Authors: Lacey Thorn
Tags: #bears, #Kodiak, #haven, #hunters, #shape-shifter, #mates, #betrayal, #alpha, #ritual, #elders, #hidden, #awakening pride, #military, #marine, #endangered, #pack, #destiny, #fate
but feel concerned. She’d seen the hunger in Koby’s eyes, had felt it toward her when
he’d thought she should be his.
“Stop worrying,” Holt said, his arms wrapping around her from behind. “There’s
nothing you can do, now.”
“What if he forces her?” She couldn’t hold that fear in.
“The entire time Koby thought you might be his mate, he never once took you
and tried to force himself on you.”
“But I had you,” she countered.
“I’m not sure if I was a help or a hindrance. He might have been less aggressive
without me in the picture. That’s beside the point.” He turned her to face him. “She’s
your sister. I know you’re worried about her. Koby didn’t show you his best side. I’ve
seen a different side of him when I was here before. I know he can be kind and
generous. I’ve seen him laugh and joke around. I also trust Laramie completely. I
don’t believe the head of this pack would ever do anything if he felt it might put one
of his members in danger. He trusts Koby. How can we do anything less?”
“I…I don’t know what to think,” she admitted.
“Trust me to always look out for you,” he urged, stroking his finger over her
cheek. “As your mate, it’s my responsibility to make sure you and your family are
okay. I promise you, I take that obligation very seriously.”
“Thank you,” Jaeda whispered.
“Let’s sit.” He indicated the bed and waited until they were both sitting, facing
one another before he continued. “I think it’s important you know about Kenzie.”
“Your friend, but not your kitten.”
“Not my kitten,” he agreed. “But still very important to me.”
“You told me that. She’s your best friend and mated to another. They won’t
share, which is good because I won’t either.”
“You’re my mate, Jaeda. No one will ever mean as much to me as you do. No
one. I’m going to want to take you to meet my pride, eventually. To meet Kenzie. My
pride jokes a lot. They may tease and say something you might not understand if I’m
not honest with you. I won’t ever lie to you.”
“So she was you kitten,” Jaeda whispered, not liking the way it made her feel.
“First off, I seriously doubt Kenzie was ever a kitten. Sure as hell not mine. We
were friends. Then we were lovers. We both knew something was missing. We loved
each other, but we weren’t in love with each other. So we broke it off and stayed
friends. Close friends. She’s important to me. We call and talk. I don’t want to lose
her friendship, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
“What are you asking me?”
“To give her a chance. To get to know her, meet her and her mate. Don’t hold
our past against her.”
“Her Gabriel was able to do that?” Jaeda asked.
“Their relationship was rocky,” Holt answered. “He found her being tortured by
hunters. He saved her. From what she said, he tried to walk away, knowing he
couldn’t stay at the time. He couldn’t deny what was between them, though. So he
mated her then left.”
“How could he do that to her? How was it even possible?”
“Something to do with her animal being recessed. Remember, this shifter stuff is
still new to me in many ways. I thought I was just getting a handle on the feline stuff.
Then I walked into a pack of bears.” He grinned, reaching out and stroking a finger
down her cheek. “I’m glad I did.”
“Me, too.”
“Kenzie was traveling with me, searching for answers to her past, when hunters
attempted to take her, again. Gabriel sent us here to wait for him. He trusted the
Holloways. It’s how I met them. That visit is why I’m here, now. During their mating,
Gabriel hurt Kenzie emotionally. His reasons were his. I thought he was a giant dick
and told him. I pushed, made him believe I’d step in and be her mate if he walked
again.”
She looked at him with wide eyes.
“It was a lie, and we all knew it. Kenzie loves him, needs him, and he feels the
same about her. But I was there to poke and prod when it was needed. So now that
they’re back in Oklahoma, I wanted to get away, to give them some time without me
around. They’ve got a lot going on. More than you can imagine. And I want her to be
happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.”
“You love her,” she whispered.
“I do,” he agreed. “But it’s not the same as what’s developing between you and
me. What I feel when I look at you is so much more than anything I’ve ever known.
Do you believe me?”
“I do,” she said. “But what if I can’t like her? What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Kenzie will like you because you make me happy. She’ll take one look at my
face when I’m near you, when I talk about you, and know how much you mean to me.
She won’t have a choice but to like you. Ask Murphy or Finn if you need to. They’ll
tell you she’s a good person. One head over heels in love with her mate.”
“I trust you,” she admitted. “I’ll try to like her.”
“That’s all I can ask,” he said.
“Are we going back there? To live with your pride?” she asked, searching his
face.
He shook his head. “No, I hadn’t planned on it. You’re a bear. Our home is here,
with the Holloways, unless you have another home for us to go to.”
“My home is gone. Besides, when a female bear mates, she goes where her mate
tells her to.”
“Well, I’m a little homeless at the moment, as well,” he admitted with a laugh.
“I’ll talk to Laramie and see what kind of options are around here for us. I don’t want
to go anywhere that’ll put you in danger. I’m a trained security specialist. There’s not much I can’t do when it comes to weapons, explosives and security systems. I’m good
with my hands and a quick learner. I’ll take care of you.”
“I know you will,” she said. “I’m good with a computer. Or at least, I was before
I was sent with Uncle Emmett. He refused to let me touch any electronics. I never left
his land. I had daily survival training, instead. He taught me to fight and protect
myself.”
“That’s good. We’ll continue that. You should be as strong in your human form
as you are in your bear one. I’d like to see that by the way.”
“What?”
“You in your bear skin.” He laughed. “That could be interpreted two ways, and
I’d mean them both.” He pushed off the bed and stood, hand dropping to the button on
his jeans, voice getting husky. “ Take your clothes off.”
A shiver of desire skated down her spine. She loved the look in his eyes when he
commanded her to do something. The way his voice took on a rasp that wasn’t always
there. She rose to her knees and stripped her shirt over her head, tossing it aside. His eyes dropped to her naked breasts. She’d gone downstairs braless earlier. She hadn’t
anticipated an interrogation at the time. Soon, she’d need more clothes. She couldn’t
keep wearing the ones she had. She could keep washing her underwear out in the sink
at night, but that was already getting old. The Jeep was probably gone by now, which
meant her few possessions were, too.
She fumbled with her jeans, jerking them over her hips before sitting and
shimmying out of them. Her gaze was fixed between his naked thighs, where one
hand stroked up and down the thick shaft of his cock. God, she wanted him.
“Come here, darling,” he crooned, and she knew exactly where he wanted her.
She slid from the bed and went to her knees in front of him. Without a word she
wrapped her lips around his cock and sucked him inside the wet warmth of her mouth.
She loved the taste of him, the feel of him gliding across her flesh. He groaned, ran his fingers through her hair then moved back.
“Let’s try something.”
“Okay,” she eagerly agreed. She’d discovered she liked his ideas.
“Get on the bed,” he ordered, turning to rummage inside a bag on the floor. She
knew it was his—the one Murphy had brought to him that first day she’d woken in his
arms. When her Holt turned to her, he held a tube in his hand. “If you want to try anal, we’re going to need this.”
He came back to her, joining her on the bed and positioning her in the center on
her back. “This is going to seem a bit awkward at first, but I promise, it’ll be worth
it.”
He moved until he was facing the opposite way of her then slowly shifted over
her. His hips were over her head, his cock just over her mouth. He gripped her thighs
and pulled her down a bit, and she squeaked in surprise. She knew what he had in
mind and was definitely going to enjoy it. They’d be able to pleasure each other at the
same time, now.
She moved before he did, reaching up to grasp him in her hand and point him
down toward her mouth. She lifted her head and kissed the crown, licking over it and
tasting the pre-cum already leaking from the slit. She was just opening her mouth to
take him in when she felt the glide of his tongue between her folds. She moaned. He
circled her clit and headed back down toward her opening.
“Hard to concentrate?” he asked with a husky chuckle before thrusting his
tongue inside her and licking at her walls.
“Oh, God,” she moaned and licked over him again. It was hard to concentrate on
what she should be doing to him when he was unraveling her so completely.
She tried to focus. Sucking, licking and working his shaft with her hand. She
was just finding her rhythm when she felt him rubbing a cool gel over her anus. He
circled her opening, barely breaching before retreating and coming back with more of
the lubricant. His tongue worked her pussy and clit, his finger prepared her ass, and
she struggled to keep her attention on sucking his cock.
Then he slid the thick digit all the way in, fucking her ass with it, and she lost
herself to what he was making her feel. Her head hit the bed, her eyes closing as she
canted up her hips, giving him more access.
“You like that, darling? Feel good?” His voice was liquid magic against her sex.
He rubbed his tongue over her clitoris, another finger joining the first inside her ass.
“Yes,” she hissed. She still held his cock in her hand, and she ran her palm
hungrily up and down it. If he’d come to her, she’d suck him again. She just didn’t
have the energy to lift her head right now. It was all focused where his attention was.
“You’re not sucking my cock,” he reprimanded. “Are you ready to fuck, Jaeda?
Want me to put my cock where I’ve got you all slick and ready?”
She moaned, undulating against his mouth. He turned his head and bit her inner
thing, making her cry out.
“Answer me,” he commanded.
“Yes,” she cried.
He moved off of her. “Roll over,” he ordered. “Hands and knees for me. I want
your ass in the air, head on the bed.”
She did as he said, anticipation riding her as hard as she wanted him to. She
knew her body would accept him. It was the way she was programmed. Her need was
so high that her body would eagerly relax and accept what her mate gave her. She
wanted this, and with all the lube he was using on her, she was more than ready. Her
mother had once told her that as long as she mated a man who knew how to stimulate
her body, she’d only ever know the joys of sex, the pleasures of mating. Holt
definitely knew what he was doing.
“I love looking at you like this,” he spoke behind her. “Your tight, little rosette
is open for me, sucking my fingers in like it’s going to take my cock. That pretty pink
pussy dripping with need, coating your thighs. I need to feel it around me, need to
fuck it first. I’ll make you come, darling, and only when you’re screaming my name
will I finally claim your ass.”
He took her then. Sliding his cock along her wet folds until he lodged at her
opening then thrusting deep. She yelled into the bed, her hands clenching in the covers
beneath her. So good. He felt so incredibly good. He pumped his length in and out of
her, his fingers taking her rear entrance in the same rhythm.
“I can feel your pussy rippling around my cock. I know how close you are to
coming. Soak my dick, Jaeda, and let me fuck your ass.”
She screamed again, rocking her hips back into him as she climbed higher and
higher toward orgasm. He was right. She was so close, on the brink and ready to fly.
He slid his free hand under her belly and slipped lower to rub her clit. He pinched it,
and she choked on air, her body convulsing as she splintered and soared. Her pussy
clenched and released around him, trying to milk a release she knew he wasn’t ready
to give, yet.
True to his word, he pulled his cock free, and while she was still in the throes, he
removed his fingers and pressed the head into her ass. She felt a pinch, first, and
overwhelming pressure. He wouldn’t fit. He couldn’t. Then there was a burn as he
forced his shaft inside, stretching her and making her give around his girth. She might
have told him to stop, might have begged him to slam deep and be done with it, but
his finger was still on her clit, keeping her orgasm alive.
“Holt,” she screamed as he filled her, his balls tapping her pussy. She was full,
so full she couldn’t breathe. “Oh, God! Oh, God!”
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice shaky as he panted. “Tell me, Jaeda. Is it
too much?”
She shook her head against the bed. It was, but it wasn’t.
“Fuck me,” she begged. “I need you to fuck me.”
He gave a groan and followed her wish. Slow and easy at first, as if the feel of