Shoot for the Moon (Black River Pack Book 2) (3 page)

I tried to refocus as Eliza and Hunter continued their conversation.

“I didn’t come here a lone wolf because I wanted to be one. People don’t like hearing bad news, and my dreams always make me the bearer of it,” Eliza said, unaware of the turmoil her words had caused. “What happens in them—it doesn’t have to be reality. There’s still time to change the outcome, so I keep trying to make a difference even though it makes people hate me when they come true.”

“The loyalty you swore to me when you joined my pack goes both ways, Eliza. You have no need to hide your gifts from us,” my brother assured her.

“You believe me?” she gasped. “Just like that?”

“I’m sure you and Spencer will have much to talk about soon, including the reasons why I don’t doubt that you see things in your dreams that come true. But if you’ve seen my mate’s death, then I need you to focus on what you can tell me to help me stop that from becoming her reality,” Hunter replied, and I knew he’d come to the same realization about Eliza’s being my mate as I had.

“Yes, of course,” she agreed before describing her nightmare in detail. “I went to her room in the hope I would be able to recreate the dream again. I didn’t see enough to keep her safe, and I wanted to see if I could nudge my dreams in her direction when surrounded by her things.”

“And did it work?” Hunter asked.

She shook her head sadly. “No. I don’t have control over them, and it could be months again before I have another. I’m sorry.”

Hunter sighed in frustration, and I wanted to punch him in the face because it was clear that Eliza was trying her best. He had no reason to be upset with her, but his reply eased my anger.

“I understand, but next time something like this happens, you will come to me or Spencer. If not, you’ll be punished.”

“Yes, alpha. I swear I won’t keep anything like this from you in the future,” she promised.

Oh hell no
, I thought. She better understand right now that she didn’t need to worry about Hunter.

“Or from me,” I growled.

When Hunter looked at me apologetically, I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to say next. “I’m sorry, Spencer. I know there are things that need to be said between the two of you, but I need you with me until the danger to Grace has passed.” Then he gripped my shoulder before walking past me to the truck.

“Eliza,” I sighed, trying to gather my thoughts and find the right words to explain how I could have messed this up so badly.

Eliza raised her hand to stop me. “No,” she hissed in a low voice as she glanced towards the truck, where Hunter was waiting for me. “I get that you’re probably mad at me because I chose not to share my dream about Grace with you, but you need to understand one thing right now. It was my choice. Just because you’re the guy in my life giving me orgasms for now doesn’t mean you own me.”

Her words, which had so quickly followed my realization she was my fated mate, made me see red. I pressed against her until her back was against the front door, leaving no room for her to get away.

“I don’t have a lot of time because Hunter needs me, but let’s get a couple of things straight right fucking now. The instant you thought my brother’s, our alpha’s, mate was in danger, you should have come to me. I’m the pack’s enforcer, dammit!”

“I would have told you the second I had anything solid to share,” she hissed.

“You’re in my fucking bed, Eliza. You don’t need to wait until you have solid intel. You come to me the instant something’s wrong,” I argued.

“And say what?” she asked. “‘I think Grace is in trouble because I had a dream about her’? Bullshit! The second I laid that on you, you would have been out of my bed quick as a flash. You’ve had one foot out of it since the second you decided you wanted in. You made that damn clear to me when we started this.”

“If you’d ever actually shared what was going on in that head of yours before tonight, then I would have had you mated, marked, and claimed so fast your head would have fucking spun,” I bit out. “Instead of being an ass because I was so fucking pissed off you made me feel things I was only supposed to feel for my mate.”

“What?” she gasped, slumping against me.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, and her scent filled my lungs. It was the same scent that had been driving me wild for years. And if I had been paying attention, I would have realized that her scent called to me like none other because she was my mate.

I reached out and cupped her cheeks with my palms. “I’ve been waiting for my mate for years, Eliza. Ever since my grandmother shared a vision with me and my brothers. For years, I’ve been focused on finding the woman who would be able to walk in dreams. If you’d only told me sooner, I would have known you were my dream girl all along.”

For a split second, hope and love shone from Eliza’s eyes. And then they dimmed as she squashed it and straightened her spine.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to wait until another woman with the same gift comes along, because I’m not your mate.”

Hearing her tell me that she wasn’t mine threw me off-balance, which gave her the opportunity she needed to shove me and fling the door open behind her. Then she slipped through the opening and slammed it shut, right in my face.

As much as I wanted to force my way inside and make her listen to me, I knew I had to wait until Grace’s situation was resolved. And now, I was even more determined to wrap it up as soon as possible so I could focus on Eliza.

“You didn’t know she was your mate?” Hunter asked me when I climbed into the truck.

“No, and now I’m going to have to convince her she really is my mate since I’ve treated her like a casual lay for the last year,” I answered.

“A monogamous one at least.”

“And thank fuck for that,” I replied, relieved beyond belief that my fuck-up wasn’t to that monumental level. From the moment I’d laid eyes on Eliza, all other women had ceased to exist for me—yet another sign of how incredibly stupid I’d been since meeting her. “Because it’s going to be hard enough to explain why I’ve held her at arm’s length emotionally when I should have marked and mated her months and months ago.”

Chapter 2

Eliza

I didn’t know what to think when Spencer told me his grandmother had shared with him a vision she’d had when he was younger—one that foretold that he would mate with a woman who walked in dreams. I’d never run across anyone else with the same gift as mine. I didn’t think the odds were high that Spencer would meet another woman like me and mate with her, but I didn’t understand how it all fit together. I’d been dreaming the same thing for years now, and although my dreams didn’t always come true, I had a hard time believing that one this persistent wasn’t real unless I’d managed to change my fate already. Maybe telling him about my ability was all I’d needed to do to stop it from happening.

The mere thought that I now might have a future with Spencer was almost more than I could wrap my head around. For the first time in years, I had hope that Spencer and I would become mates. But I was still a little bitter at the way he’d treated me the last year. I couldn’t just let go of all the pain I’d suffered each time he’d walked away from me. Even if we were able to move past this, there was a lot for us to talk about. So I waited up for him all night, hoping that, even with everything going on, he would still make time for me.

It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that I heard his truck pull into the drive. He must have been in a hurry to get to me, because he quickly moved up the steps of my porch and didn’t bother to knock before he flung my front door open.

“Thank fuck you’re still up,” he grumbled as he shed his coat and boots. “I’m sorry it took me so long, but this mess with Grace isn’t good and Hunter needed me to take care of a few things before I could get here.”

“I know,” I whispered. “Her situation is serious and you need to do whatever you can to make sure she isn’t killed.”

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t make time for you, too,” he promised, bending down to place a kiss on my lips before pulling me off the couch so we were on our feet, facing each other.

“Because you think I’m the woman your grandmother told you about?”

“Yes. I’m sure you are,” he agreed.

“Which means all of a sudden you think I’m your mate and that makes me worthy of your time?”

“I know I fucked up with you when we first met. I should have paid more attention to you, listened to my wolf, and realized that the crazy pull you have on me meant you were my mate. It’s not just about my grandmother’s vision. If I hadn’t been so goddamn stubborn, I would have handled you better from the start,” Spencer tried to explain.

“Handle me? That’s what you call telling me the most I could ever be to you was a fuck between the sheets while you waited for your precious mate?” I hissed.

“Eliza,” he sighed. “I get that it’s gonna take me a long time to make all that shit up to you. I never should have treated you like anything other than my cherished mate. I’m not asking you to forget about the last year. Hell, I don’t want to forget any of it even if we never moved past casual.”

His words surprised me. “But why? We didn’t do anything except sleep together. No dates. No movies or shared meals. All we have to remember from the last year is sex.”

Spencer pulled me into his arms and held me tight as he answered. “Even though that’s true, my best memories are my nights with you.”

I’d never had sweet words from Spencer before now, and it was hard to resist him. “I don’t know. I can’t wrap my head around what you’re telling me yet. I need more time.”

“Fine,” he huffed. “Take some time, but you won’t spend it apart from me. You might not be ready to move forward with me, but I sure as hell am not going to let you move us backwards. You’ll do your thinking in the day and spend your nights with me.”

“Pretty bossy for a guy in the doghouse,” I chided him.

“Tell me you don’t want me to make you come right now, dream girl,” he whispered, cradling my face in his hands.

A laugh sputtered out of me because, when he put it like that, he certainly had a point. I couldn’t say the words because, more than anything, I wanted to feel close to him in this moment.

“Does that mean you want me to make you come?” he teased before sweeping me off my feet and into his arms.

“Yes,” I moaned.

Then Spencer strode to my room and tossed me on the bed. When his fingers brushed against my skin while he was unbuttoning the nightshirt I was wearing, I shivered. Once it was open, my naked body was revealed to him.

His nose flared as he inhaled. “Mine,” he growled. “Right in front of my goddamn nose and you’ve been mine all along.”

Before I could protest, he crushed his mouth against mine for a deep kiss. His tongue licked along the seam of my lips until they parted, and then it dove inside to tangle with mine. He practically devoured me. By the time he pulled away, I was panting with need.

“You’re so beautiful,” he rasped before grasping my ankles and parting my thighs.

Bending over me, he trailed warm kisses from my ankle up to my knee before switching to the other leg. When he sank his teeth into the arch of my foot, I nearly came. With lowered lids, I watched him as he wedged his shoulders between my legs so he could kiss the soft skin of my inner thighs. My breath was choppy, and I gripped the sheets beneath me in my fists.

“I need to taste you again,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.

He kept his dark eyes on mine as his tongue swept from my thigh, over my pussy lips, and up to my clit. I nearly flew off the bed as he flicked over that sensitive bundle of nerves.

“Please,” I moaned.

Spencer chuckled. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. “I knew you wanted me to make you come.”

I fisted his hair in my fingers, trying to draw him closer to my body. He gently blew against me, his warm breath further heating my flesh. Then his tongue curled around my clit and he sucked hard. Wrapping my legs around his back, I arched my own.

“I want to come now,” I whimpered.

Spencer’s tongue gave one last lick to my clit before sliding down and into my opening. He stroked in and out of me until I was trembling with need. I felt like lightning was flowing through my veins as my womb tightened. Just as I was getting close to the edge, he pulled his tongue from my pussy and knelt between my legs.

“No!” I cried, trying to reach out and force his head closer. I nearly wailed with frustration as my climax receded.

“Not yet,” he growled. “The next time you come, it will be with your sweet pussy milking my cock.”

Spencer lifted my hips and eased into me. Once he’d sunk all the way in, he lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me. I could taste myself on his lips and nearly came when I thought about how it felt to have his wet tongue on my pussy. I whimpered with need and let my hands roam over his chest, lightly scratching as they moved.

“You feel so fucking good. Always have, but now that I know you’re my mate, it’s even better if that’s even possible.” He trailed kisses along my neck and jaw. When he rolled his hips, I quivered, and then I cried out as his teeth sank into my earlobe. “You ready for me to take you and make you mine, dream girl?”

“Yes,” I gasped.

“Good,” he growled before lowering his head to clamp his mouth around one of my nipples.

I arched my back further when he sucked deeply. The sting from his teeth had the fur of my wolf brushing along my skin. She wanted him to mark me and make me his mate, but I wasn’t ready yet, so I pushed her down and focused on the pleasure I was feeling instead.

Spencer’s skin was hot and slick against mine as he pumped his hips, stroking me deep inside. I felt my womb quickening again, and my walls clenched against his cock with each thrust.

“Not yet, dream girl,” he whispered, his lips touching my ear. “I don’t want this to end, and if you come, then I will, too.”

His voice rumbled against my skin, sending goose bumps over my flesh. I was shaking with need but tried to hold back the climax that was quickly building inside me.

“Please,” I begged.