shaft. “Fuck. There is nothing I want more than to bury my cock so deep inside you.”
“That.” Her eyes rolled closed as she arched her back, her thrusts growing faster. “Give me that.”
“Are you sure?” My voice deepened because right now I wasn’t the only one in the room. The wolf flipped her onto her back, then pressed our hips against hers. “Because there will be no getting away from us once we do this.”
“Good.”
Her hand wedged between us, swivelling up and down my shaft in a way that had my whole body shaking, right before it clasped my knot. The pressure had a spurt of precum leaking out of me, along with a low moan. She wasn’t in control for long. My hand pushed hers aside as I stared down at her.
“You need foreplay.”
“Nope.”
“My knot is bigger than the others. I need to spend some time stretching you in preparation.”
“You wanted me to play with my pussy.” Her eyes bore into mine. “Well, look at it now.” There was no way I could disobey a direct order. “I’m so fucking wet, I feel like I’m making a mess all over your bed. You know what I need.”
Of course we do, the wolf growled. Now give our mate what she wants, or I will.
Sex was all theory to me and I felt like I had a list of rules in my head that bugged me because I hadn’t crossed them all off.
The first kiss of her cunt to the head of my cock drove all thoughts out of my mind.
Hand clapping down on her shoulder, my eyes burned into hers, right before I thrust deep.
Fuck…
No wonder I’d held off doing this before, because now I felt her wet, tight presence all around me, I knew I’d never be able to stop reaching for her, over and over again. Pulling back, only to thrust even deeper came as natural as breathing.
“Yes…”
Her moan, the way her nails, then her claws, dug into my shoulders was exactly what I needed.
She’s marking us as hers, the wolf gloated.
There was no why I could reply as my hips worked, getting faster and faster.
“Yes, Grey. Just like that,” she gasped. “Mm… more.”
So what could I do, but give her exactly what my mate wanted? As I felt her start to tighten around me, a familiar ache started up in my knot. One that would only be eased by this. My hips stuttering, then pressing hard against her.
“I can give you that, but you know what has to happen,” I said, working myself against her entrance, but not getting far. “Nadia—”
“I know.” Her brow creased. “It’s just… You’re gonna love this, but you’re really big.”
That was like a splash of cold water to the face. Heat dissipated quickly, leaving me realising what was happening.
“So we stop,” I said. “We don’t have to—”
Her hand slapped down over my mouth, then she stared up at me intently.
“You told me to ask for what I want. I want you, Grey.”
“Right.” My hand slid between us, my thumb finding her clit.
Slowly, surely, I rubbed at the little nub until the frown disappeared, replaced by an open-mouthed sigh.
“Then you need to come around my cock, omega and as you’re twitching, I’m going to push myself deep.
It’ll feel like you can’t take me, but you can.
” My eyes burned, but I couldn’t stop staring. “We’re made for each other.”
A quick little nod was all the acknowledgement I got, because she was right.
Nadia was primed and ready to go off. Painfully aware of every flex of her cunt, my thumb moved faster, matching the pace of her pants until I heard that hopeless little sob.
That was my sign to surge forward. Instead, I hung there, watching my mate fall apart.
And I was going to put her right back together.
“Grey… Grey…”
“Hey,” I said, far less awkward than before. “You don’t need to say anything. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
That was the moment when I felt something relax inside her.
She didn’t need to grip so hard, not when I was prepared to step up and take control.
There was no need to reach when I was already there.
Her body didn’t open so much as welcome me in and for just a moment, I felt like my heart was gonna smash its way out of my chest, right before my knot lodged behind her pubic bone.
“Oh… oh!”
I didn’t know who was crying out, me or her, because there was no neat point of demarcation.
We’d become bigger than the sum of our parts.
Together we moved, each inspiring the other to greater and greater heights, until I felt the point when the wave crested.
Her snapping down around me. My groan torn from my chest. Long, liquid convulsions around me, and I plunged through each one.
It felt like the most perfect moment stretched out forever, growing sweeter by the second, until it broke like rain, pattering over our skin.
“Goddess…” she said, then looked up at me with a wild grin. “That was…”
“That was,” I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before rolling us on our side. My leg slung over hers, my knot still swollen, we would be tied together for hours and that fact was so damn satisfying. “And just think, when you move in, it can be like this every day.”
“Right.”
There was something to her voice that had my brow furrowing, but the heaviness of exhaustion didn’t allow me to interrogate any further.
“Mine…” I mumbled.
Ours, the wolf said, right before we fell asleep.