Authors: Milly Taiden
He chuckled. “Just chopping the arm off? Pain must not be so bad then. I’d have thought it hurt to the point you may want to kill me.”
She growled, showing her perfectly straight teeth for him. “If I killed you, who would get me the awesome drugs and yummy food?”
“That’s right. You have use for me.” He winked. The tightness in his chest loosened some. He was having a hard time holding it together. Watching her sit there in pain was tearing his heart into pieces. The animal inside hurt from being unable to help his mate. All Aric wanted was to hold Jordan in his arms, hold her tight, and reassure himself and his animal that she was fine.
“Don’t get cocky. Once I feel good, all bets are off.”
* * *
After a few days of taking care of Jordan, he was starting to see why she had warned him off. She was incredibly disorganized, which was hell for someone like him. He had a sharp mind and a great memory, but also liked to stay on top of things by writing them down and keeping a clear work area.
At her insistence, he’d brought her laptop and the memory cards to her bed and watched her take notes while she watched video after video of the scenting ceremony.
“You know, I’m going to have to go back there.” She bit her nail. Her focus was solely on the screen and the notes littering the bed. He’d gotten her pads of paper and had even offered to help take notes, but she said she had her own way of working. It was something he’d have to get used to since this was the woman he wanted to be with.
“Do you want me to clean this up for you?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’m good.” A perfectly arched, dark brow lifted and she pointed a finger at him. “And don’t think I don’t hear you cleaning up all the time.”
He lifted his hands in surrender. “I have to prove I’m good to keep around.”
Every day that went by, he learned something new about her. Not just the big things, like the fact she hated doing dishes to the point she’d order out just to not dirty plates or pots.
“What are you smiling at?” She asked suspiciously. “If you say my love for some of the stupid shows on TV I may hurt you.”
That was another thing, she was a fan of paranormal shows along with shows that made fun of the silly things humans did when bored.
“No, though I have to admit some of those were pretty funny.”
She grinned. “See, I told you they would be. So what were you smiling at?”
“Laundry,” he said and heard her groan.
“Why would that make you smile?”
“I just can’t believe someone as beautiful, intelligent, and fantastic as you would prefer to buy new clothes than to do laundry.” He chuckled. That had been a definite eye-opener. His mate was far from perfect, and yet she still felt absolutely perfect for him.
He’d found out more important things about her than those silly superficial flaws. She was caring enough to donate to an animal shelter. Not only did she give up her money, but one weekend every month, she donated her time too.
“Hey, I had to have a flaw somewhere. Nobody’s perfect. I’m as close as you get, fur ball. Besides, I’m not the one who has his own business but lives at home with mom just because he loves how she cooks.”
“I’ve been cooking for you!” He tried to sound indignant, but failed miserably by laughing. “And, you’ve had my mother’s food.”
She sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. You did the right thing. I’d still be living at home if my mom cooked like that.”
He’d never tire of her wit.
“You know, I cook just as good as my mom.” He waggled his brows and leaned toward her on the bed.
The days they’d spent together had given their relationship the ability to grow without the added stress of dating. She was human after all, and he could not just mate her and move in like most shifters did. Jordan needed to see the proof of how well things progressed naturally with them.
“Oh.” She put the notepad she’d been writing on to the side and lifted one hand to summon him closer with the crook of a finger.
He moved beside her, until they were only inches apart.
“That’s right. I’m a god in the kitchen.” Arousal flared in her eyes. “I’m a god in bed too.”
She smiled. “I’m going to need proof of that. Think you can prove it?”
His cock went stiff at her throaty request.
“For you? Anything.”
“That’s what I like to hear, my sexy wolf.”
He lifted a hand to cup her jaw, slipped his hand into her loose hair, and pulled her forward to mash their lips together.
She licked the seam of his mouth, sucked on his bottom lip, and drove her tongue in. Before long, they were fully involved in removing clothing. He laid her back with care, knowing she still had cuts that hadn’t healed.
His erection throbbed at the mewling sounds she made. He sucked her breasts, licking and nipping her nipples before sliding his way between her thighs.
The scent of her honey called to him. She was slick and hot and so wet his mouth watered. One swipe of his tongue on her clit and she was shaking. A dip of his digit into her sex and she was moaning. Fucking her with his fingers and sucking her swollen nubbin with his mouth brought the ultimate response. She gasped, gripped his hair in her hands and rocked her pussy over his mouth.
“Oh God! Oh yes!”
He added a second digit into the mix while licking circles around her pleasure center.
“Dear God, that feels amazing.”
He growled into her sex. She spasmed and dug her nails into his scalp. Her muscles tensed under his touch. He rubbed his pinky on her dripping channel, and then slid it into her ass.
“Oh…my…God…”
He drove his digits in and out of her pussy and ass in tandem with the flicking of his tongue over her clit.
Took her about thirty seconds to scream and for her pussy to grip and suck his fingers with her orgasm. He continued to draw out her pleasure by slowly rubbing his digits in her channel in the shape of a hook.
One full body shudder and she was still gasping for air. Her knees shook. She tugged him up to her body, curling a leg around his ass.
“So, my sexy, inked wildman.” She licked his jaw and he slipped his cock into her wet heat. “I’d tell you to fuck me already, but…” She flipped on the bed. He was on his back and she straddled his thighs. “I think I’ll fuck you instead.”
This was another reason he couldn’t stand the thought of being away from her. She was sexy as hell in bed. “Works for me.”
She caressed down his chest, flicking her nails on his nipples. “You have such a sexy body.”
Passion and something else filled her gaze, something that made his stomach clench.
“Nothing compares to yours,” he whispered. Love filled his heart with tender thoughts of making her happy. Not just love, but a deep sense of commitment to ensure Jordan’s protection. His breaths pounded hard in his ears. He’d do whatever was necessary to keep his mate safe.
She smiled the sexy little grin that made him feel like a teenager in lust. “I think I’ll just lick my way down your body.”
“You better not. I don’t think I can control myself that long.” He said the words roughly. His animal was pushing at the skin. He wanted inside her. Now.
Her soft laughter made the beast inside him calm down. His mate was happy.
“Alright. You’ve been a good nurse, and I guess I should be nice and repay all the taking care of me you’ve been doing.” She gripped his cock in her hand.
He sucked a breath in. “If you think it’s necessary.” He choked out.
“Oh.” She placed the head of his cock at her entrance, met his gaze and licked her lips. “I insist.”
She slammed down in one fell swoop. Her pussy tightened around him in a silken hold. He groaned. He might die of pleasure, but what a way to go.
He gripped her hips and squeezed her ass. “Feel free to repay me this way for anything I ever do for you in the future.”
She giggled and dropped again. And again. The heat built from the friction of their mating. She rocked over him, wiggling her hips and jerking his cock with her tight sheath.
“Fuck!”
Her rhythm increased in tempo. He helped her ride him. She laid her palms flat on his chest and thumbed his nipples. His cock was getting a serious sucking by her pussy.
She rocked harder, faster, faster, until she gasped and her body’s grip on his dick tightened.
“Keep going baby.”
Her mouth dropped opened. She puffed in and out while gliding on his cock. He slipped a hand between her legs, rubbing a finger over her tight little nubbin.
One choked moan and her body turned stiff. He pinched her clit and she groaned. Her pussy rippled over his cock, sucking him deep with each contraction of her climax.
He lifted her by her waist and dropped her hard on his steely shaft while she was still coming down from her high. Pleasure blasted down his spine. He jerked inside her body, filling her with his seed.
She dropped on his chest. He stayed inside her, even after his dick went limp for all of thirty seconds, before he went hard again. She hugged him tight while they caught their breaths.
* * *
“Jordan!” Ellie snapped her fingers in front her face and took a sip of her mixed drink. “Would you please stop daydreaming about my brother? It’s going to traumatize me to keep scenting your arousal for him.”
Jordan laughed. “Sorry, but it’s his fault for being so damn fantastic in bed.”
“Oh, ew!” Ellie covered her ears. “I don’t want to hear it. Stop! Stop!”
Jordan chuckled and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear. “Alright, calm down.”
“Did you and Aric finally decide on a date for you to go from marked to mated?”
Jordan choked on the fruity cocktail. “What?”
She coughed through the liquor stinging the back of her throat. Her eyes watered. Did she hear her say the ultimate wolf commitment word of mate? “What do you mean marked and mated?”
Ellie stopped her hand mid air on her way to bring her drink to her lips and gawked. “Are you serious?”
“I thought you said you didn’t get drunk like humans?” Jordan continued to cough into a napkin. A waitress placed a glass of water in front of her with some napkins. “Right now you sound pretty drunk to me.”
“I don’t get drunk. Stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m sure by now you know about being marked. You and Aric have been glued at the hip, or better said, the crotch,” she giggled, “for the past few weeks. At some point, he had to have discussed your marking.”
“What marking?”
Surprise lit Ellie’s gaze. “He really didn’t tell you?”
Panic started to build inside her. Had Aric kept something important from her? “No. Tell me what? Stop hedging and talk already. What is this about a mark and mating?”
She’d caught more than Jordan’s interest with those words. For as long as she’d been friends with Ellie one of the things she’d learned about shifters was that they only mated with a person they were willing to spend their life with. It was marriage, wolf-style.
Ellie put her drink on the napkin and licked her lips. She appeared unsure of what was going on. “Jordan, Aric marked you.”
“I don’t remember any marks. And I’m pretty sure I’d know if he had.” She glanced down at her body expecting some strange new symbol to appear out of nowhere on her skin. Not that she could see through her dress, but she instinctively made a visual assessment for anything strange. Nothing.
“Oh, you’re marked. I can still smell it. It’s waning, but it’s there.” Ellie lifted her brows with a grin. “You’re a marked woman.”
Jordan laughed at Ellie’s reference to the
Scarlet Letter
. “Where in the world am I marked?”
She sipped her Wild Paradise cocktail and lifted the tiny colorful umbrella stabbing a cherry. “Somewhere behind your right shoulder is my guess.”
Her hand went to the back of her shoulder, feeling over her skin to encounter a small bite scar. “That is my mark? He bit me during sex, big deal.”
“Yeah, that’s usually how it happens.” Ellie giggled. “Unless you’re in a scenting ceremony, in which case it happens in the vicinity of a bunch of relatives.”
“Are you saying Kelly and Marco had sex in front of everyone?” She had to watch the rest of those videos. None of the others had caught anything that X-rated.
“Not in front of everyone, but in the vicinity. Like you and my perverted brother,” she mumbled.
“Did he tell you about that?”
“Didn’t have to.”
Jordan gasped. “Oh. Em. Gee! You knew!”
Ellie gulped her drink down.
“Did you tell him I was there?” She watched guilt creep over Ellie’s pale feature to turn her face a dark crimson. “You sent him to me? Ellie Wolfe, you best start talking before I kick your butt out of this place.”
“Alright.” She sighed. “I did send him, but only after he told me what his intentions were. I don’t ever want anyone hurting you and that includes anyone in my family.”
She was confused as hell. “What were his intentions?”
“To take you for a mate.”
He’d said all that stuff about having a relationship, but she thought he meant in time. Like at some point in the future after he got to be with her as a couple. Not right frickin’ now. It was one thing to date; this mate stuff was a whole different level of commitment.