Grif (Tales of the Were - Redstone Clan) (14 page)

His eyes snapped open into hers and just that quickly his mood changed. He rolled, pinning her under his heavy body, rising up just enough so that he could meet her eyes as he began a pounding rhythm into her clasping body.

“How?” he asked, his pace increasing as his eyes held hers in a mesmerizing stare of passion. “How do I know?” He rubbed one long finger over her clit, forcing her to join him, dancing near the edge of fulfillment. She gasped, writing beneath him as her peak came so close, she knew within moments she would be shattered.

He pushed her higher still, his eyes holding a message of need, of want, and of something deeper still. “I know,” he gasped between hard thrusts, “because.” Each word was punctuated by a hard pulse. “You’re. My. Mate.”

She came with what felt like a clap of thunder, her body shattering into a million pieces as he pushed her over the edge. He followed, his hot essence filling her. He gathered her into his arms, holding her close as they writhed together in the long, long echoes of pleasure, coming down only a bit at a time, enjoying the languor of shared ecstasy.

“I was going to wish you a good morning, but I see you’ve already had that.” An amused male voice sounded from the doorway as Lindsey gasped. Grif stayed right where he was, on top of her, his softening cock buried up her wet pussy as if it was perfectly normal to have visitors during such moments. Her hands dug into his shoulders as her eyes widened in alarm.

“Go away Matt.”

Grif threw a pillow in the general direction of the door and Lindsey followed its trajectory with her eyes, all the way to a tall, muscular man who had to be one of Grif’s brothers. Lindsey was horrified when he dodged the pillow, meeting her gaze. The smile on his face was pure deviltry. He made a production out of licking his lips as his eyes traveled down what he could see of her body, roaming back up to give her a jaunty wink.

She would just bet he was the cougar who had tried to sniff her pussy the day before. He had that kind of mischievous air about him.

While she was busy being mortified apparently Grif was priming for more lovemaking. She gasped again when he started to move once more within her, hardening even as he began to thrust. Matt was still in the doorway, watching, and to her horror, another good looking man joined him with a nearly identical teasing smile.

“Aw, leave them be, Matt,” the other man said loud enough for Grif to hear. “Grif won’t be any use to us until he fucks her into oblivion.”

“I said—” Grif paused only slightly as he addressed his brothers in a stern voice, “—get the fuck out of here.” He emphasized his words by ramming into her with more force. When she would have objected, he squeezed her shoulders, forcing her eyes to meet his. “Only me, Lindsey. See only me. Nothing else matters.”

He mesmerized her, that was the only explanation she could come up with later as she realized that in that moment, the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir could be watching them and she couldn’t have cared less. When Grif made love to her, he was her only point of connection with the world. He was all that mattered, just as she realized that it was the same for him. She could read it in his eyes and the loving way he touched her, rough yet gentle, never giving her more than she could comfortably bear. He was a thoughtful lover who pressed her to stretch her boundaries and reach for what she really wanted.

And what she really wanted was him. Anyway, anyplace, anytime. She wanted him regardless of who watched or didn’t watch, or what happened in the world around them. All that mattered was him and the way he made her feel—cherished, valued and loved.

He increased his pace, bringing her to several beautiful orgasms before joining her in ecstasy. This time was slower, but no less intense. Actually, when Grif took his time, she realized, he brought her multiple orgasms that just went on and on. She never knew her body was capable of such, but Grif proved to her that with him, she could find pleasure the likes of which she had never even dreamed.

When she finally came back down to earth, she was glad to see the doorway was empty of Grif’s brothers, but she had no way of knowing just how much they had seen before leaving. She blushed deeply, wondering how she was going to face them. Undoubtedly she would be properly introduced to the two men who had come such a distance at their brother’s call. She had no idea how she was going to bluff her way through such a meeting.

“Are your brothers always so, um, mischievous?”

Grif had rolled off her to allow her to breathe, but he hadn’t gone far. His hand cupped her wet pussy as he held her tight, her back against his chest.

“That’s a kind word to use. Honey, they are Grade A pains in the ass sometimes.” They both chuckled at the exasperation in his tone. “Don’t let them bother you.”

“But they saw us—”

“Fucking?” His hand rested over her pussy, reminding her of the hard use he had just put her to and the incredible pleasure he had wrung from her body and soul. “Sweetheart, you’re going to have to get used to being
were
. Just as nudity isn’t a big deal for our kind, seeing mates enjoying each other isn’t a huge taboo either. Not like it can be in human society.”

She turned in his arms. “What does that really mean?” His eyes scrunched up as he seemed to try to follow her thoughts. “You said I was your mate.” His expression cleared, replaced by something that looked like joy to her.

“When a
were
of any species finds the one person in all the world who was meant for them, they mate for life. Lindsey, you’re my mate.” She had never seen him more serious, or happier.

“You mean you want to marry me?”

He nodded. “That’s one way of putting it, but mating entails more than a human marriage. It’s a deeper bond and it’s already formed between us. The ceremony is just a celebration of that bond. Really, it’s an excuse to have a party.” His smile charmed her. “Lindsey, will you mate with me?”

“Isn’t that what we’ve already been doing?” She couldn’t resist teasing him.

He smiled gently. “What we’ve been doing is making love, fucking like mates. For all intents and purposes, we’re mated already, but to make it official, there’s a ceremony we can hold, so my Clan can welcome you.”

“And have an excuse to hold a party, right?”

“Well, with all that’s going on, we’ll probably put it off for a few weeks, until we can gather with the Clan, but I’d like to know you’ll agree to the ceremony when we get to it.” He kissed her softly. “And for you to realize that I’m serious in this. You’re my mate. There’s no going back on that for me. The ceremony will make our mating known publicly. Plus, it would make me feel better to have some official claim on you in the eyes of the Clan. This way if anything happened to me, I know you would always have a home with my family.”

“Don’t talk like that, Grif.” She hugged him close, unable to bear even the thought of him coming to harm.

He sighed, stroking her soft hair. “I like to be prepared for all contingencies, sweetheart. I don’t intend anything to happen to me, but I’ll feel safer knowing that we’ve made things official between us. I want to claim you for the entire world to see, Lindsey. Even those mangy wolves will have to stand up and take notice of our mating. Kitten,” his eyes grew serious, “I hold a relatively high rank among the weretribes. As my mate, now you do too.”

“You’re kidding, right? I can barely walk on my four paws without tripping.”

He chuckled. “You’ll get better with practice, love. Regardless, I’m the leader of the Redstone Clan. As my mate, you’ll share part of that responsibility. The women of our Clan may come to you with their concerns and it’ll be your duty to listen and help when you can, and decide when an issue needs my intervention.”

“Wow.” She was stunned by the responsibility, unsure of her own ability to do the job, and still a little rocked by the idea that she was his mate. She knew she loved him, though she hadn’t found the courage to tell him that flat out, but how could he be so sure she was the one for him?

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

She searched his eyes. “How do you know I’m the one? How can you be so sure I’m the one person you’ve been looking for? Up until a few days ago I wasn’t even a shapeshifter. I have no idea how to live in your world, Grif. What if I can’t?”

He smiled with what looked like relief, hugging her close. “The Lady never gives us more than we can handle, sweetheart. You’ll learn our ways, I have no doubt of that. And to answer your other question, I knew almost from the first moment I saw you in the diner that you were mine. Something about you called to me but I didn’t understand it because you weren’t cougar then.” His hand stroked through her hair softly. “It drove me crazy, but I found myself prowling your land at night, guarding you while you slept, watching you through the holes in your roof, even on that first night. Sweetheart, I knew you were meant for me, but I didn’t understand it until the Lady made you cougar.”

She snuggled into him, needing his reassurance. “You spied on me through the roof?” She chuckled at the thought.

“How do you think I knew I could fix your roof? I did a little pre-inspection.”

“In the middle of the night? Climbing up on my roof without a ladder? Grif! You could have fallen.”

He soothed her though the thought of him falling off her roof made her shiver. “Don’t worry, honey. Cats are good climbers and we almost always land on our feet. You’ll learn that soon enough.”

“I don’t like heights.” She shivered again as he stroked her, but whether in fear or from his tempting closeness, even she didn’t know.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to climb anything unless you want to, but it’s a good skill to learn. Most other things that will come after you in the wild can’t climb well, so it’s a good escape route.”

“You mean other animals chase you when you’re in cougar form?” She was appalled by the idea, but he just shrugged.

“Once in a while something bigger, like a grizzly, will try, but most animals give all
were
a wide berth. Most
were
forms are natural predators and with the human influence we’re pretty powerful hunters. Animals sense that and most steer clear. Of course, once in a while different kinds of
were
will chase each other for fun.”

“Fun?” This was certainly an odd world she had gotten herself into. She felt a bit like Alice must have felt after she fell down that rabbit hole.

“Some of the wolf Pack up here likes to play games once in a while, but it’s mostly all in fun. A lot of growling and posturing but I can almost always outrun them.”

“What about when you can’t outrun them?” Her eyes were wide as she pulled back to watch his grinning face.

He squeezed her as he kissed the tip of her nose. “That’s what trees are for. Wolves can’t climb for shit.”

After they were dressed, Lindsey plucked up her courage to face the two brothers to whom she had yet to be properly introduced. She couldn’t help the blistering blush that stained her cheeks as Grif held her against his chest, his arms under her breasts, facing the two men.

“Boys, this is my mate, Lindsey.” She heard the rumble of satisfaction in his voice and felt it against her back as he held her close in the spacious kitchen. “Sweetheart, this is Steve.” He pointed her toward the slightly larger, more muscular of the two men standing at the kitchen counter, impatiently watching the toaster. “And the youngster over there is Matt.”

Matt snatched the much awaited toast out of his older brother’s hands. Steve went after him, making stabbing snatches at the toast, to no avail. Steve’s eyes were a deep chocolate brown, holding secrets and wisdom in their depths as he gave up on the toast and faced her with an appraising look.

“Welcome to the family.” His voice was pleasant, deep and masculine and his manner was friendly. He really did make her feel welcome. As Grif finally released her, Steve stepped forward and took her by the arms, pulling her close for a hug that took her by surprise.

Even more shocking was the kiss he placed on her startled lips a moment later. He smiled down into her startled eyes and licked his lips as he drew away.

“You’re a sweet one, Lindsey and you’ve made my brother a grinning, happy fool. I say it’s about time.” He released her and clapped Grif on the back, both men sharing an admiring glance at her as she was swept into Matt’s arms for a second smooch and warm embrace.

“Damn,” Matt said as he pulled back. “Grif is a lucky man. Welcome, to the Clan.”

She stammered out what she hoped was a polite thanks, realizing yet again that traditions among the weretribes were undoubtedly different than what she was used to. Being kissed on the mouth by her brothers-in-law apparently was something quite normal. She wondered and worried a bit over what else might be considered normal to these folks, but she was a shifter now, and she had better get used to it.

Chapter Nine

The men each packed away more food at breakfast than Lindsey had been used to eating in an entire day, but she found her own appetite had increased as well. While nowhere near the full package of bacon, dozen eggs, and multitude of muffins the men ate, she still found herself taking an extra helping here and there because she was truly hungry. The fact that little Belinda ate as much as she did simply amazed her.

Lindsey found herself grinning as she went for her fourth strip of bacon.

“What’s made you so happy?” Grif dropped a quick kiss on her temple as she stuffed the last piece of crispy bacon in her mouth and chewed. He dipped down to lick at her lips, catching a bit of the flavor on his tongue. “Mmm, bacon.”

She swallowed happily. “I’m amazed by the idea that I can eat that extra piece of bacon and not have it go straight to my hips.”

Nuzzling her ear he whispered. “The only thing going straight to your hips, Lindsey, will be me.” He pulled her chair closer to his with a loud scrape as the family watched indulgently.

Belinda jumped up from the table and put her dishes in the sink. “I’m going to check on Blaze.”

“Who’s Blaze?” Lindsey asked with more enthusiasm than the question warranted, embarrassed to have been caught cuddling with Grif in even so innocent a way. The last thing she wanted to do was upset his little sister—or any of his family, for that matter.