Matt: Tales of the Were (Redstone Clan Book 5) (17 page)

He dipped his head and captured her lips in one of the most romantic moments of her life. Matt Redstone was like no other man. He was everything she hadn’t known she wanted in a mate. He was perfect for her in pretty much every way that counted. Almost too good to be true, but then, that’s what mating was supposed to be all about, right? A little divine intervention to pair up shifters with their perfect matches.

Morgan hadn’t believed it before, but after meeting Matt, she was definitely a true believer now. She kissed him back with all her might and moaned when he broke away from her lips to trail his mouth over her bare skin, down over her collarbones, onto her chest, and then, his tongue darted out to tease her nipples—first one, then the other—as his big hands shaped her softness to his liking.

His fingers had calluses that added a delicious friction to his touch on her overheated skin. Everywhere his fingers trailed, fire followed in their wake. The fire of passion, of desire, of…love.

She wanted him inside her, and she wanted it now. The foreplay was nice, but after the past hours, she needed the touch of her mate almost desperately.

She felt the edge of the mattress touch the backs of her legs, and relief flooded through her overheating body. Matt continued to kiss her and suck on delicate, needy bits of her skin, but she wanted more. She wanted all of him. Now.

She squealed happily when Matt lifted her by the waist and dropped her playfully to the exact center of the mattress below. She bounced only once before Matt’s hard body stopped all motion by coming down over her, covering her with his muscular warmth. She looked deep into his eyes and saw the flashing topaz there that echoed the need in her own soul. The need for him. For her mate.

“Don’t keep me waiting,” she pled her case, her voice unsteady. “I need you now.”

His eyes flared, and she knew he felt the same deep need. Her robe was gone, and he was naked, too. She’d lost track of how that had happened, but it didn’t matter. All that really mattered was Matt. Here. In her arms. In her body. She couldn’t wait any longer.

Morgan wrapped her legs around his, pulling him to her. They were face to face, and she held his wild gaze as she drew him closer. He accommodated her desires, following her lead. He hesitated only momentarily to find just the right spot before sliding hard inside her.

Heaven.

He filled her completely, the perfect match for her in every way.

And then, he began to move. She hadn’t thought it could feel any better, but each time they joined their bodies, Matt took her to new levels of passion. She began to come almost immediately and just kept on coming. Her body shook as he plunged into her, time and again, speaking of his love, his joy in mating her, his need and his claiming. She rode the waves of ever-increasing rapture, following where he led her into realms she hadn’t even dreamed existed.

At the very last, he dropped his mouth to her neck and bit her.

She screamed as the greatest climax she’d ever experienced claimed her. The pain in the curve of her neck was as nothing. It only added to the stark agony of pleasure that made every muscle in her body tense and cry out in joy.

Morgan hadn’t known anything could feel so good, or last so long. Matt kept her at the height of her climax for long minutes during which she touched the stars and fell back to earth in his arms. Matt held her throughout, his tongue laving the place where he’d bit her. His teeth had almost reverted to their normal human shape by the time she was aware enough to realize they had transformed partially to deliver a half-shifted bite mark. Human-sized but from pointed, predator teeth.

She hadn’t even known that could happen during sex, but what a way to find out! She wanted it again. Maybe not right this very moment, but she knew the bite of her mate had excited her inner cat as much as it had her human side. There was something primal, and incredibly sexy, about being claimed by the beast, as well as the man.

She could finally share every facet of who she was as a person, and as a shifter, with her lover—her mate. She had never been able to do that before, and she felt a freedom in her heart that made her spirit light. She was free to be herself with Matt, which was something new and precious.

“I love you, Matt Redstone,” she whispered, her heart overflowing.

He tugged her closer, his arm still around her, though he’d shifted to her side so he wouldn’t crush her with his weight. His calloused fingers rubbed little circles over her abdomen.

“And I love you, Morgan Chase. You’re my mate, but will you also be my bride?” He leaned up on one elbow to look at her hopefully.

Among shifters, mating was as good as—actually better than—human marriage. Her Clan hadn’t bothered with the human ceremony, but she knew the Brotherhood often legalized their matings in the human legal system, as well as by their own traditions. Maybe Matt’s Clan did the same?

“You want to marry me?” she asked, to be sure.

“With all my heart. Our souls already know we’re mates, but I want everyone to know—human and Other alike—that we belong to each other. I want to celebrate our mating with my Clan, but also with your human friends and business associates. I want everyone to know that you’re mine.” She felt her stomach clench at the glint in his eye. She liked his possessive side, though it frightened her a bit too. He must’ve seen that tiny bit of apprehension, because he tempered his words by adding, “And I’m yours.”

He dipped his head to kiss her then. It was a gentle kiss filled with love that left her in no doubt that his possessiveness wasn’t anything to fear, but rather to embrace…because her inner cat was just as fiercely possessive of him as he was of her. They were a match, and her cat wanted everyone to know it.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“We were going to meet at the winery office, but Irma’s been working there for months. There’s no way to be sure she hasn’t set up some sort of magical surveillance on the place. Cameron will go over every inch of the grounds later, but for now, the safest place to meet up with the Clan werewolves is on their territory,” Matt told her.

Morgan wasn’t all that eager to go into a werewolf den. First off, she was a cat, and her inner cat didn’t like being surrounded by a wolf Pack. This was on top of the fact that, until very recently, Morgan hadn’t been exactly
comfortable
around shifters. But she took heart from the fact that her mate would be at her side. Matt knew these people, and she trusted his judgment.

So it was that Morgan found herself seated at a huge table in the giant house the werewolves were using as what Matt had called a
Pack house
while waiting for their permanent homes to be completed. Jenny sat at the head of the table with Philomena sharing the place of honor. The two Alpha females seemed to be good friends, if Morgan was any judge of their body language.

They’d left room for Matt and Morgan at the other end of the table, their families filling in the spaces all around. Drinks had already been served—soda mostly, with the occasional beer thrown in. Matt and Morgan were offered their choice of beverage and both accepted steaming mugs of coffee with thanks to the younger members of the wolf Pack, who served them.

This was really Morgan’s first look at a wolf Pack in their own environment, so to speak. Up until now, she’d watched the werewolf women from a distance, preferring to keep herself separate from the shifters who had come to work for Atticus. Morgan realized that had been a mistake.

There were a majority of women around this giant table, but there were also men scattered through the crowd. Philomena’s sons and the husbands of some of the other crew members. From what Morgan observed, nobody was subservient in a bad way to anyone else, though they all respected the Alphas among them.

And there were different degrees of Alpha-ness, for lack of a different word. The minute Matt came in, they’d all immediately deferred to him in a way they hadn’t to the others. Morgan sensed that she, too, was being afforded some deference, though she had no idea what she’d done to earn it. The younger members of the wolf Pack were speaking to her with the same kind of friendly, but respectful tone they used to address Jenny or Philomena.

Interesting.

“Thanks for meeting with us here,” Matt said, which seemed to call the meeting to order. Everyone quieted down and sat attentively, watching him. “There have been some developments, and it’s become clear that there’s a mole in the winery office. What do you all know of Irma?”

“She smells funny,” one youngster piped up. Even the cubs were at this meeting, which surprised Morgan, and the child who’d spoken wasn’t chastised. It seemed all were given a chance to speak at this sort of meeting.

Matt looked at the little boy, sitting on his mama’s lap. “What does she smell like to you, JayJay?” he asked gently.

“Bad,” the boy answered shyly, reaching for his mother’s hand. “She tried to give me a lolly, but I didn’t want it from her, and then, she looked mean at me when Mama wasn’t watching.”

The boy couldn’t be more than five years old. Probably younger, though Morgan wasn’t such a good judge of such things, having spent precious little time around children. But this boy had sensed something about Irma that the adults—and the Brotherhood’s best investigators—had missed.

“You’ve got very sharp senses, JayJay. You’re right to trust them,” Matt praised the boy, and it was clear the child was pleased with Matt’s public display of approval. He beamed while his mother hugged him close. “Did anybody else notice anything funny about her?” Matt asked again.

Heads shook all around, along with confused expressions. Some eyes held worry—and rightly so, Morgan realized.

“Don’t feel bad if you didn’t notice what JayJay did,” Matt said, offering some comfort to the others. “It turns out Irma is a
Venifucus
mage. Morgan and I saw her with our own eyes, working some kind of dark magic to stir the fault deep in the mine. She and two males—one of whom is her husband, Carlos. We’re still working on identifying the second male. From here on out, I want you all to stay as far away from Irma as possible. And if you see her anywhere near here, call me immediately. Or if one of the Brotherhood is nearby, tell them. We’re formulating a plan to stop Irma and her comrades, but we haven’t finalized it yet.”

Questions flew at that point, and Matt and Morgan both recounted what had happened to them in the mine. Most of the Pack already knew the bare bones of the story, but none had heard all the gory details yet. They’d just gotten to the part where Cameron showed up when the doorbell rang.

Jenny went to answer it and came back with the man himself. Matt made the introductions as room was made for Cam at the big table. Since he wasn’t a shifter, they didn’t seem to know where to place him, at first, but Matt solved the problem by moving his chair back and over a bit so Cam could sit next to him, in a spare chair brought by one of the younger wolves.

Matt watched the reactions of the wolf Pack carefully. Most of the predominantly female gathering seemed suspicious and unsure of Cam, but when Matt looked at little JayJay, it was clear adoration he saw in the child’s eyes when he looked at Cam. It seemed little JayJay had a level of perception about magic the rest of his family didn’t appear to have. That would bear further watching in the years to come, and Matt made a mental note to mention it to Grif, as Clan Alpha, and to the boy’s mother.

“Thank you, lass,” Cam said, smiling kindly at the young girl who brought him coffee. “And thank you all for welcoming me into your midst,” he said to the wider group. His brogue was in full effect, and the women watched him skeptically but with a willingness to hear him out that boded well for this meeting.

“What are you, Mister Cam?” JayJay asked out of turn, causing his mother to try to hush him, but Cameron only smiled at the boy.

“I’m fey,” Cameron answered into the silence of the room. All eyes were watching him.

“But you’re more, Mister Cam,” JayJay insisted.

Cam tilted his head. “Aye, laddie, I’m a fey knight, and I serve the Mother of All and her Light,” he announced simply. “It seems our Lady gave you a little more perception than the rest of your Clan. Keep your senses sharp and tell your elders when you see something that doesn’t seem right to you. It is your duty to help protect the Pack.”

Cameron spoke to the little boy with all seriousness, and Jay responded to the tone, nodding gravely. “I will, Mister Cam.” He turned to his mother, looking up at her. “I’m sorry I didn’t say about Miss Irma before.”

His mother kissed him and hugged him tight.

“That’s okay, little man,” Matt stepped in, talking in a low voice to Jay. “You didn’t know how important it was before. Now, you do. And, now, we know you are an excellent watcher, JayJay. We’ll need your talents in the days to come.”

“You can count on me, Alpha,” Jay was quick to proclaim.

“There is the little matter of safe passage,” Cam said into the silence, as the conversation turned. “The gold mine has long been a place where some of us cross from Underhill into this realm. The gateway is sealed from the rest of the mine now by a cave-in, but since you will be using parts of the mine as your den, I would not want to trespass in any way. I recognize the mine as yours, but I would request that I be granted safe passage from the gateway to the surface and through your lands to the outside world.”

“Is the gateway dangerous?” Jenny asked.

Cam regarded her, tilting his head as he considered his answer. “To those with no magic, it doesn’t really exist,” he said at last, but then, expounded. “But some of your Clan have magic and to them, it could be a bit of a problem. If they triggered it, they would end up in the fey realm and find it difficult to get back without assistance. I would, of course, help anyone so afflicted in any way I could, but time doesn’t pass the same way between our two realms, and that could cause problems for any unwitting travelers. It would be best if that particular access tunnel was made off limits to all but fey who might be traveling between realms.”