THOMAS: Le Beau Brothers - New Orleans Billionaire Wolf Shifters with plus sized BBW for mates (Le Beau Series Book 4) (16 page)

Thomas had a magical mouth and tongue. He licked and sucked her into the stratosphere. In minutes, he had her shouting his name a second time.

Panting she carefully moved to lie beside him. It wasn’t easy when her legs felt like a Gumby dolls. “Give me,” she panted hard, “a minute and I will start the ritual.”

“Whatever you need, baby.” His body hummed in anticipation of making her completely his. For now, he was happy to hold her in his arms, running his fingers up and down her body.”

“Babe, did you ask your father how the aging thing works with you already being older than I am?”

Once she was able to speak, she said. “I called him and he told me my age will synchronize with yours. So essentially we’ll both continue to look like we are twenty-five, and I won’t start to age at my normal nine hundred years. Instead, my body will wait for you to reach nine hundred and then we will start to age together until we reach around fourteen hundred.” She ran her fingers through his hair as if studying it. “I’ve been thinking about the color of your wolf. Based on your hair color, I’m not so sure you’ll be brown; I think you will look like a normal wild gray wolf. With the tans, and whites, and grays mixed together in its coat.”

“That’s cool.” He grinned. “I was told that the normal magical powers I’ll receive are the ability to dress or undress with a thought, which I think is going to come in very handy. Especially the undressing part.”

Julia giggled when he tickled her ribs.

“I’m also really looking forward to the healing ability. In my line of work, being able to heal ten times faster will be a huge asset. The ability to move so rapidly, the human eye can’t detect me will be cool but since I deal mostly with supes, it’ll just make me as fast as they are. We’ve already talked telepathically and sent each other caresses and feelings of emotion through our magical connection, so no explanation needed there.” Thomas paused with a very serious expression on his face. “I think my additional gift will be an enhancement of the one I already have, which might suck unless it comes with the power to control it better.”

Julia nodded. “I think you’re right, and the enhanced ability usually comes with ways to control and use it, that you never had before. So, I think you’ll really like it.”

“Thanks, babe, I needed that. For a second there I was a little apprehensive.”

“You’re welcome, mon amour,” she said caressing his chest.”

Thomas slid his hands along her collarbones and up her neck to cup her face. Her chest rumbled as he brought his lips to hers, pausing to envelop himself in her scent. He kissed her gently, easing her lips apart and searching with his tongue in an unhurried exploration. Their tongues reached for each other, dancing and caressing. Their kisses were slower and less frantic than before.

He pulled her over his body again to straddle his hips. Then, trailed his palms down her ribcage and over her soft, round belly to stop and grip her hips. He moaned when her heated core ground against him as he pulled her to his lips again.

Slowly, Julia burned a trail of kisses across his stubbled jaw and down his neck, stopping to give special attention to the spot, which would bear her bite. She traced, licked, and nibbled another trail down his chest.

“Baby, you’re so damn sexy. How did I get so lucky?”

“You must have really good karma,” she teased as she rose to sit up and stroke his shaft along her wet pussy.

He reached up and ran one palm from her neck to her heated core while maintaining a grip on her with the other.

She gasped, arching her back when he began stroking her clit. “I need to start the ritual before we go too far. Are you ready?”

“Absolutely.”

Taking a deep breath, she started the ritual words. “Will you give yourself, body and soul, to complete this woman and her wolf?

“Will you unite your life with mine, bond your future with mine, and merge your half of our soul to mine, and in doing so complete the mating ritual?”

Without hesitation he answered. “I will give myself, body and soul, to complete you as a woman and her wolf.

“I will unite my life with yours, bond my future to yours, and merge my half of our soul with yours. I will complete the mating ritual with you.”

Julia used her thighs to lift her body off his hips so she could position his erection where she needed it. Never losing eye contact, she sank down onto him until he was seated fully.

Thomas gripped her hips rising to meet each of her rocking thrusts. Their panting grew heavy, and she knew they needed to complete this now.

“I claim you as my mate.” The magic began to swirl around them.

“I belong to you as you belong to me.

“I give you my heart and my body.

“I will protect you even with my life.

“I give you all I am.

“I share my half of our soul to complete you.

“I share my magic with you.”

Julia leaned forward kissing Tommy deeply before trailing her lips to his neck. She lapped where his shoulder and neck met, once, twice, a third time, and then bit, piercing the flesh with her wolf’s canines.

Thomas groaned, he’d heard the bite was erotic, but this was so much more than he had expected. His hips jerked into Julia, slamming his raging cock deep as Julia licked the wound clean.

With one last lick, she began again. “I beseech the great Luna Goddess to bless you and your wolf guardian.

“You are my mate to cherish today and for all time.

“I claim you as my mate.”

He felt something like a wind enter his body; it made him feel full and complete. Funny, he’d never felt incomplete before, at least not that he’d noticed. But then, his mother had done everything in her power to make him feel more loved then any of the kids he ever met. As a matter of fact, he’d often felt bad for the other kids who were more ignored than loved by their mothers. Now, it made sense, as a shifter mate she had sensed his need without even knowing she was doing it. Through the fog of his thoughts, he heard Julia’s sweet voice.

“Tommy, you need to repeat the words back to me.”

He looked directly into her eyes and began. “I claim you as my mate.

“I belong to you as you belong to me.

“I give you my heart and my body.

“I will protect you even with my life.

“I give you all I am.

“I share my half of our soul to complete you.”

Julia laughed as she felt their souls come together, as if tiny knitting needles rapidly closed the gap between the two halves to leave a complete, glowing soul.

“It tickles.” She laughed again.

Thomas chuckled as he continued. “I share my magic with you.”

He pulled Julia down to him so he could reach her neck. He copied what she had done, lapping. Once, twice, a third time. Suddenly canines erupted in his mouth. The teeth only stunned him for a moment before instinct took over, and he bit down.

Julia moaned, rocked as best she could, lying on his chest.

He licked the wound clean and said. “I beseech the great Luna Goddess to bless you and your wolf guardian.

“You are my mate to cherish today and for all time.

“I claim you as my mate.”

With the ritual words completed, she sat up and rode her new mate like there was no tomorrow.

Thomas was right there with her, thrusting his hips up as she came down, using his grip on her hips to help lift her up and slam her home.

“I can’t believe you’re mine, really mine. God! You’re so tight, you feel so good.”

Suddenly she exploded in ecstasy. Her channel clamped down on him as she came hard, screaming his name for a third time tonight.

Thomas followed her immediately with his release, yelling her name with abandon.

Julia collapsed to his chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around her. He held her like that for a minute or two before urging her to cuddle beside him where he could hold her while they slept.

Breathing out a contented sigh, Julia cuddled into Thomas’s side with one arm across his chest.

She smiled as she felt his lips brush her forehead. Comfort and love washed over her as Tommy used their bond to kiss her goodnight.

Ten a.m. and they were already pulling up to his new house on the royal plantation. “Don’t move,” Thomas told Julia as he jumped from the car and ran around to open her door. “Welcome home, mate,” he grinned as he helped her from the passenger side.

“Wow! I didn’t get to look around the grounds much during the gathering. Your security team prevented anyone from wandering outside the party boundaries, so I missed seeing these new homes. This is awesome!”

“I’m glad you like it. Let me show you around.”

Thomas took her by the hand and gave her the grand tour. A kitchen that would make a chef think they’d died and gone to heaven, followed by a huge great room with a pool table and monster size flat screen TV. Then it was off to the bedrooms and wrap around balcony on the second floor.

“Um... Tommy. How many kids are you planning on having?” Julia asked nervously, as she counted six bedrooms.

“One or two, why?”

“You have a lot of bedrooms for only a couple kids.”

Thomas laughed at her horrified expression. “I wanted extra guest rooms for visitors. As chief of security, I have extra guards for events like the gathering, and when they travel to help me on location, they stay with me.”

“Oh,” Julia said with an embarrassed smile.

“Don’t worry, babe. When we decide to have kids, we will decide how many together.”

Julia continued to blush as he ended the tour with the master suite: a huge bedroom, sitting room combination with a massive bathroom that contained a Jacuzzi tub large enough for a small family. The walk–in closet, was bigger than her entire bedroom at her house.

“Wow, this is a great house,” she called from inside the closet. “Did you design it yourself?”

“Kind of. I told the architect what I wanted and the general layout, and he drew it up for my approval.”

She stepped from the closet and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Your house is perfect.”

With a raised eyebrow, Thomas used his index finger to lift her chin until she met his gaze. “Our house. And anything you want to change, let me know and I’ll make it happen.”

Her warm breath raised goosebumps on the exposed skin of his neck, right over her bite mark. Chills ran down his spine as the temperature in the room suddenly increased. The soft press of her lips to her mating mark was almost his undoing. 

“Julia,” he whispered, as he claimed her mouth.

A soft moan escaped as she parted her lips for him.

He swept his tongue inside. Like lovers who had been together for years, their bodies molded seamlessly. One hand wove into her long hair while the other wrapped around her hip, fitting her closer. There was no mistaking his reaction to her; she could feel it pressing into her stomach.

He ended the kiss and held her close. “I’ll never get tired of kissing you.”

“I certainly hope not.” She laughed, with her eyes shining brightly.

“As much as I would love to strip you bare and lock you in our bedroom for a week, we have to get your stuff from your house while we have daylight.”

“I know, but you’re just so tempting; I couldn’t help enjoying your scent. But you’re right, we need to pick up a few things from my house and talk to Logan about The Backwater.”

As if in response to her mention of the bar, he stiffened and turned in the direction it lay across the swamp. The claiming had enhanced his gift all right, and now he could sense anger and intent to do harm from miles away. The good news was, at least now he could turn it off or tune it to specific people or locations. Being able to pinpoint his sensitivity was a godsend, or should he say a Goddess send.

“Something is wrong at The Backwater,” he turned back to her. “I think you should stay here while I check it out.”

“Hell no! That’s my bar; I’m going with you.”

Thomas studied her determined expression for a second. “All right, but I need to gather a couple of the guys before we go. There’s no telling what we’ll find.”

Within minutes, they were speeding toward the bar in two of the family’s boats. Thomas and Julia in one, while Lucas and Marcus followed in the other.

*****

Tim paced from the door to his kitchenette and back in his tiny efficiency apartment. He’d been blindly moving back and forth, stewing in a brew of hate and revenge for hours. His ex–wife Anna and piece of shit son Thomas would pay for everything they’d done to him.

Passing by his one and only end table, he snatched the backscratcher he always kept handy. Ever since he’d moved to Las Vegas, he had repeatedly broken out in hives and boils that itched like a mother. Countless doctor appointments and allergy specialist had puzzled over his ailment with no solution in sight.

Fuck it; getting revenge on the family who had turned their backs on him was worth the risk. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the casino boss in New Orleans he hadn’t spoken to in over a year. If he were careful, he could get some information on Anna and Thomas without ending up at the bottom of the Mississippi River, wearing a pair of cement shoes.

Twenty minutes later, he was in debt to the tune of five thousand dollars in exchange for some very interesting information. It seemed Thomas was involved with a woman whose mother violently disapproved of him. And luck was on his side; the mother was willing to disclose the location of a bar in the middle of the swamp where he could locate not only his son but his ex–wife as well. Exacting his revenge was going to be easier than he thought.

*****

Thomas and Julia were still a mile out when an explosion reverberated around them. Smoke and flames shot into the sky from the direction of her bar.

Julia clamped a hand on Thomas’s arm. “Was that my bar?”

“I’m not sure. Is The Backwater the only structure in that direction?”

“Other than my house, yeah.”

Thomas drew her closer; this was going to be bad.

The instant the boat entered the mouth of the bay where her house and bar were, his entire demeanor changed. His body stiffened, and he slammed down the walls in his mind to block her from his thoughts. He morphed into a man she didn’t recognize, one who was cold and frightening. He had no expression on his face at all; his eyes turned hard and dangerous. Thomas, the sheriff, was a man even she with her telekinetic abilities didn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

“NO!” Julia wailed. Every window was busted out of her beloved bar, and the door hung awkwardly on its smashed hinges. But that wasn’t the worst of it, her house was a smoking heap of rubble. The explosion must have been her house.

“Julia?”

Stunned and in obvious shock, she stared at the wreckage, unhearing and unseeing the men around her.

“Julia, I need you to stay on the boat until we check this out.”

The instant the boat was within leaping distance; she was racing down the pier and disappearing from sight behind the bar.

“Julia, damn it! Come back here,” Thomas barked. It took two tries to secure the boat to the pier; his hands shook so badly with the terror he was experiencing for her safety.

All three men skidded to a halt as the house came into view. Julia stood on the peak of the rubble in what would have been her living room. Wracking sobs shook her body, and a horrible keening ripped from her throat.

Thomas walked around to the other side hoping to find a safe path to reach his mate. The last thing he wanted was to cause the unstable heap to shift with her on top of it.

Damn it!
There was no way to get to her; she would have to come to them.

“Sweetheart, please look at me.”

Even though she hadn’t looked at him, he saw a flicker of questioning recognition glimmer in her eyes.

“Baby, please. I need you to jump to me. The debris might shift, and you could be trapped under the unstable rubble.”

Slowly, her head turned, but her eyes were still very glazed over. He wasn’t sure she was hearing him at all.

Suddenly, she gasped, bent her knees slightly and launched herself to the edge of the forest.

“No,” she cried weakly. Her voice containing every ounce of heartbreak she was experiencing. From his angle, Thomas couldn’t see what she was looking at. Then a flash of blue and another of purple caught his eye.

Thomas held up his hand like a traffic cop toward Lucas and Marcus. “Guys, don’t move and stay very quiet.”

“Julia? What do you have in your hand?”

Numbed by grief and shock, her movements were jerky and awkward from her sobs and gasping breath. Thomas inhaled sharply when he finally saw what was cupped in her palm. A tiny iridescent faerie lay broken and dying. The others flittered around Julia’s head and shoulders unsure what to do but wanting to help their fallen friend.

In a tiny weak voice the faerie whispered. “I tried to stop the bad men, the swamper shifters who attacked Sir Thomas. I’m sorry, I failed.” With one last shuddering breath, the faerie died.

A horrible snarl ripped from Thomas’s chest as his wolf tried to take charge.

Julia’s eyes grew wide, and her heart hammered frantically in her chest.

Tommy stood behind her, wearing the deadliest most intimidating expression she had ever seen. Raw power poured from him as his wolf howled a challenge into the forest.

A whimper of fear from his mate brought him crashing back to reality. The situation that had created a red haze of fury to rage through him came into focus. There was no way in hell he wanted to cause his mate any further distress, but his behavior was doing just that.

Sucking in a deep calming breath, he shook off the rage so he could be the mate she needed and not the dangerous man who was frightening her.

“I’m so sorry.” He reached for her to draw her into his arms. “Please, don’t be afraid of me, sweetheart.”

“You just put on your tough and ruthless sheriff persona. I’ve never seen you like that before,” her voice quavered, but her gaze met his steadily. “You become a different person, a really–REALLY scary person. I understand why you have to be that way, so don’t worry, I was just taken by surprise is all.”

“I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“They destroyed my home, did who knows what to my bar, and,” her shoulders shook with her sobs, “killed Daffi.” After several minutes, her wracking sobs became shudders and sniffles. 

Thomas didn’t say a word, he held her tightly, rubbing his palms up and down her back, trying to be the rock she needed.

With tear reddened eyes, she looked up at him and gave him a faint smile. “I knew you probably needed to be a tough guy to do what you do as the head of security. I was just shocked to see you become that person before my eyes.”

“I become someone else? What do I do? I don’t understand.”

“You slammed your walls down to block me out and shut down all your emotions. It was like you separated yourself from the situation and became cold and unfeeling.”

“I deal with horrible men and situations every day. I have to shut myself off from that, or I would become insane or suicidal. That is the only way I know how to cope and not allow my work to effect me.” Thomas raked a hand through his hair, a blatant sign of his agitation. “What can I do to make you less afraid of me? I can’t loose you, Julia.”

Julia cupped his face with her warm palm, brushing away his frown lines. “You won’t ever loose me, mate. I knew you were this person. I just was surprised to see it. I know you need to do things to survive and cope, I was just shocked by the unexpected change on top of this.” She waved a hand at the destruction that used to be her house. “It isn’t anything I can’t handle, especially now that I know what to expect.”

Lucas and Marcus left them to their private moment. The Backwater needed to be checked for damage. It was obvious there was nothing left of the house to be saved but the bar might be in fairly good shape.

“Shit,” Marcus growled, as they got their first look inside.

“Whoever did this will die,” Lucas snarled.

Marcus and Lucas wove their way through the destroyed interior of the bar. It was so much worse than it looked from the outside.

“Call the guys. Let’s get this cleaned up for Julia.” Marcus frowned as he righted a chair. “I hate that she is even going to see it like this.”

Neither of them had to turn around to know their cousin had joined them. A strangled cried followed by a muffled whimper broke the silence of the devastation that used to be her home away from home.

Lucas glanced over his shoulder to see Julia wrapped in Thomas’s arms, her face buried in his chest.

Marcus spoke quietly to the person on the other end of the phone, organizing the cleanup crew and notifying his parents. Isaac was going to blow his top over this attack on his family. If shifters had done this, and it sounded like they had, the swampers anyway, they would die under shifter law. Julia was not only a royal lady through blood as the king’s niece but now she was a princess through her marriage to Thomas, the next queen’s son. Royal bloodlines only required the king or queen to be the parent, and Thomas fit the criteria. Even though he didn’t broadcast it, he was, in fact, a prince.